What are your most hated fanfic tropes

[Colonel "Bardak"]

Tweaked that for you a bit for clarity.

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Oh, heh, thanks. Redact the last message.

 

[dsfjr1190]

Supporting characters (usually harem members) that aren't allowed to do anything, lest they outshine the mc.

They are forced to be helpless and useless, never having any real impact on the world.

If they are better than the mc in a fight, the mc tells them to leave when real danger is at hand and will fight by himself. Even when the mc is drastically weaker.

Sometimes we are told they are politically savvy, but they never do anything of note.

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

DEfinitely 'in X with system', especially if it already has it's own power system like Danmachi.

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The wildest part is that Danmachi already basically has a system in the form of a Falna. It takes nothing but a bit of brainpower to mold whatever you want into the form of a skill. Matter of fact, a big part of what makes systems, well, systems is the introduce a hard interface for a setting's generally softer power systems. In a place like Danmachi or Konosuba or SAO or Log Horizon or Overlord or any number of settings where there already IS a hard system in place, that's kinda pointless.

 

[Pointless]

Adding power after power instead of exploring the depths of whatever they have.

The use of outside of universe powers and no one questioning them about it.

Dumbing down characters, known for their intelligence or expertise in espionage etc., for loser MCs who act entirely out of character, if they are inserted into an established person, or has knowledge of things which would be impossible for them to know and then flaunt or use it without any subtly. It's worse when for example the fic takes place in MCU, and they interact with Fury or Coulson, who note that the MC seems to be familiar or knows who they are, but they don't do anything. Why wouldn't they take them in for interrogation under the assumption that there is a leak in their super secret spy org.
Don't get me started on the ancient one in fanfics, here's a foreign soul/spirit possessing someone.''methinks I'll teach them the magics''
If they are an established character and act weirdly or entirely unfamiliar with said character's family or friends, would they not think their son/daughter/friend/etc. has been possessed or body snatched or replaced (which is the basis of self inserting) and get help. I'm sure in a universe like DC or Marvel orgs like avengers or the justice league have hotlines for the smaller problems, if somehow the big magic fellows missed a foreign soul entering their realm.

 

[fareakyhoneybee]

Most gamer fics that use fiction adaption always use the same powerset. Naruto or Bleach aka sharingan or whatever more mainstream characters powerset ignoring the underrated ones in universe not even using Hashirama you know the guy that Madara himself needed his cells to get most things done.

 

[Bear_Mint]

It doesn't inspire confidence when your MC inserts into a canonical overpowered character and yet still feels the need to give them out-of-context powers from other settings.

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

It doesn't inspire confidence when your MC inserts into a canonical overpowered character and yet still feels the need to give them out-of-context powers from other settings.

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Especially if they then trash talk the main character by claiming they're "better" despite needing more power for generally about the same result.

 

[Bear_Mint]

Especially if they then trash talk the main character by claiming they're "better" despite needing more power for generally about the same result.

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They are inherently sanctimonious in claiming to be superior to the MC for not immediately having the answer to easily solve the problem while they abuse meta-knowledge to quickly resolve a plot.

Critics for thee, not for me.

 

[Karmic Acumen]

Basically I hate actually using RNG in stories because it can cause far more problems than it's worth to stick with a crappy gambling mechanic.

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I agree with everything you said in this post, but I'd still like to say that 'gambling' might have its place if the author is a bleeding heart. Or just isn't sure how a certain plot development should happen. For example, say a big war is taking place, and he has a bunch of fleshed out characters, and some of them kinda have to die because, well, it's a bloody war. But he's the characters' creator and doesn't want to kill any of them because he's even more attached than the readers. This is one situation where rolling a d100 for each of them could work, then he can kill off the ones who roll lowest.

This could allow the author to complete his writing milestone, and would even force him to evolve his creativity in order to make their demise believable - say a character is the MC's backline general, how does the enemy get to him? Betrayal? Subterfuge? Could he work the death of another character in there?

Obviously, the author should never tell anyone they used dice rolls, but it could totally work for stuff like this. For extra points, if they plan their plot in advance, they can do the rolls from the start and then use the pages in between to get readers invested in the characters. Pathos achieved.

I am, however, totally against gratuitous killing of characters. Shock value and subverted expectations are never a good enough reason for anything.

tl;dr: Tropes are not bad, even this one.

On a different note, treating DxD like anything else than a horror setting. It's bad. A self-insert dropped there should be horrified. But I've only seen it done once twice.

 

[Lightbringer]

On a different note, treating DxD like anything else than a horror setting. It's bad. A self-insert dropped there should be horrified. But I've only seen it done once.

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True, but up to a point you must be used to that tbh.

 

[Karmic Acumen]

True, but up to a point you must be used to that tbh.

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I was also used to a toothake for a few months during high school.

 

[Quenster06]

Snip.

