Tropescilloscope: Kick the Dog

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

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