Tropescilloscope: Developing Doomed Characters

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

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