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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

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)
#1176: Nov 17th 2020 at 1:49:52 AM

I'm not sure I'd want to lump "Art Lover" with "The Artist" because I think there's different character archetypes at play there, and often the "Art Lover" types can't do art themselves- they just appreciate it a lot.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
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)
#1177: Nov 17th 2020 at 12:34:33 PM

Double post, but about a different, less (apparently) complicated idea. On TF last night I asked about the trope where the monster/villain knows all about the protagonist, way more than they'd realistically be expected to, and they use this to taunt and scare them. There were no responses, leading me to believe we don't have it.

So that's my newest idea; "The Monster Knows You" (or similar, if I can't use "you" in a trope name for some reason). I have an example off the top of my head from the Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker novels (which don't have pages yet, alas). This could probably also apply to series like Pretty Little Liars because A knows way too much about the girls.

Heck, maybe a name like "All Knowing Villain" or something, because they're usually portrayed as being practically omniscient, at least where the hero is concerned. Creepypasta and horror game villains do this a lot as well, sometimes in a The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You way.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#1178: Nov 17th 2020 at 1:06:03 PM

Can it apply if the character doesn't know everything, but knows something they shouldn't? I'm thinking about Doki Doki Literature Club! when Monika reveals she knows the player's real name as opposed to whatever they named their character, but she also says she doesn't know anything else about them as a person, not even their gender.

Edited by mightymewtron on Nov 17th 2020 at 4:06:12 AM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
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)
#1179: Nov 17th 2020 at 1:08:56 PM

That's definitely something but not quite what I'm going for; the horror in the trope I'm thinking of comes from the fact that this villain, this monster, knows everything, and uses it for evil. It's the horror that comes with our desire for secrets and privacy, as these villains come off as far creepier and harder to beat if they've been watching the characters' entire life play out, had a hand in what happened to them, or is damn good at doing their research.

Monika is more "stalker horror" to me than "omniscient villain horror"- her knowledge is creepy, but it's not played in the same way.

Edited by WarJay77 on Nov 17th 2020 at 4:13:18 AM

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
AlexThePrettyGood Could be worse from Feeding the cat Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Could be worse
#1180: Nov 19th 2020 at 4:12:42 AM

I'm thinking of a trope (probably YMMV) around the lines of The Algorithm Is The Worst Spoiler.

This trope is about how you can make a concious effort to avoid trailers because Trailers Always Spoil, but while you're wandering the internet, the algorithm still knows what you like and f#€%$ up the wham moments in the series/movies you're looking out for by showing you preview articles (when you open a new tab in your browser) discussing that surprise character that now is no longer a surprise; or flood your youtube feed with the most spoilery cards and titles just because you hadn't had the time yet to see that installment in the previous week.

The recent sample that did it for me was for The Mandalorian where several weeks before the series' season 2 premiere, Google's "you might find this interesting" articles on Chrome started with an article showing a production photo of Ashoka Tano completely spoiling the Wham Line at the end of episode 11.

Any other samples? (Don't forget to spoiler them here [lol])

Everything can be found on the Internet... except common sense.
mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#1181: Nov 19th 2020 at 6:41:43 AM

Spoiled by the Format? And maybe Late-Arrival Spoiler already covers the whole "articles spoil the big twist in the show" thing.

[down] Then that seems related to Trailers Always Spoil. Promotional images are covered there, I believe.

Edited by mightymewtron on Nov 19th 2020 at 10:38:07 AM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
AlexThePrettyGood Could be worse from Feeding the cat Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Could be worse
#1182: Nov 19th 2020 at 7:36:36 AM

I'll read up on spoiled by the format, but it's certainly not Late-Arrival Spoiler because the frustrating part is that the spoilers drop (without any warning) before the actual release date.

Everything can be found on the Internet... except common sense.
Unnerving_Posterior Since: Feb, 2019
#1183: Nov 20th 2020 at 9:26:44 AM

I wonder if we could use a new Tone Shift subtrope: "Radder and Cooler", which applies to works that ramp up the action, explosions, giant robots, electric guitars, and the Rule of Cool in general without necessarily going Darker and Edgier. This Team Fortress 2 comic best sums it up.

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Nov 20th 2020 at 9:41:55 AM

Lindo-Honorindo WOOOOOOW Since: Apr, 2020 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
WOOOOOOW
#1184: Nov 20th 2020 at 10:04:04 AM

[up] Compare Younger and Hipper

My favorite sci fi enemies are the giant sexy depressed women
Unnerving_Posterior Since: Feb, 2019
#1185: Nov 20th 2020 at 10:14:42 AM

  • Bread, Eggs, Milk, Bread: A character listing a series of items — usually an attention deficit one — inadvertently repeats one or two particular items in the list or loops back to the beginning.

"We're going on the spaceship, and we're gonna go to space, and we're gonna see the aliens, and we're gonna see planets, and we're gonna see the sun, and we're gonna see aliens, and we're gonna see elephants, and..."
Bonnie, "Toddler Fun Extended Section" (a Surprise Creepy horror video in the style of Petscop)

Edited by Unnerving_Posterior on Nov 20th 2020 at 10:29:49 AM

Malady (X-Troper)
#1186: Nov 20th 2020 at 10:18:18 AM

[up] - So, a Sub-Trope of Department of Redundancy Department...

