Trope Distinctions/D-F: Difference between revisions

** [[Fluffy the Terrible]] has a cute / funny / nonsensical name but is actually very dangerous and / or sinister.

 

* [[Dead Person Conversation]]: The dead character speaks to the living, perhaps as a [[Spirit Advisor]].

* [[Mummies At the Dinner Table]]: The living character treats a dead body as though the dead person is still alive. The living person is usually crazy.

* [[Of Corpse He's Alive]]: The living character pretends that a dead body is still alive. This is usually part of some [[Zany Scheme]].

* [[Please Wake Up]]: The living character can't accept or understand the fact that someone has just died. The living person is usually a young child or in a state of shock.

 

 

==== [[Death Seeker]] vs. [[Kill Me Now or Forever Stay Your Hand]] vs. [[Please Kill Me If It Satisfies You]] ====

* [[Implacable Man]] is a character who never stops pursuing his goal because he cannot be damaged.

 

* [[Deus Ex Nukina]] is when a nuke is [[Hollywood Science|scientifically]] used to avert a disaster or solve a problem.

* [[Nuclear Option]] is when a nuke is an appropriate, deliberated violent response to a problem that conventional munitions cannot handle.

 

==== [[Development Hell]] vs. [[Vaporware]] ====

** [[Vaporware]] is the '''video game''' equivalent.

 

* [[Die for Our Ship]] is when fans of a pair of characters twist one of their possible [[Love Interests]] into something [[Out of Character|completely unlike their original character]] (either in [[Fan Fiction]] or just their general view of the character) to make way for their [[One True Pairing]].

 

* [[Raygun Gothic]] was the predominant aesthetic of science fiction from the [[Real Life]] 1920's through the 1950's; these days, it's mainly used for sci-fi that's deliberately trying to be retro. It's a relatively shiny and optimistic vision of the ([[History Marches On|then-]]) future.

 

==== [[Difficult but Awesome]] vs. [[Lethal Joke Character]] ====

* [[Lethal Joke Character]]: A character/faction appears to be a [[Joke Character]] at first, but actually has some hidden tricks that can be exploited for victory.

 

* [[Dirty Business]]: A character regrets knowingly and willingly [[Shoot the Dog|shooting the dog]] or otherwise [[I Did What I Had to Do|doing something unpleasant but necessary]].

 

* [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]]: [[Fanon|Fans interpret the story]] as the author's retelling of a true story, with no direct support from [[Canon]] or [[Word of God]].

* [[Recursive Canon]]: The story contains a [[Nested Story|story within a story]] that includes elements of the "outer" story.

* [[A True Story in My Universe]]: A [[Nested Story|story within a story]] is based on true events in the world of the "outer" story, as distinguished from real-world [[Canon]] or [[Fanon]].

 

* [[Discontinuity]]: Certain events in a narrative are dismissed and ignored.

* [[Fanon Discontinuity]]: Certain events in a narrative are dismissed and ignored, as if they never happened, by the fandom.

* [[Retcon]]: Certain events in a narrative are re-presented so that things happened differently than originally portrayed.

* [[Foot Focus]] is where a work has shots or passages focusing on somebody's bare foot in a sexualised way, to a degree that the work appears to be made [[Author Appeal|by]] or [[Playing to The Fetishes|for]] foot fetishists.

 

* [[In Name Only]] is when a production is slated from the beginning to be an adaptation, but the resulting production has only a superficial resemblance to the source material, usually with cries of [[Adaptation Decay]].

 

* [[Not Afraid to Die]]: The character ''lives'' knowing they can die any moment but is not afraid of it.

* [[Don't Fear the Reaper]]: The [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of death is not scary at all.

 

* [[Redemption Demotion]] is about someone becoming good and then becoming dumb or less useful.

 

 

 

* [[Easily Forgiven]] is when a character (usually but not always a villain) is explicitly forgiven by someone for [[Kick the Dog|misdeeds committed earlier in the series]].

* If there's no explanation of any sort given, then the character becomes a [[Karma Houdini]].

 

==== [[End of an Age]] vs. [[Gotterdammerung]] vs. [[Death of the Old Gods]] vs. [[Here There Were Dragons]] vs. [[The Magic Goes Away]] ====

* In a [[Gotterdammerung]], the power of the old gods was broken in some sort of cataclysm.

* The [[Death of the Old Gods]] happens more slowly and generally less violently.

==== [[Even the Girls Want Her]] / [[Even the Guys Want Him]] vs. [[Gay Moment]] vs. [[Stupid Sexy Flanders]] ====

* [[Even the Girls Want Her]] / [[Even the Guys Want Him]] describes a character who comes across as ridiculously attractive to people usually attracted to his or her gender as well as a disproportionate amount of people who aren't.

* [[Stupid Sexy Flanders]] is simply the phenomenon of someone experiencing unwarranted sexual attraction towards a member of a sex they usually aren't attracted to. Usually [[Played for Laughs]]. Different from the [[Gay Moment]] in that its origins are sexual.

 

* [[No Name Given]] is when a character may go by title or a nickname, but his actual name is never stated.

 

* A [[Criminal Doppelganger]] is Evil [[Identical Stranger]] who just so happens to resemble [[The Hero]].

