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
Reposting from the previous
three
pages
:
Do the following examples from Robin Hood (2018) have enough context?:
- So Bad, It's Good: The movie either just straight up sucks, or it's wonderfully enjoyable with how much it sucks. It's really up for you to decide.
- What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: By the end, the final battle between the Merry Men and the Sheriff's forces might as well be a G8 meeting with crossbows.
Also whilst I've removed the "Wielded by several characters,", because it's Word Cruft, I'm still not sure this example from Mortal Engines has enough context:
- Hand Cannon: Thaddeus's in particular operates as a hand-sized minigun.
Thinking about adding Crichton's Literature.The Andromeda Strain to the existing Trope Main.Doing Research. Good idea or bad idea? The text I have in mind runs as follows:
- The Andromeda Strain centers on the Elaborate Underground Base research lab code named "Wildfire." There, scientists analyze a space probe that brought back a contagion which decimated the town of Piedmont. Only a hungry infant and a grizzled sot survived. Worse: the contagion can eat through plastic and rubber, meaning it will escape the facility once it chews through the safety seals.
Edited by oneuglybunny on Dec 23rd 2018 at 12:00:50 PM
a bunch re: usage of "justified"
No, that's not what a Justified Trope is. Cut that line.
Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.On YMMV.Code Lyoko:
- Idiot Plot: The show stresses the Masquerade, yet the gang has openly mentioned Lyoko and XANA within crowded areas talking louder than anyone else as well as in front of at least one person not privy to the secret — and somehow this generally doesn't expose them all. This has actually happened at least 20 times within the first two seasons alone. Mitigated, of course, by the Reset Button — but the point still stands, as they're way too much relying on it to cover their indiscretions. They also often pass it off as discussing some movie or video game.
Does this count as an Idiot Plot? The entry kind of argues with itself in some places.
This should go on the work page, since it's In-Universe, but Ass Pull needs some feelings of being both unexpected and negative, right? So it's not an example even if it were Out-of-Universe?
- Ass Pull: In-Universe, Cherry often mentions how Atticus can just save the day by snapping his fingers or using some sort of spell or even his strength to get them out of any situation.
No, that's not what an Ass Pull is. Cut.
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An Idiot Plot is a plot that requires the characters to act like idiots to keep together. That example sounds more like the plot keeps together despite them being idiots. Cut.
Re Aquaman example on the previous page. As someone who's seen the film I'd cut it. It is Save the Villain, Defied, not a Designated Hero. The guy Aquaman refused to save has just murdered people and was about to murder dozens more, got trapped as a result of his own actions and ultimately got what he deserved.
Edit: Also a case of Villains Want Mercy
Edited by Asherinka on Dec 24th 2018 at 11:55:10 PM
Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous.Regarding Sailor Moon Crystal:
- Despite succumbing to complications from breast cancer midway through the Death Busters arc, Yūko Mizutani recorded her lines months in advance and still voiced Ikuko Tsukino for her few appearances in the arc.
Would that count as either an Author Existence Failure or a Posthumous Credit?
He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.I'm thinking of a trope proposal for Rebecca in One Piece:
- Kick the Morality Pet: The Thunder Soldier calls out Rebecca for deciding to participate in the tournament to obtain the Flame-Flame Fruit and defeat Doflamingo, which leads to her harshly telling him that he's not her father but just a one-legged toy, after which she realizes what she's been doing wrong.
Does this fit?
Edited by gjjones on Dec 24th 2018 at 12:04:14 PM
He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.- Fanon Discontinuity: An inverted example. Despite Word of God being this movie takes place in the Bay universe, there are many who prefer to believe this movie is an he new canon and all preceding installments in another timeline, citing the film's various Continuity Snarls (which, granted, is nothing new in the Bay films). It's a case where many would see this trope as a positive.
I've seen other "inverted" examples where the work is popular but fans pretend it is canon with something it's officially not or it would be better as a standalone. Fanon Discontinuity is an Audience Reaction so it can't be played with. Are they just straight examples of Fanon Discontinuity if fans disregard the offical stance on canonicity?
From YMMV.Dragon Quest Builders:
- Nightmare Fuel: On an intellectual level, the core premise of the game. After the Hero of Dragon Quest 1 accepted the Dragonlord's offer, the Dragonlord then covered the world in darkness... and also took away humanity's knowledge and power to create in the process. This doesn't sound scary until you find out what taking away that power actually means: it means not being able to read and write, not being able to make shelter, not being able to make food or tools, among many other things. People in-game don't understand how the Builder is making objects and tools, even while directly observing what the Builder is doing. The Dragonlord, in one stroke, turned every human in the world into an cave-dwelling animal that can't comprehend complex ideas and are accordingly incapable of ever rising up, while still being aware enough that they know that something is terribly wrong but can't even realize what they're missing.
Having played the game myself, they can process complex ideas, it's just the ability to build anything that's been taken away from them.
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We do have a Nightmare Fuel Cleanup Thread
you can take this to. That example should be cut since it's more Fridge Horror than Nightmare Fuel.
From YMMV.Steven Universe S 5 E 25 Familiar.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Some fans felt that Steven should have gone through a standard action-adventure plot, attempting to escape Pink’s throne room alone only to discover the many dangers of the Homeworld environment below as in “Jungle Moon”, instead of waiting to convene the Diamonds.
This doesn't feel like a wasted plot and sounds more like I wanted the show to do this.
Edited by WhirlRX on Dec 25th 2018 at 5:56:10 AM
Considering how often Narm is frequently misused, can I get confirmation as too whether this example from Mortal Engines is being used correctly?:
- Narm: The Movie. Mortal Engines' dialogue consists of wall-to-wall Stock Phrases uttered in complete and utter sincerity without even a hint of self-awareness about how ridiculous it ends up sounding. The only character to make this work to some extent is Hugo Weaving's Thaddeus Valentine, but coming from the rest it ruins much of what could've been a perfectly campy Steampunk opera.
Tastes Like Diabetes is supposed to be about works that are insanely cute at the expense of quality, so is this example from Love, Simon being used correctly since it only says that people found the ending unrealistic:
- Tastes Like Diabetes: The film's happy ending has garnered this reaction to some who find it a bit unrealistic, particularly Abby, Nick, Leah, and the other students clapping and cheering as Simon and Bram kiss, but it is still regarded as significant for a film made by a major studio and in line with the film's message that everyone deserves a great love story.
Is this following example from Robin Hood (2018) being used correctly?:
- Snark Bait: The fact that this is yet another Hollywood adaptation of the Robin Hood tale made not long after Robin Hood (2010) and that it follows the trend of turning classic folk tales into stylized action-packed movies invites a number of jokes.
In Black Clover, when the Witch Queen tries having Asta kill Noelle in front of Vanessa, the latter spits at her. Which led to her magic finally manifesting itself so that she can curb-stomp her mother.
Does that count as a Defiant to the End example?
Edited by gjjones on Dec 25th 2018 at 10:28:45 AM
He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.From YMMV.Koi Kaze:
- Values Dissonance: Everybody brings up the problem with Koshiro and Nanoka being brother and sister, but nobody seems to be complaining about how Koshiro is 27 and Nanoka is only 15 at the story's beginning; in part because girls can legally get married at 16 in Japan, and Nanoka's 16th birthday is a major plot point in one episode.
I don't know if Japanese girls being able to get married at 16 is the reason behind the dissonance. I'm pretty certain 16 is the minimum in plenty of places, including most American states.
Example seems legit. It only seems to bring up the minimum age as a reason for why they don't seem to have a problem with the age difference. Which is the heart of the example.
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The example doesn't properly explain the "to the end" part. Needs more context about the situation.
Edited by AnotherDuck on Dec 25th 2018 at 5:07:08 PM
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Edited by WhirlRX on Dec 23rd 2018 at 7:45:00 AM