Tropescilloscope: Developing Doomed Characters

Spending too much time developing characters that are likely going to die later on. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes The Voiceless Badass Boast Smoking Is Cool Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Ascended Extra Mooks Developing Doomed Characters Horror Films Real Life Writes the Plot BFG Sports Stories Parental Incest Rule of Funny Spell My Name with an "S" Bunny-Ears Lawyer One-Man Army My Beloved Smother Composite Character Man on Fire Call-Back Politically Incorrect Villain Daddy's Girl Implacable Man Sole Survivor Interrupted Suicide Dark Is Not Evil Really Gets Around Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Knight Templar Taking the Bullet Coming-of-Age Story Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Camera Abuse Villain Opening Scene Evil Is Hammy Ship Tease Unspoken Plan Guarantee Darker and Edgier Black Dude Dies First Idiot Ball Toplessness from the Back Novelization Eye Scream Bolivian Army Ending Bad "Bad Acting" Obfuscating Stupidity Thriller Nice Hat Domestic Abuse Boom, Headshot! Heel–Face Turn La Résistance Beware the Nice Ones Air-Vent Passageway Everyone Has Standards Visual Pun The Quiet One Dark and Troubled Past Shirtless Scene Heroic BSoD Word of God Ms. Fanservice Crazy Jealous Guy Good Is Not Nice B-Movie Artistic License – Biology Unresolved Sexual Tension Wounded Gazelle Gambit Neck Snap Room Full of Crazy Noodle Incident Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Car Fu Pimped-Out Dress Ass Shove Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Contrived Coincidence Red Shirt Vacation Films Epic Fail Central Theme The Ghost Author Appeal The Film of the Book The '80s Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Insult Backfire Meaningful Echo Needs Wiki Magic Love Captain Obvious Femme Fatale My Greatest Failure Rule of Cool Big Bad Annoying Younger Sibling Adorkable Facial Horror Fiery Redhead Suddenly SHOUTING! All There in the Manual Television Movie Index Cain and Abel The Starscream Breaking the Fourth Wall Chekhov's Gunman Dutch Angle Cat Scare Kick the Dog Mercy Kill Kick the Son of a Bitch Reality Ensues Small Name, Big Ego Love at First Sight Sinister Minister Aluminum Christmas Trees Beauty Is Never Tarnished Blood Knight Does This Remind You of Anything? Cassandra Truth Setting Update From Nobody to Nightmare Film Noir Index Costume Porn Shout-Out Product Placement Closed Circle Mystery and Detective Films Offscreen Moment of Awesome Time Skip Unwitting Instigator of Doom Shut Up, Hannibal! Video Credits Kill 'em All Dark Action Girl Lock and Load Montage Missing Mom Overprotective Dad No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Only a Flesh Wound Broken Bird timeperiod Adaptational Heroism Curb-Stomp Battle Big Bad Duumvirate Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Reality Is Unrealistic Ax-Crazy The Musical Villain Song Easily Forgiven Anachronism Stew The Ditz Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Silence Is Golden Anti-Villain Gone Horribly Right Blackmail Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Age Lift Jump Scare Police are Useless Let's Get Dangerous! Light Is Not Good Male Frontal Nudity Twist Ending Spanner in the Works Red Herring Bald of Evil Worthy Opponent A Father to His Men Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Covers Always Lie Pragmatic Villainy Self-Deprecation Sacrificial Lion Gorn The Faceless Morality Pet Wham Shot French Films Darkest Hour The Great Depression Rasputinian Death Trailers Always Spoil Film Series Tap on the Head Spared by the Adaptation The Atoner Due to the Dead In Medias Res Shown Their Work Fantastic Racism Hypocrite Betty and Veronica Your Cheating Heart Killed Mid-Sentence The Chessmaster Almost Kiss Country Matters Serious Business Pretty Little Headshots Manly Tears Psycho for Hire Once More, with Clarity! Belligerent Sexual Tension Mama Bear My God, What Have I Done? After the End Leitmotif Peek-a-Boo Corpse Chase Scene And the Adventure Continues Too Dumb to Live Drill Sergeant Nasty Early-Bird Cameo This Is Gonna Suck Never Found the Body More Dakka A Date with Rosie Palms Evil Sounds Deep Badass Longcoat Anti-Hero Anguished Declaration of Love Dwindling Party Fantasy Films Soft Glass Tempting Fate And Starring Romantic Comedy Double-Meaning Title Imagine Spot The '90s O.O.C. Is Serious Business I Need a Freaking Drink All Men Are Perverts Final Girl Male Gaze Dark Reprise Christmas Movies Index Attempted Rape Protagonist Title Dramatic Gun Cock Would Hurt a