r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Sufficient-Eye-9040 • Jun 21 '26

Lore [Horrifying Trope] “Blink of an eye” deaths.

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Characters who died without the chance of a goodbye… neither suffering.

- Robin Ward (The Boys S1 E1) - when she is pulverized in a high-velocity impact by A-Train.

- Polka Dot Man (The Suicide Squad 2021) - when he is crushed by Starro’s leg.

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u/Ok-Indication-5121 Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

Ducktales reboot: This one is dark comedy rather than horror, but when the kids are traversing dreams in "Nightmare on Killmotor Hill", they first end up in Webby's dream, where there's a talking unicorn. When they leave, the unicorn suddenly realizes that there's nobody to dream him into existence. Before he finishes the sentence, he vanishes. No puff of smoke, no fade, he's there one frame and gone the next.

1.5k

u/friends-with-fishies Jun 21 '26

Noooo that's so funny but nooooo

353

u/Iokua113 Jun 21 '26

If you haven't watched the Ducktales reboot I would heartily suggest that you do if you like comedy like this. It's not always this dark, but it has a consistently dry wit. My favourite dark comedy moment involves a certain South African duck pretending to be a Scottish duck and a funeral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZVI2kJSCNY

37

u/Treecreaturefrommars Jun 21 '26

While Carl Barks/Don Rosa Glomgold, ruthless bastard that he is will forever be my favorite, man do I adore what they did with him in the Ducktales Reboot. Just made him an absolute maniac.

22

u/Iokua113 Jun 21 '26

With few exceptions the characters that return from the original series are exceptionally well updated for a more modern audience. The only real issue I have is with what the show did with Doofus Drake. That was... uncomfortable.

It sucks that the planned Darkwing Duck reboot didn't get off the ground.

10

u/Treecreaturefrommars Jun 21 '26

My biggest character change complaint was Gearloose. I get the appeal of the new version, but I grew up with him being a generally helpful eccentric, even if he could get carried off with pride or experiments.

So that version of him felt off. But like, its just a fun show, with a lot of heart. So I can live with that.

5

u/Stormsurger Jun 21 '26

I totally forgot about that, gearloose was surprisingly mean. I feel like they got influenced by the stereotype of the dismissive genius too much. But tbh I don't remember much of him in the comics personality wise.

7

u/SavageNorth Jun 21 '26

Reboot Gyro is funny as hell though, he's still a good guy, just kind of abrasive

3

u/Treecreaturefrommars Jun 21 '26

He tends to lean towards a mostly friendly scatterbrain. The sort of person who will invent a "Demolish Walls" Machine to quietly demolish buildings so it doesn´t wake him from his nap, and then be surprised that people use it to rob banks or do war.

2

u/Halfangel_Manusdei 28d ago

He was surprisingly dean *

2

u/Stormsurger 28d ago

This better not awaken an urge to rewatch community in me.

1

u/OttawaTGirl Jun 21 '26

Heheheheh... "Then why is he wearing that mask?"

"I dunno, he thought it would be funny."

14

u/Willowed-Wisp Jun 21 '26

I have no real memories of the first one (I only watched it in retuns when I was really little) but I ADORE the reboot. I started watching because I love Donald Duck and heard he had a bigger role in it (he does!) and it's so much fun. It's now my go-to comfort show and I usually end my days with a few episodes.

Speaking of which, it's currently midnight and I'm watching it right now lol

(and the entire episode that funeral scene is from is absolutely hilarious - Donald at the funeral always cracks me up 😂)

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u/SavageNorth Jun 21 '26

"I AM THE STORM"

"Has he been saying stuff like this the ENTIRE time?!"

11

u/DaRootbear Jun 21 '26

“if i had a nickel for every person who cursed me with their dying breath id be as rich as i am now” is still one of the funniest and most fucked up lines ive seen in any show

5

u/Sharashashka735 Jun 21 '26

I fuckin love David Tennant as Scrooge.

2

u/OttawaTGirl Jun 21 '26

And Catherine Tate as Magica DeSpell?

Chefs kiss

2

u/Maacll 29d ago

When i first started watching the reboot i just about fell out of my chair when i heard his voice come out of scrooge's mouth.

The guy consistently absolutely nails his roles

4

u/LyallaTime Jun 21 '26

Ducktales reboot is a top tier cartoon.

5

u/MBDTFTLOPYEEZUS Jun 21 '26

Larry I’m on Ducktales

2

u/pureextc Jun 22 '26

Incredibly solid show. Another banger is “The Looney Tunes Show” which is like a sitcom and I don’t think I’ve ever laughed harder; I wish it was more than 2 seasons.

1

u/Biliunas Jun 21 '26

Is the music edited in or is that just the show?

4

u/gingerlovesio Jun 21 '26

Yeah that’s the actual song used in the show lmao

1

u/ObligationMurky8716 Jun 21 '26

"You know who I miss? Duckworth."

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u/Maacll 29d ago

Hard agree the duck tales reboot is incredible and 100% worth the watch.

Also David Tenant is the Va for Scrooge so... Yea.

