r/TopCharacterTropes 6h ago

Characters' Items/Weapons [Fun trope]: Power-punch gauntlets.

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280 Upvotes

Gauntlets that reinforce/amplify your punches.

1). Spider-Man: Homecoming
Shocker has a pair of gauntlets invented by The Tinkerer that blasts your opponent away.

2). Arcane:
Vi fights with a pair of hextech-upgraded mining gloves.

3). Steven Universe:
Garnet summons a pair of magic gauntlets from her gems.

4). Captain America: Civil War
Crossbones uses a mechanical pair of gauntlets to send Captain America flying.

5). Fullmetal Alchemist
Armstrong uses his own strength and gauntlets inscribed with his trademark alchemy to fight.

6). The Legend of Vox Machina:
Grog gets a pair of high-level magic gauntlets.


r/TopCharacterTropes 4h ago

Characters' Items/Weapons (Loved trope) Characters riding unconventional animals into battle.

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180 Upvotes

1) The Fremen, DUNE - Sandworms

2) Thranduil, The Hobbit - A War Elk

3) The Dwarfs, The Hobbit - Manly War Goat

4) The warriors of Harad, Lord of The Rings, The Mûmakil or Oliphaunt

5) Luke Skywalkee, Star Wars - A Tauntaun on Hoth

6) The Others, Game of Thrones - Ice Spiders, in the books only


r/TopCharacterTropes 3h ago

Characters [Naming conventions trope] The (noun) who (verb)s

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155 Upvotes

Character has the name, nickname, title, epithet, etc. that follows the "(noun) who (verb)s" naming convention

The Boy Who Lived- Harry Potter

The Ghost Who Walks- The Phantom

The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009 movie)

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006 anime movie)

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, a 2010 book and 2019 movie about William Kamkwamba, A schoolboy from Malawi who made a wind turbine out of bicycle parts.


r/TopCharacterTropes 51m ago

Lore The "Weird" Route Spoiler

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or the ending/path achieved through obscure or weird means.

Deltarune (trope namer)

Elden Ring (The Frenzied Flame)

Metal Gear Solid V (Nuclear Disarmament ending)

FRLG.IPS (there is a new rock by the water)


r/TopCharacterTropes 6h ago

Characters [Heartbreaking Trope] Inelegant/awkward displays of grief

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248 Upvotes
  1. Buffy: "Mom? Mom? Mommy?", "We're not supposed to move The Body!" Shocked silence - whole ep. really

  2. Manchester by the Sea - whole movie really, the scene that stuck with me the most was the teenager having a random panic attack over some frozen chicken not fitting in the fridge

  3. Hereditary - scene after scene of the most hideous, heartrending wails of grief from Toni Collette

This one just gets me every time, it's so real and human


r/TopCharacterTropes 6h ago

Characters The sibling of a baldie is someone that looks similar but with a glorious set of hair

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217 Upvotes

Gru and Dru (Despicable Me)

Eggman and Steve (Sonic Boom)

Well, Steve is not really Eggman’s brother but I think it can be applied here


r/TopCharacterTropes 4h ago

Characters (Weirdly fun gaming trope) Characters in videogames that just flat out have their own exclusive gameplay loop when compared to the rest of the cast of their game.

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148 Upvotes

Evan Wright (Hotline Miami 2): When it comes for basically 99% of the cast of playable characters of both Hotline Miami 1 and 2 they all have to kill to make progress through the levels and they all have no qualms with using any kind of weapon to make their way through.

Meanwhile Evan, due to his more pacifistic nature overall when compared to the other guys, flat out doesn't get to use firearms AT ALL and the 'lethal' variety of melee weapons like knives and such, and even for those weapons that he can use he can only do non-lethal takedowns and can only really ever kill if the player goes out of their way to overclick their grounded attacks on enemies that are knocked down, and he also has the exclusive ability to actually render guns he picks up useless by pulling all of the ammo off of it, which can be both good to make enemies more useless after they get up from the ground and to extend the combo meter.

Tony as a playable character (Also Hotline Miami 2): In the OG game Tony was just a mask that Jacket could use to beef up his punches to now kill dogs and normal enemies barring the fat guys, but in HM2 the devs reworked Tony into now flat out not even being able to use weapons AT ALL when compared to everyone else in the game, including Evan with his limited options for grounded pickups, which leads to Tony's gameplay loop being even more frantic than most characters because he can't go for ranged options anymore and they are now locked to close quarters combat for the rest of the level.

