Tropescilloscope: Early-Bird Cameo

A character makes an appearance before being properly introduced later in the same work, in a sequel or in their own series. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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