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
Any input on this
?
I don’t think that qualifies. Battle Aura is a subtrope of Power Glows and specificallly talks about a "sign of great power". This sounds more like Living Mood Ring, which directly mentions glowing effects as one option for emotions changing the character's appearance.
Edited by Mrph1 on Feb 5th 2023 at 9:19:03 AM
The answer is kinda complicated, because there are four candidates here with camps who argue their character is the Citan, all with decent reason: Noahnote , Taionnote , Rikunote , and Teachnote .
I'm inclined to split the difference and assume the developers' mentality was "fans love Citan and characters like him so screw it, let's just make lots of characters based off him" but my stance seems like a minority opinion among the fandom.
Either way, whichever one or all of them it is (especially if it's Taion and Teach) they have more direct connection to the original Citan than Ashera (the Dunban clone) or Ethel (the Morag clone) do, all the meanwhile interacting with the latter two (and in fact Teach and Ashera are depicted as having a The Rival kind of dynamic, though surprisingly it's not over their mutual Citan inspirations).
Edited by AlleyOop on Feb 5th 2023 at 9:41:58 AM
![]()
![]()
Another entry i was wondering if should be readded under the new definition is this
- The Last of Us Part II: The game was already fairly bleak starting on a Downer Beginning with Joel being brutally killed by Abby for the revenge of her father which already didn't sit well with the fanbase. But after going through all the trials and tribulations of the leads. It ends with Ellie having nothing at the end of the game. She foregoes her revenge on Abby at the last minute and lets her live, but comes home to find Dina and the baby they raised together having left which Dina had threatened to do if she went through with going after Abby one more time. Two of her fingers were bitten off in the final fight meaning she can no longer play guitar, the last remnant of Joel she had left and wandering off into an unknown future. One can argue that Abby lost all of her friends due to her revenge, but she at least had Lev and the hope of finding a firefly base by the end of her story. Sure no one was expecting a major happy ending given the game's setting. Still, the ending utterly soured what goodwill most players were willing to give the game, who felt like nothing was accomplished at the end of the day and topped off a pretty miserable story.
Back in December, I cut Alternate Company Equivalent from ComicBook.Deaths Head. Another troper's now added a version of it back and I've got no wish to start an edit war, but I'm still not sure it fits:
- Alternate Company Equivalent: Geoff Senior has compared him to DC's Lobo.
How much of a similarity do we need to justify an example for this trope? Is Word of God from a creator enough?
(That also looks a lot like a ZCE to me?)
The comparison was between Marvel's Death's Head
and DC's Lobo
◊ (links go to images). They're both cosmic bounty hunters, but there's no physical resemblance and they have very different personalities.
Lobo is a violent loose cannon who killed off his own race, drinks a lot and swears a lot.
Death's Head is a sentient robot with a dry sense of humour who insists he's a consummate professional, a 'freelance peacekeeping agent' - even if he bends the rules a little - and reacts badly to being described as a bounty hunter.
(Note that Death's Head was launched a couple of years before Lobo was rebooted in this style - I don't think Senior's suggesting Lobo was a direct influence on the character, or vice versa, just that they fill a similar niche)
Edited by Mrph1 on Feb 5th 2023 at 1:01:14 PM
A repost from here
two days ago.
About three years ago
I posted this inquiry to here about someone adding ZCE of Berserk Button to Zack on Carmen Sandiego - Carmen's Gang. He merely yells in annoyance at hearing Boston being called "Bean Town." I deleted the post and left a comment at the spot to alert people why the trope doesn't apply with a link to the aforementioned discussion here. Then back in November a troper deleted my comment and readded the same example with no additional example of Zack reacting disproportionately to hearing that annoyance.
Permission to delete and repost the comment?
![]()
![]()
![]()
Yeah, that all just reinforces my sense that the entire Expy concept needs a serious looking at, because that's a lot of different aspects of being "based on" Citan that do sound tropable but certainly do not fit Expy as currently defined (and TBH I'm starting to think that definition is Too Rare To Trope).
