* AssholeVictim: There have been a few. Joe Scully Jr, a mobster, a murder and a rapist who was shot by Ceasar Faison (disguised as Duke Lavery). Lisa Niles was murdered by Matt Hunter. Anthony Zacchara was murdered by his grandson, Johnny Zacchara. Claudia Zacchara is killed by Michael Corinthos II who she [[LaserGuidedKarma was responsible for putting in a coma when ordering a hit meant for Sonny]]
* BetterAsFriends - Spinelli and Maxie, Jason and Carly, though their respective pairings have their own fans. Spixie fans WILL go nuts if you bring this up. They will. Don't push it.
* BlackHoleSue - [[VillainSue Sonny]], [[GodModeSue Jason]], and [[JerkSue Carly]].
* BrokenBase - Bob Guza's third and longest run as head writer from 2002 to 2011 (with at different points a couple of co-head writers), which is arguably the most controversial run by a head writer in American soap history besides James E. Reilly for DaysOfOurLives. It has its vocal defenders, especially among fans of Jason, Sam, and Sonny, but others - mostly longtime fans who at least started watching the show in the '90s - criticized it for shifting the focus of the show toward the mob, killing off (and violently, at that) members of the longtime Quartermaine and Jones families while ignoring or writing out well-established characters, and for more than a few blatant cases of BlackHoleSue and CreatorsPet. Whether or not you defend Guza, it's really telling that with the radical regime change in showrunners in 2012 and with the fear of cancellation overhead, all the mob-oriented characters except Sonny have been [[PutontheBus killed or sent to prison]], ''many'' established characters written off years ago have returned, and the Quartermaines have been made a strong center of the show again.
* CreatorsPet - Several, but many fans agree they would like to forget Courtney ever existed.
** Others, however, have seen her be a ShipLauncher.
** Thanks to a BrokenBase, this is what half the fandom thinks is happening whenever Spinelli hits the screen.
* DieForOurShip - The current most hot one is creating a fully BrokenBase: the Spixies will die for their ship, while the Free Maxies will die for anything ''but''. Except for two Spinellis.
* FanDumb - Purists, Strawstuffers, Toxic Visionaries, and Mad Brides abound.
* FanPreferredCouple - Luke and Laura, right from the beginning. Some might debate Liz/Jason, but that's why this is YMMV.
* HilariousInHindsight - Three days after Ryan Carnes left the show and the role of Lucas Jones was given to Ben Hogestyn, the character came out of the closet. If Ryan had stayed on the show for another three days, he would have played his third gay character ''in a row''. Ironically he left to play a character on DesperateHousewives - who is also gay.
* HollywoodHomely: Sabrina Santiago is described as frumpy and undesirable by giving her huge red glasses and frizzy hair. Of course, she's following in the grand tradition of Lucy Coe, who was a mousy librarian type before she got her vamp makeover. Winnifred Leeds would be another character in the same vein (though she never got a makeover like Lucy and Sabrina did.)
* HoYay: A lot during the years but taken to new heights by Franco's obsession with Jason.
** Jason with guys in general, as expressed in [[http://youtu.be/MsbMyq-VWm8 this video]].
* JerkassWoobie - Scotty, Bobbie, AJ, etc.
* LesYay: Carly/Courtney, Lulu/Maxie
* PuritySue - Jason, before ''and'' after the accident.
** The irony of this is that Jason's portrayer, Steve Burton, actually asked for the radical change in personality, as he was tired of playing such a PuritySue character--straight-A pre-med student, steady girlfriend, varsity athlete, community activist, etc. Only to have Jason Morgan, a mobster's errand boy/hitman, be essentially viewed the same way by the writers and other characters alike.
* SuperCouple - Luke and Laura are the UrExample.
** Luke and Laura are probably more like the TropeMaker while Jeff and Penny from AsTheWorldTurns are the UrExample.
* [[TearJerker/LiveActionTV Tear Jerker]] - Dominique's death, BJ's death, Stone's death...