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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

Cutegirl920fire Player 222 from the Squid Games (Five Long Years) Relationship Status: Paris holds the key to my heart
Player 222
#17026: Sep 4th 2021 at 12:18:31 PM

[up] Same, as this is considered one of the best Pixar movies IIRC.

CG for short
MyFinalEdits Delete message from Parts Unknown (Spin-off Series) Relationship Status: Cast away
Delete message
#17027: Sep 4th 2021 at 12:23:36 PM

I support the removal.

135 -> 180 -> 273 -> 191 -> 188 -> 230 -> 300 -> 311
Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#17028: Sep 4th 2021 at 5:31:35 PM

[nja]

Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Sep 4th 2021 at 5:36:02 AM

Bubblepig Steve from Minecraft (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
#17029: Sep 5th 2021 at 1:10:41 AM

Just stumbled upon seeing the lastest Role-Ending Misdemeanor about CWC. Here's the example:

  • Christine Weston Chandler, who is best known as Chris-Chan and known for her fan comic Sonichu as well as her fanfic Christian Potter Chandler along with her novel A Girl Who Brought Down the World in addition to her infamous reputation among the Sonic the Hedgehog fanbase had her reputation completely tarnished in August 2021 after she was arrested for committing incest following a leaked phone call revealing that she was having sex with her dementia-stricken mother.
I'm not sure if that counts as a Role-Ending Misdemeanor for me. What do you think about it?

"CHICKEN JOCKEY!"
Vandagyre I think I just got AC team loyalty from Dacardia (Fifth Year at Tropey's) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
I think I just got AC team loyalty
#17030: Sep 5th 2021 at 2:16:41 AM

[up] Regardless of whether it's correct usage of the trope, the example needs to go because the crowner in this thread was called in favor of disallowing discussion of CWC as a person on the wiki.

Cave Johnson, we're done here.
isoycrazy Lord of the Blue Star Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: Abstaining
Lord of the Blue Star
#17031: Sep 5th 2021 at 3:20:44 AM

In Octopath Traveler the character Lianna is the adoptive sister to the heroine Ophelia and blood-daughter of the highly respected Archbishop Josef. Before the start of Ophelia's journey, Lianna is highly respected and her sermons are well regarded. She is earmarked to take part in the Kindling, a ritual done every 20 years where a person goes on a pilgrimage carrying embers of the Sacred Flame to strengthen the three main fires burning in the land. However, when Josef falls ill, Ophelia takes her place so Lianna may be with her father should he die, as he believes his time is short. Lianna holds no grudge against Ophelia for this action and appreciates it.

When Josef dies, Lianna is approached by Ophelia's Arc Villain called The Savior. The Savior promises Lianna if they can take the Embers in Ophelia's possession, Lianna can do a ritual which can bring back her father. Motivated by grief, Lianna betrays her sister and takes the Embers, going with the Savior to commit this dark ritual by using the embers to open a portal to the sealed god Galdera, which the Sacred Flame is meant to keep away.

Ophelia pursues and at the climax is able to talk Lianna back from the brink in her grief, much to the Savior's disbelief. It is later revealed in The Very Definitely Final Dungeon the Savior was incredibly long-lived and had secretly poisoned Josef in his plot to have Lianna do the Kindling and then succumb to her grief.

Given these facts, while I can see Broken Pedestal applying, does Lianna qualify for The Paragon Always Rebels? She was highly regarded at the start, loved by members of the order, and meant to take part in a key ritual of their faith and the protection of the world. Even Ophelia feels she is the better one, though Ophelia is also a Humble Hero and doesn't see herself Lianna's equal as she is just the adopted daughter to Josepf. Lianna then goes against everything she was raised because of the grief she feels.

Edited by isoycrazy on Sep 5th 2021 at 6:21:08 AM

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#17032: Sep 5th 2021 at 9:07:14 AM

[up][up][up]Even if we were allowed to talk about that incident (we are not), IDK if it really tarnished her reputation because her reputation was already awful. It just crossed a legal barrier and made the low opinions even lower.

Edited by mightymewtron on Sep 5th 2021 at 12:07:28 PM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
LinkMarioSamus Since: Aug, 2021
#17033: Sep 5th 2021 at 9:37:55 AM

I saw Wonder Woman 1984 yesterday and while I thought the film was mediocre, I would like to contest the notion the film is an Idiot Plot. The only characters who really pay much attention to the stone in the film are Diana, Barbra, and Max, but the entry makes it seem like many people fall for the stone (which I guess happens in a roundabout way, but only because Max becomes the stone and then tricks people into giving their wishes). Heck, did Diana even consciously make the wish thinking Steve would just come back into her life? At worst it's a case of horrific Genre Blindness, not an Idiot Plot. The two are different, right?

I swear at this point the phrase Idiot Plot is being bandied about solely for occasions where the characters could have taken some simple action to abort the plot but don't, not where the plot spirals out of control because of constant idiotic actions. Even though Aliens is my favorite film I would still consider it an Idiot Plot because it does fit that description, although it feels intentional to at least some degree.

Though speaking of Aliens, I don't really know if I'd count Ripley shooting the Alien Queen's egg sac or whatever it was and allowing it to run after her really counts as an idiotic action. Yeah I get the whole station was going under anyway, but if you were in such an intense situation would you take that into account? Not saying it was a smart action or anything though, heck no, more contesting if it can really be seen as 'idiotic'.

