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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.
    • Wrong: Big Bad: Of the first season.
    • Right: Big Bad: The heroes have to defeat the Mushroom Man lest the entirety of Candy Land's caramel supply be turned into fungus.
  • A character name is not an explanation.


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

MsOranjeDiscoDancer 2much2furious from the Saja Boys' last performance! Since: Aug, 2022 Relationship Status: Will you go out with me to the End?
2much2furious
#33501: Dec 18th 2024 at 4:26:23 PM

~animuacid - Marry Them All and Pinball Scoring should be good for both, since iirc Marry Them All has non-marriage examples anyway and Pinball Scoring, afaik, does not need to be literally about pinballs

~Anddrix - i do dissent since it was pointed out by a collaborator; it could go under a self-inflicted It's Been Done or Self-Plagiarism, the latter i am surprised is not trivia

~Biggby - we need more context; does the narration take pity on them? do others try to help them? is he broken from the experience?

—-

next page, so bump on this Damn You, Muscle Memory! thingy

Edited by MsOranjeDiscoDancer on Dec 18th 2024 at 4:26:42 AM

i may be dead inside but at least i have Mystery :,)
Biggby Since: Sep, 2023
#33502: Dec 18th 2024 at 4:30:06 PM

^ Lilique is trying to interrogate Felsi on recent events, which involved Felsi getting a stabwound. Furthermore, Felsi is usually Made of Iron and this is the first time in the story she's really been in a position of weakness or pity

Lilique felt a pang of guilt at the hangdog look on [Felsi]'s face, coupled with the bedraggled pallor of a stabbing victim, but steeled herself against sympathy. “Cute” was also a weapon.

FirstAidRules He/Him from House (Experienced Trainee) Relationship Status: Singularity
He/Him
#33503: Dec 18th 2024 at 5:29:46 PM

Bumping: From Connecting the Dots: Excuse Plot: One random day, Naruto encounters Sasuke, who conveniently just beat up all of their friends. Kakashi who is apparently Hokage in this continuity then uses Kamui to somehow bend space and time and throw everyone into the DC universe. From there the story runs itself.

The words random, conveniently and somehow are definite red flags.

Hi!
MsOranjeDiscoDancer 2much2furious from the Saja Boys' last performance! Since: Aug, 2022 Relationship Status: Will you go out with me to the End?
2much2furious
#33504: Dec 18th 2024 at 6:37:53 PM

[up][up]seems like it can be invoked, but not knowing the series or characters, is this Felsi doing it on purpose or is Lilique just thinking they were doing it on purpose?

[up]yep seems like complaining, though i havent read that story

i may be dead inside but at least i have Mystery :,)
CanuckMcDuck1 PEPSIMAN from Japan Since: Sep, 2023 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form
PEPSIMAN
#33505: Dec 18th 2024 at 7:15:58 PM

[up][up]That just seems like stealthily bashing a fanfic’s premise with barely a reason. It could be cut.

Do not mess with creatures which you do not understand.
ilovewildkratts1 Local Odd Squad Connoisseur from a nice breezy expansive meadow (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Local Odd Squad Connoisseur
#33506: Dec 18th 2024 at 8:43:05 PM

Wishing to verify: would an example like this fall under Cultural Translation or Unit Confusion? Or another trope entirely?

  • Odd Squad UK: In UK airings of "Bad-Luck-itis", Orli and Osgood measure out a pint using two 500-milliliter containers, which is the standard way of measuring out a quart using imperial measurements. In the US, the measurements are changed so that two one-pint containers are needed to make a quart, with the containers marked with "US Pint" to reflect this.

Worth noting that the UK is the show's main country of origin. It aired on CBBC and PBS Kids at the same time, but the show takes place in the UK.

Wuewuewuewuewueing my way to the bank.
king15 Have Faun Since: Mar, 2024
Have Faun
#33507: Dec 19th 2024 at 4:32:35 AM

This is an entry under CreatorsCultureCarryover/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball:

  • In "The Intelligence", losing technology causes Elmore to regress into medieval English peasants, despite being Americans, many of whom don't even have English ancestry. To be fair, they did get right that Americans didn't burn witches at the stake (an accused Mrs. Robinson gets sentenced to a dunking, instead, since hanging isn't allowed to be shown on children's TV).
I'm not sure if this counts? I assume they regress into medieval English peasants just because that's a shorthand for a time far in the past without modern technology. England in the Middle Ages (or, at least, the Hollywood History version) is, as far as I know, pretty well-known in the USA, so it makes sense that that's what the people of Elmore regress to (regardless of whether they have English ancestry, or not).

underCoverSailsman Peeks from Under Rocks from State of Flux Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Peeks from Under Rocks
#33508: Dec 19th 2024 at 5:07:34 AM

[up]Is there any indicator in the episode that they're specifically English other than the use of Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe? (That's just code for generic "old timey speak" in my section of the US.)


