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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openArcade mode in video games where every character or team is trying to obtain a Mac Guffin Videogame
Title. Usually it's an object of mystic properties and characters want it for their own reasons, maybe to make a wish, destroy it, take over the world, that one comic relief wish where the fat guy wishes for pudding. That kind of thing.
openIt’s One-Shot Or One-Shotted Videogame
In a game where damage scales better than health and/or defense, the game slowly turns into you either kill them in two hits or you die in two hits the higher the level you are or the later in the game you are. And the pace of the battle gets faster.
openThe not-very Badass tattoo.
Is there a trope for how 'badass' type people (bikers, thugs, etc) in fiction seems to always have really un-intimidating tattoos? Such as the ever-present "Mom" tattoo (hearts optional).
openAnachronistic Clothes
Do we have a trope for when characters dress like they're from different decades for no apparent reason? For example, one looks like they're from the 17th century, the other looks looks like they're from the 1970s, and everyone else looks 2000s. It's often used for Retro Universe works.
openAll-nighters, accidental or otherwise
Would Sleep Deprivation be the best trope for these?
- The characters need to stay up all night, sometimes multiple nights, and most of the episode's drama comes from how hard it ends up being.
- A character works all the way through the night, but didn't actually mean to, they were just so absorbed in what they were doing that they completely lost track of time. More of a characterization trope.
openWhat trope is this? Western Animation
So this is under Buffy Speak on Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart:
- Adorabat exclaims "I want that," referring to Mao Mao's general lifestyle, and upon getting a confused response from him, she replies while gesturing, "Thiiis!"
As stated by Fighteer here, the amount of words is actually too short to count for the trope, but I swear there is an actual trope for this.
Edited by Crossover-EnthusiastopenNot Quite an Achilles Heel Live Action TV
I can't think of any examples of this which don't blur the lines of fiction and reality, but there has been a couple of examples of it in Professional Wrestling.
It's where there is a character who is portrayed as near invulnerable. See basically Immune to Bullets. Nothing can affect this guy... until he eats a peanut the wrong way and chokes and dies. It's LIKE achilles heel, except purely accidental and usually the doing of the character themselves. Something similar did happen in an episode of Xena: Warrior princess where a God-Character was completely invulnerable... except to himself. He was able to kill himself after being tricked into stabbing himself. That sort of thing. Would it be a sort of thing like "Only I May Kill Me"? or what?? But more importantly, I'm wondering for instances where it is not ONLY a case of "Only I May Kill Me", but it's combined with "Weaksauce Weakness"
I just realized, "Only I May Kill Me" is not an actual listed trope. It probably should be.
Any Ideas?
Edited by SBMShaneomaniacopenTranslation-related trope
Where would this fit into?
- Fate Extella Link: Karl der Grosse (Charles the Great)'s title, in the localization, is "Rex Magnus", a decidedly not historical title for the character. It's a direct translation from his title in the Japanese title, "Taitei" (meaning "Great Emperor"). In the story, he's only referred to as Taitei up until a certain point; as none of Karl's historical title can be used as an equivalent, they have to make one (by translating what the Japanese version uses).
openMistaken for racist by the audience
In one of the early comics of The Ultimates Captain America is found frozen in the artic and revived in a hospital. When they tell him that he had been sleeping for 57 years, he does not believe it. He thinks that it has to be a nazi trick instead (thinking that he's still in WWII), and starts sttacking everyone around, including General Nick Fury. Yes, there is a superficially similar version in "The First Avenger" film. He told him "Sorry, Fritz. The accet's flawless, but you really should have done your homework. The highest-ranking black man in the US army is a Brooklyn-born Captain I grew up with".
Some people have cited this as evidence of that Captain America being racist, but that's only a superficial reading. The intended trope was clearly a Deliberate Values Dissonance, as the rights of black people in the US back in the day were indeed more limited than nowadays. Cap is not written as supporting such racism, but merely treating the black general as A Glitch in the Matrix that would "prove" that he's in a set up scenario. Once it was all clarified, he worked for years with Nick Fury, and never made any racist comment about him.
Which is the audience reaction for that? I understand that Mistaken for Racist is only for in-universe examples, right?
openSomeone Else Takes The Call
I've looked up and down the Call to Adventure list, and couldn't find anything exactly like this: The Call gets sent out to The Chosen One...who can't answer it for some reason, no matter how much The Call insists it be his destiny. Instead, someone else takes The Call in his stead. Thus far, the only instance I could think of to be even remotely applicable was in Xenoblade Chronicles - Shulk taking on the Monado since Dunban would kill himself wielding it - but I'm sure there's a trope for that somewhere. I'd just thought I'd drop this here for more experienced Tropers to comb through before I go example hunting and drop it on TLP.
openWhat is the Trope.
Where a character's hat gets filled up with water. (or some other kind of Liquid) and they plop it on they're head as the liquid spills on them?
openShikaka Film
Is there a trope where characters always have to deliver an elaborate response to certain words?Along the lines whereby a character might say "Queen Jane" in normal conversation and all of the Queen's courtiers immediately drop to one knee and say "Hail Jane, long may she reign!" - but they have to do this every time they hear "Queen Jane". They'll often say this in unison.
In some cases the protagonist abuses this response by repeatedly saying "Queen Jane" and forcing them to do their routine repeatedly. Or they might say "Queen Jan" and try to trip them up.
Examples: the Shikaka scene from Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls (https://youtu.be/PcjFVTI4_Gw), the Greater Good scene from Hot Fuzz (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUpbOliTHJY). There are loads of other examples, I just can't bring any to mind right now...
openVoice Tropes
Do we have a trope for when a character has a 'signature voice' that, no matter what Other Darrin they use, it's always the same? Or is that too omnipresent at the opposite - a character whose voice changes with each incarnation - would be more tropeable?
openIn universe media Videogame
Hello, I am looking for two somewhat similar tropes.
The first is, do we have a trope for when a work shows up in another work by the same author even though they have no canonical connection. For example, let's say that Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne is a popular in universe videogame in the world of Persona 4?
Second, do we have a trope for when a character starts maybe humming or even singing a Leitmotif (either their own or someone else's), again, across series boundaries?
openDecent college? No thanks, I'll stay home Live Action TV
Usually in a family sitcom, the smartest kid in the family graduates from high school, but the show comes up with some excuse why they don't go to anything better than "California University" (e.g. on "black'ish," when Junior gets a full scholarship to Howard, and first decides to take a "gap year," then decides to go straight into working without going to college at all) so they can keep the kid on the show. It's more the excuse why they go to California University (or, more likely, the local community college) rather than that trope itself.
Edited by ThatDonGuyopenWhen a Title Drop is a book/story/show a character writes? Live Action TV
So far I've seen a lot of tv shows moving towards the final episode having a character write a book with the tv show's title.
Examples:
- Game of Thrones
- Private Practice
- Orphan Black
I'm assuming Jane the Virgin is doing this because the last episode I saw (Season 4 Finale) had her talking about throwing all her half-finished memoirs into one book.
Very curious, because this sub-trope seems to be coming up more and more. I don't know why, maybe its a quick way to give closure?
Edited by donteatrawhagisopenI Would Know You Anywhere
Where two people recognize each other regardless of lost memories, different bodies, or even different forms. It doesn't even have to be because of mannerisms or some other type of Spotting the Thread; they just can recognize each other's souls. Or just one recognizes the other. As an example, the hero's love has been turned into a dog while away on some trip. The hero meets the dog and knows it's his love when their eyes meet.
openCast from Item
Skills/spells that consume something in your inventory item to be used.
Do we have it?
openWatch and Learn, Crash and Burn Live Action TV
What about this one?
Usually seen in a comedic scene, a lovable but overly-confident character wants to display his skill to another character (can be something like his appeal to the opposite sex by asking out someone on a date), only to fail disastrously to comic effect.
One good example is Larry Appleton on Perfect Strangers who often said the phrase, "watch and learn" to his cousin Balki.
I'm looking for a trope where characters cast a misleading but thematically appropriate shadow. It would be similar to The Shadow Knows, but there's nothing supernatural about it. The specific example I have is the superhero The Angel, who tends to announce himself by using his cape to cast a shadow that looks like an angel. I imagine it's mostly used for wings / angels, but I can also imagine it with a shadow that looks like it has horns, or is broken, that sort of thing.