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openWe come to you
So, you have a problem that only a detective can solve, but you haven't yet thought of hiring a detective, not to worry, the detective has found out about your predicament and come to you, asking if you'd like to hire them.
A more specific example is the Leverage crew. A lot of their clients are people they found out about through Hardison (their resident hacker) trawling the web rather than those people coming to them (since openly advertising yourself when you're a group of thieves tends to draw attention from law enforcement).
openSoul harvesting
In this trope, the aliens are without a soul, and are looking to merge with humans in place of A.I.s disguised as transhumanism to take control of their soul. In this way, it's like a Demonic Possession and And I Must Scream combined.
Edited by luigirovattiopenAPP The same but shorter Anime
Is there a trope for when a cartoon character's child design (or toddler/younger child if they are still a child) is basically the same design or their older self but shorter? It can also be like they have the same hairstyle and clothing but with minimal differences like a tooth missing??
openGiving Up the Immature Dream
Is there a Coming of Age Story trope in which a character, for the purpose of Character Development, decides to abandon an ideal, belief, or fantasy from their childhood, on the basis that it's childish and no longer helps them as it once did? I'm usually thinking about this in the context of a whimsical world that is revealed (or implied) to be Fantasy All Along, especially if used as a coping mechanism against trauma. However, I feel like it could also apply to beliefs or attitudes inherited from their parents (compare Crisis of Faith, or in a subversion, Turn to Religion) or traditions like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. The fantasy could be a useful lie that helps the children cope, but becomes harmful or foolish as one grows up. Could also be Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!. Blurs the line between Growing Up Sucks and Not Growing Up Sucks. Distinct from Innocence Lost, since I'm not talking about a tragic event sparking the disillusionment from the childlike innocence.
Examples:
- Puff the Magic Dragon: "Painted wings and giant rings make way for other toys" - Jackie Paper has grown up, and never comes back to visit Puff, implying his friendship with Puff had outlasted its usefulness.
- Paramore - Brand New Eyes - "Brick By Boring Brick": the girl is told to "bury the castle" (her imaginary fantasy world), which had gone beyond its mere role as a coping mechanism ("you built up a world of magic because your real life is tragic") and become very harmful ("the angles are all wrong, now she's ripping wings off of butterflies"; "it was a trick"), so the speaker offers to help her abandon the dream.
- Twenty One Pilots - Vessel - "Migraine": the speaker imagines in his mind a vision of a dangerous island; his mind is no longer composed of "green gardens," but "suicidal crazed lions." So he decides to take his imagination down - "I begin to assemble what weapons I can find/'Cause sometimes to stay alive you gotta kill your mind"
- Rene Descartes "Meditations on First Philosophy": “Some years ago I was struck by the large number of falsehoods that I had accepted as true in my childhood, and by the highly doubtful nature of the whole edifice that I had subsequently based on them. I realized that it was necessary, once in the course of my life, to demolish everything completely and start again right from the foundations if I wanted to establish anything at all in the sciences that was stable and likely to last.”
- C. S. Lewis: From "Surprised by Joy": "Joy itself, considered simply as an event in my own mind, turned out to be of no value at all. All the value lay in that of which Joy was the desiring." (Lewis' Joy is a nostalgic yearning for something out of your reach. The object, in Lewis' case, was God, so he moved beyond what he called his "chronological snobbery" and atheism and into theism, becoming "a converted Pagan" among "apostate Puritans"). The same text also says, "I do not think the resemblance between the Christian and the merely imaginative experience is accidental," even though one does not lead to the other - but they have resemblances, and one experience can precede the other, without direct causation.
- Subverted in The Last Battle - Susan Pevensie is the only one among the children to not return to Narnia, believing it to be a childish fantasy, and acting more "grown-up" than she really is. Of course, Narnia really does exist, so this is more of a criticism
- Discussed in Pan's Labyrinth: Ofelia's mother Carmen tells her, "As you get older, you'll see that life isn't like your fairy tales. The world is a cruel place." Also, although Word of God says the fairy-tale labyrinth is real, it's a common fan interpretation that the labyrinth was Fantasy All Along as a way for Ofelia to cope.
