History YMMV / DragonridersOfPern

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: "''[[TropeMaker Another]]'' [[TropeCodifier book]] [[UrExample series]] about {{dragon rider}}s? That's ''so'' overdone."

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: In ''All the Weyrs of Pern'', chapter 11, in a light-hearted exchange, Golanth boasts that "No feline would challenge me!", with F'lessan agreeing. Not so funny at the end of ''The Skies of Pern''...

*** Which actually is a case of ShownTheirWork, as this was exactly how the things were back in the days of the class-based morals. And actiually still are in some places, though at least now this attitude is generally frowned upon.

*** And that's not mentioning the infamous "tent peg" theory [=McCaffrey=] was very fornd of. Thankfully it's been quietly swept under the rug even before Todd took over the series.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The game's [[https://youtu.be/I5Lc7wNanVs main theme]] is a chipper, adventurous chip tune on the Commodore 64.

** Rapidly approaching this concerning Todd [=McCaffrey=]'s books, divided mostly between fans who say "Eh, they're not that bad" and those who consider them ascended [[FanFic fanfiction]]. In his books, the MedievalStasis of the series is broken with the rediscovery of a DeusExMachina super computer in a cave, and with its help Threadfall is stopped forever. This is good on its own, but it felt very forced, may not have been quality writing in general, and ended not only the series but the ''premise of the setting''.

** A measure of Pernese misogyny is that it's considered perfectly normal for a man to "take" a woman who refuses to acknowledge her love for him. F'nor more or less rapes Brekke, and F'lar physically assaults and occasionally humiliates Lessa in earlier books.
*** F'lar actually thinks to himself that he "might as well call it rape" when he has sex with Lessa and their dragons aren't involved (this is before they actually fall in love). He's vaguely troubled by this but not overwhelmed with guilt or anything, and it doesn't seem to occur to him that maybe he should stop having sex with her unless she actually wants it. He just figures he's pretty good in bed and he'll get her to come around eventually. It's not actually important that F'lar conceive a child with Lessa, and the Weyrleaders and Weyrwomen are not required to sleep with each other, so he was just raping her for his own pleasure.

** There's also some Values Dissonance in how the disabled are treated -- in ''[=MasterHarper=] of Pern'', Robinton fathers a mentally disabled child. The child's mother urges him to go find peace and happiness by paying attention to the other boys, and not worrying about his so very disappointing retarded kid. To his credit, Camo appeared earlier in the Harper Hall trilogy, and while no one said he was Robinton's son, he was well-treated and happy.

** Rapidly approaching this concerning Todd [=McCaffrey=]'s books, divided mostly between fans who say "Eh, they're not that bad" and those who consider them ascended [[FanFic fanfiction]].

* OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight: Todd McCaffrey's books can be very divisive.

* EsotericHappyEnding: Eventually, in Todd McCaffrey's books, the MedievalStasis of the series is broken with the rediscovery of a DeusExMachina super computer in a cave, and with its help Threadfall is stopped forever. This is good on its own, but it felt very forced, may not have been quality writing in general, and ended not only the series but the ''premise of the setting''.

** Lord Holder Fax is something of a MagnificentBastard as well, as he managed to gain control of seven Holds through various means, mostly conquest. One Hold, however, he "won" by marrying into the leadership...and then doing his level best to kill his Lady wife via childbirth. He also had zero problems with killing every man, woman, and child even suspected of having Ruathan blood in his bid to gain supremacy over that Hold. It's also heavily implied that he if not outright raped, then stole and coerced every half-pretty female in his jurisdiction that he could get his hands on.

%%* OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight

** A measure of Pernese misogyny is that it's considered perfectly normal [[LovingForce for a man to "take" a woman who refuses to acknowledge her love for him]]. F'nor more or less rapes Brekke, and F'lar physically assaults and occasionally humiliates Lessa in earlier books.

** There's also some Values Dissonance in how the disabled are treated -- in ''[=MasterHarper=] of Pern'', Robinton fathers a mentally disabled child. The child's mother urges him to go find peace and happiness by paying attention to the other boys, and not worrying about his so very disappointing retarded kid.

* HilariousInHindsight: when fire lizards are first rediscovered, F'lar exclaims "Lessa'll want one for sure." She ends up loathing them for their part in the egg-theft.

