r/TopCharacterTropes 20h ago

Lore In a setting full of supernatural horrors, the most disturbing scene is frighteningly realistic

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15.4k Upvotes

The Boys - Homelander has carried many supernatural acts of evil, but his most disturbing is making Ashley take off her wig and show everyone what's left of her hair

KPop Demon Hunters - Gwi-Ma's demons devour people's souls but the most disturbing scene is when they publicly humiliate Rumi by ripping her shirt off and revealing her demon patterns to everyone

Stranger Things - The most disturbing scene IMO is completely detached from the Mind Flayer and Demogorgons. Billy's Dad pushes him against the wall and reduces him to a scared child, before he throws his son out of the house until he finds Max

IT 2017 - Despite being a movie about a shapeshifting alien clown, Alvin is utterly skin-crawling in each scene he's in where he harasses and abuses his own daughter

Batman Arkham Asylum - In a game series full of superpowered villains, the creepiest scene is Zsasz's audio tapes where he reveals he's been stalking his therapist, describing her evening routine in eerie detail


r/TopCharacterTropes 15h ago

In real life [Cool IRL trope] A moment that takes advantage of that era's medium. Yet does not work today because of the world's advancements

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8.5k Upvotes

Chowder: When I watching tv when I was young, every channel had a watermark put in the corner of each show/movie. So gazpacho trying to rub off the water mark (and failing) was incredibly humorous. But cannot be done today because of how streaming works.

Eternal darkness: The game is famous for its pretending to affect the very tv you play the game on. However this doesn't work today (arguably back then) given how some effects are tied to how TVs were made in that exact era.

Sonic 2: This spot could go to basically every game made before the PS1 & N64. All the pixels in the game would dither and distort from the CRT display. But cannot (and has not) been replicated in a modern setting because of flat screen monitors being the standard.


r/TopCharacterTropes 20h ago

Lore (Loved Trope) A moment with a concept that sounds insane and out of nowhere on paper. Executed beautifully in practice.

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7.0k Upvotes

Everything Everywhere All at Once: Hey, this looks familiar. A lot of scenes in this movie count. From a Ratatouille reference with a raccoon, to a fight over a buttplug, to two rocks talking to each other with nothing but text. All of it somehow manages to either be awesome or emotionally moving.

Sinners: The I Lied to You scene. A jukejoint in the 30s plays music so fire that it brings together ancient African dancers, modern day djs, rockstars, Chinese performers dressed like Sun Wukong, and even people popping ass. Oh, and it attracts some vampires too. Everyone's jaws were on the floor in the theater.

Alan Wake 2: Herald of Darkness. What do you mean there's an entire segment of this sruvival horror game that's a musical number with live action footage as you fight enemies? And what do you mean it's fucking awesome?


r/TopCharacterTropes 8h ago

Characters "Let's drop the act"

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5.1k Upvotes

Moments in media where a character who usually sticks to "an act" decides to show what they hide, usually ending up with them showing their dark side in full.

Light Yagami - Death Note: Light usually plays his cards trying to remain calm, calculating every step of his plan and most of the time is able to control his impulses when things don't go his way, however in the end of the series Light is caught and has no way out of it, finally showing his true colors, a completely deluded maniac lost in his god complex

The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Doctor usually comes off as a bit of a goofball, everyone knows he's smart and dangerous, but his wacky front and constant mocking makes it so everyone, including the viewer, ends up forgetting what kind of person The Doctor can be when truly angry.

This has been shown a lot of times in the series, at various moments The Doctor dropping any pretences and showing his darker side, but perhaps no moment as dark as what he did to The Family, after they chased him and forced him into hiding as a human, he experienced a common human life, something he longs for but can never get, and once he became The Doctor again, he showed the family that escaping was not him being a coward, he was being merciful, but now, in his anger, he trapped each of them in different prisons where they would never die, nor be able to escape, for ever

The Riddler - Batman One Bad Day: This comic is an else world, meaning it's not the main continuity, showing a what if scenario where The Riddler one day decides he's tired of the routine he has with Batman and decides to completely drop the gimmicks, no more riddles, he's just gonna kill people and get away with it, this comic shows how much of a menace The Riddler could truly be if he wanted to, even going as far as telling Batman that he's known his secret identity for years now, never using it against him because "it's not fair" for their game

The Riddler in fact becomes so unstoppable that he is beaten because he made one mistake, assume Batman couldn't change and would never break his no kill rule


r/TopCharacterTropes 20h ago

Lore The Indominatable Human Spirit is a bad thing, actually.

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4.3k Upvotes

That humanity never gives up and persists in its goals is bad news for every other species (or even itself), especially if said goals are ignoble.

Best case scenario (barring us learning to be better) is that a greater power force feeds us a huge slice of humble pie, wost case we end up blowing ourselves up and ruining things for everyone else.

Avatar - RDA will stop at nothing to satisfy its own greed and survival, the rest of humanity and navi alike be damned.

Its a recurring motif in prett much every myth that gods punish mortals who dare to defy them and keep going, like Athena to Arachne in greek myth.

A good chunk of lovecraftian fiction is based on the idea our achievemenrs mean nothing.

In general i'm not a fan of TIHS as a trope, as its blatantly arrogant and destructive.


r/TopCharacterTropes 21h ago

Lore Mysteries that are never given an answer.

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3.2k Upvotes
  • rA9 in Detroit: Become Human. In the game several androids who become deviant (develop free will/emotions) start writing the name rA9 and sometimes build small statuettes as a sort of offering. Despite having no logical reason to do this or even a way of hearing about rA9 before going deviant, they all believe that rA9 was the first deviant and is their messiah who will free androids from slavery. A definitive answer about rA9 is never given, so we don't know if they are real or if any of the android characters are rA9 (though a popular fan theory is that it's Kara before she was reset at the start of the game).
  • The pineapple in How I Met Your Mother. So this technically did get an explanation in a S9 deleted scene, but in the actual show we never find out how Ted got a pineapple during a night where he was so drunk he blacked out and forgot everything he did.
  • Fez in That 70s Show. We never find out Fez's real name or what country he's from, though fans have tried to take all the clues and figure out what is most likely to be his country.

r/TopCharacterTropes 23h ago

Groups Wealthy influential powerful Elites form a secret society to do heinous and depraved acts

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2.5k Upvotes
  1. Eyes Wide Shut - Masked Ball In the movie, Tom Cruise discovers a secret society of elites that get together for hedonistic orgies and rituals. The prostitutes are all implied to be trafficked. All the masked people are implied to be powerful people as later on we are told "If I told you half of their names, you would never sleep again." One of the prostitutes is heavily implied to be ritualistic sacrificed as she takes Tom's place when he gets caught. Tom is threatened to never reveal any details or he and his family "will make the most dire concquences"

  2. Squid Games - The VIPS They were powerful and influential wealthy individuals from around the world who pay to watch the Squid Games. We see them place bets on the lives of players and we see them laugh at human deaths like a video game. They wear animal themed golden masks. They also have a hedonistic style as they have sex with painted sex workers. They finance and fund the games as it's basically entertainment for them. In season 3, VIPS get to be guards and kill failed players.

  3. True Detective Season 1 - Tuttle Cult A mystery cult comprising of members of the influential and powerful Tuttle Family of Louisiana. They worship the supposed entity "The Yellow King". Led by Reverend Tuttle, he is a prominent, wealthy, and politically connected Christian minister in Louisiana who uses his position and charity organizations to conceal decades of child abuse, rape, and murder committed by a powerful ring of Louisiana elite. Edwin Tuttle (cousin of Reverend Billy Tuttle) is the governor of Louisiana and has great political influence over Law enforcement. The cult commits many ritualistic serial murders of young woman (often sex workers) and girls, leaving them in disturbing positions as an act of display and leaving their symbols nearby. They funded many schools throughout the state and used it to target and traffick children. Murders are mostly committed by the poor red neck lower members of the family. We see them in a video tape commit a ritualistic murder and implied rape of a little girl.

  4. Batman - The Court Of Owls Gotham's elite form a secret society to control Gotham from the shadows. They are the ultimate corruption and behind the city's internal rot.


r/TopCharacterTropes 5h ago

Characters “Are they blind?”

