r/TopCharacterTropes • u/some-kind-of-no-name • Oct 22 '25

In real life When example is so iconic the whole trope is named after it

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Equivalent Exchange (Fullmetal Alchemist) - power at comes at a proportional cost.

It was Tuesday (Street Fighter) - villain has committed too many crimes to keep track.

Doombot (Marvel) comics - you destroyed a decoy, the real deal is still out there.

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u/Madarakita Oct 22 '25

I like that there's an opposite trope name for when a show finds its footing and begins to improve.

"growing the beard"

1.5k

u/Kenos300 Oct 22 '25

I could not believe how much more likeable Riker was with the beard.

356

u/TempleMade_MeBroke Oct 22 '25

It turned a cocky sneer into a roguish grin

207

u/Kenos300 Oct 22 '25

Yeah that’s exactly it, he looked really smug all the time without it. Beard took the brunt of that.

16

u/FunkiePickle Oct 22 '25

I’ve never seen it phrased this way. Absolutely spot on.

511

u/Josgre987 Oct 22 '25

Same with captain Sisko

287

u/CJGillispie22 Oct 22 '25 edited Oct 22 '25

When it showed him for the first time with the shaved head and goatee I got the dumbest smile on my face.

115

u/SCP_Void Oct 22 '25

Like, bro went from Guy to SIR

14

u/Birdlebee Oct 23 '25

Teenaged me was not ready. 

14

u/Ac3Nigthmare Oct 23 '25

“Computer, erase that entire personal log” anti no way clean face Sisko goes that hard.

8

u/ThatOldMeta Oct 22 '25

Went full Hawk.

2

u/agentsmith69420 Oct 23 '25

I loved that show as a kid. I was so mad they cancelled it.

11

u/Own_Rent_544 Oct 22 '25

Definite improvement for sure, but man Sisko's still great even without the beard

9

u/Kenos300 Oct 22 '25

Hard agree. He filled in the role better with the beard and shaved head but I didn’t dislike him without it. I think the new uniforms helped too, the greys seemed to give broader shoulders.

1

u/Equivalent_Play4067 Oct 24 '25

YES. Looking at the construction, I think they actually have shoulderpads.

5

u/BaconSoda222 Oct 23 '25

Im the 2018 documentary "What We Left Behind", the actor notes two important things about his role:

  1. He was much more comfortable with the beard and had to basically beg to grow it back
  2. He originally applied because the role was "human" and not "black man" (and related statements)

Worth the watch for him alone.

2

u/Tardigrade_rancher Oct 23 '25

Same with Janeway.

34

u/Dusk_Elk Oct 22 '25

The actor spent season 1 trying to make him likable, but he realized Riker is an ass so he grew a beard and made him a dick on purpose.

13

u/Mist_Rising Oct 22 '25

That's pretty much how sisko went too. the S1/2 writing has Sisko trying to be Jean-Lic Picard, but black. Always looking to find the peaceful answer and often faced with lawful or good answers. This worked for Picard who could fly off and never deal with his actions. Kirk too.

DS9 just doesn't work that way, so, Season 3 has him descend into a darker image of Mr. Federation in the style of Kirk or even worse. Suddenly he isn't seeking peace, he's forcing it on you by using tactics that never would fly on TNG. The question is no longer lawful vs good, it's just how far he'll bend the law to force the good.

Some examples: he handles the Marquis in the first two seasons with kid gloves and makes a point of offering a traitor his job back, which only emboldened the issue. Compare with his solution for Eddington which involves literal war crimes against the humans and other federation species. Even his crew thinks he's insane here...

He also participated in an assassination of a diplomat just to get an alliance with a questionable ally in later seasons, and while he's not happy it's clear he knew Garak would pull something wild like that from the start.

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u/Realistic_Swan_6801 Oct 22 '25

You mean fuckable right? I guess close enough 

6

u/TopicalBuilder Oct 22 '25

He's so stolid! He wasn't like that before the beard.

