What tropes do you dislike the most?

[Ikagura]

Maybe this one will be spicy and I hope I won't be banned but I kinda disliked the whole "primitive local tribe getting invaded by a technologically advanced but managed to win against" that movies like Avatar had.

When Rome invaded barbarous regions there were many conflicts between tribes so it helped quite a lot. That's also true for most tribal societies since ressources are finite.

I am aware that guerilla warfare could somehow work in a smaller scale (like Endor's battle with the Ewoks) but realistically if an empire with better technologies are coming for us we won't win.

Avatar had the excuse of the Na'vi having some kind of spiritual power (and sturdier bones) to have more chances but I feel that Cameron told us that "humans are full of greed while the spiritual tall blue cat-faced species is a victims".

Anyway, Fremen > Na'vi in term of storytelling.

 

[trickybus]

(however Sudoku did)

The French, right?

Gets transported into a magical, fantastical world where they have the chance of being something greater, proving themselves along the way, turning their fish out of water situation into something beneficial for the characters they meet along the way in this magical world.

That is a good description for it and it does fit the Wizard of Oz narrative. Dorothy has to show courage and compassion in extreme circumstances to help her new friends and citizens of Oz.

With Alice, I feel like she didn't really fix or learn anything from her journey. She's more a passive tourist, experiencing Wonderland as events happen to and occur around her. While she's defiant in the face of the Queen of Hearts, she would have been overwhelmed had she not woke up from her dream.

Thank you for engaging with me! I really like your argument.

Post automatically merged: Feb 19, 2025

Maybe this one will be spicy and I hope I won't be banned but I kinda disliked the whole "primitive local tribe getting invaded by a technologically advanced but managed to win against" that movies like Avatar had.

When Rome invaded barbarous regions there were many conflicts between tribes so it helped quite a lot. That's also true for most tribal societies since ressources are finite.

I am aware that guerilla warfare could somehow work in a smaller scale (like Endor's battle with the Ewoks) but realistically if an empire with better technologies are coming for us we won't win.

Avatar had the excuse of the Na'vi having some kind of spiritual power (and sturdier bones) to have more chances but I feel that Cameron told us that "humans are full of greed while the spiritual tall blue cat-faced species is a victims".

Anyway, Fremen > Na'vi in term of storytelling.

I don't think that's out of line at all! However, I dislike that trope for what are probably different reasons. It's usually based of off historically inaccurate beliefs about how "primitive" tribes were when coming into contact with other civilizations. In my neck of the woods, the difference in power between the natives and the invaders wasn't significant at all. In fact, the invaders lost a lot. What was incredibly effective was the unchecked spread of disease, something they couldn't control or even knew about.

 

[SolemnlyDoc]

Time travel. "I know how to resolve the plot of this movie without confusing the viewers or making the entire narrative meaningless, we'll send them back in time!" said no quality film maker ever.

Oh and "historically they were probably gay, but our target audience wouldn't like that so let's make them cousins instead."

 

[Mini_Man.XW]

When horror movies lore dump. Most of the time it brings the movie to a halt and is usually detrimental to the experience imo. I prefer picking up on context clues more often then not.

 

[Ikagura]

When horror movies lore dump. Most of the time it brings the movie to a halt and is usually detrimental to the experience imo. I prefer picking up on context clues more often then not.

Explaining/rationalising the horror just kills the horror.

It's like explaining the great ancient in Lovecraft or showing the monster in bright light in a slasher movie.

 

[OmegaPunch's iconOmegaPunch]

I've always hated the "character you've just met is killed almost immediately"
Like, I've just met them and you expect to feel bad for their death? When I know absolutely nothing about them?

 

[Num]

When horror movies lore dump. Most of the time it brings the movie to a halt and is usually detrimental to the experience imo. I prefer picking up on context clues more often then not.

more often than not horror movies that do this are very well aware that its opening the curtains at the expense of the audiences immersion and fear. at this point theyve wrung the audience dry with scares and decide its time to pretend all of this was leading up to some deep intricate narrative. except the issue is its not. 9 times out of 10 theres nothing even remotely important that the story has to say and more than often its just some variation of something youve already seen before. it should just stick to being a film focused on scaring you instead of wasting time trying to act like it has some grand powerful story to tell. its fine to have a mediocre plot in a horror film but the second they slam the brakes to explain everything all it really does is make that mediocracy stand out even more