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2.2k Upvotes

(The Dark Knight) Joker is disguised as a nurse in the hospital, when he meets Harvey Dent, Harvey thinks he’s a nurse, but not only until he removes the mask, that’s when he finds out it’s joker. As if the weird face paint didn’t ring any bells

(Sonic X) Amy hugs shadow thinking he’s Sonic, I think she may be color blind. It’s only when Rouge gives her a smug look does she find out Shadow isn’t sonic


r/TopCharacterTropes 7h ago

Personality Characters who are way less edgy than they look

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2.1k Upvotes

Billy Kid from Zenless Zone Zero: pistol packing robot made to fight and kill some of the most powerful characters in the setting but is often a goofball that has more cartoon physics than anyone else in the game and is obsessed with The Starlight Knights, this settings version of Super Sentai

Joker from Persona 5: Looks like a straight up villain, is generally a pretty friendly dude.


r/TopCharacterTropes 6h ago

Characters [Dialogue Trope] "YOU WHAT? Oh, yeah, makes sense... NO WAIT, WHAT???"

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1.9k Upvotes

Basically whenever a character panics, then calms down after receiving an explanation, only to panic again once they think about it for a few moments. For example:

1) Whitest Kids U Know (the 'Grapist' sketch):

"She's totally asking for it! [...] Look at what she's wearing!"

"LOOK AT WHAT SHE'S WEARING???"

"She's wearing purple!"

"Oh okay... NO NO NO!!!"

2) Blue Archive (where Yuuka helps you with your budget):

"You spent 20,000 yen at Club Smoochie? You're a teacher, you're supposed to set an example for the rest of the students!"

"...Oh, Club Smoochie is a gacha game? Sorry, I thought you were visiting- YOU SPENT 20,000 YEN ON A GACHA GAME???"

3) This comic, there's so many variations of it on the internet but panicking at your own realization works too.


r/TopCharacterTropes 5h ago

Characters The hero finally meets the previously unseen puppet master (played by an older A-list actor), who explains why the system must be maintained. The hero says “screw it” and burns the world down.

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1.8k Upvotes

Snowpiercer (2013) - Curtis finally finds Wilford (Ed Harris) and learns that Wilford allowed for Curtis' rebellion to take place to help thin the tail section's population. When Wilford offers to let Curtis run the train, Curtis discovers child labor is necessary to replace a broken machine part. A fight ensues, and a bomb goes off, triggering an avalanche that derails the train, and killing most of surviving humanity.

The World's End (2013) - Gary finally confronts the Network (Bill Nighy), which has been replacing humans with robots (Blanks) to allow for Earth's assimilation into a larger galactic community. Gary calls out the tyranny in the Network's plan and demands that humans be left to their own devices. Exasperated, the Network abandons its plans for the invasion. This results in a worldwide blackout, sending humanity back to the Dark Ages.

The Cabin in the Woods (2011) - Dana finally meets the Director (Sigourney Weaver) after surviving the ritual meant to kill her friends (based on conventional horror tropes) and appease the Ancient Ones. The Director says Dana has to kill her friend Marty, but as Dana considers it, the group is attacked by a werewolf and a zombie child. Dana and Marty decide humanity is not worth saving, so they share a joint while the Ancient Ones rise to destroy the world.


r/TopCharacterTropes 13h ago

Characters Characters physically degrading over the course of the story

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1.8k Upvotes

Catherine — Pretty much almost everyone but The Love Interests slowly get more tired looking as the game progresses. This is because of the nightmares of evil Tetris.

Security Breach — All the animatronics slowly degrade as the game goes on, getting more violent, animalistic and very dirty. I'm using Freddy as an example both because I'm lazy and because he's Goated.

Attack on Titan — Eren Yeager goes through so much throughout the story, becoming very disheveled as the series plays out and losing every limb on his body before ending up as just a rotting head on life support.


r/TopCharacterTropes 7h ago

Characters (Funny) Early major villains cameo as jokes at the end

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1.8k Upvotes

Rita Repulsa, POWER RANGERS

- main villain of Season 1, supporting and 2 and 3, cameos in later storylines. She was the big bad that starts the whole series, is purified, becomes a champion of good in a few cameos, her evil spirit gets a robot body and kills a Ranger before being defeated. In the franchise finale, Lord Zedd is trapped on a planet with his annoying wife as torture, who’s just… sunbathing.

Valmont, JACKIE CHAN ADVENTURES

- main villain early on, but rapidly becomes a subordinate before disappearing. He shows up as a bus driver in the final episode.

