The worst thing is that there is so much potential for exploring the horror of psych wards from the angle of medical abuse, ableism, forced treatment/drugging, loss of autonomy, power imbalance, demonization, dehumanization, etc, and YET the horror genre keeps defaulting to "insane asylums and psych wards are scary because there are mentally ill people in there"
More random tropes that I fucking love: Becoming the mask you wore.
Like oh shit, this character who was sent to spy somewhere under a false identity suddenly realises they've started to genuinely become the person they claimed to be? Someone who's been telling the same lies about who they are for so long that they're actually forgetting that the story isn't true? Finding themselves genuinely doing the things they pretend to do in front of people, when they're alone and nobody's watching? Answering to a name that wasn't supposed to be theirs without thinking?
Ooohh-hoh-hoh, you lost track of yourself in pretending to be someone else? You were only supposed to impersonate somebody, a plausible background and a name you came up with on the spot, and now that the people you were supposed to infiltrate have become your true companions? You lost yourself in the game you played, and no you no longer know who you truly are, and where your true loyalties lie? And both sides would mark you a traitor if you came out with the truth. On a scale of one to ten, how bad did you fuck up.
Fuck that is a good trope. Never seen it done badly. Pour that shit on a table and I'll chop it into lines and snort it.
Some variations on this theme that are good as hell:
i can’t get over fictional characters who are doomed by the narrative simply bc they wanted love and approval. it’s like the most tragic of greek tragedies to me because their fatal flaw wasn’t a flaw at all but rather a human instinct, a need. and despite this they were punished, stoned to death. is life so cruel to punish the most human of all needs? love?
More favourite stupid video game tropes, Hallowe’en edition:
Okay, but that moment when a very poised, calm, in-control villain snaps for a minute and starts yelling, which causes their perfectly-combed hair to shake loose over their forehead as their face turns red with fury, only to a moment later take a deep breath and visibly calm themselves, smoothing their hair back into place with a little comment, “Oh dear, how dreadfully uncivilized of me.”
Very good moments, 10/10, A+!
there's something so compelling about stories where a character's virtues intensify into flaws that lead to their downfall. loyalty and love becoming so all-consuming that compassion outside of them ceases to exist. duty overwhelming any moral compass until order becomes more important than justice. selflessness so intense it becomes self-destruction. let me watch while whatever saved the hero in the beginning destroys them. let me see them fall to their own worst impulses disguised as what once made them good.
the concept of characters being turned into something monstrous and destined for evil but still CHOOSING to be good and to do good for as long as possible is a good trope. the best trope possibly.
Only made better when combined with the Found Family trope
@dappercritter MW vibes
strong stoic man with sad past: *adopts child*
me every single time:
It’s about choosing to break the cycle of abuse and doing your best to ensure the next generation doesn’t have to endure what you did. And that’s fucking heroic work.
and it is also about learning to heal 🥺😭
please remember that it’s okay to use popular tropes and clichés in your writing. just remember to make them your own, and put your own kinda spin on them.
don’t let yourself be stopped by what other people say you can or can’t do when it comes to writing. you are allowed to write about whatever you want, regardless of how popular it is in mainstream media.
What do you think of the "revenge bad" tropes frequently found
it actually pisses me off sooooo much when characters are like “ohhh but if i hurt or kill the bastard who made my life and others’ a living hell i’m just as bad as they are!” like grow up and shoot him what are you catholic
“but i’m too good to kill anyone! :(” i’m not. give me the gun.
K vibes
some random redemption arcs that aren’t just ‘zuko, but a little to the left’
i’ll reblog with the link once it’s done but i thought y’all would want to know i am back on my bullshit
I wasn't a fan of beauty and the beast, but I friggin ADORED Shrek (still do except for 3). But the "just friends but only because the network is a coward" fits perfectly too.
You know what bugs me about soulmate aus? So, I’m assuming that this whole “the first thing your soulmate says to you blahblahblah” is a worldwide thing. So many of the aus I’ve read have a quote at some point that addresses how tragic it is when people have soul words that say something like “hi” or “‘sup” which makes NO SENSE! In a world where the first thing you say to people is THAT important, WHY GOD WHY would the culture still use standard greetings? Who the fuck is still saying hello at this point? Everyone in these worlds would surely develop a personalized greeting different from everybody else’s to prevent confusion. Like how no 2 racehorses can have the same racing name? The best part is that every time people met someone new for the first time, they would try to say something that no one else had said. You’d have people meeting eachother at a job intetview, they’d shake hands, smile politely, then one of them would be like “Every Tuesday, I hard even grape purple farm house sunsets too” and this would be perfectly normal. Or you’d go up to the cash register at Starbucks and instead of saying “Hello, what can i get for you today?” She’d look you right in the eye and say “I don’t know what Space Jam is” THEN ask you what you want and she’d repeat that to every customer in the line for the rest of her career. And because they live in the AU, nobody would think it was weird.
op you are forcibly opening my third eye with a crowbar and i am here for it
You know what I'm here for? People who try to make it work, though they are not "meant to be". People whos soulmate has died, and they still try to lead a happy life with someone. People who reject the order of things.
