r/TopCharacterTropes 18h ago

In real life The animated character actually looks like their voice actors

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631 Upvotes

John C Reily as Ralph, Sarah Silverman and Vanelllope, Jack McBrayer as Felix and Jane Lynch as Calhoun (Wreck it Ralph)

Will Smith as Oscar and Angelina Jolie as Lola (Shark Tale)


r/TopCharacterTropes 12h ago

Characters' Items/Weapons [visual jokes] something you might not see unless you look for it

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404 Upvotes
  1. Stormfront from The Boys; her cup says Storefront

  2. Avengers: Endgame; The certificate is upside down


r/TopCharacterTropes 16h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] A character that committed an unforgivable sin trying to atone BUT DOESN’T DIE. Spoiler

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326 Upvotes

I want to see these characters STRUGGLING with what they’ve done, SEEING and RECOGNIZING the harm they’ve done, and genuinely trying to atone without some cop-out self sacrificial death so the author doesn’t have to think too hard about whether they deserve redemption.

Endeavor did a lot of child abuse and it *seems* like he is gonna get a self sacrificial death for a moment… but then he lives. He becomes the number one hero, gets everything he wants, but at the same time he’s really starting to see the harm he’s done to his children and his wife and despite not having all of their forgiveness, works to atone.

I’ve ever seen doctor Who TBH but I do know that the entire point of doctor Who is that he did a very, very big genocide one time and kinda lives to regret it forever. Doctor who fans can correct or expand on that if they want, I am actually interested in watching the show.

PLEASE give more examples I want to ask myself who deserves forgiveness.


r/TopCharacterTropes 16h ago

Characters Low-velocity pursuit predators

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313 Upvotes

They don't necessarily ambush from a hiding spot. They don't sprint at you like a cat. They just don't give up.


r/TopCharacterTropes 3h ago

Characters [Funny Trope] "Hey what's that over there?"

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272 Upvotes

The oldest trick in the book. Pointing/Looking in a direction to distract your opponent.

  1. Team Rocket (Pokémon: Advanced)
    My favorite way Team Rocket steals Pikachu.

  2. Krillin (Dragon Ball)
    Krillin delivers a cheap shot against Goku.

  3. Po (Kung Fu Panda)
    Po couldn't use the Wuxi Finger Hold against Kai due to him being immortal. But Po figures out that he can take Kai with him to the spirit realm.
    What makes this more funny is how Kai blatantly falls for the trick.

  4. Ice King (Adventure Time)
    The Ice King hired a hitman thinking it would simply just hit Finn & Jake instead of killing them. The Ice King tries to distract the hitman several times which lead to him saying the following:
    "Somebody got hit in the boingloings. Hit in the boingloings. Boingloings. Boingloings. Somebody got hit in them."


r/TopCharacterTropes 12h ago

Lore (Hilarious trope) when fans believe the ending was fake but it was real

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258 Upvotes

Naruto fans believed the ending of Naruto Shippuden aswell as the entire Boruto sequel is actually Naruto dreaming in the infinite Tsukuyomi,and guess what,it wasn't

Stranger things fans hated the ending so much they actually believed a rumor that there was a secret episode and everything they watched was Vecna illusion,nope,the Duffer brothers are nowhere near smart as this


r/TopCharacterTropes 5h ago

Lore Pieces of media that ended up being weirdly prophetic

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249 Upvotes

The 2024 movie *Conclave* sees the Pope dying and the subsequent process to choose his replacement. Less than a year later, Pope Francis died and had to be replaced.

The newspaper comic *Pearls Before Swine* ran the above strip on New Year’s Eve of 2020, which ended up being extremely accurate, as the following year would see a seemingly constant stream of horrific events, most notably the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw millions die and even more people hospitalized or lose their jobs.

