Tropescilloscope: Black Best Friend

A satellite black character is best friends with non-black main character in attempt to make the latter fare better. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Hero of Another Story Token Minority Informed Ability Military and Warfare Films Dutch Angle Developing Doomed Characters Becoming the Mask Sole Survivor Unusual Euphemism Villain with Good Publicity Henpecked Husband The Big Guy Romantic Comedy A Date with Rosie Palms Rule of Funny Bury Your Gays Dumb Blonde Redemption Equals Death All There in the Script A Minor Kidroduction Scenery Porn Insane Troll Logic I Did What I Had to Do Victoria's Secret Compartment Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Thriller Tagline Defrosting Ice Queen Mystery and Detective Films Face–Heel Turn Rule of Cool Rape as Drama Genre Shift Deconstruction The Stoner Ambiguous Disorder Punny Name Adaptational Heroism Bait-and-Switch Loads and Loads of Characters Man on Fire Handicapped Badass Nice Guy Stylistic Suck The Atoner Stealth Pun Combat Pragmatist Badass Grandpa Reality Ensues After the End As the Good Book Says... Only Sane Man Last-Name Basis Romantic False Lead Hypocritical Humor Exactly What It Says on the Tin Hidden Depths Slap-Slap-Kiss An Aesop Villain Song Did Not Get the Girl Suddenly SHOUTING! 20 Minutes into the Future The Ace Evil Counterpart Up to Eleven The Lost Lenore Silent Movie "Awesome McCool" Name Missing Mom Blackmail Continuity Nod Retirony It Can Think Martial Arts Movie Sanity Slippage Chekhov's Gun Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Would Hurt a Child Red Eyes, Take Warning Monumental Damage Laughing Mad Better to Die than Be Killed Fat Bastard Artistic License – Biology More Dakka Hollywood Law Based on a True Story True Companions Silence Is Golden Evil-Detecting Dog Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Bond One-Liner Bloody Hilarious Fatal Family Photo Hope Spot Hypocrite Card-Carrying Villain Would Hit a Girl Despair Event Horizon No Celebrities Were Harmed Bring My Brown Pants Wicked Cultured Villain Protagonist Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Ironic Echo Large Ham Heel Realization Camera Abuse Bolivian Army Ending Brutal Honesty Bowdlerise Instant Death Bullet The Smart Guy O.O.C. Is Serious Business BFG Gone Horribly Right Car Fu Action Survivor Curb-Stomp Battle Big Applesauce Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Lampshade Hanging Death by Irony I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Covers Always Lie Made of Explodium Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Imagine Spot Sassy Black Woman Rousing Speech Psychopathic Manchild Ominous Latin Chanting Ax-Crazy Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene How We Got Here Not So Different Self-Deprecation The Ghost Taking You with Me Author Avatar Abusive Parents Credits Gag Sequel Hook Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Blatant Lies What You Are in the Dark Training Montage Shower Scene Australian Movies Heel–Face Turn Fake Shemp Red Oni, Blue Oni Real Life NO INDOOR VOICE Adapted Out Karma Houdini Cloudcuckoolander Heroic Sacrifice Adaptational Badass Hollywood Darkness Reality Is Unrealistic Took a Level in Jerkass There Is No Kill Like Overkill Didn't Think This Through The Bully Stuff Blowing Up Mr. Exposition Ms. Fanservice Accidental Misnaming '80s Hair Big Bad Crazy-Prepared Television Movie Index Anti-Villain Dying Moment of Awesome All Just a Dream Taking the Bullet Heroes Want Redheads Politically Incorrect Villain Final Girl Double Entendre Aluminum Christmas Trees Homage Historical In-Joke Here We Go Again! War Is Hell Early-Bird Cameo Not Quite Dead Small Name, Big Ego Tap on the Head Alliterative Name Five-Man Band Sci-Fi Horror No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Leave the Camera Running Meaningful Echo Chekhov's Skill Black Comedy Rape Wretched Hive Setting Update Chekhov's Gunman Cool Shades Scenery Gorn Neck Snap Big Eater Evil Brit Not Using the "Z" Word Mighty Whitey The Brute Pay Evil unto Evil Bound and Gagged Guile Hero Say My Name Brainless Beauty He Who Fights Monsters Anachronic Order You Killed My Father No Antagonist Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Epic Fail Depraved Bisexual Fingore Adaptation Dye-Job Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Greater-Scope Villain Adaptation Distillation Dressing as the Enemy Captain Obvious Blood from the Mouth Throwing Your Sword Always Works Black and Gray Morality Award-Bait Song The Smurfette Principle Dramedy Tranquil Fury