Your pet peeve tropes

Well-Intentioned Extremist is one of those tropes that have fallen out of favour with me, mainly because it seems to be an excuse to make a villain seem sympathetic despite all the heinous things they were willing to do during the story.

As I see it, sympathetic backstories and motives don't excuse the willingness to harm or even kill other people and if done wrong, you're stuck with a villain that the narrative expects you to feel bad for, or even agree with, regardless of how bad their backstory is or how good their motives are stated to be.

At absolute worst, it causes a case of Too Bleak, Stopped Caring or Eight Deadly Words, because why should you care about their "good intentions" if they've spent most of the story being an awful person?

"Punishment is not the answer. Punishment is easy. It's lazy. Redemption is hard. Redemption makes you work."-Skulduggery Pleasant

I'm tired of the weird thing in american media where everybody has an american accent even where it doesn't make sense, but one or two characters have british accents as shorthand for evil (not over the revolutionary war yet?).

I saw somebody on youtube complain that Robin Hood having an english accent for once "feels wrong".

Edited by Nukeli on Feb 6th 2024 at 8:15:40 PM

~ * Bleh * ~ (Looking for a russian-speaker to consult about names and words for a thing)

There's a trope for that. Evil Brit.

I don't think it's a revolutionary war thing, lol, considering we've been allies for longer than we've been enemies. I think it's because there's an American stereotype that all British people are refined and classy because the accent to us is exotic and upper class, associated with old money and royalty and culture. Wealth and class can correlate to rich, snobby villains.

Edited by WarJay77 on Feb 6th 2024 at 1:17:56 PM

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Tsundere and Yandere are both awful tropes to me because most of the time, you're supposed to find them attractive even though their actions would make them awful and abusive to deal with in real life. The only way these characters ever grow is if the main character stands up to them and forces the Tsundere/Yandere to deal with their own bullshit instead of taking it out on the main character.

"Punishment is not the answer. Punishment is easy. It's lazy. Redemption is hard. Redemption makes you work."-Skulduggery Pleasant

To be fair to the former, that was supposed to be the starting point of a character arc before being meta flanderized.

Though I'm certain both are working on "I can fix her" logic besides

I don't mind Tsundere if it's handled well. Too many examples veer into outright abuse, but if it just extends to bickering and teasing (especially if the guy gives it back in a BST way) I think it's fine. It just needs to be handled with care.

Yandere I think is fine in a modern context where it's almost exclusively meant to be funny or scary, never genuinely sexy.

Edited by WarJay77 on Feb 7th 2024 at 1:07:56 PM

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

In my opinion, the whole point of many personality-based tropes, especially those that revolve around relationship dynamics is that, well, it's not real life, so people can explore them with getting themselves hurt.

That's why these tropes exist: they're not realistic (well, I'd argue tsundere is to a degree, but yandere isn't really). You're free to dislike them (I don't care for yandere characters at all) but most, if not all, of the people who do like those tropes aren't advocating for them IRL — they just like characters (usually girls, but not always) who are feisty but have a soft/shy side around the person they love or who are... not exactly mentally stable but deep down are still shy and cute once you get to know them a bit.

A lot of anime/manga personality tropes are highly exaggerated and if someone acted like that IRL then yeah, it'd be concerning. But you can say that about 90% of character behaviour in fiction probably. I don't think anyone is trying to argue that Yuno from Future Diary is a well-adjusted individual and her behaviour is okay because she's cute lol.

Again, not saying you or anyone else has to like them as tropes! I just think some of these exaggerations of personality tropes can't really be compared to how people behave in real life, if that makes sense?

Not trying to argue or be uncivil, I just wanted to chime in with my thoughts.

Avatar: Amethio (Pokemon Horizons)

This is also true. It's a safe form of escapism and exploring things that would be bad IRL.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

It does help that Future Diary is itself well aware of how fucked-up Yuno is even when it uses her for dark comedy. To the point that the happy ending only pairs Yukiteru with a version of her from a timeline where she never became so violently codependent.

