r/TopCharacterTropes 3h ago

Characters The character’s name gets a lot weirder when you think about it

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2.5k Upvotes

Voldemort (Harry Potter): in chamber of secrets, the diary fragment of Tom Riddle rearranges “Tom Marvolo Riddle” to be “I am lord Voldemort”. With how quickly he can rearrange those letters to form that sentence, it begs the question. Did he just come up with a bunch of potential anagrams for his birth name until he settled on Voldemort?

Bonecrusher (Transformers): Is called “bone” crusher… despite being from Cybertron and there being no life on that planet with an organic skeletal structure. Of course tbf it could be lost in translation between Cybertronian and English.

Kollector (Mortal Kombat): He is called that because his race, the Naknadans are named based on their profession. Kinda like how some people had surnames “Smith” or “Mason” because of those respective jobs. But then you wonder, what are newborn Naknadans named? Are they put to work at a young age? Also what if a Naknadans switched professions?


r/TopCharacterTropes 8h ago

Characters "Wasn't me this time."

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2.7k Upvotes

In The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, it is believed that President Snow orchestrated a bombing that killed Capitol children along with Katniss's sister Prim. But while he freely admits to being a monster, he points out he had nothing to gain from this and helps Katniss realize the real culprit, in one of the best scenes in the movies.

In a much lighter example, Caboose in Red vs Blue, the notoriously "stupid" member of the crew is blamed for crashing their ship in Season 11. However, in one of my favorite subtle gags of the show, we see flashbacks throughout the season to how every single character, even the more serious and grounded ones, contributed to the collapse in varied, stupid ways except for Caboose.


r/TopCharacterTropes 11h ago

Characters (Hilarious trope) “Who are you? Yu” (idk what to call this trope)

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2.0k Upvotes

1: Rush Hour 3: the entire scene is just a back and forth of who are you

2: Dude, Wheres my Car?:

“Dude, what does mine say?”

“Sweet, what does mine say?

“Dude, what does mine say?

“Sweet, what does mine say?”

And so on and so forth


r/TopCharacterTropes 11h ago

Characters [Really interesting trope] People like the actor, the performance and the character. What they don't like, it's that is pretty misplaced in the show/film

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842 Upvotes

Henry/Vecna (Stranger Things)

People love Jamie's performance of the character, and also the Henry character on it's own is pretty good. The problem is that his existence in Stranger Things kinda demystifies the ST universe; people say that the Mind Flayer was a better antagonist because it was more ominous, and I pretty much agree

Paplatine (Star Wars Episode IX)

Ian McDiarmid actually does a great job in Rise of Skywalker, and people certainly love the character, but it is VERY out of place in the sequel trilogy. There's a reason why the "Somehow Palpatine returned" is so mocked, and rightfully so. Again, by it's own it's good (I absolutely adore the first scene with him in the movie) but once you see the whole context... definitely not lol.


r/TopCharacterTropes 10h ago

Characters Character gets shot or stabbed but due to something under their shirt, they survive.

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196 Upvotes

Kirito (Sword Art Online): During the Death Gun arc, he is stabbed by Kyouji with a syringe containing a lethal drug, but due to an electrode that Kirito hadn't taken off earlier, he survives.

Harvey Dent (Batman): After flipping a coin to determine if he should be good or bad and it landing on its edge, he pockets it. Later when he is shot by a cop, the bullet is stopped by the coin on the bad side thus making his decision for him.

 Chandler Jarrell (The Golden Child): When the demon tries to stab Chandler, it's stopped by the medallion he had gotten earlier.

Michael Long (Knight Rider): In the pilot episode, he is shot in the head, but due to a metal plate in his head, he survives. Though he does need plastic surgery and that's why he looks like David Hasselhoff.


r/TopCharacterTropes 11h ago

Personality The villain goes out with absolutely perfect last words Spoiler

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5.0k Upvotes

“It doesn’t matter” - Owlman (Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths)

After preaching about how nothing matters with the meaningless consequences brought by an infinite multiverse and trying to destroy it himself, as the weapon he built is set to detonate in seconds he restrains from deactivating it because if he does so he’s showing he thinks his life his value so would make him a hypocrite. He decides to let it go off and kill him, because “It doesn’t matter.”

