Tropescilloscope: Action Prologue

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

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