Tropescilloscope: Wounded Gazelle Gambit

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

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