Tropescilloscope: For Want of a Nail

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

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