Yuck, ok, maybe that is too gross. Nevertheless, what tropes you like is a good subject. Starting out, I will say I like gritty: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty Like the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek, SW had a dirty feel to it, used, careworn; not grimdark though, that annoys me. I find I like it in fantasy too; some of the synonyms for gritty are "realistic" or "courageous", though also "sordid", nice (just looked that up). I like the normal person vs outrageous odds; where the invincible winner makes me think of Pat Benatar's Heartbreaker:
You're the right kind of dreamer,
to release my inner fantasy
The invincible winner ...*
Just nope, gritty realism I think also helps set the ethos to stand out against the pathos, or the "Against a Dark Background" style, as well as offset the unrealistic against the realistic, so that the unrealistic doesn't seem dull.
* Un-ironically, this might also have influenced my ideas about the term "Heartbreaker".
You're the right kind of dreamer,
to release my inner fantasy
The invincible winner ...*
Just nope, gritty realism I think also helps set the ethos to stand out against the pathos, or the "Against a Dark Background" style, as well as offset the unrealistic against the realistic, so that the unrealistic doesn't seem dull.
* Un-ironically, this might also have influenced my ideas about the term "Heartbreaker".
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