Tropescilloscope: Bavarian Fire Drill

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

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