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This list was created by participants in the TLP Discard Project thread as an attempt to salvage trope ideas scavenged from deleted or unviable drafts.

Sometimes a draft is unfixable, but the idea is decent. So we're making a depository for anyone who wants to browse and adopt one of these trope ideas (or just use them as a starting point). As a secondary function, this page can also be used to deposit ideas that you yourself may not have the time or knowledge to successfully draft. Just don't abuse the privilege.

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Anyone is free to add to this list, or adopt ideas from it. Note, however, that if your idea is coming from a deemed-to-be-unworkable draft, please post a link to the old draft if possible.

Finally, keep in mind that this is a salvage yard, not a personal storage unit. If you have an idea that you aren't comfortable with someone else potentially taking over, don't post it here.

Also, no First-Person Writing here please, especially "This Troper". That's reserved for the forum thread.

For well-made drafts that just need some TLC, check out the TLP Adoption Drive. If you need help determining if an idea is tropeworthy, you can ask at the Trope Idea Sounding Board.

See also the Salvage List for drafts worth salvaging.

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    Ideas with no source draft 

    Ideas with a source draft 
  • A trope about a character hearing another character from the past’s voices in their head when they are ready to do something important. Source. It has a sandbox (Sandbox.Voices Of The Past) with a rehauled description and three examples.
  • A trope about a character's reaction to hair loss. Source.
  • Characters who give thanks profusely/excessively. Source. Sandbox.We Are Eternally Grateful.
  • A trope about characters standing on chairs (or other objects) in order to deliver an important or emotional speech. Source.
  • A character has been bullied to the point where they no longer even try to resist the bully due to broken spirit. Source.
  • Characters suffer an isolating communication breakdown, often during an apocalyptic scenario. Related to Impeded Communication- distinct? Source
  • A trope about a character bleeding from the ears due to a loud or harsh noise, subtrope of Ear Ache and possibly related to Brown Note. Inspiration
  • A Useful Notes or just generally education page on Cryptozoology. Source
  • A trope in aggregate about heroes have Playing with Fire powers tying into how fire is considered powerful and heroes are commonly Hot-Blooded. Would need to ensure that it doesn't quickly decay into "every heroic character uses fire". Source.
  • Nervous Squiggle Mouth: Animated or comic character has an curved zig-zag line for a mouth to indicate nervousness. Source
  • A woman wearing a hoopskirt jumps into water and uses her skirt to float, or uses the dress as a parachute. Source
  • A trope where works make fun of horror movies (etc.) for having incredibly stupid casts. NOT "people in horror movies are stupid" — that's Idiot Ball or other Contrived Stupidity Tropes. Source
  • Flushing the antagonist/monster out of hiding as a strategy. Source.
  • Kidnapped by a Relative: Someone that is...kidnapped by a relative, which would have different motives and repercussions as if its done by a stranger. Source.
  • Trade Gone Wrong: The trend in fiction for trades to always go wrong somehow. Source.
  • Xenophobe's Inn: A Trauma Inn in the xenophobic village in the middle of nowhere Source
  • Personified Doubt: Ever have doubts deep-down about some idea of yours, and imagine them being expressed by others? This is for characters, often a form of Imaginary Friend, who seem to represent these doubts on someone else's part, as a form of foil. Source.
  • Self-Inflicted Amnesia: A character purposely gives themselves permanent amnesia to hide dark secrets or get rid of painful memories. Source.
  • Benched In Hospital: "character gets injured and this causes them to get benched for a while, because they're at the hospital/in recovery" Source.
  • Satellite Family: A subtrope of Satellite Character for family members, used to characterize another character as family-oriented or to make them more relatable. Source
  • Someone is shoved against the wall. Since we already have the trope You're Insane!, the title and scope of this draft, Are you out of your mind?, could be retooled to be about the action of slamming someone up against the wall.
  • The army forms an aisle while yelling encouragement at one heroic unit, volunteered to storm the castle, go on a suicide mission, or heroic sacrific. Source: This seems like it could be something trope-shaped, but the examples and description are lacking. Also, the name "Cat Call Advance" is terrible.
  • Death by Debris: Character gets killed by getting hit with flying/falling fragments. Source draft has neither description nor examples.
  • Male Bob Haircut: A male character wearing his hair in a bob cut. Appearance trope about a feminine-looking bob haircut on a man. Needs a fresh start-over draft if someone wants to restart it as a genre- or setting-indicator instead of solely an appearance trope.
  • The concept of a Casanova or Celibate Hero disliking porn because they're "real men" could be a trope. Inspiration
  • This Needs Salt: No New Stock Phrases, salting food is People Sit on Chairs, more specific ideas in the comments might be worth a draft
    • putting salt on non-food to indicate that the character is about to attempt to eat it
    • salting food that normally isn't salted
    • using a ridiculous amount of salt / salting for a ridiculously long time to show the character is...
      • ... thinking about something else
      • ... disgusted by the food
      • ... angry at the chef / host
    • pulling a salt shaker out of Hammerspace
    • having a character salt a ridiculous big pile of food to show that that character is planning to eat it all(maybe followed by an Ambulance Cut)
    • salting food underwater
    • having a normal cartoon animal turning into a Funny Animal to salt some food and then turning right back to normal
  • Ask A Busy Mother: "A common advertisement, this is, as the name suggests, where a busy mum discusses how great The Product is, how much time it saves, how happier her kids/husband/dog are now." Source
  • Useful Notes/Aleatoric Art: Art produced by method determined by chance. Source
  • Uplifted Trope: A trope that's fallen out of favor because of constant Deconstruction is made popular/desirable again. Source
  • A comedy trope, wherein someone makes up a convoluted family relation that turns out to be a lot less convoluted than it's intended to be, as is almost immediately pointed out by the listener. Source
  • Chain Of Evidence: Investigating by finding and examining evidence one piece at a time. Source
  • Dummy Trade Gambit: This is a two part gambit, consisting of I) giving your trade partner false or incomplete information/goods because you suspect/know they will not complete their end of the bargain, then II) telling them you will only complete the trade once they have met your conditions. Source
  • Celts With Claymores: A Useful Note on Medieval Celtic countries. Source
  • A Useful Note on Dementia, preferably a bit more accurate than this: Source
  • Crit or Miss Attack: An attack that either does critical damage or nothing at all. Source
  • Destruction Is Cool: "Destruction and Violence are Awesome. As this is nigh-universal, examples should be kept to subversions, lampshades and other surprises." Source
  • Character Name In…: A title trope where the work’s title is “<Character Name> in <Title>. Source
  • Hybridization Plot: A plot about a character (usually but not necessarily evil) attempts to create a chimera/animal hybrid/half-human half-animal, or hybridize people and some other creature. Source
  • Happy Hero Serious Show: A serious/dark story with a happy, comedic hero. Source
  • Hero is seen as an outsider until they save a little girl from some kind of threat, then they're accepted as one of the locals (or at least well-regarded by them). Source
  • Gasoline To Flames: A fire breaks out, and somebody mistakenly dumps gasoline, alcohol, or some other flammable substance on it by mistake. Source
  • Collective "No": Everyone says "no" at the same time, usually in response to a particularly dumb idea. Source
  • Kissing The Proxy: One character asks another to close their eyes for a kiss, then has them kiss something else instead. Source
  • Muscles on Muscles: A cartoon sight gag where a character's so swole, their muscles have muscles. Source
  • Ridiculous Fictional Award: An in-universe fictional award that's ridiculously specific or just plain ridiculous. Mostly played for laughs. Source
  • Punching Bag of Hate: Taking out one's frustrations on a punching bag that looks like/bears a picture of an enemy. Source
  • Tycoon Game: A subtype of Simulation Game where the point is to run a business empire of some sort. Like SimCity but for capitalism. Source
  • We Have an App for that: Could work as a modern day equivalent of Specific Situation Books. Source.
  • Undercover Robot: Robots infiltrate the ranks of humans to take over/destroy them. Source.
  • Everyone Gets a Trophy: Everyone is awarded for competing. Source.
  • "No Save" Attack: An attack that prevents anyone killed by it from being revived by their friends in a game where that's normally possible. Source
  • Take That, Replacement Scrappy!: Writers effectively haze the replacement for a departed popular character. Source
  • A video game dungeon that's extremely large but can be completed relatively quickly; the remainder of the dungeon merely allows racking up loot/EXP/gold/etc. Source
  • Toss the Treasure, Treasure the Person: Character goes through hell to obtain item for another character, only to find that the other character just wanted them safe. Source
  • Snake Swing: Gag where a character swings on a vine, only to see that it's really a snake. Source
  • Forbidden Trope: An inversion of Enforced Trope where highers-up disallow creators from using a certain trope in the work. Source
  • Diegetic Commercial Break: A show lampshades, or makes a fourth-wall breaking joke about, a commercial break. Source.
  • Clock Countenance: The face of a living clock will sport humanoid features. Source
  • Kachou Fuugetsu: This is a Japanese-specific trope about a "flower, bird, wind, moon" motif. The draft was abandoned without ever establishing the significance of the motif, so it never really went anywhere. Source
  • Mexico is Yellow: A specific form of Color Wash that, for some reason, has Mexico affiliated with yellow or orange tones. Could possibly be expanded to location or temperature-specific washes. Source
  • Phone CPR: Slamming on the hook or carriage of a traditional phone in an attempt to make it work again. Form of Percussive Maintenance that's outdated/a Forgotten Trope with the proliferation of wireless and cell phones. Source
  • The Splits Are Sexy: As it existed, it was mostly just a list of female characters performing the splits. The draft claims that these examples are for fan service, but doesn't really attempt to prove that point. Source
  • Bumbling Eavesdropper: Often a comedy trope, this is about eavesdroppers who trip, stumble, or otherwise give away/almost give away their position. Source
  • Get Ready: A video game prompts the player to get ready just before the action starts. Source
  • New Love Interest Looms: Someone knocks on the door of their ex, only to meet the new love interest. Source
  • Induced Friendly Fire: "A character tricks two enemies into destroying each other." It would act as a supertrope to things like Set a Mook to Kill a Mook or Deadly Dodging. Source
  • When a detective uses gloves improperly or not at all while collecting evidence. Could also be broadened to using pens and other contaminating ways of gathering evidence. Source
  • Pals With a Professor: A younger character/brilliant professor duo who have access to Cool Science Things and go on adventures. Source
  • Nazi Counterpart / Fascist Counterpart: An Evil Doppelgänger that follows a totalitarian system from an Alternate Universe. Source
  • Only women and black men are drawn with lips; other men are portrayed as lipless by default. Source
  • A character is given a great opportunity, but that would mean abandoning her friends, so the friend try to point any negative thing to convince the character of not taking the opportunity. Source
  • A character tries to use a Euphenism, but it sounds worse than the actual word. source
  • Angelic Choir Reveal: The brief musical sting of an angelic choir used to punctuate the appearance of something divine. Source Source 2
  • Universal Jurisdiction: American military or police operate worldwide without the consent of local authorities. Source
  • Kill it with Lightning: The best way to get rid of something is to zap it.
  • Deus Ex Aquam: A hero slowly rises from a calm lake shortly before kicking ass. But how many of these aren't direct references to that one scene from Apocalypse Now?
  • Character refuses to take sides in an argument because both sides' arguments are ridiculous. Source
  • Alleged Legend: A character is famed for apocryphal exploits — deeds attributed to them, but weren't actually done by them. Source
  • New Adult Literature: A genre of sorts, essentially "Young Adult but for a slightly older market", comments on the draft came to the conclusion that this was at the time mostly a marketing scheme by publishers, but if the scheme succeeded the result would be a real genre, so the discussion would be tabled for "a year or two" until the outcome was clearer. Source
  • Hallway Hallway GHOST Hallway: Characters in an open elevator see each floor as they pass by; most of these floors are empty but one contains a monster or other Jump Scare. Source
  • Vicarious Trauma: Being Forced to Watch or walking in on something horrific, or having a close loved one or housemate who's suffered a massive trauma, can cause trauma in itself. Source
  • Threadbare Duds: A character's clothes are tattered and raggedy. Would need work to make it not just an appearance trope. Source.
  • NPC Exit Convention: The tendency of NPCs that have finished talking to the player to wander off in some direction where the player won't be able to follow once they regain control. (Mother 3 has a humorous subversion of this.) Source.
