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