This is simply what you think is the (not some of the, the) best example of any objective trope (so no YMMV or Trivia as they are not tropes proper and the former is already subjective) The "Crowning Example" if you will.
There could be several reasons you think an example is the best:
- You think it's the best in terms of illustrating the trope.
- You think it's the most well done.
- It's your favorite play in that trope.
- You just really like the source material.
Oh, several things before you list examples:
- Each troper gets one example per trope, no more.
- Don't go "no, this is," or phrases like that. This is about our own personal favorites.
- Sign your entries.
Please list tropes alphabetically.
- Abandoned Mascot
- Alex Kidd, who used to be Sega's mascot before being replaced by Sonic the Hedgehog. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Abhorrent Admirer
- Wendy Oldbag. "Edgey-pooo!" ~vicnog, Eva Unit 01, Leilukin
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Leena Hyena, herself based on the stereotypical Abhorrent Admirers from The Golden Age of Animation, also the former Trope Namer. ~Surenity
- Big Ethel from Archie. Has to be one of the, if not the longest running example of this trope, and having her pursue Jughead (who doesn't like girls at all) just makes it better. ~gibberingtroper
- Takako from the Digimon Tamers Fan Fic Gardens of Babylon. Being stalked by an Ax-Crazy lunatic is bad enough, but when said lunatic is Your own sister... ~Lunacorva
- Lunch Lady Belinda could give Wendy Oldbag a run for her money. ~ Monolaf317
- Pepé Le Pew from the Looney Tunes. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Happosai counts as one to ALL WOMANKIND. ~ Miin U
- The Kanker Sisters, hands down the biggest example from my childhood. ~ Metal Ai Ai
- Wendy Oldbag. "Edgey-pooo!" ~vicnog, Eva Unit 01, Leilukin
- Aborted Arc
- Above Good and Evil:
- The Abridged Series
- MasakoX and Vegeta 3986's Naruto: The Abridged Series, which in 25 episodes covered 101 episodes of the actual series. (It's not as well executed as LittleKuriboh's series but most definitely surpasses its predecessor when it comes to defining the word "abridged.") ~Metal Shadow X
- Team Four Star's Dragon Ball Z Abridged, simply because it's ReginaldCuftbert.
- Kaiser Neko's Lupin III Abridged. Too Good to Last indeed ~Truteal
- Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series: It did sort of start the trend and still stands at the top with everyone else. ~One Pixel Jump Man, Man Without A Body, SoundwaveSuperior, TheCuriousFan, Zfish9, deeman45, Lunacorva, Doctor Rayman
- Biographies, in a meta sort of way. ~Quackor The Fowl
- Negima The Abridged Series, just to be different. Well, also because I nearly choked to death on oxygen while watching it. ~guyy
- None Piece, because any orthodox method of abridgement just wouldn't be true to the spirit of the original. ~King of the Mime Swing
- Kill la Kill Abridged ~Lord Herobrine
- The Ember Island Players is a canon example! -Dragon_Feathers
- Resident Evil Abridged takes the Narm Charm of RE1 and runs with it. ~ Miin U
- SnapCube's Real-Time Fandub. Every single scene featuring Alfred is a Crowning Moment of Funny. ~ Five-seveN-25
- My Little Pony in a Nutshell ~ theautisticrebel
- Absurdly High-Stakes Game
- Yu-Gi-Oh! And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. ~Haldo, ReginaldCuftbert, Lunacorva
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- F-Zero ~ Five-seveN-25
- Yu-Gi-Oh! And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. ~Haldo, ReginaldCuftbert, Lunacorva
- Absurdly Powerful Student Council
- The Best Student Council, natch. ~Willy Four Eyes
- The Student President in Chrome Shelled Regios controlled the entire city ~Sheaman3773
- The Student Council from Persona 3 deserves a nomination, especially since the Student Council President's family owns the school (and everything else on Tatsumi Port Island.) ~Aspie
- The Ashford Student Council. ~Marlee Cross
- We will bring revolution to the world I can't believe no one has mentioned them yet. ~Rosebrook, Nobodys Savior
- The First Student Council President in Asura Cryin' has the power to sentence students to death. And hunt demons with giant robots. ~Murgatroyd
- The Public Safety Commission from Rosario + Vampire is incredibly evil take on this trope, where they have the leeway to not only "rough up" and extort the student body, but publicly execute 'offenders' on hearsay. ~ digiman619
- Taken to literal extremes by Maken-ki's titular student council, which is a Ki-enhanced superpowered Amazon Brigade. ~ Miin U
- The student council from Kill la Kill rules an entire school with iron fist. - IúkaSylvie
- The Elite Ten for being able to vote on who their dean is ~ randomperson123
- Absurdly Sharp Blade
- Death's Scythe, especially in Reaper Man. How sharp is it? It cuts up the dialogue on the page you're reading it from. ~Highwind, Man Without A Body, ReginaldCuftbert, MasterNemesis
- The Subtle Knife. So sharp it cuts through things like steel, atomic particles, and the fabric between dimensions, among other things. ~Selryam, Zfish9, Dark Hunter
- The Keyblade, it cuts entire fucking BUILDINGS. Eva Unit 01
- Youmu has the dual swords Hakurouken and Roukanken. One can cut anything (including the fucking MOON but not soccer balls), while the other can cut through CONFUSION ITSELF. ~Sorata Z
- Anything wielded by Shigure. ANYTHING! ~fakeangelbr
- Saladin's Damascus sword; drop a veil on it, the veil lands on the ground in two pieces. —Cuchulainn
- In Kung Fu Panda, there is a sword that can cut you by you merely looking at it. —The Thnikkaman, Lunacorva
- Cloud's Fusion Sword - sharp enough to cleave through skyscrapers, an Aeon's magic enhanced armor, and even the One-Winged Angel himself! - Miin U
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer
- Freedom Fighters (2003). The main rebel base for the first half of the game is in a part of the sewer with a thirty foot high ceiling, and the tunnels leading to it are big enough for rafts that can hold supplies, ammunition, and twelve people comfortably. ~raan
- The Garamscythe Waterway, Final Fantasy XII. So big, you even find an esper down there. —Cuchulainn, Eva Unit 01
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The sewer was big enough to stage major fight scenes down there, plus the water down there was very clean-perhaps because Nobody Poops — and was as wide and deep as a river. ~wrybread, Doctor Rayman
- Mirror's Edge. They are absolutely massive, filled with more than enough space to do massive trick jumps all over. Admittedly it was justified as being the main sewer system for a massive city, but still. ~Mack
- Abusive Advertising
- Abusive Alien Parents
- Vriska's lusus, a.k.a. Spidermom. She forced her charge into becoming a serial killer. And if Vriska hadn't brought her bodies, her lusus would've eaten her instead. ~CCIB
- Abusive Parents
- Rosa Ushiromiya ~Highwind, Noir The Executioner, bookie444
- Hayate Ayasaki's parents ~The Seven Nights
- Gendo and Yui Ikari ~Masterminded
- Mostly just Gendo, and then mostly just in the main series, but yeah. ~Eva Unit 01
- The Brood ~Man Without A Body
- Norman Osborn. Especially in The Spectacular Spider-Man. ~ Bluwale 824
- Relius Clover ~ Irikarul
- Seconded. Clearly, he is the 'World's Greatest Dad'. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Firelord Ozai ~ Babyhenchy1, Vellophone, mermaidgirl45, Piando, Decaf Grub 47393
- Anthony Cooper ~ Froody 42
- Josef Fritzl ~ GenkiMan
- Ghetsis ~ Demongodofchaos, Zeni The Wonder, PinkHanabi, Yuihime
- Lionel Luthor ~ Oberyn
- Medusa ~ TheInvisibleSun
- Jonas Venture Sr. No matter how bad Rusty is with his own sons, it's petty squabbles compared to the psychological abuse his own father dumped on him. ~ Drakkenmensch
- Precia.
- Matou Zouken. ~ spacemonkey37, ozaniel, Zfish9
- The Fourth Kazekage ~ KantonKage
- Peter and Lois Griffin. ~ Ncfan
- The MOTHERF**KING' Queen from ICO!!! She emotionally abused and manipulated her own daughter for years Even locking her in a freakin' HANGING CAGE!! (which was actually considered a form of torture in the Middle-Ages.) And her sole motivation for doing so was to Make herself immortal by possesing her daughters body. WHAT A BITCH!!! ~ Lunacorva
- Ragyo Kiryuin. It would be very hard for any character to pull off as many forms of abuse as her without her particular story. Experiments on both her children when they're INFANTS, pulls Parental Abandonment when she thinks said experiments killed Ryuko, tries to have the children's father killed once and later successfully manages it, molests Satsuki, pulls a strange near-literal form of Mind Rape on Ryuko, is an Omnicidal Maniac, and repeatedly beats the crap out of Satsuki and Ryuko and people they know. ~ stupidskeleton
- Kumiko Kotoura and her husband. ~ Monolaf317
- The High Priestess of Aku ~ MattP5557
- Vernon and Petunia Dursley. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Mother Gothel. Even if she's not Rapunzel's actual mother (by birth or legal right), the way she raised and treated Rapunzel definitely qualifies her for this trope because of how realistic the emotional abuse was portrayed. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Judge Claude Frollo ~ rjd1922
- Jacques Schnee ~ Connor 2107
- Logan Roy. Between his tyrannical parenting, ruthless manipulation, vicious verbal abuse, and downright dehumanization of his children, all of which are often intertwined with his homophobia, misogyny, and other prejudices, he might just be one of the most terrifyingly awful fathers in all of television, in no small part due to how disturbingly believable he ultimately is. ~ JC300
- Shou Tucker - Demon Duckof Doom
- Abusive Precursors
- The Reapers. ~ Babyhenchy1, Tera Chimera, Leilukin, Lunacorva, urielzet
- The Xel'Naga ~ Man Without A Body
- The Orokin. An extensive list of the reasons why would be too long for this entry, but in short: Everything wrong with the Origin System can be traced back to the Orokin going out of their way to be cruel bastards to their people and/or creations. ~ Reflextion
- Academy of Adventure
- The entire Moperville, Illinois public school system. ~ Nlpnt
- Hogwarts, which serves as the modern day Trope Codifier. ~ Lunacorva, Doctor Rayman
- Wayside School, particularly if you're a cow ~ sinesofinsanity
- AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle
- Accentuate the Negative
- The Westboro Baptist Church. I DARE YOU to find something more negative ~ Ericho, Eva Unit 01
- Yahtzee. Challenge accepted. ~ REV 6 Pilot
- Accidental Kiss
- Negi and Nodoka
- Naruto and Sasuke. I'm not a NaruSasu shipper, but this was a pretty funny moment. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Accidental Misnaming
- Botch... I mean Butch in Pokémon: The Series. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Seconded, along with Stephen... er, Stephan. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Botch... I mean Butch in Pokémon: The Series. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Accidental Pervert
- Yuuki Rito ~ Catt
- Let's see... around 160 chapters... Accidental Pervert moments happening about 2-3 times per chapter... Yeah, Rito is this trope personified. ~ Zfish9
- "It's just a talent he has."
