History Characters / TheNostalgiaCriticTheCriticTropesAToE

[[center: [- [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCritic Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCriticTheCritic The Critic]] ('''A-E''', [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCriticTheCriticTropesFToM F-M]], [[Characters/TheNostalgiaCriticTheCriticTropesNToZ 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:A]]
* AbusiveParents: His parents (and various mentions of other family members suggest they weren't too great either) broke him really bad, making him an easily scared, naive, weepy PsychopathicManchild who thinks parents shouting at each other happens all the time and has children getting hurt as a BerserkButton, but they've done a couple of nice things for him that keep them out of "totally irredeemable" territory. Plus both of them have died (at different points) and he sounded completely destroyed hearing and talking about it.
-->'''Critic:''' Yeah, I remember the last time I said "this is the nineties, old man" to my Dad... (''shakily and looking traumatized'') i-it really was the last time.
* AesopAmnesia:
** In a post-PlotHole review of ''Film/{{Twilight}}'', he says it made him realize he can't keep obsessing over the past, needs to move on, and wants to go back to being the universe instead of having a physical body. Come "The Review Must Go On" and all that's forgotten about.
** Mara Wilson is gonna be angry that you had to learn about child stars ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CItRyDt6whs again]]'', Critic... Even then you didn't learn, agreeing with Zordon in ''Turbo'' that all child stars know how to do is go crazy, being mean to Anna Sophia Robb by focusing on her looks in a negative way instead of her acting, and adding a {{rimshot}} to mocking fun of Dakota Fanning.
*** Lampshaded when he lazily says "insert Mara Wilson revenge joke here" in "Top 12 Santa Clauses" but then a clip of her laughing still scares him.
** In ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' and ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', he actually talked to people and took the chance to make friends/strengthen the relationships he already had, not to mention helping everyone in the PlotHole. The reboot made him more isolated, the Santa Christ call implying out of guilt.
** His very potent determination to never hurt people again (and succeeding at being a BigGood) was replaced with maiming cats, more personal insults, hitting kids, suggesting torture that not even the devil thought of, and beating three people to near-death with a baseball bat. He acknowledged this in "I'll Be Home For Christmas", where he apologized to Chester for the ill-treatment and wants to be good even if he fucks up.
** Lampshaded anvil-hard in the video he sent to the Nerd roasting. "Even though we ended at a good place in To Boldly Flee, I still hate you!"
** He says "a director can make a bad film" in his ''AI'' soapbox speech, but Burton very nearly manages to teach him that lesson in ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'', fucking up in Critic's eyes before it can sink in. It's so CallBack-like this may be intentionally using the trope.
** In ''Christmas With The Kranks'' after a sad speech about changing, self-loathing and how at least if you're aware of the bad things you've done you shouldn't hate yourself so much, he goes right back to arguing with Tamara and Malcolm and treating them badly.
* AggressiveSubmissive: A force of nature personality coupled with an ExtremeDoormat need to be loved will make you one of these. In PQH, he's technically the General's boss, but tells him he's into being leashed and wants to be invited to a BDSM party.
* AintTooProudToBeg:
%% ** He'll even whore himself out as long [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry you]] don't play another song.
** Variant in ''Future's End'' when Snob tells him in basic terms to do his SexSlave job again. He breaks down crying immediately, but kneels down and unzips anyway.
* TheAlcoholic: Even though even [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture Doc Brown]] would probably laugh at him for not being able to handle his drink, booze pops up a lot in his show. In ''It'', Critic gets wasted from his Stephen King DrinkingGame and can barely speak in coherent sentences midway through the review, Dr Smith [[spoiler:his father]] gets concerned that he could end up dying.
* AlcoholicParent: His mother calls him up when she's been drinking and insults him horribly.
* AllegedlyDateless: Reboot only. He's so sex-starved that he uses Rogue figurines as wank tools, but he has people feeling him up all over the place.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Gender-inverted. He has a MasochismTango-like relationship with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick, he sees no problem with the attractive inmates from ''Film/{{Chicago}}'' snuffing him out, got attracted to Tamara after she tortured him and gave her a job to make his "I just watch him because he's pretty hurting" demographic happy, and his prom date ended up raping him. Hyper Fangirl actually had RightForTheWrongReasons, thinking he would love her because she pretended to like the things he did, but Doug saying in commentary that Critic had been close to falling for her because she kidnapped and hurt him.
* AllTakeAndNoGive: What gets him into so much trouble with Rachel, Malcolm, Tamara and the Hyper Fangirl. He wants them around to be abused and stroke his ego, but when they either snap from mistreatment or (in the case of the last) feel like they have a chance with him, he gets pissed off.
* AlterEgoActing: The Critic's name is Doug, but he's still a fictional character whom Doug Walker plays. Critic and Doug have talked at least three times, and post The Review Must Go On they're slightly bitter at each other. In a 2017 youtube trailer, Critic called Doug the character.
* AmbiguouslyHuman: Maven insults him by calling him a "reanimated dead guy", he randomly changes into a South Park version of himself out of anger at the end of "Top 11 South Park Episodes", the "Why Do We Love Zombies" title card averts BeautyIsNeverTarnished by having his face decay, and [[spoiler: he manages to be fine with being burned alive]] in "Ghost Dad". Shyam-amon calls him "mortal" in "Devil", but he's not exactly the best judge.
* AmazonChaser: Put an ActionGirl in a movie (but don't chickify her) and he'll fall in love. Tamara in ''Film/TheWickerMan2006'' uses this to her advantage, as while she's cutesy and silly with Snob and Spoony, she tortures Critic and it gets her a job with him.
* AmIJustAToyToYou:
** His screaming at the Chick about does she even care about him goes into this trope when WordOfGod confirmed they had sex in the ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'' review.
** An InterplayOfSexAndViolence version at the end of ''Film/TheWickerMan2006'', as he runs after Tamara to yell at her... not for torturing him, but for leaving afterwards and not giving him a chance to give her a job because views go up when he's in pain.
* AnimalsHateHim: In the mindfucks list, a toy puppy turns into a giant gorilla to kill him. Close to being justified, as whenever there's a movie with an animal in the lead, he usually wants them dead.
* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Played with. He's annoying, but The Other Guy keeps him in place through disproportionate means, like punching him back into a review.
* TheAntiGrinch: Ever since his first Christmas special, the Nostalgia Critic has displayed a love of Christmas so much that his love for it has become a RunningGag. His over the top admiration for it becomes more and more extreme, including [[ImpliedDeathThreat Implied Death Threats]] in a rocking PowerBallad (that he tried suppressing with a Chill-Pill patch), turning into a giant-head and nuking the Earth one episode and turning Malcom into a zombie, and flying to Planet [=Sha7u#o?WZ=], breaking the light barrier, warping the speed of time, shattering every conceivable ozone layer and then destroying the planet ''with sheer enthusiasm'' just so he could show that he loved Christmas more than See-Sea Cuckooblocks just as she was being awarded the title of "The Biggest Lover of Christmas in all the Galaxies."
* AntiHero: He's arguably one of the few characters to be anywhere on the scale, depending on the episode in question:
** He's a ClassicalAntiHero most of the time.
** He eventually settles on KnightInSourArmor in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' since he has genuinely altruistic motives and no real KickTheDog moments other than indulging Chick's hate of Lupa by giving her Lupa's number so they could prank call her. Earlier on...
** He arguably leaned towards a PragmaticHero since ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'', as he genuinely cares for his team mates and shows both courage and surprisingly strong leadership in the final battle.
** He ventures into UnscrupulousHero & NominalHero when he's angry, and has stayed here since coming back from the PlotHole as he's the devil's favorite. Lampshaded in ''Spawn'' when Kermit-Devil wants him to be the leader of the demon army ''because'' he's so awful.
* TheAntiNihilist: The world sucks and he's all too aware that he's useless, but he still mostly wants to do good.
-->'''Critic''': It's like trying to save a sinking ship with a bandaid. Anything I try to do would be completely pointless. '''Save me'''.
* AntiRoleModel: Doug tries to make it very clear that you ''shouldn't'' think of Critic as a badass or someone to look up to, with his HairTriggerTemper and disproportionate aggression to things that don't really matter. It's common for others on his show like Rob, Rachel, Malcolm, Tamara, or any of his more sane co-producers to roll their eyes while he goes batshit over a movie.
%% * ApologeticAttacker: "TO WAR! ...whenever you have the time."
* ApparentlyPowerlessPuppetmaster: Post-reboot, one of the most meta examples. Critic is still broken and pathetic, but he treats his underlings like his dolls, characters are created to make things go his way, he can insult Doug whenever he wants, and he doesn't always fail when he rebels against actually being a character.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: [[spoiler:At the end of ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' he merges with the PlotHole threatening the Awesomeverse and sacrifices his physical body but essentially becomes the universe itself.]]
** [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted in "The Review Must Go On", where it is revealed that the Critic was actually stuck in [[WebVideo/DemoReel a purgatory]] that the Plot Hole created from his subconciousness because his own mind was unable to comprehend that he would commit such an act of heroism. This ultimately leads to the Critic escaping back to his own world.]]
* TheAtoner: This trait is especially apparent in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, as even the trailers had his lines about finally having a chance to make up for his mistakes.
-->'''Optimus Prime''': I died for your sins.\\
'''Critic''': And clearly I will only die for mine.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: As part of HypocriticalHumor, he gets distracted by a housefly in ''Ferngully II''. In other reviews, he'll get caught up in a sketch if the movie is too dull. Doug has stated in multiple vlogs that he's almost certain he has ADD, so that would explain why Critic can't seem to keep much focus on anything. There's a moment in ''The Uncanny Valley'' review where he goes all out on this trait.
-->'''Critic''': [[SarcasmMode Well that's something reviewers don't do]], lose focus. Like the time I saw Vin Diesel at the premiere of ''Fred 3'', neither of us would admit why we were actually there but- you might have noticed an edit there, because I got distracted with nothing to do with what we're talking about, my apologies, now let us return to our review ''Wicker Man II: I Was Really Ghost Rider''- you might have noticed another edit there but that happens when you have years of sexual repression building up and then all you can think about is Jessica Lange dressed up as a snowman with her big- you might have noticed another edit... and I'm just gonna stop there.
** In the ''Star Wars'' edition of Hotshot, he admits he's feeling bouncier than normal and is having a new idea every few minutes.
** In the "trying to look cool in leather" ending of ''Film/TheMatrix'', he gets distracted by Jim walking by, and Malcolm has to grab his chin in order to get him back to 'reality'.
** In his review of ''Film/CatsandDogs'', he quickly loses focus when he has a piece of string in front of him or is told to fetch a ball.
** In the review of his home movies, he unknowingly thinks his child self really needs ritalin.
** When the grandfather in ''Spy Kids 3D'' gets distracted by a butterfly, he gets annoyed because of the "reinforcing ADD stereotypes".
* AttentionWhore: The Nostalgia Chick gently bitches about his hogging all the limelight when he shows up dressed as Creator/TimCurry in her review of ''Film/TheWorstWitch''. The beginning of ''Dawn Of The Commercials'' has him lapping up the praise of a huge crowd and choir music (because he's doing another commercials) like he's some kind of messiah. In "Old vs New: Spider-Man", this is the reason why he doesn't just unfriend Hyper and be free of her guilt-tripping. By the time he's realized his own safety is more important, it's way too late.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: This was the lyric playing when he tried getting up the courage to hold the Chick's hand in "Thanks For The Feedback".
