History Characters / StarTrekTheNextGenerationMainCharacters

* PinocchioSyndrome: It's established in the pilot episode (and present throughout the series):
-->'''Riker:''' Do you consider yourself superior to us?\\
'''Data:''' I am superior, sir, in many ways, but I would gladly give it up to be human.\\
'''Riker:''' [[LampshadeHanging Nice to meet you, Pinocchio.]]

'''[=LaForge=]:''' Four hands in a row. How does he do it?\\

* BizarreTasteInFood: Crossed with AlienLunch, Worf has a ''very'' strange palette probably owed to Klingons not actually ''cooking'' their meals. A recurring gag is Worf's eating habits bringing about total bafflement to his friends. His own mother learned to cook Klingon blood pie but admitted she "never learned how to ''eat'' it." When he asks her to cook some when she comes to visit, she can barely hide her horror. The trope is also given a twist when Worf discovers that he loves prune juice and sees it as "a warrior's drink." He was also the only one to enjoy the botched omelettes that Riker made in one episode, though whether that speaks more to his taste buds or Riker's cooking skills is up for debate.

* IAmXSonOfY: "I am Worf, son of Mogh!"

* GrumpyBear: Lots of officers have tried to dampen Worf's bad attitude over the years, and it always ends with Worf chewing the offender up and picking them out of his teeth. These Starfleet types are such a nosy lot; all Worf wants is a little "me" time.
-->"With all due respect... '''BEGONE!''' Sir."

** They started off fairly prickly towards each other, but eventually the stoic badass warrior develops a strong friendship, and later on a brief romance with the [[NonActionGirl gentle]] empath Deanna.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: Beverly '''Crusher'''. She's badass enough for it too, despite being dedicated to her medical profession; if she weren't such a benevolent person, it might qualify under NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast.

* GoodLookingPrivates: As noted above, when Troi was finally ordered to drop her CustomUniformOfSexy and wear a standard uniform (As Marina Sirtis wanted for years), fans agreed she looked terrific in it.

* RunawayBride: Troi believed she would never be bonded to an arranged marriage because she joined the ''Enterprise'' to get as far away from Betazoid as possible. Too bad her mother is an ambassador and can visit the ship whenever she likes.

* DecompositeCharacter: Data, Worf, and Troi share Spock's persona from TOS. Worf takes Spock's token alien who's sometimes torn between his loyalties to his Federation comrades and his own people.

* DecompositeCharacter: Data, Worf, and Troi share Spock's persona from TOS. Data takes Spock's emotionless logician aspect.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Replaced Riker in this role after he emerged as the EnsembleDarkhorse, and remained so for the rest of the series (and ''especially'' in the movies).

* BirdsOfAFeather: He and Worf have a surprising amount in common. Data's endlessly frank nature and Worf's sense of honor require them both to be honest and fair in whatever they do. They also don't have much of a sense of humor, [[HumorDissonance or at least don't understand the humor of their crewmates]].

* DeadpanSnarker: While he may not consciously understand humor (prior to finally installing his emotion chip in ''Generations'') Data's penchant for BrutalHonesty and his deadpan delivery naturally lends itself to this. For example his conversation with Pulaski about the proper pronunciation of his name:

* InformedAttribute: Even apart from the EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, Data's frequently asserted emotionlessness is not born out by his behavior. We frequently see Data exhibiting desire, hesitation, confusion, awkwardness, fascination, regret, enthusiasm, and other states of mind that are generally considered emotional reactions. A genuinely emotionless character would be a lot less engaging.

** Taken UpToEleven in the movies: Riker exploits a fault in a cloaking device to lower a Klingon ship's shields in ''Generations'', and later in ''Insurrection'' performs three practically insane tactical maneuvers when up against three ships, each of which is a match for the ''Enterprise'': Destroying his own warp core to stop a WaveMotionGun's attack, sucking up explosive gas and spitting it out in front of two enemy ships to make them blow themselves up, and flying at the third on a collision course and juking at the last second to land some point-blank shots to disable it.

* LargeAndInCharge: Commander of the Enterprise's security department, and at 6'4", the only character to equal Commander Riker in height.

** [[BrickJoke Several years later]], when he learns that the very same woman was "having a baby" again, his immediate response is to alarmingly inquire "''Now?''" And then arrrange for shore leave around the delivery date.

