Tropescilloscope: Bavarian Fire Drill

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

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