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“I Hate It When…”: 30 Of The Worst Literature Tropes And Stock Characters Our Community Can’t Stand
If you like reading, you might also have a list of books that you wish were never written, to put it mildly. As a reader, I got curious about what exactly turns people away from a book. Whether it's the storyline or characters, there has to be something else that accompanies the poor writing.
Some time ago, I asked our community what their least favorite literature tropes and stock characters were and our pandas had a lot to share! Scroll down for the answers. What are your least favorite clichés in books?
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Sarcastic bad boy that has never loved before, has a troubled past, and hates everyone. Why the hell should the loner, unpopular girl (who usually likes to draw or read because "I'm not like other girls") be any different? But nope, he teases her, makes her think he hates her, then goes and kisses her after saving her life.
Final score:
209points
BlockDog02 4 years ago
Yes. I see that a lot in high school American romances, and is annoying as heck. Though it does give me a little hope ;-;
RELATED:
#2
Female characters who are competent, powerful, and awesome that inexplicably end up with the mediocre dude main character. Did they discover shared interests or chemistry? Did circumstances forge an unbreakable bond between them? Nah, he wanted her. So now she’s into him. Too much work to justify it, she’s a prize for him stumbling through the plot.
Final score:
191points
Dawn Sardella-Ayres 4 years ago
The flip side of "all nerdy and mediocre guys deserve hot chicks with little effort" trope.
#3
“A woman arrives at her place of employment; Because reasons, she’s suddenly working with a new Man Employee. Man Employee is actively superior, dismissive, and occasionally starts to mansplain even though she worked there first, because obviously she’s only a woman. Every fiber of her being despises Man Employees, as it should, for he’s an a**h***. Yet something inside her, somehow not a fiber of her being, knows that she will learn to desire this man because that’s how being female works.”
Final score:
186points
#4
Giving characters a sudden new field of expertise based on some tenuous connection. "My uncle's neighbor's dog's trainer's friend's mom was an auto mechanic, so I think I can to rebuild Optimus Prime."
Final score:
163points
#5
When the character that is supposed to be ugly turns beautiful when they realize that beauty is on the inside.
Final score:
153points
#6
Probably "Teenage girl who spouts that she's very unattractive but then describes her flowing blonde hair and blue eyes while gazing forlornly into a mirror before getting ready for school"
Final score:
152points
#7
Autistic characters almost always being white, cisgender males that are savants and have a special interest in trains.
Final score:
149points
#8
I don’t like the “Pick-me” girl type/masculine tomboyish main character. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great to have tomboy characters and stereotypically masculine women, however, I don’t appreciate the idea that a woman has to be masculine to be considered strong. I don’t like that a stereotypically strong woman has to have the traits of a man or be “different from other girls” in order to be taken seriously or recognized as anything other than dumb, pretty, and weak. I think it fuels internalized misogyny and only further pushes the idea that anything feminine is wrong and weak while masculine is tough and strong.
Final score:
138points
Emilycookie 4 years ago
i am super feminine, like 10/10 girly girl, pleated skirts and all. could i roast you to tears or make you really guilty though? probably! have i tromped through mud in sneakers on multiple mile hikes? heck yeah!
#9
Women in peril. There is an entire genre of books (and movies) that rely on women being in danger and needing to be saved, either by themselves or by someone else, but nevertheless, they are in peril. The Girl on the Train, the Good Girl, All the Missing Girls, any Ruth Ware book...I could go on. I used to read them on the beach or buy them at airports but I can't stand them anymore!
Final score:
138points
#10
The wise cracking nine-year-old kid who is "old for their years" and calls out the adults in situations they should have no experience with or input on. "We need to move again." "You said this was the last time!" "Yes, but things have changed." "You're a liar. I guess THAT didn't change." Just soooo annoying.
Final score:
136points
Lee 4 years ago
They’re so annoying! No kid cares or talks like that to their parents unless they want their a** beaten! Wtf?! And it’s often above their ‘intelligence level’ not every kid is going to argue the implications of their parents’ actions like that and they literally do not care. at least, I never did.
