ITT post your favorite overused tropes

[Mr. Big]

Ever have one of those tropes where, while overused, you always love and get excited whenever you see it? Post about it here.

You don't have to post a link to the TV Tropes page unless you want to.

[Perrydotto]

Easily "villain gets reformed in some fashion and becomes a cool/weird/sorta friend of the group". The Vegeta, basically. Done well, I enjoy this every time.

[Mr. Big]

One of my favorites is when a character badmouths another to somebody, who is trying to warn them that the said person is right behind them.

Futurama did a funny variation of this trope:

[Daikatuna]

act casual

[Adiwan]

Easily "villain gets reformed in some fashion and becomes a cool/weird/sorta friend of the group". The Vegeta, basically. Done well, I enjoy this every time.

You should read the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl comic series. It happens more often that a villain reforms than you think, or at least there is a moment when the villain becomes a chance to be good.


There are plenty of tropes I like when executed well.
Construction Zone Calamity has very strong roots in slapstick and its application is as vast as it can be creative. I mean half of Jackie Chan's films or toolset can be derived from there. Everything is a construction zone before or after the fight.

The Dark Times can be interesting. Black Mirror and all of the dystopias build upon that, which dissect one social or environmental problem to its extreme. Everybody loves edgelord dark mirror universes? Everybody loves the Star Trek Mirror universe with bad goatees, eh?

Product Promotion Parade or just fictonal product placement is not very often used but it is a fountain of hilarious laughs. In the recent MLP Holiday Special comic I was thoroughly entertained by Windy the Wendigo. But also fake products in general make me glee from time to time.
You have to love what Wander over Yonder did with that

[Perpetual Motion]

I love myself a good monologue. Villain or hero, just take a minute or two to give a thematically appropriate speech right before (or for bonus points, while) doing something badass. Even in bad movies the cheese still manages to make them entertaining.

Good cheese:


Stone cold badassery:

[West Filly]

I like it when shows have a repeated segment, like a transformation sequence or THUNDERCATS HOOOOO. Yes it does get annoying after a while. Yes I'm aware that it has nothing to do with making a "good show" and everything to do with filling in some of the time in each episode so that they can cheap out on animation. I just like when a show has a thread that ties the episodes together like this.

The stairwell in Utena is a good example of this.

It's probably not a popular opinion, because I totally get when people say that this kind of thing is obnoxious.

[Mr. Big]

Heh, while I can't say that's one of my favorite tropes, I always find it fascinating whenever cartoons reuse footage like that in each episode.

For long-running series, I always like it when a character who hasn't appeared in a while suddenly reappear. Especially if it's a recurring character that got Brother Chuck'd, only to return several years later, maybe with some explanation of where they've been (or otherwise acknowledge they haven't been around for a while).

Especially the case if it's the finale, where the creators decide to bring back everyone one last time.

[Gloomy Rube]

My favorite thing though I don't know if it's overused or not is when a narrator says something and then a character says the same thing. Like "She was feeling very vexed. "I FEEL VERY VEXED" she said."

[Jill]

do bunny girls count

otherwise i like the Fluttershy archetype a whole lot. it’s not only something i relate to but also aspire to in some capacity. basically when i first played phantom brave i was like “there should be more people like Marona” and eventually came to the conclusion that i could chip in to that end

[ToastGhost]

FINAL CHECK

...

Heh...

[Dal]

Time travel when done well.

Didn't that tape say there were no fish in your pond?

Close enough.

[West Filly]

I dig giant robots.

[Mr. Big]

I don't know how overused this is, but I always love it when Character A does something that's seemingly out of character, causing Character B to shake them and say "WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DID YOU DO WITH X!?"

Especially the case if the character is known to be a jerk, and them doing something nice causes others to get alarmed.

[West Filly]

A lot of shows will run a gag where the person sits down and tries to eat a sandwich or equivalent, but just as they're about to take a bite something requires their immediate attention.

An evolution of the same gag is to have them defiantly eat the sandwich anyway.

The gag also has potential for a fake out.

[West Filly]

In order to illustrate that someone's life is a mess, they must drive a beat up car.

I'd like to see someone subvert this by having someone seem successful with a nice car, only to then have things in the background suggest that they're struggling with car loans.

[West Filly]

vehicle tropes are great. I like when there's a signature vehicle for the gang, like the Mystery Machine or the Millennium Falcon.