- Book of Corinthians: In 1 Cor 13:11 - "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things." This is speaking of the lesser nature of God's revelation when one is a child, compared to the fullness of God's revelation through Jesus Christ as one matures. These childish things aren't portrayed as bad - see 1 Cor 3:2, where Paul tells believers that he's feeding them spiritual milk because they're not ready for solid food. But they have to be put away with when one comes of age.
openChildish Hedonism
An adult character's idea of hedonism is more or less a kid's ideal day, though they're not necessarily a Manchild.
e.g. watching cartoons in pajamas while eating sugary cereal, eating ice cream by the gallon, staying up all night to play videogames, pizza and mac&cheese for lunch, etc.
openUndiscovered Public Domain Work MacGuffin
The MacGuffin of a work is an undiscovered (that was lost or never existed in reality) work of a long-dead artist or author: an Edgar Allan Poe detective story, a Shakespeare play, Mozart masses, Picasso painting, etc. Usually destroyed or lost for good at the end.
openDesign and mechanic integration Videogame
Is there a trope for when a character design changes due to their mechanics?
For example:
- Linzer Cookie's skill has her gain deduction stacks instead of attacking. This is visually indicated by the number of scribbles that surround her.
- Buttermilk Cookie enters Hour of Reckoning state after using his special skill. While in that state, his halo becomes jagged and black.
openHealing the Hated
One someone with the ability to treat/heal others is expected to do some for someone they hate, or simply don't want to. Creates conflict and tension, especially if they feel the injured had it coming.
openHaunting the narrative
Not physically appearing as a ghost but where a character's actions and self still affect the other character/s and/or the narrative. Or that they drive the plot forward? Or even that their actions cause a chain of events that wouldn't have happened otherwise?
Is there a page about it somewhere?
Edited by happyspotopenUnexpected pronunciation
Could be any medium. I was looking for a page with Real Life examples of place names not being pronounced as they're spelled. Louisville, Kentucky, for example, being pronounced LOO-a-vull by locals, rather than Looey-ville as they pronounce it everwhere else. I thought it was Pretentious Pronunciation, formerly Its Pronounced Tro Pay, but it isn't. Anybody know what trope this is?
openAutomatic Training Videogame
The game has an option that automatically trains/levels up the character for you. You can put the game down and check on it later (in a couple of hours or so) once enough time has passed and the character has gained some EXP.
Edited by SleepingStarAikunoopenA particular trope I'm trying to find Literature
Is there a trope where a story focuses solely on a story arc for a dozen of chapters, while other story arcs are on hold?
openMinimal singleplayer mode Videogame
An inversion of Misbegotten Multiplayer Mode - a game that is by all means meant to be played in multiplayer mode, but has a halfhearted singleplayer option tacked on (in extreme cases it may not be more than an extended tutorial), so that it can't be accused of being online-exclusive.
Do we have this one?
openTruth Serum Backfire
Alice gives Bob a Truth Serum. It backfires in that while he is compelled to tell the truth, it's not the one she's asking for or wants to hear.
For instance, there's a Wonder Woman parody comic where a mook lassoed by Diana (and thus only able to speak truth) asks if she's gained weight recently, which makes her grumpy.
openDeleted Scene Added in the Adaptation
A scene filmed or drafted but cut from a movie for length is included in an adaptation that isn't as concerned with strict time limits.
For example, a couple of scenes cut from the main Star Wars movie were included in the Star Wars (Marvel 1977) adaptations that could space the narrative out over multiple issues, like a scene where Luke and Biggs Darklighter talk on Tatooine at the start of the first movie.
openConfused Game Overlap
When multiple characters are playing a game, usually a card game, and none of them are playing correctly instead using inconsistent rulesets from other games at once. Example: "Eighty five?" "Nope, go fish." "This is blackjack." "Oh, is it?" "I actually have no idea. Checkmate!"
openSilver Lining Side Effect Videogame
A status debuff or "negative" ability comes with a positive side effect.
Local Odd Squad Connoisseur
openTrying to find two tropes to match these concepts
Having trouble figuring out which trope(s) these would fit under because I'm having a massive brain fart.
So for Odd Squad Gaming Unit, there are official YouTube Shorts uploaded that show snippets of new episodes. One of these Shorts includes characters that has yet to appear in episodes. Is there a trope(s) that would fit "character appears earlier than expected in a series" and "teaser reveals bits from an upcoming episode of a series, including spoilers such as new characters"?

The protagonist (often but not always a chosen one), says, 'this is a story, this is MY story, so I should be able to skip a step or two' (Or 'I can do this without loss or consequence because I have to win') and it backfires terribly. Often portrayed as cockiness.