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)

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