  • Exposure to a dangerous substance or item that should kill a character instead grants them superpowers. Would be the supertrope to Radiation-Induced Superpowers. Source
  • Alibi Worse Than Crime: A character needs an alibi, but the alibi is worse than what they actually did. Source
  • Historical Sex Life Upgrade: A historical figure is portrayed as having a more active sex life than the historical record suggests. Source
  • A character steers the conversation back to the plot after a digression. Source
  • The female character of a team is played up as an equally capable member of her mostly-male team, but is relegated to demeaning secondary roles (Fanservice, assisting male characters, having their work taken over by male characters, etc.). Source
  • Faux Smart Guy: Subtrope of Informed Attribute where the supposed intelligent and/or tech-savvy character never actually puts their intelligence to use. Source
  • Prank Scare: A fakeout Jump Scare caused by a character pretending to be a murderer to scare their friends. Source
  • Adult Daycare: When parents take their kids to an event that is only targeted at children, there is a special zone for adults to enjoy something in the meantime. Source
  • A character seductively beckons using the "come hither" finger gesture. Source
  • Location Specific Enemy: A type of Mook that appears in only one level of the game. Source
  • A character walks through a crowd that stares at him and talks behind his back, indicating his social isolation. Source
  • A panel in a comic is split in two to ensure the reader sees the setup of a joke before its punchline. Source
  • Added For Scale: Something of recognizable size is included to ensure audience knows something is huge. Source
  • Car Bonnet Shot: Camera Trick where the main focus is on the road as it would be seen if the camera were sitting on the hood of a moving car. Source.
  • Fake Fight, Real Issues: Characters have to stage a discussion or argument, but ultimately bring up their real issues with one another. Source
  • Video game characters use vague dialogue when talking about specific things so that the voice clips can be recycled. Source
  • Quantum Unmasking: Character A discovers the identity of the villain at the same time that, somewhere else, the villain reveals himself to Character B. Source
  • Jaded (Time) Looper: A characterization trope where a character going through a "Groundhog Day" Loop for an extended period of time slowly becomes more apathetic and embittered. Source
  • Like Canon Unless Noted: Everything in a fanfic is just as it is in the canon work, unless or until the author specifies otherwise. Source
  • Backlash Backlash: Source draft is awful, but a trope about backlash against some other backlash has merit.
  • Death Tether: A character is killed by being attached to something that falls. Source Draft has loads of examples to mine.
  • Made in a Villain's image: Source
  • Discovery Triggered Bomb: A bomb that only goes off when it's discovered. Source has tons of examples to mine.
  • The Phone Tells You The Danger Is Here: Long title aside, the idea of being warned over the phone that someone in the same room as you is dangerous is tropeworthy. Source
  • The Org Chart of Evil: The good guys have a chart of who is involved in the bad guys' organization. Source
  • The box art depicts several characters looking in one direction together, but one person is looking in a different direction, hinting that they have ulterior motives or will betray the other characters. Source
  • But Doctor, I Have to See Him!: No New Stock Phrases, but the idea, which is when a character protests a "no visitors" policy that keeps them from a loved one, is tropable. Source
  • Both of a character's parents are dead/missing, but only one is given narrative attention. Source
  • Dexterous Boxing Gloves: A character wearing boxing gloves does something that would normally be highly impractical and cumbersome or even impossible with them on. Source
  • Depression Hobby: character immerses themselves in a hobby just to cope with grief or depression. Source
  • Characters who can perfectly imitate the sounds of inanimate objects. Source
  • Genre of children's shows where the cast are all different types of emergency responders. Source
  • The standard style of print ads in The '50s. Source
  • A self-titled album that's usually referred to by fans as its color. Source
  • A big boss places you near its chest, while the camera allows you to see its head. Source
  • Cancel The Next Meeting: A character encounters something so important, weird, or disastrous that they immediately intercom their secretary to cancel their later appointments. Source
  • A universal range dogwhistle Source
  • A Useful Notes page for filming FPS techniques Source
  • A page about using Santa as a metaphor for Jesus. Source
  • Dangerous Disguise: An impostor is attacked by the enemies of whoever he's impersonating. Source
  • Mirror of Misperception: A character with body image issues sees their reflection differently. Originally posted as Mirror of Anorexia.
  • Token Gay Option: A Gay Option is significantly not as fleshed out as the straight romance options. Further discussed here, note that "significantly not as fleshed out" will need to be defined (a shorter route length? But Not Too Gay? Hide Your Lesbians?) and "token" may not be the best word to use in the title. Source.
  • Easily-Cleared Mind: An idiot forgets everything (which isn't much) to learn a new skill.Source.
  • Something Spacey This Way Comes: A character discovers something approaching from faraway. Draft.
