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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openParty Crasher
Alice is hosting a party, but Bob isn't invited. But Bob wants to be at the party and decides to show up regardless. This usually plays out two ways.
- Version A: Bob discreetly arrives at the party and pretend that he was always invited, blending in seamlessly until he inevitably bumps into Alice, blowing his cover and potentially getting him chased out.
- Version B: Bob loudly arrives and announces his desire to be a guest whether Alice wants him to or not, forcing his way in despite her protests. Whether or not the guests continue to allow him is up in the air.
openFresh From the Hairdressers Fugitive Live Action TV
Anything where someone spends an extended amount of time either on the lam, stranded somewhere, or Walking the Earth After the End. Either way, they have no ready access to hairdressers, beauticians or dry cleaners, and yet they always seem well-dressed and their hair is immaculate. Women will have smooth legs no matter how long it's been since they could possibly have been to a salon, and their hair will be nicely blown out despite having no hairdryer. Might be a sister trope to Beauty Is Never Tarnished, but that one seems more to do with injuries than not having access to maintenance.
open"If it (doesn't) belong to the genre, it means it is (not) good!"
Not really a trope, but a phenomenon that tends to pop up among fanboys of certain genres; metal is an obvious example, where many fans feel offended and insulted if you tell them their favorite nu metal or hard rock band is not metal; OTOH, I've also witnessed classic rock fans feeling insulted by Black Sabbath and similar older bands being called metal.
This also comes up in cinema fandom, particularly horror movies - with certain horror fans being offended by people who claim Psycho not to be a horror movie, and calling such people either newbies and kids who don't understand that horror is not just blood and gore, or close-minded snobs who can't cope with critically acclaimed movies such as Psycho being in the horror genre.
One could also argue that there's such a bias in literature as well, where a work featuring supernatural elements that is held in high esteem by critics also isn't considered fantasy, due to the critics considering that genre to be of lower value.
Do we have something for this on the sight?
openEasily Killed Character Archetypes
Within a work where minor (and sometimes major) characters die frequently, there seems to be a particular flavor of character that is even more likely to die. They aren’t necessarily red or mauve shirts, and they aren’t really Doomed by Canon, but the writers just like killing that kind of character either out of habit or plot convenience.
Examples:
- Most named troopers introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars will die over the course of the series. Most of them aren’t even Doomed, but they die anyway.
- In Star Trek: The Next Generation, any old friends of Captain Picard will almost certainly die during their first and only episode.
openAdvancing through ages Videogame
A thing that keeps coming up in various strategy games - some of the more prominent being Civilization, Age of Empires/Mythology, Empire Earth and Rise of Nations; there is a number of ages the player (or the AI) can r(es)ea(r)ch, that then unlock new buildings, units and technologies, make some other units/buildings/tehs obsolete, and possibly change the design of units and buildings.
Anyone know if we've got this trope?
openA battlefield that is so heavily contested, nobody owns the land
I'm trying to find a trope that describes a heavily contested battlefield, so heavy in the fighting that nobody owns the area, the air is used like a grounds for dogfighting, etc.
Examples: Area B 7 R in Ace Combat Zero, Cadia in Warhammer 40000, No Man's Land during WWI.
openThrowing Rocks Into The Sky
Is there a trope for where a character throws rocks or other stuff into the sky without thinking about the consquences their actions might cause? Here's an example the scene runs from 2:35 to 3:10
Edited by pikafanopenWhy is it always you?
There is an entire team of villains: dave, james, ben, and kat. But for some reason, despite there being four options, the heroes almost always face ben.
openZero Context Explanation
Alice sees something weird, but is given an explanation that does not, in fact, explain anything to those who don't know about the thing she sees (including the audience).
For example, this Dave Barry column about a dog show:
- Many owners were also wearing costumes, including one man with an extremely old, totally motionless, sleeping Chihuahua; the man had very elaborately dressed both the dog and himself as (Why not?) butterflies. The man wore a sequined pantsuit, antennae, and a huge pair of wings."Look at that!" I said to the other judges, pointing to the butterfly man."Oh, that's Frank," several judges answered, as if this explained everything.
openCan’t Catch A Break
Is there a trope for when things never go right for a character (in this case: show always getting ruined, being forced to do something humiliating, seems like something is going well only for it to be cancelled the last minute, usually under emotional distress). Butt Monkey doesn’t feel right as it’s not like he gets physically hurt a lot and it’s not really done for laughs, it feels more serious than that. It’s a boss/host type character if that helps with anything.
openKiller Construction Vehicle Rampage
So some time ago on the Trope Launch Pad, someone suggested a trope for using construction vehicles like caterpillars, forklifts, excavators etc. as a vehicle used in rampage. Was that trope launched already, or was it deleted?
Because I'm thinking of a scene where some bad guys uses an excavator as weapon to attack a bunch of redshirts, but can't seem to find the right trope for it...
openAngry Animalistic Growl
Is there a trope for when a character (often the Beastman) growls like an animal when they're angry at someone or about something?
openAll peeking from behind a corner
What's the trope for that comedic shot of several characters spying from behind a wall or corner, usually with their heads on top of each other? Like this one.◊
openExclusive F-Word/Swearing Rights
Is there a trope for when only one of the characters swear and they do so a lot?
openFake Forgiveness
A female character forgives her boyfriend for cheating on her and it seems that's the case, emphasized by her hugging him. But when she slightly retreats from her, she kicks him in the groin or worse, head-butts him
openWhat example is this?
The camera is focusing on a character, who's talking to other characters who are not shown. Based on previous scenes, the audience is led to believe that the former is talking to the antagonists they've agreed to help go after the protagonists. But when the camera switches away from her, it's revealed that she was talking to the protagonists all along.
openA Hidden Purpose Behind A Real Life Conflict or Event
The trope where it's revealed WWII, for example, was fought over something magical instead of the reasons given in history class.
Edited by KenzakaiopenOne-Use Undead
The way necromancy works in some verses prevents the reuse of a corpse after it's been raised once. As in, raising a corpse as an undead means you can't raise it after they're killed again (Warcraft III's skeletons and reanimated units leave no corpse/explode), or allow it with some negative effects like accumulating irreparable damage (Warhammer 40 K has a Dark Eldar whose body mutates more with every new reincarnation), or only allow it in unique cases (Twilight Princess' Stalfos Knights collapse into a pile of bones that then reassembles itself unless the pile of bones is destroyed with a bomb).
A stock phrase for someone about to break away from a group and enter a dangerous situation. Usually ends with something along the lines of 'send back-up', 'don't wait for me', or (in comedic situations) 'just keep waiting'.