Cliches that you hate with a passion.

[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.