Tropescilloscope: Bavarian Fire Drill

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

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