So you have yourself a situation that might be important, but it just isn't awesome enough. There's something missing. What could it be...?
I know! Let's throw in some gripping orchestral music, lighting changes, different camera angles, something! Don't write like a man, write like an Evil Overlord! Exaggerate your expressions and gestures, speak with excessive intonation, and if all else fails, ...
Exactly What It Says On The Tin
A title should tell you what a movie, show, or episode of a show is about. Sometimes, though, the premise or plot of the story is all right there in the title. That's when you can say that the story is Exactly What It Says On The Tin. Thus, this trope.
The names of action shows designed for children tend to have this as a distinguishing feature, as do most pornographic films, but it certainly does ...
Heroic BSOD
Heroic Blue Screen of Death: An earth-shattering revelation or horrible event affects the hero or someone he cares deeply about, leaving him flummoxed or shocked to the point of mentally shutting down for a while. Alternatively, if this occurs during a fight with one of the Big Bad's minions, the hero may have a violent outburst, with the ensuing catastrophe killing Evil Minions and knocking his c ...
You Gotta Have Blue Hair
A Sub Trope of Hair Colors.
Many Anime characters have totally impossible hair colors like green and purple.
This actually started with Manga series that used distinctive colors on the covers to make characters stand out, as they all had either dark or light hair in the actual black and white pictures. Anime just made it part of the shows.
In many cases, though, hair which is technically supposed ...
Smug Snake
The Smug Snake is a type of character (usually cast as a villain) who tends to treat friends and enemies alike with equal disdain. They almost constantly speak in a sarcastic tone and punctuate most of their sentences with a smirk. More often than not, they will aspire to be a formidable and awe-inspiring adversary, but tend to fail in the face and/or servitude of more cunning villains. Others tha ...
Affably Evil
Most of the time, when there is a villain, they're going to have a personality or manner that underscores how evil they are. They may kick puppies for giggles, be particularly insensitive, even during sex, or might just be too unknowable to be anything but evil.
And then, there are villains who are Affably Evil. There is absolutely nothing separating them from being normal, polite people except fo ...
Big Bad
It's good to be king.
A Big Bad is a jeopardy, usually a character with evil designs (though it may also be a situation, such as a comet heading towards the Earth), that is behind all of the other bad happenings. The Big Bad can have effect across a number of episodes, and even an entire season.
Note that Big Bad is not a catch-all trope for the biggest and ugliest villain of any given story. The ...
Guide Dang It
Cousin to the Soup Cans, a Guide Dang It is any part of a video game in which that correct action or set of actions is so difficult to figure out that effectively the only way to know what to do is via a Strategy Guide or an online Walkthrough. Particularly necessary when dealing with random maze sections, determining Relationship Values, or trying to achieve Hundred Percent Completion.
Combine t ...
Power Perversion Potential
In every fandom, one finds a particularly pervasive trend that makes it harder to deny that Freud Was Right: if a character has some kind of gimmick, then chances are that some portion of the fans will have dreamed up an indecent application for that gimmick. Quite often, it comes in the shape of questions about the character's free time. Yes, he uses his superpowers to save lives while on duty. B ...
Never Trust A Trailer
If Covers Always Lie, trailers can, too. Sometimes Tonight Someone Dies or hyping The Reveal might not be enough. And with the Internet an open window these days for writers and directors to viewers' likes, dislikes, hopes, predictions, and Shipping loyalties, it's easy to know exactly how to bait fans into watching the next episode. Be careful not to believe everything you see, though, because as ...
Tsundere
A character (usually female) who runs 'hot and cold', flipping between◊ aggressive and confrontational (tsuntsun, meaning 'aloof' or 'cranky' in Japanese) and affectionate and sentimental (deredere, meaning 'lovestruck'). The distinct moods usually aren't subtle, especially with the latter ranging from 'simple teasing' to 'lovestruck kindergartener who pushes you into the sandbox'. The reasons b ...
Say My Name
No matter what range of emotion you're feeling towards another character, the best way to express it is to say their name—preferably in either a hoarse whisper or scenery-chomping cry. Even if no one's around to hear you, just thinking about that character is enough of a prompt. It's all but required if you're in the midst of rescuing your friend/Love Interest currently facing imminent doom, you ...
Downer Ending
1. A finale to a movie, a TV series, a video game, or some other form of media that ends things on a low note, or in some other way that isn't quite happy. These tend to be rare, as there is overwhelming pressure to tie loose ends up in a 'happy' way. Sometimes done as a way to assure that the show, once canceled, cannot be revived later (similar to the Grand Finale), but sometimes leaves the sho ...