#11
This has already been said MANY times, but it is REALLY annoying. The gay BFF. Sure, I have a gay bestie, but it's not the friendship itself, is the girlishness of how the person or character acts. Or how someone expects them to act IRL. It's just, really freaking annoying
Final score:
133points
#12
Quirky girl in her thirties. Likes to read and has a cat. Had a bad break up and now doesn’t trust love. Will probably get over it by the next nice man she meets!
Final score:
127points
#13
I hate it when physical characteristics replace personality - hooded eyes meaning someone (especially a male character) is sexy and deep; long silky hair in an unusally-used color (raven, chestnut, wheat, etc.), especially on a girl, means she's sexy and smart. I don't care about hair or eyes or anything like that. Forward the plot, please.
Final score:
123points
Yeah, you heard 4 years ago
Yep, and telling me the colour of people's eyes. I haven't noticed the eye colour of most of my best friends, why would I need to know the eye colour of someone in a novel?
#14
Group of completely different people end up stuck with each other, go through something tough, and then after three days they are all calling each other their “new family”, despite not knowing anything about them.
Final score:
122points
#15
The stories where a girl has to learn to love herself, and that means ending up dating the Popular Boy, who has never noticed her before. Same as the protagonists who take off their glasses and put a dress and makeup on and end up being the belle of the ball. How can they not have blurry vision with their glasses off??
Final score:
119points
Dawn Sardella-Ayres 4 years ago
The power of love magically fixes their eyesight. (I wish I was kidding, but I've had romance mss rejected because the FMC's disability wasn't fixed/healed by the romantic relationship. Yes, in the 2020s.)
#16
In crime novels: the protagonist does not seek law enforcement assistance for their relatively simple predicament because *insert feeble excuse here*, but by the end of the novel, same protagonist is in a situation that commandeers 17 police officers, 3 crime scene investigators, 2 ambulances (1 for him/her self, another for the dead vilain), a forensic pathologist, doctors and nurses to treat their injuries, a frustrated DA office, an overwhelmed but extremely relieved spouse...
Final score:
115points
#17
Honestly, I love most awful cliché tropes, I'm a sucker for a bad boy, I love a wiseass best friend, and I'm obsessed with a raging badass female lead. - But I can't stand the awkward, clumsy, mousy, shy girl who has no self-confidence and no personality and somehow everyone's inexplicably obsessed with her. I like a girl with substance, a Carstairs girl, or someone out of a Marissa Meyer novel. I love a girl that deserves the attention she gets.
Final score:
113points
BlockDog02 4 years ago
Yes, I am that girl and nobody cares xD. Ok, my confidence got better lately, but still.
#18
In romance teen books, a girl finds a guy, then decides he's too good for her and goes with a nice guy type person instead, but is still drawn towards the first guy, and then at the end of the book returns to him, and finds out he was the one for her all along.
Final score:
111points
Susan Widomski 4 years ago
Perhaps it is just in classical literature where heroes die more often.
#19
The main character's best friend who is better than the main character.
Final score:
110points
#20
Like.... this one unpopular girl, with a lovely personality and beautiful hair and eyes, and the popular mean gal who bullies her. Why are all mean people supposedly popular there? Nobody likes a mean peep
Final score:
107points
#21
When a male character is in love with a female character who verbally or physically abuses him.
Final score:
102points
#22
I'm a Strong Female Protagonist! I look down on things like cleaning, cooking and sewing! I live in filth and if I need to reattach a button I just punch it. I drink straight grain alcohol and eat raw meat! Grrrl Power!
Final score:
101points
JustABoredwing 4 years ago
How come nobody in any apocalypse shows likes sewing? I mean, somebody has to know how to sew if everybody is still walking around in clothes, right?
#23
Well, I don't like the token gay friend, there's never just one, in a friend group that has a gay friend, its more likely to have a token straight friend. It's not that the gay friend turns everyone gay, it's just that everyone realizes they have been gay. And I also don't like the girl who takes off her glasses and puts down her hair and puts on a nice outfit and boom all of a sudden she's the most beautiful girl ever and everybody likes her. Like, no, everyone's beautiful no matter what, let her wear her glasses, let her wear a ponytail, let her wear leggings and a t-shirt, she's beautiful, she doesn't need to change, everyone else needs to change the way they look at her.
