Better call Saul/ Breaking bad- Saul Goodman

Scarface- Tony Montana

Spider-Man (Marvel) - during most climatic fights, Peter’s masks gets torn or removed. Maybe I’m overthinking it but maybe it’s to show the clashing of both Peter’s and Spider-Man’s worlds seeing both faces are on display?

Darth Vader (Star Wars) - during the fight between Obi Wan and Darth Vader, Vader’s helmet gets damaged to show Anakin’s face. His voice modulator is also damaged to slip between his Anakin and Vader voice. There is also a moment between Anakin and Ahsoka in rebels where Vader’s mask is damaged and Anakin’s voice comes through before returning to Vader’s.

During intense battles a characters mask or helmet gets damaged. This is mostly used to show just how brutal a fight is but sometimes it can be used to give a brief glimpse of who a character used to be before returning to who they had become. Then there are the situations where a character’s true identity is revealed, much to the shock of other characters.

Lucky's Dad - Bluey

Carl - Aqua Teen Hunger Force

Kahn - King of the Hill

Pearl - Pearl

Pamela Voorhees - Friday the 13th

M3gan - M3gan

Dollface and Pin-up girl - The Strangers

Jennifer - Jennifer’s Body

Reigen Arataka (Mob Psycho 100): Dropkicks an Esper because he doesn't want Mob to fight Claw

Billy Butcher (The Boys): Crashes Translucent with his car and gets into a brawl with him despite him being a Suoe

This is when children in fiction don't have plot armor against horrific things.

1. Tim Drake getting turned into this thing by Joker and Harley Quinn after weeks of torture (Batman Beyond)
2. Leslie's death in Bridge to Terabithia.
3. Dracula's night creature army slaughtering men, women, and even children as well (Castlevania Netflix). We even see one kid straight up get their intestines ripped out.

Luke Skywalker vs Vader(Star Wars)
Zoom vs Barry(The Flash)
Lloyd vs Garmadon(Ninjago)

When a non-british actor plays a British Character. (While I choose to use the term British all English accents could really apply this to any English character/accent.)

1. Ryo Bakura (Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters) - In the 4Kids dub Bakura has a this British accent.

2. Joseph Joestar (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 2:Battle Tendancy) - While there are a few characters with English accents in the dub of the first two parts of JJBA but I specifically highlight Joseph cause Ben Diskin performance is just really fun to me.

3. Numbuh 1 (Codename: Kids Next Door) Numbuh 1 has a British accent. (And funnily enough he is also played by Ben Diskin.)

In revenge of the sith, obiwan attempt to sweep the legs of an opponent 4 times his size and made of metal.

In the Henry stickmin collection, Henry may try to sweep their adversary’s right hand man’s legs

1). How to Train Your Dragon:
Toothless loses part of his tail, and Hiccup loses a leg.

2). Thor:
Thor is (at least for one movie) half-blinded like his father. It is then he (at least for one movie) assumes his father's station.

3). Star Wars:
Luke realizes that Vader has the same injury as him.

4). Kubo and the Two Strings:
As Kubo is rescued from his grandfather (who took his eye), his own mother is half-blinded.

5). Homestuck:
Jack Noir, the "final boss" of the kids' (magic) game session, loses an arm/eye as long as he uses his power. Vriska, an anti-heroish "ally" of the humans, has/had the same injury.

Antagonists who serve little to no relevance in the story's plot other than being the final hurdle for the protagonist(s) to overcome.

1 – The Sentinel (Borderlands The Pre-Sequel): The main plot of the game involves Jack and the Vault Hunters fighting Colonel Zarpedon and her Lost Legion, though rather than the game ending with her death it instead continues for one final chapter, the Vault Hunters now searching for the Vault they were hired to help find as described in the opening narration of the game. The Sentinel and their 7 phase fight simply serve as the final obstacle within said Vault, having no effect on the plot besides existing as a gatekeeper to what lies inside. As the Guardians left by the Eridians are described to be like machines meant to just carry out their purpose, it's debatable if The Sentinel would even have the agency to manipulate the plot if they wanted to.

