Tropescilloscope: Kick the Dog

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

More Tropes Actor Allusion Badass Normal Face–Heel Turn Mugging the Monster An Axe to Grind Bolivian Army Ending Manly Tears Reasonable Authority Figure Breaking the Fourth Wall Agony of the Feet Recycled IN SPACE! Wicked Cultured Apocalypse How Mythology Gag Sinister Minister Bait-and-Switch Henpecked Husband Spell My Name with an "S" The Remake Foregone Conclusion Abusive Parents Noodle Incident Pretty Little Headshots Character Development Mooks The Big Guy Not So Stoic Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Nothing Is Scarier Very Loosely Based on a True Story The Cameo Real Life Writes the Plot Bring My Brown Pants Vitriolic Best Buds Running Gag Expository Hairstyle Change My Greatest Failure Camera Abuse Curse Cut Short Romantic False Lead No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Bloodless Carnage Reality Is Unrealistic Fake Shemp Villain Ball Bond One-Liner Refuge in Audacity Scare Chord Totally Radical Abhorrent Admirer The Stoner Extreme Doormat She's Got Legs Too Dumb to Live Eye Scream Cat Fight Determinator Neck Snap Maybe Ever After Crazy-Prepared True Companions Does Not Like Shoes Man on Fire Air-Vent Passageway And Starring Antagonist Title Dutch Angle Heroes Want Redheads Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Improbable Weapon User Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Composite Character Covers Always Lie Gilligan Cut Vacation Films Faux Affably Evil Big Fancy House Title Drop Cool Guns Artistic License – Gun Safety Canon Foreigner Animated Credits Opening Immune to Bullets Crucified Hero Shot Fatal Flaw The Mafia Serial Killer Fan Disservice Drives Like Crazy Blatant Lies Chewing the Scenery Villain Protagonist Final Girl Hero Antagonist Taking You with Me Your Head A-Splode Manipulative Bastard Blackmail Green-Eyed Monster Framing Device The Faceless Anti-Hero He Knows Too Much All Just a Dream Papa Wolf Parental Substitute Roaring Rampage of Revenge Eldritch Abomination Spiritual Successor Only in It for the Money Implacable Man Costume Porn Evil Is Petty Bavarian Fire Drill Karma Houdini Celebrity Paradox Those Two Bad Guys Hair-Trigger Temper Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Jump Scare Crazy Jealous Guy The Power of Love Everyone Has Standards Contrived Coincidence Laughing Mad Kubrick Stare Fish out of Water Stylistic Suck Dirty Coward Plucky Comic Relief Freudian Excuse Storming the Castle Australian Movies Greater-Scope Villain Video Credits Early Installment Weirdness One-Word Title Leaning on the Fourth Wall Jerk with a Heart of Gold Undying Loyalty Card-Carrying Villain Call-Forward Adaptational Villainy Evil Brit Take That! Anyone Can Die Hidden Depths Once More, with Clarity! Does This Remind You of Anything? Age Lift Advertised Extra Punny Name Alpha Bitch Woman Scorned Spared by the Adaptation Cloudcuckoolander Fire-Forged Friends Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Whole Plot Reference Drill Sergeant Nasty Screw the Money, I Have Rules! 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The Ace Disproportionate Retribution Drugs Are Bad Berserk Button Victoria's Secret Compartment Faking the Dead Half the Man He Used to Be Meaningful Background Event Destination Defenestration Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Leitmotif Bury Your Gays Fun with Acronyms Adaptation Dye-Job Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Mood Whiplash Ripped from the Headlines Television Movie Index Award-Bait Song Obstructive Bureaucrat Translation Convention The Dragon A God Am I Deus ex Machina Parental Incest Rule of Cool Logo Joke Brother–Sister Incest Downer Ending Leave the Camera Running Chekhov's Gunman Gory Discretion Shot Break the Haughty Dark and Troubled Past I Did What I Had to Do Death Seeker Fainting Sci-Fi Horror Missing Mom Those Wacky Nazis Pragmatic Villainy The Lancer Amusing Injuries Adaptational Attractiveness Mistaken for Gay BFG Hooker with a Heart of Gold Instant Death Bullet Race Against the Clock The '90s Rewatch Bonus Motor Mouth Insistent Terminology Developing Doomed Characters Never Trust a Trailer Madness Mantra As Himself Would Hurt a Child Poor Communication Kills The Hero Dies I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Off with His Head! Shower Scene Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! N-Word Privileges The Lost Lenore Knight Templar Flashback Silent Movie 20 Minutes into the Future Bound and Gagged All for Nothing Silence Is Golden Combat Pragmatist What Happened to the Mouse? Japanese Films Super Strength Morality Pet It's Personal Getting Crap Past the Radar Together in Death Happily Married Heterosexual Life-Partners Non-Indicative Name Random Events Plot Dying Moment of Awesome Bloodier and Gorier I Need a Freaking Drink Dwindling Party Canadian Movies Fantasy Films German Films Rich Bitch Armor-Piercing Question War Is Hell Author Appeal "The Reason You Suck" Speech O.O.C. Is Serious Business Stuff Blowing Up Evil Counterpart Nice Guy Pay Evil unto Evil Psychological Thriller Disguised in Drag Five-Man Band Bond Villain Stupidity The Un-Reveal Dual Wielding The '80s Badass in a Nice Suit For Want of a Nail Imagine Spot Idiot Ball Unusual Euphemism Creative Closing Credits Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Ambiguously Gay Reality Ensues Insane Troll Logic Dies Wide Open Dramatic Irony Children Are Innocent Eyepatch of Power Beard of Evil Daylight Horror Belligerent Sexual Tension Never Found the Body Slap-Slap-Kiss All There in the Manual Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Smug Snake Dissonant Serenity And the Adventure Continues The '60s Artistic License – Military A Father to His Men Important Haircut Well-Intentioned Extremist Adaptational Badass Take a Third Option Disappeared Dad Hero of Another Story Rasputinian Death Fantastic Racism Hollywood Darkness Epic Fail Horror Films Mercy Kill Reckless Gun Usage Dark Reprise The Film of the Book Not Even Bothering with the Accent Took a Level in Jerkass B-Movie More Dakka Book-Ends Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Curb-Stomp Battle Get Out! Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Guile Hero Big Eater "Shaggy Dog" Story Dogged Nice Guy What the Hell, Hero? Asshole Victim Chekhov's Skill The Dog Bites Back Anti-Villain Obviously Evil Wham Line No-Sell Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Ungrateful Bastard Brick Joke Sanity Slippage Adorkable Left the Background Music On Amoral Attorney Historical-Domain Character Offscreen Teleportation Mr. Exposition Lock and Load Montage Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Cool Old Guy Improvised Weapon Ascended Extra Bunny-Ears Lawyer The Load Stalker with a Crush Monumental Damage Kill 'em All Ms. Fanservice Adaptational Heroism The Brute Honor Before Reason Creepy Child Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Country Matters The Mole The Great Depression Overprotective Dad Setting Update The Dreaded Accidental Murder Grey and Gray Morality The Casanova Butt-Monkey Impaled with Extreme Prejudice