Horrible cliche's

[Itisnotlogical]

I hate most cliches. Sometimes they're used really well and really enhance the story, but most times they suck

#5
I AM YOUR THIRD COUSIN TWICE REMOVED ON YOUR MOTHER'S SIDE!

I hate it when the villain turns out to be the hero's friend, love interest, family member, etc. It must have been really shocking when it was first popularly used in Star Wars, but now it's pretty much expected.

#4
I wasn't really dead/I got out just in time

Alot of times, a character dies early on and then inexplicably reappears. For example when Cecil and co. fight the Giant of Babel in Final Fantasy IV. Many characters died in various ways, and yet they all return piloting Dwarf-made tanks to help Cecil and the surviving cast. If it can be properly explained, all good and well, but several of them were quite clearly dead.

#3
Hidden powers

Also, a lot of times a character has unexplainable powers that never surfaced before. This, as with most other cliches, can be incredible plot devices (Dresden's sudden ability to use Hellfire and understand hundreds of languages in the Dresden Files, Eragon being a Dragon Rider, etc.), but many times it feels tacked on at the last minute and poorly explained.

#2
The good guys win... again

The good guys almost always win it seems like. They hardly ever get their asses kicked and just barely scrape by. They're never totally defeated. The world never crashes down. Can't the evil guys have a chance?

And, the #1 ultimate cliche that makes me the maddest...

#1
Human/Elf relations

It always makes me mad whenever a human hero ends up with an Elf woman. I just do not know why but it bugs the hell out of me when (insert human hero) ends up with (insert elf princess here). It seems in every fantasy novel I read, the human hero inevitably lands a raven-haired, pointy-eared princess. Can't the human end up with, I don't know, ANOTHER HUMAN for a change?

 

[Mistral]

#2
The good guys win... again

The good guys almost always win it seems like. They hardly ever get their asses kicked and just barely scrape by. They're never totally defeated. The world never crashes down. Can't the evil guys have a chance?

I can help you with this one. Go read GRUNTS! by Mary Gentle.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Fantasy world Humans need to hook up with dwarf women or maybe Orcs.

#6
The "chosen one" cliche.

Yeah, their the only person who can "do it". If they get food poisoning and die then the universe/world/galaxy is screwed.


#7
The "reluctant hero" cliche.

A reluctant hero can still be a "chosen one", but their refusal to accept that they are the hero and they are (assumably) good at it gets old. In some cases it doesn't quite work...you can't make Batman a reluctant hero. No one goes through all the effort Wayne did to make himself Batman to just say "I'm not sure I can still do this". That's also why Smallville gets annoying, Clark knows he a hero and he's good at it. JUST ACCEPT IT ALREADY.

 

[Trekker4747]

Horrible cliche's what?!?!?!

 

[Plomeek Broth]

The wise, grizzled old man who mentors the poor/farmboy/I came from nothing hero and knows more than he lets on. (Gandalf, Obi-Wan, Dumbledore, etc.) - I love these characters, but new stories to be told out there need to come up with something original.

 

[Christopher]

#5
I AM YOUR THIRD COUSIN TWICE REMOVED ON YOUR MOTHER'S SIDE!

I hate it when the villain turns out to be the hero's friend, love interest, family member, etc. It must have been really shocking when it was first popularly used in Star Wars, but now it's pretty much expected.

First used in SW? Are you kidding me? Good grief, why is it that some people assume no human being in the history of the planet ever wrote a story before the TV shows and movies they're personally familiar with?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LukeIAmYourFather

Oh, and by the way, it was being mocked back in 1790 by Jane Austen in Love and Friendship (with four grandfather-grandchildren relationships revealed in under a page), so Older Than Radio at the very least.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Since I can't imagine any completely, one-hundred percent original story archetypes coming along anytime soon I really don't worry about cliches so much as what the writer does with those cliches. It's difficult, but it's still possible to get something exciting out of these dead horses. There's still room for variations on these incredibly well-traveled ideas.

So, I try to look at that rather than being bothered by a basic concept I've seen several thousand times before.

That said, the whole "chosen one" thing does tend to irritate the hell out of me.

 

[melancholymecha]

there are some really annoying ones in anime. The original story's villain getting beaten by a new villain just to show how much more badass the new guy is. Also one of the first villains usually ends up joining the good guys side. The sweet innocent girl getting killed off so the hero gets more angsty & motivated. The ridiculous need for a charcacter to explain in detail the cool new technique they are about to use to beat up their opponent.

 

[Joy]

AKA don't read Eragon. You'd be able to predict everything from the first five pages. Plus, the writing's godawful anyway.

Good list. Keep it up.

 

[Shurik]

AKA don't read Eragon. You'd be able to predict everything from the first five pages. Plus, the writing's godawful anyway.

Good list. Keep it up.

That's because Eragon is basically Star Wars in fantasy setting. The only good thing that came out of it is an insanely funny Rifftrax.

And cliche #1 is a variation of stories were humans end up with various goddesses and other supernatural creatures. It goes back to ancient Greek mythology, at least.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Guy has "cute" best friend. She's in love with him, but he's too enthralled by the hot chick down the street.

He hooks up with hot chick and then she treats him like dirt. He then has an epiphany: he was in love with the "friend" all a long, he just never realized it.

 

[Plomeek Broth]

Guy has "cute" best friend. She's in love with him, but he's too enthralled by the hot chick down the street.

He hooks up with hot chick and then she treats him like dirt. He then has an epiphany: he was in love with the "friend" all a long, he just never realized it.

Teen Wolf!

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Guy has "cute" best friend. She's in love with him, but he's too enthralled by the hot chick down the street.

