Tropescilloscope: Wounded Gazelle Gambit

Pretending to be a victim to manipulate others. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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