What tropes do you dislike the most?

[Antilocal123]

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."

Or “We can’t piss off the foreign market so—“

 

[Ikagura]

I genuinely need more MCs like Kazuma cause at least its diversity

While I do want more varied MCs in stories I feel that Kazuma is dangerously close to being edgy/violent for the purpose of being an antihero.

Jotaro in JoJo Part 3 was a departure from the first two but Joseph is still my favourite next to Jonathan (who will fight for what is right and it's quite rare nowadays).

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

Thinking about Sailor Moon? Yeah, it was awkward to make them related.

But in the polar opposite we also can have two characters that are close without anything romantic happening (or just being purely platonic).

Fujoshi-baiting is not great imo.

 

[Evaccaneer Doom]

While I do want more varied MCs in stories I feel that Kazuma is dangerously close to being edgy/violent for the purpose of being an antihero.

Should've specified that I don't want more Kazuma necessarily, mainly I want more varied characters like how Kazuma was for the time. I've seen Naofumi and that guy from Cautious Hero and I'm kinda good on that archetype if they don't have bite at least (now see Yusuke from YYH, that's an asshole character with bite)

 

[Ikagura]

Should've specified that I don't want more Kazuma necessarily, mainly I want more varied characters like how Kazuma was for the time. I've seen Naofumi and that guy from Cautious Hero and I'm kinda good on that archetype if they don't have bite at least (now see Yusuke from YYH, that's an asshole character with bite)

Wait, which character are we talking about?

I think I accidentally confused him with the Tekken protagonist.

 

[Adrastia]

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).

I see people complain about it a lot. I think it depends on the context. I recently saw Little Bites on Shudder and the monster is really an allegory for eating your trauma before it eats you. I mean, he's real and all. But he's more or less like a Nosferatu looking guy who can hold a conversation. It's kind of weird. But it works. So I think it's all in how it's written and what the plot calls for.

If you want a good "your guess is as good as anyone's" type horror, try Don't Blink. The writers made the right move with that one.

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.

There needs to be more isekai starring female characters that aren't harem fantasy nonsense. I mean it can be funny and that's how they sell copies. Waifus. But I'd like to see more like Ascendance of a Bookworm.

And while it's not that common now, any horror movie or thriller where a lady is killed because she was running in high heels and fell or her heel broke off. Even when I was a kid I knew "Oh God she's got high heels on and here comes the killer. She's a goner". Give me a break.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

You know what i would like? More reverse Isekai.

Have someone from a fantasy world get stuck in ours, or better yet, have a fantasy world invade ours.

There just isn't enough tanks shooting down dragons like in GATE. Or showing lowly mages the power of artillery.

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

Stupid people in positions of authority.

Followed by DEI hires, where you get the 'Put a chick in it and make her lame and gay'.

Followed by every white male is the villain or they are totally stupid gag characters (usually shown up by the strong female woman DEI hire).

 

[Raidou Kuzunoha]

Any romance trope, but those whole "indirect kiss" BS especially gets on my nerves especially in anime.
"w-wait! but this is like.... an indirect kiss??!?!! uwaaaa >//A//<" shut uuup

 

[Ikagura]

Stupid people in positions of authority.

Sadly the Dunning–Kruger effect is quite strong.

Followed by DEI hires, where you get the 'Put a chick in it and make her lame and gay'.

While I agree that pure tokenism and making female characters voluntarily unattractive because of the "male gaze" are stupid things to do but I feel that people are overusing the term "DEI" (which I sometimes jokingly call "DIE") when some devs are also doing it in the same way journalist are self-censoring their work without any governmental involvement.

But the thing I dislike the most is pretending to be the first to make something diverse when we got diversity even back in the 70's.

Followed by every white male is the villain or they are totally stupid gag characters (usually shown up by the strong female woman DEI hire).

I used to be fine with the "clumsy nerdy guy" archetype as a comic relief until it got overused like when being fat was the punchline for a character in the 80's-90's.

But why is the villain's color that important? There were badass antagonist that were hispanic/latino asian or black because the actor themselves were good (like Wesley Snipes as Simon "Not Blade" Phoenix in Demolition Man which basically carried the whole movie with Stallone or Tony Todd as Grange in The Crow who almost stole the spotlight of the main antagonist as he got some huge aura and charisma).

Any romance trope, but those whole "indirect kiss" BS especially gets on my nerves especially in anime.
"w-wait! but this is like.... an indirect kiss??!?!! uwaaaa >//A//<" shut uuup
View attachment 35305

Personally I find "indirect kisses" more gross because I hate drinking from the same straw another person drank before, even if it's from a cute girl because I prefer keeping our bacteria separate.

