Plot device that most annoys you

[Museli]

Hey, you know that mysterious old dude who has shown you everything you need to do to get by in this world? It's you, from the future! Of course, you'll only realise this when you travel back in time at the end and meet a suspiciously familiar young lad.

Also, 'Hah! My nemesis lies defeated at the bottom of this small cliff! I could go down there and fill him with silver/kryptonite/normal bullets just to be sure, but I'll miss the start of the ball game. He's clearly dead. I'll just leave him there, it'll be fine.'

 

[Elivercury]

As for ACTUAL plot devices... again not so much on the plot device front but i do dislike it when a writer is afraid to actually let any of their characters die. By which i mean like a MAIN character, not someone we've known for 10 pages and were never going to see again anyway.

Oh, you gonna love A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Let us just say it is one of the most realistic fantasy series I have read. I can write out a spoiler or two if you want, but I'd rather not.

I read a game of thrones, and actually own the next three. Never got around to reading them though. It was one of those odd books, it was kinda slow paced and didn't seem to have the "MUST READ MOAR!" grip a lot of books seem to have on me, but at the same time, i never felt any urge to stop reading or boredom.

I've yet to read the remaining three, i gather it picks up a bit of pace once the more magic orientated elements are involved.

Has anyone ever ready the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobbs? Fantastic books, bittersweet ending, i won't spoil it.

 

[TheNumber1Zero]

anytime that they switch the supposed main villian out for someone who we don't know who the 'ell is

 

[Jaqen Hghar]

Oh, you gonna love A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Let us just say it is one of the most realistic fantasy series I have read. I can write out a spoiler or two if you want, but I'd rather not.

I read a game of thrones, and actually own the next three. Never got around to reading them though. It was one of those odd books, it was kinda slow paced and didn't seem to have the "MUST READ MOAR!" grip a lot of books seem to have on me, but at the same time, i never felt any urge to stop reading or boredom.

I've yet to read the remaining three, i gather it picks up a bit of pace once the more magic orientated elements are involved.

Has anyone ever ready the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobbs? Fantastic books, bittersweet ending, i won't spoil it.[/quote]

Yeah, they do start off a bit slow. But once the shit hits the fan, things really spiral downwards. In a good way. Anyway, it's a pretty depressing series really.

Haven't read that yet. It's on my to read list

 

[gigastrike]

Cryptic prophecies created by ancient (and, therefore, genious) people.

 

[historybuff]

Romantic hijinks. Nothing breaks up the flow of a story better than all the emphasis placed on romance. I'm not here to watch a romantic comedy, I'm here to kill the bad guy. Shut up.

Also, "Here, take this pretty girl who is the last member of some obscure race. She will inevitably save/destroy the world. Look how witty and trendy she is! Look at her use that magical staff!"

Normally, any characters that were so weak--you'd throw off to the side and never use again but because she's a plotpoint, they're making me look after her. And now I have to watch the hero fumble around and do the romance thing and I just don't care.

But, just as bad is the wanna-be badass girl. The, "Look, I wear leather, I dress like I just escaped from the Battlestar Galactica strip club. Don't flirt with me, I'll shoot your balls off! But you grab me by the arm or speak to me just so and I turn into a puddle of useless. Oh wait, despite all the trash I talk, I already am useless. No one will ever notice because I have breasts! Hold still so I can angst all over you."

Perfect heroes are annoying. It makes me want to slap the pretentiousness right out of them.

Also, villains with no purpose. I like a villain to have a goal. "Destroy the World" is not an adequate goal. Or at least if you can't be assed to come up with one, be like The Joker. He does it all because it's fun. That is acceptable--but only for certain villains. Make your villains someone that a little piece of us can identify with--especially if they're human beings. That way we end up thinking about if we might ever do what the villain is doing. Make us think about ourselves.

But worse than that is the cop-out villain (otherwise known as: Sailor Moon Villain Syndrome). Because for a villain to suddenly change his ways at the very end--after all the trouble he's caused....that's just a waste of time. Kill him anyway.

As for ACTUAL plot devices... again not so much on the plot device front but i do dislike it when a writer is afraid to actually let any of their characters die. By which i mean like a MAIN character, not someone we've known for 10 pages and were never going to see again anyway.

