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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

Ayumi-chan 3rd happiest man in Connecticut from Iacon City (Experienced Trainee) Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
3rd happiest man in Connecticut
#24776: Dec 25th 2022 at 10:24:47 PM

Any thoughts on [up] (x5)?

She/Her | Currently cleaning: N/A
Dghcrh You can't escape this monster from Small country that looks like a fish Since: Dec, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
You can't escape this monster
#24777: Dec 25th 2022 at 11:55:19 PM

Reposting so it doesn't get lost:

Does Awesome McCoolname, which was recently made In-Universe Examples Only apply when a character's name is described as "nice" or "beautiful"?

I'm mainly a fan of underrated media.
Rhapsody Since: Jun, 2014
#24778: Dec 26th 2022 at 2:21:36 AM

[up] Not 100% on this but I don't think so, the cool/awesome factor is what's important which is not quite the same as nice/beautiful.

[up]x2 Sequel Gap specifically considers release dates of the sequel (or prequel/midquel) work and the work that was released before it, not the work that chronologically precedes it. So that one isn't an example.


Does Staff-Created Fan Work apply when both the official work and fan work in question are adaptations of another work?

Basically I'm thinking of this official comic adaptation of a novel, and some scenes were adapted out due to censorship. The comic artist still drew those cut scenes and uploaded them to her social media out of her own interest. They're not deleted scenes since they were never intended to be part of the official adaptation. They're also not Bonus Material since they were only released on her social media (and although they were made with the intent of letting fans read it alongside the main comic to get a "fuller" adaptation, they're technically not considered official content).

Edited by Rhapsody on Dec 26th 2022 at 9:22:20 PM

AegisP Kindhearted SSSSSNAKE Man Since: Oct, 2014 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
Kindhearted SSSSSNAKE Man
#24779: Dec 26th 2022 at 2:54:22 AM

  • The page for El Chavo Del Ocho on This Very Wiki leaves words like Vecindad (neighborhood) unstranslated and with a translation on the description. This is akin to talking about Mister Roger's Neighborhood and not translating Neighborhood in an Spanish Article.

I edited the entry I wanted to put on Too Long; Didn't Dub Live Action TV section since the article does provide a translation.

Edited by AegisP on Dec 26th 2022 at 2:58:45 AM

As long as this flower is in my heart. My Strength will flow without end.
TroperNo9001 Dragon in Waiting from the Dollhouse (Wise, aged troper) Relationship Status: I turn to stone when you are gone
Dragon in Waiting
#24780: Dec 26th 2022 at 7:06:48 AM

Should this Author's Saving Throw entry in YMMV.The Power Puff Girls 2016 be moved to Trivia or cut? Specifically, were the examples here confirmed by the staff to be done in response to criticism?

  • Author's Saving Throw:
    • While many fans awaited it in dread, the crossover with Teen Titans Go! (itself a controversial reboot of a revered cartoon) showed the girls in an incredibly better light than in most of their own episodes. The girls spend the entire episode focused on their goal, they are competent and clever, and always take the high road against the more amoral and borderline-villainous Titans. Even Mojo Jojo is much more on top of his game in this crossover. He actually has a decent diabolical plan to conquer the world and to stop the girls. He talks in his signature extreme redundancies for the first time since the reboot. Granted... a lot of what is making the PPG and Mojo look so good is coming completely at the Titans' expense. They seem to only be there to be complete jerks. They constantly denigrate the girls as harmless babies. The Titans also get depicted as Plucky Comic Relief and let the PPG crew come off as more serious. Still, the quality of the writing of the PPG universe in this crossover could even be comparable with episodes from the original series.
    • The writers seem to have gotten the hint on the meme references, as they are virtually nonexistent in later episodes. Wingding Eyes do not count, as those are considered Wild Takes.
    • Later episodes, particularly around the latter half of Season 2 and most of Season 3, start feeling a bit closer to its predecessor, at least in terms of humor. However, the show still had to downplay the violence; see Mis-blamed for information about that.

Still waiting for someone to break him free...
Mrph1 he/him from Mercia (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: This is not my beautiful wife!
he/him
#24781: Dec 26th 2022 at 7:13:31 AM

[up] For a lot of the Marvel Universe ones, I've left a discussion page post advising they'll be cut if nobody can cite sources, then revisited to cut a few days later.

Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#24782: Dec 26th 2022 at 10:55:26 AM

Just so it's not lost from the page change, I'm reposting this for further feedback on what to do. One person has suggested it should just be removed, but also asked me to get other feedback.


This has been added to the WhamLine.Web Animation page. It's actually been removed from the page once before in 2018 for being Wham misuse. Can I remove it again?

  • RWBY: In Uncovered, the team has asked Jinn what Ozpin is hiding from them. In response, she begins telling them a story.
    Jinn: Once upon a time, there stood a lonely tower that sheltered a lonely girl. [A beautiful young woman is shown] Named...Salem.

