Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations.
Popular tropes including the hotblooded mecha hero, the dimwitted shounen protagonist and the extremely strong old sensei.
In the OBD, some inconsistencies and feats can be attributed to use of tropes. The ones use most by authors are:
- Disappearing from sight: Staple of the shounen tradition, characters often disappear from sight in order to show speed. Naruto and Bleach are known for this while One Piece has started doing this more and more since Enies Lobby.
- Afterimages: Taking the above to 11. Afterimages are usually used to denote even more speed. Known users are Bankai Ichigo and Dalton.
- Talking is a free action: Even if you're fighting at hypersonic or higher, you can always converse with the enemy while he charges at you. Some fighters will wait the entire fight while the badguy/goodguy is making his speech.
- Transforming is a free action: A character will never attack a transforming enemy. Be it from astonishment, respect or fear, they will never try. If they try, expect the semi-transformed version to be beyond their powers already.
- Ignoring conservation of energy: All these high-powered beam attacks never appear to have the effect they should have. Where does all that energy go? Absorbed by this trope. It should be noted that hyperbole claims that are contradicted by low environmental damage are not to be believed unless someone on a similar level in the respective fiction has actually demonstrated power comparable to the claimed hyperbole.
- Power = weight: In manga and in comics, the protagonist may be strong enough to throw buildings and uppercut giant robots over the horizon Team Rocket style but he can't for the life of him do the same to someone that has only a fraction of said weight because he's stronger than them. One Piece is a frequent offender of this trope.
- Outrunning the Explosion: In many forms of media, characters with a set context for speed and durability will suddenly be able to run away from an explosion while casually being able to stand next to expanding fireball, theoretically proving even the lowest of live action heroes to be massively hypersonic and somewhat invulnerable. This is known as the McClane effect and is generally not accepted in the OBD.