Tropescilloscope: Not What It Looks Like

Characters look like they're doing something wrong, but they aren't. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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