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