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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

magnumtropus Since: Aug, 2020
#18701: Feb 15th 2022 at 8:52:19 PM

I think Troubled Production is for internal issues (such as Hostility on the Set, Fatal Method Acting, etc), something that a pandemic is not

Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#18702: Feb 15th 2022 at 9:17:13 PM

The Chris Carter Effect states it's "If the fans conclude that the writing team will never resolve its plots, then they will probably stop following the work." These seem misuse then.

  • Digimon Adventure tri. is this in regards to its overall plot points. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but the burning questions are answered slowly across six movies. The first one being released in 2015 and its finale being released around 2018. Not only that, but the overall answer, especially early on, is either "we don't know" or never brought up. Perhaps the most egregious plot point of this is the fate of the 02 kids, as no one tends to question what happened to them, even when one of them shows up, only for it to be revealed to be a disguise for their old mentor turned evil. As of Movie 5, we still don't know what happened to the kids. The final movie revealed that they'd figured out King Drasil's plan and tried to stop him, but were defeated and captured; they get rescued in the end, but spend four months in the hospital recovering from being in stasis. This is complaining about not giving the plot point the urgency wanted/expected, which is Arc Fatigue. It would be an examples if they stopped expecting it to be resolved/answered by the finale.
  • The DC Extended Universe suffered from Warner Bros. pushing towards the Shared Universe a little faster than anticipated, resulting in cramming in subplots and sequel hooks but ending up abandoning these later on in response to audience reaction. Most notably, Zack Snyder, who directed the first two movies in the franchise, added numerous scenes in his second movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (the Knightmare sequence, the Darkseid nods, Flash's warnings) that would pay off in his later films. However, these plot threads became aborted arcs in Justice League as Snyder left mid-production over a family tragedy and studio interference. Individuals involved with other film series like Gal Gadot have implied some elements of the earlier films would be altered or ignored going forward (like the idea Diana turned away from humanity for a full 100 years), and the franchise found success by downplaying the Myth Arc of the Shared Universe and emphasizing crowd-pleasing standalone movies like Aquaman.Complaining about Aborted Arc in haste to deal with plots as opposed to taking too long to resolve them which seems the opposite problem.
  • The sequel trilogy for Star Wars made under Disney gradually made it clear there was not a solid plan regarding how the movies were supposed to progress forward. J. J. Abrams is credited with developing the new characters and new situation of the setting in The Force Awakens, and deliberately left the ending open for other writers and directors to answer lingering questions. The excitement of new Star Wars movies made it well received at the time, explicitly with fans hoping that further movies would be less derivative going forward. When The Last Jedi directed by Rian Johnson came out, it became a Contested Sequel because apparent plot threads were either dropped or given blunt, uninteresting answers (Rey has no special lineage, Luke just gave up and is waiting to die in exile, Snoke had no special training in store for Kylo and is killed before the third act). Afterwards, Abrams admitted they had no clear answer to those things when writing the first film, and Abrams returned to make The Rise of Skywalker that seemed to Retcon about half the things from The Last Jedi as an Author's Saving Throw while also including other unforeshadowed reveals (the Emperor is Back from the Dead). This only reinforced the perception that despite having three guaranteed films they didn't do any long-term planning. Complaining about aborted plots or those with unsatisfactory resolutions them the rushed/poor effort to undo/do-over as opposed to dragging on so long fans didn't expect resolution.

Are these misuse?

dragonfire5000 from Where gods fear to tread Since: Jan, 2001
#18703: Feb 15th 2022 at 9:51:07 PM

Replying to this post about Giratina...

I wouldn't call Giratina evil in that game. It's certainly an antagonistic force that you have to deal with, but it doesn't have enough malevolence to actually be called evil. It's angry at Arceus...and that's about it.

