Tropescilloscope: "Shaggy Dog" Story

A struggle or quest which is unexpectedly rendered moot when it ends. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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