AlternativeCola Since: Apr, 2013
#17034: Sep 5th 2021 at 11:07:01 AM

Oh, I didn't realise that there was an embargo against doing anything in relation to Chandler aside from her works having pages of their own on this site. My apologies on such and I won't do it again.

Edited by AlternativeCola on Sep 5th 2021 at 7:09:31 PM

Primis Since: Nov, 2010
#17035: Sep 5th 2021 at 11:46:54 AM

Found this on YMMV.The Prince Of Egypt:

This makes no sense to me. These movies are from the same studio, released two years apart, and have basically nothing of substance in common.

YMMV.The Road To El Dorado does not say anything about this supposed rivalry.

Merseyuser1 Since: Sep, 2011
#17037: Sep 5th 2021 at 12:36:17 PM

From ComicBook.Secret Wars 2015:

  • Loose Canon: This event like DC's Convergence allowed Marvel to publish books with the same character in a variety of stories. Some journalists are referring to this combined effort between the two publishers as the possible start of a "Prismatic Age of Comics", where the same character can exist in multiple contexts. The difference in approach, thus far, is that DC seems to have multiple versions of the same person running around (such as two versions of Superman running around) while Marvel is allowing multiple different characters to use the same name, such as two different Spider-Men, Spider-Women and Hawkeyes.

—-

Should this get a rewrite to make it easier to understand, and is it a different trope instead?

spyland2 Since: Jun, 2021
#17038: Sep 5th 2021 at 12:50:03 PM

For Killed Mid-Sentence, do examples that involve a character dying while talking to another character without being killed by someone else count? Like, for example, a mortally wounded character who tries to assure his friends that they can continue to help only to die in the middle of his speech? Thanks.

TVGuy2001 Since: Dec, 2020
#17039: Sep 5th 2021 at 1:04:54 PM

On Trivia for Dennis the Menace:

  • Creator Backlash: Jay North was put through the wringer on the show, never getting a moment's peace between the show itself, various crossover appearances in other sitcoms and even films, and commercials for their various sponsors, plus keeping up with school. Combined with the death of Joseph Kearns, the abuse he suffered from his aunt when he would "make mistakes", and his beginning to seriously age out of the role, he was tremendously relieved when it was cancelled.

Jay North was only an actor on the show, not the creator. There's nothing that suggests Tropes Are Flexible enough for Creator Backlash to extend to actors.

Edited by TVGuy2001 on Sep 5th 2021 at 1:05:08 AM

WhirlRX Since: Jan, 2015
nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#17041: Sep 5th 2021 at 2:59:01 PM

Really? I'm pretty sure I've seen Creator Backlash used for individual actors in the past.

Twiddler (On A Trope Odyssey)
#17042: Sep 5th 2021 at 3:42:30 PM

Would this be an example of Overly Narrow Superlative?

  • Neopets: If you don't have an account at the National Neopian Bank (which is the only bank in the game), the bank manager will say, "I see you don't currently have an account with us. I can offer you some of the only interest rates in town today!"

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
Tomodachi Now a lurker. See you at the forums. Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
Now a lurker. See you at the forums.
#17044: Sep 6th 2021 at 7:55:28 AM

I'm writing a trope for Ken Penders.

I can't exactly identify the trope.

Homage? Honestly, it would be more accurate to call it plagiarism but oh well.

  • Homage:
    Anonymous, Robotropolis, 3228: "During Doctor Robotnik's takeover through roboticization, the Swatbots came for the foxes, and I did not speak up because I was not a fox. Then they came for the rabbits, and I did not speak up because I was not a rabbit. Then they came for the squirrels, but I did not speak up because I was not a squirrel. Then they came for the hedgehogs, and I did not speak up because I was an echidna. Then they came for me, and by that time nobody was left to speak up."

Edited by Tomodachi on Sep 6th 2021 at 8:08:41 AM

To win, you need to adapt, and to adapt, you need to be able to laugh away all the restraints. Everything holding you back.
harryhenry It's either real or it's a dream Since: Jan, 2012
It's either real or it's a dream
#17045: Sep 6th 2021 at 8:40:05 AM

Kayfabe is odd: The description is all about the term's use in wrestling (rightfully, as that's where the term is most used) but the examples also include plenty of examples unrelated to wrestling, like how actors in Disney Theme Parks can never break character to "keep the magic alive". Do such examples count?

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#17046: Sep 6th 2021 at 8:43:57 AM

The term has expanded well beyond pro wrestling at this point. The proper use involves any situation in which a public pretense is made that the performers are genuinely the characters that they are portraying and that the actions they are doing are real and not scripted/acted.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#17047: Sep 6th 2021 at 9:27:24 AM

I see it used a lot in the context of internet reviewers and commentators.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Bubblepig Steve from Minecraft (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
#17048: Sep 6th 2021 at 10:49:47 PM

I found one of these on Film page of Shirtless Scene. It start as a regualr example until it becomes an Audience Reaction. Bold part means it's hightlighted.

  • In Black Panther, going shirtless is a standard part of ritual combat - meaning T'Challa, M'Baku and Erik / N'Jadaka all get a turn. We specifically see Erik removing his shirt before facing T'Challa, and the sight of his pecs made one girl in the audience snap her retainer.
Do you think it's safe to remove the bold part?

Edited by Bubblepig on Sep 6th 2021 at 10:50:12 AM

"CHICKEN JOCKEY!"
mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#17049: Sep 7th 2021 at 12:05:17 AM

That is a pretty famous moment within the fandom, but it's irrelevant for the main work page, so yeah cut it.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Bubblepig Steve from Minecraft (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!

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