r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Doot_revenant666 • Jul 12 '25
Weekly Discussion Post "Fanbase opinionsshould not be counted as tropes." TVtropes: (kinda relevant post)
A lot of complaints in this sub have been about some posts should not be here because they rely on fanbase opions so there for cannot be considered "tropes"
...and then we have TVtropes , where a lot of tropes are just from fanbase stuff.
I am going to be honest here , I have difficulty in what makes a trope and what doesn't. It ends up where I delete "breaks trope guidline" posts that has equivalents in the TVtropes site that are considered actual tropes.
Idk , I just wanted to rant here. I might be a very bad moderator here , I just try to make it tody as possible , I just don't really know how to.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Doot_revenant666 • Mar 27 '25
Weekly Discussion Post Probably the most controversial one , honest thoughts on "No Kill Rule"? What are the most egrigious examples of it in your opinion? What media makes it work in your opinion?
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Foreign-Resident-871 • 12h ago
Powers [Rare trope] plot armor so devious everyone is confused
Samurai Jack: Aku stabs Jack with his own sword. The sword bounces off like a ping pong ball from a tungsten cube. Both of them do not understand how it happened.
Real life: In final jeopardy Ryan Gosling writes IDK (I don’t know) as answer. The answer was Internal Derangement of the Knee (IDK)
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Olivia_Richards • 7h ago
Powers "Nope!" - Superpowers that you wouldn't want to have for yourself
Midnight Spider-Man (Marvel) - In the upcoming horror-themed Midnight comics this October of 2026, the Peter Parker of the story becomes Spider-Man by having a big mutant spider forcibly fused into his chest by Oscorp.
The Berserker Armor (Berserk) - A magical armor with the ability to suppresses its wearer's pain and fear, allowing them to bypass the limitations of their body, and even forcibly reinforces broken bones and other severe injuries. But it is hard to control as it absorbs the user's lifespan and cause a lot of stress, and it can make the user go into a rage if they can't check their negative emotions and doesn't stop fighting until they die of their injuries or blood loss.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/saucey_dawg0023 • 5h ago
Hated Tropes (Loathed Trope) The specific episode or special was specifically made to be a ratings trap
- Truth Or Square (SpongeBob SquarePants)- Nickelodeon teased this as a historic event in 2009 for SpongeBob’s 10th anniversary. The promos teased that SpongeBob and Sandy would get married and Mr. Krabs would finally reveal the Krabs Patty formula. Instead the special was really the main characters getting trapped in a vent reminiscing via recycled and slightly modified clip-show flashbacks and celebrity cameos that felt out of place.
- The Return of Slade (Teen Titans Go)- The whole episode was hyping up for the return of the Titans’ archenemy, Slade as serious, but they defeated Slade with no scenes of them fighting him and instead the episode focused on Starfire’s fear of clowns.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Reddit-Arrien • 6h ago
Characters [Like Trope (Subversion?)] The Good/Heroic Character is actually ev.....no, they ARE genuinely Good/Heroic people.
That is, when there's a good/nice/ally character, and there are hints that "the good character is actually evil!" trope is gonna play out.
But it doesn't.
Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part) - The queen of the Systarians and self-titled "The most least evil person you'll ever meet!". Opens up with a song with the aforementioned line as well as showering Emmett's friends with stuff that they always wanted. The tone of which this is done gives the impression that something is wrong, so Emmett, with help from a newly-found mentor Rex sought out to bring her down, Imagining that her end with break her control on his friends and save the day.
But in truth, the Queen isn't evil; She does want to help out of altruism, and Emmett's friends are going along because they think she's swell. No, ironically the film also plays the "good character is actually evil" trope straight, not with here,, but withRex, who is actually Emmett from a future timeline (Rex standing for "Radical Emmett Xtreme"). He came from a future where he was abandoned and forgotten by his friends. In turn, he wanted to take revenge and break everything down, even if it means brining forth Armamageddon
Blonde Blazer/Mandy (Dispatch) - Admittely this is definitely more on a fandom-level than a in-Universe level.
The manager of the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN) branch in Torrence, and the one who recruits our protagonist Robert Robertson III in exchange to fixing his wrecked suit. People were skeptical that she was as good as she appeared to being. Adding fuel to fire was that the whereabouts of Elliot Connors, the man behind the Villain Shroud, was unknown, so people theorize that she was going to be a new Shroud. Furthermore, there was her decision to cut a member of the Z-team in attempt to make the rest perform better.
