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