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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 7 | [[WesternAnimation In Cartoonland,]] [[EstablishingCharacterMoment first impressions are everything.]] |
| 8 | ---- |
| 9 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': The show and Vi's first scene as a child showcase many of the character traits that define her. She's trying to protect her youngest sister Powder by having her sing a song while covering her eyes but Powder still ends up seeing the corpses of their parents showing that despite her best intentions, she can accidentally scar Powder psychologically. Vi visibly tries to hold it together yet can't help but break down crying, foreshadowing that despite her tough personality, she's still just as emotionally vulnerable as anyone to trauma. Finally, when she's being carried away by Vander, she curls her fist while glaring pure hate at the [[RabidCop Enforcers]], revealing the desire to solve problems with violence that she'll carry for the rest of her life. |
| 10 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': |
| 11 | ** [[Characters/ArcherSterlingArcher Sterling Archer]] himself gets his moment near the end of the pilot episode "Mole Hunt" when he [[spoiler:gets an erection at the thought of his mother dying]]. May also double as an EstablishingSeriesMoment. |
| 12 | ** Cheryl gets hers in Episode 5, when she goes on a long tangent about her disturbing love for fatal erotic asphyxiation. Up until this point, she was shown as being only moderately weird and occasionally baby crazy. |
| 13 | ** Krieger's is undoubtedly when he introduces [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDekhoeEoCc Fister Roboto]], his sex robot. Note that these are his first lines in the entire series. |
| 14 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': |
| 15 | ** The first episode to focus on Francine (and the second overall) sees her trying to refrain from playing kickball long enough to look especially nice for her school picture, but Francine is unable to help herself. By the time the picture is taken, she looks scruffy and grungy, while wearing a dress and a relaxed hairstyle. |
| 16 | ** The episode "I'm a Poet" is the first episode to focus on Fern. She is introduced as a shy introvert with a love of poetry and books. In the next scene, she stands up to Binky when he teases her for liking poetry and dares her classmates to write a poem. We learn that while Fern is shy and quiet, she is not afraid to stand up for herself and can be very brave when the situation calls for it. |
| 17 | * ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': |
| 18 | ** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderAvatarAang Avatar Aang]]'s is where after being restored from a HumanPopsicle, his first words were to ask Katara if she wanted to go penguin-sledding. He also gets an EstablishingCharacterMoment for the Avatar in the second episode, by going into the [[SuperMode Avatar State]] and [[CurbStompBattle quite effortlessly wiping out everyone on the ship]] in under a minute. |
| 19 | ** The first two episodes quickly show [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderZuko Prince Zuko]]'s obsession with capturing the Avatar in order to return from his exile. He also gets a more subtle one, first when he does nothing more than disable Sokka by smacking him over the head with his own broken weapon after the latter attacks him and doing little more than posture and threaten to try and get Aang's location rather than cutting straight to violence, and second when Aang offers to surrender to him in exchange for him sparing the Southern Water Tribe and he accepts without question. Most villains would have killed someone like Sokka for daring to attack them (and at that stage, it wouldn't have been difficult for Zuko), cut straight to violence rather than mere threat displays, and then [[ILied levelled the place anyway]] [[ForTheEvulz for their own amusement]]. However, even after Aang escapes later on, [[NobleDemon Zuko proves to be as good as his word]], the first sign of his many [[EvilVirtues virtuous qualities]]. |
| 20 | ** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderGeneralIroh Iroh]] as well. He just wants to finish his game and drink some tea, encouraging Zuko to relax. |
| 21 | ** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderFireLordOzai Fire Lord Ozai's]] first talking-and-doing-things appearance (as opposed to the brief silhouette he got a few episodes earlier) features him burning Zuko's face. His own son. In public. As the 13 year old boy begs for mercy. [[AbusiveParents That's all we need to know about the guy.]] |
| 22 | ** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Princess Azula's]] first appearance during Zuko's flashback in "[[Recap/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheStorm The Storm]]". All you can guess about her is that she's family by the fact that she's standing next to Iroh, has yellow eyes, and is dressed in very similar robes, but when she's seen ''smiling'' as Zuko gets disfigured, you ''know'' she's going to be trouble whenever she'll show up. When she shows up as a named character it is one of these. We can tell from her first appearance that, as opposed to her sympathetic AntiVillain brother, she is a vicious creature, and that is the truth all the way through the series. |
| 23 | --->'''Azula:''' Do the tides command this ship?\ |
| 24 | '''Captain:''' Uh, I'm afraid I don't understand.\ |
| 25 | '''Azula:''' You said the tides would not allow us to bring this ship in. Do the tides command this ship?\ |
| 26 | '''Captain:''' No, Princess.\ |
| 27 | '''Azula:''' And if I were to have you thrown overboard, would the tides think twice about smashing you against the rocky shore?\ |
| 28 | '''Captain:''' No, Princess.\ |
| 29 | '''Azula:''' Well then, maybe you should worry less about the tides, who have already made up their minds about killing you, and worry more about me, who's still mulling it over. |
| 30 | *** Azula gets another in the same episode. She practices [[ShockAndAwe lightningbending]], and gets the extremely difficult firebending move right on the first try, but one lock of hair is out of place. She gets angry and says "Almost perfect isn't good enough!" [[spoiler: This foreshadows her later VillainousBreakdown, which happens when she is again not quite perfect, and in this case [[MachiavelliWasWrong on something bigger than just a hair]].]] |
| 31 | ** Mai is established as a DeadpanSnarker EmotionlessGirl and formidable {{Ninja}} in less than a minute. |
| 32 | ** [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTophBeifong Toph Beifong]]'s entrance, which consists of her effortlessly beating a man about five times her size in the Earth Rumble ring without breaking a sweat also qualifies her as a LittleMissBadass. Did we mention that she's also [[DisabilitySuperpower blind]]? |
| 33 | --->'''[[LargeHam The Boulder]]''': [[ThirdPersonPerson The Boulder]] feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl.\ |
| 34 | '''Toph''': [[LittleMissSnarker Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder!]]\ |
| 35 | '''The Boulder''': ...The Boulder is over his conflicted feelings and now he's ready to bury you in a rockalanche!\ |
| 36 | '''Toph''': [[TrashTalk Whenever you're ready, the Pebble!]] ''[laughs]'' |
| 37 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': |
| 38 | ** ComicBook/BlackWidow briefly appears in the episode "Breakout", the first to air on Creator/DisneyXD. Her appearance can be summed up as "[[MaleGaze buttshot]], [[MyEyesAreUpHere full-length bodyshot]], [[MaleGaze walking away buttshot]], exit". |
| 39 | ** Similarly, ComicBook/IronMan first appears in "Breakout" (following some scenes in promotional shorts and a compilation of those shorts) as he effortlessly breaks up a weapons sale, tells off Doctor Doom's representative, blows off ComicBook/NickFury and SHIELD, and dismisses a request that soon comes back to massively bite him (and everyone else) in the ass. If you ''do'' count the shorts and their compilations, Iron Man's establishing moments come when he fights a giant robot and shrugs off advice that he'd be better off making weapons than fighting evil directly and alone. |
| 40 | ** ComicBook/AntMan is neatly summarized in the short "The Man In The Anthill". He tells Klaw and his team of mercenaries that they really didn't need to blow down the door to his lab and tries to convince them to talk it out. When they refuse, Hank proceeds to fire up the Pym Particles and mop the floor with the mercs, and when all is said and done, asks Jan to make sure the ants aren't trying to eat them, while not even looking up from his microscope. |
| 41 | ** ComicBook/TheWasp's establishing moment comes in the short "Enter the Whirlwind" (also featured in the show's fifth chronological episode). She tells ComicBook/AntMan that the two of them need to find a better use of their time than private scientific research, then goes outside to fight Whirlwind. Ant-Man eventually comes to help Wasp, so she tells him they could use their powers to benefit others through crime-fighting. |
| 42 | ** With Black Widow at his side, ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} makes his debut in "Hulk vs. The World" by striking the [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]] with two arrows, descending from a plane on a zip line, and quipping, "Tick tick boom!" right before the arrows explode. |
| 43 | *** While she initially appears in a cameo appearance in this short, ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}}'s actual introduction has her crack an affectionate joke at Hawkeye's situation, snark at his confusion over her new duds and status as a special agent, then offer to help while subtly flirting with him. Pretty much sums up her personality. Later we have, when captured, actually striking up a conversation with several male guards, [[OneOfTheBoys seemingly befriend them]], and nearly trick them into loosening her cuffs. |
| 44 | ** The Grim Reaper is introduced shooting one of his own men in the back as part of a Trojan Horse plan, get picked up in security for his prosthetic arm while they also detect the Satan's Claw glove in his belongings, before effortlessly wasting each of the SHIELD agents who attempt to stop him, [[CreepyAwesome all the while snickering like a psychopath]]. Following this has ComicBook/NickFury chase after him and Baron Strucker, who he was breaking out, fight them both, lose a good few years of his life thanks to the youth-draining effects of Satan's Claw without batting an eye, then taking the two down and basically dragging them back to their cells, all without breaking any notable sweat. |
| 45 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'': Uniqua establishes her character -- and really the entire series -- by immediately making it clear that girls are just as capable of being great pirates as boys are, and getting Austin, Pablo, and Tyrone to follow her lead. |
| 46 | * Although a well-established character in other media and previous shows, even if you didn't know anything about the character, the opening theme for ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' told you all you needed to know about Batman in under a minute. Quoting from [[http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/11/04/ask-chris-78-why-the-batman-the-animated-series-opening-is/#ixzz236yqEitR Chris Sims review of the series opening]]; |