 

** Please don't do either of these.

 

* [[Expository Hairstyle Change]] is when a character's hairstyle/-color or facial hair changes in order to show you (usually subtly) that something is different (usually their personality).

* [[Important Haircut]] is often a subtype in which a character's hair is specifically cut, almost always as a symbolic or otherwise important act. This may or may not be expository.

 

==== [[Exalted Torturer]] vs. [[Torture Technician]] vs. [[Yandere]]/CuteAndPsycho ====

* An [[Exalted Torturer]] is viewed as [[Designated Hero|heroic]] or as [[Lawful Good]], when his actions are more in line with being a [[Complete Monster]] acting as [[Lawful Evil]] or even [[Chaotic Evil]] or [[For the Evulz]]. He is (almost) [[Always Male]] with very few female exceptions as far and the combination of the [[Designated Hero]] with elements of the [[Torture Technician]], wrapped up in a [[The Hero]] [[Knight in Shining Armor]] package, and stuck on the "white" side of [[Black and White Morality]].

* The [[Torture Technician]] is simply and only a professional torturer. He exists on the black side of [[Black and White Morality]], or in a universe of [[Grey and Grey Morality]], [[Blue and Orange Morality]], or [[Evil Versus Evil]], and is not specifically defined as someone the audience should be rooting for or supporting [[Misaimed Fandom|even if some do.]].

* The difference between these two is that heroism/being on the "side of good" defines the [[Exalted Torturer]], whereas "professionalism" and skill ''alone'' define the [[Torture Technician]]. A heroic [[Cowboy Cop]] who rapes an accused pedophile as "punishment" with no real knowledge of having had anal sex before, for example, is an [[Exalted Torturer]], even if he has no idea of how to do what he's doing. Said [[Cowboy Cop]] would be a [[Torture Technician]], on the other hand, if he was portrayed as the story's antihero or villain or suspect, and he had studied for years on how to conduct the most painful castrations possible and set up a "castration lab" to which he lured his [[Asshole Victim]] s.

* The [[Yandere]] and [[Cute and Psycho]] tropes often collect female characters who would fall into either trope, because due to a [[Double Standard]], female torturers are assumed to act out of relationship reasons or insanity or derangement 100 percent of the time as opposed to a simple desire to hurt other people. This should be a [[Discredited Trope]], but it is played straight often enough that the [[Exalted Torturer]] is [[Always Male]], whereas a female acting in the same way (a heroic torturer) will almost always be played for [[Fan Service]] as a [[Yandere]]. A female [[Torture Technician]], on the other hand (a torture specialist who is not heroic), will be played for [[Drama]] and often [[Fetish]] as a [[The Mentally Disturbed|mentally disturbed]] [[Cute and Psycho]] individual.

 

* An [[Expospeak Gag]] is about complex ways of expressing simple concepts.

 

==== [[Face of the Band]] vs. [[I Am the Band]] ====

* The [[Miles Gloriosus]] is a [[Fake Ultimate Hero]] who ''actively claims'' credit for lots of heroic behavior, but when put to the test is always a [[Dirty Coward]].

 

* In [[Family Versus Career]], a woman with a family and a career is forced to choose between the two, usually in favor of the former and with the implication that that is what a woman should choose.

 

==== [[Fan Disservice]] vs. [[Fetish Retardant]] ====

* The [[Space Whale Aesop]] suggests a real, viable course of action ("don't perform nuclear tests") by presenting fantastic consequences ("radiation from the tests will awaken an army of zombies").

 

* If the drug doesn't exist, it's a [[Fantastic Drug]].

 

==== [[Filler]] vs. [[Padding]] vs. [[Wacky Wayside Tribe]] ====

==== [[The Film of the Book]] vs. [[The Movie]] ====

* [[The Movie]] is a film spun off from a TV series.

 

* [[The Film of the Series]] uses a different cast. (And is usually out of continuity, unless it's a years-later sequel.)

* [[The Movie]] uses the series cast and is in continuity.

 

* [[The Psycho Rangers]] are a collective [[Evil Counterpart]] to the heroes.

* A [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] are a group of footsoldiers or Lieutenants to the [[Big Bad]] who can include [[The Dragon]] as a leader, but in general are just a collection of skilled warriors to challenge the heroes. Their personality quirks don't necessarily dictate their defining role in the group.

* [[Plot Induced Stupidity]]: A standard ability of the character could have been used, but they forgot to.

 

* [[Your Costume Needs Work]] is when appearing as yourself fails, invoking the trope name as a phrase.

 

 

==== [[Funny Animal]] vs. [[Petting Zoo People]] vs. [[Little Bit Beastly]] ====

* [[Petting Zoo People]] resemble a human body with an animal's head and tail substituted. Has human mannerisms. Usually wears clothing but doesn't (necessarily) require them, character posesses the same body fur/feathers/scale as the animal. Very common in the [[Furry Fandom]].

* [[Little Bit Beastly]] characters resemble a human with only the animal's [[Unusual Ears|ears]] and tail present. Has human mannerisms; would be obviously [[Fan Service|naked]] without their clothes on.

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[[Category:Canonical List of Subtle Trope Distinctions]]