Tropes you are tired of.

[K12]

Trope, according to this dictionary [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trope], is a "common or overused theme or device". These devices are often willingly or unwillingly used by people who create art . They can be used in a good way, in the bad way, but the point of this thread is not to point out which ones do you find to be good or bad.

What I would like to discuss is which tropes, in your opinion, are used too much and which you'd like to, I don't know, take a break for a few years. What tropes are you tired of?

My personal pet peeve is Heroes Prefer Swords [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroesPreferSwords].

Look, I get it, swords are cool, but aren't people tired of main characters/protagonists, wielding this weapon? There are countless melee weapons of choice a Hero can use: mace, hammer, flail, staff, pole, axe, saws and chainsaws, brass knuckles, claws, spear, the list can go on and on. Heck, even shield can be used as a weapon (Thank you, Cap).

But no. It's always swords. To be more specific, either western straight sword or a katana.

I understand, that swords look noble and heroic, but isn't it boring to always keep hammers and maces for bad guys?

I'm going to offer a bit of insight into the swords thing. Basically my contention is that heroes have sword because swords are versatile and allow of defensive actions that most other hand-held weapons don't. The other main issue is that you can kill someone witha sword without making it look really brutal. You can't really have a hero with a blunt weapon (mace, hammer, etc) because when he kills the bad guy instead of a clean stab through the chest he ends up having his chest or skull caved in making a crunchy gelationous mess of flesh and splintered bone.

It's still a lazy default to always give the hero a sword though but there are some good reasons why that's the default.

 

[springheeljack]

millenials as written by members of generation-X. games like life is strange are borderline torture to e because of the bad dialouge and characters based entirely on stereotypes. these characters are always addicted to weed or some other fucking stupid narcotic substance, aleways hate on their parents despite them only wanting to help them, have some kind of stupid hipster style and overuse dialectic nonsense like "hella" all the time. they also take "selfies", sacrifice all friends or loved ones for personal gain, lash out at anyone trying to get them to stop acting like suicidal idiots simply because "ermagerd, nuun understendz meh"

Honestly look at how teenagers/young adults are portrayed in the 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s, and fifties and ask yourself if there is any real difference in how they are portrayed. The answer is of course that there is none. (This is of course barring the obvious technological/cultural differences). In every single portrayal of how young people act there is always ALWAYS going to be a rebellious character who bucks the norms and does different/deviant things. That is because it is a cultural truth that at some point a teenager/young adult will engage in reckless and dangerous/self destructive behavior. The manner, implementation and degree of the rebellion is different from person to person. However, there is also always the teenager/young adult who does not engage in those acts and is nice to their parents by gum! For every Chloe Price there is a Alyssa Anderson or Daniel DaCosta. For every Will Smith there is a Carlton Banks. For every Jeff Spicoli and Mark Ratner there is a Brad Hamilton or Mike Damone. For every Fonzie there is a Richie Cunningham.
I mean hell for every Romeo and Mercutio there is a Benvolio.

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

romantic plot tumor *stares at legends of tomorrow*

For real. The love story between hawk girl and atom is the most forced nonsense on the show. It's already well established that Ciara (spelling?) and Kufu are quite literally soul mates and one of her past lives has even told her it's impossible for her to be with someone else. It's just lazy writing to get drama out of her wanting to be with Palmer instead because everyone knows that's not how it will end. The rest of the show is very good, but that plot is just silly.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Xanatos Gambits.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen them done well, where the bad guy had a back-up plan just in case, and now the heroes have to try to stop the back-up plan. That, I don't mind. The problem is that writers tend to go too far, to the point where you are left wondering "Seriously, why do the heroes even bother, if the bad guys just pull another plan out of their ass and aren't even bothered by the heroes' intervention?"

 

[2012 Wont Happen]

romantic plot tumor *stares at legends of tomorrow*

For real. The love story between hawk girl and atom is the most forced nonsense on the show. It's already well established that Ciara (spelling?) and Kufu are quite literally soul mates and one of her past lives has even told her it's impossible for her to be with someone else. It's just lazy writing to get drama out of her wanting to be with Palmer instead because everyone knows that's not how it will end. The rest of the show is very good, but that plot is just silly.

its fucking terrible is what it is

I mean, if it was her side plot, it would certainly be a little better. But it's not. It's her 100% main plot line. Her entire existence on the show is to worry about which man she wants to please (whether its, the man who emotionally manipulates her into being in a relationship based on past lives she doesn't remember, or the man who emotionally manipulates her by pressuring her into romantic situations even though shes showing visible signs of stress and uncertainty at the thought of),

and to occasionally spare with someone so they can work out their own problems through her.

