Cliche's in fiction that annoy you most

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yanipheonu

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Jan 27, 2010
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I dunno I stay away from knocking tropes/cliches too much since... well, there are very few truly original ideas, so if you concentrate on cliches too much you could easily become way too cynical.

I do kinda hate the super futuristic, totally fake computer systems used in mystery shows these days thoguh.
 

mangus

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Jan 2, 2009
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A twist. Twists are not good writing, they are shortcuts. You know that twist you spent a season working up to? I caught in the first episode of last season. GOD. DAMN. YOU.
 

Thaliur

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Jan 3, 2008
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Megawat22 said:
Then you're gonna love this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ

Yeah. That's right. They actually did that.
Closely related to that:
The average reaction to a system being hacked.
Really, the easiest way to fight off a hacker attack is unplugging the network cable (if you notice the attack at all. The everything-that-gets-copied-is-shown-on-screen thing is similarly annoying).

That's one of the things I actually liked about the Transformers movie. When the military outpost got hacked by Blackout, they just used an axe to cut the main cable.
Of course, since the "hacker" was a giant robot, he just stole the server core afterwards, but hey, at least they tried something sensible.
 

nukethetuna

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Nov 8, 2010
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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathIsCheap

I give every series the benefit of the doubt when I start reading it, but nothing removes the drama of a series faster than 7 mystic balls nullifying every major loss of life.
 

Croix Sinistre

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Oct 25, 2009
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Others have posts with similar content, but seriously, guns.

Being a gun nut its becoming harder and harder for me to just sit and watch a movie or tv show where weapons are a central part of.

Guns are LOUD, even .22 rounds can hurt your ears. I can't stand a gunfight scene where the rain of bullets stops and the hero whispers to his comrade across the way "I'm going to flank them" I just imagine the other guy going "WHAT?!" with a hand cupped over his ear. This also includes the fact that silenced weapons are also still loud.

Rapid fire/full auto doesn't equal ultimate weapon, there's a reason why 'spray and pray' means what it does. In real life and in most video games, the guy with a machine gun letting loose in your direction is dealt with with a few aimed shots.

Not exactly gun-centric, but I'm tired of masses of enemy goons who can't seem to take down the good guys using many times the same weaponry. Not that I root for the bad guys, but are we just supposed to accept that evil corporations (or your select bad guy group) pick the worst shots for their defense?

Those are really my bigger annoyances, aside from others like the fact that heroes never reload, never carry the amount of ammo they are actually shooting, shooting from the hip is never accurate..etc.

I realize these gripes have been addressed by other users, and the cracked article I've seen linked, but these are such annoyances to me that I just felt needed the reiteration.
 

EHKOS

Madness to my Methods
Feb 28, 2010
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You know what I hate? It never shows the character actually getting to/into the mech. And in some situations it's really hard to, or there is no time! I know it's minor but every time it really bugs me.
 

justnotcricket

Echappe, retire, sous sus PANIC!
Apr 24, 2008
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Catchy Slogan said:
CSI. I love it, but they wouldn't know science if it came up and slapped them in the face. Why aren't they wearing PPE? Why are they ignoring COSHH? Why are they breathing all over the evidence!?! Why is she walking into a crime scene and shaking her hair about! WHY!?! /rant

And yeah. I completely agree with the geek stuff. Especially when they show computers hacking into everything. I wouldn't be surprised if they hacked into a cat next.
Oh, this. This so much. I cannot watch CSI New York especially because that main character woman with the long dark hair keeps wearing it out and then leaning over evidence...if they were real, every crime in their jurisdiction would turn out to have been committed by her... =S

At least Texan CSI Barbie from Miami wears a ponytail...sometimes....
(Pardon my bitchiness; aside from the way they dress her, the character has always come off to me as judgemental and snippy =P)
 

pretzil

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Jan 30, 2010
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The red flashing light on a hidden bomb! I'm pretty sure a red flashing light is not an essential component in a car bomb, and I'm sure it would kind of make the bomb easy to find.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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stinkychops said:
Vault101 said:
stinkychops said:
tigermilk said:
stinkychops said:
tigermilk said:
Its a Hollywood action movie, we must jump through hoops to establish and re-establish the heterosexuality of the protagonist/hero, this is doubly true if it is a "buddy cop" movie.
I think you're confusing your feminism with hatred of masculinity. It's cool because of social taboos.

@OP: Yeah, that cracked article pissed me right off.
I presume by "masculinity" you mean hegemonic or positivist masculinity (the dominant formation of masculinity within any given culture or learnt dominant masculinity respectively) and no not at all. I resent the assumption that as a viewer I caould only possibly relate to a protagonist if they are heterosexual.

As for "my feminism", I am undecided if that is possible. I am sympathetic to the agument that feminism is foregounded in essentialism and empiricism. As a man I an unable to appreciatte on a number of levels the oppression of women. On the other hand I believe in the ethos of "equal but different" and do think people should not be subjected to prejudice/discrimination due to their gender/sex.

Are you suggesting I am trying to be cool in light of social taboos, or that obligitary heterosexuality is a social taboo?
In buddy buddy cop shows. The "heterosexual reinforcement" you're speaking about is merely masculine behaviour. It is rare that they put down homosexuals, or outright boast of heterosexuality.

I am suggesting that you are misrepresenting positive-masculine behaviour as homophobic behaviour. And that you consider beating on masculinity appropriate in light of social taboos to do with feminism.
well this "posative-masculine" behaviour gets kind of annoying and makes me dislike the charachters...and doesnt even see all that nessicary

or mabye thats just me, plus it also deprends on how its handled
I spelled it correctly.

Why, pray tell, does it annoy you? I see no rational reason.
well like I said it does depend on how its handled, plus Im not a man so mabye I dont quite understand

I mean I dont think charachters shouldnt act macho...espiecially if its part of their charachter

but its just seems a little silly when It feels like a charachter is really putting across the message "IM NOT GAY totally not gay!!! Im a man I love pussy and Im macho becuse Im a man!!!!!!" obviously I dont see this much...this was one observation made with the movie "I now procounce you chuck and larry"

the charachter Booth from Bones annoys me, not only because he doesnt understnad fucking anything (video games? nerds with no life!, death metal? uhh freaks!) and he cant do ANYTHING that threatans his "masculinity" without whineing like a little *****

a good example is John Mclain all I remember him doing was blowing up stuff and being a badass, I never remember him trying to overstate his "manlyness"

or Boone fron fallout New Vegas, badass Man and doesnt whine that hes taking orders from a woman (my courier)
 

Ramare

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Apr 27, 2009
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Shoqiyqa said:
Ramare said:
White ears and tail, green hair, anyone? How about blonde hair, but black ears and tail? Yes, it could simply be them dressing up in a fetish "outfit", that I don't mind; but when they biologically have the parts, and the hair color is mismatched (How the hell would they end up with two radically different hair-colors, in different places? Presumably they were born with the parts, hair should have grown in (Relatively.) the same color, all around.
If they're sticking parts of one animal onto parts of another, why not keep them in their original colours?
Partly because I don't really believe that, partly because it looks really good when they do it "properly" (Subjective premise, after all.), and partly because half of the time they do it one way, and half the time they do it the other.

Simple, personal opinion.

As well as the whole part I (Think I did, anyway...) elaborated on, where if they biologically are part X animal, especially if they were born part X animal, wouldn't they either A: Grow with X animal's trademarked fur color/pattern everywhere else, or B: Grow their hair color over the parts from X animal? Again, this is all subjective, Wild Mass Guessing, on my part.

Also, some ways it's appropriate for them to have whatever two-tone hair color they want, and I won't give a shit; and other times it just looks out of place.

Example for A: Kitsune possessing someone. Wouldn't look out of place if all of a sudden they sprout fox ears and tail(s), even if they normally had just brown/blonde/purple/what-have-you colored hair. After all, it's the demon/spirit possessing them, that has those bits, not them themselves.

Another example for A: Some random person that's wearing cat ears and tail (Note the "wearing" part, as in, they don't have said ears and tail, they just enjoy dressing up that way.), that, I couldn't care less about.

But, an example for B: They are part of a race that is an offshoot from Humans. They have slimmer, lighter builds, slightly shorter average height, cat's ears, cat's eyes (Including the nifty de-saturated, black 'n' white natural night vision (Screw those damned green overlays!).), they lack Human ears, and they're born this way. It would seem out of place if they didn't have their normal hair the color of everything else, or the other way around.

Just to stay on topic: In spy movies, where putting a silencer on a big gun, automatically makes it cause less noise when it fires than a kitten dropping onto a fluffy pillow. Even if said gun doesn't have available, or obviously isn't equipped with subsonic ammunition.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
18,863
15
43
stinkychops said:
Vault101 said:
stinkychops said:
Vault101 said:
stinkychops said:
tigermilk said:
stinkychops said:
tigermilk said:
Its a Hollywood action movie, we must jump through hoops to establish and re-establish the heterosexuality of the protagonist/hero, this is doubly true if it is a "buddy cop" movie.
I think you're confusing your feminism with hatred of masculinity. It's cool because of social taboos.

@OP: Yeah, that cracked article pissed me right off.
I presume by "masculinity" you mean hegemonic or positivist masculinity (the dominant formation of masculinity within any given culture or learnt dominant masculinity respectively) and no not at all. I resent the assumption that as a viewer I caould only possibly relate to a protagonist if they are heterosexual.

As for "my feminism", I am undecided if that is possible. I am sympathetic to the agument that feminism is foregounded in essentialism and empiricism. As a man I an unable to appreciatte on a number of levels the oppression of women. On the other hand I believe in the ethos of "equal but different" and do think people should not be subjected to prejudice/discrimination due to their gender/sex.

Are you suggesting I am trying to be cool in light of social taboos, or that obligitary heterosexuality is a social taboo?
In buddy buddy cop shows. The "heterosexual reinforcement" you're speaking about is merely masculine behaviour. It is rare that they put down homosexuals, or outright boast of heterosexuality.

I am suggesting that you are misrepresenting positive-masculine behaviour as homophobic behaviour. And that you consider beating on masculinity appropriate in light of social taboos to do with feminism.
well this "posative-masculine" behaviour gets kind of annoying and makes me dislike the charachters...and doesnt even see all that nessicary

or mabye thats just me, plus it also deprends on how its handled
I spelled it correctly.

Why, pray tell, does it annoy you? I see no rational reason.
well like I said it does depend on how its handled, plus Im not a man so mabye I dont quite understand

I mean I dont think charachters shouldnt act macho...espiecially if its part of their charachter

but its just seems a little silly when It feels like a charachter is really putting across the message "IM NOT GAY totally not gay!!! Im a man I love pussy and Im macho becuse Im a man!!!!!!" obviously I dont see this much...this was one observation made with the movie "I now procounce you chuck and larry"

the charachter Booth from Bones annoys me, not only because he doesnt understnad fucking anything (video games? nerds with no life!, death metal? uhh freaks!) and he cant do ANYTHING that threatans his "masculinity" without whineing like a little *****

a good example is John Mclain all I remember him doing was blowing up stuff and being a badass, I never remember him trying to overstate his "manlyness"

or Boone fron fallout New Vegas, badass Man and doesnt whine that hes taking orders from a woman (my courier)
What did you think I meant by positive masculinity, and what does masculinity have to do with sexuality?

The idea that behaving in a masculine way is an attempt to hide insecurities/assert sexuality is a pathetic double standard.
acctually yeah I probably didnt word it very well or wasn't thinking when I worte that....

but yeah as I pointed out somitimes its fine somtimes its annoying
 

madrey99

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Apr 28, 2011
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Black guy always gets it makes me laugh but still very annoying.

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

Ranorak

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Feb 17, 2010
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rekabdarb said:
Bags159 said:
Not sure if this is a cliche, but I'm really tired of when every single god damn time someone says, "at least it can't get any worse" something worse happens. It's annoying and predictable.
or after someone says that, someone else follows up with. "don't say that, it always gets worse when you say that"
Family Guy had a awesome run with that one.
Stewy gets left behind, mutters and says "Well, at least it doesn't rain."
He looks up to the sky.
...
And gets stabbed by a random mugger.
 

Rhymer

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Jan 25, 2011
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"Damn, my gun is empty! I better throw it away instead of, you know, reloading/save it in case I find some ammo later."

*cue fistfight*

Hell why not even use it as a blunt weapon? GAH!