Tropescilloscope: Establishing Character Moment

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

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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