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 the Trope Launch Pad.
Find a Trope:
openNo Title Film
I'm new to this, and I'm shocked that I cannot find this trope anywhere. So to be sure, I'll post here before I do my first YKTTW.
So your watching an action film, and there's this huge explosion or adrenaline enducing crash. And for whatever reason, there's stock sound of a roaring Jaguar (Or other wild feline) thrown in during the explosion/crash. A fierce "RHAAAOOOWWW!" sound. Usually resulting in me saying "Where is the Jaguar?".
Thinking of calling it "Michael Bay's Jaguar" but I'm definitely open to better suggestions. "Where is the Jaguar?" may also work, or some shorter way of saying "Sneaky Jaguar That Likes Blowing Things Up".
A couple examples, but I know there's more, just can't think of them ATM.
In Mac Gruber, there are at least a couple explosions in which the Jaguar can be held present (Or responsible?)
In Terminator 3, the Jaguar can be heard during a chase scene in which The Terminator manages to front-flip the T-X's Transport Truck. (Or did the Jaguar flip it?)
(An element of comedy in this trope could involve explaining how the Jaguar could have been responsible.)
Edit: I did notice the mention of a "panther" (I feel Jaguar is catchier, whatever it is) in the stock audio section. Just to note, this isn't simply referring to the stock sound effect (Which can sometimes be heard during the openings of certain animal shows), it more pertains to the out-of-place use of the Jaguar's Roar during an explosion or similar action sequence. I feel it should be it's own trope for the same reason "That Poor Cat" is a trope, as That Poor Cat pertains to the use of a Stock Cat Sound being used purely to indicate a cat has been hurt or disturbed offscreen. The Jaguar Stock Sound on the other hand, is not used to indicate an injured feline, it is sometimes heard in urban areas, in the middle of cities, places you would not likely find a Jaguar. For this reason, it is more viable to believe is somehow used to Intensify an Explosion/Crash or simply pump up the Adrenaline.
Edited by GlaciusTSopenNo Title Film
Trying to find my way around the site and get a bit of info, but not finding what I need. The oddball names make a quick search a bit counter-intuitive in that time has to be spent figuring out what each means in order to remove it from the list of possible tropes.
The trope I'm looking for deals with plot, but I'm having trouble finding it. All supernatural horror act like mysteries in the middle of the second act when the hero investigates the original crime that killed the ghost. That original crime gives the ghost the excuse to commit more crimes (murder generally) and penalize the living for trespass, for ignoring them, and for not spending the time to find their bones, I want to look at the supernatural horror movies that explore the original crime and how it's handled as well as other reasons a ghost would act out on the living.
Thanks.
openNo Title Film
I've always called it the "Wall Slide," but it's when a character starts crying then leans back against the wall for support and slides down into a sitting position. They lampshaded it in that "He's Just Not That Into You" Chick Flick Cliches featurette. I most recently saw it in Sucker Punch.
It's not the Wall Slump, as that is a Death Trope and this is not.
openNo Title Film
Ok im thinking of a trope someone tells an authority figure a story the authority figure thinks it's absurd and it would be. But it turns out that absurd story is true.
Examples: * the first terminator film
- that episode of Torchwood where Gwen gets impregnated by an alien tells her parents and they think she's just making it up.
openNo Title Film
I've seen this mostly in film. I call it "Emergency Initiation", but it might already be a trope.
1. There's a group with formal membership: you're either a member or you're not.
2. For urgent reasons relating to the purpose of the group, they admit someone who would not usually qualify.
3. Usually, said person goes on to achieve the purpose of the group.
The Crowning Moment of Tropeness that I'm trying to capture here is the moment at which someone representing the group says something to indicate that they've made the exception.
Examples:
- Near the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Lacombe admits Roy Neary to the volunteers to travel with the aliens. "Monsieur Neary, I envy you." Neary goes on to be picked by the aliens
- Boorman's Excalibur has two for knighthood:
- Uryens initiates Arthur as knight, and king, even though he's just a boy. "In the name of God, Saint Michael, and Saint George..."
- Arthur initiates Perceval as knight. "Boy, kneel." Perceval goes on to achieve the Grail.
openNo Title Film
I was trying to find the phrase "This Was A Mistake" and I couldn't. It's generally spoken after a kiss between two characters that have chemistry, but for some reason they shouldn't be together.
Seen It A Million Times, recently in Being Erica Season 3, but I can't find the trope. I'm sure it exists but it's not titled This Was A Mistake. Can you help me find it, guys?
openNo Title Film
I was considering adding a new trope to YKTTW, and am checking here to see if something like it already exists. The working title is "But That's Not How It Really Happened."
