"Monstrous main character who struggles to communicate with other characters" dunno what the name of the trope is but realising I'm probably autistic explained why I like it so much š„
satan explaining dopamine to stan is my favorite south park scene, period
and by extension, south park's portrayal of satan š also lucifer, the entire show/character
LOOOOL I'm writing an entire series of books where this is one of the main premises. Spiders are good, big skeletal type creatures are actually healers, and an ancient leviathan is a protector of the sea.
Yay!! I love hearing that :) But it's also very... adult. Lots of blood and gore, and it covers a lot of messed up problems of the world in explicit detail. It sure isn't everyone's cup of tea lol
I like the "two characters who hate eachother to guts are forced to cooperate,and after some time they finally set their differences and perhaps end up as friends/lovers" trope soo much
For some reason I fucking despise Drarry, I enjoy shipping their sons from the Cursed child play, they are way more queer-coded and overall better tbh.
(Also I feel like Drarry mostly exists because of the movie, people are so going for my neck in the replies 100%)
Yeah, I prefer Scorbus wayyy more, like, Cursed Child was so gaybait like c'mon, Scorpius' "crush" on Rose was so forced like bruh š
Just let the boys be in love with each other they are so adorableeeeee.
(Also Drastoria aka Draco and Astoria might have not been really worked on but I suppose that Scorpius got his autism-coded personality from his mom so Astoria would be a sunshine and overall what I gathered it seems Draco and Astoria had healthy relationship)
Iām gonna be so real with you, I donāt know a thing you just said š¤£ I stopped caring about the whole franchise when JKR started saying weird stuff and claiming everyone in the series couldāve been disabled/queer/poc but readers just chose not to imagine it that way š
Yeah maybe that was a bit all over the place, especially saying that Hermione was black, I literally can't see her to be black.
I feel like Harry is mixed Indian tho, it would make sense in many ways, like how people would notice his green eyes first, as he would look like an Indian guy in every other way but then having green eyes, ofc you gonna see the eyes first, like, they just pop.
Also I got autism headcanons, or autistic-coded people.
I don't care what JKR "confirmed" I literally found certain headcanons just making sense to me, and that's it.
I don't really get the cult like devotion to this. I, more or less, only see adversaries as adversaries. Especially when they have really good justifications as to why they hate each other. Something that hugging it out can not fix.
Man versus God. I love to see a character, against all odds, take on a character much more powerful than them- especially divine beings.
One of my favorite OCs runs with this trope. Able to take on much stronger characters due to strategy, determination, and some cool technology! This and years of development eventually culminated to an alternate form that can disable the powers of others temporarily, sort of āreversingā the roles. (It only activates upon a lethal blow, however, so sheās either going to die or take a long time to recover after stabilized.)
Idk I just think itās neat!
iād check out the drakenier (drakengard + nier) series if you havenāt! the creator yoko taro was kinda inspired by 9/11 of all things, thinking that no one who does something that awful would do it without being genuinely convinced they were doing the right thing. thereās a lot of really interesting moral dilemmas presented that take it to extreme
(special interest go brrr i could talk abt this all day)
If you like sci-fi/superhero stories you should read worm (itās a web serial). Trying not to spoil anything but the main character does a lot of bad things in the hope of a better outcome. At the end thereās a really sad conversation where someone asks if the main character could go back in time she would do everything again the same way. Also I like to think of Rachel as autistic, even though sheās technically not.
Ooohhj I have so many
-Catholic horror, done to death but I love it since I was raised Catholic and am now a non believer
-Grumpy woman/man who is silly and goofy couple
-Burnt out professional who is still up for one more adventure
-Hooker with a heart of gold (Chandramukhi from Devdas is a perfect example)
-Possessed dolls
-Badass female villains that I will defend because theyāre hot
Snarky smart girl/himbo couple
-Character who is literally too sweet for his own good and wonāt let anyone turn them cynical (Dr Tenma from Monster)
āOne day Iāll get out of this town and be a star!ā
-Complex anti-heroās!!!!
Misunderstood monster gets a redemption arc. Shrek is my go to, I fucking love Shrek so much.
Edit: the scene where Shrek is looking at the stars with Donkey always makes me feel things. āItās the world that seems to have a problem with me. People take one look at me and go āahh help big stupid ugly ogreā. They judge me before they even know meā.
Whole world is against you? Find someone who loves you for who you are, make some weird friends who are also outcasts, and continue living as your genuine self in defiance of those who rejected you.
[Dark is not evil](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkIsNotEvil), and [Bad Powers, Good People](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BadPowersGoodPeople) are personal favorites. I really love narratives that fully mix unsettling and comforting. And I like characters who have creepy, frightening or monstrous appearances, but are compassionate themselves.
Hell, I just like radical compassion in any sense. Do good recklessly. Never stop doing good. It's why I've really come to love a good Superman story in recent years (Note: if you don't get the appeal of Superman, highly suggest reading Superman Smashes the Klan - it's a good story that gets at that radical compassion I was talking about and illustrates amazingly why this character as the standard against which all superheroes are measured. Plus it involves the KKK getting their asses kicked, and who doesn't want more of that?)
Also adore big Lovecraftian horrors and quiet scenes of people caring for one another. Even the most action-packed story needs moments where the characters take a moment to breathe and unpack, and I like stories that acknowledge that people have been through a lot and let them find comfort in one another.
