History Characters / TheNostalgiaCriticTheCriticTropesNToZ

[[center: [- [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCritic Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCriticTheCritic The Critic]] ([[Characters/TheNostalgiaCriticTheCriticTropesAToE A-E]], [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCriticTheCriticTropesFToM F-M]], '''N-Z''') | [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCriticDougsCharacters Doug's Characters]] | [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCriticMalcolmsCharacters Malcolm's Characters]] | [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCriticTamarasCharacters Tamara's Characters]] | [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCriticOtherCharacters Other Characters]]]]-]

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[[folder:N]]
* NecktieLeash: Done more and more as times goes on, but averted in his review of ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. They took it away so he wouldn't hang himself.
** In their battles, WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd had a special fondness for pulling it for the sake of pulling it.
** Three words, given by Spoony: "ride the pony".
** The Game Heroes also pull his tie while forcing him to promote their t-shirts. Slightly unnecessary as he's also tied up, at gunpoint and clearly not going anywhere, but nobody's complaining.
** Even the fans join in the fun during the ''Anime/PonyoOnTheCliffByTheSea'' credits, to punish him for his dislike of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle''.
** Santa Christ in TookALevelInJerkass mode pulls it in ''Film/SonOfTheMask'', with Rob saying later that moment is one of his favorites.
* NervousWreck: He's pretty easy to stress out.
* NeverBareheaded: He rarely takes off his hat on the show. Exceptions are his ''Batman and Robin'' review and his ''Series/SiskelAndEbert'' tribute.
* NeverBeHurtAgain: Along with the FriendlessBackground FreudianExcuse, the second episode of ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'' had him say three times that he had to kidnap people before they could capture him themselves (context: he's been a DistressedDude ''a lot'').
* NeverHurtAnInnocent: He's seriously upset when ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'' makes him kill innocent Disney characters.
* NeverMyFault:
** When ''WebVideo/DarkSideOfTheInternet'' ends with the aesop that people can't just act like nothing is wrong because cyberbullying keeps happening, he gets angry and complains that it's his right to dodge responsibility.
** While he might know it deep down (as he's the one who wanted Tamara to hurt him in the first place), he tortures and humiliates her and Malcolm whenever they try and get back at him for making them suffer originally, and never fully acknowledges the last part is why they try and hurt him back.
* NightmareFetishist: His perfect ending for the Santa Claus movie (an awkwardly sweet piece of camp) would be that it was all a DyingDream caused by being out in a blizzard.
** What later causes Tamara to be hired in-universe; he realizes people find his pain sexy, and after she succeeds in her scheme to make him talk about the Bee Torture scene in ''Film/TheWickerMan2006'' and why it became a meme, he decides she's worth keeping around.
** He's delighted to be playing the Emperor in the PQH Star Wars edition, and to be saying all the ColdBloodedTorture lines.
* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Who wants to know where he got that skull from and what he's actually drinking?
* NobodyCallsMeChicken: He could never resist a challenge from the Nerd, no matter how hard he'd got his ass beat the previous time.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished:
** He hates his audience for being sadistic, ungrateful pricks[[note]]Note that Doug loves his fans.[[/note]] but will put himself through an ungodly shitty film because they requested it all the time. This usually doesn't end well for him.
** Even though the Ghost Of Christmas Future has been an annoying, stalker-like bastard throughout the ''Film/BabesInToyland'' review, when the Critic sees that he's depressed, he acts very fatherly and comforting towards him. He then makes the mistake of letting the ghost choose what movie he should suffer through next, and the ghost ''immediately'' picks ''Film/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas''.
* NonActionGuy: Even with his gun, whenever he gets into a fight, he mostly ends up on the ground or running off making girly whimpery noises.
* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace:
** With the Chick. Seeing as how she's just as bad, she doesn't seem to mind too much.
** In ''Star Trek Insurrection'', he was close enough to That Sci-Fi Guy to look particularly molesty. Not to mention they were lying in bed together.
** With Tamara in the ''Disney Afternoon'' episode, who so doesn't enjoy it that she lets out a scream when he suddenly hugs her. It's up for debate whether he's too wrapped up in his cuckoo to notice, or is just doing it to make her feel vulnerable.
* NoSocialSkills: In ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' vlogs, Doug compared Critic to the heavily-autistic-coded Peridot.
* NoSympathy: To girls sexually abused in Canada. He makes fun of the awareness psa in "Dawn Of The Commercials" for being a killjoy, repeats the joke in ''Film/ThePurge'' review saying it'd be unsafe to go there, and brings it up again in "Rise Of The Commercials". The sexual abuse statistic is one in two girls by the way.
* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Although he's shown a lot of attraction to the Chick before, he's more annoyed that even she enjoys ''Film/MoulinRouge'' than anything else. He doesn't even seem to notice that she's wearing burlesque.
* NotSoAboveItAll:
** At the end of his ''Film/LostInSpace'' review, he rants to the first appearance of Dr. Smith about nobody can trust him, but then he's easily manipulated and gets shot by his own gun. [[spoiler: This gets explained (and quite sad) many years later when it's revealed Dr Smith is Critic's dad[[/spoiler]].
** He calls out the Care Bears for falling for Christie's and Darkheart's trap, but her screaming breaks him down and he goes to help, getting bagged in the process. He can't resist their ThePowerOfLove moment either, and shouts out for Santa Christ.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain:
** Shown in ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'' where he's willing to commit mass murder-suicide through dynamite if anyone threatened the power he'd finally managed to gain.
** Erod gets a reminder in the ''Transformers 4'' crossover, having electrocuted Critic onto his knees, but then when Critic's eyes are replaced with electricity (which then go to his hands), he says he forgot Critic has ambiguous CameBackWrong powers.
* NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat: In the ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse'' review. Even Doug and Rob admitted soon after that the review was not one of their finest moments, and maybe it's not a coincidence that the Critic character started getting progressively girlier in later episodes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:O]]
* ObliviouslyEvil: Played with in reboot. He'll do something wrong, get called out, and then [[ThenLetMeBeEvil openly and maliciously continue doing the awful thing]]. Like ''Film/TheShining'', he treats Rachel and Malcolm terribly in the opening, is genuinely disappointed when they leave, but abuses her and tries to kill him when they come back.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Lampshaded when he's hitting on Catherine ''Zeta'' Jones. He tries to get with her by saying he's [[BlatantLies really eighty four]]. (He's really thirty+ but looks like a teenager with a beard.) In the ''Hocus Pocus'' behind the scenes, when he's shaving his beard off, Doug mentions that people think he looks younger without it and that's only because his "chipmunk cheeks" are more emphasized.
* OneNoteCook: He can only make cereal. Lampshaded in "Fuck Ups Part Three" where he notes he should probably spend more time in the kitchen and less time gobbling junk food. A trait he apparently shares with Doug, who admitted in the AT vlogs that he can only make Mac and Cheese.
* OnlyInItForTheMoney: In the reboot he's almost refreshingly shameless about it, telling various women that they need to be exploited for views, bringing in a Dr. Hack so he can lazily stick to a formula while making loads of cash, and in ''WesternAnimation/{{Foodfight}}'', has literal money signs in his eyes when he realizes he can make a profit of getting on the bandwagon. [[spoiler: the last one ends up biting him in the ass.]]
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToInsultYou: When he [[InsultMisfire thinks]] Linkara is calling WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick a wussy, he tells him he's not allowed to insult her in that way.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** In ''Kickassia'' (and it lasts throughout the show), Film Brain starts to realize there's something wrong when Critic says for the first time that he doesn't want to review movies anymore.
** Even disregarding angry {{cluster f bomb}}s, swearing is a fairly natural part of his vocabulary. So when he goes GoshdangItToHeck or doesn't swear at all, something's either gone very wrong or very right.
** If he thinks a child getting hit is funny rather than horrible, you'll know the child character is [[TheScrappy incredibly annoying.]]
** Speaking of children, he sold his soul in early reboot, which might explain not regretting hitting Evilina in ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'' and the pedophile jokes in ''Anime/SailorMoon''.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: When Doug did top elevens or tributes in the earlier days, he could never quite stop his real Chicago drawl coming through Critic's broad everyman accent. Luckily he eventually managed to hide it completely. (Except in bloopers obviously.)
* OpinionMyopia: Sometimes acts like almost everyone agrees with him, even if the movie was pretty popular like the first two ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' sequels. There are plenty of other times he fully acknowledges a BrokenBase and offers his take.
* OralFixation: That joystick can't have tasted all that nice. Exaggerated in ''Critic Tank'' when he's a judge openly pushing and pulling the pen into and out of his mouth.
