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Fandom Specific Plot / Western Animation

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Fandom-Specific Plot in Western Animation.

Works with their own subpages:

Other works:

  • Two common plotlines in Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers fandom are "Eliza's rescue" (at least 4 versions are floating around), and ones where the other three find out about the full extent of the dirty politics and hellish conditions at Wolf Den — usually in the form of some threat to Shane. Queue the Series 5 team making the guilty parties wish they were dealing with Supertroopers.
  • Adventure Time:
    • The fandom is overflowing with crossovers in which the usual cast interacts with their gender-flipped counterparts from the "Fionna and Cake" episodes, despite those stories explicitly taking place in in-universe Real-Person Fic written by the Ice King, and later other characters. (Though Word of God says that Fionna and Cake may nonetheless exist in an Alternate Universe.) Sometimes the characters meet via magical means, but just as often they act as if their doubles have been around this whole time, and it's especially common for them to be each other's siblings (Fionna is Finn's twin sister, Gumball is Bubblegum's older brother, etc.). It probably helps that there is official artwork◊ of them interacting◊. Ice King would even write this very type of fic in an issue of the comics, and Fionna and Cake meeting the main Ooo cast would be canonized in the animated series Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake.
    • Once that fandom realized that Marceline and Princess Bubblegum were old flames, the floodgates for high school and college AUs for the pairing burst wide open. Strangely enough, in conjunction with the above, these fics have the tendency to give Marceline a brother in the form of Marshall Lee while forgoing the other opposite sex versions of the characters.
  • Alvin and the Chipmunks:
    • Fics that make a trilogy out of the movies where the Chipmunks meet one of the classic Universal Horror monsters by having them meet Dracula - to round out Meet Frankenstein having Alvin turn into a monster and Meet The Wolfman having Theodore become a werewolf, these fics typically feature Simon being bitten by a vampire.
    • There are a few fics where The Chipettes are reunited with their long-lost sister Charlene.
    • One of the Chipmunks or Chipettes gets kidnapped and suffers a nasty Break the Cutie. Interestingly, Eleanor and Theodore are not usually the kidnapping victims in this scenario.
  • Arcane:
    • Tobias (Caitlyn's father) is frequently portrayed as a doctor, often ending up caring for another character if they end up in the hospital.
    • The fact that Caitlyn was present during the heist has prompted many writers to imagine Caitlyn and Vi meeting (and immediately falling for each other) much earlier than they did in canon.
    • AUs emphasizing the class divide between Piltover and Zaun are very common, usually as background for a Caitlyn/Vi or Jayce/Viktor romance.
    • In Modern AUs where it wouldn't make sense for Powder to change her name, she will use Jinx as a pseudonym of some kind, such as a stage name or internet handle. She's also usually not an antagonist outside of post-canon fics.
    • If Powder and Vi are on good terms, Powder will often become jealous of Vi's burgeoning relationship with Caitlyn, seeing Vi as replacing her.
    • The Council (or most of it) often survive Jinx's attack thanks to Mel's magic.
  • Arthur fanfic writers enjoy writing about the characters as teenagers in high school (or less so middle school). They often lean towards Dark Fics, sometimes even Troll Fics, and are usually full of shipping.
  • Though there aren't many a lot of Care Bears fanfiction involves finding a new or lost member of the care bear family on earth who then moves up to join them and has to integrate into their society, often bringing emotional baggage that has to be sorted out or a new villain that has to be beaten.
  • Ben 10
    • A fic that that involves any interaction with another series will, wherever possible, lead to the Omnitrix scanning a local life form and gaining a transformation. The fact that many Word of God statements exist of the various aliens that Ben can and cannot scan only fuels this fire.
    • Non-crossover: it's pretty popular to write stories where Ben ends up having to parent one or more of the Necrofriggian babies he gave birth to as Big Chill in "Save the Last Dance"; while some of these are just fluff, it's pretty popular for slavers or poachers to be a major part of the plot and a major threat to the kids. No matter what the overall plot though, Ben loves his kids and is a massive Papa Wolf.
  • Captain Planet and the Planeteers:
    • One of the most common plot in fics involves Wheeler and Linka hooking up somehow.
    • Linka struggling with her addiction to Bliss from "Mind Pollution". Invariably, Wheeler is around to be her support (which is admittedly true to the episode).
  • Carmen Sandiego:
    • When it comes to writing Red Crackle, the most used plot is one where Gray regains his lost memories and teams up with Carmen to try and get back at V.I.L.E.
    • V.I.L.E. agents get their hands on a member of Team Carmen and pull an I Have Your Wife scenario. This gets particularly nightmare and horror inducing if they manage to find and abduct Player; not only is he significantly younger than his allies, but (unlike Zack, Ivy and redeemed!Gray) he would also be unable to defend himself, being the team's Non-Action Guy. Rarely, A.C.M.E. tries the same trick to get information on Carmen and her connections, again usually with Player; this backfires horribly, destroying any chance of Carmen trusting them.
      • A recent variation has V.I.L.E. agents attempting to abduct Player and while they fail, they still succeed in rendering him an orphan and homeless (or just homeless if the story in question has him being a Minor Living Alone).
      • The special "To Steal or Not to Steal" ended up using this plot, with Zack and Ivy as the victims.
    • Post-series stories often have Carmen getting back in touch with all of her old allies, usually leading to her hooking up with either Gray or Julia.
  • Centaurworld:
    • AUs where Rider is the daughter of the General and the Mysterious Woman, sometimes with animal traits from the former's Centaurworld heritage.
    • Angst/redemption fics premised on the Mysterious Woman being unable to kill the Elktaur.
    • Someone other than Horse being transported to Centaurworld in the first episode, such as Rider or Becky Apples.
  • Central Park: Some fanfics see Cole try to kidnap Shampagne again with varying degrees of success.
  • Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers:
  • Codename: Kids Next Door:
    • Fics about the kids being decommissioned, usually with them ceasing to be friends afterwards (though Kuki and Wally almost always fall in love somehow which is canon), are incredibly common. There's a sub-genre of these where Kuki and Wally are angsty, lonely teens who are mysteriously drawn to each other despite not recognizing one another.
    • The main characters' children time-traveling back from the future is also a fairly common one.
