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