Tropescilloscope: Action Prologue

An exciting beginning followed by the "real" story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes The Alcoholic The Mafia Extremely Short Timespan Creative Closing Credits Expository Hairstyle Change Race Lift Shut Up, Hannibal! Jitter Cam Mama Bear Failed a Spot Check Driven to Suicide Gratuitous English Rape as Drama Worthy Opponent Foreshadowing Knife Nut Fate Worse than Death Armor-Piercing Question Establishing Character Moment Adaptational Villainy Kill 'em All Tap on the Head Taking You with Me Product Placement Beauty Is Never Tarnished Jerk with a Heart of Gold For Want of a Nail Evil vs. Evil Silent Movie Cool Car German Films Evil Is Hammy Villainous Breakdown Adaptational Heroism Ass Shove Only Known by Their Nickname Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Freeze-Frame Bonus Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! I'm a Humanitarian Those Two Bad Guys Parental Substitute Playing Gertrude All There in the Script Bilingual Bonus Your Head A-Splode Shout-Out Hero Antagonist Disney Villain Death Alas, Poor Villain Fire-Forged Friends Redemption Equals Death From Nobody to Nightmare Blatant Lies My God, What Have I Done? Novelization Mood Whiplash Very Loosely Based on a True Story Downer Ending Implacable Man Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome The Lost Lenore The Sociopath Cat Fight Chekhov's Skill Cat Scare From Bad to Worse Obviously Evil "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Fake Shemp Bound and Gagged Didn't Think This Through He Who Fights Monsters Love at First Sight Villain Opening Scene Bait-and-Switch Unreliable Narrator Ragtag Bunch of Misfits The Load Improbable Weapon User "Well Done, Son!" Guy Anti-Villain Blood from the Mouth Laser-Guided Karma Bury Your Gays Plot Hole Real Life Writes the Plot Laughing Mad Big Eater Retcon "Awesome McCool" Name Retired Badass This Is Gonna Suck Scenery Porn Wrong Genre Savvy Camera Abuse The Smurfette Principle Dirty Cop Grievous Bottley Harm Leaning on the Fourth Wall Early Installment Weirdness French Films Wham Line Genre Throwback Manchild Composite Character Intergenerational Friendship Not So Above It All Brutal Honesty Police are Useless Artistic License – Physics Get Out! I Have Your Wife What the Hell, Hero? NO INDOOR VOICE Nice Hat Death by Sex All Just a Dream Drugs Are Bad Refuge in Audacity Woman Scorned Not So Stoic Famous Last Words Dark and Troubled Past Suddenly SHOUTING! Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Genre Shift Visual Pun Australian Movies Smug Snake Twist Ending Bolivian Army Ending Small Name, Big Ego You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! The Starscream Domestic Abuse Rule of Funny Antagonist Title Casting Gag The Reveal Hollywood Law Calling the Old Man Out Never Trust a Trailer Insane Troll Logic Training Montage Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Deus ex Machina Crapsack World Victoria's Secret Compartment Badass Boast Cain and Abel Obfuscating Stupidity Coming-of-Age Story Morality Pet Room Full of Crazy Ms. Fanservice Needs Wiki Magic Love Big Brother Instinct A Father to His Men Catapult Nightmare Auto Erotica Frame-Up Good Is Not Nice Distracted by the Sexy Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Silence Is Golden Politically Incorrect Villain Too Dumb to Live Animated Credits Opening Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Greater-Scope Villain Foil The Cameo Have a Gay Old Time Improbable Aiming Skills Race Against the Clock Scenery Gorn Flipping the Bird Cold-Blooded Torture An Arm and a Leg Fingore Cool Shades Heroic Sacrifice Freudian Excuse Dramatic Gun Cock Adult Fear Four-Temperament Ensemble Italian Films Destination Defenestration Paper-Thin Disguise An Aesop Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Drives Like Crazy Missing Mom Rasputinian Death Gender Flip Tagline Captain Ersatz Honor Before Reason Tranquil Fury Cassandra Truth Stealth Hi/Bye Overly Long Gag Sports Stories Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Gone Horribly Right Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Dirty Old Man Depraved Bisexual Beard of Evil How We Got Here Mr. Exposition Bad Boss Mighty Whitey Mercy Kill The Cavalry Artistic License – Geography Heel–Face Turn Papa Wolf Protagonist Title Action Survivor Red Herring Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Pay Evil unto Evil Romantic False Lead Asshole Victim The Casanova Major Injury Underreaction Author Appeal World