(But yes, the fact that fiction can be used to explore those feelings safely is a good thing.)

Edited by Noaqiyeum on Feb 8th 2024 at 6:27:17 PM

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable

Indeed. Like I said, I totally understand people not liking those tropes (I don't mind tsundere characters sometimes, and don't care for yandere ones much), but I'm personally not a fan of comparing exaggerated personality trait tropes to real relationship dynamics because a good amount of anime/manga characters act completely unrealistically (as to most fictional characters, probably), so to me there's no point in trying to analyse things through a real-world lens sometimes (emphasis on sometimes, by which I mean romcoms and harem trash which aren't that deep, not that you should never analyse fiction whatsoever)

Of course, this is just how I feel about it. I realise others have different opinions and that's cool too.

Avatar: Amethio (Pokemon Horizons)

Wolverine Publicity, especially in cases when the person receiving the publicity overshadows the main characters in marketing. Attaching a well-established character to a work mostly focused on somebody else is one thing, but hyping up their presence to ludicrous extents when their actual role boils down to a cameo just feels cheap.

That reminds me. The Rival is a great trope when used well because it allows them to showcase the protagonist's growth, and because it's interesting to fight against a boss who has their own take on your powerset. However when this trope fails, hoo boy does it fail hard.

Some stories don't really need a rival, and the ones that get shoehorned in tend to either be a mere roadbump for the heroes or an absolute joke who might as well have stayed at home for all the difference they make. The worst kind of rival characters are the ones where the story has to resort to giving them Cutscene Power to the Max and Character Shilling to sell you on this character's rival status, even though their rivalry with the main character doesn't feel natural and comes off as incredibly forced.

"Punishment is not the answer. Punishment is easy. It's lazy. Redemption is hard. Redemption makes you work."-Skulduggery Pleasant

Character shilling. I CANT STAND CHARACTER SHILLING. "Oh, bob is so good at this!" IF HE IS, THEN WHY AM I HEARING YOU YAP ABOUT IT? WHY NOT HAVE A MORE INTERESTING WAY OF SHOWING ME? ESPECIALLY WHEN A LOT OF THE CAST OF SOME WORK DOES IT!

"You and i are a team. Nothing is more valuble than our friendship."

Largely because either skill issue or they are trying to hype up someone in advance (say, a villain).

Posting another here that might be stretching it being once again more so surrounding the people rather than the trope itself:

I understand why people do it, what with many sympathetic villains over the years either not being that sympathetic, getting a free pass after whatever atrocity they committed, or just being poorly written or thought out

But I genuinely think people meatride genuinely evil villains too much.

Like, sure, it's perfectly fine to prefer them but I hate people who just think they're better 100% of the time as if forgetting they still need to have a purpose in a story as everything else. Or, y'know, actually be written good. Being pure evil isn't a magic ticket to being that way. Or they think they're so clever or "counter-culture" to think so like that's not just as much of a vanilla opinion as the alternative.

A universe of infinity held within a singular dot. Thus a collection of dots a collection of infinities does it become...

The "Progressive/leftist villain who has the right idea but Goes Too Far™" that has become popular in the recent years. It often feels like they're just trying to villainize leftists/activists.

Edited by Nukeli on Feb 12th 2024 at 9:56:53 PM

~ * Bleh * ~ (Looking for a russian-speaker to consult about names and words for a thing)

This is more due to my unfamiliarity with comic books than anything, but I really don't like Crisis Crossovers. A story with ALL THE HEROES IN STUNNING TECHNICOLOR just doesn't appeal to me, especially if it's clearly for advertising or sales-boosting purposes. I'd rather focus on a small section of the cast or even a single character than ping everyone at once.

Crownless Mimic: Oh yes. People seem to forget that despicable, evil villains are the most common type of villain in most media aimed at children, with the Generic Doomsday Villain being the worst type because they're just there to move the plot forward and nothing more. That's it. Also killing these villains off isn't a revolutionary act either as these people claim, because that's how most despicable, evil villains are dealt with most of the time.

Unless they get sealed away to another dimension or back inside their prison that they escaped from earlier. Or they end up resurrected for the sequel and/or reboot that cashes in on nostalgia for the original property, because it's so much easier to do that then come up with something the target audience can call their own.

Nukeli: It's almost as if the media want to keep the status quo intact, even as it causes more problems than it solves. Your point could even extend to modern superhero movies in general in which the heroes exist to maintain the status quo rather than make the world a better place while the person who wants to change the status quo is often portrayed as evil so they're not seen as too sympathetic.

"Punishment is not the answer. Punishment is easy. It's lazy. Redemption is hard. Redemption makes you work."-Skulduggery Pleasant

It could also be an attempt to make the villain sympathetic, and not always with the intention of villainizing leftism. Who knows about these peoples' critical thinking skills.

~ * Bleh * ~ (Looking for a russian-speaker to consult about names and words for a thing)

I always find it annoying when a follow up to a work (a sequel, reboot, ect.) feels the need to take a potshot at the original. It doesn't make sense. Your audience is people who liked the original, who probably aren't going to like you insulting said work.

The example that always comes to mind is the TV show based off of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It starts with TV!Ferris complaining about the movie and how the tv show is the "real version" of the story. I find this funny because the original movie is still fondly remembered to this day, while the tv show is only ever brought up in the context of "Did you know they made a TV show off of Ferris Bueller's Day Off".

I've discussed my annoyance with overly sympathetic villains, but I also dislike over the top edgy characters too. A comedic Chuunibyou is one thing, but a character who has those traits while intended to be cool or intimidating just... it doesn't work for me. I find it too over the top and immature for me to feel threatened by or interested in the character. If a writer tries too hard to make me find someone dark and scary and cool, I'll probably just find them stupid.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

A Cup Angst is such an overused trope in anime. In fact I never found it funny in the first place.

I can see why the trope is used. I assume Brest envy is pretty common in cultures where "bigger is better" is applies to beauty standards, and a small bust would tie into feelings of inadequacy for several reasons such as

• contributing to a youthful exterior that may be unwanted for certain reasons
• actually being young (in which case it is a manifestation of a common desire of a [female] kid to grow up)
• assuming they aren't sexy or beautiful (because again, beauty standards)
• A desire to be a good mother and therefore to be good at breastfeeing (I'm not sure if that is common in RL...or in anime for that matter but I assume it is a possible reason regardless)

That said the thing to keep in mind is that 75% of the time the people who device characters with that quirks of men, and are thus predisposed to project their preferences onto their case in one way or another. There are also two opposite tropes here

• Petite Pride: a flat chested girl who actually lives her bust
• D-Cup Distress: the other extreme of the spectrum. A women who has breast envy for the flat chested.

as a comedic quirk it can get annoying at times.

A trope I disliked even when I was young is If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!. I always found the idea that killing someone in defense of yourself or others or stop them from harming others to be pretty disingenuous. It's basically a form of the horseshoe effect and honestly kinda disgusting if the person being killed in question was one who did horrible things while the "killer" is trying to stop them.

Edited by Kaiseror on Feb 23rd 2024 at 10:17:22 AM

Any Double Standard trope ever. I believe in gender equality, where male and female Mooks... are equally rife for mocking material, getting Team Rocket Blasted to oblivion, or otherwise just not having a good time, hell I even write plenty of tales, sticking true to these convictions. And conversely, maybe a guy being killed off, could be treated as a potentially traumatic moment, that would make the protagonist go, "Oh, shit, fuck, this is getting too REAL...!", in a way that makes it clear that this would have happened, irrespective of if it was a man to die there, or a woman.

Robin: Don't ever ask me to dock with you again. Serious...