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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.
    • Wrong: Big Bad: Of the first season.
    • Right: Big Bad: The heroes have to defeat the Mushroom Man lest the entirety of Candy Land's caramel supply be turned into fungus.
  • A character name is not an explanation.


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

RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
She / Her
#25001: Jan 5th 2023 at 9:03:29 AM

[up]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.

Tabs Since: Jan, 2001
#25002: Jan 5th 2023 at 9:40:11 AM

[up][up] It's not silent in-universe. Characters talking offscreen doesn't mean the characters never talked.

Mrph1 he/him from Mercia (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: This is not my beautiful wife!
he/him
#25003: Jan 5th 2023 at 9:43:33 AM

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.
(For context, the series goes on end-of-arc hiatus after issue 10. The assumption is that it restarts in April, but it'll be another month before we know if it's New Season, New Title or a Sequel Series rather than a simple restart. Definitely not cancelled, though)

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?

JankyKong He's finally back to kick some... wait from a Secret Base on the Moon Since: May, 2021 Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
He's finally back to kick some... wait
#25004: Jan 5th 2023 at 10:19:54 AM

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.

Your melody still remains in this room and it rings
Androne-5 Since: Feb, 2014
#25005: Jan 5th 2023 at 10:40:58 AM

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?

Agentofchaos A God Am I from Somewhere in the Universe Since: Dec, 2021
#25006: Jan 5th 2023 at 10:45:02 AM

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" | 🏳️‍⚧️
Libraryseraph uu~ from Canada (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
uu~
#25007: Jan 5th 2023 at 10:52:43 AM

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 MARIA
NitroIndigo ♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves from West Midlands region, England Since: Jun, 2021 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves
#25008: Jan 5th 2023 at 11:12:01 AM

Do you think the Octolings from Splatoon count as Breakout Characters? They went from Elite Mooks to Promoted to Playable.

Libraryseraph uu~ from Canada (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
uu~
#25009: Jan 5th 2023 at 12:17:17 PM

[up] I'd say so, yeah

Also, can Shock Site have on page examples for in-universe examples?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIA
Tabs Since: Jan, 2001
#25010: Jan 5th 2023 at 12:37:07 PM

Certain 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.

[down] You can list them as tropes or inline link them still.

Edited by Tabs on Jan 5th 2023 at 8:38:22 AM

Libraryseraph uu~ from Canada (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
uu~
#25011: Jan 5th 2023 at 12:43:21 PM

It's on No On-Page Examples, does that not do enough to put it on work pages?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIA
RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
She / Her
#25012: Jan 5th 2023 at 12:59:39 PM

Reposting (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.
Can I bring it back or should I just hide the entry because it's a zero-context example now? What do you all think? In case I need to say this, most of the "No!"s aren't said right after each other, so it doesn't qualify as Rapid-Fire "No!" imo.

Libraryseraph uu~ from Canada (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
uu~
#25013: Jan 5th 2023 at 1:09:24 PM

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 MARIA
ElRise I fix my examples all the time from The Dying City (Life not ruined yet) Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
I fix my examples all the time
#25014: Jan 5th 2023 at 5:54:23 PM

Found 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.
The above is a misuse of Enforced Trope. How is the trope Played With? Or should I just cut it?

Graffiti Wall
SoyValdo7 I mainly fix indentation issues from La tierra de lagos y volcanes Since: Sep, 2022 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
I mainly fix indentation issues
#25015: Jan 5th 2023 at 5:59:48 PM

[up] Definitely misuse. The work is very clearly a Alternate Universe Fic

Valdo
MrMediaGuy2 Since: Jun, 2015
#25016: Jan 5th 2023 at 6:19:52 PM

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.

Occasionally, a creator will share a story on how they came up with the idea for their work. Perhaps they attribute it to a specific event; perhaps they focused on one idea or character and built the story from there. Either way, it's often interesting to learn about.

However, some of the examples are mentioning the specific works that influenced it instead of how the creator came up with it.

For instance...

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

WhirlRX Since: Jan, 2015
#25017: Jan 5th 2023 at 6:19:57 PM

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

RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
She / Her
#25018: Jan 5th 2023 at 6:32:29 PM

[up]I don't think that counts as Older Than They Think because that involves Superman having an imaginary bro and not a real one.

WhirlRX Since: Jan, 2015
#25019: Jan 5th 2023 at 6:41:17 PM

[up]He still real. Imaginary story is more What If? stories.

gjjones Musician/Composer from South Wales, New York Since: Jul, 2016
Musician/Composer
#25020: Jan 5th 2023 at 6:41:42 PM

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.
PlasmaPower Piece of Cake. Since: Jan, 2015
Piece of Cake.
#25021: Jan 5th 2023 at 6:50:44 PM

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!
CSS1 Since: Mar, 2021
#25022: Jan 5th 2023 at 6:53:55 PM

Maybe it’s an example of Comedic Sociopathy?

Edited by CSS1 on Jan 5th 2023 at 6:54:18 AM

moo
Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#25023: Jan 5th 2023 at 6:54:25 PM

re: Kozuki Oden, correct.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
SoyValdo7 I mainly fix indentation issues from La tierra de lagos y volcanes Since: Sep, 2022 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
I mainly fix indentation issues
#25024: Jan 5th 2023 at 7:38:43 PM

[up] (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.

Valdo
MsOranjeDiscoDancer 2much2furious from the Saja Boys' last performance! Since: Aug, 2022 Relationship Status: Will you go out with me to the End?
2much2furious
#25025: Jan 5th 2023 at 7:50:25 PM

does 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

i may be dead inside but at least i have Mystery :,)

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