History GrowingTheBeard / FanFics

%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%
%%

Examples of fan fiction [[GrowingTheBeard getting better over time]].

!! Story Examples
* ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' starts out as [[RougeAnglesOfSatin being the victim of poor spelling]] and could be easily be labeled as "UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}}: [[TitleTheAdaptation The Fan Fic]]" before finding an identity of its own by Season 2 and ''really'' starts getting better in Season 3 and beyond.
* Debatable in ''FanFic/ClashOfTheElements'' like most tropes on this page, but while Part 1 has some glaring grammar problems and lack of focus at the beginning, the story steadily improves throughout and becomes rather consistent around Chapter 13... although there are still some grammar issues here and there. However, the beard grows even further in Movie 1, where there are ''far'' fewer grammar mistakes, the battles feel more streamlined, and more detailed words are used in the narrative to avoid repetition. And finally there is Part 2, which removes nearly all grammar problems, has a fluid narrative with great battles, and a better focus on the characters and villains. It is pretty impressive to read through at that point considering that this is a ''Mario'' fanfic and all.
* The first nine chapters of ''Fanfic/CodeGeassColorlessMemories'' move slowly and are more about establishing the characters and setting for those who didn’t watch the anime or play ''VisualNovel/CodeGeassLostColors'' where Rai is from. Once [[spoiler: Rai]] joins the Black Knights and the existence of [[spoiler: E.E and the Sumeragi's Legacy]] comes into play, the fic comes into its own identity among ''Anime/CodeGeass'' fics.
** Happens again with Chapter Eighteen where Rai's past is revealed, who took his memories, the fic bringing it's MythArc and characters to the forefront, casting off TheStationsOfTheCanon, it's ProlongedPrologue status and forging its own original ''Anime/CodeGeass'' story.
* A '''literal''' case in the prequel to the AlternateHistory LetsPlay[=/=]FanFic ''LetsPlay/AScotsmanInEgypt'', ''An Egyptian in Scotland''. [[TheGoodKing Heruben]], the leader of the Egyptian refugees, grows a beard over the first inhospitable British winter. After this, he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a noticeable level in badass]].
* ''Fanfic/EscapeFromTheHokagesHat'' starts off slow with the first two arcs basically being RecycledScript bar certain details and mostly dealing with the power plays and politicking between Jiraiya and the council. Come chapter 22, the story picks up from the previous rather {{Filler}} and isolated feel the first two arcs as more of the world gets involved in the story.
* Following ''Trial By Fire'', the ''FanFic/FacingTheFutureSeries'' slowly bean to grow its beard, but it fully grew after ''A Family Thing'' where afterwards it introduces many exciting {{Myth Arc}}s, the introduction of Danielle as a permanent member of the Fenton family, new ghost powers, a MysteriousWatcher, and a member of the RoguesGallery performing a HeelFaceTurn, and the series is only getting better from there.
* While fairly well-received, fans of the ''FanFic/FirstTrySeries'' widely agree that the story really hit its stride with ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8270212/1/First-Try-Team-Tetsuo First Try: Team Tetsuo]]'', particularly since it completely ignores TheStationsOfTheCanon.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5353683/1/The_Girl_Who_Loved The Girl Who Loved]]'' is a particularly impressive case, as the first few chapters are incredibly rough, with all the problems that it entails, including the usual {{Flanderization}} of characters. By about the fourth chapter, the plot begins to develop, most characters become increasingly fleshed out (some don't and a few fanon characterizations are deconstructed), and really hits its stride in chapter 7 and keeps going into its darker sequel, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5619147/1/Violence-Inherent-in-the-System Violence Inherent in the System]]'' without losing any of the humor or idealistic aspects.
* ''FanFic/AMinorMiscalculation'' was received well from the start, but had problems like clunky chapter-to-chapter pacing, some stiff writing, and mostly retreading the first few arcs of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' with only a few major changes while the main cast spends a lot of time talking about the war instead of fighting it. After [[TheDragon Nui]]'s arrival as an active threat, the story started taking far greater divergences from canon (leading to many shocking chapters) while doing a better job of developing the characters and exploring conflicts that were passed over in the anime, and drew far more praise from then on.
* ''Fanfic/MiraculousLadybugVsTheForcesOfEvil'': The story was a solid, though mostly unremarkable read for the first few chapters. Then the first WhamEpisode hit, and things started to escalate from there into something more interesting.
* An inversion of sorts occurs with ''FanFic/MyImmortal''. It starts as your classical nonsensical bad fanfiction, but then Tara and Raven have a falling-out, and Raven stops beta reading. At this point, the writing goes from nonsensical to incomprehensible, the "story" loses any kind of relationship to the series that inspired it in a truly dramatic fashion, and the fanfiction itself becomes the disaster that everyone knows and loves.
* Chapter 15 of ''Fanfic/OneAndOnlySon'', where the already excellent fic gets its beard grown in a full-blown WhamEpisode.
