A thread discussing similar tropes.
Note that two tropes being distinct in theory does that mean they are distinct in practice. If participants agree that two (or more) tropes really don't seem distinct enough to be separate, one can start a thread in the Trope Repair Shop for further discussion. A a wick check demonstrating redundancy will likely be required, though.
Before asking "What's the difference between these tropes?", check the Canonical List of Subtle Trope Distinctions and Laconical List of Subtle Trope Distinctions lists. They may contain the answer. Feel free to contribute to them, too.
I've decided to start a new cleanup thread dealing with trope similarities. This thread is for discussing tropes that appear to be a duplicate of another trope, and if it's agreed upon that the two tropes talked about are similar enough, one should start a thread about it in the Trope Repair Shop.
I'll start with my issue...
Asian Hooker Stereotype and Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow are pretty much the same trope—they both involve a white man and an Asian woman.
Edited by Synchronicity on Aug 8th 2024 at 5:29:57 AM
Unless I'm missing something, So What Do We Do Now? seems to just be Victory Is Boring, but at the end. At least in terms of the description. The actual usage is all over the place.
Bigotry will NEVER be welcome on TV Tropes.Is there any difference between Heel Realization and Villainous BSoD aside from the latter being more crushing?
@3999: From TropeDistinctions.A To C:
- Beautiful All Along refers to when a character previously thought to be homely is suddenly shown in such a light as to make it apparent that she is actually quite attractive.
- With She Cleans Up Nicely, it is not necessary that the character be thought of as homely; it simply refers to when a character who is usually depicted in a normal fashion is suddenly made to appear as glamorous as possible.
Another way to look at these tropes is that in Beautiful All Along the character is unaware of their own beauty and needs it revealed to them, often by others, whereas She Cleans Up Nicely involves a conscious choice to downplay their appearance, opting for a rough or unpolished look, until they deliberately decide to shine for a specific moment or opportunity.
Boulder Bludgeon is specific to rocks and rock-like objects, while Debris Attack encompasses anything you can find on the ground (like broken objects). Also, Boulder Bludgeon comes with a "desperate or brutish" personality aspect.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallIDK. But when I was creating Boulder Bludgeon, I specifically required this aspect of it. And either way, Debris Attack is broader.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallI didn't get a reply the other time, so I'd like to ask this question
again.
I'm still not clear on the distinction of Prehistoric Animal Analogue from Fantastic Fauna Counterpart, Whateversaurus, and Medieval Prehistory, since all of the examples on its page seem like they could be transported to either of the three without modification (and in some cases are already duplicated on them).
Edited by Theriocephalus on Mar 30th 2025 at 11:55:00 AM
From reading the descriptions, this seems to be the distinction:
- Prehistoric Animal Analogue: Fictional animals based on prehistoric animals. The work may or may not be set in prehistory.
- Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Fictional animals based on real animals.
- Whateversaurus: Fictional dinosaurs in a prehistoric setting.
- Medieval Prehistory: Prehistoric animals in a fantasy setting.
Edited by FSharp on Mar 30th 2025 at 2:08:57 PM
I don't just Wiki Talk the talk. I Wiki Walk the walk.Is Power Stable a wrestling-specific Badass Crew? Can it be used in non-wrestling related works?
Difference between Play-Along Meme and Never Live It Down? Both are about memes, the former's page mentions "fans latching onto a particular line or scene and spreading it like wildfire", but it seems the latter page also covers that audience reaction?
With Great Power, Comes Great Motivation![]()
Power Stable doesn’t seem to mention the crew necessarily being badass; it’s just about teams of wrestlers, and comes off as more of an index than a traditional trope in spite of its off-page usage. I’m not familiar with pro wrestling, so I can’t offer much insight otherwise. It definitely doesn’t seem like it can be used for non-wrestling-related works, however.
The two are completely different. Play-Along Meme is about fans jokingly taking something said in a work at face value no matter how ridiculous it is (ex. a character makes an blatantly absurd claim in a work, and fans pretend that what they said is true); Never Live It Down is about fans defining an entire character by an event that they were involved in once. The line in the former’s description about “fans latching onto a particular line or scene and spreading it like wildfire” is irrelevant to the actual definition, which comes shortly after:
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Never Live It Down isn't necessarily about memes (in the internet sense). It's about fans latching on to a particular trait of a character and essentially flanderising the character to it.
For example, in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, there's the entire lore that the fandom built up around "Derpy": that she's a ditz, or even mentally disabled, because she's cross-eyed, and that she's obsessed with muffins, even though she wasn't necessarily the pony who said "muffins!" in her establishing scene.
Play-Along Meme is fans jokingly pretending that something in the show is true, even when it objectively isn't. For example, comments on Octodad videos will often pretend that Octodad (an octopus pretending to be human) is "a perfectly normal man."
EDIT: Ninja'd.
Edited by DoktorvonEurotrash on Apr 2nd 2025 at 4:25:56 AM
Regarding #4008, Boulder Bludgeon is about grabbing a rock and using it like, well a bludgeon, while Debris Attack is about throwing, well, debris, usually with the idea that it's not the main weapon, but a mixup meant to throw off the opponent, like a character who fights normally with an axe instead kicking a rock into the air and using their axe to hit it towards you
Ey, migi vuru?Clothing Combat and Arsenal Attire?
I am sure this was asked a while ago by someone else, but I don't remember an answer. These are both supertropes but they seem redundant with each other as they seem to encompass the same subtropes, and neither acknowledges the existence of each other.
If Aquaman is "Nobody's favorite superhero", then I am Odysseus. (They/Them) (Troper Wall)Clothing Combat says it's specifically for Improvised Weapons. If the weapons are built into your clothes, that's not really improvised.
I don't just Wiki Talk the talk. I Wiki Walk the walk.

![[up] [up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png)
Descriptions could imply that one is an attitude change and the other is a secret appearance, but I feel how they're written now is interchangeable.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup