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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

Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#22526: Sep 30th 2022 at 9:38:16 AM

Would sparkly plasmaballs travelling across the wire for visual representation count as Slow Electricity?

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
She / Her
#22527: Sep 30th 2022 at 10:06:19 AM

[up]I checked the main page, and that doesn't sound like that would count as an example to me.

BrainFuzzMcGee Since: May, 2022
#22528: Sep 30th 2022 at 12:28:51 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.

ChloeJessica Since: Jun, 2020 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
#22529: Sep 30th 2022 at 12:54:41 PM

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?

RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
She / Her
#22531: Sep 30th 2022 at 2:46:00 PM

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?

The entire fic is supposed to be this towards the entire cast of FiM based on the fact that its message of friendship "hurt him", which is shown by having them all go through plenty of torment (such as losing their entire planet, being enslaved, or worst case scenario, the death of friends and family, born or not). And as you can tell from the rest of this page and beyond, this didn't work in the slightest, as all the viewers end up doing is sympathizing with the denizens of former Equestria and despising Starfleet.

Hello83433 (Lucky 7) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
#22532: Sep 30th 2022 at 3:50:28 PM

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.

CSP Cleanup Thread | All that I ask for ... is diamonds and dance floors
laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#22533: Sep 30th 2022 at 4:00:24 PM

[up]Both are shoehorns since, as you say, the gender isn't commented on or notable (in fact for many animals it's hard to tell the sex from sight alone).

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
Khoshekh6 Since: May, 2022
#22534: Sep 30th 2022 at 4:00:48 PM

[up][up][up] i think at the very least I think that example meeds to be rewritten

[up][up] 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

Khoshekh6 Since: May, 2022
#22535: Sep 30th 2022 at 4:04:56 PM

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

Khoshekh6 Since: May, 2022
#22536: Sep 30th 2022 at 4:09:34 PM

Or wait, does Ambiguous Gender require in universe confusion or is it just an androgynous character?

laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#22537: Sep 30th 2022 at 4:12:34 PM

Yes it does.

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
Hello83433 (Lucky 7) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
#22538: Sep 30th 2022 at 4:13:52 PM

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 floors
ChloeJessica Since: Jun, 2020 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
#22539: Sep 30th 2022 at 4:35:07 PM

you can absolutely tell a male rat from a female at a glance in real life, but it hinges on certain features common to most male rodents that aren't usually depicted in media.

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)
#22540: Sep 30th 2022 at 6:58:10 PM

Yeah, 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 Wall
SoyValdo7 I mainly fix indentation issues from La tierra de lagos y volcanes Since: Sep, 2022 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
I mainly fix indentation issues
#22541: Sep 30th 2022 at 7:00:01 PM

Hey 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):

Here another from this page:

Do all of this count or they would be better as Shout-Out examples?

Valdo
RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
She / Her
#22542: Sep 30th 2022 at 7:10:42 PM

[up]I'm leaning on saying Shout-Out is more fitting in those cases. I hope this is helpful.

laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#22543: Sep 30th 2022 at 7:27:27 PM

[up][up]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 me
SoyValdo7 I mainly fix indentation issues from La tierra de lagos y volcanes Since: Sep, 2022 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
I mainly fix indentation issues
#22544: Sep 30th 2022 at 8:12:03 PM

My 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

Valdo
laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#22545: Sep 30th 2022 at 8:14:53 PM

Ahh, didn't realize that. Then no. No actors, no allusion.

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#22546: Sep 30th 2022 at 8:27:57 PM

I 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

ChloeJessica Since: Jun, 2020 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
#22547: Sep 30th 2022 at 8:32:32 PM

is it still a hypothetical casting if the joke is that the person does actually play all of those roles...? it's not hypothetical, it really happened.

that still doesn't make it AA, though.

FirstAidRules He/Him from House (Experienced Trainee) Relationship Status: Singularity
He/Him
#22548: Sep 30th 2022 at 8:48:00 PM

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!
PS16 PS 16 from NYC Since: Jan, 2022 Relationship Status: Dancing with myself
#22549: Sep 30th 2022 at 9:54:01 PM

Is this a good example?

Naïve Newcomer is an apprentice in English.
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
#22550: Sep 30th 2022 at 10:15:38 PM

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.

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