Your Least Favourite Tropes

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RJ Badman
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PostYour Least Favourite Tropes
by RJ Badman » Thu Sep 10, 2020 11:38 am

For me it's the thing where two characters are clearly attracted to each other but don't want to say anything due to nervousness, professionalism or whatever, and the writer wants to "hint at" it, and so bring in a character - usually a psychic or robot - to (always in front of both of the characters in question because the one who is being talked about has to see) bluntly go "your mind harbours feelings for that character" or "you love them, I can see it in your mind" or "I detect a strong reaction in you when you're around this person". It's been done on everything from The X Files to Starfox Adventures to Metal Gear Solid and it's the most lazy, hamfisted non-technique in media in my book.

Opinions expressed in this post are those of RJ Badman and do not reflect the views of Bovril Fluid Beef Ltd.
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Choclet-Milk
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Choclet-Milk » Thu Sep 10, 2020 11:56 am

"We can't kill them, or we'll be no better than they are"

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we have to lose that sax solo
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Balladeer
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Balladeer » Thu Sep 10, 2020 11:59 am

The Lady bloody hates amnesiac tropes, thinking it’s a bad replacement for good storytelling.

I’m getting annoyed at the fact that every anime seems to take place in a high school. People undergo character development in later life too y’know!

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Moggy
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Moggy » Thu Sep 10, 2020 12:06 pm

Chocolate-Milk wrote:"We can't kill them, or we'll be no better than they are"


And that only gets said after they've killed 500 henchmen but want to keep the main bad guy for the sequel.

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Skarjo
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Skarjo » Thu Sep 10, 2020 12:36 pm

After a woman wins a fight;

“Where do you learn how to fight like that?”

“I hAvE A lOt of BRoTheRs”

Or

“I’m a female character, but I have dark, sad, tragic past. I am broken, tragic, worthless as a woman. This is why I fight in the shadows. Because truly, I am the monster”

Infertile, got it.

Karl wrote:Can't believe I got baited into expressing a political stance on hentai

Skarjo's Scary Stories...
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shy guy 64
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by shy guy 64 » Thu Sep 10, 2020 12:43 pm

edgey rivals who think theyre better than you for no real reason

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DML
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by DML » Thu Sep 10, 2020 12:48 pm

Balladeer wrote:The Lady bloody hates amnesiac tropes, thinking it’s a bad replacement for good storytelling.

I’m getting annoyed at the fact that every anime seems to take place in a high school. People undergo character development in later life too y’know!


Check out Aggretsuko on Netflix. Its really really great for that.

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Imrahil
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Imrahil » Thu Sep 10, 2020 12:58 pm

Modern Hollywood romantic comedy/dramas that have rendered the genre closer to fantasy than any kind of reality.

Perfect woman meets close-to-perfect man who needs to be 'fixed' a little bit. She fixes him and everything is then perfect.

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Skarjo
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Skarjo » Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:00 pm

"I've designed an algorithm that...."

Immediately describes something that has nothing to do with algorithms.

Karl wrote:Can't believe I got baited into expressing a political stance on hentai

Skarjo's Scary Stories...
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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Victor Mildew » Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:05 pm

The sexy female assassin.

Our male hero lead gets introduced to a group of normal people to aid him on his journey. All are pretty bland people except for the one absolutely strawberry floating drop dead gorgeous dark haired olive skinned big fitted athletic woman. She's more of a background character. She turns up at his hotel room, he's about to float her! BUT WAIT, SHE'S TRYING TO KILL HIM NOW! SHE'S BOTH SEXY AND DANGEROUS

Hexx wrote:Ad7 is older and balder than I thought.
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rinks
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by rinks » Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:07 pm

Hearing one side of a phone call that is so lazily written, they have the person we can hear repeat the other side of the conversation.

...
“You’ve lost your car keys? How?”
...
“A dog stole them?”

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rinks
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by rinks » Thu Sep 10, 2020 1:10 pm

Joining a scene just in time to hear someone say the punchline of a (non-existent) joke.

One very good exception to this is in Phoenix Nights. *hand dryer roars, then stops* “...covered in piss.”

EDIT:


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Grumpy David
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Grumpy David » Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:49 pm

Balladeer wrote:The Lady bloody hates amnesiac tropes, thinking it’s a bad replacement for good storytelling.


Came in here to post this. Memory loss tropes. :x

I'd need to quickly refresh my tropes knowledge on TVtropes but I can't lose that many hours of my day right now.

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Balladeer
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Balladeer » Thu Sep 10, 2020 2:53 pm

Grumpy David wrote:
Balladeer wrote:The Lady bloody hates amnesiac tropes, thinking it’s a bad replacement for good storytelling.


Came in here to post this. Memory loss tropes. :x

I'd need to quickly refresh my tropes knowledge on TVtropes but I can't lose that many hours of my day right now.

You mean to say you’ve forgotten? ;)

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Victor Mildew
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Victor Mildew » Thu Sep 10, 2020 3:37 pm

So what is it?

Hexx wrote:Ad7 is older and balder than I thought.
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Moggy
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Moggy » Thu Sep 10, 2020 3:52 pm

Dream sequences that try to fool the audience into thinking it's "real".

That doesn't count for Inception. ;)

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Tomous
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Tomous » Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:01 pm

Moggy wrote:Dream sequences that try to fool the audience into thinking it's "real".

That doesn't count for Inception. ;)



I hate these too, they're so irritating.

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Moggy
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Moggy » Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:09 pm

Tomous wrote:
Moggy wrote:Dream sequences that try to fool the audience into thinking it's "real".

That doesn't count for Inception. ;)



I hate these too, they're so irritating.


On a similar note, TV/movies where the character is in a VR simulation and you are never sure if they are still in the simulation or have made it back to the real world.

Corazon de Leon

PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Corazon de Leon » Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:09 pm

It's worse when it turns out that something like half of a movie was one of these stupid strawberry floating dream sequence/coma dream/delusion tropes.

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Tomous
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PostRe: Your Least Favourite Tropes
by Tomous » Thu Sep 10, 2020 4:12 pm

Yeah, it's been done way too many times now.

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