Tropescilloscope: Kick the Dog

A gratuitously cruel action serves to darken a character. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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