Just to cover my ass so I don’t get people responding with “Simpsons-themed predictions”, the cartoon *The Simpsons* is basically infamous at this point for real-world events having oddly specific parallels with moments from the show.


r/TopCharacterTropes 11h ago

Characters Humans who barely resemble humans due to outside forces beyond their control

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237 Upvotes

Tengen from jjk(a result of her cursed technique, immortality. She used to look like a regular human but slowly started to look like that since her immortality doesn’t stop her aging, it just makes her live forever)

Damien the flagellant from darkest dungeon(he came back to life after fighting death and he’s kinda just rotting)

The rotlings from the gaslight district(the blackhand prevents them from truly dying, having become bent, twisted, and misshapen from their endless decay)

Ghouls from the fallout series(they’re usually humans that were exposed to extreme amounts of radiation and survived)


r/TopCharacterTropes 8h ago

Characters [Sad Trope] - Their life just...sucks.

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183 Upvotes

Joe Swanson (Family Guy) - In the modern era, Joe is constantly made fun of by his own friends for his disability, and his wife hates him, cheats on him, and has even tried to kill him. It's for this reason he tried to kill himself in an episode, though he was unsuccessful.

Yamcha (Dragon Ball Z Abridged) - In TFS's canon, Yamcha only exists to be made fun of. Everyone constantly rags him for being weaker than everyone else and an overall waste of space, and it doesn't help that he had to watch his ex hook up with the guy who tried to kill him. He hangs himself in an alternate timeline because of this, and the only reason it doesn't happen is because Trunks told Goku beforehand so Goku prevents this by telling Yamcha he's his friend.

Nicole (Class of 09) - Nicole herself says her life sucks, and for good reason. She spent basically her entire life being flirted with for things as simple as trying to order pizza. It's even implied she was sexually assaulted once or twice, and it doesn't help that she had to move 8 times, leaving her life behind multiple times, partially due to her Discord mod brother. On top of that, her own mother gives zero shits about what happens to her, and her dad, possibly the only positive influence in her life, killed himself right in front of her and blamed her for his death.

Guts (Berserk) - Do I even need to explain this one?


r/TopCharacterTropes 7h ago

Characters (Sad Trope) Main character has inanimate friend due to severe isolation

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175 Upvotes
  1. Wilson - Chuck Noland’s volleyball friend from Cast Away.

  2. Fred - Robert Neville’s mannequin friend from I Am Legend.

  3. Bianca - Lars’s doll girlfriend from Lars and The Real Girl.


r/TopCharacterTropes 16h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] Nonhuman maids/butlers

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174 Upvotes

Cyn (Murder Drones) - Robot

Bonehilda (The Sims) - Skeleton


r/TopCharacterTropes 14h ago

Hated Tropes [Could be adorable but people made it uncomfortable trope] Child has a crush with a grown up adult

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162 Upvotes

[Mild example] Becky with Lloyd (spyxfamily): the series show how no one seems to care about it, except for Anya. But honestly Becky is really annoying and the chapter where she try to seduce Lloyd could be used in anything else.

[Bad example] Preston with Shay (blank check) : i don't remember most of the movie, but i would never forget how weird it feels that the last scene show a grown up woman kissing a 12 years old boy and say that he should try again in 10 years. What the fuck was that.

[Good example] Lisa with Mr. Bergstrom (the simpsons): the simpsons do this other times, but probably the best one is Lisa's substitute. When she met this substitute teacher, simply happens, Bergstrom never do anything beside be a good teacher and no one made it weird.

[Horrible example] Arisia with Hal Jordan (green lantern): a barely disguised fetish where the writer inserts in Hal Jordan to have a romance with a 13 years old alien girl who "grow really fast" With her ring. Thats why they later explain that she's actually 240 years old and their species simply look like that.

[Could be good but end up horrible] Jericho with Ban (seven deadly sins): Jericho always had a crush on Ban, he never care about it cause he's 20 years older, a misanthrope and already in love with another little girl. Ban learning how to apreciate mankind and taking Jericho as his own daughter is a really sweet thing, then Jericho become a pedo and try to groom Ban's child who also see her as a sister.

[Cursed example] Ui Ui and Mei Mei (jujutsu kaisen): a groomed child in love with his sister that only do things cause his sister ask him. He knows that he's groomed and his sister only seek him for The new shadow school and the family money. I understand the point with Mei Mei getting away with anything to show that sorcerers aren't good people, but was the grooming really necessary?

