History Main / ClicheStorm

* [[DefiedTrope Defied]] by ''Literature/CodexAlera''. Yes, it is a story about a FarmBoy who becomes a sword-wielding badass, learns the magic system, gets a hot girlfriend, saves the world from an AlwaysChaoticEvil nonhuman menace, and is [[spoiler:secretly the incredibly magically powerful heir to the throne]]. But it ''isn't.'' Perhaps this is due to the CoolVsAwesome. Or the unique magic system. Or the fact that all the races have been replaced by completely different and awesome things. Or that the main character is the DefiedTrope of the MartyStu. Or maybe because it was written by JimButcher.

* Thompson Square's "[[http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/thompsonsquare/ifididnthaveyou.html If I Didn't Have You]]" is stuffed with clichés: "Sometimes, sunshine gets lost in the rain", "I couldn't live without you, baby, I wouldn't want to", "You are my heart, every breath I breathe…" etc.

* ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'', particularly its trailer. You've heard every line before, and that's a guarantee.
** The ''Wings of Liberty'' campaign itself isn't much better. The characters are, at best, paper-thin stereotypes -- even Raynor himself doesn't have much depth -- and the plot has all the moral complexity of a fairy tale.
** This is exacerbated by the fact that not only is it a cliche storm on its own, its plot is the exact same cliche storm you saw in the previous Blizzard RTS. [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory Not that people noticed]].

* ''{{VideoGame/Diablo}}'' intentionally does this as part of the charm. Then again though, at this point (by ''VideoGame/{{Diablo III}}''), Blizzard probably knows that [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory they could somehow bring Chaucer back from the dead and have him write the plot, and 95% of their players still won't pay attention to it.]]

* Try this ''VideoGame/QuakeIV'' drinking game. Take a shot for any SpaceMarines cliche lifted from ''Aliens'', ''Warhammer 40,000'', Vietnam War movies like ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', and previous Id Software shooters. Only those MadeOfIron will still be conscious by the beginning of the third level. Seriously, the trope page for ASpaceMarineIsYou reads like the design document for the game.

* ''BatenKaitos: Eternat Wings and the Lost Ocean''. You have Kalas, a teenage orphaned AntiHero out to avenge his family who was killed by TheEmpire. He meets up with Xelha, a MysteriousWaif who is trying to stop said empire from acquiring the five [[ArtifactOfDoom End Magnus]]. About a third the game is like that, then it turns out that ''[[PlayingThePlayer nothing is as it seems]]''.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' is pretty much this for high school stories, up until the last ten minutes.

* While ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls Equestria Girls]]'', a spinoff from the critically acclaimed ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', had fans [[BrokenBase broken]] over its HighSchoolAU and [[{{Chickification}} "girlier"]] character designs, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ta9i3YQAzM the trailer]] certainly didn't help. A nervous girl adjusting at a new school! [[CrashIntoHello Bumping into]] a cute NiceGuy! Who plays guitar! A [[AlphaBitch popular girl with a snotty attitude]]! A school dance! A cheesy pop song (which [[https://twitter.com/dannyimusic/status/333819452212793345 isn't]] [[WastedSong even in the movie]])! These high school tropes, and ''more!''

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* ''LegendOfDragoon''. When it first came out, many fans couldn't stop comparing it to ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. [[FollowTheLeader There is a good reason for this]]. It didn't help that the few "original" elements were downplayed. One of the "big revelations" ([[spoiler:one of the members of your group has been mass murdering anybody that comes in contact with The [[{{Reincarnation}} Reincarnated]] [[TheChosenOne Chosen One]] for hundreds of years]]) was just flat out ignored immediately afterwards without even so much as a chiding.

* ''LiveALive'' is like this for most of the game, with chapters made up of incredibly cliched characters and plots. Then you unlock another chapter that starts like this but turns into a {{deconstruction}}.

An important thing to note is that, as we enter the 21st century, the sheer number of works created makes it nearly impossible to write something "original". Also, our ability to securely store books and films in libraries makes it easy to access old works. That can make the newer material ''appear'' to be cliché storms, simply because we could see the similarity to countless older stories. With all that, ClicheStorm is about to become one of the most heard of tropes in the near-future. This is why we warn you that TVTropesWillRuinYourLife.

* Grahame Coats of ''Literature/AnansiBoys'' is a walking ClicheStorm; to converse with him is to be buffeted by lines you've heard so often that they're not even language anymore, just meaningless noises. For his own part, Coats revels in cliches, finding them far more valuable and expressive than original thinking ever could be; this fits somewhat with the "corporate executive" to Coats' CorruptCorporateExecutive, because in conversation as in business, he'd rather go with the tried-and-true than take a real risk.

