Tropescilloscope: "Shaggy Dog" Story

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

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