Neck Lift Kids Are Cruel Costume Porn Parental Incest Obstructive Bureaucrat Anti-Hero Fanservice Karmic Death Green-Eyed Monster Woman in White Posthumous Character Psychological Thriller Disappeared Dad Author Appeal Vampire Fiction Humans Are Bastards All Girls Want Bad Boys Artistic License – Military Character Development May–December Romance Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Manly Tears Berserk Button Fantasy Films Exact Words Bavarian Fire Drill Eagleland Soft Glass Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Brick Joke Shoot the Shaggy Dog The Dog Bites Back Does This Remind You of Anything? Off-into-the-Distance Ending Wham Line Unusually Uninteresting Sight The Musical And the Adventure Continues Suspiciously Similar Substitute Enemy Mine Soundtrack Dissonance Affectionate Parody Jerkass Has a Point Friend to All Children Earn Your Happy Ending Retcon Meaningful Background Event The Starscream Video Credits The Chessmaster Translation Convention Men Are the Expendable Gender Dies Wide Open Stock Footage Creative Closing Credits Woman Scorned An Arm and a Leg Cool Old Guy Blood Knight Facial Horror Defiant to the End Slasher Smile Genre Savvy Artistic License – Law Irony Stealth Hi/Bye Noodle Incident Off with His Head! Maybe Ever After Yandere In Medias Res Daddy's Girl Cool Car Storming the Castle Determinator Rich Bitch Abhorrent Admirer Protagonist Title Bottomless Magazines Chewing the Scenery Not Even Bothering with the Accent No-Sell Demonic Possession Unreliable Narrator Animated Credits Opening Animal Motifs Serious Business Film Series Eyepatch of Power Big-Bad Ensemble Humiliation Conga Gory Discretion Shot Cat Scare Action Prologue I Have Your Wife The Oner Bad "Bad Acting" Precision F-Strike Affably Evil Male Frontal Nudity Bilingual Bonus Faking the Dead You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Works Set in World War II Coming-of-Age Story Room Full of Crazy Hoist by His Own Petard Everyone Has Standards Darkest Hour No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Dropped a Bridge on Him Music Stories Evil Plan B-Movie Paper-Thin Disguise Big Brother Instinct The Alcoholic Scare Chord Amoral Attorney Our Zombies Are Different Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Ship Tease Shown Their Work Idiot Ball "The Reason You Suck" Speech Only Known by Their Nickname Sir Swears-a-Lot Pimped-Out Dress Parental Substitute Immune to Bullets I'm a Humanitarian Historical Villain Upgrade The X of Y Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Needs Wiki Magic Love Deus ex Machina Obfuscating Stupidity Shout-Out As Himself La Résistance French Films Gold Digger British Films Bloodless Carnage Intrepid Reporter Undying Loyalty Asshole Victim Slashed Throat Manic Pixie Dream Girl Knight Templar Black Dude Dies First Skewed Priorities Framing Device Foil The Great Depression Big Fancy House Big Damn Heroes Worthy Opponent Authority Equals Asskicking In the Back Back from the Dead Decoy Protagonist Villain Opening Scene Slasher Movie A Father to His Men Cassandra Truth Major Injury Underreaction Establishing Character Moment Disguised in Drag Trailers Always Spoil The Mafia Line-of-Sight Name Plot Hole Distracted by the Sexy Genre Throwback Your Head A-Splode Danny Peary Cult Movies List Crapsack World Catapult Nightmare Betty and Veronica Pragmatic Villainy The Stoic The Reveal The Load Wounded Gazelle Gambit The Casanova The End... Or Is It? Death by Adaptation Manchild Sealed Evil in a Can One-Word Title "Shaggy Dog" Story Really Gets Around Well-Intentioned Extremist Improbable Aiming Skills Fire-Forged Friends Only in It for the Money Darker and Edgier Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Only One Name Obviously Evil Accidental Murder Properly Paranoid Bad Boss Straight Gay Drill Sergeant Nasty Intergenerational Friendship Evil Is Petty Death Glare Hong Kong Films Country Matters Big Bad Duumvirate Mood Whiplash Reasonable Authority Figure Ambiguously Gay Badass in a Nice Suit Babies Ever After Meet Cute Totally Radical Those Wacky Nazis Shirtless Scene Easily Forgiven Implacable Man Unwitting Instigator of Doom Recycled IN SPACE! Actually Pretty Funny Zombie Stories Awesome, but Impractical Not What It Looks Like Mr. Fanservice Insistent Terminology Film Noir Pretty Little Headshots Expository Hairstyle Change Oh, Crap! Double-Meaning Title Adults Are Useless Historical-Domain Character You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Age Lift Animal Title Index Anguished Declaration of Love Those Two Guys Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Groin