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
There is a substantial degree of overlap, but the Forgotten First Meeting doesn't need to be a Connected All Along situation, as such no it really isn't a subtrope.
CAL requires that until the reveal it is assumed that the characters have a relatively minor prior connection, if one at all.
An example from the FFM page that isn't a CAL : The Simpsons: In "The Way We Weren't" Marge & Homer met when they were circa 10 years old at summer camp and shared their first kisses together. When they met again in high school neither recognized the other (in part because one had very different hair and the other had an eye-patch when they first met).
Since Marge and Homer are already married with 3 kids when they are first introduced there is a presumption that they have a long history together that just hadn't been fleshed out. So, not a CAL.
Sonic.exe is based on a creepypasta. Just like most creepypasta game, the game doesn't have that much gameplay as it is scripted and Failure Is the Only Option for those kind of game.
Would putting this on YMMV.Halloweentown sound like a stretch, or does it fit?
- Harsher in Hindsight: In Halloweentown, Aggie getting frozen with a scared expression, and her arm stretched outwards (pointing her grandchildren towards the theater's exit) might feel harder to watch after Debbie Reynolds' fatal stroke.
Seems like a stretch. Nothing about the scene actually connects to the actor's death.
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.Yes. "Actor did something in a movie, and sometime much later they died," does not make a Harsher in Hindsight example. That's noise; nuke it on sight.
edited 16th Jan '17 11:54:16 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Reposting from the previous page
so it doesn't get lost:
These examples have recently been added to YMMV.Shadowhunters, and I'd like to know whether they're being used/written correctly or have enough context. I've already had to remove 2 examples added at the same time by the same troper that were definitely being misused note :
- Estrogen Brigade: With a Cast Full of Pretty Boys on display, there are sizeable female fanbases for Jace, Alec, Luke, Magnus, Simon and even Hodge (since he got Adaptational Attractiveness).
- Growing the Beard: Fans of the show point to the fifth episode as a marked improvement. The actors settle into their characters better - especially Emeraude Tobia and Matthew Daddario, effects get a little better and the episode structure is better.
- Narm:
- Jace and Clary's first meeting. Viewers erupted into hysterical chuckles over "you have the sight?"
- Alec has to inexplicably strip off to use the parabati bond to track Jace.
- Jace is a veritable fountain of Narm whenever he interacts with Simon. Particularly when they get into a fight in the third episode, and Jace calls him "Mundane" in the most forced way possible.
- Special Effect Failure: The CGI to simulate portals looks very cheap.
- Testosterone Brigade: Clary and Isabelle are gorgeous. Plenty of male fans watch the show just to stare at them. Lydia too when she shows up.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: A common refrain among the fandom:
- Luke goes from owning a bookstore to being an NYPD detective.
- Dorothea becomes a younger character and Adaptational Badass called Dot.
- Clary gets a portal shard necklace from Jocelyn that gives her visions.
- The Institute is more high-tech, with computers and gadgets.
- Maryse is far stricter than her book counterpart, and has a strained relationship with Isabelle.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Hodge is Out of Focus for most of the first season.
- The Un-Twist: Even for those who didn't read the books, it was very obvious that Michael Weyland was Valentine in disguise.
Again, if you're going to post long sets of examples, it would really help to say why you're doubting them. Sometimes it's obvious, but sometimes it's not.
The "Wasted a Perfectly Good Character" one is a ZCE. Doesn't say what a "Hodge" is or why anyone would care.
Speaking words of fandom: let it squee, let it squee.Is The Electric Tale of Pikachu a case of What Do You Mean, It's for Kids? or the opposite What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids? My reasoning is that shonen is typically for teenagers from 13 to 17 which wouldn't technically count as for kids especially because there's already a children's manga. It's also an Ecchi and that is an adult genre but because it's a Pokemon manga it straight away looks like it's for kids.
I feel like it's the last one but I'm not sure.
edited 17th Jan '17 8:34:43 AM by ReynTime250
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- The Narm examples lack detail, but I wonder what would count as acceptable context without setting up the entire scene for the audience.
- Special Effect Failure: Again, lacks detail, such as what might tip off the viewer that it's being done cheaply.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks! just enumerates changes without discussing why the fanbase doesn't like them.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character also lacks detail.
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WDYMIFK is when a work that's rated for/marketed to a particular age bracket contains material that is "dodgy" for that bracket, such as a pre-teen children's show containing blatant sexual references or gore. It is dissonance between marketing and content. Whether this particular manga would qualify depends on whether its "ecchi" material would raise eyebrows when viewed by the typical shonen audience (or their parents with respect to said audience).
