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