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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openA race's member is "born" within a single location only
Is there a trope for a certain location where members of a specific race are born and resurrected?
Example: In the gacha game Eversoul, the titular Souls are a magical humanoid race that are Made of Magic, and as such do not reproduce or experience mortality like humans. They're all "born" or "reawaken" near the World Tree found within the Fayren Union, one of the world's seven nations, making them a bonafide Truce Zone that no country, powerful or otherwise, can ever intrude upon or antagonize.
openCharacter sees another character everywhere
So I'm reading a shipping fic, and things have gotten tense. One of the characters is doing a crossword to take their mind off things, but all of the answers are words that remind them of their current situation. I swear something like this would have a trope page but I can't seem to find it anywhere?
To a lesser extent, I remember a bit from Total Drama where Courtney is trying to get over Duncan, but it's a bit hard because she finds a rock shaped like him. I swear I also remember seeing something where character A is stressed about a situation involving character B, and then everyone around them looks like character B.
Surely something like this has happened, right? I'm not having some weird kind of Mandela Effect? I can't find a trope page anywhere, and this might not really be much of a trope at all.
openShowing what you have done, to make someone else feel guilty
Is there one in which Alice shows Bob things she has done, or sacrifices she has made, to make Bob feel guilty, especially if Bob cancels something they were going to do? Examples:
- At the beginning of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry suddenly decides that he must carry out the dangerous mission to find Horcruxes alone. Hermione immediately counters this by listing all the preparations she has made, including modifying her parents' memories so they don't know they have a daughter. Ron also shows Harry how they have transformed the family ghoul into Ron, to provide the cover story that Ron is seriously ill with spattergroit.
- Brassed Off: When Phil is bracing himself for the difficult task of telling Danny that they will not take part in the brass band final, Danny suddenly hands Phil their sheet music, which he had spent all night preparing, compounding Phil's guilt.
- Played for laughs in Little Britain. When the prime minister tells Sebastian that he cannot accompany him, Sebastian protests "I had my hair done, and everything!"
openSequel Title Retcon
The title of the next installment in a series is given in the current installment (i.e. a book that ends with "Will our heroes make it? Find out in The Sands of Eternity"), but once it comes out it has a completely different name (the next book picks up where the first left off, but is now titled "The God in the Abyss"), with some reprints updating the name.
openAudience misunderstanding metaphors and taking them literally?
THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT has fallen victim to many of its lines being interpreted literally. I've seen several examples on TikTok and Twitter, but one that frequently comes up is people being baffled that the narrator of "Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?" says "You wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me". They would post that line, plus a picture of Taylor Swift's rather nice childhood home. Many of these posts seem to have a "gotcha" tone as if calling her a liar, or misinterpreting that she's talking about her family life, which she has frequently sung of positively. In context, the song is about her struggle with the music industry and her public image. Therefore, the asylum is a metaphor for the vicious industry, with Swift having been a child star and spending most of her life "growing up in the asylum".
openTwist Reveal that a Character Only Appears to One Person
Is there a trope for when there's a twist that a character the audience has been watching all along (and assumes is a regular person) is actually only appearing to one of the other characters? Usually this is because the character doesn't actually exist and is just an alternate personality of the other character, or because they're a ghost that most people can't see. Famous examples would be The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, or The Other (1972).
If there isn't one, I think it might be worth creating one.
Edited by Luanna255openObject travelling for a long time
As the title says itself. What is the trope where an object has been travelling for a long time, like the real-life Voyager 1 and 2 space probes?
openWorldbuilding Creep
Do we have a trope for when a serialized story starts off with relatively soft Worldbuilding (i.e. the author doesn't hesitate to throw random stuff in for the sake of narrative or just a laugh), which eventually gets harder and harder in the sequels, as the rules of the setting become formalized and ossified? So far, I have found Continuity Creep (which is related, but not the same) and Early-Installment Weirdness (which is only for elements that become obsolete as the world rules get nailed down).
openPlayed by the Creator Western Animation
Do we have a trope, where as the creator of a show actually plays as a character for it. Not just limited to self-inserts.
For example, Alex Hirsch, the creator of Gravity Falls, voices Grunkle Stan, and Soos.
