This special case of Renamed Tropes occurs when an existing article is renamed to allow a new article to occupy ("displace", if you will) the old title. It is also nicknamed a "Trope Transplant", in the sense that the old trope was "transplanted" to a new title.
Reasons for this wiki phenomenon vary; it may be because the original title wasn't getting used correctly (possibly caused by the definition not matching what other tropers thought it was), or because it matched the name of a pre-existing fictional work (causing confusion about whether a given link refers to the trope or the work); the latter is now a formal policy, though the existence of namespaces could serve as a temporary solution while a new trope name is decided on.
Sub-Index of Split Tropes.
Tropes renamed because of a fictional work
In some cases, we were able to preserve the reference to the Trope Namer during the rename.- 12 Angry Men -> Rogue Juror
- 13 Going on 30 -> Overnight Age-Up
- Along Came a Spider -> Criminal Mind Games
- And Then There Were None -> Ten Little Murder Victims
- Brigadoon -> Vanishing Village
- Bugs Bunny -> Karmic Trickster
- Die Hard -> "Die Hard" on an X
- Family Feud -> Feuding Families
- Freaky Friday -> "Freaky Friday" Flip
- Green Eggs and Ham -> I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham
- Green Lantern Corps -> The Chosen Many
- Groundhog Day -> "Groundhog Day" Loop
- Go Ask Alice -> Alice Allusion
- The Hubnote -> Hub Level
- From Dusk Till Dawn -> Halfway Plot Switch
- Heart of Darkness -> Send in the Search Team
- The Last Temptation -> The Final Temptation
- Leisure Suit Larry -> Casanova Wannabenote
- Liar Liar -> Consummate Liar
- The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance -> Framed for Heroism
- Marathon Man -> Plot-Powered Stamina
- Martin Guerre -> Dead Person Impersonation
- The Most Dangerous Game -> Hunting the Most Dangerous Game
- Name That Tune -> Theme Tune Cameo (and later to Diegetic Soundtrack Usage)
- Pretty Woman -> Hooker with a Heart of Gold
- Rape of the Lock -> Traumatic Haircut
- Sixth Column -> Sixth Ranger Traitor
- Sorcerers Apprentice -> Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot
- Soylent Green -> Powered by a Forsaken Child
- The Village -> Uncanny Village
- Weekend at Bernie's -> Of Corpse He's Alive
- Xanadu -> Building of Adventure
Other displaced tropes:
- Abandon Ship -> Abandon Shipping
Shipping pun made at the expense of a Stock Phrase. - Agony of the Feet -> Hurt Foot Hop
Everyone thought the former trope covers any foot injury; the part that the injured character has to hop in pain was almost always ignored. - And Man Grew Proud -> From Cataclysm to Myth
The trope was supposed to be about ancient civilizations becoming the subject of mythology in the future, but it was frequently used to refer to civilizations collapsing due to hubris. The former definition was moved to a new name while the latter definition was given to the old name. - April Fools' Day -> April Fools' Plot
The former now means jokes made by makers and publishers of the work for April Fool's Day. - Better Than Canon -> Fan-Preferred Couple
After the latter Audience Reaction was initially renamed from "Sasami Syndrome", it was being used for anything fans felt was better than canon, so the former title, before being implemented into Sugar Wiki and allowing on-page examples, was made into an index. - Bee Afraid -> Scary Stinging Swarm
The former did not make it clear that the trope is supposed to encompass swarms of stinging insects and attracted misuse in the form of individual dangerous bees or bee species being dangerous; the former title now defines the most popular misuse while the new title more clearly describes the original definition. - Beyond the Impossible -> Serial Escalation
The former was confused with Up to Eleven (now merged with Exaggerated Trope) so it was redefined to be Exactly What It Says on the Tin and thereby end the confusion. - Bizarre Alien Biology -> Human Outside, Alien Inside
A fairly narrow and often misused trope about human-like creatures who are more alien than they appear was replaced with a broad trope+index covering all manner of bizarreness. - Boy Meets Ghoul -> Non-Human Lover Reveal
Everyone who used this trope seemed to think it had something to do with the undead, which, frankly, made a whole lot of sense. The part about The Reveal was almost universally overlooked. - Bring My Brown Pants -> Bring My Red Jacket
Creating a Sister Trope that whose meaning was more clear from the old title. "Red" implying injury or blood; "brown" implying ... well, you know. - Camera Screw -> Event-Obscuring Camera
The former originally referred to video game cameras that obscure in-game events, but it was often used to refer to bad camera controls. The original definition was moved to a new, more indicative name, while the old name was retooled to refer to bad camera controls. - Can't Refuse the Call Anymore -> Symbolic Hero Rebirth
The former name originally involved death and rebirth symbolism, but that was often absent. That definition was moved to a new name while the old name was retooled to match how it was being used. - Catharsis Factor -> Stress-Relieving Gameplay
The trope was intended to be about stress-relieving actions in video games, but it was commonly misused as an Audience Reaction for unsympathetic characters receiving karma. - The Cavalry -> Engineered Public Confession
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience -> Good Colors, Evil Colors
Creation of a Super-Trope to encompass colors identifying more than just who's good and evil. - Closer to Earth -> Women Are Wiser
This trope was misused for any situation where the usually White Male Lead gets inspirational advice from the downtrodden minority. It was renamed to make Exactly What It Says on the Tin and Closer to Earth is now a Super-Trope to those tropes. - Company Town -> Set Behind the Scenes
Wasn't clear where the usage was from, given a more descriptive name. Displaced by trope about company towns. - Confetti Drop -> Tickertape Parade
Was a pre-existing term for something else, and the old title was not clear about being a game-show trope. - Cosmic Horror -> Cosmic Horror Story
Originally referred to the genre of stories involving a Cosmic Horror, but was being used in reference to the creature itself; now redirects to Eldritch Abomination for this reason. - Costume Inertia -> Costume Exaggeration
Previously, it referred to certain exaggerated costumes. Repurposed to be Exactly What It Says on the Tin because of rampant misuse. - Dead Man Walking -> Near-Death Clairvoyance
Old title was a pre-existing term for something else. - Epic Fail -> Missed Moment of Awesome (and later to Offscreen Moment of Awesome)
Misuse of a memetic Stock Phrase. - Even Evil Has Loved Ones -> Even Mooks Have Loved Ones
Was specific to Mooks, and widely misused for evil in general. - Extendable Arms -> Elongating Arm Gag
Was intended as a Zany Cartoon gag where a character temporarily extends an arm. Repurposed to be Exactly What It Says on the Tin due to misuse for when a character can extend their arms as an ability. - Eye Open -> Eye Awaken
- Female Gaze -> Eating the Eye Candy
- Flashback Echo -> Visions of Another Self
- For Massive Damage -> Attack Its Weak Point
"For Massive Damage" now redirects to This Index Hits for Massive Damage. - Foreign Fanservice -> Gorgeous Gaijin
Was intended for Western characters in Japanese media, but due to Missing Supertrope the trope got misused for any time a foreigner was given fanservice. - Friend to All Living Things -> Animal Lover
The former trope means "character who attracts animals", but people were using it to mean "character who likes animals", which was then made into its own trope. - Genius Breeding Act -> Pair the Smart Ones
The original trope described instances of particularly intelligent characters being matched up together by other characters, the author, or by the audience. Forced pairings of smart people now occupy the old trope name. - Genre Roulette -> Gameplay Roulette
- Going Down with the Ship -> Dying Declaration of Love
Shipping pun made at the expense of a Stock Phrase. - Good Is Dumb -> Redemption Demotion
- Hammerspace Hair -> Compressed Hair
Intended to mean hair of such volume that it may as well be stored in Hammerspace, it was constantly confused for hair being used as Hammerspace; which is what now occupies the old title. - Hakuna Matata -> Sidekick Song
- I Just Want to Be Loved -> The Four Loves
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face -> Artistic License – Gun Safety
- I Sense a Disturbance in the Force -> The Force Is Strong with This One
Intended to reference Darth Vader sensing Ben Kenobi's presence on the Death Star (or perhaps the Emperor sensing Luke's potential as a Jedi), this Beam Me Up, Scotty! is more famously associated with Kenobi's sensing the destruction of Alderaan. The old title now redirects to My Significance Sense Is Tingling for this reason. - Impersonating an Officer -> No Badge? No Problem!
