History TheBigBangTheory / TropesPToS

* SofterAndSlowerCover: For TheStinger of the last episode, we get a Jim Parsons-sung acoustic cover of the main theme, losing all of its bombastic nature and general "wow!" factor about science and sounding more like a fond memory.

** Sheldon's various superhero T-shirts. Most frequently seen is his Franchise/GreenLantert t-shirt.

** The Cheesecake Factory appears in many episodes, since Penny and Bernadette are waitresses who work there and Sheldon is a fan of the barbecued bacon cheeseburgers there. Even if the restaurant hasn't been accurately depicted on the show, the real-life restaurant chain gave their thanks to this series for boosting recognition.

* SelfInsertFic: Sheldon has written a ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan fiction as a child, in which the Enteprise crew recognize his abilities as a ChildProdigy and take him aboard.

** Penny took her role as the NerdNanny a bit more seriously in earlier episodes and [[HaveYouTriedNotBeingAMonster berated the guys for their awkward, sometimes inconsiderate tendencies]]. This lead to a few instances of NotSoAboveItAll and, eventually, OneOfUs. She can still be pretty brutal, but talks to them on their own terms.

** In "The Dumpling Paradox" the guys and Penny are playing Halo, but the sound effects don't match up with any of the Halo games, and several comments about mechanics that aren't present in Halo.

** Played straight with their ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' matches. The sounds and the commentary rarely match up with any of the games. Makes you wonder if they've ever actually played Halo.

* RealityEnsues: Penny snapping at Howard over his lecherous behavior towards her. Few women, especially ones as outgoing as Penny, would tolerate it week-in, week-out for years without without doing something about it (either what she actually did or simply refusing to even spend time in his company). It could be viewed as a commentary on how some {{Running Gag}}s get run into the ground.

* RuinedForever: Invoked in "The Raiders Minimization", Amy ruins ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' for Sheldon by pointing out that Indiana Jones wasn't necessary for the story, that it would have had the same conclusion without him. Sheldon then tries to do the same to something beloved of Amy, like ''Series/LittleHouseOnThePrairie''.

*** Penny's "check engine" light is constantly on, Sheldon and others bug her about attending to it, and she refuses.

** Howard's wardrobe style has remained [[LimitedWardrobe pretty static over the seasons]], tight jeans with a bold belt buckle and a button up shirt with a turtleneck underneath. But the early seasons had an emphasis on very bright, mixed colors, including things like red jeans and a yellow turtleneck. After he marries Bernadette his ensemble tends to be darker and with more complimentary colors, jeans are a normal blue and his turtleneck black, making him come out looking much more stylish.

* StonersAreFunny: Leonard, Raj, and Howard in "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency".

** {{Invoked|Trope}} by Sheldon in "The Bat jar Conjecture". When the group practices for a physics based quiz show, Sheldon answers the question no matter who rang in first. When confronted about the problem, Sheldon brushes it off by saying the game is not supposed to be about having fun and it is more about winning, so he is doing everyone a favor by answering all the questions for them. This causes the rest of the guys to boot Sheldon off the team.

* RelationshipUpgrade: Between Leonard and Penny, at the beginning of season three. They broke up about 3/4 of the way through the season. They get back together in season five, and in Season seven, Leonard proposed.
** And, as of 5x10, [[spoiler: Sheldon and Amy]].

** In the same episode as Penny's one to all the guys, she ends up actually getting one of her own from (of all people) [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Sheldon]], for causing his friend to sink into depression and almost give away his entire beloved collection.
-->'''Penny''': What the hell's going on?
-->'''Sheldon''': (With genuine anger) You ''hypocrite''!
-->'''Penny''': What?
-->'''Sheldon''': Little Miss "grown-ups don't play with toys"! If I went into that apartment right now, would I not find Toys/BeanieBabies? Are you not an accumulator of Franchise/{{Care Bears}} and [[Franchise/MyLittlePony My Little Ponies]]? And who is that Japanese feline frolicking on your shorts? Hello, Franchise/HelloKitty!

* StronglyWordedLetter: Sheldon's go to threat. Once he wrote to a company over feminine yoghurt.

* ShoutOut[=/=]ReferenceOverdosed: This show is full with these.

** In the early seasons Penny tended to wear crop tops, tank tops, short shorts and otherwise show a lot of skin, which was reflective of her young age (she was 22 in the first season). In the third season she started dressing more conservatively, wearing jeans, sweats and shirts with sleeves and higher necklines. About season eight she more often wears slacks, blouses and even jackets as she got a job as a pharmaceutical representative.

* SilentWhisper: Raj Koothrappali does this into Howard's ear every time he wants to talk but there's a woman in the room and he's not drunk. Howard translates. [[spoiler:No longer the case in Season 7 when Raj has developed enough to speak before women without needing a drink.]]

** Sheldon [[SkywardScream screams to the sky]] the name of his nemesis, WilWheaton. "WHEATON!!!!!" Also a ShoutOut to TheKhan.

