Have an idea for a new trope, but don't know for sure if it's a good idea? Did Trope Finder give you similar concepts, but not exactly what you wanted? Are you just looking for a focus to a broader idea?
You've come to the right place!
On this thread, you can share your ideas with the masses before making that TLP draft, so if there's any lingering uncertainty about the validity of your idea or you just want some help pinning down a good idea, ask away and help others out, too!
A related sandbox I need to pitch is the Trope Idea Salvage Yard. If you've an idea but can't personally work on it, you can add it to the yard and let someone else create the draft. Or you can browse it yourself if you need more draft ideas, whether or not you feel they should be mentioned here first.
Got ideas for non-trope pages you need help with? Never fear, the New Page Workshop Thread
is here!
With that out of the way: Let's discuss some ideas.
Edited by MacronNotes on Feb 27th 2022 at 1:49:11 PM
How's "Mandatory Damage" as a trope? From Press Start to Game Over:
- In the first Baldur's Gate, creating a mage character with 2 or 3 Constitution prevents you from progressing past the first major plot event. Your character is scripted to take a certain amount of damage, and with such a low Con stat, you don't have enough HP to survive it.
Edited by Malady on Feb 23rd 2023 at 8:08:31 AM
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576I'm wondering if a trope where an island is shown to be shaped after a specific thing would have legs. It would be a super trope to Crescent Moon Island of course.
I'd want a Super Super-Trope to encompass all Weird Shaped Things so we don't keep making subtropes.
Shaped Like What It Sells and related don't have stuff similar to what you or I want.
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576I have a trope idea: First Time Drug Use. The idea is that a character tries a drug (or drugs in general) for the first time. They may not do it right, they may not feel any effects, or Intoxication May Ensue. May be brought on by depression or peer pressure. Here are the examples I have so far:
- Cocaine Bear: Two kids find a package of abandoned cocaine in the woods and dare each other to try it. They attempt to do it by eating it, rather than snorting it. They each immediately spit it out and feel no effects from it.
- Clone High: Abe and Ghandi are pressured into smoking raisins (long-story) by their classmates. Ghandi’s reaction is to scream and jump out a window. Abe doesn’t seem to be affected at first, until it cuts to him as a drugged up hippie mid-sentence.
I am open to more ideas and examples.
You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.![]()
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Not necessarily, if the specific thing the island's shaped after doesn't have legs.
I can give an example if you start up a draft.
While cleaning up Super OCD wicks, I kept running into examples of Arithmomania/number obsession. I was wondering if the concept can stand on its own as I am not sure is Obsessively Organized covers it and Good with Numbers is for math geniuses (although people obsessed with numbers get added to the trope because its the closest to the concept).
Macron's notesBig Bad Shadow 25, good idea. I say go for it if you have a third example.
Just a character being obsessed with numbers in general? Maybe they're worth a TLP attempt.
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The first example that comes to mind is Trent's number 9 obsession. I'd say it's worth a try.
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Thanks. I’m considering the Pink Elephant scene from Dumbo, but I am open to suggestions so I can have a minimum of five.
Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Feb 24th 2023 at 3:31:47 PM
You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.Contrary opinion: I think "character does drugs for the first time and it doesn't matter what the effect is" is overly broad and possibly chairs. What is the effect of having it specifically be the first time...on the characters/narrative? Is it a comedic scene? Is it supposed to signify a more "adult" development? Is it a more straight-edge character letting loose? The examples seem to be discussing two different situations: Cocaine Bear is "accidental ingestion of toxicant for comedy points"; the Clone High one, specifically tackling peer pressure/perceptions of drug use, seems more like a coming-of-age plot. (And neither of those plots really necessitate a first usage, I think.)
I do have an example but I would prefer a tighter scope before a draft:
- Ramy: Ramy was raised Muslim and thus never partook in drugs. However, feeling despondent and churlish in the third episode, he tries a weed gummy and gets high. Afterwards he wrestles with the implication of this act with respect to his faith, and the mosque's janitor sets him straight.
Ramy: I'd never done drսg before, ever. It was, like, part of who I am. Right. And now I-I feel less like me. I'm just another dude who-who does weed, you know?
Custodian: I'm sorry to say, bro, but... kind of sounds like your whole idea of who you are is some ego trip.
At this point, this is what I have on my word editor:
You never forget your first time. Specifically your first time getting drunk/high/wired out of your mind.
This trope is for those moments when a character who has abstained from a substance (or substances in general) tries one for the first time. Perhaps they are a child. Perhaps they are an adult. Perhaps they do it wrong (like eating it instead of inhaling it). Perhaps the drug has no effect. Perhaps Intoxication Ensues. All that is really important is that the character is doing a drug for the first time.
Sister trope to Of Course I Smoke.
Yeah, it’s probably a bit broad. If you’re serious about taking out the doing drugs wrong thing, I would be willing to pull it. But how else do we tighten it?
I do see it as a more innocent character encountering an adult situation if that helps. It can be comedic or serious. I will go ahead and add that in.
Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Feb 24th 2023 at 4:06:07 AM
You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.I'm considering starting a trope called "Intelligent Octopus", which is fairly self-explanatory. It's a pretty decent idea so far, but my only major concern is that it's possible that it may overlap too much with Stealthy Cephalopod.