Child Dull Surprise Bring My Brown Pants Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Manic Pixie Dream Girl Dirty Cop Curse Cut Short Black and Gray Morality Body Horror Properly Paranoid Martial Arts Movie Catapult Nightmare A.I. Is a Crapshoot Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Wham Line Villain Ball Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Bloodier and Gorier You Killed My Father Reality Has No Subtitles Overly Long Gag Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Eiffel Tower Effect Hooker with a Heart of Gold Auto Erotica Getting Crap Past the Radar Bare Your Midriff Same Language Dub An Aesop Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Mood Whiplash Those Two Bad Guys Paper-Thin Disguise Authority Equals Asskicking As Himself Deconstruction Scenery Porn Funny Background Event Black Comedy Only Known by Their Nickname Our Zombies Are Different All Girls Want Bad Boys Demoted to Extra Five-Man Band Extremely Short Timespan Humans Are Bastards Heel Realization Scary Black Man The '50s Cool Old Lady Improbable Weapon User Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Naïve Newcomer Rated M for Manly Exact Words Mr. Exposition Red Eyes, Take Warning Manchild Punny Name Apocalypse How Sir Swears-a-Lot Back from the Dead Dramedy Humiliation Conga Face Death with Dignity Four-Temperament Ensemble Genre Savvy Monumental Damage Fun with Acronyms Honor Before Reason Taking You with Me True Companions Big Damn Heroes Parental Substitute The Mafia Hope Spot Whole Plot Reference Affectionate Parody The Remake Undying Loyalty Evil Laugh Loads and Loads of Characters The End... Or Is It? Call-Forward Offscreen Teleportation Super Strength Would Hit a Girl Fake Shemp Gory Discretion Shot Smug Snake Red Right Hand Beta Couple Death by Sex Fatal Family Photo Epic Movie For the Evulz Disguised in Drag Intergenerational Friendship What You Are in the Dark Fire-Forged Friends Villain Protagonist Nice Guy Wrong Genre Savvy Bottomless Magazines Bavarian Fire Drill Sadistic Choice What the Hell, Hero? Australian Movies Biopic Diabolus ex Machina Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Up to Eleven Spiritual Successor Public Domain Feature Films Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Eureka Moment Foreshadowing Mexican Standoff Flashback Every Car Is a Pinto Brutal Honesty Mind Screw Large Ham I'm a Humanitarian Malevolent Masked Men Kubrick Stare Italian Films The Stinger Hypocritical Humor Distracted by the Sexy Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality No OSHA Compliance Training Montage Narrator Cruel and Unusual Death The Big Guy Determinator Lighter and Softer Take That! Hero Antagonist Sci-Fi Horror Crazy-Prepared Not So Different The Dog Bites Back Hair-Trigger Temper Bowdlerise Drugs Are Bad Immune to Bullets Ironic Echo Chiaroscuro Arc Words Silent Movie Dumb Blonde Berserk Button Stuff Blowing Up Maybe Ever After Artistic License – Law Broken Aesop Pre-Mortem One-Liner Drives Like Crazy Crapsack World Not Quite Dead Agony of the Feet It Will Never Catch On Evil Is Petty The Place Drowning My Sorrows The Alcoholic Bi the Way Foil Historical In-Joke Dressing as the Enemy Insane Troll Logic Cool Car Big Eater Conspicuous CG Calling the Old Man Out Casting Gag Leaning on the Fourth Wall Death Seeker Failed a Spot Check Kill It with Fire Took a Level in Jerkass Hero of Another Story Children Are Innocent The Stoner Unreliable Narrator Deliberate Values Dissonance British Films Real Life Deal with the Devil Bloodless Carnage Vampire Fiction Blood from the Mouth The Bully Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Animal Motifs Half the Man He Used to Be Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Bullying a Dragon Motor Mouth Canon Foreigner Not Even Bothering with the Accent Framing Device Tagline Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Fish out of Water And I Must Scream A Minor Kidroduction Downer Ending Make It Look Like an Accident Outrun the Fireball Psychological Thriller Demonic Possession Funny Foreigner Flipping the Bird Armor-Piercing Question Daylight Horror Bond Villain Stupidity As Long as It Sounds Foreign Made of Explodium Better to Die than Be Killed I Want My Beloved to Be Happy The Ace Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Deadpan Snarker Rule of Symbolism Expository Hairstyle Change Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Bond One-Liner Logo Joke Laser-Guided Karma Jerkass Gender Flip Romantic False Lead Badass Bookworm Storming the Castle You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Insistent