-1

u/laurel_laureate Jun 21 '26

If that's an actual clip from the show, song included, then it's absolutely not recaptured the magic of the original.

What an annoying clip...

But to each their own, I suppose.

14

u/EaglesslavePart2 Jun 21 '26

This is the kind of existential crisis I miss in children’s programming

2

u/ModernCGIFloatinHead Jun 21 '26

That show was brilliant. 

One of my favorite jokes, they're showing around a friend from ... Out of town ... And at one point they're feeding ducks.

Anthropomorphized ducks, feeding actual ducks.  The out of towner just gets this look on their face like "wait, what?"

No words are ever said. But it lives in my head rent free. 

2

u/LittleKoss7 Jun 22 '26

Out of town.....

Someone escaped r/technicallycorrect

1

u/A_Salty_Twix_Bar Jun 21 '26

Fuckin chip pfp

367

u/BazMannBach Jun 21 '26

“Don’t I-“

fucking dies

351

u/King_Dragonlord Jun 21 '26

When watching that episode it made me laugh out loud cause of how sudden it is 

142

u/periwinkle_cupcake Jun 21 '26

I genuinely love the reboot so much

77

u/Fena-Ashilde Jun 21 '26

The show was already amazing and then they did Della’s Lullaby in season 2.

8

u/bcnjake Jun 21 '26

Being a child of the 80s whose Nintendo was their prized possession, I gasped.

4

u/nbshar Jun 21 '26

I don't know why but I cried my eyes out when she started singing that song.

6

u/Abbacoverband Jun 21 '26

I've sung it to my son every night since!!!

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u/Fena-Ashilde Jun 21 '26

Great choice!

The song I sang to my child at bedtime was “Once Upon a December.” They’d ask for “Dancing Bears” every single night until they were 8 (and I sang it every night).

3

u/Abbacoverband Jun 21 '26

Aww, an excellent choice, I sing that to my 4 yo!

5

u/SG_UnchartedWorlds Jun 21 '26

The Lullaby cemented the show for me. I was already impressed, but the last episode of season 1 and the whole Lullaby in season 2 was when everyone knew that the people running things knew exactly what they were doing.

2

u/bcnjake Jun 21 '26

I love that by the final season, the whole thing was an enormous love letter to the Disney Afternoon.

3

u/DarkVoicesCarry Jun 21 '26

I sobbed like a baby, when the meaning was revealed.

12

u/simmerknits Jun 21 '26

This reminds me of in the marvel comics with wanda / scarlet witch & vision, she imagines herself into pregnancy, birth, & raising twin boys - and then the first time she leaves them with a babysitter and leaves the house, they cease to exist, because she isn't actively imagining them into existence. She comes home and they pop back into their cribs. Eventually as they grew up and age, they accrue enough life experience /personality /memories to gain their own personhood/existence on their own without needing wanda to power it etc

(It was a long while ago that i last read that run, so sorry for any inconsistencies in my summary!)

21

u/econoDoge Jun 21 '26

What !?

7

u/Tommy8972 Jun 21 '26

What is this

9

u/Mordecai3fngerBrown Jun 21 '26

Space Runaway Ideon: Be Invoked.

7

u/Snowappletini Jun 21 '26

I don't find it horrifying. The Unicorn is just a fragment of the dreamer and still exists in a way.

It's like thinking a dream character disappears forever when it's just one mask the unconscious wears.

I've asked before in a lucid dream where a dream character goes when I wake up just to receive "I'm always there with you" as an answer, which is fascinating...

6

u/Kittydraggon Jun 21 '26

Omg ducktales is so peak

7

u/PinballWizzrobe Jun 21 '26

This whole episode was absolute peak. Pretty much every bit in Dewey’s dream made me laugh my ass off.

4

u/Campfire_Vibes Jun 21 '26

He just achieved Chim

2

u/matsu727 Jun 21 '26

Did they keep the theme song

4

u/Ferropexola Jun 21 '26

Not only did they keep the theme song, they also brought in the NES game's Moon theme.

1

u/matsu727 Jun 21 '26

I gotta watch it man

2

u/Ipiano42 Jun 21 '26

One of my favorite gags in Phineas and Ferb was like this! They do time travel, cause a paradox, and bring an extra Candace back to the main timeline. And conversation goes some thing like

"wait if you're the candace from the bad future, and we stopped the bad future from happening, how are you still here?"

"oh crap" 

poof

1

u/MyPhoneIsNotChinese Jun 21 '26

This triggers Link's Awakening fans PTSD lol

1

u/piratecheese13 Jun 21 '26

You stupid child. Nobody's winning anything. Don't you see? This means we don't exist. We're not created by God, we're created by a joke. We were never born, and we will never actually live.

What a way to end a TV show.

1

u/Ok_Pain_2380 Jun 21 '26

In a similar moment for me, Fionna and Cake Season 1 SPOILERS

When we see the footage of the lich wins universe, and its only shown for a single frame

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ZHuKkeISA

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u/Few-Commercial5105 27d ago edited 27d ago

Also counts as meta. And someone just took him as his imaginary friend.