| 47 | --> ''"We know that this guy is a crime-fighter who probably doesn't have any super-powers. At the very least, he can't run faster than a car and if you punch him, he'll feel it. We know that he doesn't use guns, and instead relies on being an incredible fighter who uses other means to deal with his enemies. We know that he's violent, and that he hates crooks, but he doesn't kill them and instead hands them over to the justice system. We know he exists because there's unchecked crime in this city that the police just cannot fight by themselves, even if through extraordinary means. Also, he drives a dope car."'' |
| 48 | * ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': |
| 49 | ** Terry [=McGinnis=]' first scene had him defending monorail passengers from a Jokerz gang member harassing them. Later scenes showed him with a bad attitude and temper, but [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold established his character arc]] for the first few episodes. |
| 50 | ** Mad Stan is introduced shouting "BLOW IT ALL UP!" into the camera and sticking a bomb onto a support pillar while heavy metal music plays in the background. Guessing he's a {{Bomb Throwing Anarchist|s}} isn't exactly difficult. |
| 51 | * ''Franchise/Ben10'': |
| 52 | ** [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 Original Series]]: |
| 53 | *** Vilgax has two in the Original Series; his introduction in the series has him tracking Xylene's ship and urging his drones to catch up and get the Omnitrix, establishing his obsession with getting his hands on the device no matter what. In the season finale, his first meeting in person with Ben involves him shrugging off multiple punches from [[MagmaMan Heatblast]] (one of Ben's most powerful aliens at the time) [[NoSell without even flinching]] before [[CurbStompBattle throwing him across several buildings]], establishing [[TheJuggernaut the kind of fighter he is]]. |
| 54 | *** The titular Ben Tennyson gets this in the very first episode: Before the opening theme song, he's shown bored out of his mind, making a paper airplane that he then throws at his teacher, copping a delighted look on his face. After the theme, he is seen rushing to the aid of a terrified kid who's being picked on by two bullies. Though he fails, he refuses to budge. That shows that, while he still has immature tendencies, being ten years old and all, he is willing to stand up to any evildoer, knowing full well that there is a high percentage that he can lose the fight. |
| 55 | ** ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce Alien Force]]'' |
| 56 | *** Rath gets one to show that the form alters Ben's personality a lot more than his previous aliens had. Upon accidentally transforming into him, Rath promptly starts breaking things, picks a fight with both Gwen and Kevin, shouting really loudly, uses his catch phrase ''LEMME TELL YOU SOMETHING'' at the top of his lungs, says Kevin and Gwen's name in full when he describes them, then realizes he's running out of air due to a mana bubble around his head and passes out. Thus the audience knows that being in this form makes Ben a LargeHam, aggressive, diminishes his intelligence, but the resulting form is also pretty strong. |
| 57 | ** ''[[WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse Omniverse]]'': |
| 58 | *** Rook's first scene in a fight has him show what his Proto-Tool can do, taking out three alien criminals singlehandedly... and in conversation with Ben, show he's SarcasmBlind and LiteralMinded. |
| 59 | *** Kundo when introduced makes his bigotry toward technology and outsiders readily apparent, and then, when Rook Da refuses to get out of his way, unsympathetically and coldly defeats him. |
| 60 | *** The very first thing Lord Transyl does upon being resurrected is express his [[HorrorHunger need to feed]], then rush on Dr. Viktor and Kuphulu to devour their life force. And he's neither grateful to nor impressed by the Ectonurite who resurrected him, because the guy's an Ectonurite. |
| 61 | *** The opening scene of "And Then There Were None" summarizes the major personality differences between No Watch Ben and Ben Prime: No Watch Ben imediately runs to an old woman's aid when he hears her crying out, and though exasperated and off to an awkward start, he goes through with rescuing her cat from a tree and pulls it off successfully. And he comments almost longingly, it was as if he was being a superhero. |
| 62 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': |
| 63 | ** Huey Freeman begins the series by claiming that while he's not a prophet he has had a prophetic dream where he brought a [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant whitebread garden party]] to riot with the announcement that "UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} was black, UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan was the Devil, and the government is lying about 9/11". Later in the episode, he attends an actual garden party, and the [=WASPs=] there are completely unfazed by his Left-Wing rhetoric. This shows that while he is very WiseBeyondHisYears, he's still one kid shouting at a hurricane. |
| 64 | ** Huey's Granddad, Robert Freeman gets his debut by smacking Huey across the head immediately after his aforementioned dream and telling him "You'd better learn to lie like your Graddaddy", showing that he has no patience for the boy's activism. There's also a hint at his DirtyOldMan tendencies in his next scene, where he's jazzercising to a Billy Blake infomercial... [[NakedPeopleAreFunny completely naked.]] |
| 65 | ** Ed Wuncler III makes his first appearance brazenly talking about how he got washed out of service in UsefulNotes/{{Iraq}} for [[BringMyBrownPants constantly shitting himself]] and that he doesn't care, because he's rich. Despite this, he proves to be enough of a FearlessFool later in the episode when he demonstrates his BulletproofVest by ''demanding'' Riley to fire a shotgun on him. As his grandfather puts it, "In twenty years, that boy will be president of the United States... and he'll still be a fucking idiot." |
| 66 | ** Said grandfather, Ed Wuncler, is mostly benign in his first appearance. He fully shows [[CorruptCorporateExecutive what kind of man he is]] in his second appearance, where he arranges a HostileTakeover of Jasmine's lemonade stand, [[MoralEventHorizon tricking her into voluntarily working in defiance of child labor laws, only to make a killing off of "cruelty-free lemonade" when protests start,]] [[WouldHurtAChild leaving poor Jasmine in debt for all her efforts]]. [[{{Greed}} Bear in mind that he's already]] [[Fiction500 the richest man in the state.]] |
| 67 | ** Gin Rummy is a {{White Gang Banger|s}} [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed mockery]] of Donald Rumsfeld played by Creator/SamuelLJackson. It's not surprising that his first appearance has him saying that "the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence", a quote said by Rumsfeld in response to no-one finding [=WMDs=] in Iraq. When Riley doesn't get what he's saying, he responds with [[ActorAllusion the "Say what again" speech taken from Jackson's character in]] ''Film/PulpFiction''. |
| 68 | * WesternAnimation/BugsBunny gets his in "WesternAnimation/AWildHare", when he appears out of the ground and establishes his collected, casual attitude with "[[CharacterCatchphrase Eh, what's up, Doc?]]" |
| 69 | * ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo'': The characters get their own establishing moments in the show's first episodes. |
| 70 | ** Scoutmaster Lumpus calls the Bean Scouts spoiled derelicts ([[HypocriticalHumor while making Mr. Slinkman tie his fishing lure for him]]) and laments his position as Scoutmaster of Camp Kidney. |
| 71 | ** Lazlo is the most gung-ho about helping Lumpus despite him being nothing but a cranky jerk, establishing him as a kind and adventurous boy who often fails to see the negative traits in others. |
| 72 | ** Raj is cautious and cynical about helping Lumpus, but [[CowardlyLion he goes with Lazlo and Clam anyway.]] |
| 73 | ** Clam is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} quiet but cheerful, speaks oddly]] and [[PintSizedPowerhouse holds the canoe over his head without getting tired.]] |
| 74 | ** The Squirrel Scouts show up in a luxury fishing boat and catch tons of fish, firmly establishing [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter how they outperform the Bean Scouts in almost every way.]] |
| 75 | *** In "Beans Are from Mars", we get to see how the Squirrel Scouts individually operate as a BeautyBrainsAndBrawn trio: Patsy fawns over Lazlo, Nina reads a science fiction novel and Gretchen wolfs down her ice cream like a pig. |
| 76 | * ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'': |
| 77 | ** Dracula's first scene has him using his vampire powers to intimidate Lisa, and then after she proves to not be some person trying to trick others, he then proceeds to share his knowledge with her. In short, he lives up to his name as a MonsterLord, but also shows that he has the capacity for kindness. |
| 78 | ** Lisa walks up to Dracula's castle and bangs on his door, and asks him to help her become a doctor. When he tries to scare her, she tells him off for his rudeness and that he should travel the world like people do. She also encourages him to use his wealth of knowledge to make the world better. A determined and outspoken young woman who is an AllLovingHero through and through. |
| 79 | ** In his first scene, Alucard tries to plead with his father to spare mankind for Lisa's death, showcasing his [[TheStoic stoic manner]], and [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire trying to appeal to his father's better nature]] by pointing out it is not what Lisa would have wanted. |
| 80 | ** The whole beginning of "Necropolis" establishes Trevor's character. He is clearly put off by the accusations the patrons make towards his family, but would rather get a drink and ignore it than fight them unprovoked. It is not until the patrons goad him into a fight that he actually does something about it, beating all three of them despite the heavy hits he takes and the fact that he is hard-drunk. |
| 81 | ** Carmilla marches into Dracula's arguing court long after being summoned by the prince of darkness, which silences them and puts all eyes on her. She then asks Dracula point-blank why he never bothered to turn his late wife Lisa into a vampire like the rest of them. Then, after [[BerserkButton earning Dracula's ire]] and being summoned to speak with him privately, she manages to convince him that she was just asking what everyone else was already thinking and she is truly on his side, which spares her his wrath. A powerful presence, self-important, ManipulativeBitch all in one. |
| 82 | ** Count Saint Germain is introduced haggling with a local vendor over the cost of apples, showing him to be socially conscious and a smooth-talker... even if he failed to budge her on the price. |
| 83 | * ''WesternAnimation/ClassOfTheTitans'': |
