Cliché Storm: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"At this point the turbolift opens, revealing [[Cowboy Cop|a cop-on-the-edge who doesn't play by the rules]], [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|a greedy corporate big-wig looking to get rich]] [[Green Aesop|by poisoning the water supply,]] and [[Uncle Tomfoolery|a skinny black guy]] whose job it is [[Jive Turkey|to say 'Dayymn!' and refer to 'My black ass!']]"''
|'''[[SF Debris]]''', reviewing the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' episode "Twisted"}}
You are watching something like ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]] 2: Hero of the Federation'' and it strikes you that you have heard every single line of this somewhere else. Every trope is presented without [[Subverted Trope|irony]] or [[Lampshade Hanging|acknowledgment]]. ''All'' the situations and setups are clipped out of another story and pasted in as-is.
You are in a '''Cliché Storm'''. Do not worry. The pain will soon pass. A bug will soon scrag the [[Ensign Newbie|inept Lieutenant]]. Security will soon come to the perimeter. [[You Shall Not Pass|The line will soon be held]]. It will be over, soon.
Remember, this is [[Tropes Are Not Bad|not always a bad thing]]
See also [[A Space Marine Is You]], a specific form of a Cliché Storm; see also [[Deconstructor Fleet]], for works that tear through dozens of tropes en route from Cliché Storm to originality. Compare [[Medieval European Fantasy]], a common setting in some Cliché Storms. Compare [[Strictly Formula]], [[Reconstruction]]. Compare and contrast [[Troperiffic]], which is a more fun version of this trope, although the lines between the two are blurry and kind of subjective.
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{{examples}}
▲== Anime/Manga ==
* This is the ''point'' of ''[[Kujibiki Unbalance]].'' In fact, many examples of [[Show Within a Show]] are full of clichés, possibly so that they seem "more fictional" than the show they're part of.
* See also ''[[Gekiganger 3]]'' from ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' which is even more of an example. Practically every attack and character is lifted from some famous [[Super Robot]] series, mostly ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' (for robot design and attacks) and ''[[Getter Robo]]'' (the characters and just about everything else).
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== Fan
* [[In-Universe]] in ''[[Calvin and Hobbes:
* Parodied in the [[Harry Potter]] fic ''When in Doubt, Obliviate'' when Snape took exception to several standard cliches during a teacher's meeting.
{{quote|'''Snape''': "I'm not going to start off irrationally hating Potter because of his parents even if he did make a pained face and cover his eyes the minute he saw me."
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'''Dumbledore''': "Well, now I think you're just limiting yourself. Would it really be so bad if that did happen?"
'''Snape''': "It doesn't really matter if it would or would not be since it ''won't''. And finally, I will most certainly not become his favorite teacher and or his mentor. I simply will not do it and this will not become an inspirational story. It will not." }}
* ''[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/6878/A-Perfectly-Ordinary-Day-in-Ponyville A Perfectly Ordinary Day in Ponyville]'' is a ''[[My Little Pony:
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* Surely [[Video Game Movies Suck|part of the reason]] for the catastrophic bomb dive of ''[[Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within|Final Fantasy the Spirits Within]]'' was that, outside of the [[Uncanny Valley]] CG characters, the writers seem to have simply taken the [[The Lifestream|Gaia theory]] philosophy from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' and mined the rest of the script straight from ''[[Aliens]]''.
{{quote|''"All right, Deep EYES, this is a [[Bug War|bug hunt]]! You heard the man and you know the drill... lock'n'load, move out, and [[Stay Frosty]]!"''}}
* ''[[Dungeons
* The complete filmography of Roland Emmerich, [[Michael Bay]], and Stephen Sommers, but [[Tropes Are Not Bad|that's not to say they aren't entertaining]].
** Sommers in particular [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] the hell out of this. In his commentary for ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy Returns]]'', he notes that if you have a jungle full of ruins, you ''have'' to have shrunken heads.
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Mike McCracken: What you see is what you get.
Gen. Morters: Loose lips, sink ships...
Mike McCracken: [[The Beatles (band)|Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing or fighting, my friend.]]
