Overdosed Tropes

Trope Overdosed is when a series uses many tropes. The opposite, when a trope applies to many different series, is an Overdosed Tropes. If you want a real challenge, look for an article that doesn't use a single one of these tropes.

Many of these tropes are popular because they are used as a verbal shorthand (YMMV, Squick, Oh Crap, etc.), and others are popular because they're more ways of discussing works than they are part of the work themselves (Nightmare Fuel, moments of awesome and funny). In any event, the only requirement to be included on this page is that a trope is referenced by at least 2,500 other pages, as listed in the "related" page.

The numbers given here are for rough estimation purposes only, since the pages will inevitably have changed since the trope was added or updated.

See Also: Omnipresent Tropes, Tropes of Legend, Trope Overdosed. For tropes that attract a lot of potholes, see Pothole Magnet.

Over 9000
 * Big Bad: 18182
 * Nightmare Fuel: 16992
 * Lampshade Hanging: 15608
 * Shout-Out: 14813
 * Jerkass: 12615
 * Moment of Awesome: 11070
 * Badass: 10761
 * Word of God: 10740
 * Complete Monster: 10673
 * Tear Jerker: 9845
 * Ho Yay: 9405
 * Deadpan Snarker: 9364
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: 9105

7000-9000
 * Funny Moments: 8498
 * Running Gag: 8327
 * Memetic Mutation: 8062
 * Cloudcuckoolander: 8066
 * Up to Eleven: 7861
 * Berserk Button: 7857
 * Eldritch Abomination: 7765
 * Meaningful Name: 7605
 * The Hero: 7585
 * Ax Crazy: 7490
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: 7300
 * Large Ham: 7149
 * Action Girl: 7087

6000-7000
 * Butt Monkey: 6983
 * Expy: 6950
 * Heel Face Turn: 6930
 * Catch Phrase: 6821
 * Oh Crap: 6797
 * Fridge Brilliance: 6786
 * Fridge Logic: 6785
 * Genre Savvy: 6729
 * Heroic Sacrifice: 6723
 * The Dragon: 6662
 * Squick: 6582
 * The Woobie: 6432
 * Awesome Music: 6192
 * Heartwarming Moments: 6183
 * Magnificent Bastard: 6052

5000-6000
 * Take That: 5631
 * Justified Trope: 5628
 * Mad Scientist: 5398
 * Heroic BSOD: 5350
 * Captain Obvious: 5347
 * Mooks: 5304
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: 5254
 * Moral Event Horizon: 5231
 * From Bad to Worse: 5216
 * Hilarity Ensues: 5172
 * Trope Namers: 5113
 * Subverted Trope: 5083
 * Truth in Television: 5052

4500-5000
 * Sarcasm Mode: 4952
 * Too Dumb to Live: 4934
 * Fan Service: 4871
 * Character Development: 4849
 * Fan Nickname: 4846
 * Darker and Edgier: 4847
 * All There in the Manual: 4822
 * Rule of Cool: 4820
 * Took a Level In Badass: 4798
 * Determinator: 4756
 * The Lancer: 4754
 * Tsundere: 4753
 * Manipulative Bastard: 4743
 * Ensemble Darkhorse: 4735
 * The Big Guy: 4727
 * Mind Screw: 4717
 * Anti-Hero: 4688
 * The Smart Guy: 4668
 * Curb Stomp Battle: 4640
 * Big Damn Heroes: 4612
 * Kick the Dog: 4567
 * Face Heel Turn: 4550
 * Your Mileage May Vary: 4507

4000-4500
 * It Makes Sense in Context: 4397
 * Humongous Mecha: 4379
 * Fridge Horror: 4250
 * Crapsack World: 4179
 * World War II: 4165
 * Unfortunate Implications: 4161
 * Badass Normal: 4157
 * The Movie: 4136
 * The Chessmaster: 4131
 * Chekhov's Gun: 4115
 * What Could Have Been: 4105
 * Only Sane Man: 4082
 * Hey, It's That Guy!: 4002
 * The Chick: 4001

3500-4000
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: 3991
 * Played for Laughs: 3940
 * What the Hell, Hero?: 3908
 * Rule of Funny: 3900
 * Executive Meddling: 3895
 * The Stoic: 3871
 * Downer Ending: 3866
 * Title Drop: 3851
 * Did Not Do the Research: 3848
 * Alternative Character Interpretation: 3804
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: 3773
 * Body Horror: 3759
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: 3736
 * Beware the Nice Ones: 3686
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: 3679
 * MacGuffin: 3671
 * Foreshadowing: 3650
 * Blatant Lies: 3634
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: 3625
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: 3621
 * Narm: 3616
 * Break the Cutie: 3614
 * Ear Worm: 3601
 * The Reveal: 3554
 * Bishonen: 3550
 * Smug Snake: 3521

3000-3500
 * Five-Man Band: 3455
 * The Ditz: 3436
 * Driven to Suicide: 3403
 * Serious Business: 3379
 * Knight Templar: 3357
 * Retcon: 3342
 * Killed Off for Real: 3338
 * Genki Girl: 3299
 * True Companions: 3285
 * Crazy Awesome: 3271
 * Fantastic Racism: 3258
 * Mood Whiplash: 3257
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: 3238
 * Game Breaker: 3235
 * Blood Knight: 3229
 * Mind Rape: 3218
 * The Scrappy: 3212
 * Affably Evil: 3209
 * Even Evil Has Standards: 3190
 * Continuity Nod: 3188
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: 3164
 * Back From the Dead: 3155
 * Nice Hat: 3154
 * Ms. Fanservice: 3130
 * Hot-Blooded: 3125
 * Distressed Damsel: 3097
 * Karma Houdini: 3071
 * A God Am I: 3059
 * Anti-Villain: 3043
 * Stalker with a Crush: 3037
 * Noodle Incident: 3022
 * Fate Worse Than Death: 3010

2750-3000
 * Foe Yay: 2981
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: 2979
 * For the Evulz: 2977
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: 2949
 * Precision F-Strike: 2938
 * The Rival: 2935
 * Yandere: 2933
 * Pet the Dog: 2929
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: 2927
 * Hand Wave: 2916
 * Comically Missing the Point: 2913
 * Evil Counterpart: 2909
 * Bittersweet Ending: 2888
 * The End of the World as We Know It: 2855
 * Freudian Excuse: 2884
 * Parental Abandonment: 2856
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: 2837
 * Recycled in Space: 2834
 * Big Eater: 2829
 * Monster of the Week: 2827
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: 2809
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: 2803
 * Disproportionate Retribution: 2800
 * Refuge in Audacity: 2799
 * Bittersweet Ending: 2788
 * Show Within a Show: 2765

2500-2750
 * Abusive Parents: 2747
 * One-Winged Angel: 2742
 * And I Must Scream: 2737
 * Groin Attack: 2735
 * The Mole: 2723
 * Applied Phlebotinum: 2720
 * Kill It with Fire: 2718
 * Eye Scream: 2696
 * Tempting Fate: 2684
 * Mundane Made Awesome: 2670
 * Evil Laugh: 2661
 * Sixth Ranger: 2660
 * Put on a Bus: 2658
 * Call Back: 2653
 * Not So Different: 2630
 * Ship Tease: 2629
 * Hypocritical Humor: 2600
 * Deconstruction: 2592
 * Unstoppable Rage: 2583
 * Villain Protagonist: 2579
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: 2576
 * Idiot Ball: 2567
 * Brick Joke: 2565
 * More Dakka: 2559
 * An Aesop: 2556
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: 2539
 * Villainous Breakdown: 2537
 * Mama Bear: 2527
 * The Atoner: 2512
 * Enemy Mine: 2510
 * Alternate Character Interpretation: 2509
 * Badass Longcoat: 2505
 * Deal with the Devil: 2505
 * Alpha Bitch: 2503

This list was completely updated last: 2012/05/29