r/TopCharacterTropes • u/MammothPenguin69 • 16d ago

Hated Tropes Stupid Contrived Survival Stories

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

  1. 12 Feet Deep - Two idiots decide they absolutely positively MUST go swimming in a pool after it's closed. An incredibly contrived sequence of events happens so they get stuck in a pool. So the movie can happen.

  2. Frozen (not that one) - Three idiots decide they absolutely positively MUST get on a ski-lift after it's closed. To the point of bribing the operator who for some stupid reason doesn't say anything. Do the movie can happen. Also, Wolves are not that aggressive. They are typically shy and avoid humans.

  3. 47 Meters Down- Arguably the most believable scenario on this list. It's still really stupid.

  4. Fall- Two idiots decide to climb an abandoned radio tower without proper equipment that would make escaping their predicament trivially easy. Stop me if you've heard this one before

so the movie can happen.

16.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

7.6k

u/Nur4m0n 16d ago

Contrived or not, some of these don't seem that far fetched considering how stupid real people have shown themselves to be.

3.4k

u/Th3_Admiral_ 16d ago

Especially the one on the radio tower. I've seen enough videos of daredevils climbing towers like that or skyscrapers without any gear just to show they can. 

1.2k

u/Uncle-Cake 16d ago

There's a real life version of this. Dude was a freeclimber who would do shit like do pull-ups at the tops of towers. Well one time (while filming for this followers), he didn't have the energy to pull himself back up and couldn't get a good grip with his feet. He fell off the tower, landed on a ledge about 40-50 feet below, and died. No one even knew until the next day when a window cleaner found him. Sounds like a plot from the show "911".

154

u/Mechakoopa 16d ago

Maybe an old season of 911, these days it'd have to involve going to space or jumping a flaming monster truck over a schoolbus full of penguins.

4

u/mad_atlas 15d ago

I swear I just heard of this show last week but I have been DYING laughing over the ads I’m getting. Has it been running for a long time with increasingly absurd plots?! The last commercial I saw was a god damn volcano in the middle of LA. I thought it was a satirical fake show from 30 rock or something. 

6

u/Mechakoopa 14d ago

The season premiere last year had one of the main characters going to space, couple seasons ago the finale was a big cruise ship incident, the stakes are becoming increasingly hinged. There was a cold open once where someone had to hide underwater in a pool from killer hornets.

546

u/tifftafflarry 16d ago

Sounds like a plot from the show "911".

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Yes, um, please help; this guy just fell off a skyscraper antenna and fell 50 feet onto the ledge of the building's fitness center!"

"Please repeat ma'am, there's some static on the line: what exactly happened to him?"

"HE JUST HIT THE GYM!"

12

u/TrunksTheMighty 16d ago

I remember that video. Just watching him fall out of frame to his death was pretty messed up.

3

u/Uncle-Cake 16d ago

Have you seen the one of the guy who would film himself fucking around near whirlpools, and then one time he got too close and got sucked in and didn't come back up?

2

u/TrunksTheMighty 16d ago

Did not. 

3

u/Uncle-Cake 16d ago

Google "Jacob Cockle"

1

u/Time_Traveling_Idiot 16d ago

Ah, shit. That blurry recording of the guy's actual iPhone.. you can see the exact moment when he struggles to get up for the last time and realizes that he's actually fucked. Like dead dead, no choice but to jump.

I know what that's like because I've dreamt similar things - Would NOT want to feel that IRL.

8

u/Dairkon76 16d ago

That sounds like a Darwin award contender

9

u/FamiliarFerret5 16d ago

sounds more like a plot from the show "reno 911"

5

u/Nomiss 16d ago

There was also a redditor in the /r/skydiving sub that got kicked off the jump zones for being unsafe. Everyone said stop or you'll kill yourself or others. But instead he decided to BASE a radio tower...

1

u/BlueMagpieRox 11d ago

There’s more than one example of this I’m sure.

