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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

XFllo There is no Planet B from Planet A Since: Aug, 2012
There is no Planet B
#7476: Feb 6th 2019 at 4:09:21 PM

The thing is, you usually can't write much context for the trope.

Usually it's "he's a sailor and sports this" or "X is a pirate and wears one". I wish people would write about the genre/setting of the work a bit, because that's what the trope is. Genre/setting indicator.

Thanks for your input, I'll detele this non-example.

Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#7477: Feb 7th 2019 at 2:15:00 AM

From Series.Derry Girls, I added these tropes, but do they fit and are they Square Peg Round Trope:

crazysamaritan NaNo 4328 / 50,000 from Lupin III Since: Apr, 2010
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
#7478: Feb 7th 2019 at 5:44:08 AM

It'll be hard to show Frozen in Time with just one season (to use the American term). Never list two tropes with a slash like you did for Lower-Deck Episode / Elsewhere Fic. I'm not sure about Elsewhere Fic, but LDE is misuse because the show is focused on these girls, not directly on the Troubles. Period Piece is correct, but you should make it explicit that the work is being made in 2016/2017.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Malady (X-Troper)
#7479: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:02:08 AM

If Bold Inflation is using bolding to emphasize words, then the examples about bolding in Rainbow Speak should be moved there, right?

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#7480: Feb 7th 2019 at 9:52:13 AM

[up] Fixed that.

Again with Series.Derry Girls:

From Ross O'Carroll-Kelly:

  • Alternate Continuity: The stage plays are designed very much as standalone entities, and their events don't always align fully with the books or the newspaper column.

and I added this:

  • Satire: It can vary between Horatian and Juvenalian depending on which book, what chapter it is, although this is very clearly satirical and not a Parody per Word of God.

I'm not entirely familiar with the source material, so if anyone could check and fix this, I'd appreciate it.

Edited by Merseyuser1 on Feb 7th 2019 at 5:56:41 PM

crazysamaritan NaNo 4328 / 50,000 from Lupin III Since: Apr, 2010
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
#7481: Feb 7th 2019 at 10:11:59 AM

Replace Anachronism Stew with the Sub-Trope:

  • Present-Day Past: Despite the 1990s setting, several more modern cars appear in the background, such as a 2012 Chevrolet Cruze sedan, the Ford Focus, and BMW 5-Series stationwagons.

Edited by crazysamaritan on Feb 7th 2019 at 1:12:23 PM

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Malady (X-Troper)
#7482: Feb 7th 2019 at 10:15:21 AM

[up][up] - What did you fix?

I'm not sure that Bold Inflation is bolding for emphasis, or bolding for random emphasis...

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#7483: Feb 7th 2019 at 10:27:34 AM

I created VideoGame.Lemmings 3 D, do these tropes fit:

  • Antepiece: Bubbling yellow mud in circus levels is insignifcant at first, but becoees more important later.
  • Border Patrol: Your Lemmings will get hit by a lightning bolt from a raincloud if they try to cross beyond certain points.
  • Camera Screw: The multiple In-Universe cameras can make it difficult to play at times.
  • Continuity Reboot: The first one for the Lemmings franchise since Lemmings 2: The Tribes of 1993. Previous Lemmings canon was discarded to start from a clean slate.
  • Cut and Paste Environments: Certain medieval and circus levels re-use parts of earlier levels' designs.
  • Game-Breaking Bug: In certain levels, you can bash through the exit or metal, due to problems with the programming.
  • Game-Favored Gender: Averted. The lemmings seem to have no biological gender In-Universe.
  • Grimy Water: Mainly seen in the circus and Egyptian levels, and it will kill the Lemmings.
  • Locked Door: In Level 10, "Castle Lemmalot", a medieval-themed level, the doors are locked, and should not try to be opened, according to game walkthroughs.
  • Model Dissonance: Depending on the action the lemmings take and the camera view, it can come across as this, due to the nature of the sprites used for the 3D Lemmings.
  • No Antagonist: There isn't really a villainous character, the only opposing forces are either nature (slippery ice, mud) or artificial (bear traps, spikes). Even the snowman in winter levels isn't an antagonist, but the twig he has does kill lemmings. It's all about trying to get the lemmings home.
  • No-Gear Level: Some of the levels have no blockers, bashers, miners, bombers or floaters available, relying on you using only the turner skill (where the lemmings turn 90 degrees left or right).
  • Sandbox Mode: There are 20 "training mode" levels, but this is subverted as the lemmings will still die in these levels, despite their training status.
  • Time Trial: Due to the Myth Arc throughout the Lemmings franchise, every game has one of these. The first level, Take A Dive gives you 8 minutes to save 79 lemmings. Most levels have 10 minutes as the maximum timespan.
  • Training Stage: Overlapping with Sandbox Mode, but these are treated as standalone levels for the purpose of learning a skill.
  • Video Game Geography: This is particularly prevalent in the Medieval, Maze, Golf and Circus-themed levels. "Which Exit?" and "The M-A-Z-E" highlight the problems of this.
  • Violation of Common Sense: The springs bouncing them to higher platforms and the teleporters show good examples of this trope in action. However, these haven't been tested in the real-world... yet.