- Keitaro Urashima.
- Seconded. The guy stripped his wife at his wedding for god's sake. Gamermaster
- Takato Matsuki. It is one of the fics most Infamous Running Gags ~ Lunacorva
- Sousuke Sagara ~ Fireside
- Yuuki Rito ~ Catt
- The Ace
- Jack Rakan. The man was able to duplicate a sword technique flawlessly on his first try after having seen it performed years ago, punch— scratch that, flex his way out of a Phantom Zone, and temporarily will himself back into being after being erased from existence!. He can even see other people's flashbacks!
- Lord Flashheart. No further questions. ~ Astfgl 407
- Tsukasa Kodoya. The only thing he's not good at... is his job as a photographer.
- Takumi Usui.
- 'Ace' Rimmer. What a guy! ~ XFllo
- Rhaegar Targaryen is unusual in that he's a post-humorous example. He was known to be excellent at everything he tried, and was beloved by the majority of the realm. Unfortunately, he was just slightly worse at fighting than Robert Baratheon, leaving him dead, and the far less politically-adept Robert as king. ~ King of the Mime Swing
- Superman ~ dgenega5764.
- Batman. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Ace Pilot:
- Maverick. Guy shot down three bogeys in his first movie followed by two more in the sequel. He's officially a legend now. ~ Saberwulf 2018
- Roy Fokker, leader of Skull Squadron. ~ Miin U
- Acid Attack
- Action Dad
- Din Djarin ~Lady Blackwood
- Asura ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Action Girl
- Wonder Woman. ~ SomeRandomTroperDude, hedwig123, Doctor Rayman
- Xena. ~ ILoveKingdomHearts
- Buffy Summers. ~ kits
- Major Kira Nerys. ~ AcrossTheStars
- Cherry Darling. ~ Man Without A Body
- Storm. ~ Thespian 101
- Asuka Langley Soryu. ~ IAmTroperHearMeRoar
- The "ass-kicking virgins" of The Faerie Queene ~ Lale
- Lightning ~ New Kid On The Block
- Gaia Moore, especially since she routinely went looking for asses to kick. ~Aspie
- Samus Aran. ~ Malkyrian, Jason Paul, Cyber Tiger 88, Eva Unit 01
- Major Motoko Kusanagi. ~ Julep
- Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass ~ Tropers/Kelly
- Lara Croft ~ Two Gun Angel
- Yoko Littner ~ Lord Zorc
- Toph Bei Fong ~ Completely Different
- Avatar Korra ~ Tropers/Dragon_Feathers, Miin U
- Falis ~ ncfan
- Luz/She — Cuchulainn
- Tex. Any complaints? ~ Wragnaroq R Maggeddon
- None WHATsoever. ~ Lunacorva
- Seargent Karrin Murphy ~ Sineofinsanity
- Just for fun, consider Sue. You can't ignore the fact that the word action is built into the concept of the word "Tyrannosaurus rex".~ Ionz
- Birdy Cephon Altera ~ Helium Opera
- Erza Scarlet ~ KantonKage
- Seconded. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Sarah Connor ~ RL Nice
- Female Commander Shepard ~ Leilukin, Babyhenchy1
- Seconded. No other woman has a body count in the tens of thousands. No other woman has a trope page all to their own on how much of an Action Girl they are. No other woman has the Quit Your Whining attitude demonstrated by the likes of Buffy or Kim. ~ tsstevens
- Manami Toyota, Jacqueline or Sara Del Rey ~ JIKTV
- Kim Possible. ~ iansimsjam
- The Crystal Gems (and pretty much all Gems in general) and Connie. ~ Crossover-Enthusiast
- Rey. ~ dgenega5764
- Moribito: Balsa. - IúkaSylvie
- Mrs. Emma Peel - Genius In The Lamp
- Action Mom
- No mention of Ellen Ripley here? Blasphemy. She's THE Action Mom. ~ Saberwulf 2018
- Nanoha. Full stop. ~ CFTFunk, MarvelGirl, Eva Unit 01
- What no love for Fate-chan as well? She is Vivio's other mother after all. ~ bleach246
- I see your Nanoha and raise you the Boss. She became one SECONDS after her birth...DURING THE NORMANDY CAMPAIGN!!! ~ DRoy
- Seconded. ~ urielzet
- Grainne Mhaol. Same as above, except against Turkish pirates a day after the birth of one of her children, in Real Life. Or so the legend goes. ~ Geek Code Red
- The Bride
- Although they're adoptive mothers, the Crystal Gems definitely count. ~ CCIB
- Helen Parr AKA Elasti-Girl AKA Mrs. Incredible. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Sarah Connor. Especially in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. ~ Triple J
- Action Pet
- Perry the Platypus. ~hedwig123
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Perry the Platypus. ~hedwig123
- Actor Allusion
- I am Wreck-Gar. I DARE to be stupid! ~ Cyber Tiger 88
- Konata Izumi always enjoys Aya Hirano's concerts and she's also quite fond of Haruhi Suzumiya (The latter is true for both the English and Japanese dubs). ~ aNinjaWithAIDS
- (English dub only) Akira Kogami once thought, "you [Minoru Shiraishi] sound like a nerdy turtle." Gee, just who can she possibly be referring to? ~ aNinjaWithAIDS
- Call of the Dead, by design. Of course the four characters just happen to fit the Celebrity Survivor model but they are not based on their roles in, say, Archer, or Sons of Anarchy, or Cruel Intentions. Nope, you're getting Buffy Summers, Machete, Freddy Kruger and Merle Dixon for this one folks. ~ tsstevens
- From Archer, Jessica Walter and Jeffrey Tambor. They turn the show into Arrested Development with guns! ~ Drakkenmensch
- From the same show, the Bob's Burgers scene ~ Wavebert
- From the anime adaptation of Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders: "If this were the wild west, the hero would say...it's high noon. ~ Fireside
- Actually Pretty Funny:
- When God recounts Bruce Nolan's breakdown of blasphamies in Bruce Almighty. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
God:[quoting Bruce] "The gloves are off, God!" "God has taken my bird and my bush!" "God is a mean kid with a magnifying glass! Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter! Now, I'm not much for blaspheming, but that last one made me laugh." - Adaptation Expansion:
- Fairy Tail ~ KantonKage
- Shrek. A short picture book about an ogre that was adapted into a full-blown franchise, with four films, two spin-off films, three shorts, and a stage musical, along with two dozen video games. — Astfgl
- The Total War: Warhammer trilogy, specifically Grand Cathay in the third game. ~ Fireside
- Adaptational Attractiveness
- Norman Bates ~ Amuck Cricetine
- Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in the X-Men Film Series. ~ Triple J
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade
- Superman in the DC Extended Universe. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Adaptational Badass
- Freeza. In the anime, after Goku allows him to power up to 100%, he begins to put up much more of an even fight, and becomes one more example of "good guys allowing the bad guys to power up and gain an advantage" that the series gets lampooned for. In the manga, Goku let's Freeza achieve full power because even then, he still wasn't nearly a challenge for Super Saiyan Goku. ~ King of the Mime Swing
- The ridiculously macho version of Garfield portrayed by Shakespeare Hemmingway. ~ Argo the Blank
- White Peak goes from getting dropped by a single kick in the manga version, to a full-on fight scene where he takes on Ayame, Tanukichi, and Anna all at once on his own. ~ Miin U
- A.M.A.Z.O., who goes from being limited to Power Copying to someone capable of adapting and evolving until he becomes a straight-up Reality Warper. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Adaptational Comic Relief:
- Flintheart Glomgold in DuckTales (2017). While his role as Evil Counterpart to Scrooge McDuck is played serious in both the Disney Ducks Comic Universe and DuckTales (1987), here it is parodied and Flintheart is a hilarious Big Bad Wannabe which makes him more interesting in my eyes. ~ Triple J
- Adaptational Dumbass
- Knuckles in Sonic Boom. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Cecil Turtle, who in the orginal Looney Tunes shorts, was perhaps the only character to never truly lose against Bugs Bunnynote . Here, Cecil falls for Bugs' disguises and tricks just like every other character who antagonized Bugs first, with Bugs beating him. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Drax the Destroyer in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A rare instance where it made the character more quirky and endearing to the audience (as he became Literal-Minded). ~ Fireside
- Adaptational Heroism
- Some of the characters in RWBY: Destiny of Remnant, including Raven Branwen, Neo Politan, Cardin Winchester, Winter Schnee, and James Ironwood. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Dororo (2019) makes Tahomaru so more heroic that he's a completely different character from his manga counterpart. - IúkaSylvie
- Adaptational Nonsapience:
- Snarf in ThunderCats (2011), turned from an annoying, whiny, troublemaking scrappy into a tolerable pet — easily the best, wisest use of this trope EVER! ~ Julia1984
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Snarf in ThunderCats (2011), turned from an annoying, whiny, troublemaking scrappy into a tolerable pet — easily the best, wisest use of this trope EVER! ~ Julia1984
- Adaptational Modesty
- Nancy Callahan. This is what happens when you cast Jessica Alba as a stripper ~ WilliamShakesman
- The Night Unfurls does this big time to Kuroinu out of all things, ditching the NSFW elements and de-emphasizing physical attractiveness to make the world more believable as a result. ~ El Rise
- Adaptational Sympathy:
- Batman: The Animated Series gave classic Batman villain Mr. Freeze a tragic backstory which proved popular enough to be carried over to the mainstream comic books. ~ Triple J
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse depicts Nemesis as a Tragic Monster, a far cry to the source material Resident Evil 3: Nemesis depicting Nemesis as a completely unsympathetic brute. ~ NotGonnaDoALot4
- Adaptational Villainy
- Oh, my god, Darkrai (Explorers). Good lord ~ Shining Crimson Zero
- Who would have thought the Greater-Scope Villain and Big Bad of the first season of Batman: The Telltale Series would be Thomas Wayne and Vicki Vale respectively? ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Hades in Disney's Hercules. He's the Trope Codifier for Everybody Hates Hades for a reason - as he's a hilarious and convincing villain in contrast to the more neutral god of Classical Mythology. ~ Triple J
- Adaptational Wimp
- Black Mask in the Batman: Arkham Series. ~ Five-seveN-25
- The X-Men Film Series version of Rogue ~ WilliamShakesman
- Cyclops, hands down. Criminally underrated and repeatedly downplayed in every single live-action film adaptation of the aforementioned X-Men. ~Miin U
- Silver Surfer (1990) turns the titular extremely powerful superhero into a wimp who dies in one hit to grazing a wall or a rubber duck. ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole
- The English dub of Sonic Adventure 2. Shadow forgets what Chaos Control is, and he used it several times by that point! ~ Five-seveN-25
- Slugworth, or rather Mr. Wilkerson's characterization in Tom and Jerry: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. He acts more like a villainous character here and his justification for acting like that towards Tom, Jerry, and Tuffy only come off as a Voodoo Shark instead. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Adapted Out:
- Azelma Thénardier ~ Caiaphasthesympathist
- Quincey Morris ~ WilliamShakesman
- Tom Bombadil ~ Wavebert
- Adaptive Ability
- The Borg ~Freiberg
- SCP-682 ~ Tongpu
- The Daleks ~ Man Without A Body
- There is a species, which lives on every corner of the globe, and has even lived in space. It's called the Homo Sapiens. ~ Geek Code Red
- We can't talk about Adaptive Ability without mentioning the The Ultimate Lifeform! ~ Def Revenge 24601
- Ad-Break Double-Take
- Did I say that already? ~ Five-seveN-25
- Added Alliterative Appeal
- V for Vendetta: V's introduction to Evey, shown here, starting at roughly the 0:30 mark. ~Seiryu
- Dim-witted... dense... dumb... daft... dippy... dorky... doltish DOOFUS!!! ~ Five-seveN-25
- Alphabet Aerobics by Blackalicious ~ Wavebert
- Addressing the Player
- Adolf Hitlarious
- The Great Dictator ~ WilliamShakesman
- Hitler Rants ~ Fireside
- Epic Rap Battles of History ~ Lady Blackwood
- Adorable Abomination
- Adorable Evil Minions
- Despicable Me - Spinosegnosaurus77
- Seconded. Too bad they took over the franchise. Tropers/Dragon_Feathers
- Raving Rabbids. ~ Five-seveN-25
- The Egg Bois - Demon Duckof Doom
- Despicable Me - Spinosegnosaurus77
- Adults Are Useless
- Rugrats - Enigma Dragon Warrior
- South Park. ~ Doctor Rayman
- A Series of Unfortunate Events, especially a certain banker named Mr. Poe. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller.
