Tropescilloscope: Wounded Gazelle Gambit

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

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