POPULAR: Cliches in Pokémon Fanfiction

[BackSet]

I was digging through Fimfiction, and found a comment I made about Pokémon variety in fanfics.

I fell into the fish pothole a little while ago when I was writing the aqua grunt battle for chapter 5 of An Unwanted Journey. I was originally going to give him a Carvhana like in the games but then I relaized that Carvhana is a fish and therefor not realistically viable on land. I gave him a poochyena instead.

 

[Greninjaman]

I fell into the fish pothole a little while ago when I was writing the aqua grunt battle for chapter 5 of An Unwanted Journey. I was originally going to give him a Carvhana like in the games but then I relaized that Carvhana is a fish and therefor not realistically viable on land. I gave him a poochyena instead.

Could just have it be able to swim over the land, just it cannot not move up and down.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Garchomp must be an exceptionally ironic pokémon for Team Aqua and Magma, because it's a marriage of their ideals, since it's at home in the land, sea, or even air

 

[Nitro Indigo]

@Twilight-Kun Since when could Garchomp swim?

 

[Cresselia92]

Garchomp is defined a Land Shark, so it somewhat combines Aqua and Magma.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

@Twilight-Kun Since when could Garchomp swim?

According to the SM Anime, whenever it wants

Seems pokemon are only weak to elements generated by other pokemon

 

[BackSet]

According to the SM Anime, whenever it wants

Seems pokemon are only weak to elements generated by other pokemon

Makes sense.

I mean, water takes a long time to erode rocks so only pokemon generated attacks should hurt geodude or onyx.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Makes sense.

I mean, water takes a long time to erode rocks so only pokemon generated attacks should hurt geodude or onyx.

There's also the fact they tend to spew it at fast enough speeds to use as propulsion

It'd be like getting hit with few dozen fire hoses simultaneously

 

[FluffleFi]

Would nicknames be a cliche? I don't mean the concept of it, but more of some of the names that fic trainers tend to give their partners. Nicknaming a Pokemon should probably be what it feels like naming a human baby. You don't look at a newborn baby and think 'I'm going to name you Finger' or 'I know, lets name you Black!'. I think a nickname should be something unique or maybe something special/personal. Some fics do it right but others not so much, hey give their partners the blandest names. "You're a Torchic, lets name you Blaze!" "Bulbasaur, your new name's Leaf!". I once skimmed through a story where a girl named her Charmander 'Fire'. I know most protagonist are kids, but you figure they'd spend more than a few seconds coming up with names for the Pokemon they'll be spending time with.

 

[Ereshkigal]

Would nicknames be a cliche? I don't mean the concept of it, but more of some of the names that fic trainers tend to give their partners. Nicknaming a Pokemon should probably be what it feels like naming a human baby. You don't look at a newborn baby and think 'I'm going to name you Finger' or 'I know, lets name you Black!'. I think a nickname should be something unique or maybe something special/personal. Some fics do it right but others not so much, hey give their partners the blandest names. "You're a Torchic, lets name you Blaze!" "Bulbasaur, your new name's Leaf!". I once skimmed through a story where a girl named her Charmander 'Fire'. I know most protagonist are kids, but you figure they'd spend more than a few seconds coming up with names for the Pokemon they'll be spending time with.

Yes, they would. Sadly, a realistic one, but still a cliche. And it shows up all over the place; from TV to books to radio to fanfics to games to mythology ("Cerberus" would, in modern times, be properly translated to "Spot").

Of course, naming children at birth used to not have the importance it does today; it was incredibly common in some civilizations to name your children by literally numbering them.

 

[BackSet]

Yes, they would. Sadly, a realistic one, but still a cliche. And it shows up all over the place; from TV to books to radio to fanfics to games to mythology ("Cerberus" would, in modern times, be properly translated to "Spot").

Of course, naming children at birth used to not have the importance it does today; it was incredibly common in some civilizations to name your children by literally numbering them.

That's not a probably. Cerberus definitely translates to spot. Which really gives insight as to what kind of person Hades was.

Anyway, Re: Nicknames

I think the best nicknames I've seen in pokemon are in the electric tale of pikachu manga. Oh god, Ash's nicknames.

 

[Greninjaman]

How's this for a cliche: Protagonist gets theri starter. Then they come under attack and when they survive, become forever friends.

 

[BackSet]

How's this for a cliche: Protagonist gets theri starter. Then they come under attack and when they survive, become forever friends.

AKA The Ketchum-Pikachu Rule.

 

[Greninjaman]

AKA The Ketchum-Pikachu Rule.

Indeed. Have to wonder though, how many times did Ash put his life on the line to protect Pikachu?

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Indeed. Have to wonder though, how many times did Ash put his life on the line to protect Pikachu?

At least once or twice a region, sometimes more

Usually involves jumping of high places, mind control, and lots of other nonsense and something something friendship

 

[FluffleFi]

I just skimmed through one of those and it was so cringy and with the most cliche of lines; 'Every life is important and this one is more important than mine!' or something of that nature. If you want your Trainer and their Starter to be forever friends, why not just have the two know each other since they were both young? You know, a Pokemon that was born from his/her parent's own Pokemon.

So how about the subject of Pokemon abuse? Its something that shows up in a lot of fics and its always so goddamn cringy and melodramatic. The people doing the abusing are absolute assholes with no redeeming qualities and almost never have a clean reason as to WHY they're kicking a downed Pokemon. They're just there for the Generic Lead to complain about how 'abuse is wrong!' and to show that their a good trainer who'd never do it. 99% of the time the Pokemon rare or probably shiny, maybe even both. It could probably be sold for a crap ton of money..but naaaah, lets just kicked the hell out of instead for no reason. The Pokemon ALWAYS wants to go with the trainer who rescued it, instead of..you know..going back into the wild where no human could possibly find or hurt it anymore. The Pokemon's probably be abused for weeks, maybe even months, but will never once question or doubt this random person who showed up one day and could probably be just as bad as the last person they were with.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

I've abused the heck out of my pokémon characters

-One took a flamethrower down the throat

-Two had their homes burn to the ground

-One almost froze to death

And humans were only (directly) involved in one of those incidents

Also subverted the usual "going with the rescuer" because as it turns out, yes, trusting humans after they cause harm is hard and you're probably better off on your own

And then runs into a different enemy that's even worse because I am an absolute dick to my characters

 

[Ereshkigal]

I use "abuse of humans towards Pokemon" to justify Mewtwo's "shoot first, shoot again, consider questions sometime later" approach toward humanity. I basically have France solving the problem by going, "Welp, that cave no longer belongs to us" and posting border guards to keep people from bothering the psychic supersoldier.

It's also the in-story reason why Team Plasma is not only still around, but considered a legitimate force of good; while everyone agrees Ghetsis was a terrorist, they also admit N has a point. It's one of two major reasons why Unova is an ongoing clusterf&&*.

 

[Rockapheller]

How's this for a cliche: Protagonist gets theri starter. Then they come under attack and when they survive, become forever friends.

As much as this is one of the worst clichés in fanfics, it is really hard matter of stuff to put in. If a trainer and their Pokémon get in touch immediately, it makes the whole thing boring in the beginning. Other than putting oneself in such danger, what is there else to do with trainer and their first Pokémon, really?

 

[Greninjaman]

As much as this is one of the worst clichés in fanfics, it is really hard matter of stuff to put in. If a trainer and their Pokémon get in touch immediately, it makes the whole thing boring in the beginning. Other than putting oneself in such danger, what is there else to do with trainer and their first Pokémon, really?

Agreeded. That certainly will cause problems in the long run.