Tropescilloscope: Pyrrhic Victory

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

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