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