In truth it probably falls under the trope of merchandising

[Mr. Big]

I recently bought a DVD of a cartoon called "The Oddball Couple" (literally "The Odd Couple", but with talking animals). The two characters share a car where one half is clean and nice, while the other half is broken down and beat up. It's so fucking pointless I can't help but find it hilarious

That brings up another trope I enjoy, the "Odd Couple", where two characters who are opposites (typically but not exclusively one is prissy and clean while another is a messy slob) are always shown together for whatever reason.

[Gloomy Rube]

That brings up another trope I enjoy, the "Odd Couple", where two characters who are opposites (typically but not exclusively one is prissy and clean while another is a messy slob) are always shown together for whatever reason.

I'm not a huge fan of this as stated, but when they actually are BFFs too then I really like it. Like, sticking together the jock and the nerd or whatever and having them just always end up with each other and hating it I don't like, but if they're besties then it's great and good.

Like how Misery and Ruby Gloom are basically opposites but get along great and are besties. Or Maud and Pinkie!

[W.T. Fits]

I like heroic resolve/heroic spirit. Something about the idea of the hero being beaten down and at their lowest point and somehow finding the strength to rise back up and keep fighting and ultimately win just really strikes a chord in me.

[West Filly]

I can't relate to that trope

[Jill]

I like heroic resolve/heroic spirit. Something about the idea of the hero being beaten down and at their lowest point and somehow finding the strength to rise back up and keep fighting and ultimately win just really strikes a chord in me.

very same

[Mr. Big]

Another one to add to the list: the one where the character make a small lie, but in order to maintain it they have to add another lie on top of it, eventually piling up and crashing.

This variant is rarer, but it's even better if the character actually succeeds at maintaining the lie all the way to the end, like the "Steamed Ham" sequence, or to give a Pony example, "Sweet and Elite".

[Princess Flufflebutt]

Sweet and Elite is just Steamed Hams but it's a pony episode

[West Filly]

Well Rarity I made it here, in spite of your directions.

[londonarbuckle]

I have a love/hate relationship with the trope that's like

CHARACTER A: *has something to confess* There's something I have to tell you

CHARACTER B: Okay, but me first, I just want to say that I'm very happy and everything is great and also you are the best ever and nothing could ever make things bad, now what is it you wanted to tell me?

CHARACTER A: ...

It's really overused and dumb and I even see things that should be above doing that still do it completely straight-faced and I'm fascinated that they don't bother to figure out something better.

[Fizzbuzz]

Sweet and Elite is just Steamed Hams but it's a pony episode

Having just rewatched that episode I can say that Rarity is at least a better liar than Seymour Skinner.

[Aramek]

I don't know if it has an actual name but I really like the Trope we're usually in fantasy or sci-fi there's a really old dude who's like a retired Adventurer and is way stronger and higher level than everyone else.

Where the young Heroes can get a glimpse of where they might end up someday in a world with creatures and people far stronger than the protagonist.

[Mr. Big]

Another one where a character is shown believing in something really outlandish, which others dismiss as being paranoid, only to be shown that they were 100% correct.

To give a MLP example: "Secrets and Pies", where Pinkie's theory that Rainbow Dash was secretly disposing her pies turned out to be true.

[West Filly]

Steven Universe Example: Ronaldo's three part rant.

"They're here to hollow out the Earth" (later confirmed)
"It's part of the great Diamond authority" (later confirmed)
"They'll take on any form" It's true that gems can shapeshift but this hasn't yet been a critical plot point

[Mr. Big]

Another one I kinda enjoy, Insult Backfire, when something that's meant to be an insult is taken as a compliment by another person. Especially if the character KNOWS it's supposed to be an insult, but they accept it as a compliment just to annoy them.

It goes without saying that there are a LOT of real life examples of this happening.

[Highbrow Dash]

"I'm okay"
Narrator voiceover: "He wasn't okay"

So, Arrested Development, basically.

[Highbrow Dash]

Also cute & normally sincere characters being jerks or sad or sarcastic... MLP FiM basically.

[West Filly]

When they have a character who has to learn about human nature and they use it as a vehicle to explore the human condition. I'm talking about characters Like Data or Pearl.

[West Filly]

Butler characters: Carlton, C3P0, Alfred. Butlers are the best

[W.T. Fits]

Butler characters: Carlton, C3P0, Alfred. Butlers are the best

Carlton wasn't the butler; I think you mean Geoffrey?

[West Filly]

Dangit my brain farted.

Although you could argue that Geoffrey held the power in their relationship.

[W.T. Fits]

Dangit my brain farted.

Although you could argue that Geoffrey held the power in their relationship.

Checks out.

[Daikatuna]

g could you make me a sandwich

no

[Aramek]

Old magicians who have actual magic.