top100- stock plot devices for children's action/adventure cartoons

(there's a variant of this in super-hero comics where a character turns good, and actually does so. Rogue is the prime example of course - but mostly fanboys don't take to the idea and the vilain's back to their old tricks a few issues in.)

xpost Aaron I think that actually does happen in these, too, I could totally see it in TMNT at least.

Allright, well, it's 1:07, and my plane to London is really early tomorrow, so I'm gonna head off to bed now. Won't have net access, but I trust that ILX will not let me down in finishing this U&K cataloguing task.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here. I mean, the words are all seem to work grammatically, but they come together to form a thought that doesn't make any sense.

This happened in Dungeons And Dragons one time - Hank had Venger chained against a rock and only had to strike him with his blazing arrow, but he didn't. It sucked!

Variant: Also in D&D they had a chance to return home - but Bobby didn't want to leave the baby unicorn or it had to be rescued or something so back they went. Idiots.

xpost

32) The moral of the story is "believe in yourself and you can achieve anything."

37.) The old guy who lives in the sewer. (Not exclusive to TMNT by any means.) Also see old guy on mountain, old guy in woods, old man in the sea...

38.) The recurring wild-card character. Sort of like #8, except the heroes and villians don't unite to fight this menace. He's more of a Peter Lorre kind of guy. His plans are always selfish and rude, but he usually comes around in the end. That's why the heroes let him go, only to have him return with something else mean and boneheaded six or eight episodes later.

42) Character kidnapped but pisses Kidnappers off so much they let them go, then get kicked in anyway. Ha ha ha.

44) Good gang fight/help evil/duplicate versions of themselves.

classic technophobia

You've seen Spiderman 2, Derrick?

eg, from Transformers box set:

"Following their banishment to an asteroid, the Combaticons decide to travel to Cybertron and once there, alter the space bridge in order to crash the Earth into the Sun. As the Earth moves dangerously close to the sun, the Autobots and Descipticons join forces to stop Starscream and the Combaticons.

60) Villains and heroes are in race to discover vaguely-described "greatest treasure of all." Ultimately, villain just beats out heroes, but is enraged to open box and find fortune-cookie-like slip of paper reading "Friendship" or "Teamwork" or what have you. Variant: heroes are not present when booby prize is opened, but they're in on the joke e.g. "I bet ol' Barnacle-head is getting pretty steamed right ...about...now!"

#20 is always so heartbreaking!
The team find a way home but have to make the choice between going home and saving some lives, the lives are saved and the way home is no longer there so they have to keep on searching.

i wonder how well these would apply to star trek over the years! my gut says that there'd be a depressing amount of overlap. #20 definitely happened to 'voyager' on numerous occasions.

61) Never-seen, before or after, villain-of-the-week seems unstoppable...except for his "hilarious" weakness of becoming unhinged whenever anybody gets his name wrong or some other such pet peeve. Heroes defeat him by picking on him and we all learn a valuable lesson: antagonize neurotics.

62) All the villains team up together, ideally with some sort of loose thematic opposite-ness to the heroes' roles on their own team. Strangely, while each villain was a competent threat on their own, their combined menace doesn't really present much more of a challenge (though you might get a two-part episode out of it). Of course, they're at a disadvantage because they squabble amongst each other for leadership of the villainous gang. Note: every episode of the Superfriends revolves around this concept, unless there's one where Black Manta feels unappreciated and runs off and/or pretends to turn good and joins the Superfriends or something....

63) Just for the fuck of it, send the whole show to the Arctic, or alternately Australia or deep below the ocean. These episodes are always terrible. Sending them to a cattle ranch of any sort is even worse. This barely qualifies as a "stock plot," as what really happens is that OTHER stock plots get transplanted to a novel setting. "The ghost was just this old man trying to rustle you out of your Arctic research station!

64) For the length of the episode, one team member has a bad cold and can't do anything. It never matters, but it pads the episode with scenes of the hero in bed at headquarters, invariably with a hot water bottle balanced delicately on his/her forehead. If the team has any sort of overseer, they will be playing the role of an over-the-top, meddling nanny.

65) "A cave-in! We've been separated into two unlikely sub-teams!"

66) "A cave-in! The villain and I will be forced to work together to escape!" (You know the vilain grabs the treasure and runs the moment they make it to daylight, though.)

The episode of Captain Planet with the Pollution Rings!

Ding ding ding! Exactly the one I was thinking of, although I'm sure it happened on other shows because I remember seeing that episode and thinking it was totally played out. I mean... "Deforestation!"?

71. The heroes, for some reason, need to look after a baby. Sure, they can fight crime, but can they change a diaper? (Obviously the more masculine the heroes, the more likely this episode comes up.)

http://www.animedavesworld.com/tmntusagiyojimbomosc.jpg

AND NEW TOYS!

http://www.thecomicguru.co.uk/prod_images/large_p_455_image.jpg

GI Joe meets the Transformers....in WWII

i want a live action version of this, dammit

So OTM. Alternately:

73) The heroes, for some reason, need to look after a plucky but mischevious animal/baby dinosaur/super-powered baby. They're annoyed by its hijinks and end up hurting its feelings but end up showing it love when it helps them out of a jam. They then return it to its parents or original time-period and never speak of this again.

75. alt.universe, but the doppelganger heroes are the baddies, or certain evil characters are now good (e.g. Steeler gets it on with the Baronness)

76. captured hero fucked with, made to believe time has passed, the battles are over, and the world is normal, ONLY IT WAS ALL A RUSE.

There's a lot of pathos in those kinda "world is different" eps, e.g. Shipwreck almost dies trying to save his fake wife, etc

77. the "serious" episode with a message delivered so hilariously by one of the heroes or an authority figure on the show, usually to the point of them talking right into the camera

("oh look! it's vincent price" vs "sgt. slaughter")

(the best example was Freddie Mercury as a character on Cromartie High)

82. A member of the team who's normally the goof-off is for some nebulous reason made "the leader." He goes on a total power trip and makes everybody miserable. Eventually he finds his own way of leading and learns a valuable lesson.

I also saw an episode of Lilo & Stitch that revolved around the heroine trying on a new look/identity to hang with the cool crowd (lots of "antics" trying to get the supporting cast to play along, etc), which is obviously a classic stock plot, but not so much for action/adventure cartoons IIRC...

77. the "serious" episode with a message delivered so hilariously by one of the heroes or an authority figure on the show, usually to the point of them talking right into the camera

You realize that every episode of The Masters of the Universe enede like this? Even as a kid I used to hate it.

84. The whole team is captured by the villain, and they are facing certain death. The only one to save them is the normally bumbling and clumsy suppporting character... And whaddayouknow, the seriousness of the situation makes him concentrate for the first time in his life, and he actually does save them! Lesson: even sidekicks can have hidden strengths.

84b. The seemingly weakest member of the team is revealed to be the strongest. This was a common theme in Captain Planet with that dude with the "heart" ring.

This thread really does have a Ninja Turtles counterpart to each illustration.

This is a variation of 17:

85. A bad guy assumes a new identity/body (sometimes the body of a team member, so you can add elements of mindswap to this), and befriends the heroes, pretending to be a good guy. But while he's pretending, he gradually realizes he actually likes to do good deeds, and starts to consider giving up his evil ways. Alas, before the end of the episode something unexpected happens which causes him to rever to being evil again. If the writers are really aiming for moral ambiguity, it might even be the something the heroes do that turns him into a bad guy again.

This is my all-time favorite list thread on ILX.

This thread is biblically otm

7-team member feels underappreciated, runs off. But when all of his companions get in grave danger, it's up to him to save the day!
― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Tuesday, 24 August 2004 23:38 (7 years ago) Bookmark

Also good enough for Ringo in A Hard Day's Night!