  • The only characters in a work with a shared racial background just happen to be related. Alternatively, somebody assumes characters of the same race to be related and gets chewed out for being offensive. Source.
  • Trendy Dance Craze: A work references a real-world dance craze (the Sprinkler, the Harlem Shake, the Floss, etc) to make a character look trendy. Source.
  • A subtrope of Clothing Damage about the seat of one's pants splitting, revealing their underwear or their bare bottom. Source.
  • And You Thought It Would Succeed: A work is originally expected to be successful, but becomes a flop instead. Source
  • The Ginger Spice Effect: A Boy Band or Girl Group declines in popularity due to the departure of a member. Source
  • Welcome Sign of Doom: If you come across this sign, you'd better turn back immediately. Source
  • Edgelord Parody: Similar to Parody Sue and Testosterone Poisoning, a trope for characters whose angsty, edgy, grimdark traits are exaggerated for laughs. Often seen with parodies of Emo Teen characters. Source
  • Containment Breach: A secure facility/device meant to hold something dangerous fails and lets it out. Source
  • Deadly Senior Drivers: Similarly to Asian Drivers and Women Drivers, this is the stereotype that elderly people can't drive very well. Source
  • Sulking in the Dressing Room: Diva actors lock themselves in their dressing rooms or trailers until they get their own way. Source
  • Pig Mask: Pig face masks worn by killers, usually in horror media. Source
  • Unwitting Disguise Breaker: A disguised character is greeted by an acquaintance who doesn't realize they're in disguise, blowing their cover. Source
  • Ex Next Door: A character goes on vacation, only to discover that their ex is staying in the room next door. Source
  • Athlete Advertiser / Appeal to Sports Fame: Famous athletes use their clout to advertise products. Source
  • A trope about silly things happening at auctions. Source
  • A trope about a male character successfully performing a task a female one asks him to do because she can't. Source
  • A trope about characters with Super Speed being immature. Source
  • Assimilation Into Awesomeness: The majority of characters in a work end up as the character type most appealing to the audience, even if they started off opposing it. Source
  • Fun With Condoms: Source
  • Horrible Price Tag: A gag where someone is seemingly threatened with "paying a (terrible) price", but the price turns out to be literal money, usually a trivial amount. Source
  • Expressive Character Portrait: Source
  • A trope about zombies being nested inside of one another. Source
  • Declaration Reconsideration: A character cuts a passionate statement short to weigh their options. Compare to Verbal Backspace. Source
  • A trope about small flying vehicles used by videogame bosses. Source
  • Pulped By The Publisher: The concept of publishers destroying unsold copies of a work is viable, but the original draft was DOA because of its barebones description and lack of examples; the comments have usable information. Source
  • Rule of Twelve: The number 12 is often used as a plot device. Source
  • Microscope Exposition: A microscope is used to help explain things that are smaller than the naked eye. Source
  • A Stock Visual Metaphor about characters' noses disappearing when they get emotional. Needs to make sure examples have enough context. Source
  • Controller Slot Priority: The controller order determines the outcome of events in the game. Source
  • Submersion Torture: Torturing someone by dunking and holding them in water. Source
  • Fully Submerged Snorkeling: A fully submerged snorkel allows a character to breathe underwater. Source
  • Fez Noir: Film Noir story set in Casablanca, Morocco or Istanbul or a Qurac substitute setting. Source
  • Vinglesh: A fictional language that's actually a mashed-up real one. Source
  • Eldritch Asymmetry: Asymmetrical creatures are alien and creepy. Source
  • Judging A Book By Its Cover: Concluding something based on solely the first impression. Source
  • Incorrect Terminology Beginner: Newbies use wrong terminology for things they do. Source
  • All Magic is Channeling: Every supernatural power in a setting has an external sentient source. Source
  • Environmental Kill: The use of environmental hazards to indirectly take out your enemy. Source
  • Alien name, Ireland: When an alien or timetraveller lists their home, and handwaves it by saying it's something foreign. Source
  • Detergent Overload: Too much soap gets put into the washing machine. Hilarity Ensues. Source
  • Acquired Tastes: It starts to taste good after you've eaten more than you ever wanted. Source
  • A trope when someone deliberately removes a safety feature to show they don't need it, or to raise the stakes. Source
  • A trope about lots of small objects moving together as if a mass of fluid. Source
  • A trope about when the protagonist is plugged into another realm or body through reclining. Source
  • A Different Face In The Mirror: The face in the mirror belongs to someone else. Source
  • A trope when people attuned to the supernatural are the first to get overwhelmed once such forces start acting up. Source
  • A trope about visual effects accompanying strong punches. Source
  • Unravelling Dream: Once you notice you're in a dream, it gets a lot more surreal. Source
  • Child of Santa: Offspring of a holiday character with supernatural powers. Source
  • Glass Is Blue: The portrayal of glass as visibly blue in media, even though it's colorless in real life. Source
  • Jailbird Song: Music while behind bars. Source draft here.