* ''Blog/ThePredespairKids'' started off like a typical Danganronpa CharacterBlog. However, the Hope Games arc, one of the first of many major arcs on the blog, brought forth many events that helped it find its current identity. This included Mukuro's HeelFaceTurn, the opening of all of 77th class kids for questions, Mondo and Taka becoming an OfficialCouple, the introduction of the first [[OriginalCharacter Named Anons]], the appearance of [[UnexpectedCharacter Chiaki]], and much more. From then on, the blog became much more focused on its own story and narrative, veering away from its prequel status and establishing a very elaborate AlternateUniverse.
* ''FanFic/TheReturn'' really hit its stride when the author abandoned the last of ''[[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Ranma]]'' {{canon}}, hit the FirstLawOfGenderBending and started treating it like [[WebOriginal original fiction]].
* ''FanFic/SweetiesMansion'' begins as a cut-and-paste retelling of ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' with Sweetie Belle in the starring role, with all manner of plot contrivances to orchestrate the story (Twilight Sparkle stands in for E. Gadd and even goes through RapidAging, the other Mane Six are turned into ghosts to function as the mansion's bosses, and so on). Early chapters also incorporate a [[{{Gamebooks}} Choose Your Own Adventure]] theme where you either continue the story or get a BadEnding. However, after the second Mane Six ghost is defeated, several things happen: First, the CYOA theme is discarded. Second, Twilight Sparkle is captured and made a ghost, meaning Sweetie Belle no longer has any reliable allies. Third, the story diverges from Luigi's Mansion's plot, starting with [[spoiler:the other Crusaders and Spike being possessed]] and Sweetie Belle having to fight a cage match against an assailant trying to kill her with a rusty knife. With subsequent arcs emphasizing her isolation in a hostile, terrifying environment and her increasingly fractured composure from working to save friends and family who are trying to kill her, Sweetie Belle's goal of finding her fellow Crusaders and rescuing Rarity before she marries the estate's owner suddenly becomes a much more imposing and scarring task.
* Although the ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'' is an undoubtedly fun and surprisingly well-written series, it's still fairly average, until ''"Forget the [[MillenniumBug [=Y2K=]]], This is Madness!!"'', whereupon the series adopts a quality of writing that is on par with, if not better than, that of professional authors.
** Then along comes ''Silent Sorrow'', which takes EmotionalTorque SerialEscalation throws in a fantastically deep and complicated plot and wonderfully insightful CharacterDevelopment and tops it all of by having a ridiculously large JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient, essentially growing a beard so massive, it could be used as a rope ladder to heaven.
* ''Fanfic/TokimekiPokeLiveAndTwinbee'' started out as a [[LighterAndSofter lighthearted]] adaptation of ''VideoGame/LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestival'' and it's ''[[VideoGame/LoveLiveSchoolIdolFestivalAllStars ALL STARS]]'' sequel whose [[SliceOfLife Main]] [[IdolSinger Stories]] are gauranteed to entertain those who are fans of ''Franchise/LoveLive'', but once the "Ideal Hero" [[ActionizedAdaptation Side]] [[{{Mon}} Story]] arc started, which adapts "[[Recap/PokemonGenerationsE15TheKingReturns The King Returns]]" from ''Anime/PokemonGenerations'', the ''PokéLive!'' series also has something that fans of ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' who have outgrown the main ''{{Anime/Pokemon}}'' anime can also sink their teeth into that can go toe to toe with the likes of action manga in ''Magazine/ShonenJump'' and action anime on ''Creator/{{Toonami}}'' as well!
** With certain revelations such as [[spoiler:an alternate [[WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAm Knothole]] [[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Village]] being destroyed by [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Ultra]] [[VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon Beasts]] as well as [[OriginalCharacter Aleena]] hailing from a [[GlobalWarming Climate Changed]] [[CrapsackWorld bad future]] caused by Yoko's and Ellie's defeat at the hands of [[MadScientist Dr]]. [[BigBad Eggman]]]], the ''PokéLive!'' series is also willing to go into DarkerAndEdgier territory as well as dish out [[ShockingMoments Shocking Moment]] after Shocking Moment, something that ''Love Live!'' proper has mostly avoided in it's official entries (so far, with the sole exception of the ''[[Anime/LoveLiveSunshine Sunshine]]'' anime).
* The first ''FanFic/UltimateVideoRumble'' is so light on characterization, and so simple in its plot and sense of humor, that only completionists need bother reading. (The rest can get by knowing that it used an acid moat for tournament elimination -- which Shao Kahn tried to rig -- instead of the dimensional field of the later Rumbles, and that [[spoiler: Haohmaru of ''Videogame/SamuraiShodown'']] beat [[spoiler: Bishamon of ''Videogame/{{Darkstalkers}}'']] in the final section to win the prize.) The second and third Rumbles, however, are more ambitiously written, with extensive plots, character development arcs, and actual stakes beyond "who gets the trophy at the end."
* At first, ''FanFic/YouGotHaruhiRolled'' was just a compilation of short sketches that didn't really parody anything in particular. Chapter 20 gives us its first full-blown StoryArc, and from there the stories got much longer and more effective parodies. [[HilariousInHindsight Ironically, the end of the first arc was originally where the author intended to end it.]] It's a good thing he didn't.

