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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openConning The Conman
A character enters a situation they know to be skewed against them, but have every intention of using an unfair advantage to win.
In Avatar The Last Airbender, Toph wins a crooked Shell Game thanks to being an earthbender and not only sensing which cup the pebble is under, she uses her bending to keep the pebble under the cup.
openInnovating powers
Heart Is an Awesome Power and Lethal Harmless Powers detail weak or ineffective powers having good uses if you look into them. Do we have something for when this is done to "normal" powers?
For example, Bob is a Pyrokinetic. This by itself is a great combat power but not many utilities that come to mind right away. Sure you can cook with it but you could also create a "heat lens" to make yourself resistant to electricity, use the heat to jettison yourself like in a hot air balloon, etc.
openChekhov's Reference
Is there a trope like Cryptic Background Reference but made with the express intent to fill in later, rather than just to add more detail to the world?
Edited by BootlebatopenHeroes Do The Work
The heroes do all the hard work; the villain swoops in at the last minute and succeeds because the heroes did everything first.
My example is House of Anubis. In season 2, Victor and the Sibuna gang were racing to find an important artifact called The Mask of Anubis. Because the Sibunas were having their lives threatened by another villain, they were forced to go faster than Victor...which turned out to be the exact thing that gave Victor an advantage. The Mask was hidden at the end of a series of trap-filled tunnels; each trap had to be disarmed before any progress could be made. Because the students were forced to figure everything out first, Victor was allowed to just waltz through the tunnels, rarely ever having to do anything himself.
The fact is, if he didn't sit back and let the heroes do the work for him, he never would've gotten so far.
Edited by WarJay77openForced close proximity/found family maybe
I want to find examples of ensemble casts with different backgrounds forced into close proximity or living together
Like the 100 where theyre all forced to live in the same camp and protect each other, the magicians they're all at the same university, the Avengers sharing the compound/tower.
Theyre all different people that are kinda pushed towards each other for one reason or another and they dont all like each other but something is making them interact/be in close living conditions to each other.
And Im really bad at putting it into words but just what is it called when its like a group of people living together like that?
Ensemble casts that specifically live togeter
Edited by xINK0openSpiderman Stays In New York
A superhero usually only bothers with one city, town etc. Instead of patrolling the other cities, towns etc.
openSpecial Scabbards
Do we have a trope for sheaths with special properties? Excalibur's made the owner hard to kill, Ninjas have sheaths that are deceptively long or can be used as a tool, and I've seen a few Enforced versions of Iaijutsu Practitioner where the character's sheath can recharge the power of their sword. We do have Sheath Strike and Unorthodox Sheathing.
openAccidental mentor / Neglecting mentor / Abusive mentor
The mentor figure doesn't give a damn about it pupil(s), but they figure out their answers by themselves Either:
- The villain lectures the hero but they grow into a better person because of it
- The hero is forced to learn from somebody they hate
openAn important characteristic isn't mentioned until later
In text-based works, the characters designs are kept vague until later in the story. For example, an eyepatch isn't mentioned until 300 chapters in or the protagonist is called a redhead halfway though the story.
openAccumulative Effect
Is there anything that covers a Curse or Status Effect that slowly gets worse the longer someone suffers from it? Like a memory curse that makes someone slowly become fully amnesiac, or the Toxic Poison in Pokemon, where the amount of damage per turn steadily increases. Instead of having the full power of the curse/effect at once, the victim suffers, slowly getting worse.
openThe hidden place is found through magic.
In this scenario, we have the home of a race with the mcguffin. This place was hidden from the rest of the universe after the events of a previous saga. The new Big Bad managed to find this new place thanks to his unique magical powers.
I'm talking of the Galactic Patrol Prisoner saga of Dragon Ball Super, as New Namek was hidden so the Freeza Force (previous villains) could't find them. Yet new Big Bad Moro found it thanks to his powerful magic and information through Cranberry.
What is this trope?
Edited by TomodachiopenBigotry is a special kind of evil?
Isn’t there a trope where bigotry is pretty much treated as an atrocity far worse than if that something wasn’t done for that reason? Like murder is pretty bad, and then when once it was because it was racism for instance, *gasp* it somehow makes it worse.
openWorld Of Ham- Correct Example? Live Action TV
Im not sure if this is the best place to post this, but I was thinking that the show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, is a World of Ham. While the characters backstories, personal troubles etc. are believable, I can't believe that most of their personalities exist. Also the fact that the world half-runs on Rule of Funny. For example, Gina being able to get away with the way that she treats people— which has been argued IRL would probably get her fired, or worse. Rosa being able to stash weapons such as literal numchucks, huge knives etc. in her desk is Rule of Funny. Lots of characters make mistakes and commit actions that could easily get them fired as well, although the world is somewhat grounded in reality. The show also tries to avert writing in Hollywood Law at all costs.
Edited by KingOfStickersopenfrom space
when the creator cant explain where something unrealstice came from so its just came from space
open"Let her go!" *drops her*
The villain is dangling a character over a height. The hero comes along and is stupid enough to say the words "Let him/her go!" The villain complies.
openWants to be superhero
When a character wants really bad to be a superhero, going so far as to model their life off of them, but just isn't good at it when they try. They may be born with a small amount of superpowers.
openBonding with someone while pretending to be someone else?
Kinda specific, so I don't know if there's a listing for it already or not. A character is in disguise/assuming a different identity/etc and meets one of their friends or loved ones. The loved one doesn't know it's them, and they strike up some kind of relationship. Usually, the character in disguise learns things they didn't know about their loved ones and regrets not being a better friend/family member/lover before. Example: Mrs. Doubtfire, Sarazanmai (a character pretends to be a celebrity to get closer to his little brother)
openReality Sucks AU?
When an alternative universe Reality Ensues for everything and its darker than the usual verse? I.E:
Alice and Bob are the Just Friends superheroes Amazing Girl and Great Man in universe A with Charlie the Wonder Kid (Bob’s adopted son) as their sidekick, but they are married in universe D with Charlie as their biological kid, who has even more trouble with his powers and everything sucks in general.
Edited by JTTWloveropenEvil is guttural
Names or other words associated with something evil which have lots of harsh-sounding consonants - G, Z, K, etc. A Villain Named "Z__rg" would probably be a subtrope.
Someone is described as having moved from school to school, usually as their backstory. Their parents probably move a lot, or they may be a problem student.
Do we have this?