* OutOfCharacterMoment:
** In the middle bit of ''Film/{{Airborne}}'', he comes across (unintentionally) as a bit of a HeteronormativeCrusader who thinks the lead isn't a proper man because he wants to be a pacifist and not fight. He gets out of it near the end, but it was a weird period for a SissyVillain who hates morals of "solve problems by fighting".
** In the ''Film/TankGirl'' review, he freaks over a possibly horny woman director wanting a ShirtlessScene for a man. He never acted like that before, he's never acted like that again and he's even made much use of the FemaleGaze himself.
** In the ''Film/ChildsPlay2'' review; "Yeah, when you're going to tie up a child, do it for the same reason I would. To beat him." Because that sounds like the guy who invokes GodwinsLaw on [[WesternAnimation/BebesKids someone who is an asshole to their kids and then leaves them]].
** Early reboot Critic could be a sexist asshole like he was in earliest prime days, but is "proud to be a sexist" rant in ''Catwoman'' was extreme and in later years he went back to at least trying (his abusing Rachel and Tamara is meant to be a bad thing).
** When Soulless is pressuring him with an AnnoyingLaugh and everyone is waiting for him to come out with it and praise Jim Carrey in ''The Grinch'', he acts more like a ShrinkingViolet than usual HotBlooded, hiding his face while begging it to stop and only raising his voice once. Considering his lack of soul at this point, it makes sense.
** "Top 11 GOOD Things from the Star Wars Prequels" is one of those editorials where it can't be considered as anything but Doug instead of Critic talking, as it's all about appreciating the good bits in something considered bad, even Malcolm has expressed discomfort on how much Critic can dig his claws into actors, and while one of the spots was less Jar Jar as the movies went on, it was only a week ago that Critic had bombed the creature in an act of crazy.
** Although Doug defended it (and then pushed the thread into CanonDiscontinuity), his conclusion in ''Dawn Of The Commercials'' that men can't and have no idea when they're getting hit on doesn't match at all with his history (Spoony, prom night, the massive amounts of HomoeroticSubtext and ShipTease with nearly every producer) or his future (the Hyper Fangirl storyline where he hates her for always ignoring him when he says no).
** A couple of 2013 episodes had Critic see crossdressing as gross and humiliating, even though he'd done it plenty of times before. By 2014 he was back to being proud that everyone on his show was into crossdressing and gender fuckery.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:P]]
* PapaWolf: Even if he thinks the kid's a BrattyHalfPint, treat a child badly or don't take responsibility, and Critic will '''hate''' you.
* PetTheDog:
** Because making fun of Lupa's death threats would just make Doug look terrible, Critic is a lot kinder to the ''WebVideo/DarkSideOfTheInternet'' than the other 5th year segments, and outright says after her part that he can't find anything to make fun of. It's also the only one he calls flawless.
** After a long while of treating them terribly, he's glad that Malcolm and Tamara are smiling for a change at the end of ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' and agrees to go out for a drink with them.
** He tells Chester in "I'll Be Home For Christmas" that he's sorry for not always taking best care of the bum, and thanks him for always being kind despite that.
* ThePerfectionist: One of his major problems is that he always expects too much out of everything and so sets himself up for disappointment.
* PersonaNonGrata: In his review of ''Film/Jaws3D'', NC states that due to an [[WebVideo/{{Kickassia}} incident]], he can never go back to Nevada.
* PersonOfMassDestruction:
** In his ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'' review, he got so angry with the movie for not explaining anything that he accidentally caused a massive explosion that destroyed an entire city. ''Twice''.
** In the ''TMNT Christmas Special'', his Christmas obsession destroys the world. Mixed with RealityWarper again as he casually tells Tamara he'll make it non-canon.
** For Christmas 2016, his love for the holiday went to the extreme of happily destroying an entire planet.
* PerverseSexualLust: For Catherine Zeta Jones, as we find out in his [[TopTenList Top 11]] [[VillainSong Villain Songs]] video. It's an inverted example as the Critic is a fictional character while Catherine Zeta Jones is a real life actress.
* PhraseCatcher: On occasion, his getting something wrong about something has led him to be labeled an "anti-[INSERT NOUN HERE]-ite". Mainly occurs in the ''Fuck-Ups'' videos.
* PingPongNaivete: His intelligence and competence will vary depending on who he's with and if it's funny for him to be stupid or not.
* PinkMeansFeminine: His bedroom has pink curtains. Amusingly, the first time we saw them was when he was writing in his diary like a teenage girl in the ''Film/MyPetMonster'' review.
* PlayingWithFire: When reviewing the "Top 11 Avatar episodes" he learns to firebend. [[spoiler:Unlike the powerful blasts Dante Basco shot, Critic was firing Mario-like fireballs]]. Firebending was also what he tried in "Top 11 Adult Jokes We Never Got As Kids". He failed there too, blowing up the guy overseeing him by accident.
* PleaseIWillDoAnything: Quite frequently. He did it when ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' were going to sing another song, when he was made to review the Star Wars Holiday Special and even though it wasn't begging, he did say he would give Devil Sage everything if he took his memories of Sequel Month away. By Hyper's 2015 Midwest Media Expo vlog, he's exhausted enough of this AbhorrentAdmirer storyline to ask even if he did whatever she wanted would she leave him alone. When she says no, he pretends to be into her until he gets the chance to push her out of a window.
* PlotArmor: Notable in ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', where he {{dope slap}}s a woman who has killed three people for much less and just gets away with her being pissed off at him and holding her knife to him as warning.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero:
** He was like this at the start, making sexist and ableist jokes a lot, but starting 2009 he started to develop and call stuff like that out.
** The ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' and ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' reviews were less genuine analyzing of the flaws and more attacking the men for being "pansy", making rape jokes with the Chick and bringing up Joe's, Malachite's and Ma-Ti's ethnicities like they matter.
** In ''Film/TheShining'', he takes great joy in making Rachel hysterical, and chases down Malcolm with intent to kill him just because it's rule that BlackDudeDiesFirst.
** He's in unrepentant sexist asshole mode in ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'', not allowing Tamara in his boys club, calling her worthless to her face, leaving her vulnerable to the reality monster, and when she kills it doesn't thank her.
** He shocks Film Brain in ''Forest Warrior'' by ''agreeing'' with Chuck Norris's homophobia, calling him misunderstood and the world has turned against him. (to clarify, Doug gets past this potential shitstorm with much SarcasmMode about how Creator/ChuckNorris is in a TransparentCloset, and Critic's meant to be an oblivious idiot)
** The Top 11 Best Avatar Episodes is a pretty good sum-up of his racist tendencies, with leaving Malcolm to die, his only insult to Dante calling him a "Filipino Benjamin Button", and confusing him with Dev Patel.
** In ''TMNT 2'', to make fun of Bay's misogyny, he tries to get Tamara to dress up like Harley, and when she refuses, replaces her with Aiyanna.
* {{Prematurely Bald}}ing: Lampshaded this, noting that he used to have a mop of hair back in high school. He promptly breaks down in tears.
* PrettyBoy: He and others certainly think so: he calls himself pretty rather than handsome in his ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' review, Spoony made him dress in drag and took pictures while raping him, the Chick went into bad touch land after chloroforming him, the Game Heroes had fun manhandling him while he was their DistressedDude and both Linkara and [[WebVideo/BadMovieBeatdown Film Brain]] have fairly obvious crushes on him. The Wicked Witch in the first reboot commercial episode uses her "my pretty" line on him.
* PrimaDonnaDirector: Goes right back into MeanBoss mode with Rachel and Malcolm, and comes to a head when he demands Rachel to come back from California to shoot her punishment death scenes because he accidentally deleted the video. Thankfully, as she's now away from him she can say no and do things her way. And in the beginning of ''Film/TheShining'' review, he makes Rachel and Malcolm haul the heaviest props, and chipperly expects them to arrange them in order of his least and most favorites.
* PrincessPhase: Ironically, considering he hates the PrincessesRule trope, but he's said he wants to be like the Disney Princesses, keeps asking if he's pretty in a tiara over on Hotshot, and wants ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle'' to treat him like Snow White.
* ProfessionalButtKisser: ''Turbo'' consists of him being one to the fans, while also insulting them. The power of his sappy speech about how the franchise was never meant for him is subverted in the ending theme song which has the line "this song is here to praise your heroes and suck up".
* ProneToTears: Luckily he mixes this with more {{Hotblooded}} tropes, but he breaks down in tears often for no reason. The ''WebVideo/HonestTrailers'' parody in ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001'' calls him a crybaby.
* ProperlyParanoid:
** He drives himself crazy trying to decipher the Nerd's "compliment", but when he's ready to give up and admit that the Nerd might be a nice guy, he finds the insult.
** When he's ready to snap and cry because he thinks he and his world is all Alec Baldwin's delusion, he's only a couple steps away from the truth.
