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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openGrudge collateral damage
So Alice hates Bob for some reason (justifiable or otherwise) and sets out to hurt him, either physically or emotionally. She succeeds, but ends up hurting innocent people as well (often unintentionally, which can lead to her saying "My God, What Have I Done?").
openEmotional Awakening
A character who was previously The Spock / Blank Slate / Empty Shell etc suddenly obtains emotions. As in, not over time but in an instance. There are a couple of pages I'm working on where I see this A LOT.
openEnclosing Arena Videogame
Do we have a trope for when a game goes into overtime/time is running out, and the game's play area begins to shrink? Like the blocks filling the arena in Bomberman or the electrical wall surrounding & funneling players together in PUBG?
openFancy People Play Piano
When the piano is presented as an elegant or refined instrument and is associated with/played by members of the upper class or rich people.
Similar to Smart People Play Chess.
Edited by unfortunatezoruaopenPretending to be magic?
What is the trope for a character pretending to be mystical in order to intimidate or impress others?
EDIT: Sorry, I should have been more specific. I'm not really talking about some loser, but more like someone who does have skill but pretends to be supernatural in order to intimidate and confuse enemies, similar to the Berserks or the Persian Immortals.
The characters in question are a gang of swamp bandits in a western. They ambush people at night and use poisons to kill their victims. The goal being to convince people the swamp is cursed by evil spirits, so that potential victims aren't on guard against human attackers, and so that the authorities don't go looking for anyone.
Edited by Mimic1990openToken... "other superpower origin"? Print Comic
I'm looking for a trope pertaining to the X-Men. Basically, what I'm referring to is that the X-Men mainly consists of mutants, but have had several non-mutant members in their history that include super soldiers, cyborgs, mutates, aliens, magical beings, interdimensional beings, robots, and ordinary humans.
I struggle to figure out what trope would best describe this. Not sure if Token Minority (dealing with real world minorities) is applicable, nor is Token Non-Human (mutants aren't baseline humans), Token Enemy Minority (they aren't necessarily enemies with the others), or really anything else. I feel like this is worth troping, but I can't figure out what trope to put it in.
Any ideas?
openJudge character
The character is in a western novel series that I'm working on a page for. He's a Judge from another town who is called into pass judgment on an outlaw gang for various crimes. Despite obvious evidence of the gang's guilt he finds them not guilty, and it ends up being because one of the gang members is his cousin.
What is this trope? I want to call it a Suit with Vested Interests but that doesn't seem quite right.
openThe Unconvinced
A character who cannot be convinced on a certain subject despite the arguer's best efforts, and any further evidence just pushes his opinion further. Usually not deliberate on the unconvinced person's part (as in, not I Reject Your Reality or Selective Obliviousness). Tends to result in The Cloudcuckoolander Was Right or Real After All in fiction.
For example:
- "The mayor embezzled at least a million dollars from municipal funds.""But the investigation didn't find anything to link him with the embezzlement.""So he's also guilty of tampering with records and bribery."
In Wyrd Sisters, Tomjon is an actor with a supernatural ability to convince people that he really is his role (a beautiful girl, an inspiring leader, an old man...). Then he runs into a bandit who doesn't fall for the act and No Sells everything Tomjon does, requiring violence to deal with him.
openOur Snowclones are Funnier (Just for Fun)
A Just for Fun page about making punny/terrible snowclones.
openMetaphore Fail Western Animation
Is there an equivalent of Broken Aesop, but for metaphores? Like, in a show where vampirism is supposed to be analogous to drug addiction, but vampires can't be cured, need to drink blood or they'll die, have super strength, etc?
openSuspiciously Similar Foreign Production
A work or product that appears to be a copycat from another country. (YMMV)
Possible Trope Names if we don't have this one: Foreign Off-Brand Suspiciously Similar Foreign Production Foreign Rip-Off Foreign Copycat
openMilitary/Police force
Do we have a trope for when a single security force functions as both law enforcement and national defense? Not necessarily a Police State or even sinister, since in fantasy worlds like The Elder Scrolls the town watch arrests lawbreakers and defends the town from invasion.
openRegular customer
Alice is a regular customer in Bob's place of business for years, to the point that Alice and Bob are on a first name basis, know each other personally, even though they've never interacted outside of Bob's place of business.
This trope applies as a descriptor of Alice.
Edited by AzureOwlopenGrabs what everyone else wants
Alice and Bob are fighting over something, but while they're busy fighting, Charlie strolls in and takes the thing in question. (The more nonchalant he is, the better.)
openSympathy for the Obviously Evil
Do we have a trope for when there's an Obviously Evil existential threat, like an Alien Invasion or Eldritch Abominations, but there's still a group of people that are sympathetic to them and oppose the heroes' efforts to take them down, believing the villain to actually be benevolent?
Essentially Horrible Judge of Character, but on a wide-enough scale to be an entire faction in the story.
Edited by PrimisopenPresident Or Whatever
In the future (this is pretty much purely a sci fi trope) the democratic system still exists, but people are completely apathetic to it. Barely anybody votes, and if they do, they're very easily swayed and don't put any serious thought in evaluating who to cast votes for.
Typical results: the job of the president or whatever primary official is not prestigious at all or mattering all that much; whatever nincompoop can be elected to the office or whatever silly laws pass referendums; a dictator takes advantage of this and easily gets elected to finally take charge.
examples: in Futurama Nixon's head gets elected president since no one else bothered to cast votes; in Hitchiker's Guide Zaphod is easily elected Galactic President but it's basically a minor celebrity status; in one Death Machine story a member of UK parliament gets elected as MP after announcing that it's been foretold that he will die of exhaustion after having sex with a minor - that impresses voters a lot more than any policy proposals, especially given that he's 17 year old, became MP in 14, and children are able to vote
Edited by Beansidhe
A particular type of Fake Interactivity where the start of a scene is treated as the viewer arriving onto the location. Typically used in shows with No Fourth Wall where the host of the show is on-stage, and he usually feigns surprise at the viewer's "entrance". Dead Horse Trope that's mainly Played for Laughs nowadays.