Sopranos, Paulie in Italy: The guys go to Italy and they’re all pretty excited, especially Paulie who has a very romanticized idea of Italy. So when he finally gets there he’s expecting a spiritual homecoming only for reality to come crashing down that he’s extremely out of touch from his own homeland. He greets everyone by saying “commendatori” under the assumption it’s a friendly greeting and gets blank stares from the locals before ultimately ignored. When he tries to order food the servers have no idea what he’s talking about since everything he grew up eating in New Jersey was a bastardized of the original, so they serve him the original dish which he finds disgusting. Eventually a disillusioned Paulie gets so desperate for cultural connection that he hires a local sex worker and tries to relate to her, only for her not to be interested at all.

Bojack Horseman, Diane in Vietnam: After her divorce from Mr Peanutbutter, Diane flees Los Angeles to go to Vietnam under the guise of reconnecting with her roots. When she gets there however she realizes she’s basically a tourist, having grown up in Boston and never actually learning how to speak or understand the language. The most poignant scene of the episode is when she’s puts on one of the traditional dresses, she comments on how it feels like a costume to her further showing the discontent she has with her own culture.

1. Ultron is plugged into the internet and yet the word, “children” escaped him - Avengers: Age of Ultron

2. Megamind says Metro City as one word (like Atrocity or Monstrosity) and he never breaks that habit - Megamind

3. The Kraang as a species are literally living brains, but their translators are inefficient and repetitive to the point of turning every sentence into a paragraph - TMNT 2012

1. Ralph Dibney/The Elongated Man (The Flash)

One superpower that Ralph Dibney exhibits multiple times throughout the show is his ability to shape shift into another person. The actor was suddenly fired between Season 6 and 7. It should be noted that Season 6 filming was cut short because of Covid so it was very much in the middle of an ongoing storyline so his character suddenly departs for no reason without a second thought in the middle of the plot. There's plenty of ways they could've justified having him not shape shift into his real face.

1. Kang (MCU)

Positioned as the next Thanos and appearing in multiple projects such as Ant-Man 3 and Loki to setup Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, abandoned after Jonathan Majors was fired. The unique aspect of this character is that each iteration appears from another world of the multiverse. Other movies such as Spider-Man No Way Home and Dr Strange Multiverse of Madness establishes that different actors can play characters we already know. It should've been easy to just cast a new actor into the role and keep going like nothing had happened.

1. Queen Tyr'ahnee (Duck Dodgers)- Her name is pronounced like Tyranny and she’s the Queen of the Martians

2. Harley Quinn (DC)- Named after the type jester her design was based off of.

3. Bigby Wolf (The Wolf Among Us/Fables)- He’s the big bad wolf from fairytales. Bigby Wolf -> Big B Wolf -> Big Bad Wolf.

4. Evelyn Deavor (The Incredibles 2)- When said together her first and last name sounds like Evil Endeavor which clues us in to her being the main villain of the movie.

5. Alucard (Castlevania)- His name is Dracula spelt backwards

Any weapon that utilizes a black hole deliberately.

Examples:

The special shells from Outlaw Star. The protagonist Gene Starwind manages to acquire 2 special shells for his Caster Weapon (a spell gun) that basically shoot miniture black holes. This gif shows what they do their target; its arguably one of the most intense anime deaths.

The Novacula from Foundation, a planet killing weapon commissioned by one of the Emperors. It extracts energy from the ergosphere of a stellar sized rotating blackhole to essentially create a controlled gamma ray burst. This is capable of turning planets to dust, and it can be fired in rapid succession and through FTL terminals.

Ultraman- Rather than being helpless and dependent on their protection, Kal-Il possesses overwhelming physical power from the beginning. He uses this advantage to force the Kents to raise him.

Eveline- A genetically engineered bioweapon designed to resemble a young girl infects people with a mysterious mold to control their minds and bodies and force them into familial roles.

What I mean by this are shows/games/books portraying mental disorders in a positive light without explicitly shoving them down the audience’s throat, and the creators put in the research which makes it relatable.

Marvel’s Moon Knight and Dissociative Identity Disorder: Marc Specter has two alters named Steven and Jake who are treated as separate personalities but are a part of Marc who created them to help with processing his traumatic childhood. The show also accurately shows phenomenon associated with DID such as memory gaps when switching between alters.

Mitchells vs the Machines and Autism Spectrum Disorders: Both Aaron and Katie of the Mitchell family exhibits traits of neurodivergence such as eye contact avoidance, sensory seeking (audio/visual/tactile), stimming, and all-consuming interests. Their parents Rick and Linda also exhibit traits of missing social cues and alexithymia, which suggests they might have neurodivergence as well.

Psychonauts 2 and Trauma/Therapy: Probably the best example on this list and one of the few positive portrayals of therapy in several aspects that includes the consequences of brainwashing, abandonment, and pushing people to the brink of insanity. Many of the minds that Raz enters to work on have their own past that paints a picture of their personality, and when you do help them they aren’t suddenly “better” but are instead better equipped mentally to handle their own struggles.