| 84 | ** [[GuileHero Jay]] is the only teenager not to immediately accept the CallToAdventure, and sneaks off to assess the situation for himself. When he returns, he calmly explains to the ''gods'' themselves that there's no way he can do what they've asked of him. (It doesn't work, but points for logic.) |
| 85 | ** Atlanta's first scene shows her hunting wild game at the age of fifteen, and getting angry when clumsier people scare off her prey. |
| 86 | ** [[GentleGiant Herry]] looks forward to a good meal after working hard on his grandmother's farm. |
| 87 | * WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck's "I'm just a crazy ol' darnfool duck" line from his debut in WesternAnimation/PorkysDuckHunt". |
| 88 | * WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck's very first scene in his premiere episode perfectly illustrates that "ego the size of a small planet" Taurus Bulba will later summarize. It leaves no doubt what this protagonist's personality is like. |
| 89 | * [[BigBad Darkseid]] gets this moment in his first speaking appearance in the ''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse'', the ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "[[Recap/SupermanTheAnimatedSeriesS2E15FathersDay Father's Day]]". Superman arrives for a final confrontation with MonsterOfTheWeek Kalibak, only to see Darkseid (who has just given a YouHaveFailedMe speech out of earshot) disintegrate Kalibak. Superman demands to know who he is and Darkseid just stands there, smiles at Superman, and then uses his Omega Beams to torture Superman to the ground before answering "''THAT'' is who I am." And thus the relationship between arguably the two most hated enemies in the entire DCAU was established. |
| 90 | * In ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', a few happen in the first episode. |
| 91 | ** Clara, upon meeting Foxxy for the first time, assumes she's a servant and asks her to fetch her bags, which Foxxy does not take well. |
| 92 | ** Captain Hero's lust is indicated when he confesses that he'd "stick and stir any one of those broads," but wants a "hot black chick," too. When that is granted, he waits, in vain, for a twelve year old and a donkey to come. |
| 93 | ** Toot gets two. Her first is dancing in an attempt to impress Xandir and causing the entire house to shake. Her second, after deciding to become "the bitch" is [[KickTheDog to lie to Xandir's kidnapped girlfriend and claim that he's cheating on her]]. |
| 94 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'' opens with our antagonist, Zordrak, chewing out his minion Captain Crigg for screwing up one too many times before dropping him into a pit filled with ravenous Frazznats and promoting Sergeant Blob as the new commander for his plan to steal the Dreamstone. This highlights that he is a BadBoss who clearly doesn’t care about the lives of his Urpney minions. |
| 95 | * In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', Gyro Gearloose's first scene has him barge into a board meeting to shout [[InsufferableGenius "Shut up everyone, I've just done something brilliant!"]] This establishes him as quite different from the kindhearted BunglingInventor of the original show. |
| 96 | * The three Eds in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' all display their personalities in the show's intro alone. Eddy, the unofficial leader and show-off, hogs the camera on himself while his friends are left in the background, setting up his SmallNameBigEgo personality, and he gets angry with Ed when the latter messes up the camera, also setting up his HairTriggerTemper attitude. Ed, the clumsy oaf, just waves in the background and accidentally shoves his friends back while also messing up the camera, setting up his LethallyStupid tendencies as well. Edd, the shy, neurotic NeatFreak, is shown attempting to step away from the camera while in the background, and when Ed messes it up, Edd then straightens the camera. At the end, they end up destroying the camera due to their horseplaying, which also sets up the many destructions they would cause in the show itself. See [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BPLXepRC8E here]]. |
| 97 | ** After being played up as TheAce by Eddy throughout the show's run, [[spoiler: Eddy's brother's first act in TheMovie is [[ComedicSociopathy to beat up Eddy and Edd]]. So instead of the great guy Eddy's portrayed him as, Eddy's brother is a monster who tortures children for fun. [[FridgeHorror And he works at an amusement park]]. He's defeated by Ed in the end.]] |
| 98 | * ''Toys/EverAfterHigh'': |
| 99 | ** Apple joyfully pledges to follow in her mother's footsteps, and [[FriendToAllLivingThings birds land on her outstretched arms]] as she does. |
| 100 | ** Maddie tells the narrators to stop arguing, explaining to a confused Raven that only she can [[BreakingTheFourthWall see past the fourth wall]]. Then she reassures [[EmoTeen Raven]] that people don't hate her. (Maddie's wrong, but it was still a sweet gesture.) |
| 101 | ** Dexter asks the school outcast if he can sit with her, awkwardly stumbling over his words. |
| 102 | * ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'''s Glenn Quagmire and his dealings with a woman he picked up earlier that night: |
| 103 | -->'''Woman''': Hey, Glenn, I have a question for you: what do you do for a living?\ |
| 104 | '''Quagmire''': ''[wearing a lecherous grin]'' And I have a question for you: ''why are you still here?'' |
| 105 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': |
| 106 | ** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E1SpacePilot3000 Space Pilot 3000]]": |
| 107 | *** The first quarter establishes Fry's personality and status in society quite well; a kid mocks him for losing a video game, his girlfriend dumps his stuff out on the sidewalk ([[IdiotHero and he still doesn't realize that he's been dumped]]), and to top it all off, he realizes that he's been prank-called. When he's finally unfrozen in the future, his first reaction to his predicament is to cheer. |
| 108 | *** In Bender's first interaction with Fry, his recklessness is established when he waits impatiently for the suicide booth, with an attitude indicating he doesn't comprehend the implications of what he's doing. He also avoids paying for the suicide booth by putting in a coin on a string and yanking it out, establishing his criminal tendencies (and even though he won't have any use for the money once he's killed himself, further indicating that he doesn't understand what he's doing). His very first line of dialogue is [[CharacterCatchphrase "Bite my shiny metal ass."]] |
| 109 | *** Leela kicking the crap out of two police officers when they make fun of her nose establishes her as an ActionGirl and HypercompetentSidekick. |
| 110 | *** Professor Farnsworth gets his after offering to make Fry, Leela, and Bender his new crew. Leela thanks him for the offer but objects that they don't have the proper career chips. Farnsworth replies "That won't be a problem! I've saved the chips from my old crew". He then gets the chips out of a folder reading "Contents of Space Wasp's Stomach". |
| 111 | ** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E2TheSeriesHasLanded The Series Has Landed]]": |
| 112 | *** Hermes [[DissonantSerenity casually discusses all the ways Leela could die on the job with her]] while asking her to sign a liability waiver, then laughs in her face when she states that she intends to "do as little dying as possible". |
| 113 | *** Doctor Zoidberg's incompetence is established when he asks Fry to open his mouth in order to look at his ''brain''. When Fry complies, Zoidberg says "No, no, not that mouth". |
| 114 | ** "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E4LovesLaborsLostInSpace Love's Labors Lost in Space]]" is one long ECM for [[FakeUltimateHero Zapp Brannigan]], but especially his story of how he defeated an army of rampaging Killbots: |
| 115 | -->''It was simply a matter of outsmarting them. [...] You see, Killbots have a pre-set kill limit. Knowing their weakness, I sent wave after wave of my own men at them, until they reached their limit and shut down.'' |
| 116 | ** "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E8ABigPieceOfGarbage A Big Piece of Garbage]]": Morbo's first line in the series is "Thanks, human female! PunyEarthlings were shocked today to learn that a ball of garbage will destroy their pathetic city of New New York." |
| 117 | * ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': |
| 118 | ** Creator Alex Hirsch pinpoints the gift shop scene towards the end of the first episode as being this. [[AdorablyPrecociousChild Dipper]] chooses the pine tree hat due to practicality, since he lost his old one during the events of the episode. Meanwhile, [[GenkiGirl Mabel]] chooses a grappling hook, revealing how unpredictable the character can be. |
| 119 | *** Could also be considered a moment for Stan. After making fun of the twins as they return, Stan notices that they look down and offers them each a free item from the gift shop under the flimsy guise of ordering too much stock, showing that despite how callous he may come off he cares for his niece and nephew deep down. |
| 120 | ** Bill Cipher's first appearance quickly establishes him as entertainingly crazy and ''utterly terrifying'', as his first act (after poking fun at Gideon) is to casually extract the teeth of a nearby deer and offer them to Gideon -- and when Gideon rejects them, Bill just as casually puts them right back. |
| 121 | -->'''Gideon:''' "''YoureInsane''"\ |
| 122 | '''Bill:''' "Sure I am! [[InsultBackfire What's your point?]]" |
| 123 | %%** Admit it, the first time you see Pacifica Northwest, you will think she's the AlphaBitch. [[spoiler: Well, that's in season 1 before her CharacterDevelopment in Season 2.]]%%ZCE: What is it that she does that establishes her as such? |
| 124 | ** [[AbusiveParents Preston Northwest]]'s advice for Pacifica in his first appearance is a firm "Don't lose", already showing that he's not father of the year material. |
| 125 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Green Eggs and Ham|2019}}'': Guy heading off to Snerzco in order to make his dreams come true...then he sinks half-way into a puddle. After that, he says "no" to pretty much everyone who interacts with him. Sam, in the meantime, befriends the exact same people Guy dismisses. |
| 126 | * ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'' |
| 127 | ** Harley and Joker's dynamic is established in the first scene, with Harley trying to come off as tough and fearsome on her own while the Joker continually one-ups her and negs her attempts at trying to establish herself. Then he abandons her the moment Batman shows up. |
| 128 | ** Jim Gordon gets one when his first scene has him use an increasingly unhinged amount of metaphors describing Harley as a supervillain, establishing him not as the ReasonableAuthorityFigure he normally is but as an overworked NervousWreck. |
| 129 | ** Clayface is introduced shifting back into his ShapeshifterDefaultForm after explaining the backstory of his Texan bartender disguise, establishing him as an incredibly hammy actor (in-universe) who puts way too much work into his characters. |