''[Gen. Morters, cornered, looks to Mr. Jigsaw]''
''[Mr. Jigsaw consults Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, shakes his head]''
Gen. Morters: Sorry Mike, no good. }}
* Discussed in ''[[Serenity]]'' as the setup for an action punchline:
{{quote|'''The Operative''': "The Alliance isn't [[The Empire|some evil Empire]]; he is ''not'' [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|the plucky hero]]; this is ''not'' the grand arena--"
'''Inara''': "--and that's not incense."
''BOOM!'' }}
** Oddly enough, The Alliance ''is'' an evil empire, and Mal ''is'' the plucky hero and the rest of the movie goes pretty well as you would expect, albeit with enough emotional twists and turns to engage the audience.
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* ''[[Resident Evil]]: Apocalypse'' contains so many cliches from every zombie, sci-fi and buddy action film in the past ten years before release that it is near impossible to find something original in the film.
* ''[[Alpha and Omega]]''. Entire movie in a nutshell: Male falls in love with female. Male realizes he can't be with female because their love is forbidden due to them being different. Male and female get captured, wake up in a new location, and have to find their way home. Then throw in a bunch of kiddie humor during their adventure. Male and female finally arrive home, but the female dies. Oh wait, she didn't actually die. Male and female, despite their differences, fall in love, and live happily ever after. The end.
* [[Roger Ebert]]'s review of ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' was basically [https://web.archive.org/web/20130311122751/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=
* The trailer for the new Steven Soderbergh actioner ''[[Haywire]]'' (starring MMA hottie Gina Carano) promises a cliché storm the likes of which even God has never seen, despite a terrific supporting cast including Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas and Michael Douglas.
* ''National Lampoon's Senior Trip'' is the bad/lazy version of this as the entire [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|class]] is just one big checklist of student cliches from the [[High School Hustler]] leader to [[The Stoner]] sidekick(s) to the [[Schoolgirl Lesbians]] with special emphasis on [[Big Fun|Miosky,]] who's trying everything in his power to be the next John Belushi, plus [[Politically Incorrect Hero|"date a blonde Jap."]] The ''only'' saving graces to this film is Matt Frewer as their [[Badly-Battered Babysitter|teacher,]] [[Lilo and Stitch|Kevin]] [[The Kids in The Hall|McDonald]] playing an [[Ax Crazy]] Star Trek fan out to kill them and [[Tara Strong|Carla]] [[Catch Phrase|asking guys if they "want to screw."]]
* ''[[Christian Mingle]]''. E. Reid Ross of ''[[Cracked.com]]'' wrote in [http://www.cracked.com/quick-fixes/4-reasons-new-christian-mingle-movie-will-be-hilarious/ 4 Reasons the New Christian Mingle Movie Will Be Hilarious] that the trailer of this film "May Have Set the All-Time Record for Cliches".
* ''[[The Scarecrow (2000 film)|The Scarecrow]]'' by Richard Rich has been criticized for being too similar to a [[Disney]] movie, namely ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)|Beauty and the Beast]]''. [[Tropes Are Not Bad|It's far from being horrible, though]] - the animation is surprisingly good, and the main villain Grisham is just different enough from Gaston to stand out ([[Large Ham|though no less hammy]]).
==
* [[Defied Trope|Defied]] by ''[[Codex Alera]]''. Yes, it is a story about a [[Farm Boy]] who becomes a sword-wielding badass, learns the magic system, gets a hot girlfriend, saves the world from an [[Exclusively Evil]] nonhuman menace, and is {{spoiler|secretly the incredibly magically powerful heir to the throne}}. But it ''isn't.'' Perhaps this is due to the [[Cool vs. Awesome]]. Or the unique magic system. Or the fact that all the races have been replaced by completely different and awesome things. Or that the main character is the [[Defied Trope]] of the [[Marty Stu]]. Or maybe because it was written by [[Jim Butcher]].
* ''[[In The Hall Of The Dragon King]]'' by Stephen Lawhead fits this to a T. Peasant boy who becomes heir to the throne? Check. Old, wise mentor figure? Check. [[Supporting Leader]]? Check. Completely evil, slightly insane villain who wants to take over the world? Check. [[Evil Prince]]? Check. Liberal use of both the [[Idiot Ball]] and [[Villain Ball]]? Check. Despite all that, [[Tropes Are Not Bad|it's still a rather well written book]].
