Tropescilloscope: Spanner in the Works

That imbecile has ruined all of my plans! (read more at tvtropes.org)

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