Tropescilloscope: MacGuffin

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

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