Tropescilloscope: Kick the Dog

A gratuitously cruel action serves to darken a character. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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Is a Crapshoot Race Against the Clock Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene The Un-Reveal Gratuitous English Ironic Echo What You Are in the Dark Crapsack World Adapted Out Unspoken Plan Guarantee Papa Wolf Outrun the Fireball Author Appeal Animated Credits Opening Drowning My Sorrows The Atoner Mugging the Monster Sealed Evil in a Can The Brute Bittersweet Ending Suspiciously Similar Substitute Setting Update Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Mama Bear Extreme Doormat Adults Are Useless Camera Abuse Credits Gag Tranquil Fury Adorkable Humiliation Conga Taking the Bullet Trailers Always Spoil Very Loosely Based on a True Story Evil Counterpart Eagleland Never Trust a Trailer Redshirt Army Red Herring Put on a Bus Domestic Abuse Sir Swears-a-Lot Unreliable Narrator Composite Character Reality Has No Subtitles Establishing Character Moment Victoria's Secret Compartment Sci-Fi Horror Demonic Possession In the Back Call-Back Jerkass Has a Point Destination Defenestration Adaptational Attractiveness Bad "Bad Acting" Leave the Camera Running Defrosting Ice Queen Does This Remind You of Anything? 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Anti-Villain Undying Loyalty Real Life Thriller Shut Up, Hannibal! 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Throwing Your Sword Always Works Cold-Blooded Torture Scare Chord After the End Fanservice Bring My Brown Pants Grey and Gray Morality Bunny-Ears Lawyer Truth in Television Protagonist Title Deal with the Devil Fainting Daddy's Girl Babies Ever After Vacation Films The Bully Offscreen Teleportation Dark and Troubled Past Rated M for Manly Hidden Depths A Date with Rosie Palms Exact Words Psychopathic Manchild The Chick Book-Ends Bullying a Dragon Men Are the Expendable Gender "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Dramatic Irony Heroic Sacrifice Scary Black Man Unusually Uninteresting Sight Corrupt Corporate Executive Nothing Is Scarier Heel Realization Hollywood Darkness Missing Mom Riddle for the Ages The Power of Love It Will Never Catch On Heroic BSoD "The Reason You Suck" Speech Pet the Dog Greater-Scope Villain Face–Heel Turn Flipping the Bird Gilligan Cut Hollywood Law Malevolent Masked Men Pyrrhic Victory Death of a Child Stalker with a Crush Australian Movies One Steve Limit Casting Gag Manly Tears Bavarian Fire Drill Small Name, Big Ego Bar Brawl All There in the Script The Ghost Eye Scream Foreshadowing Extremely Short Timespan Wounded Gazelle Gambit Match Cut Gone Horribly Right Guns Akimbo Vomit Indiscretion Shot Chuck Cunningham Syndrome He Knows Too Much Non-Indicative Name Affectionate Parody Car Fu Love Triangle Getting Crap Past the Radar Diabolus ex Machina Bloody Hilarious timeperiod Blood from the Mouth Motor Mouth Awesome, but Impractical Blackmail Artistic License – Law Science Fiction Films The Starscream Cluster F-Bomb Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Chekhov's Skill Meaningful Name Faking the Dead Based on a True Story Really Gets Around Intergenerational Friendship Manipulative Bastard Serial Killer Horror Comedy One-Word Title Did Not Get the Girl A Father to His Men The Dragon Conspicuous CG Captain Obvious Same Language Dub Our Zombies Are Different Get Out! You Killed My Father Madness Mantra Danny Peary Cult Movies List No Name Given Age Lift O.O.C. Is Serious Business Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Take a Third Option Celebrity Paradox Red Eyes, Take Warning Gorn Bloodier and Gorier Facial Horror Horror Films Took a Level in Badass Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Dramatic Gun Cock Femme Fatale Shirtless Scene Depraved Bisexual Central Theme Chiaroscuro Exactly What It Says on the Tin Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Foregone Conclusion Happily Married Auto Erotica I Just Shot Marvin in the Face May–December Romance German Films Amusing Injuries Rule of Funny Fantastic Racism Last-Name Basis Cat Scare The Load Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Corpsing Yandere The X of Y folderlabel Anti-Hero Tempting Fate Redemption Equals Death Cool Old Guy French Films Plucky Comic Relief No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Film Noir Scenery Porn Unusual Euphemism Parental Abandonment Asshole Victim Whole Plot Reference Lighter and Softer Darkest Hour Revenge Humans Are Bastards Department of Redundancy Department Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Visual Pun All Girls Want Bad Boys Hope Spot Loads and Loads of Characters Determinator Character Development Romantic Comedy The Oner Combat Pragmatist Deadpan Snarker Intrepid Reporter Shown