A Non-Indicative Name led to massive misuse for the legal offense of police impersonation
. The title is now literal.
- Kill the Poor -> Neutron Bomb
- Klingon Promotion -> Dying to Be Replaced
- Little Black Dress -> Launcher of a Thousand Ships
- Lightswitch Surprise -> Caught Coming Home Late
A case of Missing Supertrope. The original title is made into a supertrope to rectify the issue. - Living Ship -> Setting as a Character
Creating a Sub-Trope whose name is more indicative. - Magical Database -> Omniscient Database
- Mo Cap Mecha -> Impossibly Graceful Giant
Continuous misuse. Motion-Capture Mecha was also created for that specific type of control, not just humanlike mecha motions. - My Name Is Inigo Montoya -> Heroic Second Wind
- Oedipus Complex -> Child Supplants Parent
The trope wasn't quite the same as the Oedipus complex despite the name, so it was renamed and a Useful Notes page about the actual Freudian term was made. - Petting Zoo People -> Little Bit Beastly
A lengthy forum discussion ruled that there was a clear distinction between these neighboring levels of anthropomorphism, though the former was later merged with Beast Man. - Power Trio -> Freudian Trio
The original name was too wide, resulting in examples that didn't fit the Freudian psychology dynamic. Power Trio is now an index. - Relationship Writing Fumble -> Platonic Writing, Romantic Readingnote
The original name led to usage that was broader than what was originally covered, since the definition originally referred to platonic relationships unintentionally looking romantic to audiences. Said definition was moved to a new name, while the old name was repurposed for a supertrope for various relationship-related tropes and Audience Reactions. - Revive Kills Zombie -> Outside-the-Box Tactic
- Rhetorical Question Blunder -> About Rhetorical Questions
Originally an Administrivia page warning against using rhetorical questions on This Very Wiki because they invite people to edit in answers. A trope about characters answering rhetorical questions took its place and the warning page was moved to the new title. - Sneeze of Doom -> Ill-Timed Sneeze
The trope was supposed to be about badly timed sneezes causing problems, but it was frequently used for abnormally strong sneezes. Thus, the former was moved to a new name while the original name was redefined as the latter. - Something Completely Different -> Formula-Breaking Episode
The old title frequently led to misuse for things other than episodes that deviate from a work's usual formula. As a result, the trope was renamed while the old name was repurposed as an index. - Suddenly Voiced -> Suddenly Speaking
The old title is for cases in which a character finally has voice acting or otherwise a tone of voice. The new title is for cases in which a silent character speaks. - This Just In! -> Narrating the Obvious
The old titlenote is a Stock Phrase more commonly associated with news anchors. - Twenty Four Hour Superpower -> Superpower Silly Putty
- Two Girls and a Guy -> With a Friend and a Stranger
- Wet Sari Scene -> Sexy Soaked Shirt
The title was overly non-indicative and specific for a trope not involving saris, so its sister trope was split off using the existing title. - Wizarding School -> Extranormal Institute
- Words Can Break My Bones -> I Know Your True Name
Nonstandard Cases:
- God's Hands Are Tied <-> The Gods Must Be Lazy
These tropes transplanted each other, because the person who created the latter trope was unaware the former trope existed. The titles were eventually switched to make more sense. - "Holy Shit!" Quotient -> Shocking Moments
Meant to note the amount of shocking events per scene, but was constantly used to list the shocking events themselves. A new "moments" audience reaction was created to store this misuse, while the old page was moved to Just for Fun. - Plausible Deniability -> Secret History
This case is a comparative Mind Screw — The trope under the title Plausible Deniability was originally what is now Secret History until an editor unilaterally rewrote the page without discussion to be about what the term Plausible Deniability is more commonly used for. A few years later, the old definition's text was sent to TLP to receive its new title.
