More than 10 years ago, a user observed that The Hero is plagued with unclear description and definition, as well as overlapping with existing tropes (namely, The Protagonist, The Leader and Ideal Hero super-trope). A wick check is conducted to see how The Hero is used.

Here are the results of The Hero Wick Check:

• 30.30% (40/132) wicks are used as a duplicate of The Protagonist.
• 5.30% (7/132) wicks are used as a duplicate of The Leader (also found in wrongly-indented examples of Five-Man Band).
• 6.06% (8/132) wicks are used as "a morally good character who demonstrates heroic behaviour".
• 0.76% (1/132) wicks are used in the form of The Protagonist + The Leader.
• 3.03% (4/132) wicks are used in the form of The Protagonist + "a morally good character who demonstrates heroic behaviour".
• 2.27% (3/132) wicks consist of irrelevant context.
• 52.27% (69/132) wicks consist of ZCEs, PCEs, unclear potholes or otherwise insufficient context on how it is used (Blank examples and potholes to named characters are common).

Possible suggestions (extra ones are much appreciated):

• Disambig.
• Merge with The Protagonist.
• Staunchly define what The Hero is.

May 12 update: The conversation was temporarily moved to Trope Talk. That discussion can be found in this thread.

1. Analysis.Post Climax Confrontation: A given antagonistic character who's actually currently still alive and well hasn't actually been seen for quite some time needs to have his/her story wrapped up before the work's true ending sequence, so the writers throw in a sequence where in which the lead protagonist of the given work battles him/her to the death one final time in order to be able to have that part of the central conflict resolved at the last minute.
2. Anime.Vividred Operation: Akane is the series' main protagonist, being a cheerful, hardworking and athletic girl.
3. Characters.Archie Comics 2015: Of the main title and of the entire franchise. He's also The Face of the franchise since the series is named after him and centers on Archie, his story, his journey and his relationships with the other characters.
4. Characters.Battlefield 3: He's the main protagonist of the story.
5. Characters.Chillys Dreamland: Duh!
6. Characters.Crazy Rich Asians: Beauty Equals Goodness: She's good looking, level-headed, diplomatic, humble, educated, and The Hero of the novels. Example doesn't indicate that the character in question demonstrates heroism, hence leaning towards The Protagonist
7. Characters.Equestria Across The Multiverse: She's the main character of this universe.
8. Characters.Juken Sentai Gekiranger: He's not The Leader like most reds, but he's still the main character.
9. Characters.Kamen Rider Kabuto: The titular protagonist of the series.
10. Characters.Koihime Musou Visual Novel: He always has been the main character in the entire series, with the first game putting him in the shoes of Liu Bei (one of the main heroes of the original epic) before Ryuubi was added in the second game onwards.
11. Characters.Snow White And Seven Dwarfs: Though Shirayuki's the face of the story and the Big Good, Takeru's still undeniably the protagonist and, no matter how he thinks of himself, the main hero of the series.
12. Characters.The Lego Ninjago Movie: Demoted to Extra: In the series, he is set up to be The Hero, only for Lloyd to take place midway through the first season, at which point he morphs into the Deuteragonist. Because the movie focuses entirely on Lloyd's relationship with his father, Kai's role in the story is drastically reduced.
13. Characters.The Sims: Not necessarily in-game, but all promotional material related to StrangerVille sets Alice Martin as the protagonist of the storyline.
14. Characters.Ultra Series Ultra Garrison: Main character
15. Characters.Youre The Worst: Conversational Troping:
    Jimmy: Edgar, I think I know something about Cambellian storytelling. Ferris is The Hero. Jennifer Grey is the foil. Principal Rooney is The Fool. Sloane is the sidekick. Cameron's the villain.
16. Characters.Zombie Land Saga Gaiden: The protagonist of Gaiden, and the newest, as well as only male, member of the Sagako Busters. He joins after being picked to substitute for his twin sister, Yuko.
17. CreatorsPet.Anime: Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force is a rather bad case of both the protagonist and the villains being this: on one hand, Thoma is a newcomer to the world of Nanoha, but the Remember the New Guy? way with which he is introduced, and the fact that he's instantly liked by pretty much every member of Nanoha's team, certainly reek of author bias.
18. Fanfic.Forever And Ever: The protagonist is Gold Junior Kimu (Goldy), the youngest son of Gold and Crystal, and the story is mainly in his POV.
19. Go Mad from the Revelation.Literature: The Unexplored Summon://Blood-Sign: The plot is driven by a mutual example of this trope, affecting both The Hero and the Big Bad. After all, if coming into contact with an otherwordly existence causes insanity, why wouldn't an Eldritch Abomination go insane after encountering a human? The main character Kyousuke has a literally irresistible case of Chronic Hero Syndrome, while the White Queen fell in love with him at first sight, then became a murderous Yandere after he rejected her.
