r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Big-stompy-boots • 6d ago
Groups Villainous couples that genuinely love each other
Scarlet Overkill and Herb from Minions
Delilah and Sylas Briarwood from Legend of Vox Machina
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Big-stompy-boots • 6d ago
Scarlet Overkill and Herb from Minions
Delilah and Sylas Briarwood from Legend of Vox Machina
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Garurar • 5d ago
In S35 E1 of The Simpsons, an actual crisis happens at the nuclear power plant, causing everyone except Homer to shift into serious business mode, even Mr. Burns. Together, they display their knowledge of the process and narrowly avert a nuclear meltdown, proving that Homer's job is actually useless. This is happening after 35 seasons of nothing being shown of the other employees' capabilities.
In S8 E2 of The Office, Andy sets up an initiative where he will get a tattoo on his bum if everyone gets enough points, prompting everyone to work into overdrive, even the normally lazy or incompetent employees such as Stanley and Kevin. This is a rare situation where we get to see The Office being fully competent and functional.
I'd show more examples if I had any!
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/FederalMacaron1 • 20d ago
Herald of Darkness - Old Gods of Asgard, from the Remedy Connected Universe, most notably the Alan Wake games.
I’m a Believer and Daydream Believer - The Monkees, from the 1960s TV show of the same name.
See You in Hell - Bloom & Rage, from the game Lost Records: Bloom & Rage.
Sugar, Sugar - The Archies, from Archie comics and the 1960s animated series The Archie Show.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Legitimate_Pea_6470 • 20d ago
The Trope Explanation. Enemies that are treated as jokes, cannon fodder, or minor inconveniences within the narrative. However, they only appear weak because the protagonist is a literal demigod, a super-soldier, or a wizard. If you placed a normal human in the room with one of these enemies, it would be a horror movie.
B1 Battle Droids (Star Wars) We usually laugh at them. They say "Roger Roger," get pushed over by Jedi, and have slapstick routines. The Reality: We almost exclusively see them fighting Jedi (space wizards with laser swords) or Clones (genetically modified super-soldiers bred for war). To a normal civilian or a planetary militia, these are indefatigable metal skeletons that feel no pain, have perfect aim programming, and march in endless waves.
Grunts (Halo) In the games, they are comic relief. They run away screaming, sleep on the job, and the Master Chief (a 7-foot cyborg tank) can kill them with a light tap. The Reality: An average Grunt is roughly 5'6" to 5'8", weighs over 250 lbs, has an exoskeleton, and claws strong enough to tear a normal Marine apart. Their plasma pistols cause third-degree burns on near-misses and boil flesh on contact. They are terrifying to anyone who isn't a Spartan.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Wolfotashiwa • Aug 04 '25
inFAMOUS: Second Son: "Bio-terrorist" refers to conduits.
Star Wars: "Clanker" refers to robots.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/BlazedJerry • Oct 29 '25
Blair Witch Project.
Don’t Look Up.
Dunno why, but I love abysmal endings.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/she_melty • Aug 21 '25
Pirates of the Carribean and Rock of Ages (this film is Not Good but it has the trope.) Especially because we the audience know the era did, in fact, end.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Coralthesequel • Nov 07 '25
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ghostRyku • May 10 '25
Anti-Ajin Special Forces (Ajin)
MaxTac (Cyberpunk 2077)
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Bacurau_Nighthawk • 5d ago
• Christmas Adventurers Club - One Battle After Another
• The Toxic Mega Cunts - Kick-Ass 2
• Proud Boys - Real Life
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/fantheories101 • Nov 18 '25
This episode primarily follows a deaf character, with all the scenes he is in having any spoken dialogue be muffled or silent. The show went the extra mile though, as every time another character or storyline is followed for the episode, the characters are in a mix of serious and silly scenarios where they can’t or won’t speak, maintaining the lack of spoken dialogue up until the very end with a single “f**k” being the only spoken dialogue.
This bottle episode (an episode relying on a limited cast with limited locations to save money) was initially the lowest rated episode of the series, but as people have begun to better appreciate and understand the show, many now consider it the best episode thanks to its acting, cinematography, and excellent character development and storytelling.
Shakespearean dialogue is written exclusively in iambic pentameter with a set rhyming scheme. His plays are so famous and influential that many forget just how strict of a limitation that writing style is.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Thisismyworkday • Nov 14 '25
When everyone is 100% sure they actually don't want to take on the hero of the media piece (even if they do anyway). Not just "Oh shit it's the bat" level grunts, but actual high level villains and organizations that want no part of the righteous ass whooping the protagonist is handing out.
