Tropescilloscope: Pragmatic Villainy

A bad guy keeping standards not for any moral reason, but because it's in their best interest. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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