Mr. Exposition: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A character whose purpose is to explain the plot. Ostensibly, this is for the benefit of the protagonists, but most of the time their real reason for existing is to provide [[Exposition]] to the audience, sometimes to the point of an [[Info Dump]]. This is why they spend so much time [[As You Know|explaining things the protagonists already know]]. Popular in [[Science Is Bad]] stories, where you can bet the [[Mad Scientist]] in charge will have a tape recorder with him at all times that he's always dictating his progress to, Mr. Exposition is also an essential component of the [[Instructional Dialogue]]. In spite of the name, this is an equal-opportunity position, as the many female examples below demonstrate.

 

See also [[Captain Obvious]], [[Expositron 9000]] and [[Haunted House Historian]]. The [[Combat Commentator]] is a variation that provides color commentary for ongoing fights.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Madara in ''[[Naruto]]''. He's got a tendency to drop in and explain the plot as needed.

* Dr. Inez Fressange of ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' abuses this trope to the point of parody: she is actually acknowledged as the "explanation woman" by ''the whole crew'' of the ''Nadesico'' battle spaceship. There have been cases where she senses her explanations are needed from several rooms/decks over, and she once uses exposition as her talent in a beauty contest.

* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': Professor Yumi is both [[The Professor]] and [[The Mentor]], so he frequently explains to the characters -and the audience- plot points. He was the one guessed first what was Mazinger-Z and who had created it. He explained how Dr. Kabuto had discovered [[Phlebotinum|Photon Atomic power]] and [[Unobtainium|Alloy-Z]] and built Mazinger-Z with them. He narrated how Dr. Kabuto met Dr. Hell and what happened in Bardos Island. He recognized Minerva-X and explained what she was and how she worked. He explained what were the Mykene and where they came from... And often during the series he explained what strategy the enemy or Kouji was using, how worked the Mechanical Beasts' weapons... or simply what kind of training Kouji was undergoing. In ''[[Mazinkaiser]]'' he retained that role (he recognized Mazinkaiser as soon as he saw it, he explained how they had modified to Mazinkaiser in the movie...)

* Seira in ''[[Kaitou Saint Tail]]''.

* Reborn in ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]!'' does this ''almost every time'' a battle is plot-important and he happens to be watching. Most of the rest of the cast is guilty of this at various occasions as well, but it's usually Reborn that does the exposition. In fact, it's consistent enough that one can tell if a fight is plot-important when Reborn is nearby by whether he's beating people up or currently being Mr. Exposition. For everything not related to the most recent level-up, there's Ranking Futa, who seems to be a recurring character primarily for random exposition.

* ''[[Princess Tutu]]''

** Edel's entire function in the first season, {{spoiler|until she dies. Sort of.}}

* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'': After being introduced to the [[The Library of Babel|Infinity Library]], Yuuno [[Demoted to Extra|was reduced from being]] [[The Lancer]] to this.

* ''[[Ranma ½]]'': At first, it appears that Dr. Tôfû Ono is going to fulfill this role, but it fails to happen, partially because of his tendency to become a [[Love Makes You Dumb|bumbling idiot]] when Akane's sister [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Kasumi]] is around (to the point where he actually destroys potential cures for their problems), and partially because of the introduction of the [[Old Master]] and [[Trickster Mentor]] Cologne. And, to a [[Jerkass|much]], [[Card-Carrying Villain|much]], ''[[Fair Weather Mentor|much]]'' lesser extent, [[Dirty Old Man|Happôsai]]. In fact, the manga outright gave him a case of [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]], having him vanish by the end of the first Cologne story arc. The anime kept him on as a bit-character and an excuse for [[Filler]] episodes.

* ''[[One Piece]]'' lampshades this with the character of Sentomaru. He considers himself "the most tight-lipped man in the world," as he is a member of a highly secretive government branch and as such is privy to hundreds of secrets. The thing is, he's constantly blabbing those secrets, often without the slightest provocation. But whenever he does, he'll start by saying something to the effect of "I'm the most tight-lipped man in the world! You'll get no information from me!" and then proceeding to inform everyone.

** Hatchan went from [[Dumb Muscle]] in Arlong Park to this trope in the Sabaody Archipelago soon after meeting Camie.

* Speedwagon from ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' does this constantly.

* ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' often has exposition but this particular line spoken by Krillin in ''The Tree of Might'' recapping what happened moments prior is particularly egregious, especially considering he delivered it while lying on the ground in pain, speaking to absolutely no-one but himself.