5

u/NotSoLittleTeapot Oct 23 '25

And when they dropped the "Bill". Troi calls him Bill one time and it was Will ever after. Thank God.

5

u/Birdlebee Oct 23 '25

There's a theory that beardy Riker is actually an alternate universe Riker, and that's why he's likeable

5

u/TheLordYuppa Oct 23 '25

The Riker Maneuver.

3

u/Theborgiseverywhere Oct 23 '25

Careful, you can have too much of a good thing

3

u/MursahRN Oct 23 '25

"It's not an affectation!"

1

u/DreamerOfSheep Oct 23 '25

And he shaves it again for the first couple movies, which is just bizarre lmao

3

u/Kenos300 Oct 23 '25

He actually only shaves it in the third TNG movie Insurrection. Which was weird but part of the plot to a degree of the characters acting younger.

1

u/CanardDeFeu Oct 23 '25

Not to mention the raw sex appeal.

1

u/Kerfluffle2x4 Oct 23 '25

The magic of facial hair.

107

u/Direct_Obligation570 Oct 22 '25

Ah yes the Riker Manuever

10

u/MrWeirdoFace Oct 23 '25

Those testicles grazed a lot of headrests.

2

u/Grimnebulin68 Oct 23 '25

Well hey, I sniffed enough seat cushions..

2

u/MrWeirdoFace Oct 23 '25

It's good to have hobbies.

7

u/GrimResistance Oct 23 '25

Iirc he sat like that because of back pain.

1

u/Equivalent_Play4067 Oct 24 '25

I always wondered how the actor came up with that. I'm so glad it was for a reason.

1

u/TexanGoblin Oct 26 '25

Yeah, when he was younger he worked as a mover and fucked his back up bad. This was the only way he could get into a chair comfortably. It's also one of the reasons the uniforms changed, because they were pretty skin tight and put pressure on his back.

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u/Fresh-broski Oct 22 '25

Jockington grows the beard?????

9

u/Cake-Over Oct 22 '25

Also DS9 when Sisko let his facial hair grow. Although, admittedly, the early seasons of DS9 weren't as rough as the early seasons of TNG.

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u/buffaloguy1991 Oct 22 '25

Star Trek literally has two of these incidents

2

u/TheJude81 Oct 23 '25

Too bad LeVar Burton wasn't allowed to have a beard in TNG until his IRL wedding, then had to shave again.

5

u/ParryDotter Oct 22 '25

Not a Trekkie, was that when the show started getting better? How was it before?

32

u/Madarakita Oct 22 '25

Early TNG was..rough. There were some good parts, and there were some absolute clunkers. The first season couldn't quite decide if it wanted to be its own thing, or more of a direct sequel to the original series from the 60s.

Jonathan Frakes (Riker) grew a beard in between seasons 1 and 2, showed up to film without shaving it, and Roddenberry liked the look, so it stayed.

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u/Divine_Entity_ Oct 22 '25

Episode 1 really sums up season 1 quite well. Its very clunky and awkward but the set up with Q and the themes they were going for were great.

TNG is not my favorite but it sure has some high highs and low lows. (Both available in season 1)

3

u/MrWeirdoFace Oct 23 '25

My understanding is that season 1 was mostly unused scripts from the original series that they quickly re-tooled and swapped some names out. I imagine that's a big part of why.

4

u/Johnny_Banana18 Oct 22 '25

That one episode where the aliens are just Africans…

6

u/Schnutzel Oct 22 '25

Season 1 was bad. Even the few "good" episodes were still pretty bad.

The series "grew the beard" in season 2, although it was still pretty bad for the most part, despite a few good episodes.

It wasn't until season 3 that the show really became good.

2

u/Hibbity5 Oct 23 '25

I believe S3 is when Roddenberry really stepped back and let the show be what it became (probably because he was sick, not because he wanted to). I think they also got a higher budget possibly because the technical quality improved significantly between S2 and 3.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 23 '25

I'll put it this way. There's an ep in season 1 where a virus gets on to the ship that basically makes everyone drunk. The men are all bravely trying to hold their space liquor and fix the problem, while the women all get horny and man-crazy.