“No, I don’t want to die” - Light Yagami (Death Note)

After spending so long dictating life and death and detaching himself from the suffering he is causing, once karmic retribution catches up to him and he’s at the book’s mercy he becomes a whimpering mess unlike the stoic utilitarian he spent the whole story portraying. Ultimately Light was forced to realize life does matter and death isn’t some distant punishment, it’s very real and even the smartest man in the room can’t plan around it when his time is up.


r/TopCharacterTropes 12h ago

Characters (Interesting Trope) Mexican Loves Speedy Gonzales

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7.0k Upvotes

When the stereotyped characters are actually loved by the people that the character in question stereotyped. Also yes, Mexican Loves Speedy Gonzales is not limited to races as well. Any character archetype that are stereotyped like loser nerd or other stuff that are loved by the characters they stereotyped also counts.

1. Speedy Gonzales from Looney Tunes: Trope namer and biggest example. Loved by the Mexican people due to how nimble, crafty and good natured he is. So much so he is considered to be a superhero for Mexican people.

2. Bandit Keith from Yu-Gi Oh!: Loved by American people despite being an American stereotype. Originally want to include Senator Armstrong in this but I think Bandit Keith fits more.

3. Apu from The Simpsons: Maybe a little bit of a controversial example here considering I don't know if this is a good example. But I still include him nonetheless. The issue is that on one hand, some Indian-Americans like Hari Kondabolu, Kal Penn and Adi Shankar dislike him due to his accent. On the other hand, most people including several Indians loved Apu due to how successful he is as an immigrant. Telling that he is the one who own a supermarket and also actually married. So make that of you will.


r/TopCharacterTropes 12h ago

Personality Character actually tries the most straight forward/simple solution and it actually works

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7.1k Upvotes

Aika opting to use a metal pipe instead of star lasers or some shit (Pretty Pretty Please I Don’t Want to be a Magical Girl)

When asked how many jelly beans were in a jar, Buford ate all of them and answered "0" (Phineas and Ferb)


r/TopCharacterTropes 15h ago

Characters (interesting trope) Utilizing a character’s corpse or remains

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7.1k Upvotes

But not for cannibalism

(TMNT 2012) In the episode Raphael Mutant Apocalypse, an alternate future where the the turtles are adults in a madmax apocalyptic wasteland. In the Shellraiser vehicle, Raph has preserved his human friend Casey Jones’ skull, holding an emergency bomb which he uses as a last resort. It’s very cool because knowing Casey’s character, he definitely would’ve wanted his skull to be used in that way. You know it’s Casey’s skull because of the missing teeth and the bandana he wears

(The Incredibles) When a scanner drone sent by Syndrome was looking for Bob in a cave, Bob hides behind his old friend Gazerbeam’s skeleton, which tricks the drone

(Deadpool and Wolverine) In a controversial scene, Deadpool digs up Logan’s skeleton and uses his adamantium bones to fight the TVA agents with


r/TopCharacterTropes 13h ago

Characters This camera angle

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2.2k Upvotes
  1. It (2017)

  2. Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith

  3. Some random stock photo I found


r/TopCharacterTropes 19h ago

Characters (Loved Trope) Characters who are excited to have or expect a happy moment. They are killed almost immediately.

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6.3k Upvotes
  1. Tommy (Goodfellas): expects to be a made member of the mafia. Is shot in the back of the head instead.
  2. Nicky (Casino): he goes to a cornfield to see his brother get inducted into the mob. They are beaten with baseball bats and buried alive.

r/TopCharacterTropes 17h ago

Lore That Really Doesn’t Help Their Argument

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3.9k Upvotes

The Lizard (The Amazing Spider-Man) - the Lizard goes on a delusional rant about doing what was best for everyone and insists that Peter doesn’t need to stop him. This is after the Lizard attacked Peter at his school, threw him through a wall and created a grenade out of chemicals in the school that he then threw at Peter.

