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openSignificant differences between different versions of the work Literature
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, near the end of the book, Malfoy says he has to kill Dumbledore because otherwise Voldemort will kill him. Dumbledore's answer in the American version:
Dumbledore's answer in the British version:
openEven Translated Animals Don't Speak
A situation where Animal Talk results in animal thoughts being expressed in a human language, but said thoughts aren't really communicating anything important.
- One Far Side strip has a scientist invent a helmet that translates dog barks, and it turns out they're all saying "Hey! Hey!" In another, birdsong consists solely of "hey baby", "you and what army", etc.
- In Rover Red Charlie, dogs barking is actually them saying "I'm a dog!" no matter the situation.
resolved Everybody Followed Fashion in the Past Live Action TV
A flashback scene will feature characters wearing stereotypical fashion items of the era, to an exaggerated level, even if in the series' present time they just dress in clothes that might be common in different settings, such as suits, white shirts, and so on.
For instance, in The Simpsons, Dr. Hibbert has a short hairdo that doesn't really stand out, but in flashbacks he'll have jheri curls, braids or dreadlocks depending on the era.
Even Homer wears a nondescript white shirt and jeans, but is fashion-focused on flashbacks, like in That '90s Show, he wore an 8-Ball jacket over a hoodie... even though when the show actually aired in the 90ies, he had the same white shirt.
Might be a Justified Trope in that characters might care more about fashion when they're young, but still...
open"Dude, Not Funny" as an Audience Reaction Trope.
When a joke is meant to elicit laughter, but at least a few other people in Real Life find it offensive. It's just like the in-universe trope but as a YMMV trope.
openTrope where a Reasonable Authority Figure purposely but unofficially gives the heroes a break
Is there a trope where a Reasonable Authority Figure purposely gives the heroes an opportunity to get something they can't officially give them? For instance, if they can't give them something they need, but go out of their way to tell them where it is before leaving them unsupervised?
Edited by halyasgirlopenFine, have it your way.
Somebody keeps defying whatever order or advice is someone else giving them. At one point the advice giver is fed up with the ignorance and just says something in the line of "have it your way/do whatever you want".
openIs there a trope that aptly describes Scrimblos?
The meme about Scrimblos by 'n large refers to Collect-a-Thon 3D Platformers from the 5th and 6th gen, following the same beats as Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie in gameplay and artistic design. You can obviously be a Collect-a-Thon without being a Scrimblo, the games I think most people associate with the term are character-oriented (often of the small, mascot variety) and no more than PG-13 in tone, like Gex, Pac-Man World, 40 Winks and Vexx. A lot of them might also be Mascots With Attitude, but stuff like Banjo isn't while being in the same vein as those examples, and this would exclude games from the 4th gen.
I have the feeling there's a single trope that aptly describes what I'm talking about, but I haven't found it on here. Anyone have any ideas?
openThe Audience Is The Problem
The creator of a work is called out for a controversial aspect of his work. It turns out they agree with the criticism, the problem is the audience either loves it or doesn't want to see the opposite.
e.g. Men Are the Expendable Gender mentions that for all the perfectly justified reasons the trope is bad (infantilizing women, reinforcing that they shouldn't try to use violence, etc.), the simple fact is the audience doesn't want to see women getting disemboweled or brutalized like male characters do.
resolved Early Career Weirdness
Does Early-Installment Weirdness cover cases where a creator's early output is significantly different from what follows? (e.g. an author writes one realistic novel for adults, and then spends the rest of her career writing children's fantasy)
If not, do we have something that does cover it?
openboss cliff Videogame
A videogame boss fight against a Kaiju-sized enemy where the player stands on top of a cliff while the boss stands on the ground at the bottom of the cliff, allowing the player to interact with the boss's torso, arms, and head instead of just its feet. Often also a Stationary Boss, since if the boss moved away from the cliff edge the player wouldn't be able to hit them.