That being said, I do find some distinctions in that Stealthy Cephalopod seems to be more about octopuses and other cephalopods being portrayed as spies, using their camouflage abilities to blend in, and being tricksters - Intelligent Octopus would apply more to octopusesnote having significant levels of intellect in general, which is Truth in Television and something I've seen in fiction before.
If it's a viable idea, maybe it could be a super-trope or sister trope to Stealthy Cephalopod?
Cold turkey's getting stale. Tonight I'm eating crow.So while I fine tune First Time Drug Use, I have another trope idea. A villain trope and Subtrope of Posthumous Character: Posthumous Mastermind or Posthumous Villain. The idea is that the main villain - the main cause of the conflict in the story - is dead before the story begins or dies early on in the story. They‘re dead and the hero will not be getting any final confrontations - they will have to settle for foiling their plans still in motion or cleaning up their mess. If a villain is ressurected or still present in anyway after death - ghost, zombie, clone, etc - then it doesn’t count. May overlap with spoiler tropes. The examples I have:
- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: The mad scientist behind the evil robots has been dead for the previous twenty years. The machines however, have continued their programming to destroy humanity.
- Frozen 2: Anna and Elsa’s grandfather was revealed to be secretly working agains the magic-using people of the enchanted forest from the beginning. He even murdered their chief in cold blood, triggering a battle that cost him his life, and enraging the woods’ spirits, causing the present-day conflict.
- Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School: Future Arc has two. Kazuo Tengan, leader of the Future Foundation, masterminded the entire killing game and dies partway through as a ploy to manipulate Ryota Mitarai into using the base’s systems to hijack global airwaves and brainwash the world into being unable to feel despair. The second villain was a brainwashed Chisa Yukizome, who manipulated Tengan into doing the killing game and was the first victim of it.
I am open to suggestions for fine tuning and examples.
Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Feb 24th 2023 at 5:44:05 AM
You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.I posted this on trope finder and didn't get any response; what does everyone think about having a YMMV trope similar to Play the Game, Skip the Story for musicals and opera about works where people watch it for the music and don't care about the story? I've seen this sentiment a lot. Maybe something like Listen To the Music Skip the Story?
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Regarding the post about an island shaped like something, if you also count "continent shaped like something" there is Pyrrhia and Pantala in Wings of Fire, which are shaped like dragons.
Also re. Stalker Gamer on the "winning isn't everything Aesop" trope, we have Champions on the Inside.
Edited by molokai198 on Feb 24th 2023 at 8:30:54 AM
"Winning isn't everything" aesop is a moral lesson that can happen at any part of the story and is more general, while Champions on the Inside seems like it's just an Ending Trope. I could be wrong tho.
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.^ I think "Posthumous Villain" or maybe "Posthumous Threat" is a good name for that trope if you're considering it.
Cold turkey's getting stale. Tonight I'm eating crow.Well I did it. I submitted my first trope to the launch pad. Posthumous Threat
is up and taking examples and feedback.
I am also thinking up another trope idea: Realistic Monster or Mundane Monster (I am not married to any titles yet). This is a trope in horror where the main villain or monster does not have any sci-fi or supernatural elements to them. They are realistic villains that, outside a few quirks, could exist in the real world. The examples I am thinking of so far are this:
- The Shark from Jaws - an ordinary but persistent predictor who nevertheless terrorizes an entire beachfront community.
- Mrs. Vorhees from the first Friday the 13th Film. Before there was resurrections and other supernatural elements, there was just an angry, grieving mom killing teenagers.
- The various Ghostfaces from across the Scream franchise. While they may come across supernatural at times At most they are just well supplied, well coordinated groups of deranged people killing for various reasons.
- Michael Myers in the first two Halloween movies and the 2018-2022 trilogy. Before the supernatural elements were introduced, the Shape was just a man who would not give up on his kills.
- The title character of Cocaine Bear: an ordinary brown bear driven to kill by a drug addiction.
A key will be separating this from Mundane Horror or Realism-Induced Horror. I am open to suggestions.
One more idea: An inverse to Colon Cancer. This may have been proposed already but I’m not seeing anything on the Title Tropes page, but I’m basing this of the running gag in Zero Punctuation of Yatzhee dry-heaving when he gets to a title of a game that SHOULD have a colon but doesn’t. Examples:
Just a thought.Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Feb 26th 2023 at 11:26:43 AM
You’re Gonna Carry That Weight.What relation to Mundanger, I wonder, other than not being set in a supernatural world?
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
This is set in a world that, in the story currently, does not show any supernatural elements. This is ordinary people facing ordinary threats that seem extraordinary.
- Yea. Mundanger but in a non-supernatural world.
...
Had an idea for things with supernatural sensations, like:
- The Logomancer: Aspect of Imprisonment:
This gem has a dull green shimmer to it. Though not visibly wet, it always feels slippery.
- Recettear: Salamander Scale:
The scale of a lizard which lives happily in hot places. Not hot to the touch, but it will warm water.
Edited by Malady on Feb 26th 2023 at 8:51:11 AM
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576

I started a TLP draft for that several months ago with Warjay's help that I was quite proud of, but I mostly abandoned it because I wasn't sure how to handle examples and clarifying its relationship to existing tropes like Anthropomorphic Personification (which is arguably just a pre-existing term defined too narrowly on-site) felt too intimidating without a lot of feedback I wasn't getting. The topic is important to me so I don't exactly want to give it up, but it also isn't something I can put a lot of effort into any time soon... what do you think?
Edited by Noaqiyeum on Feb 22nd 2023 at 7:58:29 PM
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