Tropescilloscope: Bavarian Fire Drill

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

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