Writing Bald Head of Toughness Examples:
When it comes to Zero Context Examples (ZCEs), expository appearance tropes (i.e. tropes that focus on how a specific aspect of a character's appearance communicates something about their personality) have a hard time. Many tropers often only focus on the appearance in the trope, in this case baldness, and will forget to describe the meaning the characteristic is supposed to convey.
For example: "Bob has his head shaved from the beginning of the story." This is a ZCE for this trope since the only thing this example tells us is that Bob is bald. "Being bald" is Not a Trope as it falls under People Sit on Chairs (some people are just bald), nor is Bald Head of Toughness simply about being bald. It's about baldness used to convey the specific characteristic of toughness.
Another example: "Bob has his head shaved from the beginning of the story and is tough." While this covers both aspects of the trope, this is still a ZCE because it does not tell us how the story shows that Bob is tough, i.e. there is no context provided in this example that justifies the claim that Bob is tough.
So how do you write a good example for this trope? First establish the appearance trope exists. This is the easiest part and can be done just by mentioning that Bob is bald or shaved since as an appearance trope it's either there or not. Second, establish the related personality trait using context from the work itself.
For example: "Bob has his head shaved from the beginning of the story and has the power of Super-Toughness. He No Sells most hits that come his way and can only be taken down by a person with equal Super-Strength." This is an adequate example: it describes how Bob has the physical characteristic "bald" and how the story characterizes him as tough. Also note the usage of other toughness related tropes in the example. Their inclusion as part of the context helps provide more justification to the claim that Bob really is tough. The best examples will include at least one other toughness trope to reinforce the association: Super-Toughness, Super-Strength, Made of Iron, Nigh-Invulnerability, World's Strongest Man, Determinator, Implacable Man, etc. The most important thing to remember is that to fulfill a characterization, the trait needs to be consistently portrayed and reinforced in some way.
If an example does not fulfill both parts of the trope, it is very likely a ZCE that should be re-written. That, or it's not an example of the trope at all.
