Tropescilloscope: Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism

Right Makes Might vs. Might Makes Right (read more at tvtropes.org)

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