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
"is still considered valuable"
I'm more concerned that the example contradicts itself.
TroperWall / WikiMagic CleanupThis The Punishment Is the Crime example should be cut for not identifying the forum in question:
- An Internet message board administrator once joked about the change in moderation policy to a much more laissez-faire one consisting of only deleting obvious trolling and spam as "Under the old system if you posted something ridiculous and/or offensive, the punishment was we'd delete your post. Under the new system the punishment is we don't delete your post." and made the point that leaving such posts up would also bring ridicule and ostracization to those who posted them rather than allowing for cover with them being deleted.
Edited by randomtroper89 on Jul 17th 2024 at 5:37:41 AM
I was fixing up the Webcomics subpage for Memetic Mutation and came across this example that really confused me:
- While editing the comic with other ones for humorous effect is a proud tradition in the AZ forums, the only one to spread to the rest of the internet are the ones featuring mash ups of Spare the Rod, with the last panel being a spectacular recent failure
Just by itself, I was gonna cut it from the page but after some digging, I think this example might be referring to Awkward Zombie? However, I’m not too sure and if anyone has any knowledge on what the example is talking about (and the meme it’s referring to), it’d be appreciated!
trying my best!I found this example in a BoJack Horseman episode.
This is apparently based on an act that happened in 1998. This is nowhere near when the show was made, just when this particular episode is set, since it is a flashback episode. Does this really count as Ripped from the Headlines?
This example on Franchise Killer openly admits that the franchise is still running, but certain aspects aren't, so would it count as Trend Killer or Genre Killer?:
- While the Pretty Cure series has avoided this fate, there have been aspects that have been killed off during its 19 year run:
- Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star had poor merchandise sales and ratings and thus ended the original Dirty Pair duo format that the original made popular, leading to series starting with Yes! Pretty Cure 5 to go with Super Sentai-style teams of no less than four main characters on the Precure teams. While some series such as HeartCatch Pretty Cure! and Suite Pretty Cure ♪ played with the idea by starting with a duo that would finally expand halfway through the series into a trio and later into a quartet in the final story arc, they still hedged their bets by introducing the future teammates into the main cast early to assure the viewers that there would eventually be more than two Cures. Only Maho Girls PreCure! went all the way in Revisiting the Roots by keeping the core pair a duo from start to finish, though still adding the series Sixth Ranger that was custom by that point.
- Although it had good toy sales, Yes! Pretty Cure 5 GoGo! couldn't compete with the ratings of fellow Toei show GeGeGe no Kitarō.note This resulted in there being no more sequel series in the franchise, something that would only happen with the Pretty Cure All-Stars series from then on. It would take fifteen years before a sequel series of any kind was announced, and they were adult-oriented miniseries spinoffs taking place after a Time Skip rather than full year-long Immediate Sequels in the main series like Max Heart and GoGo!. Ironically enough, Yes! itself was one of the two series to get said adult sequel (with a surprise reveal of it also following up on Splash Star), the other being Maho Girls PreCure! which fans had previously regarded as a flop.
- HappinessCharge Pretty Cure! forced a massive revamp of the series starting with Go! Princess Pretty Cure as well as shaking up the franchise management at Toei Animation because of it. This was due to the fact that both Doki Doki! PreCure and HapiPre had each suffered from a very weak second half, which didn't go well with viewers.note
![]()
Franchise Killer usually means that era of the franchise is done if it’s not completely killed. That said, none of them fit either trope, and seem to have bare-bones explanations why. Splash Star could work as End of an Age given the shift to an ensemble, but that’s the best it could be salvaged.
Edited by CanuckMcDuck1 on Jul 19th 2024 at 12:18:06 PM
Do not mess with creatures which you do not understand.So, on Trivia.Ahsoka:
- Word of Saint Paul: Natasha Liu Bordizzo has stated that the series takes place at the same time as the third season of The Mandalorian. This is confirmed in the seventh episode, when Moff Gideon's machinations on Mandalore are raised at Hera's court martial. She also claims that Sabine sees Ezra as a brother. However she also compared her to Anakin Skywalker (who was in love with Padme), putting this claim into question.
My question is if the last sentence belongs? I don't see a) how that puts it into question or b) how that is relevant to the example as a whole.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup threadIs Unexpected Virgin flexible enough to include instances of a character not being experienced in a particular way, to the surprise of another character? For instance, an openly bisexual woman admitting she's never had a female partner before. Or (the scenario I'm thinking of), a straight guy finding out his gay friend has never bottomed before (which is the first thing he relates to gay sex). Or is that beyond the scope of the trope?
I'd say non-anglosphere stereotypes for national animals are a valid example. It's not like the whole world is the US and Commonwealth.