The intended effect makes it specific, yeah.

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1187: Nov 20th 2020 at 10:35:43 AM

Would Holiday Romance (think schmaltzy Hallmark Christmas movies, but Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve etc counts too) be better as a trope or an index?

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#1188: Nov 20th 2020 at 2:26:01 PM

[up] Sounds like a trope, because some works use a holiday as a jumping-off point for romance without it being the main plot. For example, High School Musical kicks off Troy and Gabriella's relationship through a New Year's party, if that counts.

...Actually, maybe a "New Year's Kiss" trope could work, too. I can think of several works that use it as a plot point or at least a joke - The Golden Girls, Phineas and Ferb, and HSM as mentioned above.

Edited by mightymewtron on Nov 20th 2020 at 5:26:08 AM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
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)
#1189: Nov 20th 2020 at 3:32:30 PM

Friends played with the "New Years Kiss" idea at least a few times.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#1191: Nov 20th 2020 at 4:31:46 PM

I just wrote up a good draft in my sandbox. I'm balancing a lot of other drafts, but fuck it, this one should gather some good examples so I'll throw it in.

Edited by mightymewtron on Nov 20th 2020 at 7:34:15 AM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Crossover-Enthusiast from an abaondoned mall (Lucky 7) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#1192: Nov 20th 2020 at 6:54:08 PM

Here's a trope idea I've seen before, but I'm not sure how common it is?

Thieving Rat, a trope about rats and mice that steal stuff or are thieves, either playing on rats being dirty, as a pun on the phrase "thieving rat", or because rats and mice are small enough that their thievery is usually unnoticed.

Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢
Adept (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#1193: Nov 20th 2020 at 9:26:42 PM

So I notice a few instances in Manga where someone (force)-feeds drugs/poison to another character by swallowing the substance, then kissing the recipient, e.g. in Blade of the Immortal where Manji kisses Makie to give her a medicine for her tuberculosis, or in Detective Conan, Vermouth kisses Mary to feed the APTX drug to her.

Is this distinct enough from Drugged Lipstick?

Edited by Adept on Nov 21st 2020 at 12:27:11 AM

Unicorndance Logic Girl from Thames, N.Z. Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Logic Girl
#1194: Nov 20th 2020 at 10:17:32 PM

I have two ideas:

1. Splitting the "tired" part off of I'm Cold... So Cold..., as in when a character is tired, it's a very bad sign. I'm a bit worried that it's chairs, though, since tiredness is a common symptom of illness.

2. I noticed that sometimes in cartoons, pee is blue, probably for censorship reasons, and I'm wondering if that's a trope.

For every low there is a high.
Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
AlexThePrettyGood Could be worse from Feeding the cat Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Could be worse
#1196: Nov 21st 2020 at 7:32:03 AM

[up][up][up][up] thieving rodents:

  • in Cinderella, didn't the mouse friends gather beads and cloth from the sisters' rooms?
  • In one of the Discworld novels ( I think it was Guards! Guards!), Vetinari gets locked up in a dungeon and he quickly befriends the rats who keep him fed by stealing food from the palace's kitchens. Unfortunately they can't read labels so instead of beer, he gets bottles of brown sauce.

Everything can be found on the Internet... except common sense.
LeoMR LMR Since: Nov, 2017 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
LMR
#1197: Nov 21st 2020 at 10:42:54 AM

Is the concept of a story's protagonist having specifically fire- or heat-related powers tropable? I've noticed there are a lot of protagonists that are Playing with Fire (primarily in anime/manga but I can think of several examples in other media too) compared to any other elemental power. I considered making a TLP draft for it but wasn't sure if it was tropable or if it was better covered elsewhere. Thoughts?

We are all destined to make our own choices.
Malady (X-Troper)
#1198: Nov 21st 2020 at 10:52:37 AM

Single Substance Manipulation is for if they have specific "The ability to move fire around", or "The ability to move heat around"

But if you want to say they only have one power, that's Single-Power Superheroes.

Oh! Hero Protagonist! Hmm... Well, the Heroes index would be a thing to look at...

But as far as I can see, no. No Fire Is Heroic.

Edited by Malady on Nov 21st 2020 at 10:54:38 AM

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
ccorb from A very hot place Since: May, 2020 Relationship Status: It's not my fault I'm not popular!
#1199: Nov 21st 2020 at 10:57:29 AM

[up] Well, there's a concept on the Salvage Yard about a Trope in Aggregate about "All Playing with Fire heroes/characters are Hot-Blooded". For examples: Natsu, Shana, Flame Princess...

I think the reason that "heroes use fire" often shows up in anime is that it's a type of Personality Power that goes hand-in-hand with common Stock Shōnen Hero traits.

Edited by ccorb on Nov 21st 2020 at 2:02:14 PM

Rock'n'roll never dies!
Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#1200: Nov 21st 2020 at 10:59:00 AM

[up][up][up]I came here to say[up]. Here is the draft; ensure it doesn't decay into "good guy uses fire".


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