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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

TheMountainKing Since: Jul, 2016
#7401: Jan 30th 2019 at 9:27:31 PM

[up]x6 That's also a problem with a lot of the "Token" tropes. People just treat any minority character as a token, often with no attempt to justify applying the label.

AnotherDuck No, the other one. from Stockholm Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Mu
No, the other one.
#7402: Jan 30th 2019 at 10:16:08 PM

The supposed Wangst in post 7394 on YMMV.Born On The Fourth Of July isn't described in the example. "Emotional adult" does not equal to "wangst". I'd say delete it.

Edited by AnotherDuck on Jan 30th 2019 at 7:16:30 PM

Check out my fanfiction!
Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#7403: Jan 31st 2019 at 4:17:01 AM

I created the recap page Recap.Police Camera Action 1999 S Learning The Hard Way for an episode of the documentary but are these tropes used correctly:

  • An Aesop: You will learn the hard way the consequences of your actions and that your actions have serious, potentially fatal consequences for other people.
    • Drug dealers are not as glamorous as the movies make them out to be.
    • Driving is something you should relax, not stress about.
  • Bottle Episode: Only three locations are used, but it subverts the trope by being more expensive than a regular episode to make, despite using footage from previous episodes as a clip show.
  • Call-Forward: Although only a small cameo, this mentions the Humberside Police, who will become more important later on in the seasons airing in 2001 as a plot point and be of major importance in 2 episodes.
  • Clip Show: Zig-zagged trope. In the Cold Open it is set up as this trope, but it adds new footage not found in the original 1995-1996 episodes that the clips are sourced from.
  • Decon-Recon Switch: It deconstructs many motor vehicle tropes, but reconstructs many law enforcement tropes by showing how invaluable police officers are.
  • Drugs Are Bad: Downplayed, in that it doesn't try and give an over-the-top example of the consequences, but deconstructed in showing the consequences of drivers on drugs, then reconstructed into showing that police will inevitably come across these sorts of drivers in their line of work.
  • Fragile Speedster: This episode shows how drivers are a Real Life example of this trope in action, with a Dutch driver doing 205 km/h (125 mph) in a Mercedes sedan.
    • Also, the episode shows how Porsche cars can be an example of the trope, and that they sre not recommended unless you're an experienced driver.
  • Improbably Cool Car: The Porsche cars, the Land Rover Discovery and Subaru Impreza rally cars all qualify, due to their expensive nature, and in the case of Subaru and Porsche, the speeds they can attain.
  • Out-of-Genre Experience: It's a show about police, but the bulk of the episode is focused on racetrack driving of Porsche cars, driving a Land Rover SUV across the marshes, and Colin Macrae in a Subaru Impreza rally car, making this more like an episode of Top Gear (as the show was back in 1999, pre-rebooted series).
    • Also, the nature of Alastair Stewart's commentary being a sort of abridged cut off version - "The driver was banned", instead of "The driver was banned for 18 months", seems to indicate this.
    • This is justified as it is the only episode this season that does not use Patricia Llewellyn's house style, instead being directed by Dominic Cyriax, whose house style of directing is totally different.
  • Precision F-Strike: A driver pulled over by the Ontario Provincial Police in 1991 for speeding actually swears, with it uncensored. Justified as the show aired at 9pm London time, GMT at the time.
  • Special Edition Title: It uses the Title Sequence from the 1998 episodes, but adds in footage from North Yorkshire Police fishtailing an SUV, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety crashing a stolen car off the freeway, and a police camera car skidding out of control, which are unique to this episode.
  • The Alleged Car: Deconstructed and reconstructed in the same episode. We see the consequences of not keeping your vehicle roadworthy, but then it's reconstructed by pointing out that the police are there to help and keep dangerous vehicles off the road, not just act in a capacity to stop criminals.

Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#7404: Jan 31st 2019 at 4:44:29 AM

From Comic-Book Time:

  • Patrick O'Brien did this for the Aubrey-Maturin series: around book nine or so, he encountered the problem of running out of Napoleonic War years. To get around it he had to fudge an "1812a or 1812b" to allow for the long sea voyages. Since he's pretty meticulous about Doing The Research, he admits this fact in the forewords of the books affected. Because he's so good, almost everybody forgives him.

and from Aubrey-Maturin:

  • Comic-Book Time: O'Brian moved the series into this after a few books when he realized he was quickly running out of Napoleonic War years. O'Brian somehow manages to squeeze what would properly be at least five, perhaps even ten years' worth of action into a period of less than 6 months, roughly spanning June 1813 (the end of The Fortune of War) to November 1813 (the beginning of The Commodore). Time resumes its normal sequence with The Yellow Admiral; the last completed book in the series, ''Blue at the Mizzen", presumably ends in early 1816. O'Brian even admitted this, saying it only made sense if you pretended there were "hypothetical years [...]. An 1812a, as it were, or even an 1812b."

I'm not sure if it is Comic-Book Time, as the characters do age in the series, don't they? (I've only ever seen Master and Commander the film, so can't comment that much on the books!)

Edited by Merseyuser1 on Jan 31st 2019 at 12:46:12 PM

Pichu-kun ... Since: Jan, 2001
...
#7405: Jan 31st 2019 at 5:55:56 AM

[up](x4) Maybe Five-Token Band and the other pages need clean-ups then.

Edited by Pichu-kun on Jan 31st 2019 at 5:56:24 AM

Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#7406: Jan 31st 2019 at 10:06:35 AM

I added this to YMMV.Taylor Swift, is this correct use of Dork Age:

11111001011 11111001011 from Peachtree City, GA Since: Dec, 2018 Relationship Status: Abstaining
11111001011
#7407: Jan 31st 2019 at 10:31:24 AM

I put this under Alternate Jamie's character sheet in Megas XLR. Is it accurate?

  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Let's see you conquer worlds when you're stuck between dimensions!"note 

Help me!
Yinyang107 from the True North (Decatroper) Relationship Status: Tongue-tied
#7408: Jan 31st 2019 at 11:00:22 AM

[up]I feel like that's valid as a family-friendly example of the trope.

Crossover-Enthusiast from an abaondoned mall (Lucky 7) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#7409: Jan 31st 2019 at 11:03:16 AM

[up][up] Agreed, though it should be more than just the quote.

Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢
11111001011 11111001011 from Peachtree City, GA Since: Dec, 2018 Relationship Status: Abstaining
11111001011
#7410: Jan 31st 2019 at 11:09:55 AM

What do you mean?

Help me!
Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#7411: Jan 31st 2019 at 11:58:51 AM

YMMV.Kingdom Hearts III

  • Internet Backdraft:
    • The game has been anticipated since the release of Kingdom Hearts II in 2005, which has left a lot of people jaded and antsy about the game being released in a timely manner (or at all), with comparisons to Final Fantasy XV (which took a very long time to be released after its announcement, and for a time was explicitly the priority project displacing KHIII's development). Even with the announcement of a 2018 release date, joked that the game will be delayed... Which it was, to early 2019.
    • Crosses over with Fan Myopia, but the fact that it's also coming out for Xbox One has some Sony fanboys upset that the game series isn't going to be console exclusive (to PlayStation) anymore. The fact that many a Sony fanboy practically paraded in the streets over the announcement that the game wasn't going to come out on Xbox One (in Japan, as it was actually clarified, which was then thrown for a loop when the listing was put back up on the Japanese Xbox store), thinking it meant the port to the system was cancelled really cemented that. In actuality, the series has never been console exclusive, as several games have been on Nintendo's handhelds, PSP, and mobile, and Square themselves aren't a console-exclusive company, since they've published games to Xbox, Nintendo, and mobile systems for years now. This undeserved hatred even extends to some of these fanboys even telling people uninformed about the game that it's just coming to the PS4 and neglecting to mention the Xbox One version, despite the other people most likely finding out afterwards anyways that it's coming to that system as well. All because they don't like Xbox.
      • Some of these fanboys are also expecting the game to fail spectacularly on Xbox, since Xbox doesn't have a great history of JRPGs selling as well as other console versions of the games, as well as the series being heavily continuity-based and requiring knowledge of the past games to even begin to understand the overall story of the series. This, despite the games being hyped up very much in the last few years, and the fact that some Xbox owners owned a PS2 back during the 6th generation of consoles, or that some Xbox owners have either played the past games on a friend's PS4, have both consoles to play them on, or used an emulator to play the games, since Square has yet to release the collections on Xbox One to go with this game at this point in time. There's also the people who watch Let's Plays, video reviews, or read wiki articles to catch up on the stories, so there's very little reason to doubt it won't do well on the console. Not as much as PlayStation, sure, but definitely not terribly.
    • There's also the people who really want a Switch port of the game. While Nomura hasn't ruled out the possibility of retooling the game to work on the platform after the initial ports have been released, he hasn't said anything definitive either way. There's even a crowd who'd want it to be on the Switch rather than the Xbox One because of the franchise's history on Nintendo's handhelds.
    • And then there's the crowd who're confused about why Square's bringing this game to the Xbox, but not releasing the collections to the console beforehand as well for reasons stated previously above. Some even say that Xbox shouldn't even get the game at all without the collections, since there's no prior history with the franchise on the console prior to this game. Nomura has said that ports of the collections to the system are entirely possible after III comes out, as well as the Switch port of III, all they need to do is talk to Microsoft about it, but, again, nothing has been definitively said one way or another about them.
      • To ramp up the confusion, yet another Compilation Re-release was announced mere months before III's release: Kingdom Hearts: The Story So Far, collecting everything from all the previous compilations into one $40 package, but is, yet again, PS4-exclusive. It's nice but hardly necessary when 1.5+2.5 and 2.8 have been out long enough to typically run $20 each and the Xbox brand still only has III to its name. Some have speculated that it was because all of the games were already on the PS4, meaning that no porting had to be done, just a bit of repackaging, and that The Story So Far will be brought to Xbox (and maybe the Switch) at a later date once the porting process is done.
    • The return of James Woods as Hades was not surprising; Woods has said it's one of his favorite roles, and the only appearance of the character where he didn't voice Hades was for a musical number for House of Mouse. However, there have been some heated reactions given Woods's increasingly visible divisive political and personal views he expresses on social media. Not all are happy he's returning.
    • The idea of Aqua being a vessel for Xehanort has caused many fans to fear what Nomura is willing to do just for the sake of yet another Shocking Swerve in a franchise already long infamous for them. In the game itself, it turns out that she wasn't a vessel for Xehanort after all and just had become consumed by darkness, although it's still a Shocking Swerve nonetheless.
    • The fact that Hayden Panettiere seemingly won't reprise her role as Kairi hasn't sat well with quite a number of fans. Most have chalked it up to Alyson Stoner, who voiced Kairi in 0.2, being in a contract requiring her to cover both 0.2 and III, although few people had any issues with her performance.
    • While the game is still planned to release only one month after the end of the year, a small but vocal portion of the fanbase did not take the announcement of it missing its original 2018 release window well...
    • The fact that Square and Disney have confirmed that the game will only be voiced in Japanese and English has brought similar feelings from fans in other countries that don't speak those languages from when the previous HD Collections had the same setup. French fans in particular are the most vocal about wanting a dub in French, especially since Sora's French VA is enthusiastic about the proposition.
    • Some fans are not happy about the fact that the game introduces new Princesses of Heart instead of bringing back the originals from Kingdom Hearts I like many expected. Most cite the reason for their dislike as this revelation going against previously established lore, but other fans believe this is simply a way to give more relevance to certain characters (such as Elsa, Anna and Rapunzel; many expect at least the latter two to be among the new Princesses) and thus justify their inclusion in the plot of KHIII.
    • The international release date being 4 days after Japan's is also a point of contention. The fact that Square aren't gunning for a completely synced up release date, especially since they already delayed the Japanese release date to be closer to the international release date. Many fans are even taking to an internet blackout for those 4 days as to avoid spoilers about the game from people who'll translate the Japanese dialogue into English. Other Square Enix games in the last several years that have released on both consoles, like Final Fantasy XV, have had synced release dates across the globe, so this game makes no sense to still have a delay in its international release date.
    • In the week leading up to Cyber Monday 2018, Amazon hyped up new info and "awesome new" DLC for III that would be revealed on a livestream. A misleading splash screen implied this would be during a stream on Black Friday, only for Amazon to clarify that they would be premiered Monday, so fans were already a bit irritated over the weekend. On Monday, less than an hour before the stream, Amazon's Twitter ominously stated their trailer and DLC info had been "consumed by Heartless". When the stream finally began, the trailer ended up being a shorter cut of the Together trailer with the DLC being a "Dawn Till Dusk" Keyblade skin exclusive to Amazon preorders. People were not thrilled.
    • To say the least, many fans are upset and angry over Gamestop cancelling many of the Kingdom Hearts 3 PS 4 Pro Limited edition preorders. The main statement put out by Gamestop is that the company oversold the console and some orders were cancelled. Cancellations were known to occur starting only 4(!!) days before the official NA release date. An additional refund credit of $25 was issued as well, but many fans have not taken the news well.
    • The treatment of the female characters in the story has gotten many people up in arms, particularly Kairi and Aqua ( the former becoming a Distressed Damsel again despite being a full-fledged keyblade wielder and suffering yet another Disney Death, and the latter suffering from a bad case of Badass Decay, losing every fight she engages in and often in absurdly pathetic ways.)