Even kissing itself is not an hygienic act come to think about it.

 

[Gamma]

Some that i can Think of the top of my head:

- Mirror fights: When there's a group of characters that have to fight each other and It is: girl vs girl, fat guy vs fat guy,etc.
I like when fight are unbalanced in some eays.
For as mucho Flack as modern shounen gets, I lek that we are having more 2vs1 or more group against group.

- When the overweight characters whole personality revolver aroind food. Witch from Mercury actually did that well from what I remember.

- Surprised no one mentioned pervert characters.

- When the main character seems to be the only one man to nteract with female characters because of fear of the audience getting cucked(stupid as hell). Actually platonic relationships between opposite genders Is kinda of rare. Kaguya-sama and little busters are really good exames of it being fone well from what I remember.

 

[AnonymousCookieMonster]

While I agree that pure tokenism and making female characters voluntarily unattractive because of the "male gaze" are stupid things to do but I feel that people are overusing the term "DEI" (which I sometimes jokingly call "DIE") when some devs are also doing it in the same way journalist are self-censoring their work without any governmental involvement.

DEI often is less what you see on the screen, but what is off the screen. Like mandating having 20 writers in the writer room, but 18 of them do literally nothing... Or in video games, heavily uglifying women, and in a lot of cases with failed games and studios involves Sweet Baby Inc.

And in a number of cases in recent memory, saying great shows were refused to put on air for being too white. Or writers being snubbed from being able to sell their books for being white. Or Podcasters who were fine in the community... until they were found out to be white...

But the thing I dislike the most is pretending to be the first to make something diverse when we got diversity even back in the 70's.

I used to be fine with the "clumsy nerdy guy" archetype as a comic relief until it got overused like when being fat was the punchline for a character in the 80's-90's.

I agree. Choose the best person for the job/part and it pretty much feels natural. But 'nerdy' was less about being incompetent and stupid and more to reference the social awkwardness that ends up being defined more by hobbies and social status.

But why is the villain's color that important? There were badass antagonist that were hispanic/latino asian or black because the actor themselves were good (like Wesley Snipes as Simon "Not Blade" Phoenix in Demolition Man which basically carried the whole movie with Stallone or Tony Todd as Grange in The Crow who almost stole the spotlight of the main antagonist as he got some huge aura and charisma).

Before the last several years i wouldn't have cared what their color/race/sex is. But when the pattern is too obvious, I pretty much avoid anything post 2016 unless it's a standout movie that doesn't appear to contain any DEI/wokeness.

Though understand Woke and DEI is inherently anti-white anti-straight and anti-family (and anti-sanity too).. And they have to force-feed you The Message... Trying to plant into the zeitgeist that white straight males are evil capitalists and should be destroyed. And every successful franchise they have to swap the male with a female counterpart.


Critical Drinker does a good job of isolating and going over with 'why modern movies suck' series. And it's only become more relevant as more movies and games have come out.

 

[NobodyHere]

Mysterious Waif, baffles me how many stories not just anime do this

Reincarnation, above all its use in Isekai. It’s increasingly frustrating when the story will have the mc completely rewrite and take over the body they’ve reincarnated in, acting more like possession; Even more annoying in “reincarnated as villain” stories, it would be more impactful if the character gains the memories and has to deal with them; like how would the child character handle the fact they suffer a horrible fate because of their own actions in the future, how would they act differently with their still rotten personality but new knowledge (I’d like to see some real growth); A child with memories of being an adult yet never truly experienced it.

Extremely tired of seeing “Omg I’m now an adult in a child’s body!” yet that body almost never effects their mental and emotional processing. To be clear I do not care about how unrealistic it is or whatever. I’m so angry at all the missed opportunities, I want the drama!

 

[Raziya The Seeker]

You know what i would like? More reverse Isekai.

Have someone from a fantasy world get stuck in ours, or better yet, have a fantasy world invade ours.

There just isn't enough tanks shooting down dragons like in GATE. Or showing lowly mages the power of artillery.

Fam, this is how I play my avatar OC in certain roleplay sites. A fantasy beast girl in a modern world, with hijinks ensuing as such. I love this idea to death, and would also love to see more of it myself!

I wanna say the live-action He-Man movie tried this and failed hard. Still, I like the idea of energy weapon users being baffled that soldiers can dodge their blasts, but they can't see bullets coming.