** Played for sadness in "Why Do We Love Zombies", as a year after talking with his creator about him being a character (which was sweet, just went wrong a few months later), he comes to the conclusion that he can never really be safe.
* ProphetEyes: When he merges with the PlotHole in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, and used three more times in reboot title cards for FallenHero purposes. He's demonic in ''Master Of Disguise'', useless in ''The Last Airbender'', and just decaying in ''Why Do We Love Zombies''.
* ProudToBeAGeek: He calls himself enough of a dork to purchase the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' limited edition [=DVDs=].
* PsychoticSmirk: He spends most of "The Review Must Go On" with this.
** In ''The Purge'' title card. Another case of CoversAlwaysLie, as for once he's not actually the villain in an episode, [[spoiler: Film Brain is]].
** He has a very creepy one in ''Film/TheShining'' when Rachel turns into a HystericalWoman, enjoying her fear and doing whatever he can to make her more scared.
** He has one in the ''Transformers 4'' crossover when it turns out he rigged Erod's chair to electrocute him every time he tries to bring logic into the review.
** He looks a little too evil-happy in ''Fantastic Four'' when he learns he can summon explosions at will.
* PsychopathicManchild: He's like an angry twelve year old kid with a gun. During his Disneycember review, Doug says he took a lot of the character's "pathetic whiny brat in a grown person's body" part from the Red Queen in ''WesternAnimation/AliceInWonderland''.
** The ''Pop Quiz Hotshot'' pilot has him gleefully taunting a contestant about to die, fake crying and even the host compliments him on his bloodlust.
** Taken to new heights in ''Disney Afternoon'' where he makes the studio look like his bedroom, pretends to be a kid coming home from school, dresses Malcolm and Tamara up in what a white boy thinks black kids and girls would wear, and gets violent if anyone tries to break his delusion. Even when he comes out for a while after being sad about nothing changing, he still goes right back to childlike at the end.
** In "Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakuel", he's in ControlFreak mode wanting a successful formula, and whips the D'aw Girls out of the room.
* PuppyDogEyes: Usually a side-effect of when he's really suffering, and not just because of bad movies. Turns into QuiveringEyes occaisonally.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:R]]
* RagingStiffie: The target of the odd joke or two.
* RaisedAsTheOppositeGender: He was raised as a girl for a short while in childhood and his identity issues are a bit of a RunningGag.
-->'''Critic''': Now granted I didn't grow up as a girl... for long. ''[looks embarrassed and about to cry]'' I have a history.
* RapeAsBackstory: On his prom night, even. Low blow. That trauma monkey plushie also raises a few questions.
* RavenHairIvorySkin: He's incredibly pale (he even disappears due to ''Film/CoolAsIce'' being far too white), and is at least meant to be attractive. The downside of this is that it makes it very obvious when Doug demonstrates his lack of familiarity with sunscreen.
* RealityWarper:
** [[spoiler: WordOfGod is that he's spending his time trying to learn how to transform himself into different things, not just being a muppet.]] By the Linkara cameo in December, he mostly seems to have got it to work.
** There's a few hints in the reboot that he still has this power, like at the end of "Top 11 South Park Episodes" where he changes into a ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' version of himself, or ''Film/AfterEarth'' where he brings out the muppet Critic from the PlotHole, or the numerous YourMindMakesItReal moments. Confirmed in ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'', where he has the power of "ruining", creating the PlotHole again (or a blue hole very similar to it) and making things go back to normal with no more SicklyGreenGlow, no more fetish gear, and everyone at least having a personality.
* ReallyGetsAround: Just not quite in the way he wants. This quality increased for insecurity reasons in 2012. In the PQH Star Wars edition, he's glad for "what happens on [], stays on []" rule.
* RealMenHateAffection: In his amnesia persona, he complains that TBF!Critic gets "too much" CharacterDevelopment, and is disgusted with him for telling the Chick how depressed he feels.
* RealWomenNeverWearDresses:
** [[{{inuniverse}} Believes]] in this pretty heavily. As an example, Princess Peach using a frying pan to knock out an enemy disgusts him. As another example, he calls the possessed person in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' with "no emotions, no feelings and no needs" the perfect woman. Although like Chick and Lindsay, this is just meant to be the character being an idiot and not Doug's real feelings on the subject. In Doug's own reviews of Disney movies, he even argues why leads like Ariel, Cinderella and Snow White aren't the feminist nightmares they're made out to be.
** His reason for hating the women in ''Film/PearlHarbor'' is that they giggle. Not what they're giggling about, not that they do it too much, not that they're {{flat character}}s, just hates them from the first laugh.
* RedemptionRejection:
** When Sage calls him out in ''The Guyver'' on having being an insulting [[invoked]] FanHater ever since his return, they argue and have an angry staredown, giving him ample opportunity to be a good person and apologize. But instead he walks out in a DownerEnding.
** Goes all out at the end of ''WebVideo/TheUncannyValley'', as Doug[[note]]And this was purely written by Doug for the DVD, no Rob involved.[[/note]] writes ''two'' {{hope spot}}s where Critic angsts about possibly being fixable but is completely unable to.
** At the end of ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', Critic makes a move (with [[WebVideo/DemoReel familiar]] triumphant music) to understand that all artists can make good things, but then Burton lets him down again and he angrily says he forgot what he was supposed to have learned.
* RedOniBlueOni:
** Does this to himself. The Nostalgia Critic's the red oni, to the real life Doug Walker's blue oni.
** Nicely swapped round with Linkara in ''Star Trek Insurrection''. To perhaps show Critic has grown up a bit, he shouts very little and tries to be optimistic while Linkara spends a lot of time angry and yelling.
** He's the blue oni to Erod's red for the first half of the ''Transformers 4'' crossover, coming off as bored and jaded in comparison to the latter's more exaggerated hammy persona. At one point when Erod is ranting, he puts on headphones and listens to "Pig Power In The House". [[spoiler: this turns out to be BaitTheDog, as he shoots Bay when Erod can't, has evil electric powers and does an old-school bat credit card reaction]].
* ReducedToRatburgers: The reviewing variant. By ''Film/SonOfTheMask'', he's been reduced to wandering around in the snow and finding movies in trash-cans.
* ReluctantFanserviceGirl: Male version. Whenever someone else ([[DistressedDude Game Heroes]], [[BlackComedyRape Spoony]], [[FetishizedAbuser Chick]] etc.) makes him the victim.
** In the "Is Eyes Wide Shut Artsy Porn" [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/images/stories/front/neye.jpg title card]], he's shirtless, but hiding himself and looks terrified.
** In the executive-demanded music video at the beginning of ''Jem'', he's fine dancing in drag and making flirty poses, but when the camera starts to do some FemaleGaze he gets uncomfortable and twitchy.
* ReluctantPsycho: In "Top 11 New Halloween Classics", he describes the feeling quite succinctly as "imagine you're at the Mad Hatter's tea party, but you're tied to a chair and aren't allowed to leave". The priest in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle'' notes that Critic isn't so much slipping in sanity, it's that he was always broken.
* RepressedMemories: From the review of ''Film/{{Hook}}'': "I have the same unquestioned repressed childhood memories that everyone has." {{beat}} "What?"
* TheRival: To WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd, who really doesn't know why he hates him so much.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:S]]
* SadClown: Under all the jokes and snark, he's really quite depressed. He even takes it one step further by feeling insecure about his abilities for comedy.
** In particular, the Canada commercials jokes are not well-liked (especially the rape whistle one, as girls getting abused is more important than a "killjoy PSA") but in ''Film/ThePurge'' he said he made them because he was scared. "Battle Of The Commercials" had him clarify this even more.
** He literally says in ''Film/ChristmasWithTheKranks'' that he thought if he could make people laugh, they'd stop hurting him and it would fix things.
* SandInMyEyes: In ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', ''Why is Arthur Christmas a Masterpiece?'', ''The Looney Tunes Show - Good or Bad?'' and the ''E-Sults'' advertisement, his eyes are red and worn-out looking, a bit like he'd just been crying before filming. In no video is this addressed.
* SayMyName: "NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD!!!"
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Very often and typically for long periods of time.
* SecretlyWealthy: Sage is actually shocked when he sees it all come through. So much so that he offhandedly tells Critic to go jump off a cliff afterwards instead of using the MoreThanMindControl to his advantage.
* SecurityBlanket:
** The big monkey toy with a tie. Behind the scenes show it's always at the studio, the opening of WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot has him cling onto it while rocking back and forth, and Doug has talked before about how when you're mentally ill and in a panic, you can imbue stuffed animals as the only safety you have.
** Literally in the TMNT watching during the ''Transformers 4'' crossover, as he wraps himself in a pinkish purple duvet and is nearly crying with happiness. He also trails it along with him when they go back to the review.