Anita (Far Cry 4): Once she overthrew Pagan Min and took out opposing Golden Path leader Sabal, she utilizes her power not to reform or rebuild, but to round up civilians to fight off remnants of Min's army and work on opium fields

Malashenko (World in Conflict): A fervent supporter of socialism and devoted to his cause of freeing the American proletariat, except for when the Americans started resisting, he started rounding them up to have them executed until his superior officer Colonel Orlovsky talks him out of it

Characters can develop a relationship with their rivals that goes beyond simple hatred where they would ensure their enemies know it was them when something happens.

Joker (Under the Red Hood): During the Red Hood arc, Batman interrogates Joker and demands to know if he's behind the new Red Hood. Joker assures Batsy that if it was him, he would ENSURE Batman knew it was him. Makes sense. Joker hates when someone else has the limelight.

Drifter (Deadlock): During an interaction with Grey Talon, the archer asks Drifter, an ancient and blood thirsty vampire, if he was behind the murder of Talon's son, daughter-in-law, and his grandchildren. Drifter simply replies, "Wesley, if it has been me, I would have tied you down and made you watch.". Given that it seems to be a racially motivated crime (the wife was an ixian, demonic looking humanoid, and the kids are half ixian, and a huge part of the game's lore is centered around human supremacist groups trying to kill non-humans), I think the vampire is innocent... Of this specific crime.

The Ghost Stories (2000-2001) anime was more grounded for the content inside of it, following a horror theme. Siblings Satsuki and Keichiro face ghosts with their possessed cat Kaya under Amanojaku's rule serving as conflict, and the diary of Satsuki's mother as the backbone to their operation. The English dub (2005) was not this, and never was intended to be this.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (1987-) is as it states, and Diamond is Unbreakable (1992-1995) has this in spades. Efforts to translate it for the English crowd didn't originally come from the Japanese manga, but from the manga already fan-translated to Chinese before being again fan-translated to English. From that, we were blessed with Duwang is not Crash (2005) and all was bizarre.

1. If a popular fan theory in the sopranos is correct that Ralph Cifaretto is an avatar of the devil, backed up by many quotes he says in reference to the lyrics of the song “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones, like “Please, allow me to introduce myself” and “Were you there, when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain?", then that means Tony Soprano beat the devil to death because he killed their race horse.

2. In the stranger mission “I know you” in rdr1, John can encounter a man in a suit and top hat who knows about his various past sins and gives him various missions involving helping people or not helping those people, the last mission takes place on johns ranch in which John becomes enraged at the man and shoots him three times, which does nothing and he seemingly vanishes into thin air after the mission ends, confusing John.

(The three bullets also mean the three deaths at that happen on the ranch at the end of the game too)

X (2022): Kid Cudi plays guitar for Brittany Snow, who sings Landslide

House on the Edge of the Park (1980): David Hess sings while his character is assaulting a victim. David Hess was actually a composer before he was an actor, and he composed/performed the music for the movie Last House on the Left

Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961): Audrey Hepburn sings Moon River. The scene almost didn't make it into the film; she had to fight for it despite it now being considered one of the best musical scenes of all time

Animal skeletons in Halloween decorations (IRL)- Halloween decorations tend to take creative liberties when making animal skeletons, usually adding new bones to areas that otherwise wouldn't have them.

Bogie Woods (Toriko)- a man with 4,000 bones, able to move them all as he pleases and able to control bodies, the only bone he truely needs is his sacrum.

Dodo Rider (PVZ2)- While most zombies tend to have decently realistic skeletons but still cartoonish when electricuted, it's shown that the Dodo Rider has a singular massive bone between the imp and dodo.

Deadpool (Marvel)- He is able to grow a new bone when watching Gossip Girl.

I'm tired of the trope of a man being gay/bi meaning he obviously has to be feminine, or that a man being feminine means he obviously has to be gay/bi. It feels ultimately rooted in homophobic stereotypes.

Characters like, say, Puri Puri Prisoner from One Punch Man don't apply to this trope. While he has a masculine build and facial hair, he still presents femininely by way of makeup (and he's overall a very harmful stereotype and a walking joke about prison rape).

Anyways onto the list.

K'sante (League of Legends)

As mentioned in his lore, K'sante has an (ex) boyfriend from his days as a monster hunter.

Kelvin (Deadlock)

Not technically confirmed but it's implied by dialogue that his now-missing friend, Ettrick, was his lover (Seven is also implied to be Ettrick)

The Naljian Destructor (Ben 10: Alien Force):

Ben and Kevin spend the entire episode treating this device like a multi-planetary threat capable of destroying the Earth and copying high-tier alien tech. At the end of the episode, a cosmic mother shows up, picks it up, and scolds her child for leaving their literal baby toy lying around. Also it revealed how even the Omnitrix ( level 20 tech ) that everyone wants to have is just the equivalent of a children's toy for the Naljians

Gold and Diamonds (Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa):

To humans, finding a literal mountain of gold and egg-sized diamonds is a life-changing lottery win worth billions. To dehydrated wild animals facing a deadly drought, it's a massive disappointment. According to some internet calculations I found, those gold and diamonds Moto-moto dug up should be around $1.6-2.3B adjusted for current price.

