Tropescilloscope: Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass

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

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