| 130 | ** Psycho is shown first on tv singlehandely battling Wonder Woman and using CountryMatters when she manages to hurt him showcasing that while he's powerful, he's a foul tempered potty mouth who hates women. |
| 131 | * ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'': Adam is first introduced offering a handshake to Charlie, then when it turns out he's only projecting a hologram and her hand phases through his, he laughs at her and goes on at length to call Hell disgusting. This gets his fratbro-esque {{jerkass}} personality across to the audience right away. |
| 132 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'': In the series [[TheTeaser Cold Opening]], Hilda removes her bell from troll's nose, after seeing that it causes pain to him. At first, it seems that trolls wants to eat her, but he actually returns her her scetchbook, and Hilda wasn't really scared at it. This showcases Hilda being the same thrill-seeking adventure, but also being AdaptationalNiceGuy. |
| 133 | * ''WesternAnimation/IAmWeasel'': The first episode shows the title character giving a kidney transplant to a LittlestCancerPatient. When he walks out of the hospital, he's surrounded by admirers holding up signs praising him. And when he is put in charge of building the bridge to France, he makes some calculations that shorten the bridge's construction time from seven years to seven minutes. From this, we know he's TheAce who is beloved by all. |
| 134 | * ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' |
| 135 | ** Zim's first appearance has the [[TheNapoleon vertically-challenged megalomaniac]] recalling how he single-handedly thwarted his species' previous attempts at universal conquest by directing his HumongousMecha on a planet-wide rampage ''[[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds while he was still on his own planet]]''. Though what really establishes his personality is that he brings this up ''proudly'' and doesn't seem to understand why his bosses aren't pleased with him about it. |
| 136 | --->'''Zim:''' I put the fires out.\ |
| 137 | '''Tallest Red:''' You made them ''worse!''\ |
| 138 | '''Zim:''' Worse... ''or better?'' |
| 139 | ** From the same episode, Gaz's first line establishes both her antisocial personality and her interesting priorities: |
| 140 | --->'''Gaz:''' ''[looking inside the refrigerator]'' Dib drank the last soda. ''He. Will. Pay.'' |
| 141 | ** Then there's GIR... |
| 142 | --->'''GIR:''' GIR, reporting for duty.\ |
| 143 | '''Zim:''' GIR? What does the "G" stand for?\ |
| 144 | '''GIR:''' [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} I don't know]]... ''[suddenly begins giggling and hitting himself on the head]'' |
| 145 | * ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'': |
| 146 | ** The show establishes the three main characters pretty well in the first episode. Jackie in his first scene is shown [[AdventurerArchaeologist dodging flying arrows in a Bavarian castle]] as well as using {{improvised weapon}}s to do so. Uncle first appears like a sweet, caring old man before going straight to his trademark DopeSlap and his [[CharacterCatchphrase catchphrase]] "... [[AndAnotherThing and one more thing!]]" Jade is shown breaking into the underground military base of one of the most elite police organizations and hijacking a moped in her first attempt to "help" Jackie. |
| 147 | ** Hak Foo's first appearance on the show in "[[Recap/JackieChanAdventuresS1E11TheDogAndPiggyShow The Dog and Piggy Show]]", breaking a cantaloupe with his fist. |
| 148 | --->'''Hak Foo:''' SMASHING MELON FIST! |
| 149 | ** When Jackie suffers LiteralSplitPersonality for the first time in "[[Recap/JackieChanAdventuresS1E12TheTigerAndThePussycat The Tiger and the Pussycat]]"; Yin Jackie accidentally steps on a bug and cries over it, while Yang Jackie steals and eats some of Jade's candy, all the while rubbing it in her face. This gives us a good idea of what the Tiger Talisman did to Jackie. |
| 150 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'': |
| 151 | ** The first time we see The Misfits, they're riding into their managers office on [[RuleOfCool guitar-shaped motorcycles]]. They push Jerrica out of the way and then the first song of the series, "Outta My Way", occurs. |
| 152 | ** Stormer has one where she disguises herself to help a Starlight Girl. This shows that she's the TokenGoodTeammate of the antagonists. |
| 153 | * The ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode ''Savage Time'' does this for the alternate timeline Batman by having him ''[[BatmanGrabsAGun casually aim a gun at the league members]]'' and tell them "You must have me confused for someone else." If that doesn't tell you this Batman is ''not'' the same Batman they know and love nothing will. |
| 154 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Several characters get one in the episode where they first appear: |
| 155 | ** Kaeloo is first shown in "Let's Play Prison-Ball" inviting Mr. Cat to join a game against his will because she knows that deep down he really enjoys playing games with her, establishing both the fact that Kaeloo loves fun and the fact that Kaeloo is a caring person. |
| 156 | ** [[TheDitz Stumpy]] takes the term "prison" in "prison-ball" too literally[[note]]Prison-ball is a game similar to dodgeball, except if a player is hit they get sent to a space at the back of the court called a "prison"[[/note]], and upon being sent to "prison" in the game, spends the rest of the episode plotting a jailbreak. |
| 157 | ** The first conversation Mr. Cat has with Kaeloo in the series is about how much he enjoys beating Quack-Quack up. |
| 158 | ** Pretty the RichBitch gets one in her debut episode, where she looks down on the main four for being poor and tries to "dare" Stumpy to buy her expensive stuff during a game of Truth or Dare. |
| 159 | ** The first scene we see with Olaf is him trying to get Mr. Cat to bow down before him while talking about [[TakeOverTheWorld world domination]] and gulags. |
| 160 | ** When Lavanade is introduced to the main four, the first thing she does is [[CuddleBug hug Quack-Quack]], which shows that she's an affectionate person. |
| 161 | ** Cramoisie's first introduction into the series is when Stumpy invites her to join his friends in playing a horror game for Halloween. Kaeloo expresses her concern over such a young child playing a scary game, and Cramoisie responds with her first spoken line in the series: insulting Kaeloo about her weight and calling her ugly, which establishes that Cramoisie is a {{jerkass}}. |
| 162 | * ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' |
| 163 | ** Used with Shego in the pilot, where she instantly shows off how savvy she is. |
| 164 | ** Averted with Drakken in the very same episode, when he disabled an outside camera by rope gliding. [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness He never did such feats ever again.]] |
| 165 | ** Ron Stoppable's first moments establish him as the Goofy Best Friend: |
| 166 | --->'''Kim''': A naked mole rat? Ron, ever think about getting a normal pet?\ |
| 167 | '''Ron''': Like what?\ |
| 168 | '''Kim''': Something not naked. (Rufus [[BlowingARaspberry blows a raspberry]] at Kim)\ |
| 169 | '''Ron''': (dramatically) Never be normal, that's the Ron Stoppable motto! |
| 170 | * ''WesternAnimation/KipoAndTheAgeOfWonderbeasts'': |
| 171 | ** Benson manages to drive away the Mod Frogs with a ploy involving an exploding soda can and faking a contagious disease. |
| 172 | ** Scarlemagne is introduced playing the piano in a hysterical passion, wiping his sweat into a jar, while commanding his court to dance with the flick of a finger. The power and fear he [[ControlFreak obsessively]] commands is made all to clear. |
| 173 | ** When Tad Mulholland first shows up, he makes a face sadistically looking down on the main group before smiling down at them, showing that he has a darker side to him. |
| 174 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' |
| 175 | ** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAvatarKorra The titular character]] is introduced as a four-year-old, breaking through a wall while bending three elements at once and screaming [[BadAssAdorable "I'm the Avatar, YOU GOTTA DEAL WITH IT!"]] |
| 176 | ** When Tenzin's entire family is introduce we get a good description of each of their personalities by seeing them in action. Ikki was introduced as asking "AreWeThereYet" ad nauseum, while her little brother Meelo chews his father's head. Jinora meanwhile politely talks to her grandmother about a book she was reading and wants to ask about the story of Zuko's mother. Meanwhile we can tell that Tenzin is a loving man, but he is a lot more reserved and composed than Aang was (though not beyond his own form of humor) while Pema is nice and plucky, if a bit frazzled over the antics of raising several bending children. |
| 177 | ** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraBolin Bolin]] introduces himself this way via a [[FunnyBackgroundEvent Funny Background Event]] where he spots Korra and decides, after some [[CasanovaWannabe preening]], to [[TheDulcineaEffect help her out of an argument]] with his earthbending teacher. |
| 178 | ** [[IronLady Chief Lin Beifong]]. She's introduced by grilling Korra in the interrogation room. [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist She's dead serious, pissed off, and 100% focused on her job.]] Even though the one in custody is none other than the Avatar. We've got a hardass over here, folks. |
| 179 | ** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraAsamiSato Asami Sato]] crashes into Mako on the street. A couple minutes later, she takes him out to dinner, and gets her father to fund his team to make up for it. |
| 180 | ** In the Season 1 finale, we are introduced to Tenzin's older brother Bumi. His only action in the ten seconds of screen time he has is to let out a huge WAHOOO! before grinning like a maniac. |
| 181 | ** In Season 2, [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraMako Mako]]'s first appearance is him, now a cop, stopping out a van full of criminals by knocking them over. [[BondOneLiner Then he suggests that they should call the police for help]]. Given his dour disposition throughout the first season, this marks a big change. [[spoiler:He later shows Korra he actually wrote potential one-liners ahead of time.]] |
| 182 | ** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraZaheer Zaheer]]'s introduction shows him locked away in an isolated mountain prison. He spends a minute politely educating his guards about some obscure Airbending philosophy, hinting that he's AffablyEvil and something of a WarriorPoet, before he breaks out using Airbending (which he's able to use like a master [[InstantExpert despite only having the ability for at few days, at most]]) and declares his intention to destroy the White Lotus and the Avatar, hinting at him being a [[BombThrowingAnarchists Bomb Throwing Anarchist]]. |
| 183 | ** [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraKuvira Kuvira]], the main antagonist of the 4th season is firmly established in her first scene by single handily taking down a group of bandits and giving them two choices; Join her new empire and live or remain attached to the rail tracks and die. |
