Tropescilloscope: "Shaggy Dog" Story

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

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