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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openSubtle exploration limiters in an otherwise wide-open game Videogame
In a game that is otherwise a Wide-Open Sandbox or at least a particularly wide-open example of it's genre, there are subtle limitations put in place keeping the player from exploring too high of level areas or getting exceptional gear too early. It'd be in a similar vein to something like a Beef Gate or Ability Required to Proceed, but less overt.
For example, in Unicorn Overlord, there are several literal Broken Bridges to side areas throughout the game that require getting a certain amount of a certain resource to repair. Some of them lead to really good items, but the game doesn't offer enough of the required resource until you've progressed through most of the region in which they're located, at which point the items are still good but less game-breaking.
TIA for anything!
openBe the Brush!
Not to be confused for Body Paint, when painting takes a level of extreme. Say an artist has a big canvas, and the artist covers their body in paint, and smash their body across the canvas, making a great art piece!
openIncessant chatting leads to character's downfall
Are there any tropes on characters who are endless talkers but are unaware their conversation is being recorded? Engineered Public Confession seems one, but are there other tropes that pertain to criminals and villains being taken down this way?
openMarkers/Pings Videogame
A mechanic in some games where you can place down a set marker or send out a ping to your teammates to say "stand here," "shoot that guy," "move that box," "jump off a cliff" etc
Edited by AwkbutTVTopenIn-Universe Allegory
Just a quick question: is Allegory applicable to Show Within a Show In-Universe?
openDesperately screaming their authority
Do we have one for this, where somebody is in a desperate situation, and they cling desperately to some "authority" which they may have? This can sometimes be covered with I Am the Trope, but this would not cover the Nanny Mcphee example.
Two examples involving Imelda Staunton:
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: As the centaurs carry her away, she screams "I am senior undersecretary to the Minster of Magic!"
- Nanny Mcphee: As the children are tying her up in the kitchen, she says the repeated line "they do not come in here, I have it in writing".
Also:
- The Madness of King George: As the King is being tied to the chair, he yells "I am the King of England!"
openMedia where there's a lot of profanity used by the characters/narrator.
I am looking for a trope that deals with stories with lots of swear word usage
openFluff Hater
A character who hates saccharine and "girly" stuff like ponies, plushies, pink, etc.
openFake religiosity
Someone becomes (or pretends to be) a part of a religious order despite not believing in any of its creed in order to reap benefits of being a part of the organization.
openPet Grieves over Lost Owner
Reverse of Lost Pet Grievance: a pet's owner died, and/or the pet becomes someone else's, and the pet acts in grievance to that (like waiting for its owner to come back even though they might never)
Tried checking that page, I can't find the related trope.
openCasual Alien Intermingling
Im trying to find a trope that captures a certain specific slice of extraterrestrial scifi. The type of scifi where alien intermixing is so common that the clerk at the convenience store is as likely to be a Xu'ruto with 3 heads as they are to be a human
Examples of what is this trope Star Wars Star Trek The Ascent Mass Effect Futurama High on Life
Examples that are not this trope: Stellaris/Twilight Imperium - these setting have many alien races but they for the most part keep to themselves and their own worlds
Space Invaders/Destroy All Humans/Mars Attacks: The most common type of alien media I see, these aliens are normally just atogonists
Ive been able to use the trope pages of the media I listed to find more examples but I haven't found a single specific trope that links them
Tropes like many many races, galactic civilization, and even space opera are similar but they arent specific to the type of casual alien intermingling Im talking about.
Im really passionate about this genre (I even tried to start a blog about it at one point) and tvtropes has been the only really helpful site in finding more. If this trope doesnt exist I really think it should.
openSounding silent letters
Is there one for when somebody says silent letters out loud, out of ignorance, or for comic effect? I know there's Funetik Aksent, but I don't think that's the right one. For example:
- Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator: Mr Wonka sounds the "K" in Vermicious Knid.
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail: The French talk of "King Arthur and his silly English k-nig-gets."
- Flanders and Swann: In the Gnu song, the G-nu wishes he could g-nash his teeth at you.
openCritical Comparisons
Critics compare a work to another. For instance, gritty Spy thrillers get compared to the works of John le Carré.
resolved Knight of Cerebus Not Quite Inversion
This is when a character makes the other characters scarier. It's not really changing the tone of the story, but the character is sort of teasing out the other characters' potential to be scary. The only example I can think of is in seasons 3 and 4 of Rolling With Difficulty. There's this one antagonist who gets to be scary in their introduction, but then the protagonists all get turns to scare the antagonist.
openKnight of Cerebus opposite
is there a inverted/opposite version of the trope Knight of Cerebus where somebody light and happy makes a very dark and bleak story cleanly light, instead of a scary and evil antagonist appearing to make the lighthearted story dark
openAlien Time System
Do we have a trope where the characters use a time system different than the "60 seconds = 1 minute" system we're familiar with?
For example, in Literature.The August Few, the Kivouachians use the following time system:
- Tick = kivic minute
- Bell = kivic hour, 70 ticks
- Chime = kivic day, 40 bells
- Tone = kivic month (3 earth months)
- Stanza = kivic year (7 tones)
openAffectionate face touch
When a character place in his hand on his loves face in a sign of affection or understanding,protection , romance, or love.
openX So Not Y
A gag in which someone or something is recognized as being not what it's supposed to be because of a particular factor that's clearly out of place. For example, in The Encounter from Animorphs, a group of "park rangers" clearly are not actually park rangers because "Park rangers don't carry machine guns."
Used when Alice insults Bob but instead of Bob getting hurt he twists the insult and uses it to hurt Alice, which ends up working
Ex: In HH's "Stayed Gone", a duel vs Alastor and Vox, Vox starts the song by saying "Welcome home; I'm gonna make you wish that you stayed gone. Say hello to a new status quo, everybody knows that there's a brand new dawn - Turn the tv ON" and, at the end of the song, Alastor says "Let's begin - i'm gonna make you wish that I stayed gone. Tune on in~ When i'm done, Your status quo is gonna know it's race is run~ Oh, this will be fun!"