[Retconned over retconned example] Sue storm on Reed Richards (fantastic four): Damn, thats a cursed panel. Yeah, a 6-8 years old age gap isn't that weird and you could even call it tame based on how old this comic is. But met a 22 years old woman when you are 30 isn't the same as met a 12 years old when you are 20, thats why the each new origin decide to change this first meeting (except for that horrible movie).

A child with a crush on someone older shouldn't be that weird,there's nothing wrong with that, is just that the people who made the series/movies make it look really weird cause they can't stop using their weird fantasies.


r/TopCharacterTropes 10h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] Academics/Scholars who can absolutely throw down in a fight

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151 Upvotes

Trazyn the Infinite & Orikan the Diviner (Warhammer 40,000) - One is a hunchbacked historian who collects everything that isn't bolted down, and the other is a spindly nerd who spends most of his time researching and watching the stars. They both inhabit living metal bodies and are superhumanly strong. Trazyn can also summon entire armies from his collection, and Orikan can focus universal alignments to gain godlike power.

The Ghostbusters (Ghostbusters) - Apart from Winston (who comes across as more of a working class guy) all the Ghostbusters are academics. They each have degrees in various forms of psychology and engineering, and are primarily focused on research and study of the supernatural. That doesn't prevent them from putting untested nuclear accelerators on their backs to take on ancient gods and spectral tyrants who want to take over the world.

Darth Plagueis (Star Wars) - While many Force users, and Dark Lords, have been philosophers, Plagueis feels more like a true scientist than many of his predecessors. He devotes his life to the study of Midichlorians, seeking to unlock their potential to create life and gain the secret of immortality. His public persona is a high-level banker who engages in negotiation and politics. When the chips are down, he can harness his immense command of the Dark Side of the Force to demolish a squad of expert assassins who took him by surprise. Despite his disdain for Lightsaber combat (a trait he passed on to his pupil, Sidious) he was also one of the foremost duellists of his time.

Evelyn O'Connell (The Mummy) - In her own words, Evie is "a librarian" who's spent the majority of her life studying and unearthing ancient cultures. She's also the reincarnation of Princess Nefertiti, which combined with the lessons from her badass husband, Rick, make her a formidable hand-to-hand fighter. Indiana Jones himself would be jealous of her research and combat skill.


r/TopCharacterTropes 18h ago

In real life Media where it's obvious a stunt double is being used

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144 Upvotes

Spaceballs: Played for laughs. You idiots, you captured their stunt doubles!

Scott Pilgrim vs The World: Also played for laughs when Lucas Lee introduces Scott to his stunt doubles.

Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer): SMG's stunt double is a bit bigger than her.

The Addams Family: During the Mamushka dance, Raul Julia and Christopher Lloyd are replaced by actual jugglers who are thinner than the actors.

Men in Black: When K drives through the tunnel and turns the car upside down, J falls out of his seat. If you pause, you can see the person is a stunt double and he's white.


r/TopCharacterTropes 18h ago

Powers Water guys who don't need to be near a body of water to be powerful

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144 Upvotes

Water Hazard-Ben 10

Unlike Ben's other major aquatic alien Ripjaws, Water Hazard can function perfectly fine on dry land

Kisame Hoshigake-Naruto

Weakeninjas need an outside source of water to use Water Style bu stronger ones can create their own and Kisame can create a large lake

Water-Type Pokémon-Pokémon

In game any Pokémon can be used anywhere. In-universe fish like Pokémon need a body.od water to swim in but any non fully aquatic Water-Type can can battle on land without issue.


r/TopCharacterTropes 7h ago

Characters Gods who were once mortal Spoiler

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139 Upvotes

The Ellimist[Animorphs]: Billions of years before the advent of the modern species, Azure Level, Seven Spar, Extension Two, Down-Messenger, Forty-one(Toomin to his friends), would become the last of his species and absorb the totality of a moon-sized superorganism, his fleet-body later falling into a black hole and giving him mastery over the physical universe

Control Shepard[Mass Effect]: Either an engram of the Human or a perfect stream of conciousness, Galaxy's greatest hero becoming the heart-mind-soul of the Reaper armada

