Tropescilloscope: MacGuffin

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

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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