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
That sounds like it's taking the trope name literally. Even Evil Has Loved Ones seems better to me.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Lost in Space
Many sociopathic or psychopathic people relate to animals much better than they do to humans, and may have a pet that they care for quite lovingly between murder sprees or whatever. This is definitely not a case of Pet the Dog, which is when a Jerkass character is shown displaying affection or kindness as a way to demonstrate that they aren't completely heartless.
edited 14th Mar '14 7:11:48 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Well Lecter's relationship to Clarice and his sister was listed under Pet the Dog on the Silence of the Lambs page so I kinda just based it off that. He's a serial killer as well and his affection for them is one of his only redeeming qualities that I know of.
edited 14th Mar '14 9:59:34 AM by Nikkolas
Lost in Space
That's a legit example. "Serial killer has an actual pet animal that they care for", however, is not.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Taking your advice, I'd like to make a suggestion. Remember what I wrote about Royal Roy being Plagiarism of Richie Rich could be added in a trivia section for Royal Roy?
Did I get the right thread now?
In Avengers Assemble, The Punisher was cited as an example of Unexpected Character for his appearance in "Planet Doom". Would "Bruce Banner" count as another example? I'm not sure because his alter ego appeared. However, while "Hulk" is a regular in that continuity, "Bruce" never appeared before.
In this page, Molecule Kid was described as Cursed with Awesome but the explanation gave me the impression of Blessed with Suck. Which, if any, of these tropes applies to this case?
edited 16th Mar '14 11:03:00 AM by luiz4200
Zzzzzzzzzz
I'm not familiar with the work, but the difference between the two is this:
- Cursed with Awesome: It's presented as though it's intended to be horrible or unpleasant (hence, "a curse"), but it's really pretty cool ("awesome").
- Blessedwith Suck: It's presented as though it's supposed to be pretty cool or a good thing ("blessed"), but it's really pretty bad ("suck").
Another question about the Unfortunate Implications page: what's with the lack of Anime & Manga examples (aside from one example of a Defied Trope)? Are anime and manga really lacking in those implications, or are the implications mostly intentional and fit more under Values Dissonance? Didn't this page have a lot of examples listed under it before?
These examples were taken out because they didn't have citations to back them up.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
@Fighteer: I believe Tommy Oliver's entry in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder should have Not That Kind of Doctor since he has a doctorate in paleontology.
Lost in Space
Luiz, you don't need to address your requests to specific people. We're all equals here.
For that example, if it's called out — that is, they ask him to apply his "Doctor" skills to a problem that isn't in his area of expertise, and he points it out, then it counts.
edited 17th Mar '14 8:46:22 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
In one episode of Wizards Of Waverly Place, Justin Russo pretended to be a doctor in paleontology to impress a girl. She stopped believing him when she expected him to help someone with a medical problem. Does it count as Not That Kind of Doctor?
Lost in Space
That sounds like a parody or a subversion, because it's not just that he's not that kind of doctor; he's not a doctor at all. Getting the thing you're pretending to be mistaken for some other sort of thing is absolutely not the trope being played straight.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Does that mean I can add it as a Subverted Trope? Also, does it count as the girl being Right for the Wrong Reasons?
Lost in Space
It's definitely Right for the Wrong Reasons for the girl. It's not actually a subversion, now that I think about it. It's more of a Parodied Trope.
edited 18th Mar '14 11:17:16 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
A girls falls in love and kisses a crossdressing girl thinking she is a boy.
Is that a inverted Sweet on Polly Oliver?
Lost in Space
"Girl likes girl who is really a guy" is a listed inversion in the Playing With entry.
"Girl likes guy who is really a girl" is also listed as an inversion, although the trope description is a bit ambiguous.
edited 25th Mar '14 11:20:52 AM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Thanks.
This girls makes a Gender Reveal by showing up in class wearing red lipstick and a white dress with a matching bow in her hair.
The other girl says something like "And I was in love with her!". That's Stupid Sexy Flanders, right?
The teacher gets angry when this troublesome "boy" shows up in drag. From the teachers point of view it's a subverted crossdresser? Is it a Playing With on Recursive Crossdressing?(which one?) Is it something else?
edited 25th Mar '14 12:00:16 PM by m8e
Lost in Space
The thing about that second case, "girl likes girl who is really a boy", is that it's listed in the description as a very common straight use, especially in Shakespeare. I do have to wonder if the Playing With entry is wrong.
For your other question, a guy who likes the fake guy without realizing it's a girl is indeed falling victim to Stupid Sexy Flanders. We don't really have a specific trope for the other version; it falls under Sweet on Polly Oliver.
edited 25th Mar '14 12:11:54 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Would The Architect from The Matrix count as Blue-and-Orange Morality?
Lost in Space
Not really. His morality is alien, but not so bizarre as to be incomprehensible.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Would he be Lawful Neutral then maybe? I'm just trying to think of more tropes to use for him.
edited 25th Mar '14 4:03:36 PM by Nikkolas
Lost in Space
Character Alignment tropes may only be used where they are explicit and canonical. Having more tropes is not a badge of honor.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
This is such an obvious example that the fact it's not on the page yet makes me think I might be missing something.
You guys have seen Silence of the Lambs? Maybe read the book? Well "Buffalo Bill" Jame Gumb, a deranged serial killer, has a little dog named Precious. He is extremely loving to the dog, to the extent he went out of his way to try and kill the girl holding Precious hostage in a way where the dog could not possibly be injured. All the time he talks very sweetly to the little poodle I think it was and dotes on her.
Doesn't this count as Pet the Dog?
edited 13th Mar '14 9:48:03 PM by Nikkolas