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:
openSay it Like a Logo
Basically when a character says a name and it's written like a logo. Usually in comics.
openWandering the Earth with Letters
1. A protagonist wakes up in a random location (amnesia optional) with a (letter, text, other form of note) instructing them to (kill someone, deliver a package, paint a wall) and a (bag, briefcase, dufflebag) containing whatever they might need for the task. After the task is completed they lose consciousness and wake up in the next location. I found a page for general teleportation plot devices, but nothing where the 'teleportation' is tied specifically to a task to be completed.
2. This protagonist has no choice in the matter (i.e. if they attempt to defy the instructions they will be (incapacitated, killed, brainwashed)) but they have been promised a reward and are not entirely unwilling to do as the notes say, even perhaps joining forces with whoever is sending the notes afterwards.
openNo Title Film
What is the name of the Trope where somebody theatrically calls out to influence the perceptions of people around them?
An example is in the film Billy Madison where Adam Sandler is in the chemistry class with a girl. After being rebuffed by her, he theatrically yells out, "NO I WILL NOT MAKE OUT WITH YOU!"
Another example would be when cops beat somebody while yelling out "STOP RESISTING" over and over at the same time to manipulate the impressions of bystanders.
Another good example is from a Boondocks episode when the two white guys are robbing the convenience store.
openRespected but not liked
A higher-up notices that that while people do respect him (or at least his authority, social position, etc.), they don't like him, and follow his orders because they have to rather than because they want to. Often has a subordinate in the opposite situation: people genuinely like him, and even his social superiors willingly spend more time with the subordinate that the higher-up.
openSkipping Goodbye Live Action TV
[I couldn’t find this one, if it exists, so here’s the gist...]
“Wait, you mean you were the masked man this whole time?” “Yes! And it was I that killed your brother. Muah-ha-ha!” [scene break] “So he killed your brother? What are you going to do about it?” “Revenge, of course. Pass the salt?”
This is a heavily used trope that is often invisible, but once noticed it will gnaw at your soul.
It takes place in conversations between two or more characters where there is a particular high point of drama or tidbit of information that the writers want to spotlight using this trope. The scene ends at that most dramatic moment after all the necessary information has been provided, but it does not include the rest of the conversation. It is immediately followed by a scene change or chapter break, possibly with an intervening commercial. (Not to be confused with a Cliffhanger, as the broken-off scene is never resumed.)
One assumes the characters don’t just go blank-faced, spin around, and walk stiffly away in opposite directions, but they might as well have. Nothing that happens after that point has any impact on the rest of the plot, despite that there must have been a parting of some sort, likely with significant leftovers of drama to deal with.
Any conversation that doesn’t depict the actual end of the conversation qualifies. However, the worst abuses of this trope result in impossible conversation endings where a character’s personality would never have let them just walk away after the camera stops.
openMetal Future
Does a trope exist that describes a future where everything (or nigh everything) is made of metal?
openCommunicable Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
What's it called when an entire group starts screwing each other over all at once?
openPossessor Reflects The One They Are Posessing
Basically, this is like the title says. Someone gets possessed by something (a spirit, an A.I., a demon, whatever). However, the person who got possessed begins to 'infect' the possessing entity with some of their mind and personality, gradually making the possessing entity more like them over time.
The example that made me think of this is the most recent update for Order Of The Stick: http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1130.html.
openMurders but doesn't jaywalk
A character routinely commits major crimes like robbing banks and murdering people, but abstains from things like jaywalking or littering that are much less serious in comparison.
Which trope would best describe this strange behavior?
openFamily Guy possible BigNever trope Western Animation
Just asking this as I'm not sure, was watching this Youtube vid (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDCgU-VxqAM-VxqAM) of the mentioned subject above. At point (2:16) of the vid, Peter Griffin, despite the beating him & his friends (Joe & Quagmire) have taken by 3 tough guys at their favourite bar, refuses to give up their booth, arguing how important said booth is him. Having watch the vid of that point, should Peter's rant be included in the Big Never folder or not?
Here some of the quotes of the vid starting at point (2:10)
Tough Guy #2: Haven't you guys had enough?! Why don't you admit you're beat and get out of here?! Joe & Quagmire (badly beaten, in unison) Okay. Peter: (stands up defiantly) NO! Never! We will never stop fighting for this booth!
openAmbiguously Innocent of a Crime
A character is arrested for a crime. They insist they are innocent and the narrative seems to support that but it is never made clear if they are guilty or have been framed, even after they are possibly released. I thought it would be Ambiguous Innocence but that has more to do with a "naive" person who might not be naive and has a possible lack of morality. Does this crime trope exist?
openI'm (not really) a monster (but close)
A human version of "I'm a monster." A character suffering an affliction, usually mental or emotional, decides it would be better if he or she was left alone. Forever. Ususally done before You Are Better Than You Think You Are or You Are Not Alone.
Examples, two of which involve characters already in mental institutions:
In A Dangerous Method, after explaining how getting spanked by her father used to turn her on sexually, Sabina says to Jung, "There's no hope for me. I'm vile and filthy and corrupt. I must... I must never be let out of here."
On Six Feet Under, Billy is insitutionalized after attacking Brenda. He is guilt-ridden and ashamed for almost hurting her and thinking it was the right thing to do. He also lets Brenda off the hook. “You deserve to be happy,” he says to Brenda. “I don’t.”
On the ER episode "Sailing Away," Abby and Maggie talk about how Maggie pretended to be normal while suffering bipolar disorder. Abby says if Maggie took her medicine, she'd be like an ordinary person. "There's no one here to save," Maggie says.
Edited by starwolfopen"What might have been" inside work Web Original
I'm trying to find a trope that's similar to What Could Have Been, but it's stated in the narrative because someone decided to mess with destiny. The closest I've found is a Flash Sideways, but it doesn't fit.
The text is from The Pieces Lie Where They Fell. Spoiled due it being the last chapter: [...]It had delayed Night’s birth by twenty years so their future Loyalty would be of the same age as the rest of them at the cost the Blade family being unable to connect with each other. It had caused Rex to be chased out of his pack so he would meet the other Elements and away from his destiny to uniting the packs under a single leadership that would see the diamond dogs respected for the first time in years. Balance had caused Wind Breaker’s mother, who had managed to escape Equestria and the Hatchery system and return to the Griffish Isles, to lose her firstborn child as Wind Breaker was snatched away when he was born and brought to places that would eventually see his return to Canterlot and their Hatchery system, an action deemed necessary as the free born griffon would have never travelled to Canterlot and met the others, depriving them of Honesty.[...]
Edited by maddthesaneopenReusing character names
When the same character names show up in different works by the same creator that aren't in the same continuity. I'm not talking about common names like Bob or Taro, but somewhat unusual ones, like MacTavish or William Lloyd Floyd.
Edited by naturalironistopenStory Reset vs Soft Reboot, continuity tropes? Live Action TV
I know that Continuity Reboot is the partial or complete elimination of continuity from any and all previous works in a series, effectively starting with a clean slate.
What's the main difference between Story Reset and Soft Reboot?
Is renumbering of comic books and New First Comics an example of Story Reset or a Soft Reboot?
Is Story Reset "we didn't like what happened from Issues 25 to 40, so we'll go back to Issue 25, instead of the next issue being 41, we'll renumber it to 25, and treat everything that happened before Issue 25 as canon" snd a partial overlap with Continuity Reboot?
Since there's nothing on Canonical List of Subtle Trope Distinctions, what's the difference between Story Reset and Soft Reboot?
I would really appreciate if anyone could explain so I don't get confused.
Edited by Merseyuser1openShifting the Blame
Is there a trope for a situation where a person who has done something wrong/irritating either waits till someone else does something worse to tell about their own misdeed or is gleeful when someone else makes a mistake that's bigger for the same reason? An example occurs in one Cosby Show episode where Theo considers Denise making a big mistake to be good news because once Cliff and Claire hear about it, they'll completely forget something he did.
Edited by HeroGal2347openThesaurus Naming
A trope related to Palette Swap and Underground Monkey where similar enemies have names that are synonyms of each other or of their core concept.
For example, Golden Sun's bird-woman enemies are named Harpy, Harridan and Virago. All three terms are synonyms for a shrewish woman, with only "harpy" being an actual term for a monster.
openWhen a song is associated with a certain show or movie
Basically when a song is forever associated with the movie or show it was played in. The best example is All Star and Shrek. My friend had the idea for this trope and I was wondering if there was already something like it.
Title. Basically any mecha anime or other work where the pilot of a mecha experiences a mental breakdown, or any other sort of extreme psychical/mental trauma and usually serves as a means to build character.