Like I've said in another thread, she pretty much sets back female character writing by about 20 years

Very true. She's a several thousand year old warrior badass and the chosen one who is the only one who can kill Vandal Savage and yet the show's writers seem to think the best thing to do with her is have her fawn over guys. How many times has she even hawked out on the show? They're pretty constantly in danger but their most powerful, literally magic, warrior is kept on the ship sulking half the time.

 

[MiskWisk]

Xanatos Gambits.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen them done well, where the bad guy had a back-up plan just in case, and now the heroes have to try to stop the back-up plan. That, I don't mind. The problem is that writers tend to go too far, to the point where you are left wondering "Seriously, why do the heroes even bother, if the bad guys just pull another plan out of their ass and aren't even bothered by the heroes' intervention?"

Technically villains having back up plans isn't a Xanatos gambit. A XG is where the villain is able to get a win scenario out of a plan regardless of success or failure. From the heroes perspective, a XG should result in the hero being forced to pick the least worse option.

 

[twistedmic]

I'm going to offer a bit of insight into the swords thing. Basically my contention is that heroes have sword because swords are versatile and allow of defensive actions that most other hand-held weapons don't. The other main issue is that you can kill someone witha sword without making it look really brutal. You can't really have a hero with a blunt weapon (mace, hammer, etc) because when he kills the bad guy instead of a clean stab through the chest he ends up having his chest or skull caved in making a crunchy gelationous mess of flesh and splintered bone.

It's still a lazy default to always give the hero a sword though but there are some good reasons why that's the default.

To add to that, while knives can be just as versatile and sharp as swords, if not more so, they typically do not kill as quickly or cleanly as swords. Most kills with a knife are just as brutal and messy as kills with blunt weapons, and either involve cutting the throat, stabbing the head (typically through the eye, temple or roof of the mouth) or throat or stabbing multiple (at least three or four) times. All reasons why a character that voluntarily uses knives as a main weapon come across as dangerous psychopaths more often than heroes.

 

[ron1n]

Not sure what name to give it, but 'Wildy differing power levels' Lets call it Over 9000! for short. Basically it's the lack of consistency in a given protagonist/antagonists abilities across scenes in a show or film.

Example 1:
Villain reveal, makes them look ultra tough and powerful.
Hero has first fight with them, gets beaten, villain gets away or hero retreats.
Something Something, magical weakness found.
Hero tries magical weakness, doesn't work, but then has some dramatic moment where they 'believe in themselves' or some such bollox, and suddenly the all powerful villain folds like a deck of cards.

Example 2:
Character completely DESTROYS all non-important goons or extras. But when faced with an opponent of roughly equal ability to the goons, fight is suddenly even because that opponent is a main character.

Example 3:
Character has an ability that they just 'choose' to use/not use depending on how dramatic a scene has to be.
Example: Green Arrow is an expert archer and can incapacitate most of his enemies with a single shot. But instead spends 90% of his time on Arrow doing really awkward and stupid looking karate using his bow as a weapon.

Example 4: Good character is defeated, even though they have amazing power, because bad character kidnaps their friend or family member and threatens to kill them, despite the fact good characters power means they could save the person and beat the bad character without breaking a sweat.

Example 5: 'The returning villain' This happens mostly on tv shows. It occurs when a villain of the week from a previous season, who was set up as a major obstacle that took an entire episode (or two) to defeat, is rendered throwaway when they return for a cameo in a later episode implying some kind of inert dragon ball z style power level growth of the main characters.


Could go on and on. It's obviously gotten worse with all the comic inspired content doing the rounds, but it shows up in everything regardless.

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

Beauty Equals Goodness. Even lower class characters who should lack easy access to shampoo and soap manage to look fabulous, compared to evil wizards/soldiers/bandits. I can't remember the name for this one but it also annoys me how bands of teenagers manage to defeat experienced, professional armies all by themselves.

Fire Emblem (particularly later games) is a pretty big offender, even though it's one of my favorite game series. I just wish it had more "ugly" or matured characters in the protagonist roster.

 

[Spakko]

shoot the shaggy dog

It's probably just me but this Trope rubs me up the wrong way. If it's done for a comedic purpose, fine maybe but otherwise it's just so darn depressing... at least for me.

Don't know if this one counts as a Trope but...

Insert X just for the sake of having X

If they insert excessive gore/Plot Twist/romance subplot/annoying Comic relief character just for the sake of having it, even if the Story in the movie/game/book would work perfectly fine without it.

