Line #21 Main/OutgrowTheTrope


1	When after a show or a comic book or other work has been using a specific trope multiple times, its use of the trope peters out and the writers quit applying it. They may even {{lampshade\|Hanging}} it a few times before they learn that it's rather annoying they keep using it.
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3	May be the result of the show GrowingTheBeard, but if it's to the detriment of the work it may be a case of JumpingTheShark, which in most cases means a show abandoned what helped make it good in the first place and replaced it with something worse, resulting in SeasonalRot. Compare to EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, in which a newcoming series is trying to find its niche, and see GrandfatherClause and TheArtifact, in which an element of the series which was important at one point no longer has such importance but cannot be dropped because it's so deeply engrained in the mythology.
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5	See also OverusedRunningGag, which may push an author to "outgrow" it as well. Compare and contrast YoYoPlotPoint.
6	----
7	!!Examples:
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9	[[AC:{{Anime}} & Manga]]
10	* ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'''s VerbalTic '-dattebayo' never petered out in the Japanese version of the show; however, his equivalent catch phrase, 'believe it,' in the English dub lasted for about the first two seasons.
11	* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' left MonsterOfTheWeek for [[MindScrew Angstier]] [[MindRape pastures]].
12	%%* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' pulled an Evangelion intentionally, abandoning handsome-dude-from-the-academy-who-wants-to-engage-Anthy-the-rose-bride... of the week.
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14	[[AC:{{Comic\|s}} Books]]
15	* Many Creator/DCComics had quite a bit of Americanitis and AmericaSavesTheDay-esque plots. This ended after the comics became much more sophisticated and the UsefulNotes/ColdWar was no longer a factor.
16	* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' from straightish DCU-based HorrorTropes, to everything in the kitchen-sink-genre {{Mythopoeia}} starting with ''The Sound of Her Wings'' and rapidly moving along into GenreBusting after that.
17	* In ''[[Creator/{{Gotlib}} Rubric-à-Brac]]'', there was a very common running gag about Isaac Newton getting hit on the head by a falling apple (or anything that could fall). After a period of time the running gag nearly dissapeared and any rare return of Isaac Newton would be [[LampshadeHanging lamp-shaded]].
18	* Less of an example of outgrowing a trope and more of perfecting upon it: Franchise/{{Superman}}'s ClarkKenting elements have drastically improved, starting in the 1970s within the comics and movies. The actual ClarkKenting page delves more into this, but in recent times the PaperThinDisguise Supes dons as Clark is actually {{justified\|Trope}}.
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20	[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]
21	* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' used MultinationalTeam in order to present a unified international unit working together for the benefit of all humanity, something that was a pipe dream in the UsefulNotes/ColdWar 1960s. As the UsefulNotes/ColdWar wound down and the idea had more acceptance, later series barely touched on the ethnicities or homelands of the human members of the crew.
22	* Many early episodes of ''Series/{{Charmed\|1998}}'' had the sisters solve their [[MonsterOfTheWeek daily demonic dilemma]] with [[DeusExMachina a quick reference check]] to their [[GreatBigBookOfEverything Great Big Book]] [[SpellBook of Everything Magical]]. In later seasons this died down as their experience with magic grew and by the final season they hardly relied on the book at all.
23	* ''Series/CougarTown'' lost the "I Am Not an OldMaid" trope on which it was based pretty quickly in the first season, instead GrowingTheBeard by focusing on the TrueCompanions and the UnresolvedSexualTension between the lead and her neighbor; the ArtifactTitle was {{lampshade\|Hanging}}d several times in the opening credits. UST also was resolved at the end of season 1.
24	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' started as a straight MonsterOfTheWeek show, but in seasons four and five moved toward longer, more serious story arcs. Though WordOfGod says that this was, at least partly, intentional. This also occurred in similar series such as ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{Angel}}''.
25	* ''Series/CanadasWorstDriver'' and TakeThat. The show used to have a lot of people nominated out of spite, but now that it's known that the show really tries to help the bad drivers than be just a PointAndLaughShow, this has become less common.
26	* ''Series/ICarly'''s {{Overused Running Gag}}s of Spencer's projects bursting into flames and Gibby taking off his shirt have been increasingly lessened in the last two seasons. Gibby is even asked in-universe by iCarly fans to take off his shirt, but tells them [[LampshadeHanging "I do that less now."]]
27	* Early ''Series/DoctorWho'' stories would often start with a section of the Doctor and his companions wandering about, wondering where they have landed and trying to piece it together from all the weird things there, usually followed by a sequence in which they are regarded with suspicion or captured by people in authority there and the Doctor has to blag them into accepting that he knows what he's talking about. In one of the few examples of directly linear trope shift over the course of the series, these sections were gradually shortened and shortened as audiences became more comfortable with the basic premise of the series and as the stories themselves had more of the {{Padding}} stripped, eventually being omitted altogether by the time of the new series (which used gadgets like the psychic paper to help the Doctor quickly establish trust).
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29	[[AC:Radio]]
30	* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'':
31	** A staple of early radio episodes was Mrs. Davis' [[CordonBleughChef Cordon Bleaugh cookery]], resulting in everything from blubber burgers to pine needles being placed in front of Miss Brooks at breakfasttime. In later radio episodes and on television, Mrs. Davis sticks to conventional cookery . . . for the most part.
32	** An early running gag on the radio is how Miss Brooks' car is always in the shop. Half the time it's because she's an [[WomenDrivers unspeakably horrible driver.]] Again, by the time the series went to television, Miss Brooks is able to criticise Walter Denton's driving without any hypocrisy.
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34	[[AC:WebComics]]
35	* As ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' underwent CerebusSyndrome, it slowly phased out some of the sillier tropes, most notably jokes revolving around the kids' {{Inventory Management Puzzle}}s. Some of them were brought back in Act 6 when the comic returned to its more lighthearted early tone, [[CerebusRollercoaster and then were slowly dropped again.]]
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37	[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
38	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The {{Trope Namer\|s}} for TheyKilledKennyAgain stopped killing Kenny about five seasons in, first [[KilledOffForReal killing him off for real]], then reviving him one season later [[NegativeContinuity with nary an explanation]]. He still dies occasionally (usually about once or twice per season), and the trope got a CerebusRetcon during the "Coon and Friends" three-parter, but it's no longer used as a OncePerEpisode gag.
39	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has two:
40	** Zigzagged with the [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle "Dear Princess Celestia"]] segments at the end of each episode. They began to be phased out in Season 3, were sort of revived in the form of a "friendship diary" in Season 4, and completely forgotten about in Seasons 5 and 6.
41	** It's possible the ''only'' person on the crew who was interested in [[MacGuffin The Elements Of Harmony]] to begin with was Creator/LaurenFaust. At the end of Season 2 they ''didn't'' save the day, they were completely forgotten about in Season 3 (characters didn't even consider taking them to the Crystal Empire to fight [[BigBad King Sombra]]), and they were lost in the Season 4 Premiere. They made a reappearance in the season 7 finale, but again, they didn't really save the day. Then they were destroyed in the final season premiere.

Context Main / OutgrowTheTrope