Cliches that you hate with a passion.

[requisitename]

Hah. Okay.

- If someone is an "expert" in their field or otherwise knows a lot, they're automatically an asshole know-it-all about everything. Alternatively, they're completely inept at everything EXCEPT their area of expertise.

- No one ever listens to the person who obviously knows what they're talking about. (I'm looking at you, Doctor Who writers.) Honestly. If I'm in a situation where it's definitely going down and someone seems to have a lot more knowledge than I do about what's going on: I'm following them, thanks. I'll ask questions about where they learned so much and who they are later. I'd like to focus on living now.

- Mental illness other than depression = violence. That, and, depression = helplessness.

- "Typical heroines". You know the ones. They're "feisty" and "spunky". They're perfect in every way, have no shortcomings and.. *gag*.. give me a realistic woman as heroine. Also, "strong women are always bitchy", which I think has been mentioned.

- Explaining the jokes and extended physical comedy. Neither are funny.

You can add me to the list of those who hate the romantic junk, too. I don't watch romances, either dramatic or comedic, because I don't like it. Please, please, please leave it out of every other type of movie. I promise that nobody has to fall in love (or even screw) for me to like the movie. This is an especially huge problem in TV shows. If there are two main characters and one is male and one is female, they WILL at some point either date or fuck and that is almost guaranteed to ruin the whole SHOW. Listen to me, Hollywood - IT ISN'T NECESSARY.

 

[Sovvolf]

That whole samurai quick draw sword thing. Never understood it, never liked it. So terribly, inefficient.

Um, that's not a cliche, it's an actual martial art known as Iaido [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaido] which developed from Iaijutsu [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaijutsu], which is the act of drawing the sword from its sheath. So you can't really complain about it being cliche since it technically isn't. I only really know this from reading Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai Deeper Kyo.


I'm adding to the hate for for a required, obligatory love interest. I am sick and tired of seeing a romance shoved in when it really does not need to be there.

Actually, that's real.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaijutsu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaido

As a person who as actually done Iaido, I can confirm this . You tend to keep the sword sheathed unless you really need it and with the way the sword and sheath is designed you can get it out and strike or block almost instantly. The whole act of unsheathing it is the attack or the block in some circumstance.

The problem with a properly sharpened Katana is that they are insanely sharp to the point that you can kill yourself without proper use so you must be in full control of it at all times. You can't just have it hanging about, its a good idea to get done what your doing then sheath it. With Iaido, the whole point of the MA is to kill your opponent in as little moves as possible so you can get the sword back in.

As for my contribution to this thread, Adrian. That's my cliche, Adrian. You know what I'm talking about, she's in any movie that involves fighting or anything like that. That nagging love interest that for the whole movie "You might die" "He could kill you" "What if something happens to you" "YOU CAN'T WIN ROCK!!!" SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!
!!!
!!! YOU STUPID *****!!!!!

-cough-

Yeah I understand the importance of such character, to give the story some tension and for the protagonist to fall out with her through the midway point only for her to be there in the end to cheer him on. Its just that its over done and the girl knows nothing of which she talks about. This is worse when its about Boxing or MMA... Look, ***** do you know how many people have actually died in the Boxing or MMA circuit, not many, even when it was bareknuckled few died. In MMA I think they've been 2 reported deaths in the sport and only one of them in the cage and it was more due to him taking a fight when he shouldn't have.

I watched Warrior other day and it was a brilliant film my contender for top film of 2011 however Adrian appears in this one too "You might die" "These are fighters they could kill you" "What if you die"... HE WON'T DIE!!!! MMA and Boxing are statistically down there with the safest sports out there. They have doctors on the ready and a referee that can and will stop the fight if they feel that it would be anything close to dangerous or life threatening for the fighter to continue. Hell even if you get a bad enough cut they'll stop the fight.


Yeah characters like this annoy me. Wouldn't it be original if we had a character that actually rooted for out main character and didn't bloody start this crap.

 

[Muspelheim]

The old "Knocked-Out Cold for Convenience"-trope.

You know, the hero is eaves-dropping to the villain's plans by the door, or he's grasping an ancient artifact he's just waded through a dangerous ruin to get. Then, while he's distracted, some henchman sneaks up behind and smack him over the head with a baton. When he wakes up, either imprisoned by the baddies or by his empty loot-sack, he's all A-OK to get up and give 'em what for.
Head Trauma doesn't work that way. At best, he'll be out for around two to four minutes and then wake up with a killer nausea. If he's out longer than that, he's likely to suffer damage from it. I can buy the convenient headsmack-routine once or twice, but sometimes it just gets silly. In the original Tintin-comics, he gets knocked out with such regularity that the brave boy-reporter really should have been reduced to a vegetable by now.

