Tropescilloscope: Idiot Ball

A character who is normally much more competent starts acting stupid in order to drive the plot forward. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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