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'''Sam:''' Nothing ventured, nothing gained. }}
*** Then Vala says "Life is too short", a statement repeated throughout the episode (and Daniel and Vala's {{spoiler|time-erased relationship}}) but supposedly forgotten when the [[Reset Button]] was hit. Suggesting, interestingly, that somehow Vala remembers what happened.
* [[McLeaned|Col. Blake]] of ''[[
{{quote|'''Trapper:''' Welcome to the Henry Blake Cliche Festival.}}
* ''[[Prison Break]]''—Okay, maybe it's not quite a ''storm'', but just too many of the characters are overly familiar—the ominous, shade-wearing government guys, the oblivious warden, the brutish guard captain, the aged Mafia guy with an Italian name, the sweet-yet-daring female leads...[[Tropes Are Not Bad|doesn't have to mean it's a bad show, of course]].
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== Tabletop Games ==
* Official ''[[Dungeons
* Hey, look! It's another [[Euro Game]] about farming, trading, or something set in medieval times.
* Hey, look! It's another American game about fantasy, combat, or something set in ''fantasy'' medieval times.
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== Video Games ==
* ''[[
** The ''Wings of Liberty'' campaign itself isn't much better. The characters are, at best, paper-thin stereotypes—even Raynor himself doesn't have much depth—and the plot has all the moral complexity of a fairy tale.
** This is exacerbated by the fact that not only is it a cliche storm on its own, its plot is the exact same cliche storm you saw in the previous Blizzard RTS. [[Play the Game, Skip the Story|Not that people noticed]].
* ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]''. This may have been part of its charm; damn near everyone that played the game loved it. The cliché storm came at a time where every other RPG in a five year radius -- [[Follow the Leader|following the lead]] of ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''—had gone to such great lengths to avoid clichés (largely by becoming [[Darker and Edgier]] and [[Faux Symbolism|stiflingly pretentious]]) that a [[Reconstruction|return to overused tropes]] had [[Inverted Trope|somehow become a breath of fresh air]]. One thing that makes ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'' work in spite of this trope is that it combines the various clichés in genuinely new and previously un-attempted ways.
** ''[[Grandia (video game)|Grandia]]'', a much earlier RPG, may well have beaten ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'' to the decision to stop trailing after ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''... though really, in ''Grandia'''s case it feels more like the writer just wanted to have fun rather than having a specific intention of being different. The hero's a mischievous young lad, who runs away from home chasing the legacy of his dead father to become an adventurer, carrying his [[Orphan's Plot Trinket]] (the Spirit Stone), fights the evil empire... and it is awesome in very much the same way as [[Skies of Arcadia]]'s lack of fear for the use of cliché lead it to be.
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* ''[[Eternal Sonata]]'' seems to teeter between this and [[Troperiffic]], with varying opinions as to which side it leans more heavily towards. It has many elements of the traditional JRPG, but it could be argued that this was intentional.
* A fair few people argue that the first ''[[Atelier Iris]]'' game, and maybe the second one, work on this level as well—yeah, it plays a lot of common RPG adventure tropes completely straight, but they're used so ''well'' and the tone of the games is fundamentally so bright and optimistic [[Troperiffic|that the audience ends up loving the product anyway]].
* ''[[
* Likewise, ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]''. A somewhat unusual development by the team that brought you the [[Deconstructor Fleet]]s ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' and ''[[Star Wars]]: [[Knights of the Old Republic]] II'', it seems almost like an experiment in how many cliches (from [[Doomed Hometown]] to [[Gotta Catch Them All]] to {{spoiler|[[Kill'Em All]]}}) could be crammed into a fantasy [[RPG]] given enough attention to detail, characterization, and dialogue.
** Mask of the Betrayer makes more sense if you think of it as the deconstructor to ''Neverwinter Nights 2'''s cliche-storm.
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* ''[[The Saboteur]]'' seems to have been made intentionally with every [[World War 2]] cliche in mind.
* ''[[Disaster: Day of Crisis]]'' plays every single [[Disaster Movie]]-Cliche known to mankind painfully straight. And somehow, it [[Narm Charm|still works.]]