 

[mechman123]

I don't know which trope this falls under but, I'm sick of symbionts/organic technology/etc type stuff being EVIL(or at least only used ONLY by the BAD GUYS). Flesh horror maybe? Whenever the character wanders into a flesh cavern, its a WICKED place. If it pulsates in any way, or sculpted from flesh, its bad.

Another seeming trope is for any and all broodmother type creatures/characters to be evil. Why cant they just be neutral, or even a decent being?

Humans are Smelly. Why do we always smell bad to aliens? Any race that humanity encounters with a strong sense of smell always at some point comments on how BAD we smell to them. How nice would it be if a race liked how we smelled, or maybe even got a little high off it. Now THAT would be an interesting reason for anther race to avoid contact with us.

 

[DementedSheep]

Dragons as final bosses/embodiments of evil, especially if demons are established to exist.

Dragon Age, Dragon's Dogma, Skyrim. Its such a waste and a cop-out. To me dragons are like apex-predators, but completely natural ones. And neutral at that. They'll attack if provoked or hungry, but they should just be giant lizards.

And if we have giant soul-stealing skinless, eyeless, all powerful fuck-me-raw rape demons that can and will torture you for all eternity, having the big bad just being a Blue Dragon is so...lame.

Have both! have Cthulhu-esque outer world super demons AND elder dragons, but if its a game about fighting evil, have the giant rape demon be the final boss. Leave the poor dragon in his keep to horde gold.

To be fair, while DA:O has a corrupted "dragon" as the big bad, the other natural dragons in the series are just apex predators.

 

[CyanCat47_v1legacy]

"Strong women".

I've been playing Skyrim again and they're everywhere. I don't mean characters with depth that are genuinly interesting and unique, but token female characters that are shoehorned into traditional/stereotypical male roles, to a degree that makes no sense in a cold and unforgiving early medieval "north". Whiterun especially is full of them, from Adrianna, Lydia, Irileth to the refugee redguard woman who comes at you with a knife. Something like half of the housecarl's in the game are female as well.
Like most of Bethesda's design, it's lazy, uninteresting and nonsensical. Obviously their games are not the best place for the first criteria I listed, but it doesn't excuse that it's not really in line with the setting.

Skyrim (and the newer Fallout games) aside, variations of this seems to have become a trope.
There are several long discussions to be had on this, but it's just a superficial thing that irks me. It's not that I necessarily disagree with explanations for the above (like suspension of disbelief or role models), but in this particular game it's as if some writer completely disregarded all sense and lore for the sake of mixing everything up and it makes it so incredibly bland and boring.

to my mind skyrim has always seemed more like a society where gender is largely insignificant, howeve germanic societies had a history of letting women inherrit and legally and openly being members of the military and the clergy. in viking society a woman was the leader of the household when the man was gone. in societies as harsh as skyrim gender tends to mean less because work is hard, life is short and instability and danger are a part of everyday life. in pre-christian viking societies men were also religiously obliged to die in battle if they wanted to go to valhalla, meaning that many died relatively young in raids and battle.

 

[CyanCat47_v1legacy]

I don't know which trope this falls under but, I'm sick of symbionts/organic technology/etc type stuff being EVIL(or at least only used ONLY by the BAD GUYS). Flesh horror maybe? Whenever the character wanders into a flesh cavern, its a WICKED place. If it pulsates in any way, or sculpted from flesh, its bad.

Another seeming trope is for any and all broodmother type creatures/characters to be evil. Why cant they just be neutral, or even a decent being?

Humans are Smelly. Why do we always smell bad to aliens? Any race that humanity encounters with a strong sense of smell always at some point comments on how BAD we smell to them. How nice would it be if a race liked how we smelled, or maybe even got a little high off it. Now THAT would be an interesting reason for anther race to avoid contact with us.

there was an alien brood in mass effect that were just frightened and forcibly moved to a place they had no desire to be in in Mass Effect. it was by taking away the brood from the mother that saren turned them feral and once you meet the mother she merely asks you to let her and the remaining brood leave in peace

 

[the December King]

... in pre-christian viking societies men were also religiously obliged to die in battle if they wanted to go to valhalla, meaning that many died relatively young in raids and battle.

Your justifications make sense, and in a fantasy game where the gender roles are identical, a lot of those same strong women would have also marched off to die in the same wars. I was also given the notion that the character's sex was irrelevant in the game where roles were concerned, since the character creation stats are not differentiated in any way (and indeed there are quests like the Mist Keep that play off of gender roles we sometimes take for granted today).

 

[CyanCat47_v1legacy]

... in pre-christian viking societies men were also religiously obliged to die in battle if they wanted to go to valhalla, meaning that many died relatively young in raids and battle.