20. Laconic.Fighting The Lancer: A disagreement between The Hero and The Lancer leads to a fight. A fight between The Protagonist and his primary foil. Whether said protagonist is heroic doesn't matter
21. Literature.Armadillo Fists: June Howard, a.k.a. "Armadillo Fists," a.k.a. "Psycho June." The Heroine, female ex-boxer with armadillos for hands. Was originally offered the place of fourth deadliest member of the organisation, but declined. Protagonist
22. Literature.Black Bullet: The story focuses ten years after the war with Rentaro Satomi, a promoter of the Tendo Civil Security founded by his childhood friend, Kisara Tendo. Rentaro is paired with Enju Aihara, a cursed child and his initiator with severe trust issues. Together, they protect the Tokyo area from the threats of the Gastrea.
23. Literature.Look To Windward: Villain Protagonist: Quilan, also an Anti-Villain and Well-Intentioned Extremist. In another story the terrorist bomber would be the Big Bad. Here he's one of our primary viewpoint characters, and treated extremely sympathetically. Even his character is superficially that of The Hero — suffering a past tragedy, recruited out of obscurity and going through Training from Hell before being sent deep behind enemy lines. Of course, since it's the Culture, behind enemy lines ends up being oddly hospitable, maybe even more so than back home. Protagonist + other details that don't involve heroism / morally upright behaviour
24. Literature.Pride Wars: Leo is the protagonist and narrator of the story.
25. Main.Classical Hunter: This is a character whose life and personality is built around game-hunting. Motivations vary—they may hunt to survive, either due to self-imposed isolation or as part of a hunter-gatherer culture, hunt purely for the thrill of it, or hunt to attain some sort of glory. Regardless of their motivations, these characters tend to be Closer to Earth and have a disregard for the rules of polite society. Game Hunter characters are unafraid to take risks, and may undergo a Rags to Riches story if they are The Hero. In terms of characterization, the characters run the gamut from Nature Hero to Proud Warrior Race Guy to Always Chaotic Evil, but have a tendency to be independent and driven regardless of alignment. Definition leans towards protagonist / main character
26. Main.Drama Preserving Handicap: Legato from Trigun is so strong that nobody, not even Vash, can even begin to hope to have a fair fight against him. Therefore, Legato gives Vash a device that weakens his own special power and explicitly invokes this very trope as the reason why he'd give him such a device. It also counts as Nice Job Fixing It, Villain, since at the time Knives' plans would have been better served by keeping Vash disabled rather than giving him a fighting chance. Then again, by that point, Knives' desire and Legato's don't quite overlap anymore (although the latter remains blindly loyal). The main character has difficulty beating that person
27. Main.Its Popular Now It Sucks: It has slowly started to happen to one of its characters. Not to the protagonist, Harry Potter himself, as one would guess, but to the Trope Namer of Draco in Leather Pants, Draco Malfoy, to the point that some say that the only reason he is popular is because of the actor who played him.
28. Main.Jerk Jock: Context leans towards "protagonist"
    1. However, where the Alpha Bitch uses her wiles and sex-appeal to get what she wants, the Jerk Jock usually isn't very smart and is more likely to fall back on fear of violent reprisal instead. Usually, violence is not an option to deal with him, unless The Hero or somebody on their side (likely The Big Guy) is indeed physically stronger than him. Other than that, manipulating him to his doom often proves to be the most effective way to deal with him, since he's seldom bright enough to see through intrigues; the fear of public humiliation, loss of status, or his parents discovering his ways is often sufficient to keep him at bay. That or a Jerkass Realization.
    2. Jun Manjoume, The Hero's main rival on Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, was shaping up to be this, or at least a Japanese Draco Malfoy, in the first half of the first season; fortunately, a Journey to Find Oneself and Character Development intervened. Fitting for this trope, the 4Kids Entertainment English dub named him Chazz Princeton.
29. Main.Kissing Tropes: Motivational Kiss: The Hero's Love Interest kisses them in order to give them the courage they need to get through the danger ahead of them. Often assumed to be the protagonist rather than some random character
30. Main.Tarot Motifs: Majikoi! Love Me Seriously! has a brief scene where most of the extended cast is assigned a specific tarot card. For example, Capt is assigned the Fool in relation to his free spirited protagonist like attitude. Kokoro is the Moon, emphasizing illusions and trickery. Everyone dreads getting the Death card, but the two characters who do draw it are largely unconcerned and the intended meaning for the pair is not elaborated on.
