Least Favorite but Common Tropes?

Myewphi

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I always hesitate to add input, as I can think of a few exceptions: but generally Rescue Arcs. Specifically, ones where the lady gives off the airs of strength ( noteably in Legend Of Galgameth, where she murdered a loaf of bread ), but then when she was actually finally threatened with decapitation, well of course she becomes weak for her hero.

This is one of the reasons when I edited, I made Millie grow from being like that, to being the one that took over the story, and became a more formidable cyborg later. If I continue the series, I might get advice from actual martial artists and fencers.

Problem is, when she became a "Print"--essentially a kind of reverse cyborg, the nature of living in the real world without physical effects forced her to have to grow as a character.
I think rescue arcs can be done well for sure, but I agree that they are often done really badly.
Your example is one ive seen wayyy too many times where a strong character (almost always female it seems) is suddenly made weak so that some (probably male) hero can come and save them.
 

LWFlouisa

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I think rescue arcs can be done well for sure, but I agree that they are often done really badly.
Your example is one ive seen wayyy too many times where a strong character (almost always female it seems) is suddenly made weak so that some (probably male) hero can come and save them.

Right on the money, Julia could have been such a great character, but boom suddenly she's excessively dependant on her man. ( To be fair, that actor was kind of cute. )

Princess in the castle to me is kind of a sister trope in my mind, even though I've seen it happen for non royalty as well.

I mean a warrior-queen is its own host of problems, generally related OP mode in shows like Xena. But I can tolerate that cheesiness a little bit better. They're often so excessively overpowered, that if she were actually in danger of execution, I'm not sure anyone would believe that she was overpowered, and that's why she lost her head.

I have a whole host of issues about battle manga in general that aren't so egregious or distracting though. Like when Battle Angel Alita Last Order was entirely Battle Manga for the first half or so. If the writer is good enough, I can look past that. That isn't just because I'm terrible at writing combat though. I wish there was more "battle of wills" type narrators. I'm extremely picky about what combat manga I'll watch for that reason, and tend to prefer ones without a lot of "showy" combat.

Plus without dragging on my personal history to much, I was once a sports fencer: one of things they heavily emphasized was how it's generally a bad idea to spin around like a spin top, because in the split second matches happen, and you're dealing with real swords, that's enough time for your opponent to backstab you.

How that plays out on a chessboard rather than street fighter, I'm not sure.
 
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HURGMCGURG

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I don't like it when the protagonist feels like a wooden board. A good protagonist needs their flaws and virtues, as well as their little quirks, but the fewer you give them makes them more boring.
 

LWFlouisa

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As an aside, I have a lot of mixed feelings about Blue And Orange morality as a trope.

I used to obsess about it when I was writing my early short stories like Mechanic Slave. But it's something I've sense grown to mildly despise, in a very differet by visceral way, similarly to how eating to much candy corn makes you go off sweets.
 

YuriDoggo

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Just perverts in general. There's enough of that degeneracy, don't need it in my novels.
 

Yorda

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I really hate it when shows make their petty villains super physically repulsive just because their personalities are disgusting. I understand that people want to make their repulsive characters repulsive, but for me it's beyond comically bad and enters into the realm of excessive over-compensation for an otherwise poorly imagined and lacking villain character. Like, couldn't the writer conceive of a better villain character instead of a throwaway piece of garbage? It breaks my immersion when an amazing story suddenly has this gross gag character appear and disappear suddenly and in a meaningless way.

Some examples of what I'm talking about are characters making *buhi buhi* noises (Japanese pig noise onomatopoeia), really gross moles, super fat bastards, creepy perverted wiggling body language, visually smelly, grotesque dental health, terrible fashion sense, bulging facial features, non-human physical traits, quadruple chins, and the worst greasy balding hairstyles imaginable.

F*************************************************************************************k
 
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Yorda

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Male lead's fiances/childhood friends, who act like brainless chickens. Please, give those women a brain, aren't they supposed to be female lead's rivals?
So.
Male lead's childhood friends, who act like brainless chickens.
You mean like when a female love interest childhood friend doesn't explain her feelings to the dense male lead who is slowly building a harem of girls that end up being the childhood friends romantic rivals? I hate that. She needs to tell him she has romantic feelings. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Male lead's fiances, who act like brainless chickens.
You mean like when ... actually I don't know, but I want to know!
 

LWFlouisa

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Also Punk everything. This didn't use to bother me, but not everything set in Victorian England or Wild West has to be Steampunk. All the people grafting onto Punk genres to try to make it Family Friendly has made it impossible to really take the "punk" aesthetic seriously, when punk fiction used to be completely nihilistic and bleak.

I feel like word is way to corrupted to really be useful. Libertarian is heading in that direction as well.

I'm close to just saying "F*** genre fiction." But I have nothing in common with literary people.
 

BenJepheneT

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Also Punk everything. This didn't use to bother me, but not everything set in Victorian England or Wild West has to be Steampunk. All the people grafting onto Punk genres to try to make it Family Friendly has made it impossible to really take the "punk" aesthetic seriously, when punk fiction used to be completely nihilistic and bleak.
The alternative is an English Black Plague or poverty so we can kinda understand why they took that route.

But still, I can see why. I've seen cyberpunk taken to Tellytubies levels and by God, did I want to dunk it in vat of tar.

