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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resolved Klingon Romance Print Comic
A society is structured so that if a guy kills someone, the victim's fiancèe/wife is now bethroded to the killer.
resolved Ascended Joke, or Fake-Real Turn
"Expansion" to the game was announced on April Fools' Day, which replaces all player characters with dogs. This, of course, was a joke... but fans demanded this expansion being released for real, and publisher complies.
Is there any specific tropes for this kind of situation? It think it may be Pandering to the Base, but I'm not sure. And the more variants, the better, anyway.
If it may help, you may check this link for actual announcement, and this link for original April Fools' Day joke.
resolved Don't use the character's name! Print Comic
I've been reading some superhero comics paperback collections, and I've noticed that on supplementary material, the creators avoid using the names of characters published by a different company - for instance, in the Batman: Hush deluxe edition, Jim Lee mentions he wanted Nightwing to jump around like "a certain spider-theme hero", instead of saying Spider-Man.
I dunno if that's just a joke, or if they're not allowed (either legally or by editorial mandate) to mention the competition... is there a trope for that?
resolved Omnidisciplinary Cop Film
The cop who's involved with every aspect of the olice procedural - he's working a beat when he finds the drugs, then leads the investigation to pinpoint the distributors, drives across states to catch them, leads the SWAT raid on the distribution facility, drives the prison truck to jail and watches over the criminals when they're talking with their lawyers.
resolved Acquire something for free, put a price on it.
Is there any specific trope for attempting to sold something which normally available free of charge (and still is at the moment of the deal)?
Like, receiving free candies or something else like this as a gift, and later trying to sold this (without mentioning what this can be acquired for free, so victim would think it is good deal).
For context, here is situation:
Alice receive some science trip for free (which she doesn't like, because she wanted to just receive money instead), and decided to sold it to Bob (who's actually enthusiastic) for big sum of money. Thing is, Bob can acquire this trip without Alice's help, he was just scammed by her to give her money.
resolved Unnecessary/Meaningless Censorship Western Animation
Is there a trope for In-Universe characters refusing to say something, or preventing someone else from saying something, but in a way that makes the thing very obvious?
For example, a news report saying "John Smith Junior has been murdered. One of the susects is his father, who declined to give his name, for his own protection" or "I cannot repeat the insult he used, but I reassured him my mother has never received money in exchange for sexual favors".
resolved Unique in the Original, commonplace in the EU Film
In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke uses a desperate, improvised maneuver to destroy one of the giant armored walkers in Hoth - he shoots an emergency grappling hook and circles the rope around its legs, causing it to tumble down.
Even though it was supposed to be a last resort in the movie, a bunch of Extended Universe works have the same thing happen, going as far as showing it to be a common technique, since it's such a memorable scene.
Is there a trope for a scenario like that? Something that was supposed to be an one-time thing in the original work, ends up showing up all the time in sequels, adaptations and expansions?
resolved So short, the camera misses him (SOLVED) Film
Is there a trope for when a character is depicted as comically short, so the camera pans to him, he's nowhere to be found, then the camera pans down? Can be inverted, where the camera pans up to see his face.
A variation is when all characters are standing side by side, but we can only see the short character's hat.
Edited by Mac_Rresolved "Object Gathering Dust" gag Western Animation
In an early season episode of The Simpsons, Mr. Burns gives Homer a bizarre stone totem. The family can't sell it or use it, so they leave it in the basement.
Thus, now it's been over two decades, and every time we see the basement, the totem's there...
Is there a trope for that? A thing is used as a joke once, and keeps showing up to reminds us of its uselessness?
resolved Offended by the wrong insult (SOLVED: Insult Misfire) Western Animation
When a character is targeted by a series of insults and takes offense at the least severe, it's I Take Offense At The Last One. But, what if there are many characters, and the insult that offends him doesn't apply to him.
For instance, Charlie is insulting Alice and Bob:
- Charlie: I don't like you - one is a conniving blonde, and the other, a dimwitted thug.
- Bob: What? I'm not a conniving blond!
