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.
For cleaning up examples of Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard, you must use their dedicated threads: Complete Monster Cleanup, Magnificent Bastard Cleanup.
Edited by Synchronicity on Sep 18th 2023 at 11:42:55 AM
This is on Dumbo.
- All Animals Are Dogs: Largely averted, but many of the circus animals have excessively large litters of young.
I'm pretty sure having an excessively large litter isn't an exclusive canine trait, and is certainly not only associated with dogs.
She / Her
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Should be cut.
Too Dumb to Live mentions on its main page that it's a Death Trope. I tried removing this entry from Tom and Jerry under that reasoning, however, someone brought it back.
Adora, the High Priestess
Would the intended usage of the dragon balls in Dragon Ball Super: Broly (Frieza wanting to be 5 cm taller and bulma wanting to be 5 years younger) count as Mundane Utility?
"I just need one of you to come here to give your life to the sun god. It will be for the monkey city's glory."
CelestaPlebs
The following Broken Aesop subversions on Avatar are questionable. Until just a few weeks ago, the parts I bolded didn't exist and this three-part entry was a straight example. The Goddess Is Dead is the one who changed it. Please advise.
- Broken Aesop: It looks like this happens in the movie, but closer looks subvert it.
- The Navi are supposed to be an example of a sapient race living in unity with nature rather than living off it, while the humans are meant to be seen as greedy meatheads who should be learning from the Navi. This rings pretty hollow when it's revealed that the Navi's connection with nature comes down to Bizarre Alien Biology rather than through any discipline, so it's hard to fault the humans for not being as in tune with nature as they are. Subverted in the extended cut when it's made clear that humans fully comprehend how much the Navi value their natural terrain, and weaponize it in a False Flag Operation to justify attacking the Omaticaya Hometree. In addition, the Navi hunt exclusively for food and abhor unnecessary killing of wildlife, which does require discipline on the part of the Navi willingly choosing not to do so.
- Furthermore, the Navi's connection with wildlife apparently involves overriding the animal's free will, which would fly in the face of the demonization of human's lack of connection with wildlife. But this isn't actually the case. Jake's Ikran willingly comes to him outside of their link, meaning they have genuine bonds,and it's less like enslavement and more like an empathic bond between master and mount. A similar relationship is shown between Seze and Neytiri, where Seze is shown being affectionate with Neytiri without shahaylu.
- At first glance, it seems that Na'vi are no different than humans in their views of women, where it seems that women are bound to the man to whom they lose their virginity and don't seem to have high positions of power. But this is false. Mo'at shows that there are women who command great respect and women are allowed to assume a high-ranking role; Mo'at's advice in spiritual matters is considered invaluable. The leader of the Ikran People of the Eastern Sea is also a woman. Dialogue between Neytiri and Jake also make it clear that it's not just the man who claims a woman, as she must accept him as a mate, too.
Something that has been mentioned a few times in the Maverick Forum is that quite a few people assume bombing the Qurac stand-in would result in a war but the United States has actually bombed multiple nations without a state of war.
(In the movie they bomb the nation to stop a nuclear research project).
The closest event this resembles is the bombing of the Sudanese chemical weapons factory (that actually made baby formula).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Shifa_pharmaceutical_factory
Sudan, Syria, Libya, Palestine, Yemen, and Pakistan have all been bombed in the 21st century by the USA (okay Sudan was 1998). Also, Afghanistan was bombed by Bill Clinton before the Afghan War.
I'm debating if it would be a trope, though, like Reality Is Unrealistic or Aluminum Christmas Trees but I'm not sure it even warrants a trope.
Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
I really question the entire premise of subverting one of the Aesop tropes. I seriously doubt that the writers (James Cameron in this case) went to the trouble to have their story appear to deliberately break an Aesop they set, then turn around and subvert that expectation. It's far too convoluted.
Also those bolded parts are textbook justifying edits (of the "Nuh-uh, you're wrong and here's why" variety). I'd cut the entire entry personally.
