Tropescilloscope: Bait-and-Switch

Subversion as humor. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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