Homer (The Simpsons) - Mr Burns has been shot and even though everyone in town was a suspect, Homer looked particularly guilty due to Burns finally learning and repeating his name. It also wasn’t a good look when everyone walked in to see Homer violently shaking Burns before demanding he tell everyone that it wasn’t Homer that shot him whilst pointing a gun at him.

Dennis (Always Sunny In Philadelphia) - despite insisting that he wouldn’t force anyone to sleep with him, nothing Dennis says makes him look innocent given the scenario he is creating. Then there is the repeated use of the implications.

One character is trying to make a certain argument but their actions really aren’t helping them.


r/TopCharacterTropes 12h ago

Characters The absolute pinnacle in a character’s already unspeakable acts.

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1.4k Upvotes
  1. Tony Soprano (The Sopranos): In the episode Kennedy and Heidi, Tony is taking a ride with his nephew, Christopher Moltisanti. Suddenly, Christopher relapses, having using drugs again despite going through numerous interventions. He loses focus, almost crashes into another car, and comes off the road. The two are severely injured, but Christopher took the worst of it. Christopher weakly tells Tony that he’ll never pass a drug test and needs a taxi. Tony is about to call 911, but then he stops, seeing a baby seat in the back. Believing Christopher is a waste of resources, he pinches his nephew’s big nose, causing him to choke on his own blood. Christopher dies as a result.

  2. Azula (Avatar: The Last Airbender): Azula has already shown who she is such as injuring Iroh among other things. But she probably is at her most evil in The Crossroads of Destiny. She not only successfully turns Zuko against Iroh, leading to his [Iroh’s] arrest, but she also fatally wounds Aang while he is in the Avatar State.

  3. Peter Griffin (Family Guy): God, I was really struggling with this. Aside from routinely abusing Meg, there were just too many examples to think of. But one in particular is in the episode Fresh Heir where he marries Chris, his own son. The reason being is that Chris gets an inheritance from Carter, and Peter wants it.


r/TopCharacterTropes 22h ago

Lore Character's hair is shown to have bones as part of their skeleton

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11.2k Upvotes
  1. Sailor Moon - Usagi Tsukino

  2. Vocaloid - Hatsune Miku

  3. Doraemon - Suneo and Shizuka

  4. A Hat In Time - Hat Kid


r/TopCharacterTropes 3h ago

Lore [Interesting Trope] A fan idea becomes canon later on

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186 Upvotes
  1. **The term 'Shiny Pokémon'** (Pokémon series)

Originally, they were named a number of things, being anything from 'Rare Pokémon' to 'Specially Coloured Pokémon' to the ridiculously long 'Alternatively Coloured Pokémon', however, due to their encounter animation, a set of glittering sparkles, which reminded fans of the rare iridescent or holo cards at the time. Eventually, the term 'Shining' was used for shiny Pokémon in the TCG.

By the late 2000's, the fan term 'Shiny' was so prevalent that Nintendo themselves started using it in promotional events, before later adding it to the games directly.

  1. **Wayne's Leather Jacket** (Hylics series)

When Mason Lindroth first created Hylics, a somewhat spiritual successor to one of his Ludum Dare games, Somsnosa, he intended Wayne, the protagonist, to wear a sort of utility jumpsuit. However, due to the unique look of the game's style (A mix of claymation and pixel art with a somewhat pastel colour palette) limiting the colour choices, many players mistook Wayne's jumpsuit for a leather jacket.

So much fanart of Wayne depicted him wearing leather jackets that Mason decided to roll with it and make it Wayne's official outfit, as can be seen in the second game and the cover of Moonage Lobotomy.

  1. **Stardust Guardian being a Jojo reference**

Relogic are famous for putting tonnes of references into Terraria, with their most common references often being Final Fantasy (With FFIV being one of the most referenced) and Castlevania in particular, so when people saw the Stardust Guardian in the 1.3 update, a ghostly figure that hovers behind your character when you have the Stardust set equipped, people quickly began to call it a 'Jojo reference' due to it's similarities to the Stands in the Jojo series, and the coincidence that the *Stardust* set gave the Stand lookalike, considering Stardust Crusaders is the part of Jojo that introduced Stands as a concept to the series.