Final score:
99points
I is rainbow 4 years ago
I was, more or less, the token straight friend and then I realized ✨I'm Bi✨
Emilycookie 4 years ago
and i'm gay. i think sarah in my friend group is the token straight friend.
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BlockDog02 4 years ago
With the girl thing, I mostly see it on tv shows and movies, but YES. Because of things like that, loads of my friends were scared to get glasses.
HooowlAtTheMoon (Submission author) 4 years ago
I have glasses and I feel weird without them, I don't like it, and my friends say "oh you're so pretty without your glasses!" but I'm more comfortable with them, so I keep them on
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Ozacoter 4 years ago
That is ridiculous. The idea of a token best friend in general. Why does it need to be now a token hetero that actually is in the closet? Lets respect all sexual preferences.
Ms. Human Being 3 years ago
I have the opposite issue, I have reading glasses, and people say I only look pretty in glasses.
#24
I really don't like the stereotypical Strong Female Character. They are not strong, they are two-dimensional and have no personality. Usually all you get is a fight scene or two without any motivations behind their actions. Usually a man is their superior and they're like nO iM tHe SuPeRiOr ToDaY and you're supposed to be like "yeah!" but then you don't like her enough to care. Oh, and they're always like "I don't need a man to be strong!" but then are in a relationship by the end of the movie and can't do anything by themselves anymore.
Final score:
98points
#25
Love triangles. The absolute jerk male character who's the alpha type (yes, the word is used at least once), who's an absolute a-hole to the girl, gets aggressive, always at least 7 times says 'you're not my type, or I won't have sex with you' and then does, still is a d**k, as she falls harder in love with him. Her 'changing' him by the end of the book usually frustrates me the most. Does love change people, sure, do people adapt and compromise in relationships, yeah they should, but you're never gonna fundamentally change someone.
Final score:
94points
#26
The old good girl + bad boy plotline. Also, the movies and books and tv shows where the character is completely normal and boring, being picked on, maybe being raised in a bad household and wishing things were different, and then BAM BAM BAM it turns out their humanity's only hope to stop evil and save the world!!!!!!! I mean, don't get me wrong, some people execute this idea pretty flawlessly, but still.
Final score:
91points
Timothy Ellis 3 years ago
What do the good girl and bad boy have in common? What is it that brings them together? What would they talk about? What do they admire about each other when they have such different values?
#27
Years ago I stopped reading a author when I saw that in every book the main characters were always described as “devastating beauty/rich beyond compare/immortal" I will admit, I did enjoy reading the Interview with a Vampire books when they were first published... but OMG that trope got annoying
Final score:
89points
Anke Dieken 4 years ago
I remember reading books by Joy Fielding. I used to enjoy them, but after a few I realised that it was somehow always the male partner in the women's life who was the bad one (and giving bad vibes).
#28
love triangles, cop falling for the criminal, fatal love story that ends in death, etc.
Final score:
85points
Analyn Lahr 3 years ago
I got one but I'm kinda into it: grumpy a*****e meets cheery lunatic and they fall in love.
#29
The "perfect" girl/boy that has parents that make about a gazillion dollars a day.
Final score:
84points
#30
The "supposed to be _ but is actually _ whereas friend is supposed to be _ but actually _" or the "I'm different from the other girls".
Final score:
81points
I is rainbow 4 years ago (edited)
What about "I'm different from other blob fish!" *"hair" flip*
#32
1) When someone (or often multiple people) is running down a narrow passageway with villains using guns are never hit by the bullets. 2) People who hide behind a stuffed couch or chair are perfectly safe from gun fire.
Final score:
42points
Susan Widomski 4 years ago
Why don't they ever just shoot them in the leg and incapacitate them? Save a lot of boring chases down corridors with always wet pipes and floors and really bad lighting.
#33
My least favorite, most infuriating literature/film trope is exploiting rape as a superficial or voyeuristic plot point. Enough already!
