*********************LIST OF CLICHES 2***********************
****************THIS TIME IT'S PERSONAL!!!*****************
Crime Dramas
• The suspect who is intelligent enough not to indulge any of their criminal acts for the first half of the show, immediately confesses all the details to a crime when presented with any evidence against him, usually acting proud of their criminal actions even though they know they will be arrested.
• At the beginning of the episode before the title credits, the main characters would make a sarcastic or snarky comment about the victim or crime.
Science fiction and fantasy
• Characters that are unwilling to communicate creating a major problem from something that could have been fixed just by telling someone. (Lost)
• A character who is forced to repeat one day over and over again (Groundhog Day, Xena: Warrior Princess, Christmas Every Day)
• A plot in which characters switch bodies (Farscape - Out of Their Minds (S2E09))
• A plot which involves the characters visiting present day earth.
• Evil soldiers will always miss their targets, while the hero never misses (the Stormtrooper effect)
• When a villain fires a gun at a bulletproof hero, he will then throw the empty gun, and the hero will duck; this applies mainly to Superman in various media, but it has happened elsewhere
• A plot in which one or more main characters visit a parallel dimension that is darker than their own (Star Trek's "Mirror, Mirror" (and sequels), Doctor Who's "Inferno" and "Rise of the Cybermen", The Flash)
• In martial arts movies, a group of minor thugs will surround the hero but only attack one at a time. This rule is only violated when the plot dictates that the hero be captured, at which point they finally gang up on him.
• Whenever the protagonist time travels into the past, he will invariably meet a great historical figure.
• Child who behaves in an unusual fashion (mute, autistic, etc.) who has extreme psychic ability or other gifts which get the heroes out of a jam. Many fan writers refer to this as the "mute kid with powers" cliché. A variant of this turns up in straight drama as the mute, retarded, autistic, or comically foreign individual who has unusual abilities or insights benefiting the main characters (e.g., Jodie Foster's Nell).
• Spaceships destroyed by enemy fire will always explode spectacularly.
• Despite advances in technology, spaceships will fight in visual range.
• The main cast will have at least one token minority; in addition, there will be at least one extremely attractive and provocatively dressed woman/female alien.
• The enemy ship/super weapon, no matter how large or powerful, will have a fatal flaw.
• Enemy forces are all ugly monsters/aliens or dress in ominous armor or uniforms.
General
• The ongoing, on-again-off-again relationship. Most often the two characters involved will finally get together towards the end of a series. (Friends, Gilmore Girls)
• In modern historical films, the women are often portrayed as just as capable as men in combat (Maid Marian in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, Elena in The Mask of Zorro and The Legend of Zorro, Anna in Van Helsing, Arwen in Lord of the Rings and Elizabeth Swann in The Pirates of the Caribbean 2.
• A plot in which the hero (or heroes) faces a villain he cannot defeat. He then finds an ancient master or guardian that gives him a new power (better martial arts techniques, upgraded equipment, etc) with which he trounces the villain in the final scene.
• In stories involving racing competitions, the villain is more focused on attacking the hero than winning the race (obviously leading to his doom). (Note: While this cliché can be annoying, it does provide a good counter-example to the question "Are villains more interesting than the heroes who fight them?)
Animation clichés Good Guys vs. Bad Guys
• There will be an episode where the villain pretends to give up and/or turn good in order to lead the naive and trusting good guys into a trap (examples: Garfield and Friends, The Smurfs, and The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Xiaolin Showdown).
• Similarly, there will be an episode in which one of the good characters appears to have gone over to the side of evil. This is usually due to some sort of malign influence by the villains, or is a trick by the good guy to win the bad guys' trust. In either case, they will be restored to good by the end of the episode (or plotline, if several episodes revolve around the same thing.) (Teen Titans)
• For shows featuring robots, the good ones have blue eyes while the bad guys have red eyes (See The Transformers). This or variations of this theme may apply to humans/mutants as well (for example, good guys will don blue sunshades while bad guys will don red, or the bad guy could be a mutant with red eyes and the good guys have blue eyes).
• In shows that focus on a team of superheroes, a new character will often suddenly appear to join the team. They will later turn out to be working for the villain, especially if the team accepts them quickly. However, if the team reacts to them with extreme suspicion and mistrust, the new character may turn out to be a genuine hero, usually with a mysterious and tragic past that gives them a reason to hate the villain.
• There will usually be one episode in which the hero and the villain are forced to work together. Often this will involve them joining together to fight a more powerful foe. In several 80's cartoons (including G.I. Joe), this involved the good guys and the bad guys teaming up to fight the war on drugs. Invariably, the villain will attempt to betray the hero as soon as their common enemy has been defeated, or, as in Invader Zim, will simply get back to fighting.
• Characters, good or bad, never die; they fall into another dimension (e.g. Mary Jane Watson in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the Outriders in Saber Rider, the Serpentmen in Conan The Adventurer, Bruce in Bucky O' Hare, Esmeraude in Sailor Moon, Bob and Megabyte in ReBoot, both managed to get back.)
