What are your most hated fanfic tropes

[Ney☆Ru]

Apathy, indifference, or little to no importance for his unexpected situation.
I'm not telling you to create 3 whole chapters of a confused and scared MC, but at least add something that makes me feel like the MC is an ordinary earthbound human who has never experienced magic before.

I've read about 40 stories (yes, I've counted) where the protagonist simply sees an object that makes him recognize where it is and seconds later completely accepts it without even hesitation or feeling any emotion.

"Ah yeah, I'm in DxD, cool" = Automatically stop seeing it. We are emotional, we can get confused, we feel things. To believe otherwise is to grossly overestimate yourself or be a complete idiot. It's worse when the reason is simply trying to create a character "ChadSigmaPhonkHarénWaifuKiritio"

It's embarrassing.

 

[Bear_Mint]

"Ah yeah, I'm in DxD, cool" = Automatically stop seeing it. We are emotional, we can get confused, we feel things. To believe otherwise is to grossly overestimate yourself or be a complete idiot. It's worse when the reason is simply trying to create a character "ChadSigmaPhonkHarénWaifuKiritio"

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Authors of those stories have cultivated a specific audience that will immediately turn on them should the MC exhibit any emotion that doesn't project absolute confidence.

The MCs must keep winning with zero setbacks. There cannot be learning experiences or periods of emotional development because the audience sees it as cringe and a sign of weakness; immediately resorting to name-calling and belittling the MC's intelligence.

 

[Daytripper]

Authors of those stories have cultivated a specific audience that will immediately turn on them should the MC exhibit any emotion that doesn't project absolute confidence.

The MCs must keep winning with zero setbacks. There cannot be learning experiences or periods of emotional development because the audience sees it as cringe and a sign of weakness; immediately resorting to name-calling and belittling the MC's intelligence.

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So essentially Toxic Masculinity?

 

[TheMidnightRook]

So essentially Toxic Masculinity?

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Toxic SB Competence more like.

 

[NightmareWarden]

This is a wild take it's silly of you to say. Polygamy is not cheating. If you are open to your spouse and they agree you having an extra spouse is not cheating or NTR.

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Thank you. With that said, I'll note that 95%of published harem stuff does not have a conversation like that- it is like they communicate "the way things will be" with subtext. Or genre awareness. Another 3-4% goes to the first girlfriend/wife being okay with it, no doubts or conditions. And that's why most fanfiction follows that lead, as eye-rolling as it is.

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

The MCs must keep winning with zero setbacks.

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Worst part is when the author wants to project a setback, but the main character has to be so "awesome" that the only reaction is pure testosterone and motivation, so it isn't even allowed to feel like it. If the reaction's that measured, then I'm not gonna sympathize with the main character over his loss since said main character barely fucking cares either. No, if you want a hard hit, make the character act like it. Have them crash out. That's when you fully have the permission to bring a bit of angst into the story. Sure, someone not immediately bouncing back into happy-go-lucky-mode may be considered "edgy" by the modern audience, but by this point their skin has got so paper-thin that it doesn't mean much.

And I'm not even just looking at fanfic authors. That Jiraya's death was as subdued as it has been was fucking criminal.

 

[kingbroly314]

Op Mc with to much power than actually need with a Mass harem with over every female characters or characters Genbented

 

[Smuthunter]

Video game mechanics have absolutely no place in storytelling unless you are writing a story that's taking place in an actual video game like SAO or .hack. The entire LitRPG """genre""" could be put to the torch and nothing of value would be lost.

"Serious" Pokemon fics are so lame.

"Umm, actually, a Pokemon will, like, eat you. Tons of kids go missing every year."

God, shut the fuck up. What's with this obsession to take a happy, kid-friendly setting and make it dark?

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Fucking preach it.

 

[0Jordinio0]

"Serious" Pokemon fics are so lame.

"Umm, actually, a Pokemon will, like, eat you. Tons of kids go missing every year."

God, shut the fuck up. What's with this obsession to take a happy, kid-friendly setting and make it dark?

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Beyond that few people actually gave the skill to write such a story using g pokemon etc and make it good. Beyond Traveler the only pokemon fanfic I remember doing this well at all was Sun Soul. Besides that it's just depressing. Nobody plays pokemon for depression.

 

[Smuthunter]

Nobody plays pokemon for depression.

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Also in the same vein, nobody reads superhero stories for """realism""". Attention all Worm cultists: fuck you and the horse you rode in on, I could pick any random Silver Age Superman comic out of a hat and get a more fun and entertaining story than your grimdark dumpster fire and every fanfic ever written about it.

 

[S.I.N]

Toxic SB Competence more like.

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No that's one of the few times I can say it's toxic masculinity. It's really about not looking weak and like a bitch they want to feel like chads so anything against that is bad.

 

[0Jordinio0]

Also in the same vein, nobody reads superhero stories for """realism""". Attention all Worm cultists: fuck you and the horse you rode in on, I could pick any random Silver Age Superman comic out of a hat and get a more fun and entertaining story than your grimdark dumpster fire and every fanfic ever written about it.

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I can't stand Worm man, no idea why it's so popular.

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

I could pick any random Silver Age Superman comic out of a hat

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Silver Age Superman's unironically pretty good because it's as silly as it is. It's stupid, but it's fun stupid, and simply being willing to admit to that already gives it a confidence a lot of modern authors are lacking, in fanfiction and beyond.

 

[Bogsmi]

I can't stand Worm man, no idea why it's so popular.

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The only worm fanfics I can stomach are Shiro's ones cause I just enjoy his writing style a lot. And even then I much prefer his other works over the worm ones...
Worm is just to fucking bleak and sad.

Every worm fabrics goes like this: Someone has the power to hide from precognition (cause otherwise you can't even do a worm fic). Everyone is scared because he is a blindspot. Protagonist wins since Everyone is over reliant on precognition and he bypassed it, the end!

Oh, and let's not forget the insane number of characters or organisations that are mentioned but are never reconsidered afterwards.

As for the rules of their power? How in the fuck does Alexandria (brick woman) fail to beat a water controlling Lizard or some murder hobos? She is invulnerable for fucks sake, get a tinkertech nuke, come in their face, and detonate!

Yep, I am ranting cause work frankly is a mediocre universe, even when compared to the chaotic messes that are DC and Marvel right now.

 

[Theman]

Also in the same vein, nobody reads superhero stories for """realism""". Attention all Worm cultists: fuck you and the horse you rode in on, I could pick any random Silver Age Superman comic out of a hat and get a more fun and entertaining story than your grimdark dumpster fire and every fanfic ever written about it.

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Worm has nothing with realism in it except maybe the shit before the endbringers are introduced.

 

[Zerak]

I hate a fic where the MC commits suicide then he is reborn or what have you. Why would I follow the story of someone who gives up and takes the easy way out. If they are write to somehow overcome obstacles and fight till their last breath in next life I just can't buy it.

Part of reading a fic is empathising with the characters, or immersing into the story and suicide as the first step just doesn't do it for me.

Waking up in the body of someone who killed them selves on the other hand is different. Just standard empty body.

I can't stand Worm man, no idea why it's so popular.

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Because everything is shit. People like their fix it fic. Also lots of annoying stuff in it which is one of the things fanfic thrive on, taking an interesting setting done wrong and using it.

Part of the reason DxD fanfic are so popular.

But after a point the popularity is what drives it to perpetuate. A lot of Worm fanfic are written by people who have not read Worm, only fanfic of it.

Some people who write Worm fanfic have only read fanfic of Worm written by people who have only read fanfic of Worm, so it's 2 or 3 (and sometimes more) steps removed form canon.

I think Young Justice would have been more popular a setting if it didn't come with the Baggage that is DC, and by that I mean there is just soo much info on it would there that people give up or say it's too complicated and don't touch it.

Ironically the shitty fanfic would drive some people to attempt to write actually good fanfic since they couldn't find any good ones.

 

[EmailAddress]

Also in the same vein, nobody reads superhero stories for """realism""". Attention all Worm cultists: fuck you and the horse you rode in on, I could pick any random Silver Age Superman comic out of a hat and get a more fun and entertaining story than your grimdark dumpster fire and every fanfic ever written about it.

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I can't stand Worm man, no idea why it's so popular.

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I am not going to read Worm unless I am paid at least double of my hourly wage to do so.

But I would say that Work is kind of counterexample to "nobody reads superhero stories for """realism""""

Yes, it is "realism" where someone confused grimderp for realism. But people are allowed to read it, in the same way as people are allowed to read weirdo porn as people on QQ do.

 

[Lughman]

Man, these last few posts helped me to identify why I couldn't get into worm, besides it just being depressing, but rather because it's basically the determinists' wet dream. No wonder I was in a bad mood.

 

[Kandagger]

Right now, the trope I despise the most is the monologue fic. A story where the main character has no one to talk to....so he narrates his thoughts to us. This can go on for CHAPTERS as mister sooper kewl dood runs around, beats up bad guys, picks power-ups, ventures deeper into the dungeon and/or otherwise "progresses" without, you know, doing anything that's actually story-worthy.

And the second is like it. Talking to the computer. Recognizing that they have no one to talk to, many protagonists are given a "System" to parrot ideas robotically at for pages and pages--the Gamer System, the Waifu Catalog, the Lantern Ring. Who cares what "defenses" you happened to pick up at character creation in a clever anticipation of what is to come? Just say "I built the character according to the rules" and slam back down the hood and have your guy START WALKING SOMEWHERE

 

[mikocon]

The first trope I would complain about is the lack of selfishness in the MC (mostly SI)—that "Mr. I have to follow canon" or "I have to save that character for no reason" mentality. Fuck off, man. Absolutely no one thinks like that. The first thing any person with half a brain (a functional adult) would do is to guarantee their own safety rather than throw themselves into other people's conflicts without getting anything in return. There are better ways to involve the MC in certain events.

Also, people have already mentioned it, but I'll repeat: the holier-than-thou hypocrite MC. The MC reincarnates or transmigrates into a xianxia or medieval fantasy-type setting and starts bitching about the different cultures or how people think. Yeah, no shit a world where might makes right is different. The same tiring dilemma of "It's wrong—I'm mentally an X-year-old in the body of a 12-year-old; I can't marry a 15-year-old," and after that, he thinks, "I should just hook up with a 30-something woman who is probably morally dubious if she accepts." Or the type who believes, "These people are so primitive—they don't say thank you to servants, or they're prone to violence over trivial things," and then proceeds to kill a random dude for flirting with some random village girl.

Finally, using the dumb template for the canon MC. Danmachi fics featuring Hestia as a goddess? Tensura fics where Veldora gives the MC a name and the MC ends up eating him? Dxd fics in which the MC joins Rias's peerage? Yeah, you've never seen those (sarcasm alert). I understand it's easier to write using the canon MC start, but damn it's boring.

 

[Stanley_Jeb]

I understand it's easier to write using the canon MC start, but damn it's boring.

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They could at least play the angle that they're deliberately setting themselves up with that. Going for Hestia? If you don't want supervision, that's actually a solid idea, since she'll be too busy trying to lose her divine virginity to the grandson of Zeus to pay much attention and is desperate enough to accept basically anyone. Want Veldora to name you? Makes perfect sense, it's a being of great power and you can eat it for even more power, plus you can derive a skill from it which gives you a solid summon. Joining Rias' peerage? Great way to deal with Phenex and in turn smooch up to the actual ruler of hell, making ultimately getting your own peerage and thus having practically consequence-free immortality a given.

They aren't bad starts, it's just that there's so little thought put behind it which then drives me up the wall. If you're gonna be boring and go the same route as the original MC, at the very least put your own spin on it as to why.

 

[Bear_Mint]

The first trope I would complain about is the lack of selfishness in the MC (mostly SI)—that "Mr. I have to follow canon" or "I have to save that character for no reason" mentality. Fuck off, man. Absolutely no one thinks like that. The first thing any person with half a brain (a functional adult) would do is to guarantee their own safety rather than throw themselves into other people's conflicts without getting anything in return. There are better ways to involve the MC in certain events.

Also, people have already mentioned it, but I'll repeat: the holier-than-thou hypocrite MC. The MC reincarnates or transmigrates into a xianxia or medieval fantasy-type setting and starts bitching about the different cultures or how people think. Yeah, no shit a world where might makes right is different. The same tiring dilemma of "It's wrong—I'm mentally an X-year-old in the body of a 12-year-old; I can't marry a 15-year-old," and after that, he thinks, "I should just hook up with a 30-something woman who is probably morally dubious if she accepts." Or the type who believes, "These people are so primitive—they don't say thank you to servants, or they're prone to violence over trivial things," and then proceeds to kill a random dude for flirting with some random village girl.

Finally, using the dumb template for the canon MC. Danmachi fics featuring Hestia as a goddess? Tensura fics where Veldora gives the MC a name and the MC ends up eating him? Dxd fics in which the MC joins Rias's peerage? Yeah, you've never seen those (sarcasm alert). I understand it's easier to write using the canon MC start, but damn it's boring.

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I'm okay with the MC deciding to follow canon because they believe it is the safest option. But I won't forgive them for pretending that their actions don't have consequences and that they could maintain their status as an unimportant character. Especially when they are dense as to why females aren't joining the original protagonist's harem.

Repetition of complaints about how different the culture of another world is the real reason why the holier-than-thou hypocrite is so annoying. If it was done sparingly and limited to the first couple of chapters where the MC is still adapting to the new world then it can be excused. But if it is like chapter 30 and they are still acting like that despite having killed possibly several men and have amassed a small harem then they've lost the right to complain when they have gone native.

They aren't bad starts, it's just that there's so little thought put behind it which then drives me up the wall. If you're gonna be boring and go the same route as the original MC, at the very least put your own spin on it as to why.

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Part of the problem is that they are doing it because the Original MC did it without their reasons for why they are doing it. Picking the canon option with a plan going in is much better than picking it because they must follow the stations of canon.

Take joining Rias's peerage for example. If you are planning to become a high class and earn a peerage as fast as possible, joining her is a good option. You can skip a lot of bureaucracy and waiting time by having her powerful connections fast-track you. Being a member of her peerage canonically grants you land to rule in the Gremory Territory. Plus your boss is hot, that's always a positive.

 

[EmailAddress]

Also, people have already mentioned it, but I'll repeat: the holier-than-thou hypocrite MC. The MC reincarnates or transmigrates into a xianxia or medieval fantasy-type setting and starts bitching about the different cultures or how people think. Yeah, no shit a world where might makes right is different. The same tiring dilemma of "It's wrong—I'm mentally an X-year-old in the body of a 12-year-old; I can't marry a 15-year-old," and after that, he thinks, "I should just hook up with a 30-something woman who is probably morally dubious if she accepts." Or the type who believes, "These people are so primitive—they don't say thank you to servants, or they're prone to violence over trivial things," and then proceeds to kill a random dude for flirting with some random village girl.

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On the other hand I would love to read more that actually use such contrast in some way beyond hypocritical hubris for MC.

And you know, maybe actual source of problems? After all, even if you have bunch of cheat powers then local slave lords of whatever you have there will not take kindly to opposition. And other characters should not randomly change their culture and ethical system just because protagonist told them so.

