Tropescilloscope: Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism

Right Makes Might vs. Might Makes Right (read more at tvtropes.org)

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