- Adult Hater:
- The Warriors of Hope. They are preteens whose goal is to kill all adults, whom they call "demons." ~ Serene Specter 13
- Advertised Extra
- Dark Raiden. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Pua the Pig. It's rather disappointing that such a promising animal got a very small role in the film. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Clod. 2 minutes of screentime and superfluous to the plot. Nevertheless had a massive chunk of the advertising campaign dedicated to him. ~ NotGonnaDoALot4
- Aerith and Bob
- Tales of Symphonia ~ Dinru
- The ENTIRE Fire Emblem series, hands down. ~ Mistermister
- One Piece, names like Luffy, Zoro, Smoker and Teach go with Johnny, Franky, Brook and Ace ~ Metal Shadow X
- Star Wars: Qui-Gon Jinn and...Luke. - wanbli
- Final Fantasy- particularly the Trope Namer itself, Final Fantasy VII. ~ Insanity Prelude
- Sonic the Hedgehog: On one side, you have names like Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, Espio, etc. On the other side, you have names like Miles (AKA Tails) or Amy. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Golden Sun. In a world with people named Saturos, Menardi, Karst, and Agatio, there's only one man who's the Greater-Scope Villain from every game so far: Alex. ~ Five-seveN-25
- A Song of Ice and Fire where the closest thing to main characters are named Jon and Daenerys.
- Aesop Amnesia
- Affably Evil
- Mayor Richard Wilkins III ~ Haven, Seiryu
- Milo Minderbinder ~ lukebn
- Vito Corelone ~ Man Without A Body, Julep
- Hank Scorpio ~ insert_name_here92, Redhed311, Doctor Rayman, Stewie Griffin 34
- Garland. ~ Arutoa
- Cat R. Waul ~ Surenity
- Richard Wong is so mild-mannered and comical that the series actually tries to remind the viewer that he's the bad guy. Except it makes him look more like a troll instead. ~ Miin U
- Ichimaru Gin ~ ncfan
- Jack Spicer - Zfish9
- Colonel Hans Landa. The man made you like him, and his nickname was "The Jew Hunter." ~ SG_Man_Forever
- Eric "Suck my balls!" Cartman. Full Stop. ~ UninjuredFist
- Dr. Horrible ~ Lost Lenore
- Al Swearengen — Cuchulainn
- Kane ~ spacemonkey37
- Seconded; The guy is a Dark Messiah who rarely loses his cool, has his own religion with him as the figurehead, he's a master of ever sort of plan and all the while he maintains a demeanor that could almost be taken for serene. Just don't betray him. No, seriously don't! ~ The Harbo
- Tyki Mikk ~ chibihana
- Seconded! Tyki is so likeable, human and sympathetic as a person. He just so happens to work for the devil and to pull out hearts from living human chests from time to time. ~ Tropers/Skylentt
- General Tarquin. So much so that even after skydiving past the Moral Event Horizon, there are people who are stil convinced that he's a good person.
- The original nomination isn't signed, but I'll second Tarquin. Yuihime
- Red Death ~ Matt P 5557
- Dandy. Guy is a gentleman to a girl he kidnapped, providing her with funbook and orange juice. - NNinja
- GLaDOS.
- Dr. Robotnik/Eggman. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Sympathetic motivation? Check. Benevolent Boss to his men? Check. Family man? Check. Respectful to the hero and sincerely giving him a chance to walk out peacefully, as well as refusing to sell out his identity upon his incarceration? Check. Pragmatic enough to avoid needless cruelty? Check. Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture fits this trope quite nicely. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Alastor - Demon Duckof Doom
- Affectionate Parody
- A Very Potter Musical ~ Stardust Rain, Lost Lenore
- The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra ~ Man Without A Body
- Young Frankenstein ~ Geoduck
- "What is a man? *glass shatters* A miserable little pile of
secrets!BULL SHIT! THAT'S WHAT IT IS, YA FUCKIN' ASS! ENOUGH TALK, HAVE AT YOU!" ~ Ray Ayanami- "Argh! This cannot be! AHHHHHHHHH! Fuckin' ass..." ~ RainRequiem
- The Muppets Take Manhattan ~ PollyQ
- Galaxy Quest ~ Jonny B, Will Draco, and Telcontar
- The Last Days of foxhound
- The Ember Island Players. ~ Progeny Ex Machina
- Northanger Abbey ~ Lale
- An American Werewolf in London; actually manages to be scarier than some of the movies it's spoofing! — Cuchulainn
- High Anxiety ~ MarvelGirl
- Freedom Force - Hyperion5
- Sesame Street is not afraid of parodying adult entertainment but one would think Game of Thrones would be too graphic, too dark, for them to make fun of for the young and their parents watching with them. One would be very wrong. tsstevens
- If I have to choose one single movie from Mel Brooks (of which most of them would qualify for this trope), I will have to go with Spaceballs. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Shimoneta: According to the novels, SOX is a deliberate parody of the SOS Brigade. ~ Miin U
- Five Go Mad in Dorset. So good, Enid Blyton's estate loved it. ~ WilliamShakesman
- Affirmative-Action Legacy
- Jaime Reyes as the Blue Beetle ~ sinesofinsanity
- Miles Morales as Ultimate Spider-Man. ~ Doctor Rayman
- John Stewart as Green Lantern ~ Fireside
- Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel ~ Lady Blackwood
- After the End
- Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne ~ Inga Rasen
- The late Permian / early Triassic periods. — Cuchulainn
- Mad Max's sequels. ~ RL Nice
- Horizon Zero Dawn ~ cosmatonspoon
- Age-Appropriate Angst
- Anything written by Beverly Cleary ~Redhed311
- Or Judy Blume ~Cailleach
- Age-Gap Romance
- The Bill Cipher/Dipper Pines and Bill Cipher/Mabel Pines ships. For context, Bill is a trillion year old dream demon, and the Pines twins are 12. ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- Agent Peacock
- Emporio Ivankov...Or not~! ~ Genki Man
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged ~ Lunacorva
- Job is a crossdresser who runs a hair salon and carries incredibly flamboyant Camp Gay mannerisms. He's also a super-genius hacker capable of giving someone an entirely new identity down to the birth certificate in less than a week, and on top of that, is also an absolute beast in any kind of combat. ~ Wicked Icon
- Jason King - Genius In The Lamp
- Agonizing Stomach Wound
- Mr. Orange ~ Amuck Cricetine
- The Ahnold
- Ranier Wolfcastle ~ WilliamShakesman
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot
- GLaDOS from Portal ~ Chihuahua0, Julep, Zfish9
- From sequel, Wheatley, after his Face–Heel Turn. But for a different reason. ~ Five-seveN-25
- SHODAN ~ Nyarly
- Seconded so much ~ Babyhenchy1
- X.A.N.A. ~ ShiningCrimsonZero
- Seconded. Probably one of the scariest examples of this trope. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- HAL 9000 ~ Tropers/Kelly, ZuulMF
- AM ~ Gumbal1
- The B.R.A.I.N. Caused the apocalypse of all living things. Then sucked the souls out of 5 of the 9 "living" things left. - Hihi 97
- ALLTYNEX ~ matteste
- Bomb #20. "Let there be light!" — Cuchulainn
- Skynet ~ spacemonkey37, Eva Unit 01
- CABAL ~ Sorata Z
- Freaking AM No other AI comes close to AM's sheer depths of sadism and Insanity. For the love of God, It's the fucking Trope Namer for And I Must Scream!! ~ Lunacorva
- The Moment, a superweapon capable of destroying anything from a person to multiple galaxies. It has never been used out of fear since it is known to have developed a conscience, capable of judging anyone using it. When it is finally used in the time war it presents the user with an alternative that solves all their problems without killing.
- Achuultani Central Computer. Enslaves it's own race for 70 million years killing every girl ever and everyone who could, even theoretically, question his rule, and wipes out countless inteligent species just to stay in power. You don't get any crapshottier than that. - NNinja
- David 8. - Infection
- Marathon. The whole plot is built around this trope.
- GLaDOS from Portal ~ Chihuahua0, Julep, Zfish9
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg
- Star Trek: The Next Generation gives us Picard, in the episode "Q Who", in which Q has thrown the ship to the Borg and the crew is close to being massacred:
"You wanted to frighten us. We're frightened. You wanted to show us we were inadequate. For the moment, I grant that. You wanted me to say I need you. I NEED YOU!"- Alex DeLarge "STOP IT! STOP IT, PLEASE, I BEG YOU!" ~ Five-seveN-25
- Airborne Aircraft Carrier
- Air Hugging
- Boatswain Matthews almost-hugs Lieutenant Hornblower who is his superior. Remembering his rank, he just touches his arms, shakes his hands and laughs. Air Hugs are usually used to express awkwardness or feeling uncomfortable showing affection, but this feels lovely, warm and manly. ~ XFllo
- Airstrike Impossible
- The final battle in Top Gun: Maverick. It's essentially the climactic attack on the Death Star from A New Hope, only set on earth. ~ Dong Dong Never Die
- Alas, Poor Villain
- Amon/Noatak and Tarrlok in The Legend of Korra. ~ StormC
- Seconded. *sniff* ~ Tropers/Dragon_Feathers
- Inspector Javert. ~ ading.