of Ham Chewing the Scenery No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Advertised Extra Arranged Marriage My Greatest Failure Martial Arts Movie Agony of the Feet Shower Scene Red Eyes, Take Warning Creepy Child Idiot Ball As Himself The Ace Film Noir The Power of Love Big-Bad Ensemble Shown Their Work Gold Digger Rule of Symbolism Motor Mouth Badass Bookworm Mad Scientist Biopic Works Set in World War II Monumental Damage Big Bad Duumvirate Kubrick Stare The Film of the Book The '50s After the End Poor Communication Kills Sir Swears-a-Lot Ripped from the Headlines Badass in a Nice Suit Never My Fault Blood Knight All Men Are Perverts Title Drop Pragmatic Adaptation Reality Has No Subtitles Tempting Fate Even Evil Has Loved Ones Jerk Jock Bunny-Ears Lawyer Belligerent Sexual Tension Hidden Depths The Ghost "The Reason You Suck" Speech Pimped-Out Dress The Stoner Guns Akimbo The Oner Bloodless Carnage Setting Update Offscreen Teleportation Extreme Doormat Combat Pragmatist Attempted Rape She's Got Legs Black and Gray Morality Anachronic Order Demonic Possession Interrupted Suicide Vomit Discretion Shot Heroes Want Redheads Big Bad Self-Deprecation Totally Radical The Big Guy Death by Adaptation Bavarian Fire Drill Catch-Phrase Contrived Coincidence A Date with Rosie Palms Once More, with Clarity! Karma Houdini Obstructive Bureaucrat Male Frontal Nudity Broken Bird Shoot the Shaggy Dog Russian Films Important Haircut Dark Reprise Retirony Sequel Hook Token Minority Expy O.O.C. Is Serious Business All for Nothing Stealth Pun Car Fu Roaring Rampage of Revenge Credits Gag Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Translation Convention Break the Haughty She Cleans Up Nicely Horror Comedy Mind Screw Hoist by His Own Petard War Is Hell Costume Porn Outrun the Fireball Lampshade Hanging Fat Bastard Bare Your Midriff Hero of Another Story Break the Cutie Historical-Domain Character Oh, Crap! One Steve Limit Ghost Fiction Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Death Seeker Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other My Beloved Smother Police Brutality Bland-Name Product Suspiciously Similar Substitute Overprotective Dad Well-Intentioned Extremist Handicapped Badass Nice Guy Gorn Double Entendre Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Whole Plot Reference Cool Old Guy Leave the Camera Running Would Hurt a Child Mystery and Detective Films Death of a Child Meaningful Background Event Same Language Dub Ax-Crazy Anti-Hero Spared by the Adaptation Psychopathic Manchild Historical In-Joke Television Movie Index Manipulative Bastard Mr. Fanservice Beta Couple The Smart Guy May–December Romance Put on a Bus Slap-Slap-Kiss Badass Longcoat Jump Scare All Girls Want Bad Boys Black Comedy Shipper on Deck Adaptation Dye-Job Animal Title Index Jerkass Loophole Abuse Cowboy Cop Action Girl Awesome, but Impractical Department of Redundancy Department Villain Protagonist Getting Crap Past the Radar Wretched Hive Drill Sergeant Nasty The Vamp Non-Indicative Name Easily Forgiven Lock and Load Montage Not Even Bothering with the Accent Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Adaptational Attractiveness Redshirt Army Bloodier and Gorier The Musical Not What It Looks Like Those Wacky Nazis Men Are the Expendable Gender No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Affably Evil Revenge Dying Moment of Awesome Parental Abandonment It's All About Me Face–Heel Turn Exact Words Made of Iron The Quiet One Artistic License – Military Be Careful What You Wish For Black Dude Dies First Older Than They Look Dirty Coward And the Adventure Continues Horror Films Bald of Evil Happily Married The Dog Bites Back Malevolent Masked Men Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Our Vampires Are Different Sexy Discretion Shot Historical Hero Upgrade Ascended Extra The Great Depression Christmas Movies Index Random Events Plot Captain Obvious Celebrity Paradox Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Eagleland Red Right Hand Reckless Gun Usage Red Shirt Darkest Hour Bi the Way Pyrrhic Victory Kids Are Cruel Mooks Black Best Friend Market-Based Title Punch-Clock Villain Thriller Daddy's Girl What You Are in the Dark Humans Are Bastards Bring My Brown Pants Evil Brit The Ditz Serious Business Villain Ball Sequel Escalation Bond Villain Stupidity Curb-Stomp Battle The End... Or Is It? Let's Get Dangerous! Does Not Like Shoes Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Crazy Jealous Guy Red Oni, Blue Oni Annoying