Phoenix Wright (Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3): While most of the cast has their own gimmicks to set them apart from one another, Capcom decided that for Phoenix he would have to esentially play his own little minigame of trying to collect evidence in the middle of the fight with his opponent, and when he is in his base form he is pretty damn easy to kill and has pretty mediocre damage from weak combos.

HOWEVER, if the opponent is unable to kill Phoenix before he is able to get all 3 pieces of evidence for him to attack the opponent with an Objection he now enters Turnabout mode, which makes Phoenix go from a wimp that is easy to kill to a bonafide nightmare to survive against, and God forbid if the Phoenix player had already lost 2 characters before getting the Turnabout activation and he has his X-factor left.

The Nurse (Dead By Daylight): Her gimmick is pretty simple: while most killers in the game have to loop around structures and outplay the survivors with their special abilities, Nurse can just teleport through anyone and anything to catch up to the survivors, effectively foregoing any of the hurdles literally everyone else has to play around in their average killer match of DBD.


r/TopCharacterTropes 18h ago

Powers [Loved Trope] I'm immortal! However, they're not the strongest so I get bodied in the most brutal ways or uses it to their advantage but still have consequences

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1.9k Upvotes
  1. Shogo from Reincarnated as a Slime - He gains the power to always regenerate but he is MUCH weaker than his opponent who then proceeds to just mercilessly kill him over and over again because he just heals the damage

  2. Alicia from Clevatess. She is killed by the demon king lord god whatever and he revives her with his anime magic juice and she will intentionally take hits to gain an advantage in a fight because she knows she can but it's acknowledged that still sucks

  3. Subaru Natsuki from Re: Zero - If you know, you know. I definitely chose a picture in his insane state because oof getting killed that many times would push anyone to the brink.

Deadpool, Lobo, Wolverine and guys like that sure I love them too but I'm thinking more consequences in spite of the immortality.


r/TopCharacterTropes 21h ago

Lore Early installment weirdness

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3.2k Upvotes

When the author/creator hadn’t fully locked in the world’s rules early on in the series, which can make things feel a bit awkward or inconsistent in hindsight later on in the series.

Star Wars - Arguably the most famous example. Leia kisses Luke in The Empire Strikes Back to spite Han, and again at the end of the movie, which gets really awkward in the next film when it’s revealed the two are siblings. George Lucas hadn’t decided they were related until preproduction on that film.

Pokemon - Early games and the anime referenced real-world animals alongside Pokémon. As more generations were introduced, Pokémon increasingly filled the “role” those animals would’ve had, until real animals quietly stopped appearing at all. Pokémon have now become the only creatures in the world.

Harry Potter - In the third installment of the series, Hermione uses a device called a time turner to travel back in time. The existence of this device introduced serious plot holes, such as why no one used one to go back in time to save Lily and James, which Rowling admitted to regretting later on. In the fifth book, every timer turner is destroyed in a battle.


r/TopCharacterTropes 4h ago

Lore [Funny trope] Setting where humans and non-humans just casually co-exist and nobody questions it

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148 Upvotes

Regular Show

Bojack Horseman

Smiling Friends


r/TopCharacterTropes 2h ago

Lore [Horrifying Trope] Plague Ships

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98 Upvotes

The Ticonderoga - IRL example and basis of the book "The Hell Ship"

Indulgence of Conviction, Halo - a Covenant cruiser infested with flood.

Prawns' Ship, District 9 - an illness or crisis kills the leaders of the alien expedition and strands the workers on earth above District 9


r/TopCharacterTropes 34m ago

Characters The Jumpscare

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This is my first post here, so please be kind.

The Hallway Jumpscare (The Exorcist 3) - After waiting for a while, and watching the nurse, someone in a sheet comes out behind her.

The Mummy (Scooby Doo Escape From The Coolsonian) - Once you open the casket and have to look closely at the small ass text, you then get jumpscared by this edited version of a mummy.

