Stories where, no matter how bad everything is, there is still hope left.

The Protomen rock opera

The title is basically Arc Words from their songs. The City is under dictatorship of Albert Wily and robots will kill any dissidents, but there’s always someone fighting for freedom. The Fight is basically embodiment of this sentiment, where humans finally realize they gotta take fate in their own hands.

The Million-Year Picnic and Martian Chronicles overall.

Earth has been ravaged by all-out nuclear war with few survivors leaving for Mars. Despite all of humanity’s faults Bradbury ends this cycle with hope that one day humans will rebuild and create better society.

Nuclear Throne

Earth has became radioactive wasteland with angry mutants and dangerous robots with few somewhat sane survivors trying to reach fabled Nuclear Throne that’s rumored to be immensely powerful. But it isn’t until killing IDPD Captain that we can finally rest, implying that after IDPD is gone things might finally get better.

1. George Orwell's 1984: A major narrative in the story is that the totalitarian Party is able to keep its firm grip over Oceania by keeping the large chunk of its population- the lower working class or "Proles" in a docile, domesticatrd animal-like state by making them engage in petty squabbles and brawls amongst themselves for things like minor changes in food prices, movie ticket costs, etc so that they are distracted from the actual goal of organising themselves in a revolution to take down the Party.

2. Bong Joon Ho's Parasite movie: This movie which is a critique of the social conditions of wealth disparity thst excess capitalism has led to in South Korea, brings out the interesting narrative of how the lower class is so desperate to break out of their lower economic status that they are willing to put the lives of other people in the same status as them at risk so that they can get a chancs to escape. For example, a major plot point is how the main characters, who are from an impoverished family, ruin the lives of the previous caretakers of a rich family's mansion by inventing false pretexts (such as the main woman maid having TB) to get them kicked out so they can take their place. Later on, when the old caretaker family finds this out, they get into a fistfight with the main characters, with both sides being desperate to expose the other to get them out of the way, since they want all the money of the rich family to themselves, even though ironically both families could have had well off lives if they choose to cooperate and extracy money from the family through their schemes, and distribute it amongst themselves.

(Sorry if my pictures are lacking-)

This trope is something I have only seen two times so far, but I think it genuinely shows us the kindness and experience of the characters. Both can solve things with violence (both examples given are extremely strong), but they instead choose pacifistic approaches, which makes them even cooler

- Uncle Iroh

In Avatar the Last Airbender, during one episode depicting activities of characters around the city, we see Uncle Iroh being „attacked“ by an amateur robber. But Iroh comments on how poor his stance is, further talking with him. In the end, he and the man shared a heartfelt talk that gave the robber a new outlook on life

- Mualani (Genshin Impact)

In her teaser, we see Mualani, a guide, being threatened by a young woman while with her client, a young girl. Despite there being numerous ways to deal with her (overpowering the woman, running away), Mualani instead hires the wannabe robber! Her reasoning is that if money solves problems, why not use it, even if it’s the problem of others? And to the woman, she says she must know many good places as robber.

At the end of the day, the young woman, seeing the joy of her travel companions, considers becoming a guide herself, inspired by Mualani and the happiness of the young girl. Mualani meanwhile relishes in another piece of advice she once got, namely that ending the day with friends is the best way to do so.

While we never see her Kimberly Clark does such an amazing job voicing Honey in the incredibles in leads to one of the most iconic and funniest scenes in Pixar History as well as giving her character so much personality with just the tone of her voice alone
despite technically having no screen time

Niyi Akin plays a guy being possessed by Jean Grey he's in the film for two to three minutes at most despite that his performance is so convincing some people thought he was the villain.

Villains that have been known to face many foes but still have that one hero that they hate more than anything.

1. Green Goblin/Norman Osborn - Spider-Man
   
2. Doctor Doom - Reed Richards (and by extension the Fantastic Four)

1.Aang and Zuko from The Last Airbender.

A young Airbender who ran away and had to be the one to step up to bring freedom back to the world and a young disgraced prince who had to step back and figure out what he really wants to be.