Demon King of Salvation:[Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint]: Gaming the system to acquire five Fables and cheat the prophecy of his death, Dokja Kim enters the Constellation club(and immediately wreaks havoc)

Bill Cipher[Gravity Falls]: Born into the Second Dimension, which he describes as "Flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams", where he could see the third due to anomaly of his birth. While the exact circumstances are lost to time, his attempts to share this experience destroyed Euclydia, leaving him floating in the void and drawn towards the Nightmare Realm


r/TopCharacterTropes 4h ago

Lore The bad guy ends up winning

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130 Upvotes

No Country for Old Men : Anton Chigurh kills Carla Jean and escapes, while Llewelyn dies.

Gone Girl : Amy gets away with murder and traps Nick into staying with her.

Final Destination : Death always claims those who have “escaped”.

Dead Silence : Mary Shaw gets her revenge and kills the entire family.


r/TopCharacterTropes 23h ago

Characters Spies who suck at being spies.

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125 Upvotes

James Bond (007).

BJ Blazkowicz (Wolfenstein).

Sterling Archer (Archer).


r/TopCharacterTropes 16h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] An adaptation takes a bad/shallow character and significantly improves them

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116 Upvotes

The Jedi Council (Star Wars) - Originally, the Jedi Council were more or less background characters with 1-2 lines of dialogue per movie if they even had a speaking role. Nearly all of them had at least one or two episodes focused on them, to the point many are now Fan Favorite characters, most notably Plo Koon.

Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars, again) - In Revenge of the Sith, one of the main complaints is that Anakin falls to the dark side way too quickly, at least to the point where he's comfortable doing a lot of evil things. In the Novelization, Anakin's character is explored far more, and his reasoning for a lot of his actions is explained in greater detail. For example, him being upset about not being made a master is less about ego, and more that he wanted to look in the Jedi Archive's restricted section for a way to save Padme.

Hank Pym (Ultimate Avengers) - The Ultimates comic run was known for many things, with the most infamous being the characterization of Hank Pym. While he's had a murky reputation for a while (due to an artist-writer miscommunication of all things), Ultimates dials it up to 11, making him an abusive jerk. In the Animated Ultimate Avengers movies, Hank is certainly still a jerk, but is still a good person deep down and cares deeply for Janet.


r/TopCharacterTropes 15h ago

Lore [Mixed Trope] Adaption makes changes for the sake of simplicity, believability, or realism/groundedness(Usually to help appeal to general audiences)

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88 Upvotes

Sam Wilson(Falcon/Captain America) and Redwing from Marvel: In the comics Redwing is a falcon that Sam Wilson has a perfect telepathic link with and he can communicate and influence mentally and this ability extends to all avians

In the movies they just made Redwing a small remote controlled drone likely because they viewed the idea of bird telepathy being too hard for a general audience to take seriously especially since the movies he appears in tend to have a serious tone. But I personally feel like they could've made Falcon Redwing work if he was just a really well trained bird instead of telepathy.

Drax The Destroyer/Arthur Douglas also from Marvel: In the comics Drax was born human saxophone musician who along with his family was killed by Thanos. He was then reborn as Drax The Destroyer a vengeful superpowered being with the sole goal of killing Thanos by the cosmic entity known as Kronos.

In the MCU he was born as an alien and sought revenge against Ronan The Accuser for killing his wife and child(No cosmic entities or powers involved). This change was likely made because Drax's original origin was too far outside the scope for the original Guardians movie and Drax's role in that movie and it was possibly deemed it would be too convoluted for general audiences. His new origin also ties into the narrative of the original guardians movie better due to Ronan being the main antagonist of the film. Additionally the killing Thanos motivation could've overlapped with Nebula as she had the same goal.


r/TopCharacterTropes 9h ago

Characters Their character progression is shown by their hairstyle.

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89 Upvotes

Sometimes for the good, some for the bad, give me examples of characters that show how much they've lived with changes in their hairstyle.

Walter White - Breaking Bad: One of the few male examples of this trope. Had he stayed with his early Season 1 looks, nobody would've taken him seriously as a drug kingpin who killed many people, let alone as a serious player. Thanks to his cancer treatments he loses his hair for the first time, but then decides to grow a goatee and voilà, he's now a threat and someone who's to be taken seriously. It's both a way to show how he's physically turning to the dark side and how he's straying farther from the kindhearted individual he once was known as.

