POPULAR: Cliches in Pokémon Fanfiction

[TwinklingCupcake]

In More Than Ribbons, I just say that Coordinators are encouraged to coordinate with their Pokemon because both of them will be onstage, and both of them walk out onstage together, so dressing up a little looks better. I find it's more aesthetically-pleasing for a particular contest too - like I see someone entering a Beauty contest walking out while wearing a pretty dress better than I can see them walking out in jeans and a baggy sweater. It's part of the aesthetic and presentation.

But then again, I also just love fashion and dressing up myself, so it's partly blatant self-pandering. =p

 

[RuinExplorer]

Also just to bring up PMD cliches, following the game to the freaking letter. If I wanted to read that kind of thing, I would have played the game.
-Knowing moves they should not know like a Riolu learning Aura Sphere.
-The OC is always a former human which seems kind of silly. Why not put them as a ghost Pokemon then? That would be a interesting plot point and can serve as a reason for why they are there.
-- They usually are eevees or riolu. Also shiny. It is just overdone when there are so many Pokemon out there that would be interesting to explore! What about a Psyduck or Misdreavus?
-Pure evil people for literally any part of the Pokemon fandom. These are the people who evil just to be evil. No other likes or hobbies, just evil and people still like.
--The OC can be as mean as they want and no one seems to care. Also applies to other characters and if anyone says they are being mean, everyone else is immediately like "How dare you?!"

The personality one is the biggest for me but it shows up in the anime as well. The plot thing is the second biggest as many MD fanfictions have what seems like entire scenes lifted from the games. My current draft focuses on a Golett (who was never a human) being activated in the ruins by a Honedge who becomes his partner. It is very far away from the games and that makes it a touch more interesting then former human goes on word for word adventure.

 

[voidcritter]

I'm wondering how far you can push the inclusion of shiny Pokemon without it being irritating, since several of the characters of a WIP I'm doing come from a family that has a particular obsession with shinies. (The mother is more or less an in-universe shiny hunter, and the family business is the fact that several members are/were breeders known for a higher-than-usual shiny hatch rate.)

Although there's only 2-3 shinies distributed among all of them out of the pretty large number of Pokemon in story, and the one other shiny is a wild, so...

 

[Beth Pavell]

I think the less of a big deal you make out of it, the better. I wouldn't call them shinies, for a start - it's a term that only makes any sense in a gaming context. But anyway, if you make it quite clear from the context of the story that different colourations aren't that rare then it's hardly pushing the suspension of disbelief for many of them to turn up

 

[voidcritter]

Yeah, shinies in this universe are rare, but not unheard of. Almost everyone has at least heard of the phenomenon, and while it's still fairly uncommon for people to own shinies, much less multiple ones (unless you're super obsessed), a good deal of people have at least seen a differently-colored Pokemon at least once in their lives.

It's treated more or less about as common as finding an albino animal in the wild, except not hereditary (or with the resultant complications that come from a lack of pigment).

 

[Spitfire94]

Wow. I didn''t know there were so many cliches reader's were exposed to. Tackling a Pokémon story, when you want to make it good, sounds like it can be quite intimidating, all the way down to what Pokémon the main character(s) use...the reader is always on top of it. I never even thought about the dangers of writing cliches but this has given me a lot to work with, very insightful for somebody like me

 

[Beth Pavell]

Well, I say don't fear the cliché. Trope is just another word for cliché, after all, and tropes are the building blocks of storytelling. The key issue, I think, is to at least think about the clichés. Off the top of my head, the first chapter of the (Sadly abandoned) Lucky Egg is a "leaving home" chapter, a classic cliché in a classically cliché subgenre. The reason it works is because the narrative really goes for it by spending some real time showing the familial relationships and putting some real effort in - as opposed to the usual couple hundred words of a mother being soppy while the protagonist blurts out a "Bye!"

Actually now, I think of it, How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps does something similar, except this time the "leaving home" scene has a sting in the tail. The cliché defies the usual expectations and gives the reader something different

 

[Instrutilus]

If you want an example of not fearing cliché, look over at the SEGA Dreamcast game 'Skies of Arcadia'. Sky pirates fighting an evil empire who have a mysterious white haired assistant looking to take over the world and a mysterious waif that the heroes, consisting of the dashing rogue and his childhood friend who may or may not fancy him, rescue from the clutches of the empire. Literally cliché in every sense of the world, but damn do they have so much fun with it that you honestly don't care, the adventure just pulls you in and you have a great time regardless.

 

[AceTrainer14]

I think cliches are fine if you handle them well, and good, even great stories (Unpredictable, for example) can be born out of doing a good take on the classic genre. It can earn you the ire from certain reviewers - there are people who don't really accept any use of cliches as a good thing, especially when it comes to doing villain or journey plots - but if you add little twists here and there and have engaging characters you don't have much to worry about.

