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