Black Mage takes a serious hit during the fight with Lich. When the thickheaded and childlike Fighter realizes he's not getting up, he starts becoming visibly scared and a whole lot less cheerful, begging the corpse to yell at him for being stupid. When Black Mage doesn't get up, he then proceeds attack Lich like it's the only thing in the world that matters. It's the only time in the entire comic that Fighter doesn't even think about heroics or niceties or even being polite, continuing to hit Lich until he's satisfied. Later, when Black Mage gains extreme evil power, Red Mage and Thief don't even consider fleeing, facing him down like actual heroes.
Played for comedy while Black Mage is petrified with shock at discovering that Dragoon's pet, Muffin, is a very large and very evil dragon.
Thief: Why hasn't Black Mage stabbed you in the back of the neck yet? Fighter: I know, right? Hope he's feeling okay.
Dan McNinja: (returning with a method to cure his wife) How is she? Sean: Well... She gave me the "I'm sorry I was a horrible mother" speech. Dan McNinja: DRIVE FASTER.
And Shine Heaven Now: This trope is how Integra knows something shady is going on with the British Library when they tell her Yomiko Readman burned down the Library. One, it's so wildly out of character for Yomiko to do that that it has to be true, as the Library would have made up something more plausible if they were trying to discredit her. Two, having worked with both Yomiko and her predecessor Donnie, she knows papermasters regard books as having souls and burning a library to the ground would be akin to mass murder...so for Yomiko to do that means it had to be something serious for her to get to that point. Namely, she found out about Joker's experiments on children and the Paper Sisters' existence.
Credenza is a Plucky Girl and an All-Loving Hero. When she starts yelling at Knull at the top of her voice, lunging at him (and Blitz has to hold her back!), we immediately know he's hit her Trauma Button. When she isn't smiling for several hours, even Raven (who has No Social Skills at the moment) knows she's seriously upset.
When Rose in Ask White Pearl and Steven (almost!) anything sees White Pearl, she drops all pretense of civility and fully intends on killing (or at least poofing and bubbling) Steven under the pretense that he is White Diamond. Justified, considering she had known both White Diamond and White Pearl personally and would know not to hesitate.
White Diamond has never apologized for anything, so when Steven apologizes to Rose for whatever made her hate him so much (having no memory of White Diamond's actions), this finally makes Rose doubt her certainty that Steven is just White pulling some cruel joke on her.
The Bedfellows: The one time Fatigue actually stands up for himself is in the strip "Board Meeting," when he calls out his bosses for doing nothing but patting themselves on the back (and other places) for their good work rather than make it even better.
Ben's father Winston suffers from dementia, the result of a series of strokes not long after Ben reached adulthood. Normally, he was very sedentary, responding to most things with just "That's nice", and occasionally asking for his wife, who died several years prior to those strokes from breast cancer. But when Ben introduced him to Daniella after their engagement, Winston had an exceptional moment of clarity:
Daniella: Mr. Rat... can I call you Winston? Winston: That's nice. Daniella: What's your trade? Winston: Tax planner. Daniella: You old rascal. Can I call you Dad? Winston: Sure can. And if you stick with my son Ben, he'll make you a mother of some extraordinary children. Daniella:Ohhh... Dad! Ben: He's never done that before! Winston: That's nice.
At another point, Ben noticed this when Jarrad Dryandra's behavior began to change. His mother Shirley, and her then-boyfriend Brayden, initially tried to get him on ADHD drugs for it. Ben diagnosed it as a sleep disorder, and eventually Jarrad had his tonsils removed.
After discovering that both Diane and Lucy already knew that she was gay and in a relationship with Catalina, Rhoda was pissed. She proceeded to yell about all the effort that had gone to waste, as well as order both Diane and Lucy around, catching them both off-guard because she's usually fairly quiet and meek. All links contain spoilers.
Much later, during Florence's recovery from the secret base, she knows Sam was really worried about her when she finds out he was in the company of another person for more than twenty seconds and didn't take their wallet.
A subtle but effective one; Airman Higgs is normally composed and nonchalant about everything, with an almost bored facial expression. Except when Zola runs Zeetha through with a sword. The next strip features a close up of his face, eyes open, and delivering a One-Liner with the slightest hint of the Jäger accent (something he'd never shown before). This comes moments before he punches someone across the room so fast that Sequential Art cannot capture it. The effect, whilst subtle, is rather frightening.
