The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at You Know, That Thing Where.
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openGross stuff on otherwise normal food
Do we have a trope for when someone is eating a normal food but then adds something that grosses out other people in the story? The stock examples I can think of are anchovy pizza or something like peanut butter and horseradish sandwiches.
openDream Sociopath
A character is brought to another world. But because he thinks it's All Just a Dream, or a computer simulation, or a Dying Dream, or otherwise not real, he acts like an utter sociopath because "none of it matters/is real" despite having no such inclinations in reality. Hopefully suffers My God, What Have I Done? when he learns that he did in fact commit crimes against real people.
The main character of Thomas Covenant rapes a woman who thinks he's a hero "chiefly because he doesn't think she or anything else in The Land actually exists."
And either a downplayed version or a different trope where a character is still in the real world, but thinks he's dreaming, and so acts as he wants rather than as he should.
In this case, in Donjon Alcibiade wakes up to find his room flooded and thinks he's dreaming, since his room is at the top of a castle tower. When the Guardian shows up to yell at him, he thinks he's still dreaming and kicks the Guardian. The next panel is him apologizing profusely (it turns out the room was flooded because of a malfunctioning magical artifact).
Edited by Chabal2openNo Title Videogame
Videogames that simulate the interface of the device you play them on. Sometimes as a way to break the fourth wall, other times, it's just for storytelling purposes or to enhance immersion. Examples include Mystic Messenger, I Am Innocent, Sara Is Missing, A Normal Lost Phone...
openThematic Personalities
An author writes the personalities of their characters not really based on Character Development (although that naturally occurs), but their base-personalities are based surrounding around themes or concepts. Not all of them have powers, which means that this trope that i'm looking for is not Personality Powers.
For example, pretty much the entirety of the Darkeners from Deltarune, who are based around playing games. Ruxxls Kaard is a ruler, Jevil is a prankster jester archetype and is based on the jester card.
The kwamis from Miraculous Ladybug are based on their themes as well. To put it simply, Tikki is the kwami of creation and luck and is kind and sweet. Plagg is the opposite as he is the kwami of destruction; rude and kinda gross.
openPerformers almost miss their performance
A variant of Race Against the Clock where the protagonists are rushing to make it to a climactic performance, the gig the whole work has been anticipating. Unfortunately some obstacle is in their path, and it looks like they might miss it. The time they were supposed to perform comes and goes, and a minor side character attempts to stall for them, often via a bad improvised comedy routine or amateurish musical performance. But fortunately the protagonists arrive at the last second and pull off an impressive performance.
openFinal Showdown
Omnipresent trope, the final, climactic confrontation in which the hero defeats the villain once and for all. We have Boss Battle but I'm not sure if that covers non-videogame examples, and it has other specific connotations.
openEpisode ends with explosion?
A form of End-of-Episode Silliness often seen in comedies, particularly ones with a sci-fi angle, the episode ends with something blowing up.
A character may remark, "Ouch!" or "Dang it!" or "I'm OK!" or something like that.
openCertain type of armor
There's a certain type of armor and I'm wondering if there's a trope for it. Basically, think the Space Marines from 40K or Frank Horrigan from Fallout 2, and maybe the Terrans from Starcraft.
open"You do know there's an elevator, right?"
A character goes through a dreadful ordeal in order to go from one area to another. However, once they finally get to their destination, they see, or someone points out, a much safer alternative, sometimes in plain sight.
For example, there was an episode of The Simpsons where Homer was driving through a snowy mountain. At one point, he slowly drives his car across a precarious, breaking rope bridge that was clearly not meant for a car. However, once he gets to the other side, he notices a MASSIVE suspension bridge just to his left.
openAmnesiac Companion
A story trope where the protagonist meets someone who's lost their memory, shortly after teaming up with them. The plot of them regaining their memory is usually alongside a bigger plot at hand. Do we have this?
openTrying Means Self-Inflicted Failure
Is there a trope for a character who argues that between doing nothing, and doing something and failing, the former is preferable?
