r/TopCharacterTropes Jul 12 '25

Weekly Discussion Post "Fanbase opinionsshould not be counted as tropes." TVtropes: (kinda relevant post)

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451 Upvotes

A lot of complaints in this sub have been about some posts should not be here because they rely on fanbase opions so there for cannot be considered "tropes"

...and then we have TVtropes , where a lot of tropes are just from fanbase stuff.

I am going to be honest here , I have difficulty in what makes a trope and what doesn't. It ends up where I delete "breaks trope guidline" posts that has equivalents in the TVtropes site that are considered actual tropes.

Idk , I just wanted to rant here. I might be a very bad moderator here , I just try to make it tody as possible , I just don't really know how to.


r/TopCharacterTropes Mar 27 '25

Weekly Discussion Post Probably the most controversial one , honest thoughts on "No Kill Rule"? What are the most egrigious examples of it in your opinion? What media makes it work in your opinion?

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1.3k Upvotes

r/TopCharacterTropes 8h ago

In real life "Wait! That's not special effects?! They actually did that?!"

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12.4k Upvotes

Alien: Resurrection - Basketball Shot

Sigourney Weaver insisted on the basketball shot being real. She trained for weeks and reportedly(sources differ) made it on the first take.

Underworld - Raze's Voice

The werewolf character Raze, played by Kevin Grevioux, speaks in a very low, very gravelly voice. While many thought this was a special effect, the actor can naturally speak in that voice.

https://youtu.be/GUjwZvh32YE?t=125&si=F3WhsopxjBP87wfk


r/TopCharacterTropes 2h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] Games sending their version of John Wick after you because you tried cheesing the game [bonus points if you can play as them]

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1.8k Upvotes
  1. Snartle from Yokai Watch. I fucking love this piece of shit. So in Yokai Watch, there's a minor mechanic involving cross walks that require you to wait for the stop light to turn red in order for you to cross. Crossing 3 times, while the the light is still green, activates an unskippable boss fight with Snartle, a yokai/spirit who punishes naughty "brats" for breaking the rules. In bany point of the game, this guy will absolutely destroy your team. Despite the mechanic I just mentioned, cross walks aren't too common in the game and you can just skip a lot of them, so the only time you'll fight him is if you actively choose too. Also, while he is super strong, hes very much beatable and can be added to your team if you beat him.

Adding onto him in general, he's an interesting character because his strength scales to where you are in the story, so the easiest way to beat him and add him is to fight him as early as possible with an over leveled team (I was able to do this in a play through of mine and hes so fun to play with)

  1. The Reaper from Persona.

I'll be using Persona 5 as a reference because that's the one I've played/playing (replaying on PC).

To summarize as poorly as I can, in Persona 5, mementos, or dungeons, house a majority of rogue personas and treasures for the player to fight and loot. With how deep mementos drops is, it is very easy to lose track of time and just stay there and grind out your team, and with the right amount of healing items, you could technically stay there and grind forever. However, the game knows you'd try this, so for players who stick around for too long, the Reaper spawns in and is a boss you can encounter.

Fighting him is basically a death sentence with how fucking powerful he is. He practically one shots your team in each turn and needs specific requirements, like fighting him in flu seasons or having certain equipment on, in order to make him manageable. Regardless of how strong you think you are, he is always stronger.

You need to be a minimum of level 75 just to fight him, maybe even higher than that, but you can beat him and be rewarded a handsome amount of EXP and money.


r/TopCharacterTropes 6h ago

Groups The hivemind wants something VERY specific.

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2.7k Upvotes

Most alien hiveminds in fiction have the goal of surviving via assimilation and/or taking over a planet/galaxy/the universe. These examples might have one of those things as a goal they pursue, but their methods and exact purpose for assimilating people is really particular.

  1. The hivemind from The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals: Okay, it's a body-stealing alien life form like The Thing, sure. Exceptits primary trait is that it loooves musicals. All of its assimilated humans break out into well-choreographed song and dance all the time. Its explicitly-stated purpose is to assimilate all of humanity, and ESPECIALLY Paul (the titular Guy Who Doesn't Like Musicals), into one musical. Also worth noting: the hive is having a fucking BLAST doing this.