31. Main.Villain Protagonist: Towards the climax of Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, it's revealed that all the quirky, but not exactly evil, students are actually dangerous terrorists put in a Lotus-Eater Machine in an attempt to be rehabilitated. In fact, Hajime Hinata, as his alter ego and Junko Enoshima's second-in-command, Izuru Kamukura, is responsible for not just the events of the game, but also the Tragedy that sparked the entire series. By the end, however, all the survivors choose to atone for their actions, and in-game most of them are decent people who don’t act villainously, with the exception of the various culprits. Potholed in Villain Protagonist, which indicates the character in question is the protagonist
32. OnceUponATime.Tropes G To H: Game Changer: Storybrooke is a town in Maine where all the denizens of a fairy-tale world were sent by the powerful curse of Snow White's enemy, the Evil Queen Regina and live in an amnesiac state unaware of their true identities. Here, they do not age. The narrative revolves around Snow's daughter, Emma, the very reluctant designated curse breaker. She succeeds in breaking the curse in the first-season finale. "The narrative revolves around..." indicates protagonist
33. RenamedTropes.A To E: Adventure Duo was launched as "Adventure Couple", which led even mods to think that it was about romantic couples adventuring together. It was actually supposed to refer to a Hero-Lancer set of personalities adventuring together. Trope describes a dynamic between the protagonist and their foil.
34. UsefulNotes.Myers Briggs: ENTJs (Commanders/Fieldmarshals) enjoy making plans and carrying them out. Fact-driven and picky, but charismatic nonetheless. Excellent leaders, but likely to leave emotions out of their plans, then fly into a rage when things don't go their way. A common type for villains: warlords on various scales, Corrupt Corporate Executives, Evil Overlords with a note of The Chessmaster, likely to leave a surprise behind when they're beaten. Good examples will be a Reasonable Authority Figure or A Father to His Men, but hardly ever The Hero. ENTJs make up an estimated 2-5% of the population. Context is about character archetypes that are rarely shared by the protagonist of a story
35. VisualNovel.Tokyo Dark: Goto is a fat, ugly, and perverted businessman who's hobby is pressuring teen girls into sexually servicing him in the sewer. When Detective Ayami Ito first encounters him, he hits on her; later he is discovered to have antagonized Akane to the point of making her cry. When Ayami returns to make him stop, he is seen with yet another girl whom is pleading with Ayami to save her. Ayami can choose to blackmail, threaten, or even kill him; taking the last option leads to the ending where Ayami is arrested. Entry is about options that the player character can do. The player equates to the protagonist.
36. WebAnimation.Fist Master: Deconstructed Trope: In the original, Akio is thrust into an underground tournament where many fights result in death. In most anime or animesque shows, it doesn't matter that The Hero is an inexperienced child with incomplete control over his powers, he'll find a way to either win or get into the late rounds, all the while unlocking more powers and learning more control over them. Not so much in this case; Akio just barely lucks his way through his first fight and is no match for Kira in the second round. The only reason he survives at all is because Kira uses Super-Speed to save him from a lethal Ring Out, and while she does teach him the first steps to using Ki because she's a ridiculously generous and benevolent person, his actual attempt to use it literally blows up in his face and would have been the cause of his own demise if Kira hadn't intervened. Scenario that involves the protagonist
37. WebVideo.Zukanov: Harthon is the main protagonist of this story. Also, there is a character in the old legends literally called The Hero (though if Zandox is to believed, that one is a subversion).
38. Webcomic.Companyball: Cball, the main character who represents the Companyball Wiki and shows up in the most comics.
39. Website.Overused Sci Fi Silly Science: The Hero knows how to defuse the bomb, but can't remember which of two wires to cut. A situation that commonly involves the protagonist.
40. WesternAnimation.Calimero: Red Oni, Blue Oni: A rare example where The Hero Calimero is the Blue Oni to The Lancer Valeriano's Red Oni. Dynamic between the protagonist and their foil.

1. Characters.Pokemon The Great Adventure Ash Team: Of the Five-Man Band made by Ash's most used Mon.
2. Characters.Red 2010: Leads the other characters.
3. Characters.X Men Evolution: He's the leader of the main X-Men team, as always.
4. Literature.Journey 2014: Joyah. Eventually, even her friends start looking up to her for strength and leadership.
5. Manga.Peacock King: Five-Man Band
   1. The Hero: Kujaku, the leader.
6. Podcast.Nerd Poker: While initially, no one in particular is the leader amongst the group. However, as the adventure progresses, the new addition of Sir Richard seems to fulfill this role.
7. VideoGame.Guilty Party: Max Dickens: The leader of the group is a classic film noir-style fedora-and-trenchcoat detective, and the son of Mr. Dickens himself. While not the brightest spark (perhaps due to the fact that he'd rather be an actor), he's been studying under his father long enough to know the ropes.

1. Characters.Re Zero Subaru Natsuki: From the beginning of the story, Subaru believes this is meant to be his role in this fantasy world because of how that type of stories usually work. However, he comes to understand that the world isn't expecting him to be a hero and he cannot save the day on his own which leads to him getting allies on his side to fight the major threats while he focuses on giving information and act as a decoy. Subaru is still the hero of this story thanks to his actions being the ones that guide everyone to a happy ending.
