• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

POPULAR: Cliches in Pokémon Fanfiction

I have read the first page of this topic and can safely say my fanfic has very little of the cliché's described, although the starter Pokémon of my main character does take a strong liking towards my cowardly "hero" for sound reasons. Just don't expect her to win a lot of battles. Also, I chiefly use my own characters and use official characters sparingly. For certain it deviates from what is canon but does try to fit in to the lore as much as possible while tending to focus on the slighter darker aspect of Pokémon (like hunting and preying on each other) without describing gruesome details, even tipping around words like blood and death. I simply describe what I see happening. Is that motionless Pokémon on the ground dead or in a coma or just knocked out? I will not tell you. Maybe you consider it fainted or perhaps you like it deceased. Given the new information from Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, I have to bend some of the lore to suit the theme of my tale, for which I hope the reader will excuse me.
 
Last edited:
On the League = Government issue...

I basically had it set up in my fic that the League was a branch of the government that concerned itself with promoting Pokemon Training as a past time/'martial art", providing healthcare for Pokemon owners, cracking down on Pokemon abuse, and fighting Poachers with departments like the Pokemon Rangers.

The Champion is in charge of the League, but the Elite Four are (supposed to be) uniquely qualified Trainers appointed by the Legislature. The E4 advise the Champion on anything they may need help with. The Champion and E4 vote together on courses of action proposed by any of the 5, the Champion's vote counts twice.

If the League wants any laws regarding Pokemon training changed outside of the actual codes of conduct and official rules of League sanctioned battles and tournaments and regulations, they need to appeal to the Legislature to change those laws on their behalf.

I think this balances the idea of the League not being the literal government of the region but still having some level of authority in regards to Pokemon training/keeping policy.
 
Some clichés I dislike:

* Ash's friends betray him in an OOC way
* Ash vanishes for a few years to train
* Ash comes back with a bad@$$ team
* Ash is stoic
* He enters a world tourney where he meets his old friends again
These happen in Ash Betrayed fanfics. It's like it's saying that Ash needs to be betrayed and suffer to become the very best. Also, can you really imagine Ash's friends betraying him? Why would they do that?
It becomes worse when they make someone who doesn't even care about Ash (Paul) be the good guy and stand with him. I doesn't make sense.
Am I to believe that Dawn, May, Brock, and the rest will betray Ash and that Paul will stand by him?
 
It's like it's saying that Ash needs to be betrayed and suffer to become the very best.
Well, to be fair, not being betrayed hasn't been doing him any favors over the past 20 years...

And I guess it would only make sense that someone like Paul would be painted as the good guy in such a situation. Either Ash would have to adopt Paul's superior training ways, or the author dislikes his friends so much that Paul has to be the hero by default.
 
Well, to be fair, not being betrayed hasn't been doing him any favors over the past 20 years...

And I guess it would only make sense that someone like Paul would be painted as the good guy in such a situation. Either Ash would have to adopt Paul's superior training ways, or the author dislikes his friends so much that Paul has to be the hero by default.

Paul doesn't care about Ash (or anyone), do why would he stand by him?
I also think having Ash's friends betray him (particularly people like Dawn, May, and Brock) to be OOC and could be character derailment.

Some other cliches I don't like:
* Ash has OP Aura
* Ash is some sort of saviour (I mean when they up too much the Chosen One thing)
 
It may be out of character for them, but that's the joy of fan fiction. Literally everything can be a blank canvas if you want it to. If I choose to paint grey mountains under a blue sky while someone else wants green mountains under a red sky, that's up to them. You never know, the way they do it could be just as beautiful.
 
Some clichés I dislike:

* Ash's friends betray him in an OOC way
* Ash vanishes for a few years to train
* Ash comes back with a bad@$$ team
* Ash is stoic
* He enters a world tourney where he meets his old friends again
These happen in Ash Betrayed fanfics. It's like it's saying that Ash needs to be betrayed and suffer to become the very best. Also, can you really imagine Ash's friends betraying him? Why would they do that?
It becomes worse when they make someone who doesn't even care about Ash (Paul) be the good guy and stand with him. I doesn't make sense.
Am I to believe that Dawn, May, Brock, and the rest will betray Ash and that Paul will stand by him?

