Tropescilloscope: Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking

Minimum three items: start dark, continue dark, finish weak. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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