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)

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