Tropescilloscope: Call-Back

A reference to an earlier event in a series that's relevant for the plot. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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