Final score:
39points
#34
A character that is nerdy/smart and therefore knows everything and succeeds in all intellectual pursuits. "This character has a PhD in astrophysics and chemistry, and will also describe great and lengthy details of animal biology, ancient Mongol customs, supersonic propulsion systems, classical French literature and complex economic systems.....in 8 languages, while playing 3 games of chess." Dr. House and The Big Bang Theory are rampant abusers of this.
Final score:
39points
#35
The dorky, dumpy looking nerdy goof who gets a makeover and ends up wooing the jerky sex-pot who has the personality of a peach pit
Final score:
37points
#36
I’m not sure if this is a literary trope or just a tv trope, but the military officer not agreeing with a superior officer but say “sir” with the most disdain possible. It doesn’t seem like just the word should be respectful but the tone should be as well.
Final score:
36points
#37
If the character is a “huge misfit”and “super ugly and shy” but every boy in school has a crush on her
Final score:
33points
#38
Mary/Gary Sue style characters. Must say One Punch Man is a great satire of this.
Final score:
29points
#39
Not a big fan of the heist/detective tropes, I find it hard to follow the story because most of the times it bores me to death.
Final score:
27points
#40
1) The Chosen one (I love HP but this is overused) 2) Damsel in Distress (obvi) 3) That one lady whose cattiness and pettiness are over-exaggerated 4) The gay sidekick (why always a sidekick? Why can't we have more gay main characters?) 5) The token ___(insert identity)___ friend 6) The Angry Black Man/Lady (SO many things wrong with this stupid stereotype don't even get me started) 7) White Savior Trope 8) Magical Negro Trope 9) White Woman Syndrome Trope
Final score:
26points
#41
People who act like "The cops can't get involved" And "I can handle it myself" attitude. Like, why do this? Do you have suicidal thoughts? (Looking at you max pane)
Final score:
24points
#42
Heinlein's women: smart, capable, and sassy, yet, somehow aroused by making their man a sandwich.
Final score:
23points
#43
Oh also- another trope I’m quite sick of- twins being photo-copies of each other or always having something to do with the other. I know it makes for interesting characters and fuels the plot and there are some twin characters in literature that I admire, but in reality (I don’t know how it’s like for identical twins) having a fraternal twin brother is only like having another sibling. There’s nothing so special about it, we don’t finish each other’s sentences, we’re entirely different people, and our interests and friend groups are full on different. I’ve had people ask if I can feel his pain or read his mind. No! It’s actually quite boring!!
Final score:
23points
#44
The girl meets her boss in the elevator, then scores her boss and a promotion. She "earned" it.
Final score:
22points
#45
A computer "expert" who spends 9 seconds rapidly typing on a keyboard before announcing "I'm in!" as he hacks the Pentagon, UN, Alien Mother ship, or a Denny's in Albuquerque. (Its even better when a complete doofus character figures out a password on the second guess by looking at items on the persons desk.)
Final score:
21points
#46
When tough cops or something laugh after getting slapped in the face
Final score:
18points
#47
The absent minded/klutzy smart person.
Final score:
16points
#48
The gorgeous, confident, smart heroine who falls for the goodhearted but really homely sidekick of the irresistibly handsome hero, instead of the hero (who, of course, also ends up with a gorgeous woman). I'm still waiting for the handsome hero to find love with the goodhearted but plain and frumpy friend of the gorgeous heroine, but I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
Final score:
15points
Dawn Sardella-Ayres 4 years ago
THANK YOU! I hate that these kinds of tropes are never gender-flipped or queered in any way. Well, unless she has a makeover and becomes a "hot girl."
#49
Comic relief characters.
Final score:
12points
Easily Excitable Panda 4 years ago
When they're well done, they're magnificent. When they're badly done (which is most of the time), you wish you'd never bothered to learn to read.
#50
For characters here's my list of cliches: Femme Fatales Love Triangles Unreasonable asshat bully/jock. Antihero-main (usually male) character's family member/love-intrest/child/pet killed so the plot can progress to vengenance. Supergenius completely evil arch nemisis/overlord. Save the world from secret weapon/conspiracy.
Final score:
11points
#51
I HATE the 'white girl in high school who has blond hair and blue eyes and perfect skin and wears high heels and really short skirts and is snobby'
Final score:
8points
#52
1. People "falling in love" in less than 24 hours and/or kissing near-strangers passionately for no apparent reason ("Nerve", I'm looking at you!). 2. Humans engaging in sexual relations with aliens from another planet... uh, hello, b********y? Just no. 3. The romanticizing & glamorizing of vampirism & other spiritually dark themes in teen lit. 4. The way every book or show aimed at kids & teens has to be like a "United Nations of Beneton" ad, and the characters all have to have "relevant issues" & depression & identity crises, etc. What happened to stories about normal, happy kids having adventures? 5. The "hypocritical/repressed Christian" and "narrow-minded/judgmental Christian who's really just ignorant or afraid of what s/he doesn't understand" trope that Hollywood absolutely looooves to throw into movies & tv shows. Usually this is some one-dimensional cartoon-villain character who reflects about a 3rd-grader's understanding of what Christianity actually means, but is supposed to learn an important lesson about tolerance, or whatever. This trope is both incredibly ignorant & incredibly condescending.
Final score:
-3points
What do you think ?
Eunice Probert 3 years ago
He is fat, plain, and rather stupid, but he gets the slim, beautiful woman as his wife. Whereas the fat, plain, and not overly bright woman never get the good-looking man. This is a particularly common trope in so-called comedy TV shows.
Nicholas Yu 3 years ago
"Look man, I'm just a guy who had a terrible upbringing. A kung-fu master next door neighbor took pity on me at a young age, turning me into a killing machine to teach me discipline. And when he was brutally murdered I sought vengeance and made every one of his tormentors pay before moving cross country and changing my identity so I wouldn't face jail time for force feeding gang members their own testicles. In my spare time I spend hours a day shooting guns and doing insane amounts of cardio to maintain this six pack. I'm really not looking for trouble. Those days are behind me. But if you continue to knock on my door every weekend to convince to switch my cable television provider to yours...I promise I will break every oath I've kept to be a peaceful law abiding citizen and..."
MimSorensson 3 years ago (edited)
This one made me laugh me head off! It’s unfortunately way, way too accurate. “Look, I’m a nice, ordinary guy who just happen to have killed five gazillion people because my gut instinct is to turn instant, aggressive vigilante when provoked. The fact that I’ve murdered at least one person with every weapon and method known to man, up to an including strangulation by raccoon, doesn’t make me overly violent or unstable in any, any way - it makes me a catch!”
Load More Replies... Chich 3 years ago
Although it has nothing to do with the main story, a love interest HAS to get woven in.
Rocky Mom 3 years ago
Right, like of course they're gonna have a thing now. Uff.
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Will Cable 3 years ago
Women always seem to run and then hurt an ankle. Fat /chubby men/children shown as stupid, Some kid who has a pet that runs off and the kid goes looking for it. No gay heroes. Military personel 'seem' to know more than a scientist in their field of work and treat said scientist as a lunatic. Every time they suddenly need a 'car' it is usually a 4x4/truck, just for once let it be a small hatchback. Action movies where women goes through hell but come out with hair that isn't messy and just a single smudge of dirt but otherwise look ready for a night out. Children with a bottom lip pout that looks like the front of a Tesla.
MimSorensson 3 years ago (edited)
Yeah - what’s the deal with no gay heroes? I mean it’s 2022, come on! Don’t worry, I can root for a homosexual hero even though I’m straight myself - gay people have, after all, managed to root for straight heroes since the beginning of fictional stories, so I’m sure we can handle the equivalence, can’t we?
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Bill Evs 3 years ago
Two that drive me crazy are the generic "scientist" who is seemingly an expert in every field of science so one minute they're single headedly finding a cure to an unknown disease and the next they're calculating how to deflect an asteroid (ok, those are extreme examples but you get my drift). Secondly is the hyper intelligent serial killer who loves listening to classical music. Just once I want them to listen to some hip hop or drum & bass.
pusheen buttercup 3 years ago
Pet peeve- main character meets other main character and is instantly attracted and immediately describes their body in detail.
Thenatural 4 years ago
The black world weary police captain who'll only give you 24hrs to solve a case that has puzzled the departments greatest criminologists for months because the mayors on his "ass!"
Papaya Budgie 3 years ago
I hate how there's always some kind of character whether it be a side character or the protagonist that just happens to be depressed and sad and has horrible parents and everyone feels bad for them and they're just looking for love and want the be alone and don't understand people and are depressed and unhappy and has a horrible life and never smiles and just sits in a corner and are depressed and sad all the time and has no friends and isn't popular. Did I mention they're depressed? Like, depression isn't sitting in a corner being all mopey and it's raining and then they find someone who they like and apparently they like them back and give them love and kisses and make them not depressed anymore. That's not depression. Sure, depression is feeling like you don't/can't do anything, but depression is also just putting on a smile because nobody cares about you being depressed.
CD Mills 3 years ago
Mine is the old "monster/dinosaur/critter" chasing people and they NEVER turn down a side street or alley. They just keep running straight in front of it. I have never seen a movie where someone is being chased by a "Creature" and they dash down a side street and then run the opposite way the creature is going. That's what I would do, I'm not going to outrun a dinosaur or werewolf, I have to hope that being out of its line of sight will cause it to forget about me so I can hide and survive.
CalamityOne 3 years ago
Being smart/brilliant in whatever field has to also mean the character is also socially awkward/inept; i.e. "The Big Bang Theory", "Bones", etc.
JoJo Bautista 3 years ago
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Ronnie Beaton 3 years ago
How about the ever popular "Cop/detective takes most of the rest of the book to work out something you did in chapter 2"?
blatherskitenoir 3 years ago
The geniuses make overly complicated marble run mechanism thingies and spend their time doing rubic's cubes trope is annoying.
Tobias Reaper 3 years ago
man and a woman thrust together in a situation against their will they always argue and at each throats except for intermittent moments of sexual tension inevitably end up together
Jayne Kyra 3 years ago
I am SO happy none of these fit any of the books I love by my favourite author. For anyone interested: Simon R. Green and his Nightside and Secret Histories series are AMAZING!
Just saying 3 years ago
Disaster movies - the sassy kid and the dog always survive, however improbable. Can't the good boi be nixed by a meteorite or swept away by the flood, or shot on arrival at the compound as there won't be enought food to feed pets? And the sassy kid is going to get shot by the alien as he stands arguing with his mum about why they shouldn't go to that particular shelter.
GFSTaylor 3 years ago
Read the original novel of The Poseidon Adventure. It's very good, and more complex (and less sterotyped) than the film based on it.
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Jennifer Germain 3 years ago
how about the very old but often there beautiful woman learns to love the unattractive guy by seeing beyond the surface. right, SHE is always the one to look beyond appearances. ... puke, cue many disney movies.
JB 3 years ago
I read a lot of idealized rom-com, paranormal, romance - Twilight may be all sorts of twisted but it is well-written. There’s a reason I refer to my escapism reading as “nauseating drivel”. It requires switching off any form of cognitive function in favour of living in a fantasy world where everyone is attractive and forms “soul-deep” connection with the “one person in this universe who is designed to make the other whole.” Nonetheless, I hate the trope that losing one’s virginity always hurts and there’s always blood. No it didn’t and, no, there wasn’t. It’s disingenuous to tell everyone that “size doesn’t matter, it’s what you do with it that counts” when pretty much every novel written for heterosexual women dwells on how big the male protagonist’s package is and in the paranormal genre, let’s add all the dildo/vibrator enhancements that a human guy will never have unless faced with a life- threatening condition. Last but foremost, DON’T GIVE CATS MILK OR CREAM.
Cindy RS 3 years ago
I stg JB, years ago, I had a cat that would throw up the milk every time. I finally figured it out. Stupid movies. 😑
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Chill guy havin a chill day 3 years ago
The guy who goes for every girl he meets *cough* Brock *cough* Pokemon anime *cough*
Jodagoatisagoat 3 years ago
How about Adrien Agreste syndrome? When someone is blind to the other person's love and the other person does the same to the other persons alter ego? And it's obvious
DC 3 years ago
The mad scientist. Some are actually well made and stuff, but ... usually, they're just a means to get the heroic main characters unreasonable technology they developed in their spare time, after having automated each and any daily'ing anyway and don't really know what to do with themselves, uh, well, just let's develop something on our own that like safes the world. But, they have some sort of quirky ritual that isn't to be disturbed by anything! The world must wait another day if the last and final screw wasn't screwed in when it was time to pray to Nikola Tesla or something along those lines ... they suck.
Eunice Probert 3 years ago
He is fat, plain, and rather stupid, but he gets the slim, beautiful woman as his wife. Whereas the fat, plain, and not overly bright woman never get the good-looking man. This is a particularly common trope in so-called comedy TV shows.
Nicholas Yu 3 years ago
"Look man, I'm just a guy who had a terrible upbringing. A kung-fu master next door neighbor took pity on me at a young age, turning me into a killing machine to teach me discipline. And when he was brutally murdered I sought vengeance and made every one of his tormentors pay before moving cross country and changing my identity so I wouldn't face jail time for force feeding gang members their own testicles. In my spare time I spend hours a day shooting guns and doing insane amounts of cardio to maintain this six pack. I'm really not looking for trouble. Those days are behind me. But if you continue to knock on my door every weekend to convince to switch my cable television provider to yours...I promise I will break every oath I've kept to be a peaceful law abiding citizen and..."
MimSorensson 3 years ago (edited)
This one made me laugh me head off! It’s unfortunately way, way too accurate. “Look, I’m a nice, ordinary guy who just happen to have killed five gazillion people because my gut instinct is to turn instant, aggressive vigilante when provoked. The fact that I’ve murdered at least one person with every weapon and method known to man, up to an including strangulation by raccoon, doesn’t make me overly violent or unstable in any, any way - it makes me a catch!”
Load More Replies... Chich 3 years ago
Although it has nothing to do with the main story, a love interest HAS to get woven in.
Rocky Mom 3 years ago
Right, like of course they're gonna have a thing now. Uff.
Load More Replies... Will Cable 3 years ago
Women always seem to run and then hurt an ankle. Fat /chubby men/children shown as stupid, Some kid who has a pet that runs off and the kid goes looking for it. No gay heroes. Military personel 'seem' to know more than a scientist in their field of work and treat said scientist as a lunatic. Every time they suddenly need a 'car' it is usually a 4x4/truck, just for once let it be a small hatchback. Action movies where women goes through hell but come out with hair that isn't messy and just a single smudge of dirt but otherwise look ready for a night out. Children with a bottom lip pout that looks like the front of a Tesla.
MimSorensson 3 years ago (edited)
Yeah - what’s the deal with no gay heroes? I mean it’s 2022, come on! Don’t worry, I can root for a homosexual hero even though I’m straight myself - gay people have, after all, managed to root for straight heroes since the beginning of fictional stories, so I’m sure we can handle the equivalence, can’t we?
Load More Replies... Bill Evs 3 years ago
Two that drive me crazy are the generic "scientist" who is seemingly an expert in every field of science so one minute they're single headedly finding a cure to an unknown disease and the next they're calculating how to deflect an asteroid (ok, those are extreme examples but you get my drift). Secondly is the hyper intelligent serial killer who loves listening to classical music. Just once I want them to listen to some hip hop or drum & bass.
pusheen buttercup 3 years ago
Pet peeve- main character meets other main character and is instantly attracted and immediately describes their body in detail.
Thenatural 4 years ago
The black world weary police captain who'll only give you 24hrs to solve a case that has puzzled the departments greatest criminologists for months because the mayors on his "ass!"
Papaya Budgie 3 years ago
I hate how there's always some kind of character whether it be a side character or the protagonist that just happens to be depressed and sad and has horrible parents and everyone feels bad for them and they're just looking for love and want the be alone and don't understand people and are depressed and unhappy and has a horrible life and never smiles and just sits in a corner and are depressed and sad all the time and has no friends and isn't popular. Did I mention they're depressed? Like, depression isn't sitting in a corner being all mopey and it's raining and then they find someone who they like and apparently they like them back and give them love and kisses and make them not depressed anymore. That's not depression. Sure, depression is feeling like you don't/can't do anything, but depression is also just putting on a smile because nobody cares about you being depressed.
CD Mills 3 years ago
Mine is the old "monster/dinosaur/critter" chasing people and they NEVER turn down a side street or alley. They just keep running straight in front of it. I have never seen a movie where someone is being chased by a "Creature" and they dash down a side street and then run the opposite way the creature is going. That's what I would do, I'm not going to outrun a dinosaur or werewolf, I have to hope that being out of its line of sight will cause it to forget about me so I can hide and survive.
CalamityOne 3 years ago
Being smart/brilliant in whatever field has to also mean the character is also socially awkward/inept; i.e. "The Big Bang Theory", "Bones", etc.
JoJo Bautista 3 years ago
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Ronnie Beaton 3 years ago
How about the ever popular "Cop/detective takes most of the rest of the book to work out something you did in chapter 2"?
blatherskitenoir 3 years ago
The geniuses make overly complicated marble run mechanism thingies and spend their time doing rubic's cubes trope is annoying.
Tobias Reaper 3 years ago
man and a woman thrust together in a situation against their will they always argue and at each throats except for intermittent moments of sexual tension inevitably end up together
Jayne Kyra 3 years ago
I am SO happy none of these fit any of the books I love by my favourite author. For anyone interested: Simon R. Green and his Nightside and Secret Histories series are AMAZING!
Just saying 3 years ago
Disaster movies - the sassy kid and the dog always survive, however improbable. Can't the good boi be nixed by a meteorite or swept away by the flood, or shot on arrival at the compound as there won't be enought food to feed pets? And the sassy kid is going to get shot by the alien as he stands arguing with his mum about why they shouldn't go to that particular shelter.
GFSTaylor 3 years ago
Read the original novel of The Poseidon Adventure. It's very good, and more complex (and less sterotyped) than the film based on it.
Load More Replies... Jennifer Germain 3 years ago
how about the very old but often there beautiful woman learns to love the unattractive guy by seeing beyond the surface. right, SHE is always the one to look beyond appearances. ... puke, cue many disney movies.
JB 3 years ago
I read a lot of idealized rom-com, paranormal, romance - Twilight may be all sorts of twisted but it is well-written. There’s a reason I refer to my escapism reading as “nauseating drivel”. It requires switching off any form of cognitive function in favour of living in a fantasy world where everyone is attractive and forms “soul-deep” connection with the “one person in this universe who is designed to make the other whole.” Nonetheless, I hate the trope that losing one’s virginity always hurts and there’s always blood. No it didn’t and, no, there wasn’t. It’s disingenuous to tell everyone that “size doesn’t matter, it’s what you do with it that counts” when pretty much every novel written for heterosexual women dwells on how big the male protagonist’s package is and in the paranormal genre, let’s add all the dildo/vibrator enhancements that a human guy will never have unless faced with a life- threatening condition. Last but foremost, DON’T GIVE CATS MILK OR CREAM.
Cindy RS 3 years ago
I stg JB, years ago, I had a cat that would throw up the milk every time. I finally figured it out. Stupid movies. 😑
Load More Replies... Chill guy havin a chill day 3 years ago
The guy who goes for every girl he meets *cough* Brock *cough* Pokemon anime *cough*
Jodagoatisagoat 3 years ago
How about Adrien Agreste syndrome? When someone is blind to the other person's love and the other person does the same to the other persons alter ego? And it's obvious
DC 3 years ago
The mad scientist. Some are actually well made and stuff, but ... usually, they're just a means to get the heroic main characters unreasonable technology they developed in their spare time, after having automated each and any daily'ing anyway and don't really know what to do with themselves, uh, well, just let's develop something on our own that like safes the world. But, they have some sort of quirky ritual that isn't to be disturbed by anything! The world must wait another day if the last and final screw wasn't screwed in when it was time to pray to Nikola Tesla or something along those lines ... they suck.
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