Tropescilloscope: The Un-Reveal

All is set up for The Reveal - and it never happens. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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