| 184 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTarzan'': In his first scene, Renard Dumont hits on Jane, is condescending to Tarzan (and has a smarmy look in general), and talks about how there are new contruction projects and industries all across Africa that he intends to profit off. However, when Tarzan angrily confronts him about having animal cages, Dumont calmly [[KnowWhenToFoldEm gets rid of the cages and agrees not to hunt the local wildlife]]. The scene establishes him as an unapologetic FrenchJerk and aspiring entrepreneur, but one who is willing to make the occasional accommodation with the heroes rather than pick a real fight every time they stand in the way of his rackets. |
| 185 | * ''WesternAnimation/LesSisters'': |
| 186 | ** The first scene we see in the show is Marine trying to annoy Wendy, establishing the fact that she is an AnnoyingYoungerSibling. |
| 187 | ** The first episode also has an Establishing Character Moment for Wendy, where she tries to make a plan so she and Marine can avoid spending their holidays at their grandparents' house. |
| 188 | ** [[AlphaBitch Rachel]]'s debut episode shows her telling a story to a group of her classmates about how some guy asked her out but she turned him down and cruelly mocked him just for having acne. Shortly afterwards she also makes fun of Wendy for supposedly being less popular then her. |
| 189 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'': Bugs' and Lola's first date in "Members Only" establishes that show's version of her character is [[CloudCuckoolander hyperactive and a bit dimwitted,]] in contrast to her previously more grounded, StraightMan persona. |
| 190 | * The first appearance of Dr. Rockzo the Rock n' Roll Clown on ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}''. Try to guess what he does. [[spoiler: He does cocaine.]]: |
| 191 | -->Oooh ka-ka-ka-ka-ka-ka co-ka-ka-ka-yeeeaaaaah! I'm Dr. Rockzo the Rock n'Roll Clown! I do cocaine! I hear it's somebody's biiiiiirrrrrrthdayyyy! I do cocaine! Dr. Roczo's gonna make you a balloon bass! (Seriously, dude, a lot of cocaine). |
| 192 | * ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'': Mickey's appearance in ''WesternAnimation/SteamboatWillie'' shows him whistling and smiling as he steers the boat before being told off by the actual boat captain, Pete. This sets in place his personality as a happy go-lucky yet mischievous mouse. |
| 193 | * ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': [[AnachronicOrder Chronologically]], the protagonists' responses to receiving the CallToAdventure say a lot about the heroes they eventually become. [[ShrinkingViolet Marinette]] is cautious and self-effacing- she asks a lot of questions about Tikki, and later insists that she's too cowardly to be a good Miraculous-bearer. [[LonelyRichKid Adrien]] doesn't even let Plagg finish explaining before he accepts the call, clearly relishing the chance to break free of his overbearing father. |
| 194 | * ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'': In the first episode, Orel hears a bizarrely detailed sermon from Reverend Putty about how it's important to use the gift of life that God gave you, and [[LiteralMinded interprets this to mean that dying is a sin.]] He then proceeds to [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom steal the Necronomicon and raise all the dead in Moralton]], after which Clay chides him... [[SkewedPriorities for taking the clothes off the corpses before raising them]], violating the "commandment" to be ashamed of your body. Therefore, we've learned that Orel is innocent to a fault and that Clay is a bad father who will use that ignorance to instill his dysfunctional beliefs. |
| 195 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'': The first time we see Jenny, she's scaring the pants off a kid because he's a large imposing robot. But she picks up his baseball and gently hands it to him with a kind smile. This explains to the audience that despite being a dangerous robot, [[NiceGirl Jenny is really just a sweet teenage girl who cares about others and wants to help]]. Likewise, the rest of the episode establishes that even if Jenny accidentally gets Tuck and Brad into sticky situations, they ultimately like her for who she is and what she can do. |
| 196 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' |
| 197 | ** When we first meet Twilight in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon Friendship is Magic Pt 1]]", she's studying with her friend/assistant Spike, who's trying to get her to relax, and is shown to be uninterested in making friends and a bit insensitive at times. After being sent to Ponyville, she meets the rest of the main cast through a series of these. Pinkie Pie jumps in the air while gasping dramatically and promptly runs away, with no explanation given for [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} her bizarre actions]]. Applejack greets Twilight over-enthusiastically before inviting her to brunch with [[TheClan her large family]]. Rainbow Dash crashes into Twilight and sends her into a mud puddle, tries (and fails) to clean her up with a speed-based stunt, openly laughs at Twilight's resulting messed up hair, proudly declares her ambition to join an elite aerial team, and clears the sky in [[MemeticMutation ten seconds flat]]. Rarity is decorating for the Summer Sun festival, gives Twilight a makeover, and starts gushing over the glamour of Canterlot on learning that's where Twilight is from. Fluttershy is working with small animals and is painfully shy, but opens up a bit when [[CutenessProximity she gets a chance to talk to Spike]]. And Pinkie Pie wasn't scared of Twilight; she just realized that Twilight was new in town and didn't know anyone (yes, ''the second they met''), and left to throw her a welcoming party. |
| 198 | *** In something like a DeconReconSwitch, Twilight's new friends get a second set of establishing moments after things get serious and they embark on TheQuest. The first ones made her annoyed at them, the second ones teach her to appreciate them. (They also hint at their destiny as the carriers of the Elements of Harmony.) Applejack displays she's [[TheReliableOne honest and reliable]]. Fluttershy's sensitivity calms down a hostile monster the others could only think to fight. Pinkie Pie shows the usefulness of her happy attitude in overcoming fear. Rarity helps them get ahead by making a generous personal sacrifice. And Rainbow Dash shows that, in spite of her insensitive demeanor, she's always loyal to her friends in the end. |
| 199 | ** Happens with the introduction of Trixie in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E6BoastBusters "Boast Busters]] "[[IncomingHam Come one, come all!]] [[AttentionWhore Come and witness]] the [[SmallNameBigEgo AMAZING magic]] of the [[TrrrillingRrrs Grrreat]] and [[AnythingYouCanDoICanDoBetter Powerful]] ''[[ThirdPersonPerson Trrrixie]]!''" |
| 200 | ** [[AlphaBitch Diamond Tiara]] qualifies in the ColdOpen to "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E12CallOfTheCutie Call of the Cutie]]". When we first see her, she [[BrattyHalfPint forcefully]] passes a note to Apple Bloom who gets caught. When Cheerilee, the teacher, asks for Apple Bloom to read the note, she mentions it's blank. Diamond Tiara says, "[[KickTheDog Remind you of anypony?]]", referring to [[FantasticSlur Apple Bloom's blank flank]] before [[KidsAreCruel leading the class into]] [[GigglingVillain laughing at her]]. |
| 201 | ** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E4LunaEclipsed Luna Eclipsed]]", we finally get to see how Princess Luna normally acts. The answer? '''[[IncomingHam VERY LOUD]]'''! Immediately followed by [[NoSocialSkills complete confusion]] at everypony's terrified reactions, and her storming off with a huffy "Very well, then! Be that way!" |
| 202 | ** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E1TheReturnOfHarmonyPart1 Return of Harmony Part 1]]", Discord first appears in the stained glass windows, demonstrating a sense of mystery and even humour through his antics amongst the window displays, as well as great knowledge of the Mane Six that [[TheOmnipotent by all rights he shouldn't have]], what with being [[TakenForGranite sealed in stone]] for over a millennium now. |
| 203 | --->'''Discord:''' Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense? |
| 204 | ** Another component of the scene that helps in establishing Discord is the reaction Princess Celestia (the only one present that actually knows him) has towards him. [[OoCIsSeriousBusiness In contrast to the calm, easygoing, and playful personality she displayed throughout the entire previous season]], she takes him dead seriously [[BewareTheSillyOnes despite his somewhat goofy self-presentation]] and tries her best to stop his {{Breaking Lecture}}s from getting started, [[KnightOfCerebus demonstrating how serious a threat he is]]. |
| 205 | ** Then when the ponies meet Discord in person, he starts out with an EvilLaugh accompanied by storm clouds and ominous music, but then changes his tone as if he pulled a prank on them. |
| 206 | --->'''Discord:''' You should've seen the looks on your faces! PRICELESS! |
| 207 | * In ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials My Little Pony: Rescue From Midnight Castle]]'', Firefly first appears doing a risky stunt which she crashes. That sets her as the most adventurous and headstrong pony around. Unsurprisingly, she's the one who goes searching for help when [[BigBad Tirek]] appears. |
| 208 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyAdventuresWithSuperman'' |
| 209 | ** In the AMinorKidroduction of the [[Recap/MyAdventuresWithSupermanS1E01AdventuresOfANormalMan first episode]], Clark's first instinct when seeing a car spinning out of control is to run after it to try to help, revealing his ChronicHeroSyndrome and generally good nature. After discovering his powers and having a blast with them, he's brought down to earth by the sobering realization that humans can't do what he just did, leading him to ask [[IAmWho "Who am I?"]] The question of his identity haunts Clark throughout the rest of the premiere episodes. |
| 210 | ** Jimmy gushes about all the important news, [[AgentMulder like aliens]], they'll be breaking when they're working at the Planet thanks to his "keen eye for observation" -- right as he walks into traffic. Not only does Clark quickly push him out of the way (and is the one to notice Leslie driving it), but Jimmy remains blissfully unaware of it all, cementing him as a little too inside his own head. |
| 211 | * ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'' opens with Greg, in the middle of a dark forest, cheerfully listing apparently random words. It turns out that he's listing possible names for his frog, establishing his status as a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} as well as [[ThePollyanna how unaffected he is by the scariness of his surroundings.]] Wirt then stops him, realizing that they have no idea where they are, and panics, establishing his role as the constantly-worried one who lets negativity overtake him too easily. |
