Tropescilloscope: Broken Pedestal

A character's mentor/role model turns out to be not so good after all. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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