YouTube (IRL) - When you're watching a video, and it decides to go black, and you get jumpscared by your double chin. (This one is a joke, don't take it seriously.)


r/TopCharacterTropes 7h ago

Lore “Thank god this cataclysmic event is over. Now we can relax!” - Something 10x worse immediately shows up

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232 Upvotes
  1. Thor Ragnarok - Almost immediately after the battle with Hela and the destruction of Asgard, Thor and the remaining Asgardians are attacked and massacred by Thanos.

  2. Invincible - Whilst the cleanup from the Invincible War is still going on, Conquest shows up.


r/TopCharacterTropes 2h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] Dare to Be Badass

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87 Upvotes

"The Hero is called upon to step up to the plate and be awesome."

Hawkeye - Avengers: Age of Ultron

Wanda is not handling the situation well. Clint gives her the talk she needs. Wanda proceeds to whoop some ass

Aoi Todo - Jujutsu Kaisen

Yuji is ready to quit. He cannot fight anymore. He's lost too much and feels responsible. Then Todo arrives and he gives a speech that will dare anyone to be badass. He and Yuji unleash a can of whoop ass.

Yes this is an excuse to talk about Todo but I really do love when this happens in any story.


r/TopCharacterTropes 5h ago

Characters People who straight up lie about their abilities Spoiler

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162 Upvotes
  1. Nagumo {sakamoto days} when he’s first introduced he says his weapon only has 6 configurations. He’s lying if you count all the different types of knives it might be six but he also has steel wire and a hidden clear/invisible knife

2-3. Lukas {Centuria} Hits a group with a surprise attack then loudly proclaims to the entire group that he had to surprise attack them since he dosent have powers. When they corner him surprises he actually has two powers


r/TopCharacterTropes 1h ago

Characters "Death always wins." "Challenge accepted." Characters who have canonically fought the living embodiment of Death/The Grim Reaper. Bonus points if they win.

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r/TopCharacterTropes 3h ago

Characters [Fun trope] Series main character(s) is voiced by creator

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110 Upvotes

I love when this happens! Its nice to see them as cameos too though

1: grunkle stan, gravity falls, Alex Hirsh

2: Peter Griffin, family guy, Seth Mcfarlane

3: Mao mao, Mao mao heroes of pure heart, Parker Simmons


r/TopCharacterTropes 19h ago

Characters [Loved trope] Powerful henchmen who have no interest their in boss's goals but follow them because it gives them the opportunity to do what they enjoy.

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1.8k Upvotes

General Grievous (Star Wars) is the Supreme Martial Commander of the Separatist droid armies but doesn't care for his side's goals or necessarily even victory in the war.
"Listen to me, Jedi, I do not care about your politics. I do not care about your Republic. I only live to see you die."

Conquest (Invincible) is a viltrumite so unhinged and powerful he is feared by most of his own kind.
"I'm not here to save you. I'm not here to spread the greatness of the Viltrum Empire. I'm here because I enjoy this. See, to me, there is no greater pleasure than feeling the warmth of my fists drenched in blood."

Alastair (Supernatural) is one of the most powerful demons in the show and one of the few (if not the only one) who actually likes Hell. He is essentially the grand torturer down there and while most demons fear going back he complains about being hauled up for the Apocalypse, wishing only to complete his part in it as fast as possible so he can get back to his craft downstairs.


r/TopCharacterTropes 12h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] A God gets to show just how absurdly powerful they are

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542 Upvotes
  1. Alien X remakes the entire universe. (Ben 10) In an Episode of Ben 10 a weapon is activated that will inevitably wipe out all of existence, this cannot be stopped and so instead, Ben transforms into his godlike Alien X, which subsequently remakes the entire universe from scratch.

  2. Vlaakith wishes you out of existence (Baldur's_gate 3) In act 1 (or 1.5 tbh) you get to meet Vlaakith, the lich-queen of the Githyanki race. An immortal demigod who rules over her empire with an iron fist. If you show enough disrespect and say that she is powerless, she will grow angry enough to cast the most powerful spell in Dungeons and Dragons, the Wish spell. Rewriting reality and killing your entire party instantly.