Those things are cancer
 
They like doing the Naruto thing where they turn the main character into the rival instead of actually writing the rival as the main character of the story

"Yeah, my Naruto/Ash dresses in black, is a BAMF, and gets all the ladies!"

"Why don't you just use Sasuke/Paul?"

"Ew, they're the bad guys though."
 
They like doing the Naruto thing where they turn the main character into the rival instead of actually writing the rival as the main character of the story

"Yeah, my Naruto/Ash dresses in black, is a BAMF, and gets all the ladies!"

"Why don't you just use Sasuke/Paul?"

"Ew, they're the bad guys though."

Not just Naruto, I've heard that a lot of 'fixed' Gohans are basically tall Vegetas.

I really don't understand the obsession with using Ash, given how many authors insist in altering him the point of being unrecognisable.

As I writer with Ash, I do work to ensure he does stay within the confines of who he is. Ash has a few key traits and I make sure to follow them.

As to others...I assume that Red for all his meme hype doesn't get review and view traction as well as Ash does.
 
I really don't understand the obsession with using Ash, given how many authors insist in altering him the point of being unrecognisable.
I guess I can see why people do it, But I personally try to avoid making canon characters central to the plot of my Pokemon fics. I just find it easier that way.
 
I really don't understand the obsession with using Ash, given how many authors insist in altering him the point of being unrecognisable.
Name recognition on FF.net is about the only thing I can imagine for this. Their numbers are endless...
 
I really don't understand the obsession with using Ash, given how many authors insist in altering him the point of being unrecognisable.

I think it's because he's the most famous of the trainers, if you will. I mean, he's the star of an anime that's been running for ~20 years. That and the authors decided to take a shortcut and use a preexisting character instead of making one that fits closer to an appropriate characterization.
 
In addition to that, fanfics are the only place where Ash can win a major League.

Also, talking about clichés, I don't see how Eevee as a starter is a bad thing. :p
 
Also, talking about clichés, I don't see how Eevee as a starter is a bad thing. :p

Neither do I but Eevee and Eeveelutions seem to have gotten a reputation as being pokémon of choice for Mary Sues so it's probably a "guilt by association" thing.
 
*glances at my eevee character, who is capable of taking on third-stage evolutionary pokémon and win by exploiting their smaller size and larger move pool*

Can't imagine why...

I suspect it depends on how you portray and write them - I'll be the first to cheerfully admit my writing is crap and my OCs are...not quite on the same reality-warping narrative black hole level like badly-written Mary Sues are, but I tend to breeze right past conflict, which is apparently a bad thing, but I prefer fluffy slice-of-life to Yet Another World-Ending Threat (which is ironically the exact backstory that kicked off the AtAverse, so what do I know)
 
Eevee is certainly a fanfic cliché insofar as, along with Gardevoir and Lucario, it's the most common species you'll see. As "starters" go, it's not that out there. There's no particular reason to insist on having the local professor hand one over to the protagonist, but it's hardly a stretch to imagine that Eevee would be popular enough for it to be easily available from commercial breeders.

I would be reluctant to use Eevee in a major role myself, mostly because (As I've said before) the physiology of the Eeveelutions is going to lead to most of those elemental moves being fired from the mouth. I'm going to find that, at the least, tiresome to write
 
There's also the tired old cliche of essentially just using the plot of the games or the anime and putting your OC in there. Seriously, if your going to write a fanfic why aren't you writing a different plot. You might as well be plagiarizing.
 
I've toyed with the idea of Eevee being a starter on the sole basis that it is intended to be your starter in Yellow, but your rival takes it before Oak can give it to you. If there was no rival, the the protagonist would have started with Eevee, as intended.

As for rewriting the story of the games and anime, I would actually argue that the games are devoid enough of any in-depth plot or characters to make them almost ideal for writing fanfics with self-imposed OCs. The protagonist of the game is made as a blank slate so that players can self-impose themselves into the adventure.

It might be cliche but it works well. The anime I'll give you though, since that actually has established characters and plotlines.
 
Please note: The thread is from 1 year ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom