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
- "This to me sounds accusative to the point of complaining" - Agreed.
RE voles: they were mentioned in Redwall (by a British author) just enough to confuse me as a kid without being enough to really seem like a familiar element of the series. That's a completely anecdotal single data point, but it does sort of incline me to agree with the notion that they aren't a common used fictional animal in Europe either.
edited 1st Jun '18 4:48:41 PM by nrjxll
@AdamElY: If anything, bats are sometimes used as a creepy counterpart to some white, medium-sized birds, like doves.
Check out my fanfiction!
- Hmm... Good Wings, Evil Wings. Demonic Black Bat Wings vs, Holy Feathered White Wings...
edited 1st Jun '18 5:55:47 PM by Malady
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576Another Duck, thanks for the information about bats and doves.
Also, about the Knight of Cerebus film section, would you put Gaston there because he was considered a Knight of Cerebus in the character page of the cartoon Beauty and the Beast?
edited 1st Jun '18 11:44:44 PM by AdamElY
Adam El-Yousseph
No, you do not put tropes from other mediums on the film page, or vice versa, unless they actually apply to the continuity of the film.
Reposting this since I got ignored last time:
From YMMV.Hiveswap Friendsim:
- Values Dissonance: A good deal of the Broken Base over characters like Cirava comes from newer fans who aren't familiar with what a Crapsack World Alternia is and how horribly lower blood castes like Cirava's are treated by those higher up in blood color. While becoming a Hair-Trigger Temper Jerkass after being burned by bad friends might not be considered the proper response for a human it's perfectly reasonable for a goldblooded Troll like Cirava, who very specifically was almost forced to become the living power source of an Alternian starship, which would see them literally wired into the ship's systems and in perpetual agony as seen with The Helmsman.
From Bitch in Sheep's Clothing:
- Hiveswap has a couple:
- Dammek was shown in promotional materials to be a chill cool kid a la Dave Strider, but in reality he's a Bastard Boyfriend to his moirail Xefros, and is just as casteist as the highbloods he claims to be fighting.
- ACT 2 gives us Zebruh Codakk, who claims to be on the side of lowbloods... except for the fact that he still refers to them as gutterbloods, and is most likely pretending to be tolerant of lower castes to mack on Oliveblooded females. This is somewhat justified in that he's a parody of the stereotypical internet nice guy.
- On the surface, Cirava Hermod appears to be a mellow stoner with an affinity for Vaporwave. However, as revealed in Hiveswap Friendsim, they are actually an immensely self-centered Jerkass who will belittle you for the most nominal of mistakes. Again, this is somewhat justified in that A.) they are a massive middle finger towards much of the fanbase, particularly the part that frequents Tumblr, and B.) they've had nothing but False Friends throughout their life, who at one point tried to turn Cirava in to be used as a living battery.
sgamer 82, I was just asking and I am fasting. I meant the cartoon Gaston and not the live-action version.
Do you think giant anteaters and moose aka elk are examples of the trope Beware the Silly Ones?
1. Moose aka elk look silly with their palm-shaped antlers, drooping horselike faces, huge size, and long and spindly legs. They look ungainly and docile. The trope Moose Are Idiots exists for a reason. However, moose can deliver powerful kicks and have sharp and large hooves and they kill more people in North America than wolves and bison. Plus, moose-related car crashes are serious.
2. Giant anteaters look goofy with their size, small ears, long snouts, and long tongues. However, they have sharp claws and can kill people, jaguars, and pumas/cougars.
edited 2nd Jun '18 9:26:08 AM by AdamElY
Adam El-YoussephI'm that case I'd almost certainly say no.
Putting aside a recent discussion that single films can't really have a Knight of Cerebus in the first place, a knights status comes from how their appearance, their very presence drastically changes the tone of the show, and Gaston does not do that.
Swype keyboard + not always accurate auto correct
edited 2nd Jun '18 10:58:59 AM by sgamer82
sgamer 82, you mean “In that case.”