Gil also has one of these, when the Incorruptible Library gets bold enough to try to abduct Tarvek. Usually, Gil attempts to resolve situations diplomatically, something his enemies had counted on. So he decides to show them that he's not to be underestimated. Even Dupree is surprised at this.
Dupree: Are... Are you okay? Gil:No! Those bookbinders think they can come in here and just abduct people? After all the trouble I've gone to? I've obviously done too much talking and not enough damage!We're getting him back! Dupree: This is weird— You're still talking and I'm actually still listening.
Krosp is always hungry, filching and mooching any food when and wherever he can through the story. But in England he meets an orange cat, having an outright panic attack about her. Since he's usually so hyper and mildly paranoid, everyone ignores him. But in the April 16, 2021 strip, he's still so upset he refuses food. That's when Agatha takes him seriously.
Early in Goblins, Minmax teases Forgath for saying that he loves Minmax like a brother and calls Forgath gay several times. When he realizes Forgath is about to die he holds Forgath close and calls him "Brother."
In Gunnerkrigg Court, Ysengrin is a Yes-Man who is wholly devoted to Coyote. When he learns that Coyote knew all along that the Court tricked Reynardine and imprisoned him and did nothing to help him he immediately calls him out on it, asking him how he could leave Reynardine trapped there. Especially notable since previous interactions between Ysengrin and Reynardine indicated that they were not particularly fond of each other.
The trolls all have a characteristic quirk or two when it comes to communicating through their messaging system. When Gamzee's changed from "hOnK" to "honk HONK", signifying that he's now sober and completely Ax-Crazy, Karkat freaked out. (Along with the rest of the readers.)
CG: OH MY GOD CG: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
Feferi and Eridan typically have very distinctive typing styles but drop their quirks briefly to have a serious conversation about Feferi being Eridan's Morality Chain.
Vriska blushes and covers her mouth in embarrassment the one time she accidentally types nine exclamation marks in a row, instead of her trademark eight.
As of Act 6, you know something's up when Terezi, who is normally the resident Handicapped Badass and The Chessmaster who is obsessed with smelling and tasting everything as replacement for her missing eyesight, suddenly starts hiding her eyes behind her dragon hood and acts more withdrawn. It would seem that meeting the pre-scratch version of her ancestor made her feel more self-conscious, and some of her behavior could also be caused by what is revealed sometime later that she and Gamzee are filling a black quadrant together, and at some point she had Aranea fix her eyes.
Later in Act 6, when Gamzee is staring with a blank expression at something, you know it's weird.
Dave again . . .
DAVE: jade this is STUPID DAVE: my quest is a STUPID PIECE OF GARBAGE QUEST for LAME SHITTY LOSER FUCKHEADS WHO SUCK BALLS WHILE CRAPPING THEIR PANTS JADE: omg JADE: youve really spent way too much time alone with karkat havent you DAVE: ... DAVE: i need help :(
Doc Scratch almost never loses his Faux Affably Evil demeanor. When Terezi tells him that Vriska had one of his Magic Cue Balls, he gets truly pissed off and both he and his text start flashing violently. He blows an eye and arm off of Vriska moments later.
SHE HAS WHAT? GC: >:o
Lackadaisy: The only time Rocky's not crazy, zany, and upbeat is when he's recovering from a serious head wound. Going forward there's something... seriously off about him from that point on.
Nerf NOW!!: Angie realizes there's a huge problem when Jo, usually eager to promote fanservice, immediately tries to cover Angie up. The problem? She's dressed up as a female Ninja Turtle, and Jo wants no part of that due to the poor reputation female ninja turtles have after the Base-Breaking CharacterVenus di Milo.
NEXT!!! Sound of the Future: Shine absolutely adores Miku androids and especially Hatsupress member Tech, having a Poster-Gallery Bedroom full of Miku merchandise, reacting excitedly when Dr. Yuki shows her that she got a picture with Tech, and being ecstatic when she finally does meet her. This makes her disappointment when she realizes that Roll is watching the Hatsupress episode of O-Len's show the first sign that Tech's disparaging words towards her in the previous chapter severely damaged her impression of her.
