Tropescilloscope: From Nobody to Nightmare

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

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