Tropescilloscope: Ripped from the Headlines

A recent or ongoing news story is the basis for the plot. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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