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