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