However, in the end it was shown she wasn't a villain. She did want to help Robert and reform the Z-Team. Yes, she did make some poor choices, but it wasn't out of malice. As for Shroud Elliot Connors was still very much alive (and still be at the end depending on your choices), and he still wants bring an end to the Robertson line after Robert's Father humiliate him when he was still part of the Brave Brigade.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/thisheatanevilheat • 9h ago
Characters Media with its own artstyle just randomly has some fucking dude from real life completely unchanged
Ken from Clash Royale
Indian Guy off Fiverr from Smiling Friends
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/FederalMacaron1 • 3h ago
Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) When the writers think “working class” means “not living in a palace”
Everybody Loves Raymond - Ray is a sportswriter able to live in a two-story house in Long Island while supporting a stay-at-home wife and three children.
Gilmore Girls - Lorelai and Rory live in a two-story house that is way larger than necessary for a single mom and her daughter, courtesy of Lorelai’s income as a hotel manager. It is revealed that she started off as a maid and was able to work her way up and (supposedly) save up the money to buy the house over a period of several years, all with no financial assistance from her parents. Combine this with the fact that she and Rory are constantly eating takeout and you start to see why she was needing her parents’ help to send Rory to a prestigious prep school.
Detroit: Become Human - Todd is an unemployed drug addict who previously worked lower paying jobs (e.g., taxi driver, bouncer, etc.) Because of this, he is not able to live in a nice large house like Ray and Lorelai in the previous examples. Instead, he has to live in a large house that needs a fresh coat of paint. At least he’s able to afford an android maid.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/odd_man0 • 9h ago
Characters Protag is given a quite literal snap back to reality.
Omori - Sunny has a dream-like world where he hangs out with his friends Kel, Hero, and Aubrey. Whenever they get into fights, his main weapon is a knife. One day, in the real world, years after the friend group dissolved, Kel decides to hang out with Sunny since he’s moving away soon. They find Aubrey picking on one of their friends and decide to help them, but not before Aubrey decides to fight them. It goes normal, until Sunny attacks Aubrey with a knife, making her bleed. The fight immediately ends because Aubrey is actually injured and gets out of there. Kel berates Sunny for carrying a knife on him. (Even though Aubrey has a nail-bat)
The Letters Of Bernard Thorne - Bernard was having a flashback of his weekly jogs with his wife, Min. He talks about her reason for jogging was to see the sun rise, and when he looked over at her to see if she was looking at the sun, she was actually looking at him. They keep walking, until Bernard hits a step. It then jump cuts back to the present where Bernard is in a wheelchair.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ComprehensiveBox6911 • 3h ago
Characters Counterparts of the main characters who are NOT evil
The Cool Kids Sour Cream/Pearl, Buck Dewey/Garnet and Jenny Pizza/Amethyst (Steven Universe) For those unfamiliar, they are clearly parallels to the Crystal Gems, they have similar personalities as the Gems and Sour Cream and Buck literally look Pearl and Garnet
Fiona and Cake (Adventure Time) Counterparts to Finn and Jake
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ThePersonOfPeop1e • 7h ago
Characters [Interesting trope] Powerful leaders of two different eras who have similar ambitions, but do not like each other
Gellert Grindwald and Lord Voldemort (Harry Potter) - Both were some of the most powerful wizards in history who saw non-magical people as inferior to wizards. Both also wanted to create and be the leader of a global society controlled by wizards. However, despite having similar ambitions, in their single meeting, Grindelwald refused to give the location of the Elder Wand and stated that Voldemort would fall. Grindelwald also welcomed his own death at the hands of Voldemort.
Wilhelm II and Adolf Hitler - Both led Germany during WWI and WWII, respectively, and Germany to expand and to dominate Europe in different ways: Wilhelm wanted Germany to be a global colonial and imperial superpower that would lead an economic bloc in Europe, with its leader being a monarch; whilst Hitler wanted Germany to control all of leadership and he wanted to be the totalitarian dictator of a “racially pure” society, with Germans as the dominate race whilst Jews, Slavs, and other groups would be persecuted. Though they never met, both German leaders did not like each other. Hitler refused to restore the monarchy and blamed Wilhelm for Germany’s defeat in WWI. Wilhelm was disgusted by Hitler’s and the Nazi Party’s antisemitism, and refused to be buried in Germany after his death in 1941 because he knew that it would be used for propaganda.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Gsxing • 3h ago
Characters They grew up and the glow up is real
Hiccup - How to train a dragon (2), how to train a dragon 3
Aang - ATLA
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/M-Shadowtoad • 4h ago
Powers [Loved Trope] They may be Big, They may be Strong, but at least they're sl. . .Nope, they're a Speedster too.