Oh, you gonna love A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Let us just say it is one of the most realistic fantasy series I have read. I can write out a spoiler or two if you want, but I'd rather not.

Props. A Song of Fire and Ice is a truly fantastic series. The best fantasy series I've ever read. Martin doesn't rose-color anything. It's awesome.

 

[Jark212]

I have... amnesia!!!!

 

[Erja_Perttu]

On second thought, when a useless item suddenly turns into the most powerful thing in the universe.

aw damn! I was gonna use that one!

As for ACTUAL plot devices... again not so much on the plot device front but i do dislike it when a writer is afraid to actually let any of their characters die. By which i mean like a MAIN character, not someone we've known for 10 pages and were never going to see again anyway.

There's a flip side to this one. I hate it when the writer takes a 'kid sat on an ants nest with a magnifying glass' mentality. Characters can't not die in books, because it ends up way too fairytale if every one lives happily ever after, but at the same time, killing off too many people can affect how much I enjoy reading/watching something. Finding a happy(?) medium seems quite hard to do though, either that or I really need someone to recommend me a good book.

 

[teutonicman]

Forced love interests and the protagonist being motivated by their love interest.

 

[Elivercury]

On second thought, when a useless item suddenly turns into the most powerful thing in the universe.

aw damn! I was gonna use that one!

As for ACTUAL plot devices... again not so much on the plot device front but i do dislike it when a writer is afraid to actually let any of their characters die. By which i mean like a MAIN character, not someone we've known for 10 pages and were never going to see again anyway.

There's a flip side to this one. I hate it when the writer takes a 'kid sat on an ants nest with a magnifying glass' mentality. Characters can't not die in books, because it ends up way too fairytale if every one lives happily ever after, but at the same time, killing off too many people can affect how much I enjoy reading/watching something. Finding a happy(?) medium seems quite hard to do though, either that or I really need someone to recommend me a good book.

Fair point, although i can honestly say i've never read a book (or even seen a film i think?) where the write kills off multiple main characters. I've seen plenty of 5 page characters die in books (usually during a war or battle), but the closest i've ever seen to main character genocide is the awful "watch everyone die horrible deaths, but in the end zomg they are somehow ok. Yays!" ending. Which makes me want to barf and further reinstates my previous statement.

Although i accept your point, and if such books exist with this flaw i can see how it would be a big pain having to keep familiarising yourself with new characters as old ones die and such.

 

[JaredXE]

Shoehorned in love interests (especially in JRPGs, the protagonist is what, 12? 13?)

That's a pretty specific complaint to level against an entire genre. What game are you talking about exactly? The only ones I can think of with such a young main character are the Pokemon games and they don't have what you would call a love interest.

Most RPGs feature characters in the 16-20 range or older. And the games which force love-interests are usually the western-made ones. The Japanese are much more adept at integrating all the plots and characters into the story.

The Breath of Fire series does this, though I will admit the love interest isn't AS pronounced, but it is there. Dragon Quest 5 started with a very young protagonist, and while I admit I probably exaggerated on the age, they are a little on the young side.

 

[quiet_samurai]

As for ACTUAL plot devices... again not so much on the plot device front but i do dislike it when a writer is afraid to actually let any of their characters die. By which i mean like a MAIN character, not someone we've known for 10 pages and were never going to see again anyway.

Oh, you gonna love A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Let us just say it is one of the most realistic fantasy series I have read. I can write out a spoiler or two if you want, but I'd rather not.

Dude, totally agree. It's one of the few book series where I actually worry about a main character if they get in trouble, that Martin loves killing off his heros and I love it.

OT: I hate it when a new character is introduced and it is clearly obvious from the beginning that they will inevitably betray the main character. Seriously, how can this guy not see it coming from a mile away?

 

[Calobi]

Killing off the evil king/lord and having everything work out just fine. I'm completely sure that it wasn't his iron fist keeping raiders/militant factions/civil wars from appearing everywhere. Also, I don't see any way of having the land completely collapse once no one is saying what to do anymore. Sure, the guy was a jack-ass, but don't you think finding a suitable replacement would be a good thing to do before offing him?

