Tropescilloscope: Villainous Breakdown

When their Evil Plan is foiled, a calculating villain loses their composure, if not their sanity. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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