This feels like excessive complaining compared to Fallout 76 which has more widespread, viable backlash. It makes it sound like the game is Overshadowed by Controversy, which isn't the case; at least it's too soon to judge. "The treatment of the female characters" seems like an attempt to sneak in un-cited Unfortunate Implications, and is redundant with Badass Decay and Faux Action Girl. How can we tell if this sentiment is widespread enough to count (some admit it's coming from Fan Myopia and a Vocal Minority). Should any pre-release backdraft be moved to Tainted by the Preview, which a majority of this is given how recently it released?

Again, since the new rules on Broken Base, Internet Backdraft has become a dumping ground for complaining. Worse, it currently lack even the minimum objectivity to say if it's a valid example or not. Any valid issues can be covered by other tropes.

Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Jan 31st 2019 at 12:03:26 PM

ADrago Since: Dec, 2015
#7412: Jan 31st 2019 at 4:42:51 PM

[up] The Internet Backdraft problem for Kingdom Hearts III was also brought up on the Removing Complaining Thread. That entire section should definitely be trimmed.

Pichu-kun ... Since: Jan, 2001
...
#7413: Jan 31st 2019 at 5:41:27 PM

From Never Accepted in His Hometown:

  • Olafs Frozen Adventure was hated by most American viewers because the short focused on the most despised Frozen character and because it was a very long short that played in front of a highly anticipated Pixar movie. However, in the United Kingdom, where Frozen is more popular than it is in the United States, the short was enjoyed by everyone who saw it. It helps that over there, it was shown with a re-release of Frozen, meaning that one could leave after watching only the new material rather than having to sit through two new films as was the case in the United States. It was also popular in South Africa, to the point where the short is still playing there despite a TV release being announced!

Olaf isn't that unpopular. Heck, isn't he actually popular? I've always seen people praise him as one of Disney's best comedic side characters.

Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#7414: Jan 31st 2019 at 5:59:19 PM

For YMMV.Digimon Adventure Tri, we removed Alternate Character Interpretation since it conclusively disprove it by the ending. So for YMMV.My Little Pony Equestria Girls 2013:

  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Because of how rushed it was, some viewers questioned if Sunset Shimmer was really remorseful of her crimes and wanted to be redeemed or was just faking it to gain sympathy and avoid any serious punishment. Rainbow Rocks shows that her remorse is shown to be genuine.

Does it still count if it's decisively disproven? Or is it valid because it took until later works to refute (Tri. was ongoing at the time so there was no time for a valid ACI, which lasts outside the work, to form)?

WhirlRX Since: Jan, 2015
#7415: Jan 31st 2019 at 6:10:49 PM

[up][up]From what i remembered he was hated before the movie premiered but gain fans after the release. This is because people wrote him off asca standard comic relief but his willing to die for Anna garner his fans.

[down]Oh, my bad

Edited by WhirlRX on Jan 31st 2019 at 9:59:29 AM

AegisP Kindhearted SSSSSNAKE Man Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
Kindhearted SSSSSNAKE Man
#7416: Jan 31st 2019 at 6:53:52 PM

For ANNA! He lit the fire for and stood for ANNA.

As long as this flower is in my heart. My Strength will flow without end.
Pichu-kun ... Since: Jan, 2001
...
#7417: Feb 1st 2019 at 5:27:43 AM

[up][up] Pre-release receptions are always rocky. I remember people vividly hated Frozen and expected it to bomb so hard it'd make Disney ditch CGI... That obviously didn't happen.

WhirlRX Since: Jan, 2015
#7418: Feb 1st 2019 at 10:07:23 AM

On the Broken Base forum, i checked an example for YMMV.Batman Bad Blood which was deemed not appropriate. It was readded back under They Changed It, Now It Sucks!. The example.

They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: While Batwoman's backstory is largely correct based on the comics and most fans don't have an issue with how it was presented (especially due to some of the tweaks that had to be made due to Society Marches On), other viewers have problems with a few details:

  • In the film, Kate was very nearly raped and saved only by Batman's intervention, while in the comics she was mugged and managed to fight off her attacker on her own, with Batman only showing himself afterward. Despite facing four thugs in the film as opposed to just one in the comics (although it's not uncommon for punks to brood around bars), as well as visibly not being in top shape, some viewers see this as weakening her character and possibly even making her a Damsel in Distress.
  • Kate rudely brushes off Batman when he offers her a hand up in the film, while she was more awestruck by him in the comics and accepted his help in standing. Again, some think this casts Kate in too negative a light.
  • While it doesn't make the character as timeless, many people like that she left the military under Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the comics, as it shows her choosing to embrace her identity as opposed to hiding it. The film has her have a breakdown, basically eliminating her agency in the matter.
  • Finally, Batwoman states that after her attack she decided to fight crime in order to never be a victim again, while her comic counterpart took up vigilantism as an alternative to serving in the military, an option no longer open to her at that point in her life; some see movie Batwoman's motive as being too cliche compared to her comic version.

