Tropescilloscope: Hoist by His Own Petard

Defeated by one's own device or plan. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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