* ''Series/TheATeam'' is an example of an effectively ''fun'' ClicheStorm. You know the show's basic formula after an episode or two, but the characters make the plots entertaining.

* ''RedSteel'' is one of the most shameless examples of a ClicheStorm ever seen.
* The first 10 hours or so of nearly every single ''[[Franchise/TalesSeries Tales]]'' game. Then it hits you that the game [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle is supposed to end now but]] [[DiscOneFinalDungeon you're still on Disc 1]]. Cue WhamEpisode. And therein lies ''why'' they have a fanbase. The ''Franchise/TalesSeries'' series are great at [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] and [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], so, for fans of the series, part of the fun is waiting to see just how many cliches they are going to utterly demolish by turning them on their heads, or exposing the downright nasty sides of them. (Sadly, most people only seem to play the first two hours and then say "The plot is a ClicheStorm." The entire ''series'' is built on a big ClicheStorm.)

* ''GuildWars'' is particularly guilty of this, [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory though it doesn't get much attention. ]]The storyline in all four campaigns is pretty cliched itself, but if you listen to the dialog you'd think you were listening to a dictionary of cliche things to say. From the motivational speeches you quite often get ("We are the light that will shatter the coming darkness"), to the supposedly dramatic twists in the storyline ("But something tells me if they see for themselves what the White Mantle really do with the Chosen, they'll have a change of heart about their masters"). Although there are some subversions. (Varesh Ossa is actually TheDragon rather than a pawn of Abaddon, despite being Chosen, it's heavily implied ''any'' of the Chosen could have done what the player character does, the player character [[NiceJobBreakingItHero unintentionally screw over Elona in time for Guild Wars 2]]) Nightfall in particular has the most ClicheStorm story out of all of them...despite the subversions.

* The ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' series is split between ClicheStorm games and games which avert it: games one, two, three, six, eight, eleven and twelve fall under this (one and six being identical in how they do it!), whereas four, five, seven, nine and ten don't. (Worth noting that eleven and twelve are remakes). To be fair, ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAkaneia Archanea]]'' wasn't [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny as cliche in their day as they seem now]] - consider Archanea helped establish the genre it's a part of; compare ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Sword of Seals]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones The Sacred Stones]]'', which were about a decade and a half after Archanea.

* The character of [[EvilSorcerer the Archmage]] on ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'' was a deliberate ClicheStorm -- indeed, his primary weakness is [[BondVillainStupidity his love affair with villain cliches]], which prevents him from utilizing his godlike magical power to the fullest possible extent.

Remember, this is [[TropesAreNotBad not always a bad thing]]; many a Cliché Storm is also a [[GuiltyPleasures guilty pleasure]], or even, dare we say it, [[{{Troperiffic}} exactly what the audience wants in the first place]]. You can see from some examples that people often ''intentionally'' create as big a Cliche storm as possible...and then start having fun with all of the Cliches. Oftentimes, they may not start around deconstructing or playing with the cliches as so much play it for laughs. It's very common in an AffectionateParody - most of the times, they ''intentionally'' start poking fun at these Cliches.

* ''GilmoreGirls'' has an episode when Rory is moving into her college dorm and another student has lost a bet between him and his girlfriend and must only speak in cliches. A cliche storm follows.

* The careers of many pop-punk bands -- most notably ScreechingWeasel, The Riverdales, that sort of thing -- could be called this, due to their fanboyish emulation of The Ramones. [[TropesAreNotBad This doesn't mean it's not still awesome]]. In some cases, pop punk bands do get really generic and cliched in a ''bad'' way.

* The reaction many had to LinkinPark's Meteora, mainly because the lyrics are all about the narrator and how everyone else is wrong.

* Almost eveything ever released by Ronnie James Dio... although, to be honest, rocking like [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RR1mGsUvYI this]] when you're around 70 is still pretty damned awesome.

* The entire discography of {{KISS}}... who are still kind awesome in a guilty-pleasure sort of way.

* MichaelJackson could fall into this.

* ''{{Van Halen}}'''s song "Why Can't This Be Love":

* "The Radio Is Broken" by {{Frank Zappa}} is basically just Frank and Roy Estrada reading a laundry list of [[TropesInSpace 1950's, Sci-Fi, Space Movie clichés]], and it is hilarious.

* The story of the Mannheim Steamroller album and [=TV=] special ''The Christmas Angel: A Family Story'' seems built from a list of Christmas fantasy cliches: [[Theatre/TheNutcracker living toys]] (including a teddy bear, a [[WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman snowman]], and a [[Main/BabesInToyland toy soldier]]); a [[Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas monster who hates the holiday]], wrecks the town square and steals the eponymous angel from the top of its Christmas tree to ruin everything (because it represents the spirit of the holiday); a trip by the heroine and toys to the icy north to confront him; and a happy ending wherein the villain is reformed by the power of goodness.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Detention}}'' - however, the characters (What little we saw of them) were memorable enough it's listed as TooGoodToLast.

* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil's ''{{KA}}'', their only show to put its ExcusePlot front and center, is a conventional heroic journey: royal twins are separated when their kingdom is attacked and their parents killed by evil forces; they and their sidekicks (some wacky, some serious) go through a variety of adventures to be reunited and help defeat the army. Each finds romance along the way, the Twin Brother with a villain's daughter and the Twin Sister with a Tarzan-like forest hero. The pleasure of the show is watching it unfold without intelligible dialogue and with oodles of SceneryPorn and acrobatics.

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* Well Spoken Sonic Lightning Flash briefly notes that "they thought of everything! No cliche left unturned!" when he sees his team's new headquarters in ''Final Crisis Aftermath: DANCE''. The series itself doesn't exemplify the trope, however, nor does the team.

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia''. It's a fairly standard turn-based JRPG with your typical plucky kid heroes, your typical [[LargeHam hammy]], one-dimensional {{Card Carrying Villain}}s, your typical "race around the world to collect the [[MacGuffin magic crystals]] before the bad guys do" plot, and none of the major characters (alright then, with ''one'' notable exception) undergo any CharacterDevelopment. By all rights, ''Skies of Arcadia'' is a bad game, or at least doesn't deserve all the praise heaped on it. However, coming just in the wake of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' and [[FollowTheLeader a fleet of imitators]] which mostly tried to emulate Final Fantasy VII by being [[DarkerAndEdgier filled with dark tones and angst]], it came across as a breath of fresh air rather than overdone. Everyone who played it, loved it, and it is widely regarded today as a CultClassic.

* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia''. This may have been part of its charm; damn near everyone that played the game loved it. The cliché storm came at a time where every other RPG in a five year radius -- [[FollowTheLeader following the lead]] of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' -- had gone to such great lengths to avoid clichés (largely by becoming DarkerAndEdgier and [[FauxSymbolism stiflingly pretentious]]) that a [[{{Reconstruction}} return to overused tropes]] had [[InvertedTrope somehow become a breath of fresh air]]. One thing that makes ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' work in spite of this trope is that it combines the various clichés in genuinely new and previously un-attempted ways.

* Most of TenaciousD's songs are made of Cliche Storms. [[TropesAreNotBad Not that that makes them any less awesome...]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' is a cliche storm for the superhero genre. OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent in a FreakLabAccident becomes a HalfHumanHybrid and must now WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld and maintain his SecretIdentity while dealing with [[HeroWithBadPublicity bad publicity]]. To help him are his [[TwoGuysAndAGirl best friends]] as he fights a variety of villains with {{Pun}}s, most notably a MagnificentBastard [[VillainWithGoodPublicity With Good Publicity]] who eventually makes [[CloningBlues clones]] [[OppositeSexClone with varying]] [[CloneDegeneration levels of success]]. And, oh yeah, he [[DatingCatwoman dates a ghost hunter]] for a while. This show is ''full'' of cliches, but usually makes it all work somehow.
** Probably because the show had a heavy emphasis on comedy; the writing made it clear that they knew it was all cliched, so at times it could come off as an AffectionateParody of the superhero genre.

* ''SmallSoldiers'': Everything Hazard says is made of this, from the "roll call" when he activates his troops to his combat banter. The best bit is when he gives a hilariously cliché-ridden speech to his "soldiers."

[[folder:Film]]

* The movie ''{{Rio}}'' is a compilation of every trope common to kids movies in the 2000s, especially [[Creator/DreamWorksAnimation Dreamworks]] movies. See page for a list.

* ''AlphaAndOmega''. Entire movie in a nutshell: Male falls in love with female. Male realizes he can't be with female because their love is forbidden due to them being different. Male and female get captured, wake up in a new location, and have to find their way home. Then throw in a bunch of kiddie humor during their adventure. Male and female finally arrive home, but the female dies. Oh wait, she didn't actually die. Male and female, despite their differences, fall in love, and live happily ever after. The end.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'': [[http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/Epic-animated-2013 In the words of reviewer Matt Zoller Seitz]]:
-->"There's a protagonist grieving over [[MissingMom her mother's recent death]], and [[GeniusDitz a brilliant but scatterbrained]] [[BumblingDad father who loves his child but isn't the strong parental figure she desperately needs]]. There's a hidden world akin to Alice's Wonderland that the inquisitive heroine explores. There are beleaguered good guys that she joins in a war against bad guys that represent chaos and decay; their leader is a funny despot with a European accent. There's a mythology that will be fulfilled when good guys take a fragile pod on a journey toward a prophesied end. There's a young warrior with whom the heroine forms a flirtatious friendship. There's a tough older warrior who mentors the younger warrior. There are comic sidekicks, and a beautiful forest queen who utters platitudes about the cycles of life [[spoiler:and then dies]]."

* The animated ''WesternAnimation/TheKingAndI'' was one big fat cliché from start to finish.

* ''Franchise/{{Barbie}}'' movies often fall prey to this especially when they're ferociously trying to subvert it in the name of GirlsNeedRoleModels.
** ''Barbies and the Three Musketeers'' manages to fall prey to this ''and'' attempt to make them role models for girls. Unfortunately, it flops (even more) when they replace the swords (and ''muskets'') with batons and fluffy, uniformed kittens.
* Every Disney sequel that ever went straight to DVD. Although, some ''have'' thought that ''Cinderella III'' was somewhat deconstructive, and it also lampshaded several tropes played in the original fairy tale (e.g., the king asking why the prince is so in love with someone over their choice in footwear, characters seemingly being very suspicious about choice of love).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' is this for {{Pixar}} movies. It's easy to imagine a little counter in the corner dinging whenever you see a Pixar cliche. Stranger in a community or group? Check. Brooding moment from a side character? Check. Wacky sidekick who forms a comedic duo with the main character? Check. Said group full of wacky members with their own quirks? Check. All of the development threatens to go downhill when something happens to separate or alienate the stranger? Check. They all decide they like this new stranger and want him back in the group? Check. The stranger decides that s/he really is a member of the group? Check.
** ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' is often regarded as this as well, considering it stars [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses a rebellious princess]] (all too common in Disney films) and struggled a bit to distinguish itself from previous movies such as ''Disney/{{Tangled}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/HowToTrainYourDragon''. To its credit, though, it did take a more subversive take on the worn formula it operated on.
** The sequel to ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' likewise is a Cliche Storm for action movies. The first movie was good on its own right, just considered StrictlyFormula for Pixar movies. However, the second one takes most of the Cliches UpToEleven.

* Parodied in ''LoadedWeapon'' with this exchange:
-->Gen. Morters: Where's the microfilm, Mike?
-->Mike [=McCracken=]: I don't know, I gave it to York. I thought she was one of your men.
-->Gen. Morters: Act in haste, repent in leisure.
-->Mike [=McCracken=]: But he who hesitates is lost.
-->Gen. Morters: Never judge a book by its cover.
-->Mike [=McCracken=]: What you see is what you get.
-->Gen. Morters: Loose lips, sink ships...
-->Mike [=McCracken=]: [[Music/TheBeatles Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing or fighting, my friend.]]

-->Gen. Morters: Sorry Mike, no good.

* CirqueDuSoleil's ''{{KA}}'', their only show to put its ExcusePlot front and center, is a conventional heroic journey: royal twins are separated when their kingdom is attacked and their parents killed by evil forces; they and their sidekicks (some wacky, some serious) go through a variety of adventures to be reunited and help defeat the army. Each finds romance along the way, the Twin Brother with a villain's daughter and the Twin Sister with a Tarzan-like forest hero. The pleasure of the show is watching it unfold without intelligible dialogue and with oodles of SceneryPorn and acrobatics; the familiarity of its story is kinda to its benefit.

* ''{{WET}}''

* The PlayStation2 game ''ShiningTears''.

* ''FortyWinks'' for the PlayStation.

** Which is HilariousInHindsight, since as of now Rainbow Dash has been seriously injured TWICE now, Princess Celestia has been revealed to be able to use evil magic, and Twilight actually HAS become an alicorn... ''all in the canon of the show itself!''

* The anime of ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'' is often considered to have devolved into this, particularly in comparison to the more deep and profound manga from which it originated.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. While it is an okay show, there's nothing really new about it and the plots are fairly predictable.

* ''{{Barbie}}'' movies often fall prey to this especially when they're ferociously trying to subvert it in the name of GirlsNeedRoleModels.

* The animated ''TheKingAndI'' was one big fat cliché from start to finish.

* ''Manga/BlueExorcist''

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' does this for ''StarWars''. Obsidian did their utmost to subvert this in the sequel, though.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4''

** Unfortunately all of his works have a more than certain familiarity to each other...