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