Attack Whole Plot Reference The '70s The Un-Reveal Never Trust a Trailer Calling the Old Man Out Russian Films Cool Old Lady Outrun the Fireball Smoking Is Cool Fatal Flaw Book-Ends Casting Gag What the Hell, Hero? Artistic License – History Narrator Sequel Escalation Love at First Sight Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Camp Gay Sinister Minister Shipper on Deck Shut Up, Hannibal! Does Not Like Shoes Those Two Bad Guys Action Girl Villainous Breakdown Flipping the Bird Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Batman Gambit The Sociopath Pretty in Mink He Knows Too Much Funny Foreigner From Bad to Worse Drugs Are Bad Bare Your Midriff Motor Mouth Hero Antagonist Artistic License – Geography Laser-Guided Karma Due to the Dead Captain Ersatz Important Haircut Meaningful Name Mooks Every Car Is a Pinto No OSHA Compliance Malevolent Masked Men Anyone Can Die Badass Boast Non-Indicative Name Italian Films Demoted to Extra Gratuitous English Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Random Events Plot Stepford Smiler Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism The Alleged Car Actor Allusion Word of God Rated M for Manly Pet the Dog You Have Failed Me Cowboy Cop Beware the Nice Ones Nice Hat Ungrateful Bastard Kill It with Fire Chase Scene Honor Before Reason Cain and Abel All Men Are Perverts Mythology Gag Arc Words Very Loosely Based on a True Story Gilligan Cut Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Black Comedy Left the Background Music On Leitmotif Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Four-Temperament Ensemble Corpsing Diabolus ex Machina Fiery Redhead Kill 'em All Psycho for Hire Damsel in Distress Comically Missing the Point Redshirt Army In Name Only Empathic Environment No Ending Happily Married Time Skip Getting Crap Past the Radar Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Fantastic Racism Index of Film Westerns Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Canon Foreigner Evil vs. Evil One Steve Limit Cool Guns Crazy Jealous Guy Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Star-Crossed Lovers Almost Kiss Together in Death Names to Run Away from Really Fast Loophole Abuse One-Man Army Creepy Child Peek-a-Boo Corpse Dissonant Serenity Science Fiction Films Beard of Evil Interrupted Suicide Evil Is Hammy Extreme Doormat Retired Badass Wrong Genre Savvy Driven to Suicide Grey and Gray Morality Dark Action Girl Not So Above It All Heroic BSoD Nothing Is Scarier Spanner in the Works Artistic License – Physics Death by Sex My Greatest Failure Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Improvised Weapon My God, What Have I Done? Jerk Jock Cluster F-Bomb Show Within a Show Flashback Dirty Coward Dramatic Irony Funny Background Event Belligerent Sexual Tension Ghost Fiction She's Got Legs Central Theme Spared by the Adaptation Toplessness from the Back Arranged Marriage Male Gaze Rule of Three The Cameo Corrupt Corporate Executive Your Cheating Heart Eldritch Abomination Killed Mid-Sentence Hell Is That Noise Take That! Ugly Guy, Hot Wife The Film of the Book Biopic Rule of Symbolism Half the Man He Used to Be Armor-Piercing Question Freeze-Frame Bonus Jerk with a Heart of Gold Badass Longcoat Break the Cutie Fan Disservice Offscreen Moment of Awesome The Power of Love Unspoken Plan Guarantee Conspicuous CG Bald of Evil Butt-Monkey The '60s Light Is Not Good Creator Cameo Brother–Sister Incest Mama Bear All for Nothing As Long as It Sounds Foreign Roaring Rampage of Revenge Spiteful Spit Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Anachronism Stew The Voiceless Call-Back Badass Normal Refuge in Audacity Be Careful What You Wish For Overprotective Dad Evil Laugh Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Once More, with Clarity! Deliberately Monochrome Let's Get Dangerous! Overly Long Gag The Ditz Drowning My Sorrows Police are Useless Bland-Name Product "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Never Found the Body The Place A.I. Is a Crapshoot Jitter Cam Even Evil Has Standards Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Call-Forward Pre-Asskicking One-Liner The Hero Dies Broken Aesop Super Strength Only a Flesh Wound Dark Reprise Domestic Abuse Parental Abandonment A God Am I The Dragon Agony of the Feet Beauty Is Never Tarnished Historical Hero Upgrade Mexican Standoff Improbable Weapon User Department of Redundancy Department Cold-Blooded Torture timeperiod Annoying Younger Sibling Face Death with Dignity MacGuffin Film Noir Index Moment Killer An Axe to Grind