!! Creator Examples
* Creator/NimbusLlewelyn has done this a couple of times.
** ''Fanfic/TheWizardInTheShadows'' by Creator/NimbusLlewelyn starts out as a straight up Tenth Walker, albeit one that was better than average with a few minor variations, but really begins to hit its stride with the Breaking of the Fellowship, and a following ability to develop its own identity and the author developed and refined his style. This is signified by an increase in the length of the chapters to consistently 3000 words plus - though he still considers it to be OldShame, and, at best, good for a 14 to 17 year old writing his first long form fic.
** ''FanFic/ChildOfTheStorm'', meanwhile, started out pretty slow as a simple crossover between the Marvel Universe and Harry Potter, stated by WordOfGod as being intended to be a conventional LighterAndSofter FixFic. Then the story took on a life of its own around chapter 9, the moment that The Winter Soldier was introduced and has never lost steam since, by introducing some incredible world building and an epic scale MythArc, establishing itself as its own distinctive universe rather than a simple crossover fic. The downside of this, as the author occasionally complains, is that there's only so much he can do to improve the first 20 chapters or so of the first book (which are good, but not up to the same standard) without damaging the rest of the story.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Happens to Penny's musical taste in-universe during these stories. In "The Blood Brother" and "The Ship," she is presented as a devotee of groups like Music/{{NSYNC}}, Music/{{Hanson}}, and Music/BritneySpears. Thanks to nudges from her biology lab partner and an ex-boyfriend, she is shown in "The Ship," "The Walk," "The Cameo," and "The Car" to have graduated to acts such as Music/NickLowe, Music/DaveEdmunds, Music/ElvisCostello, Music/MarshallCrenshaw, Music/{{REM}}, Music/TheModernLovers, and Music/TheReplacements.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Happens to Penny's musical taste in-universe during these stories. In "The Blood Brother" and "The Ship," she is presented as a devotee of groups like Music/{{NSYNC}}, Music/{{Hanson}}, and Music/BritneySpears. Thanks to nudges from her biology lab partner and an ex-boyfriend, she is shown in "The Ship," "The Walk," and "The Cameo" to have graduated to acts such as Music/NickLowe, Music/DaveEdmunds, Music/ElvisCostello, Music/{{REM}}, Music/TheModernLovers, and Music/TheReplacements.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Happens to Penny's musical taste in-universe during these stories. In "The Blood Brother" and "The Ship," she is presented as a devotee of groups like Music/{{NSYNC}}, Music/{{Hanson}}, and Music/BritneySpears. Thanks to nudges from her biology lab partner and an ex-boyfriend, she is shown in "The Ship" and "The Walk" to have graduated to acts such as Music/NickLowe, Music/DaveEdmunds, Music/ElvisCostello, Music/{{REM}}, and Music/TheReplacements.