-->Oh, but he watches so sadly. How can he tell her he loves her? Yes, he would give his heart gladly...
** In a more toxic fashion, while he treats Malcolm and Tamara horribly, a lot of episodes (especially Matrix Month) show that he needs them and trusts them to take care of him.
** Chester can be the punching bag, but Critic is the only one to look after him ''at all'', and has told him straight up that he appreciates the bum's kindness.
* AxCrazy: Can be set off into crazed violence by sufficiently poor movies, and is pretty manic-depressive otherwise. Gets worse after he has to come down from being happy in the PlotHole, as [[spoiler:it's implied that he decides to check himself into an asylum after a particularly homicidal breakdown in the ''Master of Disguise'' review.]] Later on, his threat to Sci-Fi Guy to do a crossover with him (and do all the work) or else next time they're at a con he'll slit guy's wrists and leave him in a bathtub, is... ''special'' in creepy. ''Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer'' is entirely based on what will happen if you control him too much and then suddenly take the RestrainingBolt away.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:B]]
* BabysitterFromHell: Despite having babysit kids fine in the past, he treats Evilina horribly in ''Film/TheCatInTheHat''. Which should be fitting considering where she lives, but she doesn't seem to enjoy it very much.
** Expands beyond Evilina in ''Jurassic Park III'', as he says that whenever he feeds babies, he leaves the food five feet away from them because they're lazy and should work for their own meal.
* BackFromTheDead: Commits a HeroicSuicide in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, but convinces Doug to bring him back in "The Review Must Go On". He regrets this by ''Film/SonOfTheMask'', but Evilina tells him he has to stay alive because killing him off got complaints the first time.
* BadassUnintentional: When he's ''trying'' to do anything, he's a FailureHero. By accident however (or when he's pissed enough), he's exploded cities, come back to life after getting killed and can tell the death star to blow up a DVD.
%% * BadLiar: [[SarcasmMode Sure]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R7bz5lrhzs&feature=related they're treating you well, Critic]].
* BaitAndSwitchTyrant: In the Transformers-Bratz arc, after he wakes up from getting chloroformed, he hides angrily in the bushes, shoots the Chick with a tranquilizer dart and sinisterly says it's his turn. It turns out that he just wanted to pretend he had power while trying to give her a self-esteem boost.
* BaitTheDog:
** For the first fifteen minutes of Lupa's "A Talking Cat" review, he seems nicer and more toned down from his comeback self; lets her talk the most, actually apologizes when a joke makes her sad, and submissively backs down from annoying her when she threatens to punch him. [[spoiler: but then in the halfway point he shoots her, and while she shoots him back later, he does it again before the episode ends]]
** In the ''Transformers 4'' crossover, he's bored and lets Erod runs the show for the first half of the review. But when Erod goes to bust the dvd early, he shoots the hammer out of his hand, reminds him who everyone comes to see and displays electric powers. He's also completely fine with killing Bay even when he thinks Bay is human and torturing Erod for not much reason.
* BallsOfSteel: At the beginning of his ''Film/BridgeToTerabithia'' review, he says that when he mentioned he would review the movie in his "Princess Hate" editorial, people responded "If you touch that timeless treasure, I will impale your testicles on a set of toothpicks." He says that he no longer has any feeling down there because of the past abuse of his testicles, which he then shows.
* BasementDweller: It's a lovely house, but he lived with his mom until she died.
%% * BeardOfSorrow
* BeautyIsBad: Diamanda showed great restraint in not blowing up his head when he freaked at the site hiring scary-looking people like her.
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Parodied for silly laughs. With all the suicides, shots to the head and occasional getting the shit kicked out of him, you'd think he'd at least be a little scarred. Averted in the "Why Do We Love Zombies" title card though, with his eyes [[{{motif}} milky white]], skin greying and blue, and a ton of lesions. He ''is'' truly a zombie after all. While it never actually happens, a lot of Zod's threats to Critic are heavily based on averting this, with EyeScream, "spilled organs", castration and general mutilation until he no longer looks human.
* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis:
** ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' being mostly a ''Franchise/StarWars'' analogy, he was the hero who The Emperor (played by Rob) wanted dead and gone. Even before that, in the ''Titanic'' movie review, he was the troubled Darth Vader to Rob's controlling Emperor. In the ''Star Wars'' version of ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'', ''he's'' the Emperor (with the General as his Darth Vader) and relishes the power.
** "Christmas With The Kranks", "The Uncanny Valley", and "I'll Be Home For Christmas" have him acknowledge his change into a more aggressive and abusive individual, in that he's tired of screwing up all the time, but CharacterDevelopment isn't always positive and he can't help being broken.
* BecauseISaidSo:
** In the phone call with Rachel in ''Film/TheShining'', where she's not even doing anything wrong, just phoning because of the GuiltComplex he's made her have, he loses his temper and makes up rules to "keep her from distracting him".
** Turns out to be the case in ''Film/GhostDad'', as he's making up rules for Tamara/Malcolm to humiliate themselves with to punish them for torturing him.
* BeingGoodSucks: Played with, as his very conscious decision to atone for his mistakes and sacrifice himself to save the world got turned into a parodox by RealLifeWritesThePlot, so he gave up and miserably TookALevelInJerkass. But in ''I'll Be Home For Christmas'', he rants that being nice to people who want him dead is going to be ''so'' hard, and he'll fuck up, but he still wants to try because he has to get better.
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Inverted. Whenever religion gets brought up, the ditziness is downplayed and he'll have intelligent things to say.
* BeneathTheMask: He's really scared of someone manipulative going inside his head and finding out all the nasty stuff he's feeling, so puts on a front and settles for complaining about being NotEvilJustMisunderstood. Enforced in ''Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer'', as a chill patch makes him cute and safe and marketable about his love for Christmas, but when Tamara rips it off he turns into an embodiment of his NightmareFuelStationAttendant traits.
* BerserkButton:
** The "Bat Credit Card" and ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' drive him to psychopathic rage. By ''Christmas With The Kranks/Bunny Boobies'', both still make him angry, but he's more pissed off and upset that people keep wanting him to do both {{freak out}}s over and over. (Doug said in a 2012 interview that the former meme has given him a twitchy eye.)
** Since the show began again in 2013, the Critic ''despises'' [=TMZ=].
** Even after the reboot, he hates it when people bring up ''Doug''. In the "Disney Afternoon" episode, when Malcolm said how good ''Doug'' was, there was a cut and Malcolm nursing a black eye and couldn't feel much in his mouth.
** He would also kindly like you to not say the proper name of ''[[WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987 DT]]'' because the [[EarWorm theme song]] finally got out of him.
** Anyone but himself bringing up ''WebVideo/DemoReel''. Dr Hack at the end of ''Anime/SailorMoon'' got a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown for saying the show's concept would make him money, and Yo in ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'' uses it to intentionally make him ChangeTheUncomfortableSubject.
** He's ''really'' tired of the 'beam/portal in the sky' cliche in movies and it ''will'' get a reaction out of him if it shows up. Subverted with ''Film/IronMan1'' where he's simply surprised to see it in something made much earlier.
* TheBGrade: Inverted. An A- was such a rare occasion that he got a trip to Chuck E Cheese whenever that happened. The bullying and always moving to new places probably had something to do with it.
* BigBad: The closest thing to one in WebVideo/{{Kickassia}} [[spoiler: and "The Review Must Go On".]]
* BigEater: If all the junk food in the first Commercials Special is any indication, especially as he'd been sitting in the same place and stuffing himself for a ''week''.
* BizarreTasteInFood: He doesn't see the big deal about having a coffee, beer, pepto-bismal, Chinese food and pizza slurpie, or sugar-frosted burrito-stuffed hotpockets with lard on the side and butter taken from real liposuctions. No wonder Santa Christ had to cure him from diabetes.
* BlessedWithSuck: ''Film/TheMatrixRevolutions'' calls his increased meta (and reality warping) skills in the reboot "ruining", which he uses to his advantage but makes him crueler and even more depressed than he was when he didn't know he was a character.
* BloodKnight: A lot more pronounced in reboot. Against his will to be fair to him, as in ''Maximum Overdrive'' he craves the violence, but also doesn't want to be stereotypically male and realizes he should question it. Just doesn't want to.
%% * BoisterousWeakling: Although the "getting ordered around" bit (and sometimes getting beaten too) [[{{fetish}} doesn't]] bother him.
* BrainlessBeauty: For a time in ''Film/TheLastAirbender''. He's been talent-bended so he has no emotion, but it also makes him coincidentally do everything he's told, and sets the blue PuppyDogEyes on full-time.
* BrainsAndBondage:
** He's a GeniusDitz masochist who loves aggressive women. In the first Nerd Rant, he's ''proud'' of how he tortures himself.
-->'''Critic''': So what's the point in seeing The Lost World? For you, none. For me, I'm a glutton for fucking punishment.
** When Tamara is thankful she doesn't have to be the Ana in a 50 Shades review, he complains at her that ballgags are surprisingly comfortable. When she asks how would he know, he lies "...research".
** In WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot, he's smart enough to keep a HostageSituation going without getting arrested (though in Critic-show he's threatened with it a couple of times) and wants to be on General Anesthetic's leash as well as be invited to one of his play parties.
** In ''Film/SuicideSquad2016'', while Joker annoys him, he's perfectly happy with lime green anal beads until Joker reveals they've been used.
* BreakTheCutie:
%% ** Finally driven home in the "Commercials Special" when he bemoans that he used to have such dreams and promise.
** It turns out that the fuck-up lists were breaking him. He stopped fighting it at the beginning of the third episode, and at the end his frustration over ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' leads into a screaming tantrum about everyone being horrible. Even ''Douchey'' feels bad for him.
* BreakTheHaughty:
** After his psychotic creeper-dom in "The Review Must Go On", the ''Film/SonOfTheMask'' review gets him lower than even the beginning of ''Film/ScoobyDoo''. He's looking through garbage cans for stuff to review, goes back to bitching at the audience for wanting to see him suffer, is constantly scared by the movie to the point of ExhaustedEyebags (which is a first), begs Santa Christ to help him but gets abused, is told he's meant to suffer, suffers a heart attack and doesn't look especially happy about surviving it, begs Satan and his daughter to kill him but gets refused, plus a reference to his WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee death has him crawling on the floor and crying so hard he sounds like he's about to choke.
** Somewhat in the ''Film/ManOfSteel'' review, as he treats Joe terribly and would very much like to think he's Superman given the ''Film/SupermanReturns'' speech playing in his head, but Zod makes him scared, mocks him for a crappy speech and the episode takes no interest in him after he's being held hostage.
* BrilliantButLazy: He knows how to take over the world but doesn't want to tell, and he can learn languages really fast when he's obsessing over something meaningless, but mostly he hasn't got the will or the self-esteem to change his life for the better. He got off his ass and succeeded in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' and a few months after, but even that got retconned.
* BrokenPedestal: With Santa Christ. In ''Film/SonOfTheMask'' he's disappointed to learn that the guy actually has a dark side, and said dark side is mostly focused on being cruel to him.
* BrokenRecord: When Rob is yelling at him (or dragging him off in the alternate scenes) at the end of ''Speed Racer'', mostly all he can do is beg he's sorry over and over in a tearful high pitched voice.
* BrokenTears:
