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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Feb 26, 2024 14:59:42 GMT -5
doesn't matter if it's books, TV, movies, etc., as long as it concerns writing in some way.
also i know some people like to use the like, official TV Tropes names, but I am a dumb dumb and will not know what they mean, so please briefly explain the trope in layman's terms.
they can be as niche or common as you'd like.
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Post by Viperstrike on Feb 26, 2024 15:17:52 GMT -5
I have a lot of tropes I hate.
I hate miscommunication, especially when it comes to romantic relationships. Two characters are dating, when one of them catches the other with someone else. Immediately assumes they’re cheating, and runs off crying, refusing to hear them out. Later on they find out that was their sibling/cousin/gay friend/jeweler who was helping them do XYZ for their s/o. I can’t stand this.
I also hate solving problems with love and friendship when it’s not appropriate.. This guy is a war criminal with the blood of hundreds on his hands. Giving him a hug and discussing his childhood trauma isn’t going to make him a better person. Some people are bad and deserve to die or go to prison. Sorry.
Female characters who are overly clumsy and ditzy for the sake of being cute and being saved by a man. I can excuse this occasionally but after a while 😐🤚 There’s a point where it gets ridiculous. How are you tripping and while standing still on a flat surface? Bffr. These characters also tend to get serious injuries from minor occurrences.
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Post by lazzylake on Feb 26, 2024 16:37:05 GMT -5
Found family trope my beloved <3
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Post by ☆*:.。. Rain .。.:*☆ on Feb 26, 2024 16:38:26 GMT -5
I love enemies to lovers! ‘Not My Problem’ by Ciara Smyth is a great example of it- and queer!
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Post by ! (Ġray) ! on Feb 26, 2024 17:33:24 GMT -5
Least favourite:
"We can't kill this mass murder who wiped out several thousand people and committed horrible war crimes!1!!11! That would make him as bad as he is!!!!1!"
Most forbidden romance tropes to me i also don't like. Its cool to see like forbidden gay/interracial/different religion relationships where there's lots of angst and love conquers all (especially in historical fics my beloved) but doctor X Patient, age gap, and "I'm in love with my best friends lover" all feel really weird to me, idk
also i've seen reluctant hero so many times I'm sick of it. Unless their powers are actually horrible (i.e. shifting into a giant eldritch horror), soend less time moping and USE THEM goddammit
Favourite:
enemies to lovers, hero X villain, and pure-evil villain with a sympathetic backstory
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Feb 26, 2024 18:17:40 GMT -5
i don't really like the one-bed romance trope. i understand the appeal, and in specific cases i can really like it, but in reality i almost never do because of how i usually see it used. i'd feel so uncomfortable unexpectedly sharing a bed with the person i have secret feelings for (especially if i thought said feelings are unrequited), or with the person i saw as an enemy two weeks ago (and maybe still do).
magical weapons is one of my favourites! the more specific the thing they do, the better. percy jackson's riptide, wonder woman's lasso, excalibur etc
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Post by rabbit on Feb 26, 2024 18:20:19 GMT -5
I hate the guys being creepy towards women/girls played as comedy trope. I don’t know if it has an actual name.
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Asexual
#07B04C
star_black.png
Name Colour
Ṣanɗypaw™
The Shiny User
🎵Guess that's just the way it goes, easy come, easy go🎵
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Post by Ṣanɗypaw™ on Feb 26, 2024 20:00:26 GMT -5
Found family trope my beloved <3 Found family trope has me on my knees ugly sobbing. I watched The Owl House recently which is the epitome of found family trope shows and MAN did that really hit in the feels for me. Top tier trope for sure and I don't think I'll ever get sick of it.
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Asexual
#07B04C
star_black.png
Name Colour
Ṣanɗypaw™
The Shiny User
🎵Guess that's just the way it goes, easy come, easy go🎵
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Post by Ṣanɗypaw™ on Feb 26, 2024 20:01:48 GMT -5
Also enemies to lovers or grumpy/sunshine tropes are great too. It's so common in media but I'd never call it overrated because I love these ships so much <33
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Post by 𝕊’𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 on Feb 26, 2024 20:36:34 GMT -5
Favorites: Enemies to lovers (my favorite ship in my story is enemies to lovers) Found family (another one I write every chance I get) Unrequited love turns requited Dunno if this is considered a trope but I love balls/parties/etc for big climatic stuff Sun x moon That one specifc trope where the leader of the group thinks it’s their job to take care of everyone else but turns out the whole group are also super protective over the leader. The weirdos are the main characters, I love it when people go “the eccentric weirdos aren’t the fun side characters but the main characters”
Least Favorites Miscommunication! Just talk, please Love triangles That terrible trope of a husband hating his wife. Kill it with fire. “Villain gets the girl”, have we ever considered that if they’re a villain, it’s bc he’s evil? You can have dark heroes who are edgy and mysterious but not an evil bastard! I’m so sick of the romanticization of villains and with it, their clearly manipulative, abusive behavior
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Post by valleylight on Feb 26, 2024 23:28:21 GMT -5
Love: -Novice to Veteran -Mentor Figures -Dynamic Duos -Innocence Shattered/Reality Check -Coming-of-Age -Prison Breaks -Accepting Change -Positive Friend/Family Influence -Hidden Backstory -Greatest Fear -Laid-back, unambitious character in a group of go-getters -Anti-Villains -Naively optimistic characters -Good redemption arcs
Hate: -The Liar Revealed -Bad redemption arcs
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Post by Card against Humanity on Feb 26, 2024 23:44:37 GMT -5
best trope; cute animals
worst trope; main character in kids movie lies for no reason, lie gets revealed at the end of the second act, their friends are all "YOU LIED TO ME!!11" for five seconds, and then everyone forgives them immediately.
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Post by {Azure} on Feb 27, 2024 0:05:02 GMT -5
Love: Enemies to lovers Found family Whatever the “one of you has to die” trope is Villains with tragic backstories that you can sympathize with HOWEVER that’s not why they are evil lol they are just a bitch Hero turned to Villain or Villain turned to hero Hate: AEEGYWGWHWHAHA THE BRATTY MEAN DUMB CHEERLEADER TROPE CAN GO TO HELL AND NEVER COME BACKLove at first sight. Love triangle, specifically “I’m in love with my best friend’s lover!!” Clumsy female character who always needs to be saved Not like the other girls this. and what maakes it worse for my school is that all the cheerleaders except the one guy are extremely annoying
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Post by Lizard 🦎 on Feb 27, 2024 4:21:50 GMT -5
i love love love found family i love red herrings i love enemies to lovers and lovers to enemies i really like battle couples too hero turned villain is always exciting anti-villains i'll add more as i think of them dislike the beautiful all along trope, where they give a "plain" girl a makeover (which is just removing her glasses and putting her in feminine clothing most of the time) and then everyone drools over her not a huge fan of fake relationship stories, i've read a bunch on webtoon and they do get pretty boring quick. it's like: "hey character!! i need a relationship quick because of familial pressures/peer pressure/an event/a lie i told! pls date me for (insert amount of time here)!! here's a contract!! rule no. 1!! no falling in love with me !!" and then one of them is usually pretty cold and the other is super sunny and puts a lot of effort into the relationship but the other is like giving nothing at all, but for some reason, the sunny character is head over heels for them and then they get married and have 8 gazillion babies. a real snoozer. HATE characters who are so oblivious to the things going on around them that it becomes unbearable to read. one example of this is kamille from marionetta on webtoon. i totally loved her in the beginning, but she really began to neglect her friendship julia quickly after and was totally unaware about it. it was really annoying to read.
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Asexual
#E0C6FF
Name Colour
Slightdapple
✨your local book nerd ✨
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Post by Slightdapple on Feb 27, 2024 8:12:04 GMT -5
Favorites are: Anti-villain, friends-to-lovers, anti-hero, found family, I'll probably add more
Least favorites are probably miscommunication and instalove/love at first sight.
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Post by Tealraven on Feb 27, 2024 12:13:10 GMT -5
least favorite trope: enemies-to-lovers. It’s become incredibly overused and too frequently it’s poorly written by authors who don’t have a grasp on how the trope actually works. I see it shoved into places where it doesn’t belong and used between characters for whom it doesn’t make sense just to be trendy. It’s often unhealthy, if not outright abusive, rushed, unconvincing, and seems to rely too heavily on physical attraction. With most popular EtL ships there’s an underlying component of lust or sexual tension involved that honestly makes me very uncomfy. Without proper development it feels too much like the adult version of “he just calls you names / hits you because he likes you.” And again, fiction is oversaturated with this trope rn so I’m getting tired of having to sit through characters constantly bickering or trying to kill each other before falling in love. It’s exhausting. I want to see more relationships where the characters are kind and supportive and genuinely enjoy being around each other from the start.
favorite trope: enemies-to-lovers. I actually had to read a good EtL trope to finally understand why people are so obsessed with it, because when all I saw was the above I hated it. But when it’s well-written and given time to develop slowly and naturally in a way that makes sense for both characters and plot, it can be a really compelling story about individual growth, questioning beliefs or prejudices, developing trust, and mutual healing. I rarely see this though, so I still avoid EtL most of the time because it’s just not worth the frustration.
Basically when this trope is good, its really really good, and when it’s bad, it’s terrible, so I’m extremely picky about it.
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Feb 27, 2024 12:36:48 GMT -5
least favorite trope: enemies-to-lovers. It’s become incredibly overused and too frequently it’s poorly written by authors who don’t have a grasp on how the trope actually works. I see it shoved into places where it doesn’t belong and used between characters for whom it doesn’t make sense just to be trendy. It’s often unhealthy, if not outright abusive, rushed, unconvincing, and seems to rely too heavily on physical attraction. With most popular EtL ships there’s an underlying component of lust or sexual tension involved that honestly makes me very uncomfy. And again, fiction is oversaturated with this trope rn so I’m getting tired of having to sit through characters constantly bickering or trying to kill each other before falling in love. It’s exhausting. I want to see more relationships where the characters are kind and supportive and genuinely enjoy being around each other from the start. favorite trope: enemies-to-lovers. I actually had to read a good EtL trope to finally understand why people are so obsessed with it, because when all I saw was the above I hated it. But when it’s well-written and given time to develop slowly and naturally in a way that makes sense for both characters and plot, it can be a really compelling story about individual growth, questioning beliefs or prejudices, developing trust, and mutual healing. I rarely see this though, so I still avoid EtL most of the time because it’s just not worth the frustration. Basically when this trope is good, its really really good, and when it’s bad, it’s terrible, so I’m extremely picky about it. Pretty much my thoughts at well. When it's done well it is so good (usually enemy > friends > lovers), but it's more often done badly and rushed.
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Post by Tealraven on Feb 27, 2024 13:58:11 GMT -5
^^^^
the “friends” stage is a crucial part of a good EtL relationship imo. Y’all expect me to believe these characters went from despising each other to literal soulmates without any transitory period??? show me the process, cowards
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Post by 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘯 on Feb 27, 2024 15:22:36 GMT -5
^^^^ the “friends” stage is a crucial part of a good EtL relationship imo. Y’all expect me to believe these characters went from despising each other to literal soulmates without any transitory period??? show me the process, cowards i'm also big on including a friendship stage! my personal favourite is friends -> enemies -> (friends again lol) -> lovers (with all three/four stages on page, tyvm, but enemies -> friends -> lovers is so, so good as well! just enemies-but-with-sexual-tension to lovers doesn't really work for me. at that point, rivals to lovers is much more interesting and offers the same tension imo
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Post by *Ɗαɾƙρσσℓ* on Feb 27, 2024 17:16:49 GMT -5
in general i think almost any of them can be executed really well or really poorly based on how the author handles it. In my handful of specifics i usually like; sibling stories (whether toxic or positive), grumpy older characters looking after younger ones, descent into madness/downfall arcs, and rivals-to-lovers romances. Also like redemption arcs, both the more traditional villain-to-hero ones, and the subtype where a character who wasn't necessarily bad or evil so much as severely self-destructive and mentally unwell pieces themselves back together to move forward. Don't have that many that I'd say I actively dislike, i guess generally not fond of miscommunication and hasty assumption tropes as plot devices.
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Post by whiteflight on Feb 28, 2024 5:03:28 GMT -5
For me the one I hate the most is the miscommunication. SERIOUSLY WHY!!!! YOU HAVE A MOUTH USE IT TO TALK!!!!! When the female lead is dumb, clumsy, super nice, and never stands up for herself so someone else/the male lead has to help/save her. When people reincarnation/goes into a novel and they're the villain and the villain is red headed. The story is good but they need to stop doing that almost all of them look the same and people wouldn't be able to tell the difference if you put them all side by side.
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Post by rabbit on Feb 28, 2024 18:01:14 GMT -5
One of my favorite tropes is those stories that will sort the characters in different groups that all have unique characteristics. Like with Warriors they have Clans, Harry Potter has houses, Percy Jackson has all the demigods belonging to different Greek gods, Avatar has benders. I’m a big sucker when stories are centered around this trope.