 

[Spitfire94]

I see. "Don't fear the cliche - learn from it,", "just dive in and have fun with it" and "Embrace and Extend". To be honest I'm feeling like Sawyer from the anime: getting down every note I'm given for future use, if only I still had my Sceptile from Emerald that I could mega evolve lol, but seriously that was good stuff. I'm gonna try that and see where it gets me. I never wrote for Pokémon so it's all new to me, that's why I saw as it as being intimidating because the community is huge and on FanFiction Pokémon has been the biggest leading fic in the game genre forever, so many stories to compete with but what should really matter is how the writer feel and that they should just write because they want to however I've always been the type who likes to impress.

I see discussions about how everyone sees Eevee everywhere and they're tired of it and I wanted to use Eevee, not as a starter for anyone but just in general since I had Orre in mind and what better way to do Orre than have some form of Eevee involved? But I digress, thanks again peeps.

 

[Serverus Snope]

I see. "Don't fear the cliche - learn from it,", "just dive in and have fun with it" and "Embrace and Extend". To be honest I'm feeling like Sawyer from the anime: getting down every note I'm given for future use, if only I still had my Sceptile from Emerald that I could mega evolve lol, but seriously that was good stuff. I'm gonna try that and see where it gets me. I never wrote for Pokémon so it's all new to me, that's why I saw as it as being intimidating because the community is huge and on FanFiction Pokémon has been the biggest leading fic in the game genre forever, so many stories to compete with but what should really matter is how the writer feel and that they should just write because they want to however I've always been the type who likes to impress.

I see discussions about how everyone sees Eevee everywhere and they're tired of it and I wanted to use Eevee, not as a starter for anyone but just in general since I had Orre in mind and what better way to do Orre than have some form of Eevee involved? But I digress, thanks again peeps.

Could be a gift from Pokemon HQ Lab. Maybe your trainer helped them out with something. Or they could have relatives/connections in Kanto/Johto/Sinnoh/Kalos.

The more important matter, however, is if the Eevee suits your character and/or what they do. Do they have a purpose for choosing it other than because it's kewl/kawaii to you? Sentimental value to the character? Use in a current/desired profession?

For example, my current Pokemon Tabletop Adventures character is Akira, a kinda androgynous-looking girl from Johto pretending to be a dreamy boy who dresses kinda like that guy from Cory in the House. Jolteon looks cool enough to fit "his" aesthetic and because the species can track things, it is quite useful for when she needs to put that Detective class of hers to use... or to track down things in general. The Jolteon is not her ace, though; her starter is her house plant Bellsprout whose spores/powders get her out of quite a few pinches.

But yes, sometimes I wonder if people would hate on her because he has an Eeveelution. Part of me still kicks myself for choosing "cliche" Pokemon regardless of how plausible they are.

Now I wonder if Rotom's set to become a one too when Sun and Moon come out...

 

[Spitfire94]

Somebody that knows about Orre! Yah, such an underground adventure lol.

The Eevee I had mapped out so far is apart of Pokémon HQ, originally an egg from Michael's Vaporeon left with Jovi to be taken care of while he went to another region for a few years so you were already on the same wavelength with me.

I never even thought about that question, "Does the Pokémon suit your character?". I've seen it being asked to writer's quite a few times yet I've never actually took the time to sit down and think about it. Does Eevee suit the protagonist? I don't even know. I mentioned before I wanted to use Eevee because its Orre but now that I say it to myself that's not a good enough reason XD

If anything, story wise, the hero having an Eevee was a choice from Eevee itself. It met Michael's Vaporeon after they returned to Orre afterward it witnessed a double battle between Michael and Cynthia, Eevee got an interest in trying to comprehend the Trainer/Pokémon bond, so when the protagonist was tasked with testing a prototype Pokédex for Orre it was given to him by Jovi, making it his second Pokémon. I originally had thoughts of making the Eevee a Flareon but then I figured Sylveon would've been better since Colosseum nor Gale of Darkness featured the fairy eeveelutions. A better reason is that Sylveon's evolution is based on a good enough connection to its trainer which would've been a good revelation for Eevee as it wanted to understand Trainer-Pokémon bonds.

Unfortunately I've read on another forum that Sylveon was getting overused which made me reconsider the thought and back to Flareon. It's so confusing when you want to steer clear of all that XP

 

[Beth Pavell]

When it comes to the old question of overused pokémon, well, it may well be that you have a perfectly good reason why your protagonist should have a Riolu as their first pokémon - but you might well find that readers are so tired of seeing it that they don't care. The question you have to ask yourself is whether you care about that reaction or not

 

[Spitfire94]

I go back and forth to be honest. There be times where I'm like "Eh. Even if they don't like [insert Pokémon name] I have a story I want to tell and I want this Pokémon on board so tough." to "Eeeeeh. People seem really tired of [insert Pokémon name], will that really distract from the overall experience for them? Will they through half a chapter, see a familiar name then just drop it there? I surely don't want that."

I'm a random mess XD

 

[voidcritter]

Honestly, I think it unnecessarily limits authors if they keep going back to the same, oh, I'll be generous and say 20-25 Pokemon. There's hundreds to choose from now. At the same time, I know it's probably hard to find another Pokemon that fits the archetype you're looking for. But it doesn't seem at all unreasonable to ask that someone do a little homework and weigh all their options -- they might be surprised and find something else they'd want to use.

