Tropescilloscope: The Bad Guy Wins

"Good always triumphs" has exceptions. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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