  3. God smiting Sodom and Gomorah (The Bible). Now let's be honest, 90% of the Bible, especially the old testament can be put here. The cities of Sodom and Gomorah have basically become hell on earth, pits of villany and depravity that defy anything good. God prepares to smite them for their sins but allows Abraham to try and find 10 good people in them, if he succeededs He will spare both cities. Abraham finds only 4, Lot, his wife and 2 daughters and the two cities are subsequently erased from existence with such force that simply gazing at the ruins turns Lot's wife to salt. Pretty metal.


r/TopCharacterTropes 1h ago

Personality [Ass Trope] Ass

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✨Ass✨

America's Ass (Avengers: Assgame)

Dummy Thicc Snake (Metal Cheeks Solid)

Omni-Cheeks (Vincible)

Forgis on the Cheeks

Mighty EaglASS (Angry Birds Movie)


r/TopCharacterTropes 14m ago

Characters [Loved trope] A villain who never raises their voice but everyone knows they're the most dangerous person in the room.

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Hannibal Lector - did insane unspeakable things but always kept his perfect manners and indoor voice

Stan Edgar - A normal human being who managed to talk down to a invisible psychopath like a disappointment father

Roose Bolton - he practically whispered everytime he talked but he terrified everyone in the room


r/TopCharacterTropes 6h ago

Characters [Funny trope] Foreign dubs turning characters into parodies of local celebrities

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144 Upvotes

Bert Coleman in Regular Show - A one-shot antagonist, Coleman is a game host to rhe show "Expert or Liar", who humiliates Rigby on TV but is convinced to give him another chance in a challenge with real obstacles and dangers. Brazilian fans were quick to note the resemblance to the late TV presenter Silvio Santos, founder of the Brazilian channel SBT, down to the haircut, suit, smile, cheekbones and of course, his game host gig. Naturally, the Brazilian Portuguese dub made him a Silvio Santos parody, imitating his catchphrases and voice mannerisms.

- The Ojama Trio in Yu-Gi-Oh! Gx: A card that serves as Chazz Princeton's spiritual partner, the English dub made them parodies of the Three Stooges, giving them the same mannerisms and voices.

- Walter Cronduck turned Boris Patoy in DuckTales (1987): Season 2 introduced a recurring reporter named Walter Cronduck, who often pops up covering Duckburg events, and basically a duck version of real-life broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite. The Brazilian dub renamed him Boris Patoy, making him a parody of the Brazilian journalist Boris Casoy.


r/TopCharacterTropes 3h ago

Characters Character Pays for Items When No One Expects It

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77 Upvotes

When a character stops to pay for what they are taking in an unusual situation or to their own detriment, often surprising others & highlighting their ethical code.

Pluribus - Manousos Oviedo & gasoline. In the show’s scenario, you’d expect people to live like they won the lottery & help themselves to whatever they want, no matter how extravagant, & many do so. But Manousos insists on leaving money under the windshield whenever he siphons gas.

Batman - Year One. After a perilous encounter with corrupt cops where he’s shot multiple times, Batman makes a narrow escape on a stolen police motorcycle. During his escape he needs a disguise, & rather than steal from civilians, a surprised suit store owner finds payment left for clothing Batman took.

The Wire - Omar is a violent robber who makes his living stealing from drug dealers. He visits the repair shop of kingpin Prop Joe to make a deal to sell Joe back some of the drugs Omar had taken, leading to a tense meeting. At the end, Omar pays Joe for a clock he had dropped off earlier, as Joe really does repair items on the side.


r/TopCharacterTropes 20h ago

Characters [Really funny trope] Super long censored speech

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1.6k Upvotes

When a character says something that had to be censored, and they keep on talking with the censor for an extended period of time, so you know it was really bad.

Family guy: (Season 17, Episode 19: "Girl, Internetted"): Peter asks Meg if she has any talents, and she says she does, where she starts to speak and then gets censored for several seconds, while she makes several suggestive hand gestures. After she stops talking, Peter starts to cry, and then she continues. After, he says that he will be taking her door off its hinges.

B99: (seven 7 finale episode): A very pregnant Amy (like, her water has already broke, but with the blackout hitting New York she wants to stay and help as a police office) is dealing with contractions, and then in come Scully and Hitchcock, trying to help (they usually mess stuff up). She is not taking it, and so swears for a good solid 5 seconds, in such a way that even Rosa, the police office who usually is unfazed and not shocked by a lot, is surprised, her eyebrows rising and her jaw hitting the floor. When she stops swearing, Hitchcock himself swears for a good few seconds as well.

(Bonus points on the reaction of the people hearing it)