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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openChildren Know Their Parents
Children can identify their parents no matter what.
Edited by TheGoddessIsDeadopenAppeal to Love Interest
Do we have a trope where a character does something that they normally wouldn't do to appeal to a Love Interest? Like say if Love Interest is plays football, the character would do something like join the football to get closer to them. Another example would be on Daria where she gets her belly button pierced to impress Trent.
openPOTUS Expy
Do we have a particular term for an Expy of a current or former US President? It's so common that it feels weird if we don't have a trope just for that.
openThe Villain Is Innocent
Is there a trope where some atrocity is committed (e.g., a bunch of children have just been murdered), then the hero (e.g., Batman) thinks that the villain (e.g., The Joker) did it because the Joker is the most likely suspect. However, it's actually not the Joker's vault, but another guy (e.g., the Penguin) is the actual perp.
openKitchen sink horror
Is there a horror trope for when characters turn on a sink faucet or try to unclog the drain drain only to find something strange come out like insects, blood, wads of hair, or even the monster itself? Usually an early sign that something is wrong.
Edited by MacronNotesopenVillain Just Had To Get Greedy
Any plot where the villain COULD have got away scott free, with most if not all of what they wanted, but they just had to stop and get that one extra little prize and that's what undoes them. There's a few examples around, but off the top of my head these are the clearest:
- ''The Mummy(1999): While the heroes are rescuing Evie and stopping Imhotep, Beni takes the opportunity to help himself to a bagful of the gold lying around Hamunaptra. He collects one bag, takes it outside, loads it onto a camel... and then, instead of just leaving with his ill-gotten gains, he goes back for a second bag and gets trapped in the collapsing city with the flesh-eating bugs. The heroes get the treasure instead.
- Mac Gyver(2016): In Wind + Water, Mac gives the bank robbers a way of escaping with the stolen money, on the condition that they leave the hostages unharmed. They do, but take Mac, as he's proven himself capable and therefore valuable. This predictably backfires on them, as Mac uses the opportunity of a collapsed tree blocking the road to knock over a telephone pole onto their getaway car, allowing Jack and the others to rescue him and take the robbers into custody. If they'd left with the money, they likely would've got away and got rich.
openCertain Skull Attire
Not sure if this belongs in a catch-all trope, but is there's one where a user is wearing a skeleton skull (mostly a herbivore/deer) as a makeshift helmet/hat? It's pretty common on wild/feral/tribal-esque characters.
Edited by RaddishesopenIn Universe Draco in Leather Pants
I've only really seen this in Mulan: Basically, the emperor of China is the head of an uber-patriarchal society which, among other things, gives women the death penalty for so much as daring to join the military. The movie gives a small portion of focus to his right hand man and a big character trait of his is complete subservience to said emperor...and gets on most of the character's nerves when he does that. Then when the emperor actually shows up, everyone adores him, he pardons Mulan and the movie quietly shoves under the rug the simple fact that he's the head of the society and the primary arbiter of all the rules Mulan had been rebelling against the entire movie. It's...weird.
openperson is willing to support any tyrannical bullshit as long as they think it will make them safer
I can't think of any fictional examples but unfortunately this sort of mindset is very common in real life. Would Dirty Coward count?
openHoarding the Power
Thought this would fall under Antagonist Abilities, but I can't determine the exact sub-trope. It's the way certain duelists in Yu-Gi-Oh! (like Pegasus, Marik, and Dartz) will keep certain unique and super-powerful cards for themselves so that they can be invincible against "ordinary" duelists (until Yugi figures out how to win anyway).
Edited by StarTropesopenBack to normal Videogame
Massive spoilers for Death Stranding ahead!
In the game, there are a bunch of freaky supernatural phenomena, such as rain that causes you to age, upside-down rainbows, ghosts wandering the Earth, and bodies exploding whenever they die. The ending heavily implies that these events are over, as we see Sam Bridges walk in the rain with his hood down and carrying a naked baby in his arms, but the rain doesn't affect them at all, and we also see a normal rainbow. Is there a trope for a supernatural world returning to normal and mundane at the end of the story?
openMan Friday
Do we have a Spear Counterpart to Girl Friday? I found this character who hits every "girl Friday" criteria except the "female" and "sexual tension" bit.
openComplaining About Things You Did Pay For
What would the trope be where Bob gives money to someone who makes free media (webcomic, fanfic, webgame, music, fanart...) and then uses his position as a paying fan to discredit non-paying fans or to justify complaining about changes to the work he doesn't like (such as shipping, balance changes, the band "selling out", the artist posting less frequently...)?
openWrist spikes
What’s the trope when someone has spikes or small knifes in their wrists?
openTech Tree Dead End Videogame
You get a choice between, say, units. Some of them can't be upgraded. What you get is as good as it will ever be. Often, when you get them, they outperform things that can be upgraded, but later fall off. Sometimes becomes a Crutch Character.
Examples: Pokemon that don't evolve. Some units in Disciples that can't be upgraded at all (Werewolf) or their upgrade options that hit dead end immediately (if you upgrade Squires into Inquisitors, they can only become Grand Inquisitors, the Knight path is much longer and has a lot more options). Disgaea monster classes.
resolved So short, the camera misses him (SOLVED) Film
Is there a trope for when a character is depicted as comically short, so the camera pans to him, he's nowhere to be found, then the camera pans down? Can be inverted, where the camera pans up to see his face.
A variation is when all characters are standing side by side, but we can only see the short character's hat.
Edited by Mac_Ropen"Call It Fair" Bribe
- A character finds out that the referee is being paid to make unfair calls, so he bribes the referee with a bigger incentive to call the game fair.
openHandcuffed for your convenience
The character is very powerful, more than the conventional law enforcement, but he gave himself in. He is handcuffed by the police... an empty gesture, he can break those with his superhuman strength, but he "plays along" anyway, because he has given himself in.
openNo random element
Iron Man appears in the future. He is captured, and the people in charge (not accepting time travel yet) are discussing who is him. There's the possibility that some guy managed to get one of his old power armors, but this is not considered possible. Because all power armors had been accounted for, and the government knows the fate to all and each one of them.
Is there a trope for when someone's been under anaesthetics and when they wake up they're still a little goofy because of the drugs?