Tropescilloscope: Establishing Character Moment

Moment during or soon after a character's introduction which illustrates their personality. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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