Reason for misuse: This is a Cliffhanger, where the episode ends as soon as Jinn makes that statement. The statement itself doesn't change the direction of the scene, the episode or the show. The episode (and the entire previous volume) has been building up the increasing mistrust the heroes have towards the Big Good's secret-keeping, the episode has been building up to the confrontation, and the genie has been summoned specifically to reveal what he's hiding. The "beautiful young woman" has even been shown in the intro sequence (gazing at a statue of the Big Good) for two episodes, so her identity had already been predicted by a lot of fans before this episode even aired. I think it can be salvaged as a Cliffhanger example. It might also be a Shocking Moments example? (Although plenty of fans predicted it, Jinn's identity reveal did shock others.)

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
selkies TOO serious! from Guess, guess, guess Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: Star-crossed
TOO serious!
#24783: Dec 26th 2022 at 12:43:49 PM

Sure, move it to more suitable tropes.

Uncanny Valley Hot Babes in Your Area Are Looking To Know YOU! Click Here to Sign Up for FREE! | Not quite back tbh. Don't expect much.
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
#24784: Dec 26th 2022 at 2:41:05 PM

From YMMV.Caddicarus:

  • And You Thought It Would Fail: A few months before Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was released, he made a small video addressing his concerns and mentioned that he was not impressed by the footage he had seen. Once the game was released, it quickly became one of his favourite games of all time, feeling that the remastered versions of Crash 1 & 2 were superior to the originals, and that Warped was just as good on both systems.note  He did have some criticisms, but he felt that they were barely noticeable when everything else was so well done.

Caddicarus is a You Tuber with zero ties to Naughty Dog or the Crash Bandicoot serie. So this example feels misused because And You Thought It Would Fail is not for random people claiming that a work could/couldn't succeed.

Edited by SoyValdo7 on Dec 26th 2022 at 4:41:17 AM

Valdo
Agentofchaos A God Am I from Somewhere in the Universe Since: Dec, 2021
#24785: Dec 26th 2022 at 2:44:39 PM

On No Bisexuals, are fan reactions allowed for this? Cause I found these there.

  • BioWare usually averts this trope in most of their original settings, since at least one of the potential Love Interests in each game is usually bisexual. With Dragon Age II, however, it's the fans that seem to be invoking the trope in the case of one particular character. A vocal group believes that Anders' sexual orientation is determined by the player character's gender, due to one early conversation. If Hawke is male, Anders reveals that Karl, the mage he was desperately trying to save from becoming Tranquil in his initial quest, was not only his lover but his first. If Hawke is female, that part of the conversation never happens, and Karl's just assumed to be a good friend. Said fans have pointed to this as proof that Anders is gay if Hawke's male, and straight if Hawke's female, with bisexuality completely off the table as a possibility. This, despite Word of God that Everyone Is Bi, and Anders' own statements to the contrary to male!Hawke:
    Anders: I've always believed people fall in love with a whole person, not just a body. Why would you shy away from loving someone just because they're like you?
  • Fire Emblem: Tellius — A strange meta example happens in the continuity and its male protagonist, Ike. Throughout Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, he gets a lot of Ship Tease with Princess Elincia and some with his strategist, Soren. In Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the Ike x Elincia subtext is really watered down to both pair her up with her bodyguard Geoffrey and to make room for more Ike x Soren subtext. Then Fire Emblem: Awakening revealed a character named Priam, who refers to himself as Ike's descendant. Cue a Broken Base and a shitload of people on the straight and gay sides of the fence trying to "prove" Ike's sexuality one way or the other. Somehow, the prospect of him being bisexual never figured into anybody's head.
  • The moment Joey Claire expressed an interest in both her own gender and a male character, the Hive Swap fandom plunged into heated debate over whether she was really bisexual or a lesbian trying to convince herself that she was straight.

"We'll meet again" | 🏳️‍⚧️
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
#24786: Dec 26th 2022 at 2:57:53 PM

[up] That's just pure speculation. I would cut it.

Valdo
ElBuenCuate Since: Oct, 2010
#24787: Dec 26th 2022 at 8:14:44 PM

So, I found this example in The Simpsons S6E24 "Lemon of Troy" which I'm pretty sure is not an example, but I prefer to run these through more eyes before deleting. Although you need some good shampoo for all the hair-splitting here.

Hypocritical Humor: Ultimately, one could argue that by writing his name in the wet concrete, he was actually showing his love for the city even if he didn't actually say it. Wouldn't he love it even more knowing he had his own personal mark on it? Ultimately, there was really no reason to criticize Bart- he was just showing his love for the town in his own way.

In context, Marge was scolding Bart for wanted to ruin the town's property, saying he should have more pride in his roots. Bart just saw wet cement, and saw it as a good chance for some vandalism, something he has done in the past. (That beside the fact that it doenst explain what is hypocritical or humorous about the example.)

