The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at You Know, That Thing Where.
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Is there a trope for this?
The audience is shown a scene. Maybe it's a flashback, maybe it's a cutaway, maybe it's a setup for a How We Got Here plot.
But later, we see that the scene is a misdirection. Maybe the person telling the flashback story misremembers something, or the cutaway cuts back before the end, or "here" is something entirely different.
Basically, we see a scene, but crucial information or context for the scene is missing, and is only filled in later, and more often than not, completely changes the meaning of the scene.
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"Longing look" trope, but directed at an object that belongs to the person? Example Sherlock from BBC looking at John's chair.
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Do we have a trope for when partners have pre-established plans for different situations due to their long history together? Usually given a specific name, which will probably be impenetrable to outsiders. eg:
- Alice: We need to sneak into that vault.
- Bob: Should we try a Pepper Switch?
- Alice: Nah, that makes too much noise. Let's go with a Monkey Twister.
- Bob: If you think we have enough time to set one up, sure.
- Alice: We'll give it a shot. If it doesn't work, we'll do a Weenie Roast instead.
Alternatively, rather than having specific names, they'll just refer to particular incidents where they used the plan before. eg:
- Bob: Well, now we need to sneak out of this vault.
- Alice: Just like that time in Prague?
- Bob: Pft. No, I was thinking about what happened in Dubai.
- Alice: As long as it doesn't turn out like Shanghai...
The closest I can think of is Attack Pattern Alpha, which is for intentionally predetermined battle scenarios rather than more general versions of The Plan. This would probably be a supertrope of Attack Pattern Alpha, actually.
Edited by NativeJovianopenNo Title
Is there a trivia item for a work that Word of God considers their own best work? I thought it might be Creator's Favorite, but that's the creator's favorite character, not work.
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What do you call the trope that a super heroes main enemies tend have powers/abilities/fighting styles that is well matched towards the hero's abilities. So Spiderman's main enemies tend to be intelligent (Doc Oc, Green Goblin, etc.) Hulk's enemies tend to be very resistant to physical damage (Absorbing Man, Sand Man, Abomination), Batman's enemies tend to think strategically (Joker, Penguin, etc)
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Is there a trope for when two bitter rivals on opposite sides of a war swear harsh, unspeakable things, against each other. When one gets an upper hand, and the authority to deliver on this promise, however, they see the things the war itself has already done to their rival. They deem to show mercy instead, because they think that the other has already suffered enough. ( I didn't really know how to put this one, so I'll try a diffirent approach if neccessary.
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Is there a trope that is similar to Bland-Name Product or Brand X, but for other media like TV shows and movies? It's likely found across all media, but some examples from Rick and Morty that stick out:
- In "Total Rickall", Rick mentions that he's like Tom Cruise in "Cuisine", when he's obviously referencing "Cocktail".
- In "Ricksy Business", Rick makes an allusion to Little Richard and the opening line to "Tutti Frutti", referencing the line "blomp blomp-a noop noop a-noop noop noop" sung by one "Tiny Rogerts".
- In "Auto-Erotic Assimilation", when Morty and Summer are scared of being killed by an advancing mob, they chant "there's no place like home" from "the Dorothy and the tiny people movie."
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Is there a variation of the trope Will They or Won't They? that can be applied to more general stuff (basically, a question that keeps coming up, but we never get an answer)?
An example from The Devil Is A Part Timer Abridged, would be the drinking problem that everyone thinks Emi has, but she constantly denies having.
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Alice's target is Bob. Charlie's in the line of fire, and Alice plans to shoot Bob through Charlie. Bob sees Alice aiming and realizes all this, and pushes Charlie out of the way so that at least Charlie will be safe. Is this an inversion of Taking the Bullet?
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Do we have a trope for works set are not immediately After the End, but after some time, when the civilization is approaching pre-end levels of advancement again. In other words, post-post-apocalyptic instead of just post-apocalyptic fiction.
An example would be Stellvia, where humanity is back in space 200 years after a near-total wipe by a cosmic cataclysm.
Would that still be Apocalypse Not? I am not sure, because the description is slightly confusing as to whether it focuses on this aspect, the apocalypse not being thorough enough, or the writers simply giving up original premises to include more characters.
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Is there a trope for a visual technique where you have like a landscape or cityscape image with a reflection shown that is a photonegative or doesn't match.
For an illustration, Downton Abbey uses one as its logo◊- probably to represent it being about aristocrats "upstairs" and servants "downstairs".
Some covers of Neverwhere do something similar or the same, particularly this one◊.
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I'm trying to find the trope that applies to all those weird vehicles from He-Man (1980s) like the Dragon Walker, Attak Trak, Sky Sled and the rest.
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What's the trope where a character, always female, runs off in tears after being hurt emotionally? An example is D.W. in "D.W.'s Very Bad Mood" where she runs away sobbing after Francine tries to ask what's wrong. Crying spells like this always result in the character face down in bed sobbing, which is also present in the D.W. example.
This is for any medium. I could swear I saw a trop like this in the website, but I wasn't able to find it again?
Basically it goes by the principle that people will recognize a character by their first name but won't recognize them if the full name is used. The example I remember being used was that everyone knows who "Jason" is, but if you say "Jason Voorhees" instead, most people might go 'who?'