Tropescilloscope: Guile Hero

A smart hero who uses wits to gain victory. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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