* SkunkStripe: A flash-forward to the future ("All Good Things...") shows Data with a glaringly-obvious streak of grey hair, an attempt to make himself feel older and distinguished. His housekeeper disagrees, saying it makes him "look like a bloody skunk".

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: In the pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint" during crew introductions, Troi is seen trying to communicate telepathically with Riker. In later episodes, it's all but stated that Deanna can only sense emotions as a result of only being half-Betazoid, and the only person she can telepathically talk to is her Betazoid mother.

* HumanMomNonHumanDad: {{Inverted}}. Her mother Lwaxana is Betazoid; her father Ian Andrew Troi was human.

* ExactWords: Known to use this technique when otherwise required to tell a lie. In one episode, he navigates a precipitous and increasingly ludicrous amount of half-truths in order to keep the amnesic crew from rediscovering a dangerous threat that he was sworn to keep secret (on Picard's orders, no less). In another episode he was beamed aboard the Enterprise while in the act of firing a weapon at his captor with the goal of killing him, to prevent him from killing others in the future, When questioned by Riker about the discharging weapon, Data only says that "something must have happened during transport"; he neglects to mention that the "something" that happened was him deliberately pulling the trigger.

* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: There is some element of racism involved in Data being an artificial life form, even after his rights as an individual are established. Neither Starfleet nor Picard to be in any hurry to promote him, despite the fact that every time he is placed in a command situation, he handles it superbly. Picard's advice to him on how to be an effective leader seems to suggest that, in Picard's mind at least, the opportunity is still available to him.

* MoralityChip: Has multiple "ethical subroutines" that prevent him from turning into a stereotypical StrawVulcan or worse yet a [[TheSociopath sociopath.]] The one time this was shut off he wound up torturing and experimenting on his best friend at the behest of his homicidal brother.

* ObliviousToLove: [[DownplayedTrope Kind of.]] He has a conceptual understanding of it and experimented with a "romantic subroutine" to date a crewman in one episode.

* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: [[invoked]] {{Justified|Trope}}. His creator was far more interested in the [[ForScience puzzle]] of creating fully-sentient mechanical life than any commercial applications. As a result, Dr. Soong have equipped him with a slew of traits that imitates those of biological lifeforms. Many of these serve both a pratical purpose in maintaining his body, but also make him appear more life-like in an aesthetic sense, very likely in an attempt to steer him away from the UncannyValley. Data has to occasionally eat a semi-organic nutrient to lubricate his biofunctions, and he breathes (as a way of regulating the temperature of his inner systems) and has a pulse (as a way of transporting biochemical lubricants around his body). He also has a built-in system dedicated to make him blink and make it appear somewhat random, as well as an aging program designed to simulate the external effects of aging in his physical appearance.

** Over the course of the show, Data the gambler loses his daughter, his father, his brother, his lover, and is tricked and betrayed more times than you can't count. He’s learning that trusting somebody can lead to betrayal, another human failing for the mechanical man. He considers himself fortunate to be spared the emotional consequences but the way he [[ThousandYardStare stares into the middle distance]] proves that he is putting on his own poker face.

* RapeAsBackstory: Implied. She mentions that she spent most of her childhood dodging Rape-Gangs. The fact that she first mentions this while hitting on Data before having sex with him, brings up another [[PromiscuityAfterRape trope]].

* TheComicallySerious: The series' go-to for this type of humor. If he weren't such a humorless stick in the mud, then lines like "Sir, I protest! ''I am NOT a merry man!''" wouldn't be so hilarious. However, it gets {{Deconstructed}}.

* TheComicallySerious: The series' go-to for this type of humor. If he weren't such a humorless stick in the mud, then lines like "Sir, I protest, ''I am not a merry man''!" wouldn't be so hilarious. However, it gets {{Deconstructed}}.

-->'''Worf:''' If you were any other man I would '''''kill you''''' where you stand.

** He's fairly close friends with Riker [[note]] in ''Ethics'', after Worf is paralyzed, Riker is who he asks for help in performing the Hegh'bat (a Klingon suicide ritual), and in one of the alternate realities shown in ''Parallels'' where Riker is captain of the Enterprise, Worf is his [[NumberTwo First Officer]], [[/note]] despite Will's amiable personality contrasting with Worf's stoic one. As a result, Riker enjoys taking the piss out of Worf at times.

* [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/StarTrekLowerDecks Lower Decks]]
* [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/StarTrekPicard Picard]]