Tropescilloscope: Chekhov's Gun

A plot device that isn't significant until later in the story. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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