Tropescilloscope: Bavarian Fire Drill

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

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