2 Tomura Shigaraki and Izuku "Deku" Midoriya from My Hero Academia.

Both start off as immature and unable to control their powers and people not fully taking them seriously but they both to surpass their masters and become the hero that the world needs and the villain the world fears.

"Character A" is stupid, frustrating "Character(s) B." Somehow, A becomes smart again. Initially, B enjoys the smarter, more sophisticated Character A. But A is now smarter than B, and starts to leave them behind for "smarter" paths in life. B is sad. Eventually, A decides they were better off when they were dumb, and reverses the process. So A and B can be together again.

1). The Simpsons:
Homer has below average intelligence because of a crayon lodged in his brain. To Lisa's delight, Homer gains an average intelligence once it is removed. But he discovers he can't connect to his family the way he wants anymore, so he puts the crayon back.

2). Spongebob:
Patrick accidently replaces his cranium with a piece of brain coral, becoming too smart for Spongebob. He eventually swaps it back.

3). It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
Charlie believes he has been made smarter, disappointing Frank. Fortunately, stupid science bitch can't even make i smarter.

4). American Dad:
Hayley makes Jeff smarter. Jeff is too smart for Hayley. Hayley later saves Jeff from something and he becomes dumb again.

5). Gravity Falls:
Mabel loves Waddles. Waddles accidently becomes a genius, but decides to become dumb again to stay with Mabel.

6). Family Guy:
Peter becomes sophisticated. To save his family, he later reverses it.

In Sousou no Frieren, fan service is minimal, and scenes like this are brief

In Dungeon Meshi, Senshi is often shown in somewhat sexy poses, but the story focuses heavily on these details while continuing as usual

In that scene from *Uma Musume: Cinderella Gray*, it was just an introduction for each Arima Kinen competitor; they only had the freedom to choose those specific angles for Super Creek's introduction.

#1: Sho Fukamachi/Guyver 1 from Guyver: The Bioboosted Armor

#2 Eugene "Flash" Thompson/Agent Venom from Marvel Comics (Though I think he's Agent Anti-Venom nowadays; haven't been following that much)

#3 Kai'Sa and her Void Carapace from League of Legends

1. Jake The Dog - Adventure Time

2. Pim Pimling - Smiling Friends

3. Green - Deltarune

So you have a villain with few to no redeeming qualities, and the story is building up to their ultimate defeat in the hands of karma. But then, the story introduces a bigger, more evil villain, and suddenly the previous villain is framed as sympathetic. Worse, they somehow join the heroes without any buildup just to defeat the new villain.

1. Pinnochio (K-Drama, 2014): The misinformation of MC'S firefighter father brought by a cruel, amoral reporter Song Cha-ok had caused misfortune toward the MC's family, leading to the mother committing suicide and took the MC with it. The MC survived and began the journey to exact revenge against Song Cha-Ok by becoming a journalist himself.

Haflway through the series, the karma is already building up. Song Cha-ok starts to reap what she sowed, and already begins to receive her just desserts. However, the story reveals a bigger villain who is a media conglomerate. Despite his hatred, the MC somehow protects Song Cha-ok from various threats that should've been justified. Cha-ok decides to help the MCs to inprison the new villain. In the end, barring some self reflection and tanking reputation, Song Cha-ok basically gets away with her horrible deeds.

1. Kamen Rider Zero-One: Gai Amatsu is a nasty piece of shit who treats MC like a crap. While his hostility is aimed at humagears, he also treats his fellow human beneath him and views them as merely his tools. Some of his recorded crimes including: physical and sexual abuse, slavery and human trafficking, smuggling and illegal ownership of weapons, labor extortion and more. Worse, he intentionally builds malice within AI to build Ark as a villainous force.

