Tropescilloscope: Developing Doomed Characters

Spending too much time developing characters that are likely going to die later on. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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