Tropescilloscope: Bait-and-Switch

Subversion as humor. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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