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)

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