As for tropes I dislike? Probably the one where the protagonists get in deep trouble for something they didn't do, and no one believes them. It's a special kind of painful when for once, the roguish characters really didn't do it. But when it's the heroes who everyone knows would never do it, and suddenly everyone hates them? That irks me for how stupid it is.

 

[Adrastia]

When someone is mistaken or has a big misunderstanding that could easily be remedied by explaining what happened. But for the sake of comedy or drama they are struck dumb and can't get out of their predicament unless the plot calls for it.

 

[YuriSukiSan]

I'm not sure if this is the right place but lately? Violence, nihilism and generally cynicism.. and I suppose a lack of sincerity. I feel like a lot of modern programming is just constantly depressing, it's not everything but for example.. I've been quite freaked out lately. After playing CoH (City of Heroes) I wanted to see what media there was for Super Heroes.. And well, what's popular seems to be either gritty TV series or just stuff like The Boys that honestly turns my stomach. It's just grostesque.

I'm not sure how to describe it but there's a spiritual ugliness to a lot of media now, when are we going to get more positive shows or things that encourage people, that uplift them? Something to aspire too in super hero media? Is that even a trope? I just see the extreme gore and the nastiness, and it's utterly depressing, and just gross. I hate it. I'm not saying there isn't place for things like Watchmen or more adult topics but the Boys in particular is something else, it's like someone's barely disguised (and very extreme) fetishes projected to a wide audience in ultra HD. I know "think of the children!" is lame but I get upset and go pale thinking about my cousins being exposed to it. It just seems such a stark contrast from what I grew up with and I'm not sure how to react to it. And this is the first time since I was a teenager that media has made me feel nauseous.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

The most disliked tropes that gets my blood boiling while i sharpen my knife and looking menacingly at a wall are the " You and me , we are'nt so different ." and " When you kill me , you becoming a monster too like i am !"-tropes that gets either extremly overused or trying to make a scene more deeper till we realise , the badguy is the worst POS and the most horrible person in this show that deserved to killed in an instant without any hesitation.

AND the villian redemption-thing with the misunderstood villian too .

There is a reason why skeletor is to this day one of the best villians . He's just evil . Nothing more and nothing less . And he makes it cool and relatable .

 

[Ikagura]

I'm not sure if this is the right place but lately? Violence, nihilism and generally cynicism.. and I suppose a lack of sincerity. I feel like a lot of modern programming is just constantly depressing, it's not everything but for example.. I've been quite freaked out lately. After playing CoH (City of Heroes) I wanted to see what media there was for Super Heroes.. And well, what's popular seems to be either gritty TV series or just stuff like The Boys that honestly turns my stomach. It's just grotesque.

I still believe that Watchmen is a better The Boys.

But I'd probably take nihilism and cynism over 4th wall breaking and "self-aware" writing all day.

I'm not sure how to describe it but there's a spiritual ugliness to a lot of media now, when are we going to get more positive shows or things that encourage people, that uplift them? Something to aspire too in super hero media? Is that even a trope? I just see the extreme gore and the nastiness, and it's utterly depressing, and just gross. I hate it. I'm not saying there isn't place for things like Watchmen or more adult topics but the Boys in particular is something else, it's like someone's barely disguised (and very extreme) fetishes projected to a wide audience in ultra HD. I know "think of the children!" is lame but I get upset and go pale thinking about my cousins being exposed to it. It just seems such a stark contrast from what I grew up with and I'm not sure how to react to it. And this is the first time since I was a teenager that media has made me feel nauseous.

Portrayal of things is a mirror to the epoch and society it's created in (like how XIX century books are much more religiously-charged than modern ones or how kid shows in the 70's did things that would be unthinkable today).

There has always been a rebellious attitude in media and art. Teens have always wanted to feel subversive by looking at violent things to feel more adult.

As for the fetishes it's hard to tell if it's done in good faith or truly a creator having one because you see many old cartoons having the "male character crossdressing as female to attract the villain" in a comedic way (ie: Bugs Bunny in many of his older instances) which nowadays would be seen either as poor taste towards gender non-conforming people (since the entire gag is around the whole "guy dressing as a woman looks ridiculous" which could harm real crossdressing and nonbinary people) or as a fetish (since crossdressing can be used in sexual scenarios).

This is why people telling that Totally Spies being a fetish show are assuming that it's in this way and not ever addressing that possibly it's just that fetishes can be about anything ever existing (which is the definition of the term) instead.