• Good guys are never allowed to sneak on bad guys and attack them from behind. They must first get their attention, usually with a one-liner, prior to attacking. On the other hand, bad guys are not always restricted to that rule.
• Should the hero get caught in the enemy's trap, the villain will then explain the entire workings of his nefarious plot (assuming that the hero has not found out already). The villain will then leave the hero to his demise, through a cruel, though time-consuming method, neglecting to observe the hero at all. In that time between the villain's departure and the hero's intended demise, the hero will devise an escape plan and get away.
• A main character (one who is usually brought back from the dead) is discovered to be either a clone or a robot duplicate.
• The hero and villain will have to work together to defeat another foe even worse than the actual foe.
Good guys
• Good guys often dispense moral or social advice to their young audience, especially concerning issues such as drug use. There is typically a small segment set aside for this at the end of the cartoon. (G.I. Joe, Inspector Gadget, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog). This is sometimes known as the “Knowing is half the battle...” scene because of the line the G.I. Joe cartoon uses.
• If the hero of a modern action-adventure cartoon is a teenage girl, she will be highly competent, extremely skilled, and almost never look bad or lose in combat. However, if the main character is a male of the same age, he will be relatively inexperienced and prone to mistakes despite his skill in combat. Compare Kim Possible or The Life and Times of Juniper Lee with Ben 10 or American Dragon: Jake Long.
• If a tomboyish girl is forced to dress nicely and become a girly girl (usually for a beauty pagent, contest, etc.), by the end of the plot she will choose "to be herself" and will usually win anyway. (Nikki Wong, 6teen'', Spenelli, Recess, Danny Phantom)
• If the heroes form a group of three or more, there will be a 'normal' girl and boy, often white, who are usually the most attractive members. They will be surrounded by a supporting cast of oddballs, usually including a very gifted and intelligent inventor, a sports fanatic, an overweight person, a younger character, etc. The normal girl will be the love interest for both the normal boy and the other males of the group as well; however, if she choses one, she chooses the normal boy.
Bad guys
Bad guys can be divided into several categories:
• Supervillains are the main nemeses of the hero. They are cruel and hateful towards everyone around them. Not only do their plans never succeed (except on rare occasions), but more often than not at the end of the episode they are worse off than they were at the start. However, they always diligently come up with a new evil scheme.
• Henchmen act as a Supervillain's lieutenants, and carry out their boss' tasks, usually accompanied by a group of Minions. They vary in levels of skill, bravery, loyalty, and competence, but are generally about as powerful as the Hero(es) (Beast Man in Masters of the Universe, Starscream in Transformers, and Storm Shadow in G.I. Joe).
• Minions are the obedient foot soldiers to the Supervillain, typically following orders, even those that lead to their deaths. They are poor fighters and are easily defeated by heroes and sidekicks alike. They also tend to have terrible aim and rarely actually hit any good guys they shoot at (see Stormtrooper effect). Henchmen rarely die violently, unless they are robots, golems, or other nonliving constructs, in which case they die as violently as possible. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Samurai Jack, My Life as a Teenage Robot)
• The Independent Operative (a.k.a. The Mercenary or the Bounty-Hunter) who either works on his own, or gets hired by the Supervillain to deal with the Hero(es). The Operative is usually a threat to the Hero(es), but may become less of one as the series progresses.
• Despite having armies of stormtroopers and enough military hardware to outfit a small nation, evil organizations bent on world conquest frequently use bizarre and unorthodox methods (involving rare items and lengthy preparation) to achieve their goals rather than direct attack (as it is considered more entertaining for the young viewer and is less likely to involve human deaths). This was once common even in live-action films, but is now increasingly restricted to cartoons. Cartoons today often parody this cliché; for instance, the Kim Possible villain Señor Senior Sr. often explains in an episode that more realistic plans would be contrary to “the Code of Villainy.”
• The few female villains typically dress and act more provocatively than the heroines.
• Supervillains of Asian descent frequently have green skin (possibly to distract from race). Examples include Ming the Merciless in Defenders of the Earth, Dr. Julius No in James Bond Jr., The Mandarin in the Iron Man animated series.
• Villains are never of African descent, unless the hero is also of African descent or has black friends (such as Static Shock).
• The villain will deliver an ultimatum which the hero cannot or will not accept (i.e. surrender the planet to me or I will destroy it).
• The villain typically has a wise-cracking, usually anthropomorphic sidekick (this is usually true of Disney films). In any future sequels/television series, this sidekick may join the good guys.
• The henchmen will typically be mistreated by the supervillain. Often the henchmen are plotting revenge, usually in the form of a betrayal later on which will enable them to seize power from the main villain.
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I hate these days. People are telling you to STFU. Just say it, no matter how stupid or offensive it is.