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.
Inconsistent Theme Song
A show has a regular theme song and a shortened version. However, it is wildly inconsistent which one it uses.
Reject The Illusion
A character in a Lotus-Eater Machine rejects the perfect world and returns to reality (if they are able)
Portugal does not exist.
Similarly to Canada Does Not Exist, if a work is going to portray the Iberian Peninnsula, it will always be Spain, with no mention of Portugal whatsoever.
No New Memories After Death
In a setting where the spirits of the dead can be brought back and talked to, they're essentially read-only memories of the person up to their death rather than the character brought back. So while they can react to new information they learn while called up, they can't gain any new memories as they're erased as soon as they're dismissed.
e.g. Alice was ten when her grandmother died. Now that she's twenty, whenever she calls on her grandmother's soul for guidance she has to go through the whole "how you've grown" routine even if she calls her several times in the same day.
Similarly, whenever Bob calls up a shaman's ghost for help on a spirit quest, he has to recap who he is, what the quest is for, and what steps he's already carried out so the shaman won't start from the beginning, even though Bob's been on the quest for years now.
Blackmailing Bastard
A character's illegitimate offspring blackmails them into having their way (usually involving a job or money).
Seen in a Sherlock Holmes story (the son schemes to be made the heir instead of the legitimate son) and a non-Holmes story by Conan Doyle (a flagrantly unfit teacher is actually the headmaster's illegitimate son).
Chase scene stop and slam Film
One character on a motorcycle is chasing another character in a car. The car suddenly brakes, causing the motorcycle to slam into it.
Prop is the real thing that it is said to be in the story Live Action TV
According to IMDB, the napkin signed by Leonard Nimoy in The Big Bang Theory S 2 E 11 The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis is an actual napkin signed by Leonard Nimoy in real life. I looked at Cameo Prop, which does have clear cut examples on The Big Bang Theory, but those are different from this one, in my opinion...
Objects Are Feminine
Is there a trope for the tendency of people in real life and in fiction to refer to genderless inanimate objects as feminine? Case in point, the stereotype of ship captains to use female pronouns in reference to their ships?
FBI and CIA
A character is mentioned to have worked for multiple government agencies to establish how badass they are.
- The Man Who Knew Too Little: When Wallace first meets Lori, she assumes he's an assassin and asks him if he's CIA or mafia. Wallace, thinking this is part of an interactive theatre experience, tells her he works for both.
- The other day I was watching an action movie where the protagonist was hunting down a group of terrorists. One of the terrorist does some digging and finds out he's a government agent. The head terrorist asks if he's CIA or FBI. The terrorist responds that he's both, in addition to working for the NSA and the Green Berets.
The Sinatra
Hello.
Is there a trope that specifically covers a type of character, who you would often find as part of the Rat Pack or Lounge Singing?
Not to be confused with Lounge Lizard, which kind of come across more as a parody of what I am looking for.
So, characters like Vic Fontaine in Deep Space Nine, or Harvey Finevoice in Atop The Fourth Wall.
Is there a trope for a Rat Pack style of Character, but played straight rather than a parody?
A trope for minor characters being named after show staff?
For example:
- The villain of Monk S 4 E 11 Mr Monk Bumps His Head is named Roger Zisk, after one of the show's directors, Randy Zisk.
- One gag in the background of Monk S 8 E 10 Mr Monk And Sharona has a law office of Conrad, Savo, and Toplyn. These are after writers Hy Conrad, Salvatore Savo, and Joe Toplyn (I am not 100% all of them are writers, but the same idea still applies.
Is this a Shout-Out, or something else?
Big flashback includes scenes the character having the flashback wasn't even in
What's that trope where a character is aware of something that happened when they weren't even in the room?
Lost in Adaptation
It's like Lost in Translation, but more relates to making a work for another medium. Like a certain quirk or subtext is missing in the anime adaption of the manga.
Do we have a trope like that?
Culturally Blind Elders
A gag that plays similarly to Technologically Blind Elders but for culture instead of tech (though they can overlap), often manifesting as using fandom-specific terms wrong or confusing one work for another.
For instance, the Grumpy Old Man complaining about "rap'n'roll" and "hippity-hop" music corrupting the youth, a parent using what they think is modern slang to talk to their teenager (to mutual embarrassment), a Granny Classic getting her grandson "that TV show with the swords in it" (he was expecting Game Of Thrones and got Highlander), etc.
One Band Man Music
A band comprised of several musicians bears the name of an individual and sometimes passes as (or is mistaken for) a solo artist. Examples: Bon Iver, Lukas Graham, Veruca Salt, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jethro Tull (all bands/groups).
Edited by Whoop-Whooper
Falling scream
A character screams while falling from a great height (whether they survive the fall or not is irrelevant). Or is that so common that it counts as People Sit on Chairs?
Edited by C105
Gay and Keeping it from Parent
A person is LGBTQA+ but doesn't want to tell their parents for fears that they will disown them.
EDIT: Oh dear God, I accidentally sent it into Ask the Tropers by accident! Apologies for that.
Edited by HoloMew151
Human suddenly starts acting animalistic for comedic effect
What's that trope where a human suddenly starts acting like an animal for comedic effect? Like in that The Simpsons episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" when Bart and Homer are both holding onto a piece of steak with their mouths and fighting over it like dogs.