Tropescilloscope: Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass

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

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