10 WORST Monster Tropes in Fiction

It’s the season of Halloween, so we’re talking about monsters! Last year I broke down the best monster tropes out there, but today I’m breaking down the absolute worst monster tropes that lurk around the internet. That’s right, we’re talking about how zombies are over-saturating the fiction market, why faeries aren’t original any more, how to avoid terrible, uncomfortable subtext in your stories, and more! If you’ve been looking for someone to criticize the worst monster tropes in fiction, talk about how to make your monsters original, or show why you should avoid writing problematic tropes and cliches, you’ve come to the right place. Numbers 2, 6, and 8 will probably spark the most vitriol, so stick around! You may or may not soil your underpants in outrage...😱

–Straight from my cold, dark heart,
Your Cyborg Queen
#JennaMoreci #CyborgQueen #CyborgArmy

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CHANNEL PLAYLISTS:

[huldanoren]

Friendly monsters are goddamn underrated

[dianesaccomano]

“I blame Beauty and the Beast for this.” Not gonna lie, Beast was more attractive in the Disney animated movie than when he turned back into a human.

[anna-katehowell]

And even for those of us for whom motherhood is a significant aspiration, and those of us who have very tragically lost a child (before or after birth) and it was a defining trauma in our lives... let's think about the implication that child loss turns us into ACTUAL MONSTERS. like how gross is that? child loss, like many traumas, actually makes some people (probably most) MORE compassionate... not a fucking swamp creature. sheesh.

[Alias_Anybody]

A few people took "F*ck Cthulhu" way too literally. I mean, if you are into tentacles Japan already got you covered.

[James-nrhi]

Hi, I'm an Irish person and I would just like to say that the Faye or fairies even today are still a part of our culture. People still refuse to build over fairy circles out of fear of angering the Faye.

Also despite how terrible it is, as someone who both has autism and loves mythology I love the idea that since changeling are most likely an allegory for autism, I'm possibly a mythical creature. I'm still waiting for some magic powers though.

[yapdog]

_"I promise you. From the bottom of my heart... I don't give a shit."_ *That* is what being real from the beginning of your channel will get you: 260K+ subs.

[danielcopeland]

#5 -- autism, yes, if the changeling survives, but there's also a subgenre of changeling stories where the parent has to try to kill the changeling in infancy (whereupon the fairies whisk it away and restore the real baby). In _those_ stories, the way you tell a changeling from a human baby is by a bunch of signs that look suspiciously like the symptoms of diseases like diphtheria and whooping cough. It's been theorized that "it wasn't my baby, it was a changeling" started out as an excuse for overwhelmed caregivers who did things that would otherwise have gotten them hanged. (I have even more horrifying information about the origin of the werewolf myth if anyone's interested.)

[ThrottleKitty]

"The most vile monster to ever exist.... babies"
Strong pitch, xenomorph's at least can fend for themselves

[brianaburch]

Me: *Casually listening*
Jenna: "Teacup humans."
Me: *spits out coffee*

[RCon]

I'd like to see a unicorn wreaking bloody havoc and impaling people on that horn (that I don't think I've ever seen them actually use) for a change. That would be a great twist for a horror fantasy.

[bradstev]

Funnily enough, I'm actually doing a PhD in monster studies, specifically in medieval literature. A lot of these clichés go way further back then most realize.

[casey]

Jigsaw had the lost his child backstory, but I agree with every point you made Jenna :) But I love dragons, especially Drake the Dragon (well kinda..)

[elizabethflorimbio]

Lol, yeah I'm kind of done with zombies too. Only exception is when they give me zombies that are actually intelligent and function in normal society.

[shadowsparda]

You: *blames it on the beauty and the beast*
Me: I don't think it's because of--

**flashbacks to my child self finding beast hotter as beast over his human form**

[ravena]

I love fae tbh. I'm working on a novel which includes many different mythical creatures from many different cultures and two of the characters are fae (although one of them is only half-fae, but still fae), but I'm not following the same pattern as I think a lot of stories do. I've actually made them somewhat like dryads, in that they have an area that they cannot permanently stray from. In their birth place (still coming up with a name to better suit it) they must perform a ritual each year to replenish their magic and prevent themselves from Withering (I'm trying to come up with a better name, but so far it's just called Withering because that's basically what they do- wither away like flowers). I'm actually adding a twist to a lot of the magical creatures in the story to add more complexity to their existence.

Edit: I feel like magic with a 'k' looks prettier 😢

[andeeharry]

4. Aliens can be anything, depending on thier gravity and atmosphere....and they wouldn't even look humanoid....they would be so far out there, you wouldn't think of them such. Our oceans hold a great example to this one.

[randomrants]

I agree with the zombie part they have been done so many times in novels. Although the way they have been doing it has been done so many times gets rather annoying because here's how the story goes.

"Massive plague wipe out the human population or half of the human population. Now you have dumb asses or a dumb ass that some how is immune to the illness (sometimes but no all the times but most likely never get bitten through the series) with no skills how to live around with zombies or the fact how to kill one but lucky accidentally kill one."

In the olden days of zombies people believe zombies rises from their grave because of witchcraft and this trope isn't that common than the whole plague wiping out people turning them into zombies which it gets old rather quickly.

[thecoreofmagic]

"Number 8: Dragons"

Me, who's literally writing a book entirely centered around dragons: **chokes on coffee**

(Btw, I'm not saying I'm offended by this, I was just surprised. I 100% agree with her points on that. I'm actually trying to do something different with them, where instead of having their cultures be either entirely 'burn down village' and 'GOLD', or basically exactly like a human's, they have their own unique culture, language, and behaviors. I also just really like dragons... though I actually don't like the classic 'evil dragon' trope. If it has a reason to be evil, cool, but I feel it should be deeper than greed. Greed is overused in fiction).

[lrhill]

"He's hot because he scares me"

Every time I see this trope I just want to scream "There's a difference between fake scary and real abusive! Just find a caring and knowledgeable Dom!"

I get it, sexuality and healthy expression of such is so repressed in this country that when a someone gets tingly feeling while reading domineering or aggressive characters, it's confusing and feels "wrong". So people stop at "It's hot because they're scary...but they aren't bad? But like, they are?...It's true love, OK?!" instead of pushing through to "Ah, a new kink to add to my list. Fantastic. Next!"

I don't know, I'm pushing 40 so maybe I'm projecting. I hope the next generation is able to learn important lessons about themselves earlier than I did, as well as healthy vs not healthy ways to pursue them.

[rainyrouge]

I'm surprised we don't get more evil unicorns because there are some very old legends that describe unicorns as dangerous and hostile. They were much stronger and faster than your average horse, couldn't be tamed, and could impale people with their horn. Scary unicorns who is always covered in the blood of their victims, get on that someone.