That's not a trope, it's not even a fun fact. It's yet more of the military natter that pervades this wiki. It is firmly in the hypothetical "what if" territory.
Also, when you have information and are trying to find a trope to fit (it should be the other way around), it is bound to be misuse and shoehorned in.
I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
The main page for Bond Villain Stupidity says
But then proceeds to list practically all the bullet points under Justified in the Playing With page. This seems contradictory. Either reasons given for the villain not immediately killing the heroes are BVS, Justified, or they’re not this trope at all. Which is it?
Thanks! Much appreciated.
The Playing With page is a Just For Fun section, where tropers noodle around with tropes. It's not supposed to be used as an authority for a trope definition.
I'm helping!
Talking about the newest Miraculous episode, so spoiler warning for anyone who needs that:
- Genius Bonus: Gabriel's new name as Monarch. Not only is it a term used to describe an incumbent king or queen, fitting given the power Gabriel has recently gained, it continues the animal naming theme by also being the name of a species of butterfly, with the stained glass effect on his lapels even resembling the brightly coloured wings of one.
We know Genius Bonus is YMMV, but this hardly feels "genius" level to us.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Gabriel's whole stated MO from day one has been to use the power of the Miraculous, any Miraculous he can get his hands on, to get his wife back. Here however, he gives up a golden opportunity to make that happen without destroying the universe (barring a possible paradox) in favour of yet another failed attempt to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous. It is this that makes Nathalie, who had up to this point committed immoral acts in his service without remorse because of this noble goal, realise that he cares more about power over even his wife and Nathalie's health and she angrily denounces him.
As we interpreted the episode (though we watched a fansub, so our information might not be 100% correct), Gabriel was distracted by Ladybug's Lucky Charm because he falsely believed she was going to use it to pull something on him. While Nathalie doesn't know this and (reasonably) wouldn't believe it if Gabriel tried explaining, the audience definitely does.
... that said, even if our reading is accurate, we're not 100% solid on whether that means this isn't an example, or it just has to be rewritten?
There's... definitely more we could say about that page, but it's late and brain is tired.
Edited by wingedcatgirl on Jun 15th 2022 at 10:48:46 AM
Trouble Cube continues to be a general-purpose forum for those who desire such a thing.
From ComplacentGamingSyndrome.Dungeons And Dragons Fifth Edition:
- Expect to hear "I would like to Rage" a lot if you're at a table with a barbarian in the party. Rage is pretty much the go-to move for barbarians, but they do it so well that there's really not much need to do anything else.
Rage is the main mechanic of the Barbarian class; most of their class features are built around it. Saying that it's complacent to use it is like saying its complacent that Wizards are always casting spells.
Is it Unsportsmanlike Gloating if the victory being gloating over isn't in a game, but something with serious stakes, like war?
Uh, in a recent cleaning, Characters.Trick And Treat and VideoGame.Trick And Treat had their Supernatural Is Purple wicks handled differently.
Can it be replaced by Technicolor Magic if it's Magical Witches Wear Purple, or not?
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Found this on UnreliableNarrator.Western Animation:
- In "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", she tells the Cutie Mark Crusaders the story of how she got her cutie mark. It apparently involved her being raised by Amish-looking rock farmers, and she closes her tale with "And that's how Equestria was made!" On top of that, Pinkie follows it up by offering to tell the CMC how she got her cutie mark.
- The rock farm part turns out to be true, although she forgot to mention one of her sisters.
- In "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", she tells the Cutie Mark Crusaders the story of how she got her cutie mark. It apparently involved her being raised by Amish-looking rock farmers, and she closes her tale with "And that's how Equestria was made!" On top of that, Pinkie follows it up by offering to tell the CMC how she got her cutie mark.
