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