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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openMonster in the volcano
A monstrous creature that is trapped/sleeping/living within or underneath a volcano, e.g. Typhon from Greek mythology, Zahhak/Azi Dahaka from Iranian mythology, Dagoth Ur from the videogame Morrowind, Rodan from the Godzilla franchise, and Sandalphon from Evangelion.
openWeird public transit
How do you establish that a fictional civilization is weird and alien and has developed along different technological lines from our world? Easy, take the trains/buses/subways/etc. and replace them with a bizarre Magitek or Organic Technology equivalent.
- The "Silt Striders" in Morrrowind, large flea-insects with portions of their shell carved out to make room for controls, passengers, and cargo.
- The "buses" in Kill Six Billion Demons, which are created from the corpses of the enormous stone angels that once ruled the city of Throne
- The "train" in one of the alternate realities accessed by SCP-2510, an enormous subterranean grub-like creature covered in gaping pores that act as "doors".
- SCP-2952, which is a corgi about 30,000 kilometers in length (but otherwise the size of a normal corgi) used as a subway system by fairies.
openMetaphorically Discussing Relationship
Two characters discuss issues in their relationship through a poorly-veiled metaphor. They usually take the metaphor pretty far, although the audience knows immediately what they're really talking about.
Edited by CyokieRevottopenSibling Who Never Appears
A character mentions they have a sibling, but said sibling never actually appears in the work.
openNo longer last of their kind
A character who is Last of His Kind meets another person who also happens to be his kind.
Example one would be from Doctor Who where the Doctor finds out he's not the last Time Lord, as the Master had also survived the destruction of Gallifrey.
Example two is from Futurama in the episode where Leela meets another cyclops.
openMotivated for the wrong reasons
Someone agrees to study hard, not because they know they'll get smarter, but because their parents promised them with a kind of present if they can get good grades.
That's just one scenario among others. (Not in This for Your Revolution would be a related trope)
Do we have this?
openLack of proof equals proof Live Action TV
Is there a trope for when someone brags about something, and uses the lack of proof as evidence? Like:
- Bob: I'm the world's greatest secret agent.
- Alice: I've never heard about you, though.
- Bob: Yeah, cause I'm just that secretive.
It usually shows up in comedies, and it applies to defeating enemies, solving problems, hiding things...
openWell-pruned family tree
Law of Conservation of Detail applied to a family tree - In a story that focuses on an extended family, the "main" couple will have several children, but any aunts or uncles will have at most a spouse or one child, and any great uncles/aunts, second cousins, etc. will simply not exist.
openHighway ambush scene
A scene where the heroes are driving down a highway and are ambushed by bad guys who initially disguise themselves as other motorists. Often a tactic of The Conspiracy, and usually starts with one of the bad guys T-boning the heroes' car, followed by a bunch of Faceless Goons emerging from the other vehicles with rifles to pump as many bullets as possible into the crashed vehicle.
Examples:
Captain America: Winter Soldier, (twice) the I, Robot movie adaptation, the Dark Knight, Angel Has Fallen, the Daredevil TV show, (three seperate times) the GTA: Online heist missions, and SCP-3002.
Edited by phalanxopenGroup Transformation
When a character "bestows" or simply shares his power to his friends/team so they are all super strong together. Two examples I can think of are when Akashi from Kn B put his whole team in the Zone, or in Sonic 06, when Sonic shares his super with Shadow and Silver.
openall metals are magnetic
Would this fall under Hollywood Magnetism or what? Also, on a similar not, what about works that treat all metals as conductive of electricity?
openFinal location is near the beginning
Pokemon Generation 1 Games - The Pokemon League is west of the second city in the game Dark Souls - the last location is underground in the Firelink Shrine - the second and main location
open"No one cares" breakdown
A character has an issue that is very important to them, and they have a major psychological breakdown when they finally realize that no one else cares about it.
Varies in seriousness, from a legitimate reason to something that's merely Serious Business, and can similarly be played for drama or laughs depending on how sympathetic the character is meant to be (i.e. a Woobie wanting to avenge her mother's murder or a Soapbox Sadie wanting to Free the Frogs), and can affect both heroes and villains.
openCharacter Trope Played Out in An Unexpected Way
Bob is The Sociopath. But whereas most sociopaths are portrayed as cold-blooded Chess Masters set on world domination or something like that, Bob is a crude, coarse, dirt poor loud mouth who is notorious for starting bar brawls, beating up people over minor insults, and really likes getting laid. He's also not that smart. This could be a deconstruction, as nobody really sees Bob for what he truly is, because everyone already had a set image of sociopaths that is completely incompatible with Bob. For example:
- Alice: That Bob groped me for the third time this week and beat up my boyfriend when he called him out on it! What a sociopath he is!Charlie: Pfft, Bob's not a sociopath! He's too hot-blooded, and besides, I'm not even sure he can spell his own name!
opencrazy => medium awareness Radio
There's a subtrope of medium awareness, where only a character identified as being crazy is medium aware.
Like:
In "Big Mouth", Coach Steve is aware of the title sequence, and the songs, and he can see the Shame Wizard.
In Gilbert and Sullivan's "Ruddigore", Mad Margaret can perceive the songs in the musical, though she doesn't know it's actually a stage play:
Mad Margaret: They are all mad— quite mad! Rose Maybud: What makes you think that? Mad Margaret: Hush! They sing choruses in public. That's mad enough, I think.
Do we have this?
open"Lion's mouth" trick
Do we have a trope for the "circus ringmaster sticks his head into a lion's mouth" trick? I don't know how common it is or was in real life, but I see it a lot in old cartoons and comic strips.
openIt had great animation! Anime
I remember seeing this show on Amazon, but I just can't recall the name, and it would take forever to try and find it again.
The show starts off with this young man, you never see his face, and it is live action. He is an artist and draws a character on paper. The rabbit then comes to life and causes trouble for the artist. The artist then draws a dog to be loyal to him and catch the rabbit. The whole show takes place on the young man's desk. The rabbit fights like a ninja.
openMooks only attack when you're not looking
A kind of videogame mook with a special behavior: if your character looks at their general direction, they'll do nothing, but if you turn your attention away, they'll either attack you or move towards you.
I remembered coming across this, but I forgot the name...
A character gets angry and puffs their cheeks (YMMV if it is cute).