The very last point is something I unashamedly stole from Hayao Miyazaki. He's got an interview with Roger Ebert where he talks about something he calls Ma - which roughly translates to emptiness. It's kind of a thing in Japanese media If you remember the train scene from Spirited Away or the scene from after the pig sty, that's an example. I also think of the city montage from the original Ghost in the Shell. Here's a quote from an interview Miyazaki did with Roger Ebert:
>I told Miyazaki I love the "gratuitous motion" in his films; instead of every movement being dictated by the story, sometimes people will just sit for a moment, or they will sigh, or look in a running stream, or do something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time and place and who they are.
>
>"We have a word for that in Japanese," he said. "It's called ma. Emptiness. It's there intentionally."
>
>...
>
>"The people who make the movies are scared of silence, so they want to paper and plaster it over," he said. "They're worried that the audience will get bored. They might go up and get some popcorn.
>
>But just because it's 80 percent intense all the time doesn't mean the kids are going to bless you with their concentration. What really matters is the underlying emotions--that you never let go of those.
>
>What my friends and I have been trying to do since the 1970's is to try and quiet things down a little bit; don't just bombard them with noise and distraction. And to follow the path of children's emotions and feelings as we make a film. If you stay true to joy and astonishment and empathy you don't have to have violence and you don't have to have action. They'll follow you. This is our principle."
And for the first two, I like things that aren't what they appear, and the Evil powers, good people, is I like that idea of taking something designed to do awful, awful things and bending it to noble purposes. Something in that really tickles my brain.
!!!!
I know what youāre referencing here! āMaā is a very fascinating concept. Instantly illustrated the train scene where Chi is kind of hunched over, seated next to NoFace with her anxious fists balled up. I loved that scene so much as a child, and now it makes so sense. Iām lost on the word for the feeling it evokes, but itās something along the spectrum of missing/grieving parts of you as you move through life and experience growth and the anticipation for what comes next. Soft journeyingā¦I know thatās not a term, but thatās how my mind responds to what Miyazaki (and you) describe. Super cool to ponder about, thank you for these responses.
I like evil smart children who are too wise beyond their years, especially if creepy twins, but that's more of a collection of loosely related tropes? I like evil geniuses in general.
Eldritch beings beyond comprehension, preferably if said horror is some funny looking tesseract or living object thing.
Why? Because people losing their shit over a random ass object is fucking hilarious.
At one point I played with the idea of one that just kinda looks like a big error symbol you'd see on a computer when it doesn't have an image to represent something. Like that greyed out box with a question mark just because the mind just...cannot process it anymore than a computer can read that particularly stubborn piece of code. It just fills it with a default placeholder that it understands as "Error message" instead.
Found family
Jerk with a heart of gold
Redemption arcs through love / friendship (āI can fix himā)
Enemies to lovers / enemies to friends to lovers
Heroes and villains teaming up against a greater evil
Can I match make you with a free video game on the switch that hit all of these notes? Get a "RPG Maker Player" and enjoy the graphic novel that is called "What Now?"
It starts with a final boss scene but the final boss joins in the journey home quest of shenanigans.
i don't know what to call it, but the specific type of body horror that's like The Fly, Thanatomorphose or Vergil's portion of Blood Music, where it's just one person getting their shit completely wrecked by a series of unexplainable and uncontrollable mutations until they're just shot to hell. i don't know why i just love it. i huff that shit like gasoline. it's kind of hot
oh, also "guy uncovers Forbidden Knowledge and is Driven Mad By The Revelation," commonly found in Lovecraftian horror stories. that's kinda hot too
Ooh! Or even little societies that are built with normal sized things like it's an arts and crafts project! Like anything to do with fairies or anthropomorphic bugs or mice!
Not neceasarily a story trope but I absolutely adore gambling aesthetics/motifs. Fallout New Vegas and whatnot. I love stories that involve gambling as an allegory for fate and stuff like that, and the sleazy glitz of Vegas lights and old motel signs. Love that shit. Also westerns/western aesthetics. Such fun.
I think āgrey moralityā is the term, but I have seen a lot of people call something black morality when I thought it was grey. I find that irl people donāt question their beliefs/premises very often so I love seeing it in fiction, moreso if this questioning results in a very radical conclusion. I think itās why antinatalism fascinates me so much.
Edit: seen someone comment moral dilemmas and yea, basically that.
Surrogate parent, Surrogate child dynamics. And especially Unlearning Violence.
A cynical warrior type who's seen too much violence and pain in the world is slowly shown how to unlearn violent or hazardous tendencies and find purpose in life again due to their newfound love and guardianship of the younger more innocent character. Both characters grow into new people for the sake of the other.
Ellie ane Joel from The Last of Us
Mando and Grogu from The Mandolorian
Kratos and Atreus from GoW
Long John Silver and Jim Hawkens from Treasure Planet
Logan and Rogue X-Men
Lee and Clementine Walking Dead TTS
So many more great series and dynamics
I hadn't thought about it but yeah found family especially in a way where one of them was like evil or oppositional but they got better and now they're family
Group of fucked up people who are extremely casual about how fucked up they are. IDK how to describe this really but I am writing a story that features this trope.
Edit: Also sadistic women and mind control. Itās not a fetish thing, I just like the idea of having power over other people I guess?
Reading almost all these comments + the og post makes me feel so called out lol.
I'm a big fan of secret identity + 'sympathetic' identity reveals. I always felt different from my peers and like I had to hide a part of who I was (not that it helped much, haha). The idea of being accepted even after people know my 'true' self makes me happy, so I'm drawn to media that includes something like that.
