forum What's your least favorite character trope?

Started January 26, 2018 by @Grace<3

tune

@Nerd you are so right. It irks me that most movies and books don't include them and if they are there, they are comedy relief because of that. (Also, there need to be more people of color)

Definitely! Which brings me to, BLACK PANTHER! I haven't watched it yet, but I heard it was great, and……….DUN DUN DUN! It has a mostly people of color cast!

@Nerd
Its always so strange that directors think making a character white, especially when the character in question is a POC, will increase their chances of making money and getting better receptions! Because it isn't! It just shuts out a large group of people from ever feeling like they can be the protagonists for once!

Black Panther has grossed more than 400 million dollars since it was released at the box office.

That's amazing! Sorry if it sounded like I was putting down POC protagonists. The wording I used sounds a bit off.

I hate the ones where the girl is like "I'm independent, I don't need a man!" and she gets rescued by the guys literally every fucking time. I get being saved a couple times, but you're not "independent" if you need help carrying your books to your locker, honey.

Yep, it's kinda funny when I watch things with my Dad he'll be like 'Why'd you do that?' 'What the heck!?' He loves pointing out plot holes too. He should of been a screenwriter.

The gay best friend who's really just a nymphomaniac who lives through his best friend's sex life. The one who has an annoying voice and is weak as hell. From a queer person's standpoint, it's degrading.

I know, I'm bisexual and I hate reading stories about bisexual sluts

"The antagonist is meean, just because!" or "She's mean, because [insert cliche surface reason here]!" Ugh.

I hate villains that have no reason whatsoever for being villains. Like, in my personal opinion (someone is going to get offended, I know), Lyon from Fire Emblem 8 SUCKS. He is just evil because he tried to get the Demon King's power, which makes no sense in the first place, and the Sacred Stone of Grado broke when Lyon was trying to revive his dad, which also makes no sense! Why would Lyon, who is clearly very smart, destroy the container of the Demon King/national treasure of his country? I can forgive Eirika for giving up Renais's Sacred Stone because she's naive, but Lyon, who is much much much much much smarter than her makes an even worse mistake! Sure, he's moral gray, but he's one of the most confusing examples of moral gray villains ever! I love most of SS's villains, but can't we just have a villain like Zephiel back?

I know, I'm bisexual and I hate reading stories about bisexual sluts

Ditto. It's totally misrepresentative.

I think one of the ones that bothers me is the over-the-top nerd. Like yeah, i get it if there's a geeky dude who likes fantasy stuff (lmao me), but the generic nerd that gets picked on by the (equally-generic) bully for no reason, loves math, and is pitifully weak is just painful to read/watch. You all know the one. People have more of a personality than that.

I hate the "I'm not like everyone else" character, who claims to be unique and original when they are just like everyone else. These also tend to be the characters who demonise people who they have never talked to, simply because they are more successful than the character.

You should read one of my short stories, that's exactly what it's about because I dislike the archetype too.
I think that many of the annoying characters do not really stem from overuse, but from the fact that they really have only one or two defining characteristics. God forbid that they feel like real people or steal the mainçharacters spotlight.
Also unnecessary love stories. I don't really get what a minor love story-plot thing adds to the story and on top of that, it usually makes no sense once you actually pay attention to the timeline.
Fase one: they meet multiple times and probably argue a lot. Fase two: they see each other for a long period of time and have to work together, falling madly in love and changing their opinions about each other 180 degrees. Fase three: they're somehow engaged and getting married next week. All this over the span of just a few days.

Characters who are just walking stereotypes. I remember watching this one show called Jessie a few years back, but looking on it now, I realized that every character was stereotypical and flat. (Just to include examples, the Indian kid, Ravi I think, was cowardly, had a thick accent, and had an exotic pet, a kimono dragon. The black daughter, Zuri , was loud, angry, and was never happy. The blonde girl, Emma was ditzy, clumsy, dumb blonde who barely knew what was going on most of the time.) Even when they tried to give some better characterization, ex. make Ravi more confident, it would only be for that one episode, and the next one he would be back to how he was before.

mine is the nerd to cheerleader thing its not realistic no one can just get a makeover and think everythings going to get better

I hate when people completely misrepresent minorities and don't give them actual real human characteristics. that's my big thing because all characters should be developed and flawed

exactly!

I'm gonna go with the protagonist who's obviously a power fantasy stand in for the author.
They're all supposed to be super smart, but the author themselves isn't even smart enough to write smart people correctly and it makes me violently aware of how much shit taste everyone has. You wanna write smart people? Take influence from real human beings like Neil Tyson. They think smart=I can memorize 14 Shakespeare plays to quote from, and can do anything from dig up and identify ruins, to hack into Russian computers. There's also the annoying stereotype that all smart people are sucks, like Rick Sanchez, but a REAL smart person would be tactful, and not go telling everyone that they're geniuses.
And they're supposed to be sexy, but it comes off as more socially awkward. One character does something, and the other upstaged them flirtatiously, and they keep doing that until God only cares what happens next, like in Deadpool with Wade and the lady he was with. It's just awkward and unrealistic.
And they're supposed to be badasses who know Ninpo and Krav Maga and like 6 other martial arts. The most notable subtrope of this is when a female character has to prove herself and that she can hang with the boys. First off, by trying to not be sexist, you're being sexist. It should go without saying, that girls can do it too. Second off, this has been old since the eighties and Sarah Connor, who gets a pass since she was ome of the OGs, and because Terminator is the shit.
I think the best example is Kirito from SAO, who has a harem that grows by the day, an obviously OP skill (Dual-Weilding? That's obviously supposed to become a bigger thing in the generally shitty plot of SAO), the solution to all problems, and all that. The next one would be the protagonist of 50 Shades of Grey (I'm not some weird guy who goes around reading BDSM ladies' books I swear, but there are a lot of articles saying things about it.), and she sounds like a total fantasy insert for the author.

I think one of the worse tropes is the Very Emo Kid *tm. Usually they wear only dark colors and have an extremely edgy backstory and like a bunch of scars and stuff from said edgy backstory and are usually portrayed as a extreme "feel pity for me even though i don't like attention and don't like when people pity me!"
This trope could and can work if you give said character specific traits based on the past they had, but most of the time when this trope is used the characters backstory does not affect the character at all.
So most of the time they become Emo Flat Boards.

Bastard Boy/Girlfriend that is sexualized for being abusive

Mary Sue (obviously)

Overly-violent Tsundere that make all Tsuns look bad

That character is there for eye candy (Looking at you, Shiki…)

Bland/Dense Harem MC that get all the gurls/bois

Bland Shoujo MC that BELIEVES in friendship and magic and horsies, and need to saved by boys and that type of shit

Sassy -Insert Token Minority- Friend

Dumbasses in Distress that can help themselves but DON'T

Queerbaiting- I support the LGBT community but I can already see the corporation people counting their money from the naive veiwers

Welp That's my list, What do you think

I hate when people completely misrepresent minorities and don't give them actual real human characteristics. that's my big thing because all characters should be developed and flawed

I know right, It's so fucking annoying

@Tarrant_Korrin I'm sorry, but I think you missed out on a lot of Joffrey's story. If he was taken out of Game Of Thrones 90% of the story would have never happened. Sure, he was supposed to be annoying and mean, but his existence alone is what got the whole book started. You should really look more into it.

The 'strong woman who doesn't need a man' character who simply cannot be beaten in battle or rescued by a character who happens to be male.
The character whose sole purpose is to be the token minority and lecture anyone who isn't as 'woke'. Such as Alex Fierro, who insults, berates, and occasionally hurts people who assumes Alex's gender. Keep in mind that some of the people in question are from time periods, such as the American Civil War and Viking time periods.
OP characters who never lose a fight, physically or verbally.
The one-dimensional badboy, and also the cliche badboy that's in a ton of teen romances.

I hate when they have the dark and brooding guy that only comes out of his shell for one girl. He's only nice to that one girl and only opens up to her.
The jerk thats only nice to one girl. No. Just no. Stop feeding into this. If he's an asshole to everyone, but you he's an asshole who is going to get abusive. Don't make it romantic.
I hate when its the jock falling for the shy girl because "shes not like other girls."
Seriously, I hate anything where its the whole "not like other girls" trope. It's stupid. You're not special if you're a girl who plays sports. In these stories it only matters cause she is secretly hot.