I mean Age Regression, Gender-Swapping and even Mind-Swapping are common cartoon plots for episodes (who has never seen an episode where the main characters turn into kids or babies? I've noticed that even as a kid that it was a common scenario) yet people could assimilate these as fetish-material because of how some could see it. I mean even vampires and werewolves have that sub-text (a creature of the night that is either powerful or wealthy going for a maiden may imply many things).

Oh and because many old cartoons have dirty jokes that you don't get as a kid, it's been shown many times (I won't even mention Tex Avery since they weren't necessarily made for kids).

Maybe it depends of the person and their resilience on material. I do agree that more blood/gore doesn't equal better though.

The most disliked tropes that gets my blood boiling while i sharpen my knife and looking menacingly at a wall are the " You and me , we are'nt so different ." and " When you kill me , you becoming a monster too like i am !"-tropes that gets either extremly overused or trying to make a scene more deeper till we realise , the badguy is the worst POS and the most horrible person in this show that deserved to killed in an instant without any hesitation.

AND the villian redemption-thing with the misunderstood villain too.

There is a reason why skeletor is to this day one of the best villains. He's just evil . Nothing more and nothing less . And he makes it cool and relatable .

I still like when, instead of saying "No! We're not the same at all!" and spend time explaining why the hero says "of course we are, I just have chosen a righteous path instead of you." which is much better.

Ie: The Doctor in the 2005 series with Eccleston telling that maybe he's not so different from that last Dalek who cowardly escaped the war like he did.

As for the "you're no better than me" I agree. I still like when it's not the hero that kills the antagonist but the antihero who knows he shouldn't let him have blood on his hands or the antagonist's second having a last hour turn of heart and is the one ultimately killing the villain. Darth Vador is a perfect example of such.

Redemptions are hard to properly do but when it's done well it can be memorable. I remember Japanese series and more modern western ones that had some good arcs for some of the antagonists.

Of course, the main big bad guy being still the major issue should still be there.

I don't relate to Skeletor but in a sea of "subversive antagonists" it feels like fresh hair because he's so obsessed with He-Man that it became almost like a brotherly rivalry.

 

[MrBird]

cute mascot character that follows the main character around


this has become very common in modern films too, is like they can't write normal human beings anymore

I can't stand Mascot characters in general. Some like the-Tama from World of Final Fantasy with their the-obnoxious verbal tics, some like Teddie from Persona 4 being horny AF, or the abomination that is Mana from the Conception anime.

 

[Lee__Kanker]

When the authors make an entire episode to own the haters, nice waste of money over what couldve been a tweet

 

[MrBird]

I can't stand Mascot characters in general. Some like the-Tama from World of Final Fantasy with their the-obnoxious verbal tics, some like Teddie from Persona 4 being horny AF, or the abomination that is Mana from the Conception anime.

Oh, wait, this for Movies and TV, with Anime having its own section. My apologies for bringing anime into this section, but I still think the Mascot/Tag Along characters like Snarf are the worst.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

I can't stand Mascot characters in general. Some like the-Tama from World of Final Fantasy with their the-obnoxious verbal tics, some like Teddie from Persona 4 being horny AF, or the abomination that is Mana from the Conception anime.

Yeah , i agree .
I would assume that mascots at the start were rather harmless inclusions that doesnt overstate their welcome till we were flooded with those Critters which even were changed into Overdrive-annoyance later on .

 

[Jeanfranc]

Almost any time the antagonist whups the party's collective butts and then peaces out without finishing them off for no good reason. There are better ways to do this kind of thing, this trope is just lazy.

I dropped Trails SC for this when it did it like 3 times in the span of 10 hours.

Lol, you didn't even got to see how bad things get in the Cold Steel games.

 

[Aisf]

Mine is super specific so I drew up a visualization for itView attachment 16677

I agree with this so much

Post automatically merged: Mar 30, 2025

i really, really don't like characters with super high pitched voices. it drives me nuts

This person would hate the video game Bubsy. And I somewhat agree high pitched voices are kinda annoying

 

[Konatalzumi]

One I can mention is that one where a character meets someone evil that pretends to be friendly or something like that but no one believes that character when they say the evil character is evil (sort of like that one cuphead show episode where cuphead and mugman have to take care of a baby, or the "a pal for Gary" Spongebob episode)

ableist tropes like how people who wear glasses are weak and/or getting bullied for wearing glasses

Post automatically merged: Wednesday at 3:43 PM

Fuck harems (no, not like that).

the only exception being watamote. tomoko deserved a lesbian harem of her own

 

[Ikagura]

Ableist tropes like how people who wear glasses are weak and/or getting bullied for wearing glasses.

I'm wondering why even to this day "smart = having glasses" in cartoons.