Your ~Favorite~ cliches and tropes

[Pyonkotchi]

We've seen it a million times, but we never get tire of it. maybe it's a guilty pleasure, maybe you proudly use these cliche's in your story. whatever the case is. you LIKE them

because I see OMG WHAT CLICHES DO YOU HATE???? threads a lot. People are afraid of seeming unoriginal...? but it's OKAY. some people might not like it. but you can't please everyone. :>

Tropes are not bad. and It's okay to use Cliches and You can't fight fate,
trying too hard to get rid off all hints of unoriginality will look like... you're trying too hard.
soo....
what are some cliche's that you personally like, and wouldn't mind seeing once more?

i actually don't mind seeing the power of friendship in stories. It's corny but... hnnggg >u>
and The Chosen One lololol so overused. but... almost everygame on my shelf has that. And I don;t hate it ...yet :>

[SilverxBlue]

Definitely the childhood friend turned lover (lols that is actually what my game is all about.)
I dunno why but there is something about it that I really like.
Oh I also like the protagonist turning out to be an insane person in the end.
As for the tropes the Kuudere, the stoic spectacles and the tall dark and bishojo/snarky are my personal favorites. I have a distinct liking for the shrinking violet as well...

[Aleema]

Huh, wasn't this topic done sometime recently? Or is time just going by too fast and I need to get a damn job?
OH FOUND IT! http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... =13&t=9195

It's been a couple months. Proceed.

[pondrthis]

I agree with SilverxBlue about childhood friend stuff.

I also like little sister/big brother bonds (non-sexual ones moreso than sexual ones) because I'm very close to my little sister. It was the highlight of "Higurashi" for me.

As much as I hate using "trope" terms (because I feel like people who use them never thought about story cliches until there was a website [TVTropes] about it), I really like "tomato surprise" type twists. In short, twists which base themselves on assumptions the reader made about what cannot be directly seen. For example, twists involving the unseen protagonist.

I love unreliable narration. I even like it when the unreliable narration isn't ever openly stated to be unreliable. For example, if a depressed character says things that fit depression just perfectly but are never contradicted, it gets the reader stuck in the same trapped mindset unless he/she steps back for a second to say, "wait a minute, this person is just depressed". That's REALLY what it means to get into the mind of the protag. Of course, doing this ruins some stories ("Kara no Kyoukai", for instance) because it keeps you from relating to characters who are, in truth, ass-crazy.

Since romance needs conflict too, the classic tsundere is an okay character archetype. It gives that feel of "winning him/her over" without introducing the incredibly annoying modern tsundere... ugh. Modern tsundere are on the hate list.

[Aleema]

Since romance needs conflict too, the classic tsundere is an okay character archetype. It gives that feel of "winning him/her over" without introducing the incredibly annoying modern tsundere... ugh. Modern tsundere are on the hate list.

What's the difference between "classic" and "modern"? Never heard of that.

[Radhreni]

I think the difference is supposed to be that "classic" is closer to a character who starts off brusque or even somewhat antagonistic in their relation to the MC, but slowly softens toward her or him. More along the lines of "Defrosting Ice Queen/King" (I think that trope was even linked to from the Tsundere page, at least once upon a time. Not risking my free time to check, that place is a time sink).

The "modern" tsundere is a one-dimensional ball of jerkassery (wait, spheres are three-dimensional...d'oh) that is in serious need of growing up and/or therapy before getting into a romantic relationship. Or at least those are the ones dominating the field.

(Full disclosure: not a fan of the modern tsundere at all.)

(Not commenting on the whole "cliche/trope" mess, because it's just not worth it.)

[kinougames]

:< I am one of those "urrrrrgh troooooopes noooo" people, but, and idk if this is really a trope so much as basically a sort of person that actually exists irl...

I like the incredibly attractive, great-with-the-ladies, suave, upscale gentleman types who have dubious morals. In general, I like anyone who has morals that are not really on the side of "good" or "evil", because if done right, they really make a fabulous surprise ending character.

[Pyonkotchi]

I love Defrosting Ice Queens/Kings <3

Defrosting Ice Royals are cold, frosty, harsh and sometimes hard to approach,
but if you try your hardest you can defrost her and she'll warm up
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... ngIceQueen

Sister trope to Tsundere since Tsundere actually used to mean this, but over time, that term has mutated to mean a character with both a sweet side and a temper.

I don't like the Modern Tsundere much, the character is usually reaaaally violent for the sake of comedy. she can be a really great character if written well... anything can be, but... :<

I like the incredibly attractive, great-with-the-ladies, suave, upscale gentleman types who have dubious morals.

oh dude this too. hnnggggggg <_>

[pondrthis]

Modern tsundere can't control their emotions and flop back and forth between being pissy and sweet. But not just pissy in a typical person with an attitude way... more like a downright ass.

And yet people still love them for some reason. I'd rather have a yandere personally, at least everyone realizes they're off their fucking rockers... only idiots say they're "just misunderstood".

As to the suave, attractive lady-killer, I like them when they have GOOD morals. There's nothing like a love triangle where the "other guy" is obviously the better choice. Makes for a lot of tension. "Maison Ikkoku" was incredible for this reason... Mitaka Shun was a sex machine, you just had to admit. And not a bad guy, really. You hated to love him!

[gekiganwing]

Tropes I happen to like:

* Bi The Way - I'm fascinated with characters who might be willing to commit to a man or a woman.
* Innocent Fanservice Person - It's sometimes a cheap way to add fanservice, and sometimes an interesting way to portray characters who don't fit into normal society. I often like both versions.
* Nakama - Because I've become a far better person thanks to my real life friends.
* Retraux - Recent media that doesn't rely on flashy graphics, but instead reminds the audience of older media.
* Widget Series - Why yes, I look for odd things. Sometimes they're more gimmicky than good, but sometimes they bring new ideas to the table.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

[Sapphi]

Tropes I loooove:

Church Militant (specifically, Nuns with Guns... why? I don't know! it's just... SO COOL!)

Kuudere - Tsunderes are fun and all, but Kuuderes are 100x cuter IMO. >w<

Small Girl, Big Gun - Somehow it's like the juxtaposition of a cute girl with a big huge weapon magnifies the coolness/cuteness of each of them by a zillion percent. Right now, in fact, one of my Rain Mikamura figures is holding a huge gun...

Hot Blooded - Everyone likes this one, right?! This hand of mine is telling me so!

Tall, Dark and Snarky - The KN I'm writing is narrated by a guy like this. Actually, don't read the page if you don't want to know things that may or may not happen in the plot... argh, is my story really that cliche?!

Unlucky Everydude - I've seen a lot of instances where this kind of character was written to be horribly dull, but if done right it's got the potential to be downright hilarious.

Wrench Wench - One of the most awesome character tropes... because... it shows that attractive girls don't always have to be brainless floozies who run around in heels getting into trouble.

Fair Cop - Wrap several of my favorite tropes together, put on a cool uniform, and this would be the result. HECK YES.

[Tachyglossus]

I'm a sucker for androgyny of either gender. Angular or buff lassies with short hair and deep husky voices, or slender, soft-spoken lads with long hair.

I don't really spend much time on TV Tropes (I take occasional leaps into the void) and it would give me a headache (actually I already have one right now) to look for the site's home brewed terms for clichés...

...but some plot clichés that I enjoy are:

Ordinary person hurled into another world, INCLUDING, being sucked into a game/book/movie et cetera, so long as it isn't just another self-insertion wish fulfilment fan fic. (My first Ren'Py project will be about someone getting sucked into another world.)

Elements of the story being result of the protagonist's psychosis. I'm not so big on 'the entire story was a dream' but rather the protagonist's twisted or even fanciful perceptions is juxtoposed over top of reality.

Elements. Yes. Elements. Give me some good old fire, wind, air, et cetera.

Someone coming back to life. Yes, this one is absurdly abused and over done, but when done right, (Wait, it can be done right? Oh yes it can! I can't think of an example at present, though) I do enjoy it. I think it was a cliché that I latched onto at a very young age (I could barely read or write yet) and have had a hard time of letting go. Go ahead, roll your eyes, and move on.

Protagonist and antagonist join up to fight a common enemy. This can just be fun!

[pondrthis]

Church Militant

Oh yeah, that's a good one. That's the main appeal of the entire Castlevania series of games, being a holy warrior aka paladin. The most recent game in the series, Lords of Shadow, really made you feel like you were fighting for God by pitting you against Satan in the final battle and giving you infinite of that precious magic you'd learned to value so highly up until then. It was quite inspiring and empowering ^.^

The church stuff combined with Tachyglossus mentioning resurrection reminded me of one I like a lot: retellings of the Christ story. I'm not religious, but the power of the story is undeniable. A character who lives at the junction of two worlds sacrifices himself/herself to enable the worlds to live in peace. The worlds can be as fantasy-oriented (ala The Silmarillion or a few Final Fantasy games) or as realistic (many examples... I recently played Higurashi and Furude Rika is important to both the research team and the village) as you want. It's just good stuff.

[Suikama]

More stories need true Magnificent Bastards :V

[MiSi]

I really go for the "last of one kind/race" or the guy, who is never understood by others