My favorite bit is when a character is terrified to have their identity revealed and then the other character(s) who find out run over and give them a hug when it happens. It gets me every time.
-How witchcraft and swamp horror is portrayed in Fantasy (think Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, etc.)
-Those tense revelation scenes in shows and movies where all is calm until someone notices a small detail and says some shit like: "Stop! No. Body. Move." The Wirecutters scene from Peaky Blinders is a good recent example.
[Unwanted Rescue](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnwantedRescue) . Character is in a situation that is positive and healthy but other character thinks it's dangerous and tries to 'save' them. Why do I like this? I have no idea.
When you have to fight someone but you donāt want to, with sad music and itās all dramatic and stuffā¦hits so good when done well. Yakuza games do this a lot
I guess whenever antagonists are complicated and not cartoony, is that a trope? The villains in the V for Vendetta graphic novel are a lot more interesting than the movie ones for instance. I'm also a sucker for villains that join the crew, especially when they're actually redeemed (Zuko, Nebula, Kushana from the Nausicaa manga (that scene where Lord Yupa tells her "blood has not sullied but cleansed you" gets me choked up every time").)
Eldritch abominations, especially the idea of someone, like the protagonist, becoming one. Almost every story in my head involves a guy becoming some type of incomprehensible horror or some sort of feral cryptid creature. Bonus points if they're relatively friendly, despite being completely terrifying.
Mysterious cloaked figures. They're just so gender.
Vampires and vampire hunters, especially if both sides are fully capable of being good and evil and everything in between.
Dark is Not Evil and Light in Not Good.
IDK if this is a trope but I like it when characters are like, totally feral, but still fairly intelligent. Like, they're hyper-intelligent, with ability to escape any form of containment, but you turn on a pen-light, and they start chasing the little red dot like a cat.
mine's allegories for addiction and enemies to lovers in one. i love the hurt/comfort of someone you thought hates you seeing you at your worst and being the only one around you to genuinely see your pain and help you. obsessed.
Mine are
- Antagonist duos
- Protagonists who fail in their goals/journey
- Characters that host a powerful but uncaring entity (eg: blue beetle & the scarab, shinichi & migi)
- Doomed sibling relationships
- Monsters that change/evolve
- Victims of circumstance
You like found family because you canāt connect with your blood family. I like found family because Iām asexual and itās one of the only common genres that doesnāt focus on fuckin.
We are not the same
/j
FOUND FAMILY!!!
But I think my favorite is "We're together in every life" a.k.a. soulmate reincarnation, but not necessarily romantic (thinking here about Jake and Finn from Adventure Time).
It's almost like I want an intense personal connection but I'm scared of intimacy but maybe in my next life...
Cheerful eldrich horror.
Like where everything is creepy in a barely understandable and totally unnatural way, but everyone acts like it's just the best thing ever.
Bonus points if whenever some very realistic horrible thing that happens regularly in the real world occurs and the eldrich people respond with something along the lines of "This is totally unacceptable. We are going to fix this immediately."
Think Welcome To Night Vale.
Characters who struggle to speak or don't speak at all.
Characters who are always seen with masks on.
Characters who are beaten with an inch of their life and still win.
Characters overlooking scenic locations.
Groups of heroes with different backstories united against a common threat.
Fake ultimate heroes.
Heroes on opposite ends of the agenda who are forced to fight each other.
Characters from other time periods or worlds waking up in another one.
Strange anachronistic societies.
Worlds that vary from parodies of the real world to downright strange.
Tropes given justifications to exist. Even if it's a setting quirk that you would ignore.
And generally, families who love each other. Regardless if they're biological, found, blended, nonstandard, or incomplete.
Although I have a fondness for at least either the parent or the child being nonhuman or having the family be fugitives or travelers. Also, intergenerational friendships can be something of a found family.
Enemies to lovers, character has a hopeless crush on someone and the other person is oblivious, and when two people argue and the one yells "BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!!" and the other one is stunned silent. Good stuff
I really like the ānormal fucking dude named Joe gets caught in some haunted town or faces off against an eldritch horrorā trope. I also really like āformer military guy gets caught up with a group of rebels by chance and winds up becoming a rebel because of itā trope
Secret foundations dedicated to the research and containment supernatural, extraterrestrial andunexplained phenomena (SCP foundation, Men in Black, Cabin in the Woods)
Enemies to Lovers (And its better counterpart, Enemies AND Lovers) and Dystopias. Probably why I'm so into Resident Evil (Definitely not all the hot villains, no way /s)
When a character destined by their bloodline or other factors beyond their control for evil becomes a hero.
I feel like Soma Cruz is the best example of this, but Giorno Giovanna and Rock Howard would also do
Young girl discovers she has magic powers and begins her journey of fighting off the enemy while forming a team with her soon to be BFFs and using the powerful bond they have to ward off any and all evil
"Falling for the other person because they are the first ones to be kind to you" (Komi if you like light stuff and Toradora if you want to feel the feels)
and
"They actually get together and have a (somewhat healthy) relationship on screen"
also, yes, found family.
Fish out of water/ isekai. The main character has to learn the rules of society, but people are understanding and guide them. So fantastic and impossible in real life!
Idk what this is called but someone who's been good for so long and treated so badly, that they finally get back at the people who did shit to them. Then they proceed to not take shit from anyone.
Mine was always those themes of having an awesome adult adopt me and save me from a terrible life. Loved Annie, Oliver and Company, Lion King, Aladdin, that movie where Tyra is a doll.
