Tropescilloscope: Truth in Television

When a trope actually does happen in Real Life. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

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