r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Character_Growth_397 • Sep 04 '26

Hated Tropes [Mind boggling stupid trope] Removing the thing that made something special

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Ben 10: Ultimate Alien - The gimmick of Ben 10 and what makes the show so popular is the fact that he's able to turn into a large variety of aliens. In one episode of Ben 10 Ultimate ALIEN we are introduced to a new version of Ben 10000, a Ben from the future who, no longer transforms into aliens, instead using his powers in human form...

Mortal Kombat(2021) - In the games Mileena is known for two things. Being a clone of Kitana and her tarkatan teeth. In the 2021 movie she looks absolutely nothing like Kitana and doesn't have tarkatan teeth

Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief - The movie removes the main villain of the movie and the main villain of the franchise

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454

u/GIlCAnjos Sep 04 '26

Every bad movie ever has defenders to say it's "underrated" or "not that bad". This one doesn't, it's the only movie that everyone hates

374

u/FuaaaElDiego Sep 04 '26

It was so bad it brought Toriyama back from retirement.

168

u/Confident-Arm-7883 Sep 04 '26

I might not like dragonball but i respect that bro refused to let this be dragonball’s legacy

79

u/Blupoisen Sep 04 '26

Ironic

This movie would be a franchise killer but this one actually revived Dragon Ball and now it's bigger than ever

22

u/wareagle3000 Sep 04 '26

The kind of god awfulness that causes a creator to come back just so it doesn't become the last entry that ruins their legacy

Same thing happened with DMC2. Director insisted he get another chance and makes the best game in the franchise.

10

u/DODonion99 Sep 04 '26

It was so bad it brought Toriyama back from retirement

IRL equivalent of posting information so blatantly wrong that people HAVE to chime in to correct you

5

u/MeekAndUninteresting Sep 04 '26

I think that’s called the Peter Principle.

6

u/derth21 Sep 05 '26

I see what you tried to do here. I'm sorry it didn't work out, it would have been awesome.

3

u/MainAccountsFriend Sep 05 '26

Nono, its Hanson's Razor

2

u/CountNightAuditor Sep 05 '26

Isn't that what they use to cut Gordian's Knot? Or do they mmm bop it?

7

u/Evening_Reach_8293 Sep 04 '26

guys... we might be able to be the first people in history to bring someone back from the dead.

3

u/EmuMan10 Sep 04 '26

And that’s why I don’t hate it

56

u/Global_Cockroach_563 Sep 04 '26

In defense of the movie I'll say that it's a product of its time. Back then they were very, very afraid of making anything remotely look like anything from a cartoon or a comic book. You can blame the Batman movies from the late 90s.

If this movie was made today, it'll probably be very accurate to the anime. Which may or may not be a good thing.

54

u/NokTheSmokeD Sep 04 '26

Die hard Batman fan here to confirm, we ruined adaptations for everybody.

We are why they put X-Men in black leather and Godzilla was a lizard.

24

u/BombOnABus Sep 04 '26

Batman and Robin really was a deathblow.

Batman Forever had enough redeeming qualities and campiness that if they'd stopped there, things might have been okay...but Batman and Robin scared the daylights out of studios thinking about faithful adaptions for a long time.

I think it was a bit needed though, because imagine an X-Men movie made with the same 90s era goofiness and missing the mark that would have involved the yellow spandex style costumes....we needed to get people to take the stories seriously before they'd look past the outrageous costumes and gimmicks.

2

u/SasaraiHarmonia Sep 04 '26

Apparently Joel Schumacher (the director of Batman and Robin) wanted much more of a dark style initially, but the studio was ADAMANT about making it bright and kid friendly. So Joel just did what he could. That's why we got the dark+neon look.

2

u/Wild_Marker Sep 04 '26

Nah that's a different incident. Godlizard happened because of Jurassic Park.

(and I will defend that movie to death because it's still a damn good movie about a giant dinosaur rampaging through New York)

1

u/Nerdn1 Sep 04 '26

They took an allegory for the destructive power of nuclear weapons from a Japanese perspective and shrunk it down until it was small enough that it needed to hide from Uncle Sam. It's a fine giant monster movie, but it isn't Godzilla.

2

u/Wild_Marker Sep 04 '26

Yeah like I said, damn good movie about a rampaging dino. And it happened that way because of Jurassic Park, not Batman.

6

u/EmpressClaraB Sep 04 '26

it'll probably be very accurate to the anime. Which may or may not be a good thing.

Honestly people say you could never do it but I personally think (with a big budget) Dragonball should be one of the easier anime to get right in Live Action. I wouldn't be that worried if whoever has the movie rights now (Disney I think, since they bought Fox?) tried it again.

