Super-Trope

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Some tropes can be pretty broad in scope, enough to cover one or more Sub-Tropes under them.

Let's say you have tropes for "Scarf Juggling" and "Knife Juggling". Just plain "Juggling" would be the Super Trope for both of them. The key point is that the definition of a sub trope must include the definition of the super trope, just with special qualifiers that make it distinct.

In logic terms👁 Image
, the Super Trope would be the genus, and the sub tropes the differentia.

Now even if the definition must be included, that doesn't necessarily mean every example must be. In most cases, every sub trope example would also count as an example of the super trope, but there are some exceptions due to the nature of some tropes. Pink Product Ploy includes the definition of Pink Means Feminine, but as an aspect to sell products, not to make the products fit the trope (so something considered masculine wouldn't be the super trope just because it's colored pink; its merely relying on the color association to appear feminine). Fortunately it's always best to list sub trope examples on their sub trope pages instead of their supertrope ones,^note since it helps keep page lengths from bloating so you needn't worry about whether every example fits its super trope(s).

This is also important, as a Missing Supertrope can lead to people thinking a trope is broader than it is.

Do not confuse this with indexes. They're about listing when pages have common elements. Though not only can indexes have super and sub pages, a super trope can be an index if it has enough sub tropes.

Compare Sister Trope.

Not to be confused with The Same, but More, Exaggerated Trope, Superhero Tropes.

A Sample of Super Tropes And Their Sub Tropes

• Action Hero (Action Girl, Action Genre Hero Guy, Action Pet, Hollywood Action Hero and Nerd Action Hero)
• Adaptation Deviation
• Anomalous Art (Creepy Changing Painting, Living Statue, Phantom-Zone Picture, Portal Picture and Spooky Painting)
• Anti-Hero (Classical Anti-Hero, Knight in Sour Armor, Nominal Hero, Pragmatic Hero, Punch-Clock Hero, Unscrupulous Hero)
• Anti-Villain (Noble Demon, Non-Malicious Monster, Punch-Clock Villain, Well-Intentioned Extremist, Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds)
• Appropriate Animal Attire (all the Animal Clothing Tropes)
• Arduous Descent to Terra Firma (Cat Up a Tree, Coming in Hot, Crash Course Landing, No Escape but Down)
• Artistic License – Prison (Cardboard Prison, The Guards Must Be Crazy, Falling into Jail, "Inescapable" Prison Easily Escaped, Juvenile Hell, No Prison Segregation, Widely-Spaced Jail Bars)
• Ass Pull (Deus ex Machina and Diabolus ex Machina)
• Badass
• Benevolent Monsters (Big-Hearted Bigfoot, Chummy Mummy, Delightful Dragon, Friendly Ghost, Friendly Neighborhood Vampire, Friendly Skeleton, Friendly Zombie, Wonderful Werewolf)
• Bigger Is Better
• Body Snatcher (Body Surf, Clone by Conversion, Demonic Possession, Familial Body Snatcher, "Freaky Friday" Flip, "Freaky Friday" Sabotage, Grand Theft Me, People Puppets, Puppeteer Parasite and Raised as a Host)
• Cap (Absurdly High Level Cap, Absurdly Low Level Cap, Arbitrary Augmentation Limit, Arbitrary Headcount Limit, Character Name Limits and One Bullet at a Time)
• Characters
• Character Focus (A Day in the Limelight)
• Character Title (Adjective Noun Fred, Antagonist Title, Character Name and the Noun Phrase, Epunymous Title, Family Title, The Full Name Adventures, I, Noun, Mononymous Biopic Title, Multi-Character Title, Name and Name, Protagonist and Friends, Protagonist Title, Role Called, Secondary Character Title, Self-Titled Album, Spotlight-Stealing Title, The Talk Show with Host Name and Team Title)
• Chekhov's Gun
• The Chosen One (Birthmark of Destiny, The Chosen Many, The Chosen People, The Chosen Wannabe, The Chosen Zero, The Chooser of the One, It Sucks to Be the Chosen One, Legacy of the Chosen, Multiple-Choice Chosen, Only the Chosen May Ride, Only the Chosen May Wield, The Poorly Chosen One and The Unchosen One)
• Civilians Are Irrelevant
• Closer to Earth (Magical Asian, Magical Negro and White Male Lead)
• Common Knowledge (Beam Me Up, Scotty!, Cowboy BeBop at His Computer, Fandom-Enraging Misconception, God Never Said That, I Am Not Shazam, Mandela Effect, Title Confusion, Viewer Name Confusion and Word of Dante)
• Conflict
• The Dictatorship (Banana Republic, Commie Land, Intellectually Supported Tyranny and Police State)
• Death from Above (Colony Drop, Kill Sat and Orbital Bombardment)
• Eating the Enemy (Cannibalism Superpower, Fed to the Beast, and You Are Who You Eat)
• Eldritch Abomination (Adaptational Abomination, Adorable Abomination, Animalistic Abomination, Botanical Abomination, Draconic Abomination, Eldritch Location, Eldritch Starship, Genetic Abomination, Humanoid Abomination, Mechanical Abomination, Santabomination, and Undead Abomination)
• Expy (Alternate Company Equivalent, Captain Ersatz, Corrupted Character Copy, Expy Coexistence, Fountain of Expies and Virtuous Character Copy)
• The Face (The Heart, Team Dad and Team Mom)
• A Friend in Need (Good Samaritan, I Got You Covered, Changed My Mind, Kid, Financial Test of Friendship, Gondor Calls for Aid, and Greater Need Than Mine)
• Hated by All (Asshole Victim, 0% Approval Rating)
• Ideal Hero (All-Loving Hero, The Cape, Captain Patriotic and Knight in Shining Armor)
• Jade-Colored Glasses (Knight in Sour Armor, Jaded Professional, Jaded Washout, Mentor in Sour Armor, Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!, Silly Rabbit, Romance Is for Kids!, Took a Level in Cynic, and Used to Be a Sweet Kid)
• Jerkass (Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Jerk with a Heart of Jerk)
• Journey to the Sky (Beanstalk Parody, Call of the Wild Blue Yonder, Scaling the Summit, Tower of Babel)
• Like Father, Like Son (Daddy's Little Villain, Follow in My Footsteps, Generation Xerox, Heroic Lineage, In the Blood, Lamarck Was Right, Lineage Comes from the Father, Loser Son of Loser Dad, "Not So Different" Remark, Overlord Jr., Pursuing Parental Perils, Save You From Becoming Your Parent, Secret Legacy, and Shared Family Quirks)
• Living a Double Life
• MacGuffin (too many to count them all, but examples include Plot Coupon, Artifact of Doom, Living MacGuffin and MacGuffin Location)
• Magical Weapon
• Making Love in All the Wrong Places (Auto Erotica, Elevator Going Down, Mile-High Club, Professionals Do It on Desks, Two-Person Pool Party, Zero-G Spot)
• Maternal Impression (Bastard Bastard, Inbred and Evil)
• Nature Is Not a Toy (Gaia's Vengeance, The Power of the Sun)
• No-Harm Requirement (Bring It Back Alive, Can't Kill You, Still Need You, I Want Them Alive!, Sheathe Your Sword and Thou Shall Not Kill)
• Our Clones Are Different (Born as an Adult, Clone by Conversion, Modified Clone, Only One Me Allowed Right Now, Opposite-Sex Clone, Two-Donor Clone)
• Outside-Context Problem (Evil Learns of Outside Context, Outside-Genre Foe and Technologically Advanced Foe)
• Pink Means Feminine (Pink Is Erotic, Pink Girl, Blue Boy, Pink Heroine, Pink Is for Sissies, Princesses Prefer Pink, Pink Product Ploy, and Rose-Haired Sweetie)
• Player Elimination (Battle Royale Game, Deadly Game, Eliminated from the Race, and Voted Off the Island)
• Plot
• Pretty Boy
• Primp of Contempt (Distracted by My Own Sexy)
• Prized Possession Giveaway ("Gift of the Magi" Plot, Hair Memento, It Was a Gift, Meaningful Gift, Selling One's Own Hair)
• Product Delivery Ordeal (30 Minutes, or It's Free!, Carrying a Cake, Courier, MacGuffin Escort Mission, Nitro Express, Sheet of Glass)
• Removing the Rival (Murder the Hypotenuse and Crippling the Competition)
• Recycled Premise (Animated Adaptation, Distaff Counterpart, Recycled with a Gimmick, Spiritual Antithesis, Spiritual Crossover, Spiritual Successor and Whole-Plot Reference)
• Rule of Index
• Sanity Slippage (Madness Makeover, Sanity Slippage Song)
• Secret Identity
• Sell What You Love ("Gift of the Magi" Plot)
• Shades of Conflict (Black-and-White Insanity, Black-and-White Morality, Grey-and-Gray Morality, Black-and-Gray Morality, White-and-Grey Morality, Blue-and-Orange Morality, Evil vs. Evil, Good vs. Good, Morality Kitchen Sink).
• Show, Don't Tell (Informed Attribute and That Makes Me Feel Angry)
• Significant Wardrobe Shift (Fanservice Pack, Expository Hairstyle Change, Evil Costume Switch, Fanservice Pack, Good Costume Switch and Important Haircut)
• Snobby Hobbies (At the Opera Tonight, The Grand Hunt, Snooty Sports, Upper-Class Equestrian, Wealthy Yacht Owner, Wine Is Classy)
• Technical Advisor (Backed by the Pentagon)
• Three Approach System (Balance, Speed, Strength Trio, Combat, Diplomacy, Stealth, Damager, Healer, Tank, Physical, Mystical, Technological and Strength, Sorcery, Finesse)
• A True Hero (The Real Heroes)
• Upsetting the Balance (Balance Between Good and Evil, The Problem with Fighting Death, Butterfly of Doom)