| 212 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': King makes his introduction with his shadow looking like a monstrous creature and him asking "Who dares?" in a [[BigShadowLittleCreature deep booming voice...until he steps out in bath towels]] to show that he's not as evil and malicious as Luz thought he'd be. |
| 213 | * ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'': The first episode, "Muddy Puddles", is based around establishing that Peppa, George, and their parents like jumping in muddy puddles, one of their iconic character traits. |
| 214 | * In the first episode of ''[[WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010 Pound Puppies]]'', each member of the [[FiveManBand Five Dog Band]] gets one: Yipper meets Lucky, the likable and quick-thinking leader; Cookie, the tough-but-motherly second-in-command; Niblet, the big dumb lovable oaf; Squirt, the fast-talking streetwise guy; and Strudel, the book-smart and temperamental inventor gal. |
| 215 | * ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': |
| 216 | ** The first episode in production order, "Tour of the Solar System", establishes the core cast perfectly. |
| 217 | *** Jet is shown leading the gang in a solar system game, showing him as a confident leader despite him being new to Earth. |
| 218 | *** Sydney is sweet and supportive when picked to be Venus. |
| 219 | *** Sean cheers when he gets Earth, showing that he really loves Planet Earth. |
| 220 | ** In "Mindy's Moon Bounce House", Mitchell's debut episode, he is shown spying on Mindy's birthday party. The fact that he wasn't invited to the party shows that he's an outsider to the group, and his spying shows us that he's a wannabe detective. Later, he tells his mom that he saw Mindy floating by on a kite string. His mom doesn't believe him, showing that Mitchell is not taken seriously as a detective. |
| 221 | * ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': The series opens with Rick drunkenly trying to nuke humanity, and then half-heartedly trying to pass it off as a SecretTestOfCharacter when Morty stops him, establishing him as a DitzyGenius and HeroicComedicSociopath. However, [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes he makes sure to save Morty from the explosion so that he could watch, and was planning to save Morty's crush Jessica so that Morty would have someone special to share the moment with]]. |
| 222 | * ''WesternAnimation/RubyGloom'''s [[OneWePreparedEarlier first episode]] gives introductory scenes to most of the cast. The best one may be Misery's, where a few sentences into an already gloomy conversation, she puts the always-optimistic Ruby at a temporary loss for words by describing her own genetic predisposition toward being struck by lightning. |
| 223 | ** Two seconds later, Ruby further establishes her own character by changing the subject and managing to lift her spirits a little anyway. |
| 224 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 225 | ** The iconic TitleSequence shows the viewer all they need to know about the eponymous family: |
| 226 | *** Bart is WritingLines in detention for some NoodleIncident, and eagerly runs off and skateboards out of there once the bell rings, showcasing his hellion tendencies. |
| 227 | *** Homer starts out carefully handling a radioactive rod... only to carelessly toss it away and bolt out the door, not noticing the rod bouncing onto his shirt, demonstrating his boorish recklessness. |
| 228 | *** Lisa gets in trouble at music class for breaking away from her classmates' staid, half-hearted session with a soulful freestyle, displaying her will to express herself in defiance of society's norms. |
| 229 | *** Marge is reading a mothering magazine at the grocery checkout, not noticing that Maggie has crawled onto the conveyor belt, displaying how her desire to be a wholesome suburban matriarch leads her to miss the eccentricities of her family. |
| 230 | ** In the first full-length episode ever broadcast, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E1SimpsonsRoastingOnAnOpenFire Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire]]", Lisa's intelligence and precociousness are demonstrated by her eloquently telling off her Aunt Patty for badmouthing Homer. |
| 231 | --->'''Lisa:''' What, Aunt Patty?\ |
| 232 | '''Patty:''' Oh, nothing, dear. I'm just trashing your father.\ |
| 233 | '''Lisa:''' Well, I wish you wouldn't because, aside from the fact that he has the same frailties as all human beings, he's the only father I have. Therefore, he is my model of manhood, and my estimation of him will govern the prospects of my adult relationships. So I hope you bear in mind that any knock at him is a knock at me, and I am far too young to defend myself against such onslaughts.\ |
| 234 | '''Patty:''' Mm hm. Go watch your cartoon show, dear. |
| 235 | * In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', both of Kyle's parents have these. The first thing Sheila Broflovski does in the show? Try to cancel ''Terrance and Phillip'' by going on strike with all of the other parents. 4 episodes later, Gerald is being too hard on Kyle this Hanukkah for having what was thought to be an imaginary friend. They both mellow out a little as the series progresses, for the most part. |
| 236 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is a masterclass of this: |
| 237 | ** [=SpongeBob=]'s first appearance (In "Help Wanted") is him enthusiastically getting ready to apply for a job at the Krusty Krab, saying his [[CharacterCatchphrase catchphrase]] "I'm ready" multiple times, showcasing his boundless enthusiasm and cheerful personality. |
| 238 | ** Patrick's first scene is him encouraging [=SpongeBob=] to apply at the Krusty Krab and struggling to think of more than two accomplishments (settling on "WHO'S A BIG YELLOW CUBE WITH HOLES?"), showcasing how good of a friend Patrick is to [=SpongeBob=] and his lesser intelligence. |
| 239 | ** Squidward's first appearance has him looking on at [=SpongeBob=] with annoyance, and panicking at the idea of [=SpongeBob=] being his co-worker, showcasing Squidward's dislike for the sponge. What he was doing before [=SpongeBob=] arrived was cleaning graffiti off the Krusty Krab which was a crude drawing of his face with the word "loser" written above it, establishing his long term status as a ButtMonkey and StrawLoser. |
| 240 | ** Mr. Krabs is first shown smelling a handful of dollar bills, establishing his MoneyFetish. |
| 241 | ** Sandy's first appearance (in "Tea At The Treedome") is her wrestling a giant clam, establishing both her physical prowess and that fact that she is a land creature out of her element. |
| 242 | ** Plankton's first appearance (in "Plankton") has him vowing to put the Krusty Krab out of business ("I WENT TO COLLEGE"!), which showcases Plankton's goals, his evil personality and his intelligence. |
| 243 | ** Mrs. Puff's first appearance (in "Boating School") has her wearily saying "I'm not ready" as [=SpongeBob=] approaches to take his driving test, showcasing how apprehensive she is at being [=SpongeBob=]'s driving instructor. |
| 244 | * The premiere of ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', "[[Recap/StarVsTheForcesOfEvilS1E1StarComesToEarth Star Comes to Earth]]", gives the audience two in quick succession: |
| 245 | ** The title character, Princess Star Butterfly, is introduced [[BadassAdorable beating up monsters and wrangling wild unicorns]] [[KickingAssInAllHerFinery in a pretty dress]], wildly riding said unicorn through the streets of town and into her parents' throne room, and... [[DestructiveSavior accidentally setting her hometown on fire with her new magic wand]]. |
| 246 | ** Star's MuggleBestFriend Marco Diaz is introduced trying to convince his classmates he's being called to the principal's office because he's a "bad boy", and being sorely disappointed that the principal wants the school's resident "Safe Kid" to show the new exchange student Star around the school. Marco then rants about how he's tired of being known as "the Safe Kid" [[IResembleThatRemark while steering Star away from various minor hazards]]. |
| 247 | * General Grievous' first appearance in ''Franchise/StarWars'' canon is the season one finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'', where he takes on a team of six Jedi, and kills or incapacitates all but one of them. |
| 248 | ** Unfortunately, while Grievous' reputation as a dangerous foe carried over into ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', all of his screen time is spent running away or getting his butt handed to him by Obi-Wan. So in the ExpandedUniverse, Grievous is quickly established as a legitimate threat, but in the movie it just comes across as an InformedAbility. |
| 249 | ** In the movie, he first appears as a skull-faced boss villain, and the first thing he does is coughing uncontrollably. Thus: He is sick (In fact he suffers from IncurableCoughOfDeath), and he cannot be a robot because he is sick (CyberneticsEatYourSoul, someone?), so there must be something organic somewhere to [[DragonTheirFeet Dragon His Fett]]. An Establishing Character Moment saying he's a pitiful, or by now at least pitiable, villain. |
| 250 | ** The shift in characterization is a result of the constantly shifting production of Episode III. While initially he was supposed to be a powerful and feared Jedi hunter, Lucas decided to rewrite the character as a moustache-twirling coward. The ''in-story'' reason is that towards the end of the Clone Wars cartoon, Mace [[Creator/SamuelLJackson Windu]] Force-Crushes his chest -- and with it, his few remaining organs, leaving Grievous horribly weakened during the events of Episode III. As for Grievous vs. Kenobi? Obi-Wan is considered the master (not ''a'' master, ''the'' master) of the ultimate defensive lightsaber form, and thus could block all Grievous' attacks 'cause he's so damn good at blocking attacks. And when Grievous kept failing to hit him, he got angry, which made him get sloppy, which made him get angrier, which made him get sloppier, and... you get it. |
| 251 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': |
| 252 | ** Pearl [[MsExposition happily exposits]] on the mechanics of magic through a complicated metaphor involving [[WarriorPoet petals]] and the [[TheSmartGuy Earth's climate]]. |
| 253 | ** Amethyst steals ice cream to give it to a friend, and [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold takes pride in doing so]]. |
| 254 | ** Peridot gets two. The first, when he first meet her, shows her being clinical, much more serious and by the book than the Crystal Gems, and breaking one of her robots in disgust for being damaged. This applies to her only for a while, but applies to Homeworld in general quite nicely as the first Homeworld Gem met (Lapis was a citizen). When we get to see the real Peridot, who is separate from Homeworld, we get a new look at her: she's [[TheNapoleon a short]], [[CowardlyLion easily spooked but still determined]] [[InsufferableGenius with an ego much bigger than her body]] who is none the less [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome legitimately curious about things around her]]. This is the basis of Peridot for the rest of the series. |