* ''[[Guild Wars]]'' is particularly guilty of this, [[Play the Game, Skip the Story|though it doesn't get much attention.]]The storyline in all four campaigns is pretty cliched itself, but if you listen to the dialog you'd think you were listening to a dictionary of cliche things to say. From the motivational speeches you quite often get ("We are the light that will shatter the coming darkness"), to the supposedly dramatic twists in the storyline ("But something tells me if they see for themselves what the White Mantle really do with the Chosen, they'll have a change of heart about their masters"), it's about as bad as I've seen it get.
** Although there are some subversions. (Varesh Ossa is actually [[The Dragon]] rather than a pawn of Abaddon, despite being Chosen, it's heavily implied literally ''any'' of the Chosen could have done what the player character does, the player character [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|unintentionally screw over Elona in time for Guild Wars 2]]) Nightfall in particular has the most Cliché Storm story out of all of them...despite the subversions.
* [[The Feeble Files]] is kinda cross between genuine cliché storm and parody of it.
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** Fire Emblem 9 was, backstory and setting aside, pretty much this to Fire Emblem games. However, it's interesting to note that about half way through the game, they start playing with the Fire Emblem tropes, such as having the princess instead of being a plot figure don armour and become full out playable. Fire Emblem 10 meanwhile goes into full-on [[Deconstructor Fleet]].
** ''[[Fire Emblem: Awakening]]'' was actually ''mistaken'' as one, on basis of having the main character being a blue-haired sword-wielding prince. However, it quickly begins to subvert this/
* ''[[Diablo]]'' intentionally does this as part of the charm. Then again though, at this point (By Diablo 3), Blizzard probably knows that [[Play the Game, Skip the Story|they could somehow bring Chaucer back from the dead and have him write the plot, and 95% of their players still won't pay attention to it.]]
==
* A ton of
* Everything in ''[[Sonichu]]'' that doesn't [[All There in the Manual|fail to make any sense unless the author explains it]] has been seen before in so many other, better works.
* Parodied on ''Hiro'' with [http://drunkduck.com/hiro/index.php?p=414050 Lo, the Cliche King]{{Dead link}}.
* Done deliberately and for laughs in Jango's [[Evil Gloating]] [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0276.html here] in ''[[Darths and Droids]]''.
* The GM's story in ''[[DM of the Rings]]''.
* ''[[Mitadake Saga]]'', like the original game, glorifies itself on Anime tropes quite often.
* ''[[The Black Blood Alliance]]''
* Done in-story in ''[[The Noob]]'' with the MMORPG ''ClicheQuest''
* [http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2003/10/02/ In universe] for ''[[Pibgorn]]''.
* An in-universe example was done by [[Real Life Comics]] during a dimension-hopping adventure where they wound up in a world where "everything is a ''[[Sliders]]'' cliche!". Naturally, this involved their dimension-traveling device fizzling out, a doomsday scenario, joining and fighting a rag-tag resistance group led by a double of someone they knew, getting involved with and solving the world's problems and a last second escape. Well, '''almost''' all their problems.
{{quote|'''Alt Dave''': That's great, but what about the '''''huge freaking asteroid''''' about to hit the planet?!
'''Tony''': Sorry, pal! You're on your own! }}
* Catch a Mad in ''[[Narbonic]]'' not spouting off every ''[[Mad Scientist]]'' cliche ever and you will find a Mad letting the side down. If you can't rant for at least an hour about
== Web Original ==
* Judging by what can be gathered about ''[[Satina (Wants a Glass of Water)]]'' after watching its first official episode (''Bring Your Demon to Work Day''), said show is absolutely ''made'' out of [[Sitcom|sitcom]] cliches.
** However, said show uses its utter cliched-ness as a humorous contrast to the fact that it is about [[Improbable Species Compatibility|a human and a demon taking care of their human/demon hybrid baby]], so it more-or-less works.
== Western Animation ==
* The animated ''[[The King and I]]'' was one big fat cliché from start to finish.
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* ''[[Three Delivery]]'', the Nicktoon. Think of ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'', but with food puns and even ''more'' cliches.
* ''[[Skeleton Warriors]]'' hits most every fantasy cliche it can reach.
* Whether intentional or not, ''[[The Fairly
* Pretty much the entire point of ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' is to be a Category-5 Cliche Hurricane, especially for [[Reality TV]] tropes. [[Played for Laughs]].