* SelectiveObliviousness: In some ways he knows the Chick better than anyone, but he blinded himself to what she was doing in ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'' because he thought she had his UndyingLoyalty, he assumed she would feel the same pride that he did when he sat through a bad movie, and he views her as a lot tougher than she really is.
** Not just with Chick. He's pretty good with denial as a whole, like when he was complaining about his job for years but only sank into major depression when a director inadvertently made him realize his life was meaningless.
* SelfServingMemory:
** He remembered ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'' as becoming a God when he just sat on his ass all day, and the titular crossovers as teaching Linkara, Chick, Phelous and [=LordKaT=] a lesson about going into his territory when in reality, he broke down in all of them and had to be comforted.
** He tells Shyamalan in ''Film/AfterEarth'' that he killed him twice, but that's not remotely true. Aang killed him in ''Film/TheLastAirbender'' while Critic was useless, and the Devil sent him back to hell in ''Film/{{Devil}}'' while Critic was a DistressedDude about to get talent bended for the second time.
** Intentionally bullshit in his speech about ''WesternAnimation/FoodFight'', with the camera zooming in while he talks about doing the film for us (when his face was literally on a hundred dollar bill twenty minutes ago) and then it cuts to him being upset because Malcolm is telling him that he didn't get money because the film's passé.
** Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012'' when he asks the analysts didn't he kill them both in ''Film/TheCatInTheHat''. He didn't actually ''kill'' them himself, he just drove them to suicide.
** In ''Scooby Doo 2'', he tells Roger-in-disguise that the first movie nearly killed him, when even flashbacks show the context that he tried to commit suicide from self loathing and that it was a TakingYouWithMe.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan:
** Sensitive Guy to the Other Guy's Manly Man.
** He also acted as the Sensitive Guy to WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd's Manly Man in their crossover.
** He also has this dynamic with Snob, especially in ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist'' where he's nervous and guilty about what happened to Santa Christ and Snob is snarky and thrilled.
* SerialKiller: Technically, he is this, even if he's never called one InUniverse, as he has murdered numerous people over the years, from Dr. Bitch Spasms, to Lucky the Leprechaun, to the Madison family in ''Eight Crazy Nights'', to destroying entire planets with his love of Christmas.
* SeriouslyScruffy:
** In ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'', as he gets more stubbly as the review goes on. It's unclear whether the amount of work caused Doug to forget shaving again, or it was to parody Max's PermaStubble.
** In ''What You Never Knew About National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'', his clothes are askew and he hasn't shaved because he doesn't actually want to do a video and just wants to celebrate Christmas.
* SexGod: The idea that he's really good at oral (due to Doug's OralFixation with the Ask That Guy pipe and fellating joysticks as Critic, plus many other objects) was given a nod in The Last Angry Geek's Bad Future episode, as the site has been taken over and all he's allowed to do is give oral as a SexSlave.
* SexIsViolence:
** He looks suspiciously post-coital after he causes a mass explosion. And the chaos [[note]]he specifically calls it a "gangbang of your consciousness", making it even more obviously the trope[[/note]] of the "Pink Elephants On Parade" makes him exhaustedly ask "Was it good for you?".
** Also, ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection'' has him pawing That Sci-Fi Guy enough to raise some eyebrows. What makes it this trope is that three episodes before, Sci-Fi Guy killed him.
* SexyCoatFlashing: Done in his review of the Flinstones Movie, where he acts out Halle Berry trying to comfort the audience.
* SexSlave:
** In the BadFuture, he's not allowed to do anything but prostitute himself for Snob's pleasure.
** In ''Film/TheWickerMan2006'', he asks if he can vacation on Summerisle when he hears that he'd have no responsibilities other than to have sex, StayInTheKitchen and not talk to anyone.
** In her fourth vlog, Hyper blissfully wants to control and break down Critic's brain so he'd be in love with her. Malcolm admits that would be a possibility for him as well.
** In ''Film/The6thDay'', That Sci-Fi Guy accidentally creates a clone of the Critic, who has a 50% chance of being beamed back to original Critic's place and having to be this for him. ([[http://channelawesome.com/that-scifi-guy-the-6th-day/ And no we're not making that up.]])
** If you know VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns (where Malice comes from), there's a BlackComedy reference when she asks if he's escaped from the same asylum she did. The villain of the sequel owns an asylum and is a pimp to both girls and boys there, so on top of realizing/assuming Critic's mentally ill, she's also assuming he's a victim of that too.
* SexyStewardess: In the first DVD menu, he bizarrely (but not problematically) dresses up like a flight attendant who has a lot of skin showing.
* ShamelessSelfPromoter: He can't seem to stop himself, even when there's a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R7bz5lrhzs gun to his head]].
* ShowSomeLeg: In ''Shark Jumping'', she's his silent partner that he wants to pawn off, and he tells Beth and Tim that he did it to get her to leave him alone and that he hates her.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: He really wants to do a review with WebVideo/JesuOtaku in the ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'' episode, and denies being attracted to him just because he's a guy who wants to do a crossover with a girl. (And then he turns into ShipperOnDeck for CR/Phelous.)
* SignatureHeadgear: His baseball cap. He's one of the few men over the age of twenty who can make it look cool.
* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: Although he's an easily emotional, giggly kid himself, he's nearly never impressed with ThePowerOfLove, a lot of picks for his Top 11s are actually kinda sad and he has a big rant about believing in dreams in his ''WesternAnimation/ATrollInCentralPark'' review.
* SillyRabbitRomanceIsForKids: No question that he likes the {{determinator}} kind of love, it's mushiness that he can't stand.
* SinisterSurveillance: He managed to get a camera into every site member's house, so he'll know when they're apparently trying to steal his spotlight.
* SirSwearsALot: The only episode where he didn't swear was in ''Follow That Bird'', which is very sweet.
* SissyVillain: He's a pathetic jackass, but not because he's "sissy". That's just part of his personality. In the ''Transformers 4'' crossover, he badass boasts that he's the Nostalgia Critic, he's the original movie basher and his face [[GloryDays used]] to be the site logo, but then ruins it by obsessing over wondering how Erod thinks he looks like Edward Norton.
** Really pronounced in ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'', as he's obsessed with how pretty he looks in a tiara, hits on most of the men and is accepting of how he's fucked up in the head.
* SitcomArchnemesis: [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd The Angry Video Game]] ''[[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd NEEEEEEEEEEEERD!!!]]''
* SkewedPriorities: He thinks child abuse, even the more minor stuff, is worse than rape. Done intentionally, as while the Critic complains about the ''Starchaser'' sexbot abuse scene as creepy for the kids, Doug rants on the commentary about the disgustingness of her character being forcibly changed from unwilling to slut.
** Confusing Kyle and Paw in the ''Film/LesMiserables'' review, he thinks bread stealing is worse than rape and murder. Doug in the bloopers doesn't go that far, but he does think that french bread is the best thing ever.
* SlouchOfVillainy: When Doug gives him the answer he wants in "The Review Must Go On".
* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: CR made a pointed comparison to Critic and Baby-Doll from ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', trying to get him to see that he'll end up as a WhiteDwarfStarlet if he keeps on stressing about people taking his job.
** More generally, and overlapping with CameBackWrong, the main StoryArc in the reboot. Sometimes it's played for BlackComedy, while at other times (like ''The Guyver'') it's played for angst, and episodes like ''The Shining'', it's there for horror.
* SmallNameBigEgo: No matter how many times it gets [[BreakTheHaughty beaten out of him]], he's an egotistical prick. What makes a little more interesting, though, is his self-esteem is pretty low and pathetically easy to break. ''Critic Tank'' (a ''WebVideo/SharkJumping'' episode) self-deprecates that he turned loving the sound of his own voice into an online empire, but can barely pay his rent on time.
** In the DVD review of ''The Review Must Go On'', he's firmly up his own ass, calling it an astounding achievement and knocking away any chart proof that it was pretentious and egotistical. This comes back at the end, lampshading that he's biased but calling it amazing before he gets a smackdown from Doug.
* SmartBall: Invoked in ''WesternAnimation/TheChipmunkAdventure''. When he gives a too-well-reasoned argument about the Chick growing out of the site-planned GirlShowGhetto and doing her own thing, Chick meta-brags that what he's saying sounds like her writing.
* SmarterThanYouLook: He doesn't have a whole lot of faith in his intelligence, not helped by all the mistakes he makes, but he really is smarter than he seems.
* SoapboxSadie: Nobody can accuse of him of not genuinely caring about kids, racism or sexism (and if you have for the first one, what have you been watching?), but it's like he can only be OCD-like about one of those things an episode, while the rest get pushed to the side slightly.
