Tropescilloscope: Foil

A character who highlights another character's trait(s), usually by contrast. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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