 

[Ikagura]

more often than not horror movies that do this are very well aware that its opening the curtains at the expense of the audiences immersion and fear. at this point theyve wrung the audience dry with scares and decide its time to pretend all of this was leading up to some deep intricate narrative. except the issue is its not. 9 times out of 10 theres nothing even remotely important that the story has to say and more than often its just some variation of something youve already seen before. it should just stick to being a film focused on scaring you instead of wasting time trying to act like it has some grand powerful story to tell. its fine to have a mediocre plot in a horror film but the second they slam the brakes to explain everything all it really does is make that mediocracy stand out even more

And I'd prefer letting the audience think of an explanation as why this horror is a thing instead of giving the monster some backstory.

I absolutely hate when they go "actually they were a victim all along so this is why they've become like that" for slashers or ghosts...

I know that humanising the beast is a common trope but this is just overused (like "the real monsters are humans" in zombie apocalypse).

 

[trickybus]

I've always hated the "character you've just met is killed almost immediately"
Like, I've just met them and you expect to feel bad for their death? When I know absolutely nothing about them?

I know the thread is about movies & TV but this immediately made me think about Cynthia in Silent Hill 4: The Room. Her last words gave me a chuckle because they were effectively "Damn, I guess I can't give you that blowjob after all"

 

[NobodyHere]

I don’t like when stories cut mid scene to something else. I get why it’s done, doesn’t mean I like it. It under minds the scene that it cuts to for me, especially if it’s in the middle of something intense. I’ll just be waiting slightly annoyed for it cut back to what was happening before.

Post automatically merged: Feb 24, 2025

More intense the moment before the scene jump, more unrelated the new scene , the more annoyed I’ll be

Post automatically merged: Feb 24, 2025

It’s what made me stop reading “I Am A Hero”. I originally meant to take a break but never picked it back up; Due to the cliff hanger it left the main characters on, abruptly switching to some loosely related group. Now I’ll probably just reread the entire thing when I eventually get back to it

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

Sometimes, i wish they stopped treating the fantasy genre like an easy excuse to make everyone speak in videogame terms.

 

[NobodyHere]

Sometimes, i wish they stopped treating the fantasy genre like an easy excuse to make everyone speak in videogame terms.

Totally agree, a huge amount of fantasy uses the most cookie cutter world; You can pretty much watch the anime by reading the title

 

[Trainer Red]

Since I'm more in-line with Asian dramas nowadays

> The assistant / close friend of main lead having malicious intentions towards the main lead
> Parents of main lead disapproving of dating because of (financial) status the love interests is

... that's all I can think of

 

[Ikagura]

I don’t like when stories cut mid scene to something else. I get why it’s done, doesn’t mean I like it. It under minds the scene that it cuts to for me, especially if it’s in the middle of something intense. I’ll just be waiting slightly annoyed for it cut back to what was happening before.

Same!

I loved Monster but when they had an episode about a random detective with alcohol problems I almost left it.

Unless it's an already established character with their story (like in Arkham City and Catwoman's sections).

Sometimes, I wish they stopped treating the fantasy genre like an easy excuse to make everyone speak in videogame terms.

Which means? I'm sorry if I'm lost there.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

Which means?

Most fantasy anime nowadays suffers from this:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RPGMechanicsVerse

 

[Ikagura]

Most fantasy anime nowadays suffers from this:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RPGMechanicsVerse

Oh right, if they are talking as if they're DnD players.

The latest DnD movie thankfully avoided it.

 

[Adrastia]

View attachment 16679View attachment 16680

Post automatically merged: Jan 24, 2025

Clueless harem protagonist, also harems in general. If I do consume harem genre media I’m extremely picky about it.

This so much. If I want to play as a monster race then I want monsters. I like playing as female characters so "human sexy lady but with weird skin colors and maybe some horns" is just disappointing. Might as well play as a human female then. Female dragon, lizard and bird races do not need bewbs. You can make them feminine without adding an inexplicable chest bump that serves no purpose because they aren't mammals. Low effort will no longer be tolerated in my dojo. ?

A similar problem exists in Phantasy Star Online/Universe. You can't really be a female Cast in heavy armor. You are stuck as a robot waifu. The designs are cute but lack variety. Similarly the male Casts are mostly stuck in heavy armor unless you strip them down to their robo-undies.

