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
But this one makes me question about Natter.
This is from Liane Cartman's Cerberus Retcon part.
Cerebus Retcon: Originally she was just the town bike who spoiled Cartman rotten, then "Tsst" revealed that the reason she's so willing to please her son and horny men (yes, [I] just realised how that sounded) is because she has no friends.
Maybe it's not Natter because of context, I'm not 100% sure. I'm reading the FAQ over and over.
"definitely has traces of this," is Word Cruft, not natter, which is still against the rules. What are the traces? Just tell the audience what the example is, instead of telling them "this is an example, I promise!". That's the TV tropes version of Show, Don't Tell.
Link to TRS threads in project mode here.https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/HarsherInHindsight/WesternAnimation
The South Park episode "Naughty Ninjas", where the boys playing as Ninjas are mistaken to be ISIS members, falls into Harsher in Hindsight, Funny Anuyerism Moment, and Unfortunate Implications, due to it being debuted two days before the Paris attacks by the same terrorist group and ISIS playing a huge part in the episode itself.
Sorry, I'm not going to qualify those. It is possible to comb through media to find Harsher in Hindsight examples of just about anything.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DudeNotFunny
Family Guy
In "Peter's Sister", after seeing "The Toxic Shock" leading to Peter stuttering and wetting his pants, Karen laughs only for the entire gathered crowd who'd been laughing at Karen's stories at the Thanksgiving table about Peter, including Meg who'd even LAUGHED earlier at Peter finally getting payback for years of abuse, just looked at Karen and Peter in a state of uncomfortable disbelief.
edited 19th Nov '15 4:50:04 PM by Meowth
- Metroid: Other M features a chicken-legged rabbit creature called "Little Birdie" encountered on the Bottle Ship several times. Despite its cute appearance and small size, it has an aggressive parasitic nature and leaves Samus spooked for reasons she can barely articulate. It late molts into a larger hairy lizard form and attacks Samus until it is fought off. Following its blood trail, she finds that the creature has molted again, and that its adult form is none other than Ridley, her Arch-Enemy.
This trope is quiet recent but I wonders about the validity of this example because Metroid Other M is a canonical entry of the series and not an adaptation/reboot.
Is there a reason to require that the seems-new-but-actually-not character have to be in an adaptation rather than in a canonical installment?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.These were added to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, but I’m not entirely sure that they’re being used correctly or have enough context. But I just thought I’d check here just to make sure:
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Squad 451 eventually retreats into the underground roadways and then into the municipal water system. It's still fairly claustrophobic.
- Dragon with an Agenda: Plutarch to President Coin. As it turns out, his only true loyalties are to democracy and to a degree, Katniss.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Boggs tells Katniss that she's done the earning part and he'll do what he can to ensure she survives. After all that happens, Katniss and Peeta do get there.
- Eagleland: The Rebellion's version of the Panem flag is a blend of American symbols and those of the European Union.
- Even Evil Has Standards: President Snow admits at one point how, for all the things he does, he's not "wasteful." Unlike President Coin.
- Get Out!: Katniss says "goodbye" in an undeniably final way to Gale, after he admits he doesn't know if it was his bombs that killed Prim.
- Gory Discretion Shot: We don't see what the district residents do to Snow after Katniss is dragged away.
- Grand Finale: This film is the final chapter to the film series.
- Happily Ever After: The epilogue implies that not only does democracy come at last to Panem, but that District 12 is repopulated as a pastoral paradise.
- Her Heart Will Go On: Finnick didn't live long enough to see his and Annie's child.
- Just Following Orders: President Coin played District 13 and the Rebellion at large like a fiddle. Something that Gale realized far too late.
- Red Shirt Army: Lieutenant Jackson and her unit practically have signs written on their foreheads that they will be killed off.
- Trash the Set: The Capitol is utterly trashed by the rebellion.
- War Is Hell: The film doesn't shy away from the more brutal aspects of war.
- You Have Failed Me: It's strongly implied that Plutarch realized that President Coin wasn't who she purports to be, and arranged it for Katniss to kill her.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
- Boggs warns Katniss that Coin is taking this view, and that Katniss' greatest use would be as a martyr for the rebellion.
- It's implied that Plutarch eventually came to see Coin as having outlived her usefulness. Thus setting events up for Katniss to assassinate her.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Funny/MikeTysonMysteries
(this is for the section under "She's a Bayniac")
Pigeon remarking on if he visits the BDSM club.
Pigeon: The Torture Chamber, Las Vegas's premiere BDSM club.
Yung: So do you like, come here?
Pigeon: Only once, (turns to the camera with a grin) BUT I've been here a bunch of times! *laughs*
edited 24th Nov '15 2:51:37 PM by Meowth
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Still waiting for a response. Also these have been added to the page and I'd like to get them checked out as well:
- All There in the Manual: The discussion between Katniss and Peeta about the bread he gave her. In the book this was a significant moment, because if Peeta didn't gave Katniss the bread, she and her family probably would have starved to death. The movie doesn't point this fact out.
- Easily Forgiven: After Katniss kills President Coin, Plutarch sends her a letter that among other things, advises her to wait until he could persuade the new President and the rest of Panem to forgive her.
- Man Behind the Man: The epilogue reveals that this is what Plutarch becomes to the elected President, who'll do whatever it takes to make sure democracy sticks for good.
- Reality Ensues:
- Katniss thinks she can hitchhike a ride to the Capitol and cross an area full of people without being noticed. She forgets that she's the most famous person in Panem...
- The harrowing foray through the Capitol highlights how much President Snow wants Katniss and company dead by any means necessary. Be it through hidden gun turrets, Peacekeeper kill squads or perverse traps that make the actual Hunger Games look tame.
- You Have Failed Me: After District 2 falls to the rebels, Snow poisons his defense minister at a state dinner.
Still waiting for responses to
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Also could someone take a look at this example that was recently added to Dracula Untold:
- Everythings Better With Princesses: Mirena is a Prince's wife and Love Interest so this a given.
If something/someone is literally called "No Name", does that still count as The Nameless?
Can Delaying Action be done in a one-on-one situation?
In Small Favor Harry Dresden faces an assassin from the Summer Court of Fae while trying to escape from a separate event. The assassin is genuine Mage Killer with three trophies from previous archmages he killed on his belt. Queen Titania ordered the hit, so the assassin just can't let Harry walk. But the assassin serves the Court first, then the Queens. So, Harry calls up one favor he is owed by the Court to ask the assassin to get him a freshly made doughnut. The assassin knows once Harry escapes from the other side, the hit will no longer be needed, so he accepts the boon and departs, taking a while to find just the right one.
edited 1st Dec '15 6:30:38 AM by isoycrazy
That doesn't seem to follow the trope. It's a distraction, not a battle to hold up a force, even a singular foe.
It does seem to fit some other trope, but I can't figure out which one I'm thinking of. Looked at Loophole Abuse and Just Following Orders, but they don't seem to match entirely either. Punch-Clock Villain, maybe?
Check out my fanfiction!

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/SouthParkOtherRecurringCharacters
Tuong Lu Kim Took a Level in Kindness: In "The City Part of Town", at seeing Kenny remaining in his City Wok to do some after-hours work, he insists that Kenny go home and even TELLS him he deserves more than he can give him. A big step up from the same guy we saw in episodes like "City Sushi".