Drop-In Character: Difference between revisions
m
→Newspaper Comics
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (Looney Toons moved page Drop in Character to Drop-In Character: Adding proper punctuation to page name) |
|||
| (8 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
[[File:DropIn.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|'''Strong Bad:''' ''Is there like a sign on my door that says, "Wanted: Everyone I Hate. Inquire Within"?''
'''King of Town:''' ''I didn't see one.''|''[[Homestar Runner]]'', "Strong Bad Email #142: secret identity"}}
Line 5 ⟶ 6:
A neighbour who drops in on a regular basis and mooches around. He or she is often a friend of one of the household kids who is either very annoying or very cute. Because he or she is the neighbours' kid and we never meet his or her parents, he can exhibit all sorts of zany behaviour without the need for too much explanation.
In most cases, the main characters have given up on trying to get the drop-in characters to knock, a la Kramer from ''[[Seinfeld]]'', or Lenny and Squiggy on ''[[Laverne and Shirley]].'' Considering how much of a pain in the ass this sort of drop-in tends to be, [[Fridge Logic|the viewer is sure to wonder]] whether the host [[Your Door Was Open|has ever thought to ''just lock the door'']], but don't expect that to be addressed in the show. It's exceptionally rare to even see a [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshade hung]] here.
Sometimes the drop-in character's arrival is presaged by an ironic
Compare [[Your Door Was Open]] (when the neighbor can come and go as he pleases because nothing is there to stop him) and [[Stealth Hi Bye]] (when the neighbor suddenly just appears or disappears without explanation).
For a different sort of [[A Worldwide Punomenon|"drop in character"]], see [[Face Heel Turn]] or [[Moral Event Horizon]]. For yet another different sort, see [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]].
Line 44 ⟶ 45:
** Spoofed in at least one of ''[[Cracked]]'' magazine's "Happy Daze" parody comics, as illustrated above.
* As already mentioned, Kramer on ''[[Seinfeld]]'' is one of the most popular, well-known examples. A little more justified than other instances in that they lived in an apartment building with security so Jerry only had to worry about other tenants dropping in unannounced.
** Technically George and Elaine are this too, they just don't fit the conventions of the trope nearly as well.
** They eventually had to cut down on his drop-ins because the studio audience would applaud for like a year when he entered and throw off the timing of the scene.
** In one episode, Jerry actually had the door locked for an unrelated reason leading to a loud crash as Kramer tried to perform his trademark slide.
* ''[[Family Ties]]'' has several of
* Kimmy, DJ's best friend on ''[[Full House]]''. The opening credits actually have the Tanners <s>practically</s> closing the door in her face.
** Until [[Promotion to Opening Titles|the character gets included in the regular cast]], at least. Then the whole "closing the door in her face" thing gets dropped, replaced and subverted by the scene in which she opens the back door in her character introduction in one season.
** Sure you're not thinking of Steve Urkel in the ''[[Family Matters]]'' opening? Because that was in there too.
** I think the [[Family Matters]] one was the Winslows trying to push the door in to keep Urkel out. At no point in any [[Full House]] intro was Kimmy treated like that (for the 1991-92 season {the first after the [[Promotion to Opening Titles]]}, that one is the one where Kimmy cracks the door open)
* "Bud", "Cockroach" and several of Vanessa's friends on ''[[The Cosby Show]]''.
* The Australian sitcom ''[[Hey Dad..!]]'' had several drop in characters over the years, most famously "Nudge". Inexplicably, one of the drop in characters, Ben, ended up moving into the family proper.
* Steve Urkel of ''[[Family Matters]]'' is yet another example. The weird nerd kid from next door, who exhibits zany behavior, and subsequently [[Ensemble Darkhorse|takes over the show]].
* On ''[[Frasier]]'', Niles was always just dropping by, though reasonably explanations were often given, usually involving Maris and her friends doing something that drove him out of his own house.
* Six LeMeure on ''[[Blossom]]'' is a rare female
* Steve and Marcy, and later [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|Jefferson]] and Marcy on ''[[Married... with Children]]''.
* Ed Norton, from ''[[The Honeymooners]]''
Line 71 ⟶ 72:
* Iola Boylan on ''[[Mama's Family]]''. She never knocks, but her [[Catch Phrase]] (always said after she enters) is "knock, knock."
* Maynard G. Krebs on ''[[The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis]]''.
* Pretty much the entire teenage cast of ''[[That '70s Show]]'' with regards to the Foremans' house, particularly the basement (though naturally they have no problem wandering about the rest of the house and enacting other elements of the trope, such as mooching food and pilfering Red's beer). Occasionally lampshaded, such as one time when Kitty mentions an embarrassing secret of Eric's aloud.
