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:
open"Man of a Thousand Identities" Hero
Unlike Batman, this character fights crime but under many identities.
openTrope for when a character asks another character a question but the other doesn't answer?
A bad situation comes up. Alice asks Bob if it's not as bad as it actually is because he did that one thing earlier, right? Right?! But Bob doesn't say anything reassuring, either saying anything other than "Yes, it's not as bad because I did something about it." or being silent and looking away guilty.
Examples:
- Lego Batman Family Matters: Bruce/Batman reveals he sold Wayne Enterprises (only for it to turn out Two-Face bought it). Dick/Nightwing asks him if this won't affect the trust funds Bruce made for his adopted kids.
Dick/Nightwing: Haha, okay, but this won't affect the trust funds you set up, right? [Bruce/Batman doesn't answer.] RIGHT?!
- Digimon Adventure 02: Davis and Flamedramon witness one of their human partner friends doing something selfless for their Digimon. Flamedramon asks Davis if he'd ever do the same for him and Davis mutters something like a half-hearted "Yeah, sure." Flamedramon gets mad and tells him to give him a straight answer like "Yes, anything for you."
- Monsters, Inc.: Before everyone goes home after their shift, Roz asks Mike if he's done the paperwork that he's been putting off.
Roz: Your sudden silence is very reassuring.
- Transformers: Animated: Happens twice to Sari in the Season 1 finale. Sari notices that Ratchet's hand is broken, but says it'll be okay as long as they use her Key to heal it, she just needs him to give it back to her. Ratchet sheepishly glances away and Sari realizes what happened ("YOU LOST MY KEY?!"). Later, when her father says that Megatron's return is his fault, Sari jokes that it's not like he hid Megatron in his lab and she has the same reaction when his embarrassed silence confirms it.
openGuy wants his friend to flirt with his wife because... Literature
Is there a trope for when a guy lets his friend flirt with his wife because he’s actually attracted to the friend? I’m writing the A Place of Greater Safety page right now and this exactly describes Desmoulins behaviour towards Danton.
openCan't Predict The Unpredictable
Enemy can't possibly know what you will do if you don't even know what you're doing.
openWelcome to my world
A character has some sort of disadvantage that another character, their enemy, lacks, but has learned to compensate for it. As such, despite the second character's advantage, the two enemies are roughly equal in skill. Then, somehow, the first character manages to force the second character to deal with the same disadvantage. Since the first character has more experience compensating for it than the second character, they promptly kick their second character's ass. The classic example is a Blind Weaponmaster turning out the lights so that everyone in the room is equally "blind".
openGets damaged, gets stronger.
Where if a character takes damage, they get stronger. Critical Status Buff would work, but it seems to be exclusively for video games. I can think of two non-video-game examples, Yang from RWBY, and "Mad Monk" Urouge from One Piece.
Edited by pikachu17openButt Mom-key?
What's the trope where there's a mother who always has the worst luck raising her kids? She's often a Housewife but she could also share responsibility with the dad but has worse luck than him, or sometimes she's a single mother.
I've seen it in The Berenstain Bears and Arthur.
openOne chases, one ambushes
Seen this on a few cop shows.
Alice and Bob are chasing Charlie. While Alice stays on Charlie's tail, Bob swings around to where he knows Charlie will run to, thus putting himself in position to jump Charlie when Alice drives him to that spot.
openFlash Black / Beat Block Videogame
So, some of you guys might know about Super Mario Galaxy 2's Beat Block and Flash Black. While both share the same mechanics, but I can't seem to name the trope for it. I'm aware that Flash Black's trope is Blackout Basement, but I'm uncertain on what would Beat Block's trope be. And the trope that they both share. So, my question is this" Is there a trope that can effectively describe both galaxies, and the mechanics both have?
openTitanic Plot
A stock plot where characters end up on a sinking cruise ship and have to find a way to escape. For example The S.S Anne sinking, Space Titanic (variation with a black hole but same plot), I believe there was a The Simpsons take on this...
openHuman Foe, Monster Foe
This is my the hero or heroes a facing off against two different major villains. One is humans and one is monsterous. These foes must be foes in their own who would be dangerous on their own. They can work to together, have no perticular relationship other mutual hatred of the heroes or even fight each other.
Example: In dragon age origins you face the Archdemon and Loghain Mac Tir
In the temerian series you their is both Napoleon and Lein
In teenage mutant hero Turtles your have the human shredder and the alien Krang
openVillain is hurt by their own weapons repeatedly
Is there anything for a villain who, more than once, has their own weapon(s) used against them, at minimum resulting in their plots being foiled and at worst causing actual injury? The example is Asher from Ennui GO!, a psychotic who tries to kill the main character with a cleaver but ends up getting half his face cut off with it, and then tries again with a sword but ends up with another character using the sword to cut one of his arms off.
openGood Girl Joins Sorority
A common plot in college-centric works. A "good girl", as in someone naive, sweet, smart, or generally innocent, tries to get into a sorority or similar. Hazing ensues, with the sorority president often purposefully trying to humiliate them.
openAfterlife/Religion Trope
Is there a trope for when a religious character dies and finds out that their god isn't real, but another god is? Or the afterlife is actually a different religion's afterlife?
Edited by Pichu-kunopenBreakup Allegory
Friends go through a fight, and it's framed like a classic breakup, down to the dialogue and body language. When they make up, it's, of course, framed like a couple getting back together.
Edited by WarJay77openCherokee princesses and other indigenous myths
Are there any tropes related to the "Cherokee princess" myth? Or people claiming they're part Cherokee/Native American?
Edited by Pichu-kunopenA plot that gets less grounded in reality/more extraordinary as time passes
Not quite Jumping the Shark or Power Creep but a trope like, for example, how the Roseanne main cast starts off in relative poverty but are winning the lottery and meeting royalty in later seasons, or how the legendary Moltres of the first Pokémon generation simply controls fire, but Arceus, a legendary from the fourth generation, controls all elements and created the whole universe
In a book I want to make a page for, Flawed, revolves around a society where people are expected to be perfect, living under strict guidelines of what does and doesn't constitute someone being flawed. Those who are convicted of the crime of being flawed are then branded somewhere on their body, depending on what it is they did- lying, for example, gets the brand on the person's tongue. Because of this, flawed people are constantly marked, not only with their branding but with a red armband, for the purposes of making them stand out, allowing people to enforce the harsh guidelines flawed people must then live under.
I already know that this counts as a nation-wide Disproportionate Retribution policy (I mean, even just helping a flawed person will get you imprisoned or marked as flawed yourself), but is there a trope that would cover the Scarlet Letter style branding punishment? Or any other tropes that may fit this society, for that matter? (Dystopia is another obvious one).
Edited by WarJay77