2. Characters.Quest 64: He sent on a quest to find his father and a magic book to prevent global destruction. He also does a fair number of good deeds along the way, without asking for praise or reward, and so presumably for noble purposes.
3. Heartwarming.Elden Ring: The description of the mask he drops reveals something else: the House's mantra has nothing to do with the blood of their enemies - it's about the tale told when they spill their own blood for a cause they're willing to fight for. Diallos wasn't looking for a way to slay his enemies, he was looking for a cause he believed was worth fighting for. He finally found it in protecting the innocent.
4. Laconic.Engineered Heroics: When someone creates a dangerous situation so that they could swoop in and be The Hero. The "someone" needn't be a main character
5. Main.Evil Hero: You might be thinking, "What are you talking about?" or "How does that even make sense?", which is very reasonable. It does sound like an oxymoron doesn't it? Everybody knows what a hero is, and everybody loves a hero. In fact, a hero, by definition, is a good guy, the one who saves the innocent from the forces of evil, showing children of all ages what a hero does for them, encouraging them to not live in fear, to one day stand up tall and become the next hero everybody looks up to for protection. All of that is nothing an evil villain would do, right?
6. Manga.Cannon God E Xa X Xion: Context leans towards "person who demonstrates heroism" rather than "main character"
   1. The Hero: Hoichi desperately wants to be a big-H Hero, which among other things means he shouldn't kill any civilians. Hosuke had rather different ideas when he built the Exaxxion, though. Hoichi's final solution is equal parts disturbing, tragic and touching.
   2. Villain Protagonist: Hoichi ends up thinking of himself as this for a while, and a large part of the story is dedicated to whether or not people see him as this or The Hero, straight up.
7. Recap.Game Of Thrones S 3 E 9 The Rains Of Castamere: The Bad Guy Wins: House Stark, the one group who could claim to be the non-morally ambiguous Heroes of the War of Five Kings, have been utterly destroyed as a fighting force and the North's war for independence has been crushed. As a result, House Lannister, the one group most identified as the villainous side outside of the White Walkers, is now the undisputed power of Westeros.
8. SoYouWantTo.Deconstruct A Trope:
   1. For example, The Hero is a trope about, well, a hero. That character who does the Heroic things, kills the dragon, defeats Emperor Evulz, saves the princess. Now, think of this trope, but deconstruct it. Make it fall apart. Would that Hero like his job? Would he be appreciated for his job? Would it affect his sanity? Yes, the good side is still there, but now there's a bad side you didn't notice before. There's a thousand things that can go wrong if you just take the time to list them.
   2. Going with The Hero example above, you could say that the hero actually does enjoy his lifestyle, but he's so efficient that all his True Companions feel worthless as heroes.

1. Characters.The Land Before Time The Gang Of Seven: The main character and protagonist of the series, being The Leader of the gang and having the most character focus.

1. Characters.I Am Setsuna: The Heroine: The Character Title and also the focus of the plot, which revolves around her attempt to reach the Lost Lands and make a Heroic Sacrifice to save the world.
2. Characters.Kamen Rider Gaim Kouta Kazuraba: The Hero entry indicates protagonist status, while the pothole indicates heroic personality and behaviour
   1. Broken Pedestal: Like Takatora before him, he's this to Micchy in a really weird way. Kouta is extremely noble, selfless, and wants to save everyone. Unfortunately, as Micchy becomes more evil and deluded over the course of the series, he starts to view Kouta as a fool who rushes into things without thinking and "ruins everything." Even worse, he puts all of the blame for this hatred on Kouta himself, claiming that Kouta's adherence to his ideals is a foolish, childish notion that has cost him Micchy's respect.
   2. The Hero: He is titular Rider of the series.
3. Characters.Rondo Of Swords: Obviously, given that he's the game's main protagonist on a mission to save his kingdom.
4. Characters.Vampire Hunter D: D might be The Stoic and work for hire, but most of the times he will try to do the right thing without expecting a reward in return. Besides he is the title character.

