Do you have trouble remembering the difference between Deathbringer the Adorable and Fluffy the Terrible?
Do you have trouble recognizing when you've written a Zero-Context Example?
Not sure if you really have a Badass Bookworm or just a guy who likes to read?
Well, this is the thread for you. We're here to help you will all the finer points of example writing. If you have any questions, we can answer them. Don't be afraid. We don't bite. We all just want to make the wiki a better place for everyone.
Useful Tips:
- Make sure that the example makes sense to both people who don't know the work AND don't know the trope.
- Wrong: The Mentor: Kevin is this to Bob in the first episode.
- Right: The Mentor: Kevin takes Bob under his wing in the first episode and teaches him the ropes of being a were-chinchilla.
- Never just put the trope title and leave it at that.
- Wrong: Badass Adorable
- Right: Badass Adorable: Xavier, the group's cute little mascot, defeats three raging elephants with both hands tied behind his back using only an uncooked spaghetti noodle.
- When is normally far less important than How.
- A character name is not an explanation.
- Wrong: Full Moon Silhouette: Diana
- Right: Full Moon Silhouette: At the end of her transformation sequence into Moon Princess Misty, Diana is shown flying across the full moon riding a rutabaga.
Other Resources:
For best results, please include why you think an example is iffy in your first post.
Also, many oft-misused tropes/topics have their own threads, such as Surprisingly Realistic Outcome (here
) and Fan-Preferred Couple (here
). Tropers are better able to give feedback on examples you bring up to specific threads. We don't discuss Complete Monster or Magnificent Bastard examples; please don't bring them up.
Edited by SeptimusHeap on Jul 17th 2025 at 8:59:01 PM
She / Her
I was saying instances in which the Silent Offer is revealed to the audience count if the number (or nothing) is written on a sheet of paper.
Sorry - yet another one from X-Men Red (2022).
Lots of enthusiasm and examples being added, most of them great content - so I'm feeling a bit conscious that I seem to cut a fair few as well. So running it past this thread in case I'm lapsing into gatekeeping:
- The Un-Reveal: In issue ten, after pretty much all the other mysteries have been resolved, we never do learn what in the hell the three alien beings that revived Vulcan are. We find out that they work for Orbis Stellaris (kind of — he almost seems scared of them), they have powers beyond anyone else in the conflict, and Manifold seems to think they come from "outside" normal space and time, but beyond that nothing is revealed. No explanations, no names, no origins. They just... exist.
So - everything in the example is factually correct. We have three creepy minions who seem to have their own loyalties. And we don't get the background on them before they're temporarily defeated.
But I'm not seeing that as The Un-Reveal in the example, or in the source material - it's not set up as if some "crucial detail the characters and audience has been longing for is finally going to be shown, only for it to turn out to be a giant tease", the minions only play an active role in the last two issues, and we just don't know what they are.
And if the series is back for another arc, that's potentially just Foreshadowing for a future reveal, which would also disqualify it, as per the trope page?
Can bands be considered "works" in the typical sense? I ask because I found a Names The Same entry on Trivia.Six Feet Under that I was thinking might be salvageable as a Similarly-Named Works entry:
- Names The Same: The band not only shares their name with the popular TV show above, but also a hit song by Billie Ellish. Chris has even jokingly thanked the song's search results for helping more people discover the band's music.
So while looking at some Owl Lady videos, I've come across Many comments musing how Amity Blight feels like she's become Demoted to Satellite Love Interest, so I want a second opinion.
For context: Amity Blight Is a supporting character in The Owl House, serving as a minor antagonistic character before becoming Luz, the main Character's, girlfriend in season 2.
However, I'm not sure if she fits the trope: on the one hand, it does feel like her dating Luz has taken More focus since it became canon; the very next episode after the fact involves her going to look for a cure to Luz's illness, all while wanting to prove she can be an awesome girlfriend.
On the other hand, I feel like she has More than enough character without the crush: she's the heiress of a weapons manufacturing business in Blight Industries, she has a tense relationship with her family, particularly her mother Odalia, she's rekindling her former friendship with Willow, another character in the show, and so on and so forth.
So... Anybody got any thoughts about this?
No, Amity has not become a Satellite Love Interest, Amity still has stuff going on besides being Luz's girlfriend, such as standing up to her evil mother, making up with Willow, her going to save Luz is also a matter her insecurity due to her abusive upbringing, yes her dating Luz has taken up some of her arc but her characterization hasn't devolved into "Luz's girlfriend and nothing else"
"We'll meet again" | 🏳️⚧️Yeah, the only reason people think Amity's been demoted to SLI is because the weirdness of the third season is compressing everyone's plots. Cut it
I don't think the X-men example counts as The Un-Reveal, because we can't say while the story is still being continued
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIADo you think the Octolings from Splatoon count as Breakout Characters? They went from Elite Mooks to Promoted to Playable.
