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Basic Trope: The story takes place in a small town that is so normal, it's boring.

  • Straight: Troperville is a very plain town where nothing exciting ever happens. Then one day, Emperor Evulz arrives there and implements his Evil Plan.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Troperville is a large city with no excitement.
    • There are several "boring" towns.
  • Downplayed: Troperville is boring compared to other towns, but some exciting things happen there.
  • Justified:
    • The townsfolk act very normal, so as not to attract villains to their town. (It doesn't work.)
    • The townsfolk of the more exciting places are accustomed to these kind of happenings, whereas Troperville is ill prepared for anything more exciting than the annual square dance, making it an easy target for Emperor Evulz.
  • Inverted:
    • Troperville is a Mega City with a huge amount of excitement and a very high crime rate.
    • Quirky Town
  • Subverted: The town is rather quiet because its habitants are secretly preparing for a war. Its apparent "peace" is just the calm before the storm.
  • Double Subverted: ...But then the war is prevented, or finishes incredibly fast and without serious consequences for the town.
  • Parodied: The people of Troperville are so bored that they decide to write a letter to Emperor Evulz begging him to invade them.
  • Zig Zagged: Troperville is a podunk town where nothing happens... but it's also a Fantasy Kitchen Sink without a masquerade to keep the weirdness out of the public eye. Too bad everywhere else also has this problem, meaning that even abnormality being the norm won't stop Troperville from being seen as duller by comparison.
  • Averted: Troperville is either a fairly "normal" city or a somewhat exciting town.
  • Enforced: ???
  • Lampshaded: There's a sign in front of the city saying TROPERVILLE: NOTHING EVER HAPPENS HERE
  • Invoked: Emperor Evulz decides to use Troperville as his hideout because it's the last place anyone would look.
  • Exploited: Knowing that since such places are Weirdness Magnets and fate-tempters by design, Alice, a natural thrill-seeker, wanders from dull town to dull town just before the inevitable exciting stuff happens to get her kicks.
  • Defied: Anti-Heroes regularly make big disasters "almost happen" to avoid Big Bad guys creating hideouts.
  • Discussed: "Face it: the quickest way to make something happen here is to complain about how cool things happen in every town but this one."
  • Conversed: "Isn't it strange that this town is a litte too normal?"
  • Played For Laughs: The main characters get interested in ridiculously minor events due to nothing big ever happening here.

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