1. Characters.Journey 2014: By the end of the first book, even her friends look up to her. Irrelevant context
2. WesternAnimation.South Park Post Covid The Return Of Covid: Eric Cartman, of all people, becomes this after his Heel–Face Turn where he kills Clyde and comes up with the idea on how to repair the trio's friendship and fix the future. Context has nothing to do with "protagonist" and "heroism"
3. Wrestling.Kofi Kingston: As of WrestleMania 35, Kofi is the WWE Champion and thus plays the role of hero of the entire company alongside Universal Champion Seth Rollins and unified Women's Champion Becky Lynch. At WrestleMania 35 Kofi's win was THE big feel-good babyface win of the day, even eclipsing Becky's winning of both Women's Championship belts in the main event, and he was by then the single most-over wrestler in the entire company. Context indicates "winner or champion of a match" rather than "protagonist of a fictional work" or "heroic behaviour"

1. Anime.Ano Hana The Flower We Saw That Day: A caption underneath the main image Clockwise from top left: Chiriko "Tsuruko" Tsurumi, Jinta "Jintan" Yadomi, Naruko "Anaru" Anjo, Meiko "Menma" Honma, Atsumu "Yukiatsu" Matsuyuki, and Tetsudo "Poppo" Hisakawa Unclear pothole
2. Anime.Combattler V: Unclear potholes
   1. Bring It Back Alive: Tragically played with. In episode 10 Dr. Yotsuya and the team are studying an unknown creature hatched from a giant egg mysteryously appeared on the city. When the strange animal gets upset, it escapes its containment and starts to cause havoc, and Juuzo wants to shoot it down instantly, much to the displeasure of Doctor Yotsuya that wants to study it and to the anger of Hyoma that is Conveniently an Orphan who Wouldn't Hurt a Child. Unfortunately, Juzo manages to kill it before they can stop him... which is exactly what The Dragon wanted.
   2. Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: This is used disturbingly frequently by Prince Garuda. When he blew Hyoma's arms off, when he blackmailed the Japanese Government in blowing up the Nanbara Connection -the HQ of the heroes-, when he deceiving the Japanese police to get the Combattler team under arrest... You would think he would learn to STOP Tempting Fate after the first time...
   3. In episode 16, Kotaro -a little kid of Hyoma's acquaintance- visited the Nanbara Connection. When Ropet shows him the team's vehicles, Kotaro can't help to get in Hyoma's jet fighter, point at a random button and ask what it does. Ropet tried to talk him out of touching it, but Kotaro pressed it anyway.
3. AwesomeButImpractical.Eastern RPG: Aika's super moves attack multiple targets, and are quite useful for quickly clearing out trash mobs early in the game. Her ultimate move, Omega Psyclone, has impressive visuals, where she throws a boomerang of fire onto her enemies, plunging into a burning pit on a rock. By the time you reach the halfway point, Vyse's only multi-targeting super move can do twice as much as Omega Psyclone (and takes significantly less effort to learn). Aika's damage-dealing Super Moves are all fire-elemental as well, meaning some enemies in the game resist or outright ignore the damage done from them; Vyse's Rain of Swords is non-elemental, costs only slightly more SP to cast, and works on everything. Aika's support moves, on the other hand, are extremely useful. Unclear pothole
4. BecauseYouWereNiceToMe.Literature: In The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, Tana's relationship with Gavriel springs from this (combined with Rescue Romance) since she's the only person who ever saved him, or put his needs before her own. We learn from his Tragic Backstory that everyone he ever knew in his long life bullied, mistreated, rejected, or used and scapegoated him. Unclear pothole
5. BigLittleBrother.Anime And Manga: MX0: Kokuha's Berserk Button is being mistaken for being younger than Taiga because of her shorter stature. This is a dangerous mistake to make since she is a champion martial artist and very much a Cute Bruiser. Unclear pothole
6. Characters.And Then There Were None: Villain Protagonist: She's the closest thing to a main character we have as she outlives all the other guests, except for U.N. Owen, but is far from heroic. In several of the adaptations, she's just The Hero outright. Usage indicates 'main character who demonstrates heroism', but needs more context
7. Characters.Anima Beyond Fantasy: blank example that's commented out
8. Characters.Bojack Horseman Other Characters: The Hero: Of "Squeakivus".
9. Characters.Cannibal Holocaust: Perhaps the closest the film has to a wholly good protagonist. Needs more context on the "good" part
10. Characters.Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Hero: He certainly thinks he is this trope.
11. Characters.Dragon Age Cassandra Pentaghast: Unfit for Greatness: One reason she relinquishes leadership of the Inquisition to the Herald. She believes that she isn't the kind of person who can fill the role of The Hero. What does this role do?
12. Characters.Evil Zone: commented out ZCEs
13. Characters.Hero Factory: Unclear usage of "hero"
    1. The Hero originally, though has moved on to Older and Wiser. A Rookie with potential to be an incredibly powerful Hero. Pushes himself hard - probably too hard - to live up to Stormer's high standards as well as his own.
    2. Red Is Heroic: The Hero who is red. ZCE
    3. The newest Rookie and replacing Furno as The Hero, beginning with the crisis on Quatros. Modeled on Furno but is perhaps even more impulsive.
14. Characters.Hot Wheels Accele Racers: blank example that's commented out
15. Characters.Hyouka: He is the one who undertakes to deduce the mysteries, after all. So?
16. Characters.Ip Man Film Series: Of the film series. ZCE
17. Characters.Izetta The Last Witch Main Characters: ZCEs
    1. Shares this title with Finé.
    2. Shares this title with Izetta.
18. Characters.Lego Dimensions Year One: He is one in his Dimension, but doesn't represent it in this game; Wyldstyle fulfills that role.
