Tropescilloscope: Fatal Flaw

The ultimate problem with a character. (read more at tvtropes.org)

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