Tropescilloscope: Mugging the Monster

Criminal targets someone much more dangerous than they appear. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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