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 You Know That Show and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at You Know, That Thing Where.
rock shaped like an animal or person
A giant rock or natural feature shaped like an animal or face apparently of natural origin. Usually indicates something supernatural is afoot, and is often an important landmark in the search for something like treasure or a Lost World.
Dispersed Population
People living after the collapse of society are only allowed to live in communities smaller than a certain number of buildings or structures to keep from returning to an urbanized state. Does this trope have a name? It appears in Leigh Brackett's novel The Long Tomorrow? Has it been featured in any other works?
Charm of inner strength
An item that give character power but not in the sense that it empowers them, but makes them feel confident, secure, determined.
Nice but Mean
What is the trope for a person who is nice but has to act mean to protect their friends from a bully.
Edited by 14cross
Metroid: Zero Mission's unknown items
Would they count more as basic MacGuffins or Plot Coupons, or would they actually count as Swords of Plot Advancement?
Juxtaposition Jab
I've seen this in a variety of works, including The Lion King, Monsters Inc., and Monk. Person A will criticize Person B by comparing him unfavorably to Person C, often with words along the lines of, "He's twice the person you'll ever be!" or "You aren't fit to clean his shoes."
Please Help Live Action TV
This was an educational show that my teacher used to bring in on a VHS tape. It "starred" a female reporter and a bug puppet that wore glasses. They would show ways to fix grammar and things like run of sentences.
Four situations, what tropes? Live Action TV
Do we have tropes for these four situations?
1. Bob is a Badass... but only when he's high on sugar. Otherwise, he's a Nice Guy and embarrassed about being a Badass. Alice is a natural female Badass, in contrast to Bob.
2. An example of a 2018 Subaru stationwagon is designed to be a Retraux version of the 1998 Subaru Legacy stationwagon
◊, but In-Universe it's passed off as a 1998 car, despite the fact people could tell it's Retraux.
3. A character in a new Arrowverse Spin-Off of The Flash (2014) is very similar to Nora West from The Flash (2014), except doesn't have these character traits: they're not Ambiguously Gay, with no Dark Secret, not a Dead Guy Junior, and less of a Naïve Newcomer. Where they're similar is that they're Adorkable, Mixed Ancestry and The Beautiful Elite. Not sure if this is Captain Ersatz or Expy or even Self-Plagiarism ?
4. In an episode of Dexter's Laboratory, a character, John, pops up in every situation, just to hang a lampshade on whatever the situation is, purely for the sake of comedy. It's more than a cameo role, though, and is plot-relevant.
Do we have tropes for these? (Sorry for the length of them... the bits were relevant!)
Edited by Merseyuser1
Sent into Hiding
A character is sent into hiding to foil a plot on their lives.
It seems like this should be a supertrope to Witness Protection, but I can't seem to find anything like it.
Thieving Romani
Do we have a trope for Romani being portrayed as swindlers and thieves?
An object that one wears stops a lethal attack
Looks like a hero's killed, but something they wear or carry saves their life. I did see that trope somewhere but I can't remember how's it called
Audience reaction trope
A villain dies screaming out of agony and terror as he befalls a horrible, frightening death. The audience out of universe is overwhelmed at the sight of the death because it is very disturbing, very unsatisfying.
Female sports manager
A recurring trope I've been seeing in Gaming and Sports Anime and Manga lately is that of a manager to an otherwise boy only sports group. Do we have a trope for that?
Edited by Tomodachi
G-Rated Alcohol
Something in the franchise may not be alcohol itself, but the character, currently acts addicted to the object.
Innocent Child
So basically the trope I'm searching is about a young kid who didn't realize at the moment that her mother was having sex with another guy, saying that they were doing paperwork.
Mental Autocorrect
Is there a trope about how our brains tend to "autocorrect" stuff we read (such as if a name is spelled unusually we often misread it as the more common spelling, or how if we misread a word the first time we tend to read it the "wrong" way until someone points it out to us?) I guess Failed a Spot Check would work but is there anything more specific.
No Title
A new child arrives/is born in a none-too-law abiding family and the family vows to come clean so they can raise the child properly. It is similar to Raise Him Right This Time but no reincarnation/turning back into baby/spirit extraction or similar is included.
Oblivious to Danger
In an adventure or horror story, the guy who insists that everything is fine and that there's no danger, even though the Genre Savvy would realize that obviously listening to the person who is scared is the right thing to do.
Big Armor Small Person
When a lanky or small person is wearing a big bulky armor.
Edited by Andermann
No Title
If A is an amorphous blood creature that lives in B's blood stream, does that count as Two Beings, One Body?
Contrived kiss
A highly contrived situation that forces two characters with romantic tension between them to kiss.
Riding a tiger
Do we have a trope where someone starts something that grows dangerously beyond them — they cannot stop or control it but also cannot walk away from it.
Edited by DracMonster
Let's Do This Again
Alice and Bob are childhood friends, and when they were little Alice will always pin him down on the ground and sit on his chest when they were play fighting, and the two will laugh together.
After they grew up, Bob becomes a villain and Alice have to put him down, after a fierce battle, Alice manage to pin him down on the ground, sits on his chest and start strangling him while crying, not unlike when they were play fighting as children.
Jesuits in Space
No, not a sketch in the Muppet show, I am reading "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell and am reminded of a couple of other stories off-hand, "A Case of Conscience" by James Blish and "Hyperion" by Dan Simmons. I am guessing this is quite a popular theme. It could involve other religions too of course, such as the Buddhist miners of the Asteroid Belt in "Wheelers" by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. These all are celibates so far, which may be an important part of the picture.
It occurs to me that being in a religious order could be a useful format for space exploration, as a well-formed hierarchy will (probably) always be necessary for this to be possible. I doubt if a totally anarchic free-wheeling spacer culture as in e.g. "Neuromancer" would last long.
(I am thinking of real religions, not made-up ones as in the Dune stories, and it doesn't need to refer to specific orders like the Jesuits, I suppose "Catholics in Space" would do but it doesn't have the same ring to it).
Edited by RogueBean
Addressing someone by species.
What's the trope for when someone uses a character's species instead of name? For example, a robot saying, "Hello, human" to a human.