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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openVerbal inertia
What would be the trope for when a character expects so much to be rebuked that they continue arguing even when they had actually been accepted?
Say for instance that Alice is arguing in favour of A, and is almost sure that Bob will defend B instead. Bob actually agrees with her on A, but Alice goes on arguing as if he had answered B for a while until she realises (or Eve points it to her) that she has gotten the answer she wanted.
openToo Big To Use
It's hard for a giant to use normal size things, or a normal sized person to use things made for small people.
openI Know My Enemy
- Character: "So, you never thought for one second I shot you?"
- Character #2: "Yeah, you used to hate my guts and vice versa. Nonethless, I couldn't envison you killing me with a gun let alone wanting to kill me."
openTransformer tropes
I've got a pair of situations that need tropes put to them. Well, actually, it's all one scene, but it's split into two parts. The overarching setting is similar to the Transformers Film Series, but is a fictional plot cooked up by a friend of mine using an (almost) entirely new cast and storyline.
openThey think I've abandoned by TLP but I haven't!
Someone thinks I've abandoned Blue Means Cold because I wasn't adding examples, but the actual reason was that I was too confused about whether it should have 'em or not.
openA Character Crying About Something Totally Random Represents Hidden Emotional Distress
Is there a trope for when a character starts crying about something that is random (or just not sad), and this is supposed to indicate that the character is hiding emotional problems?
I'm Crying, but I Don't Know Why doesn't totally cover it, as the character themself may or may not know why they are crying. In a work this is usually meant to set off a mental alarm in the viewer, not the other characters, as the other characters pretty much never understand why the character crying is doing so.
I think an example of this is when Daisy from The Great Gatsby starts crying over (she claims) "how beautiful [Gatsby's] shirts are." The fact that she's crying over something so ridiculous—and she's pretty clearly lying—is supposed to indicate to the reader/viewer that she feels empty or just generally is unhappy.
Edited by CyokieRevottopenThird Semester / off term Live Action TV
Do we have this one already?
Most schools in fictionland and in Real Life have at least some time off. Sometimes it's only a month, other times it's several. The time of year often varies - sometimes it's at the end of the Calendar Year, or it's Summer.
However, sometimes, a character may be required to go to school during the school break. There are many possible reasons for this - maybe due to an illness they couldn't go to class and were too far behind. Or maybe they are Book Dumb and are at risk of being Held Back in School, so they sacrifice most of if not all of their holiday break(s) to make up their missed work and material. Or maybe they cut too much school.
As a result, there's a certain stigma about having to attend school during a holiday - most Summer School (in North America) programs are known for being where the "stupid kids" go and thus Acceptable Targets. While it may not always appear in person during the work, the specter of it may be the motivating factor of the episode where our character has to study. This carries less of a stigma in higher education. A kid in high school in school over the holiday will be laughed at and often portrayed as dumb - whereas a college or university student will be portrayed much more responsibly for choosing to take summer classes.
Sometimes, however, it's actually done for a different purpose - sometimes there may be a school program that runs during the holiday - such as Band Camp.
Examples that I can think of:
- An episode of Arthur had Mr. Ratburn ask Arthur to give an envelope to his mother. Francine of course puts the idea in his head that he needs to go to summer school, cuing an Imagine Spot showing how dreadful summer school is.
- I think this was a fear that Doug had once.
- In Big Fat Liar, the main character has to go to summer school due to not being able to present an assignment in time. Sure enough it is presented negatively.
- MAD Magazine has made fun of kids in summer school - which is one of the reasons this stigma exists.
openSafe boyfriend
Dating someone not because you're particularly attracted to them, but because they're "safe". Sub-trope to No Sparks.
openFourth Wall - leaned on or broken?
In Baddy all of these things happen: - Baddy harasses the conductor, takes his baton, and waves it around. - Sweetheart faces the audience while complaining that it's getting boring. - The show is filled with meta jokes about the Takarazuka Revue - for example, the planet has had 103 years of peace (the Revue turns 103 the year Baddy was staged).
I currently have No Fourth Wall listed with the conductor thing, but moments that would fall under Leaning on the Fourth Wall occur a lot in this show. Do I list both of the tropes on the page? How can one lean on a fourth wall when there is none? =)))
openColorblind Fantasy
A setting where people of various skin colors and ethnicities cohabitate without anyone ever commenting on it, as if it wasn't any more significant than differences in hair or eye colors. In The Promised Neverland for example. Do we have a trope for that? Or is that considered People Sit on Chairs?
Edited by LyendithopenPast Self trope? Live Action TV
Do we have this one?
In a series similar to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in tone, Bob likes Alice, but Bob feels he can't tell Alice he likes her out of gentlemanliness.
The basic plot: the Big Bad captures Bob, who's 40 and uses Time Travel to bring back Alice's 2002 self, when Alice was 21 (her Present Day self is 38), and use her as a Honey Trap to flirt with Bob.
Bob has no idea that the woman he is flirting with is Alice or that it's her past self. Then again, he didn't know Alice back in 2002.
Is there a Time Travel Tropes trope for past self, or would this be another trope entirely regarding bringing back past selves by the Big Bad?
Edited by Merseyuser1openThis Winner is You? Live Action TV
Do we have this one?
The Inverted Trope of This Loser Is You for this example:
Alice and Bob are the protagonists of The Dark City. Alice represents the audience, and is shown positively. Bob doesn't represent the audience, he's an Anti-Villain Escapist Character.
Is there such a trope for "This Winner is You?" (the inverse of This Loser Is You ?)
openDoormat no more
Is there a trope where an Extreme Doormat grows a backbone, not necessarily Took a Level in Badass.
openA genre is unsuccessful but only under certain circumstances
I've noticed that animesque Magical Girl works tend to sell better than Japanese Magical Girl works. Would there be a trope for something like that? Maybe a trope about how exported material is less mainstream?
openBuy A Barbershop To Get A Haircut
"Hey sweetie, remember when you said you've always wanted to try all the rides in the amusement park?"
"Gasp! You bought me a one-day ticket?"
"Not quite..."
openOf All Places
- Character: "Of all the places to discard a gun, an unmarked one to be exact, you chose to leave it by a tree near an playground?!
openHyper electricity
Is there a trope where extreme speed or hyperactivity is associated with electricity? I noticed a lot of electric themed characters are speed demons with the Flash even having lightning trailing behind him in a lot of scenes.
openEvil boss kills employee
An evil boss kills (at least) one of their employees, not because that employee has failed at their task, but for some other reason, or even no reason—basically, to show how evil they are. Do we have this one? Might overlap with Bad Boss, or be a subtrope, but this is specifically about murder. (Example: In the last season of Orphan Black, P.T. Westmorland's nurse implies he's limited in what he can do because he's old, and Westmorland takes umbrage and shoots him.)
openThat's Not The Answer I Want To Hear
Bob keeps asking the same question, always gets the same answer (with varying degrees of Brutal Honesty, since the answer is usually a trivially obvious one), but refuses to accept it and keeps looking. Sometimes Bob is aware that he's deluding himself but is simply too proud to admit his first approach is wrong, sometimes he just wants validation from someone.
For example: "Doctor, how can I lose weight?" "Dieting and exercise." "I'll find another doctor then."
Fighting myself through Order of the Stick, and there the trope is played very clearly. Basically, there is a problem with "you" going to afterlife...because what "you" perceive as a union of a single life, are totally different persons when time-sliced randomly. So which "you" will be the you that lives on eternally? In the webcomic, it can be both determined by destiny as by personal choice.
Hard to formulate it as trope. "You choose your own form in afterlife", maybe? (Although, as I said, the inverse is also possible.)