Tropescilloscope: Five-Man Band

One leads, one contrasts, one thinks, one lifts, and one keeps all of the above from killing one another. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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