Tropescilloscope: Wounded Gazelle Gambit

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

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