From Smiling Friends S2E2 "Mr. President":
- Misaimed Fandom: Due to the rise of aggressive politics and creators inserting their beliefs into the media they create, a lot of people online have been arguing that Jimble and Mr. Frog are meant to be direct intentional parodies of Donald Trump and Joe Biden. When in actuality the idea of "the President doesn't know what he's doing" is a joke as old as politics. In fact the show goes out of its way to not tie Jimble or Mr. Frog to any political party and the few political acts shown are very generalnote .
That, or cut the entire example, since there are elements of Jimble and Frog that are too alike to Biden and Trump to be coincidental (the recap of that episode lists off examples for each), therefore it wouldn't be misaimed unless the creators come out and say otherwise.
Would the trope, I Believe I Can Fly, count as an example if a character in a team is able to fly by using an aircraft? The trope description mentions that Gadgeteer Geniuses using Jetpacks qualify but I wanted to make sure whether or not aircraft count as well before adding an example.
My treasure? If you want it, you can have it! Search for it! I left in that place!I am going to contest Shut Up, Hannibal!'s place at This Index Is Not an Example:
- Red Dragon:
- Will Graham calls one of Lecter's bluffs by walking away when he tries to get a lecture rolling.
- He later comes about as close as anyone gets to giving Hannibal Lecter himself this treatment. Granted, he says it out loud to a written letter, but it shows exactly what he thinks about having the same motivations as a deranged serial killer.
- Hannibal Lecter: Hannibal Lecter did indeed get this reaction a couple of times.
- Clarice Starling gets off a fairly low-key one in The Silence of the Lambs, and it's framed as the moment Starling earns Lecter's respect.
Lecter: You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well-scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition's given you some length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling? And that accent you've tried so desperately to shed: pure West Virginia. What is your father, dear? Is he a coal miner? Does he stink of the lamp? You know how quickly the boys found you. All those tedious, sticky fumblings in the back seats of cars, while you could only dream of getting out, getting anywhere, getting all the way to the F-B-I.
Starling: You see a lot, Doctor. But are you strong enough to point that high-powered perception at yourself? What about it? Why don't you look at yourself and write down what you see? Or maybe you're afraid to. - In Red Dragon, Hannibal tries to pull his trope on Will. Will simply wishes him goodnight and leaves the room. This might be the only way to win (or draw) against the great Hannibal Lecter; he fancies himself being able to understand anyone, so simply ignoring him and his 'genius' is the best possible retort.
- Hannibal:
- Ironically, the most literal example was not as dramatic as many other examples for this Trope:
Lecter: Good evening, Clarice! Just like old times.
Starling: Shut up.- Hannibal himself does in in response to Mason's To the Pain speech. Obviously, it was neither the time nor the place for his usual Trope. (Crazy doesn't mean stupid.)
- Clarice Starling gets off a fairly low-key one in The Silence of the Lambs, and it's framed as the moment Starling earns Lecter's respect.
Edited by randomtroper89 on Jul 20th 2024 at 12:38:03 PM
For Even Better Sequel, could Frasier count in comparison to Cheers? Spinoffs (such as Better Call Saul) are used as examples, so I think Frasier, which is a spinoff of Cheers, should meet that requirement (it's also chronologically set after Cheers, though that doesn't really affect whether it applies for this trope or not).
As listed on it's entry for More Popular Spin-Off, while it's hard to say which had more of an impact on pop culture, Frasier had more acclaim (including 9 more Primetime Emmys than Cheers), has a larger fanbase today and, unlike Cheers, has received a revival/sequel series, demonstrating perhaps a better renown than Cheers. Therefore, I think Frasier should apply for Even Better Sequel (though, as with the entry for Better Call Saul, perhaps it should be mentioned that this isn't a universally held belief).
I recently added this to Recap.The Smurfs S 2 E 12 Squeaky:
Off the top of my head, I was under the impression that an aesop was an important lesson being taught (in this case, death is something that happens and needs to be accepted) so I added it to the page. Then I looked at the article and went to the linked TRS page, and found the post specified moral lessons; would this mean that the example I added is misuse since it's more about dealing with a hard situation than moral choices, or am I taking the phrase "moral lesson" too literally?

On YMMV.Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius
Beyond the spelling issues, self contradiction, and word cruft (an inoffensive example directly violates "This is an Example"), maybe it's just me, but I feel this is really stretching the definition of Values Dissonance to the point of borderline misuse, as it is not about something common then or in a certain country that does not translate well today or in other countries. I get tropes are flexible, but this is stretching it I feel
Especially since many action figure collectors today still prefer to keep them in the boxes. It's not a trend that was only existent in the 2000s and isn't quite as common today. It's still very common.
Edited by Tylerbear12 on Jul 17th 2024 at 10:39:38 AM