History WebAnimation / OverlySarcasticProductions

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Red finds this trope to be cringeworthy a lot of the time [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hruNDDvilCA&t=6s because the majority of works that use it do so very poorly]] -- the villain convinces the hero that they are similar when they are really nothing alike (making the hero [[StupidGood look like an idiot]]). She states that a better use of this trope is when [[VillainHasAPoint there is truth to the villain's words]], or when the ''hero'' realizes it first and tries to change themself for the better and avert this trope (using Enzo from season 3 of WesternAnimation/ReBoot as an example). She also prefers versions where it's used to bring characters ''closer'' together via a CommonalityConnection, as it can lead to character growth and relationship development (much like in real life).
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Red brings this up as a subtrope of the CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass; "Fakers" like [[Manga/{{Trigun}} Vash the Stampede]] or [[Manga/RurouniKenshin Himura Kenshin]] are badasses that pretend to be morons for personal reasons like trying to distance themselves from violent pasts or for just liking to goof around.
* OpeningACanOfClones: Though not mentioned by name, this is a major point of their Detail Diatribe on TheMultiverse. It doesn't matter if a writer handles a time-travel or universe-altering plot well the first time; by introducing an in-canon ResetButton, the audience now knows that anything they're invested in can be undone whenever a later writer feels like it, which can be a major blow to their enjoyment of the franchise.

* PoorCommunicationKills: [[https://youtu.be/MbRY2Pt8EFQ?feature=shared&t=180 In the 100K Q&A special]], Red says that [[PetPeeveTrope this is her least-favorite trope]]. Specifically, Red says that she's "so tired of stories where the entire plot is based on miscommunication" because [[StatingTheSimpleSolution the plot would be over in a few minutes if characters just talked to each other]]. Blue bringing up ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' elicits a groan from Red in this regard.

Red likes books and tropes. Blue likes history and philosophy. [[NonIndicativeName Neither of them are overly sarcastic.]]

** Atalanta: Ignoring a common interpretation, that Atalanta was [[DistractedByTheShiny distracted by the golden apples]], in favor of Atalanta playing along with Hippomenes's plot and letting him win; the commentary in the end credits states this to be a deliberate choice, as Red found this particular interpretation more attractive.

** Grendel’s Mother, who is not well described in the source material and as a result is typically depicted as monstrous and ugly. In ''Classics Summarized: [[Literature/Beowulf]]'' Red draws her as a GiantWoman who is more of an UnkemptBeauty.

** Grendel’s Mother, who is not well described in the source material and as a result is typically depicted as monstrous and ugly. In ''Classics Summarized: Beowulf'' Red draws her as a GiantWoman who is more of an UnkemptBeauty.

* AllJustADream: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOrYKJVkreQ Gets its own video]]. Red argues this trope is near-universally hated as a FramingDevice because it's a low blow to the WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief. After the audience has emotionally invested in something, suddenly reminding them ''within the story itself'' that none of it mattered is a frustrating AntiClimax. Thus, it requires some seriously good execution to not leave the audience with a bad taste in their mouth. Red's suggestions are to quickly make it clear that what the audience is seeing is a dream, keep it brief, make it funny, or tie it into the character's mindset.

* AcademyOfAdventure: The focuse of the episode "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDpDV1Qxfik Welcome to Super School!]]". Red make particular note that they tend to be broken down into three main gimicks; the super-specialized niche school that covers things like card games, golf, or Ninjitsu; the UrbanFantasy school that remains hidden from the mundane world (the go to for wizards, monsters, and superheroes); and the speculative fiction school, which teaches things that're common in the world it's set in, but not in our world (ie., piloting space ships, piloting mecha, fighting monsters, etc.).

* AdaptationDistillation: "Superheroes in an Empty World" is mainly about the ''downsides'' of this. Red's thesis is that superheroes movies (and a few other similar setups such as ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes''), in their attempt to "trim the fat" and focus on what is considered important, often make the world feel empty at best, and completely undermine the work's entire premise at worst. Notably, cape movies regularly ignore low-level crime (that is often the entire reason for the hero's creation in the first place), and attempt to streamline things by focusing directly on the hero's relationship with their ArchEnemy (doing things such as [[AdaptationOriginConnection linking them together right from the start]], [[HijackedByGanon making them the cause behind every problem the hero faces]], or [[SuperheroMovieVillainsDie killing them off to close the story]])... which incidentally makes it seem like the hero has no reason to be around once said threat is dealt with. Heroes being there is a given because it is a superhero story, but the world around them forgets to ''justify'' their being there. It gets especially bad as the lack of villains regularly forces the heroes to end up [[NiceJobBreakingItHero causing most of]] [[CreateYourOwnVillain their own problems]], which itself goes on to fuel every "superheroes themselves are the problem" debate in the process.

