Tropescilloscope: Wounded Gazelle Gambit

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

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