Tropescilloscope: Manic Pixie Dream Girl

An upbeat young woman whose love gives the brooding male hero a new lease on life. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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