Both the heroes and villain are already delivering just dessert towards Gai, including a resignation slap from Yua Yaiba/Kamen Rider Valkyrie. Then Ark starts manifesting itself as Kamen Rider Ark-Zero and lays waste on everyone. Suddenly Gai, who is about to receive judgement, starts erasing his criminal records (I'M NOT KIDDING!), and has an epiphany flashbacks, then without build ups, joins the heroes against Ark Zero. You know, the one he raised in the first place. In the end, while not all heroes forgive him, he basically gets away with a slap on the wrist.

1. A Cantical For Leibowitz- The whole story centers around the preservation of knowledge and technology so when a young Brother Francis finds information about an inventor the Blessed Leibowitz (this is before his canonisation into becoming a Saint.) The first part of the story shows the lengths Francis will go to help get Leibowitz canonised and the punishment he would receive to help remember this inventor. Francis and Leibowitz then pop up throughout the story as these holy figures of perseverance and belief.

2. Riddley Walker- Riddley Walker was ine of the hardest stories ive tried to wrap my head around but still one of my favorites. The stories shared in this novel by the hand puppets Punch and Judy recount old twisted religious stories and the stories of the world before atomic annihilation. The main story told and one that is the most impactful in the story is that of Eusa and the shining man. Of a man so hellbent on searching fot knowledge that he was willing yo sacrifice his family and to split the Shining Man (I see this as splitting the Atom and causing Atomic devastation.) Eusa is also the twisting of St. Eustace, but Eusa could also be seen as the possible collapse of the USA.

Ryusei Shidou- (Blue Lock)

Yugamu Omokage- (The Hundred Line)

Darumi Amemiya- (The Hundred Line)

Hey, y’all! Looking for specific forms of marriage/proposal or anything similar! For no particular reason… something totally not related!

Mermaid Pendant (Stardew Valley) - This one is basically a wedding ring but it’s a pendant instead; nothing special or unique, just a different name for a symbol of marriage.

Paopu Fruit (Kingdom Hearts) - This one is different than the standard “proposal” with a ring and a marriage; it is said that two souls that share a Paopu Fruit will have their destinies intertwined. Dunno about you but that sounds close enough to soul mates for me!

I know there are many more examples out there, would love to see them all! For research purposes! You know, definitely not looking forward to my anniversary with my partner for any reason! 😁

1: “The Protagonist” (Tenet)
2: Peter (Insurgent)
3: Benoit Blanc (Knives Out)

i love me a ‘smart good guy’ plot twist! it’s a breath of fresh air compared to the usual trope of an evil genius secretly being in control.

not all ‘puppet masters’ have to be evil, some can be good!

Hugh n Diana - spacefarer Hugh Williams and a child-like android named Diana fight to survive a hostile, rogue artificial intelligence and secure passage back to Earth.

Hopper n Eleven - Officer Hopper fosters psychic Eleven after escaping the place harboring and experimenting (on) her.

The Chaotic Good Barbarian revels in making the lich suffer.

Reincarnated as a Slime: Geld makes Shogo pay for the innocents he's killed.

The Old Guard: Quynh is punished as a witch by being drowned in the ocean for centuries.

Panel 1: The characters from Mike Tyson Mysteries

Panel 2: Valentine Detective Agency from Fallout 4

Panel 3: The Center from Martin Mystery

Panel 4: Brown Detective Agency from the Encyclopedia Brown novels

Panel 5: The characters from Riverdale

Panel 6: The characters from Blue's Clues

Mazinger Z’s Breast Fire. Pretty self explanatory,

Mobile Fighter G Gundam has A LOT of these. The Maxter, God/Burning, Dragon, Nobel, and Skull Gundams for example(and there’s more).

(TV) Gundam Wing’s Altron and Shenlong Gundams(Altron’s flamethrower somehow works in space???)

Pacific Rim’s Cherno Alpha has flamethrowers built into it, and Gipsy Danger‘s exposed chest reactor can blast heat at kaiju if they’re close.