The first timeElan proves he can actually be useful, it comes as a shock to his teammates. Belkar, naturally, also takes advantage of this to trick Roy.
Belkar again after Malack kills Durkon and turns him into a vampire spawn. Roy is so furious and disbelieving at Belkar's account of the events he threatens to kill him. But after he tells them about Durkon asking Malack to spare the rest of the Order, Haley believes him because she doesn't believe the canonically Chaotic Evil Belkar is capable of making something like that up.
In Questionable Content, the normally-calm-and-passive Marten is furious after Dora flips out on him and Faye for thinking they were fooling aroundnote actually Marten calming Faye down from a panic attack, which startles Faye.
Captain Tagon is being briefed on an A.I. that was found in the massive space station where their mission is taking place. After Tagon is told the AI's name is translated to "Broken Wind", he asks if Ennesby made a "fart joke" before diving into the computer to fight the AI. When told he did not, Captain Tagon says, "We ARE in trouble".
Tagon himself falls under this every time he would reject the chance for (more) money. One time, it was simply his hatred for a certain Fat Bastard overpowering his greed (slashing the local reverend's hopes for any salvation of Tagon's soul when he learned of that), and the second time, his employer was getting incredibly annoying, by mercenary standards at least, with his restrictions imposed on the crew. Though he quickly snapped out of it, turning it into an extra profit opportunity (in the form of purchasing infinite Yell at the Captain rights), and lampshading it for good measure ("I don't know what came over me").
Acting director Daggermother Ezraene has a moment of this when the extremely expensive mercenaries her predecessor hired (our protagonists) are willing to send a report despite the fact that she invoked an exit clause that means that they are no longer contractually obligated to.
Karl Tagon: That means we don't have to send you our summary report. Daggermother Ezraene: Correct. Karl Tagon: I'm sending it anyway. The money doesn't matter. Daggermother Ezraene:Keep talking.
Over the series, Petey has established a habit of "inviting" holographic avatars of himself into private meetings. When he apologizes for doing so, those present take notice.
Chisulo:Everybody! Stop what you are doing and LISTEN!
Sleepless Domain: Bud is usually a bit of a goof with a keen interest in gossip, while her friend Harley is the calm, no-nonsense Straight Man to her antics. Both girls, however, are shocked upon encountering their friend Cassidy violently interrogating new club member Undine about the death of her teammates. Bud's tone of voice and body language are dead serious, while Harley is absolutely furious and immediately gets in her face. In the following scene, Harely is still notably heated, and in an interesting role-reversal Bud has to be the one to remain calm and bring up rational points. Bud herself even notes how unusual it is to see her friend "this spicy."
In Slice of Life, when Pumpkin Cake passes up the chance to make mischief, her parents (and Pinkie Pie) can tell she's really upset.
When Torg starts to actually think (or simply stops acting silly), you know business has just got serious. Often coupled with Let's Get Dangerous!.
In "Oceans Unmoving", Honest Stu always tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth — no matter how awkward or dangerous the occasion or rhetorical the question. The one time he actually lies, and just for the fun of it too, is when he is dying, very nearly with his last words.
A mild form happens in Chapter 3. Emil and Lalli sort of bond over their shared hatred of the bed belts in the night train that they are riding. Later in the night, Lalli hands Emil his belt and tangles himself in his own right before sudden movement of the train projects anyone not strapped to their bed (read: Emil) out of it.
Sigrun may know when to back down from a fight, but she's also walked into troll nests and killed grosslings, considers a suicide mission to be a relaxing vacation, and through it all has been absolutely fearless. So the first time she's shown to be downright terrified, it's clear that the crew is in serious trouble.
The first time we see Lallilook completely terrified. Remember, this is the guy who spends his nights scouting the troll-infested Silent World at night when the monsters are most active without batting an eyelash regressing to a state of panicked flailing.
Widdershins has a double example: Verity drops in on her former partner Harry with all her usual bombast, realizes Harry isn't even bothering to argue with her, and immediately asks what's wrong. When Harry tells her that Harry's grandfather, a beloved Retired Badass, has been shot, Verity is aghast and suspends their usual rivalry to help.
Speedball: Aki is full of love. Some of it is TOUGH love.
Chaotic Neutral Comedic Sociopath. But when confronted with