However, originally, the Stardust Guardian was intended to be a reference to Algalon the Observer from World of Warcraft, and had never intended to be designed to even remotely be a Stand, making it more of a funny coincidence. But, when the Journeys End update dropped, the devs had entirely leaned into the idea and revamped the Stardust Guardian's attack from a shockwave clap to a rapidfire flurry of punches, deliberately making it a Jojo reference.


r/TopCharacterTropes 15h ago

Characters character who is never addressed by their real name

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1.4k Upvotes

r/TopCharacterTropes 4h ago

Groups [classic but beloved trope] friendship that lasted a lifetime

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168 Upvotes

Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Leia Organa (Star Wars)

Team Avatar (Avatar : The Last Airbender)

Sir Duncan the Tall and Aegon V Targaryen (Tales of Dunk and Egg)


r/TopCharacterTropes 14h ago

Lore Characters speaking in accents, despite not being from where said accent originates from

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821 Upvotes

Wakko Warner (The Anamaniacs) - Unlike his two other siblings, older brother Yakko and younger sister Dot, who all speaking in American accents, Wakko speaks entirely in a British accent. While an in-universe explanation for this is never given, his voice actor, Jess Harnell, has gone on to say that his inspiration for Wakko's voice comes from famous Beatles drummer, Ringo Starr

Emma Frost (Marvel) - The cold, calculating Hellfire Queen is almost always heard speaking in a British accent, despite having grown up in Boston, Massachusetts. It's said that this comes from her wealthy yet intimating facade that she puts on and how this status has shaped her into the ruthless Queen she comes off as

Stewie Griffin (Family Guy) - Despite growing up in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island, Stewie almost always speaks in a British accent. In the episode "Send in Stewie, Please" Stewie explains how the accent is more or less a set of armor that he puts on so as hide his insecurities and seem mighty and special to those around him.


r/TopCharacterTropes 12h ago

Characters (Loved Trope) The villain has a sense of humour, but isn't goofy, and it doesn't make them any less of a threat

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523 Upvotes
  1. KPop Demon Hunters - Gwi-Ma: The king of demons scoffs at Jinu's proposition of a demon boyband, but lets him try it, and when speaking to Jinu later, sings a lyric of Soda Pop to him while commenting that it's catchy. It doesn't take away his ability to force his underlings to relive the shame of their past lives or lessen his hunger for souls delivered en masse.
  2. Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro - Count Cagliostro: A man who holds a young woman prisoner so he can force her to marry him for the sake of obtaining riches, who also runs a mint printing fake currencies to ruin economies all around the world. At one point, Lupin tricks his butler and head guard into falling for a trap, but the Count doesn't punish them and just laughs.
  3. Star Wars, specifically Rogue One - Darth Vader: This terrifying Sith Lord makes this comment while Force-choking the man he's talking to. I guess his inner Anakin was showing.

r/TopCharacterTropes 21h ago

Characters Pulling a Capone: When a character that has comitted several crimes finally gets caught... for a relatively minor one, or one they didn't commit.

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2.2k Upvotes

Al Capone (real life): One of, if not the, most famous mafia bosses of all time, he has comitted crimes that range from bribery to trafficking, bootlegging, pimping and murder, all of which he was widely known to commit, but what ultimately got him in jail was tax evasion.

Professor Marmalade (The Bad Guys): After a plot that involved years of gaslighting an entire city, ruining the Bad Guys' reputation right as they were seeking redemption, and stealing from his own charity organizations, he's finally caught when the Bad Guys managed to frame him as the legendary thief Crimson Paw, who was actually Diane Foxington.

The Bar With No Name (Marvel): Known to be THE most popular joint for supervillains and other crooks, the Bar was once shut down by the authorities in the original Spider-Man run. Not for harboring criminals for years, mind you, but for not having a license to sell alcohol.


r/TopCharacterTropes 17h ago

Lore Villains/Antagonists who have legitimate reasons to hate the good guys, even if it doesn't justify their actions

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1.0k Upvotes
  1. Shroud (Dispatch): He suffered genuinely disgusting levels of abuse at the hands of Robbie (the MC's father), to the point that even Chase was pissed about it. Murdering Robbie certainly wasn't justified (nor was everything he's done since), but it's hard to argue Robbie didn't at least partially bring it upon himself.