{{quote|'''Eric''': Mom! Be careful. At any given time, there are at least 3 individuals in this house that would use that information to destroy me.}}
** Lampshaded again in one episode where Eric, Hyde, and Laurie are all grounded. Red goes around to perform a "bed check", with Eric having Donna in his room, Hyde having Jackie, and Laurie with Kelso. Then, Red goes down to the basement, where Jackie, Fez, and Kelso are sitting watching TV, like nothing is wrong.
* ''[[Martin]]'' had a character simply referred to as "Brother Man", who occasionally invited himself into Martin's apartment ''through his window''.
* ''[[Reba]]'' featured possibly the worst example of this trope, as Reba's ex-husband and the woman he left her for felt perfectly justified in walking into her home without any form of notice or even knocking. This troper frequently wondered why the hell she never locked the doors.
Line 83 ⟶ 84:
*** IIRC, she'd often say "Hey, Sam" as a result of the musical sting before the ladder even showed up.
* Likewise, Morgan in ''Chuck'' often uses the "Morgan Door" - Chuck's window.
* Roger in ''[[Sister, Sister]]''.
{{quote|'''Tia and Tamara''': [[Catch Phrase|"Go home, Roger!"]]}}
** On a somewhat ''related'' note, Mo from ''[[Smart Guy (TV series)|Smart Guy]]''.
* In ''[[Kenan and Kel]]'', we never see Kel's home or family, while much of the action takes place at Kenan's home and his parents and sister are relatively major characters. Kel also hangs around Kenan's place of work, Rigby's.
* In ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' Maria's parents are divorced and she lives with her father, her Mum frequently drops in unannouced.
* Bernard "Beans" Aranguren, in ''[[Even Stevens]]''. He was essentially a parody of the
* Sam and Freddie from ''[[iCarly]]'', although they're part of the main [[Three Amigos]], they were once called by Spencer "her two friends who never hang out at their own homes."
** Being a recurring side character, Freddie's mom is a classic example of the trope.
Line 98 ⟶ 99:
* Kenny from ''[[The War at Home]]''. We do see his parents, though.
** He even lives with the Golds for a while, after his parents have kicked him out for being gay.
* ''[[That's My Bush!]]'' brilliantly spoofs the drop-in character by having him drop into the ''White House''.
* Penny from ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]''. Howard and Raj could count as well.
* Landlord D. Álvara in Brazilian sitcom ''Toma Lá, Dá Cá''. And at a certain point, she appeared [[Speak of the Devil|everytime someone spoke her name.]] (to the point that the characters became [[Genre Savvy]] and tried to stop utterances of it)
Line 110 ⟶ 111:
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* Elmo, the neighborhood kid who often drops in on ''[[Blondie (comic strip)|Blondie]]'''s Dagwood, usually while he's trying to nap. On at least one occasion this was lampshaded by Dagwood saying, "I've got to put a lock on that front door."
* An inversion of this, of course, would be ''[[Dennis the Menace US|Dennis the Menace (US)]]'', whose title character frquently dropped in unannounced (and unwelcomed) on crotchety neighbor Mr. Wilson.
* ''[[Sally Forth
== [[Radio]] ==
Line 124 ⟶ 125:
== [[Web Original]] ==
* Before she became an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] and started appearing in nearly every video, Nella was this to [[The Nostalgia Chick]]. (Now back to being this as the real life Nella moved further away.)
* '90s Kid just appears out of nowhere in ''[[Atop the Fourth Wall]]''
* [[Warning! Readers' Advisory]] has a handful: mad scientist supervillain Herr Doktor Innis du par Nachteltaffen, [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire]] Nachzehrer, [[Lethal Chef]] Red Chef, and a surprisingly affable ''Cthulhu''.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Inverted on ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]],'' where the main characters are the ones who are always dropping in at the weird next-door neighbor Carl's
* Ron Stoppable is pretty much this, almost never seen at his own house, he's even there when the [[Romantic False Lead]] is hanging out with [[Kim Possible]] during [[The Movie]]. On the occasions when he ''is'' seen at his own house, it usually foreshadows an event of real significance, such as an impending move to Norway or the acquisition of an adopted sister (none of which his parents ever tell him about in advance).
* ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]'' has Goo and Cheese, with an episode for each centered on keeping them out of the titular Home. Of course, it doesn't work.
Line 134 ⟶ 135:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Drop
| |||