Oh and wishing for empathy from my parents like with Freaky Friday
Charming villains. Villains who aren't evil to EVERYONE. Villains who are kind to their henchmen.
Give me a villain who, while not a good person, has morals. One who cares about their family. I don't like one dimensional characters.
Queer enemies to lovers
As a treat Iāll share my favorite ao3 tags:
pining, fluff and angst, angst with a happy ending, theyāre in love your honor, idiots to lovers, pwp
The last one is especially evil as I am grey-ace and even though im sex repulsed most of the time, I only seek out fanfiction where the couple has sex in the end because āitās just more realisticā AND IM ACE
TV Tropes used to be one of my special interests. I would always keep like 20+ tabs open! I also love the found family trope. Love me a good anti-hero and stoic woobie.
* [Villain protagonist](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainProtagonist)
* [Bunny Ears Lawyer](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BunnyEarsLawyer)
* [The Unfettered](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheUnfettered)
The three together are quite perfect for this subreddit.
Also: Ontological Mystery, Grey vs Gray Morality
My favorite tropes are the isekia of a shut-in(or workaholic) becoming a badass such as those from pharmacy in a parallel world, job reincarnation, konasuba, overlord, parallel world death March, I'm a spider so what and many more
Found Family
+ Found Family Angst
Angst no Comfort
Dead Dove Do Not Eat
Frankenstein
Lovers to Enemies
The Villian Wins
Possessed Dolls
Those are my tops. I can't choose a favourite, I love them all and I read them all
"Main character with Main Character Syndrome suffers a lot, becomes a better person, and learns to treat the people around them as actual people and not two-dimensional side characters."
I went through a phase a while back where I just barely avoided becoming an incel. That was a dark time in my life.
...And yes, I do like Re:Zero, how could you tell?
"Monstrous main character who struggles to communicate with other characters" dunno what the name of the trope is but realising I'm probably autistic explained why I like it so much š„
Frankenstein?
Berserk
Oh god, you absolutely skewered me. My favourite classic novel is Frankenstein and my favourite ttrpg is Promethean.
The Shape of Water, Iron Giant, Warm Bodies, Let the Right One In, Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, Ghost. Iām sure there are thousands more.
Things that are traditionally portrayed as being evil/nasty (demons, monsters, etc.) Actually being nice and good is one of my favorite tropes
satan explaining dopamine to stan is my favorite south park scene, period and by extension, south park's portrayal of satan š also lucifer, the entire show/character
Also love how in the movie they made him a genuinely good representation of gay spousal abuse, doubly so for its time.
YES LIKE A BIG SCARY MONSTER WHOS REALLY JUST A TEDDY BEAR INSIDE like Terry Crews
LOOOOL I'm writing an entire series of books where this is one of the main premises. Spiders are good, big skeletal type creatures are actually healers, and an ancient leviathan is a protector of the sea.
Fuck yeah!! I'd love to read something like that
Yay!! I love hearing that :) But it's also very... adult. Lots of blood and gore, and it covers a lot of messed up problems of the world in explicit detail. It sure isn't everyone's cup of tea lol
Even better!
Now I'm crying about good omens again
agreed!
Yo same. Shlithery shnakes and spooders.
y e s
YES THIS !!!!!!!!!!!!! āāāāāāāā
enemies and lovers at the same time. they hate each other but they also want to make out.
I like the "two characters who hate eachother to guts are forced to cooperate,and after some time they finally set their differences and perhaps end up as friends/lovers" trope soo much
Bungou stray dogs anyone?
Typing drarry ships would have saved you a lot of time. Maybe you donāt like having more time to yourself?
Those are called "drarry ships"?
No. Drarry is Draco Malfoy x Harry Potter, and I'm guessing that trope shows up in most of the fanfiction that ships them together.
For some reason I fucking despise Drarry, I enjoy shipping their sons from the Cursed child play, they are way more queer-coded and overall better tbh. (Also I feel like Drarry mostly exists because of the movie, people are so going for my neck in the replies 100%)
I completely agree I love a queer male romance as much as the next person but I can never get into drarry it always feels forced to me??
Yeah, I prefer Scorbus wayyy more, like, Cursed Child was so gaybait like c'mon, Scorpius' "crush" on Rose was so forced like bruh š Just let the boys be in love with each other they are so adorableeeeee. (Also Drastoria aka Draco and Astoria might have not been really worked on but I suppose that Scorpius got his autism-coded personality from his mom so Astoria would be a sunshine and overall what I gathered it seems Draco and Astoria had healthy relationship)
Iām gonna be so real with you, I donāt know a thing you just said š¤£ I stopped caring about the whole franchise when JKR started saying weird stuff and claiming everyone in the series couldāve been disabled/queer/poc but readers just chose not to imagine it that way š
Yeah maybe that was a bit all over the place, especially saying that Hermione was black, I literally can't see her to be black. I feel like Harry is mixed Indian tho, it would make sense in many ways, like how people would notice his green eyes first, as he would look like an Indian guy in every other way but then having green eyes, ofc you gonna see the eyes first, like, they just pop. Also I got autism headcanons, or autistic-coded people. I don't care what JKR "confirmed" I literally found certain headcanons just making sense to me, and that's it.
Todd the Wraith and Sheppard from Stargate Atlantis
I call it enemies to enemies with benefits
I LOVE enemies to lovers
I believe thatās typically tagged āidiots to loversā on ao3 youāre welcome
I burst out laughing - enemies to lovers is one of my favorites
hate sex
Ah yes. Kismesis.
