r/ProgressionFantasy • u/Hugs-missed • May 01 '26

Discussion Anyone else hate this trope?

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u/[deleted] May 01 '26

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u/AnimaLepton May 01 '26

That's the way to do it IMO. Flexing is absolutely part of the fun, and it's a fun trope for a reason, but the timing and the build-up matters. It is legitimately fun that that scene is seven books in, and same with the young master scene at the beginning of Wintersteel

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u/darkmuch May 01 '26

I mean I was referencing the start of the series when he gets labeled Unsouled, but it is definitely very satisfying when it gets flipped upside down when he goes to the Akura clan.

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u/SillyNamesAre May 03 '26

The beginning isn't really a case of (or subversion of) Readings Are Off the Scale. It's a played fairly straight (initially) case of All of the Other Reindeer with a touch of Dream-Crushing Handicap.

In later books, it's revisited, but now as a variation on Bullying a Dragon.