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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openBetter Self Film
Hi, I am looking for a trope in which the hero encounters a better version of him-/herself. The antagonist is everything the hero hopes to be or believes to be. Of course, in reality the hero is everything but the opposit. Think: Hero is the worst cop ever. Meets the perfect cop etc. Particularly looking for comedies using this trope. I would call it "better self" but I am sure it exists here under a different name. Can anyone help?
openliving decoration
Is there a trope for when a person or animal is used as basically a prop or decoration? For example: an Evil Overlord getting a pretty slave girl to serve as a sort of decoration for his throne room, or, for a less villainous example, someone adopting a bunch of black cats mainly to make their house seem Darker and Edgier.
openThat one character that does not show off skin.
In a work in which pretty much everyone is a Ms. Fanservice (or Mr. Fanservice) and are prone to being shown in Stripperiffic outfits from time to time, there is Always one character Who never shows off any skin and always sticks to clothing that don't expose or make their assets/equipment noticeable. Still, this does not stop them from being attractive or, let's say, have their clothing accentuate their curvy figure if they are female.
Edited by BassikunopenSettings trope? Live Action TV
Is there such a trope for this:
- The Protagonist lives in a setting where Status Quo Is God does not happen, so there's always a Wham Episode, yet his Local Hangout where he meets The Fixer (a local bookshop) remains Frozen in Time to the 1990s physically and socially, even though the books sold reflect how Society Marches On . The shop looks very 1990s outside and in, in design terms.
Also, an example for a work page which relates to this trope:
- Despite the modern world changing, one episode of Dexter's Laboratory, "Ol' Mc Dexter" featured him living with an Amish family, and the Amish family he lived with (for a summer camp) were depicted as so Frozen in Time mentally that any technology was considered sacrilegious; Dexter's Schizo Tech candle is destroyed as being the work of the devil. Despite the episode being set in 1997 according to Word of Saint Paul, it doesn't feel like it.
Would Frozen in Time fit this, even for when it's one element of a setting, or is that the wrong trope? What sort of trope would it be for one element of a setting that is Frozen in Time even though the rest of the fictional universe keeps on changing?
open Next Stall Shenanigans
This is when something is happening in a toilet stall, and there's someone in an immediately adjacent stall who doesn't know what's happening and is reacting to what they hear. The examples that immediately come to mind are from the first Austin Powers film when Woody Harrelson's character is reacting to Austin beating up Dr. Evil's henchman and a couple of strips from Grrl Power when one of Harem's clones is in a stall laughing about what's happening in a meeting where one of her other clones is, which is irritating a teammate in the next stall. It's related to Toilet Humor, but I think it's something distinct from that. Ideas?
openFailing Business (not really)
A show features a recurring theme that they're over budget or isn't making enough money and there's a risk they will get shut down...even though they never actually do because, well, then there'd be no show.
openParts of the universe are dark, parts of it are kiddie?
What’s the trope when a universe has a light part and a dark part?
I.E.: Alice lives in a world where there are eldrich abominations and she deals with them all the time, but Bob, while living in the same universe and confirmed so by crossovers, has a milder life where he deals with racism. And Charlie just fights aliens in both parts of the world.
openSelf-Slander Gambit
Bob is accused of a certain crime (such as corruption). He mounts a vast smear campaign (against himself) accusing him of a different crime (such as adultery), and once inevitably cleared, the accusations of the first crime are believed to have been rumors just like the second, maliciously spread by the same people.
Usually it's revealed Bob actually was guilty of the first one.
Edited by Chabal2openSensibly dressed men, skimpily dressed women
Do we have a trope for works where male characters are generally dressed in outfits that are practical while female characters are generally dressed in outfits that are Fanservice?
openDark-Skinned Blanche
There are quite a few black (ambiguous or not) characters in drawn fiction with white hair such as Rei from Kill la Kill, mihoshi (although she's canonically blonde, this still somwhat counts since she wasn't drawn with black hair), and dynamite watson from ok ko. Is this Dark Skinned Blonde still?
openEmotional Wounds
A character reacts to a negative emotional experience, by acting like they've taken a literal punch from it.
openTrailer lying about who the protagonist is...
Is this just Trailers Always Lie, or some more specific thing similar to Ascended Extra and Demoted to Extra?
- The Protagonist: Despite the promotional material portraying Blanc as the main character, it quickly becomes clear that Marta is the real focus of the story, with Blanc remaining mostly in the background until the end.
openKnocked Out Film
So the hero and an antagonist fight, the hero wins, and (sometimes after a conversation) renders the antagonist unconscious with a blow to the head. Example: The Princess Bride, when The Man in Black konks Inigo on the head after their sword fight. SURELY this is already a trope, but I cannot find it!
openReused scrapped character
Is there a trope (most likely Trivia) where a character/character design scrapped for a work is later actually used in the same work or a work in the same franchise?
Exactly What It Says on the Tin. A person who hates a particular fictional character, but also thinks that no one should like that character and extends their hatred to people who do.