Current Events > What fictional trope are you sick to death of?

(+) Yeah! (+)

This one maybe bothers me the most.

The hero will fight his way through countless hordes of canon fodder, never stopping to think about how they died just to give the audience some exposition on how badass our protagonist is.

And then, the hero encounters the big bad villain, and...lets them live? Big bad gets free, does a bunch more heinous shit, over and over. That amazing lack of restraint rears its head any time the person in the way doesn't matter to the plot.

Batman is good for this. He doesn't mind brutally maiming all of Gotham City's low level thugs but he'll get all soft when it's the joker who's face he's about to bash in.

---

I never thought about that one. You make a good point.

For me, the one that bugs me the most is characters becoming atheists because something bad happened to them. Ive known a lot of atheists in my life, many of whom have experienced trauma, but not one of them became an atheist because of that trauma; they became atheists because of self-reflection and evaluation of evidence, so to see atheism used as some cheap device to make characters edgier feels like its painting an unrealistic picture, and one that does a disservice to a lot of people.

---

Never been a fan of that one either. Nobody cares about the mooks.

---

Getting caught was all a part of the plan.

---

Alternate timelines.

---

IronChef_Kirby posted...

I never thought about that one. You make a good point.

For me, the one that bugs me the most is characters becoming atheists because something bad happened to them. Ive known a lot of atheists in my life, many of whom have experienced trauma, but not one of them became an atheist because of that trauma; they became atheists because of self-reflection and evaluation of evidence, so to see atheism used as some cheap device to make characters edgier feels like its painting an unrealistic picture, and one that does a disservice to a lot of people.

That one annoys me too. The "angry at God" thing is kinda lame, especially when the finale is the guy finding his faith again. I just can't relate to that.

---

The absolute dumbest example I think of for the OP is Assassin's Creed 2. Holy shit is Ezio dumb af for not killing Rodrigo.

IronChef_Kirby posted...

I never thought about that one. You make a good point.

For me, the one that bugs me the most is characters becoming atheists because something bad happened to them. Ive known a lot of atheists in my life, many of whom have experienced trauma, but not one of them became an atheist because of that trauma; they became atheists because of self-reflection and evaluation of evidence, so to see atheism used as some cheap device to make characters edgier feels like its painting an unrealistic picture, and one that does a disservice to a lot of people.

That's interesting. I guess that's what happen when a religious author tries to write an atheist lol. I personally haven't seen a story like that, but I trust they're out there.

For me, maybe sudden bad guy redemption endings. I feel like few stories that employ this actually do it well.

---

When a character is fighting one enemy at a time and when theyre completely surrounded and the rushing enemies get within arms reach the camera cuts away. When the camera cuts back the person is still holding their ground fighting one enemy at a time.

---

The one where the protagonist returns to the small town he grew up in after achieving success elsewhere. Upon his return, the seedy underbelly of his town shows itself and he must fix it.

---

Jabodie posted...

The absolute dumbest example I think of for the OP is Assassin's Creed 2. Holy shit is Ezio dumb af for not killing Rodrigo.

Oh yeah that one was hellish. How many petty thieves and town guards did ezio stab repeatedly through the throat only to grow a pure conscience when faced with maybe the most evil man in history?

---

Movies with lots of suspenseful buildup of a unseen threat surrounding a group/squad of tough militants or seemingly formidable civilian characters. As soon as there is a first encounter nearly the entire group is slain and the second half consists of only the surviving two or three people.

Aliens did it right, you had three marines, the incompetent lieutenant, corporate sleaze, ripley (she became the main badass), bishop and newt remaining. When movies wipe out the squad and leave one hero and one or two weaklings its kind of lame, need a bigger remaining group to be picked off/show dissension.
---

That also holds one of the most powerful offices in the world.

---

This is mostly true in TV shows/movie series because they need to keep upping the stakes, but when there's a group behind the group behind the group behind the government where at some point it's like half the world have to be employed to keep this conspiracy going.

---

Jabodie posted...

The absolute dumbest example I think of for the OP is Assassin's Creed 2. Holy shit is Ezio dumb af for not killing Rodrigo.

Personally I can't help but think of Colonel Autumn in Fallout 3 as the most brainless example of this trope, because he's such a lifeless sack of nothing for your player character to suddenly stop and say 'I should really give this guy a chance to live' after gleefully slaughtering his waves of troopers.

---

Anteaterking posted...

This is mostly true in TV shows/movie series because they need to keep upping the stakes, but when there's a group behind the group behind the group behind the government where at some point it's like half the world have to be employed to keep this conspiracy going.

It also really cheapens the threat of the original conspirators. Supernatural for example. Remember when Angels were introduced, and they were scary and weird. Fast forward 3 seasons and it's like "oh, enough with the angels already, who isn't an angel anymore"

---

masterpug53 posted...

Personally I can't help but think of Colonel Autumn in Fallout 3 as the most brainless example of this trope.

Lmao, fair. But I was much more invested in the story in AC2 than Fallout 3 when I played them. That, coupled with sequences 12 and 13 being cut for dlc, had me mad af at the end of that game.

---

For mine, it's characters becoming a master of something too fast. People will get one montage of training, and they'll be better than people who trained their whole lives at it.

---

I just fucking hate isekai so damn much.

---

Main characters being protected by plot armor. The Battle of Winterfell in GoT season 8 was so frustrating to watch, especially since the show was great at main character deaths in the earlier seasons.

---

Squall28 posted...

For mine, it's characters becoming a master of something too fast. People will get one montage of training, and they'll be better than people who trained their whole lives at it.

Every shonen anime ever:

This normally takes 100 years to master. But you, 15 year old boy, have 3 months until [catastrophe], so here's this ultra risky training method that has a 70% chance of killing you (lol not really)...