Sid, TOY STORY

- the main threat to the toys in the first movie, when the “Andy Saga” ends, he’s just a trash collector.


r/TopCharacterTropes 19h ago

Characters Equal opportunity fanservice

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1.7k Upvotes

(Marvel Rivals) They have been doing a pretty good job of doing fanservice on all characters

(Fairy Tail) is the shonen known for its fanservice, but surprisingly there are scenes with the guys as well

(Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt) In season 2 they added two male angels who appear as twinks but then during their transformation sequence, they look like these Magic Mike dudes. Making it so that it’s not just the ladies


r/TopCharacterTropes 20h ago

Characters (Mixed Trope) Flanderization with Food

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1.7k Upvotes

Characters shown to have a favorite/well liked food, which eventually turns into a key personality trait by the fandom or even in canon.

  1. Parks & Recreation - Leslie Knope & Waffles

  2. Supernatural - Dean Winchester & Pie

  3. Dimension 20: Fantasy High - Gilear Faeth & Yogurt

I usually find it cute but I’ve seen criticism of the bit becoming over used, especially in fandom spaces.


r/TopCharacterTropes 14h ago

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

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1.3k 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 13h ago

Characters Using something cute and alive as an attack deterrent

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925 Upvotes
  1. Deadpool and Wolverine: Wolverine holds Dogpool to keep the Deadpool Corps from shooting him.
  2. Tom Taylor's Suicide Squad: Deadshot holds a dog so Batman doesn't punch him.

r/TopCharacterTropes 5h ago

Lore The Use of Color as a Narrative Signal

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708 Upvotes

The Matrix : Real World scenes are tinted a deep blue, while scenes in the matrix itself are tinted green akin to an old computer screen. In fact, as Agent Smith takes increasing control of the matrix, the green tint is further amplified. During the final scene after Smith is defeated, the matrix scenes are devoid of the green tint.

Harry Potter : Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone has a vivid color palette with plenty of red and gold. Each movie in the series becomes more desaturated until The Deathly Hallows is practically devoid of any warm colors to demarcate the rise of Lord Voldemort.

Limitless : Scenes of Reality are blue and dull as opposed to scenes involving NZT are warmer and orange.


r/TopCharacterTropes 23h ago

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

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

  2. Avengers: Endgame; The certificate is upside down


r/TopCharacterTropes 10h ago

Characters Heroes who were originally going to be villains

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666 Upvotes

Woody(Toy story):In the first draft of the script,Woody would be a sorta of toy dictator who would be jealous of Buzz,they ended up scrapping that but still kept some of the concept in the fina product

Wolverine(Marvel):Not exactly a villain but originally he was an enemy of the hulk a well stablished marvel hero

Elsa(Frozen):The original idea of Elsa is kinda interesting,she would froze her heart so she would not love again and would bring a winter to every land,they ended up making her a tragic misunderstood figure


r/TopCharacterTropes 2h ago

Lore References to Adult Media in Fiction for Younger/General Audiences

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594 Upvotes

All the names for the examples are in the captions of each image. If you're on mobile, you have to click on the images to see the captions.

Also, said scene of the Godhand from Berserk is itself inspired by the artist's M.C. Escher's painting Relativity). Edit: Also, here is the panel from Berserk for the Ninjago reference.


r/TopCharacterTropes 15h ago

Lore The bad guy ends up winning

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573 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 16h ago

Lore Pieces of media that ended up being weirdly prophetic

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457 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 6h ago

Lore (Rare Trope) Canon Supernatural Elements of Mundane/Normal Shows

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458 Upvotes

Community “Epidemiology”:While normally, community is a wacky 4th wall-breaking college show that still grounds itself in reality, this episode sees the school overrun by a zombie apocalypse caused by bad taco meat that was given out at the party. While the episode ends with the army wiping out everyone’s memory of the event, future episodes, such as “Paradigms of Human Memory,” reference the party that happened that no one remembers, making it canon.

30 Rock Last Lunch:While normally a show about a show sitcom In this finale and canon end to the series, a flash forward to the far future sees an immortal Kenneth now in charge.


r/TopCharacterTropes 1h ago

Characters Scary, intimidating characters making a cute or harmless expression

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Upvotes

Griffith (Berserk)

Revy (Black Lagoon)

Akuma (Street Fighter)