| 255 | ** Speaking of Lapis, you get a pretty solid view of who she is in her two part debut. The first thing we see her do is thank Steven for letting her out, and the second thing is show vehement distrust of the Crystal Gems, which she demonstrates with near godly water manipulation. The second part has her build a giant water tower from the ocean itself to try and reach home. From this you get most of what makes Lapis tick: she's traumatized but a good person to those she doesn't associate with her trauma. She's incredibly powerful, but she's also helpless despite all that power and more than a little lost. |
| 256 | ** We first meet Yellow Diamond, and thus a Diamond in general, and get a base of what to expect from them: Yellow Diamond is big, she's the leader that gems obey, she doesn't have a close relationship with the gems she commands, and she wants to destroy the Earth vindictively. Much of the show afterwards explores ''why'' Yellow and later Blue Diamond hate the Earth so much and their own dynamics from this first meeting. |
| 257 | * ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'' |
| 258 | ** Looking back at the first episode, it's hilarious how straightforward this was. As the first scene was a practice session, we were treated to, in order, Donatello and Michelangelo being berated for their failed attempts to [[ItMakesSenseInContext put out a candle]] with some amount of fondness from Splinter, "Poor choice, Raphael", and Leonardo succeeding where his brothers failed. That sums up the series, with, perhaps, more jokes and TechnoBabble from Mike and Don, respectively. |
| 259 | ** There's also the first verbal exchange between Raphael and Leonardo, right after the training session: |
| 260 | ---> '''Raph''': Teacher's pet!\ |
| 261 | '''Leo''': Ninja dropout!\ |
| 262 | '''Mikey & Don''': [[DoNotTauntCthulhu Oooooooh!]] |
| 263 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Teen Titans|2003}}'': |
| 264 | ** [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Starfire's]] first appearance has her very cheerfully proclaiming that she is stronger than she looks...and proceeding to escape from the grasp of a villain made of cinder blocks. |
| 265 | ** She has a second one that functions in-universe as an Establishing Character Moment for her future teammates and the audience in the origin episode "Go!". We hear her screaming in rage on-board an scary-looking alien vessel where she's being held prisoner, with the guards too afraid to deal with her. She breaks out and goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge both on the ship and on Earth until her future teammates calm her down, [[spoiler: kisses Robin to learn English]], and reacts with hostility to almost everything, even stating that the closest equivalent to the word "nice" on her planet is the word for "weak". This all established her as both an alien on an unfamiliar planet and a ProudWarriorRaceGirl who is extremely dangerous and unpredictable when pushed too far. |
| 266 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats 2011}}'' young {{Catfolk}} Prince Lion-O is introduced [[KingIncognito sneaking]] cloaked and [[InTheHood hooded]] into the [[TheCityNarrows worst part]] of Thundera's slums, only to catch the eye of a gang of "Alley Cat" muggers who've just finished beating a hapless {{Dog|faces}}. He manages to [[MuggingTheMonster fight most off]] but has to be bailed out by ActionGirl Cheetara, to whom he reveals his reasons for being there: to find rare and obscure pieces of "[[LostTechnology technology]]," which everyone else believes to be a myth. |
| 267 | * In the first episode of ''WesternAnimation/TimothyGoesToSchool'' the protagonist Timothy is getting ready for his first day of school. When he goes on the bus for the first time he sees a female cat who kindly says "Hello" to him while the others are mostly quiet. This character is Yoko who would later become Timothy's best friend and is very friendly. In the same scene, he sees Doris who is viewed by Timothy to be quite annoying and loudmouthed. In the same episode, when the class introduces themselves. Charles says his name but quickly sits back down in silence due to his shyness and Lilly says her name but thinks that's what her name is due to being very forgetful. |
| 268 | * The very first episode of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Island'' was full of this. Some memorable ones were Owen's excitement, Cody's CasanovaWannabe entrance, Leshawna starting a fight with Harold, and Tyler and Bridgette's klutzy behavior. Courtney's adherence to rules and order, and her strategic AlphaBitch status, were also partly revealed in the second episode. |
| 269 | ** The first episodes of ''Revenge of the Island'' and ''Pahkitew Island'' also contained these for the second-generation and third-generation contestants, while ''World Tour'' had these for newcomers [[LatinLover Alejandro]] and [[LoonyFan Sierra]] and the spinoff ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace'' had these for its teams. They're not as lengthy as those of the original 22 from the very first episode, but they establish the characters just as effectively. |
| 270 | * The Franchise/{{Transformers}} franchise has plenty of these: |
| 271 | ** Due to ''[[Franchise/TransformersGeneration1 G1's]]'' large cast, these usually take the form of an IntroDump, but Starscream's is particularly notable -- the ''first thing he says'' is how the Autobots would have lost a long time ago if he was in charge, establishing him as, well, TheStarscream. The Autobot equivalent is probably Cliffjumper, whose violent impulses and tendency to let his actions speak louder than his words is shown by his orders-be-damned decision to pull [[{{BFG}} a gigantic bazooka]] [[{{Hammerspace}} from out of nowhere]] to try and snipe Megatron during a scouting mission. |
| 272 | ** Dinobot enters ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' by [[DefectorFromDecadence defecting from the Predacons]] and challenging the Maximals' leader, Optimus Primal, to a duel to the death for leadership. Up to now, one would assume that he is just a back-stabbing villain, fully subscribing to his race's [[TheStarscream tradition of treachery and dishonor]]. Then, when Optimus Primal slips and nearly falls off the narrow bridge they're fighting on, Dinobot helps him up, revealing himself to be a decent, honorable guy, for all that it's worth. This quote illustrates it: |
| 273 | --->'''Optimus Primal:''' What're you doing? You'd won!\ |
| 274 | '''Dinobot:''' You slipped. To defeat you in such a manner would be [[HonorBeforeReason lacking in honor]]. ''I'' would not have earned the right to lead. I prefer to defeat my opponents the old fashioned way -- ''BRUTALLY''! |
| 275 | ** The Decepticons from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. We see Starscream being [[TheStarscream starscreamy]], Lugnut [[UndyingLoyalty calling him a traitor]] and [[SycophanticServant praising his GLORIOUS master]], Megs himself being the imposing and powerful leader he is, and a conversation between Blitzwing and Blackarachnia. Blitzwing's in particular is epic and firmly places him as a [[EnsembleDarkhorse fan favorite]] for the new series: |
| 276 | --->'''[[AnIcePerson Icy Blitzwing]]''': As usual Blackarachnia: your demeanor is as unpleasant as zat accursed organic mode of yours.\ |
| 277 | '''[[DarkActionGirl Blackarachnia]]''': Blow it out your [[UnusualEuphemism actuator]], three-face.\ |
| 278 | '''[[TheAhnold Hothead Blitzwing]]''': Ze name is Blitzwing, insect! Remember it! Cause it's the last thing you will hear before I-\ |
| 279 | '''[[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Random Blitzwing]]''': -express my feelings in song! ''Ze itsy bitsy spider...'' |
| 280 | ** From the same series, the Starscream clones. And then, in case you missed it, Slipstream outright states their major personality traits: |
| 281 | ---> '''[[OppositeSexClone Slipstream]], pointing to each of the others in turn''': He's a [[LovableCoward coward]], he's an [[ItsAllAboutMe egomaniac]], he's a [[ProfessionalButtKisser suckup]], and he's a [[CompulsiveLiar liar]].\ |
| 282 | '''Ramjet''': ''''[[BlatantLies I AM NOT!]]''''\ |
| 283 | '''Starscream''': So which part of me did you come from?\ |
| 284 | '''Slipstream''': ''[[DontAsk Don't ask.]]'' |
| 285 | ** ''[[WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime Prime]]'' further shows that ''Transformers'' loves this trope: |
| 286 | *** Knock Out and Breakdown showcasing the former's vanity and the latter's bruiser status, and then they [[BashBrothers manage to work in tandem]] to overpower ''Optimus'' and the rest of the Autobots, showing that they aren't normal Vehicon {{mooks}}. |
| 287 | *** The first thing Cliffjumper does is boast about freaking out some cops. The second thing he does is jump into a fight alone with several Vehicons. [[spoiler:The third thing he does is die.]] |
| 288 | * ''WesternAnimation/TuttleTwins'': |
| 289 | ** [[AlphaBitch Karrine's]] first appearance has her confront the twins in their lemonade stand business. Uninterested in "buying" their lemonade, she held an emergency meeting last night at the kids club to make up a new law that would allow her, as president (a position she often brags about), to have all the lemonade she wants "for free, now and always, Amen." However, only one kid showed up, but Karrine ''threatened'' said kid to vote "yes" on the law, then calling the vote "unanimous" after the law was passed. Then when the twins had their backs turned, [[KickTheDog she takes away their lemonade stand with a wagon.]] So to sum it all up, Karren starts off as an everyday {{Jerkass}} who is willing to bend the rules if it means getting what she wants, [[EvilIsPetty even if it's just small things,]] and to control other members of her club through fear, and to be unnecessarily cruel to people at times. And on a side note, [[BerserkButton she gets angry]] [[AccidentalMisnaming whenever people mispronounce her name.]] |
| 290 | ** Turns out Karrine's parents made ''very'' sure [[DaddysLittleVillain she took after them]] in this regard. In their first appearance together, they're seen scolding Karrine for even having a competitor for Kids Club president, instead of being in total control of the neighborhood kids. They then tell her that if she doesn't wrest control back from the Tuttle twins, [[WellDoneDaughterGal she'll lose her place as daughter of the year]]--[[KickTheDog to the family dog.]] |
| 291 | ** When we get to know of [[TheBully Bruce,]] we are shown a flashback of him actively picking on Ethan by taping notes on his back. To name a few; "Kick me", "Trip me", and last but not least, [[KickTheDog "Ask me about my dead goldfish".]] He thinks it's ''funny'' to rub salt into Ethan's emotional wounds about his dead goldfish, which goes to show how cruel, [[LackOfEmpathy unempathetic,]] [[{{Sadist}} and sadistic]] he is. |
| 292 | * ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'': |
| 293 | ** The very first episode/PilotMovie, "The Rise of Voltron" has one for each of the five Paladins plus Allura and Coran: |
| 294 | *** Shiro is first shown as being the responsible pilot of the Kerberos Mission, who in spite of his training is completely unprepared to deal with the Galra once they capture him and his crewmates. After he escapes from their clutches one year later, the experience is shown to have changed him, as not only is he more of the TeamDad (he is the most experienced of the five, who all have never finished training barring himself), he acts this way because he does not want to lose his crew like the last time. He is also shown to be uncomfortable about his past, and the fact he also has amnesia about what went on during his confinement only serves to cloud his mind. |
