Tropescilloscope: Bavarian Fire Drill

Acting with authority fools others into thinking that you have it. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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