He hooks up with hot chick and then she treats him like dirt. He then has an epiphany: he was in love with the "friend" all a long, he just never realized it.

Or the hot chick who unaccountably is interested in the unattractive nerd. Sometimes the variant is that the nerd is actually very attractive, so it makes more sense, eg, Chuck.

My favorite: the villain who fails to immediately kill the hero who has fallen into his clutches, for a variety of fatuous reasons, some of which are detailed here.

Another goodun: the spaceship/top secret facility/headquarters which has inexplicably poor security, such as a lack of cameras in the hallways, air vents too small to crawl through, or a security force who can't hit the side of a Death Star at 30 paces, all for the convenience of escaping good guys or bad guys who hijack the ship.

Holodecks that are designed so that a malfunction makes them life-threatening rather than just turning them off. Holograms that become self-aware. People who turn off the holodeck but don't realize they are still in a virtual world.

 

[Chaos Descending]

#5
I AM YOUR THIRD COUSIN TWICE REMOVED ON YOUR MOTHER'S SIDE!

I hate it when the villain turns out to be the hero's friend, love interest, family member, etc. It must have been really shocking when it was first popularly used in Star Wars, but now it's pretty much expected.

First used in SW? Are you kidding me? Good grief, why is it that some people assume no human being in the history of the planet ever wrote a story before the TV shows and movies they're personally familiar with?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LukeIAmYourFather

Oh, and by the way, it was being mocked back in 1790 by Jane Austen in Love and Friendship (with four grandfather-grandchildren relationships revealed in under a page), so Older Than Radio at the very least.

Ahem... he did not say "first used in Star Wars".

He said "first popularly used in Star Wars".

 

[Joy]

lly Star Wars in fantasy setting. The only good thing that came out of it is an insanely funny Rifftrax.

Oooo... There's a Rifftrax? I gotta get my hands on THAT one. I thoroughly enjoyed the 100+ page thread on the NaNoWriMo forum of people bashing the Eragon books. Good fun.

Joy

 

[Plomeek Broth]

I only read the first book which was average at best. In the author's defense, I believe he was a teenager when he wrote it and I'm sure he is laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

#5
I AM YOUR THIRD COUSIN TWICE REMOVED ON YOUR MOTHER'S SIDE!

I hate it when the villain turns out to be the hero's friend, love interest, family member, etc. It must have been really shocking when it was first popularly used in Star Wars, but now it's pretty much expected.

First used in SW? Are you kidding me? Good grief, why is it that some people assume no human being in the history of the planet ever wrote a story before the TV shows and movies they're personally familiar with?

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LukeIAmYourFather

Oh, and by the way, it was being mocked back in 1790 by Jane Austen in Love and Friendship (with four grandfather-grandchildren relationships revealed in under a page), so Older Than Radio at the very least.

Ahem... he did not say "first used in Star Wars".

He said "first popularly used in Star Wars".

Yeah remember that stunning plot twist with Oedipus? (Which, ahem, I would point out is "popular" enough to still be known after all this time. But I guess that depends on your assumptions about popular literacy. I shudder what the reaction might be if I asked a group of kids at the mall how Star Wars and Oedipus Rex are similar. )

 

[Shurik]

lly Star Wars in fantasy setting. The only good thing that came out of it is an insanely funny Rifftrax.

Oooo... There's a Rifftrax? I gotta get my hands on THAT one. I thoroughly enjoyed the 100+ page thread on the NaNoWriMo forum of people bashing the Eragon books. Good fun.

Joy

http://www.rifftrax.com/rifftrax/eragon

 

[Gojirob]

When the villain wins, and the writer seems to think this is shocking, despite it being merely a reversal of the old 'I declare the hero the victor just because' idea. It must be set up within the plot. It is no longer a cliche-breaker to simply have evil win. Doubly so if the evil involves body possession. A modern film can never seem to have this type of villain lose. If a victory is earned by either side, if the villain or evil was just smarter, fine. But many times, these victories seem assigned to the villain, just as they were once automatically assigned to the hero.

The other one : Woman hits man, man/other men shocked when he goes down. Its supposed to be funny, just because a woman is hitting a man. Writers that use this seem to think its 1973 or earlier. Fact : If a woman can throw a punch and put her power into that punch, she can take down a guy as big or somewhat bigger than her. If she is trained in any sort of fighting and the guy is not, not much math is needed. The last person to make this funny was Loretta Swit as Margaret Houlihan, and she was known to be a brawler. Some TV/Movies show a mousy woman who does not how to throw a punch knocking around huge guys. Power/size still enters into play, for both sexes, as does skill. I long for a film where a lady tries to punch out a huge bruiser, only to pull back after, shaking her sore hand. Then shall we have equality.

 

[Lookingglassman]

I know what you mean about the good guys winning. Let the bad guys win for once.

I hate it when the bad guy has the good guy at gunpoint and then proceeds to babble on and on about how he "waited a long time for this moment" or "I am going to enjoy killing you" While this moron is talking, it gives the good guy enough time to grab the gun or allow his buddy to show up and kill the bad guy. Why dont the bad guy just shoot the guy and then dance on his grave and talk trash AFTER the guy is dead.

Another thing I hate is when some moron is being chased by a serial killer/monster and they hit it in the head and knock it out and then walk away thinking it is over. You know it aint over and the killer/monter will wake up and come back after them. If that was me I would knock it out then proceed to bash its head in until the brains oozed out then break the legs and arms and crush its chest. I am going to make sure the thing is dead before I turn my back on it. Even if it dont die, it wont be in no shape to pursue me through the woods.