* An inversion of sorts occurs with ''FanFic/MyImmortal''. It starts as your classical nonsensical bad fanfiction, but then Tara and Raven have a falling-out, and Raven stops beta reading. At this point, the writing goes from nonsensical to incomprehensible, the "story" loses any kind of relationship to the series that inspired it in a truly dramatic fashion, and the fanfiction itself becomes the disaster that everyone knows and loves.

* ''FanFic/AMinorMiscalculation'' was received well from the start, but had problems like clunky chapter-to-chapter pacing, some stiff writing, and mostly retreading the first few arcs of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' with only a few major changes while the main cast spends a lot of time talking about the war instead of fighting it. After [[TheDragon Nui]]'s arrival as an active threat, the story started taking far greater divergences from canon (leading to many shocking chapters) while doing a better job of developing the characters and exploring conflicts that were passed over in the anime, and drew far more praise from then on.
* A '''literal''' case in the prequel to the AlternateHistory LetsPlay[=/=]FanFic ''LetsPlay/AScotsmanInEgypt'', ''An Egyptian in Scotland''. [[TheGoodKing Heruben]], the leader of the Egyptian refugees, grows a beard over the first inhospitable British winter. After this, he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a noticeable level in badass]].

* Debatable in ''FanFic/ClashOfTheElements'' like most tropes on this page, but while Part 1 has some glaring grammar problems and lack of focus at the beginning, the story steadily improves throughout and becomes rather consistent around Chapter 13... although there are still some grammar issues here and there. However, the beard grows even further in Movie 1, where there is a LOT less grammar mistakes, the battles feel more steamlined, and more details words are used in the narrative to avoid repetition. And finally there is Part 2, which removes nearly all grammar problems, has a fluid narrative with great battles, and a better focus on the characters and villains. It is pretty impressive to read through at that point considering that this is a Mario fanfic and all.

* Chapter 15 of ''Fanfic/OneAndOnlySon'', where the already excellent fic, gets its beard grown in a full-blown WhamEpisode.
* While fairly well-received, fans of ''FanFic/FirstTrySeries'' widely agree that the story really hit it's stride with ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8270212/1/First-Try-Team-Tetsuo First Try: Team Tetsuo]]'', particularly since it completely ignores TheStationsOfTheCanon.

* FanFic/SweetiesMansion begins as a cut-and-paste retelling of VideoGame/LuigisMansion with Sweetie Belle in the starring role, with all manner of plot contrivances to orchestrate the story (Twilight Sparkle stands in for E. Gadd and even goes through RapidAging, the other Mane Six are turned into ghosts to function as the mansion's bosses, and so on). Early chapters also incorporate a [[{{Gamebooks}} Choose Your Own Adventure]] theme where you either continue the story or get a BadEnding. However, after the second Mane Six ghost is defeated, several things happen: First, the CYOA theme is discarded. Second, Twilight Sparkle is captured and made a ghost, meaning Sweetie Belle no longer has any reliable allies. Third, the story diverges from Luigi's Mansion's plot, starting with [[spoiler:the other Crusaders and Spike being possessed]] and Sweetie Belle having to fight a cage match against an assailant trying to kill her with a rusty knife. With subsequent arcs emphasizing her isolation in a hostile, terrifying environment and her increasingly fractured composure from working to save friends and family who are trying to kill her, Sweetie Belle's goal of finding her fellow Crusaders and rescuing Rarity before she marries the estate's owner suddenly becomes a much more imposing and scarring task.
* Although the ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'' is an undoubtedly fun and surprisingly well written series, it's still fairly average, until ''"Forget the [[MillenniumBug [=Y2K=]]], This is Madness!!"'', whereupon the series adopts a quality of writing that is on par if not better than that of professional authors.

