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.
For cleaning up examples of Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard, you must use their dedicated threads: Complete Monster Cleanup, Magnificent Bastard Cleanup.
Edited by Synchronicity on Sep 18th 2023 at 11:42:55 AM
Lost in Space
Well, it depends on whether the watch actually does do something else. Otherwise it's just sarcasm. And even if the watch does do extra stuff, the trope usually takes the form of, "It definitely doesn't shoot lasers or anything," which is the specific part.
edited 15th May '18 6:34:04 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Unreasonably Quirky
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
It does. The watch was a dragon ball locator, a fact that Gohan was trying to keep hidden from Vegeta.
Lost in Space
It's borderline. An ideal example of the trope would be something like, "It definitely doesn't locate dragon balls."
edited 15th May '18 6:50:20 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Unreasonably Quirky
Ah, I getcha.
I love to learn, I love to yearn, and most of all... I love to make money.
Are the following examples from X-Women being used correctly?:
- Brought Down to Badass: Even without mutant powers, the X-Women can still kick ass.
- Culture Blind: Subverted: Kitty is completely surprised that Storm can sing "Proud Mary" in a complete Tina Turner style.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Rachel made up with a random guy in a bar, who then fired to her and kidnapped her.
- Intro Dump: The story starts with Storm, Psyloche, Rogue and Kitty storming a base, and Claremont introduces everyone.
Lost in Space
- This doesn't establish what they were brought down from, so can't be an example as written.
- This doesn't establish what expectation is being subverted. Is it surprising that Storm knows about modern culture? If so, the example needs to explain it.
- The grammar in this example is awful; I can't even tell what it's trying to say, exactly. It sounds like it isn't accurate but it's hard to be sure.
- Again, it's super vague. The example fails to explain itself.
I'd chop all of them, or comment them out as lacking context.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Since this got lost in the shuffle some pages back:
And a new one: Does Hollywood Nerd cover cases of characters being tropers?
edited 16th May '18 9:16:00 AM by caivu
My stories on AO3.
Lost in Space
Arrows, as projectile weapons, could qualify for Boom, Headshot!. Melee weapons, not so much. It's conceptually different in most games.
Hollywood Nerd discusses the character "hav[ing] an interest in some 'geeky' subject such as comic books, science fiction, or baseball, helping identify them as a loser," but that's a secondary factor. The basic criteria for the trope must be established first.
edited 16th May '18 9:20:21 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
1. As I put bear cubs under the Real Life examples of the trope Ridiculously Cute Critter and mother bears and their cubs were already in the Real Life examples in the trope Cub Cues Protective Parent, do you feel like squeezing bear cubs?
Adam El-Yousseph
Would you consider Lady Tremaine in the cartoon Cinderella, Flotsam and Jetsam, the gorilla in the Superman episode Terror on the Midway, the Red Bull in Last Unicorn, the Hellhound in All Dogs Go To Heaven, Bryagh from Flight of Dragons, Chernabog and the T-Rex in Fantasia, G'Mork and the Nothing in Never Ending Story, Hexxus in Fern Gully, the grizzly bear in Balto, Scut Farkus, and King Louie and Kaa from Jungle Book (2016) to be examples of the trope Knight of Cerebus?
edited 16th May '18 11:50:13 AM by AdamElY
Adam El-Yousseph
Lost in Space
This question is written so poorly that I can't tell what you're asking.
This question has too many items to cover. If you aren't sure what the definition of the trope is, read it. If you still aren't clear, feel free to ask here, but give the details of the examples. Don't just post names and titles and expect us to do the research.
Fighteer, thanks for your honesty.
I will repeat this again. I put bear cubs in the Real Life examples of the trope Ridiculously Cute Critter and mother bears and their cubs are in the Real Life examples of the trope Cub Cues Protective Parent. Do you feel like squeezing the cubs?