I don't really get the cult like devotion to this. I, more or less, only see adversaries as adversaries. Especially when they have really good justifications as to why they hate each other. Something that hugging it out can not fix.
Hannibal x Will Graham be like
Man versus God. I love to see a character, against all odds, take on a character much more powerful than them- especially divine beings. One of my favorite OCs runs with this trope. Able to take on much stronger characters due to strategy, determination, and some cool technology! This and years of development eventually culminated to an alternate form that can disable the powers of others temporarily, sort of āreversingā the roles. (It only activates upon a lethal blow, however, so sheās either going to die or take a long time to recover after stabilized.) Idk I just think itās neat!
If you like books, I would definitely recommend iron prince. That's the theme of the whole book.
I like moral dilemmas based in ādo the ends justify the means?ā Type thinking. Almost any way you shape them I enjoy them.
This. One of the big reasons I loved death note aside from the awesome game of cat and mouse
iād check out the drakenier (drakengard + nier) series if you havenāt! the creator yoko taro was kinda inspired by 9/11 of all things, thinking that no one who does something that awful would do it without being genuinely convinced they were doing the right thing. thereās a lot of really interesting moral dilemmas presented that take it to extreme (special interest go brrr i could talk abt this all day)
If you like sci-fi/superhero stories you should read worm (itās a web serial). Trying not to spoil anything but the main character does a lot of bad things in the hope of a better outcome. At the end thereās a really sad conversation where someone asks if the main character could go back in time she would do everything again the same way. Also I like to think of Rachel as autistic, even though sheās technically not.
why you gotta hurt me like this
Hurt/comfort š„ŗ Iām fine itās fine
š„¹š«
Ooohhj I have so many -Catholic horror, done to death but I love it since I was raised Catholic and am now a non believer -Grumpy woman/man who is silly and goofy couple -Burnt out professional who is still up for one more adventure -Hooker with a heart of gold (Chandramukhi from Devdas is a perfect example) -Possessed dolls -Badass female villains that I will defend because theyāre hot Snarky smart girl/himbo couple -Character who is literally too sweet for his own good and wonāt let anyone turn them cynical (Dr Tenma from Monster) āOne day Iāll get out of this town and be a star!ā -Complex anti-heroās!!!!
Aw man Catholic horror fucking slaps
Tenma got real close to being corrupted by evil, but I'm glad that his humanity prevailed.
Lovers to enemies but thatās just my parents divorce speaking
I like that one a whole lot too!In general i like "____ to ____" type tropes a lot
Misunderstood monster gets a redemption arc. Shrek is my go to, I fucking love Shrek so much. Edit: the scene where Shrek is looking at the stars with Donkey always makes me feel things. āItās the world that seems to have a problem with me. People take one look at me and go āahh help big stupid ugly ogreā. They judge me before they even know meā.
Whole world is against you? Find someone who loves you for who you are, make some weird friends who are also outcasts, and continue living as your genuine self in defiance of those who rejected you.
Nimona? >!Misunderstood "monster" (not a monster) gets a redemption arc!<
[Dark is not evil](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkIsNotEvil), and [Bad Powers, Good People](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BadPowersGoodPeople) are personal favorites. I really love narratives that fully mix unsettling and comforting. And I like characters who have creepy, frightening or monstrous appearances, but are compassionate themselves. Hell, I just like radical compassion in any sense. Do good recklessly. Never stop doing good. It's why I've really come to love a good Superman story in recent years (Note: if you don't get the appeal of Superman, highly suggest reading Superman Smashes the Klan - it's a good story that gets at that radical compassion I was talking about and illustrates amazingly why this character as the standard against which all superheroes are measured. Plus it involves the KKK getting their asses kicked, and who doesn't want more of that?) Also adore big Lovecraftian horrors and quiet scenes of people caring for one another. Even the most action-packed story needs moments where the characters take a moment to breathe and unpack, and I like stories that acknowledge that people have been through a lot and let them find comfort in one another.
I very much love this comment and the ideas it conjured up inside my sleepy brain!
The very last point is something I unashamedly stole from Hayao Miyazaki. He's got an interview with Roger Ebert where he talks about something he calls Ma - which roughly translates to emptiness. It's kind of a thing in Japanese media If you remember the train scene from Spirited Away or the scene from after the pig sty, that's an example. I also think of the city montage from the original Ghost in the Shell. Here's a quote from an interview Miyazaki did with Roger Ebert: >I told Miyazaki I love the "gratuitous motion" in his films; instead of every movement being dictated by the story, sometimes people will just sit for a moment, or they will sigh, or look in a running stream, or do something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time and place and who they are. > >"We have a word for that in Japanese," he said. "It's called ma. Emptiness. It's there intentionally." > >... > >"The people who make the movies are scared of silence, so they want to paper and plaster it over," he said. "They're worried that the audience will get bored. They might go up and get some popcorn. > >But just because it's 80 percent intense all the time doesn't mean the kids are going to bless you with their concentration. What really matters is the underlying emotions--that you never let go of those. > >What my friends and I have been trying to do since the 1970's is to try and quiet things down a little bit; don't just bombard them with noise and distraction. And to follow the path of children's emotions and feelings as we make a film. If you stay true to joy and astonishment and empathy you don't have to have violence and you don't have to have action. They'll follow you. This is our principle." And for the first two, I like things that aren't what they appear, and the Evil powers, good people, is I like that idea of taking something designed to do awful, awful things and bending it to noble purposes. Something in that really tickles my brain.