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Post by lightfur on Mar 3, 2024 21:47:16 GMT -5
Favorites:
- Relationships between sunny and grumpy characters. It doesn't even have to be romantic!
- In a similar vein, grumpy older characters mentoring younger characters.
- Reformed but not tamed characters!
- Found family!
- Cute creatures that are actually really rude/sassy.
Least Favorites:
- When a character finds out they are adopted, they imminently go to find their biological parents. (The best example I can think of doing this is Wakfu. It just feels wrong to me, it's like the adoptive parents are imminently pushed aside. It's like the opposite of found family.) I do like when there's a twist where the biological parents are actually bad, and the character realizes they appreciate their adoptive family.
- MISCOMMUNICATION
- When the story so clearly sets up two characters are going to be together, but then said characters get other love interests who they unsurprisingly, break up with! (I hate it I hate it! It's so obvious what's going to happen and when they finally get together, I feel nothing at all.)
- Dogs are good, cats are evil (This is 100% me being a cat lover, + it's so overdone.)
- "If you kill him, you'll be just like him!" (The only time I liked how this was handled was in Batman.)
- Kids not telling adults about their problems because that would make them a "snitch."
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Mar 3, 2024 23:49:36 GMT -5
I actually love the "if you kill him, you'll be just like him" trope in theory, but i think when it's used the philosophy behind that line of thinking isn't explained very well, so it comes off as a vague way to show the audience the protagonist is a good guy without much work
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Post by Leapkit on Mar 4, 2024 4:01:37 GMT -5
I actually love the "if you kill him, you'll be just like him" trope in theory, but i think when it's used the philosophy behind that line of thinking isn't explained very well, so it comes off as a vague way to show the audience the protagonist is a good guy without much work I think I hate this trope because I also don't think it applies to every situation. Sometimes the bad guy is so evil killing him is the exact necessary solution to the problem. If they can't be redeemed in the story or in the readers eyes and have caused unfathomable harm and no sign of wanting to change it might very well be the right thing to do.
BUT
I think having a main character who kills the villain but still feels pain, regret, remorse, or questions that is far more humanizing and good. And makes for a more compelling story. A hero who kills out of necessity but feels nothing for having taken a life is probably not a good guy even if a protag or done for justifiable reasons.
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Post by Saint Ambrosef on Mar 4, 2024 10:19:36 GMT -5
I actually love the "if you kill him, you'll be just like him" trope in theory, but i think when it's used the philosophy behind that line of thinking isn't explained very well, so it comes off as a vague way to show the audience the protagonist is a good guy without much work I think I hate this trope because I also don't think it applies to every situation. Sometimes the bad guy is so evil killing him is the exact necessary solution to the problem. If they can't be redeemed in the story or in the readers eyes and have caused unfathomable harm and no sign of wanting to change it might very well be the right thing to do. BUT I think having a main character who kills the villain but still feels pain, regret, remorse, or questions that is far more humanizing and good. And makes for a more compelling story. A hero who kills out of necessity but feels nothing for having taken a life is probably not a good guy even if a protag or done for justifiable reasons.
I'd agree with that. I like stories where the dignity/value of human life is held as a strong moral theme, since that jives with my own beliefs, but it has to (a) be consistent throughout the whole story, not just for the 1v1 boss fight at the end, and (b] be a villain that the hero is capable of restraining safely, nullifying the threat they pose to other people. As you said, there's a point where some villains are too powerful and all other non-lethal attempts to stop them from harming others has failed, and execution is the only remaining option. Often times when it is used, it is just a cheap method of telling the audience that the protagonist is "heroic" without much qualification. The emphasis is on the "you'll become just like him" part, wherein the concern is that the protagonist doesn't tarnish their heroic reputation by dirtying themselves with Bad Thing villain also did (without explanation on why it's a Bad Thing, exactly). That puts a sour taste in my mouth, because then the motivation is ultimately selfish in nature. Imo the emphasis should be on the first part, where the point is a recognition of the value of human life and how destroying it should always command the utmost grave reason in justification, unlike how the villain operates. But frequently it's boiled down to "Well villain did that thing and therefore it's Bad, which means you can't do that thing because you are Heroic" and it's lame. EDIT: I feel like a good example of this trope done well is the end of Avatar:TLA. Everyone tells Aang that only way to defeat Ozai is to kill him outright, but Aang is not comfortable assuming the only way to defeat him is by death. In the end, he neutralizes Ozai by removing his bending abilities, a solution he would not have discovered if he had assumed like everyone else that death was justified without attempting other means.
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