Butt Monkey
The character who is always the butt of the demeaning joke or the 'put him through hell' plotline. Nothing ever goes right for this character, he's constantly abused by pretty much everyone he knows, even his so-called friends, and if something bad is going to happen to someone, chances are, it's going to be him. Long story short, it sucks to be the Butt Monkey.
The Butt Monkey generally doesn't d ...
Mood Whiplash
Fiction often has far extremes. They cover the gamut of emotion, from tragedy to comedy. Sometimes these two will be so close together that they make the viewer's head spin! Done well, the contrast in moods can make each emotion all the more poignant and effective. Done poorly, the contrast can jar the reader/viewer right out of the story.
Sometimes Mood Whiplash can extend to entire sequels, wher ...
Guilty Pleasures
These are the deep-fried Snickers bars of the TV world. Not even a little bit good for you. Not everybody likes them. In fact, they are so bad they may not even be popular.
Still, they have some audience. Not that anyone necessarily wants to admit they're in it, especially if they're outside the target demographic.
The guilty pleasure lies one level above So Bad Its Good in that, despite contrived ...
Infant Immortality
It seems to be the cardinal rule in shows that thrive on violence: you are not allowed to kill babies or young children. Or dogs, unless it is a heart-breaking moment that symbolizes the end of innocence.
No matter how bad the Big Bad is, he will always stop short of killing a baby. Even natural disasters will avoid killing infants and dogs. Something about a baby makes you stop, think twice, a ...
Shout Out
A shout out is something subtle (a name or line of dialogue) in a show that refers to fans or family members of the cast or crew, or to another source of inspiration. By nature, these can be obscure for casual fans.
You can even talk about them in English class if only you call them 'allusions'.
See also Homage, Stock Shout Outs, Opening Shout Out, Shout Out Theme Naming. Literary Allusion Title i ...
Improbable Weapon User
Windmill blades. Yes, windmill blades.
The high probability your wackiest party member, like the Team Pet, will use some sort of bizarre and, well, improbable 'weapon' - that is, in the sense of an object you could conceivably hit something with. And some of these 'weapons' don't even go that far.
This usually seems to just be a way to give that character some sort of upgradeable item to explain o ...
Cloudcuckoolander
A character with their head in the clouds. They aren't quite stupid, and they aren't quite insane, but they lapse into non sequitur a lot and are strangely oblivious to things that everyone else takes for granted, such as whether it is okay to turn their suitemate's room into a landfill and board it up. They are still, somehow, able to function day to day.
See the Quotes Wiki for more extensive ex ...
No Name Given
A major character is referred to only by a first name, last name or nickname. Viewers either never learn the character's full name, or it's saved for a reveal episode.
Reasons for this vary, but it often serves the function of making a character seem more mysterious or eccentric.
In older (pre-1900 in North America; pre-1970 in the UK) fiction, a narrator may refer to a character (especially an ol ...
Complete Monster
Sometimes a villain is not more 'fun' to watch than the heroes. Sometimes a villain isn't entertaining at all. These are villains whose horrific actions earn our rightful disgust, anger and hatred. These evil characters frequently believe life is all about them, lack any understanding of empathy or morality, and even more often simply do it for fun.
This is it. The end of the line for evil and evi ...
Disney Death
Beloved major character is seemingly killed at the climax of the movie/episode, hearts are wrenched, four-year-olds are traumatized, and then — oh look, they're Not Quite Dead after all.
A variant is the Robot Disney Death where a Robot Buddy is seemingly destroyed in a Heroic Sacrifice. While at least one character mourns, the robot reappears fully repaired after an extensive period in Mr Fixit ...
Follow The Leader
For a town that prides itself on being the place where dreams are made, there doesn't seem to be much original thought in Hollywood; rather, the focus tends to be on imitation rather than innovation, of re-creating success instead of creating it.
Specifically, whenever any one movie, television show, etc. enjoys considerable success, expect every studio executive, producer, director and writer in ...
Dawson Casting
High school students in television look nothing like high school students in real life, for one good reason: they're played by actors who are upwards of 10-15 years older. This dates back to the earliest days of Hollywood, if not further, making it Older Than Television.
There are many reasons for this. One is that the vast majority of professional actors are twenty and up anyway, so if you hold a ...