Tropescilloscope: Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass

An idiot who can become awesome in situations. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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