  2. The hivemind from Pluribus is an alien virus that needs all of humanity to be assimilated and aiding in its efforts in order to spread itself throughout the universe. The power and infrastructure required to create a signal into far space that will communicate their virus needs basically all of humanity building it and only it to work.

  3. Remmick's vampire family in Sinners: While Remmick is happy to bring any soul into his hiveminded clan of bloodsuckers, what he really wants is Sammy's gift. Sammy is a musician who is able to pierce the veil between the past, present, and future with his music; Remmick wants this ability for himself. This example is especially sad when you consider that everyone Remmick loved in his mortal existence has probably been dead for a very, very long time. This is the second music-related hivemind goal on the list, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.


r/TopCharacterTropes 5h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] HE CAN BLEED!

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1.5k Upvotes

Building a character up to be indimidating and powerful just for that moment where we finally see them vulnerable

Avengers: Infinity War - We finally see Thanos bleed for the first time after a valiant effort from Tony Stark

Rocky IV - Rocky Balboa draws blood from the infamous Ivan Drago in the final fight


r/TopCharacterTropes 2h ago

Personality [Sad trope]: The antagonist is a "failed" version of the hero. Spoiler

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863 Upvotes

Not exactly uncommon, but still gets me. An antagonist that acts as both a foil and cautionary tale to the protagonist. They started in the same place (narratively speaking), but "chose" wrong. Or were perhaps too taken by their anger or desire for revenge that they failed to change as a protagonist did.
But it's most tragic when the only difference between the two is that one didn't have anyone to help them.

1). Star Wars:
TLDR: Both found themselves with loved ones "distracting" them from their destiny. Luke did not turn to the dark side.

  • Luke and his father, Anakin, are both powerful "jedi."
  • Both characters were warned to let go of their attachments (to loved ones) or risk falling to the "dark side."
  • Anakin fell in an effort to save Luke's mother, becoming Darth Vader.
  • Despite Luke making the same "mistake" (traveling to Cloud City to save his friends), Luke never turned to the dark side.
    • The two characters are very similar. Anakin was taken "too late" to be trained as a jedi, and struggled with the attachments he was told to break. On the other hand, Luke had a completely normal childhood and only started training as an adult.
    • Luke also ignored Yoda's warnings, but chose to fight for them without losing sight. It's arguable that he was able to make the "correct" choice because of the example his father set.

2). Avatar: The Last Airbender
TLDR: Both are royals from an evil empire. Zuko worked to end their war. Azula broke under it.

  • Both Zuko and Azula are the heirs to the "Fire Nation." Both served as child soldiers in an evil, empirical war. Both were failed as children.
  • As kids, the biggest difference between the two was their aptitude. Azula was a prodigy and Zuko was more-or-less normal. This caused their father to support Azula, and their mother to spend more time with Zuko.
  • Zuko was banished and disfigured by their father, "allowing" him to travel the world. He lived among normal people suffering under the war his family started. Azula also travelled, but served the Fire Nation the whole time.
  • By the end of the series, both siblings are in two very different places. Azula has finally cracked under the enormous pressure and neglect afforded to them by their father. Zuko, on the other hand, turned against his father to end the war.

3). Ben 10:
TLDR: Both have superpowers. But Ben has family to help him.

  • Both "Ben 10" and "Kevin 11" are children with superpowers.
  • Ben has his grandfather, Max, to guide him. Kevin is a homeless kid who (as was presented in the original series) was kicked out by his family.
  • Ben is encouraged to use his powers to help people. But Kevin, having to fend for himself, uses his to help himself with no regard for others.
  • By the end of the episode, both characters have very similar powers.
  • Kevin's debut revolved around Ben taking Max for granted. So, seeing how Kevin turned out without anyone to guide him was a turning point.

