History TheBigBangTheory / TropesFToJ

* GeekyTurnOn: To be expected given the premise of the show. One episode had Raj and Sheldon together with Sheldon holding a Franchise/GreenLantern Power Battery and it actually attracted the attention of a couple of girls, thinking it was cool. An unfortunate side-effect of this trope shows up when [[spoiler: Leonard and Penny are together in bed and Penny references a line from ''Franchise/StarWars'' and even knew [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack the exact movie]]. Leonard was so excited being with her in that moment he said a premature "I Love You" and it caused a storm of awkwardness that lead to them breaking up.]]

* GodzillaThreshold: In one episode involving a war between Sheldon and Penny, Leonard gives Penny what is more or less (as he described it) Sheldon's [[Franchise/{{Superman}} kryptonite]]. His justification for doing so is that it would "cut five years off the war and save millions of lives." Said kryptonite being [[spoiler:the phone number of Sheldon's mother]].

* HalloweenCosplay: The group, plus Penny's then-current boyfriend Zach dress up as the Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica for a costume contest.

* HollywoodPudgy: Poked at when the guys managed to convince Penny and her date Zach to join them at a costume party as the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. Penny got upset over things both overt and subtle and refused to go, and Sheldon tried to convince her to come by claiming to know why she was upset... that she thought she looked fat in the Franchise/WonderWoman costume. That was obviously not the reason she was upset (and [[{{Fanservice}} clearly not the case]] in the show) but Penny then started to worry that maybe she did look fat... and Sheldon tried to "comfort" her saying it doesn't matter since Amazons were supposed to be "beefy gals."

** Amy's TimeTravelRomance character Cooper insists that his undergarments, should properly be called "underoos," “underwear that’s fun to wear." They feature Franchise/SpiderMan.

* HollywoodDateless: We are supposed to believe Leonard is awkward with women, and in a way, he is. However, his dating history includes many hot women -- Penny, Dr. Stephanie, Joyce Kim, Leslie, and now Priya -- so one has to wonder why would he think he is unlucky with women.
** Also part of his rather obvious CharacterDevelopment during the show is that he gets better around women thanks to spending time with Penny. Same with Howard. Averted with Raj, who still can't speak to women who aren't relatives without drugs.
*** Until Season 6, when Raj finally gets over his selective mutism after being dumped.
** Add in that Joyce Kim was only trying to get government secrets from Leonard, Leslie was only using him, and Priya was ashamed of her relationship with him.

* GilliganCut: The Nerdvana Annihilation
-->'''Sheldon''': "I still don't understand why no one else bid on the (what he thinks is a miniature) time machine." (Switch to the foursome standing around the recently delivered full-size time machine) "I understand why no one else bid on the time machine."

** Howard often responds to his mother's treating him like a child by reminding her that he is 26 years old. Followed by agreeing for her to bring him a Popsicle.

-->'''Sheldon:''' Don't talk to me like I'm a child. Now take me to return my ''StarWars'' sheets!

** Amy figured that she could best assimilate herself as a romantic interest to Sheldon by influencing him with all the things that he loves. Thus they have a romantic evening with music from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'', Strawberry Nesquik and [[ContinuityNod spaghetti with hot dogs cut up in it]]. Sheldon surprised himself with how well it was working, and the subplot ended with Amy dressed up as [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Nurse Chapel]] and "playing doctor" with Sheldon ''Franchise/StarTrek''-style.

* HollywoodAtheist: Zigzagged throughout the show:

* IncrediblyLamePun: Raj is full of them.
-->(''to Penny'') Welcome to the Raj Mahal!

** Leonard is an insensitive jerk in reaction to the revelation that Penny went to see a psychic. But psychics really are charlatans who just tell people what they want to hear, and believing it really does make Penny gullible.

** Sheldon shows concern and attention for his friends in his own ways, can offer genuinely helpful advice on their problems if he's in the right mood, he's never actively malevolent to them beyond verbal jabs, and is hurt if they slight him in some way. On the other hand, his perspective on social interactions are skewed, so he doesn't understand when he does something offensive or inappropriate, he's constantly flaunting what he considers his superior intellect, and while he can offer helpful advice on a problem at times, he's just as liable to interrupt their explanation of said problem to note he doesn't care. The Heart Of Gold is there, but it's deep down under a lot of arrogance and unspecified mental issues.

** Amy is a more clear example than Sheldon. She genuinely doesn't seem to realize how rude she can be (especially to Penny), but when she thinks Penny's depressed she rushes to cheer her up.

** Classic FMB: Leonard is TheLeader, since he has the most balance between scientific and social intelligence, making him the StraightMan and TheKirk; Sheldon is TheLancer, being Leonard's best friend, roommate, and biggest {{Foil}}, since he's an InsufferableGenius with a disdain for social skills compared to Leonard, who's more humble and wants to branch out socially; Penny is TheBigGirl, her rural upbringing making her a GirlyBruiser who's considerably stronger than her nerdy friends; Howard is TheSmartGuy, since he's TheEngineer and has unique technological skills compared to his friends, who all work in more theoretical fields; and finally, Raj is TheHeart, being CampStraight and the most emotional.
** TheSmurfettePrinciple: Penny is TheChick of the group, as she's the only girl among the four guys.

** Sheldon at one point also [[ConversationalTroping tells]] Leonard that he sees their group as one, having cast them as CommandRoster-type team based on ''Star Trek''.

'''Sheldon''': You're [[TheCaptain Kirk]], I'm [[NumberTwo Spock]], Wolowitz is [[MrFixit Scotty]], Koothrappali is [[RedShirt the guy who always gets killed]], [looking at Leonard's doctor girlfriend at the time] and now we've got [[TheMedic [=McCoy=]]].

'''Sheldon''': You're [[TheCaptain Kirk]], I'm [[NumberTwo Spock]], Wolowitz is [[MrFixt Scotty]], Koothrappali is [[RedShirt the guy who always gets killed]], [looking at Leonard's doctor girlfriend at the time] and now we've got [[TheMedic [=McCoy=]]].

** Sheldon at one point also [[ConversationalTroping tells]] Leonard that he seeing their group as one, having cast them in a ''Star Trek''-based version and crossing over into the CommandRoster.

'''Sheldon''': You're [[TheKirk Kirk]], I'm [[TheSpock Spock]], Wolowitz is Scotty, Koothrappali is [[RedShirt the guy who always gets killed]] [looking at Leonard's doctor girlfriend at the time] and now we've got [=McCoy=].

** In a Classic FMB set-up, Leonard is TheLeader, since he has the most balance between scientific and social intelligence, making him the StraightMan and TheKirk; Sheldon is TheLancer, being Leonard's best friend, roommate, and biggest {{Foil}}, since he's an InsufferableGenius with a disdain for social skills compared to Leonard, who's more humble and wants to branch out socially; Penny is TheBigGirl, her rural upbringing making her a GirlyBruiser who's considerably stronger than her nerdy friends; Howard is TheSmartGuy, since he's TheEngineer and has unique technological skills compared to his friends, who all work in more theoretical fields; and finally, Raj is TheHeart, being CampStraight and the most emotional.
** They also have a SmurfettePrinciple version with Penny being TheChick, as she's the only girl among the four guys.
** Leonard, Sheldon, and Penny also share a PowerTrio dynamic, as they all live in the same building, with Howard and Raj acting as support, having two-person dynamic with each other and being more tangentially connected to the trio as Leonard and Sheldon's coworkers.

* FiveManBand: Done through ConversationalTroping, Sheldon has grouped the cast into his own ''Star Trek''-based version and crossing over into the CommandRoster.

** In a straighter example, during the seasons before Bernadette and Amy become main characters: [[StraightMan Leonard]] is TheLeader, [[AntiHero Howard]] is TheLancer, [[InsufferableGenius Sheldon]] is TheSmartGuy, [[GirlyBruiser Penny]] is TheBigGirl and [[CampStraight Raj]] is TheChick. Though Howard and Sheldon can trading places as Howard is TheEngineer and Sheldon has a {{Foil}} dynamic with Leonard.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* HotScientist:
** In one episode, Bernadette has been picked as one of the fifty most beautiful female scientists in California for an article in a magazine.
** Dr. Elizabeth Plimpton, a cosmological physicist and famous author. Played by the attractive Creator/JudyGreer.

** Sheldon shows concern and attention for his friends in his own ways, can offer genuinely helpful advice on their problems if he's in the right mood, he's never actively malevolent to them beyond verbal jabs, and is hurt if they slight him in some way. On the other hand, his perspective on social interactions are skewed, so he doesn't understand when he does something offensive or inappropriate, he's constantly flaunting what he considers his superior intellect, and while he can offer helpful advice on a problem at times, he's just as liable to interrupt their explanation of said problem to note he doesn't care. The Heart Of Gold is there, but it's deep down under a lot of arrogance and an AmbiguousDisorder.

* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: There are several people on this show who also featured in ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'', first and foremost Johnny Galecki as Leonard. Sara Gilbert plays Leslie Winkle who briefly dates Leonard and Laurie Metcalf plays Sheldon's mom. Galecki also pointed out at a convention that his first kiss was with Mayim Bialik when he guest starred on ''Series/{{Blossom}}'' years ago.

* GamerChick: Penny isn't a gamer, but in S1 Ep07, "The Dumpling Paradox", she fills in for Howard for the guys' ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' night, and the first time she picks up an Xbox controller, she manages to outclass all of them on her first try. And yes, the guys are 30-year-old geeks who play ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' religiously. However, considering Penny's more rounded characterization, this is surely less PositiveDiscrimination and more RuleOfFunny.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: When Howard's mother got on his nerves (which happened constantly), he'd frequently joke about her having "that coronary I've been hoping for", or waiting until "her heart explodes from all the salt she eats". When she actually dies from a massive heart attack, it makes those jokes all seem a lot harsher.