Terminology Faux Affably Evil Our Vampires Are Different Amoral Attorney In the Back Chekhov's Skill Scare Chord Take a Third Option Historical Hero Upgrade Psychopathic Manchild One-Word Title Gilligan Cut Woman in White Laughing Mad Death by Adaptation The Brute Groin Attack Chekhov's Gun The Chick Asshole Victim Establishing Character Moment '80s Hair Never Trust a Trailer Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Enemy Mine Decoy Protagonist Horror Comedy Famous Last Words Recycled IN SPACE! Catch-Phrase The X of Y Non-Indicative Name Disney Villain Death Sexy Discretion Shot Death of a Child Fainting Mr. Fanservice Faking the Dead The Power of Love Exactly What It Says on the Tin No Name Given Disney Death Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Artistic License – Geography Re-Cut Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Woman Scorned Mundane Made Awesome Batman Gambit Hong Kong Films Karma Houdini Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Adapted Out Corpsing Riddle for the Ages Karmic Death Slashed Throat Alliterative Name Cool Shades Dramatic Irony Adults Are Useless Shell-Shocked Veteran Manipulative Bastard It's All About Me Made of Iron As You Know Bound and Gagged Punch-Clock Villain Red Oni, Blue Oni Police Brutality For Want of a Nail The Alleged Car Not So Above It All Cowboy Cop You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Say My Name Retcon Shoot the Shaggy Dog Mythology Gag Broken Pedestal The Oner Pet the Dog The Reveal Abhorrent Admirer Green-Eyed Monster Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Deus ex Machina Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome An Arm and a Leg Oh, Crap! Anachronic Order Accidental Misnaming Comically Missing the Point Fanservice No-Sell Only One Name A God Am I Poor Communication Kills The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Bad Boss Slap-Slap-Kiss Big Applesauce Off with His Head! Nothing Is Scarier Not Using the "Z" Word Russian Films Documentary Older Than They Look Arch-Enemy Token Minority Meaningful Name NO INDOOR VOICE Department of Redundancy Department Vomit Discretion Shot Animated Credits Opening Happily Married Truth in Television Pay Evil unto Evil Expy Combat Pragmatist Fan Disservice Science Fiction Films Homage Empathic Environment Early Installment Weirdness "Shaggy Dog" Story Crucified Hero Shot Guns Akimbo Bar Brawl Military and Warfare Films Intrepid Reporter Refuge in Audacity The Lancer Amusing Injuries Corrupt Corporate Executive Irony Evil Plan Fatal Flaw Hidden Depths Slasher Movie Grievous Bottley Harm Blatant Lies Freudian Excuse Left the Background Music On Foregone Conclusion Black Best Friend I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Villainous Breakdown Hollywood Darkness Married to the Job "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Double Entendre The Un-Reveal One Steve Limit Madness Mantra Extreme Doormat From Bad to Worse Actor Allusion Those Wacky Nazis Reckless Gun Usage Shipper on Deck Did Not Get the Girl Artistic License – Gun Safety Stealth Pun It's Personal Big Brother Instinct Rich Bitch Destination Defenestration Greater-Scope Villain Knife Nut Revenge Superhero Ambiguously Gay Kids Are Cruel folderlabel Alas, Poor Villain Jitter Cam Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Dying Moment of Awesome Put on a Bus Unusually Uninteresting Sight Ambiguous Disorder He Knows Too Much Rule of Three Lampshade Hanging Wicked Cultured I Did What I Had to Do Off-into-the-Distance Ending Gainax Ending Plot Hole Obstructive Bureaucrat Big "NO!" Throwing Your Sword Always Works Index of Film Westerns Award-Bait Song Freeze-Frame Bonus Have a Gay Old Time Meet Cute 20 Minutes into the Future Sealed Evil in a Can Redshirt Army Bilingual Bonus MacGuffin No Ending Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping World of Ham Break the Haughty Match Cut Author Avatar Adaptational Attractiveness Adaptation Expansion Market-Based Title Hoist by His Own Petard The Bad Guy Wins Instant Death Bullet Advertised Extra Stepford Smiler Arranged Marriage Improbable Aiming Skills Eyepatch of Power Together in Death The Dreaded Historical Villain Upgrade Break the Cutie The Smurfette Principle Butt-Monkey It Can Think Spiteful Spit Fanservice Extra The Cameo Playing Gertrude Evil-Detecting Dog Evil vs. Evil Pyrrhic Victory Anyone Can Die Stealth Hi/Bye Eagleland Alpha Bitch Jerk with a Heart of Gold He Who Fights Monsters No Antagonist The Vamp Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Stock Footage