19. Characters.Little Bear: Of the series. commented out
20. Characters.Little Nemo Adventures In Slumberland: blank example that's commented out
21. Characters.Now You See Me: blank example that's commented out
22. Characters.Nymerias War: Nymeria might not be the only protagonist of the story, but she is undoubtedly one of the most central ones, among the most heroic characters and surely the most important character. Needs context on "heroic" part
23. Characters.Puella Magi Madoka Magica Sayaka Miki:
    1. The Hero is commented out
    2. The Heroine: If Urobuchi is to be believed, she is the hero of this story. The statement is accurate up until she dies. How?
24. Characters.Seven Fates Chakho: Of course. ZCE
25. Characters.South Park The Stick Of Truth: Authority Equals Asskicking: As the ruler of the KK Kingdom, he's possibly after The Hero (who haves mana and many fart attacks) the strongest offensively.
26. Characters.Suikoden I: Of Suikoden. ZCE
27. Characters.Tales Of Hearts: blank example that's commented out
28. Characters.Time Squad: At least he sees himself this way, if "A Thrilla at Attila's" is any indication.
29. Characters.Total Drama Brains VS Brawns: blank example
30. Characters.Wind Over The Ocean: blank example that's commented out
31. Creator.Misato Fukuen: Miyuki Hoshizora/Cure Happy in Smile Pretty Cure! Unclear pothole
32. DistractedByTheSexy.Webcomics: Homestuck has a fairly mild example in the first meeting between John and Roxy. Roxy asks him to tell her about his adventures so far (i.e., practically the whole comic) but winds up listening to none of it because she's too busy evaluating him as boyfriend material (and liking what she sees). Unclear pothole
33. EvenEvilHasStandards.Fan Works: An unusual case — President Sneer during Kingdom Hearts: The Third Epic uses the Dragon Balls more sparingly than in their home series, and in fact at the end of the second war refuses to use them on the people who died in war again, due to this causing the Dark Axis uprising last time. Wolfang Richler, from Kingdom Hearts New Epic The First — set in the same verse — finds this behaviour utterly despicable, as well as selfish. This is the same Wolfang who casually explodes people with his mind, gave a now elderly Sora a wasting disease, and is spreading chaos simply to fulfil The Hero's "desires". Unclear pothole
34. Fanfic.Fate Megami Atelier: An Aesop - The main moral of the story is the importance of True Companions comradeship and how sometimes you just can't call a single person "The Hero". Unclear pothole
35. Fanfic.Some Semblance Of Meaning: Power Trio: When Vale teams up with Fen and Lark, they form one of these. Technically, in that grouping, Fen would be the one who is dubbed "The Hero." Commented out example. Unclear pothole.
36. Film.The Courageous Heart Of Irena Sendler: Irena and her friends are true, real-life heroes. How?
37. Literature.Michael Vey: Michael. ZCE
38. Main.Ambiguously Bi: The Order of the Stick: Belkar kisses the genderqueer Vaarsuvius during a New Year's party and seems to love hitting on Roy, especially when Roy is temporarily turned into a woman and Belkar hits on "her" knowing full well who it really is. Much later, he volunteers to investigate brothels for information on an elusive character, and isn't at all put out when Roy reminds him to check with prostitutes of both genders. Unclear pothole
39. Main.Big Fun: Cats Don't Dance: Tilly the hippo is one of the friendliest characters and the first of the animal actors to give Danny a warm welcome. Unclear pothole
40. Main.Friendly Sniper: Gabriel Monsigny from The 3rd Birthday, to the point she became Aya's big sister figure. Unclear pothole
41. Main.Get A Room: Fire Emblem: Awakening: If Chrom is not married by Chapter 11, and the lucky bride ends up being Sumia, she frets over him before hugging him. An amused Flavia responds with, "Hoo! Give these two some room!" Unclear pothole
42. Main.He Will Not Cry So I Cry For Him: A variant occurs in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. After Ike's father Greil dies, Ike tells Rhys a story Greil used to tell him about how the more tears are shed for someone, the more blessings they receive in the afterlife. Being The Stoic, Ike finds himself unable to cry, so he asks Rhys to cry in his place. Unclear pothole
43. Main.Limp And Livid: The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV has this happen to Rean after breaking out of his chains in his enraged state. He limps for a bit and hunches before he starts grabbing his sword and starts going on a rampage, trying to reach Valimar. Unclear pothole
44. Main.Magnetism Manipulation: The servant Karkash from The Zombie Knight has power over electromagnetic fields, giving him both magnetism and lightning powers. He's kind of oddly matched with Hector, who's an iron materializer; Hector can neutralize Karkash's lightning by creating lightning rods, but Karkash's magnetism can use Hector's iron constructs against him if Hector can't uncreate them in time. Karkash can also fly by wearing chunks of iron under his clothes and moving those. Unclear pothole
45. Main.Necromantic: Zeref of Fairy Tail is a deconstruction. He originally studied forbidden magic, specifically, trying to bring back his baby brother Natsu. Unlike most examples of this trope, he succeeded; in fact, his curse was divine punishment for daring to delve into and come so close to understanding Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. He gave Natsu an Etherious body, hence E.N.D., and equipped him with the potential of someday killing him. Unclear pothole
46. Main.Orphanage Of Love: In Combattler V, Hyouma Aoi was raised in one that was run by a kindly nun. It certainly explains how badly he takes seeing children in risk. Unclear pothole
47. Main.Phlebotinum Girl: The character is a female lead and often a Love Interest to The Hero in a Science Fiction or occasionally Fantasy work, and is teenaged or in her twenties with an other-worldly appearance. Context leans towards male protagonist
48. Main.Queer Establishing Moment: Unclear potholes
    1. The first comes from Wandering Star, where Guardian Brynda Wazel tells Rho that Hysan is in love with her...and that that's the only reason Brynda hasn't hit on Rho herself.