The work is My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic for the record. Now, I have not been a brony in multiple years, so I can't effectively judge the veracity of this example, but since at least part of this example turned out to be true, is it really Unreliable Narrator? And if it does fit the trope, how much of this example is salvageable? Requesting help from anyone who is aware. (I know that this is at least a violation of Repair, Don't Respond.)
Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Jun 16th 2022 at 9:28:49 AM
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Owl House / Infinity Train / Inside Job Fan
Okay, so I’m the trailer for the new Kung Fu Panda series, the Emperor strips Po of his Dragon Warrior title after he makes a massive mistake. Is that an example of Turn in Your Badge?
Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Jun 16th 2022 at 9:34:38 AM
The Owl House and Coyote Vs Acme are my Roman Empire.
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Hmm. Turn in Your Badge seems to only apply to cops, going by the description and Laconic. I feel like there's a broader trope, but I can't seem to find it.
Owl House / Infinity Train / Inside Job Fan
Let me know if you think of it. The show page is WesternAnimation.Kung Fu Panda The Dragon Knight if anyone wants to contribute.
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Part of me wanted to do a wick check on Turn in Your Badge to see if it was being misused for non-cop firings, but I looked through a few wicks and on-page examples as a test and couldn't find anything really.
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
x5: It's not. More like Cloudcuckoolander.
CelestaPlebs
I think the Avatar entry needs some more discussion before we purge the example because I believe the original was somewhat valid. For #1, the part about the humans weaponizing the Na'vi's nature connection is irrelevant when there's a war, and that the Na'vi show restraint rings hollow because the humans also show restraint, or they would have used far more damaging means to win. For #2, the problem with overriding an animal's free will doesn't go away because some animals bond with their masters because it's Stockholm Syndrome. For #3, nobody ever thought relative gender equality wasn't a thing in this society, so there's nothing to subvert. I think we can merge #1 and #2 and delete #3. My draft:
* BrokenAesop: The Na'vi are supposed to be an example of a sapient race living in unity with nature rather than exploiting it who can teach humans something valuable. However, the Navi's intricate connection with nature depends on BizarreAlienBiology, so it's hard to fault the humans for not being as in tune with nature as they are. Furthermore, their connection with wildlife involves animal MindControl, flying in the face of the message about non-exploitation.Add a title. Stay safe; stay well. Live beyond… memento vivere! Should intermittent vengeance arm again his red right hand to plague us?
It still sounds like so much shoehorning in order to stealth in some complaining about the movie (it's a strange day when I feel the need to defend Avatar of all things).
The basic metaphor is still sound, the Na'vi are connected to nature, the humans are not. Being connected to nature is a good thing, while the lack of connection leads to exploitation and destruction (a little too kumbaya for my tastes, but we're going with what the movie is saying). Yes the movie has kerjiggered the setting to favor their interpretation, but that's the right of any story creator.
Broken Aesop requires the method of resolving the story to directly contradict the stated message. If the Na'vi had instead industrialized their world to create weapons to fight the humans, that would be an example. Otherwise this is just so much nitpicking and stealth complaining.
I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
Found while wick cleaning Biseinen, under Cast Full of Pretty Boys:
- The Lord of the Rings movies have a grand total of three female main characters. Much of the rest of the cast varies between Biseinen and Hunk. Even uncursed Theoden is a Silver Fox. The costumes don't help matters: these clothes would make almost anyone look good. Neither does the Ho Yay between main characters. Subverted in The Hobbit where the prettiness of the cast is reduced by a half, since most of the dwarves are older.
Is this, in any way, an objective example, or is it just fan gushing?
TRS Wick Cleaning
CelestaPlebs
The Goddess Is Dead cut the entry after I notified them.
It does sound like gushing, it's also a bit weird to be applying Japanese archetypes to a story that was rather explicitly drawing from western mythological archetypes.
Well, it seems there's advancements and achievements to be gotten with saddles, but there's also no substitute for saddles. I guess it's better encompassed by Rare Random Drop and/or Commonplace Rare than Luck-Based Mission?
https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Saddle#Achievements
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576