![]()
![]()
I was pretty strongly against the redefinition, TBH, but I think it fits even though the story in general has a degree of Angst Aversion/TBSC going on: I definitely get the sense just from what I've seen on this site that the ending furthered the negative reaction to the game a lot, in the "why bother sitting through a depressing story if there isn't even a worthwhile payoff?" sense.
Found these in Main.Inspirationally Disadvantaged.
- Averted with Jake on Becker, who happens to be a blind black man. He's not treated as 'inspirationally disabled' by the show, and his blindness is often used for jokes, as well as being shown to be just as flawed and human as the others.
- Averted in Game of Thrones with Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage). He has been born with a hereditary bone condition leading to dwarfism. Despite his family's high status and immense wealth he is often mocked as "half-man" and "imp". He himself is very aware of this: "All dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes." (Tyrion has a following in the fandom, because he is one of the funniest, most interesting, and probably most moral characters on the show, and because Peter Dinklage's performance is fantastic, but his being a dwarf has little to do with any of this except to the extent that the discrimination informs the character's worldview and interactions with other characters.) Nonetheless, the trope is played straight to some extent, since it's implied that Tyrion developed his sharp wit and brilliant mind partly as a way to compensate for his disability and discrimination.
- Averted in Seven Days. The fact that resident genius Dr. Ballard uses a wheelchair is almost never mentioned in the series. There was one episode that focused on it, and every now and then he'd make a joke regarding it, as real people might, but that's it.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- Teo averts this trope. Teo might be an excellent pilot, but this is never suggested to be because he is paraplegic, nor do any of the other characters seem to consider him unusual in any way. The only notice anyone takes of Teo's handicap is when Sokka is impressed by his "glider chair". Also, in spite of only being in two scenes in "The Day of Black Sun", and not doing much in either, he was on the front lines in the end so we can assume that he was fighting the whole time.
- Then there's Toph, though she's more along the lines of Disability Superpower. Also averted, as she's happy to make blind jokes about herself as well as jokes at other people's expense about her blindness, and her genuine setbacks (being functionally illiterate in a world without Braille) are merely acknowledged.
This Big Bad page for Avatar exists, but lists the antagonists from each of the show's seasons. Aren't these Arc Villains? I thought Big Bad only applied to the one person who is responsible for all the bad things that happen in the story.
For the original series, Ozai is the overall Big Bad for the series while Zuko and Azula are the Arc Villains of given season.
That's what I'm saying. Should I move the Ozai example to the main article, create an Arc Villain page for the other examples, and cutlist the Big Bad page?
Would Kevin Levin's portrayal in Ben 10: Alien Force count as an example of Character Perception Evolution? When Alien Force was airing a lot of fans disliked his Heel–Face Return return and romance with Gwen preferring when Kevin was the Ax-Crazy Evil Counterpart to Ben in the Original Series. However, fans became more receptive to these things with time and some retcons in later shows. The overall reception being while rushed at the start both aspects were worth it for the new dynamics and storylines provided with Kevin being a common choice for the favorite character in the franchise.
Or does it not count since it's less the character himself and more the perceived inconsistencies with how he was portrayed in the first show?
I found these on The Critical Drinker
- Acceptable Targets:
- The Drinker has frequently targeted Rian Johnson (or as The Drinker sometimes calls him, "The Round-Headed Simpleton") as an embodiment (or rather what The Drinker himself sees as the embodiment) of how not to tell a good story. A sentiment he continues in his review of Johnson's Glass Onion, and by extension its predecessor Knives Out.
- He also attacks Brie Larson at every opportunity.
- He's generally extremely sensitive towards seeing actors of colour or actresses in certain works, especially reboots or legacy sequels, believing they're a sign of "The Message" he loathes so much.
- He dislikes it when women are shown being able to fight and defeat men regardless of the explanation provided, such as when he questions how Ying Li defeated Wenwu in the prologue of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings despite the film later explaining exactly how she did it.
