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:
openIn-universe works are always public domain
The tendency of Shows Within a Show, books discussed by characters, etc, to be pretty much exclusively public domain work (to avoid licensing costs).
openReduced To Characteristic
Bob does not like Charlie. He expresses his disapproval by referring to Charlie by what Bob deems to be his defining characteristic (what Bob doesn't like about Charlie in the first place), be it his origins, personality aspect, or something Charlie did that Bob has no intention of letting him live down, even/especially to Charlie's face. Bob is not The Nicknamer and sometimes doesn't even put that much venom into saying it, he just replaces Charlie's name with "(the) [characteristic]" in any conversation involving him, sometimes with other characters' names to make the distinction clear. Doesn't have to be a cast member either, say if Bob is discussing Polanski's films and only ever refers to him as "the rapist", or to Thomas Jefferson as "the slave-owner".
So you could have lines like (for separate works):
- In Starcraft II, Horner only ever refers to Findlay as "convict", even when talking to him.
- In Harry Potter, after Harry has once again managed to cost his House the cup, it's mentioned his Quidditch teammates only refer to him as "the Seeker".
openEven Evil Has Feelings
Any tropes for when an evil character still seems to be able to get their feelings hurt or something? I think it's an interesting little bit of depth, to show that even villains can still get hurt even as they torment and hurt others. Would be a supertrope to Even Evil Has Loved Ones. If we don't have anything like it, would it be worth creating it?
openUnable to Cry
Is there a version of the trope Unable to Cry, except instead of the character being too shocked/numb/bitter to cry when a tragedy happens, the character physically can't shed tears (but wants to because of something bad happening)? EG if they're a robot or inanimate object, or are somehow just unable to?
openSort of like Argument of Contradictions meets Russian Reversal?
You got two or more characters, and they're arguing because both want to do something that they can't do at the same time, and they basically say this:
- Alice: "Your X is in the way of my Y!"Bob: "Yeah, well your Y is in the way of my X!"
openSecondary human antagonist
When the Big Bad of a work is someone or something too abstract to really personify, so a minor antagonist is added to the plot who can be a proper "villain" - e.g. an obstructive politician in a disaster movie.
If the work compensates for the abstract main threat by making the character as vile and unpleasant as possible, that'd be Hate Sink, but not all Hate Sinks are examples of this and not all examples of this are Hate Sinks.
openVisceral Cover
Hiding in the insides of an animal to survive, usually avoiding freezing. Most notable probably being Han putting Luke in a Tauntan's guts
openImprobable Swinging Skills
A character uses a form of Grappling-Hook Pistol to use their Improbable Aiming Skills to swing in impossible areas. The factor in this trope is that it isn't necessarily how they swing, but where.
The Spider-People in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for example, seem to always be able to swing in any area no matter how the place is designed. In this scene, for example, Peter and Miles somehow find places to swing while realistically, their web-strings should get caught by another tree or branch or something, halting their velocity.
Anyone who has watched Attack on Titan might question this as well, as yes, Improbable Aiming Skills come into play and the justification for their skills is "intense army training" and while they do miss sometimes, once they hook onto something with their 3DGears their hooks will pretty much never snag on something. Unless it's the work of a titan
openMust be spoken in foreign
Is there a trope for when a medium uses a different language, for whatever reason, that is not translated into the language the rest of the work is in?
An example would be Assassin's Creed 3, for the first few missions with Connor the game does not translate the native language, resulting in the player either reading subtitles or having no idea what's going on.
I thought maybe Gratuitous Foreign Language but that just seems to be one or two words, not entire conversations.
openLooking at each other, then screaming Western Animation
Kid show/movie trope:
Two characters standing side by side see a monster. They turn so they're facing each other, then scream, then run.
openDefeated by an amoeba
Do we have a trope for this?
We have a character that is so weak or so bad at fighting, that he is defeated by a smaller opponent, even various sizes smaller.
openNon-consensual fake death
I've been trying to find a fake death trope where the character doing the fake dying isn't the one orchestrating it.
For example, a hero is "killed" by a villain, everyone thinks they're dead, but it turns out they were only captured.
openValues vs. Reality
A situation (usually Played for Drama) where a character comes to realize that the values he holds or was taught don't exactly hold up to reality, usually prompting some kind of Crisis of Faith.
For instance:
- Alice was taught that women should dress modestly and that a dreadful fate awaits loose women, but after seeing young women becoming gold-diggers and not seem to suffer any karmic punishment for it, starts to question what she was taught.
- Bob was taught that hard work is the only way to get ahead in life, and as a result sees people get ahead of him through luck or connections.
- Charlie has had it drilled into him that minority X is Evil. Then he actually meets members of X and realizes they are, in fact, ordinary people.
openSci-Fi/Fantasy twin franchises
Two works or franchises that share a creator, themes, and (in the case of games.) gameplay, with one in the sci-fi genre and the other in the fantasy genre. E.g. Starcraft/Warcraft, Warhammer 40k/Warhammer Fantasy, Mass Effect/Dragon Age, or Fallout/The Elder Scrolls.
openScientist gives theselves superpowers
A scientist character doesn't limit themselves to developing various technologies but actually upgrades themselves too. Examples include Mayuri from Bleach, Apocalypse from X-Men and Mr. SINISTER from Fantastic Four. All of them are scientists who gave themselves superpowers. It is better if they are an omnidiciplinary scientist.
Note that I am not talking about an accident like Bruce Banner and the Hulk or a one off thing like Aizen from Bleach. I am looking for people who regularly do it.
Edited by FullmetalRenkinjutsushiopenEvil-looking clothing
A character wears clothes that makes other people mistake him for a criminal; for instance a guy who wears all black with his hood up is mistaken for a robber.
A scene where the main character is in a quiet spot/has a moment to reflect and starts to hear/remember things people have told them that had an effect on them.
A great example of this is from RDR 2 where during the last mission Arthur hears voices from people he's helped/harmed throughout the games story, depending on honor and personal choice.
What is this trope called? I've seen it in other places, but I can't figure out what it's called.