Tropescilloscope: From Nobody to Nightmare

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

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