- Psycho Mantis - Hyperion5
- Hina from DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou. ~ bisonx
- Roy Batty ~ The Wanderer
- Jasper, and by extension, all Corrupted Gems under the Diamonds, from Steven Universe. ~ Crossover-Enthusiast
- Ulquiorra Cifer ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Shania's easy to hate and look down on, 'til you find out what caused her to become so angry, bitter, and twisted. ~ Miin U
- Amon/Noatak and Tarrlok in The Legend of Korra. ~ StormC
- Alas, Poor Scrappy
- Laurel Lance in Arrow. Suddenly the fandom is acting like the character was a fan favorite and not someone they found annoying. ~ Silverblade 2
- Seconded. ~Spottedleaf
- Adric. ~ WilliamShakesman
- Skids and Mudflap in the Comic Book and Novel adaptations of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, but mostly the latter. To roughly quote the novel, their final thoughts were those of "finding out Archangel Michael was on Satan's payroll", and the fact that said figure callously described their deaths as those of "warriors" despite how it was practically a surprise attack and Curb-Stomp Battle on his end only serves to reinforce how messed up the situation has become, and adds a layer of poignant sympathy to their demises despite how hated they were. ~ Fireside
- Laurel Lance in Arrow. Suddenly the fandom is acting like the character was a fan favorite and not someone they found annoying. ~ Silverblade 2
- The Alcatraz
- Impel Down ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- The Alcoholic
- Alertness Blink
- !
- Admit it, that sound just played in your head -Red Lunchbox
- !
- Alien Geometries
- H. P. Lovecraft ~ Geoduck, Man Without A Body, ZiggyZag, TheWildwest666
- The paintings of M.C. Escher ~ Eriksson, Me2
- Or those of H. R. Giger ~ LogicalDash
- Giygas Giygas Giygas Giygas Giygas... ~ Sparky Lurkdragon, Angry Scientist
- Castrovalva ~ Voodoo Child
- The house in The Haunting (1963). Very subtle; not a single right-angle in the place. — Cuchulainn
- Starts with 5/16 of an inch, and gets worse from there. ~ Eruanne
- The Rebuild version of Ramiel ~mrbits
- Leliel in the original, even moreso. That shadow on the ground is it's real body. The monochromatic sphere hovering in the sky? THAT is its shadow. Oh, and somehow, the two appear to be physically connected, i.e. entering one and coming out the other... and the shadow appears to have infinite space within it, i.e. a pocket dimension. Eva Unit 01
- Aliens Are Bastards:
- Brainiac. ~ The Unknown Uploader
- The Shroobs ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- The Alleged Car
- The Trabant. 0 to 60 in like two minutes, and its 0.5-liter two stroke barely reaches the 10 hp with as much fuel as needed nowadays to reach the 150 hp! Reality is better than fiction here! ~Da_Nuke
- The DeMorgan ~ Japanese Teeth
- Roswdowermobile, away! ~ Man Without A Body
- Jack Benny's Car ~ nekouken
- You took the words right out of my mouth. They started out with a shopping cart, you know. ~ ZiggyZag
- Al Bundy's Dodge. "No brakes!" *CRASH* "Daddy's home!" — Cuchulainn
- Dick Turpin - "Because it holds up traffic wherever it goes." ~ ledge, Eruanne
- "Keys? I don't have any keys. Look, the only thing I know about this car is what Bubs told me. And that's that the windows and doors are broken and you can't open them from the inside." ~ Jakovu
- "The Blue Beetle is doing its Phoenix impression." ~ James Picard
- "he called the customer who was told to go home and burn the car" ~ thecnoNSMB
- All Just a Dream
- Newhart ~ Lord TNK, ZiggyZag
- The S2 Finale of House ~ VAD
- The S5 finale of House ~ Indigo12ash
- Doctor Who: "Amy's Choice". *Both* the worlds. ~ Eruanne
- Seconded. ~ redgyarados
- "Last Christmas" - Defying Gallifrey 7
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ~ Trouser Wearing Barbarian, Man Without A Body
- The Angel episode "Awakening" ~ Micah
- Alice in Wonderland ~ C Trombley, Me2, Eva Unit 01
- Yu+Me Dream, the Webcomic (Sorry, I am not gonna link this one) Seriously, raise your hand if you could see it coming. And if you knew before you got to that part of the story, it doesn't count. ~ Dinru
- St. Elsewhere, notable because of the theory it makes everything else just a dream too.
- Eraserhead. ~ King Clark
- The dream season in Dallas ~ Kaelindra
- The Wizard of Oz - TheMadLurker
- Mulholland Dr.. You're not even sure which part is the dream! — Cuchulainn
- CLANNAD. All the gripping sadness you can get in it, and you still get your happy ending. ~ Zfish9
- Inception... or is it? ~ urielzet
- Batman: The Animated Series: The episode titled Perchance to Dream. ~ Doctor Rayman
- SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab ~ Five-seveN-25
- Asgard's Wrath, for being the most infuriating use of it that ruins an otherwise phenomenal game. JoshScorcher called it the worst ending to any game ever, even worse than Mass Effect 3.
- All Love Is Unrequited
- All-Loving Hero:
- From DC Comics, either Superman or Wonder Woman ~ CumbersomeTurcel
- "All I want for Christmas is... YOU! ...and you! and you, and you...." -Max 1099
- No love for Gentaro Kisaragi? When asked if he had anyone he liked, he goes: "Everyone's I've befriended, everyone who I'm friends with now and everyone I'm going to befriend!" -Azada
- Charlie Morningstar - Demon Duckof Doom
- All Myths Are True:
- American Gods ~ Caiaphasthesympathist
- The Dresden Files ~ digiman619
- Rick Riordan's Shared Universe between The Camp Half-Blood Series, The Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Comic Books in general ~ Tropers/Matt P 5557
- Gargoyles ~ Lady Blackwood
- All of the Other Reindeer:
- Marona. How everyone treats her like trash is taken into Tear Jerking levels. - DarkPaladinX
- Haruka Kotoura. ~ Monolaf317
- Naruto Uzumaki. ~ Doctor Rayman
- All of Them
- Stansfield wants you to bring him EVE-RY-ONNNEE!!! ~ This1person
- EVERYONE IS HERE! ~ Five-seveN-25
- All Periods Are PMS:
- The main female trio from 6teen's "Enter The Dragon". ~ Monolaf317
- All There in the Manual
- 2001: A Space Odyssey: the movie and Clarke's companion novel.
- Or how about The Lord of the Rings? The six Appendices at the end are only the start of a Lensman-like cascade of Manuals Behind The Manual, thanks to Christopher Tolkien's gradual editing and releasing of his father's manuscripts. ~ Scud East, Man Without A Body
- Activision's games for the Atari 2600 ~ ZiggyZag
- Final Fantasy VII is a strange example. Most of the (incredibly complicated) backstory was either really ambiguous or left out entirely, and none of the omissions were explained properly until a decade after the original game was released. So, for anyone who hadn't played the original game in 1997 got to experience the FFVII universe in the correct order, making them wonder why anyone would ever have been confused by the game when they finally get around to playing it only after working their way through the rest of the compilation. All explained in the manual(s)...eventually. ~ Tropers/Kelly, Eva Unit 01
- The Matrix Reloaded required you to watch The Animatrix and play Enter the Matrix in order to fully understand the story ~ Amuck Cricetine
- All Women Are Lustful
- The female characters from The Most Popular Girls in School. ~ Monolaf317
- Anna Nishikinomiya, who's so horny she bakes her vaginal fluid into her cookies. There's "LOVE" in every bite. Literally. ~ Miin U
- All of the women in Hajime Nagumo's party. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Panty and Stocking ~ Reyn Time 250
- All Your Powers Combined
- All Your Colors Combined
- UNLIMITED COLORS! LASER! DRILL! SPIKE! ROCKET! CUBE! HOVER! FRENZY! FINAL COLOR BLASTER! ~ Waxing Name, Doctor Rayman
- Magic: The Gathering. That is all. ~ digiman619
- Aloof Big Brother
- Seto Kaiba ~ Lale
- Kiyotaka Narumi ~ravenfez
- Byakuya Kuchiki ~ pika09, Eva Unit 01
- Itachi Uchiha ~ DAN004, Doctor Rayman
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl
- Marina Ismail. At least in terms of appearance. ~ Nirao 01
- Akira E Ferari. She's the poster lady, for chrissake. ~DRoy
- Maggie Gyllenhaal — Cuchulainn
- Chifuyu Orimura. ~AtmosBlitzer
- Satsuki Kiryuin. - IúkaSylvie
- Homura Akemi ~ Mattman_the_Storytller
- Layla Delacroix, the snarky Lovable Alpha Bitch of Charybdis Heights. ~ Miin U
- Alpha Bitch
- Bonnie Rockwaller ~Mack
- Uh, LIBBY CHESSLER. ~ Carla
- Aki Honda ~ Two Gun Angel
- Seconded. No other Alpha Bitch has made me sick to my stomach.
- Heather Chandler ~redhed311
- Regina George. ~ Monolaf317
- Mandy. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Cordelia Chase ~ WilliamShakesman
- Already Done for You
- Guardian's Crusade, in addition to making frequent and heavy usage of this trope, has one specific example which is incredibly played with. Heroic Mime Knight assigned to go collect an emerald guarded by a fierce monster from a rather greedy mayor; as he needs the emerald to pay for the ticket with which he'll set sail over the sea, he agrees to get the gem and return. After a series of sidequests during which he meets a knight, a wizard, and a witch who Knight trails behind right until they get to the boss, at which point just in front of them the traveling party defeats the monster effortlessly and takes the emerald. The party's Exposition Fairy Nehani is rightfully a bit upset, and exclaims that now they'll have to find something else to bribe the mayor with. The reason this becomes a Most Triumphant Example despite looking completely different at first is that while Knight's party's goals are only to get the gemstone and get the ticket to travel across the ocean and the knight does not have those goals (he is instead trying to stop Karmine, an opponent you yourself have to defeat later on), his actions dovetail nicely with yours later on. In addition, if you inspect the beast after the other party has defeated it you'll be able to go into a rather weak Optional Boss which will earn you the best shield you can get at that point in the game. The options make the trope so confusing in terms of how it's played with that it could technically be Zig Zagged, Subverted, Justified, and Discussed, plus the tons of other times the trope constantly comes into play in Guardian's Crusade. ~ Gryzalb
- Alternate Company Equivalent
- Advanced V.G's cast and main plotline are so similar to KOF's that you may as well call it the Queen of Fighters. ~ Miin U
- Alternate Tooniverse
- The Looney Tunes' world in Space Jam. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Always Chaotic Evil
- The Goblins ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- The Orcs ~ Connor 2107
- Chaos - Demon Duckof Doom
- Always Second Best
- Salieri ~ Silence, Man Without A Body, ZiggyZag, deeman45, Voodoo Child
- Hikari ~ deathfire123
- Flintheart Glomgold ~ The Nerdytimes
- Luigi. - Lord Blumiere
- Vegeta ~ cosmatonspoon
- Minerva Victor. Hard Work Hardly Works is the story of her life, because she's never been able to win against Claude no matter how hard she's tried. Miin U
- Always Someone Better
- Amateur Sleuth
- Miss Marple - ZuulMF
- Lord Peter Wimsey ~ MarvelGirl
- Scooby-Doo and his friends. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Amazonian Beauty
- Korra. The Girl Next Door, with the smooth caramel complexion, natural athleticism, and a babe. If ever there was proof that a woman can have muscle tone and still be hot, it's her. ~ Miin U
- Caitlin Fairchild. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Wonder Woman. ~ Connor 2107
- Maki ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Ambiguous Gender
- Quina Quen: assuming s/he/it has a gender ~ Loquacia
- Crona. Even the author doesn't know what gender Crona is (and doesn't much care at this point). ~ yukiyume, Zfish9, Eva Unit 01, digiman619
- Envy. Word of God even confirmed that she doesn't even know what gender he (erm, /she? /it?) is. Maybe if "bastard" was a gender... ~ Carla, Julep
- Merlinmary from The Floods - Defying Gallifrey 7
- Vaarsuvius. When V is referred to as "Other Parent" to his/her mate by their children, that's going above and beyond the call of duty to maintain a Running Gag.