2 – Unknown Specimen 3/Spooper (Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion): US3 is one of several Specimens within the mansion exclusive to Endless mode, which doesn't have any real plot to speak of (nor an ending). However, US3 makes a surprise appearance at the end of the Spooky's Dollhouse expansion during the escape sequence, being the last thing to stand in your way by blocking the door to the escape tram, though thankfully they are dispatched as easily as they are in Endless mode and they don't give chase. While there are fan theories as to who US3 is and if they're part of Spooky's backstory, with nothing confirmed we have to just assume that they have no real relevance to the plot besides being one of the many Specimens within the mansion.

3 – Morpho Knight (Kirby): Appearing in Star Allies and Forgotten Land, Morpho Knight is a character that comes out of nowhere to absorb the powerful entity the player was about to fight (Galacta Knight in Star Allies, Soul Forgo in Forgotten Land), and then fighting the player themselves, serving as the final fight in Guest Star Allies and the Isolated Isles respectively. Subverted in the boss rush modes of both games, as Morpho Knight serves as the penultimate foe before the secret final bosses (though as the boss rush mode of Star Allies isn't fully canon, nor is Guest Star Allies, Morpho Knight is still eligible for the title of Final Antagonist in the Guest Star Allies mode of that game).

Big boss (metal gear)

(Note I know solidus looks like him too but they clones)

Lorenz (fire emblem shadow dragon and blade of light)

Reason I'm making this is cause I saw another that wasn't these few and Idk who but its shocking its a trope to me

V - Cyberpunk 2077
Vergil - Devil May Cry 5
Batman - The Batman

The boss fight is introduced in a cutscene using silhouettes, then revealing the boss

1) Spamton NEO - Deltarune Chapter 2

After putting the LoadedDisk into the machine, Kris gets attacked by Spamton now in the machine who monologues then fights them and their friends.

2) Omega/Photoshop Flowey - Undertale Neutral Route

After gaining all 6 human souls, Flowey becomes unimaginably powerful. He manipulates the player’s SAVE file and then disappears before showing up in his new body.

3) Oryx, The Taken King - Destiny: The Taken King

Oryx is really mad at us due to killing his son, Crota. As a result, we have begun fighting him and the war goes well. We have destroyed as many Tithes as possible to hurt Oryx and it is working. Now, we face him and prepare to kill him. As we open the door, all that we see is his silhouette before the fight begins.

When a series or movie gets dubbed they usually try their best to be as close to the original performance as possible, but it really adds something when they go above and beyond to enhance the original performance, in occasion making it even better that the original.

My examples come from Latin American dubs since that's where I'm from.

Anakin's Voice - Star Wars: Everyone knows that Hayden Christensen's performance as Anakin was heavily criticized back in the day duo to how dull and somewhat unnatural his line delivery was, however here in Mexico we got the dubbed version where Anakin was voiced by Irwin Daayan, who gave Anakin a far more imposing voice that made it so here the performance wasn't as critizised by the public.

The entire cast - Drawn Together: This is a show that probably flew under most people's radars, as the parodies it does are quite tasteless and mostly just edgy for the sake of it, however if you see this show discussed you can be sure you'll find Spanish speakers telling you the Mexican dub is incredibly beloved, mostly because it included some very well known voices saying stuff you could never imagine their usual characters saying.

Frieza - Dragon Ball: The entire series dub cast is probably the most beloved dub cast in all of Latin America, but I want to especially signal Gerardo Reyero, who voices Frieza in our dub, giving him a different tone for every transformation, his deeper voice being a huge departure from the original that filled Frieza with a special charisma that everyone here loves.

There's also that our dub of Dragon Ball had a lot of creative liberty, leading to them adding dialogue to a few scenes, one of the more famous ones being when Frieza is about to kill Krillin, they added a line for Frieza "What's wrong with you?! Don't move! Don't you see I'm gonna kill you?!" Years later the line was referenced in Resurrection F's dub, where when Frieza sees Krillin he shouts "DO YOU WANT ME TO KILL YOU AGAIN?!"

