History Ymmv / FairyTail

** While Sting's good side was showing a few chapters prior, Chapter 300 might have had him join Rogue in being the only well-liked members of Sabertooth after [[spoiler:blasting a hole through Ziemma after obliterating Lector for showing he had a guild mark. The fans were ''pleased'' to see Ziemma get it coming.]] Rogue and Yukino have been getting a lot of love, too, after the ''Grand Magic Games'' arc, especially following the Sabertooth side-story.
** Also, Flare was a disliked member of the already disliked Raven Tail guild... until [[spoiler: said guild disbanded and she came to Lucy and the rest of Fairy Tail in an apologetic state. When her backstory and FreudianExcuse for her prior behavior came out, the hate for her pretty much vanished in-story and out of it.]]
** Though she remains a BaseBreakingCharacter by and large, [[spoiler:Minerva]], of all people, has surprisingly ascended to this trope to a fair degree. Before she was one of the most reviled characters of the story, but after it was revealed [[spoiler:she is the way she is due to her AbusiveDad (who, among other acts, beat her for crying and left her naked in a forest one night) and that she actually ''regrets'' what she had become]], the fanbase eased up on her a little bit. Obviously she still has a lot of things to make up for, but as far as most readers are concerned, this is still tremendous progress in her development.

* MemeticMutation: The "Wow!" sound effect used during fanservice scenes (which actually originates from ''VideoGame/{{Parodius}} Da!'') in the anime became a popular sound effect for various Website/YouTube videos, either for other fanservice scenes or moments that are decidedly not sexy.

** Future Rogue initially gained interest for killing Future Lucy and then easily defeating the main protagonist. However, his characterization proved largely lacking as his arc progressed, and the revelation that his StartOfDarkness was the death of Frosch (who, as Natsu points out, his actions are endangering) earned him widespread scorn.

** The ''Alvarez Empire'' arc. While it started off promising, with a feeling of impending doom that terrified even the main characters, a series of {{Curb Stomp Battle}}s that set the Spriggan Twelve up as a threat unlike anything Fairy Tail has ever faced before (and themselves being interesting and sympathetic characters, being the most popular villains in the series since Grimoire Heart), and a truly heartbreaking reveal of the backstory between [[spoiler:Zeref and Mavis]] pushing some fans into full-blown RootingForTheEmpire mode, the fights themselves in the latter part of the arc have been met with calls of being poorly handled, not the least of which has been the heavily criticized overdose of the NotQuiteDead trope. The arc went on for over 100 chapters and even the fact that this was the [[GrandFinale final arc]] didn't stop people from voicing their complaints. Many were eager just to move on to the inevitable final battle with Zeref and Acnologia.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: For many, the ''Avatar'' arc is seen as this due to how pointless the arc came off as when it was all said and done. Other problems included the overexposure of Natsu, and wasted world-building potential.

** E.N.D. stands for [[spoiler:'''E'''therious '''N'''atsu '''D'''ragneel]]. Some may feel that it's pretty obvious considering how much the ''Tartaros'' arc foreshadowed it, and it was hinted at as far back as the ''Tenrou Island'' arc. Although many will agree that figuring out [[spoiler:what the '''E''' stood for to describe E.N.D.]] was probably the hardest part to figure out.[[note]]Most were going with the simple answer, "Evil".[[/note]]

** Sting blasting a hole in Jiemma for [[spoiler:seemingly]] killing Lector. As he lies there, Minerva, ''his own daughter'', [[BreakTheHaughty smugly tells him that according to his own rules, he's no longer worthy of being part of Saber Tooth]].

*** Chapter 450 somehow manages to make this even worse. [[spoiler:Mavis died because of a KissOfDeath with Zeref]]. He then spent a long amount of time with her ghost on Tenroujima, unable to see her, hear her, or touch her, and doing little more than being able to feel her presence. All of that time, he spent stewing, wishing for death, before the ticking time bomb finally exploded in the aforementioned HumansAreBastards scene. That must have absolutely broken her heart.

