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.
Find a Trope:
openCanada is better than the US
Do any tropes fit American characters envying Canadians? I've seen this used as a joke in a few works. American characters think Canada has better [x] or is just outright the better country to live in. It might lead to an American being jealous of a Canadian.
openMost writers aren't geniuses
A lot of writers have characters that are smarter than the average person, anywhere from "gifted scientist" to "post-post-post-post-post-singularity god AI". Unfortunately, it's difficult if not impossible to write someone who is smarter than you. As such, fictional smart people usually end up being the equivalent of a moderately competent person in a world of idiots. Is there a trope for this?
openElegant Homeless trope?
Is there a trope related to a character who's obviously a tramp, homeless or vagabond but somehow manages to dress pretty well? He (usually a male character) can be seen wearing a Nice Hat -usually a top or high hat-, but it's open from the crown like a tin can; you can see patches of cloth here and there on pants, coat and jacket; he could even be wearing a cape, but there are loose strings and probably a little bit ragged in some places. In some cases he can be seen walking with a gentleman crane. If he's wearing gloves, some of the fingers have no tips, revealing the actual fingers' tips. Even smoking a cigar, but probably they showed him taking an old and used cigar he found discarded on the floor, lighted it with an old match he conveniently had in his pocket and started to smoke it. So, he's poor and homeless, but somehow manages to look pretty fine, but details in his attire reveal his social and economic position.
Usually, he's portrayed as well mannered, arrogant and narcissistic, probably a con-artist, but generally Affably Evil, at least when he's used as an antagonist.
Examples:
- "Honest" John Worthington Foulfellow from Disney's Pinocchio is the whole embodiment of this description.
- The Walrus from Disney's Alice in Wonderland.
- Charles Chaplin's famous Charlot. Probably the only not evil example I can remember right now.
- Not a character or part of any story, but there's a famous franchise of barbershops in some eastern cities of Mexico, El Vagabundo Elegante (The Elegant Homeless). The obvious name and logo play with the -probale- trope's physical appearance.
openCurbstomp Crossover
A fanwork where the main point is for someone from work A to to completely and utterly flatten characters from work B.
Sometimes not even a crossover in that there's only one work involved, the Gary Stu Author Avatar is set loose on it to tell the characters how much they suck before killing them.
openI'll Let You Live...For Now
An opponent (either a villain, or a Blood Knight character, or etc.) says some variations of the phrase "I'll let you live...for now". Also can be "I'll leave you alone", "I'll stop pursuing you", etc.
openrobot moving noises
Is there a trope for the mechanical whirring like noises robots in fiction often make (such as at the end of the first Terminator after the terminator gets it's fleshy facade burnt off)?
openRestrain the Millstone
Through accident or design, Bob is the leading cause of the cast's problems: he's well-meaning but clumsy, Chaotic Stupid, tells off-color jokes in the presence of the people most likely to be offended by them, etc. So when the time when it seems Bob is going to ruin the day yet again, the rest of the cast takes action by restraining Bob or locking him up somewhere so he can't mess it up. This doesn't always work.
One Gaston Lagaffe trip has the cast ambush Gaston, tie him up and lock him in the closet before he can ruin the De Mesmaeker contract signing yet again. The contract still doesn't get signed because his cat was sleeping in the boardroom chair and took offense to being sat on.
In Azumanga Daioh, the first vacation got off to a bad start due to Tomo grabbing the housekey and throwing it into the forest. The second year, the girls are ready for her and restrain her while the door is opened.
I can't remember the work, but the cast is at a diplomatic meeting when the ambassador unwittingly says the perfect setup to a very tasteless joke, the kind that the team clown will pounce on and say regardless of the consequences. The cast wince, waiting for the bomb to drop... and when nothing comes, turn around to see he's being held in a chokehold by The Big Guy. Disaster averted, the meeting continues successfully.
openForcibly changed into something else
A character is changed into another species, sex, whatever against their will and given amnesia so that they can't remember their previous life. What trope is that?
openDeliberately Uncredited
Do we have a trope for when a character's actor is deliberately left uncredited or obfuscated to retain some sort of mystic or mystery around a character, or as a part of kayfabe?
openCartoons and Continuity? Western Animation
I admit that I don't take "canon" and "continuity" in cartoons seriously but what do you a trope where it turns out the show actually has or is developing a continuity even in sitcoms?
openTurning Point in Plot
Is there a certain trope for when a plot line is going the central character's way, but then clearly there is the need for conflict to make it an actual story and thus, the other shoe drops and the situation backfires, turns on them and becomes a problem? My personal name for it is Something's Gonna Go Wrong.
openIs there a trope where characters wanted to erase evil from existence?
I want to know this exists
openConverse with something silent
Someone "talks" to 1) an inanimate object (usually a doll, or a photo of someone), or 2) a (normal) animal. Often done either to vent their emotions or as a method to make an "Eureka!" Moment.
Do we have this?
openA character reacts to something major, but then ignores it for no apparent reason
Is there a trope for this?
For example in The Day Time Ended Grant and Barbra get buzzed by UF Os while out walking at night. They flee in terror for their house, but once they get inside they immediately calm down and seem to forget about the incident.
openWe were dumped, let's date each other
2 persons who were broken off from different relationships get to know and then date each other.
Do we have this?
openOut of place dream object
A scene is revealed to be a dream when an out of place object suddenly appears within it, usually as a Jump Scare.
e.g.
- The scene in Arrival where the Heptapod appears in Louise's dream.
- The scene in Order of the Phoenix where Harry hallucinates Voldemort in a suit at King's Cross Station
- This SMBC comic: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1849#comic
openVillain just teleports away and leaves his mooks to die when losing a fight
What would this be? I think a combination of Dirty Coward and We Have Reserves.
openSex before death?
Is there a trope for people deciding to have sex before one or both is going to die (or so they believe)? This isn't Must Not Die a Virgin-neither need be virgins, just figuring "Let's do it since we're going to die".
Edited by Fireblood
Someone tries to act all edgy and rebellious and badass, but ends up looking like a total dork. Not the endearing kind of dork, but the obnoxious kind. (Just watch the "emo Spider-Man dance" for an example.)