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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

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#21952: Aug 29th 2022 at 8:30:57 AM

[up][up]Zig-zagged seems to be one of those filler words people use when the example doesn't really have a point. I agree this isn't really an example and should get the axe.

Edited by laserviking42 on Aug 29th 2022 at 12:03:21 PM

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
Lermis Purposefully Untitled from Out of touch with reality Since: Nov, 2018 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Purposefully Untitled
#21954: Aug 29th 2022 at 11:47:00 AM

Hi, I asked about this rather recently but while it was discussed there was no conclusion: is a coalecanth a Seldom-Seen Species?

SpaceBattles.com fanworks (now oficial) index in my Sandbox.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#21955: Aug 29th 2022 at 11:47:57 AM

I really question the value of Seldom-Seen Species as a trope rather than an observation, but to show that coelacanths aren't frequent, you'd need to search for media in which they appear.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#21956: Aug 29th 2022 at 6:09:21 PM

I saw this chunk over on Benevolent Boss for The Wire, and I don't think many of them are correct, but I don't want to delete a chunk without some consensus so (my comments in bold):

    contains some spoilers for the wire 
The Wire:
  • Cedric Daniels protects his subordinates who exhibit numerous displays of incompetence or disloyalty, even when this reflects badly on him. said protection is to help them cover an incident of horrific brutality, so I don't think this counts
  • Of the various Baltimore Police Department commanders, Howard "Bunny" Colvin is one of the few who are willing to solve problems and help underlings in need. Best shown when he delivers some compassionate criticism to Carver, which has a positive impact on Carver's career and helps him to become a caring public servant.fine
  • Jimmy Asher is a somewhat deconstructed example, as he's a kind, well-meaning man who is an ineffective and Clueless Boss. Lester Freamon makes the point that his non-intrusive, hands-off approach allows actual police work from the professionals.he does nothing but design a lake house, being called a good boss is darkly ironic of how the police dept works, not an example
  • Raymond Foerster is one. At Foerster's wake in season 4, Landsman says that Foerster spent 39 years in the BPD "without leaving a trace of bitterness or hatred with any officers, a miraculous career by BPD standards".not making enemies and being a good boss are not the same thing, not an example
  • Jay Landsman appears aloof, but he truly does care about his subordinates, from lobbying Rawls on Mc Nulty's behalf (although this partially comes from Jay's desire to keep the clearances that Mc Nulty brings in), administering Irish wakes for fallen officers, and cutting Bubbles loose after Sherrod's overdose.fine
  • Though the ruthless leader of a drug crew, Avon Barksdale has moments like this, from letting Cutty leave the organization on his own terms, and later providing funding for Cutty's boxing gym.orders deaths of workers who "might" snitch, not an example
  • Tragically deconstructed with Frank Sobotka. While he takes good care of his fellow dockworkers and all of his schemes are for their benefit, he's so busy being a father to the union guys that he was never properly a dad to his own son. It also turns out that the union guys are willing to make a doomed moral gesture after his death and declare their loyalty to him despite the government warning that the union will be decertified unless they select new leadership.actually is deconstructed, but I need to re-word it, as he did everything to help his workers, yet those very same efforts doomed them

Thoughts?

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
ChloeJessica Since: Jun, 2020 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
#21957: Aug 29th 2022 at 6:12:40 PM

i think the Cedric Daniels one might be legit, as Benevolent Boss isn't restricted to heroes. i don't know the work though.

lapistier Since: Sep, 2015
#21958: Aug 29th 2022 at 10:49:36 PM

[up][up] & [up] Those judgements sound reasonable, though I also agree that Cedric Daniels could be an example even if it's villainous.


Can fanworks negatively commenting on official canon (or licensed material that is not/no longer canon) count as Discontinuity Nod? Or is it similar to Canon Discontinuity where fanfic creators can only disavow things within their own fanfic's continuity and not canon?

If so, the fact that Discontinuity Nod allows negatively viewing "something fans want to be written out of canon" is a magnet for people complaining via fanfiction.

