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