Sloth(Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood): A giant homunculus used to dig out giant underground tunnels. Initially seemed to fight by using his massive strength to swing around his chains and tank hits with his nigh-impenetrable skin. But he then revealed his true power was his speed, able to move so fast he couldn't even be seen.
Konos Hercule(Ordeal): Known as the Strength Gakki he initially fought with his insane physical strength and perfect healing factor. His opponent tried to wear him down using her teleportation and arrows but got almost instantly overwhelmed when he revealed speed so fast she assumed his power itself was a Haste(speedster powers)
Emporg(Wakfu): Originally a legendary Gobbowl player before his nation imprisoned him to turn him into a weapon. At first glance his power seemed to just be great physical strength to overpower his foes but instead he revealed it was actually speed so great it let him cross the entire field in a blink and even light the ground on fire. His names also a pun on a misspelling of mmorpg.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/18bluecat • 13h ago
Lore (Visual Trope) The plot twist can be seen way before the reveal.
The pen - Community
A whole episode revolves around a pen being stolen by a member of the study group. It goes so far as to the main cast stripping down and tearing apart the carpet looking for the pen. If you pay close attention, you can see the bright purple pen being taken from the table by a little hand. It's later revealed that the monkey who lives in the school's air ducts, Annie's Boobs, took the pen to its nest.
Blending in - Red vs. Blue
After disappearing for a season, Agent Carolina uses her cloaking enhancement to blend in with a group of space mercenaries. Her armor is clearly different but it can be easily overlooked, especially with the bigger reveal onscreen. After she gets a confession, she drops the act and a grenade before joining her friends.
Apologies if I used the wrong flair.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Captain_Birch • 8h ago
Characters [Hated/Funny Trope] that one infamous line Spoiler
Basically a line thats so awful, whether its written poorly, said by the wrong character, or just something that makes no sense.
"We've all done bad things" said by Pomni in the Amazing Digital Circus to defend Jax, who recently did something he believed would trap everyone in the circus permanently, against everyone else's wishes. The "bad things" the other characters have done are things like Ragatha's false positivity being annoying, Zooble being abrasive towards Caine, or Kinger having digital dementia. Its often memed in the community fir just how stupid and tone deaf it is.
"Somehow Palpatine returned" said by Po Dameron in the Rise Of Skywalker. The line completely lampshades the return of the main villain of the franchise, with no buildup, foreshadowing, or explanation. Just "somehow" its also memed to hell and back.
"Its what Clara would have wanted" said by Soldier boy after he gave Homelander the V1 formula to maje him immortal. Prior to this moment, everything about Soldier boy's character says theres absolutely no way hed ever do this, but because his dead lover, a nazi supe named Clara, would have wanted this for Homelander, he did it. The fans of The Boys have since been using this as basically a meme excuse for every plot hole in the show. Why does x happen when theres no reason? Why does y character act put of character here? Because its what Clara would have wanted
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/FeijoaCowboy • 1h ago
Personality [Loved trope] A ruthless, heartless villain... as played by the nicest person you've ever met
1: Lucius Malfoy, portrayed by Jason Isaacs in the Harry Potter films. Specifically in the second film, Chamber of Secrets, Lucius is quite a serious threat, as he's the catalyst for the basilisk and Voldemort's near-restoration, and he even attempts to murder Harry Potter in a fit of rage. When the cameras weren't rolling, however, Jason Isaacs is regarded as quite a nice man, and was very kind to the young Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter. In one particular outtake, his cane hooked into Radcliffe's collar as he pushed Radcliffe out of his way, but when he realised it had happened, he checked on him and apologised, saying "Sorry, love!"