** '''Potions''': A concoction the applies a supernatural effect on those who drink it. Noted to have it's origins in early medicine, and how many diseases were believed to have supernatural causes like evils spirits or curses (and to a lesser extent, alchemy, due to the whole 'distilling and purifying materials believed to have magial properties' aesthetic), though it has since expanded beyond the purely medicinal scope, with the classic love potion being the ur-example.
** '''Enchantments and Curses''': A magical effect or influence that's been placed on someone until [[CurseEscapeClause a time limit has been reached or specific condition has been met that breaks the effect]]. Not3ed to be wildly popular in fairy tales, usually involving a royal, usually involving them being transformed into a monster or animal or placed into an enchanted slumber. Modern fiction has brought the idea of positive enchantments, though they're less common in more classic folklore ("Diamonds and Toads" being a stand-out exception).

** '''Spells''': A broad and rather nebulous, that can be best described as 'wave your hands and have something that would otherwise be unrelated to said handwaving happen'. Usually involves summoning and magic circles. In modenr media, will work with anyone who knows the right words.

* MoralPragmatist: Discussed in the trope talk about pure evil. To Red; morality is a spectrum and she believes the definition of evil is hurting others without justification or necessity, as hurting others was a necessity for the progress of science and medicine.

* {{Bathos}}: Gets an entire episode. Red talks that there are many different types of bathos like unintentional one (called {{Narm}}) and intentional one. She discusses that bathos, like plot twists, tend to work the best when the non-twist sincere outcome would have been less satisfying, has already happened etc.

-->-- An apt summarisation of the channel and its owners.

** In ''Miscellaneous Myths: Loki's Wager'', Red draws Brok and Sindri as way more attractive than what was written in the Nordic texts. She justifies this decision by explaining how Dwarves and Dark Elves were considered the same species, so by that logic they should be the same size as a human. She also explains how Ivaldi, the forefather of the dwarves, had a beautiful daughter, Idunn, who became the Aesir goddess of youth. Combining these ideas, she depicts Brok and Sindri as muscular, bearded men who are ''bigger'' than Loki.

* AdaptationalBadass: Discussed in Red's video about Bellerophon, Red explains that being demigod wasn't as impressive as you were led to believe. As a demigod, your powers weren't as great and powerful as your parent's. As the son of Poseidon, Bellerophon had innate abilities with equestrianism. Heracles only gained his infamous strength after he was brought to Hera and she breastfed him, only to realize who he was after he bit her.

* AdaptationalSexuality: Achilles was bi in the original Iliad but anytime he is depicted here, he's pretty firmly homosexual with many a joke about his lack of interest in women/[[SingleTargetSexuality anyone besides Patroclus]]. It was actually pretty common for Greek heroes to sleep with men, though Achilles is easily the most known perhaps because he was a rare example of the most prominent love interest being a same-sex relationship. Briseis is described as his "[[SexSlave lady-toy]]" and his "girlfriend" in the original ''Iliad'' video, and he seems sad to see her go (though he refuses to take her back in exchange for fighting again), but the gayness is played up in other videos, i.e. his horror at the prospect of getting married and his lack of interest in the beautiful women condemned to the Second Circle of Hell with him.

** Discussed in Red's Miscellaneous Myths video on Io, where she explains that the Roman poet Ovid is ''notorious'' for this due to his anti-authoritarian writing (caused by Augustus exiling him), causing certain Greek deities to act significantly more immorally, with Athena being the most prominent example despite such behaviour being out of step with the source material. Athena punishing Medusa for being ''raped by Poseidon in her temple'' in particular was entirely invented by Ovid (prior to the Literature/TheMetamorphoses being published, Medusa was a gorgon from birth till death and neither Athena nor Poseidon were involved), and Ovid also does the same for Athena's motives for turning Arachne into a spider (selfishness and jealousy rather than the fact that Arachne's tapestry was ''incredibly offensive'' to Athena).

* AlmostDeadGuy: Lampshaded when Red talks about ''Literature/TheDunwichHorror'', as Old Whateley provides a full-blown ExpositionDump while on his death-bed.

* ArtEvolution: While Red's artwork was never something to sneeze at, she's greatly improved over the years. Compare [[https://imgur.com/PtRnYgR this screenshot of two gods fighting]], from 2016, and [[https://imgur.com/DLDhoc6 a similar screenshot]], from 2020; or, to be more specific, note the difference between [[https://imgur.com/1GSpnuk Hades in 2016]] and [[https://imgur.com/gK5gyBj Hades in 2021]]. Damn.

