Tropescilloscope: Wounded Gazelle Gambit

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

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