And for a bonus, I've always found it interesting that female characters who can clearly kill with the best of 'em can be utterly neutralized if siezed by the wrists. It's as if it cuts off the bloodflow, leaving only the princess-in-distress functions.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Let's see, any movie that follows the Campbellian Hero pattern, while inadvertently ripping off Star Wars by accident.

You may have already heard this, but George Lucas is not the first person to use the Campbell Hero pattern. Not by a long shot. Campbell's ideas came from studying tons of ancient mythology, and many other modern story-tellers before ole Georgey have followed the same formulae.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Let's see, any movie that follows the Campbellian Hero pattern, while inadvertently ripping off Star Wars by accident.

You may have already heard this, but George Lucas is not the first person to use the Campbell Hero pattern. Not by a long shot. Campbell's ideas came from studying tons of ancient mythology, and many other modern story-tellers before ole Georgey have followed the same formulae.

I know Lucas wasn't the first, but people are copying Lucas' take on the formula instead of the formula itself. The Hero's Journey wheel is very vague, meaning pretty much anything can be used for any of the factors.

Instead, there are dozens of works taking after the "doomed hometown and call to adventure via plot macguffin" that Lucas used for Luke Skywalker.

 

[Clinky]

There are several I dislike, but they've already been mentioned and elaborated on so I won't bother mentioning them. But one I haven't really seen pop up is this:

The idealist of the group having their idealism picked apart or the flaws pointed out and they abandon all of it like so much used candy wrappers. Then they transform from being the cheerful optimist to someone more 'cyncial' and 'edgy'.

I don't think I've ever seen a character that opposes that tract, that instead of abandoning their ideals they actually mature them into something a little more practical though still matching the optimistic personality. They actually learn to apply their idealism more realistically to what is happening around them. That is completely possible y'know.

 

[Seiei]

The OMG you are the first person to be so nice to me!! Instant love!

"YOU are the chosen one... So YOU must save the World"!

"Something bad happened to me as a kid, so I don't have a personality..."

Nearly every Main Characters parents are either dead or assholes.

Dumbass and clueless guy gets every girl in the world without even Trying to be in anything close to a relationship (85% of all anime/manga)

Good Guy wins a tough fight they should have lost by pulling power out of Fucking Nowhere.

"We can't kill them! That would make us just like them"!

The Powerful and Strong Final Boss most likely trained all his/her life to get where he/she is, beaten by 10 year old kids with friendship, AND NOTHING ELSE!

LOL!! Light beats Darkness just because! LOL!!

 

[Batou667]

Just thought of another one.

If a woman ever "seduces" a man by producing handcuffs... the idiot man invariably consents, immediately and without needing any motivation, to being handcuffed to a radiator or iron bedframe. Even though he has never met the psychotic-looking woman before and has no reason to trust her. Because - men, eh! Always thinking with their dicks! Eh!

 

[JoCharlie266]

"It's more evil because it happened to a child!"

Ugh, yes. It annoys me that you can't kill kids in games becuase they're so special.

I'm going to side with Yahtzee (for once) and ask: "Why the hell does this bother people?" Is killing six-year-olds really that important to your enjoyment of the game?

Nah. The principle irritates me, though. As if killing thousands of virtual adults isn't a problem, but try to murder a virtual child and it's a moral atrocity.

 

[SAMAS]

"It's more evil because it happened to a child!"

Ugh, yes. It annoys me that you can't kill kids in games becuase they're so special.

I'm going to side with Yahtzee (for once) and ask: "Why the hell does this bother people?" Is killing six-year-olds really that important to your enjoyment of the game?

Nah. The principle irritates me, though. As if killing thousands of virtual adults isn't a problem, but try to murder a virtual child and it's a moral atrocity.

Kinda like in real life. How dare they!

Seriously though, I just may be that the developers have a problem with letting it happen. Especially if they're gonna have to intentionally do it over and over to make sure it doesn't cause any bugs.

Me, I wouldn't let you kill kids in any of my games, either, but I would probably do something more like the Feylnes and Melynxes in Monster Hunter: You can beat on them, but they leave the area when "killed".

And believe me, Melynxes are far more annoying than any kid in Fallout or Elder Scrolls could ever be. Children don't go smacking you in the back (and stealing important items) while you're trying to avoid a pissed-off dragon the size of a Main Battle Tank.