POPULAR: Cliches in Pokémon Fanfiction

[UselessBytes]

I'm not as well read as I aught to with the fics around here in general, but have there been a great many fics based around just developing a single location without a major "travel" or "journey" aspect, in which there's a single problem to be solved rather than a series of episodic incidents?

well if you're into Metroid Hunter^2 takes place entirely in the vicinity of a small research lab aside from the first chapter or two.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I was recently thinking about the discussions of Pokémon diversity in this thread, and I thought up a question: can anyone point me to a single (non-mature-rated) fanfiction where a "normal" genderless Pokémon plays an important role? The only one that springs to mind is the Friendship is Magic crossover A New World, a New Way, which has a Porygon-Z and a Metang, but they're both just kind of there.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I don't know if you'd consider it as counting, given that the pokémon are really supporting cast, but one of the protagonists of The Long Walk has a Magnemite on team. And Stainless Steel, come to think of it, features a Beldum

 

[Nitro Indigo]

And Stainless Steel, come to think of it, features a Beldum

Pun intended?

Also, I'm assuming that those fics are much smaller than A New World, a New Way (which is 60+ chapters long, has way too many characters, and is part of a ficverse), so they'd count.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Pun intended?

Also, I'm assuming that those fics are much smaller than A New World, a New Way (which is 60+ chapters long, has way too many characters, and is part of a ficverse), so they'd count.

I should think so, since it's a journey fic starring Steven Stone. I presume the chapters of A New World, a New Way are significantly longer than about 2,000 words, in which case yes, The Long Walk is a lot shorter

 

[CrystaI]

Rather then this pokemon species diversity problem, I think something before that is more of a problem. That is what you had mentioned at the last: Pokemons are just kind of there to be there.

For a trainer character, it seems like some kind of a compulsory requirement that up to some point of the story the character MUST obtained at least 6 pokemons, there it means the story must add at least 6 more character, willy nilly. However, does the story really requires so many characters to successfully play out the plot?
When the overall story itself doesn't requires so much characters, you can't help that then you are just ending with so much "filler" characters that are just there for one single purpose: To fill the battle slot.

And when the pokemon characters are used for purely battle only, IMHO it won't make a difference in my eyes about the trainer him/herself whether he/she hold a popular pokemon or non-popular pokemons. The only crucial difference is the competitive tier which says something about the strength of the trainer him/herself.
Say for example, it won't make a difference in my eyes whether a trainer hold a Pikachu or a Gloom because they are competitively speaking almost the same. Through there will be a big difference between a trainer holding a Caterpie compare to Butterfree despite they are from the same evolution line, because the latter gives me the impression of the trainer is more experienced than the latter.

In my opinion and my way of choosing handhelds, if the pokemon characters are just for purely battle purpose, then I'll have the trainer's battle style and level of competence be the determining factor of the pokemon species.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

To elaborate, a character randomly finds a Porygon-Z because potatoes (and the author has clearly never played PokéPark, because its voice is written as a bunch of "Z"s*), and the Metang belongs to someone, and helps some characters escape in a recent chapter.

As for Crystal's post, that's called show, don't tell. You raised an interesting point about how Pokémon can show a trainer's expertise; now I want to know the story of how anime!Brandon got the golems, even though I've never seen any episodes he's in. Reminds me of writing advice I've seen where saying what's in a character's room can tell you a lot about them.

*I forgot to mention, A New World, a New Way uses PokéSpeak.

 

[Beth Pavell]

The flip side of that is that sometimes "explaining" a character's team can be a bit too pat. This is related, I suppose, to a general cliché peeve of mine where characters, locations, etc are overthemed. I mean, if you've got a character named Marina who's from a seaside town, has a cool and serene personality (Or possibly an unpredictably changeable one), owns only Water-types, and just to make it complete, has blue hair ... and frankly, you just have to ask why. I mean, ok, maybe she changed her name to reflect the sort of person she is or (more likely) wants to be; perhaps her hair is dyed and she deliberately catches only Water-types. But usually, even with explanations that make sense nine times out of ten the character doesn't end up with more depth an nuance as a result - instead they just display obsession with one aspect of themselves.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

^ That's the other side of show, don't tell; being too on-the-nose.

 

[AceTrainer14]

@Beth Pavell: careful, you might want to trademark that description or someone might rush along and copy it

One of my biggest pet peeves definitely is when a story clearly doesn't need to have Pokemon in it at all. A favourite author of mine from a few years ago always use to write quite intense, beautiful stories, but the only time a Pokemon would appear would be in the role of a pet, and the wider world very rarely played any role in her stories. Yet she insisted on writing them in a Pokemon setting. I think if you are going to write a story with Pokemon, you shouldn't be able to replace them with real animals without the story being affected at all.

 

[UselessBytes]

To elaborate, a character randomly finds a Porygon-Z because potatoes (and the author has clearly never played PokéPark, because its voice is written as a bunch of "Z"s*), and the Metang belongs to someone, and helps some characters escape in a recent chapter.

As for Crystal's post, that's called show, don't tell. You raised an interesting point about how Pokémon can show a trainer's expertise; now I want to know the story of how anime!Brandon got the golems, even though I've never seen any episodes he's in. Reminds me of writing advice I've seen where saying what's in a character's room can tell you a lot about them.

*I forgot to mention, A New World, a New Way uses PokéSpeak.

Jeez, another one I can answer. I've got a fic in planning that has a porygon as a super important role. I'll probably post the first chapter tomorrow actually.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I don't know, being contrarian about it I've always been a bit baffled by the idea (I'm speaking more generally here rather than in response) that pokémon have to be at the absolute centre of any pokémon fanfiction. In a way it comes back to that gripe about overthemed characters, with an overthemed world where everything has poké- prefixed to it.

I'd be inclined to agree that if you're not doing anything with the Pokémon world other than using a bit of geography it's probably a wasted opportunity. Actually, now I think about it, Kanto: There and Back Again is running into this question. Farla, funnily enough, criticised my not explicitly mentioning pokémon in the introduction(s). After thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that it just wouldn't be appropriate. The narrators don't work with pokémon. They're not writing for people who do work with pokémon, or for people whose interest is primarily pokémon. Pokémon will be making appearances, with varying degrees of focus, but based on how much importance I think people would be placing on them in-universe

 

[Morningstar]

The flip side of that is that sometimes "explaining" a character's team can be a bit too pat. This is related, I suppose, to a general cliché peeve of mine where characters, locations, etc are overthemed. I mean, if you've got a character named Marina who's from a seaside town, has a cool and serene personality (Or possibly an unpredictably changeable one), owns only Water-types, and just to make it complete, has blue hair ... and frankly, you just have to ask why. I mean, ok, maybe she changed her name to reflect the sort of person she is or (more likely) wants to be; perhaps her hair is dyed and she deliberately catches only Water-types. But usually, even with explanations that make sense nine times out of ten the character doesn't end up with more depth an nuance as a result - instead they just display obsession with one aspect of themselves.

I think it might be a result of the (English) Naming conventions of the Gym Leaders, and their portrayal in general.

Consider the nature of type specialists in this game.

• They by definition use Pokemon of a specific type (DP Flint notwithstanding)
• The English (and possibly others) localization give them names based off their specialty. Examples include Brock, Roxanne and Roark, all Rock-type trainers, or Lana, Misty, and Crasher Wake (all Water-type trainers)
  • NOTE: The type association can be obscured by a sub theme, The Striation trio all have food-related names that also reflects their types. While others don't have a clearly obvious pun at all. (Such as Mina, Wallace, Olympia, Arron and Agatha)
• The hair colors tend to be wild as per the standard in Japanese media, though those tend to be uncommon. (The only ones I can remember are the Sitriation trio, Olympia, Flannery, Kiwae, Lana, Mallow, Acerola, Falkner, Fantina, Surge and maybe Iris. Claire, Skyla, Wallace and Brawly's hair colors don't match the type)
• The personalities on the other hand tend to be steriotypical. You have Hot Blooded Flannery and Kiawe, but Wake and Byron can be just as hotheaded. Mina and Valerie are rather flighty. Brawly, Hala and Korrina tend to train their bodies as much as they do their pokemon. Nanu veers close to the emo stereotype. etc etc.

That fanfic writers tend to overtheme their type specialists might be the result of the canon doing that as well. As you yourself noted in the post above.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

@Beth Pavell: careful, you might want to trademark that description or someone might rush along and copy it

One of my biggest pet peeves definitely is when a story clearly doesn't need to have Pokemon in it at all. A favourite author of mine from a few years ago always use to write quite intense, beautiful stories, but the only time a Pokemon would appear would be in the role of a pet, and the wider world very rarely played any role in her stories. Yet she insisted on writing them in a Pokemon setting. I think if you are going to write a story with Pokemon, you shouldn't be able to replace them with real animals without the story being affected at all.

This post reminds me of how an awful lot of crossovers on Fimfiction have the bare amount of MLP required to be approved on that site.

 

[Jaypom]

I was recently thinking about the discussions of Pokémon diversity in this thread, and I thought up a question: can anyone point me to a single (non-mature-rated) fanfiction where a "normal" genderless Pokémon plays an important role? The only one that springs to mind is the Friendship is Magic crossover A New World, a New Way, which has a Porygon-Z and a Metang, but they're both just kind of there.

I know my story has a main character who utilizes a Beldum as his main Pokemon.
I'm not entirely sure that genderless Pokemon are less popular than regular Pokemon aside from having a lower population count. I prefer to write Pokemon without their genders until I can atleast confirm it somehow and use it as a plot device.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

I know my story has a main character who utilizes a Beldum as his main Pokemon.
I'm not entirely sure that genderless Pokemon are less popular than regular Pokemon aside from having a lower population count. I prefer to write Pokemon without their genders until I can atleast confirm it somehow and use it as a plot device.

I guess it's because the most marketable Pokémon have genders?

 

[Jaypom]

I guess it's because the most marketable Pokémon have genders?

mostly yeah, unless you think of like mewtwo/mew and other legendaries

 

[Serverus Snope]

Rather then this pokemon species diversity problem, I think something before that is more of a problem. That is what you had mentioned at the last: Pokemons are just kind of there to be there.

For a trainer character, it seems like some kind of a compulsory requirement that up to some point of the story the character MUST obtained at least 6 pokemons, there it means the story must add at least 6 more character, willy nilly. However, does the story really requires so many characters to successfully play out the plot?
When the overall story itself doesn't requires so much characters, you can't help that then you are just ending with so much "filler" characters that are just there for one single purpose: To fill the battle slot.

And when the pokemon characters are used for purely battle only, IMHO it won't make a difference in my eyes about the trainer him/herself whether he/she hold a popular pokemon or non-popular pokemons. The only crucial difference is the competitive tier which says something about the strength of the trainer him/herself.
Say for example, it won't make a difference in my eyes whether a trainer hold a Pikachu or a Gloom because they are competitively speaking almost the same. Through there will be a big difference between a trainer holding a Caterpie compare to Butterfree despite they are from the same evolution line, because the latter gives me the impression of the trainer is more experienced than the latter.

In my opinion and my way of choosing handhelds, if the pokemon characters are just for purely battle purpose, then I'll have the trainer's battle style and level of competence be the determining factor of the pokemon species.

I'm also coming to realize recently that trainers don't really have to have 6+ Pokemon. While in some cases it's kinda inevitable (like in the games or the tabletop RPGs,) there are tons of trainers with less than six Pokemon in the games, anime, and manga. Main characters, even. Serena, for example, only ever had three Pokemon on her team in the anime. Because of that, I usually put the most thought into the trainer's top two or three partners. The remaining slots can be filled if the plot calls for it.

 

[CrystaI]

In the game, the person who hold 6+ pokemons are only the player him/herself, the league champions, and the hidden character you may battle postgame (Red in GSC/HGSS, Steven in E, Wally in RSE/ORAS, etc). No, not even the E4 held six when you challenge them first time.
And in the anime, it was only Ash and the league challengers who battled with him on 6vs6.

So by that in-universe statistics, the one who managed to captured a whole bunch for themselves are only a tiny percentage that is more of an exception than being the standard norm.

 

[Serverus Snope]

I'm also wondering to what extent the notion of an "unoriginal" team is gendered. On one hand, some Pokemon are not commonly used by boys/girls in the games (like Bellossom/Machamp.) On the other, people seem to gravitate toward Eeveelutions regardless of their character's gender.