Is this an example?

The trope is not very clear as to what, exactly, it is about. Someone surviving a gunshot to the head? There seems to be no inherent reason to restrict that to bullets. After all, a laser, an axe, and psychic teleportation may all displace grey matter with the predictable result.

edited 16th Mar '15 7:53:30 AM by Fighteer

It's about surviving headshots as an indicator of character prowess.

Well, the character is one of the most hotheaded and physically oriented in the story, so she's certainly got the badassery down—Ajao Bjault is old and frail and uses his intelligence to make up for it; Pelio is the only Azhiri to lack psychic powers and similarly uses cunning and diplomacy to avoid getting murdered, while the character in question, Yonnine, is bold and aggressive and usually just avoids getting murdered by sheer luck or the intervention of the other two.

However, I'm not sure that surviving the attack is meant to indicate how badass she is, because it's made clear that she's super lucky. And to further call that into question, when she wakes up, she's super mild-mannered, and it's kind-of-sort-of-maybe suggested that the only reason she was so hotheaded before is because everything she had been through made her unhappy, and her brain damage is going to give her a chance to start over and be happy. Which, Unfortunate Implications aside, I'm not sure if it is in line with that part of the trope.

edited 16th Mar '15 8:08:04 AM by SolipSchism

The description, short as it is, includes the circumstance wherein someone survives a headshot and is still more or less functional, even if their personality is altered.

The example fits the trope, as long as we don't get too picky about making it only about bullets.

That makes sense. And on a third reading of the description, the "Survives, but with brain damage that severely alters her personality" bit is specifically mentioned. I mean, maybe there's some subtle implication that she survived because she's a super badass, but lost her badassery as a result, but that could as easily be me WMGing all over it.

In any case, I'll wait to see if Septimus has more to say. I think it's a good fit, though.

Does anybody have any input on the When All You Have Is a Hammer… example above?

For something to be on the Silver Bullet page, does it have to be a bullet or would any projectile from a gunpowder based weapon count, such as a shell, shot or a round? And what purity of silver do you need for something to be an example on that page?

I'd invoke Tropes Are Flexible here. The spirit of the trope is "You kill supernatural things by shooting them with silver projectiles". So while throwing a silver dagger might be stretching it just a bit too much, I'd say anything fired from a ranged weapon should be more than true enough to the spirit of the trope to count. Shot, shells, arrows, bolts, darts. As long as it's specified that they're silver and that makes them better for use against [Insert Monster Here], that's an example.

For the second part of your question, I'd say if there's X level of silver and that is supposed to make them more effective against Y Monster, it counts.

If Alice and Bob are fighting werewolves and Alice picks up her blowgun and mentions that the darts are tipped with a 1% silver alloy which will make them more effective against werewolves, that's an example. IMO. It's a ranged weapon using silver projectiles and it makes them more effective against whatever monster.

Is this the correct trope?:

• Call-Back: Marianne and The Bog King's duet Strange Magic is full of these from when Marianne first entered the Dark Forest. The various features of the forest that frightened her are shown to be harmless or even beautiful.

They're not quite Chekhov's guns, so I'm thinking its call back.

edited 17th Mar '15 9:20:57 PM by Fighteer

There are a couple of related tropes here that are often a bit confusing.

• Call-Back: A previously introduced story element, MacGuffin, or what have you becomes relevant to the plot. This is usually a sign of good writing; the converse is Ass Pull, when a significant story element pops up out of nowhere, having not been previously introduced.
• Continuity Nod: A reference is made to a prior event that lacks any specific relevance to the plot. It is mainly there to remind the audience that there is a larger continuity occurring; it can also be used to pull off gags that are only meaningful to people who've read the manual.
• Chekhov's Gun: A previously introduced item, plot element, or character suddenly becomes the key to resolving the plot.
• Brick Joke: A callback that is performed explicitly for the purpose of delivering the punch line to a joke.
• Running Gag: A continuity nod or callback that becomes a recurring joke within a work or a series.

The example you listed sounds like it fits Call-Back.

edited 17th Mar '15 9:29:42 PM by Fighteer

Thanks for the clarification.

Is this an example of Self-Made Orphan? The definition implies it's a Villain/Evil trope.

• Vital to the plot of Lupin III vs. Detective Conan: Queen Sakura of Vespania is believed to have been accidentally shot to death by her son and heir Prince Gill, who then shot himself in regret. In reality, both of them were murdered.

I'd say that's a subversion, since 1) he thinks it was accidental, rather than murder, and 2) it turns out he didn't kill her at all.

Just dropping in to ask once more for an opinion on this question about What the Hell, Hero?, and this question about When All You Have Is a Hammer…, from the previous page. If no one has any opinions then I'll just go ahead and made a call and add the examples.

Well, regarding the potential What the Hell, Hero?, it seems more like the inverse of You Are Better Than You Think You Are, which is apparently "The Reason You Suck" Speech.

Hmm, "The Reason You Suck" Speech does seem more appropriate in tone, though I'm not sure it's a speech, exactly. I'd need to revisit the scene to be honest, since it's been years, but I'm pretty sure it's only a couple of lines, three at the most.

The When All You Have Is a Hammer… one looks solid. Delightfully convoluted, but solid. All they can do is exchange equal volumes of mass from two places. That's a Hammer.

edited 19th Mar '15 11:01:25 AM by Madrugada

Nice. Gonna use that. I'm going to continue to let the Suck Speech stew, though, since I can't clearly remember the entire scene and I'm not actively working on that page anyway.

My turn to ask:

At end of The Avengers, is Tony Stark's paraphrased — I'll look up the exact quote if it's an example "There's a shawarma place just a couple blocks from here. I don't know what "shawarma" is, but let's go there" an example of I've Heard of That — What Is It? ?

I think it might be a downplayed example. The gist of the trope from what I'm understanding is "Character makes a statement about Thing X, but then admits that they don't know what Thing X actually is, which means the first statement was pretty much meaningless."

Here, the 'first statement' is "There's a shawarma place, we should eat there."

That said, I would just read it as "I want to try something new so lets go get some shawarma, which I've never had, but there's a place downtown that serves it." Which wouldn't be as much of an example, if that's how it is interpreted.

...Although given how ambiguous my answer is, I think a direct quote would be necessary to really say for sure.

Serial Tweaker Edit: Another thing to consider is that the "spirit of the trope" in this case is that the character starts by pretending they know what Thing X is. Claiming to want to eat at a restaurant because you've never heard of it is pretty much the opposite of that. Although again, not sure exactly how Tony delivered the line.

edited 19th Mar '15 3:19:07 PM by SolipSchism

Ok, I looked it up. Exact wording:

"All right, hey! Hooray, good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow; let's just take a day... Have you ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it. "

edited 19th Mar '15 3:20:50 PM by Madrugada

Annnd, yeah. That answers that. It's not. He knows it's food and he wants to try it because he's never had it.

Yeah, IMO that sounds more like a case of having an adventurous appetite and wanting to try something exotic and unfamiliar (or mundane and unfamiliar; I don't know what shawarma is either ), as opposed to pretending you know what something is in order to save face but then revealing your ignorance for laughs.

Apparently shawarma is remarkably similar to a gyros or doner kebab, if you know either of those.

I'm familiar with gyros. Interesting.

Shawarma is just the Levantine Arab version of doner kebab, actually. I regularly eat the stuff from local fast-food joints that make it. It's a delicacy in Saudi Arabia despite being foreign cuisine.

edited 20th Mar '15 5:39:26 AM by MarqFJA