Your justifications make sense, and in a fantasy game where the gender roles are identical, a lot of those same strong women would have also marched off to die in the same wars. I was also given the notion that the character's sex was irrelevant in the game where roles were concerned, since the character creation stats are not differentiated in any way (and indeed there are quests like the Mist Keep that play off of gender roles we sometimes take for granted today).

another assumption made by many is that because women were not allowed to fight there can't have been any female combatants besides jean of arc between the beginning of civilisation and 1942. in truth many women have fought throughout history wether they were allowed to do so or not. at the battlegrounds of the battle of zenbon matsubaru (i probably misspelled that. sorry) about 30/100 of the bodies of combatants that were studied were women.

 

[the December King]

... in pre-christian viking societies men were also religiously obliged to die in battle if they wanted to go to valhalla, meaning that many died relatively young in raids and battle.

Your justifications make sense, and in a fantasy game where the gender roles are identical, a lot of those same strong women would have also marched off to die in the same wars. I was also given the notion that the character's sex was irrelevant in the game where roles were concerned, since the character creation stats are not differentiated in any way (and indeed there are quests like the Mist Keep that play off of gender roles we sometimes take for granted today).

another assumption made by many is that because women were not allowed to fight there can't have been any female combatants besides jean of arc between the beginning of civilisation and 1942. in truth many women have fought throughout history wether they were allowed to do so or not. at the battlegrounds of the battle of zenbon matsubaru (i probably misspelled that. sorry) about 30/100 of the bodies of combatants that were studied were women.

Oh yeah- tons of women have fought throughout history, either letting blood or raising shield. Not being allowed to fight doesn't matter much when injustice, desperation or war is forced upon you, for example.

As for the subject at hand (Tropes I'm tired of), I'd say the 'Chosen One'- rather, I'm bloody tired of that role for the hero/protagonist being used as a crutch for a hobbled story- and depending on the context of the action, 'waif-fu' -obviously, in high magic or superhero settings it's not really a problem for me, as everyone can be over the top- but am tired of it in other contexts.

 

[sonicneedslovetoo]

Nobody has mentioned "it was all a dream" yet? I'm surprised but I guess its so crappy that everybody already knows its bad.

What I am getting REALLY, really tired of is when movies will make a bigass trailer for something(Transformers Age of Extinction) and tons of promo material for something that shows up for all of five minutes at the end of the movie. Another horrendous example I can think of is "Bridge to Terabithia" which is my most hated movie of all time. I've stopped watching movies entirely because of this.

Prophecies and fate in general, especially prophecies being entirely good things. Just once I want to see somebody being told they were fated to fight the evil blah blah blah and they go and fight it but are completely surprised when they die, because it never said they were fated to win.

Basically I'd like to see a story where the chosen one fails utterly and people lose faith in chosen ones and do something for themselves. Pre-destined endings are boring.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Demons are good, Angels/God are evil. The Corrupt Church. Humans are the Real Monsters.

I'm sure it was fine at first, and there are still series that manage those tropes well, but at this point I can't help but feel like it's gotten old.

The problem with that one is that it's attempting to apply subtlety by switching the paradigm in the opposite direction. It's solving a problem with another. I'm more a fan of universes that explore the idea of demons, angels, humans and others being morally and ideologically similar, with "salvation" or "damnation" being job descriptors more than outward indicators of general intent.

Personally, though, I'm annoyed by the idea that visual titillation equals power. Call me SJW if you care that much, but I have tons more respect for Brienne of Tarth than Bayonetta.

"But Protagonist X is so badass he or she doesn't even *need* armor!" is what some people might say. That's fine and is up to personal preference, but all I know is it strikes me as being adolescent.

 

[MiskWisk]

Nobody has mentioned "it was all a dream" yet? I'm surprised but I guess its so crappy that everybody already knows its bad.

What I am getting REALLY, really tired of is when movies will make a bigass trailer for something(Transformers Age of Extinction) and tons of promo material for something that shows up for all of five minutes at the end of the movie. Another horrendous example I can think of is "Bridge to Terabithia" which is my most hated movie of all time. I've stopped watching movies entirely because of this.

Prophecies and fate in general, especially prophecies being entirely good things. Just once I want to see somebody being told they were fated to fight the evil blah blah blah and they go and fight it but are completely surprised when they die, because it never said they were fated to win.

Basically I'd like to see a story where the chosen one fails utterly and people lose faith in chosen ones and do something for themselves. Pre-destined endings are boring.

The reason no one mentioned that trope is because this is all secretly a dream!
*spooky ghost noises*