general media Clichés you can't stand

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

I saw a tread about settings in media you can't stand so I decided to make one of clichés I media you can't stand. The ones that you that or are sick and tired of that to always see.

Friends don't believe main character when something ad normal happens: looking at you canterlot wedding

Nerd tries to impress girl: it's usually mean spirited and frustrating
So discuss away!
Nerd getting bullied: still mean spirited.
Don't even get me started on the brain dead character cliché

Edited April 14, 2014 by ChikoritaBrony

[bailey2 114]

Album covers with nothing but a picture of the artist(s) face.

 

I don't know why it bugs me so much, Next time you go into a store look in the music section and you will understand.

[FullMetalDash 194]

A beautifull girl joins,

OH NO SHE'S EVIL!

 

Or my favourite:Train drives slow enough ti get past but the pursuiers crash into it.

Or......Pinkie is playing an orchesta xD

[Guest90210 3,568]

Villain arrives --> Villain is extremely confident --> Hero gets owned by Villain on their first attempt --> Hero concocts a plan --> Villain laughs at the Hero and says their plan won't work --> As the plan is working, the Villain suddenly goes "OH NOOOO! IMPOSSIBLE!" --> Villain dies. The day is saved.

 

 

This happens is way too many movies and it's annoying

[Shanks 10,816]

I suppose the one that comes to mind for me is the damsel in distress. The only thing I can think of where I am not sick of this is the Mario games but that is because I don't really play that series for its story. It is wish fulfillment and there is nothing wrong with that in and of itself so long as it dosen't approach Mary Sue/Gray Stu territory, but it is so insanely overdone. Besides I prefer the ass kicking babes, there is just something about them that makes me drool.

[SFyr 1,982]

Hero gains all the respect in the end. All of it.

Hero is cosmically/plot-wise the most important thing ever. I'd love to see someone make the protagonist the one who gets to accompany some destined-to-be-great person, and just watch them always be better than what they could ever be.

Hero unites many people and earns the respect of many (or even saves the day) through the power of common sense, and not having their head buried somewhere warm.

 

Also: Anyone who ever one-ups the hero will get one-up'ed, making the first one-up just there to make the hero's one-up more satisfying.

Edited April 14, 2014 by SFyr

[long gone 8,929]

Some bad guy from Russia/North Korea/Iran/some other country that's not America begins trying to instigate another World War > 'Murica comes in to save the motherfucking day yeah > Bad guy is wicked hard to catch > All of 'Murica's efforts fail for the longest time > Eventually 'Murica wins and the day is saved and everything is right in the world again yaaaaaaaaaay

[Rift enchanted 380]

Main character has really good skills to defeat all villains for intro, he suddenly loses all skills to get captured, then he gets all his skills back to get out.

I don't know any movie that hasn't done that

[Wild Star 141]

The "girl is so dazzled by guy she doesn't even say anything and just stares" cliche. Also the cliche where "girl doesn't know she should just kick him in the balls" cliche. :/

[Megas 27,742]

Generic shooter box arts walking forward. Case-in-point

(yeah I know LA NOIRE and DmC aren't shooters, but the picture as a whole shows what I'm talking about)

 

Though it's hard for me to hate cliches honestly, just as long as there's a refreshing change to it or the cliche isn't half assed

Edited April 14, 2014 by Randy Marsh

[Colorful Respawn 399]

Good guy trips on something while running away from evil and a convenient prop to help barricade a door.  

[Clarity 3,094]

Deus Ex Machina.

 

That's all I need to say.

[man dude man 555]

Unrealistic heroism. I think it would be entertaining to see a chaotic neutral hero, or a hero that, is in reality actually selfish, but does good for his own self interest. They make it seem like people being selflessly noble is a common thing in the media, but if we have to be honest with ourselves, necks dont get stuck out on the line unless somepony is getting paid, or if its personal.

[CadetGrey 267]

[This post is hidden. No offense to anyone, but I am no longer part of the community and no longer wish to be an (active) part of the forums. I treasure the friendships I made along the way. Thank you!]

Edited March 28, 2021 by CadetGrey

[Zhortac 1,474]

Everyone's OC (ESSPECIALY in DBZ) has to be some super powered, god like character.

Every hero has to be all, "I'll sacrafice myself to save the day!"...it works sometimes, but every time...come on...even Optimus Prime has worn that out.

[bailey2 114]

Also another music related one, When a band is playing a song in a video then at the end of the song they casually laugh like nothing even happened, I might be wrong but I think the Beatles started this cliché.

[The Coffee Pony 1,390]

World in Peril? SEND IN THE INEXPERIENCED CHILDREN TO SAVE IT!!!

[Jeric 46,854]

Uniform Races / Species - You find this in a lot of sci-fi and fantasy fiction. I don't mind the noble savage concept, but I can't stand if they are ALL noble. Same with a villainous group that is presented in such a way that each and every member is pure evil or just a sheep of one evil overlord. Now, if done correctly, it still works. But when it fails ... it fails HARD. I like a little gray in my evil please.

 

I don't really mind cliché's if there is something presented along with it that is unique. I mean, most of Star Wars is cliché, but its presentation bucks just enough story tropes so 'would be' cliché now becomes 'quaint familiarity'. JK Rowling mastered this in Harry Potter.

[Bastion 414]

In games

-FPS just being the most bloody point and click game, add some strategy please.

-Being the "chosen one" Call me weird but I'd like to just be someone working by the Chosen one instead of being that person myself.

-Being able to run stupidly into a army of soldiers single handed and come out without a scratch (god of war *cough*)

 

In Films

-Liar revealed.

-The main character being nothing that makes you stand out but still be able to save the day single handed

-Overly dark or throwing in stupid time wasting jokes

 

In TV

-A song for the opening video (Sure theme tunes and what not but I'd like a change of pace)

-Needing songs in the show (Some exceptions if they know to do it well, Smile song for example)

-Recurring villains

-A good character having to die or go evil after the show goes on so long

 

In music

-It being about love (you can do so much with music but most artists just go for the same "love" template for a cash grab)

-Music video needing the singer or others to be half naked to keep you watching

-most music being computer generated

-lyrics that have no meaning at all! (Let me take a selfie really frustrates me with that)

[Ribbonfree 2,383]

No cliche is inherently bad in my opinion, they're all just tools for the expression of something in media. The key is and always will be execution, the same tired cliche can be amazing if given the right expression, even if that expression itself is tired.

[bailey2 114]

In music

-It being about love (you can do so much with music but most artists just go for the same "love" template for a cash grab)

I think the biggest offender is Aerosmith, Once a great band but now just hangs onto the band name to sell love songs for money every now and then.

[Thrashy 2,800]

While I definitely prefer thinking outside the box, there aren't too many clichés that I'm opposed to on a fundamental level; I believe that just about any one of them (D.I.D., etc.) can benefit a story if executed well within the context thereof. But I suppose if there are a few that bother me more than others, it's those that are quite often found in anime:

 

-"Tsundere" characters. They seem to be all the rage, but I'm just sick of them. I don't find much endearing about a character whose main characteristic is to deny their true feelings about something for the sake of keeping up appearances. That speaks of insecurity to me, and...well, as someone who's struggled to cope with my own insecurities for many years now, I find tsunderes uncomfortably relatable. I want to relate to confident characters, not insecure ones.

 

-"Unintentional perv" moments. You know, where some unsuspecting goober looks up, happens to be standing under a girl wearing a skirt (usually a tsundere), who promptly FREAKS THE FUCK OUT and uppercuts him into the sky. Laaaaaaaame.

 

-"I'm going to explain to you in great detail the move I am about to perform, and just why you should be cowering in fear of it" moments. Ever wonder why many action-oriented animes take FIVE EPISODES to reach the conclusion of ONE fight? Moments like these. IMO, a script should never contain walls of text about what the writer thinks is interesting about the big bad's powers, because that ultimately translates to five minutes of pointless exposition on-screen. Pray tell, what on earth is wrong with a simple "Oh shit, his power level's OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAND!" and just getting on with the flippin' fight? This drawn-out BS is just. Not. Necessary.

 

-Fanservice. As a man who looooves teh wimmins, I rarely object to the chance to see a cutie in a bikini...unless it's completely irrelevant to anything that's going on, at which point, it's a waste of freakin' time and, frankly, an insult to intelligent viewers. There's a time and a place, people. A time and a place.

 

-Brooding, "badass" loner heroes. Not saying every hero has to have a life of sunshine and celery stalks, but constant moping and doping is just not fun. Believe it or not, it IS possible to have a character with a grim backstory and NOT have them be a self-pitying douche all the time. How is this possible, you ask? Why, through competent writing, of course. And concerning the "badass" aspect of it...well, I hate to break it to you, hack writers, but your character HAS to be subject to the mere possibility of losing. There is no inherent drama in a character that can breeze through any challenge without so much as blinking. If a hero (or any person) is not challenged, s/he will not change. That's just a fact of life: challenge begets development and self-growth.

 

I suppose there are more I could go into, but those are the really big ones that grind my gears.

Edited April 14, 2014 by The Thrashy One

[CadetGrey 267]

 

 

On 2014-04-14 at 10:05 PM, Hyper said:

Call me weird but I'd like to just be someone working by the Chosen one instead of being that person myself.

 

[This post is hidden. No offense to anyone, but I am no longer part of the community and no longer wish to be an (active) part of the forums. I treasure the friendships I made along the way. Thank you!]

Edited March 28, 2021 by CadetGrey

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

All I need to tell you is Final Fantasy has loads of it in it's plotlines, and so do Disney movies.

 

Another, Call of Duty style FPS plotlines.

 

Lastly, Superheroes. They are getting so cliche it's not even amazing anymore. It's really a yawn when Marvel releases yet ANOTHER superhero movie.

[Skeleton Kin 385]

The line "I thin-" *kiss* moments in films and the idea that 4chan is so god awful that you'd die upon entering.