Being Fed Up with a Trope

Serah

I wonder if any of you can relate.

In general I am fond of certain story tropes, even they happen quite often like e.g. "isekai-overpowered by chance-harem"-trinity (we all know its sort of holy trinity the way it appears).

But a certain trope I feel kinda fed up with: protagonist being ditched by their party because party (leader) consider them trash/unnecessary/useless, just for that protagonist turn out to be the essential pillar of the party. Especially those "once the buffer is gone no one paid attention to everything falls apart"-trope.

Not sure what triggers me specifically about that, like missing appreciation from boss or whatsoever, but I really feel fed up with that trope and avoid it like pest.

How do you feel about (such) tropes?

Any trope you dislike?

Lily Garden

You might be interested in this discussion thread

karasutengu

@Serah I'm tired of the whole ishikai genre as a whole. I wish we could see more new stories revolving around normal, non-magic people and beasts/monsters, and how they interact and survive together in this world or another.

Serah

@karasutengu one of the reasons why I am rather fond of how it is going with They Don’t Know I’m Too Young for the Adventurer’s Guild

sorvani

@Serah said in Being Fed Up with a Trope:

Any trope you dislike?

I absolutely detest the super dense protag that thinks they have no power but are actually the most powerful.
"The Brilliant Healer's New Life in the Shadows" is an example of that one.
I hate the trope so bad I will not ever start a novel with a title that indicates that as a premise. I will also immediately drop a novel if it turns out that is the premise.

morfowt

Mine is the "protagonist gets betrayed by the party/kingdom and proceeds to enact revenge". Like, whether he succeeds or not, what overall theme were you even going for? If he succeeds, you're saying it's fine for people to commit atrocities if it's in the name of revenge against even worse people? And if he fails, you wrote a whole story just for the bad guys to basically get away with it? I strongly disagree with either outcome. And the cherry on top is when he ends up finding new party members that were also wronged somehow. The betrayal hurt you so bad that you're now acting like a bad guy, and I'm supposed to believe you can still find it in you to trust someone else?

Serah

@sorvani I can totally relate to that.

I remember how I initially was very fond of Suppose a Kid from the Last Dungeon Boonies Moved to a Starter Town, but the concept is used up so fast so quick - it is often funny at first, until a certain point. Yet it gets ridiculous and unfun very quick and especially repetitive.

And there are also so many of that, just to mention The Unaware Atelier Meister, Worthless at Home, Whiz to the World, Porter of Heroes or Heroine? Saint? No, I'm an All-Works Maid (and Proud of It)!

@morfowt that is how I feel about The Hero Laughs While Walking the Path of Vengeance a Second Time. I mean I can relate that it can be enjoyable - but the way it takes is often unrelatable. Especially considering how absolutely weird that series turned out.

endoftheline

@Serah said in Being Fed Up with a Trope:

Heroine? Saint? No, I'm an All-Works Maid (and Proud of It)!

That's a weird one to include in that list. Since, so far, the story isn't really about how Melody is an unaware, OP ~~Saint~~ Maid.

I agree that the story is using that conceit as part of its dressing because Melody is undoubtedly an unaware, OP maid. But the story is essentially an isekai-reincarnation-otome-game-fix-fic-comedy(-romcom?) where Melody screws up everyones plans by not being where fate (the game) decrees.

Can it get old? Likely. I mean, the story so far has been a series of gambit pileups of people who don't/can't talk to each other and I can see that turning into rehashes if the author doesn't get creative.

b.scot.morgan

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a trope, but I really dislike "food porn" in stories. I am not a foodie. Long, lovingly detailed descriptions of various (often imagery) cuisine bore me to tears, and I've dropped series that had too much of it.

jpwong

@Serah said in Being Fed Up with a Trope:

But a certain trope I feel kinda fed up with: protagonist being ditched by their party because party (leader) consider them trash/unnecessary/useless, just for that protagonist turn out to be the essential pillar of the party. Especially those "once the buffer is gone no one paid attention to everything falls apart"-trope.

This one is mostly annoying to me when the MC is too dense to realize he was that pillar. I find it tends to not be so much of an issue when they either realize fairly early on they're strong, or they already knew beforehand.

@b-scot-morgan said in Being Fed Up with a Trope:

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a trope, but I really dislike "food porn" in stories. I am not a foodie. Long, lovingly detailed descriptions of various (often imagery) cuisine bore me to tears, and I've dropped series that had too much of it.

I think that's less a trope and more a genre in on itself.

vilobion

@b-scot-morgan said in Being Fed Up with a Trope:

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a trope, but I really dislike "food porn" in stories. I am not a foodie. Long, lovingly detailed descriptions of various (often imagery) cuisine bore me to tears, and I've dropped series that had too much of it.

This one is definitely on my list of ones I hate but am willing to make exceptions for (AoAB and Cooking with Wild Game both indulge in it, for instance, and I love both to death.).

I'm very tired of 'Harem Member of the Volume' structures for serial story-telling. How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom is probably the least egregious exemplar of the trope, but even then I still think it structurally suffers from it.

Also not a fan of first page "Got dumped by my fiance/got kicked out by my party" setups which are attempts at in media res but rob the story of emotional impact.

I have extremely little patience for lover tug of war shenanigans.

I think my absolutely highest hate at the moment is when a work gives too much word count to a character I just don't give a shit about or the author is clearly too enamored with some gimick (maid secret agents, tsundere otaku pairings, giving potions mouth to mouth, etc) that is just not my jam.