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See, I agree with what you said, but I wouldn't consider what you mentioned as 'gambling'. I'd consider that determining probability, which is fine. Gambling is more rolling for a pool of potential rewards.

Going back to my previous post as an example Celestial stories have authors gain points depending on how much they write, which they can then use to roll for abilities. Using this in a narrative can completely ruin the flow of writing. Some people can work their way past it, but if you're constantly getting bad rolls back to back it would be much better to just use another system. This is why most successful Gambling/Gacha stories are either rigged for specific outcomes or have a higher amount of good odds.

Also, basically any popular isekai/transmigration fiction setting is terrifying. DC/Marvel have death events around every corner, DxD has deities and mythological extinction events, Worm is Worm, Fate has far too many bad end time-lines, RWBY is a world dying by a thousand cuts, etc. Point being is that very few of the fictional settings we enjoy are not terrifying should you decide to go into an existential spiral.

 

[Bear_Mint]

Speaking of gamblecore stories; I've seen a spike in Chaos Gacha stories on QQ and AnonKun.

I haven't read any of them but for those who did; how are they compared to the Celestial format?

 

[Karmic Acumen]

Point being is that very few of the fictional settings we enjoy are not terrifying should you decide to go into an existential spiral.

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I'm not asking for character existential spirals (at least not interminable ones), I'd enjoy seeing authors treat the setting appropriately.

 

[Quenster06]

I'm not asking for character existential spirals (at least not interminable ones), I'd enjoy seeing authors treat the setting appropriately.

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Why should they treat any setting like it's more terrifying than others? DxD isn't exactly an outlier in terms horrifying events that can happen. As far as I know, it doesn't even delve into multiple time-lines, and it always goes back to being a silly ecchi harem setting at its roots.

 

[Lightbringer]

Can I just say how much I hate SIs who go for a canon character, they start getting feelings for one and another then he goes full 'BUH MUH CANON'.

Argh.

Or the ones who think to be some sort of time guardian to say shit like 'X must Happen so Y happens'.

GRRRRR!

Or the worst ones! They appear...and DO NOTHING.

GRAH!

 

[Karmic Acumen]

Why should they treat any setting like it's more terrifying than others?

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Why are you bringing other settings into this? I only said DxD is a horror setting and not seeing that acknowledged is the hated fanfic trope I chose to mention in the hated fanfic tropes thread. What other settings are like is completely irrelevant.

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

On a different note, treating DxD like anything else than a horror setting.

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I think it could also work as a supernatural thriller, especially for an SI. He already knows what's out there, but he also knows the big actors and roughly how they play the game. The physical threats are there, but the psychological response of how the SI intends to avoid and outmaneuvre them could be the bigger focus. When you sit face to face with a devil in DxD, sure, you're dealing with a monster, but one with a personality, social standing, and goals to consider. You can't out-fight it, but out-thinking it could be in the cards.

 

[Lightbringer]

I think it could also work as a supernatural thriller, especially for an SI. He already knows what's out there, but he also knows the big actors and roughly how they play the game. The physical threats are there, but the psychological response of how the SI intends to avoid and outmaneuvre them could be the bigger focus. When you sit face to face with a devil in DxD, sure, you're dealing with a monster, but one with a personality, social standing, and goals to consider. You can't out-fight it, but out-thinking it could be in the cards.

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Might be novel to think Rias is some sort of serial killer...
Or think about Asia as a manipulative girl in disguise...
Or Akeno as a sadist murderess...

 

[mikocon]

Can I just say how much I hate SIs who go for a canon character, they start getting feelings for one and another then he goes full 'BUH MUH CANON'.

Argh.

Or the ones who think to be some sort of time guardian to say shit like 'X must Happen so Y happens'.

GRRRRR!

Or the worst ones! They appear...and DO NOTHING.

GRAH!

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Right?!?!?!? No one would do that. Like, who would willingly do something like that!

We need more selfish SIs.

 

[Theman]

Can I just say how much I hate SIs who go for a canon character, they start getting feelings for one and another then he goes full 'BUH MUH CANON'.

Argh.

Or the ones who think to be some sort of time guardian to say shit like 'X must Happen so Y happens'.

GRRRRR!

Or the worst ones! They appear...and DO NOTHING.

GRAH!

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Right?!?!?!? No one would do that. Like, who would willingly do something like that!

We need more selfish SIs.

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We actually have too many selfish SIs they are usually trash.

No the smarter SI"s might do it however because here is the thing in a lot of these stories the good guys win by the skin of their teeth. So deviating from cannon might be very dangerous, you don't want Madara to win and trap you into an eternal dream do you?

It could still be subverted however and have the main character punch out the self insert and tell him fate is bullshit and they'll make a future even better than cannon.

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

It could still be subverted however and have the main character punch out the self insert and tell him fate is bullshit and they'll make a future even better than cannon.

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Alternatively, you could go the complete opposite and have the SI act like the MC's win is absolutely set in stone regardless of their interference, so it doesn't matter.