** [[JerkassGods Ankhseram]] hasn't even been seen on-screen yet and the fandom already believes he's crossed this. Cursing [[spoiler:Zeref because he just wanted to his little brother back from the dead]] was bad enough, considering his StartOfDarkness was entirely Ankhseram's fault. But as if that wasn't already MoralEventHorizon material, he then cursed [[spoiler:''Mavis'']], and all she wanted to do was save her friends from a sort of DemonicPossession caused by [[spoiler:[[ArtifactOfDoom the Tenrou Jade]],]] which would have caused mass casualties if she hadn't decided the risks of using [[spoiler:an incomplete Law]] were worth it. The former could ''maybe'' be justified, if you buy the excuse of an InMysteriousWays sense of a deity's BlueAndOrangeMorality. The latter was just a straight-up dick move against a character who absolutely did ''not'' deserve it. And just to cement how much of a douche he is [[spoiler: Zeref's curse kills Mavis despite her own curse because they fell in love with each other, just to drive him even further into despair.]] He'd seriously be in pure evil territory had he actually appeared on screen.

** Crawford, who essentially [[spoiler:betrayed his own nation and kind by willingly allying with Tartaros]], gets impaled by Kyoka after absorbing the last key to the Face.

* EvilIsCool: Most of the [[ArcVillain Arc Villains]], with a few specific members of the arc's QuirkyMiniBossSquad standing out like Gajeel, Jose, Hades, Seilah, Kyouka, Mard Geer. And for overarching villains there's of course Zeref and Acnologia.

** Irene being Erza's mother. Some people tried to go 2 for 2 by claiming Acnologia was her father due to Irene's heavy involvement with dragons and being the first Dragon Slayer and as an explanation for Erza's amazing skill, but it turned out her father was just some scumbag from an arranged political marriage that got his just desserts.

* CriticalDissonance: The anime and manga of ''Manga/FairyTail'' have [[https://kodanshacomics.com/2016/02/16/creator-interview-hiro-mashima-on-fairy-tail/ both won numerous awards from reviewers and critics in Europe since 2009]] - even ranking within the top 10 most popular manga series in Japan from [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-11-30/top-selling-manga-in-japan-by-series/2010 2010]] to [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-11-30/top-selling-manga-in-japan-by-series/2011 2011]] and [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-12-02/10-top-selling-manga-in-japan-by-series/2012 2012]] onto [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-12-01/top-selling-manga-in-japan-by-series/2013 2013]]. Upon ending the manga in 2017, Mashima even [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2017-10-02/hiro-mashima-to-be-honored-at-harvey-awards-at-nycc/.122130 won the Harvey Award in New York.]] In stark contrast, among fans online, ''Manga/FairyTail'' is generally considered as one of ''the most hated Shonen series around'' and a primary source of mockery.[[note]] Much of this has to with fans online having lots of [[DuelingShows other contemporary Shonen manga to compare FT with (e.g. One Piece, Naruto, Bleach)]], and the clichés of Fairy Tail being far more obvious and irksome [[FollowTheLeader since many have been seen in previous Shonen works before]], thus leaving little in the series that is original or fresh. [[/note]]

** Name almost any character from a Dark Guild and you'll have people making this claim about them due to never living up to the badass hype Mashima develops for them at the start of their story arcs.
* BaseBreakingCharacter: [[BaseBreakingCharacter/FairyTail Now with its own dedicated page]].

** Sting blasting a hole in [[spoiler:Ziemma]] for [[spoiler:seemingly killing Lector]]. As he lies there, [[spoiler:Minerva, his own daughter, [[BreakTheHaughty smugly tells him that according to his own rules, he's no longer worthy of being part of Saber Tooth]]]].

* EvilIsCool: Most of the [[ArcVillain Arc Villains]], with a few specific members of the arc's QuirkyMiniBossSquad standing out like Gajeel, Jose, Hades, Seilah, Kyouka, Mard Geee. And for overarching villains there's of course Zeref and Acnologia.

* [[AssPull/FairyTail AssPull]].

* AssPull: Mashima has never been one for planning ahead plot-wise. The {{Ass Pull}}s in the series tend to revolve around never-seen-before magic developments (most of which are never foreshadowed, or if they are, it's in such a vague way it might as well not be) which occur without warning in battles or are demonstrated by different magic users. Most are supported (read: handwaved) by a vague and nonspecific magic system that even in-universe is full of unknowns and is a subject of intense study (with subtle overtones of knowing too much leads to madness or TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow).
** Natsu has been known to turn around battles in his favor through some form of AssPull - generally the IndyPloy kind of AssPull where the character makes shit up on the spot. They are usually built up during the battle as Natsu struggles and fails with an obstacle before finally figuring out how to overcome it in an AssPull manner (routinely doing things that the other characters say are supposed to be impossible or extremely dangerous but often have no technical reason why they shouldn't work in the setting context).
*** In order to defeat Zancrow, Natsu uses up all of his immediate reserve of dragon-fire flames and magic, making himself an empty vessel, which then allows him to eat god-fire flames without them conflicting with his own. Even Makarov is completely stunned that it somehow works, and [[AngerBornOfWorry yells at Natsu for trying something so reckless]] – making this an in-universe example at the very least. This evolution of Natsu's ability to eat different flames and elements then culminates in the fight with Hades where Natsu takes in Laxus's Dragon Slayer lightning and unlocks his Dual Dragon Slayer Mode.
** Erza's magic style lends itself to this trope rather easily. Due to using weapons and armor stored in HammerSpace for [[CrazyPrepared every situation she can think of]], she's constantly pulling out new ones to suit her situation, some of which are never before seen. A particularly infamous example was the Nakagami armor, which was described as essentially making Erza invincible and allowed her to easily defeat Minerva despite the latter being ''far'' less injured. The title of [[http://fairytailfanon.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Perchan/Fairy_Tail_321-_In_Which_Goddammit_Erza_(Laxus_vs._Jura) this Chapter 321 review]] sums up fan reaction nicely.
** In her fight with Azuma, the "souls" of Erza's friends pushed her forward to pull off an OHKO sword swing against Azuma, an enemy that she had damaged and worn down but wasn't close to finishing off. This one ''can'' be explained by them being on Fairy Tail's sacred island and Azuma's attempted final attack drawing upon the magic of the very Tenrou Tree he uprooted (which also contains the magic of the Fairy Tail mages, which could have legitimately gotten away from him thanks to Erza's iron will and deeper connection), but it can still come off as contrived at first glance, with Makarov's later musings at the end of the arc on magic evolving alongside wizards only helping a bit.
** Erza's second fight with Kyouka, after Kyouka enters her OneWingedAngel form. Erza hit Kyouka's BerserkButton (telling her that she'll never get to meet [[BigBad Zeref]]), after which Kyouka started absolutely [[CurbStompBattle mopping the floor]] [[UnstoppableRage with Erza]], culminating in Kyouka [[spoiler:utilizing her Sensation Curse to rob Erza of her five senses.]] Erza somehow manages to pull through a win despite having none of her senses. This one is so much of an AssPull that even the ''characters'' are [[LampshadeHanging forced to admit]] that Erza won... because she's Erza, logic be damned.
** [[spoiler:The red lightning that Laxus obtains to defeat Wall, who had been firmly established to NoSell any lightning attack. It comes out of nowhere (at most, a flashback implies that it has something to do with Yuri), with no real explanation on how it works. At most, people have suggested from the name "Mercury Fulminate" that Laxus created the actual explosive compound, but the end of the chapter still attributes his victory to "lightning that surpasses lightning".]] This one has to wait until ''Manga/FairyTail100YearsQuest'' for a proper explanation in that [[spoiler:it's Laxus' unique SuperMode as a Lightning Dragon Slayer, created by utilizing his own blood to empower his lightning.]]
** [[spoiler:August's defeat. After Gildarts and Cana manage to land a single hit past his PowerNullifier, he decides to try and take out Fairy Tail with a massive spell [[TakingYouWithMe that will kill him as well]], which he ends up limiting to himself after seeing Mavis nearby and not wanting to hurt his mother. While his death is meant to be tragic, his decision to resort to a suicide attack makes little to no sense since Gildarts had lost the prosthetic arm needed to bypass August's defense, meaning the heroes had no chance of beating him, and August could have simply killed them at his leisure, making his death come across as incredibly contrived.]]
** In chapter 517, [[spoiler:Wendy turns out to have survived Irene's GrandTheftMe by copying the same Enchantment magic Irene used on her. Even if it was established that Wendy and Irene use the same type of Enchantment magic and Wendy could conceivably copy it, the idea of Wendy successfully coping a body stealing spell she's never seen before, as it's being used on her, and casting it back in a fast enough time to body swap instead of having her mind destroyed is a little too convenient to call clever writing]].
** Everything about [[spoiler:Anna Heartfilia's role in the present]] counts as this. [[spoiler:Neither Zeref nor Aquarius had ever once insinuated that Anna had come through as well during their independent accounts of the plan. Initially introduced as the person who simply opened the Eclipse Gate to enact the plan, we are later told that she was one of the Dragon Slayers' teachers alongside their parents, her absence from their own recollections explained away by their apparent affected memories from traveling through the Eclipse Gate. She has flimsy reasons for never contacting the Dragon Slayers or Zeref, and gave little information about where she'd been while apparently knowing that her descendant Layla died and made no effort to comfort Lucy at the time. Her main role was to introduce the space between time, a tiny black hole (explicitly compared to the size of a tangerine) floating over the open ocean that she somehow found and then prepared to try trapping Acnologia in it.]]
** [[spoiler:Doranbolt was a Fairy Tail spy from the beginning came out of nowhere since no one except Makarov knew about it. Even Doranbolt didn't know, due to sealing away his own memories. It's established that Makarov visits Doranbolt periodically and undoes the memory spell he placed on himself, but Doranbolt still lampshades how weird and confusing it all is.]] WordOfGod admits that it was a plot point that had been considered a long time ago and was nearly scrapped, thus leading to the lack of foreshadowing.
** The Alvarez Empire has no presence in the story up until the arc focused on it despite supposedly being a looming threat toward Ishgal throughout the series. Then we learn who its Emperor is: Zeref, who had been portrayed as TheAloner because of his curse killing all life around him as long as he values it. He claims that he's able to avoid killing his empire's citizens by not viewing them as people, yet he's able to maintain a good enough relationship with them that they still adore him, making his previous issues with killing those around him seem self-inflicted. It also calls into question what he was doing on Sirius Island when he has an empire to rule, even if it is implied he apparently spends long periods of time away from the empire to leave day-to-day activities to his ministers and the more rational Spriggan 12. The revelation seems to have been thrown in just to put Zeref directly into the position of BigBad.
** The only thing surprising about Irene's relation to Erza was how long the story delayed such an obvious reveal. [[spoiler:Then we're told that she's the Queen of Dragons and the creator of Dragon Slayer Magic, despite there being nothing obvious about Irene beforehand having hinted at any relation to the Dragons. The Dragon she learned from, Belserion, is suddenly revealed to have started the Dragon King Festival to protect humanity despite Zirconis' story heavily implying that it was Igneel. The revelation, as well as the consequences of her dragonfication, comes several chapters after Acnologia is shown to be capable of casually switching back and forth (granted, it's not shown ''how'' he first transformed back or even his own initial reaction to his transformation), and even the current Irene shows no sign the SenseLossSadness that she's supposedly suffering from. On the topic of Acnologia, he displayed the ability to smell all the Dragon Slayers across the continent, yet had absolutely no interest in Irene until he was goaded into a fight. When brought up, Hiro claims that he always planned for Irene to create Dragon Slayer Magic, but hadn't decided on her relationship with Erza, and had to leave out any aspects of her backstory before then.]]

