POPULAR: Cliches in Pokémon Fanfiction

[Nitro Indigo]

Relevant article: The Hunt for Mary Sue, part 1

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

I've been reading a lot of fanfiction about mostly about my favorite Pokemon rather than specific human characters. Doing this, I'll come across a few cliches that are worth noting if I haven't previously mentioned them in another thread (I think I did but the transition from vBulletin to Xenforo makes backtracking a bit harder). Some may have been mentioned and I'll try not to repeat, but if I do, please bear with me.

- Mary Sues are not just OCs. I've come across characters from the anime and even crossovers that have the author's favorite character being so ridiculously overpowered it just causes me to roll my eyes and exit the page to go on to the next story. This is especially common in Pokemon crossovers with some other anime. I am not a Naruto fan by any means, but I've come across stories that I thought looked interesting since they featured my favorite Pokemon and anime characters. They'll have the human Naruto characters pretty much be the equivalent of humans with Pokemon powers, which I guess is understandable due to the nature of Naruto, but the formula just doesn't work and it can be confusing, especially when they rewrite something that already exists just to feature characters from their favorite anime. It's a popular format that I think is getting too much traction: rewrites of anime episodes or manga volumes just to feature past or future Pokemon characters, and human characters with Pokemon powers.

- Ugly Pokemon or not very popular Pokemon always tend to be villainized while cool Pokemon or the cute, fluffy types (Pokemon the resemble felines, canines, and dragons) tend to be what the main character has and relies on. Seriously, I want to say 9 times out of 10 I cannot get through a piece of fanfiction where my favorite Pokemon of all time is used by some cruel Team Rocket member or just some random asshole with a chip on his or her shoulder while the main character's faithful Growlithe, Eevee(lution), or Luxray battles it out and saves the day. I love feline and canine Pokemon, but the type-casting is so predictable I find it boring. Surprisingly, I don't like reading about a trainer with one of these Pokemon, despite them being some of my favorites. It's all the same. I have NEVER seen a story with a bad guy with a Growlithe or Arcanine, despite the fact that burglars and gamblers had them in the generation I games. Let's not get started on Eeveelutions.
At most maybe Houndour, Houndoom, Weavile, or another mammal dark-type is a villain's Pokemon, but I've also seen them written positively plenty of times because they are popular. They're just "misunderstood" and get a bad reputation and blah blah. I also noticed there is a gender divide when it comes to this. Any writer with a male character as the main character do diversify their teams to include Pokemon that are not only unpopular but also write them in a better light, while those who are writing about female characters tend to go with the cute, fluffy, cool, or all three combined like what I previously mentioned and write unpopular Pokemon in an unflattering way. Now, I have read some stories where male characters had the cute, fluffy, and cool while female characters diversified, but that is not the cliche that bugs me. It's a cliche, no doubt, but the cliche that does bug me is the way some Pokemon are written and some aren't. It's just boring. That's all there is to it. But hey, I may be in the minority here. All those cute and fluffy and awesome Pokemon have lots of fans and they like to read about them. So maybe it's just a cliche that irks me only.

- Speaking of which, replacing an existing character's Pokemon with a personal favorite of the author's. I see this a lot, and it's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just sometimes they have a Pokemon on their team that I like and I can always assume it'll be replaced because:
1. It's not popular or it's hated by the author, and
2. The author's favorite is popular and oh-so fluffeh!
They have the character come across that Pokemon ONCE, have it battle with an existing Pokemon and kick its butt that one time, then BAM! Automatic replacement. If the character was a douchebag in the anime, that one Pokemon in the fanfic also has the ability to change said douchebag into a lovable prince charming overnight for their OC or favorite female anime character. Ughhhhh... Out of all the cliches, this one has me clicking the back button the fastest.

 

[Nitro Indigo]

Ugly Pokemon or not very popular Pokemon always tend to be villainized while cool Pokemon or the cute, fluffy types (Pokemon the resemble felines, canines, and dragons) tend to be what the main character has and relies on.

I might have already linked to this here, but...
What Measure Is a Non-Cute? - TV Tropes

 

[Champion Bayleef]

When it comes to shipping fics, these are my pet peeves:

- Keep-away shipping to get a character out of the way, usually not well-written and unrealistically done. It's better to just not use that character.

- Character bashing, usually characters that stand in the way of the author's favourite shipping. For example, turning the rival shipping's character into a cheater, monster or evil maniac.

- Writers making one of the characters in the shipping really hot, describing anything physical about them, but not doing it with the other character, simply because the author is attracted to said character.

- A male and female best friend ending up together. This has to do with a real life pet peeve of mine. Often, when a man and a woman are best friends, epople instantly assume they must be a couple. However, first of all, not everyone is straight. Second of all, just because, let's say, someone likes girls, doesn't mean that person wants to fuck every girl on the planet. Yeah, maybe Brock, but that's an exception. I am a guy with a female best friend and people constantly assume we must be a couple, or have feelings for each other. When we tell them this is not the case, most people don't believe us, which can be very annoying.

 

[Beth Pavell]

It's probably not a good sign when you start to notice clichés within your own work. For some reason I always think I've not used gold/golden/gilded as a descriptor before

 

[BackSet]

Mary Sues are not just OCs.

This is called a canon sue. You take a canon character and turn it into a Mary Sue. This is even more annoying when the character is not only a Mary Sue but they have their personality over written so they basically become an author avatar but look like a canon character, The personality override can also happen with disliked characters such as an author taking their least favorite character and turning them into a complete jerkass or flanderizing the jerkass quality that is already there. And for shipping fics sometimes the personality of the love interest is overwritten to make the love interest more likely to fall for the character the author wants them to fall for. In short it is not a great thing to do.

It's probably not a good sign when you start to notice clichés within your own work. For some reason I always think I've not used gold/golden/gilded as a descriptor before

Cliches are not always bad. Sometimes they can become fun staples of an authors work. Although you might want too hold off on using gilded since you seem to be implying that your using it to just describe something shiny which isn't the meaning of that word. But heck, what do I know. Do whatever you want.

 

[BackSet]

- A male and female best friend ending up together. This has to do with a real life pet peeve of mine. Often, when a man and a woman are best friends, epople instantly assume they must be a couple. However, first of all, not everyone is straight. Second of all, just because, let's say, someone likes girls, doesn't mean that person wants to fuck every girl on the planet. Yeah, maybe Brock, but that's an exception. I am a guy with a female best friend and people constantly assume we must be a couple, or have feelings for each other. When we tell them this is not the case, most people don't believe us, which can be very annoying.

I share this pet peeve as I am in more or less the same situation. Everyone always assumes me and my female friend are a couple which is annoying because we're not. I'm Aesexual and she likes someone else so it's really annoying. Is it like, illegal for a male and female to be best friends!

 

[diamondpearl876]

Do whatever you want.

This is pretty much what I have to say about all cliches as long as you're prepared for potential backlash for people who are annoyed.

I share this pet peeve as I am in more or less the same situation. Everyone always assumes me and my female friend are a couple which is annoying because we're not. I'm Aesexual and she likes someone else so it's really annoying. Is it like, illegal for a male and female to be best friends!

I think this cliche comes more from people liking gossip and getting a glimpse into people's lives that are generally considered private, less of a "men and women aren't allowed to be friends" mindset. Though I do know some people who try to avoid maintaining close relationships with the opposite gender (or whatever gender they're attracted to) because they develop crushes a tad too easily.

 

[Gengarzilla]

- A male and female best friend ending up together. This has to do with a real life pet peeve of mine. Often, when a man and a woman are best friends, epople instantly assume they must be a couple. However, first of all, not everyone is straight. Second of all, just because, let's say, someone likes girls, doesn't mean that person wants to fuck every girl on the planet. Yeah, maybe Brock, but that's an exception. I am a guy with a female best friend and people constantly assume we must be a couple, or have feelings for each other. When we tell them this is not the case, most people don't believe us, which can be very annoying.

I feel you. This is why I dislike Harry x Hermione from the Harry Potter series; for that reason and because they mesh together too well. They're similar in plenty of aspects, but I wouldn't say that's the most important part.
I prefer the couples who don't seem like they could pull it off at first, because I believe it makes a relationship feel more realistic, believable, and eventually stronger when the two overcome their problems with one another.

It also doesn't help that a lot of this camp love to paint Ron as a villain. This brings me to a certain fanfic cliché I really don't like: Ron The Death Eater - TV Tropes

Yeah, I hate it when fanfic writers go out of their way, for whatever reason, to vilify a canon protagonist. I think you've got to let go of whatever bitter dislikes you have against these characters if you want to write better. In my case, I don't like the Quagsire species for personal reasons but that won't drive me to find a likeable Quagsire protagonist somewhere and make them an utter douche. That's just petty. One of my firmest beliefs as a growing writer is that some impartiality is important.

 

[Anime Psyclone]

a likeable Quagsire protagonist

gates to infinity but i digress

I hate when, for example, Ash’s pikachu is a Pichu since it never happened, or as a Raichu since it’s very unlikely Ash will ever evolve Pikachu. What I’m saying is, if something is confirmed not to have happened, then please don’t write a story where it’s happened.

 

[Gengarzilla]

I hate when, for example, Ash’s pikachu is a Pichu

I could understand where that comes from if the writer is borrowing from the core game's breeding mechanics, as Pikachu haven't ever been able to hatch from the player's eggs. Otherwise, nah.

or as a Raichu

Mhm, no excuse for this one. The official 1,000th episode is next and Ash's Pikachu still hasn't evolved; clearly it's not going to happen at all.

 

[Anime Psyclone]

I could understand where that comes from if the writer is borrowing from the core game's breeding mechanics, as Pikachu haven't ever been able to hatch from the player's eggs. Otherwise, nah.

Like, Ash had him as a pichu

 

[TRNatalie]

Ron as a villain. This brings me to a certain fanfic cliché I really don't like: Ron The Death Eater - TV Tropes

I've never gotten where that came from. Is this the same thing that turned Aurora's dad into a villain in Maleficent?

 

[BackSet]

I've never gotten where that came from. Is this the same thing that turned Aurora's dad into a villain in Maleficent?

Well he kind of is depending on your point of view but the Ron thing has no excuse.

 

[Anime Psyclone]

It’s worse with Star Wars and Darth Luke, since he isn’t a Sith by The Force Awakens. Have to see about the other movies, though

 

[BackSet]

Luke will never be a sith. He's probably gonna die in last Jedi though. Although if you want to portray an AU that's fine but establish it as an AU first before you completely ruin canon and be prepared for a lot of backlash.

 

[TRNatalie]

Well he kind of is depending on your point of view but the Ron thing has no excuse.

I was referring more to how the film basically turned him into the bad guy because they wanted Maleficent to be the hero. I agree with you about the Ron thing.

 

[BackSet]

I was referring more to how the film basically turned him into the bad guy because they wanted Maleficent to be the hero. I agree with you about the Ron thing.

Well I guess it's more because the movie is from maleficent' point of view. If it had been from auroras he would have been the hero. Different people see things different ways I guess.

 

[TRNatalie]

Maybe so but something about the way the scenes between her and her dad went leaves a sense with doubt.

 

[BackSet]

Mm... I've got nothin. Let's get back on topic instead!