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