Tropescilloscope: Wounded Gazelle Gambit

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

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