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.
Find a Trope:
openTropes for these pairings?
1. A meaner or more serious guy with a really sweet, nice girl.
2. A serious, calmer guy with an energetic, more playful girl.
3. Lovers who are also best friends.
Character examples can be given if needed.
openIntroverts are cute
A character who finds people who are introverted/awkward/shy/inside of their heads a lot to be cute, adorable, etc.
openRival tropes?
1. Two characters compete against each other, but can go out to eat or play video games afterward. They're rivals, but they're also good/best friends.
Examples: Ryu and Ken and Sakura and Karin from Street Fighter.
2. Character 1 is nice and Character 2 is mean. Character 2 probably doesn't travel with Character 1. Character 1 wants to be friends, but Character 2 thinks that's/they're ridiculous.
Examples: Ash and Paul from Pokémon, Naruto and Sasuke from Naruto.
openEvil As Thou?
- The main villain finds out one of the protagonist has an justifiable appetite for revenge against those who wronged him. So, he tests him to see if he's gone the deep end as him or he has redeeming qualities.
openYou got foxy
A character that all of the other characters notice got particularly good-looking now that they're older. Said character wasn't really ugly when they were younger, though.
Examples can be given if needed.
openSudden realization
Character 1 is rambling about something bad that happened to them to Character 2 (Sorry for the sensitive subject, but let's just say it's child abuse.) Character 2 then says "You're not the only one who's suffered from child abuse, Character 1..." Character 1 stops for a moment, then realizes that Character 2 made this comment because they dealt with child abuse, as well.
Examples can be given if needed.
openCosplay is ok
What's the trope for when a creator of a work outright says cosplaying their characters is ok? Would this fall under Approval of God?
openOne man Empire/City
A character manages to build a fully fully functional city / empire / etc, alone. The place may be populated with mecha-men / mecha-mooks / non sentient robots, but in all cases said character is the only human (or whatever) in the place.
Plus, the place x character built is in working order / well maintained, but not necessarily self sufficient. Examples: Essentially the goal in the game 'Factorio', Certain play-styles in the game 'Minecraft'.
PS: Said character needs to be alive, and has remained in isolation since starting to build the place.
openSudden destiny
A really important task is suddenly left up to someone completely random. Possibly seemingly incompetent.
Examples: Spyro from Spyro the Dragon, Tak from Tak and the Power of Juju, Beck from Mighty No. 9.
openGrab and run
Character 1 grabs Character 2's arm or hand and starts running. Character 1 might mean business, but Character 2 is scared/nervous about this, or might even have the "I'm in love with Character 1" moment here.
They might also be trying to escape from something/one/where, or both characters could be having fun with the running. Possibly already a couple or they both realize they're in love in this moment.
I'm not sure if any difference in the description will make a difference in the trope, though.
Examples: Shana and Yuji from Shakugan no Shana, Harley Quinn and The Joker from Batman.
openYou get what you want when you stop wanting it, Tropes?
Just as title said :)
EDIT: when a character work hard to achieve something then decide it was not worthy the effort and stop trying to achieve, he then somehow achieve it or fate just give i t when he gave up.
Edited by binge_samudraopenVillain ancestor, heroic descendant
In this case, the grandchild chooses to become a hero to make up for his grandfather's villainous legacy. I'm pretty sure there was a page in TLP for that.
openSubmerging represents re/birth
Something I was tipped to on a podcast. A character is submerged underwater (this can involve drowning, near-drowning, normal swimming-while-holding-breath etc) and the act of them coming back to the surface represents some form of symbolic birth, or rebirth. The character shows growth, or regression afterwards (even in death, if they drown and come back as a spirit) and it marks a significant pivot point in the story. MGS3 and Skyfall both have two examples each.
Edited by FlashStepsopenDream character knows they're a dream
What's the trope for when a character is talking to someone in a dream and one or both of them realize that they're only a figment of your imagination, not the real person, so they can't tell the dreamer anything they don't know themselves? Anything other than Helpful Hallucination? I'm pretty sure we have this, I just can't think of it.
openSeeming Weakness is actually a strength all along. Videogame
Actually looking to make an off-the-wall example of this, using a character whose skills gain little benefit from leveling actually having a benefit in that this makes him front-loaded and easy to raise, but I'm sure there's a thing in fiction where the perceived weaknesses of a character are actually strengths that help resolve the problem.
openHero Kills Accidentally Film
I remember there was a trope for when a hero kills entirely by accident, or due to circumstance (i.e. a child hero, or a hero with a 'no kill' rule, etc.).
The specific example I'm thinking of is from The Babysitter. Cole is a 12-year old kid, who ends up having to defend himself from a Satanic cult, but he kills two of them purely by accident, without meaning to (edit: the third one accidentally killed himself). The only one deliberately sets out to kill is the cult leader, except she's the only one who doesn't die.
Edited by MiinUopenlanguage switch
characters starting out in a 'local' language to imply they're in a different country/culture, then after a few sentences suddenly switching to English (or whatever the native language of the film is) to continue. This usually leads to some atrocious pronunciation in the foreign language, very often Russian. It is also most often moot as there is always either a title indicating the location (like "Moscow") or there is a shot of some super famous landmark to determine where the scene takes place.
A plot that goes like this in just about every work about organized crime:
The people in charge are Villains With Good PR or at least staying out of the public consciousness, concentrating on low-profile crimes like laundering, and all well past middle-age. The younger generation are hot-blooded and violent, usually wanting involving faster and higher-profile ways of making money and have to be kept in line by the older generation.
One of the younger ones (often related to the boss) does something exceedingly stupid and flashy, and there's drama due to the fallout (unless the stupid thing was murdering the boss, leading to Tyrant Takes the Helm, Big Bad Wannabe and Inadequate Inheritor in addition to the rest).
The audience sympathy almost universally is meant to lie with the older criminals.
As seen in John Wick, The Punisher, Punisher MAX...
Edited by Chabal2