** ''Film/SonOfTheMask'' has his crying disturbingly realistic for once, with choking sounds, a red face and dropping out of camera to the floor so nobody can see him.
** His crying in ''WesternAnimation/FoodFight'' is painful as well, as he's curled up on the floor, clawing his scrunched up face and emitting noisy sobbing.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: He is a comedic character that is eccentric, erratic and over-the-top but he's very straightforward as a critic and is strongly passionate about the things that he's talking about. Though he does get easily distracted by the random and wacky shenanigans that happens around him.
* ButtMonkey: WordOfGod says he was ''created'' to suffer. Deconstructed in ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' onwards, where he breaks down over how hellish his life is and wants nothing more than to do something good for once. He tries to act like a successful MeanBoss during crossovers, and either the others get the upper hand or his own attitude does him in. Hyper and Devil Boner also mock him for his DistressedDude status at their hand, beaming with pride at the other for holding him hostage so well.
* ByronicHero: An impulsive cynic who has a TraumaCongaLine backstory. He ''wants'' to be good, but his self-loathing, whininess and temper keep getting in the way.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:C]]
* CameBackWrong: Aside from the far more cruel actions after coming back, multiple episodes have called him a zombie, and Matrix Month confirmed he was a RealityWarper with his PlotHole powers being called "ruining".
* CameBackStrong: [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity There are plenty of things off]], but in terms of the fourth wall he's a lot more aware of who's running the show, and what he can do if things don't go his way.
* CannotKeepASecret: He might have UndyingLoyalty, but his promise to Chester that he'd keep the Search For The Necronomicon just between them lasted for about twenty seconds.
* CannotSpitItOut: The look on his face after he just can't get up the nerve to hold the Chick's hand in "Thanks For The Feedback" (and she doesn't notice) is almost depressing.
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: The Critic never suspected that God would be watching his "Old vs. New" video of ''Film/TheTenCommandments1956'' vs. ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''. He thought God was a benevolent and kind being, but God didn't let him get away with that statement.
-->'''God:''' [[PreMortemOneLiner "Your ass is grass."]]
* CantHoldHisLiquor: In the Snob/Phelous crossover, he was drunk and weepy by 6pm, not even knowing who Rob was, messier than usual, craving Ninja Turtles (even the third movie) and crying that he used to like ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie''. Snob called it "shockingly depressing" and Phelous wanted to hang himself. He compares ''WesternAnimation/EightCrazyNights'' to [[NoodleIncident that time]] he puked from having too much eggnog.
* CassandraTruth: When he tries to put Rocky's message of "people can change" to the real world, he gets punched and shot at.
%% * CatSmile: When he's trying very hard to keep himself from laughing.
* CausticCritic: The fact that he's a DeconstructiveParody of one, focusing on how ''miserable'' the job is, has become more clear as time goes on. He tries to make strong points about things in movies in a way that is so abrasive and bitterly hostile that sometimes he looks ridiculous as a result.
* CharacterDevelopment:
** As probably part of MiseryBuildsCharacter, his attitude towards Harley Quinn and the Joker's relationship. In his Top Eleven Animated Women, he has the hots for her (naturally) and likes the couple because it "gives homicidal maniacs like him a chance". In his Top Eleven Batman Episodes, he feels sorry for her, talks about how the pairing sums up DomesticAbuse in a nutshell and his one complaint about the episode is the {{fanservice}} of doctors in mini-skirts.
** In his first top eleven, the Scariest Nostalgic Moments, he calls the VillainSong in ''[[WesternAnimation/TheCareBearsAdventureInWondlernad Care Bears In Wonderland]]'' gay and mentions that if you watch ''Franchise/CareBears'' long enough you see the face of the devil. When he actually reviews the three movies, he of course still thinks they're sickeningly sweet but is a lot more mature about explaining his problems with them.
** He started being calmer(ish) and giving a general review at the end of his episodes after ''Film/TheGarbagePailKidsMovie'' became the utter pinnacle of badness in his eyes.
** After the ''Film/MyPetMonster'' debacle, he's learned not to be entitled and complain about having to watch something when it's a movie he actually bought or rented.
** [[invoked]] Compare the reviews of ''Film/AKidInKingArthursCourt'' and ''Film/AlienResurrection''. The former has him salivating over a case of PlatonicWritingRomanticReading between two young-looking sisters and the latter a few years later has him irritated over how it was just advertised to get the male demographic in.
** All of the above become a plot-point in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', [[spoiler: when Doug tells him that he's evolved over the years from an abrasive comedy character into a decent and three-dimensional person.]]
** Part of the speech at the end of ''Christmas With The Kranks'' is addressing people who think his development has been undone since TBF, sadly noting that he ''has'' changed from then, in quite a few ways, but development doesn't always mean being a better person.
** He's gone from being ashamed of the fact that he's been crossdressing for ages, to accepting that he enjoys it and it's just what his show does.
* CharacterFilibuster: If his "child abuse" BerserkButton gets hit, the review will stop for a few minutes so he can get all his rant out.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Going from a happy, fanboying proto-Chester to a manic-depressive cynic, to Atoner for [[spoiler:the death of Ma-Ti]], to [[spoiler:self sacrificial saviour of the Awesomeverse]], to an abusive, depressed, condescending MetaGuy with too much power.
** In the ''Super Mario Brothers'' movie, he's grossed out by the big bertha and makes no fuss about the SatelliteLoveInterest either being a DamselInDistress or getting a flame thrower at the end. Watching it now, it's just... strange.
** Also in the early days, he talked about kids' short attention spans and getting easily bored. With his hate for FillingTheSilence, can you imagine him saying that now?
** In his second Nerd rant, he doesn't even know what a compliment is. Fast forward to now and he's ''desperate'' for a movie to give him something good to say.
** Something that applies to both Critic and Doug, but when they did a segment on how much they liked a film (think until about early 2010), their tone was more muted and Critic in the "Top Five Video Game Movies" practically sounds like he's on downers. After that, Doug let his absolute ''love'' for movies shine through everything, letting us get the {{keet}}ish fanboy we know and enjoy.
** In 2007/2008 days, take a drink for how many times he calls anything he doesn't like "gay". In later years, aside from having open crushes on men, even by ''Captain N'' he was apologizing for bottom of barrel gay jokes.
** It's weird to see him go on about how much he loves basketball in ''Film/SpaceJam'', when he makes it pretty clear he's not a sports guy later on, and Rob's mocked Doug for showing no interest in sports in a few vlogs.
** Lampshaded in ''Film/ChristmasWithTheKranks'' when a pre-character-based Critic tells 2015 Critic (who sadly admits his character development is fucked, but has a lot more depth) that "a white wall is our whole identity".
** Old "Top Ten Hottest Animated Women"-era Critic had no empathy for Harley and related to the Joker. ''Actual'' Critic relates to Harley and has played Catwoman and Poison Ivy for reference scenes with no QueerPeopleAreFunny.
* CharacterTics: Puckering his mouth when he's thinking, giving a DeathGlare with his mouth slightly open when he's trying to be angry but failing, and rubbing his chest any time he feels particularly naughty. The last is a Doug thing, as Ask That Guy does it and he himself is prone to it too. Reboot introduced clawing at the walls when he's in a particularly crazed-angry mood, as well as a wide-eyed pout when he's smugly trying to act innocent after he's said something shitty. He also bounces and shakes his fists when he's excited.
* TheChewToy: Part of the fun is seeing just how much he can suffer through a bad film before [[FreakOut he'll snap completely]].
** Not that he doesn't often deserve it, but the other contributors really do enjoy humiliating him. Even a long-dead [[Creator/VincentPrice guy]] has his fun.
* ChivalrousPervert: He gets upset at unneeded {{fanservice}}, [[PrincessesRule princesses]], [[DamselInDistress damsels in distress]], [[SatelliteLoveInterest male-dependent women]] and so on, but he'll make it clear if he's attracted to a (usually toppy or curvy) lady.
** A good early example would be ''A Kid In King Arthur's Court'', as he creepily leers over the two sisters and wants incestuous lesbian sex, but also coins "dumbass in distress disorder", calling out films like this and others for having a strong woman in the first two acts yet needing a man to save her in the third.
* ChummyCommies: He can't say it much in his own show, but "Bunny Boobies" has him wanting to go to Romania because he likes communism.
* ClosetKey: For Malcolm, who acted in the first Hyper vlog that this is his first crush on a guy and is "coming to terms" with it.
* CloseToHome:
** A lot of his choices in the "Top 11 New Halloween Classics" are about people descending into insanity, or locked in their crazy not being able to get out, and making the relating explicit when he sadly says the scariest monsters are human and he (or anyone else) could act like one at any time.
** In his top 11 Gravity Falls episodes, he relates to Pacifica in ''Northwest Manor Mystery'' because she's more fragile than she seems, and speaking of, ''Not What He Seems'' because of the being scared and not trusting reality.
** In ''Is A Charlie Brown Christmas Overrated", he likes the special for the fact that he can relate to not particularly happy childhoods and emotional confusion.
** Gaston is one of his favorite villains because he can relate to Belle being the victim of someone who won't take no.
** He's made a lot of references to getting molested as a child, and Freddy Got Fingered's scene of essentially mocking sexually abused children makes him outright say he was just in the worst mental place he's ever gone to. He's also notably ''very quiet'', himself and not the parody of earlier scenes, but not raising his voice at all.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The Critic can be just as eccentric as the wacky personalities that he surrounds himself with and insanely over-the-top in his comedic antics.
* CloudCuckoolandersMinder: Usually serves this role for Chester, in that he'll look after him but sometimes take advantage of his need for drugs.
* ColorMotif: Blue. The lighting is often blue ([[RealLifeWritesThePlot because Doug apparently sucks at white balance]]), the wall went from a warm yellow-orangey in prime to white in reboot and then to a cold blue when people complained, he's got InnocentBlueEyes, and he [[WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee exploded into blue particles when he died]].
* CompressedVice:
** In ''Tank Girl'' he goes on about how he can't deal with looking at beefcake, but before and after he's both given and appreciated FemaleGaze.
** ''Christmas Story II'' has the plot be Critic potentially losing his love for Christmas because of the bad movie, when 1) even he lampshades that will never happen and 2) the whole plot of the last review had the problem be that he loved Christmas ''too'' much (plus in the next week's editorial he rushes through it because again, wants it to be Christmas faster, and the ''Care Bears Nutcracker'' beginning has him suffering Christmas withdrawal).
** In ''Film/ThePurge'', he suddenly has a huge issue with being redundant, with even Malcolm asking why he'd risk his own life for that. Might just be self-righteous hypocrisy instead, considering he's doing the crossover that Film Brain demanded and he slaps Casper off after he says the above, but it's not made clear either way.
* CondescendingCompassion:
** After strawing him, ignoring him and having very little empathy, he eventually explains to Joe why ''Joe'' likes ''Film/ManOfSteel''. [[VillainHasAPoint Zod mocks him for the sad attempt at being a hero right afterwards]].
** PlayedForLaughs in "When Is A Movie Just A Movie" when his point is good (there are bigger problems than just movies) yet slathers on the condescension about how you can choose to not be effected by a movie. His ending is that he's the one with final say over which film is worth getting upset over though, so it's not irritating.
** "Why Do We Love Stupid" starts with him talking about the Dalai Lama's video on how compassion isn't weak but not quite getting the gist, using it to assume his "all comedy is misery" thing again.
* ConditionedToAcceptHorror:
** The bad upbringing gives him a few moments, like thinking every family have regular giant arguments at dinner, rape not being considered a special type of evil or defending kinky fantasies at a very young age.
** He's also been taught to think that friendship is getting punished if you don't do what the more important one says.
** Talked about in the most melancholy way possible in "Why Do We Love Zombies", saying the real horror is just... getting used to the fear and how it beats you down.
* ConflictingLoyalty: Between his religious belief and wanting scientific proof that God exists. Mostly this is kept to the background not to offend anyone.