* SoBeautifulItsACurse: In Prime, he was never too lucky on who he was a LustObject to, but at least he was happy to be a sexually active MrFanservice. Not so much in reboot where all he wants is women he can humiliate, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick Rogue figurines to give him handjobs]], and to stalk Emilia Clarke, but catwomen, men and witches get in his personal space, Rachel and Malcolm both grope him when he doesn't want them to and even Zod's threats are based on mutilating his looks until nobody recognizes him as human.
* SomeOfMyBestFriendsAreX: Parodied when people accuse him of being an anti-groundite. He goes on to say they're hard-working, have feelings and some of his good friends are floors. His own floor then tries to shoot him.
** Real life example with ''Anime/SailorMoon'', as in Connecticon Doug mocked the people who didn't like the review with the fact that he's become friends with some of the cast.
* SophisticatedAsHell: Showcased in ''Film/TheRoom2003'' where he ends up shouting the "Dead Parrot Sketch" from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', and uses a quote from ''Creator/WilliamShakespeare'' seconds later.
* SoProudOfYou: Doug most likely knew that Lindsay didn't invent the concept of TheSmurfettePrinciple, but Critic acted like the Chick did.
* SoreLoser: When he loses the third match against [[WebVideo/TheAngryJoeShow Angry Joe]], he's a whiny, angry brat who accuses Joe of cheating.
* TheSoulless: He lost it to Malcolm's devil in return for a good Zod impression.
* SpeechImpediment: He starts stammering when he's scared or nervous.
* SpeakOfTheDevil: He pops up in the Chick's review of ''Film/{{Transformers|2007}}'' when she says the word "manchildren". Also when Maven says the words "nostalgia nostalgia nostalgia" in her Count Chocula review.
* SplitPersonality: Done in the more realistic fashion. Three times now something bad has happened to really trigger him off, he'll react with intense distaste (HearingVoices with the ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' bullies, long {{angrish}} with how childish ''Film/TheHaunting1999'' was, exploding cities with ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'') and then he'll come back with apologies or would have to be made aware of what he just did.
* {{Squee}}:
** As the "Follow That Bird" review proved, he can go higher than a teenage girl when he's excited.
** He even squees the trope name in his review of ''Film/{{Alaska}}''. The image of him bouncing is a pretty popular reaction gif on tumblr.
** While it gets steadily darker in reboot, he always gets little boy excited over Christmas.
* StalkerWithACrush: In his teenage years, he broke up with someone three times.
-->'''Nostalgia Critic''': How many times can you break up with someone before they turn into a psycho and start stalking you? *looks around scared and whispers* Three.
** He himself approaches stalker territory when he first pretends to be Rasputin to have a conversation with the Chick and secondly hides in the bushes to capture her and make her watch ''Film/{{Bratz}}''. She finds the former endearingly annoying and doesn't seem to mind the latter, however, probably because she chloroformed him first.
** He's a fully fledged stalker to Emilia Clarke, having her number on speed-dial despite her hating him in the commercials special, and ignoring Joe in ''Film/ManOfSteel'' to look at naked pictures of her.
** In ''North'', he says he's familiar telling people to stop following him or he'll call the police.
* SteelEarDrums: Played straight most of the time and subverted once. All that shooting in close spaces doesn't affect him, but a girl's annoying voice pierces right through.
* StepfordSmiler: A mix of type C/type A.
** A good example of stepfordness is in the beginning of ''Film/TheBluesBrothers'' video game where he's waking up in the morning. In Last Angry Geek's review of ''Spider-Man and the X-Men'', where Brian asks whatever happened to Dr. Smith and Critic (with a giant frozen smile) tells him "Cancer. Very sad.", and it cuts back to Brian mouthing "ouch". If it weren't for the much sadder take at the end (where he also reveals Dr. Smith was his father), one would assume LackOfEmpathy.
** The PsychopathicManchild version for the first half of ''Disney Afternoon'', especially when Malcolm is unconscious, he has blood on his hands and his response to Tamara wanting to take Malcolm to the hospital is a DissonantSerenity "it's too late for him". It's only when reality breaks in that he's still commenting on cartoons that he calms down, and even that is just sadder and more cynical.
* TheStoner:
** While he bears none of the character traits associated with the trope, he does make a few references. His plan for the 100th episode was to show a crummy clip show and smoke some pot. He's also on an ongoing search for "Pot Land" according to his review of ''The Super Mario Bros. Super Show''.
** When he sees Malcolm and Tamara in bunny ears, with guns and hiding behind the desk, he says he usually has to take something to see stuff like this.
** In ''The Sixth Day'' crossover, he asks how long it takes for a powdered horse scrotum to leave your system after you smoke it.
--->'''That Sci Fi Guy''': Um, I'm just gonna move on.
--->'''Critic''': Yeah, you better.
** In ''Iron Man's Coke'', he snorts some coke to calm himself down from getting annoyed that the challenge was done too fast.
* StrawmanEmotional: In his worst moments. The fact that he doesn't seem to even realize he can be like this makes it easier to stomach.
* StrawHypocrite: Goes into this territory a lot in reboot, like when he says "I'm not one to disagree with other's opinions, unless they're stupid and not mine", when nearly all of his (intended) FinaleSeason had him learning the opposite.
* StubbornMule: He calls himself a stubborn old curmudgeon in the "Willy Wonka" Old vs New.
* [[StupidSexyFlanders Stupid Sexy]] Creator/KeithDavid, Creator/HughJackman and Creator/WillSmith.
-->*slaps himself* BOOBS! YOU LIKE BOOBS!
* SurvivalMantra: Until the Burger King runs away in terror from ''Twister'', "elephant" serves as his call back to reality.
* SweetTooth: He downs an entire bag of candy in ''{{Creator/Nicktoons}}''.
* SympatheticPOV: It's his show, so we get to see him break down, fanboy, be a victim, be a jackass, be smart, be dumb... the works. If we knew him from [[WebVideo/BadMovieBeatdown Film Brain's]] POV for example, he wouldn't nearly be as likable.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:T]]
* TakeAThirdOption: When Spoony gives him a choice of reviewing the Creator/RebBrown's ''Film/{{Captain America|1979}}'' movie or letting the forced crossdressing pictures of Spooning With Spoony 2 leak out, he chooses a noose instead.
* TakeThisJobAndShoveIt: When he didn't get promoted in his CrustyCaretaker job, we get to see Doug's video of that "I QUIT!" ShirtlessScene.
* TalkativeLoon: When he gets worked up.
* TheTease: An aesop that comes up every now and then is that he can be as slutty and attention seeking as he wants, doesn't mean he's not allowed to be traumatized by abusers like Spoony and Hyper.
* TestosteronePoisoning: Literally. He takes pills that he owns to make him sound like Kevin Conroy, and his voice drops much lower as well as his balls.
** He almost certainly was trying to invoke this at the beginning. Sexist, homophobic, a lower-pitched voice, still wasn't smart but had much more common sense, owned a HairTriggerTemper, slobby, easily bored and none of the femmy, childish behavior we know him for.
** Darker in ''Film/TheShining'', as right after admitting his dick both doesn't work anymore and is the only thing keeping him a man, he has a more masculine costume change, has zero patience for any talk of feelings, and acts like an abusive partner to Rachel.
** Realistically (especially for someone RaisedAsTheOppositeGender) in "Old vs New Cinderella'', as right after Devil Boner calls him full of estrogen and Hyper's "ladyfriend", he suddenly gets more concerned about his masculinity being undermined, when he was fine talking about "girl movies" before.
* ThatManIsDead: In the beginning of ''Forest Warrior'', he refuses to do the Creator/ChuckNorris RunningGag because that was the old him, and the new version needs to create new memes that he can be obnoxious about.
* ThenLetMeBeEvil: WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee-Critic complained because "everything [he does] has a negative impact on someone" and was desperate for a way to fix it. But his fixing got screwed over by The Review Must Go On making it a paradox, and reboot-Critic practically makes it his mission to hurt people. Sage calls him out on this, but Critic ignores him.
** For an example that happened in the same review, the realistic happens for the ''Master Of Disguise'' breakdown and he gets in trouble, but he lucidly punches Rachel in the gut at the end of the episode and leaves her on the ground, not caring [[DomesticAbuse what that must look like in context]].
* ThinkingTic: Has a tendency to pucker his mouth when he's thinking something over.
* ThousandYardStare: The BadFuture 2019 in Geek's ''Future's End'' episode gives the implication that he's in permanent about-to-cry mode. And he actually does when Snob shows up.
* ThrowTheDogABone: Santa Christ showing up to erase his memory of ''Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial''. And "Poor Critic" at the end of his Commercials Special has him getting his self-confidence back.
** In the ''[=NickComs=]'' episode, TemptingFate actually works in his favor for once and gives him ''Series/TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete''.
** After being so deathly boring for the majority of time, ''Film/{{Junior}}'' gets funny and stupid with Arnold in a dress and spouting one-liners.
