| | Undead Horse Trope |
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Undead Horse Trope |
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Generally, there's a standard progression as a trope ages. First, it is born. Once it has become established enough, parodies, subversions and deconstructions start to crop up, or it becomes widely disliked due to either overuse or changing values rendering it obsolete. It ends up eventually becoming a trope that no one should dare use seriously (making it a Discredited Trope) and subversions might be common enough to be straight examples of new tropes (making it a Dead Horse Trope). Or it could just be forgotten completely.
Sometimes, however, tropes just don't want to die, and the progression skips a step. Subversions and parodies are common enough to be their own tropes, yet the original trope, even if it's one of The Oldest Ones in the Book, is still in active use and isn't even (universally at least — opinions vary) seen as cliched or corny. It would be a Dead Horse Trope, except it isn't actually dead; it's Undead.
Some tropes that reach this state eventually ascend into Omnipresent Tropes, ones that are more like the building blocks of a story which would severely limit writers' options if they were taken off the market. The majority remain necessary for genre and narrative reasons for which non-cliched explanations have yet to be able to provide a suitable alternative. Sometimes, they persist because of a Grandfather Clause. Other times a trope persists because many know it’s Truth in Television.
However, these kind of tropes can also persist simply due to The Generation Gap. Since most professional writers and creatives in general are usually in their thirties or older, they might end up using tropes that a lot of younger audiences may find outdated or even problematic. It's these kinds of tropes that potentially become Discredited or a Dead Horse eventually as older generations retire and younger generations take their place.
Compare and contrast Cyclic Trope and Evolving Trope; contrast Dead Unicorn Trope (which is mostly played for laughs or subverted, but unlike a Dead Horse Trope was never actually played straight to any significant degree, although the two can overlap if a trope starts out a parody of something nonexistent but in later works gets played straight). |
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| | Undead Horse Trope |
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DBTropes |
| | A Day in Her Apron |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | A Man Is Always Eager |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | A Winner Is You |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Africa Is a Country |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Agony Beam |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | All Just a Dream |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | All Men Are Perverts |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | All Women Are Prudes |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Ambiguously Gay |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Animated Shock Comedy |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Anyone Remember Pogs? |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | As You Know |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Auto-Tune |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Awful Wedded Life |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Bald of Evil |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Basement-Dweller |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Be Yourself |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Beauty Equals Goodness |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Big "NO!" |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Bigger Is Better in Bed |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Black-and-White Morality |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Black Is Bigger in Bed |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Bloodstained Defloration |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Bond Villain Stupidity |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Broken Heel |
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| | Bumbling Dad |
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| | But Thou Must! |
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| | Camp Gay |
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| | Card-Carrying Villain |
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| | Cardboard Prison |
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| | Caustic Critic |
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| | Chainmail Bikini |
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| | Cheap Heat |
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| | Cheat Code |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Contrived Coincidence |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Conveniently an Orphan |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Courtly Love |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Crate Expectations |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Crowd Song |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Crunchtastic |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Damsel in Distress |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Dance Party Ending |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Dawson Casting |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Death by Childbirth |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Deus ex Machina |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Digital Piracy Is Evil |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Disney School of Acting and Mime |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Don't Try This at Home |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Double Standard Rape: Female on Male |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Double Standard: Rape, Male on Male |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Down to the Last Play |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Dramatic Wind |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Dumb and Drummer |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Dumb Blonde |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Easily-Distracted Referee |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Easy-Mode Mockery |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Enhance Button |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Equal-Opportunity Offender |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Evil Cannot Comprehend Good |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Evil Gloating |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Evil Laugh |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Evil Twin |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Exact Eavesdropping |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Exploding Barrels |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Fauxtivational Poster |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Females Are More Innocent |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Free-Range Children |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Funny Bruce Lee Noises |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Game Over |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Give Geeks a Chance |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Glass Jaw Referee |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Good Shepherd |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Goth |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Harem Genre |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Heel–Face Revolving Door |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Highly-Visible Ninja |
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| | Hollywood Atheist |
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| | Hollywood Beauty Standards |
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| | Hollywood Genetics |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Hollywood Hacking |
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| | Hollywood Homely |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | I'm a Man; I Can't Help It |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Iris Out |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | It Was a Dark and Stormy Night |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Joke Character |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Joker Immunity |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Kavorka Man |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Kayfabe |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Laugh Track |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Let's Just Be Friends |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Limited Wardrobe |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Literal Genie |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Luke, I Am Your Father |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Magical Girl |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Male Gaze |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Mascot with Attitude |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Mattress-Tag Gag |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Miles Gloriosus |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Million to One Chance |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Mistaken for Gay |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Monochrome Casting |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Most Writers Are Adults |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Muscles Are Meaningful |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Neck Snap |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Nerds Are Virgins |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | No Animals Were Harmed |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | No Flow in CGI |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Non-Ironic Clown |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Non-Singing Voice |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Nuclear Family |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Our Vampires Are Different |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Out-of-Context Eavesdropping |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Paper-Thin Disguise |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Phoneaholic Teenager |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Poor Man's Porn |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | "Pop!" Goes the Human |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Pounds Are Animal Prisons |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Prank Call |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Press X to Not Die |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Pretty Fly for a White Guy |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Previously on… |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Pro Wrestling Episode |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Real Is Brown |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Real Men Love Jesus |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Recruit Teenagers with Attitude |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Rimshot |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Roll-and-Move |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Rotoscoping |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Rule of Three |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Santa Claus |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Scare 'Em Straight |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | School Bullying Is Harmless |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Scoring Points |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Shop Fodder |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Short Title: Long, Elaborate Subtitle |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Silly Love Songs |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Slow Clap |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Small Reference Pools |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Soul-Saving Crusader |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Sound-Effect Bleep |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Staging an Intervention |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Stalking Is Funny if It Is Female After Male |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Star Trek Movie Curse |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Status Quo Is God |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Sting |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Stock Animal Diet |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Stock Scream |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Subverted Suspicion Aesop |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Superhero |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Sympathetic Slave Owner |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Taking the Bullet |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Talk About the Weather |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Teens Love Shopping |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Tempting Fate |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | The Elevator from Ipanema |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | The Faceless |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | The Four Chords of Pop |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | The Freakshow |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | The Other Darrin |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | The Power of Friendship |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Three Laws-Compliant |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Time-Shifted Actor |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Training Montage |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Trainstopping |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Trans Equals Gay |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Trapped in Another World |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Truck Driver's Gear Change |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Two Decades Behind |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Ugly Guy, Hot Wife |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Unrelated Brothers |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Useless Useful Spell |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Virgin-Shaming |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Work Off the Debt |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Wrestler in All of Us |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | You Fool! |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Zombie Apocalypse |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Black Comedy |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Mr. Fanservice |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Wangst |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | Wunza Plot |
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Undead Horse Trope |
| | You All Meet in an Inn |
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Undead Horse Trope |