  • Unknown Grudge: Basically, a character has a grudge against someone else, but the other party has no idea what it could possibly be. Source
  • Alpha Bitch Friend Request: A character is invited to join the popular group. Source
  • Team Rivals: Characters on the same team who are rivals. Source
  • Abrasive Newbie: New team members has an attitude problem. Source
  • Unknowingly Talented: A character has a skill they don't realize that they have. Source
  • Inappropriate Movies At Sleepovers: Characters watch mature movies at sleepovers. Source
  • Comically Tiny Wings: Creatures/characters with wings that are extremely tiny, yet can make them fly. Source

    Ideas from TRS efforts 
  • World of Only Children: In a work of fiction, all of the characters seem to have no siblings (formerly the idea of Only Child Syndrome). TRS thread
  • Bug Buzz Attack: A sonic attack generated by a buzzing insect or a character with an insectoid theme. This idea branched off the TRS thread for Bug Buzz.
    • A move in Pokémon is called "Bug Buzz". It's a sound-based Bug attack that damages its target. And it's the second most powerful Bug move in the game. It is commonly believed that bug moves are strong against psychic types because the buzzing sound breaks their concentration.
    • Some of the grasshopper enemies in Bug!! have an attack where they fire out a sound wave from their legs.
  • Hollywood Steering: A trope about inaccurate driving styles; supertrope to Driving a Desk and Driver Faces Passenger. The TRS thread cut it when it failed to gain any examples.
  • Ramping Shot: A trope covering a Camera Trick in which the camera moves and zooms in for dramatic effect. However, the TRS thread noted that it was severely underperforming, with examples barely having much context.
  • Siren Song: A hauntingly beautiful voice that leads you to your death. Suggested in this thread for Our Sirens Are Different.
  • Sudden Coming Out: A character unexpectedly (in-universe or otherwise) reveals that they are LGBT. The TRS thread found only 7 usable examples under this definition.
  • Twinkle Toes Samurai: A trope that covers how samurai tend to be dainty in their footwork. The thread noted the original's barebones description, while examples lacked much context. However, there is a tropable concept.
  • Virtual World: an index for immersive online environments, such as ovo188 like Furcadia and Mole's World. TRS thread that cut the original page decided that it was a viable idea, but so old and below current standards. The thread contains the contents of the old page.
  • Laser Show: A VFX trope. The use of real-life (low power) lasers as a visual used in stage shows. Cut from Frickin' Laser Beams TRS because they didn't fall under any Energy Weapon use.
    • Music.Jean Michel Jarre: Part of most Jarre concerts. There used to be laser projections, today there are laser scanners, and let's not forget the Laser Harp.
    • Music.Perfume:
      • Their concerts feature liberal use of green ones, specifically. In fact, for their 2013 European tour they had to import the machines from Japan.
      • Used liberally in the dance shot of the "Laser Beam" PV.
      • Behold this jaw-dropping live performance of "Mugenmirai", from Perfume's Perfume x Technology series.
  • Cult Soundtrack: The TRS thread for this trope agreed on redefining this trope as "a soundtrack that is more popular than the work it came from". Some examples of this can be found on this sandbox.
  • Re-Ditto: The opposite of Divergent Character Evolution, where two characters become more similar over time. The TRS thread cut it for not thriving, with only 4 of the 11 examples being valid.
  • Matchmaker Game: A type of show that focuses on simulated dating. A TRS thread noted its anemic description, ZCE's, and archaic markup, but felt that it can be a viable genre page.
  • Only 0.2% Different: A trope revolving around how similar one creature's DNA is to people, though there are nonhuman variants. The TRS thread noted a confusing name keeping it from thriving. A post was made to archive the page image and valid on-page examples, for use in a possible TLP draft.
