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Thread: Hated Tropes

  1. #1
    Senior Member Mandred Skavenslayer's Avatar
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    Default Hated Tropes

    Which Genre tropes can't you stand.

    My personal two are:

    1) Falls are never fatal. Whenever a character falls of a cliff they never die. This goes doubly so for protagonist who often find some lost martial arts or master. Its got to the point where whenever this happens I just stop worrying for the character's survival.

    2) This martial arts should never be taught but there is always a manual. There is always some forbidden art that is considered so evil that individuals or entire schools go to ridiculous lengths to keep it hidden, yet for some reason they always keep a manual.

  2. #2
    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    3. Revenge Trope: it's not innately bad, and even Shakespeare used it (HAMLET, anyone?), but wuxia writers tend to go to this *way* too often.

    4. Wuxia Romance: I generally don't like the way it's handled. I think Gu Long tended to do it in more interesting ways than Jin Yong did, however.

    5. Good guys call out bad guys for using superior numbers, but seem to find it OK when they do it to the bad guys, usually with some lame excuse like, "It's OK to not be fair against you evil demons!" Uh, no. Fair is fair, and unfair isn't. Let's not be hypocritical, folks.

    6. Tibetan monks are always, always, always bad guys.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Mandred Skavenslayer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ken Cheng View Post

    4. Wuxia Romance: I generally don't like the way it's handled. I think Gu Long tended to do it in more interesting ways than Jin Yong did, however.
    You really can't stand ROCH can you.

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mandred Skavenslayer View Post
    You really can't stand ROCH can you.
    ...and its copycats and imitators.

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    The evil ones always end up dying a tragic death or going senile without having the chance to repent

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    Senior Member Athena's Avatar
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    I hate the cliche that the orthodox schools are hypocrites and the 'demonic/heretic' sects are just misunderstood. It was original that Jin Yong did it, but then subsequently everyone did it.
    So huge, so hopeless, to conceive
    As these that twice befell
    Parting is all we know of heaven
    And all we need of hell.

    Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

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    The male leads always end up to be the most powerful person while the female leads place a side kick role.

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sludge View Post
    The male leads always end up to be the most powerful person while the female leads place a side kick role.
    Reviewing the Jin Yong canon, it's actually slightly surprising how often the main male character is NOT the undisputed # 1 martial artist in wulin by the end of the story. They'll usually be up there in the Top 10, but not necessarily always at # 1.

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    Moderator Ken Cheng's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Athena View Post
    I hate the cliche that the orthodox schools are hypocrites and the 'demonic/heretic' sects are just misunderstood. It was original that Jin Yong did it, but then subsequently everyone did it.
    I like how Gu Long handles it: the honorable orthodox sect initially appears to be exactly what it's said to be, and it's quite a surprise (for the audience as well as the characters) when it is revealed that the honorable sect has a shadier, sinister side. Think of the Mo Dong Sect in the fifth LUK SIU FUNG novel.

  10. #10
    Member Silverhawk's Avatar
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    The main couple would go through a lot of obstacles before they live happily ever after i.e parents objection, society objection

    The one i hate most is more often than not, once they become renowned they retire from the martial world and go into seclusion

  11. #11
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    I don't like how the main character or his female sidekick is ALWAYS smarter than the main villain. In JY's cannon, very rarely does a villain outsmart the good guys. The only close case is Cheng Kun but his martial arts are bad and once ZWJ and ZM show up, it's all over for him. The rest of JY's villains rank from really bad (JLFW) to meh (OYF, ZLC, YBQ) when it comes to utilizing their brain.

    Gu Long handles this trope a bit better. However, I think we deserve a badass villain like Hans Landa or professor Moriarty once in a while.

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