Tropescilloscope: Establishing Character Moment

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

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