Tropescilloscope: All for Nothing

The results of a complex story/plot are all undone in one fell swoop. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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