Tropescilloscope: Action Prologue

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

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