Tropescilloscope: Spanner in the Works

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

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