* [[Fridge/FairyTail Fridge]]

* [[NightmareFuel/FairyTail Nightmare Fuel]]

* [[TearJerker/FairyTail Tear Jerker]]

** Anna Heartfilia earned some curiosity given her connection to Zeref and the Dragon Slayers, but fell into this trope when she was revealed to have come to the present with them. She leaves several {{Plot Hole}}s in the process (such as how people in on the 400-Year Plan like Zeref and Aquarius did not seem to know this), giving flimsy excuses as to why she never contacted ''anyone'' for the past 15 years, and only served to introduce a plot device that would give Acnologia an anticlimactic end while denying readers the long-awaited showdown between him and the Dragon Slayers. Her plan doesn't even work, instead making Acnologia even ''more'' powerful, making her reintroduction in the story come off as pointless, though it did set the stage for two cathartic final battles against Acnologia's dragon persona and his human persona when his power became so chaotic that the two separated. In essence, her status as this relates to many considering her another example of TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter. However, the epilogue reveals Anna is now a teacher, and that gives her a chance to impart some of her wisdom from the past to future generations.

* [[AntiClimaxBoss/FairyTail Anti-Climax Boss]].

* AnticlimaxBoss: See [[AntiClimaxBoss/FairyTail Anti-Climax Boss]].

* AnticlimaxBoss: See [[AntiClimaxBoss/FairyTail here]].