I haven't played this game for years, and technical reasons mean I can't play it for now (on a Mac), so I relied on Let's Play from You Tube.com for trying to write this.

Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#7485: Feb 7th 2019 at 4:39:16 PM

Characters like Taiyang and Sun are depicted as Asian in the same way that Ren is Asian. There's no Asia or Europe, but equivalent ethnicities abound.

The example I removed was saying that fan art usually depicts Taiyang as Asian (specifically, Chinese) because of his Chinese name. Now, the setting may have a continent (Anima) that has been influenced by multiple Asian cultures, but it doesn't have Asia and it doesn't have China. We have no idea where Taiyang originates from, only that he lives in Vale, so if the fan art was depicting him as an Anima native because he's got a name that thematically fits in with Anima's themes, that would be fanon. But the example I removed never claimed that's what was happening. It was quite specific about the associations it wanted to make — and it was real-life based, not Anima-based.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Feb 7th 2019 at 12:40:24 PM

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#7486: Feb 8th 2019 at 2:08:47 AM

WesternAnimation.My Little Pony The Movie 2017 Ultimately, the movie changes nothing. All of the damage done to Canterlot is undone; Celestia, Cadance, and Luna are all freed from stone; and despite the trials and tribulations they suffer, the Mane Six are still as close as ever. However, the film does a tremendous amount of world-building, and the door is open for characters and settings from the movie to make cameos in future episodes — which happens regularly the following eighth season of the show.

If it introduced a new race and locations, is that not change enough to not be an example?

Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Feb 8th 2019 at 2:09:07 AM

dsneybuf (Not-So-Newbie)
#7487: Feb 8th 2019 at 4:42:09 AM

Does this look worth adding to DanBrowned.Honest Trailers?

  • The Thor: Ragnarok Honest Trailer uses its success as a demonstration that Marvel should embrace "weirdo" directors, such as Taika Waititi, not reject them, like they did Edgar Wright. While this might make Peyton Reed replacing Wright as the Ant-Man director seem like a case of replacing a "weirdo" with a normal director, Reed has also broken convention across his filmography; he added the trippy Quantum Realm set piece to Ant-Man, and before joining Marvel, one of his most-acclaimed movies (Down with Love) presented a 1960s-style Romantic Comedy made with 2000s-era actors and technology.

crazysamaritan NaNo 4328 / 50,000 from Lupin III Since: Apr, 2010
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
#7488: Feb 8th 2019 at 5:53:26 AM

[up][up] You forgot to mention which trope (Status Quo Is God). Yes, I think it's a valid example. Adding a new race on Star Trek or Star Wars never really changes the status quo.


[up] Sounds like a legitimate example.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
HighCrate Since: Mar, 2015
#7489: Feb 8th 2019 at 6:05:11 AM

Wow. That whole DanBrowned.Honest Trailers page is chock full of shoehorned examples and complaining, to the point where it's better addressed in the Removing complaining, bashing and other negativity from the wiki thread.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#7490: Feb 8th 2019 at 6:08:16 AM

Given that Honest Trailers is a comedy show, I think that merciless nitpicking is a little unfair.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Malady (X-Troper)
#7491: Feb 8th 2019 at 6:46:32 AM

Non-YMMV entries don't go in YMMV, like vice-versa, right?

Also, would it be a valid main trope? It's troping the dev videos, not the game itself... Forgot what I / we decided if that's allowed...

YMMV.Yandere Simulator:

Moving the Goalposts

Edited by Malady on Feb 8th 2019 at 6:48:17 AM

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
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
#7492: Feb 8th 2019 at 6:47:26 AM

You are correct. Only YMMV should be on YMMV subpages.

Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.
Malady (X-Troper)
#7493: Feb 8th 2019 at 8:03:11 AM

And they've moved it to the game page...

It's a bit lengthy, and there's All Caps in it, which seem like unnecessary emphasis, and my rebuttal's lengthy too... Sigh...

  • Moving the Goalposts: This is readily apparent in every video since YanDev's "Where's Osana?" video. To elaborate, in every dev update video since, there's a list included of items/features that apparently need to be in the game before Osana can be added, and indeed some of those items serve as a necessary foundation for her impending implementation. The problem is that more and more items are being added to said list EVERY SINGLE VIDEO, and it's little wonder why there was such an uproar following the "How Long Does It Take To Make A Video Game?" video, as the demonstration of this trope makes it readily apparent that YanDev's has little, or even NO intention, of adding Osana into the game and finally putting it onto the path of release.

And I'm quite sure the example's incorrect, because at the end of his latest video, Yandere Dev does reiterate that he'll add Osana when he's got a basic completed product, except for the other rivals...

Like, starting from around 9:13... I should figure out how to summarize this quote... Gotta get it all down, before I can make a good one...