| 295 | *** Lance is established as a complete MilesGloriosus, whose arrogance gets the better of him as he botches a simulator mission. The fact that he also is an UnknownRival to Keith also serves to cement his nature as such, as Keith does not recognize him at first as they were not in the same class at the same time (Lance only got in because Keith washed out). He is also later on shown to be a CasanovaWannabe, as he briefly finds a female scientist at Shiro's crash site attractive and attempts to flirt with Allura several times. |
| 296 | *** Pidge is shown to be very secretive about his personal history and gets very defensive over any mention of the Kerberos Mission. This serves to set up the bulk of his character arc for the series, as he [[spoiler:[[GenderFlip or rather]], [[SweetPollyOliver she]], is dedicated to finding what happened to her brother and father who got lost on the Kerberos Mission]]. |
| 297 | *** Hunk is shown to have relatively poor hygiene and clumsy due to his rotund figure, but is noted as being quite smart by Lance (as he helps put together Pidge and Keith's findings to help them locate the Blue Lion). He's also shown to be a bit of a CowardlyLion (no pun intended) as well, as there are several times when he suggests retreating or backing down when the other Paladins feel they have no choice but to go forward or make a stand. |
| 298 | *** Lastly, Keith is indirectly alluded to at the start as having a discipline problem that caused him to wash out of the Galaxy Garrison, but is properly introduced when he causes a explosion to draw away everyone from Shiro's crash site before rushing in to rescue him. Later on, when the future Paladins are escaping from the Galaxy Garrison, he shows traits of being a DeadpanSnarker towards Lance, Pidge, and Hunk (who he was not expecting to interfere) by remarking that they could dispose of "unnecessary weight" (pertaining to them) to lose their pursuers. |
| 299 | *** Allura awakens and falls into the arms of Lance, only to immediately turn the tables on him as she forcibly interrogates him as to her current whereabouts. This establishes her to be rather forceful and decisive despite being a princess and TheHeart, a character that is reinforced when the flashbacks show her begging her father to assemble Voltron and fight the Galra when he wants to send them away into hiding. The fact that she and Coran are FishOutOfTemporalWater and the [[LastOfHisKind Last of Their Kind]] also shows her to be rather distraught behind it all, as she awoke millenia later to find her kind all but extinct and TheEmpire still ruling over the galaxy, and it can be seen when confesses to her father's VirtualGhost that she has no idea what to do when the Galra have her cornered. |
| 300 | *** Coran awakens from stasis to mistake Lance for an intruder, to which he performs a wacky, over-the-top battle stance before settling into a more joking banter once he figures Lance is not a serious threat. This serves to establish him as a EccentricMentor and a source of comic relief. |
| 301 | ** The first episode of Season 3, "Changing of the Guard" is one for Prince Lotor. The ECM begins with two conservative Galra commanders, who are watching a new masked gladiator compete in the arena, discussing the line of succession following [[spoiler:Zarkon's injuries at the end of Season 2]] and how Lotor would not be qualified for the throne due to his more tolerant policies and being a half-breed himself. Then, the gladiator unmasks himself as Lotor and challenges Throk, the Galra commander who sought to contest the throne against him, to an honorable duel, to which the would-be usurper is compelled to accept due to the threat from Lotor's BodyguardBabes, who revealed themselves among the crowd to confront him. After effortlessly defeating Throk in the ensuing duel, Lotor surprisingly offers his opponent clemency in front of the entire Galra Army, arguing that only through such can the Galra hope to consolidate their position in the galaxy. The next scene has Lotor confiding to his BodyguardBabes in private to [[ReassignedToAntarctica transfer Throk to the Ulippa System]] to "rot with the ice worms", all the while remarking how "the masses are easily fooled". In this moment, Lotor cements his reputation as both a [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent]] ''and'' ManipulativeBastard all at the same time. |
| 302 | * In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'', [[spoiler:Qilby the Traitor]] immediately panics when he recognizes Yugo. This is the first big hint that he's actually Yugo's enemy and not a friend. When he finally and [[PowerupFullColorChange literally]] reveals his true colors, he very quickly shows that he's a totally AxCrazy lunatic. |
| 303 | * ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': |
| 304 | ** In [[Recap/WinxClubS1E1AnUnexpectedEvent "An Unexpected Event"]], Bloom, Stella, Bloom's parents, and the LoveInterests are introduced like this. |
| 305 | *** We meet Bloom while she's sleeping, which doesn't say much if not for the fact of how her room is decorated --messy and with her drawings of magical creatures pinned everywhere-- as well as the fact that she fell asleep while reading a book that discusses whether fairies are real. All of this tells us that Bloom is obsessed with magic and that she's held onto the childish dream of becoming a fairy. She's later revealed to be one. |
| 306 | *** Stella is first seen fighting off some ghouls and an ogre while transformed. This conveys the idea that this girl is terminated and fierce while still being fashionable and sparkly. Her first lines also reveal that she's cracks jokes and snarks while in battle. |
| 307 | *** Bloom's mother gets introduced by pranking her daughter into thinking she's going late to school -- it's the summer vacation. This shows that she's an easygoing woman. Meanwhile, Bloom's dad's first lines are about Bloom will always be his little girl, revealing that he's an overprotective dad. |
| 308 | *** The Specialists, aka the future boyfriends of the Winx, appear by pulling a BigDamnHeroes when Bloom and Stella are being attacked by an ogre and a hunter troll. Prince Sky is Stella's boyfriend and greets the girls flirtatiously. He's also in a relaxed, confident pose. He's the most easygoing of the guys and TheLeader. Brandon, Sky's squire, is behind him and gives NiceGuy vibes. Riven also flirts with the girls but in an obnoxious, entitled way, showing how he's the group's resident jerk. Timmy's disposition is shyer and gives nerd vibes. Brandon and Riven are quick to argue with each other, therefore revealing their not-so-friendly rivalry. |
| 309 | ** In season two, Helia is established as an artist and a pacifist in the first scene, which shows him drawing, and then fighting a dragon without harming it. |
| 310 | ** In [[Recap/WinxClubS1E2WelcomeToMagix "Welcome to Magix"]], everyone else is introduced. |
| 311 | *** This includes the girls with whom they will become the Winx Club. Flora is Bloom's roommate and is already there, [[PastimesProvePersonality unpacking her vast collection of magical plants]], which signals her love for nature and that her fairy power is GreenThumb. Her nurturing personality is shown when her first action is to save Kiko from one of her plants, ask Bloom not to scold him, and feed him a carrot. Tecna greets the girls with a series of facts about Bloom's purported planet, showing she's extremely smart but not too sociable. Musa's snarky and fun-loving personality is shown by her cracking a joke about Stella blowing up the lab the year before the moment she enters the suite. This also signals that, of the five, Musa and Stella will tend to butt heads the most. |
| 312 | *** The Trix sisters are also properly introduced in this episode. As of yet, we only knew them as sinister silhouettes giving orders to their ogre. When Darcy senses that Bloom is spying on them, she duplicates herself teleports behind Bloom and attack’s her showing that she is the most strategic and observant of the Trix. Icy's first encounter with Bloom has her taunting the young fairy, which shows Icy's cruelty and arrogance. Also, she's the first Trix the camera pans on and is the one who questions Knut, revealing that she's TheLeader. Stormy attacks Bloom with a wild Tornado right off the bat, therefore demonstrating that she is the most violent of the Trix and that she enjoys inflicting pain on others. |
| 313 | *** We also get to know Alfea's staff. Griselda's menacing disposition when checking the school's new and returning students tends to put the fear of god in the rookies. This shows that she's a strict person always on guard to spot students stirring trouble. Headmistress Faragonda's welcoming speech and tour reveal that she's knowledgable, wise, and generally gentler with the students. |
| 314 | * WesternAnimation/WoodyWoodpecker established his heckler nature by bursting onto the screen, saying a smug "Guess Who", dodging a subsequent blow from Poppa Panda, retorts by honking his nose like a horn, and then unleashing his legendary laughter as he treks off to reek havoc on the Panda's rooftop. His second (albeit first solo) appearance in "The Cracked Nut", where he sings a BraggingThemeTune about how he's crazy and he's proud of it, is another one of these moments. |
| 315 | * ''WesternAnimation/WowWowWubbzy'': |
| 316 | ** Our main trio (Wubbzy, Widget, and Walden) were given this in the show's first episode, "[[Recap/WubbzyS1E1aATaleOfTails A Tale of Tails]]." Wubbzy is first seen playing with a kickity-kick ball, and his first line is his [[CharacterCatchphrase catchphrase]], "Wow!" When we first see Widget, she is clearly seen hammering on her robot chicken, hinting towards her GadgeteerGenius personality. Walden has a lot of stuff in his house hinting toward his role as TheSmartGuy, including busts of several famous people, some bookshelves, and even fossils of dinosaurs. And let's not start on his wacky words, which he has also said in that episode. |
| 317 | ** Even Daizy got an Establishing Character Moment when she was introduced in the season two premiere "[[Recap/WubbzyS2E1aWhosThatGirl Who's That Girl?]]" She is shown spinning and tip-toeing around. Sure, she's done that in other episodes, but in her introduction, people would get to understand that she is [[GirlyGirl very feminine]]. |
| 318 | * ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'': The first few minutes of ''Independence Day'' sets the personalities of four of the major characters. Robin attacks Mr. Freeze from out of sight, letting out a cackle to taunt him. Speedy is annoyed at Icicle Junior's rampage interrupting his arrival to the Hall of Justice. Aqualad initially dodges his mentor Aquaman's question of his own anticipation, focusing on taking down Killer Frost before answering. Kid Flash is impatient and rushes in to grab Captain Cold's gun. |
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