Tropescilloscope: Kick the Dog

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

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