Tropescilloscope: MacGuffin

An object that, while not relevant to the main narrative, is frequently pursued throughout it. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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