Quote Originally Posted by Neo Emolga View Post
I agree with sooooooo many of these.

Deus ex machina underdog - Deus ex machina is bad as is, but this is extra salt on the wound. I like rooting for the underdog, but only when they've earned it and they proved to be resourceful, careful, and strategic in trying to overcome what they're up against. It also makes sense if they took a beating physically and emotionally in the process. But if they totally avoid a struggle against a stronger entity by bs-ing some randomly-inserted nonsense that gives them an instant edge and suddenly they're heroes of the world with a single cheap shot, I don't even want to continue and I usually end up wishing the bad guys won instead. I don't want to read about how all <hero character> had to do was shoot one arrow in their <insert weak spot> and that's instant death for an enemy that was causing so much trouble (Bard the Bowman, I'm giving you the evil eye on this one). No, struggle and whittle away at that monster. Make it agonizing. Make it costly and make it involve some trial and error and some failed attempts as well. Make it look like they could lose. Get a real battle going, not a single lucky shot.
Oh wow, this one annoys me a lot too. And on that note, villains that are portrayed as competent but turn into cowardly weaklings the moment the hero stands up to them. In most cases, I want to see some struggle when the protagonist fights against villains, even less important or lower ranking ones. If the hero is completely annihilating them with little effort, there had better be a good reason for it. If they're doing so repeatedly under the excuse that "their family/friends/love interest was in danger and that made them super determined" it bugs the crap out of me. The villains have motives too, ones that would probably make them pretty freaking determined as well. Plus having your loved ones in danger doesn't make you automatically able to easily win a fight against someone twice your size or more. And if the villain immediately turns cowardly and all "Weehhh, don't hurt me!" when the hero shows even the slightest bit of resistance, I just roll my eyes.