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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openAristocrat Servant
A character is of such aristocratic descent (usually members of the royal family) that their servants are also aristocrats of a lesser rank (usually maids for women and butler-types for men). May result in Not So Different from a lowborn servant with a similar job, pointing out only their birth and education separate them, as they're treated the same way by their respective masters.
Seen in Overlord 2012 (Renner's maids are all noblewomen hence their contempt for the commoner Climb, despite both being Renner's servants) as well as Real Life (Louis XIV comes to mind, with aristocrats fighting over the privilege of bringing the king his dinner or carrying his chamberpot).
Edited by Chabal2openA HealingShiv that can be ingested? Videogame
If a specific character gets healed by a Poisonous Substance (which is lethal to other characters), would that substance be counted as a Healing Shiv?
openWas cutting-edge tech
An Adventurer Archaeologist finds texts dated to the 2nd millenium BC describing an unstoppable ranged weapon. He looks for it, expecting some kind of laser or other weaponry expected of an Advanced Ancient Acropolis... but it turns out that the definition of "unstoppable" is very different from one era to another, and what he finds is an extremely inefficient crossbow (that would admittedly go through the leather or wicker shields that were the norm for the people describing it).
Edited by Chabal2openSingle Attack Hits Multiple Times
What is the trope for when one single strike from a weapon actually hits the enemy multiple times / gets injured in numerous places, yet the audience only sees one stroke?
openIntroduced to be Killed
Is there a trope for a character that is introduced, only to be killed off shortly thereafter?
openAlien trope relating to starfish aliens Western Animation
Is there a trope for Ben 10: Omniverse regarding aliens with these personality traits:
- Alien X can't do anything without Ben 10 in control, since Ben had to let both of his personalities argue their debates for all eternity, with Ben in control.
- The Sylonnoids are robots, but have human brains and humanoid manners. One of them looks very much like a scary lawyer, is there a trope for a stereotypical sleazy lawyer?
- The Vreedles are tall and thin, with gray skin. Is there a trope for this sort of body? (whether it be a human or Human Alien). One Epileptic Trees fan theory claims they're thin due to being junkies. Is there a trope for that?
openBadassNormal character has some way of mimicking superpowers.
Is there a trope for when an otherwise normal character has the ability to mimic superpowers? Not a superpower that lets them mimic super powers but some sort of usually mundane method of doing so? For example, a group of psychics has the ability to move things with their mind, so somebody without superpowers mimics them with something like a gravity gun, or if one character has fire powers somebody else might copy them simply by grabbing a flamethrower. They may even find some way to "capture" magic that is normally exclusive to a Witch Species and manipulate it for their own ends, even if the character in question isn't magical themselves.
This isn't necessarily about a Science Hero as the method of power copying doesn't have to be technologically advanced, just something that any normal human could take advantage of if they got their hands on it without them actually gaining superpowers.
openStealth-Incompetent Bubbly Ninja
There's a character that is generally bubbly, likes to trip off some random rocks, Screams Like a Little Girl over a presence of mice, but always gets chosen for Stealth-Based Mission. What tropes fits this character?
openStereotype conformer
A character conforms to the (usually negative) stereotype associated with his appearance/background/nationality/etc. because he benefits from it (so no amount of Stop Being Stereotypical will stop him even if it means making others look bad). For instance, a Scary Black Man playing up his appearance to make a wimpy white man give him a better deal.
For example, the author of Gaijin Smash uses that expression to refer to Westerners getting away with antisocial behavior in Japan because Westerners are already considered rude and uncouth, such as cutting in line or jumping over train turnstiles without buying a ticket, trusting in the inherent nonconfrontational nature of Japanese society to avoid being called out on it.
Edited by Chabal2openSame species + different gender = romance?
What's the trope for when main nonhuman characters (or occasionally humans if humans are rare enough in the work's universe) inevitably fall in love with another of their species of the opposite gender?
openThe Anti-Drama
The kind of "dramatic moments" that are derived from the character or atmosphere's lack of dramatization in an event; especially if the show was so openly dramatic before this.
I wonder if there's something like that here.
openEyelids fluttering?
Okay, this is going to sound like a weird question, but is “Alice’s eyelids flutter like she’s trying to keep it open but can’t, and we can only see the whites because her eyes have rolled to the back of her head,” an actual trope that occurs? I just watched MirrorMask, and Helena does that when she’s being turned into the Princess of Shadows. I swear I’ve seen this eye motion elsewhere, but I don’t know if it’s common enough to be a trope. Cheers!
openVillain lifting the hero's chin
Do we have a trope where a villainous character has a hostage/victim and forces the victim to look them (the villain) in the eye by lifting up their chin? (this thing: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9O_2QQHAoGA/VfncFIbQ7zI/AAAAAAAAhM0/rswcYL4suVY/s1600/Tarzan-disneyscreencaps.com-7622.jpg)
Edited by Clanger00openFrowning heroes, smiling villains
Self-explanatory title, hero doesn't crack smiles a lot and are serious 99% of the time, villain is basically a Perpetual Smiler who enjoys being evil (evil laughing is optional)
openToo complicated for you
A character wants to know something about the things going on, but the other refuses to explain. "You are too young/dumb/illiterate/whatever, so I won't explain it". It isn't a Hand Wave, because it is explained to the reader elsewhere, and neither You Can't Handle the Parody, because it's not a parody of Jack Nicholson's rant.
openUnnecesary Plot and More Powerful than They Thought
What's the trope where a whole plot develops inside the main plot and isn't relevant at all for the main plot aside of filling the time, like the Sponge Bob movie, when Sponge Bon and Plankton traveled in time to recover the formula, but they got the wrong one and had to go out of water? And the other one when a character (frequently The Hero) has shown to have more power than we thought, and can be oblivious or undifferent of that?
openCharacters whose sole function is to listen to other characters
I'm wondering if there is a trope for a character who doesn't have any other purpose in the story aside from "being the guy/girl listening to the other (much more important) characters" as they talk about... Pretty much anything the author feels like dumping into the audience, but can't find a way to work it into the plot.
Thus, the writer chooses to create a character (or to assign a pre-existing one to this role) who will be in a scene in which the Hero/Villain/Major Character goes on a rant about something of importance to the plot or that serves to help flash out the character's personality . It's basically a soliloguy being watched by one person.
Here is an example: Amber is an unpopular girl who is the butt of many jokes and one day feels like getting things off her chest. The writer knows this is an important moment for character development, but thinks that having Amber recite all of her troubles into the wind would be... weird. Well, no worries! For Amber calls her best friend Marie who immediately sits down to listen to all that Amber has to say. Once the discourse is over, Amber thanks her friend for being a good listener and Marie disappears into thin air until the next time Amber needs someone to hear her out.
Edited by SKBengalTiger
Specifically it's more of an audience reaction (so maybe not tropeable) but when you read a book and they tell you that something costs $3.50, which the characters react to like it's a lot of money. And it was - back when the book was written, but now that time has passed that large sum of money doesn't sound large at all.