Freudian Excuse Kick the Son of a Bitch Body Horror And I Must Scream Bullying a Dragon Broken Bird Parental Neglect Antagonist Title The Dreaded Attempted Rape Dual Wielding She Cleans Up Nicely Failed a Spot Check Vomit Discretion Shot Made of Iron Femme Fatale Fun with Acronyms Guns Akimbo It's Personal Documentary Death of a Child Shell-Shocked Veteran The Cavalry Mundane Made Awesome folderlabel Celebrity Paradox Take a Third Option As You Know Christmas Movies Index Cruel and Unusual Death Adorkable Rasputinian Death Japanese Films Vacation Films Naïve Newcomer Drives Like Crazy Rewatch Bonus Spell My Name with an "S" Kubrick Stare Vitriolic Best Buds Novelization Reality Has No Subtitles Logo Joke Our Vampires Are Different Alpha Bitch The Lancer Put on a Bus Vomit Indiscretion Shot Fourth Date Marriage Hooker with a Heart of Gold Unresolved Sexual Tension Eiffel Tower Effect Offscreen Teleportation Stalker with a Crush Revenge From Nobody to Nightmare Make It Look Like an Accident Plucky Comic Relief Eureka Moment It's All About Me Bloodier and Gorier Epic Movie Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Dark and Troubled Past Bittersweet Ending Dirty Cop Lighter and Softer Sacrificial Lion Race Against the Clock Love Triangle Curse Cut Short The '80s Adaptation Expansion No Name Given The '90s Eye Scream Sports Stories Mistaken for Gay Running Gag Bond Villain Stupidity And Starring Grievous Bottley Harm Death Seeker Badass Bookworm Dramatic Gun Cock Daylight Horror Adaptational Attractiveness Chiaroscuro Truth in Television Ambiguous Ending Sexy Discretion Shot German Films Bi the Way Mind Screw Suspiciously Specific Denial Aside Glance Not So Stoic Deal with the Devil Manipulative Bastard Took a Level in Badass Dark Is Not Evil Breaking the Fourth Wall Crucified Hero Shot The '50s Older Than They Look Alas, Poor Villain Pragmatic Adaptation Canadian Movies Disproportionate Retribution The Chick Poor Communication Kills The Remake Mugging the Monster Adaptational Villainy I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Fate Worse than Death Red Shirt Advertised Extra Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Fish out of Water Police Brutality It Will Never Catch On For Want of a Nail Pyrrhic Victory Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Break the Haughty Playing Gertrude Have a Gay Old Time Famous Last Words Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Visual Pun Race Lift Married to the Job Insult Backfire Red Right Hand My Beloved Smother Papa Wolf Air-Vent Passageway Smug Snake Contrived Coincidence Leaning on the Fourth Wall Determinator aka: The Determinator Jump Scare Early Installment Weirdness Sadistic Choice Expy Wham Shot The Faceless All There in the Manual Knife Nut Gender Flip Disney Death Horror Films Deliberate Values Dissonance Downer Ending The Bad Guy Wins Title Drop World of Ham Morality Pet Mercy Kill Hair-Trigger Temper Bar Brawl Naked People Are Funny Adult Fear Faux Affably Evil Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Disney Villain Death For the Evulz Public Domain Feature Films Catch-Phrase The Hero Reckless Gun Usage Black Best Friend Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Adaptation Name Change Match Cut Bunny-Ears Lawyer Deadpan Snarker Never My Fault Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Mad Scientist What Happened to the Mouse? Evil Sounds Deep Amusing Injuries Big "NO!" Get Out! Good Is Not Nice Action Genre The Quiet One N-Word Privileges Jerkass Product Placement Apocalypse How Lock and Load Montage Closed Circle Broken Pedestal Boom, Headshot! Horror Comedy Red Herring The Vamp Riddle for the Ages Kick the Dog Dull Surprise Foreshadowing Ripped from the Headlines Gorn Twist Ending Scary Black Man Ass Shove Tempting Fate Fanservice Extra Foregone Conclusion Dirty Old Man Destination Defenestration The Mole The Stinger Market-Based Title Re-Cut Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Cat Fight Beta Couple "Well Done, Son!" Guy Children Are Innocent Gainax Ending Dogged Nice Guy The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Fainting Artistic License – Gun Safety Auto Erotica Madness Mantra Composite Character I Need a Freaking Drink Even Evil Has Loved Ones Villain Ball Arch-Enemy Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Pre-Mortem One-Liner Extremely Short Timespan Hate Sink Dwindling Party Real Life Writes the Plot This Is Gonna Suck Superhero Frame-Up Ascended Extra Spiritual Successor Heterosexual Life-Partners Too Dumb to Live Punch-Clock Villain Same Language Dub Serial Killer