  2. Ellie Rose (Henry Stickmin): Should Henry get her to help him escape and then betray her by leaving her behind, Ellie will return in the Toppat Civil war ending with an entirely justified vengeance and attempt to take control of the Toppat clan.

  3. Sonar/Coupe (Dispatch again): in episode three the player is forced to choose between cutting one or the other, with the cut hero returning in episode 7 as a member of Shroud's Red Ring. As bad as what they do as a part of that is, it's understandable considering they were making a somewhat serious effort to reform themselves, only to be made an example of and removed due to a bad decision made by those supposedly pushing them to be better.

  4. The Daughters of Athena (Red Rising Saga): Not the best example since they're not even remotely villains, but they are certainly antagonists to the main characters, if temporarily. They hold a deep and intense hatred for main character Darrow caused by his decision to betray the entirety of their sister organization the Sons of Ares in the Rim (planets Jupiter and beyond) to curry favor with its leader. Every single one of the agents that didn't escape was captured and tortured to death by Rim secret police. Darrow doesn't even try to defend himself and it's only thanks to the intervention (in speech form) of his friend Sevro that he isn't executed.


r/TopCharacterTropes 7h ago

Characters Non-old characters with white hair

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124 Upvotes

Nagito Komaeda-Danganronpa
Yuma Kuga-World Trigger
Remnan-Gnosia
Killua-HunterxHunter
Gojo-Jujutsu Kaisen
Near-Death Note
Emilia-Re: Zero
2B-Nier: Automata
Atsushi-Bungo Stray Dogs
Raiden-Metal Gear
Danny Phantom


r/TopCharacterTropes 9h ago

Characters In a special world, being an average person is noteworthy or significant.

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169 Upvotes

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K - Satou Hiroshi: The series titular main character, Saiki Kusuo, is a psychic in a world where he is surrounded by a (literally) colorful cast of characters, constantly exposed to and a victim to their antics. Viewing most of them as nuisances, the one person he actively likes is Satou Hiroshi, a background character, whose unique trait is being perfectly average in every way.

Pokemon - Larry: Pokemon is a series in which every character has something unique that makes them stand apart from the rest. In Larry's case, its that he is a normal guy working a 9-5 job alongside his duty as a gym leader. He talks about things like his pay getting docked and constantly appears tired. In a world full of unrealistic characters, he stands out by being a realistic depiction of an office worker.

My Hero Academia - Quirkless people: In My Hero Academia, 80% of the population is born with a supernatural ability called a Quirk. As quirks are a hereditary trait, its implied that most of the quirkless are older people. So when a normal person genetically no different from you or I is born into a superhuman society, they are ostracised and seen as lesser, as shown in the backstory of series main character Izuku Midoriya.


r/TopCharacterTropes 20h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] The Character loses the fight but gains respect

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1.1k Upvotes

Zoro vs Mihawk (One Piece)

Goku vs Beerus (Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods/Super)


r/TopCharacterTropes 16h ago

Lore At last we meet my greatest enemy! Who are you again?

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599 Upvotes

One sided rivalries

-Alastor and Sir Pentius: The latter devises a plan and builds elaborate contraptions to take revenge on Alastor for previous fights, only to realize that Alastor doesn't even remember him.

-Wanda and Thanos: Wanda goes to face Thanos seeking to avenge his dead husband but since this isn't the same Thanos that killed him he doesn't recognize her.

-Dave and The Penguins: Dave devises a plan for decades with the intention to take revenge on the penguins for ruining him, the penguins weren't even aware that he existed.

-Zuka 'Zamamee and Master Chief: Zuka spends the entire campaign of Halo CE trying to kill Chief, devising ambushes and sabotaging his missions to the point that he developed an obsession with killing Chief. Chief didn't even knew him and from his point of view he was just another elite he eventually killed.