Tropescilloscope: Fatal Flaw

The ultimate problem with a character. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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