Orion reunites with Apollo
"I'm really bloody confused."
— Chapter 1
Self-Inserts Are Cancer, So What?
is a fanfiction written by VeryAngryDeer on AO3.
It is a rewrite of what is now titled "Self-Inserts Are Cancer, So What? (Draft Version 1)"
Set in the world of So I'm A Spider, So What?, Self Inserts Are Cancer follows the adventures of Orion, a sarcastic Brit from Earth who is reincarnated as a Small Lesser Taratect for unknown reasons. He must use his wits and Earth knowledge to survive in the most hostile labyrinth on the planet. He may find that when it comes to success, his own worst enemy is himself. But at least he's not alone.
The primary goal of the fanfic is to subvert the poor writing quality common to self-inserts, to create a story of interest not only to the author, but to the audience. Considering it is currently the top rated So I'm A Spider, So What? fanfic on AO3, it has presumably succeeded in this goal.
It currently has a discord server where the author provides constant wordcount updates of upcoming chapters and other content.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- A Boy and His X: Or rather, a British man-turned-spider and his frog.
- Animal Gender-Bender: The main character, initially a male human, reincarnates as a female spider.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Orion's latest form is a massive black spider with red eyes, yet he still makes a point of 'always' doing the right thing, if possible.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Odysseus appears in chapter 24, despite not playing a major role until later.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Pretty much any and all victories achieved by Orion are this. There has been no win that didn't require a sacrifice of some kind, either moral or physical.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Orion and Apollo become this after they flee the former's burning nest in chapter 3.
- For Happiness: The ultimate reason of why Orion does what he does. His main long-term goal is to create a social and industrial revolution to improve the lives of the common people, stuck as serfs in a medieval world.
- Gender Bender: Since the main character goes from a male human to a female spider, it technically applies. Played for angst when Orion is mind controlled and forced to lay eggs and give birth. He does become more accustomed to this over time, to the point that he does it willingly later on, but it still makes him uncomfortable.
- Great Escape: Played straight with Apollo, Vance and Grace rescuing Odysseus after he is imprisioned in Rexandt Castle.
- Rewrite: The fanfiction a rewrite of "Self-Inserts Are Cancer, So What? (Draft Version 1), partially because of a misunderstanding regarding the source material. It will also eventually involve rewriting the plot of the original story, though the fic has not reached this point yet.
- Good Is Not Dumb: Invoked by the main cast, who despite often taking the morally upright yet inconvenient choice, still manage to win against their enemies.
- Good Is Not Soft: Invoked by the main cast as a whole, but especially Odysseus. As a veteran commander of a continent spanning militaristic empire, he understands the sacrifices necessary to achieve victory.
- Heel–Face Turn: An unwilling example, seen in Gracie. Originally a bandit entirely out of her own desires for glory and violence, she ends up joining the heroes and slowly begins abandoning her thieving ways (willinglly and not). Her later attempts to show that "she still has it in her" are generally harmless and more cute than anything else.
- Idealistvs Pragmatist: In direct comparison to kumoko (the MC of 'So I'm A Spider, So What?') who discarded morality whenever it intruded into her goals and plans, Orion makes a point of always doing the right thing, even if it is impractical, inefficient, or may bring negative consequences in the future. This is becoming even more relevant in the latest chapters (as of 189) due to Orion and the gang establishing their own Kingdom.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Invoked when Orion steals the treasury of the Rexandt Kingdom, which he justified to himself as "stealing ill gotten money from an authoritarian ruler for the benefit of the people". While he did in fact use it for the benefit of the poor 'much' later on, the massive negative ramifications and consequences of the robbery and its moral questionability eventually made Orion regret the decision.
- Last Stand: Invoked a quite a lot of times, much like the original work the fic is based on did. Some notable examples are: the defense of Cove Castle against the fire wyrm, the fight against the anogratches, the fight against the nightmares of the labyrinth, and the siege of Tanzin by the wolves. These are only the examples when there were more than 50 or so creatures involved, with many, many more at a smaller scale.
- Lesser of Two Evils: Hoo boy. Considering the setting, this is not so much a constant but an actual necessity of everyday life.
- LitRPG: As a faithful kumo desu fanfic, it necessarily invokes it.
- Morality Chain: Orion for Athena, to a degree. The only reason Athena is working with and helping humans is because she is following Orion, her father/mother (it makes sense in context).
- Self-Insert Fic: The main character, who renames himself Orion, is the author's self-insert.