    • A lot of shipping stories will have Numbuh 1 dump Lizzie before hooking up with Numbuh 5 or Numbuh 362.
    • At the end of the series, Numbuh 1 leaves Earth in order to join the Galactic Kids Next Door. This will either be ignored or have him return from space, generally as a teen.
    • All fics that involve the Mirror Universe will most likely have the Nega version of Numbuh 362 (Lehcar), who was the sole major KND operative to not appear. Her personality is mostly the same: She was a supporter of Nega Numbuh 4 before he was overthrown and is trying to either get him back in power, or take over for herself. She can also have a Villainous Crush on Numbuh 1, which tends to combine nicely with the above plot of Numbuh 1 and Numbuh 362 hooking up.
    • Despite canon hinting that Numbuh 3 is Numbuh 86's only friend, most, if not all fanfics will also make Numbuh 362 her friend, despite 362 being shown to not have the highest opinion of 86.
    • Sector Z returning in some way is extremely common, complete with a subgenre of them somehow being split from the Delightful Children.
    • With the reveal of the Galactic Kids Next Door plotline from the teaser animatic, many fans have taken to writing their own versions of the story, much like the Jungle Movie example below.
  • Darkwing Duck fanfic writers love fics involving someone helping a woobified Megavolt cure his memory loss, after which he remembers Drake as a friend or some long lost love/relative, causing him to make a Heel–Face Turn (usually playing it all a lot more seriously than the show did). This is prevalent to the extent that even in fics not about that at all that feature Megavolt as a villain, it's not uncommon to see his memory problems played up a lot more, his emotions all over the place and him obviously struggling with an inevitable heel face turn of some kind.
  • The Deep (2015): Smiling Finn ends up staying with the Nektons after his father's behavior turns dangerous; his sister may or may not actually come along but he always intends to take her away to safety.
  • DuckTales (2017): Patchwork Fics where the other characters learn Donald Duck's hidden depths by somehow discovering he was the Duck Avenger. Other works tend to get thrown into the mix as part of Donald's hidden double life as well, such as Legend of the Three Caballeros, Double Duck, and even Kingdom Hearts (depicted as him having traveled to an alternate universe).
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy:
    • "Reverse Kevedd" was started by a fan-artist in 2011. It's a ship-based role reversal on Kevin and Edd. Kevin is a Dork in a Sweater while Edd is a tough delinquent.
    • Flash Forward Fic works where the characters are teenagers or adults.
    • Stories featuring Eddy's recovery from his Dark and Troubled Past under the thumb of his Big Brother Bully are popular, often involving Past Experience Nightmares and various triggers to set off panic attacks, to his friends' worry.
    • Edd's parents are shown to be at best neglectful and often abusive; with the help of his True Companions, he escapes.
    • Eddy's brother returns and goes after either Eddy or Edd, both of whom he blames for his humiliating defeat at the end of The Movie; when he goes after Edd, his motivation is at least partly Revenge by Proxy since he correctly guesses that going after Edd would hurt Eddy, possibly more than actually assaulting him.
  • Elena of Avalor:
    • One of Elena's inner circle gets kidnapped. While Mateo is the most popular target, especially if he's shipped with her, this can be done with anyone in said inner circle, with extra worries if Isabel is the one taken.
    • Elena is pressured to accept an Arranged Marriage to strengthen ties between Avalor and another kingdom despite having feelings for one of her friends (Mateo is probably the most popular choice for this plot but Gabe or Naomi are possibilities). Ultimately Elena is able to get her happy ending, whether it's because her would-be fiance turns out to be evil or part of an evil plot (if the latter, he may not be aware of the villainous designs and will join up with Team Avalor to stop them, horrified at what his countrymen have in store) or is just as uncertain about the marriage as she is and grateful for her turning him down (often having someone he'd rather marry back home).
    • Stories centered on Elena's interactions with her spouse and future children are well-liked and generally fluffy slice-of-life.
  • The Fairly OddParents!:
    • There are a few fanfics about Norm the Genie falling in love with a female genie master Original Character who treats him right. This can also be done with him becoming a Parental Substitute to a child master who endears themselves to him.
    • A lot of stories reflect on Cosmo and Wanda's failing relationship, as well as how they met and how their Anti-Fairy counterparts met. There are many fanfics about Anti-Poof's birth. The latter is Hilarious in Hindsight given Foop's eventual birth.
    • Trixie fans really love the episode "The Boy Who Would Be Queen" and its reveal that she is secretly a Tomboy. The two most common plots involve Trixie dealing with having to hide her tomboyish side, usually gaining the courage to embrace it, or Trixie being reunited with Timantha. Either plot goes hand-in-hand with Timmy/Trixie shipping fics.
    • Many Timmy/Vicky shipping fics usually start with both Timmy and Vicky not finding a date (either for Valentine's Day or for school prom night) and decide to go together as temporary couple. Depending on the writer, their relationship can either go further beyond temporary couple or just staying friends (as such fics usually take place sometime during Timmy's teenage years).
  • Many Family Guy fics, mostly dealing with Meg getting revenge for all the abuse she had to suffer from her family, especially Seahorse Seashell Party and their reason for why the family act the way they do to her. As well as a few having Brian shoot back against those who wrong him, specifically Quagmire after his "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
  • There's a lot of Futurama fanart and fanfic about Fry and Leela's Fan-Created Offspring. It's usually one kid (almost always a Surprise Pregnancy), frequently a daughter, usually a cyclops, and almost always has Fry's red hair. One of the comics gave them a child who mostly fit that mold, but the circumstances of their creation weren't natural at all.
  • Gargoyles:
    • What if Elisa Maza (or any other character) was definitely turned into a Gargoyle?
    • There's the ton and a half of "Brooklyn Gets A Girlfriend" fics.
  • If a Goof Troop fanfic stars PJ, there is a huge chance he will call the old man out in a way far more active than he ever did on the show, occasionally becoming or threatening to become a Self-Made Orphan. If a story is about Max, it will, depending on his age, deal with his Missing Mom situation or explain what happened between him and Roxanne. Threequels are also a popular story type, as are stories that try to give Bradley Uppercrust III Hidden Depths (based on a somewhat popular Alternative Character Interpretation).
