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
Might be a case of Missing Supertrope Syndrome and/or Slow Electricity being defined too narrowly, because it seems like it should be an example, but as the trope is currently defined it isn't.
from BitLife:
- Console Cameo: Bit Life comes up within the game multiple times. If you spend time with a family member by playing it together, your relationship is almost guaranteed to see a nice boost. Buying Bitizenship or the Bit Life hoodie as a gift will also make relationships even in the red skyrocket.
Bitlife is not a console, it's a game for mobile phones. this isn't a console cameo, it's the game referencing itself recursively. is there a better trope for this to go under?
Reposting
(with a few changes).
Do you all feel this Take That, Scrappy! entry from YMMV.My Brave Pony Starfleet Magic is shoehorning? I personally do, and I feel it's also complaining. What do you all think?
Asking about the validity of these Ambiguous Gender examples on Encanto Other Characters. It seems to me the trope requires some sort of plot significance or attention drawn to the character and also is this trope humanoid only?
- [Antonio's animal friends'] gender isn't specified or relevant to their characterization. Chispi is female and a mother, Pico and Parce are male.
- [Bruno's rats] appear to play both male and female roles in Bruno's theater.
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i think at the very least I think that example meeds to be rewritten
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if the animals friends have defined genders then they wouldn't be ambiguous
If the rats are shown taking both roles then it might work. Im not sure though.
As far using animals as Ambiguous Gender examples I think it would probably be best to handle it case by case
Edited by Khoshekh6 on Sep 30th 2022 at 4:01:26 AM
Ah looks like I should have read Ambiguous gender closer, looks like I thought it was more like Viewer Gender Confusion
Edited by Khoshekh6 on Sep 30th 2022 at 4:05:19 AM
Or wait, does Ambiguous Gender require in universe confusion or is it just an androgynous character?
That's why I was kind of wondering if the trope is (or should be) humanoid only because of the reason you stated.
CSP Cleanup Thread | All that I ask for ... is diamonds and dance floorsYeah, Bruno's rats are just... rats. They're not depicted as having a particular gender, they're just silly rats.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallHey guy, I have already written this in multiple places. Someone in Ask The Tropers suggest this place to, so here go:
Can you use Actor Allusion in fanfiction works?
Here an example from this page (Gravity Fall folder):
- Actor Allusion: When Dipper mentions encountering a half human half spider creature, Ford becomes intrigued, places a pen in his mouth like a certain iconic Cigar Chomper, and proceeds to hammily and furiously yell, "I WANT PICTURES! PICTURES OF SPIDER-MAN!!!"
Here another from this page:
- Actor Allusion: When they meet Boromir and Brother Ulryk, the Company people notes both men have an uncanny resemblance to Eddard Stark. Of course, all three are played by Sean Bean. In another Sean Bean in joke, Ned gets a book about the Napoleonic Wars which features a photo of an actor who also looks like him.
Do all of this count or they would be better as Shout-Out examples?
Valdo
I'm leaning on saying Shout-Out is more fitting in those cases. I hope this is helpful.
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First one is a Shout-Out to J Jonah Jameson. Now if they had cast JK Simmons and done it, then it would be an Actor Allusion.
Second one is definitely an Actor Allusion, as it's the same actor and consciously calling out Bean's earlier roles.
I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose meMy main problem with the second one:
They're not real actors playing the characters, because Fanfics are a type of literature. If the author is imagined one for the characters, then that would be a Hypothetical casting.
Edited by SoyValdo7 on Sep 30th 2022 at 9:12:21 AM
ValdoI think the only time Actor Allusion would count for non-filmed media would be a canon tie-in. If a Star Wars book about Han makes a joke about Indiana Jones, that could count because we're still supposed to imagine book!Han as Harrison Ford. But for Hypothetical Casting, no way.
Edited by Synchronicity on Sep 30th 2022 at 10:28:14 AM
Given this example from Pokémon: It's widely believed that the AI of the various post-game battle facilities (e.g. the Battle Tower) will either cheat with RNG manipulation or outright counterteam you if your win streak gets high enough. While there is occasionally cheating, it's typically restricted to illegal movesets or abilities that aren't available to the player. Nothing in the games' code lets the AI alter the RNG and enemy trainers in the facilities have preset teams with some minor random variances. The series just has a considerable amount of luck baked into its systems, so everyone will inevitably run into bad luck at some point as they continue to increase their streak (and good luck as well, but people tend to remember more when they got particularly unlucky). This additionally applies to the Stadium series too, where people will swear up and down that the RNG is rigged against you, but they're just forgetting all the times the RNG benefitted them (you're not going to remember all those unnecessary crits you landed when you were knocking out some trash mon regardless, but you will remember when the AI got a crucial crit that made you lose the final battle of a cup and have to start all over).
I'm wondering if the Stadium section on Pokémon and several examples from the Pokémon Stadium pages (both main and YMMV) such as The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard and Luck-Based Mission should be either pruned or cut because of this. After all, a rather lengthy section on Pokémon about supposed cheating at the Battle Facilities got deleted with the above example being used for the edit summary.
Hi!Is this a good example?
- What the Hell, Hero? : Vivek calls out both Aaron and Doug for unfairly judging him for having a one-time kiss with a guy. The episode they labeled him gay and refused to listen to him when he explained his experience and how he's still straight. For those who were also frustrated with them, this dialogue calling out that Vivek gives Doug and Aaron his is very satisfying.
Vivek:Because it's not about how you feel! It's about you not respecting what I know about myself based on my personal experience. You guys are supposed to be my friends.Doug: We are your friends, man. Chill out.Vivek: If you were, you would take me at my word.(Beat) You know what? If you guys want me to be such a man, fine. Since I'm the man of this house and I pay the rent here, how about you guys get the f*** out?
This callout, was it directed at one or more characters with the narrative role of "hero", and does it regard actions taken in that role? There's a reason the trope isn't called Nonspecific What The Hell Speech.
Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.

Would sparkly plasmaballs travelling across the wire for visual representation count as Slow Electricity?
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup