Tropescilloscope: My Greatest Failure

The mistake that motivates the hero. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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