Tropescilloscope: Action Prologue

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

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