Slasher Smile Only in It for the Money The Sociopath Evil Counterpart Adaptation Name Change Rape as Drama Beard of Evil Damsel in Distress Didn't Think This Through Death by Irony Defiant to the End Cluster F-Bomb Dies Wide Open Accidental Murder Brainless Beauty The Dragon Love Triangle Frame-Up Fourth Date Marriage Loophole Abuse Sassy Black Woman Improvised Weapon Names to Run Away from Really Fast Stylistic Suck Action Prologue Mistaken for Gay Meaningful Background Event Canadian Movies Wretched Hive Dogged Nice Guy Face–Heel Turn Celebrity Paradox In Name Only She's Got Legs Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Important Haircut Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Driven to Suicide Bury Your Gays Jerk Jock Dirty Coward Redemption Equals Death Artistic License – Physics Ambiguous Ending Reasonable Authority Figure Retirony Affably Evil Running Gag Guile Hero Earn Your Happy Ending Straight Gay An Axe to Grind Skewed Priorities Pragmatic Adaptation Mad Scientist Awesome, but Impractical Creepy Child Last-Name Basis Bloody Hilarious Ripped from the Headlines Stalker with a Crush Rousing Speech Gratuitous English There Is No Kill Like Overkill "Awesome McCool" Name Jerkass Has a Point Shower Scene Be Careful What You Wish For Very Loosely Based on a True Story Credits Gag Title Drop Badass in a Nice Suit Cloudcuckoolander Your Head A-Splode Parental Neglect No Celebrities Were Harmed Depraved Bisexual Zombie Stories Badass Grandpa War Is Hell Cool Guns Translation Convention Plucky Comic Relief Actually Pretty Funny Vitriolic Best Buds Retired Badass Deliberately Monochrome The Load Leave the Camera Running Disproportionate Retribution Aside Glance The Stoic The Casanova Show Within a Show Not So Stoic Historical-Domain Character Soundtrack Dissonance The Lost Lenore Not What It Looks Like Men Are the Expendable Gender Brother–Sister Incest Parental Abandonment Death Glare Heroes Want Redheads Continuity Nod Sequel Escalation Hell Is That Noise The Smart Guy Creator Cameo Adult Fear Those Two Guys Mugging the Monster Scenery Gorn Abusive Parents Line-of-Sight Name Victoria's Secret Compartment All for Nothing Action Genre Danny Peary Cult Movies List Bittersweet Ending I Have Your Wife Evil Brit Heterosexual Life-Partners Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Camp Gay Posthumous Character "Well Done, Son!" Guy Adaptational Badass As the Good Book Says... "The Reason You Suck" Speech Becoming the Mask Informed Ability Big Fancy House Naked People Are Funny Genre Shift Action Survivor Ominous Latin Chanting Adaptation Dye-Job Animal Title Index Pretty in Mink You Have Failed Me Unusual Euphemism Sanity Slippage Creative Closing Credits Brick Joke Bland-Name Product Does Not Like Shoes The Mole Obviously Evil Card-Carrying Villain Rewatch Bonus Get Out! N-Word Privileges Here We Go Again! Badass Normal Roaring Rampage of Revenge The Hero Dies Totally Radical Chewing the Scenery Fate Worse than Death Gold Digger Race Against the Clock Music Stories Cool Old Guy Hate Sink Action Girl Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene German Films Papa Wolf Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Despair Event Horizon She Cleans Up Nicely Japanese Films Suspiciously Similar Substitute The Hero What Happened to the Mouse? Book-Ends Film Noir Took a Level in Badass Dual Wielding Based on a True Story Neck Lift Fingore Adaptational Villainy Yandere Character Development Serial Killer Artistic License – Military Dropped a Bridge on Him Disappeared Dad Villain with Good Publicity Determinator aka: The Determinator Star-Crossed Lovers Even Evil Has Loved Ones Ghost Fiction Handicapped Badass The '70s The '60s Never My Fault Captain Ersatz Even Evil Has Standards How We Got Here Mighty Whitey Heroic Sacrifice Henpecked Husband Moment Killer Big-Bad Ensemble Grey and Gray Morality Dirty Old Man Genre Throwback Suspiciously Specific Denial Cat Fight No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Babies Ever After Artistic License – History Hollywood Law Adaptation Distillation All There in the Script Friend to All Children Black Comedy Rape Vomit Indiscretion Shot Well-Intentioned Extremist Fat Bastard Antagonist Title Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Precision F-Strike Tranquil Fury Defrosting Ice Queen Works Set in World War II Cold-Blooded Torture All Just a Dream Ungrateful Bastard Random Events Plot May–December Romance The Cavalry Bait-and-Switch Dissonant Serenity Major Injury Underreaction Sequel Hook Race Lift Eldritch Abomination Only Sane Man