Tropescilloscope: The Lancer

The Hero's foil and The Leader's trusted companion. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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