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.
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openReminding you of your dead loved one
When someone (let's say Alice) gets sad because they lost someone they cared about, her friend (let's say Bob) tells her that her lost friend/teacher/family/etc wouldn't like it if she stays depressed and unable to let go of the past.
What do we call this?
openSympathetic Falling Banner
Somebody sets up a party, gathering, or celebration, complete with a big banner attached to the wall, with words such as "Happy Birthday" or "Congratulations!"
The party goes horrible wrong and everyone leaves. The organiser is left standing there in sadness. As if in sympathy, the banner chooses that particular moment to fall off the wall.
openCharacter awakes and realizes somebody changed their clothes for them
This awkward situation when a character awakes under an Unfamiliar Ceiling and then notices that they are either naked under the blanket or wearing unknown clothes. The implication is that whoever brought them there saw them naked.
openDisrespectful Shoulder Shove
Two characters dislike each other. To show how much, one character takes to bumping their shoulder or elbow into the other when passing them, to show that disrespect. It's most often painless and just annoying, but is the thought that counts.
Edited by Bleazy02openMistaken For Hallucination
Do we have an index or a Super-Trope for tropes like You Can See That, Right? or No More for Me or (this TLP draft) Back to the Hospital
? I tried looking for it in Mistaken for Index and didn't find it.
openCloset full of identical items
A joke where a character opens a closet/wardrobe/drawer/etc. and reveals rows upon rows of identical copies of an item we've already seen and assumed to be unique. In its most common form, this is used as a form of Lampshade Hanging of a character's Limited Wardrobe, but I've also seen it used for things other than clothes e.g. in this scene of Spongebob: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCOaX_tV4dw
openName the Rhyme
Do we have a trope where a person's name is often followed by a rhyming adjective or descriptor? Something like Dennis The Menace, Madeline the Paladin, Derek the Cleric and some-such?
openSupernatural underwater breathing
Super Not-Drowning Skills says "Not to be confused with any characters who have the supernatural ability to breathe underwater", but what trope is that? I've never seen such a thing listed as anything except Super Not-Drowning Skills.
openThe tropes formerly known as "Jerkass facade"
Now that "Jerkass facade" has apparently been cut, I need replacement tropes for certain situations: 1. Someone is outwardly hostile to everyone to hide the fact that he's secretly scared of everything. 2. Someone acts like a jerk because he needs to come across as a jerk in one specific situation, and not as a recurring character trait.
openAnger/Bicker transplant
What was the trope when a character bickers a lot with another one, but when yet another character appears, they start bickering with the new one?
I.E.: Charlie bickers with Alice, but when Diane appears, he bickers with her.
openSwirling tube of interdimensional travel
When characters travel through time or through a dimensional portal, they travel through a colorful, implicitly intangible tube full of whooshing objects and gas that move towards the camera as they travel away.
This is featured in several credits sequences for Doctor Who.
resolved Cure Your Asexuals
There's trope about "curing" gays "back into straightness", Cure Your Gays, but what to do with similar situations regarding asexuality (i.e. "if he/she isn't interested in sex, you never tried hard enough")?
Alice's plan to seduced Bob (it didn't go as intended, if that matters, due to Bob making wrong conclusions): 1) Pretend to be asexual; 2) Bob falls for her, and tries to "cure" her; 3) Alice plays along; 4) They are dating.
openEven the Snail is Faster
A situation in which someone or something is going so painfully slow that a snail or some other traditionally slow thing moves faster in comparison to emphasize how slow they are. Do we have a trope for this?
openTalking to a symbol of someone
Alice wants to talk to Bob, but Bob is away/dead/whatever. She talks at his hat, or chair, or coat, or whatever.
- In Anchor's Away Clarence wants to talk to Joe, but Joe is dancing across the room. Clarence makes a remark to Joe's hat which is hooked on a chair.
- In the Star Trek The Next Generation episode "The Best of Both Worlds" Riker is feeling lost, what with Picard being assimilated by the Borg and now his enemy. He's not comfortable sitting in Picard's office chair yet, instead asking it (that is, the spirit of Picard), "What would you do?"
openTropes about big rubber stamps
Are there any tropes concerning cartoonishly big rubber stamps, stamping things, or seals of approval?
Edited by Drakos25openLoading Screen Tips
I get that this is listed on Loading Screen, but is there a more specific variant? I've seen it enough times to count as its own thing.
A game gives tips on its loading screen, explaining strategies, backstory, game mechanics, or obscure information you might not know otherwise.
openLuxurious Captain's Quarters
A common trope in fiction regarding naval ships or space ships where the Captain/Commander has a sizable personal quarters or cabin, frequently larger and more luxurious than those belong to real-life ship captains, and especially when compared to the shared crew quarters that almost everyone else has to use.
openHealth above the max Videogame
Hiya, I’m new here. If I do anything wrong, please point it out!
I’m looking for a trope where a character’s health (or similar stat) is, after performing a certain action or consumming a specific item, boosted above their current maximum - but only until lost. I’m sure there’s something like this, but I haven’t found it yet.
Here’s a couple of examples:
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Sleeping in a soft bed will not only revitalize you, but also grant you one heart above your maximum health. Once lost, you can no longer regain it. Also applies to certain food items, which can temporarily grant a few extra hearts or stamina wheels.
- Undertale - Sleeping at Snowed Inn or MTT hotel will grant you HP over your current max.
- Super Mario Galaxy - There’s a mushroom which adds another health wheel, increasing your max HP from 3 to 6. It returns in the sequel.

A subtrope of Periphery Demographic where a certain work is popular with Autistic people. (regardless of the work has Autism involved or not.) In a similar vein to LGBT Fanbase and Popular with Furries.