  • Mediator: A trope about characters who have some kind of mediator function. The TRS did not find anyone volunteering to make or maintain such a TLP (examples here) so it was put here instead.
  • Dragon Power: A trope about characters having dragon-themed powers, such as summoning dragons or dragon-like creatures. Ex amples.
  • Arc Break: A case in which an author sets an arc aside temporarily to focus on another. Some examples have been archived.
  • Kids Hate Grownups' Conversations: Children are depicted as uninterested in adult conversations. This thread determined there's something tropeworthy in there; it just needs more examples.
  • Dreaded Makeover: A character's possession gets a makeover, with disastrous results and the owner's disapproval. Originally restricted to cars, and it's suggested in-thread that examples featuring other items should be covered as well.
  • Cut to the Funny: A humorous scene is used to retain attention, usually during exposition. Examples archived in the TRS thread.
  • A trope about an overly complicated mechanic (usually in a video game) that is later reworked to be much more simple and sensible. TRS decided that the old name "The Pennyfarthing Effect" needed to be changed. Salvaged examples can be found here. Before the page was cut, it had this image◊, as chosen by this IP thread.
  • Ick Barrier: Something important is protected by something revolting. Determined to be a tropeworthy concept in this TRS thread. Link to salvaged examples here.
  • A trope in which someone knowingly goes the scenic route, Scenery Porn usually included. Salvaged examples from a TRS effort here.
  • Rule-Playing: A style of roleplaying in which game rules dictate everything. Some examples are saved in the TRS thread.
  • Some ideas on the sandbox for Phone Booth, including using a phone booth as a trap. TRS discussion
  • A trope in which viewers watching an event or show leave to use the restroom, the fridge, or other appliances during a low point of the program. TRS thread with examples
  • No Tech Night: An agreement to go a day without electronic communication. Link to TRS thread; examples and description from the old trope (No Phones Tonight) can be found on Sandbox.No Tech Night.
  • Troublesome Animate Object: An Animate Inanimate Object, not necessarily malevolent, causes all sorts of mischief. This was the old definition of Books That Bite, before this TRS thread narrowed the latter to animate books only.
  • Punch Spin Gape: A comedy trope in which a character spins around after being punched. Some valid examples are listed in the opening post of the TRS thread.
  • Ethnicity Obscuring Mutation: A character’s ethnicity is obscured by their unusual physical attributes. The original page for this concept has been cut as per consensus from this TRS thread due to the definition being unclear.
  • Surreal Symbolic Heads: A character with a humanoid body has an unusual head because of symbolism. This concept used to have a page but was merged with its super trope, Non-Human Head, because of the high example overlap.
  • One Last Fling: Lovers share one last fling together before closing the door on their relationship forever. Sandbox here.
  • Pronunciation Trouble: Someone's being corrected regarding how a word or name is pronounced. Split off from what used to be "It Is Pronounced Tro-PAY"; example list is kept in this sandbox.
  • Installment Quality Drop: Supertrope to Seasonal Rot and Sequelitis, for when an installment's quality is thought to be lower than its predecessor's. Link to thread.
  • Gloves Of Toughness: Gloves, particularly fingerless gloves, indicate "rough-and-ready"ness — the character is willing to jump straight into the action. In this sense, may overlap with Boots of Toughness.
  • Gloves Of Coolness: Gloves, particularly fingerless gloves, are given to a character to indicate that they're cool and/or badass.
  • Odd Oversized Sleeves, where oversized sleeves are meant to denotate a character being odd or eccentric.From this thread for Hand-Hiding Sleeves.
  • High Class Sleeves, where large sleeves are meant to add to a character being rich or royalty. From this thread for Hand-Hiding Sleeves.
  • Sneaky Sleeves, where a character's sleeves covering their hands is meant to indicate them being untrustworthy or mysterious. From this thread for Hand-Hiding Sleeves.
  • Theme Deck: A deck of TCG cards with a central theme. From this TRS thread for the now cut Theme Deck page.
  • Hodgepodge Computer: A computer hobbyist/genius builds a computer and/or programs their own operating system, throwing in twists and bizarre logic as they go. They may have a specialized purpose, or only be tinkering. The result is inevitably an ugly mess loaded down with buttons but may prove surprisingly powerful. From this TRS thread.
  • Psycho Butterfly Knife: Subtrope of Psycho Knife Nut that portrays butterfly knives as the preferred weapon of unhinged individuals.
