What are your most hated fanfic tropes

[Amazon Climber]

And the second is like it. Talking to the computer.

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This one I don't have a problem with, as long as the computer is an actual character. Which means they have their own goals, ideals, quirks, and flaws, some of which will cause conflict with the protagonist. If your Lantern Ring is a slave who acts as a sounding board, yeah, fuck 'em. But add in something like halpfully calling for backup against a cute villain they want to seduce, or holding back unnecessary lethal force against one they wanted to execute, and you've got an actual story to tell about them.

 

[Kandagger]

This one I don't have a problem with, as long as the computer is an actual character. Which means they have their own goals, ideals, quirks, and flaws, some of which will cause conflict with the protagonist. If your Lantern Ring is a slave who acts as a sounding board, yeah, fuck 'em. But add in something like halpfully calling for backup against a cute villain they want to seduce, or holding back unnecessary lethal force against one they wanted to execute, and you've got an actual story to tell about them.

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Like every trope. It's in how you use it...and it's really easy to use this one badly.

"Bob the Skull" from the Dresden Files is a good example of this trope done well. He "represents" Harry's magic laboratory turning the tedium of magic research into a compelling conversation. He also has a past as an artifact of evil, a present as quirky horny lab assistant and a pile of futures he worries about happening. But at the end of the day--he's literally a talking head for Dresden to bounce ideas off of.

But yeah, Bob the Skull is also my benchmark for this trope...your computer voice must be at least THIS interesting to be tolerated.

 

[shadowdice]

I truly hate the evil/incompetent Dumbledore stories.

It is so common that I almost always have to drop HP fanfics when they show up.

Also, AltPower Taylor. The problem with Taylor is not her power (which is not weak no matter what the edgy teenage girl says in the beginning of the story) but her shitty personality.

edit

somewhat related. Greg fics have gotten to the point where I just look at it and go "Okay, why not have this be an entirely different character since it is one already."

 

[Bear_Mint]

I hate evil/competent caricatures in general. A lot of beloved characters get unnecessary shit from the fandom because the portrayal in the most consumed adaptation made them seem that way.

I never understood what all the fuss was about with Greg.

 

[shadowdice]

I hate evil/competent caricatures in general. A lot of beloved characters get unnecessary shit from the fandom because the portrayal in the most consumed adaptation made them seem that way.

I never understood what all the fuss was about with Greg.

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originally

Greg is a sort of nerdy kid in a shit school that has no social skills and is a prolific poster on a forum site where he gets lots of temp bans while also trying to talk to the main character and figures out her identity before plot contrivance makes him decide he was incorrect.

I almost believe Wildblow made him as a stand in for the fans

 

[Blundo]

I truly hate the evil/incompetent Dumbledore stories.

It is so common that I almost always have to drop HP fanfics when they show up.

Also, AltPower Taylor. The problem with Taylor is not her power (which is not weak no matter what the edgy teenage girl says in the beginning of the story) but her shitty personality.

edit

somewhat related. Greg fics have gotten to the point where I just look at it and go "Okay, why not have this be an entirely different character since it is one already."

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Well, let's be honest, most of those Taylor fics are AltPersonality Taylor as well. It's just that the replacement personality is typically boring as hell, generic-quest-protagonist tier.

I get why many Greg fics are Greg in name only or a very softened version of him, to be honest. One fic which actually bothered to portray Greg as a period-accurate very-online edgy 2011 teenage boy with dogshit social skills ended up getting permalocked and censored on SB for it. Tamzar's Duellist (on this site) is solid, in my opinion — while Greg at the current point in the story is an extremely different guy, it's been a relatively gradual development involving a lot of insane stuff happening that'd change anyone's personality. Even then, the original Greg traits still do leak through.

I never understood what all the fuss was about with Greg.

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Surely it's fairly obvious? He's a named male character who:
- starts out in Winslow, providing an excuse for involvement with Winslow shit, which most fanfic authors seem to want
- is someone the main character is aware of the existence of, and while she doesn't like him he's not part of the bullying campaign or whatever
- is an excessively online nerd ("he's just like me fr" bait)
- has no powers, allowing you to toss whatever one you want onto him for some zero to hero shit
- is someone Wildbow has actually provided pretty in depth info on characterization for
Aside from him, for random unpowered guys who would let writers do what they want to do, you have what? Danny Hebert? Mr. Gladly? Both present problems with the fact that most of the authors want to write protagonists who spend a lot of time hanging out with teenagers.

 

[Bear_Mint]

One fic which actually bothered to portray Greg as a period-accurate very-online edgy 2011 teenage boy with dogshit social skills ended up getting permalocked and censored on SB for it

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SB would not survive a day in an Xbox Live lobby in 2011.

 

[Eidolon #1 Fanboy]

One fic which actually bothered to portray Greg as a period-accurate very-online edgy 2011 teenage boy with dogshit social skills ended up getting permalocked and censored on SB for it.

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/55790230/chapters/141637192 it's still active here

 

[Quenster06]

Personally, I like the idea behind Celestial X stories, but I think sticking with the RNG mechanic causes problems with a story more often than it doesn't. For example, with these stories the general function is that you get a certain amount of points for how much is written, right? But then it's also possible for your roll to fail, or get something useless, or get something you can't use yet, or get something that overshadows most of your other rolls, or get something that derails the current narrative. There are probably other possibilities that I didn't think of, but my point is that the RNG, if actually committed to, can be detrimental to the story.

I think writers who use the Celestial X as a foundation should make whatever changes might be necessary to make their stories smoother. For example, you could take the unlockable skills, items, or whatever else and make a Skill Tree out of it, that way you're actually able to build the foundations for how you want your character to turn out instead of hoping to get the rolls to actually be able use that high tier ability you rolled after multiple failed rolls while trying to move the plot forward still. You could even lock certain Trees behind Achievements. For example, have your character be struggling with trying to get some piece of tech to work, only to finally work after turning it off and on again a few times while giving it a few smacks in between and praying to the Machine Gods, to then unlock [Skill Tree: Questionable Rituals (WH40K)].

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.

 

[GPickled]

I am so sick of seeing all those trauma superhero fanfics on AO3. They've saved the world numerous times and fought villains. Just because their teenagers doesn't mean that they have the mental resilience of a paper towel. Authors need to stop using trauma as a way to woobify their characters because it feels like they're a completely different character.

 

[Leviticusrex]

I am so sick of seeing all those trauma superhero fanfics on AO3. They've saved the world numerous times and fought villains. Just because their teenagers doesn't mean that they have the mental resilience of a paper towel. Authors need to stop using trauma as a way to woobify their characters because it feels like they're a completely different character.

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For that matter, and maybe this is me being raised in the early aughts speaking, but teenage superheros getting really touchy feely with someone who is, for all intents and purposes, an older stranger sets off that red alert in my brain. I don't mean like a hug or two, I mean when they give them a weird nick name and then demand cuddles alot. Thats some department of child services better be knocking shit.

This is entirely Fandom specific, but Tony Stark calling Peter "Underroos" is creep shit.

 

[Arc-on-Fire]

"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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I know it is stupid of me to reply to an old post but I just can't help it -

Spoiler: A Fug casually "rejecting" a trainer.""

[EDIT] By the way, she survived that. Pokemon humans are something else man.

 

[Bear_Mint]

[EDIT] By the way, she survived that. Pokemon humans are something else man.

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Pokemon Humans are just a subspecies of Pokemon that branched off and did their own thing.

Cuz

Something something Vaporeon copypasta something something Typhlosion Allegations.

 

[Zelos]

One where the fic ends and it was all a dream/MC was in coma/mental hospital, or similar. I've encountered it a few times over the years and it makes me rage every time.

 

[dsfjr1190]

I don't particularly hate it, but I am sort of tired of it being the default: Main character who, despite being well suited to it and it being arguably the best way of dealing with several of the problems they (or those they care about) face, actively avoids any position of power. The "ugh I don't want to rule the country, that'd involve so much paperwork!" cliche, and several adjacent to it. People have fetishized this kind of character to a ridiculous extent, probably because ambition or even just embrace of power is usually coded as an evil trait. Everyone has this massive abnegation boner.

The reasoning is also mostly nonsense, it's like the people writing have never heard of delegation. CEOs and top political leaders aren't doing the most boring shit, their staff usually do 99% of it. I'm halfway to becoming a conspiracy theorist who believes that the political and business elite have brainwashed the plebs into thinking their lives are super boring and undesirable, in order to suppress ambition or discontent. The other typical reason is "ugh, I'd have to do politics" but half the time the character in question is already negotiating, socializing, etc. They're in a position where either they're doing politics or politics is gonna be done to them.

The main exception where it comes across as more reasonable is when the protagonist is a battle maniac or adventure autist, and thinks being a bigshot would mean they could no longer spend nearly as much time on the frontlines cracking skulls or delving ancient tombs to stick their cock in deadly traps. That's true enough, in most settings. Otherwise, I'd prefer that writers either:
A. Consider breaking the mold writing a character who isn't allergic to power for silly reasons (no, 'because that's how protagonists are Meant To Be' isn't a good reason!)
B. At least come up with a more compelling in universe reason than "nooooooo it'd be so much work!"

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That shit happens for one reason only: to keep the status quo.

It's the same mindset that keeps romance from progressing in anime/manga.

And it's intentional.

 

[BlackDragon98]

One where the fic ends and it was all a dream/MC was in coma/mental hospital, or similar. I've encountered it a few times over the years and it makes me rage every time.

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Apparently that's a long-running theory among Walking Dead fans. That the whole zombie apocalypse is just a coma dream while Rick was in the hospital.

 

[dsfjr1190]

Turning good romances into harems.

If it's going to be a harem, put it in the tags and description from the beginning.

Because it pisses me off when I get invested in a relationship, then all of a sudden the mc goes completely out of character and starts having harem antics with multiple other girls or suddenly has 5 marriage contracts.

It completely cheapens the first relationship that I was invested in. It cheapens the characters and story too.

 

[588963-B]

Hmm,for me, I'm going to go with the "and suddenly a harem" trope.

The one where the MC gets a "charge through the gates of hell loyal" harem. Via some of the stupidest reasons available.

Examples include: Giving a small compliment, Smiling "attractively", Insulting *insert bash character here* for *insert incredibly stupid reason here*, Merely existing, etc etc.

I'm sure you get what I'm saying now. Somewhat at least anyway. The no build up, no effort, no issues whatsoever, and for absolutely no reason for it to be a thing harem that just happens out of nowhere.

Edit: just editing in a pet peeve of mine, when authors say that they have a chapter coming up on a certain date and then just never post anything for months despite clearly still being active. If you're not gonna post just say so, so I can stop looking so often my guy.

 

[Lightbringer]

If you are going to add an harem, make it so that it is part of that world's culture so we can expect it.
But why do a work on how culture would allow it to get your Super Speshul MC get girls? Better brimg it out of nowhere because 'speshul'.

Argh.

 

[Shadow72]

You can just have the mc work on it. Stumble, succeed and fail.

Then, once he had it, deal with the world that's not expecting it.

 

[MIR2077]

This just in, but I hated it when a self-insert replacing the protagonist and decide to be a shit person. I read a Solo Levelling Xover, and the OC decide to leave a group of decent people to die because he's too busy getting his dick wet. Call me a goodie two shoes, but I just hate shitty person. It was made worse when you realize the event is entirely preventable because in canon, Sung Jinwoo was there with them.

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After the recent episode, I need to apologize to this fanfic. Canon Sung Jin-Woo left good people to die, and its made even worse because they were really hoping he'll be going with them to Jeju Island as well.

 

[Tera Forma]

After the recent episode, I need to apologize to this fanfic. Canon Sung Jin-Woo left good people to die, and its made even worse because they were really hoping he'll be going with them to Jeju Island as well.

