Morality Tropes | Sex, Sexuality, and Rape Tropes | Narrative, Characterization, and Plot Tropes | You are here | Too Common | Too Controversial | Gossip and Stereotypes
"Naturally averted."
— From the (now cut) Real Life section of Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud
These require actions or conditions that are, given the best available evidence, simply not possible in Real Life, or rely on a situation that doesn't exist outside of fiction. After all, there's no point in listing real-life examples if there are no real-life examples! These tropes are prone to Square Peg, Round Trope and/or Speculative Troping, since tropers will readily attempt to shoehorn anything in Real Life that they think sounds like the trope. Compare Narrative, Characterization, and Plot Tropes, which is for things that are impossible because they involve story elements or Out-of-Universe context. Contrast Too Common, which is the exact opposite.
- 0% Approval Rating - Politicians (even dictators who rule with iron fists) with low approval ratings would have already been removed from office before they hit the zero mark.
- 100% Adoration Rating - You cannot please everyone.
- 100% Heroism Rating
- The Ace - Nobody's perfect.
- Advert-Overloaded Future - It is impossible to predict the future.
- Age Without Youth
- All Dogs Are Pure Bred - Dogs of mixed-breed exist, and they're colloquially called "mutts".
- Animals Fear Neutering - The trope only works with Sapient Pets. Real animals don't know what neutering is. Also, vets use anesthesia when neutering pets, so they aren't even aware of when it's happening.
- Back from the Dead - Obviously, the dead cannot come back to life. Closest real life equivalents are Not Quite Dead and Only Mostly Dead.
- Bad Present
- Bag of Holding
- Beast Man
- The Bermuda Triangle - Has already been discredited by scientific proof.
- Beyond the Impossible - Not only is it impossible by its very nature, it attracted gushing.
- Bishōnen Line
- Blasting Time
- Bolt of Divine Retribution
- But Thou Must!
- Carnivore Confusion
- Cartoonish Companions - Also invited derogatory remarks about disorders that affect body proportions.
- Chainmail Bikini - Would not work as a suit of armor. Cosplaying doesn't count.
- Charles Atlas Superpower
- Cheeky Mouth
- The Chew Toy
- Chromosome Casting
- Conservation of Ninjutsu
- The Constant
- Contractual Immortality - As far as we know, immortality either is not real or this trope does not apply to Long-Lived organisms that seem immortal.
- Dark World - There is no direct evidence for the existence of an Alternate Universe, but we know that it would not work this way.
- Deader Than Dead - Once your dead, you're dead.
- Death Amnesia
- Death Is Cheap - Again, if you die, you're dead.
- Delivery Stork
- Demonic Spiders
- Deranged Animation
- Disc-One Final Boss - Also a narrative trope.
- Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud
- Dream Weaver
- Earth Drift - Earth will always be Earth, regardless of how it changes.
- Eldritch Abomination - Most of the given examples were highly exaggerated descriptions of normal stuff.
- Elemental Powers
- Enlightenment Superpowers
- Everybody Has Lots of Sex - Also a sex trope.
- Everybody Owns a Ford - This is specifically limited to cases where this applies to everyone and is unrealistic.
- Everybody Smokes - Smoking is not for everyone.
- Everyone Owns a Mac - The trope is specifically about unrealistic amounts of Mac owners in fiction. Even if every single computer user hypothetically did use a Mac in real life, it still wouldn't be this trope.
- Evolutionary Levels
- Failed Future Forecast - The trope is specifically about fictional predictions.
- Fantastic Racism - "Fantastic" as in "fantasy" or "fictional", not as in "awesome" (i.e., not the way the Doctor uses "fantastic"); racism never is.
- Any and all Fantastic Sapient Species Tropes - By their very nature, such creatures do not exist in real life.
- Faster-Than-Light Travel
- Fighter, Mage, Thief
- For Want of a Nail - The wiki does not speculate about Alternate History.
- Foul Flower
- Furry Confusion - Real Life does not have Funny Animals. While great apes might seem to be the closest thing to a real-life instance of this trope, they are still not human.
- Genre Savvy - Real life doesn't have a genre.
- Gilligan Cut - Real life cannot skip time. There is a reason "real life" means it involves unwelcome as well as welcome experiences.
- Goddamned Bats
- Hartman Hips
- Hated by All - Much like 0% Approval Rating above, someone, somewhere, will probably be at least sympathetic to another's plight, no matter how much a Jerkass that person has been, even if they aren't visible on the surface. Even Evil Has Loved Ones, after all.
- Healing Hands
- Healing Herb - This is a magic trope and not how actual medicinal plants work. Even if it was, TV Tropes does not give medical advice.