A few years ago there was a Chinese urban climbing influencer who’s hand slipped and he fell off the ledge of a skyscraper, on stream.

1

u/Uncle-Cake 11d ago

But not many recorded themselves doing it.

1

u/speurk-beurk 11d ago

118 brace for impact

0

u/Due-Boss-4354 15d ago

I know it's ghoulish, but I'd love to see the moments after he realised he won't be able to pull himself back up. I'd imagine it's complete 180 from the confidence just moments prior.

567

u/Empty_Insight 16d ago

I was yelling at the TV for like half of that movie lol.

I wasn't even a 'pro' climber, I just knew the basics of how to properly explore remote/abandoned places. I just couldn't believe someone would actually bring the equipment they did yet not know how to use it.

Like, did they just look up a list on Google or something and then go "Okay, this looks good!"

418

u/LightningFerret04 16d ago

irl that’s only gonna get more and more realistic from here

“Hey __(AI assistant)__, what equipment do I need to climb a cell tower?”

“To climb a cell tower, you’ll want a harness, proper clothing, ropes, and carabiners.”

“Where can I get carabiners?”

“You can purchase carabiners at any retail store such as Walmart, Home Depot, or your local hardware store for less than ten dollars.”

And stuff like that. For those who are unaware, cheap carabiners you use for keychains are NOT the type of carabiners that you use for climbing. Regular carabiners are not rated to hold the weight of a person and will be perfectly happy to snap and drop you to your death

256

u/Yakety_Sax 16d ago

There was recently a group of people who needed to be rescued from Mt. Shasta because they used Google AI to plan their trip.

223

u/AEW4LYFE 16d ago

When I asked Google AI to give me its thoughts on a Magic the Gathering deck I was building, it told me to put cards in the deck that don't actually exist so I can only imagine how it could mess up a trip and then of course:

"You are absolutely right, there is no hotel on the top of the mountain."

90

u/Lokishougan 16d ago

You deck should include

Exodia the Forbidden, 4 Copies of the Ace of Spades, 2 copies of Uno Reverse gREEN and a one wish willow in your sideboard

70

u/AEW4LYFE 16d ago

"You are absolutely right, you cannot play Monopoly chance cards in Magic the gathering."

21

u/Panory 16d ago

"Try a Community Chest card instead!"

1

u/Iron_Lord_Peturabo 13d ago

But can I play a king of beers coaster as a 5th king in a game of hold em

12

u/Masquelinity 16d ago

If it's Google AI Mode, it'll probably say "Actually, Monopoly chance cards were added to Magic: the Gathering with the 2025 Monopoly crossover. So you can use them however you like!"

11

u/TooManyToasters1 16d ago

Don’t forget four copies of Pot of Greed.

8

u/Blargimazombie 16d ago

Aaaand a charizard.

5

u/sprouthat 16d ago

The way modern MTG is going I wouldn't even be surprised if the One Wish Willow got made into a card

universes beyond pisses me off so fucking much, you made magic into fortnite

2

u/theother-g 15d ago

Sad thing is that Universes Beyond makes them massive amounts money by just printing stuff on cardboard. It also brings people from those fandoms into MTG, so for WotC it's a win-win-win situation.

1

u/Glamdring804 16d ago

4 Copies of the Ace of Spades

Sadly the Destiny cross-over seems to have only been one-way so far. /s

1

u/yeswearerelated 16d ago

Oh man, I would love to put Uno Reverse green in all my non-blue decks. Imagine the look on the stupid Izzet player's face when you drop Uno Reverse Green.

3

u/Nyx87 16d ago

I did something similar trying to create a Pathfinder character. It creates random items and such that don't exist.

19

u/AEW4LYFE 16d ago

I did some digging and discovered it wasn't actually creating Magic cards in my case. It was scraping reddit and old forums where fans were creating their own homebrew Magic cards for fun. It just can't tell the difference because it isn't actually intelligent, it's just a chat bot with more tricks and resources.

