Tropescilloscope: Shoot the Shaggy Dog

A tragic ending where the protagonist's efforts are All for Nothing. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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