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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open‘Not really cheating’ trope
Alice is attracted to Bob. Bob is in a relationship with Kate. Kate is presented as not a nice person/it’s shown that Bob and Kate are close to breaking up. Alice and Bob share a few moments where it’s made clear that Bob is also attracted, they might even share a kiss. However, we as an audience think this is more okay because Kate isn’t a nice person and Bob was going to break up with her anyway.
openDo we have the superfluous heterosexual? Film
This character exists solely because without them, the movie would be really gay. Features include: - Film would only need minor changes to erase this character from it. - Film heavily focuses on the relationship between two same-sex characters. - The character's most clearly defined feature is "is the love interest of main character," and possibly has no others.
Examples: - Sharon Carter (Captain America Civil War, to prevent Steve/Bucky) - Cliff Pantone(Bring it On, to prevent Torrance/Missy) - Emmett Richmond (Legally Blonde, to prevent Elle/Vivian) - Joe (Bend It Like Beckham, to prevent Jess/Julie)
openKnowing You are Dying
The tendency of the Almost Dead Guy to know they can't be saved when people try to save them, and probably just spend their time giving a Final Speech, while people who can be saved always know it and don't try to do any Death Is Dramatic antics to interfere with the After-Action Healing Drama. This almost never turns out to be wrong and leads to a character who could have been saved dying (well, except in a parody of it I saw once)
openTheft Protection
Is there a trope that covers the Sticky Hold ability in Pokemon, where there is a skill that prevents a user's items from being stolen?
openHatred of reality
Is there a trope for a villain who possesses a hatred towards reality itself, like blaming it for causing everybody's problems and wanting to destroy it before replacing it with a new one?
openNickname as enticement?
I've noticed a handful of educational works try to get kids to do something by saying that they'll have this goofy title if they do. For instance:
- In Bear And The Big Blue House, they call people "toileteers" once they're potty trained.
- In this video, people who wash their hands, cover their mouths when they cough/sneeze, and stay home when ill, are labelled as "PDI (Protect, Don't Infect) agents".
openMotive-Based Betrayal
A trope where someone feels betrayed by another person not because they had different goals but because they had different motives for the same goal (with various degrees of selfishness and/or morality). Sometimes the first person is shown as being in the right, and sometimes in the wrong (usually depending on the severity of the situation: in a cynical work, they may be told to suck it up and not throw away allies when their common goal is not yet reached).
For example, Alice is recruiting allies to reclaim the throne from her Evil Uncle Bob. Charlie is among the first to help her, but at the climax it turns out he couldn't care less if Alice takes the throne after killing Bob, he only joined Alice because he was hired to kill Bob by a foreign power. Similarly, Dennis only joined for the Rape, Pillage, and Burn opportunities, Ellen joins because It's Personal with the Dragon, Francis is madly in love with Alice and hopes killing Bob gives him a chance with her, etc.
Edited by Chabal2openExplained By An Idiot
A trope where a not-too-bright character (The Ditz, Dumb Muscle, Single-Issue Wonk, or just someone with a You No Take Candle speech pattern) attempts to explain a situation the way they understand it. The reader has some idea of what's going on and may see that the explanation is technically correct (or at least know what they're trying to say), but the person it's being explained to doesn't (usually for an amusing reaction).
- In Order Of The Stick, Thog (a Dumb Muscle orc fighter) explains the situation involving Evil Twins to a police officer. Unfortunately, not only is Thog not very bright, he also doesn't know the other twin's name, so he has to refer to Nale and Not-Nale (along with lots of Fun with Homophones), leading to the cop being completely confused.
- In The Twelve Tasks Of Asterix, a ghost tells Obelix that they were Roman soldiers massacred by man's folly, and came back from the grave to avenge themselves on anyone crossing the battlefield at night. When Asterix wakes up and demands to know what all the racket is, Obelix cuts in by explaining that they're Romans killed by madmen on their way back from somewhere.
- Midsomer Murders has a character for who fly-fishing is Serious Business, and explains in great detail why she was entirely justified in assaulting another person for doing it wrong. Poor Troy is stuck taking down her statement with a completely bewildered expression.
openBackpedaling to the first request
Alice asks Bob for X, Bob says he doesn't want/like to do X. Alice then asks for Y, and then Bob responds along the lines of X.
Like this joke:
openannoying neighbor
Do we have a tropes that covers an annoying neighbor? Not really a Cranky Neighbour, but the opposite, the neighbor who makes a lot of noise or constantly disturbs the rest of it's neighbors in some manner.
openHero loses relationships
Is there any trope for the phenomenon of protagonists slowly losing social interaction and being left by their former allies as the story goes on, usually because the protagonist themselves goes into isolation or makes a lot of choices that hurt others?
openRushing the Gatekeeper Film
Is there a name for the trope where the main character is trying to get in to see an important person, a CEO, a music producer, etc., and the person at the front desk says "you can't see Mr. So-in-so without an appointment" and the main character, briefly frustrated, then either rushes past the front desk or sneaks past it, pretending to be someone else? Usually this is immediately followed by the front desk gatekeeper yelling "Hey, you can't go in there!" and then the MC makes it into the CEO's office and proceeds to charm them with their (musical talent, intelligence, etc.) I feel like I've seen this scene in a million movies but I can't find a "trope" for it. Is there one?
openAmericans Love Kefka
Do we have a trope for when something finds popularity outside of its original country not because it appeals more to a different culture, but because the localization changed it to something most people agree is better? Like how Kefka, from Final Fantasy VI, was originally really lame, and when his personality was completely changed to something people loved in the English localization, that new personality was used for all future appearances of the character?
Edited by RaustBDopenForcing A Miscarriage Onto A Woman
Is there a trope for forced miscarriages? I've seen it in a few works. Someone sneaks something into a pregnant woman's food/drink and it forces them to miscarry.
openMore Than A 50% Chance
- Character: "So, you believe that there's a fifty-percent chance that you could be the father of her child?"
- Character #2: "More like a eighty-percent chance."
openLet Me Do Something Good
A (usually) depressed/guilty character desperately wants to have the honor of performing a task or making a sacrifice because they want to feel that they've helped someone, done something good for others. Other characters are perfectly willing and able to do the same thing, but this character begs them to let them do it.
I noticed this crop up a couple of times during Avengers: Endgame (Hawkeye wants to die for the Soul Stone to make up for all the rampaging, Thor wants to be the one to use the gauntlet to make up for failing to kill Thanos until it was too late and then sitting on his ass for five years) and wondered if there's a trope for it.
openDo we have a "Bully returns with Friends" trope?
Basically a trope where a bully/antagonist gets his comeuppance and he runs home crying. But the next we see him, he's with his pack of lackies (or big brothers) and attempts to use them to beat up and/or humiliate the hero as a form of revenge.
Edited by INeveropenDo we have this one?
"If you didn't want my help when you didn't need it, why should I give it to you now that you do?"
I feel like this could very much be a trope. It's actually a surprisingly common writing flub I've seen in fiction. I'm just not sure if we have a trope like that already.
openApatheic Hero
"Hero" who otherwise wouldn't help people only helped because their Protectorate asked them to.
Walking with hands behind head to show character is easy going or carefree.