Tropescilloscope: Wounded Gazelle Gambit

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

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