Tropescilloscope: Truth in Television

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

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