Tropescilloscope: From Nobody to Nightmare

A character evolves from humble beginnings to terrifying fame. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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