WDYMINFK is when a work that is most definitely not meant for kids is shown by well-meaning but oblivious consumers to the little ones, resulting in some violated childhoods. ("Legend of the Overfiend? Little Josh loves cartoons about monsters, I bet he'd love this!") I really don't think you mean the latter.
edited 17th Jan '17 11:14:56 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Wanted to re-submit my entries on the last page
for my Your Costume Needs Work suggestions for Kakos Industries. My main concern is that, while they fit the spirit of the trope, I'm not sure they fit the definition. The spirit, as I understand it, is a strange or supernatural creature is mistaken for a guy in a costume. The definition suggests this is typically played for laughs by calling the "costume" subpar.
The two examples involve a Zombie Apocalypse that got out of control on Halloween because nobody believed it was real, and the winner of a costume contest having his prize revoked after it was realized he wasn't wearing a costume.
There's also one for Be Careful What You Wish For that I'm not sure is actually that trope or just a run of the mill ironic twist: The reason there was a Zombie Apocalypse in the first place was because Kakos Industries' system for ruining a person's life landed on "Grant Greatest Desire", which was in this case to live in the Zombie Apocalypse... Then fifteen zombies bum rushed the guy while he was on the toilet. Also,does Evil Versus Oblivion require two specific sides? While not averse to large scale evil, Kakos Industries is consistent that they don't desire to destroy the world (who would do Evil otherwise?)
A new one: Would the fact that the Wheel of Misery used "Grant Greatest Desire" to create a Zombie Apocalypse while also having a space labeled Zombie Apocalypse count as Department of Redundancy Department? The show's main character certainly thought so.
edited 17th Jan '17 10:45:48 AM by sgamer82
The YCNW example seems like it would be closer to Some Nutty Publicity Stunt.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.I don't think it's so much "trying to be a ruse" as "they assume some sort of event is the cause of the supposed weirdness," and Halloween is an event. Individual encounters with zombies could be Your Costume Needs Work depending on the reaction, but people as a whole writing it off would be SNPS.
edited 17th Jan '17 11:12:59 AM by Larkmarn
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
That sounds basically right.
Individual characters brushed off as people in costumes are Your Costume Needs Work. When an entire paranormal event is passed off by onlookers as a show, media stunt, holiday event, or the like, it's Some Nutty Publicity Stunt.
Note that these are spontaneous reactions from the crowd, regardless of whether the characters in question intended to elicit that reaction (perhaps as a form of cover via Refuge in Audacity); however, if they do intentionally attempt to cause it, then it would count as an Invoked Trope.
Do we have a trope specifically for when characters take advantage of a holiday, costume party, or similar event to pass off their paranormal selves as just part of the crowd?
edited 17th Jan '17 11:11:17 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself, I believe.
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Related to the same, would The Electric Tale of Pikachu qualify as Ecchi? It's certainly Hotter and Sexier and there is a lot more Fanservice compared to the source material, but calling it ecchi seems a bit much considering the ecchi page is more concerned with the line between Hentai and Ecchi. While there are shapely females and Male Gaze, there's no sex or nipples and despite being Best Known for the Fanservice, the manga doesn't revolve around said fanservice.
edited 17th Jan '17 11:13:39 AM by Larkmarn
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.The first example looks exactly like Some Nutty Publicity Stunt. The second looks like both Your Costume Needs Work (someone wearing a costume wins the contest over the real deal) and For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself (a Halloween party in which the "monsters" don't bother dressing up because they already look like monsters).
edited 17th Jan '17 12:19:49 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Sorry, slight typo there. Meant to say "is more publicity stunt" but didn't notice my phone's auto type make it into "not."
In any case since the tropes are confirmed I'll add them when time allows (just on a with break atm).
How about Be Careful What You Wish For? I'm never 100% sure when that trope applies, since the phrase often gets used for getting what you want but with an ironic twist vs getting exactly what you want but disliking the end result.
The example (a rather funny one, by the way) seems like it could fit the trope; I suppose the question is whether Carl imagined himself surviving said Zombie Apocalypse. If he wanted to both experience one and die in it, then he did in fact get what he wished for, without irony. if not, then it's definitely a straight example: "Character wishes for something, gets exactly what they want, it turns out to suck."
edited 17th Jan '17 12:39:12 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

Well, anyone think the 'Sonic.exe'' "An ordinary Sonic rom Hack" is guilty of Fake Difficulty?