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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openWheel of pain
A character spins a wheel to decide a course of action, such as Mobo Jobo from X-Men spinning 1 to determine the best method to kill the X-Men and or Mini Minute Man spinning the wheel of pain to determine what he’ll debunk next episode of awful archaeology.
openPlayer Trading
A mechanic that lets (and sometimes rewards) players trading resources with each other.
Edited by IronAnimationopenStop giving him ideas
A character accidentally provides an idea to a troublemaker. Something like this:
Bob: "Oh my god, that'a great idea! Now I HAVE to do it."
Alice: "Oh shit."
openWise Primitive People
I wanted to know what's the trope for the whole spiel of modern (and often White) people meeting with less technologically advanced people who live in harmony with their environment. More often than not, they'll teach the modern person not to rely only on intellect and technology but also on intuitive wisdom. This kind of situation can easily be mixed with environmentalist messages.
An indirect example would be the Hopi prophecies in Koyaanisqatsi.
openIndirect Damage Works Better
A game mechanic where instead of damaging an enemy directly, damaging another one is more effective.
Specifically, in the 40K Gladius game: Cities and strongholds have very high armor, which reduces the physical and morale damage they take, and reducing morale makes them take more damage. It's more efficient to take out nearby units first (which demoralizes allies) and then attack the now-weakened fortress than hitting it first (the difference is such that taking out a stronghold directly often leaves it with maximum morale even as it dies).
openTricking The Psychic
Pulling a fast one on someone's Psychic Powers through intentional amnesia, manipulating how deeply they get probed, or orcastrating misleading events, etc. specifically tricking people with telepathy or clairvoyance. Which are power that nominally should be impossible to deceive.
Related to Not So Omniscient After All, but the examples I have in mind do not fall under that.
Edited by IronAnimationopenEscaping Before The Massive One?
As I've seen this happen in some games such as the end of Metroid and Snake's Revenge, and the Batman & Mr. Freeze: Sub-Zero animated film where the titular character manages to survive right when the exploding Dilco oil rig is completely destroyed, does anyone know the exact trope (or tropes) where characters make one lasy attempt to survive/escape 'the big one' during its third act?
Edited by Rapidkirby3kopenRight before the big game
I've seen this in countless sports movies. The main characters are about to compete for the championship, but one of their players is injured.
openBlack Hole Stomach Print Comic
A character's blessed with a metabolism that allows him to be a Big Eater and not gain weight.
Usually a comedy trope that highlights the character as a glutton without worrying about the consequences, making other people jealous of this "power" (especially if we're talking about a woman with an attractive lean figure).
But, also a form of Wish Fulfilment where characters will indulge in junk food because that's cool and modern, but everyone on TV is attractive regardless. "Friends" Rent Control applied to food.
openTrope where characters all say eachother's names only so the audience can know who they are
Like the entire scene is just dialogue like: "[normal dialogue], Alice!" "[normal dialogue], Bob." "[normal dialogue], Charles." .... and when all of the characters have been named the scene is over.
openWhat is the trope were someone is constantly the victim of other people?
Before anyone asks, don't bring up BullyMagnet or {{Hated by All} because I'm basically looking for what could be a super trope. Long in short, the victim of the trope I'm looking for is always screwed over by other people and rarely has bad luck happen anywhere else if it doesn't involve another person. From the aforementioned tropes above to being SurroundedByIdiots, never having an even halfway decent boss no matter what job they work at (if they work multiple jobs during the run of the work), being the main, if not sole ButtMonkey of the resident JerkAss(s) and attracting every type of criminal you can think of and/or being accused of every crime under the sun. Basically, their main problems and obstacles are the people around them.