Maybe this has changed since I have only played the Gamecube, PS2 and PSP games. Casts get the shaft with cosmetic items in those games as is.

 

[NobodyHere]

Oh right, if they are talking as if they're DnD players.

The latest DnD movie thankfully avoided it.

It’s less D&D more video game mechanics

Big problem in fantasy anime, manga and Manhwa, especially isekai. It’s such a lazy way to establish characters strengths, weaknesses and growth.

Adding to the laziness is the fact the world the story is set in will be the most generic fantasy setting as possible. Then they’ll end up relying heavily on whatever gimmick they chose, with the story going in the most predictable path possible. They’ll usually end up making the Mc comically over powered so they’ll have to keep uping the stakes where they’re so high it feels meaningless

(I went through a long faze where I was really into this genre in late middle school to early high school; I’m probably letting my deep seeded annoyance with it show, damn you “solo leveling”!)

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

I can't hate Solo leveling.

It cured my insomnia a few times.

Also, this thing:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuddenGameInterface

Can't die fast enough.

 

[NobodyHere]

I

I can't hate Solo leveling.

It cured my insomnia a few times.

I was so into it, until the ant island arc or whatever where I realized it had completely imploded in on its self.

 

[Aisf]

Im tired of Isekai. The whole, "this boy is a total loser, but then hes magically transported into this world of big booba ladies and now has to be the hero." After Konosuba and Re:Zero im just done with the genre entirely.

Me too, there are certain isekais that kinda break the mold and are very cool like The Devil Is A Part Timer but other than that, yeah Isekais kinda suck a lot.

 

[NatalieZaki]

my cynical child-self realized that every single kids movie had a scene where the main character and the side kick/group of friends broke up and say like "we arent friends anymore" at the 3/4 mark. it happened in every single movie and it bothered me so much i almost turned into a child cinemasins

 

[Ikagura]

It’s less D&D more video game mechanics

View attachment 32085View attachment 32086

Big problem in fantasy anime, manga and Manhwa, especially isekai. It’s such a lazy way to establish characters strengths, weaknesses and growth.

Adding to the laziness is the fact the world the story is set in will be the most generic fantasy setting as possible. Then they’ll end up relying heavily on whatever gimmick they chose, with the story going in the most predictable path possible. They’ll usually end up making the Mc comically over powered so they’ll have to keep uping the stakes where they’re so high it feels meaningless

(I went through a long faze where I was really into this genre in late middle school to early high school; I’m probably letting my deep seeded annoyance with it show, damn you “solo leveling”!)

I can't hate Solo leveling.

It cured my insomnia a few times.

Also, this thing:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SuddenGameInterface

Can't die fast enough.

Somehow I love intra-diegetic interfaces in video games (like Perfect Dark's menu being shown to be on Joanna's eye which blew my mind back then when I saw the cutscene showing it) but I agree.

A story set in a specific world does not need a "Level 5 - 150 HP" on a character's head (unless it's explicitly told to be players in a video game but it's jarring to see them if you're deep into the story).

Sci-fi having interfaces like the heartbeat/encephalogram appearing to tell if a character is badly hurt would make more sense yet is rare.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

I do appreciate if they make an effort for it to make sense in universe.

But... Sometimes i wish those Isekai in a game world, were other genres beside fantasy.

Imagine, NEET is now trapped in EVE Online... Poor guy.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

Assaults for slapstick, miscommunications, 1 dimensional overused trope characters with not a single subversion, every anime MC being copy pasted (blue/black hair, clueless, "I want everyone to be happy/to save the world/for everyone to get along," possibly overpowered, carried by plot armour, dense, fucking SPINELESS, I genuinely need more MCs like Kazuma cause at least its diversity), harems (they literally never work in writing, they'll eventually just pair up the main guy with the most popular girl, why even try if you're not gonna commit), villains spill their entire plan to the main characters for 0 reason, and this might sound fucking insane but romance. I have 0 problems with romance, but I swear it feels like every single animated property must have one (especially anime). There's a lot that are generic, that don't work, or aren't interesting. They usually pass up genuinely interesting couple ideas for generic ones too, Valerie x Danny comes to mind but there's also Raku x Tsumugi, Romeo x Hasuki, literally anyone else but Mai x Zuko, and Shido x Kurumi. Infuriates me tbh.