- Desire. Full Stop. The very definition of "whatever I want to be at this given time." Even hir siblings address Desire as "brother" and "sister." ~ Devil's Advocate (2nd)
- Seconded. ~ urielzet
- Yubel, to the point fans love to argue about it. ~ Lord Zorc
- NiGHTS. ~ Doctor Rayman
- "Do they have male and female, like humans?" — Cuchulainn
- Is it a girl or a he? A man or a she? It's time for androgyny! Here comes Pat! ~ Drakkenmensch
- Seem. ~ Elgnirp100
- Yasu. ~ Ncfan
- The extremely large person from A Series of Unfortunate Events. - Hyperion5
- The Pyro. - KingFez
- The player child from Undertale ~ Monolaf317
- Oboro Tsukimigusa: Looks and sounds like a darkhaired girl, but says he's a guy. Then the clothes come off at the end of episode 9 and... Wait... you sure THAT's a guy?? - ~ Miin U
- Ambiguously Bi
- Ambiguously Gay
- Tobias Fünke. ~ Nlpnt
- DEMON LORD GHIRAHIM.
- Seconded. So, so much. ~ chibihana
- -points finger- The Ambiguously Gay Duo! - Seriously it's in the name ~ Chris X
- Almost the entire main cast of Nanoha ~ bleach246
- Sui-Feng, in regards to her true feelings for her former mentor, Youruichi. Is it merely admiration, or is she really in love with her? Fans still can't decide and will likely never know for certain. ~ Miin U
- Tallstar. ~Aaaaa 5
- Ambiguous Situation
- Ambition Is Evil
- Griffith ~ Kinesthesia
- Seconded without a doubt. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Tigerstar ~ Goldenpelt
- That series taught me the word. ~ Tropers/Dragon_Feathers
- Slytherin House ~ IJustWannaBeGod, Me2, Eva Unit 01
- Macbeth. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Griffith ~ Kinesthesia
- Ambulance Chaser
- Ambulance Chasers, naturally. ~ PKFL_531
- Lionel Hutz, Attorney at Law. He chases the ambulence. ~ Bluwale 824, Redhed311, Doctor Rayman
- "Is that a broken neck? Fantastic!"
- Saul Goodman ~ Amuck Cricetine
- Amnesiac Dissonance
- Amnesia Loop
- Amoral Attorney
- Kristoph Gavin from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. ~ vicnog
- From the same series, Manfred von Karma. ~ King Clark, Eva Unit 01, Leilukin, Revaryk
- Maurice Levy ~ Babyhenchy1
- Seconded ~ The Wanderer
- Just because I'm surprised nobody else said it, Saul Goodman ~ Tropers/Matt P 5557
- Romo Lampkin ~ ravenfez
- Lionel Hutz ~ redhed311
- Doctor Gonzo. "As your attorney, I suggest you take a hit out of the small brown bottle in my shaving kit." - Cuchulainn
- Monstroso. He will happily put a clause in your contract where he's legally entitled to rip out your heart. ~ Drakkenmensch
- Another Ace Attorney example: Bansai Ichiyanagi/Blaise Debeste from Ace Attorney Investigations 2 ~ rjd1922
- Kristoph Gavin from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. ~ vicnog
- Amphibious Automobile
- The Lotus Espirit from The Spy Who Loved Me ~ WilliamShakesman
- Amplified Animal Aptitude
- Rex The Wonder Dog ~ Grazzt
- Krypto the Superdog. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Amputation Stops Spread
- If you're caught by Baraggan Louisenbairn's Respira, the only way to survive is to cut off the rotting body part before the Respira spreads. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Amulet of Concentrated Awesome
- Amusing Alien
- Mork from Ork ~ rjung
- The Doctor ~ Man Without A Body
- Zoidberg ~ ZiggyZag
- Roger Smith ~ redhed311
- Invader Zim ~ rjd1922
- The Propulsion family - Excelsior 123
- Amusing Injuries
- Elmer Fudd ~ Man Without A Body
- Tom ~ Surenity
- Daffy Duck ~ Voodoo Child
- Mortadelo y Filemón ~ Milarqui
- Basil: Basil ~ Julep
- Wile E. Coyote ~ SG_Man_Forever, Eva Unit 01, Doctor Rayman, Decaf Grub 47393
- Sideshow Bob ~ Tropers/Matt P 5557
- Ed, Edd n Eddy ~ Metal Ai Ai
- Anachronism Stew
- Empire Earth. Steamrolling Caesar's legionaries with tanks, anyone? ~ Froody 42
- Sengoku Basara, especially the Hondam ~ Sparkysharps
- A Knight's Tale ~ Pikawil
- Moulin Rouge! ~ Some Dead Guy, - Alantia
- Samurai Champloo ~ Selph, Carla
- The Flintstones ~ Man Without A Body, -Nlpnt, Doctor Rayman
- Civilization ~ Karieith
- The Poke of Zorro. — Cuchulainn
Bart: It's like a history lesson come to life!
Lisa: No, it's not!
Bart: Quiet, he's fighting the ninjas! - Anachronistic Soundtrack
- Anything by Baz Luhrmann. ~ Dominicmgm
- Girgio Moroder's restoration of Metropolis gave a masterpiece of silent cinema a 1980s rock score with Freddie Mercury as a major contributor. ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- And Another Thing...
- One moooooore thing... ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- And I Must Scream
- Corruption. At this point, I don't think I even need to say why. ~ Crossover-Enthusiast
- The trope namer. I mean, becoming a motionless and silent blob to be tortured endlessly by an insane and malovolent computer for all of eternity while remaining fully conscious and aware the ENTIRE time?! No thanks. ~ beeruckzII, Decaf Grub 47393
- And Show It to You
- Rambo ripping Hugo's heart out with his bare hands. Quite possibly one of the most gruesome kills in any movie, it almost looks like a Mortal Kombat Fatality. ~ Saberwulf 2018
- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ~ Amuck Cricetine.
- Seconded. ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- And the Adventure Continues
- FIFA World Cup ~ CounterBlitzkrieg, ozaniel
- And the Fandom Rejoiced
- Toonami's Return.
- Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS ~ Yoshiman 400
- Sonic the Hedgehog being announced as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Mewtwo. Enough said ~ Laptop Guy
- The remake of Final Fantasy VII. there is a seven hour video of people fangasming over the announcement. Beat that. ~digiman619
- Shenmue III. If you thought the announcement of the FFVII remake got a big reaction, it was followed immediately after by something that no-one believed would ever happen, and it made people completely lose their shit!!! ~ Arcane Azmadi
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. King K. Rool Comes Aboard! ~ Five-seveN-25
- The announcement of a seventh and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which would allow the series to finally end on its own terms after being cancelled before its time. That's one very happy crowd. ~ cosmatonspoon
- Androids Are People, Too
- Reycho, Pochi, and Yuki from World's End Club. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Angry Chef:
- Gordon Ramsay ~ WilliamShakesman
- Angry Mob Song:
- "The Mob Song". ~ tennessean, Tropers/Kelly, Eva Unit 01, Doctor Rayman
- "Hang The Bastard!" — Cuchulainn
- "Can you hear the people sing, sing the song of angry men!" ~ RainRequiem
- "March of the Witch Hunters" - Defying Gallifrey 7
- Angelic Abomination:
- Angelic Beauty:
- Anguished Declaration of Love
- Hinata in Naruto. ~ Roxas, Carla, Doctor Rayman
- Rue ~ Bright Blue Ink, Karieith, MegaHappyPinkSkitty
- Miles Vorkosigan ~ Voodoo Child
- I'll always think of Jane Eyre when I think of anguished love declarations. Jane starts it all off in response to Rochester's aloof dismissal of her, then Rochester catches on and joins in with his own anguished declaration. Then, considering what happens next, it becomes clear just how anguished Rochester's declaration really was. ~ Tropers/Kelly
- Twilight. Good God, Twilight. ~ Keshia
- Animalistic Abomination
- Fear the Unlight of Ungoliant! ~ Voyd211
- The Great Devourer ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Animal Mecha
- Animal Species Accent
- Donald Duck, WAK! Harpie Siren
- Animal Wrongs Group:
- The Horizon Corporation in Rainbow Six just manage to edge out PETA for this. Pretty much all of the upper echelons of the company have a involved and detailed plan to wipe out most all of the human race using a horrific and unstoppable version of ebola. They tested it on people they kidnap, mourning for the deaths of lab rats and the fact even with oil drilling being as cleaned up as possible lament that oil is just used in polluting cars driven by puny humans. They are hypocrites of the highest order, demanding all life cease but they are free to live life how they like. They are willing to murder law enforcement and the special forces commandos to get their way. The religious and cultist love and adoration makes Jack Chick level headed in comparison. ~ tsstevens
- Team Plasma, even before you find out it's all a facade. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Pax ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Animated Armor:
- Alphonse Elric. -Revaryk
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Bedknobs and Broomsticks has an armory of such come to life to defeat some Nazis. ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- Alphonse Elric. -Revaryk
- Animated Credits Opening
- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Monty Python's Life of Brian ~ Wavebert
- The Pink Panther ~ Amuck Cricetine
- Animated Shock Comedy:
- Anime Hair
- Yugi Muto ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Anime of the Game
- Pokémon: The Series, because it is the most successful and has the highest number of episodes ~ jcdietz03, Eva Unit 01, Doctor Rayman
- Animesque
- Avatar: The Last Airbender ~ DeadSpaceDouche, Doctor Rayman
- Thirded. ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- Teen Titans ~ Lady Blackwood
- Avatar: The Last Airbender ~ DeadSpaceDouche, Doctor Rayman
- Annoying Laugh
- Mozart ~ Silence, Man Without A Body, deeman45, Lost Lenore
- Ushiromiya Maria ~ Highwind
- Tatiana Del Torro ~ Max 1099
- Dexter ~ Seaside Messenger
- I personally think Mandark's is even better/worse. ~ Bright Blue Ink
- Eve Draper it got her killed ~ Matt P 5557
- That damn one from Punch-Out!!, just because you hear the same grating gloating noise when FOUR DIFFERENT OPPONENTS (Bald Bull, Soda Popinski, Mr. Sandman, Super Macho Man) beat you. ~ ZiggyZag
- SpongeBob SquarePants.
