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