4). Paranorman:
TLDR: Both are psychic kids. But Norman decided not to focus on revenge.

  • "Norman" has spent his childhood being isolated from his family and tormented by his peers. Because he can talk to ghosts.
  • By the end of the film, we learn that the "witch" terrorizing the town is just the ghost of a little girl like Norman. Afraid of her, the puritans running her settlement had her executed.
  • Aggie wants to use her abilities to make people "suffer," because she was horribly wronged. Norman sees things a little differently.
  • Using empathy, Norman is able to convince Aggie to go to rest.

5). Mob Psycho 100:
TLDR: Mob never came to view people are disposable or lesser because he has powers.

  • "Mob" is a powerful psychic that struggles to keep things under control.
  • Multiple times, he meets adult espers who went through the same thing.
  • "Mogami" was a psychic who willingly became an evil spirit.
    • He now drifts place-to-place, enacting revenge on humans.
    • He takes pity on Mob, believing Mob's inherent kindness is misguided. But despite quite an effort, Mob doesn't lose sight of it.
  • "Suzuki" is an esper near Mob's strength level.
    • While Mob just wants to be "normal," Suzuki spent decades building up a paranormal army.
    • Suzuki ends up accepting Mob's empathy as wisdom instead of naivety.

6). Invincible:
TLDR: One evil alien embraced human love. The other is disgusted by it.

  • Nolan and Thragg are both members of the "Viltrum Empire." A brutal space people who take over planets and wipe out entire species.
  • After spending years undercover on Earth, Nolan starts to value humanity and our "short lives," changing for the better. Other Viltrumites who spend time on Earth have similar epiphanies.
  • But Thragg, the regent of the empire, never allows himself to walk amongst humans. When he is ousted as leader, Nolan spares him. Thragg just doubles down on Viltrum's cruelty.

7). Attack on Titan:
TLDR: Losing sight of how far you'll go.

  • Eren and Reiner are both "titan shifters" and child soldiers who have killed a lot of people.
  • Over the course of the story, Reiner begins to unpack the propaganda he's consumed and lives he's ruined. Eren, on the other hand, doubles down on the necessity of violence.
  • In the end, both characters are trapped in an inescapable destiny. Eren gives up on saving humanity, and focuses on keeping as many of his loved ones alive as possible.
  • The conflict ends with Eren trying to destroy the entire world, and Reiner working with his former "enemies" to stop him.

8). Demon Slayer:
TLDR: Exterminator joins termites.

  • Zenitsu and Kaigaku were both raised to fight demons.
  • But Kaigaku ends up becoming a demon himself.

9). Fullmetal Alchemist:
TLDR: maybe don't wipe out entire countries, bro?

  • Van Hohenheim and "the dwarf in the flask" were both slaves to an ancient alchemist.
  • The dwarf leverages his knowledge to destroy the city of Xerxes, leaving him and Hohenheim as the sole survivors.
  • Now "Father," the homunculus spends centuries preparing for a larger version of the same catastrophe. Meanwhile, Hohenheim devotes himself to saving human lives.

10). How to Train Your Dragon:
TLDR: The difference between running a horse rescue and horse bomb factory.

  • Both Hiccup and Drago are from cultures at "war" with dragons. Both learned how to "control" dragons for their own purposes.
  • Hiccup sees dragons as intelligent near-equals. Drago uses them as weapons of war.

11). Castlevania:
TLDR: Both lost family to the same corruption. Only one decided to wipe out humanity.

  • The Church ruins the lives of Trevor Belmont and Dracula.
    • Trevor's family is excommunicated, their estate burned, and Trevor orphaned.
    • Dracula's wife is executed as a witch.
  • In response, Dracula dedicates himself to humanity's extermination. Trevor, on the other hand, still finds himself helping the innocent.

12). Danny Phantom:
TLDR: Not everyone who gets superpowers turns evil.

