Tropescilloscope: Hoist by His Own Petard

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

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