Tropescilloscope: Pyrrhic Victory

Victory so costly it feels like a defeat. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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