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The most overused trope in movies/games?

nkarafo

Member
Here's the "Monters Roar"

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100 out of 100 monsters have to do this before they attack you. Which doesn't make any sense because they are giving you time to react. Also, pretty sure real animals do this to avoid fight and never when they hunt prey for obvious reasons. So i'm not sure how it became a staple.

There are a few variations of the roar pose, depending on the monster shape. Worst one is when they stretch their hands backwards and their head in front, tilting it left and right as they put maximum effort to scare you or something.


There's also the "Superhero landing"

3_point_051582208693.jpg


This one is embarrassing for me to watch. "Cringe" is the right word. And look how serious Scarlet is. If someone landed in front of me like that i would burst in laughing before they kick my ass.


The first time you saw these about 3.000 years ago, they were maybe cool. Maybe, i'm not sure, i personally never thought they are effective in any way. But after the 10.000th time you saw them on screen does it still look cool to you?

Pretty sure there isn't any other trope more used than either of these 2. Monster roar being No1 most likely because there are many more monster movies/games.
 

Star-Lord

Member
This one is embarrassing for me to watch. "Cringe" is the right word. And look how serious Scarlet is. If someone landed in front of me like that i would burst in laughing before they kick my ass.

The first time you saw these about 3.000 years ago, they were maybe cool. Maybe, i'm not sure, i personally never thought they are effective in any way. But after the 10.000th time you saw them on screen does it still look cool to you?
Deadpool rips the piss out of superhero landings, claiming they are totally unnecessary, which, let's face it, they are.

The Chosen One trope does my head in. Every trilogy/saga has it.
 

ZywyPL

Banned
The main villain detailing his motives and long-term plan before killing the protagonist(s). Slow-mo walk with pseudo-epic theme being played in the background. Slow-mo walk of the protagonist just before the explosion takes off, without looking back or blinking an eye of course.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
- Black guy is big, strong, sounds like he came from a ghetto and carries a giant gun. Always the "street smart" dude. Rarely the thief/scout or brainy magic user/scientist

- It's the millionth revenge story based on the bad guy killing the hero's friends or fam. Yet the hero does the same thing and kills everything that moves to get to the villain

- Everyone from expert military guy (makes sense) to guy who never picked up a gun in his life (doesn't make sense).... everyone is an expert shooter from the first shootout

- The hero is trapped and some reason the big bad boss tells his life story how and why and what his plot is. In that 5 minute speech, the hero figures out a way to escape

- Demons, devils and dragons are world powers. Huge and reign terror. They all look pretty similar at the end of the day. Waiting for one of the million writers to change it up and these kinds of monsters have been hunted down to extinction, on the run, and the current world power are giant cities of goblins who manned up and dominated
 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
That super hot super smart scientist woman who exists just to say some exposition, be rescued by the male lead, and be his one night stand.

We all know those ladies would have serious BFs or husbands and no relationship built during an alien invasion is gonna last :p

Some others: The edit of "I'm absolutely not gonna do that thing...." cut to character doing that thing.
A fight between to characters is equal until the hero LOSES their weapon, and suddenly they fight bare handed better than the bad guy does with a knife/sword/gun.
Aliens/monsters/whatever roll in to invade the US and they are BARELY above the level of a light infantry squad in weapons and tactics. It's all melee grunts and a few flying potshots. Stuff an armored unit would crush without a second though or the heavy weapons squad of a platoon could handle by themselves.
 
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hemo memo

Gold Member
The “stuck in a relationship” trope is ridiculous and predictable. Oh look this sad character just introduced is in a relationship but the MC isn’t. This sad character partner was bad all along and the true love is the MC? WHAT A TWIST.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
99.9% of movies/games go in a chronological way.

But some of the best movies can have off timelines where the ending is first and then it hops to different segments where the finale is really the starting point how it all came together.

Clever shit.

But some reason, almost no writers do that to spice up the flick.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Your buddy was secretly working for the bad guys all along


O NOOOOOOOO WHAT A TWISTTTT
Wait, you mean that guy who was always acting shifty and suspicious wasn't the one working with the bad guys.
 

nkarafo

Member
Also the main protagonist is divorced or he needs to prove himself to his family but always lets his kids down because they are spoiled, entitled brats.

Like how he misses their birthday or school play because he was trying to save the world from terrorists or other low priority things like that.
 

kunonabi

Member
The badass career sniper who all of a sudden has a change heart/crisis of faith and can't take the shot thus setting all the big events in motion. It's died down in recent years but it was bloody everywhere for awhile.
 

GeorgPrime

Banned
There's also the "Superhero landing"

3_point_051582208693.jpg


This one is embarrassing for me to watch. "Cringe" is the right word. And look how serious Scarlet is. If someone landed in front of me like that i would burst in laughing before they kick my ass.


The first time you saw these about 3.000 years ago, they were maybe cool. Maybe, i'm not sure, i personally never thought they are effective in any way. But after the 10.000th time you saw them on screen does it still look cool to you?

Pretty sure there isn't any other trope more used than either of these 2. Monster roar being No1 most likely because there are many more monster movies/games.

Squirrel Landing is hilarious
 

Soodanim

Member
Slow-mo walk of the protagonist just before the explosion takes off, without looking back or blinking an eye of course.

That super hot super smart scientist woman who exists just to say some exposition, be rescued by the male lead, and be his one night stand.

We all know those ladies would have serious BFs or husbands and no relationship built during an alien invasion is gonna last :p
99.9% of movies/games go in a chronological way.

But some of the best movies can have off timelines where the ending is first and then it hops to different segments where the finale is really the starting point how it all came together.

Clever shit.

But some reason, almost no writers do that to spice up the flick.
Pulp Fiction: The Official Game Of The Movie
 

Tschumi

Member
Quick, witty dialogue, entirely free of ums and ahs.

I mean, okay I could buy it in The West Wing because they were trying to paint White House employees as hugely devoted and humble heroes (lawl) but it's now in every genre, every production, from pixar to Silicone Valley to The Mandalorian to Scrubs to whatever. I don't like it when I see a CGI child rapping off a scathing view on reality without a single pause for thought, or one of the comedy breakouts of the 10s like chubby guy in moneyball

It is really artificial, and it feels like almost every script writer in every corner of the industry copy/pasted this part of their skillset from the top result in a 'how to write good dialogue' google search.
 
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ZywyPL

Banned
99.9% of movies/games go in a chronological way.

But some of the best movies can have off timelines where the ending is first and then it hops to different segments where the finale is really the starting point how it all came together.

Clever shit.

But some reason, almost no writers do that to spice up the flick.

Movies/games with retrospective narration are my absolute favorites.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Explosive barrels in games.

I feel this is something that is in every FP and TP action game.
 
The “genius scientist” who just so happens to be an expert at biology, chemistry, genetics, virology, epidemiology, technology, astronomy, nuclear physics, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, sociology, anthropology, geography, archeology, cosmology, nanotechnology, etc etc.
 

ShadowLag

Member
Character slowly opens their hand while the camera zooms in on it to reveal a necklace/pendant/locket in their hand, obtained from a character that is now dead/missing/gone.

Usually followed by sad music and/or a shot of the character's face looking emotional.

It's in every damn movie, show, and game lately and it drives me crazy at how cringy, unoriginal, and lazy it is.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
Oh I've got a new one, New movie/tv show to a beloved franchise with shitty new characters brings back original cast...just to kill them off.
 

Soodanim

Member
There is not mucz ekse you can do... sooner or later you run out of other tropes you can use
It would be nigh impossible to make a game or film without using something that's on TVTropes. It's the overuse of certain ones to the point where people start noticing it that bothers people, and there's a certain amount of confirmation bias going on but generally there's a lot of copycat "We'll do that because it they did it and look how much money they made" approaches.

Quick, witty dialogue, entirely free of ums and ahs.

I mean, okay I could buy it in The West Wing because they were trying to paint White House employees as hugely devoted and humble heroes (lawl) but it's now in every genre, every production, from pixar to Silicone Valley to The Mandalorian to Scrubs to whatever. I don't like it when I see a CGI child rapping off a scathing view on reality without a single pause for thought, or one of the comedy breakouts of the 10s like chubby guy in moneyball

It is really artificial, and it feels like almost every script writer in every corner of the industry copy/pasted this part of their skillset from the top result in a 'how to write good dialogue' google search.
One thing I noticed about older shows here in Britain (On the Buses, Dad's Army) is that they did stutter and make mistakes, but they kept rolling. It was probably because film was expensive, but it gives it a certain charm that you don't get today. There's a focus on polish that goes too far.
 
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nkarafo

Member
Character slowly opens their hand while the camera zooms in on it to reveal a necklace/pendant/locket in their hand, obtained from a character that is now dead/missing/gone.

Usually followed by sad music and/or a shot of the character's face looking emotional.

It's in every damn movie, show, and game lately and it drives me crazy at how cringy, unoriginal, and lazy it is.

There are other variations of this which are just as bad.

- Person A gives memorabilia item to protagonist. Person A dies so the protagonist gives the item to Person B, who reminds them of Person A / replaces Person A.

- Person A gives memorabilia item to protagonist. Protagonist gives the item back to Person A much later, before said protagonist sacrifices himself or wants to be separated from Person A forever in some way.

- Protagonist gives memorabilia item to Person A (usually their child). Person A gives the item back to protagonist after they are much older. Usually before the protagonist goes away/dies or because they were separated for a long time and now they got reunited.

Basically, Hollywood seems to value memorabilia items a lot.
 

Tschumi

Member
It would be nigh impossible to make a game or film without using something that's on TVTropes. It's the overuse of certain ones to the point where people start noticing it that bothers people, and there's a certain amount of confirmation bias going on but generally there's a lot of copycat "We'll do that because it they did it and look how much money they made" approaches.


One thing I noticed about older shows here in Britain (On the Buses, Dad's Army) is that they did stutter and make mistakes, but they kept rolling. It was probably because film was expensive, but it gives it a certain charm that you don't get today. There's a focus on polish that goes too far.
whoooo do ya think you are Kidding Mista Hitla?
 
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