It is a trope in which an alternate story or timeline is shown in detail, but then it is explained that it was fabricated or not the actual alpha-timeline. It is in the same vein of Daydream Surprise, only instead being in the character's head, it is an Unreliable Narrator or Lemony Narrator explaining an in-story equivalent of What Could Have Been.
Some well-known examples include the potential Trope Namer, the DVD version of the Clue movie. The show the three alternate endings back-to-back, separated by a narration text saying something along the lines of "That was how it could have happened, but that's not how it really happened. This is how it really happened."
Another example is in Homestuck, where it is utilized by Doc Scratch when describing Vriska's attempt to leave and fight Jack. He first tells what would have happened had Terezi not killed her, then explains that Terezi actually had killed her, thus rendering the previous timeline irrelevant.
It is also commonly utilized by Lemony Snicket in the Series of Unfortunate Events novels, when asking you to consider a possible happier ending to each book.
openNo Title Film
I was going to YKTTW this but thought I'd ask and have someone who wasn't a noob take care of it for me.
After a nonleathal shoot-out, the hero and villain take cover and reload. Turns out that the hero is out of bullets but the bad guy has plenty of ammo. After some snarky "How're you doing over there?" dialouge, the bad guy promises to either give the hero some rounds or to not use any of his. He then breaks the promise, but the hero somehow still kills him. I'm sure there're are examples of this without guns, what the trope would boil down to is: a) in a one on one match the bad guy has the upper hand b) he lies to the hero about not using his advantage c) despite the advantage and the surprise of using it the hero manages to defeat the villain
Examples: Grosse Pointe Blank - Martin and Grosser in Debbie's kitchen, Grosser "sells" M Artin a pistol for $100,000, throws it out of Martin's reach and tries to shoot him but Martin breaks a TV over his head instead of going for the gun.
Shanghi Noon - Roy and the Sheriff in shanghi Noon, Roy ends up with one round left and the Sheriff lies about only using one round as well. Despite firing several shots to Roy's one, the sheriff misses with all of his and the one bullet from Roy hits the Sheriff's heart.
I checked both of those films for the trope or one like it but did not find anything (though both fights are mentioned).
openNo Title Film
Nothing Exists Off-Camera, or The Implausible Surprise.
This one happens in virtually every movie with some sort of suspense, where we the camera is close in on a character (doesn't have to be an extreme close-up) and they are surprised by someone coming up from their side, or even from IN FRONT OF THEM, just because we, the audience couldn't see them yet because they were off-camera.
This one drives me nuts.
A variation on this is when the camera is showing us a protagonist's POV, and panning over a number of items, then the last item we pan to is a BIG SCARE, as if the character had no peripheral vision whatsoever.
These two are actually part of the same thing, I think: the mistaken notion by a Director that no one in the world of the movie can actually see anything that isn't on-camera.
Thanks! If this trope doesn't exist, I'd write it up in YKTTW. But I looked around quite a bit and couldn't find it.
openNo Title Film
This could happen anywhere, but the one that brought this to mind for me was the film Stranger Than Fiction. Is there a trope for a necktie being used as a symbol of repression and neuroses? One of the prominent signs of the change in Harold's character is that he no longer wore a necktie.
There have to be other examples of this. Anybody?
openNo Title Film
I'm working on a story right now, and I think I've implemented a trope but I'm not sure which one:
Hero is a military leader during the last phases of a war. In his impatience and desperation, he issues an executive order pulling all available forces from a region for a grand all-or-nothing push at the enemy's last stronghold. He destroys it (in the process also compromising his morals) and ends the war but finds out after that his wife was staying at one of the bases he pulled forces from. It was attacked and she was killed. Between the loss of his wife and the lapse in his faith he renounces his beliefs and turns evil.
The specific trope I need is for the tragic irony of his wife's death. By pulling the forces away he ended the war but unintentionally doomed her. What would that be?
Edited by Thrawnlives

You see this in really almost every action flick: It's (close to) the end of the movie. The hero has defeated the bad guy (or The Dragon) and he's just getting cuffed by the cops (or, alternatively, left unconscious on the floor, possibly off screen). But suddenly the bad guy becomes very lively again and pulls a hidden gun or grabs a gun from one of the cops. So the hero (or someone close to him, typically someone who didn't get much/any action before) gets to off the bastard in an act of self defense. In some cases may be related to/combined with a Crowning Moment of Awesome. So the audience gets both the satisfaction of the bad guy getting brought to justice as well as quenching the thirst for bloody revenge.
Typical examples can be found: Lethal Weapon (at least part 1 and 2; don't remember the other parts from the top of my head) or The Negotiator
I *know* there is a name for this plot device, but I couldn't find a trope for it.