The Kragle (The LEGO Movie):

To the citizens of the LEGO universe, it is an apocalyptic superweapon capable of freezing the entire world and stripping away their free will forever. To the human father in the real world, it’s just a cheap, dried-up tube of Krazy Glue he uses to stop his kid from messing up his hobby sets.

Whenever a piece of media out of nowhere adds dinosaurs.

- In Dandadan, later in the manga out of nowhere when passing through a museum we have dinosaurs which is hilarious because this page is literally just a png of the Jurassic Park 3 Spinosaurus with a filter on it.

- Fate/Grand Order, on LB7 we meet the deinos, who are just intelligent dinosaurs WITH FUCKING GUNS

- Rick Grimes from the Walking Dead comic. Survived conflicts against groups and individuals like the Governor, Negan, the Whisperers etc. Dies to a spoiled rich kid who shot him in the chest while he was at home.

- Omar Little from The Wire. Legendary underworld figure who survives antagonizing entire gangs and cements a reputation as an unstoppable badass. Died to a budding psychopath kid who shot him in the head while he was getting smokes.He’s quickly forgotten about by the world at large and becomes just another statistic.

- Geralt of Rivia From the Witcher novels. Has fought in wars, tangled with legendary monsters, and was involved in events that will be immortalized in song and history. Died to a peasant boy named Rob who stabbed him with a pitchfork after he showed mercy.

Sparky (knight of Guinevere)
Semiu (Gachiakuta)

-Diane and Adam [Honey I Blew Up The Kid]

-Otohime and Shirahoshi [One Piece]

-Angrboda and Fenrir/Jormungandr [Norse Mythology]

Christina Aguilera's look from 1999 Teen Choice Awards is what inspired Maria's look in the video game Silent Hill 2. 

Yoshikage Kira from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable was directly inspired by David Bowie. 

Ryder from GTA San Andreas is inspired by rapper Eazy-E

Yomi no Tsugai - Danno is obsessed with Jason Statham and wished to marry him

Dandadan - Momo is obsessed with Japanese actor Ken Takakura

• Angel: In the episode "Over the Rainbow" the characters travel to Pylea which is another dimension, and there Angel realises that the sunlight in this dimension doesn't kill vampires and he's also able to see his reflection while also not having the same desire for blood he had on Earth. However when he attempted to vamp out, he transformed into a demonic beast and couldn't control himself until he transformed back.
• Red Dwarf: In the episode "Parallel Universe" Lister, Rimmer, Cat and Holly travel to a gender swapped universe and Lister hooks up with his female counterpart Deb. However it turns out that in this universe men get pregnant and since he's now in their universe, his biology has changed to match leading him to get pregnant.
• Survival Geeks: In the first story arc the characters arrive in a universe where magic inspired from an obscure role-playing game is real. When Simon realises this, he figures out that he can use magic just like the character he plays as.

i love characters who were SERIAL KILLERS, who bragged about KILLING PEOPLE, and professed and confessed to be DEMONS.

Adam Smasher (Cyberpunk 2077 / Edgerunners). Adam Smasher is a heavily modified cyborg mercenary who works for the Arasaka Corporation and has spent decades killing people for money. he enjoys killing so much that he specifically demands civilian casualties and collateral damage as part of his contracts. he considers ordinary humans inferior and has absolutely no problem murdering innocent people. in Edgerunners, he arrives to stop David and his crew, crushes Rebecca to death, then tears apart David’s cyberskeleton before killing him.

Krombopulos Michael (Rick and Morty). Michael is an alien assassin who regularly buys weapons from Rick to carry out contract killings. when Rick introduces him to Morty, Michael explains that he’s an assassin and gives Morty his business card in case he ever needs someone murdered. he admits that he has absolutely no code of ethics and will kill anyone, including children, animals and elderly people, before telling them how much he loves killing. after buying an antimatter gun to assassinate an alien being held in captivity, he says “Oh boy, here I go killing again!” before heading off to complete the job.

Melon (Beastars). Melon is a leopard gazelle hybrid and serial killer who enjoys murdering people and manipulating those around him. He poses as a therapist for elephants, gaining their trust before killing them for their valuable tusks. As a child, he pushed four classmates off a school roof and later murdered his own mother by beating her with a hot iron. He eventually becomes the leader of the Shishigumi, a criminal organisation he controls through violence and intimidation. He openly admits to Yahya that he murdered his mother, joking that his father is probably still running away from her in heaven. He also tries to murder Legoshi after pretending to cooperate with him.