I'd say so, yeah
Also, can Shock Site have on page examples for in-universe examples?
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIACertain tropes like Snuff Film allow in-universe examples only, so if you have enough examples (that aren't merely media person reacts to real shock site-type examples), you could start a discussion on it.
You can list them as tropes or inline link them still.
Edited by Tabs on Jan 5th 2023 at 8:38:22 AM
It's on No On-Page Examples, does that not do enough to put it on work pages?
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIAReposting
(partly).
In Film.Halloween Kills someone removed this context from a Big "NO!" entry without an edit reason (I put the context in bold):
- Allyson lets out multiple "No!"s as she watches Michael brutally murder Cameron.
I don't think that's either a Big "NO!" or a Rapid-Fire "No!", even with context, so it might just be deletable.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIAFound this in Main.Politically Correct History.
- Enforced in the Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic A Century Apart
. Due to the death toll of the Second Impact in 1900, armies from all parts of the world, including Imperial Japan, are forced to accept women, but the older officers are still grumpy about this. If the Second Impact didn't happen, there would be no difference.
So, earlier in the thread I mentioned Inspiration for the Work, which is where the author mentions how they first came up with the idea for the project. From the description.
However, some of the examples are mentioning the specific works that influenced it instead of how the creator came up with it.
For instance...
- Turning Red:
- As explained in various interviews
, director Domee Shi took inspiration from five Japanese anime regarding the film's creation: Fruits Basket, Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, and My Neighbor Totoro. The first two in particular share themes of adolescence and transformations in wacky situations with the film. Sailor Moon proved the "dreamy, feminine, color palette" of film, alongside color coded friends. Totoro helped with capturing a "iconic grabbable giant animal that you just want to rub your face in", alongside Miyazaki's Slice of Life moments.
- In terms of Western works, Domee Shi took inspiration
from A Goofy Movie, Teen Wolf, The Luck of the Irish, The Thirteenth Year, PEN15, and Lady Bird. DCOMs like Irish and Thirteenth Year build upon Puberty Superpowers themes, while Goofy focused on parent-child relationships and plot-relevant pop singers like Powerline.
- According to The Washington Post
's interview, videogames that inspired the movie's visuals included EarthBound (1994), Pokémon, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
- As explained in various interviews
- Turning Red:
This says the various works that influenced Turning Red, but it doesn't say where Domee Shi got the basic idea for the film, like the description above says.
Edited by MrMediaGuy2 on Jan 5th 2023 at 6:20:12 AM
Is this an example of Older Than They Think for Superman & Lois.
- Introducing a brother for Clark in Tal-Rho. Viewers believe this is a new element to the Superman lore bit there was a imaginary story that deal with Superman having a brother the two battling one another to be named Superman.
Edited by WhirlRX on Jan 5th 2023 at 9:20:08 AM
I don't think that counts as Older Than They Think because that involves Superman having an imaginary bro and not a real one.
From Characters.One Piece Kozuki Oden:
- Slasher Smile: Oden has quite a few of those. For example, when he went to Kuri alone to face Ashura and every single bandit in there, he smiled extremely excitedly for the upcoming fight.
However, I think we may need to avoid phrasing like "x is this" since it does not explain what "this" is. The re-write would look something like this:
- Slasher Smile: When Oden travels to Kuri alone to face Ashura and every single bandit in there, he smiles extremely excitedly for the upcoming fight.
Does this work?
Edited by gjjones on Jan 5th 2023 at 8:51:41 AM
He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.Recap.Futurama S 6 E 14 The Silence Of The Clamps
- Humans Are Bastards: The Planet Express crew wasn't very sympathetic to the fact that the Robot Mafia killed an innocent robot that looked like Bender, or guilty that they were the ones who led Clamps to believe the farmbot was Bender.
This isn't really that serious of a scene to make you ponder that humanity are dicks. In fact, this example seems like something Bender himself would write.
Edited by PlasmaPower on Jan 5th 2023 at 6:54:27 AM
Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
(x7) Mr Media Guy 2:
I agree, the example focuses too much on the similarity between Turning Red and a plethora of other works, some of which sound a bit random (like Breath of the Wild). It would need either a rewrite that explains how exactly the author took influence from these works or just cut it all together.
Valdodoes Magitek require the "tech" to be hi-tech (computers, etc)? im trying to figure out if an exoskeleton grown from trees and stone counts as such, esp when the design is less "riding a tree" and more weird stone robot thing