  • Gravity Falls:
    • There is the "Bill Possession" AU, inspired by such episodes as "Dreamscaperers" and "Sock Opera", where Bill possesses one of the Mystery Crew (Dipper more often than not). If not that, then he'll more commonly have Dipper start working for him after he makes Dipper realize that there's no one he can trust in Gravity Falls.
    • After "Not What He Seems" was released, where Mabel chooses to trust Stan over Dipper's judgement, many fics depicted Dipper as losing his trust in both Mabel and Stan, either abandoning them after the Portal incident or willingly submitting himself to Bill's clutches due to believing he couldn't rely on his family anymore. A more downplayed variant has Dipper simply becoming distant from his family, with the plot focusing on which twin was in the right.
    • A common one is the Reverse Falls AU, where Gideon Gleeful and Pacifica Northwest switch places with Dipper and Mabel. Gideon takes on Dipper's role as a curious kid visiting Gravity Falls over the summer, while Pacifica (now either his cousin or a local friend, Depending on the Writer) takes Mabel's place as the energetic, fun-loving girl. The Pines twins take Gideon's place, albeit being Creepy Twins that are far more cold and calculating than Gideon ever was in canon. Meanwhile, Bill Cipher himself becomes a wimpy triangle demon that got enslaved by the twins. Depending on the fic, under the influence of the mystery duo, the twins eventually start being nicer people, albeit still not exactly pleasant or moral.
    • After the release of "Northwest Mansion Mystery", fanfics of Dipper and Pacifica falling in love with each other at some point after the episode became pretty common. It helps to know that Pacifica had truly humbled by the end of the episode thanks to Dipper's influence, with side-material both during and after the show's run confirming that they did develop crushes on each other.
      • Many Dipcifica (shipping of Dipper and Pacifica) fics tend to open up with her parents taking the abuse on their daughter too far, causing Pacifica to run away from home to live at the Mystery Shack, leading to adventures with the Pine Twins, aka the only true friends she has.
    • Long before the release of "Not What He Seems" and "A Tale of Two Stans", fics surrounding Grunkle Stan and a twin brother also named Stan going around and solving mysteries with a saner Old Man McGucket in their youth as a "Mystery Trio" were rampant. (See I Knew It! and Trolling Creator for how these fanfic actually ended up affecting the show's production.)
    • Since any discussion about Mabel inadvertently giving the rift to Bill were never discussed in-show and jokingly brushed over in the later Lost Legends comic, a lot of post-Weirdmageddon fics tend to have Mabel realizing what she had done and breaking down. The fics have her contemplating on who she is, with the other Pines family confronting her about it; either reassuring her that it wasn't her fault or having her get karmic retribution in some way.
    • Since Time Travel is an established part of the show's canon, there's also a fair few "Timestuck AU" fics in which Dipper and/or Mabel find a Time Tape and wind up trapped in the 70s or early 80s, whereupon they stumble upon a young Grunkle Stan during his homeless grifter days. This often culminates in the kids convincing Stan to visit Ford earlier than in canon and helping to repair their shattered friendship thirty years ahead of schedule, averting the fight that got Ford trapped in another dimension and therefore putting a huge dent in Bill Cipher's plans. Of course, since this happening would alter canon significantly, it usually results in the creation of an Alternate Timeline, though the possibility of a Downer Ending in which 'our' version of Dipper and/or Mabel is retconned out of existence as a result of changing their past may be considered in-story.
  • There are many Green Lantern: The Animated Series fanfics where Aya is revived by Razer somehow. Many of them involve her turning organic, which in itself is a common fic idea.
  • Most Grossology fics feature new agents joining the Bureau of Grossology, said agents usually being Naomi, Paige, and Chester.
  • Hey Arnold!:
    • Fic-writers tend to be fond of the "character leaves town for years, only to return much later to the neighborhood and reintroduce their newly mature selves to their old friends". Despite Arnold actually having a reason for doing this (searching for his parents), this kind of thing usually stars Helga, who always comes back more attractive and more mature, so as to sweep Arnold off his feet.
    • Fanfics tackling the plot of The Jungle Movie, prior to the project being rescued from Development Hell; all that was known about the story was that Arnold sets out to find his lost parents in Central America and that he'd get Relationship Upgrade with Helga, with fanfic writers rolling with that loose outline for years until the canonical version was made.
    • Word of God is Lila has a darker side, though exactly what this means was never specified. As such, fanfic writers who go with this either make her a troubled and traumatized Stepford Smiler or a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing.
    • Lila and Helga frequently enter an Odd Friendship once the Love Triangle is out of the way. Lila is usually thrilled that Arnold and Helga are together, though she's not above being a Covert Pervert who "oh so innocently" suggests a threesome, to Arnold's embarrassment and Helga's irritation; it varies how serious she is, but she's usually joking.
    • Stories where Arnold finds out about Helga's terrible home life and is furious are pretty popular.
  • A huge amount of Infinity Train fanfics can be cleanly divided into one of two categories: crossover fics where a character from another work ends up becoming a passenger, or continuation fics that follow a character after they manage to leave the train. Sometimes you get a series fic that does both.
    • After Book 3, AUs where Simon doesn't die: these fics either follow an alternate Book 3 ending where Grace is able to rescue him from the Ghom just in time, have Simon still getting attacked, but it turning out getting attacked by a Ghom reincarnates you as a denizen or returns one to Earth, or even Swapped Roles with Grace in a Role Swap AU where Simon did genuinely bond with Tuba in "The Color Clock Car" and start doubting the Apex's philosophy, only for Grace to wheel her instead to bring her number back up, believing it would please Simon.
  • Jackie Chan Adventures:
    • There are many Continuation Fics where the Chan Gang is once again tasked with finding a series of magic artifacts around the globe, usually related to other mythologies, like Greece or Egypt.
    • To say that Jade turning back again into the Queen of the Shadowkhan is a popular idea among JCA writers would be a massive understatement, since many fans felt it was a really cool concept that went underutilized in canon.
    • While not as popular as the above, some fics also explore Jade being the latest reincarnation of the Ben-Shui Order's Chosen One, since said idea was never explored beyond the episode that hinted it.
