Tropescilloscope: Combat Pragmatist

Do whatever possible to win. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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