Tropescilloscope: Establishing Character Moment

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

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