Their Work Didn't Think This Through Sequel Escalation An Axe to Grind Military and Warfare Films Earn Your Happy Ending Precision F-Strike Cool Car Even Evil Has Standards Action Genre Fat Bastard Broken Bird A Minor Kidroduction Mooks Catapult Nightmare Leitmotif Back from the Dead All for Nothing Evil Is Hammy Disney Death Rasputinian Death Rousing Speech Death by Sex Parental Neglect Re-Cut Genre Shift Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds The Great Depression Apocalypse How Half the Man He Used to Be I'm a Humanitarian Manic Pixie Dream Girl Foil Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Index of Film Westerns Genre Throwback Darker and Edgier Dressing as the Enemy My Beloved Smother Noodle Incident What Happened to the Mouse? Adaptation Name Change Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Pimped-Out Dress NO INDOOR VOICE Deconstruction Ambiguous Ending All Just a Dream Sole Survivor Black and Gray Morality Agony of the Feet Bilingual Bonus Children Are Innocent Easily Forgiven Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Big Brother Instinct Names to Run Away from Really Fast Jump Scare Reckless Gun Usage Spiteful Spit Mighty Whitey Novelization Wham Line Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Morality Pet Fire-Forged Friends As Himself Narrator Super Strength Broken Pedestal Meet Cute Nice Guy Film Series The Smurfette Principle Token Minority Twist Ending The Cameo Slasher Movie Offscreen Moment of Awesome Screw the Rules, I Have Money! Eiffel Tower Effect Damsel in Distress Italian Films Word of God Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Almost Kiss Those Wacky Nazis Room Full of Crazy Pre-Mortem One-Liner Accidental Murder Oh, Crap! Bad Boss Alliterative Name Brutal Honesty Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Jitter Cam Award-Bait Song Disney Villain Death Homage No-Sell Dirty Old Man Refuge in Audacity Knife Nut This Is Gonna Suck Shipper on Deck From Nobody to Nightmare Aside Glance Ax-Crazy Downer Ending Fanservice Extra Man on Fire Fourth Date Marriage Insult Backfire Continuity Nod Fan Disservice Everyone Has Standards Evil vs. Evil Broken Aesop Fake Shemp Flashback All There in the Manual Artistic License – History The Vamp Those Two Guys Villain Ball Deliberately Monochrome Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Vampire Fiction Mood Whiplash Sinister Minister Documentary Coming-of-Age Story Kick the Dog As Long as It Sounds Foreign Badass Grandpa Skewed Priorities Slashed Throat Amoral Attorney Paper-Thin Disguise "Shaggy Dog" Story Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Beauty Is Never Tarnished Moment Killer Idiot Ball Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Shout-Out Card-Carrying Villain Expy Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Author Avatar Shower Scene Mr. Fanservice Anachronism Stew Cool Shades Shoot the Shaggy Dog The Ace Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Anyone Can Die Tap on the Head Politically Incorrect Villain Self-Deprecation Evil Laugh Aluminum Christmas Trees Music Stories Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Knight Templar Boom, Headshot! All Men Are Perverts Kill 'em All Dual Wielding Brainless Beauty Ascended Extra Stock Footage Bond Villain Stupidity Works Set in World War II Soundtrack Dissonance Suspiciously Specific Denial Jerk with a Heart of Gold Left the Background Music On Bowdlerise Dogged Nice Guy Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Creepy Child True Companions Famous Last Words Have a Gay Old Time Kick the Son of a Bitch British Films Bare Your Midriff Plot Hole B-Movie Not What It Looks Like Lampshade Hanging Freeze-Frame Bonus Empathic Environment Rule of Three Adaptation Expansion Not So Stoic Chase Scene Due to the Dead Ominous Latin Chanting A God Am I The Stoic Dumb Blonde Psychological Thriller Call-Forward Large Ham Girl-on-Girl Is Hot The End... Or Is It? Interrupted Suicide Air-Vent Passageway Obstructive Bureaucrat Sacrificial Lion Silence Is Golden Line-of-Sight Name Those Two Bad Guys Not Even Bothering with the Accent Villain with Good Publicity Cruel and Unusual Death Bolivian Army Ending Hero of Another Story Evil-Detecting Dog Silent Movie Posthumous Character Soft Glass Catch-Phrase Overprotective Dad Groin Attack Badass in a Nice Suit Disguised in Drag Butt-Monkey Not So Above It All Red Shirt What the Hell, Hero? Fun with Acronyms Insane Troll Logic Freudian Excuse Eldritch Abomination Tagline Death Glare Guile Hero Neck Snap Black Comedy Rape The Lancer I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Double-Meaning Title The Mafia Your Cheating Heart Hell Is That Noise Psycho for Hire Taking You with Me Genre Savvy Pay Evil unto Evil Ass Shove Male Frontal Nudity Japanese Films Fish out of Water Poor Communication Kills