  • Jem:
    • Putting one or more of the bands on VH-1's Behind the Music, a melodramatic "documentary" series depicting the backstage drama for various bands. These are played anywhere from totally straight to Deconstructive Parody.
    • A common plot is wondering what will happen to the bands in a few years. The series takes place in the late 80s, so fans use retrospective to their advantage. Jem and the Holograms almost always breaks up in the early 90s due to the changing music climate, and occasionally personal issues. Fanon is torn on whether The Misfits crash and burn too or if they just keep doing their thing, but it's generally considered eventually Stormer will be a solo artist.
    • There are unsurprisingly plenty of fics dealing with Rio or Riot learning Jem is really Jerrica.
    • Plenty of fanfics go into the backstories of The Misfits, whether it's their difficult childhoods or how the band met.
    • Several fics about Stormer becoming a Hologram exist, despite Word of God saying Stormer is loyal to The Misfits.
    • Post-"Bands Break Up" fics dealing with Kimber's and Stormer's relationship, whether it be romantic or platonic, aren't rare.
    • Pizzazz being reunited with her Missing Mom. This might also include her meeting a half-brother she didn't know about (or at least has never seen before).
    • The media learns that Jem and Jerrica are the same person and it creates a huge scandal. Common plots how this happens include either Synergy having a technical glitch mid-concert or someone leaking the info to the press.
    • Spin-Offspring fanfics where the characters children also start a band.
  • Fan works based on The Jetsons tend to have dark reasons for why the titular family lives in the sky. Usually, it's to do with either air pollution, flooding, or overpopulation, with some people speculating that it actually takes place at the same time as The Flintstones, who live on the surface, or that the animals have gone extinct (which ignores the fact that Astro the dog and their unnamed cat exist). Rosie the robot is often turned into either a Sexbot or a slave.
  • Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil shipping fics tend to start with Kick and Kendall agreeing to spend a whole day (or even a whole week) together because of a bet or a dare. Naturally, after some initial bickering, they realize they've fallen in love with each other.
  • Kim Possible:
    • Pretty much every Drakken/Shego writer has done a piece dealing with the fallout from "Emotion Sickness" (in which emotion-setting "Moodulators" become attached to Kim and Shego, and for most of the episode they're crazy with love for Ron and Drakken, respectively). So have a lot of Kim/Ron fans, of course, but to a lesser extent because they have considerably more canon to work with.
    • A common plotline for writers interested in Kim and Shego (as a couple or otherwise) is to deal with the fallout from the climax of So The Drama, where Kim kicks Shego into a signal tower which zaps her and collapses on top of her. Shego survives just fine in canon, but either or both of them might believe that Kim intended to kill her, at least in that moment of anger. Alternate Universe Fics may have her critically injured or killed, sending Kim into a Heroic BSoD from the realization that may involve her quitting her job, with even more complications possible if Shego is apparently killed only to turn up alive several years later.
    • Fics that deal with Kim's career as an adult are common. What maturing does to her changes from author to author, though it's usually Darker and Edgier than her teen jobs.
    • Several fan fics (such as the Blood Bond, Blood Omen Series and At the Centerfold of the Storm) attempting to explain the nature of the show's villains, usually as being due to a case of Even Evil Has Standards, mainly in the form of a). not wanting to do anything that would label them as terrorists (and thus bring unwanted amounts of attention from law enforcement agencies less tolerant than GJ) and b). a hesitancy to harm someone who's technically a minor.
    • Fics where Kim ends up pregnant during the series or just after it are common. Most of the Kim/Shego ones are inspired by A Small Possibility.
    • Stories concerning Shego's backstory or her family in general.
    • A common Dark Fic asks 'what would happen if the Lorwardians won?'. These end with Kim dying, only to reveal that It Was All A Dream.
  • Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts began receiving stories wherein Kipo was raised on the surface by Scarlemagne rather than in a burrow with her father after the season one finale revealed these characters are Connected All Along. After Season 2 elaborated more on this tidbit, fics wherein Lio raises both of them were added to the mix.
  • While Lloyd in Space doesn't have a ton of fanfic due to its So Okay, It's Average reputation, there are a few reoccurring plot threads.
    • Original Flavour plots that mimic the style of an episode while also going mildly Darker and Edgier; these often feature Character Development for characters like Eddie or Rodney, who canonically are some degree of Jerkass but within the fanfic, come out as better people.
    • Stories that deal with aliens looking down on humans, which never was addressed in series, either by seeing Eddie as the victim of Fantastic Racism (often without any trigger other than being human) or being seeing humans continuing the cycle of hate out of bitterness. The latter may see Eddie being targeted as a race traitor for being friendly with aliens or having been altered somehow so that he's not fully human anymore if he's still human at all.
    • Having disliked characters such as Francine or Mrs. Bolt get proper calling outs about their terrible behavior; it's up to the writer if they get Character Development but Francine, being a child, is more likely to grow while Mrs. Bolt, as an adult, often just gets Put on a Bus (especially if her calling out came after she got one or more of her students hurt, kidnapped or otherwise endangered; this is especially true if Lloyd or one of his friends were endangered given Nora's Mama Bear tendencies).
  • Mega Man (Ruby-Spears):
    • Fans of the Mega Man cartoon show often have Proto Man leave Wily, usually by him creating Bass as a replacement. And then Bass isn't seen from again.
    • Other common fic plots involve Wily treating Protoman terribly.
  • A recurring plot point in Metalocalypse fanfiction (particularly of the Pickles/Offdensen persuasion) was that Offdensen was a fan of Snakes 'n' Barrels in its heyday and somehow managed to meet Pickles, which is how he made the connection that led him to becoming Dethklok's manager.
  • Milo Murphy's Law:
    • With Milo being a Murphy and all, several fanfic writers have explored how Murphy's Law works on Friday the 13th, the day of bad luck. Either Murphy's Law is amplified to a stupidly disastrous degree... or the two forces of bad luck cancel each other out, causing Milo to have no Murphy's Law at all for the day.
    • Like Phineas before him, Milo is a fairly optimistic guy that tends to look on the bright side of things, no matter how harsh the calamity is that he's facing. So naturally, fanfic writers tend to subvert this and make Milo a Stepford Smiler instead: usually the depressed kind that is hurt by the fact that his peers avoid him like the plague (or worse, he thinks that he deserves this kind of behavior). Expect a Heroic BSoD to pop up eventually in these fics.
    • Naturally, considering Milo Murphy's Law takes place in the same universe — nay, same town as Phineas and Ferb (as well as having the same creators, art style, and some overlapping staff), crossover fanfics between the two series are inevitable, even before the show itself did it. Common themes include Diogee being a secret agent working for the O.W.C.A. much like Perry (before that was Jossed).
  • My Life as a Teenage Robot has a whole genre of stories about Jenny becoming human somehow, usually to facilitate a relationship with Brad. (Fans never seem to do this if they pair her with Sheldon, for some reason.)
  • PAW Patrol:
    • Popular plot: "Ryder is taken out of commission for what will be a lengthy period; the pups will have to manage on their own in the meantime." This usually just involves injury or an mild illness but kidnapping or major medical complications can also be the reason, with the major complications possibly ensuing from what initially appeared to be a mild issue. This can also be expanded to remove Chase temporarily as well, to put Marshall in charge (as a reference to the Fanon that Marshall's number means he's the third-in-command of the team). While these can be lighthearted, they're usually more dramatic, especially if Marshall is thrust into leadership or if kidnapping or a potentially deadly scenario is in play.
    • The team breaks up for some reason and years later, reunites with their bonds in disarray; a disaster of some kind forces them to work together and rebuild their relationships. One of the more popular variants of this involves someone, usually Ryder, dying being the cause of the break up, though the death isn't always for real.
    • Someone with a grudge against Ryder goes after one of the pups. This can also expand into "someone with a grudge against one or both of Ryder's parents goes after him and/or the pups" or "someone with a grudge against [insert character] goes after [second character]" (with a reversal of the first option where Ryder becomes the victim of someone with a grudge against one of his pups; this can also happen with Jake if Everest is the one the kidnapper has a grudge against or Carlos if the grudge is held against Tracker). This is usually Played for Drama and invoked Nightmare Fuel with Nausea Fuel being entirely possible.
    • The Patrol faces massive disasters, whether natural ones like tsunamis or earthquakes or man-made, in a Darker and Edgier fashion, possibly even facing the loss of loved ones to death.
    • The pups regain their powers from "Mighty Pups". Which eventually happened in canon.
    • One of the pups ends up the target of a hate group. This can be breed-specific or in Rocky's case, related to disdain for mixed-breeds (Skye is not usually included when the group is anti-mixed-breed, probably because A) she's a designer cross or B) her cockapoo ancestry is primarily just cockapoo, making her closer to a purebred).
    • One of the pups has a Dark and Troubled Past that comes back to haunt their present and threaten their True Companions. This can happen with Ryder as well and sometimes the Dark and Troubled Past is shared between Ryder and the pup in question. Characters outside the core cast can be used for this purpose but it's more popular with non-main cast pups than humans.
    • A dangerous criminal/criminal group comes to Adventure Bay and the team has to stop them.
    • Sweetie and Mayor Humdinger team up to seek revenge on the Patrol. This usually falls apart in the end but can go nightmarishly well for at least part of the story. This can also be done with Sweetie teaming up with Harold, Sid or Ladybird, which goes about the same way.
    • Mayor Humdinger finally gets proper comeuppance for everything he's done. This can be the ending of a story or set up for an even worse antagonist. Sweetie, Harold or Ladybird can be used in a similar fashion.
    • Mayor Humdinger, Sweetie, Harold, Sid or Ladybird can get a Heel–Face Turn though this is usually only after a good portion of the story giving them Character Development and the heroes take most of the story to believe that they're being genuine.
    • A new pup joins the team. Prior to Marshall becoming the team's medic, having the newcomer fill this role was popular and it still is to a degree. New pups can also be a second example of all the canon characters' roles within the team. As for who the pup bonds with, if it's not Ryder himself, it's typically Katie, though having the OC bond with Alex, Danny or other canon kids or even an OC human isn't uncommon.
    • Stories about the Patrol's kids, biological or adoptive, or their relatives joining the team and/or a branch of it are wildly popular. New characters tend to have roles similar to the canon characters they're most closely tied to (like Marshall's sibling would probably either be a fire pup or a medic while Chase and Skye's child would either be a cop, a spy or a flier) but not always and if they aren't, it's often either a character or plot point.
  • PJ Masks:
    • One of the Masks is kidnapped by an enemy, which can either be one of the canon enemies, typically either Romeo or Night Ninja (though stories with Luna Girl in this role do exist), or an original character. Torture and Break the Cutie (both for the kidnapping victim and their worried friends) frequently ensues.
    • A kid finds a Night Totem and joins up the team. Girls are popular since it creates a Gender-Equal Ensemble but boys appear frequently.
    • One of the villains does a Heel–Face Turn due to Love Redeems. This is most common with Luna Girl having fallen for Greg or Connor but stories where she's fallen for Amaya or Romeo falls for Amaya or one of the boys do exist.
    • Origin stories for the heroes and/or villains are also quite popular, since the show itself notably lacks these.
  • The Penguins of Madagascar:
    • Before "Snowmageddon" and "The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Blowhole" premiered, fanfics often included some method of 'fixing' Marlene's lapsing into a feral state whenever she leaves the zoo. This tended to go hand-in-hand with her finally learning that the penguins' adventures are real and joining the team, since her ability to participate in adventures would be severely limited otherwise.
    • Humanized fics are common, and Kowalski is almost always responsible.
  • The Real Ghostbusters:
  • Rugrats:
    • One or more babies deciding to go naked again like in "Naked Tommy" is common. Sometimes has sexual connotations, but thankfully, it's often innocent.
    • A lot of Rugrats fanfics are set in between the show and All Grown Up!.
    • Some fanfics are set after All Grown Up and have the babies as adults, usually with children of their own, who often act like their parents.
    • The infamous Rugrats Theory states that the babies are all in Angelica's imagination, Charlotte is actually Angelica's stepmother and her real mother Cynthia was a druggie whom the Cynthia doll was based on, Tommy was stillborn, Chuckie died with his mother, Phil and Lil were aborted, and Kimi was taken away from Kira because she was a drug-addicted hooker. Naturally, it has spawned a few fanfics.
    • Angelica getting a sibling is common since she's the only Rugrat left who's still an only child by the end of the show.
  • The Secret Show:
  • She-Ra and the Princesses of Power:
    • Due to them being Exiled from Continuity due to legal reasons at the time, there are a fair number of fan works that attempt to connect the characters from the "He-Man" half of the Masters of the Universe franchise to this show's continuity.
    • A popular fan theory is that Catra is a princess that was kidnapped young, with many an AU having Catra raised as such. Fanfics that tackle this idea within the show's continuity have her discover this by stumbling across what remains of the Magicats and the Kingdom of Halfmoon: whether this is a large, fully functioning society, a small group in hiding, or the ruins of a completely destroyed civilization (in which case, Catra also learns that she's the Last of Her Kind) varies from fic to fic. If there are still Magicats hanging around, her parents (or at least her mother) tend to be alive as well.
      • As an extension of this, from the end of the second season until the true nature of the location was revealed in Season 4, Beast Island served a popular location for these stories.
    • There are several Role Swap AU fics where Catra is the one to find the Sword of Protection and become She-Ra, while Adora remains loyal to the Horde. It's quite common for such stories to also have her as some flavor of The Unchosen One who must prove herself worthy of the role.
  • A common SheZow fanfic plot has Boxter somehow learn SheZow's true identity as his son. Much Hilarity/Drama Ensues.
  • The Simpsons:
    • Some fanfics involve Homer or Marge cheating on their spouse with either Maude or Ned.
    • Relatively common are troll stories that involve someone (usually either Lisa or Ned, possibly for shock value as they're canonically two of the most morally-righteous characters) doing something gross and/or immoral.
  • Sofia the First:
    • Sofia gets kidnapped as a Revenge by Proxy against Roland. The stories vary on whether she has to be rescued or escapes on her own but it's always traumatic either way.
    • Sofia plays matchmaker for one of her True Companions.
  • South Park:
  • Star vs. the Forces of Evil:
    • Members in the fandom can't swing a wand on Tumblr without hitting at least one future heir to the throne of Mewni. Most of these fanchildren are girls (since the Butterfly family is a matriarchal one), and the majority have (surprise, surprise) Marco as their father, though having Tom in that role isn't rare. It got to the point that the popular fan artist Moringmark (creator of the Ship War AU comic) created the SVTFOE Metaverse as a way for all these fanchildren to hang out.
    • Due to a popular theory, several fan-works exist where Marco is a trans girl. Not even this theory getting Jossed was enough to slow down the popularity of these works.
    • Fanfics with a deconstructive approach to the aftermath of "Running With Scissors", in which Marco spent sixteen years having countless adventures in another dimension while undergoing Hekapoo's trial. The show itself has Marco completely unchanged personality or behavior-wise from the experience, so these fics try to address some of the Stranger in a Familiar Land issues that fans feel he should have faced from seeing his family and friends for the first time in almost two decades, and from having to re-adjust to life as though he's still the 15-year-old everyone sees him as. You also have a good chance of these fics being Marco/Hekapoo if they're romance-centric, as many fanfic writers wish to avoid the usual pairings of Star/Marco and Marco/Jackie Lynn Thomas due to Marco being mentally in his mid-30s.
    • After the show's finale, Continuation Fics in the universe's new post-magic setting of Eartni started being written in spades.
  • TaleSpin:
    • Variant A: Ship Baloo with Rebecca, all the way to their wedding if you can.
    • Variant B: Baloo adopts Kit.
    • Variant A + B.
    • Variant C: Ship Kit with Molly in a fic that takes place in an early '50s-like future, preferably in a fic in which young adult Kit goes to war. Mutually exclusive with the variant A + B combination for obvious reasons.
  • Tangled: The Series:
    • A popular AU was the Moondrop AU, in which resident Ensemble Dark Horse Varian is given destruction-based moon powers to serve as a foil to Rapunzel and her sun-based healing powers. How it goes from there depends on the writer; some choose to have Mother Gothel kidnap him a few years after she kidnaps Rapunzel (leading to her becoming a Cool Big Sis to him), while others have him use his newfound powers to exact revenge on her. These diminished in popularity a bit when the canon ended up giving these powers to Cassandra.
    • In response to canon giving the Moondrop to Cassandra, a variation has begun to arise where Varian has powers derived from the stars, often being dubbed something like "Starshard" or "Nova". What this entails varies but he almost always ends up attracting exactly the wrong kind of attention and getting kidnapped so that his captors can use his powers for their own plots; Cold-Blooded Torture often ensues as Varian has no interest in evil anymore, especially if it would put his friends and family in danger.
    • After his return to being Rapunzel's ally, fics with Varian dealing with the emotional baggage resulting from turning against Rapunzel over something that was his own fault or that feature someone feeling Varian hasn't made up for his actions while an antagonist takes revenge on him started cropping up. Stories set post-series can also feature Cassandra in this role, and may or may not come with a side of commiserating with Varian about how they feel Rapunzel forgave them too easily and how guilty they feel about how they hurt her. These fics may or may not feature them combating a threat against Corona, both because their skills are needed and because they want to atone.
    • Stories set post-series that feature Varian as a Kidnapped Scientist have started to see decent popularity, though there's not much consistency on whether it's his alchemy or engineering the kidnappers are after. Varian can also be kidnapped simply for being beloved by Rapunzel and Eugene, with motivations ranging from wanting to hold the young alchemist for ransom to wanting to use him in a bid for Revenge by Proxy.
    • Bad parent Quirin was popular for a long while though the stories varied on whether it was active on his part or an extreme case of Parents as People, with Quirin loving Varian but abusing him due to not knowing how to raise him; these stories typically involved Eugene stepping in on Varian's behalf and he and Rapunzel taking over as Varian's parents.
    • A variation of the above where Quirin wasn't a bad parent but was removed from the picture somehow and Rapunzel and Eugene take in the now-orphaned Varian exists as well though it's not quite as popular.
  • Due to the many varied portrayals of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, any given Fan Fic will have characters from multiple incarnations, e.g. Agent Bishop from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) and the Neutrinos from the original show appearing together.
  • Many Tiny Toon Adventures, upset over what happened to Fifi La Fume at the end of "Out of Odor", have written some alternate endings in which Fifi A.) gets saved, B.) outsmarts Elmyra, C.) gets help from somebody else, D.) manages to escape Elmyra in any way, or E.) gets saved by an unexpected twist.
  • Total Drama:
    • The fics include a veritable phalanx of stories, called "competition stories", that depict a new season at Camp Wawanakwa (the original venue) or elsewhere. The contestants may be canon characters, original characters, or any combination. Following Pahkitew, it's particularly common for fanfictions that don't take place at Wawanakwa to take place at a new island that also has a Cree or indigenous name.
    • Crossovers are fairly common, pulling in characters from other works as contestants.
    • A common theme of Whole Plot References developed, the majority of which involve The Twilight Saga (usually using Gwen and Trent or Courtney and Duncan as Bella and Edward, respectively, then later with Gwen and Duncan filling the roles).
    • A lot of fanfics are about a season where reviewers can apply for a spot on the show.
    • Several fics like to think about just what Mike went though in order to have Dissociative Identity Disorder. Following All-Stars, his time in juvie also became a popular topic.
    • It's not uncommon to see fics where the producers start cracking down on Chris's reckless behavior.
    • It's common to see fics that feature Ezekiel and Dakota being cured of their respective mutations and becoming contestants again, since both characters have plenty of fans that believe they didn't deserve the fates they received in canon.
    • One popular fanfic concept is to take the casts of Island, Revenge of the Island, and Pahkitew Island, along with the two newcomers from World Tour (with characters from The Ridonculous Race and OCs sometimes thrown in for good measure), and randomly 'shuffle'note  their debut seasons around, leading to vastly different seasons and casts from canon.
    • Fix Fics of Action and All-Stars (the two most hated seasons) are incredibly common, improving upon and changing whatever the author didn't like. All-Stars fanfics in particular always make Mal's actions a lot more malevolent than they usually were, and take away everyone's Idiot Balls. World Tour has also received its share of Fix Fics, with common "fixes" including the infamous Duncan/Gwen/Courtney Love Triangle, Ezekiel's transformation into a monster, Noah and Tyler's early eliminations, and the complete annihilation of Team Victory.
    • Reimaginings of the first season, Island, are pretty popular, often examining how the season would have been different if something was changed, such as the first elimination, the team compositions, the number of contestants (or if there were completely different contestants), the tone of the series, and even the stakes of the game.
    • Most Flash Forward Fics have someone (usually Chris) organize a Total Drama reunion a decade or two after the end of the series, showing how the contestants have grown and how they interact with each other as adults. Another variant has Fan-Created Offspring of the contestants meeting each other and possibly even competing on a season themselves (in which case they'll usually all be conveniently close in age).
    • A more simplified trend during the late 2000s and early 2010s on YouTube was to create slideshows editing the characters' photos to their future selves (usually five, ten, or twenty years later), with blurbs explaining where they are in the future.
    • Some writers make AU fics of Action and World Tour where the whole first generation gets to compete in those seasons rather than just the canonical fifteen in the former season and eighteen in the latter season. Some good examples of this are Total Drama Action: All-In and Total Drama World Tour Deluxe.
    • Turning the series into a Deadly Game and/or playing the life-threatening stakes of the show seriously is very common. Despair Island is an earlier example of this genre, with Island of the Slaughtered serving as a main inspiration in the 2020s, with many fics being directly based in its universe.
  • Transformers:
    • Fans have Prowl/Jazz romance. They interacted maybe twice in canon, but damn it, they look cute together!
    • The "human becomes a Transformer through mind transfer into a Cybertronian body" plot, thanks to The Transformers episode "Autobot Spike". While common, the fandom also looks upon poorly as a plot choice.
    • For Beast Wars, the idea that Maximals and Predacons have "branches" around the world fighting on other continents is also a popular one. The idea is that both ships scattered emergency escape pods across the planet during their crash landing, and is used to place teams in places like Australia or North America, the better to explain the existence of beast modes based on the local wildlife, such as kangaroos or timber wolves.
    • For Transformers: Animated, there are quite a few fics revolving around the events on Archa Seven, where it's Optimus who ends up being left behind instead of Elita One and have him being mutated into Tarantulas. Which would lead to Elita becoming the leader of Team Prime, in Optimus's place.
    • Patchwork Fics are so common with Transformers fanfics (in part due to the multiversal nature of the franchise), that it's acquired its own in-fandom term: personal canon.
    • There's a good chance that any crossover fic will have Optimus as a Parental Substitute to one of the more troubled characters (usually the protaganist of the other series), and has a positive influence on them.
  • Trollhunters:
    • There are a lot of AU stories where Jim is actually a changeling, putting him in the awkward position of being tied to both sides of the conflict.
    • There's also more than a few AU fics where Claire is the one who gets chosen as the Trollhunter instead of Jim.
    • After the premiere of the Grand Finale movie Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, there was a cascade of Fix Fics aimed at the much disliked ending resetting of the whole franchise.
  • Villainous: It is beyond common to see works that present Black Hat having ties or deals with villains beyond Cartoon Network shows.
  • Voltron: Legendary Defender:
    • Every character gets their share of species swap fic, but stories where Lance is a long-lost Altean prince who falls for and may be engaged to Keith, who also turns out to be a long-lost Galran prince even before the series revealed that Keith was part Galra, are exceptionally commonplace. Less popular but still findable are Pidge as an Altean princess (which typically extends to Matt and Sam; Colleen is typically Altean as well in these stories) and part-Altean Lance or Pidge (which can both vary from "one of their ancestors was a displaced Altean", "they're half human/half Altean" (with 50/50 odds about which parent is which species) or "they're half Altean/half [insert species]" (with again 50/50 odds about which parent is what though Galra is rarely, if ever, an option)).
      • Conversely, "all human" AUs are insanely popular; they also tend to have a genre shift.
    • A stock plot in Voltron fanfiction is for Lance to be the victim of bullying and mistreatment from one or more of the other paladins, and for him to angst over it until he impresses them into having a Heel Realization, winning their respect from then on. It's so widespread that the term "Langst" was coined to describe such fics.