---

Zombies

---

Anteaterking posted...

This is mostly true in TV shows/movie series because they need to keep upping the stakes, but when there's a group behind the group behind the group behind the government where at some point it's like half the world have to be employed to keep this conspiracy going.

Orphan Black added so many layers to its conspiracy plot I assume it collapsed into a black hole though that was far from its only problem.
This happens a lot, because viewers/readers/whoever often develop their own answers as to what's going on, and writers feel the need to constantly one up themselves and keep the plot growing, so it quickly spirals out of control and becomes impossible to resolve in a reasonable, satisfying manner.

Super Hero Sheriff.

Random Sheriff of small town, USA happens to be an invincible crime fighter.

---

ElatedVenusaur posted...

This happens a lot, because viewers/readers/whoever often develop their own answers as to what's going on, and writers feel the need to constantly one up themselves and keep the plot growing, so it quickly spirals out of control and becomes impossible to resolve in a reasonable, satisfying manner.

As soon as I read this I thought of Gyo... yet another story with too many plot-twists for its own good.

---

Anything portraying a fictionalized Sparta but based off the Spartan mirage of a hardcore warrior society.

Any Thermopylae type scenario depicting it as a heroic sacrifice and rear guard action rather than a catastrophe and pointless sacrifice.

Any trope that depicts Western forces as highly organized and well armored but depicts Eastern forces as a horde of poorly armed and disorganized warriors.

---

Really anything that is just blatantly historically inaccurate to pander to modern audiences.

---

masticatingman posted...

Really anything that is just blatantly historically inaccurate to pander to modern audiences.

This. History is often cooler(and crazier) than fiction.

A genre-blind character who basically exists to inconvenience other characters who are more level-headed.

---

Jabodie posted...

The absolute dumbest example I think of for the OP is Assassin's Creed 2. Holy shit is Ezio dumb af for not killing Rodrigo.

Nah, Ezio had the right idea that time. Rodrigo eventually became so broken by his loss to Ezio and finding out that the temple under the Sistine Chapel contained information he wouldn't ever understand that he was effectively defanged as Templar leader and basically just stayed a good Pope Alexander VI until Cesare took over.

---

AC2 was kind of hamstrung by history. Ezio couldn't kill Borgia because he didn't die in history until a few years later.
---

Character A has a big secret thats hard to believe, and says so much to character B.

B, prods A until they tell them... then doesnt believe them..

GOD I hate that one.

Fire Emblem Awakening was a bit of a relief on that note...

---

AvantgardeAClue posted...

Nah, Ezio had the right idea that time. It was a fight to the Apple and Ezio won. There was no need to kill him then; murdering the Pope probably would've brought immense heat on Ezio and his family even if it was a Templar Grandmaster. Rodrigo eventually became so broken by his loss to Ezio and finding out that the temple under the Sistine Chapel contained information he wouldn't ever understand that he was effectively defanged as Templar leader and basically just stayed a good Pope Alexander VI until Cesare took over.

Man that's bad writing. Particularly bad when you consider the heat came anyway at the very beginning of the sequel.

---

UnholyMudcrab posted...

AC2 was kind of hamstrung by history. Ezio couldn't kill Borgia because he didn't die in history until a few years later.

Many dates are fudged in the series. Revelations is particularly egregious in this case. Besides, there's a huge fucking time skip in 2 between sequences 11 and 14. Even 12 and 13 have something like a 7 year time skip between them. There's no reason they couldn't make it take place the year Rodrigo died, or fudge the dates as they did several times (including the very first game IIRC).

---

"sad dad will do anything for his kids, even EVIL"

"everyone dies at the end of this horror movie for a SEQUEL SETUP! SCAAAARY!"

"The zombie apocalypse isnt about the zombies, WE are the real monsters"


---

Anteaterking posted...

This is mostly true in TV shows/movie series because they need to keep upping the stakes, but when there's a group behind the group behind the group behind the government where at some point it's like half the world have to be employed to keep this conspiracy going.

Naruto as a series is pretty bad about this in Part 2

Oh Pain is the leader of the Akatsuki....but pain is a literal puppet controlled by Nagato who is being manipulated by Tobi, who was manipulated by Madara who was manipulated by Zetsu who served Kaguya....who turned out to be a rebellious member of a larger clan and the main Villian of the sequel series is a actually just a body controlled by member of that clan.

---

I just hate when drama is created because people dont talk to each other. My wife thinks Im having an affair. If I explained that the woman Im seeing is actually just a reporter Im helping with a story, everything will be fine. But I wont tell her, because Im an idiot. (And maybe I do want to fuck the reporter)

Like, give some sort of narrative reason for it, at least. Im going to tell my wife that this woman is just some reporter, but oh shit, the only reason the reporter isnt going to be murdered by the Yakuza is because they dont know shes spying on them, and they assume that shes my mistress. So I have to pretend to be having an affair to protect her life, at the risk of my wife hating me. (Also I kind of want to fuck the reporter)

---

Guide posted...

I just fucking hate isekai so damn much.

Isekai played straight is so terrible. Its pretty much only good when its played with heavily. The chosen one trope is already overdone. Making it a Mary Sue, self insert just magnifies that.

Konosuba is pretty fun because it doesnt take itself seriously. Its a comedy series.

And Overlord just rolls with the OP main character thing by making the Salaryman gamer MC more of an Anti-Villian. The fanatically loyal NPCs of his guild take a joke about taking over the world seriously and things spiral out of control from there. Also becoming an godlike undead lich has serious implications on his mental state.

But yeah most Iseka suck shit.

---

Remember when Isekai was a genre for shojo and kids shows?

Shonen ruined it. <_<

---