Younger Sibling Ungrateful Bastard It Will Never Catch On Grey and Gray Morality Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Crucified Hero Shot Wham Shot Neck Lift Big "NO!" Even Evil Has Standards Took a Level in Jerkass Earn Your Happy Ending Half the Man He Used to Be Groin Attack Deadpan Snarker Our Zombies Are Different Irony Brick Joke Real Life Took a Level in Badass Left the Background Music On Romantic Comedy The Brute Spiteful Spit The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Posthumous Character Enemy Mine Decoy Protagonist Cool Guns Stock Footage Nothing Is Scarier Neck Snap Foregone Conclusion Chase Scene Science Fiction Films He Knows Too Much Flashback The Dreaded The Remake Hypocritical Humor Dramedy Dogged Nice Guy Slashed Throat Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Chekhov's Gunman Eiffel Tower Effect The Hero Dwindling Party Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Canon Foreigner Last-Name Basis Rule of Three Fanservice Bullying a Dragon Music Stories Fish out of Water Actor Allusion A.I. Is a Crapshoot Kill It with Fire Properly Paranoid Film Noir Index Every Car Is a Pinto Historical Villain Upgrade La Résistance The Dragon Conspicuous CG Trailers Always Spoil Only One Name Heroic BSoD The Voiceless Peek-a-Boo Corpse Fourth Date Marriage As the Good Book Says... The Hero Dies Femme Fatale Narrator Logo Joke Stalker with a Crush Badass Normal Dual Wielding In Name Only Disproportionate Retribution Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Reality Ensues Plucky Comic Relief Line-of-Sight Name Book-Ends Action Prologue Rated M for Manly Double-Meaning Title Scary Black Man Off with His Head! Damsel in Distress Vitriolic Best Buds Mistaken for Gay Reality Is Unrealistic Adaptation Distillation There Is No Kill Like Overkill Hope Spot A Minor Kidroduction Cruel and Unusual Death Adults Are Useless Arc Words No Name Given Fan Disservice Spanner in the Works Bowdlerise Defiant to the End Almost Kiss Breaking the Fourth Wall Sacrificial Lion The Stinger Smoking Is Cool Serial Killer Dissonant Serenity Mundane Made Awesome Precision F-Strike Only Sane Man Age Lift Deconstruction Faking the Dead Fatal Family Photo Military and Warfare Films The Bad Guy Wins Corpsing Your Cheating Heart Large Ham The X of Y Bar Brawl I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Big Fancy House As Long as It Sounds Foreign Country Matters No OSHA Compliance More Dakka Riddle for the Ages Pre-Mortem One-Liner Light Is Not Good Meaningful Echo Reasonable Authority Figure Beware the Nice Ones Cloudcuckoolander The Stoic Jerkass Has a Point B-Movie Kick the Son of a Bitch Amusing Injuries Big Applesauce Hell Is That Noise Stylistic Suck Wicked Cultured Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Re-Cut Rousing Speech No Celebrities Were Harmed Boom, Headshot! Loads and Loads of Characters Deliberate Values Dissonance Broken Pedestal Disney Death Evil Laugh Dark Action Girl Determinator aka: The Determinator Determinator Diabolus ex Machina Meet Cute Sinister Minister "Shaggy Dog" Story Rewatch Bonus Sassy Black Woman True Companions Take a Third Option Friend to All Children Knight Templar Man on Fire Faux Affably Evil Woman in White Unwitting Instigator of Doom Pet the Dog Dies Wide Open Anguished Declaration of Love Continuity Nod And Starring Demoted to Extra Character Development The Chessmaster Daylight Horror Eyepatch of Power Big Damn Heroes Insistent Terminology Show Within a Show Slasher Movie Final Girl Made of Explodium Leitmotif Artistic License – History Maybe Ever After Chuck Cunningham Syndrome A God Am I Parental Incest Action Genre Hate Sink Blackmail Soft Glass It Can Think Artistic License – Gun Safety Sci-Fi Horror Comically Missing the Point Killed Mid-Sentence Badass Grandpa In Medias Res Recycled IN SPACE! Intrepid Reporter Madness Mantra The Lancer Aluminum Christmas Trees And I Must Scream Slasher Smile Black Comedy Rape Bad "Bad Acting" Children Are Innocent Based on a True Story Amoral Attorney No-Sell Central Theme Drowning My Sorrows Card-Carrying Villain Make It Look Like an Accident Fantastic Racism Framing Device Only in It for the Money Mythology Gag Spell My Name with an "S" Wounded Gazelle Gambit Eureka Moment Rule of Cool Affectionate Parody Fatal Flaw Undying Loyalty Author Avatar Dumb Blonde Curse Cut Short Unresolved Sexual Tension Accidental Misnaming The Chick Unspoken Plan Guarantee Pragmatic Villainy Imagine Spot Canadian Movies Evil Sounds Deep Alliterative Name