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Let's please not compare this shit to canon? In canon, Sung Jin Woo literally achieved the goal he did everything for and stayed with his family because that was always what he cared about in the first place.
At the same time, canon Sung Jin Woo didn't go because he sincerely believed that two teams from two different countries of the strongest hunters would be enough.
At the same time, canon Sung Jin Woo had no metaknowledge or any reason to assume that someone was in danger of death on Jeju Island.
At the same time, he immediately rushed to the island as soon as he learned that there was trouble there.
Please don't compare this knowing that there was a danger of death and that survival depended on him and still deciding not to go.

 

[Indranath Maiti]

I hate the worm stories where cauldron are painted as good guys. If my exam wasn't near i would have written a story myself. As it is i try to stear clear of any worm stories even mentioning cauldron. Most of turns out to be cauldron lovers

 

[Theman]

Oh this isn't really a trope since it only applies to one series. In ASOIF/GOT whenever some guy gets isekaid with over powered abilities they never kill dragons, neither Danny's nor in the Dance. It's kinda pathetic and makes them seem like losers who are trying to just meet their celebrity crush. For Danny I can kinda at least get it, since you can argue that she is better as a ruler than most of the slavers, and some of the lords of westeros. But in earlier ones it doesen't make that much sense why not kill a dragon as a normal dude and be seen as a great hero.

 

[Blundo]

Oh this isn't really a trope since it only applies to one series. In ASOIF/GOT whenever some guy gets isekaid with over powered abilities they never kill dragons, neither Danny's nor in the Dance. It's kinda pathetic and makes them seem like losers who are trying to just meet their celebrity crush. For Danny I can kinda at least get it, since you can argue that she is better as a ruler than most of the slavers, and some of the lords of westeros. But in earlier ones it doesen't make that much sense why not kill a dragon as a normal dude and be seen as a great hero.

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Well if you want to expand it to fanfic tropes in general, there's always "When an insert fic conveniently has every character the author likes become a friend or big fan of the insert, even if they wouldn't typically have compatible personalities, and even if those characters are deeply opposed to one another" or something. I'm not too harsh on this unless it's very extreme, personally, because if I'm reading an insert fic I go in with the expectation that the average author of that kind of thing wants at least some "oooooh my favorite characters" wish fulfillment.

re: dragons, I'm no Targaryen fan but I sort of have the opposite issue. The "scorpions are a hard counter to dragons" trope shows up pretty often, and just seems silly to me. As far as I'm concerned, dragons should be nearly invincible against anything that isn't a dragon, barring extremely stupid decisions on the part of the rider and/or insane reverse-plot-armor tier bad luck. With 3 dragons and not much else, an entire continent and all its armies were conquered. They're superweapons. They're the medieval Death Star. If a normal "lucky shot" rather than an insanely lucky one was enough, it'd happen way more often. If there's a human dragon slayer (or even a dragonrider-slayer) in an ASOIAF fic, they need to pull off some Luke Skywalker literal one in a million shot type bullshit and/or be outright superhuman for me to not think it sort of breaks the setting.

 

[Theman]

Well if you want to expand it to fanfic tropes in general, there's always "When an insert fic conveniently has every character the author likes become a friend or big fan of the insert, even if they wouldn't typically have compatible personalities, and even if those characters are deeply opposed to one another" or something. I'm not too harsh on this unless it's very extreme, personally, because if I'm reading an insert fic I go in with the expectation that the average author of that kind of thing wants at least some "oooooh my favorite characters" wish fulfillment.

re: dragons, I'm no Targaryen fan but I sort of have the opposite issue. The "scorpions are a hard counter to dragons" trope shows up pretty often, and just seems silly to me. As far as I'm concerned, dragons should be nearly invincible against anything that isn't a dragon, barring extremely stupid decisions on the part of the rider and/or insane reverse-plot-armor tier bad luck. With 3 dragons and not much else, an entire continent and all its armies were conquered. They're superweapons. They're the medieval Death Star. If a normal "lucky shot" rather than an insanely lucky one was enough, it'd happen way more often. If there's a human dragon slayer (or even a dragonrider-slayer) in an ASOIAF fic, they need to pull off some Luke Skywalker literal one in a million shot type bullshit and/or be outright superhuman for me to not think it sort of breaks the setting.

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No when I say dragon slaying OC's I'm talking about dudes who are such pussies they won't go into the world unless they have the powers of a Lore Dragonborn from Skyrim, and they still don't fight dragons.

 

[Lightbringer]

I originally liked Dark Wolf Shiro type villains, but now I'm honestly bored of them. Let's face it, Shiro is a really good writer, but I'm bored of everything about the villains. Waifu Catalog, Dark Wolf Shiro and other villain protagonists are literally the same and it is impossible to distinguish them.

I really like fanfictions where the MC is the villain, but I'm bored because I don't see the difference between the villains because they all act the same and do the same terrible things.

It's hard to take villains seriously when the attitude about rape is "rape her until she likes it" or mind control. I feel like the whole hentai when there is rape in the chapter. The part where the victim's partner acts like an NTR protagonist is confusing because the characters react like that only in NTR hentai.

SFW villains are just cardboard cutouts who just want more power without a logical motive or reason and in most cases they feel no joy in what they do.

NSFW villains are just horny beasts similar to Hentai Orcs 100% of the time and are the same in everything but appearance and name. I feel that their personalities are the same, is all the motivation for their actions just sex. Everyone acts as if they were just Incels in their past life.

There is no need to talk about their ego. They are the same as Xianxia protagonists and react to any opposition with violence. It is constantly emphasized to us that they don't care what others think of them, but they react to every slightly difficult obstacle or opposition by having narcissistic breakdowns. Purely psychopathic MCs are the rarest type of MC and most protagonists meet the criteria for malignant narcissism.

They claim that they don't care about the opinion of lower beings, but with they actions they constantly seeks the confirmation and worship of "lower beings".

Despite the fact that they are evil, the only crime they commit is rape, slavery and, in minor cases, pedophilia. Where is torture for fun. Where is the genocide?

The MC will not exterminate the Tyranids or the Skaven, but they will enslave them and claim that this is morally superior to extermination by snapping their fingers. One-on-one killing is common, but even though it has the power to destroy planets, it will not destroy planets even for military purposes like fully industrialized planets or planets polluted by Tyranids and The Flood.

In fiction, the motives of villains are only money, sex, power, adoration, hatred, desire for a better world and sadism. But the only motives SI has are power and sex. Most of the evil in history was done because the road to hell was paved with good intentions. Evil SIs do not have good intentions nor are they delusional and in countless cases they have thousands of words where the author justifies them and where they justify themselves instead of admitting their true nature.

Lack of self-awareness is another thing that almost everyone has. Despite having the intelligence of Doctor Doom and Reed Richard togethers they lack the ability to admit to themselves and others that they are evil.

I always hate the saying "absolute power corrupts absolutely". that's so stupid. it's not corruption, it's a revelation. power doesn't change you, it shows you who you are at your core, without social restrictions, subtle chains of community. with absolute power, comes absolute freedom, and with absolute freedom, your true self will eventually emerge. some would like to take over everything, some would destroy everything, some would just say "leave me alone", some would like to help everyone (regardless of whether they deserve it) and so on. The saying "absolute power corrupts absolutely" really says "there is no such thing as a truly good person".

Regarding the lack of good intentions, Nazis, Communists and Religious Extremists are among the most common groups of villains, but they do not exist in fanfiction. There is only one fic of that kind on QQ where the protagonist is a neo-Nazi in Worm.

I'm honestly surprised that no troll or just out of spite has tried to use characters with controversial opinions just to piss people off.

In the end, I feel like I've seen everything and I have the urge to deliberately write a Wolfstein Nazi self insert out of spite where the MC is sadistic and where he goes around the Multiverse proving what a truly self-aware and sadistic MC can do because it makes me sick when I see the insertion of political themes into everything and oppression by someone else's opinion. There is a technical term for someone who confuses the opinions of a character in a book with those of the author. That term is idiot.

