Tropescilloscope: For Want of a Nail

Small change starts major event. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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