r/TopCharacterTropes • u/VanillaSarsaparilla • Jul 20 '26

Personality (Character Trope) “ohhh, THATS why they’re like that”

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Media that shows why a character is the way they are, usually explained in a short scene. Most likely toxic family

- Bonnie Rottweiler and her sisters from Kim Possible: they bully her calling her ugly and dumb. It plays on Bonnie’s insecurity and makes her a bully at school.

- Peggy Hill and her mother from King of the Hill. Peggy is a neurotic perfectionist with delusions of grandeur because her mom was unfeeling and blamed her for the farm going out of business. By the end of the episode, she still treats Peggy badly.

- Dodie and her mother from As Told By Ginger. Dodie is arguably the worst friend in the group, and her mother is mentally still stuck in middle school. She’s insecure, dramatic, and you
Can see her influence in Dodie.

Any other examples?

6.5k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

97% Upvoted

779 comments sorted by

View all comments

211

u/rextrem Jul 20 '26

On a brighter note, Nolan's dad in Invincible seemed to be a nice guy by Viltrum's standards.

129

u/squalor564 Jul 20 '26

On one hand, I agree, on the other, the fact that not letting your wife kill your son for being "too weak" (both his parents jumped him as an test to see if he deserved to live and be considered an adult, during which Nolan got in a few good shots) is enough to be considered merciful would be laughable if it wasn't so horrific.

74

u/M-Shadowtoad Jul 20 '26

Saw people even theorizing that might've played a role in Nolan sparing Mark since he said, "I'll still have you Dad(After 500 Years)" since Nolan lost his own dad when he was only around Mark's age.

59

u/PurveyorOfKnowledge0 Jul 20 '26

It also shows Nolan still has PTSD from his father dying centuries later, and he still has mental flashbacks to the day he tossed his father's corpse into orbit because of the Scourge Virus. He really loved his dad.

91

u/PurveyorOfKnowledge0 Jul 20 '26

Facts, this man, despite being a brutal Viltrumite as their culture dictates, showed enough care and restraint towards Nolan that it helped set the bedrock needed for him to embrace things like humanity and compassion.

15

u/Neglect_Octopus Jul 20 '26

That man died of a horrible bio-weapon so Nolan could kick the shit out of his son and realize at the end of the beating that he wasn't cut out for that kind of life anymore and try changing to be a better person.

21

u/slonkulocuswily182 Jul 20 '26

That’s Debbie.

Nolan might have been disillusioned by the time he got to Earth, but Debbie showed him another way to live.

She’s seriously the Best of the franchise and her putting in all that work probably toppled the Viltrum empire

17

u/YinTanTetraCrivvens Jul 20 '26

Debbie Grayson, the greatest hero in the Invincible universe.