** In ''Maximum Overdrive'', he ''really'' wants to be a BloodKnight and perv on the violence, but also ''really'' wants to not be confined to his gender as his other hand keeps making him read Jane Austen whenever there's a violent scene.
** With Hyper. On the one hand he's scared of her, hates her enough to not even consider her a real person, has issues with kidnapping, and wants her gone. On the other hand he's tired enough to ShowSomeLeg[=/=]offer friendship in hopes that she'll leave him alone and not hurt him more. On the other other hand, even before StockholmSyndrome kicked in he indulged her because she gave him attention.
* ConstantlyCurious: In the first two commercial specials, even though he figures that the two 1800 numbers are run by pedophiles, he calls them anyway. (And doesn't hang up even though he's disgusted, but that's a different problem.)
* ConvertedFanboy: Took a bit longer to love WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender, WesternAnimation/AdventureTime and WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse than Doug did, but regularly praises them for progressiveness and not talking down to kids.
* TheCorrupter: He has this unintentional ability to turn otherwise basically decent people into sadists. (Like Lewis and Doug agreeing that Linkara put the idea to rape Critic into Spoony's head.)
* CorruptTheCutie: He was a Catholic schoolboy, and while he's still religious, now he has an active sex life that isn't so big on SafeSaneAndConsensual.
-->'''Critic A''': ["apologizing"] What would Jesus do?
-->'''Critic B''': [instantly horny] Take me!
* CosmicPlaything: He really should stop pissing off beings with more powers than him. Deconstructed after WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, as when he's finally happy and at peace, the universe (i.e CA needing money) made his sacrifice a paradox and brought him back, giving him ''all'' the issues.
* CosplayOtakuGirl: A RareMaleExample. An [[WebVideo/{{Kickassia}} M Bison]] costume that he brags got him tons of pussy, a {{stripperiffic}} [[WebVideo/SuburbanKnights Link outfit]], and, for his review of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', an Optimus Prime suit with a conspicuous crotch bulge that we get to look at every now and then.
* CrazyJealousGuy:
** For Chick. He can't always stop it coming through the stronger IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy feeling. He's wary over her obsession with Todd, gets all growly when she fawns over Creator/JewWario in WebVideo/SuburbanKnights, and looks close to tears (to her credit, so is she) when he mentions she doesn't always return phone calls or emails.
** In WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot, he gets possessive over anything that he considers his, from the Alf doll to [[HomoeroticSubtext General Anesthetic]].
* CrazyPrepared: "What You Never Knew About TMNT" is a video Critic just so happened to release in case he got captured by a crazy fan.
* CrazySurvivalist: He prepares with his gun, a police jacket, a S.W.A.T helmet, knuckle dusters and a baseball bat to watch ''Secret Of NIHM 2''.
%% * CreepyGood: When he wants to be disturbing, his mannerisms and voice are reminiscent of HIM from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''. Just listen to him at the start of [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6d52vf this]].
* CreepyShadowedUnderEyes: When an episode gives him black smears under his eyes (and it's not just Doug looking tired with no help), then it's a sign he's breaking harder than normal.
* CriminalAmnesiac: The Reloaded reviews have him constantly attack himself for being "too gay", the friends that had helped him atone in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, make racist comments towards Ma-Ti and not care one bit about said planeteer's death.
* CrustyCaretaker: The only other job he's had is Doug's factory cleaner gig (this was when Doug was still in school) and he got in trouble for hitting on "Amanda" too much.
* CuteButPsycho:
** Sometimes sweet, sometimes blowing up an entire city by accident because of a tantrum.
** Getting a SoProudOfYou from the Devil for a torture suggestion makes him giggle about having a lot to work with.
** "Psychotic princess" is the only way to describe him in ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'', as he gleefully kidnaps people to force them to be his friends, and keeps asking if he looks pretty in the winning tiara. He does.
* CuteGlassesBoy: It's not that Doug isn't attractive anyway, but his glasses make him look very baby-faced.
* CutenessProximity: He squees himself into teenage girl mode when he sees Snuffaluffagus in ''Series/SesameStreet''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:D]]
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Adds another level of funny when you get that he has all these things he could justifiably complain about and he chooses to focus on shitty movies instead.
** Lampshaded in "Top 11 New Halloween Classics" where he says fucked up shit happening with family might not have happened to you much, but he's got a history.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Doug said once that he chose the black suit jacket to establish the Critic as the asshole to the * DarkSecret: Accidentally strangling a hooker to death after WebVideo/{{Kickassia}} and while still in Reno. He admits this while thinking the camera's not on yet.
* DarkMessiah: He's friends with the devil, sold his soul, ''has'' saved the world three times and ''Film/ManOfSteel'' involves him being compared to Superman right before he has a screamfest about how the movie sucks.
%% * DatingCatwoman: According to Doug and Lindsay, he and the Chick had this sort of relationship.
%% * DeadpanSnarker: Mixed in with StepfordSnarker and bitterness.
* DealWithTheDevil: He's so desperate to have to have Sequel Month erased from his memory that he'll do whatever Sage tells him to do. He traded his soul away to Malcolm's devil for the ability to do a Zod impression, which showed how little anything means to him post-retcon.
* DeathByDespair: After fully breaking down about how his life has gone nowhere, he gets about an inch away from it in his first commercials special.
* DeathByMaterialism: Downplayed. He doesn't die for being OnlyInItForTheMoney in regards to ''WesternAnimation/{{Foodfight}}'', but he does end up in a worse place of sanity than he was already.
* DeathSeeker: You know, you could just leave the room or switch off the TV instead of trying to off yourself constantly.
** "Return was never an option" in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee. He's so given up that others start to notice, with Mickey outright telling him to not think about the PlotHole.
** After his brief period of happiness in the PlotHole, it's got even worse. In ''Son Of The Mask'' he's begging Satan to see sense and just let him die again.
** Right after Evilina tells him her dad will kill him if he finds out he left her alone, he agrees to come back, but looks over the horizon, stays that little extra longer and hits her later. And in ''Devil'' he outright goads [[spoiler: who he thinks is the Devil]] into killing him.
** In ''Ghost Dad'', [[spoiler: while he's only pretending to have died to torture Malcolm and Tamara]], he still poured gasoline all over himself and has nostalgic feelings over how nice it is to be dead.
* DefiantCaptive: Until he sees all the boy-pandering comics and StockholmSyndrome starts setting in, he gets in a few sarcastic comments to Hyper about the assassin pointing a gun at him or how long she's planning on keeping him for.
* DeliberatelyDistressedDamsel: Hams it up like a stereotypical maiden when he thinks Todd is a "masked intruder" there to rape him, and sulks big time when he founds it's just time for a crossover.
* DemonicPossession: In the AVGN vs. NC Final Battle, he gets possessed by the devil when he's losing and can only be killed for a short period by Super Mecha Death Christ.
* DependingOnTheWriter:
** In his own reviews, Doug writes Critic as an ExtremeDoormat who'll always end up giving in to other contributors demands for a crossover. In others (like WebVideo/TheRapCritic's review of Shaq's album), he'll have the stones to ignore any request.
** Even with the BaitTheDog moment of being nice then shooting her for no reason (which Doug lampshaded in the bloopers as grosser when he does it to a woman than vice versa), he's a lot less TroubledButCute in Lupa's "A Talking Cat" review, making more casual jokes and not treating her like he does Rachel or Tamara.
** He was always ditzier and more childlike in the ''Child's Play'' reviews with Phelous. Ended up contributing to their DramaticIrony dynamic [[spoiler: Phelous is WrongGenreSavvy because he thinks Critic is still a cowardly manchild, but in reality he's an atoning DeathSeeker]] in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' though, so Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad.
** In "The Review Must Go On", when the Creator tells a seething Donnie that he'll be more understanding as the Critic, review!Critic mocks that the only 'understanding' videos are the editorials and the rest of the time he's even nastier than before.
* DespairEventHorizon: He's already well past it when ''[[Film/TheNeverEndingStoryIIIEscapeFromFantasia The NeverEnding Story III]]'' begins. He approaches it at the end of ''Film/MyPetMonster'' and start of the following "Nostalgic Commercials" video, falling over the edge near the end.
** The death of Ma-Ti in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' slowly eroded away what was left of his sanity and it all came to a head at the beginning of the ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' review.
** From "The Odd Life Of Timothy Green" to "Does Romeo And Juliet Suck", he hypocritically (because he's gone right back to square one) preaches of how people grow up and learn to adapt. But all the misery comes flooding back in ''Film/SonOfTheMask'' and he begs for death, so after that, nothing more is said about learning from your mistakes.
** All the meta from ''Film/TheLastAirbender'' hurt him a lot more than he let on in that episode, as in the next editorial he ends it talking about fighting too hard for your freedom makes your prison bars so much stronger.
** There's a whole swathe of events to choose from, but whatever happened before "Why Do We Love Zombies" got a speech about getting used to depression and giving in, letting it destroy you.
** Confirmed by Doug on the commentary, Critic almost kissing Hyper was going to be a stockholm version. Luckily Bennie reverses it by revealing her plan, but there are still issues post episode.
** In the BadFuture of 2019, he's completely alone, cries in front of Snob (who owns both him and the site) and has clearly crossed it a long time ago with no hope left at all.
** As his seventeen year old self is still a WideEyedIdealist despite everything that had gone on, Scooby Doo seems to confirm that it was the prom night rape that finally broke him to make him bitter and cynical.
* {{Determinator}}: He'll run all the way from Chicago to Philly to fight the Nerd (which apparently takes two weeks) and he won't even get tired.
* DeterminedDefeatist: He knows he's pathetic, but carries on because at least he's resilient.
* DefiledForever:
** Other than Chick going into DontYouDarePityMe mode and wanting revenge, he's the only left broken over getting raped by Spoony. Even if WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee where he's trying to save him, the spooning is still on his mind.
** While the two weeks that Hyper held him captive is more of a DidTheyOrDidntThey, he was really fucked up by what she did to him, and always backs away when they're in close contact.
* DepravedBisexual:
** Slots into the role a little too well in "The Review Must Go On", as he coos that Doug is cute, rides Mark Wahlberg's fake penis in ''Film/BoogieNights'' just to freak him out, threatens him while calling him 'Tinkerbell' and behaving like he's checking off a lot of items on the {{Domestic Abuse}}r list.
** The first couple of retooled ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'' episodes had him hitting on all the male contestants he kidnapped, and flirting with General Anesthetic, first wanting to be invited to an S&M party and second asking if he looks pretty in a pink tiara.
* DesperatelyCravesAffection: In "Cats And Dogs", the abusive mother gets him to play fetch with her like he's a dog, and he realizes how pitiful it is to be happy about this when he's literally got the ball in his mouth.
** Even though Santa Christ treats him awfully (confirmed by Walkers), Critic still gets upset at D-Bag kicking the former in the balls because "that's one of my friends".
** There are hints from the beginning, but Kranks outright says he started the show because he wanted abusive people to like him.
* DirtyCoward:
** In ''Film/GhostDad'', he openly says he hopes his making Tamara and Malcolm feel shit about themselves will give him enough time to run to his car like a coward. [[spoiler: it doesn't.]]
** In the "Best Avatar Episodes", he says "the needs of me outweigh the needs of you" to Malcolm when he leaves him to die.
** When Bay shoots at them in the ''Transformers 4'' review, he runs off [[spoiler: to get the ElectricTorture chair that he rigged up]] and tells Erod to draw his fire.
** In ''Film/ThePassionOfTheChrist'', he immediately betrays Santa Christ. Though this is less dirty than most (he didn't want to get tortured and it's not like Santa Christ hasn't been horrible to him for a while), he's still cast as the Judas.
** In ''Film/HocusPocus'', he says the best way of dealing with the witches is "running away like a pussy".
* DisappearedDad: He's mentioned very rarely and Critic still lives with his mom. There's been a few hints that the parents got divorced. (This is in-character of course, Doug's dad - Barney Walker - has helped out a lot with music and such, therefore gets thanked in the credits.) In a 2015 ''Last Angry Geek'' episode, it was revealed that [[spoiler: Dr Smith]] was his father, and he'd [[spoiler: died of cancer]] not too long ago.
* DissonantSerenity: Before he goes into LackOfEmpathy, his ''We Wish You A Turtles Christmas'' post-explosion demenour is pretty blissful, knowing this day would come.
* DistractedByMyOwnSexy: When he's being all determined to face down the Nerd at Digital Press, he checks out his reflection in a shop window.
* DistractedByTheSexy: Dulcia of ''Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangersTheMovie'' defeats a mob of "giant black chickens" by swinging two stick-weapons "throwing them into some kind of hypnotic trance":
-->'''Critic''': Yeah, how's that supposed to put you in a trance, taking two sticks and putting them up and down, up and down, up and down, [''cut to Dulcia in her BattleBikini''] up and down...up and down... [''picture slowly zooms in on her breasts'']...up and down...up and down... [''gets his hat knocked off''] [{{Beat}}] You win this round, Dulcea.
* DistressedDude: Critic has been kidnapped, held hostage, or beaten up at least once by almost every character he's interacted with. Perpetrators include characters from the movie he's currently reviewing, his fellow content creators, sketch characters, and, according to a NoodleIncident in the Cats and Dogs review, a ''child that he babysat''. This is a common enough trope in the series that it's been lampshaded multiple times. Hyper Fangirl and Devil Boner even bonded over kidnapping Critic as a couple's activity.
* TheDogBitesBack: After getting beaten on by Casper for a whole episode, he puts on a Ghostbusters uniform and hunts him down.
** Likewise, with "True Internet Story", where he kicks the shit out of the Last Angry Geek for making wild accusations about his personality and earlier life.
* DomesticAbuse: In ''Film/TheShining'', it takes him no time at all to slip into abusive husband role to Rachel. She also acts like an abuse victim, rationalizing his behaviour and carrying on trying to help even when she's crying and he's toying with her.
* DontYouDarePityMe: In "Why Is Loki So Hot", he gets pissed about himself being put on [[invoked]] TheWoobie list [[note]]despite the fact that he isn't, he's on JerkassWoobie[[/note]] after reading that it means a character you feel bad for.
* DrivenByEnvy: He destroys Demo Reel and gives a bad review to The Uncanny Valley just because he doesn't like that [[Creator/DougWalker daddy]] wants to do other things that doesn't involve him for a change.
* DraggedIntoDrag: According to Spoony in his ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' video, he forced Critic to dress up like a dirty ballerina during Spooning With Spoony 2 and took pictures for blackmail.
* DragonWithAnAgenda:
** The other contributors think that he's the (ineffectual) MeanBoss of the site. In reality, it's The Other Guy (who answers to Michaud, who kidnapped him for [=BarFiesta=] and dismissed Critic as a monkey) and Critic's just a puppet with woefully poor self-esteem.
** Comes back in Sage's ''Speed Runner'' episode, where Critic kidnaps Sage and wants to keep him, but when Rob comes in and punishes him he's having a complete breakdown.
* TheDreaded:
** Malcolm tweeted after "The Worst Christmas Special Ever" that Critic now ''wants'' everyone to fear him.
%% ** Brad name-drops the trope to refer to Critic before he comes out in the final round of the game show pilot.
* DrivenToMadness:
%% ** ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' does this to the Critic in his 100th episode. It does it out of the ''sheer stupidity'' of the movie. So much so they sped the camera up for most of his breakdown.
** And ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' drives him [[{{Pun}} 'batshit insane']], until he takes some pills. "Tranquilizers. Always come prepared when Schumacher is involved."
* DrivenToSuicide: In [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony's]] review of Captain America, he asks for the Critics opinion on the movie, [[SeriousBusiness making sure he knows that if he doesn't]], [[KickTheDog he'll get blackmailed with crossdressing pictures from when he was roofied and raped]]. Cut to a shot of the Critic's elevated feet dangling from side to side while squeaking from a rope is heard.
-->'''Spoony''': "That's the coward's way out, and you know it, Critic!"
** After his "''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' Top 11" review, the Critic mentions how the movies always make him smile, before remembering the tragic fates of Creator/ChristopherReeve, Creator/MargotKidder and the World Trade Center.
--->''"I'm the Nostalgia Critic, I'm going to go kill myself."''
*** Not all ''Superman ''movies make him smile. From his ''Superman IV'' review. "How long is this movie again?" "Hour and a half." "BLAM!"
** ''Film/BioDome'' made him slash his wrists, although either he or someone else put plasters on them afterwards.
** The songs in ''The Pebble And The Penguin'' make him feel so dirty that he takes a bath with a toaster.
** It's made clear in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee that he's trying to toe the line between wanting to die (plus that look of peace when he actually does) and wanting to fix his mistakes.
* DrunkWithPower: Seeing as how he has so little of it usually, when he does get the faintest whiff of power he'll try and cling to it as hard as he can.
** Less sympathetic in the reboot, as he says "power is always sexy, because the more of it you have, the more you can get whatever you want" in "Why Is Loki So Hot", and Doug confirmed in his "Disney Afternoon" commentary that having Tamara and Malcolm as essentially his toys to dress up was feeding into Critic's hunger for power.
** At the beginning of ''Sharknado'', he makes Snob say he needs Critic's help, just so he can be all giddy at the thought of it.
** In the second episode of ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'' he openly connects his Critic suit to having power and forcing people to do things for him.
* DudeShesLikeInAComa: He pinches WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's ass--while almost unconscious himself.
* DumbStruck: Because Doug lost his voice again, ''Film/AloneInTheDark2005'' was so awful that Critic lost the ability to talk.
* DyingAlone: While it doesn't win the round, a CAH panel had Lewis use a card that said "Hello I'm the Nostalgia Critic, I'm dying alone and in pain so you don't have to", and Doug nods happily.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:E]]
%% * EffeminateMisogynisticGuy: Mostly a feminist, he still has his moments that come out in either RealWomenDontWearDresses beliefs or trying to see how far he can go until he gets put back in his place.
* EntitledBastard: Mixed with UngratefulBastard, in ''Film/TheMonsterSquad'' he tells Tamara that he'll probably need saving in the third act and if she, a "worthless sack of nothingness" could do it that'd be great.
** In ''We Wish You A Turtles Christmas'', he demands Tamara do her Dorothy impression even when she's dying from the explosion, and uses her as a footstool when she complains at him.
%% * EmptyShell:
%% ** He's got very close to this twice before snapping himself out of it. Funnily enough, both with song.
%% ** In "The Dark Age Of Movies", he references this seriously by adding in "sometimes in life all you can do is just survive".
%% ** Being {{mind rape}}d by Shya-Amon literally turns him into one of the BrainlessBeauty type.
* EndearinglyDorky: His resident LoonyFan Hyper Fangirl falls in love with the Critic because of his nerdiness, love for retro media, and his "half-professional, half-grungy clothes" (quite similar to her love for [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax2012 the Once-ler]]). Critic is ''not'' happy about this.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: ''Cartoon Allstars'' making him so miserable that he sees no other way out than to [[DrivenToSuicide shoot himself]] [[DeathIsCheap in the head]].
** And a more subtle one at the beginning. Even though seeing the movie "brings back a pool of disappointing memories", he's smiling when he says he has to watch it again.
** And another near the end. When the characters refuse to stop hammering the moral in, he starts to disagree when they say he should believe in himself and that they care about him.
** The reboot gets {{foreshadowing}} for later cruel out of the way quickly, as he bitches on a random guy's looks, calls the audience "uniquely lazy", talks like Ask That Guy when making a NAMBLA reference, and kills a kitten all in first few minutes.
* EthicalSlut: He thinks everyone, regardless of age or gender, should just have loads of sex and let the stigma of sluttiness as a bad thing die out. A few ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'' episodes have him happily calling himself a ho.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** As much as he couldn't stand the Nerd, calling him WebVideo/TheIrateGamer is going too far.
** He does a NotMeThisTime when Todd, Jesu, Y and Rollo T accuse him of making them watch ''Film/TheLastAirbender''. He doesn't even know who they are.
** Even he couldn't bring himself to insult ''Series/SesameStreet''.
** As bloodthirsty as he is in the ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'' pilot, he starts getting a little disturbed by John's offscreen messy death as time goes on. In other episodes, when he's running the show, he's creeped out by the "spazzies" (violent animations done by Doug) and offers whoever made them some of his meds.
* EvenNerdsHaveStandards:
** The dorky dancing Peter does in ''Film/SpiderMan3'' is too geeky even for him.
** Subverted in the Harry Potter book launch. After spending the majority of the video bitching about it, he has a FreakOut {{squee}} larger than anyone when the books start coming out.
** There's an affectionate potshot at erotic fanfic writers when George Lucas and Carrie Fisher are the couple in ''Film/{{Hook}}''.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Only known as The Critic most of the time. Although Rob/The Other Guy will occasionally call him by his real name.
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** He usually "jumps at the opportunity" to make a dick joke, but the one in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'' is so half-assed that he just wants to relish the next one and pass this over.
** Doug has said plenty of times that he loves anything to do with gender role reversal, but Critic has no patience for cartoon Zelda's ep about it because they'd ''already'' switched it up.
** He has ConditionedToAcceptHorror issues, but side-eyes Hyper being fine with her brother burying her alive.
* EveryoneHatesMath: He can't remember any algebraic equation from school.
* EvilAllAlong: Subtle retcon in ''Film/TheShining'', as before then the reboot was always unclear whether Critic was ''supposed'' to be good but really didn't come off that way, or CameBackWrong and he didn't know what he was doing, or ThenLetMeBeEvil. Rachel telling him that she wished she could say that he was once nice to her but that wouldn't be true, proves it a mix of the last two.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: When he talks about knowing Mormons in "Top 11 South Park Episodes", he's throughly confused over how anyone could be "unusually nice, and ethical, and not angry, and just... ''pleasant''".
** Lampshaded in ''Film/TheShining'' where he just wants to attack Stephen King because he's making his living by entertaining others.
-->'''Critic''': Oh-ho, we'll show him, won't we Pennywise?
* EvilerThanThou: After a long chase scene in ''BMX Bandits'', he admits Diamanda is darker than him, but that he still wants someone shot to alleviate the boredom.
* EvilSoundsDeep: In "The Review Must Go On", his voice was smoother and deeper as he took control over Doug. And whenever he thought Doug was wriggling out of his power, it only got lower and more threatening.
* ExtremeDoormat: While he's a brat who loves starting arguments, he falls apart with little provocation. He's aware of this.
-->'''Critic''': I just do what everyone tells me to do in the hopes of feeling less insecure.
** Subverted in ''The Top 11 Strangest Couples'', as when Little Kuriboh is in bed with him, he lets him touch him despite his discomfort, but throws the other man out when his chest gets groped.
* ExtremeOmnisexual: In "The Sixth Day", he disgusts Sci-Fi Guy by assuming Arnold would "test out" the really creepy doll, and has an Ask That Guy moment when he shrugs and reasons "a mouth is a mouth". [[spoiler: There are also two Critics in the end (...just go with it) and they both want to fuck each other.]]
[[/folder]]
----

** He's ''really'' tired of the 'beam/portal in the sky' cliche in movies and it ''will'' get a reaction out of him if it shows up. Subverted with ''Film/IronMan'' where he's simply surprised to see it in something made much earlier.

** He's ''really'' tired of the 'beam/portal in the sky' cliche in movies and it ''will'' get a reaction out of him if it shows up.

* AnythingThatMoves: In “The Sixth Day”, he disgusts Sci-Fi Guy by assuming Arnold would “test out” the really creepy doll, and has an Ask That Guy moment when he shrugs and reasons “a mouth is a mouth”. [[spoiler: There are also two Critics in the end (...just go with it) and they both want to fuck each other.]]

** In the ''Super Mario Brothers'' movie, he's grossed out by the big bertha and makes no fuss about the SatelliteLoveInterest either being a DistressedDamsel or getting a flame thrower at the end. Watching it now, it's just... strange.

* ChivalrousPervert: He gets upset at unneeded {{fanservice}}, [[PrincessesRule princesses]], [[DistressedDamsel damsels in distress]], [[SatelliteLoveInterest male-dependent women]] and so on, but he'll make it clear if he's attracted to a (usually toppy or curvy) lady.

** And ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' drives him [[IncrediblyLamePun 'batshit insane']], until he takes some pills. "Tranquilizers. Always come prepared when Schumacher is involved."

* EndearinglyDorky: His resident LoonyFan Hyper Fangirl falls in love with the Critic because of his nerdiness, love for retro media, and his "half-professional, half-grungy clothes" (quite similar to her love for [[WesternAnimation/TheLorax the Once-ler]]). Critic is ''not'' happy about this.

* DespairEventHorizon: He's already well past it when ''Film/TheNeverendingStory III'' begins. He approaches it at the end of ''Film/MyPetMonster'' and start of the following "Nostalgic Commercials" video, falling over the edge near the end.

** After his "''{{Superman}}'' Top 11" review, the Critic mentions how the movies always make him smile, before remembering the tragic fates of Creator/ChristopherReeve, Creator/MargotKidder and the World Trade Center.

** Compare the reviews of ''Film/AKidInKingArthursCourt'' and ''Film/AlienResurrection''. The former has him salivating over a RelationshipWritingFumble between two young-looking sisters and the latter a few years later has him irritated over how it was just advertised to get the male demographic in.

%% * DynamicCharacter: Probably the first internet reviewer character to have actual arcs and backstory.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: The Critic never suspected that God would be watching his "Old vs. New" video of ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' vs. ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''. He thought God was a benevolent and kind being, but God didn't let him get away with that statement.

* BastardBoyfriend: In his mind at least. He's creepily enjoying descending on Rachel in ''Film/TheShining'', sees nothing wrong with smacking Tamara around (she at least is his {{dominatrix}} too), is DrunkWithPower {{gaslighting}} Doug in “The Review Must Go On”, and wants a clone of himself as a SexSlave in “The Sixth Day”. Plus he owns a whip.

* CausticCritic: The fact that he's a DeconstructiveParody of one, focusing on how ''miserable'' the job is, has become more clear as time goes on. He tries to make strong points about things in movies that is so abrasive and bitterly hostile that sometimes he looks riduclous as a result.

** He would also kindly like you to not say the proper name of ''[[WesternAnimation/DuckTales DT]]'' because the [[EarWorm theme song]] finally got out of him.

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

* TheComicallySerious: Subverted. He is a comedic character that is eccentric, erratic and over-the-top but he does take his job as a internet critic VERY seriously and is strongly passionate about the things that he's talking about.

* TheComicallySerious: He is a comedic character that is eccentric, erratic and over-the-top but he does take his job as a internet critic VERY seriously and is strongly passionate about the things that he's talking about.

%% * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The Critic can be as eccentric as the wacky personalities that he surrounds himself with.

** [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted in "The Review Must Go On", where it is revealed that the Critic was actually stuck in [[WebVideo/DemoReel a purgatory]] that the Plot Hole created from his subconciousness because his own mind was unable to comprehend that he would commit such an act of heroism.]]

* DistressedDude:
** He got kidnapped by the Game Heroes and was made to promote their stuff at gunpoint.
** When he was chloroformed by The Nostalgia Chick, he got just as much into the victim role.
** Spooning With Spoony II probably counts, seeing as how he was the only canon one who was roofied and judging by the details, Spoony really went to town on humiliating him.
** Made fun of in the ''{{Film/Sidekicks}}'' review where he acts like he's chained up.
-->'''Critic''': Next I bet you wanna hook up my nipples to a car battery, don't you? ''Don't you?''
** Also played for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/{{Care Bears Movie II|A New Generation}}'' when Christy's screaming wears him down even though he knows it's a trap.
-->'''Critic''': Oh my God, a bag!
** Teddy Ruxpin forces a gun in his mouth and makes him write a more positive review, killing him when he screams for help.
** Before Ma-Ti comes in to take the brunt of the abuse in the brawl, he spends most of the beginning on the floor. Both [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Linkara]] and the [[ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend Chick]] joined in specifically to save him.
** Looks to be the case in Linkara's PreviouslyOn for ''Countdown'', with Chester in control and shot with HitlerCam, and Critic being shown in the opposite camera angle and surrounded by darkness. He recovers (with snark) better in this instance than he does the others.
** The amount of IHaveYouNowMyPretty moments he's been subjected to would make this list even longer.
** By ''Film/TheWiz'', all that distress seems to have warped his brain a little, as he's actually ''disappointed'' when learning Todd isn't a rapist LoonyFan who wants him.
** Near the end of ''Film/ManOfSteel'', Zod takes him hostage and would have slowly tortured him to death (making good on what was threatened in ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'') if it hadn't been for Superman's intervention.
** He's alone with Shya-Amon in ''Devil'' and is about to get {{Mind Rape}}d again before Devil-In-Santa-Christ saves his ass.
** “What You Never Knew About TMNT” strongly implies that Hyper Fangirl kidnapped him, as he's suddenly 'missing until further notice and terrified' after she had broken into his house. Turns out that she'd taken him to a BigFancyHouse that she got from a previous stalking victim and was making him do 'romantic' stuff with her (under gunpoint and torture threats) until he fell in love with her. He reminds her of this in the ''Christmas Story II'' rant but is MadeOutToBeAJerkass.
** In the ''Film/{{Halloween 1978}}'' parody of 2014's Nostalgiaween, he takes the place of Justine and get stabbed, although this might be an hallucination of his.
** Subverted in ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'' pilot, as he's technically there against his will, but he's fine and is especially happy watching losing contestants die. In the rebooted version, he's the one taking a page from Hyper and kidnapping people to try and make them his friends.
** For liking ''Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome'' more than ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'', he gets kidnapped by Devil Boner, Improbable Joe and the other War Boys.
** Lampshaded in ''Christmas With The Kranks'', where he asks “why is it whenever I wake up I have a 50/50 chance of being held against my will”?
** PlayedForLaughs in “Cats and Dogs”, when he was apparently held hostage by a [[http://aattp.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/kid-with-gun-620x330.jpg this]] kid with a gun.
-->'''Critic''': I'm never taking that babysitting job again.
*** He's also creeped out by how calm the kid is while blindfolded and tied up, and says in his experience, he'd be scared shitless no matter what age he was.
** Also amusingly lampshaded in ''Cinderella: Old vs New'', as Hyper and Devil Boner are proud of the other for keeping Critic hostage so well.
** In the crossover review of ''BMX Bandits'', Diamanda Hagan uses General Anesthetic to hold him at gunpoint so he'll do the review with her. He's irritated but it's happened so much he takes it in stride.
** Lampshaded in "Old vs New: Evil Dead", where Hyper Boner kidnap him together (it's a thing) and he says he's been kidnapped so many times a plumber is constantly being told he's in another castle.

%% * DrivenToMadness: ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' does this to the Critic in his 100th episode. It does it out of the ''sheer stupidity'' of the movie. So much so they sped the camera up for most of his breakdown.

* AgentScully: Despite all of the unexplained, magical things that have happened to him, he still demands logic in the movies he reviews.

* AintTooProudToBeg: He'll even whore himself out as long [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry you]] don't play another song.

** In one of Hyper's post-kidnapping vlogs, he in exhausted tone asks her if he does what she tells him to do will she finally go away. She says no and he shows some leg before shoving her out the window.
* TheAlcoholic: Even though even [[Franchise/BackToTheFuture Doc Brown]] would probably laugh at him for not being able to handle his drink, booze pops up a lot in his show. In ''It'', Dr Smith [[spoiler: his father]] gets concerned because he's drinking too much.
* AlcoholicParent: His mother calls him up when she's been drinking and insults him horribly. It's happened so often that he doesn't mind, and he still looks completely traumatized when he's told that she died. Though that doesn't stop him from mentioning it in later reviews, she got drunk at her book club apparently.

* AmazonChaser: Put an ActionGirl in a movie (but don't chickify her) and he'll fall in love. Tamara in ''Film/TheWickerMan2006'' uses this to her advantage, as while she's cutesy and silly with Snob and Spoony, she gaslights and tortures Critic and it gets her a job with him.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Played with. He's annoying, but The Other Guy keeps him in place through disproportionate means. (Like punching him back into a review)
** That said the Critic gives at least as good as he gets considering that he repeatedly berated and beat up Rob without any real provocation in his review of ''Franchise/XMen''.

* AntiRoleModel: Doug tries to make it very clear that you ''shouldn't'' think of Critic as a badass or someone to look up to.
* ApologeticAttacker: "TO WAR! ...whenever you have the time."

* TheAtoner: His accidental admission that he'd killed a Reno hooker by accident gives a new spin on his anger with the UnproblematicProstitution in ''Film/MilkMoney''. Less common sense, more trying to make up for what he did. This trait is especially apparent in WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, as even the trailers had his lines about finally having a chance to make up for his mistakes.

** Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/FoodFight'', when he at least gets that he's being punished for sins he's done, but blames himself for things he had nothing to do with. ''Fatal Fight'', the music from WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee when he killed himself, provides the anvil for anyone not getting it.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: As part of HypocriticalHumor, he gets distracted by a housefly in ''Ferngully II''. In other reviews, he'll get caught up in a sketch if the movie is too dull. Doug has stated in multiple vlogs that he's almost certain he has ADD, so that would explain why Critic can't seem to keep much focus on anything. There's a cute moment in ''The Uncanny Valley'' review where he goes all out on this trait.

* AuthorityInNameOnly: In the TGWTG universe, he's the boss. He gets walked over a lot, however, so that it really doesn't mean much. Phelous doesn't even remember his CatchPhrase. And while he's 'better' (as in his abuse works more to keep them under his control) with Malcolm/Tamara/Rachel, they still loathe him and think he's an idiot who deserves to be tortured. Even with Tamara and Malcolm, when Rob's there (and they're siding with him) Critic has no authority over anyone again, empty threat-ing them that he can buy and sell them like ABBA's dignity.

* BadLiar: [[SarcasmMode Sure]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R7bz5lrhzs&feature=related they're treating you well, Critic]].

* BeardOfSorrow
* BeautifulAllAlong: We've seen him as a fairly {{gonk}}y dork as a young teenager, and he complains about being bullied because he looked and acted too much like ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'', but he's grown up into a traditional PrettyBoy.

* BecauseImGoodAtIt: Variant. He relates to the Santa in "A Christmas Story" because he too hates his job but exploits it because ''other'' people think he's good at it.

* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil:
** Sexual variant. The Spooning storyline continues in "The Strangest But Best Couples", when he acts [[spoiler: or at least tries, he gets creeped on fast in punishment for his homophobia]] like Spoony in the series.
** All the times he's been a DistressedDude, Hyper kidnapping him being the final straw, resulted in him being the kidnapper in ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'', holding people captive and forcing them to be his 'friends'.

** He can't stand children getting abused or having a film treating them like idiots and women not having the power they should have.
** He also hates it when a parent death is treated solely as a plot device with little emotional resonance.
** Movies based on historical tragedies, like the animated ''Titanic'' films and ''Pearl Harbor'', get a lot of hate for mis-portraying real disasters where thousands of people died for the sake of narrative or dramatic convenience.

** Despite him lampshading that they ended in a sweet place at WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee, a little girl gets beaten to death (offscreen) because she mistook him for the Nerd.
** One that he will dedicate entire episodes to are frivolous copyright claims to silence criticism that could hurt profits and reputation. See: Tommy Wiseau, Hollywood in general...

** He never really enjoyed it, but TestosteronePoisoning seems to genuinely anger him in reboot. Even when he's into it he feels guilty and complains that he doesn't want to fit into his gender.
** Ever since Hyper kidnapped him, he hates people being too calm about being held hostage. A lot of '' The THIRD Animated Titanic Movie'' is him getting loudly upset about it.

* BirthdayHater: Odd for such a LonelyRichKid, but the only gift-giving holiday he enjoys is Christmas. He also loves Halloween, for slightly [[EthicalSlut different]] [[NightmareFetishist reasons]].
** AnythingThatMoves: In “The Sixth Day”, he disgusts Sci-Fi Guy by assuming Arnold would “test out” the really creepy doll, and has an Ask That Guy moment when he shrugs and reasons “a mouth is a mouth”. [[spoiler: There are also two Critics in the end (...just go with it) and they both want to fuck each other.]]

* BoisterousWeakling: Although the "getting ordered around" bit (and sometimes getting beaten too) [[{{fetish}} doesn't]] bother him.

* BrainsAndBondage: He's a GeniusDitz masochist who loves toppy women. In the first Nerd Rant, he's ''proud'' of how he tortures himself.

** Turns out in ''Blade'' that he got his Hotshot kink wish, as he says the bloodbath is meant to be scary, but you can see it at any goth club along with rubber gimps.

* BreakTheCutie: Finally driven home in the "Commercials Special" when he bemoans that he used to have such dreams and promise.

* BrokenAce: Comes off like this in the reboot. Gets the voice actors to act out Pinky And The Brain splitting up, takes down TMZ, lectures executives constantly on where they're going wrong... is losing more of his mind and is confirmed to hallucinating/reality warping a lot, wants to be back in the PlotHole on several occasions, and has pushed away everyone who once cared about him because he was such an asshole upon return. Lampshaded hilariously harshly at the start of ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001'', when the announcer asks why someone of so little worth gets so many favors from famous people.

* ButtMonkey: While he tries to act like a successful MeanBoss during crossovers, either the others get the upper hand or his own patheticness does him in. Hyper and Devil Boner also mock him for his DistressedDude status at their hand, beaming with pride at the other for holding him hostage so well.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: [[spoiler: The Critic never suspected that God would be watching his "Old vs. New" video of ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' vs. ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt''. He thought God was a benevolent and kind being, but God didn't let him get away with that statement.]]

* CassandraTruth:
** When he tries to put Rocky's message of "people can change" to the real world, he gets punched and shot at.
** In a less joke and more making a point version, he's depressed when he tries to tell Santa Christ about what Hyper did to him and just gets victim blamed.
-->'''Critic''': You're never gonna be on my side are you?
* TheCastShowoff: [[invoked]] Doug has a singing voice made for musical theater which he puts on display fairly often.
** He and his brother are also skilled at impressions and other voices, which they also put on display... in practically every Nostalgia Critic video.
** Less often than the singing, but he also likes to show off that he's a very good dancer. The ''Transformers 4'' crossover takes time out to have a few minute dancing contest, which is essentially just an excuse to show off his (and Erod's) dancing skills.
** In ''WesternAnimation/RoverDangerfield'', he brought back bad memories for art students when he makes some very good drawings in under a minute, calls them crap assuming everyone would agree with him, and throws them away.
** ''Film/AliceInWonderland2010'' shows his Burton shrine filled with drawings, and when Critic angrily squirms that they're crap, Burton kindly says “but some of it's good”.
* CatBoy: Much to tumblr's enjoyment, the mother in “Cats And Dogs” makes him bat string like a cat, and play fetch like a dog. The announcers also literally call him a poodle, canon that fangirl fandom has gleefully taken to heart.
* CatSmile: When he's trying very hard to keep himself from laughing.

* CharacterTics: Puckering his mouth when he's thinking, giving a DeathGlare with his mouth slightly open when he's trying to be angry but failing, and rubbing his chest any time he feels particularly naughty. The last is a Doug thing, as Ask That Guy does it and he himself is prone to it too. Reboot introduced clawing at the walls when he's in a particularly crazed-angry mood, as well as a wide-eyed pout when he's smugly trying to act innocent after he's said something shitty. He also bounces and shakes his fists when he's excited, a stim Hyper copied.

** In the first ''[[WesternAnimation/TheCareBearsMovie Care Bears]]'' movie, his main theory about why the villain's voice is so cool is that she's getting oral while she does her lines. He then proceeds to act it out. (Her responses, not the eating out part.)
** He actually gets on fairly well with the site ladies and doesn't treat them any differently, but he's stated that he finds them all nice-looking.

* ChubbyChaser: Most of the women he's attracted to are on the voluptuous side.
-->'''Critic''': [when slow-motioning Rogue's bust] I'm a dirty young man yes I am.
* ClassClown: Subverted. He got pitied and bullied for not acting his age in eighth grade, although that hasn't stopped him from ''still'' not acting his age.

** In the "Top 11 Disney Villains", Lady Tremain is the only one he wants to punch in the face that he hates so much. Lady Tremain of course being the only abusive parental figure on the list. And in the ''Cinderella Old vs New'', he gets very passionate about how relatable and actually strong the animated Cinderella is compared to the new, who he feels the creators tried to make flawless in an attempt to update the character. He even says in "What Happened To Great Disney Villains" that he mostly relates to Cindy out of fear from her dominating parental figure.
** Anything that has kids getting hurt by adults, whether it's abuse, neglect, too much pressure or just bad messages. He has a big rant about ''WesternAnimation/ATrollInCentralPark'' giving the message that dreams can do anything, with his two examples being a dead dog coming back to life or divorced parents getting back together.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: The Critic can be as eccentric as the wacky personalities that he surrounds himself with.

* TheComicallySerious: He may be hilariously weird, erratic and over-the-top but he does take his job as a internet critic very seriously.
* CompensatingForSomething: Not in a “it's tiny” sense, the multiple crotch shots Doug likes joss that, but in the vein that it doesn't work due to all the groin attacks and he's having issues with this. There's a PlotThread from ''Film/BridgeToTerabithia'' to ''Film/TheShining'', where he reveals it in the former, gets passive aggressive at Leon in “Is The Big Lebowski A Masterpiece” for mentioning castration, and is really violent to Rachel in ''Shining'' to get his manhood back.
* CompositeCharacter: In reboot, people have noticed he has a lot more Ask That Guy traits (who vanished for ages and then came BackForTheDead), especially in WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot where Doug is improvising like he did for the former and episodes like “The Sixth Day” where he threatens MakeItLookLikeAnAccident deaths and is AnythingThatMoves.

** Lampshaded in the “Top 11 New Halloween Classics”, where he admits that abusive family stuff at Halloween probably hasn't happened to you, but he has a past.

** Comes up again in the ''Twelve Best Chistmas Commercials'', as he realizes not everyone actually has the experience of being kidnapped by a creepy guy in clown make-up.

* CrazyJealousGuy: For Chick. He can't always stop it coming through the stronger IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy feeling. He's wary over her obsession with Todd, gets all growly when she fawns over Creator/JewWario in WebVideo/SuburbanKnights, and looks close to tears (to her credit, so is she) when he mentions she doesn't always return phone calls or emails.
** He's a far less sympathetic version in “The Review Must Go On”, as he makes assumptions about Demo Reel that just aren't true, and refuses to leave until Doug caves in bringing him back.
** To give a nod to the WebVideo/DemoReel example, he outright admits that he would give a positive review to The Uncanny Valley if he were in it, but he's not so has no choice.
** In ''WesternAnimation/FoodFight'', he's breaking before over failing to get money, but Malcolm and Tamara {{squee}}ing over something together and ignoring him is the final straw as he trudges out. In the next review, ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'', his punishment for them (which doesn't go over well) is to stay in the closet.