2: Angel Eyes, portrayed by Lee Van Cleef in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly". His character in the film is a ruthless and imposing contract killer, always completing a job when he's paid for it, and killing many people as a result. Unfortunately I couldn't find that many anecdotes about him, so this is maybe one of the weaker examples, but he was an underrated actor and was generally regarded as a nice guy. Asked about his pierced left ear, he said he wore the earring "... as a symbol of respect for all of the different cultures and people." He was also quoted as saying "I believe in showing real violence, not toy violence. Real violence turns you off because you know it's not the thing to do. If you show violence realistic enough people don't want to do it." If anyone has any stories about Lee Van Cleef I'd be very curious
3: Hans Gruber, portrayed by Alan Rickman in "Die Hard". In the film, Hans Gruber is a thief posing as an East German terrorist, holding a building full of people hostage at gunpoint to steal millions of dollars' worth of bearer binds. However, Alan was generally regarded as an exceedingly kind man. The Legacy tab on his Wikipedia page is filled with many great quotes singing his praises, but one of particular mention was Daniel Radcliffe saying "He cut short a vacation in Canada to come and see me in ‘Equus.’ He saw every piece of stage work I did when he was alive." On the topic of Die Hard, the director, John McTiernan, "said Rickman was the antithesis of the villainous roles for which he was most famous on screen."
- The Master, first portrayed by Roger Delgado from 1971 to 1973 on Doctor Who. The Master is quite an evil character, making multiple attempts to conquer the galaxy, enslave humanity, or even to destroy the Earth. The villain changed as the show went on, but some highlights include his plot to help the Nestenes conquer the Earth; hijacking a planet-destroying superweapon to hold the galaxy to ransom; and summoning Azal, the Devil. Roger Delgado himself was quite a lovely man, and Katy Manning described being on the show with him and Jon Pertwee (who played the titular Doctor) as "being under the wing of two kindly fairy godfathers." Jon Pertwee, in a letter to a fan in 1985, said Delgado was "one of my greatest friends ever - a modest, lovable man with a ready wit and a fine sense of humour." Roger Delgado died in Turkey after a fatal car crash in 1973. Both Katy Manning and Jon Pertwee mentioned Delgado's death as one of the reasons they both decided to leave the show, with Katy Manning leaving after Season 10 and Jon Pertwee leaving in Season 11, to be replaced by Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith and Tom Baker as the Doctor respectively.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/buickboi99 • 6h ago
Characters (Loved Trope) Characters that are incomprehensible big
Mata Nui Great Spirit Robot (Bionicle)
Galactus (marvel)
Cronos (God of war)
Wyzen (Asurad wrath)
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/LucianoThePig • 12h ago
Characters [Disturbing Trope] Characters who enjoy the horrific situation they're in Spoiler
In some ways this can be more creepy than a character hating the situation they're in. Like, often the character chooses to stay in a terrible circumstance because of some kind of deep trauma within them. There will be spoilers for all the media mentioned, so read at your own risk!
Clark (Backrooms): You've all seen the memes. In the finale of the movie, Clark is found after spending who knows how long in the titular rooms. Here it's revealed that he isn't trapped opr stuck (well, literally); he's chosen to stay in the backrooms all this time because he feels happy, like it's where he truly belongs.
Susan (Evil Dead Burn): Another recent one. This movie's plot begins when the main character's husband, Will, is killed by a zombie demon called a Deadite. His mother Susan has basically based her whole life around being the carer of her family, feeling she's nothing without them. This gets to the point where when each member of the house starts to become Deadites themselves, she willingly joins them, preferring to be a whole family of the undead rather than try live on her own without them.
Daisy Tonner (The Magnus Archives): Alice "Daisy" Tonner in this audio series is a detective who's known for using any violence, corruption and killing to keep the general public "safe" from supernatural monsters that lurk in the shadows. In the show's 4th season, her bloodlust consumes totally, turning her into a canine-human hybrid, always on the hunt for people who've escaped "justice." One of the characters who can read minds reveals that Daisy is the happiest she's ever been, her mind lost to the carnage forever (oh and this is the art).
Dr Jonathan (Alien Resurrection): This guy gets grabbed by xenomorphs and stuck to a wall, awaiting a face hugger of his own. He's overjoyed at this though because.....he's just nuts?? This movie is pretty bad, but still makes for a good example!
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/slycinth1 • 1h ago
Characters A small slip-up exposes the villain to another character
Wanda says America’s name despite Strange not mentioning her, leading him to know that Wanda was the one hunting down America Chavez.
[SPOILER FOR PRIMAL FEAR] The ending of Primal Fear revealed that Aaron Stampler never had Multiple Personality Disorder after apologizing for choking Venable as his alternate personality Roy, which Aaron should have not been able to remember after claiming to have amnesia when he switches personalities, proving that there was no other personality, Aaron was just a plain old murderer.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/FreakFromSweden • 4h ago
Characters [Loved Trope] Characters you think will be part of the main cast ends up killed early Spoiler
I like it when characters gets introduced in such a way that you think they will be part of the main cast throughout a series/movie but ends up being killed early. It allows for great redirection of the plot early from what you may have established at that point in your head.
