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
Imperfect Ritual is a subtrope of Ritual Magic, which specifically says that it has to be magic that anyone can perform without needing The Gift. So does this mean that an example of a bunch of people with special powers needing to be gathered together, and having to substitute because one is missing, would not count? That would be a shame because the examples I am thinking of otherwise fit the trope perfectly. Maybe tropes are flexible enough for it to count if the "ritual" is gathering people rather than things?
Also does Had to Come to Prison to Be a Crook count only for prisons? I was thinking of an example of a character who gets sent to a Hell-like punishment afterlife after her death and wasn't all that bad when she dies, but becomes worse while she is there.
Sounds more like Series Continuity Error than Continuity Snarl to us, though we never did establish where exactly the line between those two actually is.
Edited by wingedcatgirl on Jul 3rd 2023 at 3:53:15 PM
Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.Reposted
but the entry has been added to on the YMMV page (see the bolded part below). and now reads like full-blown complaining.
Is this is misuse of Opinion Myopia? I thought Opinion Myopia is about a group of fans who love/detest a show discovering that it's done the opposite to their belief in terms of box office sales (or another measurable metric). Isn't this entry just fandoms disagree internally on whether to like or dislike a show, which is every fandom?
- Opinion Myopia: The show's FNDM is infamous for having clashes amongst each-other wherein one side refuses to accept or compromise on the other's opinion, and they can get extremely heated. From viewers who see the show as an absolute masterpiece that can do no wrong clashing with critics who disdain the show's flaws, to viewers whom are critical of or prejudiced against Fix Fics clashing with said fics' supporters and Fanwork-Only Fans, trying to have a cool-headed argument or negotiation with different areas of the FNDM can be like talking to a brick wall with a virulent mouth.
Edited by Wyldchyld on Jul 3rd 2023 at 12:17:30 PM
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.To the extent Opinion Myopia seems to have a coherent definition, it's about fans falsely believing their personal opinion is a widespread consensus. That example text doesn't describe such a phenomenon at all; it's just talking about fans... disagreeing.
Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.![]()
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The main thing about Continuity Snarl is when two different writer from two different shows (set in the same continuity) contradict each other. Series Continuity Error is likely better suited for the same show. Assuming Strange New Worlds and Picard have two different sets of writers, this seems like a textbook case of Continuity Snarl.
Four examples under Series Continuity Error on The Baby-Sitters Club page boil down to:
- In one book, a character says she isn't sure she ever wants pierced ears. In a later book, she gets pierced ears.
- In one book, a character says she'd never choose to live with her dad instead of her mom. In a later book, she does choose to do that.
- In one book, a character ends a friendship because the friend got a boyfriend and started looking down on her and claiming to be more mature. In a later book, the character does the same thing.
- In one book, a character helps some younger kids get their own rooms because they argued too much while sharing a room. In the next book, the character tries to share a room with her new stepsister.
These aren't continuity errors, right? None of them contradicts the earlier event.
Finishing Stomp? Or does it not apply to things that are too weak to just be finished off by a stomp and instead is a One-Hit Kill?
- Dungeon Keeper Ami: From "Allies?", a Born of Magic animated dust bunny is killed with just one stomp.
"Looks like an animated dust bunny to me," the dark general said and stepped on the tiny nuisance, squishing it. A puff of grey dust escaped from underneath his soles.
Speaking of Born of Magic, would a spell to create Animate Inanimate Object-s from a base inanimate object, be a kind of Magic Enhancement and also go on that page, or is Born of Magic a Magic Enhancement sub-trope, so such a thing wouldn't be listed on Magic Enhancement?
Edited by Malady on Jul 3rd 2023 at 8:39:35 AM
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576- Woolseyism:
- An unintentional example. Due to time constraints, the dub team had to work entirely from a heavily summarized and poorly translated version of the script
, meaning a lot of the dub was essentially brand new dialogue, written entirely based on the animation. Most fans agree that they did a pretty good job though.
- On the other hand, what may be a by-product of this is that at least in Netflix, the English subtitles don't match the English audio track half the time; For example, Joker's early line "I have to say I've really enjoyed the sushi here" has the subtitle "I thought you'll be here, too. So I was looking for you." It's usually the same but it's a bit irritating if you use both the English audio and subtitle track.
- An unintentional example. Due to time constraints, the dub team had to work entirely from a heavily summarized and poorly translated version of the script
- Macekre: 90% of the plot being rewritten for the English version based solely on the animation alone didn't get that version much love from anime fans used to modern localization standards. It doesn't help that the official subtitles don't match with the Japanese version either, leading to a fansubbed version.
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That does seem like an example of Finishing Stomp. As for your second question, I think Born of Magic would be a subtrope in that case, so Magic Enhancement probably shouldn't be listed.
I agree that those two examples are mutually exclusive as written, but I know nothing of the fandom and cannot tell you which one (if any) is actually accurate.
Found this in Apple Texts:
- Failed a Spot Check: The eight most recent videos of Santa Texts
all feature backgrounds, segues and post-story segments that were clearly meant for the Kitty Texts
channel.
- This particular video
takes it one step further by using the Kitty Texts introduction.
- This particular video
Is this correct?
Edited by mickey96 on Jul 4th 2023 at 11:01:35 AM
In Colleen Ballinger’s infamous video where she sings, plays the ukelele, and responds to allegations, she says, “Even though my team has strongly advised me to not say what I want to say, I recently realized that they never said that I couldn't sing what I wanna say”. People have compared this to the part in iParty with Victorious where Tori tells Cat that her doctor said that she’s not supposed to talk and Cat sings, “He didn’t say I couldn’t sing.” I thought this might be an example of Harsher/Hilarious In Hindsight. If not, I think it might at least be an example of Memetic Mutation. The Hilarious In Hindsight page for It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Compares her video to "Frank Reynolds Little Beauties"
Edited by MatthewGuy6131994 on Jul 5th 2023 at 5:34:05 AM
finally found a trope that would fit.
Is this But Not Too Evil?
* The Imperium of Man from Warhammer 40,000 is supposed to be one of the "most cruel regime imagineable" according to the setting's Opening Crawl that shows up in every book. An insane theocracy, bastion of religious fanaticism and xenophobia... and yet compared to the theocracies of real history, it is remarkably tolerant of religious variations (as long as the God-Emperor is worshipped as the Top God, the Ecclesiarchy does not really care how specifically), egalitarian when it comes to gender and sexes (women holding positions of power are treated as a perfectoy normal, if uncommon, thing, and trans characters are likewise not singled out as such) and race-blind (characters' ethnicities are only described for flavour rather than as an important thing), and only engages in Fantastic Racism (since "the mutant" it despises as part of its credo are genuinly mutated people rather than simply ones more mundane physical oddities).
Edited by dArtagnanMusic on Jul 4th 2023 at 5:27:55 AM
From Metaphorically True, is this actually Exact Words or Expospeak Gag?
- Kyon: Big Damn Hero: Achakura invokes this in order to get Nonoko to bring Kyon his gear after he left it behind at home.
Nonoko: And it's going to turn me into a magical girl?
Achakura: For values of "turning you into a magical girl" equal to "you having a costume that protects you and operates on principles most people won't understand, and wielding equipment that few on Earth have ever seen, let alone held," yes, this will turn you into a magical girl!
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Saw the Trope Finder post for this, and AFAIK But Not Too Evil has always been more about not making kids' media villains too scary. It probably wouldn't be too hard to redefine it to fit things like that... but TBH it's always struck me as kind of a whiny complaining page, so I'm not in love with that idea.
Could it also apply to Villain Protagonist? I saw it on the Lord of War page about how, the titual character (who is our main protagonist) never dealt gun to the actual talibans, despite selling guns to all sorts of dictators and warlords in africa.
Micky 96: Not only is that misuse, but it's improperly indented. Delete it.
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I'd call that an Expospeak Gag.
Can trope examples mention that they were used in a meta way to disprove fandom speculation? I was planning to trim and update this DMC4 example in the Blade Reflection page (trope is indeed in effect in the artwork), but I'm not sure if the first half of this example (as currently written) is necessary information.
- In Devil May Cry 4, this trope provides the only proof that Nero's Devil Trigger doesn't quite take the form of Nelo Angelo, as many fans speculate. For those dedicated enough to fully clear the game, the game-clear art for Hell or Hell difficulty shows it reflected on Yamato's surface in full color - color that is mostly red, the reflection being Dante's DT form.
Would this be an inverse Hereditary Curse, travelling from the newest child, up, and possibly down and sideways in the family tree?
- The Bloodline ritual, which takes out everyone related to a sacrificial victim.
Just a question, does Has a Type need some form of in-universe acknowledgment cause I found this example Characters.Trails Series Calvard Arkride Solutions Office that I’m unsure of because there is no in-universe acknowledgment to it.
- Has a Type: While there isn't much attention drawn to it, his two primary love interests, Agnes and Elaine, have a few common traits: both have hair that is long and blonde, both have large chests, and both come from upper class backgrounds.

Can Tarot Troubles be used for other ominous fortune-telling seances aside tarot cards?
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup