Line #94 FanFic/MegsFamilySeries


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/family_guy_by_laceyhawk_danhxgc.jpg]]
2
3	The ''Meg's Family'' series is a trilogy of three ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' fanfics written by Malcolm Fox.
4
5	The first story in the series, ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3620835/1/Megs_Boyfriend Meg's Boyfriend]]'' is a story of how Meg meets a boy named Zack after Peter abandoned her at a gas station convenience store. Soon the two of them fall in love, Zack moves in with the Griffins, and later Meg, becomes pregnant and gives birth to her daughter, Maddie. While at first, it had a continuous plot, after Maddie's birth, the story format changed to episodic adventures, but unlike the show, there is a strong continuity. The fic ran for 47 chapters.
6
7	The series continued with the sequel, ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4098184/1/Megs_Family Meg's Family]]'', which continues in the same episodic format, while introducing new elements, such as Meg befriending a goth girl named Raven, Zack learning about his true origins, and the addition of Cody, Zack's son from a previous relationship, to the family. Like its predecessor, it ran for 47 chapters until the author canceled it due lack of ideas and motivation.
8
9	Four years later, the author resurrected the series with its third installment, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11017350/1/Meg-s-Family-Returns Meg's Family Returns]]''.
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11	----
12	!The series contains examples of the following tropes:
13
14	* AbusiveParents: Zack's dad Frank can give post-Flanderization Peter and Lois a run for their money.
15	** Also, Cody's mom Nikki. She barely takes care of him, culminating in her finally abandoning him after she elopes with her boyfriend in Las Vegas.
16	* AccidentalMisnaming: Adam West constantly gets Maddie's name wrong.
17	* AccidentalProposal: In the b-plot to the chapter "Family Goth", after Maddie and Stewie get freed from a finger trap, Cody lies and tells them that in Chinese custom, since their fingers touched, they're engaged. They get "married", and when Stewie actually wants to make the relationship work, Cody has a MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment when he realizes that an uncle and niece are acting like they're really married.
18	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: When designing the cover for ''Meg's Family Returns'' (pictured), [=LaceyHawk=] made Meg look taller and slimmer than usual.
19	* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Teaching at Maddie's preschool is a much nicer Mrs. Lockheart.
20	* AffectionateParody: In a similar vein of ''Blue Harvest'', Zack retells ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
21	* AgeGapRomance: Chris and Jillian. Chris is 13 and Jillian is in her twenties.
22	* AlliterativeName: '''M'''addie '''M'''urdock.
23	* AllJustADream:
24	** "Forgotten", "Time Stew", and "The Mandatory Zombie Chapter".
25	** The prologue to ''Returns'', where quite a lot has changed: Zack and Meg's new business is a success and they've had another son' Jillian and Chris are married; Lois is in charge of her late father's business; Tilly graduated college at four years old ''and'' cured cancer; Brian is an acclaimed author and met his dream girl. And then Meg wakes up.
26	--> '''Meg''': I just had the weirdest dream. I dreamt that we were in a fanfic that got canceled and was then uncancelled 4 years later.
27	--> '''Zack''': 4 years? That's crazy. Maddie's still 1 and we adopted Cody only a month ago.
28	--> '''Brian''': ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!
29	* ArchEnemy:
30	** Maddie and Olvia. After the latter pulled a HeelFaceTurn, Eliza replaced her. Also, Zack has Lobster, the giant fighting lobster.
31	** Quagmire also has an enemy/rival in the form of DashingHispanic Diego Montoya.
32	* ArtifactTitle: At some point, Meg and Zack get married, and thus Zack isn't Meg's boyfriend anymore, but her husband. Averted in the sequel.
33	* AscendedExtra: Many, most notably Jillian, Mrs. Lockhart, Olivia Fuller...
34	** The entire fanfic is this for Meg.
35	* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: Maddie in the aptly titled "Attack of the 50 foot Toddler"
36	* AuthorAvatar: Zack is sometimes used to voice the author's opinion on something, usually about the series proper.
37	* BearsAreBadNews: When Stewie and Maddie get lost in the woods, they get attacked by a bear after Stewie mistakes it for a rock.
38	* BerserkButton: If you trim just a ''little'' bit of Zack's hair...well...
39	** Don't talk smack about his wife Meg. Maddie also reacts in a similar way.
40	* BetaCouple: Chris and Jillian. Brian and Mrs. Lockhart as well starting Meg's Family Returns.
41	* BehindTheBlack: Parodied in chapter 7 of ''Meg's Family Returns'':
42	-->'''Meg''': You'd think [Cody] and Stewie would be friends.
43	-->'''Zack''': Are you kidding? If Maddie didn't have to share a room with [Stewie], his only friend would be a grown dog. You'd have to be pretty lame to hang out with just a baby all day.
44	-->'''Brian''': ''(offscreen)'' You know, just because you can't see me doesn't mean I'm out of earshot.
45	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Stripes, who pretends to be a normal cat, but it's actually an evil mastermind worse than Stewie.
46	* BrainyBaby: Tilly, who has an IQ of 250 and is able to build complex inventions despite being less than a year old.
47	* BrainyBrunette: Tilly, being a ChildProdigy in science to boot.
48	* BunglingInventor: If Tilly's inventions are plot relevant, they usually backfire.
49	* ButtMonkey: Even while being a "throw Meg a bone" fanfic, Meg still gets a lot of crap. But even then, that's nothing compared to the crap dumped on Peter. It's very clear the author greatly dislikes Peter.
50	** To say nothing about what happens to Zack throughout the fanfic's run. He's been treated badly by his [[spoiler:NOT biological]] father Frank until [[spoiler:he died from a heart attack and was out of Zack's life forever]], puts up with Peter's stupidity, has been injured numerous times, and nearly died a few times.
51	** James Woods.
52	** Cody sometimes ends up as this when he became a recurring character. In addition to being neglected by Nikki, he had what was thought to be the short end of the stick in "Mighty Murdocks", was a sock puppet in the Muppet universe ("Multiverse Mayhem"), and everyone forgot his birthday in "Cody's Ticket".
53	%%* CatsAreMean: Stripes again.
54	* ChekhovsSkill: In "Mighty Murdocks", Cody's water power is deemed useless by all the characters until much later, when it turns out that his power is the most powerful of all, he just needs the source of water to perform it.
55	* ChildProdigy: Tilly, who's able to build scientific inventions and being ''less than a year old''.
56	* ClingyJealousGirl: Jillian sometimes becomes this whenever Chris spends too much time with other girls.
57	%%* {{Crossover}}: Chapter 31, with ''Fanfic/TheSpellbook''.
58	%%* CurseCutShort: By Connie in "Mighty Murdocks":
59	%%-->'''Connie''': Holy shi- ''(crash)''
60	* ADayInTheLimelight:
61	** Brian in "She's a Mad Dog", Jillian in "Jillian the Genius", Mrs. Lockhart in "Meg's Breast Friend" and Quagmire in "The Man Who Lost his Giggity".
62	** ''Returns'' does this again. Brian and Jillian have "The Bitch Next" and "Jillian the Weather Girl" respectively, and Roberta in "Roberta's Boyfriend".
63	* DeadFic: ''Meg's Family Returns'', the third installment in the series, hasn't been updated since January 2019.
64	* DeadpanSnarker: Zack is made of this.
65	* DemotedToExtra: Of all the six main characters, Brian has the least CharacterFocus. Oddly, the author stated that he likes Brian, even better than other characters that he dislikes.
66	* TheDitz: CJ, though not quite as dim as Peter or even Chris.
67	* ADogNamedDog: Through genetic engineering, Carter creates a giant, fighting lobster (kinda like Ernie the Giant Chicken). His name? Lobster. Carter and Zack even interrupt his story to suggest better names, though Lobster wouldn't have any of it.
68	* DuckSeasonRabbitSeason: Lucifer pulls this trick on Zack's former boss so he can get his job back.
69	* {{Emo}}: Cody, the son of Zack and his ex-girlfriend Nikki.
70	* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Diego Montoya. He once seduced a man, convinced him to have a sex change operation, and then he [[{{Jerkass}} turned "her" down for not being his type.]]
71	* EvilDuo: Ernie the Chicken and Lobster the Lobster forms one after the latter was introduced.
72	* FakingTheDead: Zack and Death pretend that the latter has come to claim the former. When they reveal it to be a joke, DudeNotFunny ensues (everyone eventually forgives him, although Meg takes a little longer to do so until he admits he would have willingly sacrificed his life to save her and Maddie).
73	* {{Flanderization}}:
74	** Zack is the most prominent example. At first, he was a smart, if a bit dim-witted DeadpanSnarker who was at odds with Peter. However, somewhere in the sequel, his character revolved around his feud with Peter (and his IQ also dropped several points).
75	** After getting some CharacterDevelopment, Tilly became a MadScientist BrainyBaby with awful social skills. However, her character began to fade into simply providing the invention of the week that would serve as plot device. Fortunately, both Tilly and Zack were revised in later chapters.
76	* FloatingTimeline
77	* FourthWallBreaking: This dialogue in "Meg's Breast Friend":
78	-->'''Stewie''': Revenge is my specialty. Just ask Elizabeth Smart. One day, she cut in front of me in a line at UsefulNotes/McDonalds, so of course I had to-
79	-->'''Tilly''': Don't you dare finish that! [[FourthWallBreaking Do you want this fic deleted?]]
80	* FreakyFridayFlip: In the aptly titled "Brain Swap", Peter and Zack switch bodies, much to Zack's horror.
81	* FutureBadass: Played straight with Maddie, subverted with Stewie.
82	* GadgeteerGenius: Tilly, though more often than not she's a BunglingInventor.
83	* TheGenericGuy: Tilly and CJ during''Meg's Boyfriend''. In ''Meg's Family'' they finally got some CharacterDevelopment.
84	* {{Goth}}: Meg's friend Raven.
85	* GothGirlsKnowMagic: Raven studies and practices magic in her spare time (her main source of knowledge is the internet), which comes quite in handy in supernatural-themed chapters.
86	* GranolaGirl: Valarie
87	* HairTriggerTemper: Zack, usually brought upon by Peter.
88	* HateSink: Malcolm Fox went out of his way to make Frank, Zack's {{Jerkass}} [[AbusiveParents abusive father]], as unlikeable as possible. The same goes for Peter, who Malcolm has admitted that he ''really'' doesn't like. Connie D'Amico gets this treatment too, though to be fair, the source material itself depicts her along the same lines.
89	* HeelFaceTurn: Olivia in the eighth chapter of ''Family'' after Maddie saves her life.
90	** [[spoiler:Lucifer does this when the truth that he was Zack's biological father comes out.]]
91	* HehHehYouSaidX: Too often. But parodied at least once:
92	-->'''Tilly''': ''(to Jillian)'' Wow, mom, I think you just had a brain fart.
93	-->'''C.J.''': Haha! You said '''brain!'''
94	* HeroOfAnotherStory: Cody at the end of "Roberta's Boyfriend", who appears from a flaming pentagram and wearing hellish armor. This is done to point out how OutOfFocus he's been, and when he's just about to explain what happened the chapter ends.
95	* HeroicBSOD: Zack at the end of "Sex Lies and Rock".
96	* IdenticalGrandson: Averted with Maddie who according to her description and official art has a very distinctive design, while retaining some traits from her parents. Tilly and CJ are literally baby versions of Jillian and Chris respectively (well, and that Tilly is brunette).
97	* InsaneTrollLogic: In "Swiss Family Griffins", a sleazy salesman convinces Peter to buy a flamethrower so if the house ever catches fire, he can 'fight fire with fire'.
98	* JerkAss: Frank, big time.
99	* LikeFatherLikeSon: Chris and CJ are thoroughly similar in personality down to their looks.
100	* LikesOlderWomen: Chris, though Jillian is not ''that'' old.
101	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Lucifer]] is Zack's biological dad. Not that it wasn't blatantly hinted.
102	* MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: In "Time Stew", Stewie goes back in time and prevents Meg from meeting Zack, erasing the event that triggered the whole story.
103	* MidlifeCrisisCar: Chapter 14 has Peter get one after Meg announces her pregnancy.
104	* MsFanservice: InUniverse, when Jillian became the new Channel 5 Weather Girl, her hotness was played up a lot, up to making her wear revealing costumes and splash her with water or mud.
105	* TheMultiverse: The main focus of the two-part premiere of the third fic, [[spoiler: in which a Meg from an alternate universe seeks to kill all the Peters and kidnap all the Megs in order to create a new world populated only by Megs.]]
106	* NewAgeRetroHippie: Valarie
107	* NoRespectGuy: Zack.
108	* NoSocialSkills: Tilly.
109	* NobodyTouchesTheHair: Zack is absurdly protective of his hair, due to fearing of becoming bald when older.
110	* NotSoImaginaryFriend: The Boogeyman
111	* OfficialCouple: Meg and Zack
112	** Chris and Jillian.
113	* OnlySaneMan: Tilly, in her own family.
114	** Zack could be this in his.
115	* OriginalCharacter: Lots of them, the most prominet being Zack, the titular Meg's boyfriend; Maddie, Meg and Zack's daughter; Tilly and CJ, Chris and Jillian's twin children; Valarie, Zack and Jillian hippie mother; Raven, Meg's goth friend, and lastly Ezekiel "Zeke" Williams, Roberta's boyfriend.
116	* OrphanedPunchline: Naturally, lampooned:
117	-->'''Zeke''': ...and then I said "no thanks, but that's a nice tie!"
118	-->''(Everybody laughs)''
119	-->'''Roberta''': See? I told you he could get you all to laugh by just saying the punchline without the setup like they do on TV!
120	* PapaWolf: Zack is very protective of both Maddie and Cody, and if you dare mess with them, it wont end well for you.
121	* ParentalObliviousness: Lois and Peter to Chris' relationship with Jillian.
122	* ParodySue: The aptly named Mary Sue.
123	-->'''Stewie:''' She's Mary Sue. And apparently she's also my best friend, girlfriend, first kiss, she saved my life, had a DisneyDeath, is smarter than me, has great sex, is TheChosenOne, can solve everything, and is also my long lost sister!
124	* PolarOppositeTwins: Tilly and CJ. Tilly is an intelligent inventor with awful social skills whereas CJ. is just as dumb as his parents, although with decent social skills.
125	* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Lana gives a ''huge'' one to Quagmire after finding out [[spoiler:the latter was blackmailing Brian into being his "wingman"]].
