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
I've only gotten a couple of responses to my inquiry about the Sadly Mythtaken entry to Saber's page, but they seem to support the entry being valid. If no-one has any objections, can I re-add it?
Would this count for Already the Case:
- An episode of Perfect Strangers had Larry, Balki, Jennifer, and Mary Ann take a trip to a ski lodge where their cabin gets buried by an avalanche. Larry and Balki try to dig an escape tunnel, but only manage to tunnel back to the buried cabin. Larry is about to give up when Balki gives him a speech on perseverance. He concludes the speech with "If George Washington had given up at Valley Forge, we'd all be speaking English now!"
After we agreed that Avatar: The Last Airbender didn't undergo Cerebus Syndrome, I decided to look at Knight of Cerebus and found that every mahout villain from both Avatar series are listed there. Can Knight of Cerebus apply when Cerebus Syndrome doesn't? Also, can Knight of Cerebus still work when applied tot he majority of villains, even ones that show up very early?
On YMMV.Five Nights At Freddys 2023, we have this entry:
- Tainted by the Preview: The teaser trailer for the most part left a very promising and faithful first impression, but some fans criticized the animatronics' glowing red eyes, feeling that there not as effectively creepy as the natural endoskeleton eyes — black with tiny white pupils — in the games.
Doesn't this sentiment fit They Changed It, Now It Sucks! better? A similar-sounding entry was originally under just that, before it was changed to a Narm entry, then I changed that back to TCINIS since it fit the former better and Narm has to be a specific moment. Then someone changed it to Tainted by the Preview with no edit reason.
Should I swap it back?
Tainted by the Preview is better as "It Sucks" is about the final product (it might be seen as not as problematic in the final product).
YMMV.Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny
- Fan-Disliked Explanation: So what happened to Indiana Jones once he got old? Well, he turned into a bitter, lonely man that constantly complains about everything and hates his university job, despite it being the only thing he has left in his life. Yaay!
While a fan disliked what became of him, I'm not sure if it counts as an Explanation which is how/why. Thoughts?
Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Aug 11th 2023 at 9:37:14 AM
Should the PlayingWith.Made Of Iron page include this:
For the record, the original justifications were Bob training using the Charles Atlas Superpower shtick, him being too drugged to feel pain, and Cartoon Physics. This was edited to the current more than two years ago, but I don't know if I should just put "???" in its place or if the trope has some sort of meta-justification, like:
Justified: Bob needs to go back in time, but he thinks the Ben Franklin kite experiment was done with a weather balloon instead of a key, so he uses the balloon as a jacket, which causes him to walk in slow motion and never feel pain as a result.
Your goateed philistine is sashaying towards us. | 🧱I want to add an entry for Recap.Star Trek Lower Decks S 3 E 05 Reflections -
- Assurance Backfire: At the recruiting booth, Mariner encourages passersby to join Starfleet to "experience Warp 10 excitement!" and "discover the undiscovered country!" Appealing-sounding slogans based on Star Trek's history, but travelling at Warp 10 evolves people into salamanders, and the undiscovered country is death.
Is this the right Double Meaning subtrope? Mariner probably isn't thinking about what she's saying (she doesn't want to be at the booth but her enthusiasm for Starfleet is genuine), and no one in-universe reacts or draws attention to it - it's a passing joke for the audience, not the characters.
ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NOIs this shoehorning? I thought But for Me, It Was Tuesday was for characters who can't remember because it's either too common/trivial an act to stand out from a sea of similar acts. However, this entry is about a hero who has zero reason to expect anyone to blame her for Torchwick's death. She didn't kill him (he was Eaten Alive; Neo doesn't know this) and Neo is The Speechless who only targets Ruby after The Heavy convinces her to (Ruby doesn't know this). Ruby therefore only learns Neo's motive when Neo creates talking clones of Roman.
Entry for Ruby Rose, RWBY:
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Neo has spent a long time hunting down Ruby for her role in Torchwick's death. For her part, Ruby has no clue why Neo is after her, and has to be reminded during their confrontation in the Ever After.
Edited by Wyldchyld on Aug 12th 2023 at 12:17:36 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.Continuing with YMMV.Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny:
- Fan-Disliked Explanation: So what happened to Indiana Jones once he got old? Well, he turned into a bitter, lonely man that constantly complains about everything and hates his university job (which is also less prestigious than it used to be), despite it being the only thing he has left in his life. Yaay! This is particulary in sharp contrast with things established by The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, where elderly Indy from the Framing Device is a quintessential Cool Old Guy, perfectly adjusted with his advanced age and past exploits.
So does it properly cover how/why now?
Does The Faceless apply to characters who wear a full-face mask, so they technically have a "face", but we never see what their real face looks like? e.g. V from V for Vendetta?