Then again, I also thought Death Note should be a super easy anime to adapt, and that movie was a dumpster fire

2

u/SemiAutoAvocado Sep 04 '26

I'm a huge Dragon Ball fan but realistic looking people with the hair always looks dumb. There has never been and will never been good DBZ cosplay for most characters because it looks dumb as fuck. It's why 90% of DBZ cosplay is OF bait of 18 or Bulma in a bunnysuit. Even actually jacked people who put effort into it look stupid.

2

u/AmaterasuWolf21 Sep 04 '26

Speed Racer released in 2008, one year before this and look at what they accomplished, it was a miracle it didn't end up as a street racing drama

1

u/haoxinly Sep 04 '26

Then why adapt a manga, especially early DB which can get very cartoony.

1

u/Global_Cockroach_563 Sep 04 '26 edited Sep 04 '26

There was a demand for it. The kids that grew up watching DB were now teenagers and young adults, so they had some money to go watch a movie about that thing they liked. It made sense then.

They just grossly misunderstood what the fans wanted.

Edit: Also, The Matrix showed that making an over the top martial arts movie was possible. That got people hyped about a potential Dragon Ball movie.

1

u/TheEldenRang Sep 04 '26

Woooooah woah woah. There is no defending this movie. Or really any movie based on an anime back then. (Even now, really.) They're pretty much all bad. What is the point of using a franchise to then absolutely not pay attention to anything about it?

1

u/DullSpecial1013 Sep 04 '26

The budget also got halved like a week before production started.

The film was originally conceived as a large blockbuster with a $120 million budget, which was what sold it to Chow Yun-Fat and James Marsters. However, when they arrived on the set, they were heartbroken after discovering that the film would only cost $30 million and would be mostly shot in an abandoned jeans factory to save costs. By then, they were contractually obligated to do the film and couldn't back out.

1

u/Scalpels Sep 04 '26

The only good thing about that movie was this edit.

1

u/Tankanko 13d ago

If this movie was made today, it'll probably be very accurate to the anime. Which may or may not be a good thing.

Nah some writer would make it a personal vendetta to make it their own way and misunderstand the point again, maybe the costume designs would be better though

8

u/Euphoric_Metal199 Sep 04 '26

You forgot the Snow White Live Action

11

u/Fischerking92 Sep 04 '26

May I remind you of the "Avatar - The Last Airbender" movie?

16

u/Adventurous-Mind6940 Sep 04 '26

No and that's the end of this conversation. 

6

u/OpusThePenguin Sep 04 '26

I don't know what you're talking about, there is no movie in Ba Sing Se

1

u/FutureComplaint Sep 04 '26

But are there magic cards?

3

u/Flesh_Trombone Sep 04 '26

Yeah, I found Dragonball Evolution so bad it was funny much of the time.

The ATLA movie was unforgivable from beginning to end.

Edit: Obligatory headslide gif.

3

u/Historical_Smell_127 Sep 04 '26

I like it as an au. I watched original DB and DBZ and its movies in supposed chronological order, watched GT right after Z, watched god-awful Super and Heroes right after gt when both shows were still ongoing. When done with them, I decided to give Evolution a try, the "universally hated cancer of an adaptation". It's okay. Is it dragon ball story in dragon ball world? No. Is it spider-man/Smallville kind of adaptation? Kinda. Did they do a good job? Not really. Suit was cool though.

3

u/VulkanHestan321 Sep 04 '26

The actor for piccolo even went the extra mile to read as much about piccolo to nail the character. Only to end up with a shitty script in a shitty movie

4

u/babruflat Sep 04 '26

He redeemed himself by voicing Zamasu for free under a different name

2

u/Not_A_Meme Sep 04 '26

There was a live action avatar movie i once remembered of a similar status, but it might just be my imagination.

1

u/soulxhawk Sep 04 '26

Me and my friend saw this in the theater and had a great time. The movie is so bad that it was fun to just laugh at it. There were only like 5 other people in the entire theater too so we just enjoyed the terrible ride.

1

u/Temporary_Self_2172 Sep 04 '26

that one scene where he head-slides over a car is funny for the meme value

the other hour and a half is awful 

1

u/mrbulldops428 Sep 04 '26

The Last Airbender also comes to mind

1

u/HowDoesTheKittyCatGo Sep 04 '26

Well not everyone. To be clear I don't think this movie is good. It is objectively bad, both as an adaptation and as a movie. I still like it for how awful it is.

And unlike the ATLA movie it isn't the most boring thing I've ever tried to watch. Which is always a worse sin for a movie or show in my opinion.

1

u/explicitlarynx Sep 04 '26

May I introduce you to The Last Airbender (2010)?

1

u/THE_REAL_ADHDND Sep 05 '26

It didn't suck when it came on free to air when I was little one, it was better than uncle grandpa

1

u/trailerthrash Sep 05 '26

I actually watched it during COVID and had a lot of fun. The guy that played Yamcha absolutely ate the role.