- Hollywood Acid
- Hollywood CB
- Hollywood Chameleons - This is about typical depictions of chameleons in fiction, not in real life.
- Hollywood Darkness
- Hollywood Hacking
- Hollywood Healing
- Hollywood Old - This is about actors playing characters who are older than the actors are. Real-life people are not played by actors.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters - Also a morality trope.
- Humans Are Psychic in the Future
- Immortality Begins at Twenty - As far as we know, immortality either is not real or this trope does not apply to Long-Lived organisms that seem immortal.
- Impossible Hourglass Figure
- Impossibly Graceful Giant
- Improbable Infant Survival
- Inconsistent Coloring
- In Spite of a Nail - As mentioned above, this site does not partake in speculating about alternate histories.
- Interactive Narrator - Also a storytelling trope.
- In the Future, Humans Will Be One Race
- Invisible Anatomy
- Invisible to Normals
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - This trope is about Alternate History, which is not speculated on this site.
- Julius Beethoven da Vinci
- Libertarians IN SPACE!
- Limit Break
- Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards
- Look Ma, No Plane!
- Louis Cypher
- Mage Species
- Magi Babble
- Magical Gesture
- Magical Native American - Also a stereotype.
- Magical Negro - Also a stereotype.
- The Magic Goes Away
- Any and all tropes involving Magic and Powers, since such abilities are, by definition, fantastical.
- Magic Realism
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane
- Mermaid Problem - Also a sex trope.
- Monochrome Casting - This trope is about actors playing characters who are of the same race. Real-life people are not played by actors, and people of different races exist in real life.
- Muggles Do It Better
- Must Be Invited
- Mystical White Hair - Also a characterization trope.
- Narnia Time - As far as we know, other fantastical dimensions are not real.
- Nobody Can Die - Everybody dies at one point or another, and real-life situations of improbable survival don't count since this is a narrative trope anyway.
- No Equal-Opportunity Time Travel - While time travel is not definitively ruled out in real life, any Real Life examples are already covered by certain subtropes.
- Noodle People - People with Marfan Syndrome doesn't count as a real life example.
- No Ontological Inertia
- One-Neighbor Neighborhood
- One-Winged Angel
- Our Dragons Are Different - Dragons aren't real.
- Our Monsters Are Weird - Monsters aren't real.
- Our Vampires Are Different
- Person of Mass Destruction
- Plant Person
- Polar Bears and Penguins - The extinct great auk doesn't count as a real life example, as it was not an actual penguin.
- Post-Modern Magik
- Power-Up Food
- Pstandard Psychic Pstance
- Psychic Link
- Puni Plush - Real people are not artworks.
- Put on a Prison Bus - As explained on the trope page, real people don't just "disappear" after being arrested. Also, this is typically an ending trope, and there's no "ending" to real life exactly. Probably.
- Reality Warper
- Ridiculous Future Inflation
- Ridiculously Potent Explosive - As the page states, the trope is about portrayals of explosives breaking the rules of real-world physics. If a real-world explosive actually broke the laws of real-world physics, we'd be looking at a Reality-Breaking Paradox.
- Scrappy Mechanic
- Solid Clouds - Clouds are not solid in real life.
- Spinosaurus Versus T. rex - The two dinosaurs did not coexist, therefore the outcome of a fight between them is purely speculative.
- Stupid Jetpack Hitler
- Sudden Anatomy
- Sugar Bowl - The trope is about a specific type of fantasy setting.
- Super-Deformed
- Superpower Lottery
- Super Weight - Only levels up to 1 (Iron Weight) are possible in real life.
- Talking Poo
- Tanks for Nothing
- Teenage Wasteland
- They Killed Kenny Again - You die only once.
- Time Travel - While time travel is not definitively ruled out in real life, any Real Life examples are already covered by certain subtropes.
- Timey-Wimey Ball - While time travel is not definitively ruled out in real life, any Real Life examples are already covered by certain subtropes.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth
- Top-Heavy Guy - It relies on a physically impossible caricatured body shape.
- Trampoline Tummy
- Unrealistic Black Hole - By definition, the only black holes in real life are the realistic ones.
- Vegetarian Vampire
- Virgin Power
- Weirdness Magnet
- Who Wants to Live Forever? - As far as we know, immortality either is not real or this trope does not apply to Long-Lived organisms that seem immortal.
- Wizarding School - The trope is about a specific type of fantasy setting.
- World of Badass - Not everyone has fighting capabilities.
- You Can't Fight Fate
- Young Future Famous People
- Your Size May Vary