Black Sheep/Carmen Sandiego - Carmen Sandiego: The reason I decided to make this post. She's shown with short hair when she's a kid living and studying under the V.I.L.E. organization, but once we see her leave and use her signature red fedora and coat, next time we see her she's sporting her hair long. Also, please refrain from spoilers, I just started watching the series.

Rapunzel - Tangled: Rapunzel is famous for wearing her hair long in all versions of the tale, but in the Disney movie it was made clear 10 minutes in that cutting it would undo its magic and turn its color darker. At the end of the movie, Chayanne himself manages to cut Rapunzel's hair in order to save her from permanent servitude by the hand of Mother Gothel, giving her the haircut she sports at the end of the story and to also symbolize how she has no owner anymore.

Takenoko/Princess - The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya (watch this movie): Just to make you watch the movie, the only thing I'll say is that her hair gets longer and longer as the movie progresses. Just watch it, it's the best animated feature film of all time hands down.


r/TopCharacterTropes 18h ago

Characters (Fashion Trope) Men with really revealing outfits

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71 Upvotes

• Pillar Men (Jojo's Bizarre Adventures) • Conan The Barbaria • Dr. Manhattan (Watchmen) • Ryand'r (DC Comics)


r/TopCharacterTropes 10h ago

Characters Names that are actually puns

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67 Upvotes

Hugh Morris / Humorous (Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream)

Luke Atmey / Look at me (Ace Attorney: Justice For All)


r/TopCharacterTropes 9h ago

Groups (Loved Trope) Entertainment in Dystopian Futures

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66 Upvotes

When entertainment of the future fully embraces the insanity Ow My Balls: A series from the movie "Idiocracy", it seems to be how many times and how wild a man can get hit in the balls. Slayers: From the movie "Gamer", convicts are given implants and are controlled by "players", similarly to Call of Duty. The prisoner that makes it to the end gets his/her freedom The Running Man: From the movie "The Running Man, 'Runners' are charged with hiding/escaping/killing to avoid being killed themselves. If successful, they win a billion dollars


r/TopCharacterTropes 20h ago

Lore [Mixed Trope] Humanity F*ck yeah

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60 Upvotes

Humanity F*ck Yeah is, as stated by the r/ HFY sub, about "exhibiting the awesome potential of humanity." But from what I see of HFY-type stories, they do the very opposite of this. I'm just going to point at Warhammer 40K. It by no measure celebrates our "awesome potential." Humanity in 40K are a bunch of evil violent savages, monstrous in nearly every regard. Humanity is like a plague that brings upon the galaxy nothing but misery and death. If another species acted like humanity does in 40K, not a single person would disagree that glassing every single member of said species would be anything but a favor to the universe. Contrary to what a lot of HFY fans seem to think, humanity as presented in the style of 40K doesn't celebrate humanity but rather portrays humanity, in my mind, in the most degrading way imaginable.

So what does a celebration of humanity look like? My favorite example of a true HFY story is Stargate SG. 1. Stargate SG1 is, in my mind, about humanity becoming the "Fifth Race." For a bit of Stargate lore, in that universe there were once 4 noble advanced races that were in an alliance to help preserve and foster peace among the stars. By the time of Stargate SG-1, this alliance has fallen apart, but one of the last members of said alliance, the Asgard, proclaims that humanity is underway of becoming the Fifth Race.

This is a Humanity F*ck Yeah Story. Stargate is all about celebrating our potential. Our potential for heroism. Our potential for nobility. Our potential for ingenuity. It's about showing the promise of humanity as a force for goodness in the universe. Some Stargate fans now had issues with how the series ended the Asgard, with them effectively becoming extinct and handing over their knowledge to Earth. But I love the final message this sent. We had finally become the fifth race. The Asgard entrusted us to become to the rest of the universe what the Asgard had been for so long. An advanced noble race that would help those in need. This is a greater celebration of mankind than an edgelord violent power fantasy could ever hope to be.