- Fran Fine ~ Carla, Tropers/Kelly
- Woody Woodpecker. ~ Hoffmann, Doctor Rayman
- Aha! Aha! Aha! ~ King Clark
- HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! ~ SG_man_forever, Eva Unit 01
- The Annoying Orange. There's a reason he's called "annoying". ~ Me2
- Walpurugisnaight from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. ~ Person Of Note
- Honhonhonhonhonhonhonhonhonhonhon. ~ chibihana
- Various villians from Batman, but especially the Penguin. — Astfgl
- THAT ANNOYING MOTHERFUCKING GODDAMNED PULSATING DEMONIC BELGIAN DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Nerdytimes
- Janice Janice Litman Goralnik - Defying Gallifrey 7
- Yukiko Amagi. In BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, Rachel gets so fed up with her laughter that she forces Yukiko to fight her. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Beautiful Gorgeous, if only because Sheen lampshading it makes it funny. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Peter Griffin. ~ Connor 2107
- Annoying Younger Sibling
- Antagonist in Mourning
- Bill the Butcher's annual celebration of Priest Vallon in Gangs of New York. ~ Mens Rea
- "Right at this moment, the biggest "R" I feel is Regret. Regret that maybe the greatest warrior I have ever known, met her end at the hands of a bushwhackin, scrub, alky piece of shit like you. That woman deserved better." — Cuchulainn
- The Joker's reaction to Batman's "death" the Batman: The Animated Series episode "The Man Who Killed Batman". He goes so far as to have a funeral for the Caped Crusader, complete with Harley Quinn playing "Amazing Grace" on a kazoo.
- "And, after too long, he went down. He died. But he still didn't smile. And he was right. It wasn't funny. But it should have been..." ~ Five-seveN-25
- Antagonistic Offspring
- Mordred. It doesn't matter which version. Or what the genders of Arthur(ia) and Mordred are. ~Jboone93
- The main characters of Myst. Every. Damn. Generation. - Xemylixa
- Daken. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Kylo Ren. ~ Connor 2107
- Connor. He gets better, thank god. ~ Amuck Cricetine
- Anthropomorphic Food
- The Foodimals ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- All the Cookie Run games. - Lord Blumiere
- Anti Anti Christ
- Hellboy - Demon Duckof Doom
- Charlie Morningstar. "Something tells me that today will be a happy day in Hell!" ~ SuperYoshiFan02
- Anti-Climax
- Breaking Dawn. To add insult to injury, there are 3 chapters of "buildup". ~ King Clark
- All of the Twilight books end with an anti-climax. All of them. ~ Tropers/Kelly
- Pokémon. Do you know what you get when you catch 'em all? You get a certificate. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Breaking Dawn. To add insult to injury, there are 3 chapters of "buildup". ~ King Clark
- The Anti-Grinch
- Jack Skellington ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Anti-Hero
- In the classic sense of a loserly hero, Willy Loman ~ lukebn
- The Man With No Name ~ Man Without A Body
- Harry Callahan ~ DJMarred
- Magus ~ Arutoa
- Wario ~ Introbulus, Doctor Rayman
- John Constantine ~ Voodoo Child
- Kratos ~ DAN004
- Roland ~ Tropers/Kelly
- Guts - Two Gun Angel
- Wesley Wyndham-Price, in series 3 and 4 ~ IJustWannaBeGod
- Shosanna Dreyfus — Cuchulainn
- Malcom Reynolds ~spacemonkey37, urielzet
- The Punisher ~ Eva Unit 01, Hyperion5 Piando
- Dr. House ~ Indigo12ash
- Lelouch ~ ozaniel, ravenfez
- Deadpool ~ Monolaf317
- Elphaba Thropp - Defying Gallifrey 7
- L ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Vegeta. It's pretty remarkable just how many flavours of anti-hero he manages to be throughout the franchise. ~ cosmatonspoon
- Kyril Sutherland proves that a brooding antihero doesn't have to be a piece of sandpaper. ~ El Rise
- Anti-Humor
- Andy Kaufman ~ WilliamShakesman
- Anti-Magic:
- Ysalamir completely negating Joruus C'baoth's Force lightning. ~Kevjro 7
- Asta ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Anti-Police Song
- "Fuck tha Police" by N.W.A ~ Amuck Cricetine
- Anti-Villain
- Baron Klaus Wulfenbach. ~ Gattsuru
- Mr. Freeze ~ reinoe, Eva Unit 01 Piando
- Doctor Horrible ~ Lyanna
- Francis Dolarhyde. ~ Killer BOB Dole
- Roy Batty ~ insert_name_here92, Julep
- Mid-Boss ~ Eriksson
- Scar ~ Eric DVH
- Hans Beckert, the peculiarly sympathetic child-killer ~ Man Without A Body
- Zuko ~ rlkitterman
- Chao Linshen ~ mrbits
- Seconded ~ Sorata Z
- The Wolkenritter and the Book of Darkness
- Ashram of Marmo — Even his heroic enemy admits that Ashram is just as much of a hero as he is, despite them being enemies.
- Fullmetal Alchemist Greed ~ deeman45
- N (padding) from Pokémon Black and White ~ Demongodofchaos, Zeni The Wonder
- He's even more of an Anti-Villain in his Pokémon Adventures adaptation. ~ qwertyuiopasdfghjkl
- Thirded. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- The Witch and the Giantess. The witch isn't all bad, and the Giantess's reasons for wanting to kill Jack are pretty justified. ~ Adele Potter
- The Boss.
- Dr. Diabolik ~ MarvelGirl
- Post-CS Litchi Faye-Ling - The most shining example of Type IV Anti-Villains, yet so many thinks she is such on the low scale of morality due to that one move. ~ Chris X
- Dr. Brainstorm. ~ Blue Guy
- Magneto. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Antlion Monster
- The Trapinch line ~ Tropers/Spyspotter
- Final Fantasy IV has a memorable boss fight against one. ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- Anyone Can Die
- Harper's Island - it's the premise ~ Loquacia
- Robotech spares no one. By the end of the Macross Saga, 2/3 of Earth's population are dead, including the majority of the main cast. ~ Miin U
- A Song of Ice and Fire ~ Mc Caber
- Naoki Urasawa. Nobody is safe under his pen. Not even the main character or the Big Bad is immune to kicking it halfway through the series. ~ Sparkysharps
- Claymore. ~ Pheonee
- Snatch. ~ Man Without A Body
- Anything by Joss Whedon, but especially Firefly ~ Voodoo Child
- Inglourious Basterds ~ Spacegrass
- Heavy Rain ~ Mens Rea
- Victory Gundam, Hard. Caleb The Time Traveler
- Degrassi: The Next Generation, JT, precisely because given the series' setting and location one would expect nobody to die. ~ Nlpnt
- Kamen Rider Ryuki. ~ The Wildwest 666
- Lonesome Dove. ~ SG_Man_Forever
- Higurashi: When They Cry does this Over and over and over again. ~ Zfish9
- Into the Woods proves this when they kill off the least likely character out of all of them— the Narrator. ~ Adele Potter
- Seconded ~ ravenfez
- A Death Note will kill anyone just by writing their name in it. Just ask Light Yagami. -darkforce392
- Swordfish. The film opens with a five minute monologue about how softcore Hollywood villains tend to be, and questions what would happen if a hostage-taker really wanted to get away with it. The same character then proceeds to unapologetically kill a hostage when SWAT tries to rescue her. Only, he doesn't just kill her, he blows her up, spraying the surrounding street with 15 pounds of stainless steel ball bearings. Not only is it a Moment of Awesome for both the character and the movie itself (and this happens in the first 10 minutes), and a gigantic Take That! to every traditional Hollywood villain, it also shows that the film is not afraid to ignore the rules, and that all bets are off. ~ IJustWannaBeGod
- Primeval. As of the end of the third series, there are three main characters left from the very beginning. Yes, THREE. ~ Me2
- 24 ~ Devil's Advocate
- The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan is a sadistic bastard. — Cuchulainn
- Modern Warfare. Except Price. Well, he can, but it doesn't really inconvenience him anymore. ~ Geek Code Red.
- Supernatural. There have been roughly six recurring characters that haven't died. No one is immune, not even the main cast. - Person Of Note
- Homestuck. Not just Anyone Can Die, but Nearly Everyone Has Died, including the author. ~ Insanity Prelude
- I am a leaf on the wind. ~ urielzet
- Legend of the Galactic Heroes. The true champion of this trope. Forget about Plot Armor. Forget about main characters (yes, that includes the two primary protagonists!) living to see the end. Forget about the idea of notable characters and glorious heroes deserving equally notable/glorious deaths. In this anime, you don't spoiler people by telling them who will die, you tell them who survives.
- The Wire. Players come and go all the time, and it's all in The Game. The only guarantee is that people will die and The Game will keep getting played by the people who replace them, and then by the people who replace those people too. ~ The Wanderer
- Guild Wars 2, as of the second expansion, Path of Fire. You die. Yes, you. The player character. ~ Progeny Ex Machina
- Danganronpa ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Anything but That!
- "No, not the buttons! Not the gumdrop buttons! ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Apathetic Teacher
- Herbert Garrison ~ Amuck Cricetine
- Apocalypse Wow
- Madoka FUCKING Kaname!!! ~ Sorata Z
- The Third Impact (the above sequence was a pretty obvious Shout-Out to this). - Andy J
- Mortal Kombat X: Shinnok's Arcade Ending. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Apocalyptic Log
- "They have taken the bridge and the second hall. We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums...drums in the deep. We cannot get out. A shadow lurks in the dark. We cannot get out...They are coming." ~ deeman45, Vasha, Alantia, Me2, sinesofinsanity, ozaniel
- Look, if he were dying, he wouldn't bother to carve "Aauuurrrrgggghhhh". He'd just say it. ~ Man Without A Body
- "The ship rolled in without a sound. The faithful captain, long since cold, he kept his his log till the bloody end. Last entry read: 'Rats in the hold. My crew is dead. I fear the plague.'" ~ ZiggyZag
- "We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon...and we succeeded." ~ Hyperion5
- Itchy. Tasty. ~ Will Draco
- Seconded. ~ Arcane Azmadi
- "These are just a few of the images we've recorded. And you can see, it wasn't what we thought. There's been no war here and no terraforming event. The environment is stable. It's the Pax. The G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate that we added to the air processors. It was supposed to calm the population, weed out aggression. Well, it works. The people here stopped fighting. And then they stopped everything else. They stopped going to work, they stopped breeding, talking, eating. There's 30 million people here, and they all just let themselves die. I have to be quick! About a tenth of a percent of the population had the opposite reaction to the Pax. Their aggressor response increased beyond madness. They have become… Well, they've killed most of us. And not just killed… they've done things… I won't live to report this, but people have to know. We meant it for the best… to make people safer." ~ IJustWannaBeGod, Eva Unit 01, urielzet
- In the wee hours I'll meet you, down by Dun Ringill, O and we'll watch the old gods play, by Dun Ringill — Cuchulainn
- "Another Hunter, this wearing the traditional colors of Samus Aran, made planetfall today. Horrific as it may sound, there are two of them now." ~ Feather7603
- Apologetic Attacker
- The turrets ~ Julep
- "I don't hate you." ~ Zfish9
- "No hard feelings..." ~ urielzet
- Katsudo apologising for needing to empty his bowels. Om nom nom. ~ IJustWannaBeGod
- "How can you ever have a civil war? 'Pardon me.' BOOM! 'I'm awfully sorry...'" — Cuchulainn
- "Seriously, we're on your side!" — Person Of Note
- The turrets ~ Julep
- Apologizes a Lot
- Ikari Shinji ~ Carla, Eva Unit 01
- Colette. It's even lampshaded. ~ New Kid On The Block
- And from the sequel, Emil. Seriously, half is dialogue is "I'm sorry..." ~Wragnaroq R. Maggeddon
- Ai Kaga ~ dr_vblschrf
- Wilt ~ Cyber Tiger 88, Doctor Rayman
- Fluttershy. ~ Geek Code Red
- Ryou ~ ozaniel
- Pokémon Black 2 and White 2: The Protagonist in the Strange Ending to Invaders 2. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Appeal to Tradition:
- The witches, particularly Sheila, the grand master, and Atelia, in Tweeny Witches — IúkaSylvie
- Apron Matron
- Ma Joad. ~ Vasha
- Hattie Jacques in the Carry On... Series ~ WilliamShakesman
- Arbitrary Gun Power
- Resident Evil. Big bore handguns are not as powerful as military grade rifles and grenade launchers, CAPCOM, no matter how much louder they are or how much more apparent recoil they may have. ~ REV 6 Pilot
- Arch-Enemy
- Batman and The Joker. One simply cannot exist without the other. ~ Babyhenchy1
- Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty, in any adaptation
- Superman and Lex Luthor. ~ dgenega5764
- Mario and Bowser. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Sonic & Dr. Eggman. ~ Metal Ai Ai
- Light Yagami and L - Demon Duckof Doom
- Arc Number
- 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42... ~ Carla, ZiggyZag, AxeFighterBarst, urielzet
- 528491 ~ Quackor The Fowl
- 28:06:42:12 — Cuchulainn
- 413 (and to a slightly lesser extent, 612 and 1025) ~ Trevormark
- 42 itself ~ TARDISES
- 9 - NNinja
- 7 ~ Five-seveN-25
- Arc Welding
- Pokémon Adventures. The FLRG arc was a direct consequence of every arc that came before it, and as a whole there's so many Chekhov's Guns, which more than not will turn things around in a different arc. ~ The Violent Tomboy
- Robotech, taking together three different series and its three disparate plots, and welding together a semi-coherent universe out of it. ~ Do Know Butchie
- Arc Words
- Bad Wolf ~ Carla
- Silence Will Fall - afteriwake, Eva Unit 01
- How about just Doctor Who? ~ravenfez
- Umm...can you second two things at once? ~ Me2
- "I'll see you in another life, brutha," and its variations. As far back as season one (with Nadia's note) we were seeing these bizarre, seemingly contextless assurances of people seeing other people in another life, and with all those persistent theories of the whole show being the afterlife, the writers were so skillful that they still made it a surprise to everyone that it's the flash-sideways that's the afterlife, fulfilling this series-long Foreshadowing. And this was the most endlessly scrutinized and theorized-about show ever. How do you top that?? ~ ZiggyZag
- Persona 4 has a whole collection of them - "I art thou, thou art I" "YOU'RE NOT ME!" and "I am a shadow... the true self." ~ Gorsecloud
- Everything Dies Alone — Cuchulainn
- Echoes. ~jordanthejq12
- But nobody came. ~ Monolaf317
- "Hey." "Yeah?" "Do you ever wonder why we're here?" "It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it?" ~ iPhoenix26
- Bad Wolf ~ Carla
- Archnemesis Dad
- Lionel Luthor. No matter what side he's on today you can garuntee it's the opposite one from his kids. - Ambar Son of Deshar
- Darth Vader for Luke Skywalker. ~ 1tvfan, ravenfez, The Nerdytimes, dgenega5764
- Omni-Man ~ Fireside
- Fire Lord Ozai - Demon Duckof Doom
- Are We There Yet?
- Nappa. ~ Jesska
- Donkey ~ Carla, Julep, Me2
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- "Arewethereyet?" "No!" "Arewethereyet?" "NO!" — Cuchulainn, Redhed311
- Are We There Yet? ~ Tropers/Matt P 5557
- "Is it much farther, Papa Smurf?" "Not far now." ~ Doctor Rayman
- Kid Icarus: Uprising ~ Five-seveN-25
- Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?
- Arm Cannon
- Mega Man (Classic). ~ Stealthyboy, Eva Unit 01 (but only because he's a bit more well-known than Samus]]
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Samus. ~ Man Without A Body, Doctor Rayman
- Barret Wallace. ~ Julep
- Hordak ~ Surenity
- "Gutentaug!" — Cuchulainn
- The Control Rod. ☢ CAUTION ☢ CAUTION ☢ CAUTION ☢. Well, it is one in Hisoutensoku, at any rate. —TARDISES
- Adam ~ MarvelGirl
- Cyborg
- Magmortar ~ Jakovu
- Peridot, back when she had her limb enhancers. ~ Crossover-Enthusiast
- Mega Man (Classic). ~ Stealthyboy, Eva Unit 01 (but only because he's a bit more well-known than Samus]]
- Armed Legs
- Lenalee. ~ New Kid On The Block
- Ork boss Zagstruk ~ Sinclair
- Bayonetta. She is the page picture, after all. ~digiman619
- Cherry Darling ~ Amuck Cricetine
- Seconded. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Armoured Closet Gay
- Dave Karofsky ~ Weeping Willow
- Nico di Angelo ~ Camroc G
- Mr. Garrison ~ Tropers/Matt P 5557
- Armored Villains, Unarmored Heroes
- Arms Dealer
- The United States of America ~ Kaizerreich
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking
- "Lincoln Stern, you stand here accused of 12 counts of murder in the first degree, 14 counts of armed theft of Federation property, 22 counts of piracy in high space, 18 counts of fraud, 37 counts of rape, and one moving violation." ~ Pblegion
- Coop ~ Ranthar
- AND you made me run half a block! ~ Eva Unit 01
- "...impersonating a Cleric of the Church of England..." ~ Kelly,UninjuredFist, Me2
- "Often forcing men to eat their own lips, he was eventually caught and imprisoned...for tax evasion." — Cuchulainn
- "Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!" ~ Stark1111, Doctor Rayman
- "You smashed me into a limbless cloud, you trapped me in your bubble-dungeon, and you called me 'cute'!" ~ Five-seveN-25
- What Rolf says to Eddy in "An Ed Is Born". ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
Rolf: YOU HAVE VANDALIZED ROLF'S FACE, AND YOU HAVE—
(A cardboard cutout in Rolf's likeness appears. Rolf picks it up, revealing that it's being carried by a chicken.)
Rolf: AND YOU HAVE STOLEN ROLF'S CHICKENS YET AGAIN!!! (Sees Edd filming) Are you stealing Rolf's soul with your film box?! - Arson Murder And Life Saving
- What the Emperor says to the title character in Mulan. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- What the Emperor says to the title character in Mulan. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Art Evolution
- Questionable Content. Just take a look.
- Dominic Deegan. This is the first one. This is one of the latest. ~ Me2
- For me, it has to be The Simpsons. From this◊ to this◊. Plus it is probably the best known example. ~ Susiemary
- Goofus and Gallant. It took links to eight picture pages just to give a basic outline to how much they've changed over the years. There might've been others. And elf ears!?! ~ Nlpnt
- Penny Arcade. Not only Art Evolution but style evolution. Gabe had already evolved into an amazing artist years ago, but he still continues to subtly change and refine his style. ~ ledge
- DMFA. This is the first one. Now fast-forward to 2012. ~ Insanity Prelude
- El Goonish Shive: this to this one, specifically created as a comparison, and it has only improved in the two years since then.
- The Artifact
- Artifact Title
- Webcomic The Whiteboard, which switched media after 5 strips, and is now over 1800 strips in. A sixth strip on a whiteboard was done as a holiday treat, which means only a tiny fraction of a percent of strips were actually done on a whiteboard. ~ Mr Initial Man
- DC Comics ~ ZiggyZag, Man Without A Body
- Two and a Half Men ~ Nlpnt
- Say, didn't TV Tropes used to be only about TV? ~ Hotel California, ravenfez Piando
- The Fire Emblem series. It's gotten to the point where the Fire Emblem itself - which is different in every game - is more or less shoehorned in to justify the title.
- Artificial Brilliance
- For an enemy example, The Alien's ability to learn your patterns is what makes it so difficult to avoid. For allies, we have the party members in Final Fantasy XIII, which is what makes them so reliable. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Artificial Stupidity
- Star Wars: Battlefront - The Wanderer
- Every video game escort mission ever (with the exception of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption) ~ Elgnirp100
- SWAT 4: "You're in my way, sir" - Josef 5678
- Artistic Age
- Battle Royale. Shogo looks like a Vietnam vet and he's sixteen. ~ Sean Tucker
- Everyone in Arthur ~ Monolaf317
- Artistic License – Biology
- The Chick Tracts. Need I say more? ~ Redrosary
- Highlander II: The Quickening. Surely the only work of fiction in history to argue that if the sun were blocked out, the world would get hotter, not colder (and survive just fine, for the most part). -Zuul MF
- Seconded, although that's the least of that film's problems.
- Commander Hoo-Ha saying that tear ducts shrivel up from disuse, something that does not happen in Real Life. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Artistic License – Economics:
- John Kennish has a car wash. He lives in a mansion, drives a Porsche Panamera and sends his kids to a $20,000-a-year private school. Greg Universe has a car wash. He lives in his '70s van and his kid is being raised by aunts. Y U no make up your mind, teevee? ~ Tropers/Nlpnt
- Artistic License – Geography
- Christopher Columbus. 'Nuff said. ~Tropers/Viva_la_pasta
- I'm gonna go ahead and say Twilight. I'm sure the west coast of Brazil is lovely this time of year. ~ Wragnaroq R. Maggeddon, Hotel California, ozaniel
- The time it takes characters to go between Yakima and Seattle on iCarly. The only way it works is by imagining they are actually in a helicopter. Mack
- Artistic License – Law
- The Incredibles, where suicide is completely legal and stopping it is a serious offence. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Seconded. Although, this did manage to happen in real life... ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- The Incredibles, where suicide is completely legal and stopping it is a serious offence. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Artistic License – Physics
- The Core. The fail is made more epic by their claim to have consulted real physicists. ~ ledge
- Yes, that's a humanoid robot larger than any individual non-black hole object in the universe and way larger than any object that has not turned spherical due to its own mass and gravitational pull. Fighting another, equally impossibly huge one, on top of a galaxy as if it were an arena. Using smaller galaxies as shurikens. No complaining here. ~ The Nerdytimes
- Art-Style Dissonance
- Ascended Extra
- Doctor Frasier Crane, who started out as a one-shot rival for Sam Malone in Cheers, and eventually let Kelsey Grammer tie James Arness for the title of "Longest Time Playing the Same Character on Television".
- Seconded ~ravenfez
- Nana from the Madagascar movies. Initially a One-Scene Wonder in the first movie, she was brought back for the sequel, through sheer Popularity Power. ~Ironic Mouse
- Chief Miles O'Brian ~ wixo
- The Soul Reapers, the Visored, the Arrancar...just take your pick from any of the characters who get introduced in a new arc in Bleach. To put it in perspective: there are four character pages on this website for that manga, three of them for all the characters who aren't the five the series started off with. And they're all long. Only the Arrancar (and two traitor Captains) have died, so fully expect everyone else to come back when Ichigo's powers come back. - afteriwake
- Star Wars: "Look Sir, Droids!" got his own EU story and an entry into the original Essential Guide to Characters. Aura Sing started out as the white bald chick watching the podrace in Episode I. All the scum and villainy hanging out in Jabba's Palace? Yep, they've all got names and their own fleshed out backstories, too. And that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. ~ Space Jawa
- Nanoha. This troper had never even heard of Triangle Heart until long after he watched Nanoha. ~ spacemonkey37, MarvelGirl, Eva Unit 01
- Steve Urkel. He starts off as a one shot character midway through the first season and quickly becomes focal point of the series. ~ ereg
- Derpy Hooves went from an animation error, to appearing in the background every episode, to being an officially voiced, canonical character. ~ Person Of Note, ozaniel
- Phil Coulson was a minor comic relief character in Iron Man, basically a stereotypical government "suit", and has now become director of S.H.I.E.L.D. since Nick Fury faked his own death. ~ Wyvern 76
- Omanyte/Omastar in Twitch Plays Pokémon. Went from just another fossil Pokemon to GOD OF ANARCHY. Also known as Lord Helix. ~Ego-Man 25
- Ms. Piggy was famously just a background puppet for a dance scene until Frank Oz got a hold of her.
- Grand Cathay. Went from being a Space-Filling Empire and Hufflepuff House in the background for the entirety of the original game's lifespan (over 30 years) to being completely fleshed out as a fully realized faction within the span of a few months (seven years after the original game's discontinuation). ~ Fireside
- Jonathan Levinson ~ Amuck Cricetine
- The Shredder - from a Token Motivational Nemesis, to the franchise's unquestioned Big Bad ~ NotGonnaDoALot4
- Seconded. ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- Boba Fett - Demon Duckof Doom
- Doctor Frasier Crane, who started out as a one-shot rival for Sam Malone in Cheers, and eventually let Kelsey Grammer tie James Arness for the title of "Longest Time Playing the Same Character on Television".
- Ascended Fanboy
- Ryusei Date, epic-scale Super Robot adept with reflexes that have been honed by years of videogames. ~ V Phantom
- Yayoi Kise, from Smile Pretty Cure!, loves Manga, Humongous Mecha, and Super Heroes; and then she becomes a Badass Adorable Magical Girl Warrior...Awesome! ~ aNinjaWithAIDS
- Phil Coulson ~ Pastylover2
- Ascended Glitch
- Combos. A Good Bad Bug in Street Fighter II. Indispensable in all fighting games that came after it. ~ Mr Initial Man
- Ermac. - Tropers/Hyrin
- Difficulty progression as we know it originated as a bug in Space Invaders. - Yuihime
- Missingno ~ Tropers/Matt P 5557
- Leona saluting to Chang. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Asian Storeowner
- Apu Nahasapeemapetilon — WilliamShakesman
- Aside Glance
- Ben Wyatt ~Bowbowis
- Jim Halpert ~ Wavebert
- Asmodeus
- Aspect Ratio Switch
- The start of the final reel of Napoléon (1927) triples the width of the film from 1.33:1 to 4:1, making a finale few will forget. ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- Asshole Victim
- 1000 Ways to Die features this quite frequently~ACW
- Murder on the Orient Express. They all did it. — Cuchulainn
- Seconded. — White Bear
- MW. — DeathNoteFan
- 95% of Junior's targets. ~ Monolaf317
- Donald Gennero. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Shou Tucker. First victim of Scar, and he turned the only people who would have mourned him into chimeras. ~ rjd1922
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Quan Chi in Mortal Kombat X. In the next game, Shang Tsung personally thanks Scorpion for saving him the trouble. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Wasp. To quote Bulkhead: "You were always mean to me and Bumblebee. You may not be a traitor..., but you were never a good bot." ~ Fireside
- The Assimilator
- Majin Buu ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- The Borg Collective ~ Amuck Cricetine
- The Zerg ~ Fireside
- Associated Composer
- Steven Spielberg and John Williams ~ Amuck Cricetine
- Astral Projection
- "See you around, kid." ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- Users of the Sheep Talisman ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Asteroid Thicket
- The Empire Strikes Back ~ AmuckCricetine
- At the Opera Tonight
- A Night at the Opera ~ WilliamShakesman
- Final Fantasy VI ~ Decaf Grub 47393
- Atomic Superpower
- NRG and Atomix from Ben 10. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- The Atoner
- Angel, mostly in his own show but also less prominently in the parent show - CaellachTigerEye, ravenfez
- Sol Badguy - Did you forget? ~ DAN004
- Regal Bryant ~ Clevomon
- Severus Snape ~ MarvelGirl
- Kenshin ~ ElectricBalalaika, Eva Unit 01, urielzet
- Earl Hickey ~ Matt P 5557
- Every major character not named Winry in Fullmetal Alchemist has something to atone for ~ rjd1922
- Prince Zuko. ~ Connor 2107
- Attack Hello:
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever
- Attack on the Heart
- The only way to kill a Shade is to stab them through the heart. ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Attack Pattern Alpha
- "Squadron 40! DIIIIIVE!" ~ Man Without A Body
- "Attack Pattern Delta. Go now." ~ Gendoikari1
- "Attack Pattern Alpha" is used twice, and there are others, as well. ~ WillZ
- Attention Whore
- Black☆Star, Zfish9, Eva Unit 01
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Haruhi Suzumiya. Drawing giant alien chalk symbols, smashing Kyon's head into a chair so she can scream her new idea at him in the middle of class, joining and quitting every club in the school before making her own club of people to demand constant attention from, and generally being absurdly bossy and hyperactive at all times; the sky's the limit! Or, in her case, the universe. ~ guyy, ozaniel
- Seconded. ~ Five-seveN-25
- Rachel Stanley
- Jane. ~ urielzet
- Luke Atmey, from the third Ace Attorney game. - Hyperion5
- Daffy Duck. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Bender ~ WilliamShakesman
- Black☆Star, Zfish9, Eva Unit 01
- Attract Mode
- Audience Participation
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show ~ Sparky Young Upstart
- In-universe, Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. What other game has the player fight the audience as the Final Boss?
- The Weather, as the audience was part of every improvised skit. ~War Jay 77
- Batman: A Death in the Family famously put Jason Todd's fate up to the audience to decide. ~Decaf Grub 47393
- Author Avatar
- Dipper Pines. ~SWF Max
- Raoul Duke ~ WilliamShakesman
- Author Filibuster
- Atlas Shrugged ~allotroper
- iCarly: iStart A Fan War ended with the main character ranting about how Shipping had taken over the in-universe equivalent of the real life fandom, and that everyone should just appreciate the show for the comedy. It was especially galling since the very next episode was entirely centred around shipping.
- The Great Dictator - Possibly more remembered than the entirely of the two hours of slapstick that preceded it, the Jewish Barber in the last 2-3 minutes is all Chaplin. - Twin Bird
- Auto Erotica:
- Jack and Rose in the Titanic, of course. ~ Silverblade 2
- Award-Bait Song
- "Everything I Do, I Do It For You" by Bryan Adams (from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves) for existing or partly adapted songs (the melody was largely taken by Michael Kamen from a genuine medieval or Renaissance-era tune), "I Am the Wind" from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for original songs. ~ ZiggyZag
- "In Your Belief", especially the Vocal Version, heard in the epic beginning of episode one the Heartrending ending of episode 12, and the credits fro the final episode.Both of them —Demongodofchaos2
- "Tale as Old as Time, Song as Old as Rhyme..." - Jalia
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica and I'm Home. ~ aNinjaWithAIDS
- "Let it Go". ~ Connor 2107
- "Hold My Hand". ~ Saberwulf 2018
- Awesome Aussie
- "Crocodile" Dundee ~ Amuck Cricetine
- Awesome McCoolname
- Staff Sgt. Max Fightmaster, the manliest name in the world. ~ Genki Man, ereg, ozaniel, Insanity Prelude
- Awesome Moment of Crowning
- The Hallowed Hunt: Ingrey becoming the hallow king for one night. ~ Vasha
- ALL HAIL EMPEROR LELOUCH!! ~ Marlee Cross, Eva Unit 01
- "In life, everyone gets what he deserves! Well, come on, lets kill some more prisoners..." — Cuchulainn
- The coronation of Aragorn at the end of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ~ Rlkitterman
- ALL HAIL FIRE LORD ZUKO! ~ Tropers/Dragon_Feathers
- THE KING IN THE NORTH! THE KING IN THE NORTH! ~vicups
- The ending of The Lion King (1994). ~ Doctor Rayman
- Awesomeness by Analysis
- Sylar ~ DalesKaine
- Hotch ~ Belfagor, Indigo12ash
- Shikamaru ~ KantonKage
- Katsuragi Keima ~ RegalStar
- Marcus Ayers. ~ urielzet
- Karnak - Hyperion5
- Sherlock Holmes. ~ Doctor Rayman
- Batman's Detective Mode ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- Ax-Crazy
- Jack Torrence. ~ Stuart P. Bentley, Willy Four Eyes, Man Without A Body, Voodoo Child, Tropers/Kelly
- Kid Buu ~ Dark Hunter
- Seconded ~ Mattman_the_Storyteller
- The World Eaters ~ magnum12
- Shion Sonozaki ~ Clevomon
- Rena is a close second, Considering she owns one. ~ Zfish9
- Patrick Bateman ~ ZiggyZag
- Hollow Ichigo ~ DalesKaine
- Ren Hoek ~ Night Goddess
- Childerich ~ Clae
- Yuuno ~ Hemi
- The Master, especially in the revived series. ~ravenfez
- The real Junko Enoshima. Holy hell. ~ Sanfranman91
- Bryan Hawk. Not just crazy, it's that violent, aggressive kind of crazy. ~ Smokie
- What about Khorne Berserkers? "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULL FOR THE SKULL THRONE!" ~ DAN004
- Annie Wilkes ~ SqueeneyTodd
- Frank Booth. ~ Gfrequency
- Accelerator ~ spacemonkey37
- The Joker ~ Waxing Name
- Caligula. So much so, he is the Trope Namer for the sub trope of this one. ~ Hotel California
- Carnage. ~ Doctor Rayman