If, for example, you want a Fighting-type that doesn't give you uncanny valley nightmares, then sure, Lucario's alright, but so are Breloom, Mienshao, Heracross, Pangoro, Hawlucha, and Scrafty. (I'm assuming people won't be using Bewear just yet, seeing as we know little about it.)

Also, this is just my own observation, but: there seems to be an overabundance of female Sylveons in fic. Eevee and its evolutions have a sex ratio heavily skewed towards male. There's a world of unfortunate implications in assuming that a Pokemon "ought" to be a certain gender simply because of its looks (see: the Brionne mess), so I'd at least love to see more authors rocking a male Sylveon. Or a male Gardevoir, for that matter.

 

[Serverus Snope]

I usually make it a general rule that no two OCs can have the same flagship Pokemon. I usually try to differentiate the main 3 of each one, but I'll settle for the flagship Pokemon if that's not feasible. Seth (in my avatar,) for example, gets Accelgor, Rotom, and Octillery. Accelgor because... it's a ninja and he's into shonen and sentai and stuff, Rotom for a tech assistant that's wilder and more chaotic than Porygon (while my more emotionless cyberpunk-styled OC gets that line,) and Octillery is an early capture who serves as a teasing, affectionate foil during his desperate attempts to act cool and edgy.

That's why male Gardevoirs are the best. One of my occult-studying OCs (who I haven't used yet) has one as one of her top Pokemon. Female Lucarios are pretty underrated too.

 

[Spitfire94]

There's a world of unfortunate implications in assuming that a Pokemon "ought" to be a certain gender simply because of its looks (see: the Brionne mess), so I'd at least love to see more authors rocking a male Sylveon. Or a male Gardevoir, for that matter.

Readers have gender preferences for Pokémon too? Back to the drawing board...T-T

Also I thought the gender ratio thing, in game, was only to have certain Pokémon be harder to obtain and breed. Like the starters and such. Not sure writing should follow the same rules, in my eyes its just a gender but I see what you're saying. I'll definitely reconsider some choices in gender for Pokémon. Maybe a male Lopunny for the male protagonist or something like that.

 

[Beth Pavell]

I would be reluctant to start making declarations that authors should steer away from their favourites, not least because there's only so much you can try and cater for the majority if you want to enjoy writing.

However, I do also think that forcing oneself to look at using some unusual or just plain forgettable pokémon can pay off dividends when it comes to creativity. I find this is especially true when it comes the business of writing battles - there's really only so many ways something four-legged and furry can move, regardless of whether it's a Flareon, Mightyena or Torracat.

Failing that, I think it's also worth looking at whether a usual pokémon can act in an unusual way. Does a Lucario always have to act basically human with a proud martial ethic? Can't it be selectively honourable with a bullying streak that its trainer needs to curb? Does that Eevee have to be kind of cute and sweet, or can it be a stroppy feral little bugger instead?

 

[0bs1d1an_kn1ght]

I would be reluctant to start making declarations that authors should steer away from their favourites, not least because there's only so much you can try and cater for the majority if you want to enjoy writing.

However, I do also think that forcing oneself to look at using some unusual or just plain forgettable pokémon can pay off dividends when it comes to creativity. I find this is especially true when it comes the business of writing battles - there's really only so many ways something four-legged and furry can move, regardless of whether it's a Flareon, Mightyena or Torracat.

Failing that, I think it's also worth looking at whether a usual pokémon can act in an unusual way. Does a Lucario always have to act basically human with a proud martial ethic? Can't it be selectively honourable with a bullying streak that its trainer needs to curb? Does that Eevee have to be kind of cute and sweet, or can it be a stroppy feral little bugger instead?

To be fair, despite Lucario being one of my favorite pokemon, there's actually a symbolic reason I have one as my main character- at least what I think. Though, I'd rather not spoil it here.

 

[CrystaI]

Most of the writers focused too much on the choice of the handheld pokemons, rather than focusing on the personality & characteristics of the selected pokemons.

For me personally, I don't really care about what pokemon you use in your fic. General starters common ordinarymons shiny pokemons or even legendaries. Whatever it may be, I don't care. All I ask for is, does that choice make sense to your story plot? Do you absolutely need this pokemon to proceed your story? How does this pokemon contributes to the characteristic of its trainer? How does this pokemon stand on its own as an individual character? How does it attribute to the overall atmosphere and tone of your fic?

I agree with Beth Pavell about common pokemon act in unusual way, or more correctly speaking, the non-stereotypical mannerism that most people wouldn't associate with a specific pokemon species. It is one method to make a cliche pokemons many people had done to death to become a significant standalone character that stands out from all of the same species.
But one need to be careful that, going too far away from its species description will just oppositely give off an OOC feeling, where that may just turn readers off. So understanding what is allowed to expand yet acknowledging what is the basic foundation that shouldn't be derailed is important in building a plausible acceptable pokemon character.