Tropescilloscope: Mugging the Monster

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

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