Got an odd one:

On Bardic Voices I've found

Now, Spiritual Successor is YMMV, but it's confirmed by Word of God. Not in-universe, so I'd classify it as Trivia. No matching trivia trope, AFAICT. Which tab and what tagging?

randomtroper89 from The Fire Nation Since: Nov, 2010
#33509: Dec 19th 2024 at 5:28:04 AM

Fan Works needs a scrubbing


Crossovers

  • Metal Gear: Green: The MSF views the Child Hero sent to fight a villain as no different than a warlord or dictator sending a Child Soldier to fight on the frontlines.
  • In Origins, a Mass Effect/Star Wars/Borderlands/Halo Massive Multiplayer Crossover, Admiral Grayson pulls a very long-winded version of this trope. The Republic Intelligence Service doesn't use the Current/Force, except, here's a rather lengthy anecdote about problems they had that would only occur if they were dabbling in that which he just said they weren't doing.
  • The Savior and the Scourge:
    Giles: I'll have you know that I chose to come here...to escape all the bloody teenage female hormonal insanity! By all that is holy, that many twittering, fighting, whining, overpowered females should never be confined in a single place. It's enough to drive a Shorchak demon to vegetarianism!
    Spike: So you ran away.
    Giles: I merely made a strategic retreat. Strategic retreat and chickening out and fleeing are two different things, perhaps in this case a dishonest one

Harry Potter

  • A Change in Perspective:
    Greg: Pansy said she doesn't squeal. That only foolish girls squeal and she's far too dignified for that. She said the noises she makes aren't squeals – they're simply loud exclamations of surprise. Do we hear the noises and whether or not they are squeals?
  • Families and Familiars: Second Year:
    It had been almost two months since his exceedingly ignominious... no, he refused to call it a defeat. He, Lord Voldemort, had not, and never would be, truly defeated. It had merely been a setback. Seems to define being defeated as defeated beyond hope
  • In No Obvious Truths Lucius tries Pepsi for the first time and decides he likes it.
    Tom: Oh, good, now Lucius will have a new addiction!
    Lucius: I do not have addictions! I merely indulge in what pleases me. "Indulge in what I please" is what addicts think they are or try to portray themselves as
  • Where Paths Cross:
    Harry: Shouldn't we be heading back? You always tell me to be indoors before it gets dark.
    Beth: We are going home, we're just -
    Harry: Lost?
    Beth: - Following the scenic route.Again, dishonest distinction

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Neon Genesis Evangelion

  • Rise of the Minisukas: Tender, one of Pen-Pen's friends, declares that "Just because a Yakuza member runs the company I work at doesn't mean I work for the Yakuza!" Whether or not he is part of the Yakuza depends on his job

Star Wars

  • on arkanis it rains every day has Rey accuse 'Tag' (Hux) of using the Force after the latter told her that he is not Force sensitive. Tag vehemently denies this.
    Rey: The Force. You’ve got it too
    Tag: I beg your pardon?
    Rey: I can feel it every time you bend someone to your will.
    Tag: I don’t bend people to my will! [Beat] I merely ... recondition them to be more open-minded about my requests. [Beat] With my rhetoric! Seems like he attributes his mind control to being persuasive

Wednesday

  • In "Wednesday's Pet", when Wednesday and Enid form a dom/sub dynamic with Enid as Wednesday's "puppy", during one of their games Wednesday states that she will only allow Enid release if Enid admits that she's a slut, but when Enid responds that she is Wednesday's slut rather than a slut (as in she wouldn't behave like this for anyone other than Wednesday), Wednesday accepts that definition. Seems like an actual distinction

Edited by randomtroper89 on Dec 19th 2024 at 7:40:59 AM

Biggby Since: Sep, 2023
#33510: Dec 19th 2024 at 6:13:14 AM

~ Ms Oranje Disco Dancer

Not on purpose, Felsi was just especially sad and pathetic that day but Lilique had to get information from her and steeled herself to avoid letting her get out of it.