* SeriesContinuityError: In "The Fuzzy Boots Corollary" (Season 1, episode 3), Leonard considers buying a pet cat. It is mentioned that Sheldon gets asthma attacks when being around cats. In "The Griffin Equivalency" (Season 2, episode 4), Sheldon mentions the Cooper family cat, Lucky, which died when he was 8-years-old. No mention of any asthma attack in the presence of Lucky. In "The Zazzy Substitution" (Season 4, episode 3), Sheldon himself adopts 25 cats. No asthma attacks occur.
** In "The Luminous Fish Effect" (Season 1, episode 4), Mary Cooper mentions that a 13-year-old Sheldon once tried building first "a small nuclear reactor" (which failed to work since Sheldon could not legally obtain uranium) and a "sonic DeathRay" (which failed to kill anyone but irritated the family dog). In "The White Asparagus Triangulation" (Season 2, episode 9), Sheldon mentions he tried building his own CAT when he was 12-years-old. He failed and got radiation burns. He would need presumably need tools to build all three devices though. But on "The Killer Robot Instability" (Season 2, episode 12), Sheldon can bot even figure how to open a tool box.
** In "The Luminous Fish Effect" (Season 1, episode 4), Sheldon briefly narrates his life story: . "I’ve spent the last three and a half years staring at greaseboards full of equations. Before that I spent four years working on my thesis. Before that I was in college, and before that, I was in the fifth grade. This is my first day off in decades, and I’m going to savour it." Sheldon would reasonably attend the fifth grade when 10 – 11 years old. He would have spend at least 3 or 4 years in college, making him a 14/15-year-old college graduate. He spend 4 years working on his thesis, getting his doctorate when 18/19-years-old. Then four years of work as a professional physicist, making him 22/23-years-old in the present-day of the episode. This occured in 2007, and Sheldon's birth would be placed in 1984/1985. In "The Friendship Contraction" (Season 5, episode 15), Leonard describes Sheldon as "30-year-old man who can't survive on his own". This occured in 2012, placing Sheldon's birth c. 1982.
** In "The Hamburger Postulate" (Season 1, episode 5), Leonard has sex with Leslie Winkle. Sheldon says that this is the first time Leonard fails to give an advance notice, so that he can leave the apartment. He is visibly uncomfortable with the idea of his roomate having sex. In "The Staircase Implementation" (Season 3, episode 22), a WholeEpisodeFlashback occuring in 2003, Leonard has sex with Joyce Kim in the apartment. This is not long after moving in the apartment, and Leonard has not bothered giving an advance notice to Sheldon. An annoyed Sheldon opens the door of Leonard's bedroom to protest. Causing the hook up to end prematurely and driving Joyce away.
** In "The Bad Fish Paradigm" (Season 2, episode 1), Raj claims he hates train. Intentionally trying to offend Sheldon (who loves trains), to avoid Sheldon temporarily move in his apartment. Sheldon does not fall for it: "Don’t be ridiculous, you love trains." Raj admits he does love trains. In "The Terminator Decoupling", Raj joins his friends for a 7-hour-long train ride. He shows no enthusiasm for the experience, unlike Sheldon.
** In "The White Asparagus Triangulation" (Season 2, episode 9), Howard says that Leonard's longest-lasting relationship with a woman was his 27 days with Joyce Kim. In "The Staircase Implementation" (Season 3, episode 22), a WholeEpisodeFlashback occuring in 2003, the reltionship with Joyce is depicted as lasting a few hours. It involves a single failed date.

** In "The Gothowitz Deviation" (Season 3, episode 3), Penny asks Sheldon to dance with her. He replies with "Penny, while I subscribe to [[TheMultiverse the many worlds theory]] which posits the existence of an infinite number of Sheldons in an infinite number of universes, I assure you that in none of them am I dancing." In "The Agreement Dissection" (Season 4, episode 21), Sheldon reveals that he has been trained in dancing. "In the South, pre-adolescent children are forced through a process called cotillion, which indoctrinates them with all the social graces and dance skills needed to function in 18th century Vienna." He puts his training in practice for a dance with Amy. Although this might be a bit of FridgeLogic, in that he CAN dance but he REFUSES to dance in every possible universe.
** In "The Einstein Approximation" (Season 3, episode 14) both Sheldon and Penny mention that Leonard does not snore. With Sheldon mentioning that Penny is the one who snores. In "The Septum Deviation" (Season 8, episode 9), Sheldon mentions that Leonard has been snoring for years. Leonard himself thinks this is a problem and seeks surgury to correct it.
** In "The 21-Second Excitation" (Season 4, episode 8), Sheldon reminisces that he and Leonard waited 14 hours to watch the midnight premiere of ''Film/StarTrekNemesis''. This film was released in 2002, placing Sheldon and Leonard as friends back in this year. In "The Staircase Implementation" (Season 3, episode 22), a WholeEpisodeFlashback, we see how and when they met. The meeting is placed "seven years" before the 2010 present-day events. Placing their first encounter in 2003.

* SingleTargetSexuality: Amy's early insistence that she has no interest in romantic love or physical contact ("up to and including coitus") takes on difference shades when she [[HomoeroticSubtext very openly admires]] Penny's "secondary sexual characteristics" and even ''suggests'' "harmless lesbian experimentation" at a sleepover. That said, she never shows any interest in any woman other than Penny.
** Sheldon, for Amy. He [[spoiler:enjoyed having sex with her]] and it's highly unlikely he'll ever be attracted to any other woman.

* SpoiledBrat: Sheldon's entire strategy in life is to whine and pitch a bitch fit until everyone gives him what he wants in exchange for some peace. Rule of Funny is the only reason they haven't pinned him down and cut out his tongue.