- Men that do not conform to his notions of masculinity are referred to as 'weak' and 'beta' and are frequent targets of mockery in his videos.
- From time to time, he will take shots at Bob Chipman.
I have never watched this guy, but I can't actually help but wonder. Do these actually fit?
Edited by Bullman on Feb 6th 2023 at 12:17:32 PM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup threadAcceptable Targets is an index now, so you can just cut that, I think.
So I noticed ~Rock Raider posted a bunch of examples under Sinister Suffocation recently, however I want to dispute them counting; none of them emphasize the idea of the suffocation being particularly dark or nasty, which is the point of the trope. Here are the examples:
- Ghost Lab (2021): When Dr. Gla's ghost is trying to kill Dr. Wee in the morgue, the former gets on top of the latter and starts strangling him.
- Nutcracker Massacre:
- The Nutcracker kills James by strangling him to death with its bare hands.
- The Nutcracker kills Mousey by strangling her to death with Christmas tinsel with lights in it.
- Elves (2017): When killing the Tropaholics Anonymous group late in the movie, the red-haired girl finishes off the last member by strangling him to death with some streamers.
- Kild TV: The first murder victim in the movie, the TV show receptionist, is killed by being strangled to death by some kind of a strap.
How do these examples not fit Sinister Suffocation? The trope is about how it's evil to strangle someone to death, which these examples all cover.
Read what I wrote; none of the examples actually describe the act as horrifically evil. The only context provided is that someone dies by being suffocated.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall![]()
![]()
+
Agreed. The examples read like "a strangling scene happens" not "a strangling scene happens and it's portrayed as pure evil/heinous act."
So, I'm reconsidering this example on Characters.My Hero Academia Shoto Todoroki again, which I added a bit to tbh, and I'm not sure whether it's a shoehorn or a played with example (either zigzagged or downplayed):
- Nice Guy: While he was largely antisocial at the start of the series, he was never really a Jerkass to anyone, just aloof and somewhat arrogant. After the U.A. Sports Festival Arc and Remedial Course Arc, he begins to become more sociable, even gaining a sense of humor and occasionally smiling. He's also the one who snapped Ida out of his Heroic BSoD when they were fighting Stain, by reminding Ida to not forget that he wants to be a hero. Lampshaded by Recovery Girl who calls him a softie, commenting on how considerate he was with Yaoyorozu on their exam.
The reason I have issues with this example is that Todoroki isn't particularly "nice" as compared to other characters like Mina, Shoji, Hagakure, and Midoriya, who's being nice/kind is one of their defining traits and I feel like the Nice Guy trope is used for any character who has basic decency. But at the same time, he's referred to as kind and heroic In-Universe, especially for forgiving his mom (who caused his scar). However, he's also listed as the "in-between" from the Nice, Mean, and In-Between trio, suggesting that he isn't the nicest person ever. Should I remove it or add that it's a zigzagged example?
Uncanny Valley Hot Babes in Your Area Are Looking To Know YOU! Click Here to Sign Up for FREE! | Not quite back tbh. Don't expect much.
x12 Re: Nitro Indigo: You can go to the Trope Description Improvement Drive
and see whether the sentence can be added.
I've never watched the show, but the description fits Sugar-and-Ice Personality better than Nice Guy.
Edited by ElRise on Feb 7th 2023 at 12:11:50 AM
Graffiti WallI agree that Shoto isn't a Nice Guy, as in, being nice isn't a defining characteristic. He's a good guy, but Midoriya is the Nice Guy type.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall

"which was in essence endings that caused long-lasting damage to the franchise"
The old definition was "new viewers being turned off from starting the series because they've got spoiled on the ending", though it doesn't really matter now that the definition has expanded.
Re The series: Doesn't even describe any ending, though it sounds like It's the Same, Now It Sucks!.
Re Adventures: "That meant for SEVEN YEARS" has some odd grammar but beside that, unless it doesn't count as an ending since it has a direct sequel, looks fine to re-add to me.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup