Instant Index: Just Add Water!

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These are tropes about water. Try not to get wet on your way in.

Not to Be Confused with Instant Tropes.

Tropes:

• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: A sewer is a lot more spacious than it would be in real life. Of course it's spacious, because the plot requires the heroes to escape through it with all their gear.
• Aquarium Date: Two people go on a romantic trip to an aquarium.
• Aquatic Mook: A disposable villain who lives underwater (generally in a video game).
• Artificial Riverbank: A river with an artificially landscaped bank and a sidewalk or path nearby which runs through a Japanese urban area, creating an element of natural beauty within The City.
• Bathtub Mermaid: A mermaid or similar aquatic character who lives in a bathtub, fish tank, or other container.
• Battle in the Rain: Two or more characters fight in the rain.
• Big Dam Plot: The plot hinges on a dam breaking or threatening to break.
• Blood Is Squicker in Water: Water becomes red when someone bleeds in it.
• Cannot Cross Running Water: A supernatural being or creature is unable to cross running water.
• Cats Hate Water: Cats are depicted as having an aversion to water.
• Caught in the Rain: When two characters are caught in the rain, it leads to them feeling romantic and kissing, or even having sex.
• Cave Behind the Falls: A waterfall that hides a secret cave.
• Chase Stops at Water: Pursuers won't follow if you cross water.
• City of Canals: A city criss-crossed by numerous canals, often more numerous than regular streets.
• City on the Water: A city that floats on the water like a boat.
• Cool, Clear Water: If water is clear, it's clean.
• Cue the Rain: It rains to add insult to injury. Someone is already having a bad day, and then they get soaked.
• Danger — Thin Ice: In fiction, if any body of water with ice on it is shown, you can expect someone to try to cross it and get into difficulty. If ice was strong that would be so boring!
• Don't Eat and Swim: The belief that it is dangerous to go swimming right after eating. Finger-wagging parents warn you of the risk of cramping up and drowning.
• Down L.A. Drain: A chase scene that takes place in Los Angeles' storm drain/river/runoff channels.
• Down the Drain: A video game level that takes place in a sewer, huge pipe, hydraulic plant, or flooded building.
• Dripping Disturbance: Someone gets annoyed by a constantly dripping faucet.
• Drowning Pit: A character is locked in a room or other space that's filling with water and must escape before they drown.
• Drowning Unwanted Pets: Getting rid of unwanted pets by drowning them.
• Easily Washed-Off Paint: Paint in fiction is washed off very easily, especially by rain
• Eldritch Ocean Abyss: The deep ocean portrayed as otherworldly and unnerving.
• Exploding Fish Tanks: A fish tank is destroyed during an action sequence, scattering fish everywhere in a gush of water.
• Fire Hose Cannon: A high pressure hose used as a improvised water cannon.
• Fire/Water Juxtaposition: Contrasting two characters by associating one with fire and the other with water or ice.
• Floating Water: Water that defies gravity.
• Forgot I Couldn't Swim: Going swimming, then remembering you don't know how.
• Frigid Water Is Harmless: The harm caused by submersion in very cold water being downplayed or ignored entirely.
• Garden-Hose Squirt Surprise: One character pranks another by turning off a hose, then turning it on as a prank right when the user looks into it.
• Giant Wall of Watery Doom: A tremendous mass of water rushing towards the characters and bringing doom as it goes.
• Gray Rain of Depression: It rains during a sad scene to underscore the gloomy mood.
• The Great Flood: An apocalyptic flood of Biblical proportions.
• Grimy Water: Liquid (usually water) that's visibly dirty or filthy and will hurt or even kill anyone who touches it. Usually seen in video games.
• Happy Rain: Characters enjoy the rain.
• Hazardous Water: Water in a horror story that floats a character away to danger, gets in a character's way, or obscures a killer.
• Healing Spring: A body of water, spring or fountain with healing powers.
• Heal It with Water: Water is used to heal injuries or restore health.
• High-Dive Escape: A villain or Anti-Hero escapes death by jumping from a high place into water.
• High-Dive Hijinks: A dangerous high dive.
• Hollywood Drowning: When a character is about to drown, they shout and flail around.
• Holy Water: Water blessed by a clergy person's ritual, usually a powerful ward against evil.
• Hydrant Geyser: A car runs over a fire hydrant and creates a huge vertical spray of water.
• Hydro-Electro Combo: Water and electricity go hand-in-hand in some way.
• Ice Magic Is Water: Ice magic and water magic are closely related or interchangeable.
• Improvised Umbrella: Using a random inanimate object as an umbrella.
• Inevitable Waterfall: When a character is sailing in a body of water, they'll eventually end up finding a waterfall at the end.
• Instant Ice: Just Add Cold!: Water freezes for no apparent reason, or ice shows up even when there's no water.
• Instant Leech: Just Fall in Water!: A character falls into water and comes out with at least one leech attached.
• Instant Mass: Just Add Water!: You can shrink something by drying it out and return it to normal size by adding water.
• Instant Oracle: Just Add Water!: Someone can see the future if they swim or bathe.
• Instant People: Just Add Water!: Someone is turned into powder and restored (not always with water, but often).
• Invisible Holes: Skin perforation causes a character to leak water.
• Kill It with Ice: A being is vulnerable to cold.
• Kill It with Water: A being is vulnerable to water.
• Land, Sea, Sky: The classical elements of earth, air, and water are made a trinity.
• Light-Haired Swimmer: In anime and manga, blonds swim or surf a lot.
• Liquid Darkness: Elemental darkness is portrayed as water or liquid.
• Lord of the Ocean: An ocean god.
• Making a Splash: A character has the power to manipulate water.
• Man-Made House Flood: Someone makes a stupid mistake and floods the house.
• Mars Needs Water: An alien civilization invades Earth to steal its water.
• Meditating Under a Waterfall: A character sits under a waterfall and meditates.
• Mega Maelstrom: A giant vortex in the sea.
• Mermaid Arc Emergence: A character, usually a long-haired woman, jumps out of water, arches their back, and throws their head back.
• Mobile Fishbowl: A device that provides a fish or other creature with gills with a source of water on land.
• Murder Water: Sentient, evil water.
• Night Swim Equals Death: A person swimming at night gets killed.
• Not-So-Safe Harbor: A harbor that's full of danger in the form of unsavory drinking spots, gambling dens, and brothels, and assorted thieves and cutthroats.
• No Waterproofing in the Future: Technology that isn't waterproof.
• Ocean Awe: A character who longs to see, or is awed by, a large body of water, most often the ocean.
• Ocean Madness: A character goes insane from either being lost at sea or drinking seawater.
• Ocean Punk: A sci-fi story that takes place at sea or on a coast.
• Ocular Gushers: When a person cries, huge floods of tears pour out of their eyes.
• Old Faithful: A big geyser that always erupts at a predictable time.
• Opening the Flood Gates: A character opens a door and water pours out.
• Overly Nervous Flop Sweat: A nervous character becomes very sweaty.
• Parting the Sea: Someone magically parts the ocean like Moses.
• Perilous Prehistoric Seas: Prehistoric waters are tough to live or travel in, even for predators.
• Personal Raincloud: A sad character has a raincloud over them.
• Placid Plane of Ankle-Deep Water: An afterlife, Dream Land, or mind dimension that's covered completely in ankle-deep water.
• Pool Scene: A scene with people swimming, played for Fanservice and titillation.
• Portal Pool: A pool of water acts as a portal to another dimension or universe.
• Purification Bathing: To purge one's body, mind, or spirit of impurity, a character washes themselves or is washed by another. Because water is seen as healing, most often done with water.
• Putting the Pee in Pool: Someone urinates in the pool, often secretly.
• Rain Means Death: Someone dies in the rain.
• Rain, Rain, Go Away: Rain and its impact—causing you to be stuck inside—is annoying and boring.
• Redemption in the Rain: Someone gets rained on during a positive life-changing event.
• Rising Water, Rising Tension: Somebody is in a building with rising flood water.
• River of Insanity: A journey to the wilderness (usually boating down a river) leads to death, insanity, getting lost, almost dying, or Going Native.
• Roadside Wave: A character is splashed with water by a car.
• Roaring Rapids: Fast-moving, dangerous currents of whitewater, often in a video game.
• Rock of Limitless Water: An object (usually a stone) that's perpetually gushing water.
• Romantic Rain: Making out in the rain.
• Rule of Pool: If a pool is nearby, someone will definitely fall in.
• Sand Bridge at Low Tide: An island that can be accessed by a secret bridge that's only revealed at low tide.
• Sand Is Water: Sand that behaves like water.
• Sea Sinkhole: A waterfall within a body of water.
• See Water: Humans can see perfectly fine underwater, despite the refraction index not matching our eyes.
• Sexy Soaked Shirt: A person looks more attractive after their shirt gets wet.
• Sexy Surfacing Shot: A character surfacing or climbing out from a body of water being played for Fanservice.
• Shark Tunnel: An underwater tunnel within a video game.
• Shower of Angst: A character takes a shower due to feeling sad.
• Shower of Love: Two characters have sex in the shower.
• Shrunk in the Wash: Clothing shrinks when it gets wet.
• The Sky Is an Ocean: The sky has an ocean-like portrayal.
• Slippery Swimsuit: Someone in a swimsuit loses part of their swimwear while in the water. Can be Played for Laughs if they instantly get a Modesty Towel or as Fanservice.
• Soft Water: You can't be hurt by falling in water, no matter from how high up you fall.
• Space Is an Ocean: Space is portrayed as similar to the ocean.
• Spit Shake: Spitting on your palm and shaking hands to seal the deal.
• Spoofing in the Rain: A parody of either the film Singin' in the Rain or the song which inspired the movie, which usually involves people doing a musical number and dancing in the rain.
• Stop Drowning and Stand Up: Someone thinks he is drowning when he actually isn't, because the body of water or pool is really shallow.
• Storming the Beaches: A battle that takes place on either side of a body of water, with invaders trying to establish a beachhead in the face of enemy fire.
• Subhuman Surfacing Shot: A shot of a character slowly rising from water, often used to emphasize inhumanity and/or menace.
• Suicide by Sea: Someone kills themselves by deliberately drowning.
• Sunken City: A half-submerged city.
• Super Drowning Skills: Someone drowns the instant they enter water.
• Super Not-Drowning Skills: A character who can breathe underwater, or at least hold their breath for a long time, for no apparent reason.
• Super Swimming Skills: A character who can swim very well, either at the surface or underwater, despite never having learned to swim.
• Symbolic Baptism: Swimming or near-drowning marks a life-changing event because it's symbolic of being baptised.
• Symbolic Serene Submersion: A person is passively submerged in an ocean, pool, or other body of water for symbolic reasons.
• Telepathic Sprinklers: Triggering one sprinkler sets off the others as well.
• Toilet-Drinking Dog Gag: A joke scene about animals (usually dogs) drinking from toilets.
• Trapped in a Sinking Car: A character gets trapped in a car that then falls into water.
• Two-Person Pool Party: Two characters have sex in a pool.
• Underwater Kiss: Two characters kiss underwater.
• Underworld River: Rivers that surround or cross the underworld.
• Wacky Waterbed: Waterbeds, Played for Laughs.
• Waist-Deep Ocean: A character stands upright in water that should be too deep.
• Walk on Water: A character can walk or run across water.
• Waltz on Water: Video games play waltz music whenever things get wet.
• Warm Water Whiz: Making someone wet the bed by putting their hand in warm water.
• Water Drop Drink: A tiny character drinks water in the form of a droplet instead of from a glass.
• Water Equals Whizzing: Water either symbolises urine, or causes an urge to urinate.
• Waterfall into the Abyss: A floating island with waterfalls on it.
• Waterfall Shower: Someone showers under a waterfall.
• Waterfront Boss Battle: A Boss Battle near a body of water.
• Water-Geyser Volley: A character is thrust into the air by a geyser.
• Water Guns and Balloons: Kids using water balloons, squirt guns, or hoses for weapons.
• Water Hose Rodeo: A character using a garden hose gets flung around.
• Water Is Blue: Water (that isn't the ocean) is blue.
• Water Is Dry: A character who has gotten soaked looks dry afterwards.
• Water Is Womanly: Water is associated with women.
• Waterlogged Warzone: Fighting in an area with water all over the floor.
• Water Torture: Water is used as torture.
• Water Tower Down: Knocking down a water tower in a fight.
• Water-Triggered Change: Being splashed with water changes something about someone.
• Water Wake-up: A sleeping or unconscious character is woken with water.
• Wet Sari Scene: Wet clothing played for Fanservice in a Bollywood production.
• Wet T-Shirt Contest: A contest to see which character looks best in a wet T-shirt. Used as Fanservice.