Tropescilloscope: Developing Doomed Characters

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

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