  • Stock Jungle Setting: Stereotypical depictions of jungles in fiction. The idea came from this thread for The Amazon.
  • Country Is Only City: Depictions of a country or region thereof usually only take place in one city there.
  • Bandage Fanservice: The use of bandages for Fanservice Costumes. Salvaged from Bandage Babe per this TRS thread.
  • Bandages of Vulnerability: The use of bandages to indicate a character's vulnerability. Salvaged from Bandage Babe per this TRS thread.
  • Whooshing Credits: Credits that fly around, often toward or away from the screen, leaving trails behind them. The original page for the trope has been cut for not thriving per this TRS thread.
  • Unrelated Effects: When an object or action produces an effect that it shouldn't be able to cause.
  • Puzzlement About Payment: One character mentions their paychec, and the character they're talking to is surprised they get paid at all.
  • Unnamed Disorder: The work states the character has a mental problem but doesn't clarify.
  • Extreme attention to detail: Characters have extreme attention to detail. Salvaged from Super OCD per this TRS thread.
  • Hollywood OCD: Stereotypical depictions of obsessive compulsive disorder.Salvaged from Super OCD per this TRS thread.
  • "Randomly encountering an old foe and fighting for old time's sake": Upon seeing each other, rivals decide to duke it out, more for the sake of recalling old times or bonding than actual fighting over good and evil. Examples were moved to this sandbox. Salvaged from Lying in the Dirt Together per this TRS thread.
  • Hexagonal Speech Balloon: Offscreen characters are shown in speech balloons. Salvaged from this TRS thread.
  • "Signature Shoes": Distinctive footwear that hints at a character's personality. Salvaged from this TRS thread.
  • "Stock Slasher Weapons": Certain weapons are associated with murderers, such as axes and knives. Salvaged from this TRS thread for An Axe to Grind; examples have been copied to Sandbox.An Axe To Grind in case anything is salvageable.
  • "Violent Axe Murderer": Murderers who use axes are particularly violent. Subtrope of "Stock Slasher Weapons". Salvaged from this TRS thread for An Axe to Grind; examples have been copied to Sandbox.An Axe To Grind in case anything is salvageable.
  • Aerial Wrestler: Wrestlers with an agile, aerial wrestling style, being split from misuse of I Have the High Ground (since renamed to Dramatic High Perching). [1]
  • "Hero/Villain Sex Life Contrast": Heroes have more fulfilling sex lives than villains. Examples have been salvaged from Good People Have Good Sex on this sandbox. Salvaged from this TRS thread.
  • "Bad People, Bad Sex Lives": Evil characters are shown to have unfulfilling sex lives. Examples have been salvaged from Good People Have Good Sex on this sandbox. Salvaged from this TRS thread.
  • "Porcupine Prick": Porcupines are typically grumpy or mean. TRS thread
  • Beings that drain life force via sex: Split off Horny Devils, which was expanded to include succubi and incubi in general, regardless of whether they drain life force via sex. May include some examples of Horny Devils (i.e., ones that fit traditional depictions of them draining life force via sex). Salvaged from Horny Devils per this TRS thread.
  • "Dramatic Landfall Shot": The opening shot that takes the form of a forward travelling on the sea, with the camera slowly rising to give a view of the shore. TRS thread.
  • "Quick Draw Decision": Someone is faced with a difficult choice, perhaps a Sadistic Choice. They will undoubtedly need to spend a few moments thinking it over, perhaps Wangsting a little, but will still quickly come to a decision. TRS thread.
  • "Adaptation for Child Performers": These adaptations are often heavily modified to make them suitable for performance by young and very young children. Many undergo some Bowdlerization, and the parts kids don't like often get cut out as well. Beyond subject matter concerns these plays see simplification of lines and parts to make them more manageable for the child actors, with the possible exception of the protagonist which will usually be taken on by the best student of the highest grade level of the production. Vocal Ranges will also likely be simplified to avoid straining any young voices. Time is also a factor - scenes and sometimes whole acts are sometimes cut to bring the length down, with an hour or half hour being the two most frequent target lengths. This is both for the attention span of the performers but also sometimes to comply with local laws concerning child performance. Salvaged from this TRS thread.
  • "Selective Localisation": Separate countries receive different translations despite the countries in question using the same language, such as having separate American English and British English translations. Salvaged from this TRS thread.
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