Tropescilloscope: Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism

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

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