Basic trope: Only the Milky Way appears.
- Straight: The Milky Way appears, but no other galaxy appears or is seen.
- Exaggerated: The Milky Way is treated as though it were the only galaxy is the universe, even in a near-future science fiction setting where it should be known for certain that galaxies beyond the galactic rim exist.
- Downplayed: Very rarely does one travel to or mention a journey to other galaxies, and under circumstances that can't be reproduced.
- Justified:
- Different species use Portal Network or Hyperspace Lanes throughout the galaxy, but none outside it.
- Even at FTL speeds, it still takes a while to get from point A to point B, and other galaxies are simply too far away to reach.
- The story takes place in the very far future; the Local Group has coalesced into one super galaxy while all other clusters have moved too far away to be reached, even at FTL speeds.
- Inverted: Other galaxies appear, but never the Milky Way.
- Subverted: It doesn't look like they're going to travel inside the Milky Way, but the map shows that the destination is 2 million light-years away.
- Double subverted: It turns out that there is an error and it is only 2000 light years away.
- Parodied: There is an invisible wall that prevents people from leaving the galaxy.
- Zig-Zagged: The ability to travel between galaxies varies depending on the writer.
- Averted: Other galaxies appear regularly.
- Enforced: In an attempt to prevent future discoveries discrediting their depiction of the lesser known galaxies only the Milky Way, which the creators believed to be relatively immune to this, was actively used in the work.
- Shading: "At the moment, we are unable to travel to other galaxies"
- Implicit: On a map of the explored sites, there is only the Milky Way.
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: An extra-galactic civilization takes advantage of this to make a study with a non-interference clause.
- Challenged: ???
- Discussed: Why don't you travel outside the galaxy in the series?
- Defied: ???
- Deconstructed : many criminals go out of the Milky Way so that they are not persecuted.
- Reconstructed:
- That motivates scientists to develop intergalactic travel methods.
- After several attempts, they cannot reach these sites, either because it is very dangerous or because they are too far away.
