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