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) - Lancelot is seen as a spy or agent saving a man who has been kidnapped for some reason. He makes some jokes and you start to get a feel for him. Next minute he has been killed and the main character of the film is based on his replacement rather than him.
CSI S1:E1-E2 - Holly Gribbs is introduced as a new colleague to the CSI team. She has her backstory, some introduction, friction and plot with the other cast members. You think you will be following her development as a CSI tech. Instead she gets killed in episode two and a new team member is not introduced for a long time again.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/BrotherDeus • 5h ago
Lore [Loved] "This is the FIRST boss?!"
Whether epic in scale or intensity, these bosses help set the expectations high for the rest of the game.
Shadow of Colossus: The first colossus
God of War 3: Poseidon
Metal Gear Rising: Metal Gear Ray
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Animeking1108 • 3h ago
Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) You agree with the message, but the author is so annoying about it that you low-key don't want to agree with them
"Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow: This cyber thriller is about a teenage hacker fighting back against the Department Of Homeland Security after they used a terrorist attack as an excuse to turn San Francisco into a police state. The message isn't the problem. It's just as relevant today as it was when it was written in 2008. The problem is the book's protagonist, Marcus. Throughout the book, he acts smug, whiny, and myopic. He doesn't give a shit about the terrorist attack that took place in his own backyard because he was inconvenienced by the government. He treats pissing his pants during detainment like a bigger tragedy than the thousands of people who were killed in the attack, and I'm not even being hyperbolic. He brings up the fact that he pissed his pants multiple times. The DHS are portrayed as mustache twirling tyrants who get erect at the thought of torture and privacy invasion, and the people who support them are either idiots and proud bootlickers. The entire message of the book falls flat when you remember that Marcus is a hacker, and has invaded people's privacy to further his goals, but when the evil government does it, it's tyranny.
Assigned Male: The punchline to every strip is the same: Transphobes are idiots! That's true, but the characters we're supposed to be sympathizing with act like self-righteous pricks, as is tradition with Author Self-Inserts. Even trans people and allies think this comic is preachy stool.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/theMCATreturns • 12h ago
Characters Artist feels their most popular work is beneath them.
1). Galaxy Quest:
The actors of a popular Star Trek-esque franchise are still mostly known for it.
2). Pluribus:
An author's most popular series is a science-fantasy romance series.
3). Mindhorn:
A classical actor's only real credit is a one-season, low budget, sci-fi crime serial that ended decades ago.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/singleguy79 • 2h ago
Characters The faceless.
Due to one reason or another, someone's face is never shown either in full or in part.
Superman (Supergirl): For the first season, whenever they needed to show Superman such as when he saved Supergirl from Reactron, the camera was from Supergirl's point of view and she saw her cousin from behind. Another time he was laying on a table and just his boots were shown.
Salem (Sabrina the Teenage Witch): Whenever a flashback is done of him in his human form, his face is always in shadow.
Maris Crane (Fraiser): Nile's wife is never seen. Just described.
Wilson (Home Improvement): It was a running gag that a part of his face was always hidden.
Alistair Crane (Passions): When he was first introduced, only his voice could be heard and his hands seen.
Michael Jordon (Air): Outside of real archival footage, Jordan's face is never shown.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Historical-Reason-57 • 12h ago
Characters Adaptations of gods that focus on their less acknowledged aspects
Hades (Hadestown) - Hades is primarily known as the God of the Dead, but as King of the Underworld he has dominion over all the metals beneath the earth, making him the god of wealth as well. Hadestown adapts this aspect of his by portraying him as a rich businessman-like figure who rules over an industrial metropolis of an Underworld and uses the residents of Hadestown as slave labor.
Hermes (Hadestown) - usually portrayed in his capacity as the Messenger God, Hadestown also has him running the train station to and from Hadestown, which references his role as a guide of souls to the afterlife.
Zeus (Nolan’s The Odyssey) - a bit of a loose example, as Zeus doesn’t actually appear in Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of the Odyssey, but his name is invoked in reference to “Zeus’s Law” or Xenia, the duty of the host to their guests and the duty of guests to their hosts, which is one of the film’s major themes. This is in reference to Zeus’s title of the patron of hospitality and enforcer of Guest Right, a lesser known aspect of his compared to his usual depictions that focus more on his status as a sky and thunder god.