* The character of [[Evil Sorcerer|the Archmage]] on ''[[Gargoyles]]'' was a deliberate Cliché Storm—indeed, his primary weakness is [[Bond Villain Stupidity|his love affair with villain cliches]], which prevents him from utilizing his godlike magical power to the fullest possible extent.
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* ''[[Cars]]'' is this for [[Pixar]] movies. It's easy to imagine a little counter in the corner dinging whenever you see a Pixar cliche. Stranger in a community or group? Check. Brooding moment from a side character? Check. Wacky sidekick who forms a comedic duo with the main character? Check. Said group full of wacky members with their own quirks? Check. All of the development threatens to go downhill when something happens to separate or alienate the stranger? Check.
** ''[[Brave]]'' also seems to be heading down this road considering it stars [[Everything's Better with Princesses|a rebellious princess]] and has glaring similarities to previous films such as ''[[Tangled]]'' and ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]''. This is probably intentional due to the fact that John Lassater has said that since all of the heads of Pixar are male, they have an easier time writing male characters and they just went with a familiar formula when they started writing a story with a female lead, but this ''is'' Pixar so this might be a case of [[Tropes Are Not Bad]], or just plain [[Troperrific]].
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' is a cliche storm for the superhero genre. [[Ordinary High School Student]] in a [[Freak Lab Accident]] becomes a [[Half-Human Hybrid]] and must now [[Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World]] and maintain his [[Secret Identity]] while dealing with [[Hero with Bad Publicity|bad publicity]]. To help him are his [[Two Guys and a Girl|best friends]] as he fights a variety of villains with [[Pun]]s, most notably a [[Magnificent Bastard]] [[Villain with Good Publicity|With Good Publicity]] who eventually makes [[Cloning Blues|clones]] [[Opposite
** Probably because the show had a heavy emphasis on comedy; the writing made it clear that they knew it was all cliched, so at times it could come off as an [[Affectionate Parody]] of the superhero genre.
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''; the basic plot is one you've heard before. The world is in danger, there is a single [[Chosen One]] who has to defeat the legion of evil despite his young age, and he only has a year to do it! But like other cliche storms, like ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'', by giving characters good back-stories and depth and creating a fleshed out world, [[Tropes Are Not Bad|it still works]].
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* ''[[My Life Me]]'' is this to [[Anime]] tropes '''and''' [[Slice of Life]] tropes.
* ''[[Johnny Test]]''
*
* The first season of ''[[Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi]]''. This was removed in the second season.
* Do ''not'' be fooled by the insect-populated [[Scavenger World]] that ''[[The Buzz on Maggie]]'' takes place in; it is about as cliched and stereotypical as animated sitcoms get.
* While ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]'' might not be an actual [[Cliche Storm]], it certainly is one ''hell'' of a [[Troperiffic|Trope Storm]].
== Other ==
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* [[Cirque Du Soleil]]'s ''[[KA]]'', their only show to put its [[Excuse Plot]] front and center, is a conventional heroic journey: royal twins are separated when their kingdom is attacked and their parents killed by evil forces; they and their sidekicks (some wacky, some serious) go through a variety of adventures to be reunited and help defeat the army. Each finds romance along the way, the Twin Brother with a villain's daughter and the Twin Sister with a Tarzan-like forest hero. The pleasure of the show is watching it unfold without intelligible dialogue and with oodles of [[Scenery Porn]] and acrobatics; the familiarity of its story is kinda to its benefit.
* [http://youtu.be/WAG9Xn5bJwQ This] hilarious [[Real Trailer, Fake Movie]].
* [[World War II|Bernard Montgomery's]] [http://www.remuseum.org.uk/corpshistory/part16/el-alamein-personalmessage.jpg address to the British Eighth Army]{{Dead link}} shortly before the battle of El Alamein was filled with cliches, and he was known for being fond of using them in general.
* [http://nylawblog.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834516c2469e20153901a011d970b-pi This] [http://nylawblog.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834516c2469e20153901a0218970b-pi brief].
* ''[http://the-toast.net/series/how-to-tell-if-youre-in-a-novel/ How To Tell If You’re In a Novel]'' series on The Toast classifies it by genres.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]
[[Category:Sturgeon's Tropes]]
[[Category:Stock Conversations]]
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