Is this correct? Should it be trimmed down to seem less complaining?

Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#7419: Feb 1st 2019 at 8:26:09 PM

There's back and forth Trivia.Fallout 76:

  • Box-Office Bomb: The game was easily as big as previous modern Fallout efforts and had a large marketing campaign, yet has not paid off to anywhere near the extent of the three previous 3D Fallout games. In its U.S. debut, it sold less less than New Vegas, a much smaller game in terms of budget (rushed out in only 13 months) released nearly ten years ago. Judging by detailed data from a more limited market (the UK physical sales), it dropped 82% Fallout 4's opening sales numbers (less than a fifth the copies sold) and then drastically dropped more from there as bad reviews and word of mouth rolled in. There were drastic price cuts almost immediately in an attempt to increase sales, with it dropping to half price less than two weeks after release; some stores even gave free copies of the game as a bonus for buying used items such as controllers.
    • To give some scale, SuperData estimated that Fallout 76 sold 1.4 million digital units on all platforms by the end of 2018,note  about half of the digital copies Fallout 4 sold in the same period, while hacks revealed it had approximately 406,000 players on the Playstation 4 (including digital).note  Even with physical Xbox One sales unaccounted for,note  this suggests total sales of well under 2 million. New Vegas, the least successful 3D Fallout game before this one, sold 5 million copies within a month of its release, and had total lifetime sales of 12 million.

I say cut since 1. Box-Office Bomb is about failing to recoup its budget which isn't what this entry is about. 2. I think it only applies to theatrical releases since they have a finite time to recoup its budget while anything else could theoretically recoup their's decades later. Thoughts?

ADrago Since: Dec, 2015
#7420: Feb 1st 2019 at 8:41:04 PM

[up] That entry should be cut since Box-Office Bomb only applies to movies. Though I feel a TLP should be created for flops in other mediums.

Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#7421: Feb 1st 2019 at 10:40:34 PM

YMMV.Death Note 2017:

  • Draco in Leather Pants: The film is a dream come true for the Light fanboys and fangirls, portraying Ryuk as taking a much more direct role in urging him to use the Note rather than just sitting back and enjoying the show, and Mia as the evil one who drove him to all his more questionable acts. At the film's end Light kills Mia and is implied to be on the way to becoming the truly benevolent god of the original Light's delusions... unless L makes a martyr of him, anyway. However, this is offset by Light becoming an Adaptational Wimp in the process, displaying far less of the original Light's intelligence and charisma that made him so popular to begin with.

Since Draco in Leather Pants and Ron the Death Eater are about fanon treatment, I believe we've cut non-fanwork portrayals as not this. Cut?

wingedcatgirl mys. minty from the silly dimension from lurking (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
mys. minty from the silly dimension
#7422: Feb 2nd 2019 at 5:47:47 AM

Yes, cut.

Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.
Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#7423: Feb 2nd 2019 at 8:28:54 AM

From Real-Person Fic (on the description page), I added:

Alternate History is not always Real-Person Fic; even if on sites like Alternate History Dot Com have settings which feature individuals like Bill Clinton or Tiger Woods; they are more of a Bit Character in the narrative, depending on who's the focus.

Pichu-kun ... Since: Jan, 2001
...
#7424: Feb 2nd 2019 at 2:01:47 PM

From Ron the Death Eater:

  • Sonic The Hedgehog: Jet the Hawk is considered a cheater who will do anything to win a race because of how he won the final race in [1], while is a fact that Jet did not won the race fair and square, he was unaware that is was Wave who put an explosive in Sonic's Extreme Gear as a back-up plan to make sure that Jet would win the Grand Prix. She was called out by Jet in the Babylon Story of Sonic Free Riders for tampering Sonic's board again and Jet call a rematch to make sure his win is legitimate.

I deleted this example a few weeks ago because it was general, but someone added it back.

Primis Since: Nov, 2010
#7425: Feb 2nd 2019 at 3:04:50 PM

[up] Yeah, I don't even get what that entry is trying to say.


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