* CreepyGood: When he wants to be disturbing, his mannerisms and voice are reminiscent of HIM from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''. Just listen to him at the start of [[https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6d52vf this]].

* {{Crossplayer}}: Meta example (aside from all his gender issues and liking of crossdressing), as while there are plenty of traits Doug put in him from male characters, he's also compared him to loads of female characters (like Peridot and Queen Of Hearts).

* CuteButCacophonic: He sounds like a howler monkey when he really gets worked up with shouting, and there are people who don't even like his normal voice, stating they watch his episodes muted. Some of them even apparently tell Doug this, who doesn't really know what to do with this info.
* CuteButPsycho: Sometimes sweet and {{adorkable}}, sometimes blowing up an entire city by accident because of a tantrum.

* CuteMute: He's been traumatized into silence a few times, one of which was in Spooning With Spoony. Noah revealed in his commentary that the reason why Critic only had one line in that was because Doug wanted to play the victim as much as possible.

* DatingCatwoman: According to Doug and Lindsay, he and the Chick had this sort of relationship.
* DeadpanSnarker: Mixed in with StepfordSnarker and bitterness.

** Even with the BaitTheDog moment of being nice and subby then shooting her for no reason (which Doug lampshaded in the bloopers as grosser when he does it to a woman than vice versa), he's a lot less TroubledButCute in Lupa's "A Talking Cat" review, making more casual jokes and not treating her like he does Rachel or Tamara.

* DesignatedMonkey: WordOfGod says he was ''created'' to suffer. Deconstructed in ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' onwards, where he breaks down over how hellish his life is and wants nothing more than to do something good for once.[[invoked]]

** In ''Jem'', he uses this feeling to empathize with Rob Scallon's [[spoiler: apparent]] trauma over being in the movie, and asks if he was safe at least.
* DepravedBisexual: Slots into the role a little too well in "The Review Must Go On", as he coos that Doug is cute, rides Mark Wahlberg's fake penis in ''Film/BoogieNights'' just to freak him out, threatens him while calling him 'Tinkerbell' and behaving like he's checking off a lot of items on the {{Domestic Abuse}}r list.

* DistressedDude: Has happened so many times that RealityEnsues and he's developed some serious issues because of it.

* DrivenByEnvy: Despite calling what he does analyzing (and being good at it), he'll always cut off the co-reviewer when they're "taking things too seriously". Chalk it up to his fear of AlwaysSomeoneBetter.
** He destroys Demo Reel and gives a bad review to The Uncanny Valley just because he doesn't like that [[Creator/DougWalker daddy]] wants to do other things that doesn't involve him for a change.

** Brad name-drops the trope to refer to Critic before he comes out in the final round of the game show pilot.
* DrivenToMadness: ''Film/BattlefieldEarth'' does this to the Critic in his 100th episode. It does it out of the ''sheer stupidity'' of the movie. So much so they sped the camera up for most of his breakdown.

* TheDutifulSon: He knew his family is abusive, but always defended them anyway. Whether it came off as heartwarming or a case of StockholmSyndrome was up to you.

* DynamicCharacter: Probably the first internet reviewer character to have actual arcs and backstory.

* EffeminateMisogynisticGuy: Mostly a feminist, he still has his moments that come out in either RealWomenDontWearDresses beliefs or trying to see how far he can go until he gets [[{{fetish}} put back in his place]].

* EmptyShell:
** He's got very close to this twice before snapping himself out of it. Funnily enough, both with song.
** In “The Dark Age Of Movies”, he references this seriously by adding in “sometimes in life all you can do is just survive”.
** Being {{mind rape}}d by Shya-Amon literally turns him into one of the BrainlessBeauty type.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: As much as he couldn't stand the Nerd, calling him WebVideo/TheIrateGamer is going too far.

** As bloodthirsty as he is in the ''WebVideo/PopQuizHotshot'' pilot, he starts getting a little disturbed by John's offscreen messy death as time goes on. In other episodes, when he's running the show, he's creeped out by the “spazzies” (violent animations done by Doug) and offers whoever made them some of his meds. Plus while he's a psychotic kidnapper, it's Doug adlibbing so a lot of feminism still gets in there, like annoyance over Lola Bunny or gushing over Leia.

** He gets to be on the other side of it when even [[WebVideo/BumReviews Chester]] laughs at him because he watches ''WesternAnimation/WildWestCOWBoysOfMooMesa''.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Falls for this trope with regard to Creator/WillSmith when reviewing ''Film/IndependenceDay''.
** Creator/KeithDavid as well. It's the [[ArousedByTheirVoice voice.]]
** Continuing the trend, he's so charmed by Ernie Hudson in ''Congo'' that he calls him a "black Clark Gable".
** He has a PlayedForLaughs crush on Lucas from ''Film/TheWizard''.
** His utter glee over Creator/DanielCraig and Creator/KateWinslet sharing a kiss suggests it's not just Miss Winslet he finds appealing.
** "Ohhh, George Takei, teach me the Spocker!" Said like he's having an orgasm, no less, and made slightly creepy because of the CallBack to [=SWS2=].
** And now he wants Creator/HughJackman. To be fair, everyone wants Creator/HughJackman. Called back in a very HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday way in the ''Film/LesMiserables'' review, where he says “if you were a girl you'd probably be thankful to have Wolverine save you”.
** Despite his denial and annoyance, he has a moment of swoon for every Avengers man in "Why Is Loki So Hot", saving special StupidSexyFlanders feelings for Thor. And in ''Fantastic Four'', while making a point that everyone's too pretty, Chris Evans is still the only one he calls a beautiful specimen.
** In “The Review Must Go On” he rides Mark Wahlberg's fake dick to make Doug feel uncomfortable, and in ''Film/PlanetOfTheApes2001'' he says it'd be every woman's dream to buy the guy.
** In ''Disney Afternoon'', he states the obvious in that Tim Curry can wear women's clothing and still be hot.
** In ''Film/MammaMia'', he says the choice of Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård is “an adventure of Choose Your Own DILF”.
** In ''Labyrinth'', he shows a lot of appreciation for Bowie as 'girl porn', even giving him the dubious honor of saying he's the only man who could make 50 Shades work. In "David Bowie's Codpiece", he also says that the movie with David Bowie being homoerotic with other men is in his "private collection".
** In ''BMX Bandits'', he doesn't even know who Angelo D'Angelo is, but with that name he already wants to {{squee}} about how "dreamy" he is.
** In the Fraser Mummy, he acts out Evelyn being super attracted to the reformed mummy and called him adorable beforehand.
** In "The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen", he's hot for younger Sean Connory, calls Dorian Grey a "white Prince" approvingly and thinks Tom Sawyer is cute.
** Hyper might have been the one to stalk the Rock on the set of ''Doom'', but Critic clearly likes him too, appreciating the ShirtlessScene and having a small {{squee}} about how adorable he is.

* EveryoneHatesMath: He can't remember any algebraic equation from school. [[WritersCannotDoMath Which would explain a lot.]]
* EverythingIsRacist: Most of the time he has a good point, but at other times he can get on his soapbox a little too much.

** More dickish than evil but in “Why Do We Love Stupid”, he talks about watching the Dalai Lama's video on compassion but a few minutes later shows he didn't quite understand by putting in three screamers in a row [[note]]something that people with anxiety especially really hate[[/note]] and then telling people to admit they liked the first screamer they saw. To put this into perspective, the Ask That Guy episode with a screamer had a warning.

** Though he explained later that he was afraid, his initial reaction to a Canadian PSA telling him 1 in 2 girls get abused was to call them killjoys because he didn't want to know.

* EvilSoundsDeep: For whatever reason, in “The Review Must Go On”, his voice was smoother, more in control, and almost {{squick}}ily seductive. And whenever he thought Doug was wriggling out of his power, it only got lower and more threatening.
* EvilMatriarch: The old lady devil in [[Film/{{Devil}} said film]] giving a man a BreakThemByTalking speech reminds him of his angry mother balling him out. And there are plenty of other examples of awful things she's apparently done to him.

** Subverted in ''The Top 11 Strangest Couples'', as when Little Kuriboh is in bed with him, he says okay to touchies while looking like he's going to cry, but throws the other man out when his chest gets groped.

* CharacterCheck: For all [=NuCritic=]'s pedophile and beating children jokes/actions, he's genuinely sorry at the start of "Why Lie About Santa" when he makes a load of kids cry. The old morals can't last long though, as he happily does it at the end.
** Despite being slightly sadder and NightmareFetishist about it, his reboot CameBackWrong personality doesn't stop his Christmas excitement.
** In "A Talking Cat?!", he quickly goes passive with Lupa when he annoys her and she yells at him (like he used to do with other female producers and Lupa herself in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights''), whereas with Rachel and Tamara he's hit them for much less. And while he does shoot her (which Doug lampshades in the bloopers as shittier than when she does) later on, she shoots him right back.
** One with his reboot self. When he's with Black Willy Wonka in ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax'', suddenly all the preaching about pandering vanishes and he would much rather have money than praise.
** After ages dominating Rachel, his sub side comes back up in ''Film/TheWickerMan2006'', wanting to be the island women's SexSlave and offering Tamara a job when she tortures him.
** One that is both in-universe and out, Critic gets a reminder in ''Christmas With The Kranks'' that the only reason why he started reviewing was because a long history of abuse made him desperate to be loved.
** "I'll Be Home For Christmas" has {{continuity nod}}s back to ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'', with him being tired of always failing and wanting to do better. This one stuck, as while still a VillainProtagonist, he at least tries later to make up for the really bad stuff.
** He wasn't an amazing fan of the Ghostbusters reboot, but as Doug said on Awesome Comics, the most important part is that little girls got excited about it and that makes the film worth it.
* CausticCritic: The fact that he's a DeconstructiveParody of one, focusing on how ''miserable'' the job is, has become more clear as time goes on.

** He went from an ManChild defender of kids due to his own past, to having no idea how they work ("so what do kids do? make tofu or something?") and smacking Evilina hard enough to make her cry while she had just slapped him lightly. He gets a lot worse later, as he comes in from ''killing'' a little girl in Maven's "Monster Mash" review.
** His new BabysitterFromHell side also continues in ''Film/JurassicPark III'', saying that whenever he feeds a baby, he puts the food five feet away from them because “lazy bastards should work for their own meal”. On a accidentally accurate note, he gives an example of a child nothing but oranges, which cause acid rashes and they can choke on them.
** Letting Malcolm get tortured by Dante Basco's fire powers and literally telling him “the needs of me outweigh the needs of you” is a total 180 to his heartbroken Kirk impersonation in ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'' and ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee''.
** ''Turbo'' dedicates about five minutes to how he's much more interested in being cruel to get results, instead of doing the honorable thing like he used to.
** The only way Rob can get saving the world through to him in ''Film/FantasticFour2005''review is appealing to his selfishness. And while ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' still had an element of selfishness, it was the self-loathing kind and this was the guy who stood up to Mechakara with no SecurityCling.

** "Christmas With The Kranks", "The Uncanny Valley", and "I'll Be Home For Christmas" have him acknowledge all this, in that he's tired of screwing up all the time, but CharacterDevelopment isn't always positive and he can't help being broken.