** ''Film/DoubleTeam'' more than satisfies him with the "BEST! DEATH! EVER!".
** After going through hell with Sequel Month, he gets to enjoy himself with ''Film/DungeonsAndDragons2000''.
** Considering how depressed he was that he couldn't muster up the courage to talk to the Chick during the failure date, their relationship becoming DatingCatwoman probably counts.
** [[spoiler: In WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, his creator telling him how good of a character he became. Plus saving the world.]]
* TooDumbToLive: Plenty of instances. Examples include taunting Disney villains, tempting an angel to kick his ass and God to strike him down, trusting people he shouldn't and following the orders of Sage ''when he believes he's the devil''.
* TookALevelInBadass: In WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee. Suicidal motivation aside, ''he stood up to Mechakara'' even when he was frustrated, terrified and being held at gunpoint.
* TookALevelInDumbass: Not a bad thing, but he wasn't always lacking in a lot of common sense.
** His IQ dropping since the intelligence of the PlotHole appearances has been lampshaded twice, with [[spoiler: Doug]] complaining that he's been written so stupid and it taking him twenty-two seconds to realize Sage calling him an airhead in the Guyver review.
** Again lampshaded in "The Dark Knight Returns", where he quips that Two-Face (who has two bombs, and wants 22 million dollars in the next 22 minutes) must really like the number "3". Last Angry Geek quietly corrects him. He also later confuses LAG for Linkara, and runs off at the end of the review.
* TookALevelInKindness: Steadily until WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, lampshaded by [[spoiler: Doug himself]]. But...
* TookALevelInJerkass[=/=]SanitySlippage: Things started to go wrong really quickly. There was "The Review Must Go On" where he gaslighted Doug, "An Odd Life Of Timothy Green" where he killed a cat, and both "Son Of The Mask" and "Food Fight" have him broken to a degree that the ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' breakdown can't reach. The "Master Of Disguise" review had SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome when he's forced to go an asylum for a freak out, then he went Jack Nicholson on Rachel during The Shining review, and it's just gotten worse from there. He's seriously injured Malcolm for ''extremely'' petty reasons, and outright MURDERED the Happy Maddison audience. He's reached a level of AxCrazy that is unprecedented by anything seen before. Perhaps taking him out of the plot hole WASN'T [[CameBackWrong the best idea.]]
** Lampshaded in ''Series/TheShining'', as when he's abusing Rachel on the phone, she snarks back that he's never been nice while she's known him.
** "The Dark Knight Returns" review intentionally contrasts his excited righteous happy post WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, with his smugly insulting, stupid, going-through-the-motions personality in current times.
** The SanitySlippage was lampshaded in ''Film/GhostDad'', where he says he can't talk about the twist because he already has fears about his mental health and doesn't want it to get worse.
** ''Disney Afternoon'' is all about him losing it. He desperately wants to recreate his childhood, even before violence happens he makes Tamara back off because he's so angry about her thinking he was talking about the Saturday morning version, and he's even more of a MoodSwinger than usual. It's only really when reality hits that "nothing's changed" and he's still stuck in a job commenting on cartoons that he moves into the more normal depression and not just being stepford psychotic.
** By ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle'', it's got to the point where other characters are forced to realize he was never really sane.
* TooKinkyToTorture: When he's parodying being a DistressedDude in the ''{{Film/Sidekicks}}'' review, he sounds less defiant and more excited about being electrocuted.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: He has a rarely-mentioned obsession with breakfast cereal, which shows up in his cereal mascots review (obviously) and a crossover sketch with the Nostalgia Chick and The Maven of the Evantide.
* TragicHero: Tragically funny. He genuinely wants to be a NiceGuy or at least feel more optimistic about things, but he can never quite quell his temper. PlayedForDrama in ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' and WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee.
* TragicMonster: Gets so close to it in "Why Do We Love Zombies", as the ending has him as a zombie, the title card has him as a gored zombie, and there's a DespairSpeech about humanity being beaten out of him.
* TransparentCloset: The door will be opened and closed for RuleOfFunny and RuleOfCute. Sometimes he'll valiantly attempt to be all about the boobs, other times he'll fangirl guys without the slightest bit of regret. Lampshaded bitterly in the ''Film/LesMiserables'' review, where he, Paw and Kyle fall out of a closet and he says "enter coming out of the closet joke here".
* TraumaCongaLine: It is profoundly entertaining to see what horrible thing will happen to him next, either in the present or in his childhood.
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: The ''Guyver'' review makes a point of him not remembering WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}, WebVideo/SuburbanKnights or WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee as well as he should. Just what he's forgotten about remains to be seen. ''Bloodrayne'' has him not being able to remember the big fight in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights''.
* TriggerHappy: This bites him in the ass twice; when he panics and shoots Santa Christ in ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'' and when he kills his childhood icon, Film/MaryPoppins, after ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot''.
* TrophyWife: He wants to marry Malcolm and leech off his money in ''Film/DemolitionMan'', and he's for a moment okay with being Hyper's hostage boyfriend when he sees the inside of her BigFancyHouse.
* TroubledAbuser: He's horrible to Rachel, uses Malcolm and tries to break down Tamara, but there's something horribly wrong with him and he's been abused himself and still has issues over this.
* TroubledButCute: He's a slutty MrFanservice with an abusive past, stockholms for rapists and abusers, tries really hard to be good but can't make it (after he did in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, RealLifeWritesThePlot and did a {{retcon}}), is mentally ill, stuck in a job he hates and abuses others to make himself feel better.
* TroubledChild: "I had issues." Made explicit in "What Happened To Great Disney Villains", when he says he used to be like Sid in Toy Story.
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: The first nod to his abusive childhood was him saying that he shot his Ninja Turtle doll.
* {{Tsundere}}: Showcased in pretty much the entirety of the "Follow That Bird" review.
-->'''Nostalgic Critic:''' Big Bird! Oh my god! He is just as big as I remember him! Some things never change when you're a chi- IT'S A MAN IN A COSTUME! ...A big...loveable...heartwarming costume...
** In ''Film/{{Alaska}}'' he switches between horror at polar bears eating people to fawning over the movie's animal lightning fast.
* TwitchyEye: Towards the end of his "lawyer tastes like deep-seated insecurity and bitterness" joke in ''Film/JurassicPark''. Only Doug knows why. Referenced in ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'' where he says "we all get nervous twitches like that sometimes". Quite understandably, his whole face is a twitching mess in the ''Film/ManOfSteel'' review when Joe is giving Zod ideas on how to torture him. When he's [[spoiler: hallucinating]] at the start of ''WesternAnimation/TheChristmasTree'' review, his eye jolts in time to his tapping of the coffee machine.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:U]]
* {{Uke}}: Even ''Chester'' lampshades the implications of "Nerd-On-Critic action". Not to mention that if he spends any time with a woman, it'll end up in MasculineGirlFeminineBoy. Also heavy with the Snob, as he's been the SexSlave in the BadFuture and Brad makes jokes about Critic being naughty and needing spanking from "daddy".
* UndyingLoyalty: As lampshaded by Ma-Ti in ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}''. If he does actually care for someone, he'll cling on tight and do anything for them.
* UnfazedEveryman: Despite his cowardice, he's perfectly accepting of characters from the movies he's watching talking to him.
* UngratefulBastard: As a BecameTheirOwnAntithesis of his UndyingLoyalty in pre-reboot. He never thanks Rachel, Malcolm or Tamara for what they do for him, and he lampshades in Nerd's roast that while Nerd saved him twice in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, he still hates him because he has to.
* UnkemptBeauty:
** He looks much better with a rumpled suit and baseball cap than he does in 'proper' clothes.
** Defied in ''Film/TheShining'', as he wears a flannel shirt, no tie, is more beardy and loses his glasses, meaning he looks more masculine and people won't be distracted by the usual flattering clothes.
** Deconstructed in ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012'', where he realizes he's dressed the way he is to attract a female audience, and he's just as packaged as the new Onceler.
* UnreliableNarrator: Reboot has him having hallucinations, explicitly [[RealityWarper reality warping]] to fit what he wants and going through SanitySlippage far worse than anything previously, so suffice to say he's not always right about what goes on.
* TheUnsmile: The very beginning of "Top 12 Santa Clauses". He's genuinely excited, but can only grimace uncomfortably.
* UnsportsmanlikeGloating: Maybe it's a good thing that he never wins, because when he does (and that's rare), he acts like a prick.
* UnstoppableRage:
** In response to the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'', the Nostalgia Critic shoots the show so many times it literally goes up in a giant explosion.
** And then again for ''Film/BlankCheck''.
** For ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'' he gets so angry that the movie keeps making shit up with absolutely no explanation that his anger destroys a town with a nuclear explosion. Then it happens again mere moments later when one of the characters makes a horrible Film/DirtyHarry pun.