The reason I'm asking is because I'm wanting to know if that Trope has already been named before I try to launch it.
openPeople staring from above
How is the TV trope called where, for example, someone faints and then wakes up to find people staring down at them from above?
openThis type of trauma that involves touching a certain part of someone
Not exactly the “hates being touched” trope but it’s similar. The person could be fine with being touched except for a certain of their body. For example, there’s a female character who’s rather flirtatious and touchy-feely but if someone were to touch the back of her neck, she’d flinch or jump back.
openStupidity in Numbers
Is there a trope for when characters who are intelligent on their own, seem to get stupider when together?
openHenchman warns someone they like of impending harm/attack
I wondered if there was a trope for this. I do realize we have Because You Were Nice to Me and You Will Be Spared, which are definitely related.
As an example, in Going Postal, The Igor working for the villain is fond of the villain's housekeeper and so tells her that it would be a good idea to stay with her sister who lives elsewhere, because he knows his boss is insane and bad things are going to happen.
I can't find it right now, but I remember reading years ago on Snopes.com an article about racist urban legends about cab drivers (a professional stereotypically associated with Muslim immigrants) warning passengers not to come to work on September 11, 2001.
I remember the article discussing the trope possibly originating with the short story "Specialty of the House", where a waiter attempts to warn one of the protagonists against visiting the kitchen, after he defends the waiter against a drunk attacking him (it's suggested that the waiter was attempting to waylay the drunk in order to cook him).
openZero progress, played for laughs
Is there one for somebody starting on a task, then a few scenes or pages later, it is shown that have made little or no progress, and this is played for laughs? Here are a few examples of what I am thinking of:
- Hancock's Half Hour: In "The Bedsitter", Hancock settles down to read a massive tome by Bertrand Russell, whom he had previously dismissed as a bad writer. Two and a half hours later, he is still gazing at the very first page.
- Clue: Yvette and Mr Green hesitate about climbing the attic stairs, not knowing what might be up there. A few minutes later, they are still at the bottom of the stairs, not having moved.
- Adrian Mole: In Cappuccino Years, Adrian sits at his desk to work on a book. Three hours later, he stands up, having written nothing - not one word.
- Mr. Men: Mr Busy takes Mr Slow on a picnic. Mr Busy hurries off, and by the time he has walked a mile, how far has Mr Slow walked? A Page-Turn Surprise reveals that he has walked from the front door to the garden gate, and no further.
openTranslation: They'll be fine
Is there a trope for when someone's normal behavior is taken for a sign they'll be fine after suffering something potentially traumatic? I don't think Something Only They Would Say fits since that's more about identifying the real deal from one or more fakes.
An example of this is seen in Harry Potter with George after his ear gets destroyed by a curse. The moment he starts joking with Fred, everyone present basically breathes a sigh of relief.
open"How DARE you not act like a hero!"
This is when a character calls out another character for not acting like their own definition of what a "hero" should be.
Usually happens when a character does something that other characters may consider traditionally unheroic, and when others try to lecture them on it, the character will usually not give a damn.
openBreak The Conspiracist
Bob is a Conspiracy Theorist who believes he has found undeniable proof that he's right. He sets up a huge reveal... and while it turns out there is a conspiracy, he's completely off about one vital aspect that ends up turning him into a laughingstock or otherwise breaking him.
For instance, Bob is from the Deep South and finds it strange that there's so little historical information about one of his ancestors, and what little information there is paints the ancestor in a very bad light (such as being a slaveowner who beat his slaves to death). He finally finds diaries about townsfolk privately confessing they lied in court and hid the truth about the man, reveal where all the evidence is hidden, and Bob, convinced he's going to right a historical wrong and prove his ancestor was an abolitionistn ges to dig it up... and the evidence shows that the ancestor was even more of a Complete Monster than Bob thought (not just a slaveowner but a pedophile and obviously got off on beating said slaves to death), and the conspiracy was actually townspeople hiding the evidence that such a loathsome criminal could even exist to avoid bringing shame on their town.
A character tells a story and everyone think's he's lying, they then say "If I am lying then may I get run over by a truck/ struck by lightning etc" then what they said comes true.
An example is in the Merry Melodies short "The Trial of Mr. Wolf." He says "run over by a street car." then a street car runs him over