Unrelated example, would it be Gave Up Too Soon if a character in a Two Roads Before You scenario assumes that one option is doomed and so picks the other (and worse) option, only for the audience to see that actually option A would have worked out fine? Example:

  • Shaddiq wants to go and help Miorine solve the current crisis, but he knows that she hates him and would never accept his help so he makes a Deal with the Devil with the Big Bad instead. In the scene immediately after, we see that Miorine reluctantly notes to herself that she needs Shaddiq's help even if she hates him.


Another unrelated example; In the Morrigan, after the climactic boss battle of book 3, it turns out that the Greater-Scope Villain has used the chaos to make a grab for power, and the final two chapters revolve aroudn various characters reacting to that and trying to stop it from different angels. Is that a Post-Climax Confrontation?

Edited by Biggby on Dec 19th 2024 at 6:17:37 AM

Malady (X-Troper)
#33511: Dec 19th 2024 at 8:50:42 AM

Violence Detector:

  • Dungeon Keeper Ami: A Dungeon Keeper is immediately notified if their minions are attacked by non-minions.

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
KonstantinVakhtangov Waiting for the gun to shoot from Eastern Europe Since: Mar, 2024 Relationship Status: Desperate
Waiting for the gun to shoot
#33512: Dec 19th 2024 at 11:25:39 AM

What is the smallest length of a song in order for it to qualify as Epic Rocking?

And that isn't answered.

02/24/2006
PeppermintSoda i like cheese from Hideout Planet. It was once called Earth Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
i like cheese
#33514: Dec 19th 2024 at 6:07:15 PM

[up][up] I believe in the page itself it says that the song has to be at least 6 minutes for a song to qualify as Epic Rocking:

Also, this trope only applies to songs 6 minutes or more, anything less is too short to qualify.


Also would "Gilded Lily" by Music.Cults qualify as a Grief Song? By the Reddit AMA, it's a song about people the singer is having close relationships with dying as they get older and keeping those memories forever. The full lyrics are here.

I've written up an example and saved it to the page, but I'm still not sure (as well as not being sure that this is a ZCE):

  • Grief Song: According to Brian from a Reddit AMA for the Offering release, "Gilded Lily" is about "getting older and people moving out of your life". It's a song that grieves for the inevitable loss of close relationships as time moves on but cherishes those memories forever, which the chorus illustrates:
    Always the fool with the slowest heart
    But I know you'll take me with you
    We'll live in spaces between walls

Edited by PeppermintSoda on Dec 20th 2024 at 1:09:08 AM

i like cheese
MyFinalEdits Delete message from Parts Unknown (Spin-off Series) Relationship Status: Cast away
Delete message
#33515: Dec 19th 2024 at 6:17:41 PM

10-Minute Retirement says that it's about a hero who retires but then comes back shortly after. Is the trope flexible enough to count cases of morally-ambivalent characters who retire from their jobs but come back shortly afterwards?

Edited by MyFinalEdits on Dec 19th 2024 at 11:09:46 AM

135 -> 180 -> 273 -> 191 -> 188 -> 230 -> 300 -> 311
Lymantria Tyrannoraptoran Reptiliomorph from Toronto Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Historians will say we were good friends.
Tyrannoraptoran Reptiliomorph
#33516: Dec 20th 2024 at 3:18:18 AM

Oklahoma!

The pothole is to It Was His Sled. Since it does seem to be acknowledging that people knew the ending, is it an invoked example of It Was His Sled?

Join the Five-Man Band cleanup project!
taotruths Live Jet Reaction (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I sleep in a big bed with my wife.
Live Jet Reaction
#33517: Dec 20th 2024 at 10:40:45 AM

Can you have In-Universe examples of Improved Second Attempt? Cause I saw this added to Characters.Dragon Ball Daima, when it could just go under Superior Successor instead:

  • Improved Second Attempt: Zig-Zagged; Majin Duu was made to be more powerful than Majin Kuu by a longshot and he appears to be more based on Fat Buu in looks and even having his Rubber Man powers. But being literally minutes old, he's not aware of all his potential abilities yet.

Like, you can't zig-zag YMMV.

WhirlRX Since: Jan, 2015
#33518: Dec 20th 2024 at 11:28:10 AM

[up]Isn't this more Superior Successor?

Edited by WhirlRX on Dec 20th 2024 at 11:29:03 AM

taotruths Live Jet Reaction (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I sleep in a big bed with my wife.
Live Jet Reaction
#33519: Dec 20th 2024 at 11:33:04 AM

That’s what I thought as well, and the trope is listed on the character page too.

Moving for misuse.

Edited by taotruths on Dec 20th 2024 at 11:33:27 AM

YChan620 from The Spire Of Deceit Since: Nov, 2023 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
moxeden actually okay-ish from a place of comfort Since: Sep, 2023 Relationship Status: love is a deadly lazer
actually okay-ish
#33521: Dec 20th 2024 at 9:37:42 PM

Someone added this to Recap.The Amazing Digital Circus E 4 Fast Food Masquerade:


  • Nightmare of Normality: In contrast to the horror story that was the previous adventure (and was going to be the current one before Pomni talked Caine out of it) this "adventure" is an ordinary mundane day at work. Pomni, Ragatha (initially), and Zooble take to it fine, but The Hedonist Jax is severely worn out by the lack of chaos to derive entertainment from, while Gangle is tormented by awful flashes of her experience as a shift manager in her past life, to the point she nearly abstracts.

Does this go against the trope description?

Good morning, and good night, I hardly ever sleep. With what I have, what else do you think I'd ever need?
FSharp Resisting a rest Since: Jan, 2019 Relationship Status: I wanna know what love is
#33522: Dec 20th 2024 at 10:19:48 PM

[up] That looks like misuse to me. No mention of supernatural powers, and it isn't really a "trick" since they all know it isn't real.

Edited by FSharp on Dec 20th 2024 at 1:21:59 PM

I don't just Wiki Talk the talk. I Wiki Walk the walk.
KonstantinVakhtangov Waiting for the gun to shoot from Eastern Europe Since: Mar, 2024 Relationship Status: Desperate
Waiting for the gun to shoot
#33523: Dec 20th 2024 at 11:32:22 PM

Can a song that tells about a man who is unrequitedly in love with a girl, but because of his shyness and low self-esteem hesitates to simply communicate with her, many years later he still suffers because of his unrequited feelings, but refuses to meet another and forget about the first, as he considers it a betrayal of love, but also does not try to please his beloved, as she is already dating someone else, and therefore the main character chooses loneliness - can such a song be considered Anti-Love Song? Or is it an ordinary Break-Up Song? note 

02/24/2006
petersohn from Earth, Solar System (Long Runner) Relationship Status: Hiding
#33524: Dec 21st 2024 at 6:12:10 AM

[up]It's neither. Definitely not a Break-Up Song as that one requires an active relationship to be broken. I don't think it's Anti-Love Song either, but it depend on the tone. An Anti-Love Song should have irony in it.

Fjón þvæ ég af mér fjanda minna rán og reiði ríkra manna.
Arawn999 Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#33525: Dec 21st 2024 at 6:26:16 AM

Reposting:

From the SSU: Protagonists page, the following was added to the Venom symbiote's section:

  • Manchild: It's prone to throwing tantrums (its preferred way is swinging Eddie around or smacking him Moe Howard style) and whining like a child. It only gets worse in Let There Be Carnage, deciding to go its own way from Eddie and giving a speech at a disco costume party deriding Eddie much like a runaway teenager deriding his parents. Annie even tells Venom "don't be a big baby" when it refuses to help Eddie face Cletus and Carnage. When seeing Carnage for himself, Venom retreats back into Eddie whining like a scared little boy that it doesn't want to fight a red one.
which... I dunno... comes across a bit too much like complaining? What do the rest of you think?

IMO it could at least do with a rewording. Maybe something like:

  • Manchild: The Venom symbiote can be immature and childish, insulting Eddie, throwing tantrums, and smacking him around if he refuses to give it what it wants. This is especially prevalent in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, where the two have a falling out over Eddie not letting it eat people that results in the Venom symbiote leaving Eddie, smashing his motorcycle, and making its way to a rave where it trash-talks him in front of the audience. Anne Weying even calls it a "big baby" when it petulantly refuses to help Eddie face Cletus Kasady and the Carnage symbiote. When seeing the Carnage symbiote for the first time, Venom promptly retreats back into Eddie's body out of fear and dislike for the color red—first seen when it discards all the red candies in a bowl of M&Ms—and has to be bribed into fighting.


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