** ''[[Film/TheNeverEndingStoryIIIEscapeFromFantasia The NeverEnding Story III]]'' certainly did piss off the NC to no end, but the last straw was, instead of the theme song to the series, they place Rockbiter singing "Born To Be Wild" during the motorcycle scene on the end credits. This sends the NC laughing all the way to Home Depot, buying a crowbar, coming home, and then mercilessly beating ''and raping'' the DVD to pieces.
-->''[[CaptainObvious I'm fucking the DVD! I'm fucking the DVD!]]''
** ''Film/TheMasterOfDisguise'' sends the NC laughing uncontrollably in reaction to its "a little wiener and some tiny nuts" joke to the point where it sounds like he's wheezing really hard before he goes outside and beats three people to near-death (including the cameraman) with a baseball bat.
** In ''Dragon's Lair'', he has a crying breakdown when [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything his happy ending gets ruined]].
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Not in the "was nice but is now evil" way, but the "hoped for far more than this" version.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:V]]
* VanityIsFeminine:
** He frantically paws at his face before running off to print out pictures of it in the photocopier. This is apparently his secret hobby.
** In Hyper's second vlog, he gets distracted from hating her by happily going on about how nice silk feels.
** In the ''WebVideo/SharkJumping'' review of ''Series/{{Glee}}'', the only thing that tempts him to do singing again (though he still refuses until the end) is being promised "fabulous costume changes".
* VerbalTic: The Critic has an extremely prevalent one that typically appears multiple times in the span of every single review. Once you notice it you'll hear it all the time. [[note]] It's "on top of that".[[/note]]
** He will almost always provide a summation of his review along the lines of "The <noun> is <adjective>, the <noun> is <adjective>, the <noun> is <adjective>... In short, it's an <adjective> <noun>."
* VillainProtagonist: There are a lot of signs that he CameBackWrong from the PlotHole, hitting kids, his reason for hating Creator/StephenKing downgraded to "he entertains people", and suggesting torture that even the devil is surprised by. Notably, in ''Film/BluesBrothers2000'', he refuses to help someone dying because he wants to get ranting about the movie off his back, and the camera follows him while keeping the said dying a MeaningfulBackgroundEvent.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Chester. Critic steals Chester's drugs and lets him search for the necronomicon by himself while Chester is somewhat of an UngratefulBastard who will blow up cities just to upset Critic. However, Critic gave Chester a job, a safe place to stay and is the only one on the site to give him money, while Chester will be one of the first to defend Critic against anyone else.
* VocalEvolution: The Nostalgia Critic's voice was much more drawling and manlier in his earlier episodes with Doug's real Chicago accent coming through, with almost none of the high-pitched screaming and animated excitement he'd become known for.
** His Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger impression is improving as well. Impressions in his Schwarzenegger month videos are deeper than his earlier reviews, and pretty close to the real thing.
** His female voice got better too. In early reviews, it was just slightly more high-pitched than his child voice. In 2011 it sounded like a woman was talking.
*** Inverted too. Doug used to be able to do both the male and female sex noises in an especially porny episode of Ask That Guy and for a joke in ''Jaws 3''. But for the sex gag in ''8 Crazy Nights'' he had to get Rachel to do the female voice.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:W]]
* WalkingDisasterArea: Computers, stuffed animals and kitchen appliances have all blown him up or gone wrong in some way before he even managed to touch them.
* WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency: PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/TheShining'', where he wants a medal for ''not'' making racist pedophila jokes about the little boy and the black guy called Dick.
* WeakWilled: In the Top 11 Cereal Mascots, he goes out (twice) immediately to buy something because advertising told him to. And Devil!Sage manages to control him easily even after he's said he's not the devil.
* WeightWoe: As he gets thinner, he insults HollywoodPudgy actors more and more. Even WebVideo/TheCinemaSnob doesn't escape in the review of ''Film/{{Paranoia|2011}}''. In the ''Dragonbored'' review, he even bitches that Jimbroth (obviously played by Doug) is too doughy and could only bench-press two pounds at most.
* WeirdnessMagnet: Being the main character of of the site, everything bad in their world seems to happen to him most of the time (when it's not happening to Linkara). PlayedForLaughs in the ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' review, when a meteor occurs just outside the studio.
* WellExcuseMePrincess: He says the line to Lupa in WebVideo/SuburbanKnights and immediately regrets it, and Phelous says it to him in the ''Child's Play II'' review, putting him in the girl spot and all.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: It's great that you want the Chick to be proud of herself, but forcing her to watch ''Film/{{Bratz}}'' is kinda harsh.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: "Nostalgia Critic Talks Transformers 4" has the Critic/Chester friendship completely gone, with Critic knocking Chester out so he can have his rant, and when Chester buys into the pretty speech, Critic kicks him again showing what he's really like.
** One that isn't actually his fault for once, but Film Brain was his confidant in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, but tries to kill Critic in the Purge review.
** Maven happily eats cereal with him in a crossover before he died, and had a skull with a baseball cap as remembrance for a while, but is completely disgusted with him a couple years later. For his part he calls her a prejudiced bitch when she forces him to leave.
** Discussed in ''Can An Ending Ruin A Film'', where he compares bad endings to a good friendship being over down to one bad decision.
* WhatBeautifulEyes: Their prettiness is lampshaded by Lindsay in the ''Film/MoulinRouge'' review.
-->'''Lindsay''': Your eyes are so blue.
-->'''Doug''': I know, you just look at them and...
* WhenHeSmiles: Look at the top picture of the three Critics on his blip page. The first is him being goofy, the second is him looking angry while pointing a gun, and what does the third involve? A cute smile with his dimple showing.
** Played darkly at the end of ''Film/TheCatInTheHat''. First time he grins at all in the episode (as he spent it very dead-eyed and depressed) is when the Devil is proud of him for suggesting torture.
** Used for sad effect in ''The Dark Knight Returns'', as his first eyes-meeting genuine grin in ages is a CallForward comment about how deep and awesome WebVideo/DemoReel will be.
* WhiteMaleLead: He doesn't fit the description (you couldn't really view him as privileged other than having a fair amount of money and he's not overshadowing any minority), but he views himself as one.
** Played straighter in the reboot, as he gets the most airtime, often explains the obvious to the bad guys, and the black guy and woman are relegated to one-note characters on the side.
** In "Disney Afternoon", he forces Tamara and Malcolm to dress up like what he thought girls and black men wore in the nineties (hair decorations to the extreme and "ghetto" respectfully). They tell him instantly how wrong his perceptions are.
** Lampshaded in ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'' review, as Malcolm asks why he gets the most focus seeing as how he's the least interesting of all the characters on the show.
* WhiteMansBurden: In ''Care Bears Nutcracker'', Malcolm tells Tamara he loves the WhiteGuilt movies (like ''Film/12YearsASlave'') because Critic tries to make up for his own racism by always taking him out for dinner after.
* WholesomeCrossdresser: On the TGWTG Vol. 1 DVD, he dresses up like an airline stewardess.
** Douchey has a picture of him wearing Creator/MarilynMonroe's dress, which Critic gets embarrassed by.
** He once dressed up as a female irish janitor and recorded things in the girls locker room.
-->'''Critic''': Why don't you just forget I said that?
** And there's ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'', where he wears a ''very'' skimpy costume. [[InnocentFanserviceGuy Critic]] didn't know what he was doing, but Doug evidently did.
** When his early teenager self says "I like to wear women's clothing" and dresses up in a blonde wig, present!Critic's already high embarrassment goes through the roof. When his memory has been tampered with and he goes back to them, he calls 12 year old Doug in drag "a young man trying to work some things out".
** The cheerleading outfit in ''Christmas Story II'' was to prove a point (if a {{fanservice}} one), but the accompanying vlog has him put the mini-skirt to his waist and swing it around curiously. Hyper then interrupts, lunging at him and making him freak before the video cuts out. It also got spoilered in the "Carpet Diem" vlog, as the review aired a few days later and Doug says that because he's been in drag a million times and will be again, the fans mock him constantly and say he's Transgender.
** In his DVD review of ''Film/TheCinemaSnobMovie'', he dismisses a guy "having an interesting night-life" (with women's clothes) because dude hasn't got the hips for it.
** Lampshaded in ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'' where Critic dismisses Tamara crossdressing because ''everyone'' crossdresses on the show.
** In the ''Princess Diaries II'' commentary, Doug reveals that when the characters were walking by the Jack Nicholson head, that was actually ''him'' with a pink dress shirt wrapped around his legs. Even Malcolm was impressed with how much his bottom half in pink looks like Anne Hathaway's legs.
** In ''Film/ThePhantomOfTheOpera2004'', his immediate reaction to Beth being missing is to tell Tim to get in the Christine dress.
