Basic Trope: Hippos are portrayed as friendly, especially as Big Fun and/or a Gentle Giant.
- Straight: Henrietta the Hippo is a nice, Big Fun hippopotamus who loves to help her friends.
- Exaggerated:
- Henrietta is an All-Loving Hero.
- Hippos are an Always Lawful Good species.
- Downplayed: Henrietta is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold on occasion, but is ultimately on the side of good and still cares about her friends.
- Justified:
- Henrietta was raised to be friendly, and decided that she'll continue to be that way.
- Henrietta is a pygmy hippo, a species that really is friendlier than its larger cousins.
- Inverted: Angry, Angry Hippos
- Subverted:
- At some point, we learn that Henrietta is a case of Nice Character, Mean Actor and/or Evil All Along.
- Henrietta is a Pakicetus, an extinct cetacean closely related to hippos.
- Double Subverted: She ends up Becoming the Mask later.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: There are some friendly hippos in the work, and some unfriendly ones.
- Averted:
- There aren't any hippos.
- Hippos aren't really portrayed with any specific traits.
- Enforced:
- An occasionally used Animal Stereotype.
- The author wants to find a good animal species for a Big Beautiful Woman, and a hippo is an appropriate choice.
- Lampshaded: "Henrietta is so friendly."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Bob is feeling down, so his solution is to hug Henrietta.
- Defied: Henrietta hates being called cute or huggable, and tries to scare people away.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "I wonder why hippos are often portrayed as lovable in fiction."
- Deconstructed: Bob assumes that all hippos are as friendly as Henrietta. They're really not.
- Reconstructed: Henrietta sees that the other hippos are terrorizing Bob and gives them a "The Reason You Suck" Speech. This causes the other hippos to have a Heel Realization leading to a Heel–Face Turn.
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