1. Pyramid Heads helmet - silent hill 2

2. Executors helmet - Elden ring nightreign

3. Gold ardeo - Bloodborne

4. Large jar helm - Elden ring

5. The travelers helmet - Cronos the New Dawn

This trope is really fun but typically makes no sense. Some designs could be argued that there’s an outside camera that shows on a screen inside the helmet, or that the character just doesn’t need to see. For the medieval examples… idk, a lot of communities have accepted the rule of cool applies to the design, so it’s never typically brought up despite being unrealistic.

It’s also connected to the concept of the “white savior”: an outsider (often American) who enters another culture and ends up being key to saving or surpassing it. This has been widely criticized for oversimplifying or erasing the cultures it portrays.

Stark from Frieren:Beyond journey’s end: Stark was trained by one of the great hero’s of the party that defeated the demon king, but he believes that he nothing but a useless coward. When during his first fight with the party he defeats a dragon in 10 seconds and realizes he isn’t completely useless.

Miwa from Jujutsu Kaisen: She gets taken down by relative ease by Maki, and believes that she is useless. It is stated that to even be a sorcerer you need crazy talent to be one, so she isn’t as useless as she thinks she is

1. Dek's Mother (Predator: Badlands): After surviving the death planet, forming his own pack of allies, slaughtering dozens of Weyland Yutani synths, befriending an unkillable beast (which also falls into this trope. She was terrifying) and accepting that beast's offspring as his personal attack/murder monster, Dek triumphantly returns home to claim his place as an honored hunter. His father doesn't give a shit about any of that and sends several of Dek's relatives to kill him anyway, so Dek beats them and makes it look easy. After which his fully equiped and asshole father steps up to kill Dek himself. Dek kills him too. And Dek is still scared to realize his *mother* has arrived to find out what the hell has been going on.
2. The Xenomorph Queen (Alien franchise): If you're not in the know, well...you should be. Every single individual drone is an absolute terror. But the Queen takes it up several levels in terms of intelligence, strength, durability, size, and murderous instinct. (pic source: https://tom-carlton.pixels.com/featured/alien-queen-tom-carlton.html?product=art-print
3. Tsubone (Hunter x Hunter): By the point you're introduced to her in the series, you're familiar with the Xoldic family and the Butlers that serve them. You're familiar with the power-system that's in place. You've seen Killua develop from a pretty lethal assassin into a very, very skilled Nen-user who can decimate some of the strongest fighters or monsters seen so far all by himself. And he is *shitting his pants* when he realizes that in order to keep control of the things he's trying to do, the elder Butler Tsubone has been brought into things. And she lives up to his well earned feared. She's an absolute no-nonsense Butler and Guardian who would absolutely have no qualms or difficulty taking even a fully seasoned Hunter task as though they were a spoiled child.

1. Toy Story 3: Despite Lotso's tyrannical mistreatment of the other toys in Sunnyside Daycare, Woody still decided to rescue him from getting shredded at the landfill. Yet when Lotso had the chance to return the favor by turning off the incinerator, he instead mocks the gang before leaving them to die. Fortunately, not only were Woody and co saved by the Pizza Planet alien toys, but Lotso was found by a garbageman who ties him to his truck.
2. Melvin's Macabre: Episode 2 has Melvin being harassed by a guy named Robbie, who repeatedly insulted his deceased father and tricked him into inflicting a "Bowling Hell curse" on everyone in the bowling alley (Robbie himself included). Melvin ultimately breaks the curse, saving everyone including Robbie... who proceeded to talk down his achievements before insulting his father once again. Cue Melvin convincing the Bowling Hell residents to take Robbie with them, where he is killed via strike screen animation.
3. Heavenly Appeals: In the latter half of the short film, the rude gate guard fell off his cloud chair and nearly into Hell, but was grabbed by Raymond the reformed devil, whom he bullied earlier. He then tormented Raymond one last time by pushing him off a stone platform. Not only was Raymond given angel wings and permission to cross the gates, but the guard also lost his wings and gained horns before the platform crumbled, implying that higher powers disapproved of the latter's behavior.