Seems like a frequent joke to establish characters as Too Dumb to Live.
Edited by Mac_Rresolved Bet with weird wishes on stake
Is there any specific trope for situation when two characters have a debt, and whoever lose, must fulfil (often weird) wish of another character?
resolved There is nothing we can do
Is there a trope for a character with a dying loved one, and is begging every doctor or wizard nearby to help them to cure them, but everyone tells him that there is no hope left now and that the person will die?
Edited by ElBuenCuateresolved driver doesn't watch the road Film
This is super dangerous, but happens all the time in films. Most of the time this is just an acting convention, but sometimes it does matter.
What is the trope for this ? That doesn't seem to be Blind Driving, so I am thinking of Drives Like Crazy.
resolved The Weather Vane
Do We Have This One? A craven fellow involved in a conflict of some kind (or a sporting event) tends to switch sides. Usually to avoid losing, but more often just to keep himself alive. Often a polyglot that will claim to be an embedded spy to justify his uniform.
Edit: Yep, we got it. Them, actually; one for each reason a weather vane would jump ship. Bravo, everyone, y'all know your tropes. :)
Edited by oneuglybunnyresolved Checking if someone is paying attention by saying something silly?
Hypothetical example: Alice is telling Bob about her day at work, but he starts to drift off, so, to check if he's paying attention, she says, "Oh, and I was laid off because a frog took my job."
resolved Face Heel Turn character denies old version of themself to heroes
An evil or aggressive character, perhaps one that went through a Face–Heel Turn, rejects their old personality or affiliation with the good guys, arguing at the good guys that "The (name) you remember is gone" or "That was old (name), I'm the new (name)."
resolved It Could Have Been Worse
The person is bemoaning how terrible something is, then they see something worse and realize they actually dodged the bullet. Or say one of your kids has a girlfriend you don't like, and then another of your kids has even worse girlfriend, and you realize the first kid's girlfriend isn't really so bad.
resolved Hold The Deed, Own The Property
Sub-Trope of Artistic License – Law. In real life, a deed needs to specify the previous and new owners of the property being transferred, and usually needs to be officially registered. In fiction, they're treated as though anybody who gets hold of the deed document becomes rightful owner of the property.
Do we have this one? I'm sure I've seen it a lot, but I can only recall one specific example:
- Fable: One side quest has the Hero find where the tyrannical owner of the Darkwood Bordello has hidden its deed. The Hero is immediately hailed as the new owner and can choose whether to keep the Bordello or turn it over to the employees.
resolved Tricked into Investigating for Evildoer Literature
To paraphrase, I am looking for relevant TV tropes for the following situation a few of us had come up in a LARP recently (put it under literature because it feels like something that might happen as a plot twist in a book and didn't see a category quite fitting LARP):
A group of people breaks into the office of someone they suspect is a spy for a major enemy to the kingdom, looking for information, while one person plays decoy. The decoy gets identified as part of the group because one of them blurts out something blowing the decoy's cover of pretending to not be part of the group. The baddie lets the decoy leave with the group (knowing that their cover is blown)- for the moment.
Baddie then goes to the secretly invading group to let them know what happen. They hire a PI- who is generally a decent, "lawful good" type and cite the various minor laws the group of people that did the break-in violated, say the decoy was a co-conspirator, and ask the PI to investigate the decoy and find out who is linked to them and who might've been one of the intruders in the office. PI provides information on the decoy and identifies 2 other people.... and unwittingly ends up enabling the kidnapping and torture of the decoy and those two with their information, making the three innocent people trying to stop baddies victims of far worse crimes than the few they committed (breaking-and-entering, vandalism, theft, trespassing)
What trope or tropes is that?
Is there a trope for a scene, in the beginning of the story, where the characters are desperately trying to get to a time machine, and the villains start killing them, one by one, despite the fact that those characters are extremely powerful (or have Plot Armor) in regular continuity? And then, the one survivor manages to reach the time machine to go back into the present and Set Right What Once Went Wrong?