Tropescilloscope: The Lancer

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

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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