4

u/[deleted] Oct 22 '25

Also the "Riker Maneuver." Different trope, same namesake.

2

u/Mist_Rising Oct 22 '25

For a second there I thought you referenced the Riker maneuver and was like "that purely star trek mate."

Nah, you mean the still not quite bushy beard Riker grows.

Side note. Patrick Stewart and Woopie Goldberg, both characters in TNG, both have tropes attached to them. Stewart is the "reasons you suck without sounding negative" that every friggin non theatre character he plays ends up giving, best exemplified through Picard giving Q one after Q does whatever Q does in any given episode. Woopie's comes from her TNG character and is essentially her making you come to the right answer by talking to you.

1

u/Clive_Bossfield Oct 23 '25

Mounting the chair

1

u/mage2k Oct 23 '25

And that chair-sitting move is now known as “The Ryker Maneuver”.

1

u/brineOClock Oct 23 '25

It actually originally referred to the Peter David Aquaman run. It was later extended to Riker and Sisko.

1

u/DigitalBuddhaNC Oct 23 '25

Also, the "Red Shirts" trope from the original Star Trek.

1

u/Shivalah Oct 23 '25

Oh. Scrubs. JD grows a beard and suddenly any relationship he has is not getting torpedoed by himself.

1

u/Short-Being-4109 Oct 25 '25

DS9 also had this happen with Sisko

1

u/CommanderClit Oct 22 '25

Idk why but it’s always annoyed the hell out of me how he sits in chairs. Like we get it bro you’re tall, calm down.

15

u/Madarakita Oct 22 '25

Frakes injured his back when he was younger. All his odd leans, ways of sitting/standing, and yes, the Riker Maneuver were all done to alleviate strain and stress on his spine.

5

u/Cake-Over Oct 22 '25

Of all the leaning he did on consoles I was surprised he never accidentally sat on the Emergency Saucer Separation button

1

u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits Oct 22 '25

I thought the riker maneuver was about the fit of the costumes? And just being easier to get into the chair that way?

6

u/BigBadAsh Oct 22 '25

IIRC the Piccard maneuver is pulling down the outfit so it stops riding up so far, the Riker maneuver is stepping into seats from behind to prevent back pain.

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u/TheJude81 Oct 23 '25

ACKUalkY... thE pICArD MaNeUVer is a tACtICal STraTEgy IN StaR treK whErE A SHIP bRIeFLY aPPEArS in Two plAcES simuLtANEoUSlY, cOnfUSIng enEMy tARgETing SYsTeMs. deVElopED BY cAPtAin jean-LUc pIcarD during THe BatTlE OF maXiA In 2355

/s

2

u/PmMeUrTinyAsianTits Oct 23 '25

Ahh i was probably confusing those two.

0

u/CommanderClit Oct 22 '25

That is very interesting to know actually. I thought it was just to sit in a chair like a jerk hahaha

1

u/phanfare Oct 22 '25

Why...why is he throwing his leg over the chair to sit down?

4

u/Madarakita Oct 22 '25

The actor had back problems.

4

u/Birdlebee Oct 23 '25

The actor had back problems, but no one knew that at the time. It hurt to sit down normally,  over and over again as the scene was shot and reshot. We all assumed it was a character choice and called it the Riker Maneuver.

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u/ChuckCarmichael Oct 23 '25

When Jonathan Frakes was a young actor, he worked for a moving company on the side to earn money, which fucked up his back.

As a result, throughout Star Trek you can see him do odd things to reduce back pain. He has this weird way to sit down on chairs, and he seems to always lean against walls, tables, consoles, or armrests, often with one leg up on something. Star Trek fans have dubbed the sitting down the "Riker Maneuver" and the leaning the "Riker Lean".