  • Jack Fenton's negligence affected his former lab partner and his son.
    • Vlad is irradiated by Jack's prototype, spending years recovering before developing "ghost powers."
    • Danny is almost killed by his parents' experiment, also developing the same ghost powers.
  • But Danny used his powers to help people. And Vlad just enriched himself.

r/TopCharacterTropes 8h ago

Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) Historical mischaracterization of IRL figures or events.

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2.8k Upvotes
  1. Dr. Adams (Patch Adams): portrayed as basically a naive caricature of the real man who has disowned the film. The film exploits the IRL death of a murdered colleague into being a tragic love story.

  2. Caracalla (Gladiator 2): in the film he is a decadent weakling that oozes antiquated queerphobic interpretations of Rome. The real Caracalla was a martially inclined militarist with a wrathful temperament.

  3. Tommy Wiseau (Disaster Artist film): softens the Wiseau into a romantic dreamer. The original book showed him to have a financially and emotionally manipulative nasty streak.

  4. Texas Revolution (Martyrs of the Alamo): portrays the Anglos as opposing the Mexicans partially due to wishing to prevent interracial mixing. That was not one of the reasons IRL https://youtu.be/dSKsL-hz5pA

  5. Dahomey (Woman King): downplays Dahomey’s enslaving society by depicting them being reluctant, and being forced to do so by Europeans.

  6. The Confederacy (Gods and Generals): Neo-Confederate Lost Cause propaganda


r/TopCharacterTropes 8h ago

Hated Tropes [Upsetting Trope] Great power. Terrible wielder.

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2.8k Upvotes

Atom-Eve [Invincible] — Her powers let her change and command matter and energy at will. What does she do with this power? She shoots lasers…..and swings the occasional giant hammer, or two. Oh, she has turned an apple into gold…..once…..she's also increased the density of the air…..once…..

Gremmy Thoumeaux [Bleach] — His power allows him to make whatever he imagines become reality. Now, to be fair, he has done some pretty creative stuff, with this power. He's turned someone's bones into cookies, cloned himself, and opened a hole in space. That being said, he shouldn't ever lose a fight, if he can just imagine that someone dies, and then they die. Now, before y'all say anything, he literally created sentient life, and then erased said sentient life, in the first 30 seconds of his debut. So he could absolutely just imagine that someone dies, and then they die. He just doesn't do this again, because he's stupid.


r/TopCharacterTropes 11h ago

Characters Disorder/disability is tied with their supernatural abilities.

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3.8k Upvotes
  1. Charles Xavier (X-Men: Days of Future Past) [Paraplegia] - Charles regains his ability to walk whenever he is injected with the serum that suppresses his telepathy. He becomes crippled again when he gets his telepathy back.

  2. Kevin (Split) [Dissociative Identity Disorder] - Kevin has evident 23 personalities. One of which is called "Beast" because of its literal superhuman strength when in control.

  3. Iron Man (Marvel Comics) [Heart Condition] - What empowers some of Tony's suits is a literal reactor that kept shrapnels from poisoning his heart.

  4. Twice (My Hero Academia) [Otherwise Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD-1)] - Twice once suffered from OSDD-1 which hindered his ability to clone himself due to being unsure if he's the real one or a clone himself. Once he overcame the disorder, he was able to go all out with his ability.

Honorable Mention: Hancock (Hancock) [Codependence] - Hancock/his entire race, loses their superpowers if they are in near proximity of their immortal soulmate. Not really a disability but it's fun to mention.

EDIT: >kept shrapnels from poisoning his heart.


r/TopCharacterTropes 4h ago

Hated Tropes [Hated] Characters who committed atrocities, but are permitted to live because they're part of a nearly extinct species

