Tropescilloscope: Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass

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

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