Overused tropes in post apocalyptic fiction you hate

[Thlormby]

Title. Also, state the kind of apocalyptic fiction you're referring to.

Nuclear
One I hate is that all groups that are "raiders" (People who group together and steal things, thugs.) develop this mad max style of fashion and are all ♥♥♥♥ing insane. You'd expect that some of them would just be normal people grouped together and just doing what they had to so they could survive, maybe even feeling sorrow and pity for those they steal from.

Another I hate is the lack of gasmasks and other equipment, this was primarily probably caused by fallout. In a nuclear wasteland I expect to see people in Hazmat suits in small groups, not in big flourishing societies with bare skin exposed to the radiation-ridden air.

I really do not like how animals are suddenly two headed or absolutely massive in a mutated form because of radiation. Animals in the chernobyl exclusion zone (Probably the most radioactive place on earth) are actually thriving and quite normal. I guess fiction is fiction but I dislike it a lot.

Zombie
Not much to say for this one, just that I dont like when somehow all the worlds governments collapse to shuffling flesh eaters. No bunkers, no oil rigs or ships, everyone dies, anarchy

Somehow theres just ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ guns everywhere.

Alright your turn

[BanOphobia My Struggle]

I like what you hate.

Pet peeve the setting up a sequel trope. Can I just have a complete game with finality to it.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

I dont hate crazy post apocalyptic fiction because realistic post apocalyptic fiction is depressing as hell, just watch "The Road".

[Thlormby]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

I dont hate crazy post apocalyptic fiction because realistic post apocalyptic fiction is depressing as hell, just watch "The Road".

I could write something hyperrealistic and happy

[sfnhltb]

Modern nuclear weapons are efficient (higher yield for the same amount of fissionable material) and create much more limited amounts of fallout compared to weapons of the dim past. Most radioactive material would be washed out of the atmosphere and into rivers and soil within a few weeks after such an apocalypse so it wouldn't be gasmasks and hazmat suits needed, but rather geiger counters to check the soil you might try to grow crops in, and also to check the water and food you are eating.

Raiders probably would create some sort of ad-hoc uniform to easily tell friend from foe, given any battles with other groups (other raiders, or people trying to rebuild communities and create agricultural settlements) are likely to be confusing messy affairs rather than well planned and organized set piece battles, meaning friendly fire would be a significant risk.

Quite possibly many such groups wouldn't think of themselves as raiders/bandits though - as we can see in many places in our history where insufficient law and order exists you frequently end up with paramilitary style groups that claim to be bringing order to the area, and demanding taxes/tributes for their protection. Successful enough groups that end up large enough to control an area and drive off most other competition would probably settle in an area and slide into some sort of despotic governmental system over time (and then as the cycle of dependency between the government and governed develops probably eventually to something more akin to a feudal system of mutual obligation).

[Canny McTin-Face]

I really get bothered when the movie refuses to call zombies "zombies". Also everyone is wearing weird BDSM crap and have mohawks.

[BanOphobia My Struggle]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

I dont hate crazy post apocalyptic fiction because realistic post apocalyptic fiction is depressing as hell, just watch "The Road".

That film was amazing. I would play that as game. Then again I got Sheltered and This War of Mine. They are intentionally depressing games and more so if you mess up.

[Canny McTin-Face]

Originally posted by Plaid:

Originally posted by Canny McTin-Face:

I really get bothered when the movie refuses to call zombies "zombies". Also everyone is wearing weird BDSM crap and have mohawks.

Have you been watching Return of the Living Dead movies?

..No?

[Drab]

No one ever talks about how good dog food tastes.

[LHGreen]

I love those tropes. One I hate, though, is when reasonably basic technology of a certain kind is established to have existed, WITHIN the lifetime of many of the characters shown, and it's a simple enough matter to make more of it or repair it or whatever, yet no one is using anything that's anywhere NEAR that level of technology that they CLEARLY have access to, and they have no readily apparent excuse as to why they aren't using it. I've only seen this in some really bad post-apocalypse rip-offs, though, in movies like Steel Dawn. And while I've mercifully never watched NBC's Revolution, I've heard from sources which I consider reliable that it's god-awful, and one small part of the reason is that it commits every crime of being cliche and derivative in the book, so it's probably also perpetrated every overused trope that has been or will be listed here, and in the dumbest ways possible.

[LHGreen]

Originally posted by Drab:

No one ever talks about how good dog food tastes.

For that matter, no one ever talks about how good dog tastes, either.

[Capn Slam]

Originally posted by Lee:

I don’t know that it’s a trope but it’s so irritating seeing people, especially women, with long, beautiful, clean hair in those movies. Yeah no. When water and soap are scarce you’re going to be dank and dirty and greasy and gross. I have long hair but would shave it all off in a hot second if the situation called for it. Who’s got time to do Bo Derek “appropriation” braids after the fallout?

Or perfect teeth for that matter. Gotta keep those pearly whites sparkly clean!

[LHGreen]

Originally posted by Spice Cadet:

Originally posted by Lee:

I don’t know that it’s a trope but it’s so irritating seeing people, especially women, with long, beautiful, clean hair in those movies. Yeah no. When water and soap are scarce you’re going to be dank and dirty and greasy and gross. I have long hair but would shave it all off in a hot second if the situation called for it. Who’s got time to do Bo Derek “appropriation” braids after the fallout?

Or perfect teeth for that matter. Gotta keep those pearly whites sparkly clean!

No, the REALLY bad ones are when some people are realistically grungy, but others are totally fine, and there's no reason for the difference.

[sfnhltb]

Originally posted by LHGreen:

Originally posted by Drab:

No one ever talks about how good dog food tastes.

For that matter, no one ever talks about how good dog tastes, either.

Well, they might cover how good rat burgers taste.

/does Taco Bell being the only option for eating out count as post apocalyptic? It seems like it should...

[LHGreen]

Originally posted by sfnhltb:

Originally posted by LHGreen:

For that matter, no one ever talks about how good dog tastes, either.

Well, they might cover how good rat burgers taste.

/does Taco Bell being the only option for eating out count as post apocalyptic? It seems like it should...

That whole movie absolutely does count as the worst kind of post-apocalyptic outcome imaginable: the "perfectly utopian" dystopia. Oh, sure, they play it for laughs, but it's truly horrifying and a fate worse than death.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Originally posted by sfnhltb:

Well, they might cover how good rat burgers taste.

/does Taco Bell being the only option for eating out count as post apocalyptic? It seems like it should...

Demolition Man was funny.