Examples
- the second Metal Gear Ray fight in Metal Gear Rising
- The Human-Reaper in Mass Effect 2
- the Reaper on Rannoch in Mass Effect 3
- The Icon of Sin in Doom Eternal
- The raid boss version of Oryx in Destiny
The Icon of Sin and Oryx are notable as examples that aren't also Stationary Bosses, as there are multiple "cliffs" they regularly move between over the course of their respective boss fights.
openRepetition Madness
Is there some kinda supertrope to Incessant Music Madness, Broken Record, Annoyingly Repetitive Child, Overly Long Gag, etc. that’s just “repeating things over and over is annoying”, or is it a Missing Supertrope currently?
Edited by SnowskyopenThe inconspicuous Literature
Hi
What's a good trope for a character who is retiring, shy, doesn't leave much of an impression on people around her, just gets on with things in the background, doesn't stand out in a crowd or indeed at all, and once she's out of the scene, other people struggle to remember her face and general appearance? The Faceless doesn't really seem to fit, and I'm looking for something that conveys an ides of "The Anonymous" or "The Inconspicuous". Thanks!
openZero-Sum Relationship
A relationship between two characters (not necessarily romantic) where what one character wants/likes is opposite to the other (and vice-versa), and they "keep even" by exchanging one activity for the other.
e.g.
- Alice hates action movies, but sits through them with Bob as it's the only way he'll sit through romance movies with her.
- Alice and Barbara are assigned to do a presentation. Alice is an extroverted Dumb Blonde, Barbara an introverted Brainy Brunette, Barbara agrees to do most of the work if Alice does most of the presentation.
- Al and Bob are roommates, Al is vegetarian, Bob isn't but is in charge of cooking, so for every vegetarian meal Bob makes Al orders him a huge all-meat pizza.
openCaptain Estraz for a setting
Is there are page for settings that are based on another work's setting?
Examples
- Abiotic Factor is a Survival Sandbox set in a faculty based of Black Mesa from Half-Life
- GURPS Reign of Steel is the future of the The Terminator films with a few more skynets for variety
- Xenomorphs: The Fall of Somerset Landing for Whats Old Is New is based of world of Alien
openCharacter devolution in dramas Live Action TV
I'm re-watching BSG currently. Even though I knew it wass coming, I again got crazy frustrated by some of the characters who start out as competent and then lose 10 IQ points per episode, ending up as whiny idiots who shift their loyalties every five minutes. I found similar decay of characters in The Expanse, ST:Disco, Fringe, etc (degrees may vary). No clear motivation/drive, just doing a random, detrimental thing, shouting, regretting, apologizing, then immediately doing this all over again, only faster and more stupid.
In a sitcom I think its okay to turn your main cast into caricatures (Joey from Friends as prime example), but in a drama IMO its just an easy out to suddenly create tension.
Am I alone on this, and if not, is there a name for it?
resolved Dev Leaving stuff in for Datamines Videogame
Okay, I KNOW this is a trope, but I forget the name: what's it called when a developer leaves little things in the files that would otherwise not be found for dataminers?
openShort Fuse
Characters associated with bombs tend to have anger issues. This is distinct from Mad Bomber in which bomb-related characters are Axe-Crazy.
openBetter go to prison in the US than in Syria Live Action TV
A person on the witness stand is asked, on cross examination, about an incident several years earlier; he then basically claims all his prior testimony was a lie. It later turns out that the incident in question was a crime he comitted before becoming a US citizen; a conviction for that past crime would cause him to lose his US citizenship and be deported to Syria, while the worst he could get for changing his testimony is being sent to prison in the US where he is still guaranteed certain rights.
openFake kidnapping Live Action TV
A person steals cell phones from people going into a movie theater (no one out side will see them for a couple hours). He then uses the cell phone to call the victim's family, claiming that the victim was kidnapped, and orders that the ransom be paid very soon (it must be paid before the cell phone's owner comes out of the theater, revealing the kidnapping to be fake).
Is there a trope for that fanfare that goes "da da da da da" and then has someone yelling "CHARGE!"? It seems like there should be, but I can't find it.