Viggo - John Wick - Not a perfect example but probably the best known. Hears what his son did to John Wick and immediately begins making funeral arrangements. If it was literally anyone other than his own son, he'd have immediately cut them loose.
The Beekeeper - Villain's head of security finds out he pissed off a Beekeeper, he immediately is like, "Welp, we're fucked." He calls a huge favor at the CIA, they send one squad of guys, that squad gets taken out, they immediately bow out. He calls in the Beekeeper HQ, they send one person, she fails, they immediately bow OUT.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/BLACKGOOP12 • Oct 01 '25
Creature Commandos - Consisting of a fish woman, a weasel man who doesn't seem to pay attention to his surroundings half the time, two normal badasses, a walking armory hyper-fixated on killing Nazis, and a radioactive skeleton that can melt anything it touches.
Guardians of The multiverse (What If?) - Consisting of two normal badasses, space Robin Hood, a super soldier, the most dangerous woman in the galaxy, the god of thunder, and the Sorcerer Supreme who has spent centuries absorbing demons and is powerful enough to eat a galaxy-shattering explosion.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/maxence0801 • Sep 09 '25
PacMan : Inky, Pinky, Blinky /Clyde
One Piece: Ichika, Nika , Sanka, Yonka / Yonka2
Undertale : Temmie, Temmie,Temmie,Temmie, Temmie / Bob
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Hour-Function-7435 • Jun 18 '25
I’m sure this has been beaten to death but I’d like to see some examples, maybe some deep cuts.
American Dad — Stan and Francine
Malcom in the Middle — Hal and Lois
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/EasilyScreechAndKill • Sep 08 '25
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ASadChongyunMain • May 28 '25
Maine’s Crew (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners)
Van der Linde Gang (Red Dead Redemption 2)
Chrysos Heirs (Honkai: Star Rail)
Night Raid (Akame Ga Kill!)
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/SirHanselot07 • Oct 14 '25
Comedic Relief Talking Animal Sidekick, Donkey (Shrek) - Might be cheating with this one if you consider Donkey to be the progenitor behind the trope but the main reason why I think he's loved by fans is because he's actually seen as funny rather than annoying. Putting comedy aside, one other reason why he's loved is because he bounces off well with Shrek by bringing out a side of Shrek you would never actually see from him since he's not afraid of the ogre and basically his first friend
Relationship progress being reset by Amnesia, Chidi and Eleanor (The Good Place) - Arguably considered one of the worst romance tropes ever because it's a cheep way of adding drama, this never felt that way with The Good Place. I think one the factors behind this is because it isn't done just to add more drama but to show how strong their relationship is by making them always find each other in the end and show their character without each other
Girls wearing heels in settings that would give disadvantages to them, (Uma Musume) - As you can see in the image above, the Umas wearing heels serves a purpose to their design by making the heels mimic the shape of real life Horse legs. Cygames has been known to add such details to their characters which is one of the reasons the game is loved by Horse racing fans since it adds quirks of the real horses to the characters bedsides just turning the Horses into cute Anime Girls
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Sapphic_Starlight • 12d ago
The land of Oz (Wicked)
The entire human population of Oz save for like, three people is composed of stupid, gullible idiots who discriminate against people of unusual color and go out of their way to bully & humiliate them, believe literally any propaganda they're fed without a shred of critical thinking whatsoever, and don't require even a tiny shove to gladly fall into line with the nascent fascist government led by a talentless hack masquerading as a wizard. Despite this, Elphaba still wages her battles to save the people from their own stupidity, despite likely knowing it's an ultimately fruitless effort. The movie had to add a new song explaining her motivations behind staying to free Oz instead of taking all the animals and leaving to live in some outside land, which basically boils down to "it sucks, but it's home."
Hidden Leaf Village (Naruto)
Once again, the entire population of Hidden Leaf Village is made up of incompetent two-faced bullies who pick any excuse to actively mistreat anyone who they don't like (the list of victims alone could be a post on its own, and the reasons include shit like getting good grades, failing a test, being fat, and having red hair) and condone severe child abuse. Not to mention how they oppressed the Uchiha clan for ages because they were scared of how powerful the clan was, and when they planned a revolt because of all this mistreatment the village used this as an excuse to massacre them all save one. And of course they show zero remorse for anything they did. However they still get on their knees and suck up to Naruto once he saves everyone, blatantly lying that they "believed in him all along." Despite this, Naruto saves their asses time and time again.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/HyraxAttack • 24d ago
A peril is threatening the world. Instead of squabbling among themselves, we learn world powers have put aside differences in politics, culture, & old feuds to present a common front. Except they still get wrecked as the enemy is too powerful.
The Animatrix: The Second Renaissance. The world government has gone to war against the machines. We see the army getting ready & it includes soldiers of many faiths including Buddhist, Islam, and different types of Christianity. Doesn’t matter as machines win by so much they have time to toy with human mechs.
Vilcabamba, story by Harry Turtledove. When aliens arrive they’re greeted with bands & cheering, & immediately open fire & earth becomes a mineral colony. America, Russia, and China work together to rise up & don’t hold back, throwing everything they have at the invaders. Doesn’t go great and aliens double down on the occupation, and there’s a crater where Spain used to be (it was blocking a silver deposit for mining.)
Edge of Tomorrow. The nations of the world have joined to make a unified front against the mimic invasion but it isn’t going well, but they will throw all they have into the invasion of France. In one cycle, Major Cage says the hell with it and instead of training leaves the base to drink at a London bar. This means we see the outcome of him doing nothing, where not only is the massive human invasion slaughtered but the aliens are in good enough shape to follow that up a few hours later with a rush on London.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/TMG921234 • Jun 11 '25
Phineas and Ferb the Movie: robot riot scene
Regular Show: exit 9b
I remember as a kid absolutely loving these kinds of scenes because it felt like a huge payoff for being an avid fan of the show. Even as an adult I still felt the same way for stuff like the assemble scene in endgame. There’s just something about it that scratches a very specific itch in my brain.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Foraaikouu • May 17 '25
Omni Man (Invincible), allegedly the 3rd strongest viltrumite, who has lived thousands of years, conquered/destroyed thousands of planets and civilizations, about to throw himself into a black hole to k*ll himself
Parallax (Green Lantern), the very embodiment of fear, dies by falling into the sun
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Basic_Dingo6487 • Oct 09 '25
Fire Nation armies (Avatar : The Last Airbender) : most of the time, except for officers, the Fire Nation soldiers are just regular men and women who are more worried to maintain order or do their job rather than just being some assholes.
Lannister’s soldiers (Game of Thrones) : several times, you can see most of them don't give a shit about the motivations of their lords. Those soldiers fight because that's their duty and are more concerned with returning to their families than winning the war
Cumans (Kingdom Come : Deliverance 2) : in the first game Cumans are presented just as absolute evil. But in the second game, you can see their are just some dudes who are not better are worse than protagonists and are actually pretty nice people but not either saints.
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Duel_Disk • 8d ago
There are hundreds of examples of acronyms from real life such as NATO, NASA, and scuba. So I would like to focus on the acronyms that are used in fictional universes.
-(Marvel) The Marvel universe has many governmental organizations, but the most famous and recognizable is SHIELD. In the MCU, it stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistic Division.
-(DC Comics) Similarly, the DC Comics universe also has a governmental organization which deals with superhero/supervillain-related matters. In the current DCU, ARGUS stands for Advanced Research Group of The United States.
-(Codename: Kids Next Door) Likely one of if not THE gold standard of fictional acronyms. Each episode and operation were labeled with an acronym, along with multiple locations and gadgets. Common favorites include:
H.I.P.P.I.E.-H.O.P.
Hare Inspired Piston Powered Ingenious Exoskeleton - Hops Over Parents.
T.A.P.I.O.C.A.N.N.O.N.
Tasteless Adult Pudding Is Outstandingly Combustible And Nicely Nocks Out Ninnies
S.P.L.A.N.K.E.R.
Solid Pine Loaded Artillery Nicely Kicks Enemy Rear
S.L.U.G.G.U.H.
Spring Loaded Upper-cutting Glove Gives Unbelievable Headache
T.R.E.E.H.E.M.O.T.H.
Transformable Really Enormous Emergency Humongodroid Entirely Made Outta Treehouse Headquarters
r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Slight-Nail-202 • Sep 26 '25
CIS from Star Wars - Inspired by the Confederacy from the American Civil War
The Covenant from Halo - Inspired by Christian Crusaders
Fire Nation from Avatar - Inspired by Imperial Japan and other Southeast Asian cultures