1

u/Lokishougan 16d ago

It may not be intellegent...but it is SUPERIOR

3

u/justasillylilgoos3 16d ago

I love using ai but I will say try playing Fortnite droid tycoon and ask it to build you a list of droids for each rebirth sequence and it will go bananas batshit insane wrong.

Like…illl die on the hill that ai is good for a lot of things in terms of convenience and it is good for a lot of stuff but it just…is not something people should be using for serious/life-depending information on.

Wild shit

1

u/stiff_tipper 16d ago edited 16d ago

there's a series i liked watching back when ai was still a bunch of gibberish, where a dude would rate (at times) borderline unreadable ai magic cards. link to the playlist for anyone interested:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWwL-4K0zJSw7iNVZyh4qexCr6JhUCKQT

1

u/Suojelusperkele 16d ago

What? No hotel? You filthy liar my ai assistant told me there is! I demand to see the manager of the mountain!

1

u/DubiousBrushwagg 16d ago

Since AI is usually trained on internet content and the majority of deck lists online are fucking terrible. I wouldn't trust it even if it did use only actual real cards.

"Force of Will is an excellent counter spell but it is an expensive card to buy. A good budget option would be Contradict or Forceful Denial."

Can totally see any AI giving stupid shit like that as advice.

2

u/AEW4LYFE 16d ago

Once I got it to focus on the real cards in the deck, I realized it was just way too nice. It's answer was always "this deck looks fun and competitive!"

3

u/DubiousBrushwagg 16d ago

Yeah. AI models are terrible for critical feedback. Especially the commerical ones like ChatGPT or Gemni. They're made to be obsequious and reinforce user happiness to keep you using them.

3

u/VintAge6791 16d ago

This is how Skynet will really wipe out 99.99999 percent of humanity. The Terminators are only for the holdouts who actually go outside and look at and touch things before making buying decisions and planning trips.

1

u/sesoren65 16d ago

But it says things so confidently

8

u/radioactivez0r 16d ago

Not safety related, but ChatGPT had an ad running for a bit where a guy used AI to plan his road trip for him and I was like damn, that's the fun part!

2

u/LightningFerret04 16d ago

I met up with my friend to plan our road trip and he was using Claude to find some spots and stopping points inbetween. No judgement, but I personally prefer most of my trip planning to be homemade for exactly that reason, I think it’s a lot of fun to do

What I do find to be pretty useful though is to do a google search, see the top search results, see what Gemini suggests and then click on its sources. That takes me to reddit threads and old forums which have conversations about spots and areas we might go to. I can get a general vibe of what some place might be like which might not be found easily

We did figure out a pretty smooth system on that planning though. While I was on google search and Google Maps looking at our start and end points, he would ask Claude about some spots. Then based on the list Claude gave him, he and I would both hop on Google Maps on satellite view and check out each spot it recommended. I would then look to see if there are other areas around that place and write them all down. Then we listed them in a master list as Plan A, Plan B, Plan C

Generally that’s the right way, in my opinion, to use AI. Have it give suggestions and dig for information that you might not have found easily, then fact check what it finds, see if you can find more, and then use your head to make a decision on what to use and what not to use.

7

u/finalremix 16d ago

And stuff like that. For those who are unaware, cheap carabiners you use for keychains are NOT the type of carabiners that you use for climbing. Regular carabiners are not rated to hold the weight of a person and will be perfectly happy to snap and drop you to your death

Both sets that I recently purchased have stamped into the metal what the weight allowance is (hint: it's under 20 pounds for each one).

3

u/LightningFerret04 16d ago

Those are great, I love the exact weights being listed

Also, I had a couple that had small stickers on each one that specifically said “⚠️ NOT FOR CLIMBING”

2

u/Iron_Lord_Peturabo 13d ago

I have a pair of climb rated carabiners that I use as key rings. I don't go climbing, but sometimes when it's time to do dumb shit it's good to have the tools for dumb shit

3

u/amandaplzzz 16d ago

Didn't her friend like plan the climb to help her get over her boyfriend who recently fell to his death doing a similarly moronic climb? So silly

2

u/wild_west_900 16d ago

met a (now) good friend of mine while at a crag. he looked lost and like he had no idea what he was doing. had all the gear. he had read Freedom of the Hills a few days before and figured he could do it. no clue how to actually do it in practice. invited him to join our group so that he didnt hurt himself

2

u/NoMention696 16d ago

They both hang off the edge for a picture/video, I don’t think they ever had the brain capacity to figure out the equipment

2

u/Exilicauda 16d ago

Are you going to watch the sequel?

3

u/Empty_Insight 16d ago

My wife liked it even though I found it immensely frustrating. It was her idea to watch the original.

So: I will most likely be watching the sequel, but not necessarily by choice. Lol

2

u/Exilicauda 16d ago

Lol report back after!

2

u/Lokishougan 16d ago

"I just couldn't believe someone would actually bring the equipment they did yet not know how to use it." Oh I totally can ..especially if these mofos got MONEY.

Perfect example was when I WENT TO college (about 20 years ago) my friend worked Resent which helps people get online at the dorms. He was pretty swamped with serious stuff since that year we were in a literally brand new dorm that only finished final prep a few weeks before move in day . So he asked me to try and at least figure out what problem a guy in my hall had since his request did not make much sense. Went there and despite my limited computer knowledge his problem very quick...he was not plugged in. Gets better ...he threw away the cord clamming that if it was important it would have been attached. He insulted me and told me I was the idiot and to get a real tech person in here...To his credit after my friend did check him out and tell him the same thing he couldnt look me in the eye for a week lol

2

u/MichaSound 14d ago

Given the number of people Mountain Rescue has to assist every year, because they attempted a difficult climb in regular shoes and with no special equipment, yeah I believe people are that dumb.

"I won't be one of those stupid people, I'll google what equipment I need but do no prep in how to use it!"

198

u/Which-Presentation-6 16d ago

In defense of the film's protagonist, she was in a terrible mental state due to her husband's death; it was her friend (who had a secret affair with her husband) who coerced her into it, which is also quite idiotic on the part of the friend to take a woman in a poor mental state to an unprotected tower.

127

u/WolvesAreCool2461 16d ago

Well considering she was the one who had the affair I doubt she cared much for the protag's mental state

68

u/JMer806 16d ago

Her friend was supposedly a professional climber and the protagonist was also an extremely experienced climber. There’s no way they would’ve been dumb enough to bring as little equipment as they did (and not tell anyone)

16

u/YourMoreLocalLurker 16d ago

Going to just say that considering the “friend” was also her husband’s secret affair partner, it was probably not a trip she intended protag to survive

10

u/GoodDayToCome 16d ago

did you watch a different movie? that wasn't even slightly hinted at and their reasons and relationship was explained a lot

8

u/DeadJoe783 16d ago

Sounds like the descent

4

u/grimacedia 16d ago

I had to scroll up to double check what movie the comments are about lol

4

u/neorevenge 16d ago

Husband was dead

9

u/YourMoreLocalLurker 16d ago

I don’t see why the husband being dead means she can’t be trying to get her “friend” killed, could be that she knows something protag doesn’t (like if protag dies, she gets his stuff)

4

u/StatisticianBoth4147 15d ago

There’s absolutely nothing in the movie that points to the best friend wanting to physically harm the protagonist in any way, and she’s wracked by guilt over the cheating (not that that makes it better). The friend literally sacrifices herself to get the protagonist supplies.

1

u/letthetreeburn 16d ago

I’ve seen waaaayyy too many urbanex influencers who are only alive due to luck

8

u/TheFatNinjaMaster 16d ago

Isn’t that the plot of the descent without monsters?

2

u/NEBanshee 16d ago

Isn't this the plot of The Descent?

2

u/Kimboleperd 16d ago

No, obviously not. Its far worse. Instead of a group exploring a cave its two idiots climbing a tower. Instead of scary monsters attacking them, they are attacked by nothing. At least its not as bad as The Cave.

0

u/NEBanshee 15d ago

I meant the part where the protag is pressured into a risky, extreme activity by their former/alleged bff who was having an affair with their husband, in large part because they are in such a shitty headspace in the aftermath of the affair, then scalarious hijinks ensue.

2

u/OctuhFox 12d ago

Hm… replace the tower with an unexplored cave system and that sounds exactly like a much better movie 🤔

1

u/GonzoElTaco 16d ago

Damn, that actually reminds me of the movie The Decent (2005).

36

u/Hypnotic_Toad 16d ago

I mean there was a Youtuber who fell to his death on a livestream basically doing this.

-26

u/SellMeYourSirin 16d ago

Badass.

8

u/blitzbom 16d ago

Dumbass

3

u/m4cksfx 15d ago

Dead ass

56

u/armoured_bobandi 16d ago

Nothing anybody can say will ever convince me that these free climbers (or whatever they're called) aren't legitimately mentally ill

Why would you make a decision that can literally kill you? I don't care how skilled you are accidents happen

16

u/Doji_mofo 16d ago

I believe the term you want is "free solo"

Free means not being attached to an anchor, solo means not being attached to another person.

You can also do it over water (free water solo), and specifically over a diving pool if you want, which is much the same thing, but you're hitting water rather than concrete. So there's ways of doing it that are less risky.

And yes, there's definitely something wrong with free soloists, much as I love them. We're all a bit weird in the climbing community, but they're another level.

3

u/BloodyFable 16d ago

Free is actually just anything that isn't aid. Trad is free.

2

u/BloodyFable 16d ago

Trad is incredibly expensive, but it's free

2

u/marimo_ball 15d ago

Having legs is aid

7

u/BrokeArmHeadass 16d ago

I mean, would you say the same thing about big wave surfing? Or like, people that race that Isle of Man motorcycle race that has a really high mortality rate? There are a lot of things that people do that can be seen as “making a decision that can literally kill you.”

11

u/armoured_bobandi 16d ago

I think there are safety precautions that exist for those types of activities.

I'm specifically talking about people that, for instance, go rock climbing without any safety equipment. That's what I'm getting on about

4

u/Postmeat2 16d ago

Well, rock climbing without any safety equipment seems to be both the draw and the point for these kinds of people. They know the risks, how could they not?

Someone I know who was into parachuting a while said that the most “in to it” people would either get their kicks from adrenaline, or hard drugs if adrenaline hadn’t been an option. In which case, I’d say unsecured rock climbing is better for you overall until it suddenly isn’t.

And yes, their brains aren’t wired all right, was a well-known climber they tested years ago, his amygdala (responsible for our fear-response) was basically inactive.

9

u/armoured_bobandi 16d ago

And yes, their brains aren’t wired all right, was a well-known climber they tested years ago, his amygdala (responsible for our fear-response) was basically inactive.

A lack of fear shouldn't trump basic human survival. I'm not scared of the dark, but I bring a flashlight with me when I walking without any other light

10

u/Postmeat2 16d ago

A lack of fear shouldn't trump basic human survival.

It shouldn’t, but it appears to, regardless of what you think. You sound like you have a functioning amygdala (as do I), so how would either of us know without asking?

-4

u/armoured_bobandi 16d ago

I don't think a functioning amygdala prevents you from understanding basic physics

6

u/UselessModeration 16d ago

It's not that they don't understand, they just don't care.

1

u/armoured_bobandi 16d ago

Well, I suppose either way I don't understand it 🤷

→ More replies (0)

1

u/edo4rd-0 15d ago

I think it’s like smoking. Like yeah, you rationally know it’s gonna kill you, but you don’t really care. The perception of the danger doesn’t necessarily correlate with the awareness

1

u/Postmeat2 16d ago

That’s not what I said at all? I even said as much in my first comment to you, go re-read.

-2

u/armoured_bobandi 16d ago

Literally the last thing your comment said was we wouldn't get it because we have functioning amygdalas.

You very specifically did say that. I don't even care if that's the actual explanation, that's what you said.

So don't act like I'm an idiot for replying to your comment

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Triforceofswag69 15d ago

Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.

1

u/BrokeArmHeadass 15d ago

There are plenty of safety precautions in free soloing, it just comes in the form of years of training and meticulously planning ahead of the execution. Most people just can’t comprehend how much training goes into these kinds of things. There is nothing illogical about how these people are thinking, their risk calculations are just so different from people who have no exposure to their sport that it seems that way.

5

u/Masquelinity 16d ago

I mean, would you say the same thing about big wave surfing? Or like, people that race that Isle of Man motorcycle race that has a really high mortality rate?

Unrionically yes.

One thousand percent yes.

These were the worst possible examples you could have come up with if you were expecting someone to say "No, that's not at all the same."

1

u/blitzbom 16d ago

I've climbed for years and free soloing something tall like that is never something I've considered.

Over water is fun.

-4

u/Softpretzelsandrose 16d ago

Driving is equally as dangerous and relies on OTHER people’s actions. I’m not condoning it but I think climbing shit is pretty hard wired into our monkey brains

14

u/armoured_bobandi 16d ago

Yes, and driving without a seat belt and recklessly is a terrible decision.

What do you think your arguing?

8

u/Marquois 16d ago

So I don't have the numbers here, but I suspect if you ran them you'd find climbing to be an order of magnitude more dangerous than driving. Sure more people have died driving, but as a percentage of overall drivers it's almost certainly lower than the percentage of climbers ona given cliff

3

u/Masquelinity 16d ago

Driving is equally as dangerous

Per capita?

3

u/ReplicatorsAteMerlin 16d ago

Others have mentioned that driving isn't actually as dangerous per instance, but another thing is that driving very often achieves a practical result, and with a lot of car-dependant infrastructure it is often the only practical way to achieve that result.

Most people aren't doing dangerous free solo mountain climbing because that's the only practical way to get employment.

2

u/KorrokHidan 16d ago

This isn’t about climbing. The comment specified free climbers (really talking about free solo). Driving should not be brought into the equation because 1) no the fuck it isn’t more dangerous than free solo climbing, and 2) this is less comparable to driving and more comparable to going 50 mph over the speed limit without a seatbelt or airbags

6

u/Sirdan3k 16d ago

The climbing tower is easily believable because the tower has a ladder, but the ladder breaks. The odds of a non-profesional climber hauling the several hundred feet of extra rope or even having access to it are slim.

2

u/street593 16d ago

I used to climb cell towers for a living and I couldn't get over the fact that it had microwave dishes at 1,900 ft. They are never installed that high especially when the movie takes place in a flat desert. Normally any tower that is 2000ft tall is a radio broadcast tower and the last hundred feet is the antenna itself. Normally has small pegs to climb not a ladder.

I also agree with you about the rope. I think they had like 50ft? That's such a comically small amount of rope.

5

u/GoodDayToCome 16d ago

sure, now go read about what happened when base jumpers decided to hold a protest to prove base jumping is safe - one of the main organizers didn't want her parachute being confiscated so borrowed someone else's, jumped and when she went to pull the chord she couldn't find it because she was used to it being on the leg and this one had it on the shoulder.

or any of the endless stories of people going up high mountains, especially Everest, ignoring every single bit of advice they're given then collapsing with hypoxia.

2

u/Outside-Currency-462 16d ago

Yeah I swear I learnt about that movie via a real incident that it may or may not have been based on

2

u/badgersprite 15d ago

That movie feels like the weird dreams I have as a person who is scared of heights.

1

u/IsaacAndTired 15d ago

It also turns into something that you don't really expect and because of that it makes the scenario even more believable.

1

u/Flat_Marsupial_4249 13d ago

What is hard to believe to me is that two experienced climbers would climb without proper equipment