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