* TropeBreaker: Discussed in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pw_7vAK9k8 "Those Dang Phones"]], specifically how phones ([[FantasyCounterpartAppliance and magical/ sci-fi variants of instant long-distance communication]]) can become part of a story, and that adding phones leads to breaking other stories, location, and character narrative conventions. The upside is that the protagonist and allies being able to communicate at will can make a writer's life easier in managing the story and characters' situation. The downside is that it makes situations and tropes that '''only''' work without phones get either broken, or forever changed (split up the party? No more worrying about allies; everyone has earpieces!). For what its worth, the reason Red even made the video was due to wanting to have this sort of communication for ''WebComic/Aurora2019'', going down a ''deep'' rabbit hole trying to determine how old this idea really was (short answer; ''at least'' OlderThanTelevision), and being surprised by their findings. Red also mentions that even though they were partly inspired by other fantasy stories doing the same thing, the normality and handiness of phones in the modern age had a subconscious influence on their decision.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Red finds this trope to be cringeworthy a lot of the time [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hruNDDvilCA&t=6s because the majority of works that use it do so very poorly]] -- the villain convinces the hero that they are similar when they are really nothing alike (making the hero [[StupidGood look like an idiot]]). She states that a better use of this trope is when [[VillainHasAPoint there is truth to the villain's words]], or when the ''hero'' realizes it first and tries to change themself for the better and avert this trope (using Enzo from season 3 of WesternAnimation/ReBoot as an example). She also prefers versions where it's used to bring characters ''closer'' together via a CommonalityConnection, as it can lead to character growth and relationship development (muc like in real life).

* DontFearTheReaper: In the video on "Personifying Death," Red talks about how Death as a character in stories is usually portayed as [[GodOfTheDead someone who rules death (such as Hades)]], a {{Psychopomp}} (beings who ferry the souls of the dead to the after life) or as [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the embodiment of the concept of death (such as Thanatos)]], or some combination of the three. While mention is made of some villainous examples of death-themed characters, much of the focus is on characters that invoke this trope (though it's not named in the episode itself), and how it can be conforting to have a character like this help the audience come to terms with what is often a frightening or deeply depressing subject. Special focus is given in the video to discussing one of the most notable examples of this trope in literature, Death from the Literature/{{Discworld}} series, and how it has affected both [[Creator/TerryPratchett Sir Terry Pratchett]] and his readers.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Red finds this trope to be cringeworthy a lot of the time [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hruNDDvilCA&t=6s because the majority of works that use it do so very poorly]] -- the villain convinces the hero that they are similar when they are really nothing alike (making the hero [[StupidGood look like an idiot]]). She states that a better use of this trope is when [[VillainHasAPoint there is truth to the villain's words]].

** Cited in Red's video on Atlantis, when she comments that Blue's thalassophobia is so severe that he can't even watch ''Film/{{Aquaman}}'' on a big screen.

* DontFearTheReaper: In the video on "Personifying Death," Red talks about how Death as a character in stories is usually portayed as [[GodOfTheDead someone who rules death (such as Hades)]], a {{Psychopomp}} (beings who ferry the souls of the dead to the after life) or as [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the embodiment of the concept of death (such as Thanatos)]], or some combination of the three. While mention is made of some villainous examples of death-themed characters, much of the focus is on characters that invoke this trope (though it's not named in the episode itself), and how it can be conforting to have a character like this help the audience come to terms with what is often a frightening or deeply depressing subject. Special focus is given in the video to discussing one of the most notable examples of this trope in literature, Death from the Literature/{{Discworld}} series, and how it has effected both [[Creator/TerryPratchett Sir Terry Pratchett]] and his readers.

* DoubleStandardRapeSciFi:
** Discussed in Red's video on ''Stranger in a Strange Land''; the sex cult believes the true meaning of life is have ritualistic orgies until they get superpowers as a result of breeding with the protagonist. Valentine Michael Smith is constantly pursued by the authorities for his multitude of sex crimes but the authorities always disappear before they can arrest him. Red is appropriately horrified by this and openly wonders why Valentine is considered morally superior for all of this.
** Interestingly, Red didn't touch the statement made by Heinlein through Jill, "Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it’s partly her fault."

* NonSequiturThud:
-->'''Hyacinthus''': ''[dying from a head injury]'' No more peanuts for me, stewardess.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: At one point in "Anansi wins Stories", the sky god Nyame is watching a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon, and complains that if the coyote has enough money to buy all the AcmeProducts, he should quit trying to eat the roadrunner and just order a pizza.

* CutLExLuthorACheck: At one point in "Anansi wins Stories", the sky god Nyame is watching a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon, and complains that if the coyote has enough money to buy all the AcmeProducts, he should quit trying to eat the roadrunner and just order a pizza.