 

[Erja_Perttu]

On second thought, when a useless item suddenly turns into the most powerful thing in the universe.

aw damn! I was gonna use that one!

As for ACTUAL plot devices... again not so much on the plot device front but i do dislike it when a writer is afraid to actually let any of their characters die. By which i mean like a MAIN character, not someone we've known for 10 pages and were never going to see again anyway.

There's a flip side to this one. I hate it when the writer takes a 'kid sat on an ants nest with a magnifying glass' mentality. Characters can't not die in books, because it ends up way too fairytale if every one lives happily ever after, but at the same time, killing off too many people can affect how much I enjoy reading/watching something. Finding a happy(?) medium seems quite hard to do though, either that or I really need someone to recommend me a good book.

Fair point, although i can honestly say i've never read a book (or even seen a film i think?) where the write kills off multiple main characters. I've seen plenty of 5 page characters die in books (usually during a war or battle), but the closest i've ever seen to main character genocide is the awful "watch everyone die horrible deaths, but in the end zomg they are somehow ok. Yays!" ending. Which makes me want to barf and further reinstates my previous statement.

Although i accept your point, and if such books exist with this flaw i can see how it would be a big pain having to keep familiarising yourself with new characters as old ones die and such.

Well, the main perpetrators of this are in my opinion, Harry Potter and Torchwood.

Harry Potter, in the last book, quite a few unnecessary chaacters bit the dust and it was a tad annoying. I guess it was meant to illustrate the pointlessness of war or something, but J.K.Rowling did that with the first ten characters she bumped off, and the others just felt a bit convoluted and unbalanced.

Torchwood. Well, what can you say about that. In two series they killed all but three characters and come the end of series three, only one person was left. Funniest part is that the guy wants to write a fourth series and has the gall to say he killed them off because he could, not for any real reason.

I think he was trying to create dramatic tension because anyone could die at any moment, for any reason, no one is safe, yadda yadda, but I couldn't put any stock in a character who was just going to die anyway. Plus, the character whose death would have been the most satisfying (for me at least) was the one who stayed alive.

 

[daz_O_O]

The Sonic screwdriver allows for all "Impossible to escape" moments become escapable, it is essentially a writers "Get out of a hopeless situation Card" and kicks down the wall that was blocking the rest of the plot which the writer wrote.

Sadly, too true, of course it makes those moments when the sonic screwdriver (or comparable device) is useless all the more intense.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The hero having something dark and powerfull locked inside that erupts when he's near death.

And it makes him uber-cool and uber-powerfull.

Been done to death.

 

[Cowabungaa]

The Deus Ex Machina, where some powerful unstoppable thing is just quickly and easily defeated by some X factor. I mean it's good in some cases like War of the Worlds but othertimes it gets increasingly bullshitty and hard to shallow.
I also dislike villains who are just one hundred percent evil without any remeding characteristics or anything likeable or human.
Finally I really hate epilouges at the end of horror movies where the final monster/killer/ghost has seemed defeated only to return and kill the protagonists anyway. It simply means that everything prior to that was a complete waste of time that didn't go anywhere, endings like this get way too predictable. It's practically a requirement, I wish we could have a horror film where the protagonist actually WINS for once.

I was going to say this, I hate Deus Ex Machina's. And I hated it as well in War of the Worlds. I hated it especially in War of the Worlds. I count "Sonic Screwdrivers" as Deus Ex Machina as well.

Also on the subject of horror films, the fact that protagonists never take the chance to kill their hunter when they get it. I remember this one film where the killer kept his victims in cages in the water, every now and then he came in and prodded them with a harpoon to check if they were still alive. The protagonists manage to free themselfs, grab his harpoon and knock him down. Instead of changing the killer into a block of Swiss cheese, they run like hell. Those moments make me facepalm so so hard.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

"Wait! You're my boss and you were working against me all along?"

 

[Sigel]

The very obvious and completely un-necessary plot device character whose sole purpose in life is to just move the story along. There are better ways of doing it.

 

[GoldenRaz]

The ability/object that just "happens" to be exactly what's needed to move on/get out of trouble/beat the bad guy/etc.
Almost like Deus Ex Machina, only that the character recieved it a long time before it's even remotely useful.
Grrr at Bond films...