Tropescilloscope: Bait-and-Switch

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

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