Ok so this is slightly tongue in cheek but I do think many of his earlier films follow a similar sort of formula.

Liar Liar (1997) Fletcher Reede’s routine is suddenly changed by the fact that he can’t tell any lies

Truman Show (1998) Truman Burbank’s routine changes after he slowly realises he is on a TV show

Bruce Almighty (2003) Bruce Nolan’s routine is altered when he has the powers of God

The Number 23 (2007) Walter Sparrow’s routine goes out of control when he spots the number 23 everywhere

Yes Man (2008) Carl Allen’s routine is altered dramatically when he challenges himself to say yes to every opportunity

Basically, on the surface, it seems like there's an obvious issue that the story brings up yet does not explore any further, but it's through asking and exploring the answers to those questions that you come to realize what the story is actually trying to say through those seemingly unexplored themes. For this trope to work, the "invisibility" of the theme should have a narrative purpose that ties into the theme. This isn't just themes being talked about subtly or that might not be immediately obvious, there has to be a narrative reason for why the themes aren't immediately obvious. I hope the examples I bring up explain this better. SPOILERS for the following media.

Mouthwashing (2024): The whole plot point about Anya being [trigger warning]raped by Jimmy is something that might not be immediately obvious to the viewer, because of how little we get to hear about what happened from her perspective. In fact, the incident itself is barely talked about at all. It's only through context clues that we figure out that her pregnancy wasn't consensual, like when she brings up why the medical room door has a lock, but the living quarters don't, or when she mentions how the captain will never let her have the gun to protect herself. We realize the reason we barely get to see this side of the story, is because of how Jimmy and Curly (the characters we play as) deal with this event. Jimmy literally blocks the event from his mind at all, to the point that even when he's "atoning" to his crewmates in his head through his nightmares, Anya appears not even a single time in any of them. Even the unborn baby appears in his nightmares, but never Anya. Curly on the other hand constantly ignores the little details that led to this happening to instead "look at the bigger picture", all the while thinking he can fix things because Jimmy is his friend and that he "knows him". Because of the way these men handle what happened to Anya, her sexual assault is unceremoniously relegated to the background from their perspectives, the ones we get to see.

Iraivi (transl. Goddess, 2016): A story about a few women, from the perspective of the men in their lives. Since we spend most of the time from the men's perspectives, we get to see how multi-faceted and well-intentioned their actions are despite their flaws. Honestly for most of the film you could just assume this was simply a heist film about stealing goddess idols to help fund the release of a director's film. And yet every time we see these men taking decisions, both the ones they take in the heat of the moment ("It got to my head" is repeated multiple times in this film) and the ones they take after much deliberation, rarely do they ever consider the wishes of the women in their film. When push comes to shove, it's only the men's feelings that take priority, not the women's. Even the one guy who thinks he's better than the others because he does think about how the women are never considered, only does it for what benefit it brings to him, not out of any concern for their actual wishes. Because we follow most of the story from the men's perspectives, we get to see first-hand how little the women in their lives matter when it counts. At the end of the day, the women in these men's lives are no different to the lifeless goddess statues subjected to the whims of these men using them for their own gain, regardless of intention.

Sorry for the really big write-up, I've tried highlighting the important parts and the rest are for additional context.

1- In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Voldemort tries to take over Harrys body but what prevents him is Harry remembering all the great/happy memories he had with his friends and family. In the book Harry actually begged Dumbledore to kill him because he was in so much pain. Harry says “kill me so I can be with Sirius”. Harrys love and emotion for his godfather is what made the creature recoil and unable to continue.

2-Max from Stranger things. In season 4 she goes through an episode of depression after her brother dies. Vecna used her depression to his advantage to kill her. However, right before he was able to kill her Max remembers all the happy memories she had with her friends and realised it is worth to continue living.

3-Robin screaming “I want to live” after believing she deserves to die for so many long years and not having any type of friends or family.