Tropescilloscope: Pyrrhic Victory

Victory so costly it feels like a defeat. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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