126	--> '''Lana''': You want to talk about assholes, let's talk about you! You said that you hate this guy for constantly hitting on his best friend's wife, but he's not the only one who does. Now who else does it? Oh that's right, it's you! TWICE! Twice because you not only hit on Lois, but you also ruined Cleveland's first marriage by having an affair with Loretta behind his back. You have the audacity to call Brian out for hitting on Lois with a straight face when you've not only hit on Lois countless times, you also collect her toenail clippings and hair and you were caught spying on her in the women's bathroom like some sick freak! But why stop there? Not only do you hit on your best friend's wife, but also his daughter. His 17 year old daughter. His 17 year old married daughter with a child! You're lucky I've never told Zack about this or he'd tear you 10 new assholes and a second mouth. And sure, Brian may have dated bimbos but at least he never gave any of them roofies, VD, attempted to rape them, or had the nerve to lie about using a condom! And he also didn't keep a bunch of Asian sex slaves in his garage or tried to take advantage of a tied up middle school cheerleader, but you're honest about it so that makes it okay. Um, no it doesn't! And you want to call Brian a failure of a father? What about you? How about the fact that you only put your daughter up for adoption because she was getting in the way of your sex life and then said that you're going to have sex with her once she turns 18? And then there's Phoebe, and God knows how many other children of yours around the world that you've never even bothered to support! How are they doing, by the way? And what did you get them for their last birthdays? Oh, but that's okay because you're honest about it! And he never does anything to help the community? Well he helped legalize gay marriage in Quahog. Something that you were against, you homophobe! He also helped destroy a Megastore that was stealing everyone's jobs and electricity! Where where you? Oh wait, you were helping out in the soup kitchen. Are you really helping out of the bottom of your heart, or because the homeless women will do anything for a Snickers bar? I think the increasing STD's found in the dead homeless women during autopsies say the latter. It's one thing to hate Brian and you're free to do so. But it's another to act like that you're a better person than him while putting him down when you clearly aren't! Brian may be far from perfect, but he's still a better person compared to you! If he is scum of the Earth, then that makes you the lowest piece of human filth to ever grace this planet and if I ever see you messing with Brian ever again, I will find you and I will personally make every moment of your life a living Hell until the day you die! And should you somehow get into heaven, you better hope I become immortal. Otherwise I will claw my way out of the fiery depths of Hell and should I find you I will make every moment of your afterlife an eternity of pain and misery and make you wish God had rightfully sent you to Hell! GOT IT?
127	* RunningGag: Several, the most common being Adam West forgetting Maddie's name and Olivia's lesbian crush on Maddie.
128	* SparedByTheAdaptation:
129	** Similar to ''Fanfic/TheSpellbook'', [[spoiler:Diane Simmons]] dying in the show didn't stop Malcolm Fox from having her appear in ''Returns''.
130	** If you remember from the show, Jillian says her mom died of cancer. This hasn't stopped Malcolm Fox from keeping Valerie, the mother of Zack and Jillian, as a regular character in the series, not even in ''Meg's Family Returns''.
131	* SuddenVideoGameMoment: When Brian, Maddie, and Bertram infiltrate the Griffin Household, Stripes sends the rest of the mind-controlled Griffins to fight them. The fight happens like a turn-based RPG.
132	* SurroundedByIdiots: Tilly, constantly, given that her parents (Chris and Jillian) are two of the dumbest characters of ''Family Guy'', and her twin brother is just as dimwitted as them.
133	* TakeThat: Common against ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' itself, pointing out how much it had decayed after it was brought back.
134	* ThinkOfTheCensors: This dialogue in "Meg's Breast Friend":
135	-->'''Stewie''': Revenge is my specialty. Just ask Elizabeth Smart. One day, she cut in front of me in a line at UsefulNotes/McDonalds, so of course I had to-
136	-->'''Tilly''': Don't you dare finish that! [[FourthWallBreaking Do you want this fic deleted?]]
137	* ThrowTheDogABone: The entire fanfic for Meg, giving her a husband, daughter, and much later on in the story, stepson.
138	* TimeTravel: In "Time Stew", Stewie misses how things were before Meg met Zack and travels back in time to stop them from meeting each other. Later, he regrets that decision when he realizes how much he misses Maddie.
139	* UniversalAdaptorCast: In a similar vein to Blue Harvest, the ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' parody also features almost every prominent character (Meg as Dorothy, Brian as Toto, Zack as the Scarecrow, Peter as the Tinman, Chris as the Lion, Lois as the Wicked Witch, Jillian as the Good Witch, and Stewie and other kids as munchkins)
140	* VillainTeamUp: During the second part of "Mighty Murdocks". See FiveManBand above.
141	* {{Yandere}}: Diane Simmons towards Zack.
142	** Brianne from "She's A Mad Dog". [[spoiler:Subverted in ''Returns'', where it's revealed that Brianne reformed and she and Brian reconcile in light of his relationship with Mrs. Lockheart]].
143	* WackyParentSeriousChild: Jillian and Chris are the wacky parents to Tilly's serious child.

Context FanFic / MegsFamilySeries