About Knight of Cerebus, do Lady Tremaine (she is never Played For Laughs and even tried to kill Cinderella in Cinderella III: A Twist in Time), Flotsam and Jetsam (they have no comedic moments and are as good at manipulating Ariel as Ursula is), the gorilla in Terror in the Midway (it was scary and the reason Terror in the Midway is the darkest episode in the Fleischer cartoons, especially when it made its entrance and went after Lois Lane), Bryagh (he was so dark, especially when he destroyed the dragon eggs and killed Danielle the archer, Aragh the wolf, and Giles the elf), General Woundwort (he was very ruthless), Scut Farkus (his treatment of Ralphie is nothing to sneeze at), King Louie and Kaa in Jungle Book (2016) (they were not played for laughs and were much darker than the original versions), and the T-Rex in Fantasia (when it made its entrance, Rite of Spring got darker and all the other dinosaurs were afraid) count?
Adam El-Yousseph
Would the world of One-Punch Man count as a Crapsack World? Yes it's a parody series, but the various monsters, mutants, and aliens would have destroyed the world long ago if Saitama wasn't there to to stop them all. For that matter, would this also fit The World Is Always Doomed?
Are the following examples being used correctly?:
From Mighty Magiswords:
- Audience-Alienating Premise: While it does have a cool premise, albeit being similar to the anime, Slayers, the pacing of the show in the early episodes really threw people off, as well as the show being animated in Flash, which contained stilted movements. It doesn't help that the show had received low ratings as a result of this, even after the show improved.
From Robin Hood (2010):
- Critical Dissonance: The film has gotten mostly negative reviews, as collated by Rotten Tomatoes, some for not being a retread of the Flynn and Fairbanks films. While the film has flopped in the US, it has taken about double the amount abroad.
The Audience-Alienating Premise is not an example, as it says that the *best* thing about the show is its premise.
The Critical Dissonance entry may be valid, but not as written; it doesn't say anything about a contrast between critical and audience reception.
OPM is not a Crapsack World because no matter what ridiculous destruction is going on, the world is still overall pretty fine. One of the thing it parodies is No Endor Holocaust, after all.
The World Is Always Doomed seems right.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
edited 17th May '18 2:12:09 PM by crazysamaritan
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
The Dark Lord of Hawaiian Shirts
Is it okay if I add this in the Home Alone YMMV page, or is it Flame Bait?
- Base-Breaking Character: Donald Trump's cameo in the second film since the 2016 election. The pro-Trump side sees him as a One-Scene Wonder, while his detractors... not so much. Let's leave it at that, shall we?
Lost in Space
It's completely pointless. Kill it.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
crazysamaritan, does that mean the gorilla from that Superman cartoon and T-Rex from Fantasia are Knights of Cerebus?
Adam El-Yousseph
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
No, it means you're not sharing enough information to evaluate the question. I can just about believe T-Rex qualifies because "everyone knows" they're an apex predator among the dinosaurs, but "Rite of Spring" isn't established to be light-hearted before their arrival. Nothing about the gorilla tells me that they're a threat (kidnapping Lois is less danger than when she falls off a building).
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Lost in Space
Yeah, Knight of Cerebus isn't just a villain who upgrades the threat level of a story. Rather, it's a villain, disaster, or other antagonist whose role is to signal the transition of a story from episodic and lighthearted to serious and dramatic.
Before, everything is kind of goofy and doesn't take itself too seriously. After, the threats are serious, sustained, and have real dramatic stakes.
edited 18th May '18 6:24:11 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
The Dark Lord of Hawaiian Shirts
How is it pointless?
Srg. Dornan: Troper, what are you doing here?! Get back to your post!!!
Lost in Space
Because all it'll do is cause arguing. It's a walking ROCEJ violation and adds no useful information to the article.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Would this exchange from Dragon Ball Z Abridged count as Suspiciously Specific Denial?
Vegeta: [Looking at Gohan's dragon ball radar] Stupid looking watch you got there.
Gohan: Yes. It tells time. And nothing else.
I love to learn, I love to yearn, and most of all... I love to make money.