Tropescilloscope: Loophole Abuse

Blatant cheating through semantics. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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