 

[EmailAddress]

The first trope I would complain about is the lack of selfishness in the MC (mostly SI)—that "Mr. I have to follow canon" or "I have to save that character for no reason" mentality. Fuck off, man. Absolutely no one thinks like that. The first thing any person with half a brain (a functional adult) would do is to guarantee their own safety rather than throw themselves into other people's conflicts without getting anything in return. There are better ways to involve the MC in certain events.

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Well, "saving character from undeserved bad things, at reasonable cost" is a relatively good reason by itself.

And no, guaranteeing their own safety is impossible. You never ever cannot ensure full safety. Especially if you have magic in mix. Though taking reasonable steps to be safer is a good idea.

 

[MIR2077]

Apathy, indifference, or little to no importance for his unexpected situation.
I'm not telling you to create 3 whole chapters of a confused and scared MC, but at least add something that makes me feel like the MC is an ordinary earthbound human who has never experienced magic before.

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We are emotional, we can get confused, we feel things.

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To be fair, I haven't seen any fanfics authors who manage to protray emotions very well. Besides, I think authors that watch anime nowaday are bored with "shitty isekai" that starts with the MC and their stupid voice going "whaaattt?! I'm in a different world!".

 

[NightmareWarden]

Right now, the trope I despise the most is the monologue fic. A story where the main character has no one to talk to....so he narrates his thoughts to us. This can go on for CHAPTERS as mister sooper kewl dood runs around, beats up bad guys, picks power-ups, ventures deeper into the dungeon and/or otherwise "progresses" without, you know, doing anything that's actually story-worthy.

And the second is like it. Talking to the computer. Recognizing that they have no one to talk to, many protagonists are given a "System" to parrot ideas robotically at for pages and pages--the Gamer System, the Waifu Catalog, the Lantern Ring. Who cares what "defenses" you happened to pick up at character creation in a clever anticipation of what is to come? Just say "I built the character according to the rules" and slam back down the hood and have your guy START WALKING SOMEWHERE

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I do not think you would like it, but I think you might appreciate what this Pokémon fic is doing… the way the reality-altering enhancements are NOT fine and dandy. Reminds me of when I tried writing how powers in a Company fanfic "should" work, compared to how they generally operate. Just five chapters, I'm talking to the author elsewhere about how it might continue. https://forums.spacebattles.com/thr...ork-pokemon-jumpchain.1208369/#post-108531350

 

[fnfr]

Meaningless self-inserts.

And by meaningless I mean something like "I am inserted into DC as Gojo Satoru, and I will act like Gojo Satoru".
Like, why not write a fanfic about Gojo Satoru in DC to begin with? You're basically already doing that!

Another side of this coin is SIs not using their meta knowledge. Either not using it at all, or using it in such superficial ways nothing about the story and character arcs change at all.

Basically, what I'm saying is - there are two big narrative reasons and justifications for using SIs, outside of just wish fulfilment. It's "introduction of someone normal and outside context to the setting" and "using outside and meta knowledge to change things". By choosing a character to embody, and hide behind it, you're removing first one, and by not using or barely using outside and meta knowledge to the point nothing really changes you're removing second one.

So, if you don't want to do the first one - just make it character insert, not self insert. Not SI with Naruto powers in Worm, just Naruto in Worm. If you don't want to do the second one - just make the character native to the setting, someone without outside knowledge that will be ignored. And if you don't plan to do both - make your character native, but with powers and personality inspired by the crossover character, not the character themselves or insert into one.

Hell, it can even be fun to try - for example, how someone like say Gojo can be reworked for new setting. What kinds of limits will the shard version of his power have? How will the Jutsu from Naruto work to simulate something like that? How will the zanpakuto form of Limitless look and work? Or what will his superhero origin be - he fell into the wat of space? He was bit by a black hole spider?..

 

[fareakyhoneybee]

Least favorite always been Kamen Rider inserts because people just take the rider suits and powers insert themselves rather than take original rider characters themselves.