Tropescilloscope: Action Prologue

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

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