** ''FanFic/ChildOfTheStorm'', meanwhile, started out pretty slow as a simple crossover between the Marvel Universe and Harry Potter, stated by WordOfGod as being intended to be a conventional LighterAndSofter FixFic. Then the story took on a life of its own around chapter 9, the moment that The Winter Soldier was introduced and has never lost steam since, by introducing some incredible world building and an epic scale MythArc, establishing itself as its own distinctive universe rather than a simple crossover fic. The downside of this, as the author occasionally complains, is that there's only so much he can do to improve the first 20 chapters or so of the first book (which are good, but not up to the same standard) without damaging the rest of the story.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5353683/1/The_Girl_Who_Loved The Girl Who Loved]]'' is a particularly impressive case, as the first few chapters are incredibly rough, with all the problems that it entails, including the usual {{Flanderization}} of characters. By about the fourth chapter, the plot begins to develop, most characters become increasingly fleshed out (some don't and a few fanon characterizations are deconstructed), and really hits its stride in chapter 7 and keeps going into its darker sequel, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5619147/1/Violence-Inherent-in-the-System Violence Inherent in the System]]'' without losing any of the humor or idealistic aspects.
* At first, ''FanFic/YouGotHaruhiRolled'' was just a compilation of short sketches that didn't really parody anything in particular. Chapter 20 gives us its first full-blown StoryArc, and from there the stories got much longer and more effective parodies. [[HilariousInHindsight Ironically, the end of the first arc was originally where the author intended to end it.]] It's a good thing he didn't.
* ''Fanfic/CodeGeassColorlessMemories'' The first nine chapters move slowly and are more about establishing the characters and setting for those who didn’t watch the anime or play the VisualNovel/CodeGeassLostColors where Rai is from. Once [[spoiler: Rai]] joins the Black Knights and the existence of [[spoiler: E.E and the Sumeragi's Legacy]] comes into play, the fic comes into it's own identity among Anime/CodeGeass Fic's.
** Happens again with Chapter Eighteen where Rai's past is revealed, who took his memories, the fic bringing it's MythArc and characters to the forefront. Casting off TheStationsOfTheCanon, it's ProlongedPrologue status and forging it's own original Anime/CodeGeass story.
* ''Fanfic/MiraculousLadybugVsTheForcesOfEvil'': The story was a solid though mostly unremarkable read for the first few chapters. Then the first WhamEpisode hit, and things started to escalate from there into something more interesting.
* ''Blog/ThePredespairKids'' started off like a typical Danganronpa CharacterBlog. However, the Hope Games arc, one of the first of many major arcs on the blog, brought forth many events that helped it find its current identity. This included Mukuro's HeelFaceTurn, the opening of all of 77th class kids for questions, Mondo and Taka becoming an OfficialCouple, the introduction of the first [[OriginalCharacter Named Anons]], the appearance of [[UnexpectedCharacter Chiaki]], and much more. From then on, the blog became much more focused on its own story and narrative, veering away from its prequel status and establishing a very elaborate AlternateUniverse.
* The first ''FanFic/UltimateVideoRumble'' is so light on characterization, and so simple in its plot and sense of humor, that only completionists need bother reading. (The rest can get by knowing that it used an acid moat for tournament elimination -- which Shao Kahn tried to rig -- instead of the dimensional field of the later Rumbles, and that [[spoiler: Haohmaru of ''Videogame/SamuraiShodown'']] beat [[spoiler: Bishamon of ''Videogame/{{Darkstalkers}}'']] in the final section to win the prize.) The second and third Rumbles, however, are more ambitiously written, with extensive plots, character development arcs, and actual stakes beyond "who gets the trophy at the end."

* ''Escape from The Hokage's Hat'' starts off slow with the first two arcs basically being RecycledScript bar certain details and mostly dealing with the power plays and politicking between Jiraiya and the council. Come chapter 22, the story picks up from the previous rather {{Filler}} and isolated feel the first two arcs as more of the world gets involved in the story.

* ''FanFic/AMinorMiscalculation'' was received well from the start, but had problems like clunky chapter-to-chapter pacing, some stiff writing, and mostly retreading the first few arcs of ''Anime/KillLaKill'' with only a few major changes while the main cast spends a lot of time talking about the war instead of fighting it. After [[TheDragon Nui]]'s arrival as an active threat, the story started taking far greater divergences from canon (leading to many HolyShitQuotient chapters) while doing a better job of developing the characters and exploring conflicts that were passed over in the anime, and drew far more praise from then on.

** Then along comes ''Silent Sorrow'', which takes EmotionalTorque SerialEscalation throws in a fantastically deep and complicated plot and wonderfully insightful CharacterDevelopment and tops it all of by having a ridiculously large HolyShitQuotient, essentially growing a beard so massive, it could be used as a rope ladder to heaven.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5353683/1/The_Girl_Who_Loved The Girl Who Loved]]'' is a particularly impressive case, as the first few chapters are incredibly rough, with all the problems that it entails, including the usual {{Flanderization}} of characters. By about the fourth chapter, the plot begins to develop, most characters become increasingly fleshed out (some don't and a few fanon characterizations are deconstructed), and really hits its stride in chapter 7 and keeps going into its darker sequel, [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5619147/1/Violence-Inherent-in-the-System Violence Inherent in the System]] without losing any of the humor or idealistic aspects.

* FanFic/SweetiesMansion begins as a cut-and-paste retelling of VideoGame/LuigisMansion with Sweetie Belle in the starring role, with all manner of plot contrivances to orchestrate the story (Twilight Sparkle stands in for E. Gadd and even goes through RapidAging, the other Mane Six are turned into ghosts to function as the mansion's bosses, and so on). Early chapters also incorporate a ChooseYourOwnAdventure theme where you either continue the story or get a BadEnding. However, after the second Mane Six ghost is defeated, several things happen: First, the CYOA theme is discarded. Second, Twilight Sparkle is captured and made a ghost, meaning Sweetie Belle no longer has any reliable allies. Third, the story diverges from Luigi's Mansion's plot, starting with [[spoiler:the other Crusaders and Spike being possessed]] and Sweetie Belle having to fight a cage match against an assailant trying to kill her with a rusty knife. With subsequent arcs emphasizing her isolation in a hostile, terrifying environment and her increasingly fractured composure from working to save friends and family who are trying to kill her, Sweetie Belle's goal of finding her fellow Crusaders and rescuing Rarity before she marries the estate's owner suddenly becomes a much more imposing and scarring task.

** ''FanFic/ChildOfTheStorm'', meanwhile, started out pretty slow as a simple crossover between the Marvel Universe and Harry Potter, stated by WordOfGod as being intended to be a conventional LighterAndSofter FixFic. Then the story took on a life of its own around chapter 9, the moment that The Winter Soldier was introduced and has never lost steam since, by introducing some incredible world building and an epic scale MythArc, establishing itself as its own distinctive universe rather than a simple crossover fic.

* ''Fanfic/TheWizardInTheShadows'' starts out as a straight up Tenth Walker, albeit a good one with a few minor variations, but really begins to hit its stride with the Breaking of the Fellowship, and a following ability to develop its own identity and the author developed and refined his style. This is signified by an increase in the length of the chapters to consistently 3000 words plus.

* ''FanFic/ChildOfTheStorm'' started out pretty slow as a simple crossover between the Marvel Universe and Harry Potter. Things started to heat up the moment The Winter Soldier was introduced and never lost steam ever since, by introducing some incredible world building with some fleshed out characters, building up a serious MythArc. The fic went on to establish itself as its own universe rather than a simple crossover fic.