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You literally described my issues with most Villain fics. As for the political debate...
I remember one concept I had for an OC villain of mine (although he DOESN'T seem to behave like one) is one that wished to start a...massive HIP (Human Instrumentality Project), mainly because of his own issues with trust, he came to conclude that unless all people could see each other clearly, then it would be impossible to truly trust anyone.
It doesn't need to be political. I do remember that he would have a pattern to gain 'favor' from others, which was 'be friendly, helpful, kind and so on' which...made people be kind and the characters (it was a crossover idea) like him actually, problem? He kept his actual views hidden, he thought trust and love were 'conditional' to the events and the time, so one character/person that likes you now...won't like you tomorrow, but...PARADOXICALLY (because villains must be like that) he would be one of the few which one could say for certain that they could fully trust him...

That...until they started the HIP (which was in an Homebrew High Tech/Magic super civilization that wanted HIP to solve their issues with the lack of meaning in their existences, guys would have massive orgies, but...no fullfillment from it) which would be localized in this civ, where OC would want to leave all of this super civ's data so 'you folks who helped us can have in hands the key for salvation'...so yeah.

Pathetic OC? Yeah, hell, idea is that the characters would stop and literally beat him down over it.

Perhaps this is not the best idea, but it is an idea.

 

[Darkatlas]

Not sure if this counts but there's this one author who shall remain nameless that has a writing style that kinda irritates me a bit. Now, they're a good writer but the thing is that their writing style revolves around using a lot of metaphors and similes. Like there was this one story of theirs that had a good premise and had great potential, but they in my opinion made it a little boring because almost every other line was a metaphor. They were using three or four metaphors when they only needed one. I think they wanted to bump the word count a bit but it just got to be too much.

 

[Blundo]

I swear it feels like most fanfic readers and authors have never had a genuine friendship in their lives. The moment an ounce of meaningful emotional intimacy appears between two characters, readers insist on wanting it to be romantic/sexual, even if one or both characters have a well-established orientation which would preclude it. Many authors at first seem to be writing a good depiction of friendship, but then they have one character say "I love you", and more often than not the writing of the relationship devolves into self-indulgent sludge from that point onward. As if the author achieved their goal and now it's just a victory lap of "oooooh look how cute/hot these two are together!" rather than developing them further in any meaningful way.

Not sure if this is a trope but it feels common enough to be one. Feels like a miracle when a fanfic includes a friendship that isn't just one character being a sidekick or 'yes man', and where it seems like the characters actually care about one another.

 

[Karp]

I hate when the MC is glazed, but keeps telling the subordinates not to glaze him, but they find new and creative ways to glaze him even more.

Was reading a story the other day where it's nothing but 20k+ of experiments and this faux style of glazing. This phenomenon occurs so often, it is aggravating. I feel like these kinds of authors like getting glazed, but don't want to be proud and open with it, and I think there's a lot of people who share this mindset irl.

I hate when everyone just goes along with the MC without ever questioning his actions. Or when we the reader are pushed into thinking their actions are morally good/correct. Yes, not everything has to be dark or edgy or even have morally grey antags, but why is the MC the good guy, because we followed his POV and a hot woman is hanging off his arm calling some other guy a creep? Tch!

I hate when MC's don't get a reputation. People talk, and that ballsy ponzi scheme you pulled off in the other city? Yeah, everyone knows about it. How tf can some dude fight off a country ending invasion, but the generic stuck up nobles have never heard of him? There's ALWAYS only that one group that is aware, and rides the MC's coattails to victory. Yeah, there are some arrogant ignorant mofos irl, but is EVERY noble an idiot? Education, apparently no longer exists.

I hate MC's who are always correct, or are aware of every iota of information from the setting they isekai into. Like, it's cool to know a lot, we're all super nerds, but every last fucking detail?! Nonsense! It would be cool to see your assumptions or estimations turn out bunk at least once, Mr. MC.

I think I've said this before, but I hate an all female cast with one male. Has anyone ever been around a group of 4 or more women before? How these men MC's stay sane is anyone's guess.

As always, I've got more to hate, but I'll save it for later. Good to see more people hating in this forum as of late.