Universal Tropes

Tropes that are used in all media and are not restricted to a single category (such as Video Game Tropes).

And no, this page has nothing to do with Universal Studios or their parks.

Oh, and hello to all you Xkcd readers.

Subindices:
 * Genre Tropes
 * Narrative Tropes
 * Topical Tropes

Tropes
See also:
 * Cut to The Index
 * Omnipresent Tropes


 * Actually, I Am Him
 * All Is Well That Ends Well
 * Appeal to Obscurity
 * Because I'm Jonesy
 * Beginner's Luck
 * The Big Board
 * Bindle Stick
 * Bigger Is Better
 * The Blind Leading the Blind
 * Bonus Material
 * Call Back
 * Chekhov's Gun
 * Closer Than They Appear
 * Comforting Comforter
 * Crazy Enough to Work
 * Cultural Cross-Reference
 * Delayed Explosion
 * Dude, Where's My Reward?
 * Elves Versus Dwarves
 * Emotional Torque
 * Everybody Remembers the Stripper
 * Every Proper Lady Should Curtsy
 * Explicit Content
 * Face On a Milk Carton
 * The Face
 * Face Palm
 * Fictional Counterpart
 * Film the Hand
 * Five Five Five
 * Floating Advice Reminder
 * From Clones to Genre
 * Geographic Flexibility
 * Genre Busting
 * Goal in Life
 * The Graph Shows the Trend
 * Group Hug
 * Grows On Trees
 * Harmful to Touch
 * Head Desk
 * Hero
 * Heroic Rematch
 * Hollywood Driving
 * Hope Springs Eternal
 * Hope Sprouts Eternal
 * Hospitality for Heroes
 * Hypocrisy Nod
 * The Illegible
 * In the Hood
 * Jumping Out of a Cake
 * Just Whistle
 * Lethal Diagnosis
 * Lie Detector
 * Loophole Abuse
 * Long Hair Is Feminine
 * Mysterious Note
 * Never Accepted in His Hometown
 * No Sense of Direction
 * Off the Chart
 * The Only One
 * Our Founder
 * Perfect Health
 * Photo Booth Montage
 * Plot Armor
 * Plot Parallel
 * Ring Ring CRUNCH
 * Rule of Empathy
 * See No Evil Hear No Evil
 * Serial Escalation
 * Sick and Wrong
 * Someday This Will Come in Handy
 * Spear Carrier
 * Stop-Motion Lighting
 * Take Our Word for It
 * That Satisfying Crunch
 * Theres No Place Like Home
 * Thief Bag
 * Time Marches On
 * Trail of Bread Crumbs
 * Trilogy
 * Trouble Follows You Home
 * TV Telephone Etiquette
 * Twisted Echo Cut
 * Unpopular Popular Character
 * Unreliable Expositor
 * Unreliable Narrator
 * Up to Eleven
 * Victory Is Boring
 * Wastebasket Ball
 * Weather Dissonance
 * We Win Because You Did Not
 * The World Ends Tomorrow
 * Wrong Turn At Albuquerque
 * You Can't Go Home Again