    • Numerous stories where Keith being part Galra leads to him being abused, threatened or hurt by people who suffer from blind Fantastic Racism can be found, with stories set later in the series featuring humans doing this and some stories, regardless of when they're set, featuring Keith being blackmailed into doing something against his will (often but not always sex). Depending on when they're set, these stories can feature Allura snapping out of her anger about Keith's heritage with a My God, What Have I Done? reaction, especially if her behavior encouraged the assailants. Regardless of when it's set, the entire team is furious and in some cases, this type of behavior nearly destroys peace talks and treaty agreements, only not doing so because Keith is willing to Turn the Other Cheek.
    • One of the Paladins ends up captured by slavers. Keith, as a Member of the Blades of Mamora, is a popular option but anyone who isn't Allura is fair game.
    • There are fics where fans who didn't like season 6, especially the latter half, make Lotor Good All Along or given him a redemption arc.
    • There's also fics that try to fix the issues of season 8 including resurrecting Allura.
    • There's also fics where Lotor, Adam and/or Shiro's clone are still alive.
  • The Wild Thornberrys: One or both of the Evil Poachers from The Movie return and seek their revenge on Eliza, typically by kidnapping her and frequently with some kind of Cold-Blooded Torture.
  • Winx Club:
    • The "next-generation fics" are massively popular in this fandom. These generally star the children of the Winx, who form their own club like their parents. When done well, they can explore how the canon characters mature over the years. Usually, however, the new characters end up being carbon copies of their parents, with similar powers, names, and personalities. Thus, there has been an increasing backlash to the genre in recent years.
    • Nearly as common are the fics where the Winx girls have to face a new dimensional villain and gain a new fairy transformation in the process. In other words, fanfics that follow the trend of the show's seasons. Often, the new villain team ups with the Trix, but not always. Given Bloom's status as the Creator's Pet and the show's inclination to have nearly every villain somehow related to her, a large chunk of the fandom has taken into their hands to create villains manufactured to one of the other girls. Which, of course, results in having said girl taking the lead instead of Bloom.
    • Between the show's jumping of the shark, its targeting of progressively younger audiences, and its hardcore fans growing up, it really doesn't come as a surprise retelling fanfics are so widespread within the fandom. These ones are usually more mature-toned, deconstruction fix fics where the authors try to flesh out more thoroughly (like writing backstories for them) both the heroes and the villains and avoid/revert Stella and the Trix's canonical flanderization. It should be remarked these fanfics can be Darker and Edgier but not necessarily.
    • Only mildly popular but still worth noting are the fics where one of the girls is killed and the rest of the cast has to deal with the consequences and cope with their mourning. The girl who kicks the bucket is usually Bloom, but having Tecna die after sacrificing herself to close the Omega Dimension's portal is not that rare.
  • WordGirl fans love to write "Love Redeems Tobey" stories, wherein Tobey does a Heel–Face Turn as his crush on Wordgirl turns into authentic love, with her finding herself returning said love despite her initial misgivings.
    • Dr. Two-Brains returning to his Steven Boxleitner identity after his mouse brain dies off; whether or not this banishes Two-Brains completely depends on the author but he generally stops committing crimes either way.
    • Tobey being targeted by an Eviler than Thou villain who wants to use his brains and skills for their own personal gain, forcing Wordgirl to rescue him; may or may not see Tobey rethinking his evil ways and may or may not have Wordgirl being forced to come to terms with the fact that she's developed feelings for Tobey.
    • Wordgirl is contacted by some kind of envoy from Lexicon; these stories are usually serious as they frequently force her to reveal her identity to her family and may or may not involve her loved ones in danger or the risk of her being forced to return to Lexicon and never come back to Earth. They also tend to have some kind of lore about her biological family and what happened to them as well as explaining how she got to Earth.
    • Fans also enjoy pitting Wordgirl against villains from other series and having her struggle against them because they don't operate under the same methods her typical villains do, though the degree can vary from "they're still ridiculous; I just don't have a frame of reference for their brand of ridiculous" to "Oh, Crap!! No one warned me there was going to be murder attempts involved!"
  • Yin Yang Yo!:
    • Typical fanfics are often riffed with Yang suddenly losing interest in Lina, mostly due to the author Flanderizing her personality into an abusive and selfish girlfriend, or just making her not exist at all so that the author's OC can be with him; normally, Yang acts entirely out of character or the OC in question is an overly perfect match for him.
    • A very common scenario is Yuck going through a Heel–Face Turn, saving Yin from some sort of villain or trap, and the two of them being together. Expect Coop to be unmentioned throughout.
    • Ones entirely centered on Yuck are often about him having severe depression or wanting desperately to change and be loved by someone; after "Upstanding Yuck", him fighting against a split personality was very common.
    • There are stories that have at least one of the twins become evil, normally Yin after the events of "Gone A Fowl".
  • Young Justice:
    • Fics enjoy getting a lot of drama over Robin taking his sunglasses/mask off to whoever he's being shipped with (not that the Teen Titans (2003) fandom is short on that).
    • Hurt Comfort Fics involving Wally and his Abusive Parents, despite Word of God saying they're Good Parents in this continuity.
    • The Team - especially Wally and Dick - also get de-aged a lot. Usually it's either Klarion's or Zatanna's fault.
    • Pre-Invasion fics often feature Dick being kidnapped and the Team is sent to rescue Dick Grayson only to discover he's Robin.
    • Conner undergoing Clone Degeneration is a typical Hurt/Comfort Fic plot (it did happened to him on the comics, mind).
    • Because Season One ended with Superman still estranged from Superboy and Season Two showcases the former long since having come to accept the latter as a brother (after a five-year Time Skip and the specific moment when the acceptance happens never being shown on the show nor on the off-shoot media), many fics have taken it onto themselves to show this (probably after a short bout of putting Superman on the "Break the Haughty" train as punishment for his Season One Superdickery).
    • Fics about Artemis and/or Dick dealing with Wally's death after the finale are commonplace.
    • Fix Fic undoing Wally's death are popular.
    • There are several Wally/Artemis fanfics that take place during the Vietnam War era. This plot is so common because it explores Artemis' Vietnamese heritage in a historical setting.

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