{{quote|'''Krillin:''' No! Earth's energy was sucked up by the Tree of Might and Goku couldn't find enough power to form a Spirit Bomb to defeat Turles! Now we're dead for sure...}}

** Although, perhaps he does this just to counteract Tabitha's natural tendency not to give any exposition whatsoever. She's like a version of [[Suzumiya Haruhi|Nagato]] that only ''sometimes'' answers direct questions.

* ''[[Durarara!!]]'''s resident nerdy motormouth, Shinra Kishitani, is usually the first to offer any sort of explanation as of the weirder elements of the series such as "how can Celty see, hear and smell if she has no head" or "[[Muscles Are Meaningless|how can Shizuo be so damn skinny and so damn strong at the same time?]]" The only one whoever seems particularly interested in Shinra's hypotheses are Shinra himself, so his explanations are typically either ignored (by Celty) or interrupted with physical harm (by [[Vitriolic Best Buds|Shizuo]]).

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'': Luna and Artemis tended to work as the ones to deliver exposition, but Ami in particular liked to inform them of their situation during battle... as more of a [[Captain Obvious]] than anything.

 

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'': Nate Morgan used to fill this role, offering pages upon pages of technobabble-laden exposition for the "benefit" of the reader.

* The Inhumans in [[Marvel Comics]] (at least in their early appearances) are an entire ''race'' of Mr. Expositions. They also do recaps. A lot.

 

== Fan Works ==

* The Spectre is this in the ''[[Justice League]]''/''[[Naruto]]'' crossover [[Connecting the Dots|"Connecting the Dots."]] To be fair, it wasn't his only purpose, and nobody else had an idea of what was going on, but in the earlier chapters all he did was talk.

* Grunnel fills this role in ''[[With Strings Attached]]'', but it's justified because he's bored to death and quite happy to chat with the four about anything.

** The Hunter also starts out as a Mr. Exposition, except that most of what he says is useless, and the four ignore him as much as possible.

* [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Twilight]] for [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix]] in ''[[Turnabout Storm]]''. Some of the stuff she explains to him are common knowledge for fans of the show, other times she explains elements that are new to the audience.

 

== Films ==

** "M".

** In ''[[Casino Royale]]'', Mathis plays the role during the poker scenes, explaining what is going on to Vesper. Later, Felix Leiter briefly plays the role {{spoiler|by offering to "stake" Bond and then promptly explaining what "stake" means when he looks confused.}}

* Ardeth Bey in ''[[The Mummy Returns]]'', which actually is quite at odds with his characterization in the first film. As Stephen Sommers says on the commentary track, "In the first film Ardeth Bey was this cool, mysterious character. Here he's just a chatterbox. Every chance he gets, it's just wave after wave of exposition." In fact, he refers to the character as Mr. Exposition. There's some exposition provided by him in the first one, too. For example, the very crucial fact that [[Immune to Bullets|you can't shoot Imhotep]]. And the entire prologue.

* Grave-Robber from ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera]]''. His song, "Zydrate Anatomy", introduces himself, Amber Sweet, Blind Mag, some [[Applied Phlebotinum]] in the form of zydrate, the veritable epidemic of surgery addiction, and reveals the first of Rotti Largo's many, many plots.

** Notoriously, the Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy used to hand off the technobabble to his assistant, Ace, who would deliver the exposition in the form of a question, allowing the Doctor to a) avoid learning his lines, and b) nod wisely and say "That's right, Ace. You're learning."

* Alfred Gogh and Miles Millar cast Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan on ''[[Smallville]]'' because of her "rare ability to deliver large chunks of expositionary dialogue conversationally."

* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'':

{{quote|'''Colin Mochrie:''' Finally, I caught up with you! I'm a mob hitman... They call me Jimmy the Exposition.}}

** Even better than that, while Travis does display open contempt for the Smiths at points, he shows it by being the most honest and trustworthy character in the game. When he says he'll talk "straight up," he's usually getting ready to tell you something you'd really rather not know.

** At least he's more trustworthy than [[Ninja Butterfly|Iwazaru]]. And less annoying than Kess, who tells you how to defeat the next boss.

** Auron and Lulu from the same game are guilty of this at certain points, but Auron's a [[Badass]] so of course you'll listen to whatever he says, right? Right?

*** Somewhat justified in both cases. Tidus is the game's [[The Watson|Watson]], and Lulu knows a lot about the world, {{spoiler|having gone on two (failed) pilgrimages before accompanying Yuna,}} and Auron is actually the only character (maybe, aside from Seymour) that actually has any clue what's ''really'' going on.

* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'': Trask, Carth, Bastila, the Jedi, Atris, Atton, Kreia, HK-47, T3-M4, the player character, that guy you run into on Nar Shaddaa...

** Kreia gets points for being the main provider of exposition ''and'' a [[Consummate Liar]] at its worst. The second game in general tended to give the role to people you should never, ever trust.

* Nameless scientist (possibly Dr. Kleiner) in the beginning of ''[[Half-Life]], immediately lampshaded by another nameless scientist ([[retcon]]ned to be Dr. Vance)

** ''Gordon doesn't need to hear all this, he's a highly trained professional.''

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]''

** The bard Elan even has a spell called [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0013.html "Summon Plot Exposition"] which creates dramatic illusionary pictures that accompany Elan's voice-overs. He also [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0501.html cries] when someone else pulls off a good plot recap.

* Red Mage usually does this in ''[[8-Bit Theater|Eight Bit Theater]]'', although Thief took the role when the Light Warriors were in Elfland.

* Rainer from ''[http://www.msfhigh.com MSFHigh]'' is this, combined with being a Handsome Lech. He's getting more and more lampshade hanging.

* One of Julie's powers as a bard in ''[[Our Little Adventure]]''.

* The current storyline in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' is set on an alien planet. Hence, the cast's resident alien, Princess Voltuptua, has doled out an awful lot of exposition to the humans (and the audience) lately.

{{quote|'''Agneta:''' Welcome to another sunny day on Mars... our delightful planet.

'''Raymond:''' So it looks like we don't know what planet we're living on, Agneta?

'''Vexxarr''': Because there hasn't been enough time since the ''Big Bang'' for all that to happen... and you to ''tell'' me about it happening! }}

** And then a spacecraft of another posturing "superior" aliens joined the party. And then the third... that's when Vexxarr decided it's a good time to accelerate away. "I don't think it involves us. Let's be elsewhere... now."

 

== Web Original ==

* Played with in ''[[Gaia Online|zOMG!]]''; the expositional character who mysteriously disappears at the beginning is actually {{spoiler|[[The Dragon]]. He reappears near the end of the game to provide ''more'' exposition, this time in the form of [[Just Between You and Me]].}}

* Hans Krebs, the Wehrmacht general in the Youtube ''[[Downfall (film)|Downfall]]'' Parodies, although he leaves the really bad news for Jodl to announce.

* The ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' has a villainous example: The Hermit of [[Nebulous Evil Organization|Tarot]] has the power to see patterns of cause and effect. By studying literally ''anything'', he can detect the patterns involved and predict what will happen next with almost pinpoint certainty. [[Big Bad|The Emperor]] has him study the stock market, news reports, the weather, and pretty much every other type of continually-updated information in order to predict world trends and to explain past events. This makes him Tarot's own personal Mr. Exposition.

* Eric in ''[[TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life (web video)|TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life]]'' serves as this in the second episode by simultaneously warning James and explaining to the audience what will happen to him over the course of the story.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Dr. Drakken in ''[[Kim Possible]]''.

'''[[The Dragon|Shego]]:''' Are you for real? ''I was with you''. I know what it is, Dr. Exposition. }}

* ''[[The Simpsons]]''

* Parodied in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Asspen" when Stan is challenged to a ski race down the K-13.

{{quote|'''Teen:''' ''(steps into frame)'' The K-13? But that's the most dangerous run in all of America. (steps out of frame)}}

{{quote|'''Roddy:''' [[No Indoor Voice|THERE! THAT'S THE LAST OF THE CRUDDY EXPOSITION, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!]]}}

* In ''[[Word Girl]]'', there is a nameless character with the sole purpose of alerting the heroine of criminal misdeeds in other parts of town. (He is usually looking for the police station and [[Contrived Coincidence|just so happens]] to stumble across mild mannered Becky Botsford. The fandom refers to him lovingly as [[Fan Nickname|Exposition Guy.]]

* ''[[Star Trek: The Animated Series]]'' episode "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth". The sole function of Ensign Walking Bear is to provide background information on the ancient cultures he's an expert on.

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Slappy Squirrel on ''[[Animaniacs]]'':

{{quote|'''Skippy Squirrel:''' Not Walter Wolf! He's your worstest enemy '''ever'''!

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Unisex Tropes]]

[[Category:Mentors]]

[[Category:Narrator Tropes]]

[[Category:Information Desk]]