ChloeJessica Since: Jun, 2020 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
#24788: Dec 26th 2022 at 8:20:08 PM

[up] say "ultimately" one more time, motherfu- uh, i mean, yeah, definitely cut that. and check the history to see if it was cut somewhere else and readded under HH, because it fits so poorly i have to wonder if someone was trying to edit war under the radar.

Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#24789: Dec 26th 2022 at 8:26:00 PM

(avoiding commenting on the snark) It wasn't an edit war, but the user who've added the example frequents cartoon recaps. I think something else may come up like this wording.

Edited by Amonimus on Dec 26th 2022 at 8:17:47 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#24790: Dec 26th 2022 at 9:05:11 PM

"One could argue that ..." is almost always a prelude to a shoehorned example.

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
ElBuenCuate Since: Oct, 2010
#24791: Dec 26th 2022 at 9:22:50 PM

Okay, thanks for the comments. I have removed the example.

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
#24792: Dec 26th 2022 at 9:33:16 PM

Any new thought in my post?

Valdo
laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#24793: Dec 26th 2022 at 9:35:23 PM

[up]And You Thought It Would Fail usually refers to the work (in this case a video game) in question, not a commenter making predictions.

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#24794: Dec 26th 2022 at 10:09:47 PM

If the example is about the game, it should be either on the game's page (then again, it needs more than one person's opinion) or invoked on the channel's page (then again, if it's not an intentional example it can't apply).

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Fidor Since: Aug, 2022
#24795: Dec 27th 2022 at 2:04:26 AM

Good afternoon (I live in Russia, dear tropers, we have the afternoon now). Why is there a gender inversion of the "Emotionless Girl" - Emotionless Boy trope, if he is 99% of the time will be retrained into The Stoic?

Mrph1 he/him from Mercia (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: This is not my beautiful wife!
he/him
#24796: Dec 27th 2022 at 2:22:44 AM

[up] Good question. It specifically says:

This is a female-specific subtrope of The Stoic

So should the Emotionless Boy redirect be cut? (Or redirected to The Stoic - although in that case we'd need to keep renaming it on works pages to remove the redirect and preserve alphabetical order)?

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (10,238/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (10,238/50,000)
#24797: Dec 27th 2022 at 2:24:08 AM

This isn't the thread to discuss such a thing, and we'd need more discussion before we decide to do, well, anything.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Mrph1 he/him from Mercia (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: This is not my beautiful wife!
he/him
#24798: Dec 27th 2022 at 2:36:30 AM

[up] Agreed. But it seems pretty clear that (barring TRS changes etc.) any male character listed as Emotionless Boy is an example of The Stoic, not Emotionless Girl?

I'll take the wider question to a more appropriate thread.

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (10,238/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (10,238/50,000)
#24799: Dec 27th 2022 at 2:38:19 AM

Well, depends on if the reference was always part of the trope, a unilateral addition, or just a line backed up by no other reasoning. Hence why we need to discuss the entire thing.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
techno156 from Lost in the wrong part of the internet (Private) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
#24800: Dec 27th 2022 at 6:45:49 AM

Is this a valid example of a Bitter Sweet Ending? From The Lorax (2012):

  • Bittersweet Ending: The townspeople don't really learn any lesson, they simply continue to blindly follow whoever makes an impression on them (not to mention how they don't have a mayor or canned air salesman anymore!), the Once-ler gets redemption from the Lorax, but he can't get his life back, and never really discovers his "full potential", instead he just fixes what he broke, and Ted's ending is neutral. The only character that really ends up with a truly good ending is "nature", if you want to count that. On the other hand, though, if the townspeople did learn anything, it's the fact that not everything is as perfect as they thought it was now that they've seen how bad things were this whole time just outside their city. It's also implied that they helped to restore the environment after the seed was planted in Thneedville, so maybe they did have an epiphany about nature's natural beauty and that having an artificial city isn't such a good thing after all. As for Ted, considering he both helped the Once-ler correct his mistakes and the implication that he and Audrey finally got together, which were his two main goals, his ending qualifies as being a positive one too. Oh, and Audrey herself got to not only see a living tree as she'd wished, but to contribute to their reintroduction.

Personally, I don't consider it a valid entry for a few reasons (natter and inappropriate spoiler tagging aside):

  • The townspeople do learn a lesson, supporting the planting of the Truffula tree, singing about how their "solemn creed" is to "let it [the tree/nature] grow", compared to earlier, when they were afraid of dirt from an "actual" tree, or "not caring about where the trash goes" in their introductory song.

  • There is no indication that the townspeople blindly follow who made the biggest impression on them, besides Ted convincing them why it is a good idea to let the tree stay.

  • The example contradicts itself, first stating that "Ted's ending is neutral", and then saying that he got a good outcome by getting together with Audrey. It also contradicts itself about the townspeople.

  • The ending shows the Onceler taking care of a massive field of newly-sprouted Truffula trees, with the return of the Lorax suggesting that the Truffula forest is being restored, seemingly making it more of a standard good ending.

Edited by techno156 on Dec 28th 2022 at 1:46:47 AM


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