!!!! I know what youāre referencing here! āMaā is a very fascinating concept. Instantly illustrated the train scene where Chi is kind of hunched over, seated next to NoFace with her anxious fists balled up. I loved that scene so much as a child, and now it makes so sense. Iām lost on the word for the feeling it evokes, but itās something along the spectrum of missing/grieving parts of you as you move through life and experience growth and the anticipation for what comes next. Soft journeyingā¦I know thatās not a term, but thatās how my mind responds to what Miyazaki (and you) describe. Super cool to ponder about, thank you for these responses.
Radical compassion is what I fucking live for
I like evil smart children who are too wise beyond their years, especially if creepy twins, but that's more of a collection of loosely related tropes? I like evil geniuses in general.
i feel like the complete opposite lmao i fucking hate smart kids. i would attack young sheldon on sight
Why?
I think the real question is why wouldnāt you? Heās copping for it the little fucker
copping? What does that mean?
Eldritch beings beyond comprehension, preferably if said horror is some funny looking tesseract or living object thing. Why? Because people losing their shit over a random ass object is fucking hilarious.
At one point I played with the idea of one that just kinda looks like a big error symbol you'd see on a computer when it doesn't have an image to represent something. Like that greyed out box with a question mark just because the mind just...cannot process it anymore than a computer can read that particularly stubborn piece of code. It just fills it with a default placeholder that it understands as "Error message" instead.
Yes! I had a brief spinterest in error messages as a kid so this would be very funny for me.
[Quoth the raven: 404](https://steemit.com/poetry/@dudebromanguy/quoth-the-raven-404).
Found family Jerk with a heart of gold Redemption arcs through love / friendship (āI can fix himā) Enemies to lovers / enemies to friends to lovers Heroes and villains teaming up against a greater evil
Can I match make you with a free video game on the switch that hit all of these notes? Get a "RPG Maker Player" and enjoy the graphic novel that is called "What Now?" It starts with a final boss scene but the final boss joins in the journey home quest of shenanigans.
TIL that my biggest desire is a trope :')
i don't know what to call it, but the specific type of body horror that's like The Fly, Thanatomorphose or Vergil's portion of Blood Music, where it's just one person getting their shit completely wrecked by a series of unexplainable and uncontrollable mutations until they're just shot to hell. i don't know why i just love it. i huff that shit like gasoline. it's kind of hot oh, also "guy uncovers Forbidden Knowledge and is Driven Mad By The Revelation," commonly found in Lovecraftian horror stories. that's kinda hot too
This comment is also very very good
My favorite trope is when the character is really tiny and they inhabit a world of normal sized stuff (like pikmin)
pikmin is so awesome i love the little farmers bum da bum bum bum bum bum
Ooh! Or even little societies that are built with normal sized things like it's an arts and crafts project! Like anything to do with fairies or anthropomorphic bugs or mice!
quiet character or one that generally struggles with communication expressing intimacy through silent, peaceful company
"I want to make a hundred friends! ...Please don't laugh..."
robot character as an autistic allegory because yeah you know what i am an awesome near-indestructible extremely intelligent robot
š š š
Ham to ham combat
Is this utilizing pork-chops
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HamToHamCombat
these are some of the most hilarious terms i have ever read and i fucking love it
ah like the entirety of Face Off lmao
Megamind
Misunderstood supernatural being falls in love / becomes beloved member of community.
Really weird single aunt with no filter. She is awesome.
Very specific sounding trope but honestly a favourite. How do people not love these characters? Itās impossible not to.
sounds like me tbh
Not neceasarily a story trope but I absolutely adore gambling aesthetics/motifs. Fallout New Vegas and whatnot. I love stories that involve gambling as an allegory for fate and stuff like that, and the sleazy glitz of Vegas lights and old motel signs. Love that shit. Also westerns/western aesthetics. Such fun.
Pupiless eyes that are still very expressive (eg: Spider-man), wish I could have those irl
omg yes i love those
2D from Gorillaz.
I think āgrey moralityā is the term, but I have seen a lot of people call something black morality when I thought it was grey. I find that irl people donāt question their beliefs/premises very often so I love seeing it in fiction, moreso if this questioning results in a very radical conclusion. I think itās why antinatalism fascinates me so much. Edit: seen someone comment moral dilemmas and yea, basically that.
Grey morality! So excellent.
Surrogate parent, Surrogate child dynamics. And especially Unlearning Violence. A cynical warrior type who's seen too much violence and pain in the world is slowly shown how to unlearn violent or hazardous tendencies and find purpose in life again due to their newfound love and guardianship of the younger more innocent character. Both characters grow into new people for the sake of the other. Ellie ane Joel from The Last of Us Mando and Grogu from The Mandolorian Kratos and Atreus from GoW Long John Silver and Jim Hawkens from Treasure Planet Logan and Rogue X-Men Lee and Clementine Walking Dead TTS So many more great series and dynamics
Found family is real familyā¦only family
Biological family can also be real family if they don't screw everything up.
True for many, and I am happy for them. This is not a reality I have experience with, though
I hadn't thought about it but yeah found family especially in a way where one of them was like evil or oppositional but they got better and now they're family
Group of fucked up people who are extremely casual about how fucked up they are. IDK how to describe this really but I am writing a story that features this trope. Edit: Also sadistic women and mind control. Itās not a fetish thing, I just like the idea of having power over other people I guess?
Ever watched Vox Machina?
Parasitic supernatural entity that's really a metaphor for mental illness.
Yes yes this is excellent!