** Aside from the pink gear in the beginning of the ''Jem'' review, he eye-rolls at the girls complaining about having to try on dresses and having someone do your make-up because both those things are fun.
* WhosLaughingNow: He's ''killed'' people who bullied him about ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}''.
* WickedCultured: He may have lost out on smarts, but he knows opera, theater, [[VanityIsFeminine how to take care of himself]], and has a fuckton of beautiful art in his house.
* WifeBasherBasher: Due to that scene in ''Film/AClockworkOrange'', he shoots the lead in ''Film/SingingInTheRain'' because he thinks he's a rapist.
** A bit more noble example occurs when he tries to shoot Lady Tremaine for her abuse of Cinderella.
* WindmillCrusader: As he so paranoidly put it...
-->'''Critic''': ''Hel-lo'' I'm the Nostalgia Critic. I remember it so you don't have to. But that hasn't stopped people from trying!
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: He was never great friends with sanity, but could always be relied upon (even if it took a while or a beating) to crash on the ground and do the right thing. Post-reboot however, he's got power learned from "The Review Must Go On" and WordOfGod has even apologized when Critic in ''Series/TheShining'' proved too scary for Rachel to handle.
* TheWonka: His number of issues are a mile long, but people follow him willingly and he's genuinely great at his job. Just don't tell him that last part or he might cry.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: He pouts pretty hard when he learns his temper tantrum destroyed a whole city in ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot''.
* {{Workaholic}}: Doug being Doug, this creeps into Critic every now and then. Like in ''Film/GhostDad'', he says death is no excuse to stop working, or the GutPunch in ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', when the doctor says his [[spoiler: dying]] mom didn't want to bother him from his work.
** PlayedForLaughs in Linkara's ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'' parody as the podcast believes he's just doing clipless reviews to work himself and Malcolm/Tamara to death.
* WorthyOpponent: WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd. He even says "You are indeed the most worthy adversary" during the second episode of the feud.
** Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger is probably the only reoccurring person in his reviews that he can both make fun of and have affection for.
* WouldHurtAChild: He makes Evilina cry twice in ''Film/TheCatInTheHat'', once by hitting her and yelling at her ''for'' crying, and in ''WesternAnimation/TheKingAndI'' he dances happily at the thought of a teenage girl getting whipped.
** In his review of ''Film/BridgeToTerabithia'' (2007), he points out how much Jesse has to put up with all the shit from the male bullies in his class, and after [[spoiler:Leslie dies]], the bully says a line so unforgivably insensitive towards Jesse's situation that sends the Critic off on a [[BerserkButton tangent]] where he feels it is totally {{Justified|Trope}} to strike that kid. Jesse immediately sends the bully reeling with a right hook when he returns to the review. He also spends an extortionate amount of time mocking Anna Sophia Robb's attractiveness for no reason, the nastiness of which he lampshaded next review in ''Film/TheShining''.
** After a fairly bittersweet FriendToAllChildren editorial on why you ''should'' lie to your kids about Santa, he reminds everyone of what he's now like by not caring that he made children cry.
** Played for stepford horror in Maven's "Monster Mash", as a "cute little girl" thought he was the Angry Video Game Nerd and he bludgeoned her to death.
** Lampshaded in ''Film/MaximumOverdrive'', where he shows you the one shot of a child's head exploding "because he has a sick obsession for violence that he should probably question more".
* WouldHitAGirl: Mostly The Nostalgia Chick. Naturally, she likes beating on him just as much.
** Although it seems he only does this with women who can give as good as they get. He's disgusted with ''Film/GoodBurger'' for Carmen Electra getting beaten up and having it played for laughs, which causes {{irony}} for later, as he hits Rachel and Tamara a lot and while Tamara will usually get her own back eventually, Rachel cried when he was scaring her and stayed down when he beats her outside.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Y]]
* YankTheDogsChain: Looking forward to ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'' theme at the end of ''Film/TheNeverendingStoryIIIEscapeFromFantasia'', Critic? [[spoiler: How about a montage of the worst scene in the movie instead?]]
** When he starts to be sure that ''Film/JingleAllTheWay'' has ended on an at-least-not-so-bad note, the movie proves him wrong. He doesn't take it well.
** He was on the verge of solving world hunger and cure all unknown diseases when ''WesternAnimation/{{DuckTales|1987}}'' popped into his head and broke all concentration.
** After having an adorably fun time with the creators of ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', he fucks up at the end because of an immature request.
** In ''Film/SimonSez'', when WebVideo/ObscurusLupa accepts him not wanting to do a crossover with her, he's almost heartbreakingly delighted that someone actually ''listened'' to him. Of course she's only messing around.
** At the end of ''Film/ExorcistIITheHeretic'' review, the "great spirits" let him know that he doesn't have to do Nostalgia-Ween anymore. What he has to do instead? ''WesternAnimation/Dougs1stMovie''. And not even that exchange was enough, as 2013 brought another Nostalgia-Ween that portrayed him as both a psychotically racist {{Domestic Abuse}}r and a depressed zombie.
** As soon as he says he doesn't want ''anything'' more to do with ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' after making it through without having to hear the dreaded theme song, guess what plays?
** He spends most of Star Trek month paranoid that Linkara will show up and nitpick in his usual way. When he thinks it's over and he's free, guess who shows up?
** The Critic is overjoyed that the next film he is going to review is ''The Avengers''. He [[Film/TheAvengers2012 thought]] it would be the Creator/JossWhedon project, not the film adaptation of the [[Film/TheAvengers1998 British spy series.]]
** Particularly painful for him is his happy ending in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee getting retconned into a paradox. Two years later and he's still bitter, even as he's forgetting details about what happened.
*** He was also ruling over an entire universe, but then as shown in ''Dawn Of The Commercials'', he had to go back to living with his abusive mother [[spoiler: until she died in ''Jurassic Park III'']].
* YaoiFanboy: He sees the HoYay in [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Superman/Lex Luthor]], [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Frodo/Sam]], [[Series/AmericanIdol Simon Cowell/Ryan Seacrest]], [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batman/Robin]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{TMNT}} Leonardo/Raphael]].
* YouthfulFreckles: Not on his face, but the rest of his body. Which is fitting for how many times he's taken his clothes off.
* YouWouldntLikeMeWhenImAngry: As pathetic as he is and as pathetic as even the gun is (according to WordOfGod), you can't really say he doesn't leave an impact when he's genuinely pissed off.
[[/folder]]
----

* SpeakOfTheDevil: He pops up in the Chick's review of ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' when she says the word "manchildren". Also when Maven says the words "nostalgia nostalgia nostalgia" in her Count Chocula review.

* SophisticatedAsHell: Showcased in ''Film/TheRoom'' where he ends up shouting the "Dead Parrot Sketch" from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', and uses a quote from ''Creator/WilliamShakespeare'' seconds later.

** Inverted in ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax'' when he asks the analysts didn't he kill them both in ''Film/TheCatInTheHat''. He didn't actually ''kill'' them himself, he just drove them to suicide.

** Deconstructed in ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax'', where he realizes he's dressed the way he is to attract a female audience, and he's just as packaged as the new Onceler.

* WeaponOfChoice: A CoolGun he uses with wild abandon. WordOfGod says it was done for the funny, the menacing aspect and also because it's really quite pathetic.

** ''Film/TheNeverendingStory 3'' certainly did piss off the NC to no end, but the last straw was, instead of the theme song to the series, they place Rockbiter singing "Born To Be Wild" during the motorcycle scene on the end credits. This sends the NC laughing all the way to Home Depot, buying a crowbar, coming home, and then mercilessly beating ''and raping'' the DVD to pieces.

* YankTheDogsChain: Looking forward to ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'' theme at the end of ''Film/TheNeverendingStoryIIIEscapeFromFantasia'', Critic? [[spoiler: How about a montage of extreme CharacterDerailment instead?]]

* PrimaDonnaDirector: Goes right back into MeanBoss mode with Rachel and Malcolm, and comes to a head when he demands Rachel to come back from California to shoot her [[{{Mcleaned}} punishment death scenes]] because he accidentally deleted the video. Thankfully, as she's now away from him she can say no and do things her way. And in the beginning of ''Film/TheShining'' review, he makes Rachel and Malcolm haul the heaviest props, and chipperly expects them to arrange them in order of his least and most favorites.

* NiceHat: His baseball cap. He's one of the few men over the age of twenty who can make it look cool.

* PerverseSexualLust: For Catherine Zeta Jones, as we find out in his [[TopTenList Top]] [[UpToEleven 11]] [[VillainSong Villain Songs]] video. It's an inverted example as the Critic is a fictional character while Catherine Zeta Jones is a real life actress.

** As the "Follow That Bird" review proved, [[UpToEleven he can go higher than a teenage girl]] when he's excited.