Tropescilloscope: Bavarian Fire Drill

Acting with authority fools others into thinking that you have it. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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