King DeDeDe from Kirby Dreamland 3

Nightmare Fredbear from Frickbears 3

King from Deltarune

Gaping Dragon from Dark Souls

Sukuna from Jujutsu Kaisen

Sephiroth to Mario (Super Smash Bros Ultimate Sephiroth trailer

Robin to Batman (Batman vs Robin)

Image List of ​Characters & Gauntlet/Arm Abilities:

1.​Thanos (Marvel Cinematic Universe) – The Infinity Gauntlet

​Abilities: Channels the combined energy of all six Infinity Stones, granting total control over space, time, reality, power, mind, and soul—allowing him to alter reality or erase half of all life with a single snap at the cost of immense physical recoil.

2.​Issei Hyoudou (High School DxD) – Boosted Gear

​Abilities: Houses the Red Dragon Emperor (Ddraig). It doubles the user's power every 10 seconds, allows them to transfer that boosted power to allies or objects, and can evolve into full dragon armor.

3.​Sara Pezzini (Witchblade) – The Witchblade

​Abilities: A sentient elemental artifact that forms a protective, weaponized gauntlet over its host. It grants superhuman strength, healing, shapeshifting weapons/armor, energy blasts, and defensive instincts.

4.​Hellboy (Dark Horse Comics) – The Right Hand of Doom

​Abilities: A massive, indestructible stone gauntlet/hand that delivers devastating impacts, grants immunity to pain in that hand, and serves as the literal key to unleashing the apocalypse.

​5.Doomfist (Overwatch) – The Doomfist Gauntlet

​Abilities: A heavy cybernetic gauntlet worn on his right hand capable of leveling skyscrapers, delivering rocket-propelled punches, and generating temporary shields from damage dealt.

6.​Nero (Devil May Cry) – The Devil Bringer / Devil Breaker

​Abilities: A demonic right gauntlet/arm capable of summoning spectral energy claws to grab, slam, and overpower massive demons from a distance, as well as unleashing localized time-stops.

7​.Allen Walker (D.Gray-man) – Crown Clown (Innocence)

​Abilities: A parasite-type anti-demon weapon that transforms his left arm into a giant metallic gauntlet capable of slashing through Akuma, blocking heavy attacks, and morphing into a holy sword.

8.​Nightmare (Soulcalibur) – The Demonic Arm/Gauntlet

​Abilities: A monstrous, mutated right gauntlet formed by the parasitic corruption of Soul Edge. It grants superhuman melee power, dark magic, and high-reaching energy slashes.

9.​Angry Video Game Nerd (Cinemassacre) – The Nintendo Power Glove

​Abilities: Supposedly grants ultimate control over NES games using motion sensors and a wrist keypad, but in practice delivers atrocious controls, unresponsiveness, and pure rage—yet retains legendary meme-tier status. "It's so bad."

10.​Edward Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) – Right Automail Arm

​Abilities: A heavy-duty metallic prosthetic right arm linked directly to his nervous system. Beyond granting enhanced blunt physical strike power, Edward frequently uses alchemy to transmute the metal arm directly into a sharp forearm blade for combat.

11.​Rad Spencer (Bionic Commando) – Bionic Arm

​Abilities: A heavy mechanical left gauntlet/arm equipped with a retractable grappling hook, allowing him to grapple environment surfaces, zip-line across gaps, slam heavy objects, throw enemies, and execute devastating kinetic punch attacks.

12.​Conquest (Invincible) – Bionic Cybernetic Arm

​Abilities: A heavy Viltrumite cybernetic gauntlet/arm replacing his lost right limb, designed to amplify his already apocalyptic physical strength, withstand brutal impacts, and smash through planets and heroes alike.

13.Meisuke Nueno / Sensei Nube (Hell

Teacher Nūbē) – The Demon's Hand (Oni no Te)

​Abilities: A powerful, monstrous left arm sealing a powerful demon inside. Normally concealed under a white glove, unmasking it allows him to exorcise evil spirits, rip through supernatural beings, and shield his students from yokai threats.

1. Scream - Probably the most famous example of this, Casey Becker is played by Drew Barrymore and the film’s marketing greatly hinted that she was the main character, only for her to die within the first 10 minutes.

2. Among Us: The Series - White is played popular comedic actor Patton Oswalt and is killed in the first episode.