I really hate it when shows make their petty villains super physically repulsive just because their personalities are disgusting. I understand that people want to make their repulsive characters repulsive, but for me it's beyond comically bad and enters into the realm of excessive over-compensation for an otherwise poorly imagined and lacking villain character.
Thanks. I needed something to flame SAO for.
 

LWFlouisa

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The alternative is an English Black Plague or poverty so we can kinda understand why they took that route.

But still, I can see why. I've seen cyberpunk taken to Tellytubies levels and by God, did I want to dunk it in vat of tar.


Thanks. I needed something to flame SAO for.

I think I know the Cyberpunk book you mean, but I'll read it to make sure I'm not misjudging it.

I'm not saying kids can't read dark stuff, but please ... keep the spirit of Cyberpunk.
 

ChubbyLiv

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So.

You mean like when a female love interest childhood friend doesn't explain her feelings to the dense male lead who is slowly building a harem of girls that end up being the childhood friends romantic rivals? I hate that. She needs to tell him she has romantic feelings. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

You mean like when ... actually I don't know, but I want to know!

Typical CEO tropes, or any romance with a female protagonist.

For example.

When a female lead meets a jelaous/stupid villain girl, whose only way off revenge is to add an aphrodisiac into FL's drink, so she could be raped. But everyone knows, that FL is going to be rescued by the ML.

Those chickens (male lead's mother, childhood friend, fiance, assistant, front desk clerk, FL's step sister, etc.) are there just to annoy the reader with their nonsensical stupidity. They are portrayed as rich, perfect, beautiful and talented women, who because of love, change into hysterical overly obsessive little teenagers.

In once, they are very predictable, have no depth, and it's sure they'll have a bad ending.


At least once, I want to see a reasonable rival. If we can have a cool second ML, why not a cool second FL? (. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)

Hope I answered your question. (≧▽≦)
 
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NiQuinn

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Harems. Neets and people with some kind of social anxiety and serious self-esteem issues getting isekai'd and WHAT...they're suddenly over their social anxiety and can interact well with people like their the most charismatic existence in the whole universe????!? What??? They're not doing anything and suddenly, there's a bevy of women lining up throwing their undies at him wanting to have his kid??? Oh, let's not forget the act of isekai'd dude being nice to a lady FOR THAT ONE MOMENT and lady gets her panties in a twist coz he's so different. What????
 

BenJepheneT

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When a female lead meets a jelaous/stupid villain girl, whose only way off revenge is to add an aphrodisiac into FL's drink, so she could be raped. But everyone knows, that FL is going to be rescued by the ML.

Those chickens (male lead's mother, childhood friend, fiance, assistant, front desk clerk, etc.) are there just to annoy the reader with their nonsensical stupidity. They are portrayed as rich, perfect, beautiful and talented women, who because of love, change into hysterical overly obsessive little teenagers.

In once, they are very predictable, have no depth, and it's sure they'll have a bad ending.
thanks. i never knew i hated them until now
 
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i just remember another one i really hate, that makes me drop so many japanese novels.

i really can't stand these main characters who just spare their enemies, who end up coming back to bite them in the ass. i find the development really stupid. i prefer if they just kill them and eliminate the hidden dangers.

that's probably why I mostly read chinese novels nowadays. the main characters won't hesitate to slaughter an entire family if it aligns with their goals.

but that's just me, i hate moralist main characters in general.
 

YuriDoggo

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Why can't we have a happy medium, like Tanjirou from Demon Slayer?

Psychopath MCs from Chinese novels are really no better.
 
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Why can't we have a happy medium, like Tanjirou from Demon Slayer?

Psychopath MCs from Chinese novels are really no better.

ever since I read Reverend Insanity, I empathize more with evil and pragmatic MC with no morals.

maybe i identify with a psychopath mc 'cuz i'm kind of psychopathic myself. when i took a personality test i also had sadist tendencies, so yeah.
 

aattss

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First, I'm annoyed with asshole MCs in fics which lack self awareness. Like, they just come across as unlikable, and then they get pretentious and look down on people with different values even though everyone's values are equally subjective. The use of strawmans is also pretty transparent.

Another two tropes annoy me a ton and are pretty frequent in WNs. First, the underestimated protagonist trope just feels contrived/stupid and just get it over with already. Like, in a Japanese WN there'll be some dumb shit about how people think the MC's trash because they think the MC's op class is weak or because their magic detector failed because the MC's too OP or they don't know how their magic/litrpg system works because they're dumb. And in Chinese WN people don't realize the MC has some cheat from winning the lottery or they just assume the MC is as weak or dumb as possible because they want to win a Darwin award. Like, at this point, it has just been played to death and it's just annoying to read people who sound so dumb.

Next, there's the trope where all the good guys are actually the bad guys. Uh, so what's their motive? Like, either they're just dicks because they're dicks, or they actually think they're good, but they're just really really stupid. Any attempts at depth just fall flat with all the enemies being so 1-dimensional.
 

Kldran

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One thing that's been bugging me a lot recently: All the stories where the cannon fodder minions of the current villain get killed, and then the villain is spared because the main character is so generous and good. There's corpses on the ground (off-panel) and they're acting like the villain was stopped before they could do anything bad, just because the corpse was a nameless character of no importance to the plot.
 
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