    2. While there were subtle hints shown earlier, the cutscene after you complete the Taurus Temple reveals that Jun is gay and Tatsuya is bisexual. Tatsuya is asked to pick which of his friends he's interested in, and Jun is the Gay Option. If you choose that, Lisa is stunned and feels quite awkward to find out he swings that way. This has an effect in gameplay, as Jun and Tatsuya get a joint contact, and the Tatsuya/Lisa joint contact is lost for the rest of the game. No, the two options do not function the same way.
49. Main.Relax O Vision: Killer is Dead Bryan's about to get hit by a train! Cut to a Unicorn in a grassy field while "Please Stand By" marquees across the screen. Cut back to Mika catching his robot remains and Mondo swearing his death won't be in vain. Unclear pothole
50. Main.Screwed By The Merchandise: Beast Wars NEO: while the show did quite well, the toys sold very poorly. A big part of the problem was that many of the toys were what is known as "shellformers" i.e. Transformers whose transformation sequence involves folding the robot and then rotating large panels to cover it up (hence the term 'shellformer'). Big Convoy's toy was infamous for the fact that one could pull off all the mammoth parts and would wind up with a perfectly serviceable robot and an almost complete mammoth. Worse, the toys were viewed as being fiddly, overcomplicated and just not fun to transform, a death sentence for a franchise where converting a toy from one mode to another is the entire point. The reaction was so bad it essentially killed the Beast Wars franchise in Japan. Unclear pothole
51. Main.The Diva: P.N.03: Vanessa Z. Schneider displays many of the trope's qualities, from her flashy and suggestive dancing, to her sassy attitude toward her client, and worrying over her skin and glasses. Unclear pothole
52. Main.The Ladette: Before Chie, Persona 2: Eternal Punishment deconstructs Ulala Serizawa, Maya Amano's roommate. While she doesn't fully look or even act the part (she does all the cooking for herself and Maya, wears thick makeup and a lacy dress, and even handles all of Maya's wardrobe, as revealed in Innocent Sin), she is abrasive, foul-mouthed, loves alcohol, and is an avid boxer. As time passes, we learn that it's all a cover for her low self-esteem; despite having a lot of skills under her belt, she's stuck at a dead-end job and has been swindled by a number of past boyfriends, whereas Maya has a prolific editing job and is constantly fawned on by men. This jealousy and fear that her life has no meaning comes to a head when she drunk-dials JOKER, as calling him allows the caller to kill whomever they wish, and she nearly turns into a Joker herself. Character Development helps her out with this. Unclear pothole
53. Main.Unsettling Gender Reveal: In Karakuridouji Ultimo, Service, who up till then was the source of much Viewer Gender Confusion, got his shirt blown off during a fight in Chapter 23, revealing... a flat chest. We next see Yamato's face with an expression of pure shock. The fandom was mind-blowned too. Unclear pothole
54. Main.Weaponized Teleportation: In Wakfu, no less than three named characters can teleport and all three use it liberally in combat. Yugo puts his portals to good use to evade and counter enemy attacks and later learns how to fire wakfu beams through the portals. Season one Big Bad Nox can teleport thanks to the Eliacube amplifying his natural Xelor magic. Season two Big Bad Qilby the Traitor is the biggest example in the series because he's an Eliatrope like Yugo who possesses greater mastery of their shared powers due to adulthood (he can create many portals at once while Yugo can only make two at a time). He also merged with the Eliacube, turning it into a wakfu arm that also amplifies his powers. The series does a good job showing just how intense battles between teleporters can get. Unclear pothole
55. Main.Youkai: My Monster Secret has Youkai among the non-human students who attend Morobare High School in secret. Most of them are the underclassmen who Asahi councils in the second part of the manga; this list includes a Tengu and a Rokurokubi. Most notably, the series' effective Big Bad, Principal Shirayuki, is a Yuki-Onna who used to be human. Unclear pothole
56. MissingMom.Fan Works: In chapter 8 of Bait and Switch (STO) Captain Kanril Eleya and Lieutenant Commander Reshek Gaarra are talking about their families, and Gaarra mentions that his mother died when he was two. He was raised by his father and a paternal aunt. Unclear pothole
