We Are Not Alone Index

In short, tropes which have Wikipedia articles. In long:

Here on All The Tropes, just as on The Other Tropes Wiki, we tropers dedicate ourselves to cataloging recurrent patterns in fiction. Everyone knows that; it's the name of the game. Other sites deal with tropes, too, though none of them are as exhaustive as we are, which is perfectly normal. However, there's one site that takes it too far: it's supposed to a free world-class encyclopedia, yet it's wasting time talking on and on about cliches in fiction. And that's our job. Isn't that a waste of bandwidth? Perhaps so, but the practice is a lot more common than non-tropers would think.

The truth of the matter is Wikipedians do it for a variety of reasons—the Trope may be common enough for scholarly interest, it may say something about psychology, or it may simply just be one of those many Silly Things Wikipedia does. On the other hand, it might also be because our two Tropes wikis have fallen victim to the Law of Wiki Expansion, and the topic really is one that best fits in a general-interest encyclopedia. In any case, it's beneficial to both All The Tropes and TV Tropes; the more pages on tropes there are on Wikipedia, the more people will be led to our sites.

Not to be confused with You Are Not Alone, or the idea of other intelligent life in the galaxy.


 * 2½D:
 * Absent-Minded Professor:
 * Acquired Poison Immunity:
 * Alien Autopsy:
 * Alien Space Bats:
 * Alpha Bitch:
 * Anal Probing:
 * Anime Fan Speak:
 * Anthropomorphic Personification:
 * Anti-Hero:
 * The Backwards R:
 * Bag of Holding:
 * Bathos and Narm share one under the former's name:
 * Bed Trick:
 * The Bermuda Triangle:
 * Big Bad:
 * Big Dumb Object:
 * Brain In a Jar:
 * Brand Name Takeover:
 * British Royal Guards:
 * Byronic Hero:
 * The Caper:
 * Cassandra Truth:
 * Changeling Tale:
 * Cheesy Moon:
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Chewbacca Defense:
 * Clip Show:
 * Comic Book Time:
 * Cosmic Egg:
 * Crocodile Tears:
 * Deflector Shield:
 * Development Hell:
 * Damsel in Distress:
 * Double Entendre:
 * Droste Image:
 * Dynamic Difficulty:
 * Dyson Sphere:
 * Ear Worm:
 * Everything's Worse With Snowclones:
 * Evil Eye:
 * Evil Laugh:
 * False-Flag Operation:
 * Fan Service:
 * Fictional Political Party:
 * Final Girl:
 * Foreshadowing: (Though it is a common literary term.)
 * Four Is Death:
 * Freaky Friday Flip:
 * Freemium:
 * Freudian Slip:
 * The Gadfly:
 * Gallows Humor:
 * Gaslamp Fantasy:
 * Gaslighting:
 * Genie in a Bottle:
 * Gentleman Detective:
 * Gentleman Thief:
 * GIFT:
 * Grandfather Paradox:
 * Hammerspace:
 * Hand Waving:
 * Harsh Vocals: (but the intro lists harsh vocals as a variant)
 * Hazmat Suit:
 * Heavy Metal Umlaut:
 * Here There Be Dragons:
 * Hime Cut:
 * Honey Trap:
 * Hooker with a Heart of Gold:
 * I'm a Humanitarian:
 * The covers these three tropes:
 * Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy (Stormtrooper Effect)
 * Mook Chivalry (One-at-a-time Attack Rule)
 * Conservation of Ninjitsu (Inverse Ninja Law)
 * Indian Summer:
 * Inherently Funny Words:
 * In the Future, Humans Will Be One Race:
 * Isometric Projection:
 * Jewish Mother:
 * Jumping the Shark:
 * Kaiju:
 * Kawaisa:
 * Knight Errant:
 * Kraken and Leviathan: and
 * Leitmotif:
 * Lite Creme:
 * Loose Lips: as well as
 * Loudness War:
 * MacGuffin:
 * Magic Carpet:
 * Magical Girlfriend:
 * Magical Negro:
 * Magnum Opus:
 * Mammy:
 * Man-Eating Plant: and
 * Manic Pixie Dream Girl:
 * Mary Sue:
 * Meaningful Name:
 * Memetic Mutation:
 * Metal Scream:
 * Microtransactions:
 * Min-Maxing:
 * Miranda Rights:
 * Moe Anthropomorphism:
 * Mondegreen:
 * Money to Burn:
 * Monkeys on a Typewriter: ,
 * Monster Clown:
 * Most Tropers Are Young Nerds:, much more of a problem there than here
 * Munchkin:
 * Mutants:
 * Nazi Hunter:
 * Network Decay:
 * Nice Jewish Boy:
 * Noble Savage:
 * Nose Art:
 * No True Scotsman:
 * Nouveau Riche:, see also
 * Obfuscating Insanity:
 * Occult Detective:
 * One-Hit Wonder:
 * Opinion Myopia:
 * Patchwork Story:
 * Percussive Maintenance:
 * Plot Device:
 * Plot Hole:
 * Portable Hole:
 * Powered Armor:
 * President for Life:
 * Prison Ship:
 * Pull a Rabbit Out of My Hat:
 * Pyrrhic Victory:, also which is virtually the same.
 * Rags to Riches:
 * Ray Gun:
 * Raygun Gothic:
 * Red Herring:
 * Red Shirt:
 * Ring of Power:
 * Robinsonade:
 * Ruritania:, also for the related genre
 * Saw a Woman In Half:
 * Scandalgate:
 * Scatting: and
 * Schrodingers Cat:
 * Scunthorpe Problem:
 * Screwed by the Lawyers: ; also applies to patent law, land ownership, leasing issues, etc.)
 * Sdrawkcab Name:
 * Self-Immolation:
 * Sea Monster:
 * Shaggy Dog Story:
 * Shark Tunnel:
 * Shipping:
 * Short Runners:, though that's a little more restrictive.
 * Signature Song:
 * Situational Sexuality:
 * Snipe Hunt:
 * Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome:
 * Solar-Powered Magnifying Glass:
 * Spontaneous Human Combustion:
 * Star-Crossed Lovers:
 * Streisand Effect:
 * Super Couple:
 * Syncro-Vox:
 * Sweeps Week Lesbian Kiss:
 * Switched At Birth:
 * Tastes Like Chicken:
 * Tetris Effect:
 * The Thirty-Six Stratagems:
 * This Is a Work of Fiction:
 * Tickle Torture:
 * Tin Can Telephone:
 * Tontine:
 * Tsundere:
 * Tuckerization:
 * Turtle Island:
 * Unconventional Formatting: (although our definition is much more broad)
 * Unobtainium:
 * Unreliable Narrator:
 * Vaporware:
 * Very Special Episode:
 * Video Phone:
 * Visual Pun:
 * Walk and Talk:
 * Walk This Way:
 * Wet Sari Scene:
 * What Measure Is a Non-Cute?:
 * William Telling:
 * Willing Suspension of Disbelief:
 * World Building:
 * Yamato Nadeshiko:
 * Zero-G Spot