Tropescilloscope: The Starscream

Villain's top minion plans to betray their master to claim power for themselves. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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