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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.


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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

WhirlRX Since: Jan, 2015
#23651: Nov 9th 2022 at 8:59:11 PM

[up]I wonder if it really counts because she only disapprove tje relationship and doesn't get a chance to interfere in the relationship.

ElRise I fix my examples all the time from The Dying City (Life not ruined yet) Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
I fix my examples all the time
#23652: Nov 9th 2022 at 9:35:24 PM

Found this example in Rated M for Manly.

  • Beelzebub: in which delinquents punch the snot out of each other and demons from hell.
A work has to heavily emphasize masculinity for this trope to qualify. Is simply saying "punching other people" enough?

Graffiti Wall
RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
She / Her
#23653: Nov 9th 2022 at 9:58:04 PM

[up]That reads as low context to me and I don't think that itself makes a work "manly" enough to qualify.

Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#23654: Nov 10th 2022 at 1:45:26 AM

Sounds like misuse, I don't think the manga is any more masculine than any other teenager series.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
isoycrazy Lord of the Blue Star Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: Abstaining
Lord of the Blue Star
#23655: Nov 10th 2022 at 3:58:44 AM

In Doctor Who S27 E8 "Father's Day", this example has been there for a while, but does it count?

  • Early Instalment Weirdness: The Reapers feel like an important addition to a show that revolves around time travel, but they're never seen or mentioned after this episode, even in cases where a paradox should lead to their appearance. "Father's Day" also suggests that merely seeing or interacting with your past version, even if this doesn't cause a Grandfather Paradox, is inherently dangerous. That idea is never again brought up either, and in later episodes the Doctor and other time travelers don't seem to be too concerned about meeting their past selves. In "The Big Bang," Amy even grabs her younger self by the hand with no repercussions at all (although on that occasion most of the universe had ceased to have ever existed and time was collapsing anyway, which allowed more wiggle room with temporal laws).

What this doesn't talk about is that Rose was there twice to witness her father's death. The first time she couldn't move to his side. The second time she runs in front of her past self, when that iteration never experienced that, to save her father. This is more than just interacting with one's past life. It's screwing things up in ways more than Timey-wimey.

Second, it has an immediate self-contradiction with the Amy incident as it notes that the universe was collapsing around them so time was already screwed up.

The only other major paradox moment I can think of in the show for this level of action is when the Master brought humans from the edge of time to the 2000s Earth to slaughter them, but he also had to use the TARDIS to become a machine to hold the paradox in place and it not spiral out of control.

The only other time breaking moment I can think of is River working to not kill the Doctor when his recorded death is a fixed point, but that was averting an established fact in time and space in her future, not going back to undo it.

KageTsuki88 (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Chat, is this real?
#23656: Nov 10th 2022 at 4:19:21 AM

On October 27th, user Magnus616 added the following to the YMMV page for the My Hero Academia fanfic Ignited Spark:

  • Fandom-Specific Plot: First of the Class 1-B students being part of the main cast and second of Eri being saved way earlier than in canon.

On November 5th, I removed it (after accidentally removing this story's entry for Fan-Preferred Couple), citing it to be a case of People Sit on Chairs. However, on November 9th, user vapewizard restored it albeit with a modified wording:

  • Fandom-Specific Plot: Eri (like in many other fics) is saved earlier, specifically she runs into Itsuka before the Sports Festival.

As I do not want to start an edit war, I want an opinion as to whether if this truly qualifies.

Khoshekh6 Since: May, 2022
#23657: Nov 10th 2022 at 4:52:06 AM

Im not sure what you mean by chairs in this case

Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#23658: Nov 10th 2022 at 5:14:48 AM

People Sit on Chairs is inapplicable to examples, Chairs means "concepts that are not valid for a trope page". This is probably confusing it with Zero-Context Example.

I still think it's a misuse of Fandom-Specific Plot, which is fans wanting the "current" story to change, and if the fic is about that, then it has to use an adaptation trope instead.

Edited by Amonimus on Nov 10th 2022 at 4:18:04 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Malady (X-Troper)
#23659: Nov 10th 2022 at 7:42:59 AM

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/article_history.php?article=YMMV.InTheBlood&more=t#edit10214314

Is the Creator adding what looks like all the context to a YMMV entry, allowed under The Fic May Be Yours, but the Trope Page Is Ours?

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Libraryseraph uu~ from Canada (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
uu~
#23660: Nov 10th 2022 at 7:44:17 AM

Creators aren't supposed to edit the YMMV pages for their work. There might be exceptions for spelling and grammar/formatting, but that violates, if not the linked rules, definitely some rules

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIA
Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#23661: Nov 10th 2022 at 7:50:22 AM

Maybe it'd a be better question for ATT than here.

Edited by Amonimus on Nov 10th 2022 at 6:50:36 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
TrendingToon1 Since: Apr, 2015
#23662: Nov 10th 2022 at 8:06:24 AM

What's the difference between Berserk Button and Hair-Trigger Temper?

If so, which would refer to this example from the Amphibia S1-E39 "Reunion" page?

Following Anne's Character Development, she realizes just how controlling Sasha is when she calls the Plantars "just frogs".

Anne: They're not just frogs. THEY'RE MY FRIENDS!

Libraryseraph uu~ from Canada (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
uu~
#23663: Nov 10th 2022 at 8:09:00 AM

Berserk Button is a character who consistently has an angry overreaction to a single, non-major or important thing. Hair-Trigger Temper is a character who is constantly made angry by lots of incredibly minor things. Anne getting really angry when her surrogate family is dismissed isn't either

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIA
MaeBea from Satan's basement Since: Jul, 2021 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#23664: Nov 10th 2022 at 8:25:07 AM

[up][up]

Also, your example would be closer to Berserk Button than Hair-Trigger Temper, but I'm not sure it would be an example of Berserk Button. Is "Anne getting angry at people calling the Plantars 'just frogs'" a common thing that occurs, or just that one time?

Edited by MaeBea on Nov 10th 2022 at 8:26:45 AM

"Squid has to go to market. He's had to go to market for as long as he's sucked water."
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.
#23665: Nov 10th 2022 at 8:26:47 AM

I think I’m noticing something for Logo Joke. Right now modern Star Trek shows have a Vanity Plate thing where the main ship of the series flies about to form the Starfleet logo. There will also be details from that particular series like Lower Decks will have a nebula shaped like a Koala or Prodigy will have Tara Lamora in the background. I’m thinking we can put it on the Paramount page in the Other folder.

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Nov 10th 2022 at 11:28:16 AM

You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.
MaeBea from Satan's basement Since: Jul, 2021 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#23666: Nov 10th 2022 at 8:40:39 AM

Would this clip be an example of Take Our Word for It? It depicts someone opening a Mystery Box, only for the video to be cut off for the sake of mystery. Smash Cut suddenly to the group in Hell and dead, while SMG4 claims they'll never be allowed to show thatnote  again.

"Squid has to go to market. He's had to go to market for as long as he's sucked water."
Libraryseraph uu~ from Canada (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
uu~
#23667: Nov 10th 2022 at 8:43:12 AM

[up][up][up] It doesn't happen multiple times and, again, I think it's too serious a thing to count for Berserk Button even if it did

[up] Sounds like that or Noodle Incident

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIA
badtothebaritone (Life not ruined yet) Relationship Status: Snooping as usual
#23668: Nov 10th 2022 at 9:07:47 AM

Found this in MundaneUtility.Real Life:

I find it hard to believe that space travel is considered mundane in this day and age, even in comparison to nuclear war.

Edit: Axed it.

Edited by badtothebaritone on Nov 10th 2022 at 11:54:29 AM

laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#23669: Nov 10th 2022 at 9:12:29 AM

[up]Project Orion was a proposed method of space travel, it doesn't actually exist and was never implemented (for obvious reasons). So I'm not sure how it actually counts as an example.

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
#23670: Nov 10th 2022 at 11:10:04 AM

[up] (x14) isoycrazy

Definitely misuse because dealing with extraterrestrial creature and time paradoxes is Doctor Who think. Nothing weird with that.

Valdo
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)
#23671: Nov 10th 2022 at 11:13:10 AM

I'd agree that the Doctor Who example is misuse, and it does misrepresent what actually happens in the episode. The paradox is because Rose stopped her father from dying, which defeated the point of ever going back there and fundamentally changed her past. It's not just because there were two versions of Rose at once.

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
#23672: Nov 10th 2022 at 1:57:37 PM

(Mobile, excuse the lazy formatting)

A bunch of The Bus Came Back examples in the recent history of https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/article_history.php?article=Characters.MiraculousLadybugAkumatizedVillainsSeason2 seem wrong to us since most of those characters were never Put on a Bus, unless one takes the "refer to akumatized characters by their evilsona name" convention extremely seriously and treats them as completely disconnected characters from their normal form.

(Will check later if they've added the same kind of content to the other seasons pages.)

Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.
RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
She / Her
#23673: Nov 10th 2022 at 2:00:57 PM

[up]Yeah, I agree those are misuse and I'd delete them.

Crossover-Enthusiast from an abaondoned mall (Lucky 7) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#23674: Nov 10th 2022 at 2:12:44 PM

[up] Yeah, that's misuse.

Does it count as Humanity Ensues if the character is a human AI gaining sentience?

For context, there's an In-Universe videogame character in Friday Night Funkin' that's the person-shaped can for a trapped ghost. In It's Always Spooky Month, the character Grew Beyond Their Programming thanks to said ghost's influence, and hates it because it not only made him realize his reality is a complete sham, but forces him to endure the same events over and over again that he was previously blissfully unaware of.

Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢
TrendingToon1 Since: Apr, 2015
#23675: Nov 10th 2022 at 2:26:41 PM

Would Twilight Sparkle's fear of ladybugs in "Starlight the Hypnotist" refer to Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? or Absurd Phobia?


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