(Also some of these (particularly the Miraculous Ladybug ones) seem misused so I'm just gonna ask if I can cut them here.)

    Discontinuity Nod Fanworks 
  • Dragon Ball Z Abridged: Cut if fans commenting on officially licensed material isn't a Discontinuity Nod.
    • It does this from time to time in regard to Dragon Ball GT. The series' original pre-episode disclaimernote , which is read by a different character every time, read: "The following is a non-profit fan-based parody. Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT are all owned by Funimation, Toei Animation, Fuji TV and Akira Toriyama. Please support the official release." When Guru reads the disclaimer he sounds audibly shocked and/or disturbed by GT's presence, and when Mecha-Freeza reads it he glitches out over GT, forcing his father King Cold to read the rest.
    • In Bardock: The Father of Goku Abridged, as per the original special, Bardock has a Dying Dream of Goku confronting Freeza. However, he then has visions of Cell and Majin Buu, to his confusion. And then he sees Goku and friends dealing with the Parapara Brothers from GT, at which point he says "And now I welcome the sweet embrace of death."
    • Then there's the earlier episode, where Goku takes a shot at Dragonball Evolution, which was being released around the same time.
      Goku: Man, this is worse than that time I was in high school, and all the guys called me "Geeko", and I was Piccolo's slave, I couldn't get Chi Chi to like me, and... Oh wow, I hit that rock harder than I thought.
    • Vegeta slams Dragonball Evolution in the high-school level of Scribblenauts Unlimited.
      Vegeta: A Saiyan in high school. That's fucking STUPID!
  • Leave for Mendeleiev:
    • Rather than Adrien guilt-tripping Marinette into throwing a party for Chloé, Chloé winds up throwing him a party to cheer him up when he's sulking over losing the Black Cat Ring. He proves to be just as ungrateful for her efforts as she was towards Marinette in canon, demanding that she invite the whole school before walking out without so much as a goodbye after Kim announces he's throwing a pool party. Misuse, the example as written doesn't negatively reference that specific canonical event, just rewrites it happening to a different character. And I don't think it's In Spite of a Nail either since it's different characters prompted by different circumstances.
    • Despite never receiving the Bee Comb, Chloé still decides that she's entitled to it because she assumes it matches her favored yellow-heavy aesthetic and because she's the Mayor's daughter. Misuse, but counts for In Spite of a Nail.
    • Gabriel briefly contemplates the power that combining Miraculi could hold, and considers using the Peafowl Pin alongside the Butterfly Brooch. However, unlike Canon, he ultimately doesn't do so, as Master Fu liberated the Pin from his office safe before the idea ever occured to him. Misuse, does not negatively comment on official content or canon, just describes canon divergence.
  • Mega Man: Defender of the Human Race has nods towards "those three episodes" of the Mega Man cartoon; a producer offers to make a Mega Man cartoon and gives those episodes' plot synopses. Mega politely dissuades him. Cut if fans negatively referring to official content counts as Discontinuity Nod.
  • Of Patience and Pettiness has Marinette expose Lila's true nature to the rest of her class after a week. However, she's deeply disappointed by how the majority of her classmates try to pass the blame onto others rather than admit their mistakes, and confides to Tikki about how she's glad this happened before she considered handing out any more Miraculi: Cut if fans negatively referring to official content counts as a Discontinuity Nod. Otherwise, this still needs a rewrite because all the context for the trope is in the quote itself.
    Marinette: "Imagine if I had given one to, I don't know, Max? Or Kim? God, what if I had given one to Adrien? What keeps them bound to Ladybug in a way that they wouldn't betray her as easily as they did me?"
  • In Pokémon Reset Bloodlines, when Pikachu sees Scott for the first time, at first he has trouble recalling his name, calling him Shouta, Scottie and Sawyer, in reference to the XY rival... who Ash never got to meet because the timeline was reset before he could. Misuse, does not negatively comment on official content.
  • There Was Once an Avenger From Krypton: The author's notes in Chapter 34 of The Girl Who Could Knock Out the Hulk addresses how the big reveal in that chapter connects to a couple of the author's earlier discontinued stories: specifically, they are actually previous "iterations" of the Kryptonverse that Doom and original Reed tried with their Retconjuration alterations before reaching the one with Kara, and they show her glimpses of them when trying to convince her to join them. Can be kept because it's a fanfic creator referencing their own fanfic, but should be commented out because it doesn't say if the creator negatively views those discontinued fics.