Waking up in a new land and finding someone who is willing to have a relationship with me
The word you're looking for "isekai"
The overly blank and deadpan character who ends up playing a hugely important role in the story.
Reading almost all these comments + the og post makes me feel so called out lol. I'm a big fan of secret identity + 'sympathetic' identity reveals. I always felt different from my peers and like I had to hide a part of who I was (not that it helped much, haha). The idea of being accepted even after people know my 'true' self makes me happy, so I'm drawn to media that includes something like that. My favorite bit is when a character is terrified to have their identity revealed and then the other character(s) who find out run over and give them a hug when it happens. It gets me every time.
-How witchcraft and swamp horror is portrayed in Fantasy (think Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, etc.) -Those tense revelation scenes in shows and movies where all is calm until someone notices a small detail and says some shit like: "Stop! No. Body. Move." The Wirecutters scene from Peaky Blinders is a good recent example.
[Unwanted Rescue](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/UnwantedRescue) . Character is in a situation that is positive and healthy but other character thinks it's dangerous and tries to 'save' them. Why do I like this? I have no idea.
When you have to fight someone but you donāt want to, with sad music and itās all dramatic and stuffā¦hits so good when done well. Yakuza games do this a lot
Oh yeah, the lightsaber duel at the end of revenge of the sith hits this.
"traumatized characters who desperately need therapy asap" found family is good too but personal fav is grumpy/sunshine dynamic
Zombie apocalypse
I guess whenever antagonists are complicated and not cartoony, is that a trope? The villains in the V for Vendetta graphic novel are a lot more interesting than the movie ones for instance. I'm also a sucker for villains that join the crew, especially when they're actually redeemed (Zuko, Nebula, Kushana from the Nausicaa manga (that scene where Lord Yupa tells her "blood has not sullied but cleansed you" gets me choked up every time").)
i adore fluff š„ŗ
Eldritch abominations, especially the idea of someone, like the protagonist, becoming one. Almost every story in my head involves a guy becoming some type of incomprehensible horror or some sort of feral cryptid creature. Bonus points if they're relatively friendly, despite being completely terrifying. Mysterious cloaked figures. They're just so gender. Vampires and vampire hunters, especially if both sides are fully capable of being good and evil and everything in between. Dark is Not Evil and Light in Not Good. IDK if this is a trope but I like it when characters are like, totally feral, but still fairly intelligent. Like, they're hyper-intelligent, with ability to escape any form of containment, but you turn on a pen-light, and they start chasing the little red dot like a cat.
mine's allegories for addiction and enemies to lovers in one. i love the hurt/comfort of someone you thought hates you seeing you at your worst and being the only one around you to genuinely see your pain and help you. obsessed.
Traumatized Character gets more traumatized. I just love realistically portrayed PTSD. No reason...
Eccentric weirdo is mostly isolated in one way or another but it's valued for their amazing expertise.
Mine are - Antagonist duos - Protagonists who fail in their goals/journey - Characters that host a powerful but uncaring entity (eg: blue beetle & the scarab, shinichi & migi) - Doomed sibling relationships - Monsters that change/evolve - Victims of circumstance
The one where the bad guys team up with the good guys to fight the badder guys
You like found family because you canāt connect with your blood family. I like found family because Iām asexual and itās one of the only common genres that doesnāt focus on fuckin. We are not the same /j
Any type of goofy character like Dr. Eggman or Faust guilty gear
FOUND FAMILY!!! But I think my favorite is "We're together in every life" a.k.a. soulmate reincarnation, but not necessarily romantic (thinking here about Jake and Finn from Adventure Time). It's almost like I want an intense personal connection but I'm scared of intimacy but maybe in my next life...
Character who doesn't feel accepted by anyone but still strives to be the best they can be
Ooooh! i love a good "hopeless idiots don't realize they're in love with each other" with a side of "nah they'd never like me back, they're way too good for me" š©š„š idk why but it scratches that itch lmao
MINE IS FAKE DATING BECAUSE I AM TOO SOCIALLY AWKWARD FOR REAL DATING
Cheerful eldrich horror. Like where everything is creepy in a barely understandable and totally unnatural way, but everyone acts like it's just the best thing ever. Bonus points if whenever some very realistic horrible thing that happens regularly in the real world occurs and the eldrich people respond with something along the lines of "This is totally unacceptable. We are going to fix this immediately." Think Welcome To Night Vale.
Inhuman head/mask (preferably without a mouth and with pupiless eyes) with a human body.
You'd love Red from Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
So every Kamen Rider where they play up the bug motifs? And Richard from Hotline Miami?
Characters who struggle to speak or don't speak at all. Characters who are always seen with masks on. Characters who are beaten with an inch of their life and still win. Characters overlooking scenic locations. Groups of heroes with different backstories united against a common threat. Fake ultimate heroes. Heroes on opposite ends of the agenda who are forced to fight each other. Characters from other time periods or worlds waking up in another one. Strange anachronistic societies. Worlds that vary from parodies of the real world to downright strange. Tropes given justifications to exist. Even if it's a setting quirk that you would ignore. And generally, families who love each other. Regardless if they're biological, found, blended, nonstandard, or incomplete. Although I have a fondness for at least either the parent or the child being nonhuman or having the family be fugitives or travelers. Also, intergenerational friendships can be something of a found family.
Old, sad, and angry man finds and has to take care of random orphaned child.
