Tropescilloscope: "Shaggy Dog" Story

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

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