57. NightmareFuel.Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: "Green With Evil 5": The Rangers had discovered who the Green Ranger was, and Kimberly went looking for him to futily try and talk him down. Finding Evil!Tommy at the Youth Center, she tells him they know... and he hits a Death Glare that visually terrifies Kimberly, before warning her of the Rangers' impeding demise. Again, if you only know Tommy as The Hero, you'll be unsettled by this whole scene. Credit to Amy Jo Johnson, her wide-eyed fear was utterly palpable, as she knows Evil!Tommy could've killed her right then and there, Rita's orders being the likely reason he didn't. Unclear pothole
58. Recap.SCP Foundation SC Ps 2500 To 2999: Unclear as to whether the character in questions believes itself to be the protagonist, a heroic figure, or both
    1. The Hero: Believes itself to be this in whatever work it inserts itself in, even when it is the Foundation itself.
    2. Narcissist: Loves to proudly boast itself as The Hero and acts condescending to everyone else, seeing them as a means of making itself look good.
    3. Self-Insert Fic: What it essentially does to the pieces of fiction it invades, inserting itself as either The Hero or a Deus ex Machina that will solve the plot much faster than normal.
59. ReferencedBy.Sonic The Hedgehog: Big Wolf on Campus: In "Game Over", Tommy is attacked by a video game character named Dirk Strykem (an obvious parody of Duke Nukem) and tries to convince his friend Merton to help him. Merton doesn’t believe him, so he sarcastically replies that he’ll help him and asks if he should also keep an eye peeled for Sonic the Hedgehog. Unclear pothole
60. Roleplay.Digimon RP: The Smart Guy: Among others, there's Izzy, Cody, and Ken... And Keith, who basically (and rather unusually) mixes this trope with the personality of The Hero. Commented out example. What personality?
61. Roleplay.Lords Among The Ashes: Undeathly Pallor: While not undead, this is a side-effect exhibited in anyone who advances sufficiently far in Grimmtech such as Jaune, Cinder, and Salem. Unclear pothole
62. Roleplay.Shadow Of The Gods: Berserk Button: There are plenty of buttons not to push around a few of the characters. Ironically Kailex and Michael have the same one; loved ones being hurt. Unclear pothole
63. TheUnfairSex.Anime And Manga: Ryuuou No Oshigoto: Ginko calls Yaichi names like "trash", "scum", "pervert", "pedophile" and kicks him around on a daily basis, as well as acting like she has the right to know every detail about his personal life (and usually taking out her anger violently on him when he doesn't want to tell her). When Yaichi calls her a "hindrance" once, while he's in the middle of a Freak Out over a tournament where his title and salary for the rest of the year will be decided no less, it's treated as an unbelievably callous thing to do and he has to prostrate himself before her at the end of the arc to regain her forgiveness. It's topped off with an extra dose of idiocy because Ginko is also a professional shogi player just like Yaichi; she knows full well what kind of Serious Business tournaments are and that when a high-level player is trying to focus on one, it's not a good idea to go flirt with them. Unclear pothole
64. VideoGame.A Blind Legend: Edward Blake. ZCE
65. VideoGame.Front Mission 3: Unclear potholes
    1. Boring, but Practical: Shields. It depends on who you ask. But on gaming message boards, the oft-suggested build for most pilots, is their weapon they are the best at and a shield. The only exception to this is Kazuki, given his Hybrid Assault focus on shotgun and melee, and even then, a shield paired with a shotgun or melee weapon isn't out of the question for him.
    2. Not Blood Siblings: Emir "Emma" Klamsky and Kazuki Takemura, tied with Alisa as the knot. Alisa is Emma's blood-tied and Kazuki's adoption-tied siblings, respectively.
66. WebAnimation.Doraleous And Associates: Unclear potholes
    1. Good Scars, Evil Scars: Doraleous has one over his right eye.
    2. Only Sane Man: Doraleous, Sir Walken, and later on, Thesaurus display the most common sense out of all the Associates.
67. WebVideo.The Miracle Of Swindon Town: Bald John Green. Commented out ZCE
68. Webcomic.Pon And Zi: Pon. ZCE
69. Webcomic.Serious Emotional Disturbances: everyone, but especially 9. ZCE