Maybe this?

The goalposts keep changing and getting longer, because, when making the checklist, Yandere Dev is "constantly remembering things that [he] forgot to add to the list", and that there is no clear concept on what ideas are to go on a accurate and complete list of what he needs to do before implementing Osana.

Here's the quote:

this is this is the part of the video where I usually display a checklist of the last remaining features I still need to work on before I'll be able to start implementing [Osana], however, this checklist keeps changing every time I display it, because I'm constantly remembering things that I forgot to add to the list. Even now, there are still some changes and additions that I'm considering, most of these ideas have been on my mind for a very, very long time. Some of them feel absolutely necessary to ensure a quality gameplay experience, but others are kind of optional. It's too early for me to say which of these tasks I'm going to commit to, so it's difficult to construct an accurate checklist at this point in time.

Edited by Malady on Feb 8th 2019 at 8:28:09 AM

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Conspiracy_risk Since: Aug, 2017 Relationship Status: Abstaining
#7494: Feb 8th 2019 at 8:20:26 AM

This is the first trope listed on The Books of Ember, but I'm not sure if any of these examples count.

  • Accidentally Broke the MacGuffin:
    • In The City of Ember, the "Instructions for Egress" were mostly ruined by Lina's baby sister, Poppy, chewing on them; this turned what would have otherwise been a very quick and simple quest into a much more difficult and time-consuming ordeal as they tried to piece together what remained of the instructions.
    • The "Instructions for Egress" had been kept in a safe in a special place of honor for years until about fifty or sixty years earlier, the then mayor took it home and tried to open it, never replacing the safe but instead, having it shoved into a closet to be forgotten and unseen even as its timed lock opened.
      • Slightly tweaked in the film adaptation; the box was meant to be passed from mayor to mayor, but the box was lost when one mayor died while in the role, with his family inheriting the box without knowing what it was for.
    • In The Diamond Of Darkhold, Doon throws the diamond of Darkhold at a pack of wolves to save Lina. The diamond hits the rock that Lina is standing on and shatters into hundreds of pieces. Luckily, the diamond is only a sample. There are exactly one thousand diamonds in a hidden room in the cave. The diamonds are ancient technology that turns solar power into electricity.

Oh no how did this get here I am not very good at computer please help
AdelePotter susie. from the worst timeline Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
susie.
#7495: Feb 8th 2019 at 9:04:41 AM

[up][up] Agree that, if the example should even be allowed to remain, it should definitely be rewritten to be more fair. The editor who posted it is obviously either a troll or just here to complain.

I've been here too long. Regretting choosing this screenname half my life ago.
Malady (X-Troper)
#7496: Feb 8th 2019 at 9:41:24 AM

Well, they've been here for about a year at least...

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/el.php?findfor=HashiriyaR32

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sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#7497: Feb 8th 2019 at 7:59:12 PM

Would the following be a valid entry for Pint-Sized Powerhouse, or should it go to the subtrope of Cute Bruiser?

  • Mashiro Torasawa, Torako's older brother in Torako, Anmari Kowashicha Dame da yo, is a thirty-four year old who is Older Than They Look and is very easily mistaken for a child. He is also the first person in the series shown who can handle Torako's insane and uncontrolled strength. He repeatedly dodges her or throws her with enough force to break walls, both sides doing it with a smile as Mashiro describes it as their version of goofing around. He credits his taking care of Torako in place of their parents as the source of his own strength, as simply surviving her naturally made him stronger.

Hm, given that last sentence, is there potential for a Charles Atlas Superpower entry?

Edited by sgamer82 on Feb 8th 2019 at 9:11:30 AM

naturalironist from The Information Superhighway Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
#7498: Feb 8th 2019 at 9:26:30 PM

Does Magical Queer cover any story where a LGBT person teaches a bunch of straight people a lesson about being more accepting or creative?

"It's just a show; I should really just relax"
Malady (X-Troper)
#7499: Feb 8th 2019 at 9:48:00 PM

[up][up][up] - No objections to my replacement entry, I assume?

So, should we give them a warning, or what?

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#7500: Feb 8th 2019 at 10:00:50 PM

YMMV.Kingdom Hearts III

  • Faux Symbolism: 3D implied that the χ-blade is to be forged from seven hearts of pure light and thirteen hearts of pure darkness. As it plays out in this game however, the seven lights are just seven Keyblade wielders who happen to be available to fight Xehanort, while Xehanort's choice for Organization members boils down to "twelve former allies of mine that I can convince to help me." On both sides, only one or two members can be said to have hearts of pure light or pure darkness, both sides have more members than they need to fill their quota, and during the finale a couple of Organization members change sides. The result is that the idea of combining 7 pure lights and 13 pure darknesses is this trope, using Arc Numbers just for the sake of having arc numbers even though they don't fit what plays out.

This sounds more like complaining about the symbolism not panning out than this trope. Cut or move to Informed Attribute?


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