*** The drudges in general are often treated pretty badly. Given that most of them seem to be mentally disabled, this carries [[UnfortunateImplications Unfortunate Implications]].
*** Drudges are the equivalent of servants--most Holderfolk consider them not much different from furniture. Despicable, but not Unfortunate Implications. The reason most are mentally disabled is because no-one is a Drudge unless they have no choice--the mentally disabled can't do anything else.
*** All that said, Robinton does still care about his son and ensures that anyone who mistreats him [[PapaWolf learns the hard way why it's a Bad Idea]]. The dissonance would come across as FairForItsDay if this were a standard medieval setting.

*** F'lar actually thinks to himself that he "might as well call it rape" when he has sex with Lessa and their dragons aren't involved (this is before they actually fall in love). He's vaguely troubled by this but not overwhelmed with guilt or anything, and it doesn't seem to occur to him that maybe he should stop having sex with her unless she actually wants it. He just figures he's pretty good in bed and he'll get her to come around eventually. It's not actually important that F'lar conceive a child with Lessa, and the Weyrleaders and Weyrwomen are not required to sleep with each other, so he was raping her for his own pleasure.

*** F'lar actually thinks to himself that he "might as well call it rape" when he has sex with Lessa and their dragons aren't involved (this is before they actually fall in love). He's vaguely troubled by this but not overwhelmed with guilt or anything, and it doesn't seem to occur to him that maybe he should stop having sex with her unless she actually wants it. He just figures he's pretty good in bed and he'll get her to come around eventually. It's not actually important that F'lar actually conceive by Lessa, and the Weyrleaders and Weyrwomen are not required to sleep with each other, so he was raping her for his own pleasure.

* OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight

** JerkassWoobie or IronWoobie: Lessa. You really can't blame her for being so harsh and temperamental considering her family was massacred, she'd hidden as a slave in her own home for ten years, and the main reason she decided to try for Weyrwoman was because she had no clue what she'd do ''after'' getting revenge on Fax. When F'lar actually asks her about it, she realized that "she hadn't thought that far before."

*** Drudges are the equivalent of servants- most Holderfolk consider them not much different from furniture. Despicable, but not Unforutnate Implications. The reason most are mentally disabled is because no-one is a Drudge unless they have no choice - the mentally disabled can't do anything else.

* CompleteMonster: While most of the antagonists are at least somewhat nuanced, there are two who would seem to qualify as this:
** Lord Holder Fax gets double kudos as something of a Magnificent Bastard as well, as he managed to gain control of seven Holds through various means, mostly conquest. One Hold, however, he "won" by marrying into the leadership...and then doing his level best to kill his Lady wife via childbirth. He also had zero problems with killing every man, woman, and child even suspected of having Ruathan blood in his bid to gain supremacy over that Hold. It's also heavily implied that he if not outright raped, then stole and coerced every half-pretty female in his jurisdiction that he could get his hands on.
** Lord Holder Chalkin though, takes the cake. The bastard had a jail area that was more or less like a freezer, with small "cells" cut into rock, all of them cold and damp, into which he threw anyone that pissed him off in the slightest. A servant spilled a container of sugar and got two weeks in one of these cramped, cold cells. People were frequently kept in the cells until they died of the cold and damp, and their bodies were thrown into a lime pit, rather than given whatever passed for a normal burial. He was also heavily "tithing" his peoples' produce, whether it was food or textiles or what have you, to the point of forcing his people to starve and work themselves to death in an effort to please him while he wallowed in an excess of supplies of all kinds.

** Lord Holder Fax gets double kudos as something of a Magnificent Bastard as well, as he managed to gain control of seven Holds through various means, mostly conquest. One Hold, however, he 'won' by marrying into the leadership ... and then doing his level best to kill his Lady wife via childbirth. He also had zero problems with killing every man, woman, and child even suspected of having Ruathan blood in his bid to gain supremacy over that Hold. It's also heavily implied that he if not outright raped, then stole and coerced every half-pretty female in his jurisdiction that he could get his hands on.
** Lord Holder Chalkin though, takes the cake. The bastard had a jail area that was more or less like a freezer, with small 'cells' cut into rock, all of them cold and damp. Into which he threw anyone that pissed him off in the slightest. A servant spilled a container of sugar and got two weeks in one of these cramped, cold cells. People were frequently kept in the cells until they died of the cold and damp, and their bodies were thrown into a lime pit, rather than given whatever passed for a normal burial. He was also heavily 'tithing' his peoples' produce, whether it was food or textiles or what have you, to the point of forcing his people to starve and work themselves to death in an effort to please him while he wallowed in an excess of supplies of all kinds.