If I'm right about "fans being negative about canon/non-canon in their derivative works" not qualifying for Discontinuity Nod, and the very last entry still needs context on if the creator viewed their own work negatively, that would basically be removing the entire Fan Works folder. Does that sound right?

Edited by lapistier on Aug 29th 2022 at 11:50:31 AM

Lermis Purposefully Untitled from Out of touch with reality Since: Nov, 2018 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
Purposefully Untitled
#21959: Aug 30th 2022 at 12:43:43 AM

[up][up][up][up] It's in a Japanese RPG Gacha game. I imagine you'd see that fish more often in documentaries than in other forms of media.

SpaceBattles.com fanworks (now oficial) index in my Sandbox.
BigBadShadow25 With my last breath, I curse Zoidberg. from Basement at the Alamo (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Desperate
With my last breath, I curse Zoidberg.
#21960: Aug 30th 2022 at 5:19:41 AM

So I think I have an example of Actor Allusion, but it might be pretty broad. WesternAnimation.Little Demon marks the second adult animated comedy about demons to star Aubrey Plaza, the first being WesternAnimation.Golan The Insatiable.

You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.
SupernaturalMurderHobo Since: Aug, 2022
#21961: Aug 30th 2022 at 6:26:01 AM

An Actor Allusion is the deliberate, yet typically rather isolated, throw-away reference to previous works/roles of an actor in a work, say a joke or mannerism. The reference is unlikely to have much plot relevance and is unlikely to be anything but a deliberate nod to the actor's previous work.

Emphasis mine. That doesn't look like it applies.

Libraryseraph uu~ from Canada (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
uu~
#21962: Aug 30th 2022 at 6:26:29 AM

[up] [up]That seems like a bit of a stretch to me, especially since her roles are so different within the show (In one, she's The Kid With The Leash and in the other she's the Antichrist's mother)

I wouldn't call Coelacanths a seldom-seen species but I am bad at telling how well-known prehistoric animals are among general audiences, so I'd wait to get more opinions.

Edited by Libraryseraph on Aug 30th 2022 at 9:26:37 AM

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIA
BigBadShadow25 With my last breath, I curse Zoidberg. from Basement at the Alamo (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Desperate
With my last breath, I curse Zoidberg.
#21963: Aug 30th 2022 at 8:54:43 AM

Possible example from WesternAnimation.Wendell And Wild; Would a floating teddy bear with glowing green eyes count as an example of a Creepy Doll?

You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.
nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#21964: Aug 30th 2022 at 9:01:17 AM

Honestly, all this discussion about Seldom-Seen Species is reinforcing my sense that it's one of those "tropes" that seems to exist more to pander to the pedants among us than because it's actually tropeworthy.

superfunktastic Since: Nov, 2014
#21965: Aug 30th 2022 at 9:06:50 AM

I removed this example, and it got put back, so I wanna see if I'm misunderstanding the adaptional wimp trope:

  • Heihachi gets a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Devil Jin, who savagely beats him up to a bloody pulp, meaning he's not so much Made of Iron as he is in the games' continuity. In Tekken 3 Jin's ending, Heihachi gets smashed through a concrete wall and then slammed into a crater on the floor several stories below by Devil Jin, but after the latter flies off to the moon, Heihachi gets up looking no worse for wear.

My take is between the difference in the scenes since one is a beatdown and one isn't, and the fact that the scene in the anime is bloody where even fights to the death in the games are largely bloodless it doesn't really fit. But again, I could be misunderstanding the trope.

GenericGuy2000 I’m here, I guess. from a generic place. Since: Jul, 2021 Relationship Status: Cast away
I’m here, I guess.
#21966: Aug 30th 2022 at 9:44:33 AM

This Fanon entry on YMMV.Omori was removed a few months back.

  • Sunny and Mari are often assumed to be Japanese-American, due to Mari’s name, their appearance, and Omocat herself being Asian-American. In these cases, they are usually given the surname "Suzuki" in fanfics.

The edit reason says "Removed syllogism about Sunny and Mari being Japanese. The evidence cited was the creator's race (which is not specified to Japanese), Mari's name (which is not necessarily Japanese), and the appearance (which is East Asian)."

If this actually is a headcanon some fans have, does it matter if the reasoning used isn't perfect? If not, then I'm thinking of restoring the entry.

I’m gonna put some Gloom in your eye.
Marinasgold (Y2: Electric Boogaloo) Relationship Status: Holding out for a hero
#21967: Aug 30th 2022 at 10:24:17 AM

Does Playing Gertrude apply for movie siblings? I noticed an age difference between Tobey Maguire and Lily Rabe from the movie Pawn Sacrifice where Lily Rabe plays Joan Fischer, the older sister to Bobby Fischer, but in real life Lily Rabe is actually younger than Tobey Maguire by 7 years. Does this qualify for Playing Gertrude or is there another trope for this?

Very cool video
nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#21968: Aug 30th 2022 at 11:23:20 AM

If this actually is a headcanon some fans have, does it matter if the reasoning used isn't perfect?

No. I think you can restore that.

Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#21969: Aug 30th 2022 at 11:26:08 AM

[up][up]I don't think that counts. It's pretty squarely about the difference between the parent and child. Plus once actors get past a certain age (like late 20's) there's nothing inherently noteworthy about them playing someone 7 years older or younger.

Marinasgold (Y2: Electric Boogaloo) Relationship Status: Holding out for a hero
gjjones Musician/Composer from South Wales, New York Since: Jul, 2016
Musician/Composer
#21971: Aug 30th 2022 at 2:07:27 PM

From Trivia.Cans Without Labels:

  • Development Hell: The short was announced in 2008note . Development on the short began in mid-2012, and the short was supposed to have a February 2013 release. While Kricfalusi claimed to have finished it in 2017, it would be another two years before the short was even released, let alone any word of its progress was made public. Given the clearly unfinished state it was released in and the previous year's revelations, it's not out of the question that Kricfalusi decided to release it while he still had some semblance of a career regardless of state.

Thoughts on what to do with this example?

He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.
laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#21972: Aug 30th 2022 at 2:10:23 PM

What exactly is wrong with it? Development Hell is for works that were stuck in creative stage for years up on years, and this seems to qualify.

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
gjjones Musician/Composer from South Wales, New York Since: Jul, 2016
Musician/Composer
#21973: Aug 30th 2022 at 2:15:31 PM

I’m a little worried about this part:

Given the clearly unfinished state it was released in and the previous year's revelations, it's not out of the question that Kricfalusi decided to release it while he still had some semblance of a career regardless of state.

Is this speculative?

Edited by gjjones on Aug 30th 2022 at 5:16:06 AM

He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.
ChloeJessica Since: Jun, 2020 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
Bullman Enid Sinclair Since: Jun, 2018 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
Enid Sinclair
#21975: Aug 30th 2022 at 2:16:52 PM

From Ally McBeal the Retroactive Recognition tree:

  • Before playing Cat Grant in Supergirl (2015), Calista Flockhart played the titular Ally McBeal.

This feels like a missuse like Calista Flockhart was already a big name on Broadway and this show was a big hit. Like yeah younger audiences might have seen her on Supergirl first but by that same token younger audiences would have seen RDJ in Iron Man before they watched this show and he doesn't have an entry.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

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