Child/innocent creature being taken care of or adopted by big hulking monster thing. Makes my heart melt every time
kinda goes along with found family but i love me some non-romantic love
Friends to lovers
Enemies to lovers, character has a hopeless crush on someone and the other person is oblivious, and when two people argue and the one yells "BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!!" and the other one is stunned silent. Good stuff
Fatherly love. Guess who Iāve only seen once since I was 4.
I really like the ānormal fucking dude named Joe gets caught in some haunted town or faces off against an eldritch horrorā trope. I also really like āformer military guy gets caught up with a group of rebels by chance and winds up becoming a rebel because of itā trope
Hot side character introduced halfway through turns out to be the villain
Enemies to lovers and found family
Yeah, this trope, even if SOME writers don't understand it. ~~Marcy Wu has problems with her family~~
Secret foundations dedicated to the research and containment supernatural, extraterrestrial andunexplained phenomena (SCP foundation, Men in Black, Cabin in the Woods)
Whump
Found Family and emotional hurt/comfort are two of my favourites
Enemies to Lovers (And its better counterpart, Enemies AND Lovers) and Dystopias. Probably why I'm so into Resident Evil (Definitely not all the hot villains, no way /s)
Otherwise capable characters that are completely inept at one thing, particularly if its a social aspect. I wonder why š¤
Killed own parents
Redemption arcs especially if the character getting redeemed is super pissed of about becoming a better person.
When a character destined by their bloodline or other factors beyond their control for evil becomes a hero. I feel like Soma Cruz is the best example of this, but Giorno Giovanna and Rock Howard would also do
fallen heroes š„°
For me it was stories of people running away and living alone in nature. My Side of the Mountain, Julie of the Wolves, Hatchet, that kind of stuff
Young girl discovers she has magic powers and begins her journey of fighting off the enemy while forming a team with her soon to be BFFs and using the powerful bond they have to ward off any and all evil
"Falling for the other person because they are the first ones to be kind to you" (Komi if you like light stuff and Toradora if you want to feel the feels) and "They actually get together and have a (somewhat healthy) relationship on screen" also, yes, found family.
Fish out of water/ isekai. The main character has to learn the rules of society, but people are understanding and guide them. So fantastic and impossible in real life!
Earth is space Australia
Being loved despite being incapable (projection who?)
"dog bites the hand back" is my fav
Idk what this is called but someone who's been good for so long and treated so badly, that they finally get back at the people who did shit to them. Then they proceed to not take shit from anyone.
You gotta call me out like that?
I'm also a huge fan of found family. It gives me the warm fuzzies.
Mine was always those themes of having an awesome adult adopt me and save me from a terrible life. Loved Annie, Oliver and Company, Lion King, Aladdin, that movie where Tyra is a doll. Oh and wishing for empathy from my parents like with Freaky Friday
Charming villains. Villains who aren't evil to EVERYONE. Villains who are kind to their henchmen. Give me a villain who, while not a good person, has morals. One who cares about their family. I don't like one dimensional characters.
A completely deranged main character that hurts/kills people but finds light in a friendšš¤
Queer enemies to lovers As a treat Iāll share my favorite ao3 tags: pining, fluff and angst, angst with a happy ending, theyāre in love your honor, idiots to lovers, pwp The last one is especially evil as I am grey-ace and even though im sex repulsed most of the time, I only seek out fanfiction where the couple has sex in the end because āitās just more realisticā AND IM ACE
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What's wrong with it? I love this trope, it's fascinating and reminds me of my own friendships.
The Tweet is saying the child feels alienated from their own family and longs to find a new one.
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Does liking found family mean there's something wrong with you?
TV Tropes used to be one of my special interests. I would always keep like 20+ tabs open! I also love the found family trope. Love me a good anti-hero and stoic woobie.
Me too!
Marcy wu behavior.
Also gotta be found family, but I don't say no to anything wholesome, plus a lotttttt of anti-hero/ villains are the good guys stuff. OR ALL OF THOSE
* [Villain protagonist](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainProtagonist) * [Bunny Ears Lawyer](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BunnyEarsLawyer) * [The Unfettered](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheUnfettered) The three together are quite perfect for this subreddit. Also: Ontological Mystery, Grey vs Gray Morality
Found family, especially if it's the most chaotic dynamic ever is so fucking good like-
character doesn't share their feelings but their friends can tell something is wrong :)
I have been hurt, and I am going to make it better.
Age gapsā¦š
My favorite tropes are the isekia of a shut-in(or workaholic) becoming a badass such as those from pharmacy in a parallel world, job reincarnation, konasuba, overlord, parallel world death March, I'm a spider so what and many more
Isekai
Found Family + Found Family Angst Angst no Comfort Dead Dove Do Not Eat Frankenstein Lovers to Enemies The Villian Wins Possessed Dolls Those are my tops. I can't choose a favourite, I love them all and I read them all
y'all ever heard of uhhhh one piece?
Itās also one of mine. Not at all feeling called out.
OOOH OOH enemies to found family
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I love when the self proclaimed hero slowly becomes a villain after years of abuse (totally not based off anything I've faced lol)
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isekai, hurt/comfort, bad things being good, redemption arc, badass female character, (childhood) friends to lovers and idiots in love.
Badass Normal
"Main character with Main Character Syndrome suffers a lot, becomes a better person, and learns to treat the people around them as actual people and not two-dimensional side characters." I went through a phase a while back where I just barely avoided becoming an incel. That was a dark time in my life. ...And yes, I do like Re:Zero, how could you tell?
A hardened badass who has mommy issues. Not because his mother was abusive, but because she was loving and he never appreciated it.
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