For example: Bob is looking for a job, but preemptively rejects a lot of offers because he feels he doesn't fit all of the criteria (even if he fits the more important ones), and those he does apply to don't hire him. Alice persuades him to answer these anyway, and as a result, not only are they all rejected, the job offers start to dry up because the interviewers warn each other that he's just a waste of everyone's time. Bob concludes that he'd have been better off not trying.
openDoesn't like using a certain weapon
Is there a trope for when a character doesn't like to use/refuses to use a certain type of weapon (whether a "normal" weapon or using something as an Improvised Weapon) for whatever reason, similar to Doesn't Like Guns but for other weapons?
Edited by ZanreoopenSilver Bullet Fail Film
I'm looking for examples in films (or TV) where all the good guys have faith in a special weapon (silver bullet, wooden stake, mystical amulet... etc) but during a confrontation, the weapon is revealed to be useless. I can think of examples where it doesn't work and then it does (Fright Night, Transformers: The Movie, Never Say Never Again) but not one where it simply fails. There must be a few.
openDreadful Toys For Scary Fandoms
Toys or marketable plushies based around horror-themed media scare the majority of the fanbase or people who consumed said media.
For example, almost absolutely no one wants a live-version of a Coraline given to them, and some members of the FNAF fanbase are against ever buying a plushy of a FNAF animatronic.
Edited by KingOfStickersopenFailing to repeat past accomplishments Live Action TV
A person who took part in some accomplishment, heroic deed or similar noteworthy event tries, and fails, to achieve those results again.
In season 2 of The Wire, Pryzbylewski wishes to work on big cases like the one portrayed in season 1. He manages to take charge of a detail, but the case goes nowhere due to a disinterested team and the lacking leadership skills of Prez.
In Mass Effect 2, Garrus has, following the disappearance of Shepard and the Council cover-up of the events in the first game, decided to run his own squad. Even though they initially manage to do good, eventually everyone is killed except Garrus and one other squad member.
Both of these examples are followed by a reunion of people from the previous events, and then relative success, though my interest is mainly the attempt and failure to recapture past glory.
openFan favourite remake
What is the trope for when a company release a new version of an old tabletop game character/model that is popular amongst the fanbase and/or become a meme. I did originally think it was Ascended Meme but in the case I am thinking of (Games Workshop releasing a special limited edition version of the classic Warhammer model Slambo for the sequel game Warhammer: Age of Sigmar) they never acknowledge the meme itself, just the original's popularity so I don't think it fits.
openWeird Wardrobe Choice
Is there a trope for when someone wears a signature accessory/garment in a situation where it would be odd or inappropriate? For example, a Housewife wearing a string of pearls with her hospital gown while she gives birth.
openDisrespectful Villainous Partnership
Two villainous people or entities have a partnership, but hate that the partnership is necessary, and thus are always insulting to each other.
It's not really Even Evil Has Standards, since none of them care about the other's morality, they just hate each other, and not quite Teeth-Clenched Teamwork since it's more about letting the audience see a hated villain get his ego punctured.
For example:
- Al is a Corrupt Corporate Executive, Bob is a terrorist. Bob buys military hardware from Al, who constantly belittles Bob's goals and only ever refers to him via ethnic slurs, and Bob can either put up with it or find another seller who won't mind Bob's One-Tract Mind tendencies.
- Al is a B-list supervillain who wants to take over the world, Bob is a Badass Normal mercenary who wants to get paid, they frequently take potshots at each other (even in front of the Big Bad they both work for).
- Al is a Blood Knight general, Bob is an inquisitor. Al sneers at Bob for his (over)use of torturing people for information, which often leads to him getting false information.
Is there a trope, like Ascended Fanon but specifically for a ship, in which it wasn't in the creators' plans originally but the fandom liked the ship so much that the creators made it canon?