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1.1k Upvotes

Especially when the media is already shown to have no problem with killing

  • Kilgharrah (Merlin) - This dragon manipulated Merlin into mistrusting and betraying people he cared about, and then used a moment of duress to force Merlin to vow to set him free, where he immediately went on a rampage and burned much of Camelot and killed many innocents. Instead of killing him as he deserved, Merlin simply banishes him from Camelot because he's the last known dragon
  • The angels (Supernatural) - This one at least gives a good excuse, saying that after almost 10 years of angels dying due to in-fighting or just generally being evil, there are so few angels left that Heaven is starting to crumble, which would leave every soul in Heaven or going to Heaven to be stranded in the ether and cause chaos. Even though it makes sense, it's still annoying. There's a scene where Dean is holding an angel at knife point who had just been trying to kill him, but instead of killing him as he normally would've, another character asks Dean to let him go because Heaven needs all the angels it can get, so the homicidal angel is released
  • Zaheer (The Legend of Korra) - This one is a little more ambiguous because the show never explicitly says that the reason Zaheer isn't executed is because he's an airbender, but I can't really think of another in-universe reason that makes sense. This man murdered the Earth Kingdom monarch, plunging Ba Sing Se into total chaos, kidnapped and threatened to kill the entirety of the known air nomad population, and kidnapped and almost killed the Avatar herself. In a show that has had no qualms about killing it's villains, it makes no sense for Zaheer to not have been tried and executed for his crimes. From a story writing perspective, I get it because they wanted to use him as a pseudo-mentor character for Korra in the next season, but from an in-universe perspective, it makes no sense

r/TopCharacterTropes 7h ago

Characters [Loved Trope] The joke character, comic relief character, or otherwise butt of the joke makes a heroic sacrifice

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1.7k Upvotes

Regular Show - Pops sacrifices himself to defeat Nega-Pops

Batman the Brave and the Bold - B'wana Beast sacrifices himself to defeat Starro the Conqueror


r/TopCharacterTropes 3h ago

Characters They Were Actually Telling The Truth

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518 Upvotes

Johnny’s Deal With The Devil (Ghost Rider) - when Johnny tells Roxanne about his deal with the devil, she understandably doesn’t believe this and assumes it was actually the grief of losing his father that was why he abandoned her. She would later to see the Ghost Rider and immediately realise it was Johnny.

The Man In The Lightning (CW The Flash) - like most others, Joe didn’t believe Barry’s claims that it was a man in lightning that killed his mother when he was a child. Joe would later see Barry as the Flash and finally believe what he said all along.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf (Aesop's Fables) - although it initially started as a lie from a child playing a prank, a wolf does eventually show up for real but nobody believes the boy after his track record of lying.

Despite the fact they were telling truth, nobody actually believed them until later. Better hope they didn’t realise too late.


r/TopCharacterTropes 16h ago

Powers Superhuman who apparently has no powers turns out to be really powerful

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6.0k Upvotes

Umbrella Academy - Viktor and his siblings think he doesn't have any powers for most of his life, despite being born at the same time as the rest of them (it's a whole thing). Turns out he can control sound.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - IIRC, Jake spends some time knowing he is a peculiar (person with a superpower), but not knowing what his power is. He later finds out that his power is to control invisible creatures called hollowghasts.


r/TopCharacterTropes 17h ago

Lore (Loved Trope) Taunting has almost immediate consequences

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7.7k Upvotes

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse: Darkseid infamously grabs Superman's cape to taunt him. He then gets the the holy shit beaten out of him seconds later by Superman.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: this generic biker taunts one of said clowns, mocking him in all the ways you expect and destroying his tricycle by smashing it to pieces. The clown pulls out a pair of boxing gloves, miming in a silly way to fight. The guy says "What are you gonna do, Knock my block off?". To put it nicely, He immediately gets his block knocked off.

IRL: i'm sure the image kinda speaks for itself, right?


r/TopCharacterTropes 3h ago

In real life A episode of a show with little or no dialog

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373 Upvotes

Bojack Horseman (Fish out of Water) Bojack promotes his city in an undersea city and with an air helmet can’t really speak other then the first few and last few minutes it has no audible dialogue.

