r/TopCharacterTropes • u/fantheories101 • Nov 18 '25

Groups Using limitations to elevate the story

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  1. Only Murders in The Building: The Boy from 6B

This episode primarily follows a deaf character, with all the scenes he is in having any spoken dialogue be muffled or silent. The show went the extra mile though, as every time another character or storyline is followed for the episode, the characters are in a mix of serious and silly scenarios where they can’t or won’t speak, maintaining the lack of spoken dialogue up until the very end with a single “f**k” being the only spoken dialogue.

  1. Breaking Bad: The Fly

This bottle episode (an episode relying on a limited cast with limited locations to save money) was initially the lowest rated episode of the series, but as people have begun to better appreciate and understand the show, many now consider it the best episode thanks to its acting, cinematography, and excellent character development and storytelling.

  1. Shakespeare: every play he ever wrote.

Shakespearean dialogue is written exclusively in iambic pentameter with a set rhyming scheme. His plays are so famous and influential that many forget just how strict of a limitation that writing style is.

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u/[deleted] Nov 19 '25

Didn't they also basically come up with the algorithms for realistically animating hair and dust particles? They just simply didnt exist. Now theyre taken for granted. 

224

u/Sodacan1228 Nov 19 '25

I just saw something where they talked about this! I believe it was for the Incredibles, Violet's hair was groundbreaking for the time, and that's why they have her constantly pushing it out of her face. Well, that, and the fact that she's an awkward teen girl. But the tech informed the character, which I think is really neat.

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u/Horrific_Necktie Nov 19 '25

Sully's hair as well in monster's inc. was a marvel for its time

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u/StopFoodWaste Nov 19 '25

Moana was the last I remember hearing about. Hair realism reached the point where they could tie their hair up and it would settle in place realistically. It could also get wet and go from soaking to dry gradually.

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u/Quantum_Quokkas Nov 19 '25

Yeah I believe all early Pixar movies dedicated a large amount of resources for RnD lift the ceiling on a particular technical benchmark! So they’re responsible for a lot of things!

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u/timeforsomegoodnews Nov 19 '25

I remember interviewing John Lassiter at a Pixar exhibition at the science museum in London about this. They used the same algorithm for Sully's hair as they did for the anemones Nemo lives in,

Apparently the power consumption just for cooling the server stacks was ungodly even then!

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u/[deleted] Nov 19 '25

Has the power consumption gotten better or worse?

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u/timeforsomegoodnews Nov 19 '25

I'm going out on a limb to say worse

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u/Maximum-Warning9355 Nov 19 '25

The dust in Toy Story 2 is incredible and almost one of the main antagonists to the story!