Tropescilloscope: Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass

An idiot who can become awesome in situations. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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