Peter Browngardt, the creator of Uncle Grandpa, plays as Uncle Grandpa himself.
And Dana Terrace, the creator of The Owl House, plays as Tinella Nosa.
Edited by StoucaopenAwkward Exposition in the beginning of something
For example, the pilot episode of a show would have a character say "Oh, Frank. Oh, my naïve little brother." so the audience knows that they are siblings, even though almost nobody speaks like that in real life.
openSpear counterpart of Absurdly Elderly Mother
Is there a Spear Counterpart of Absurdly Elderly Mother, or is it just Not a Trope?
Edited by AlfexopenHuman Bowling Ball Gag Western Animation
I think I have seen this gag in several cartoons but it looks like it doesn't have a trope page.
The gag usually goes something like this: A clumsy, unlucky, or just dumb guy, who usually is also fat, tries to play bowling. When he tries to throw the ball, his fingers get stuck in the holes and the momentum carries him into the lane and he ends up sliding all the way down the lane and into the pins. And of course, it is usually treated like he got a legitimate strike even thought this is both dangerous and obviously against the rules of bowling.
I am pretty sure I have seen this gag in several cartoons but most of them I only saw a really long time ago so it would be hard for me to list them. I think I also once owned a toy that was based on this gag, a figure of a cartoon character lying on their belly and clutching a bowling ball in front of them that had wheels on the bottom to make it look like they were sliding.
I was reminded of this gag because it appeared in a Nikiciy video (here), although in that case the bowler tripped on a Banana Peel and rolled into the lane instead of sliding.
Related to Be the Ball but not quite the same thing.
If this trope doesn't exist, I might try to launch it.
Edited by legendaryweredragonresolved Puffed up in the Published Version
A (male) politician decides to publish copies of some of the speeches he's made, but they significantly deviate from what he actually said. He's edited some lines to make him sound more confident than he actually was, and he even adds entirely new passages, some of which approach Purple Prose.
openRetroactively Important Backwater
A work introduces the protagonist or other important character as coming from a place or faction that is a complete obscure backwater, so that it's a surprise someone from there would have such an influence on global events. However, when a prequel comes around, due to trying to reproduce the nostalgia of the original, major characters and plot points continue to originate from that place/faction as if it's the center of the fictional universe rather than just picking new places in the setting to give characters an obscure origin from.
I.e how in Lord of the Rings it's noted to be very unusual that humble hobbits, who mostly stick to their corner of the world, are playing a role in global events, but then in Rings Of Power hobbits are still playing important role even in the second age. Or in The Hunger Games where it's unusual that the protagonist is from District 12 which is mostly forgotten and doesn't produce winners of the games, but then the the prequel centers around district 12 again rather than another of the districts (this doesn't contradict previous canon since it was established there were 2 winners from there, but they still made a choice to use the same district as the focus twice despite it being said to be rarely focused on). Or, I'm not that familiar with Star Wars, but as I understand it was a complaint that the original movies introduced the protagonist as coming from Tatooine which was established to be the middle of nowhere where Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here, but then in the prequels everything important seemed to happen there.
openRomantic Comedy - Sincere advice from Comic Relief Film
Is there a trope for when a comic relief character in a Romantic Comedy, maybe one of the protagonist's Amazingly Embarrassing Parents, stops being Played for Laughs and gives the protagonist an earnest bit of insight/advice about romantic love that's relevant to their relationship with their love interest. Like in Friends with Benefits where Mila Kunis' mom stops joking about not being able to remember the identity of Mila's father and says that her dad was the only man she ever truly loved?
openRigged Funfair Attraction
When the owner of a skill-based attraction (like a shooting range) makes it impossible for the customers to win, unbeknownst to them.
Edited by LyendithopenNo Title
Do we have a trope for when two people are chatting (Alice and Bob), Bob is being very self-deprecating, and Alice uses "I Have This Friend" to tell Bob to not insult himself?
resolved I know you too well
A character is able to tell how another is feeling because they know them intimately. The Social Expert but for one specific person, essentially
A visual gag - it's so hot, a character can put a frying pan on the ground and "fry" an egg in a few minutes.