Gaston was a Not-So-Harmless Villain. The page for Not-So-Harmless Villain said these types of villains can become Knights of Cerebus. Gaston became darker once he showed his true colors when he planned to put Maurice in the asylum and blackmail Belle into marrying him.
But better examples of the trope Knight of Cerebus are Judge Doom, the Evil Queen in Snow White (in contrast to the film’s mood, every time she appears, the scenes involving her are darker), and the bear in Fox and the Hound (he appeared later in the story and when he did, the scenes were darker and the bear was more of a threat to Tod than Amos Slade was).
Adam El-YoussephAre the following examples being used correctly?:
From Running the Asylum:
- Ultimate Marvel: When Jonathan Hickman was hired to write The Ultimates, he said this: "I was pretty exited. When I first started at Marvel, one of the gigs I had looked at as a king of homerun job was the Ultimates. I loved how Brian and Mark had started things off - how real and large the world felt - and I always thought there was a logical next step to be taken. So here we are, one small step..."
From Man of Steel (2018):
- So Okay, It's Average: Invoked by comic book shops. Despite Bendis coming to DC, many comic shops are playing it safe by not over-ordering, citing his last Marvel works and the lukewarm reception he had gotten from them.
From Fresh Meat:
YMMV.How To Train Your Dragon The Hidden World
- Internet Backdraft: The film recieved it after a full poster was revealed. Many people angrily decried the film as pushing heteronormativity on non-human characters, which they viewed as especially distasteful since it was released on Pride Month. Others merely thought the plot would be cliche.
...I haven't see evidence of this.
From OvershadowedByControversy.VideoGames:
- Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, the long-awaited fourth game of the Sly Cooper franchise, became infamous shortly after release for having Penelope Mouse, a Nice Girl in the previous game, pull a Face–Heel Turn and become a greedy Yandere without reason for a cheap Plot Twist, and for game to end with a cliffhanger. While fans were alright with the Sequel Hook, thinking that the franchise will have a major trilogy in the works similar to the Ratchet & Clank Future trilogy, no fifth game was ever announced, and within a year, Sanzaru Games, who developed Thieves in Time, confirmed that they're not making a sequel. Fans were so angry with the Downer Ending and Penelope's poorly-written Face–Heel Turn that they've disowned the game, and Sanzaru was declared a pariah of video games.
From my understanding, Overshadowed by Controversy has to be about an out-of-universe event that overshadows the work while this entry is about plot developments that fans didn't like.
I found this in Trivia.Sakura Trick:
- Creator Killer: Not by flopping any sort of criteria, but rather the series' popularity and natural conclusion combined is the killer. Sakura Trick was the only series keeping Manga Time Kirara Miracle! running and when the series ended, so did the magazine
.
tl;dr: There's no controversy surrounding the series's ending. It's just the fact it keeps a whole Anthology Comic running, so when it ends, the anthology also folds. I don't think it's an example of Creator Killer, is it?
Scientia et Libertas | Per Aspera ad Astra NovaWhile updating the Necromunda page for the new edition I came across the following:
- Snap Back: Averted. Unlike the main Warhammer 40,000 game, each model in a Necromunda gangs has individual stats and equipment, which note can evolve over the course of a campaign as the gang gains experience, injuries and resources.
Is this a valid use of Averted Trope, is it a Subversion, or not even worth noting as it is an example of it not being an example?
There's no reason to expect Snap Back to be in play for a tabletop game, so no, it's not a notable aversion.

@ Pichu-kun: I had to look up voles, which are enough like other rodents that the only reason I can think they'd be used is this trope, so yes. And Animal Religion looks like it only applies to normally or formerly non-sapient, so Zora don't apply.
From Flanderization.Western Animation under My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- The show itself eventually turned every moral into "Friendship is the answer".
This to me sounds accusative to the point of complaining, and lack context or examples to demonstrate this. And is it really exaggerating something important enough to be in the title?Does Flanderization only apply to characterization? Is so, is Plot Tumor the trope non-characterization examples of this?