* ''FanFic/ChildOfTheStorm'' started out pretty slow as a simple crossover between the Marvel Universe and Harry Potter. Things started to heat up the moment The Winter Soldier was introduced and never lost steam ever since, by introducing some incredible world building with some fleshed out characters. The fic went on to establish itself as it's own universe rather than a simple crossover fic.

* The first ''FanFic/UltimateVideoRumble'' is so light on characterization, and so simple in its plot and sense of humor, that only completionists need bother reading. (The rest can get by knowing that it used an acid moat for tournament elimination -- which Shao Kahn tried to rig -- instead of the dimensional field of the later Rumbles, and that [[spoiler: Haohmaru of ''Videogame/SamuraiShodown'']] beat [[spoiler: Bishamon of ''Videogame/{{Darkstalkers}}'']] in the final section to win the prize.) The second and third Rumbles, however, are more ambitiously written, with extensive plots, character development arcs, and actual stakes beyond "who gets the trophy at the end."
* ''Fanfic/OurFavoriteBrother'' While the story started off Mediocre at Best Especially with the Introduction of Two OCs Those who've Read it Can Confirm that Both Chapters 13, 32 and Onward Is where Things Really start to Pick up Steam As the story Added In Character Development World Building Moments and More Interesting Antagonists as Well as Plenty of Continuity to Older Chapters Some Readers Also Say the Story's 1st Christmas Special Chapter is when it Started to become Enjoyable Only due to the Numerous Anime References and Adorable Moment between Geo and Luna.''

* ''Fanfic/Our Favorite Brother'' While the story started off Mediocre at Best Especially with the Introduction of Two OCs Those who've Read it Can Confirm that Both Chapters 13, 32 and Onward Is where Things Really start to Pick up Steam As the story Added In Character Development World Building Moments and More Interesting Antagonists as Well as Plenty of Continuity to Older Chapters Some Readers Also Say the Story's 1st Christmas Special Chapter is when it Started to become Enjoyable Only due to the Numerous Anime References and Adorable Moment between Geo and Luna.''

* ''Fanfic/Our Favorite Brother'' While the story started off Mediocre at Best Especially with the Introduction of Two OCs Those who've Read it Can Confirm that Chapter 32 And Onward Is where Things Really start to Pick up Steam As the story Added In Character Development World Building Moments and More Interesting Antagonists as Well as Plenty of Continuity to Older Chapters Some Readers Also Say the Story's 1st Christmas Special Chapter is when it Started to become Enjoyable Only due to the Numerous Anime References and Adorable Moment between Geo and Luna.''

* ''Fanfic/Our Favorite Brother'' While the story started off Mediocre at Best Especially with the Introduction of Two OCs Those who've Read it Can Confirm that Chapter 32 And Onward Is where Things Really start to Pick up Steam As the story Added In Character Development World Building Moments and More Interesting Antagonists as Well as Plenty of Continuity to Older Chapters Some Readers Also Say the Stories 1st Christmas Special is when it Started to become Enjoyable Only due to the Numerous Anime References and Adorable Moment between Geo and Luna.''

* The first ''FanFic/UltimateVideoRumble'' is so light on characterization, and so simple in its plot and sense of humor, that only completionists need bother reading. (The rest can get by knowing that it used an acid moat for tournament elimination -- which Shao Kahn tried to rig -- instead of the dimensional field of the later Rumbles, and that [[spoiler: Haohmaru of ''Videogame/SamuraiShodown'']] beat [[spoiler: Bishamon of ''Videogame/{{Darkstalkers}}'']] in the final section to win the prize.) The second and third Rumbles, however, are more ambitiously written, with extensive plots, character development arcs, and actual stakes beyond "who gets the trophy at the end."

* ''Fanfic/miraculousladybugvstheforcesofevil'': The story was a solid though mostly unremarkable read for the first few chapters. Then the first WhamEpisode hit, and things started to escalate from there into something more interesting.

* At first, ''FanFic/YouGotHaruhiRolled was just a compilation of short sketches that didn't really parody anything in particular. Chapter 20 gives us its first full-blown StoryArc, and from there the stories got much longer and more effective parodies. [[HilariousInHindsight Ironically, the end of the first arc was originally where the author intended to end it.]] It's a good thing he didn't.