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All that entry tells us is that Indy becomes a Grumpy Old Man. It doesn't tell us why, and it seems to be complaining that he's a Grumpy Old Man instead of a Cool Old Guy.
The Faceless does state that a face that is always obscured by a mask or helmet is an example of the trope. Dramatic Unmask, Anti-Climactic Unmasking and some forms of Stranger Behind the Mask tend to depend on a character being The Faceless via a mask or hood or helmet until the dramatic reveal of their face and identity.
Edited by Wyldchyld on Aug 12th 2023 at 3:14:51 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.Ok, let's try this one.
- Fan-Disliked Explanation: So what happened to Indiana Jones once he got old? Well, he turned into a bitter, lonely man with a failed marriage and dead son, constantly complains about everything and hating his university job (which is also less prestigious than it used to be), despite it being the only thing he has left in his life. Yaay! This is particulary in sharp contrast with things established by The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, where elderly Indy from the Framing Device is a quintessential Cool Old Guy, perfectly adjusted with his advanced age and past exploits. Or even the divisive Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, where elderly Indy was still the adventuring type despite his already advanced age.
And it's kind of the point that he's a Grumpy Old Man (for the most part just because) instead of being Cool Old Guy. But I guess that just falls under trivia entry of Writer Conflicts with Canon, given how the scenario pretty much ignores all the pre-existing canon and goes its own way.
Edited by Tropiarz on Aug 12th 2023 at 5:15:27 PM
Either way it's not an "explanation" for anything. There's no question being answered — Indy's just a grump.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallNoa: I get the impression a False Reassurance has to be intentional on the part of the speaker. That example seems to be a Double Meaning that doesn't fit into any of the subtropes.
Wyldchyld: I agree that But for Me, It Was Tuesday example seems shoehorned.
Bigotry will NEVER be welcome on TV Tropes.The question was "so what Indy did once he got old/after Kingdom". That's pretty much the official stated reason behind making the film in the first place. But as I've said already when commenting the edit, I don't feel particularly strong about adding the entry, just trying to figure how to make it work within the frame of the trope. Turns out - not possible in the first place. Thanks
Would this be an example of Guilt by Association Gag?
- The Simpsons: In Who Shot Mr. Burns Part One, Mr. Burns steals the oil that was under and to be claimed by Springfield Elementary. As such, not only does he have legal claim over the only, the school had to make layoffs because of the money wasted on building the oil rig, one of which was Groundskeeper Willie. He responds by vowing to kll Burns and then wound his assistant Smithers.
I need help with determining whether Nameless is a Corrupted Character Copy of Lars, or if Lars is a Virtuous Character Copy of Nameless. I initially put Nameless as a Corrupted Character Copy (because Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, Lars's debut, was initially announced on August 28th, 2008 and released in arcades on December 18, 2008, whilst The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match, Nameless's debut, was initially announced at TGS 2008 (which ran from October 9-12, 2008) and released on the PS2 on February 26, 2009), but today I noticed that instead Lars was added as a Virtuous Character Copy, even though judging by the release dates Lars was first and Nameless was second.
There's so much I wish I could take back.CNG: Okay - I'll just list it as Double Meaning, then. Thanks!
ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NOThere's a family of 5 consisting of a father, mother, their first son, their second son and their only daughter. Now the tallest members of the family are the father and the eldest son, both of whom are about 5'7. The eldest son is the snarkiest member of the family. Would Tall, Dark, and Snarky apply to him within the context of his family, or is 5'7 still too short for the trope to apply to him?

BanG Dream! characters: Can Kokoro Tsurumaki count as a Token Rich Student, given that her family is just really that rich compared to every other fellow high school student in Hanasakigawa Girls High School, the same school that all of Poppin' Party, as well as Hagumi, Kanon, Misaki, Aya, Chisato and Eve are a part of?
I mean, it might seem too unspecific considering that the three main High Schools featured in the series are all fairly expensive to enroll off, which means to some extent, basically the families of all of these girls are quite rich, but the Tsurumaki family is just really so rich compared to the families of every other member of the main cast in the series.
I asked this honestly because adding this trope out of the blue might seem difficult for me to justify it properly, considering we don't get a proper mentioning of how exactly wealthy are the other Hanasakigawa High students (or at least, their families that enrolled them into that high school), compared to the obviously ultra-wealthy Tsurumaki family.
To make that a better comparison in further: I remember a scene (maybe present in some form in all of these sources: the anime, the video game, and one of the mangas), that Kasumi is far from being able to afford the Random Star guitar normally while it was put on sale. In a theory, Kasumi isn't that much wealthy technically, so it's likely she has a huge wealth gap to compare with Kokoro.
Edited by JustNormalMusicLover on Aug 11th 2023 at 1:16:55 AM
Nothing solves a day of depression better than a warm smile.