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:
openWhen a work references the exact date/time it was published for a joke/plotpoint
I've been looking through time indexes and couldn't find it there, so I'm shooting my shot here.
Say a fictional TV show airs on Sundays, and a character intentionally makes a reference to that fact for a joke (e.g. "We should be safe until Monday." "But that's tomorrow!").
Could be Leaning on the Fourth Wall, or outright Breaking the Fourth Wall depending on how overt it is.
Two examples:
- At the end of South Park S 14 E 7 Crippled Summer, it's mentioned that after Towelie's intervention, he had been sober since April 26, 2010, two days before the episode's airdate.
- The incredibly specific childhood lullaby from Family Guy S10 E3: "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.", sung to a comatose Quagmire by his sister, ends with the line, "Glenn, please live to see tomorrow, October 31st, 2011," the day after the episode aired.
This probably wouldn't include extremely broad examples, like a movie that takes place in and was released in 2014, or holiday specials.
openEmergency Shopping
Bob bursts into a place that sells weapons (or whatever he needs to fight the Monster of the Week), grabs the most appropriate one, dumps a load of cash on the counter (usually more than enough for what he bought) and runs back to the fighting, leaving the nonplussed storeowner to wonder what the hell just happened.
The Weekly Roll has Becket buying silver coins in a sock to use against werewolves, The Order Of The Stick has Haley buying adamantine weapons to fight a flesh golem.
Edited by Chabal2openActor across continuities? Western Animation
What’s the trope when an actor from one iteration of a story comes back in a seperate iteration in a different role? Like how Rob Paulson voiced different characters across the TMNT franchise?
openSuper Form Personality Change
Is there a trope where a character unlocks their Super Mode that alters their personality? It's a Super-Trope of Superpowered Evil Side. There are already tropes related to power changing your hair color, eye color, voice etc. It's not related to Split Personality, as while their personality changes between their normal and super form, their consciousness (goals, memories, preferences) remains the same. Best example would have to be the CPUs from Neptunia.
Edited by ToonAbbyopenA trope about people celebrating too soon.
Is there a trope about one person or a group of people celebrating a victory too soon without realizing they've lost?
openUnexpected Personality or Quality of Character?
Is there a trope for when a character has a quality to them that's unexpected? Like a neo-Nazi who is actually very well-versed on Jewish culture and finds it interesting while still hating it? Or how Captain Beatty from Fahrenheit 451 being knowledgeable on literature? Or a tough biker guy who actually likes watching colorful anime or something?
Come to think of it, are there any general tropes for when someone does not match their appearance in one way or more?
openCoincidental Clue
Someone trying to solve a mystery finds what they think is a clue, but it turns out to be nothing (or it is an accurate clue, but they're Right for the Wrong Reasons). 2 examples I can think of:
- In The Simpsons episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns", Lisa thinks that Mr. Burns pointed to M and S on the town sundial to indicate "Maggie Simpson" with his last ounce of strength, but instead what he really did was suck the fillings out of his teeth to keep them from being stolen.
- In Without a Clue Watson and "Holmes" find a note from a kidnap victim with a number on it; they know that the person who sent the note was quite religious, so they comb through the Bible for a passage in scripture that matches the name of the business he's being kept in. It turns out, however, that the number on the note was the address of the building.
openTrope where screen blacks out just as a crash happens Film
So there’s a crash of some sort. A plane is fireballing towards the earth, a car is about to slam into a wall, etc. *Just* as the impact happens, the screen blacks out, audio included. The succeeding scene can start up blurry, with tinnitus effects, the character barely waking up, something. What’s the trope for this??
openone group member is a different species
Looking for something to describe an owl in a group of cats.
openArtistic License - Programming
Do we have an Artistic License trope for programming? I know we don't have it by that name, but maybe under another name?
openIs there a trope for sympathetic morning sickness? Live Action TV
I see this trope all the time, but I couldn't find it here in a search. A woman is pregnant, but her husband or boyfriend gets morning sickness. Supposedly this can actually happen, it's a psychological thing. But it rarely happens in real life, yet happens in almost every single tv pregnancy. I can't help but wonder if it happened as far back as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. See also: male menopause.
openMeaner than they look or nicer than they look?
This is a very common trope, and I'm pretty sure I've seen it before, but is there a general trope for when someone looks mean but is nice, or someone looks nice but is actually mean? Not Hidden Depths, just something more about how their personality doesn't match their appearance. Like the judging a book by its cover.
openCrossing swords in the air
When two or more characters, all of them armed with weapons, hold their swords / axes / spears in the air with their weapon's tips crossed together.
Trope maker is likely The Three Musketeers with their "All for One, and One for All!" salute, but other medium have done this as well...
openExploit the villain's offer
A character on the side of good accepts the aid of who looks to be a Good Samaritan, but in reality he is a Bad Samaritan. Thing is, the character knows his benefactor's nature and his history with Chronic Backstabbing Disorder beforehand, but is using his aid to launch his own scheme to benefit himself.. for a purely good cause. Since the character doing the exploiting is on the side of good, Eviler than Thou is not in the cards.
openUsing another existing language in a work
So you're reading a Japanese Webnovel and someone is casting magic, and notice that magic word is written in a language you've seen on TV, and realize the magic word is written in Bangal language, with the same meaning of the spell.
openLove Triangle With One Imaginary
Imaginary Love Triangle is for people imagining a relationship between two other people, do we have a trope where one of the people involved in the triangle is imaginary (or no longer alive) as in Loving a Shadow, The Lost Lenore, Kiss Me, I'm Virtual, etc.)?
i.e., Alice is in love with Bob, but he pays no attention to her because Bob only loves [his long-dead wife Carla / Cleopatra VII / his OC]. Sometimes Bob is made aware of Alice's feelings, but she comes up short compared to the imaginary and therefore flawless woman he loves.
Edited by Chabal2openLess-Holy Backlight Live Action TV
I’m looking for a variation of Holy Backlight that doesn’t have the religious implications. Like a hatch on an alien spaceship opening and revealing a figure silhouetted by the blinding light behind them.
openFaking ones death for a stupid reason
Is there a specific trope for when someone fakes their death for a stupid reason, or is it The Same, but More Specific to Faking the Dead?
A couple of examples:
- One episode of The Simpsons has Homer fake his death to get out of trash pickup duty.
- A cutaway gag in Family Guy involves Peter faking his death to get out of a dentist appointment.
openThe Madness Inflicter
Is there a trope that describes a villain whose objective is to force someone to go completely insane by external means?
A situation where "put yourself in their shoes" or Perspective Flip fails due to the characters not sharing the same (or even having opposite) views.
For instance, applying a Gender Flip to prostitution: