It is one of the great paradoxes of being human that most of us feel at least a little different from everybody else, but most of us are at least a little bit the same. Think you’re a quirky soul with no one else totally similar to you on the face of this earth? You’re probably wrong, along with most of the other avowed true individuals. The truth is, stereotypes and tropes don’t simply arise out of nowhere, and they can be applied to everything from different people to the media that we consume. 

That is part of what makes the allure of the starter pack so attractive. It makes it obvious how you can throw together almost infinite combinations of objects and concepts and describe a distinct type of guy, character, or situation. It’s satisfying in a way that scratches an itch you didn’t even know you had, even if it calls you out a bit at the same time.