Not Using the "Z" Word Authority Equals Asskicking Abhorrent Admirer Sealed Evil in a Can Cluster F-Bomb Sadistic Choice Brother–Sister Incest Taking the Bullet Chekhov's Gun Fainting Arch-Enemy Fun with Acronyms N-Word Privileges Bloody Hilarious Green-Eyed Monster Love Triangle Accidental Murder Back from the Dead Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Dull Surprise Evil Is Petty Yandere Heel Realization Heterosexual Life-Partners Truth in Television Funny Background Event Dramatic Irony Parental Neglect Psycho for Hire Empathic Environment Naïve Newcomer British Films Film Series Hair-Trigger Temper Eye Scream Suspiciously Specific Denial Early-Bird Cameo Soundtrack Dissonance Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Super Strength Closed Circle Storming the Castle Here We Go Again! Deliberately Monochrome Male Gaze Evil-Detecting Dog Eldritch Abomination Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene All There in the Manual Unusually Uninteresting Sight Air-Vent Passageway Shirtless Scene Superhero I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Developing Doomed Characters Pretty Little Headshots Henpecked Husband Documentary Straight Gay Deal with the Devil Epic Movie Call-Forward Take That! Aside Glance The Un-Reveal Gainax Ending Disappeared Dad Brainless Beauty Death Glare Dressing as the Enemy Informed Ability Gory Discretion Shot Fanservice Extra It's Personal Stepford Smiler Hollywood Darkness Vacation Films Japanese Films Punny Name Manly Tears Off-into-the-Distance Ending Manic Pixie Dream Girl Dutch Angle Five-Man Band You Killed My Father The '60s Chiaroscuro Karmic Death What Happened to the Mouse? Fantasy Films Throwing Your Sword Always Works Bittersweet Ending Together in Death Facial Horror Insult Backfire Offscreen Moment of Awesome Apocalypse How The Alleged Car folderlabel Ambiguous Disorder Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Sole Survivor Zombie Stories Adaptation Name Change Actually Pretty Funny timeperiod In the Back Married to the Job Hypocrite Covers Always Lie Those Two Guys Not So Different Lighter and Softer Epic Fail Adapted Out Ambiguously Gay Ambiguous Ending Sanity Slippage Artistic License – Biology Skewed Priorities Anyone Can Die Homage Vomit Indiscretion Shot Batman Gambit Gilligan Cut Dropped a Bridge on Him 20 Minutes into the Future Public Domain Feature Films Index of Film Westerns Never Found the Body Exactly What It Says on the Tin Did Not Get the Girl Evil Plan No Ending Broken Aesop Rich Bitch Ominous Latin Chanting Stuff Blowing Up '80s Hair Betty and Veronica Word of God Scare Chord Genre Savvy As You Know Not Quite Dead Meaningful Name Creator Cameo Death by Irony Hong Kong Films One-Man Army Villain Song The Bully Bottomless Magazines BFG The '80s Defrosting Ice Queen Body Horror Cool Old Lady MacGuffin Berserk Button Toplessness from the Back Artistic License – Law Shell-Shocked Veteran Call-Back Danny Peary Cult Movies List Only a Flesh Wound You Have Failed Me Kick the Dog An Axe to Grind Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Really Gets Around Bond One-Liner Guile Hero Darker and Edgier Screw the Money, I Have Rules! No Antagonist Vampire Fiction Running Gag Corrupt Corporate Executive The Faceless Instant Death Bullet Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Babies Ever After Funny Foreigner Mugging the Monster Award-Bait Song The '90s Evil Counterpart Adaptation Expansion Becoming the Mask Unusual Euphemism Does This Remind You of Anything? Villain with Good Publicity Improvised Weapon Noodle Incident Despair Event Horizon Camp Gay Adaptational Badass Immune to Bullets Humiliation Conga Animal Motifs Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Star-Crossed Lovers Pretty in Mink The Mole Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Psychological Thriller Face Death with Dignity Mexican Standoff Butt-Monkey Say My Name Up to Eleven Crazy-Prepared Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Disguised in Drag I Need a Freaking Drink Ironic Echo Anachronism Stew Ship Tease Adorkable Would Hit a Girl I Did What I Had to Do Alpha Bitch Time Skip Names to Run Away from Really Fast You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Spiritual Successor Moment Killer The Place Hooker with a Heart of Gold For the Evulz Match Cut Better to Die than Be Killed The '70s Dark Is Not Evil Fiery Redhead One-Word Title The Atoner Abusive Parents Naked People Are Funny Video Credits Everyone Has Standards Due to the Dead