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Random Shocking Moments in Fiction (With Zero Build-up)
- Thread starter SOLDIER
- Start date
In Mockingjay,
Man, fuck that book. It was such fucking garbage.
I didn't know how to read Japanese death flags at the time.
a key character suddenly enters the scene after not being around for most of the book, only to be instantly killed off for no reason. It's super abrupt, but I think it fell completely flat in terms of storytelling value because it just read like a super cheap shot done purely for shock value.
The book just goes *character enters scene* "oh, it's that person" *STUFF COMES IN OUT OF NOWHERE AND KILLS THE PERSON HORRIBLY FOR NO APPARENT REASON*
The book just goes *character enters scene* "oh, it's that person" *STUFF COMES IN OUT OF NOWHERE AND KILLS THE PERSON HORRIBLY FOR NO APPARENT REASON*
Man, fuck that book. It was such fucking garbage.
I was caught off guard by that moment, but later on someone pointed out all the hints that I missed.
I didn't know how to read Japanese death flags at the time.
OP
OP
In fairness it wasn't just you. It caught the large majority of Japan by complete surprise, to the point that parents sent angry letters for their traumatized kids.
Again, that was the brilliance of that series: the signs were all there, it was just framed over an intentionally saccharine tone at the beginning.
"Unexpected" is right, especially considering that ...
... the show been running on a formula. Start episode, lead up to an early action sequence, plot plot plot, ending action sequence, coda. Derek Reese dies in EARLY action sequence. It wasn't like he died, and the other characters cried, and then the episode ended. Major characters aren't supposed to die during a random action sequence in the early half of an episode!
No "Deep Blue Sea" mention?
And there was also the elevator in LA Law back in the day, which I only know about thanks to Mad Men.
And there was also the elevator in LA Law back in the day, which I only know about thanks to Mad Men.
The series never really regains its momentum to me and goes downhill after this too. Killing Kamina was a bad decision
Don't be that guy.
Snoke absolutely, but having not read any EU material, Luke wasn't a surprise at all to me. I figured he'd be a do-nothing, hiding-out contrarian like Ben and Yoda before him, and he was.
Yeah, this one hit me in the gut and doubled me over. I couldn't believe he was actually dead.
I always think of a little part in a barn(?) towards the beginning of Great Expectations where the main character just out of nowhere sees a
It was my first time reading a Dickens book, but I've realized he does this sort of thing a lot.
body hanging from a beam.
Given it's a key premise of the show, if you'd paid attention to the promotional media you'd know it was coming, but viewing the actual programme in isolation, then the event that starts the main narrative in the UK Life On Mars comes out of nowhere.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x25jzoq?start=343
Spooks (MI5 in the US) has to be an example; after a while people got used to the stakes involved in the show, but right at the start of proceedings...
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x25jzoq?start=343
Spooks (MI5 in the US) has to be an example; after a while people got used to the stakes involved in the show, but right at the start of proceedings...
a character fully promoted as being a major part of the series is brutally murdered in the second episode.
I'm not sure why you'd assume this since it goes pretty against his character in the OT
Agreed 100% on Mockingjay. I had to re-read that section a few times because it was so poorly done that I couldn't believe it.
What the hell. Didn't know that kind of stuff was going down in those books.
Loki straught up killing him like that kind of was shocking with how light hearted the movie was until then.
That movie was grimy as fuck for the 50s. One of my favorite noirs.
Hunter x Hunter had quite a few of these but I'll high light some of the biggest, spoilers obviously.
Netero's second trump card after Zero Hand failed him in his battle with the Chimera Ant King. Things appeared finally over after one of the most epic fights in all of shonen anime when Netero goes full on demonic and shows the King that he should have never underestimated humanity. The resolution is a deus ex machina that comes out of seemingly nowhere after you think the battle is finally decided and totally makes sense but is not something you were expecting at all. It also proves further cements Netero as the baddest old man in all of anime.
Then only a few episodes we have the culmination of a confrontation that we'd been waiting to come to a head for like 40 episodes between Gon and Pitou. We knew it was going to be crazy but I don't think anyone expected we would get something that would rival going Super Saiyan for the first time but feeling absolutely terrible about it. Instead of a hot blooded epic battle, we get a broken kid given into his rage and depression.
Netero's second trump card after Zero Hand failed him in his battle with the Chimera Ant King. Things appeared finally over after one of the most epic fights in all of shonen anime when Netero goes full on demonic and shows the King that he should have never underestimated humanity. The resolution is a deus ex machina that comes out of seemingly nowhere after you think the battle is finally decided and totally makes sense but is not something you were expecting at all. It also proves further cements Netero as the baddest old man in all of anime.
Then only a few episodes we have the culmination of a confrontation that we'd been waiting to come to a head for like 40 episodes between Gon and Pitou. We knew it was going to be crazy but I don't think anyone expected we would get something that would rival going Super Saiyan for the first time but feeling absolutely terrible about it. Instead of a hot blooded epic battle, we get a broken kid given into his rage and depression.
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He was already off being a hermit, we knew that from the TFA.
We also had two prior examples of Jedi hermits that don't get in on the main action.
The only surprise was that he didn't want to train Rey at first. But he did anyway.
TLJ subverted some of my expectations, but I thought Luke *not* being an active combatant was telegraphed.
Eh, I guess I disagree. TFA made it seem more like Luke was on a quest to find something, not just sitting around waiting for father time to take him out
Hunter x Hunter had quite a few of these but I'll high light some of the biggest, spoilers obviously.
Then only a few episodes we have the culmination of a confrontation that we'd been waiting to come to a head for like 40 episodes between Gon and Pitou. We knew it was going to be crazy but I don't think anyone expected we would get something that would rival going Super Saiyan for the first time but feeling absolutely terrible about it. Instead of a hot blooded epic battle, we get a broken kid given into his rage and depression.
I totally agree, thats what makes it so great.
You disagree that the movie matched my expectation wrt Luke's role? Cool.
He was just sitting on a island doing nothing at the end of TFA. That set my expectation. I'm not saying it was the only way to take it, but it's how I took it, especially since it matched Ben and Yoda's arcs.
I remember occasionally lurking the Korra OT on NeoGAF and people were calling it for months. There were small hints like Korra and Asami writing letters to each other in secret and ignoring the lead boys etc.
The actor Kenneth Choi had two characters with some hilarious out of nowhere accidents recently.
tries to fly a plane after practicing for an entire season and then crashes and dies virtually off screen
car accident ends with a rebar thru his skull, and he is one of the main characters and first responders, not a "victim of the week"
Samurai flamenco is all about this, you don't know where its going next but it will be one hell of a ride.
Basically the prototype for Kamina's death, but ultimately far crueler (Kamina at least died fighting the enemy in a mech battle instead of casually getting shot by a mutineer). Subverted still by the fact that Nadesico took almost nothing seriously for very long, and while Kamina's death had a huge emotional impact, nobody but Akito gave a damn that Gai had died.
Joss Whedon is pretty well known for the surprise unexpected death. In addition to The Avengers which most of us know, he did it three times on Buffy
, and in Dollhouse
.
with Tara, Joyce (this one in particular was the legendary blindside) and Anya
with Paul
OP
OP
Samurai flamenco is all about this, you don't know where its going next but it will be one hell of a ride.
Holy crap this.
There's even a point where, after several episodes of unexpected bullshit, there's one more random bullshit moment that has every single main character going "EHHHHHHHH!?" at once.
There are some good ones but a recent one for me would be: *JoJo part 3 spoilers
When Avdol is killed. You just see him get absorbed then his hands just fall to the ground. I couldn't believe it. I mean, the guy just came back from the dead in a sense and bites it.
In the Karate Kid, when Ralph Macchio learns that all the work he's been doing for Mr. Miyagi has been training to help him with defense. That blew my mind
Nah, it was there in the letters they wrote to each other and the way they interacted more and more after Mako managed to ruin his relationships with both of them. They had a full sequence of them reading each others letters and telling each other how much the other means to them and how they missed each other.
It was there.
TLJ
Luke Skywalker is also a good one, mainly because everything just before his death seemed to suggest he was fine.
The character whose heart gets eaten is an asshole who murdered his brother, so when the dog ate his heart i was letting out huge schadenfreude filled belly laughs.
This one never fails to crack me up.
That face. He tries the exact same thing I would do in that situation.