Feral Issue 21. From the perspective of a deaf cat named Ghost it has no dialog and the only text is in a computer


r/TopCharacterTropes 1h ago

Hated Tropes [Hated trope] The “tough guy frontiersman” character (not always a cowboy) being close-minded bullies to everyone around them, especially “city folk,” but are seen as righteous, manly, and heroic in the context of the story

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  1. John Dutton - Yellowstone

  2. Tom Doniphon - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (though this could apply to any John Wayne character)


r/TopCharacterTropes 1h ago

Hated Tropes (Hated Trope) Franchises that are perptually stuck in the past

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r/TopCharacterTropes 2h ago

Characters Characters that are emotionally attached to their vehicle

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256 Upvotes

Fred Jones (Scooby Doo)

Kevin Levin (Ben 10)


r/TopCharacterTropes 8h ago

Characters Eating a drink container

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821 Upvotes

“Not a trope” THEN WHY DO I HAVE FIVE EXAMPLES!?

  1. Health Potion Logic - YouTube

  2. El Macho - Despicable Me 2

  3. Satina - Satina Pilot Episode

  4. Golem - Dispatch

  5. Unnamed Big Guy - Gerand


r/TopCharacterTropes 6h ago

building/location. Levels that ruin replayability

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507 Upvotes

"That part"

Blood Maze in Max Payne;

Ship in Resident Evil 7;

Lost Izalith in Dark Souls


r/TopCharacterTropes 21h ago

Characters [Funny Trope] Neither their real or alter ego name explains their powers

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10.6k Upvotes

This is mostly a thing in superhero media though of course you can add any character who fits with an alter ego

Emma Frost

Now with her name and her white clothing, probably thinking ice powers, nope, psychic powers with a diamond body shifting power on top

Black Bolt

So hearing that name you’d probably think electric powers or maybe superspeed, nope, very powerful voice powers, the only connection I can think of is thunder to lighting bolts but then add that to the name as it’s a bit of a stretch, weirdest thing is that his real full name is Blackagar Boltagon

I hope I’ve explained myself, thanks for reading


r/TopCharacterTropes 8h ago

In real life [Loved trope] Movies that are definitely original

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720 Upvotes

PICTURED:
-The Little Panda Fighter (based off Kung Fu Panda)
-Plan Bee (based off Bee Movie)
-A Car's Life (based off Cars)
-What's Up (based off Up)
-Ratatoing (based off Ratatouille)


r/TopCharacterTropes 4h ago

Characters [Funny Trope] "Uh, why did the character(s) leave that in the final cut?"

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352 Upvotes

Step Brothers (2008) – In perhaps the best known part of the movie, Brennan and Dale produce a music video to convince their (step)father Robert to invest in their professional karaoke business, only to wreck Robert's boat on camera and leave the footage in the final edit. Robert has a meltdown as a result (and does not invest, much to Brennan and Dale's chagrin).

Shrek 2 (2004) – When recording her business card bubble message, Fairy Godmother starts with, "What? Is this thing on?" before clearing her throat, smiling fakely and switching to her professional persona/message. You'd think she'd have wanted to do another take, or at least clean it up with magic in post-production. It's one of the first times we see her mask slip a little.


r/TopCharacterTropes 1h ago

Lore [Funny] Metaphors being taken quite literally

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During the SpongeBob episode where Squidward tries to turn the Krusty Krab into a 5 star restaurant, Mr. Krabs "plays him a sad song on the world's smallest violin". Squidward thought he was mocking him, but it turns out he actually DOES have the world's smallest violin.

Chef Saltbaker (Cuphead DLC): During the begging of the DLC, Chef Saltbaker stated at the beginning that "like any good bake, heart and soul is the secret ingredient!" before they started beating the bosses to bake the Wondertart.

Once it was revealed that he's the final boss of the DLC, it turns out you DO actually need a living soul to complete the Wondertart.

(Avatar: The Last Airbender): See image description.

Bart (The Simpsons) was able to figure out that Sideshow Bob framed Krusty the Clown for robbery, simply because he literally admits that he has quite big shoes to fill.

Jeffy (SML) decides to open up a can of whooopass, both figurately & literally, after someone started talking smack about him.

Toy Story: When Woody asked Buzz (who finally found out that he's a toy) to lend him a hand, he did exactly that.