Edited by dragonfire5000 on Feb 15th 2022 at 10:11:53 AM

"I squirm, I struggle, ergo I am. Faced with death, I am finally, truly alive."
NitroIndigo ♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves from West Midlands region, England Since: Jun, 2021 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves
#18704: Feb 15th 2022 at 11:31:34 PM

The Pokémon example on NeverLiveItDown.Video Games has a section about controversial Pokémon species that weren't included in Sword and Shield until the DLC, and it feels too speculative even for YMMV. If Game Freak really wanted us to forget that Porygon existed, why would they give it two evolutions?

Edited by NitroIndigo on Feb 15th 2022 at 7:31:53 PM

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#18705: Feb 15th 2022 at 11:32:59 PM

I don't know if that actually counts, since for the most part the fandom likes Porygon and wants to see the line get love, especially in the anime, which matters since the trope is about fandom exaggeration. Porygon is more Overshadowed by Controversy.

Edited by WarJay77 on Feb 15th 2022 at 2:33:21 PM

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
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
#18706: Feb 16th 2022 at 7:00:57 AM

"In some cases, a Pokémon's infamy could have been taken into consideration for removal when Dexit infamously happened with Gen VIII" is either not an example or bad example indentation.

Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.
Malady (X-Troper)
#18707: Feb 16th 2022 at 7:34:57 AM

I Always Wanted to Say That... Is that flexible enough for I Always Wanted To Do That redlink from Zapped (2014)?

Edited by Malady on Feb 16th 2022 at 7:35:51 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
#18708: Feb 16th 2022 at 8:52:48 AM

We've certainly been using it that way; see the Miraculous Ladybug video examples. The votes on those videos seem to indicate that the tropermind agrees with this usage, though given some highly-voted videos we've seen, you should take that with a grain of salt.

Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.
miraculous Goku Black (Apprentice)
Goku Black
#18709: Feb 16th 2022 at 9:34:41 AM

@Winged: Especially since all three showed up in the dlc. If it was controversial than why have them reappear at all.

"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
harryhenry It's either real or it's a dream Since: Jan, 2012
It's either real or it's a dream
#18710: Feb 16th 2022 at 8:02:22 PM

This is under Foreshadowing on WesternAnimation.Phineas And Ferb The Movie Across The2nd Dimension:

  • Other dimension Phineas and Ferb are noticeably paler than their main dimension counterparts, because of them staying inside all the time. Ogher dimension Candace, however, is still tanned, indicating that she spends time outside.

First off, not sure why it's all-spoiled, since nothing here gives too much away. Second, this seems more like clever attention to detail than foreshadowing anything specifically.

Edited by harryhenry on Feb 17th 2022 at 5:02:47 AM

Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#18711: Feb 16th 2022 at 8:08:35 PM

I don't understand what it's foreshadowing. I forgot how the movie went, but it doesn't sound plot-important with this example.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
harryhenry It's either real or it's a dream Since: Jan, 2012
It's either real or it's a dream
#18712: Feb 16th 2022 at 8:09:37 PM

[up] Having seen the film myself, I concur. There's really nothing in the film that it's foreshadowing for. Is there another trope it could go under instead?

Malady (X-Troper)
#18713: Feb 16th 2022 at 8:40:45 PM

Undeathly Pallor or something? Is it Pale is Evil?

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
harryhenry It's either real or it's a dream Since: Jan, 2012
It's either real or it's a dream
#18714: Feb 16th 2022 at 10:15:07 PM

[up] The character isn't evil or dead, so no. Perhaps there's a trope on attention to detail like that? All I can think of is Developer's Foresight, but that's for video games. Freeze-Frame Bonus also doesn't apply.

Edited by harryhenry on Feb 17th 2022 at 7:15:56 AM

Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
valozzy Since: Feb, 2013 Relationship Status: Desperate
#18716: Feb 16th 2022 at 11:33:23 PM

Agree on Fridge Brilliance. Edit: was wrong about the other sentence in this post

Edited by valozzy on Feb 16th 2022 at 2:39:44 PM

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#18717: Feb 16th 2022 at 11:37:56 PM

No, it's definitely after, she shows up when they visit the house and complains about them being there, and only later appears at the resistance hideout.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
NitroIndigo ♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves from West Midlands region, England Since: Jun, 2021 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves
#18718: Feb 17th 2022 at 10:03:32 AM

This example on Cross-Generation Video Game definitely counts, but I'm confused by the wording:

Balan Wonderworld was released simultaneously on the Play Station 4, Play Station 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X And S, and Nintendo Switch. Needless to say, the latter version suffered in terms of performance.

Why single out the Switch version? The way it's worded makes it sound like the Switch is the youngest console listed. If we're considering the Switch an eighth generation console like Wikipedia does for some reason, then Breath of the Wild doesn't count as an example, but few would argue against it. If we consider the Switch a ninth generation console, then Balan Wonderworld counts either way, but this trope isn't about console specs.

Edited by NitroIndigo on Feb 17th 2022 at 6:05:35 PM

Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#18719: Feb 17th 2022 at 10:10:13 AM

I don’t care about the console wars, but “needless to say” is Fan Myopia Word Cruft.

Vilui Since: May, 2009
#18720: Feb 17th 2022 at 10:11:12 AM

...and "latter" means the second-mentioned of two things.

Bubblepig Steve from Minecraft (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: is commanded to— WANK!
#18721: Feb 17th 2022 at 7:23:25 PM

I found this sub example of Wham Line in Nightmare Alley (2021) where I think this example is misplayed. Here's a example:

  • Wham Line:
    • "Of course it's only temporary." A downplayed example here, since the audience (and the person being spoken to) have all probably figured out exactly where this scene is going.
Can Wham Line played as downplayed or not? Also for context (spoiler warning): Clem Hoately use a technique to trick homeless drunk people (or drug addicts) into becoming a geek (a carnival role were people are force to bite off chicken heads) by giving them a opioid laced drink and promising them for a temporary job. Later on, the new carnival ringmaster use this technique on Stan in the end.

Edited by Bubblepig on Feb 17th 2022 at 7:38:45 AM

"CHICKEN JOCKEY!"
NitroIndigo ♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves from West Midlands region, England Since: Jun, 2021 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
♀ | Small ripples lead to big waves
#18722: Feb 18th 2022 at 12:19:44 AM

The Legend of Zelda I is listed on First Installment Wins, but from my experience, Ocarina of Time was the most famous and acclaimed Zelda game for years until Breath of the Wild usurped it.

dsneybuf (Not-So-Newbie)
#18723: Feb 18th 2022 at 7:10:41 AM

From YMMV.The Mandalorian:

Does this count even if people think of the slow-paced, unfocused, clumsily-choreographed Book of Boba Fett as genuinely not a good show, not just worse than The Mandalorian?

Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#18724: Feb 18th 2022 at 10:29:55 AM

Does Angst Coma suit "Villainous Breakdown so hard it becomes mental shutdown"? A discussion about a certain game made me check the trope, and I've been wondering if it's not wicked to it yet despite the obvious pick because I'm missing something about it.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
WhirlRX Since: Jan, 2015
#18725: Feb 18th 2022 at 10:57:58 AM

From YMMV.Wise Mans Grandchild.

Cliché Storm: While there is plenty of widespread Reincarnate in Another World light novel patterns, the series does tamper with them in a few unusual ways: the rise of a demonic nation is a grim Plot Twist rather than an already existing antagonistic force from the get-go, while the main protagonist is more of an Affectionate Parody of the overpowered light novel protagonist, and his friends later do manage to gain huge amounts of power as well, though still not to Shin's level. The main cast of True Companions is gender-balanced rather than a harem like normal, and there is only one girl interested in the main character, who he later begins a relationship with. Also, while a Beta Couple is usually a rarity in this kind of LNs, the series goes out of its way to set up a number of secondary couples, which makes the overall dynamics between the characters slightly different than in most LNs.

Going by how its written, it explaining how it not a cliche of standard Isekai tropes you might see. Cut?

Edited by WhirlRX on Feb 18th 2022 at 1:58:18 PM


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