Fatal Flaws in Fan Works.
- Child of the Storm:
- Harry's impulsiveness, secretive nature, and overprotective personality mean that he often ends up isolating himself, either because he's leaped without looking, or because he's shutting people out to try and protect them. He recognises both of these flaws towards the end of Book I, but takes a long time and a lot of therapy to make any progress working through them. His tendency to launch himself headfirst and rely on an Indy Ploy to get out backfires horribly in Forever Red, and his overprotectiveness means that he teeters on the edge of Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, with Magneto remarking that what he's capable of [for loved ones] is "both magnificent and utterly terrifying." As for the secretive side, he makes for an excellent Secret-Keeper, but he increasingly plays things too close to the chest and refuses to reveal things that he probably should. On the milder end, Ron and Hermione end up increasingly Locked Out of the Loop as they don't usually share his experiences and he refuses to confide in them.
- Ron's is his inability to let things go, instead obsessing over them, including his father's death - which means he doesn't heal the way he should, and is repeatedly warned of where revenge could take him by Harry (who has personal experience), Doctor Strange (who basically says Be Careful What You Wish For) and Magneto, the latter noting how alike they are and quoting back Xavier's warning to him that vengeance would not bring him peace. Unfortunately, as Magneto also implies that like him, Ron won't listen and he just hopes Ron figures it out faster than he did.
- Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron: His Big Brother Instinct - while Lelouch is an incredibly skilled commander and does have genuinely heroic intentions, he will abandon his allies if Nunnally is put in danger to rescue her. This is what almost convinces him to leave the Paladins during Fall of the Castle of Lions and is also leads to him attempting to recklessly charge right into a trap his father set with Nunnally as bait. His friends have been working on tempering this issue, though.
- Zarkon suffers heavily from tunnel vision - his obsession with reclaiming the Black Lion is something that the Paladins ruthlessly exploit on their return to Earth.
- The Dragon and the Butterfly: Whiteout addresses the personal flaws of each of the triplets.
- Karla's is Pride. Karla believes that she's on some level superior to anyone who is slower than her, which is everyone. This has given her a mischievous streak born of impatience, often taking what isn't hers or inconveniencing others in increasingly frustrating ways whenever she gets bored, all the while feeling no remorse for it.
- Pedro's is Sloth. While he's more utilitarian with his gift than Karla, his ditzy demeanor makes it so that he has no real agency of his own, often doing whatever Karla or Peep tell him to do and making him an accessory to whatever trouble they cause.
- Peep's is Paranoia. While no longer afraid of everything, her attempts at turning her fears into a zeal for good have turned her into a Safety Freak who micromanages everyone and everything around her, often stopping the lives of her family and the villagers to a screeching halt with the blow of a whistle. Being heir to the Candle-Holder position, this can also be seen as the early behaviors of a Control Freak, a habit that Mirabel tries to nip before it blossoms.
- Several show up in Fist of the Moon for the good guys, but end up not being too fatal.
- It’s noted at several points that Ranma and Usagi have the same ones: laziness (except for training), a non-serious personality, being a Big Eater, major fans of anime and manga, and a general dislike of school.
- Rei starts off with a mix of Pride and Envy—it’s really hard for her to handle Usagi being better than her at anything, especially in light of the blonde’s flaws. This mellows out, and she later suffers from worry that she’s going to mess up and disappoint Usagi.
- Akane has a temper, and remains mildly homophobic through the entire story.
- Luna doesn’t appreciate the suggestion that she might be wrong.
- Mamoru isn’t a bad guy, but he can’t really click with Usagi's playful immaturity, meaning he doesn't always take her or their relationship as seriously as he should. Evidenced by the fact that he privately refers to her as 'the Kid'. He also feels guilty if he spends time with a female closer to his age, but doesn’t stop either.
- Guardians, Wizards, and Kung-Fu Fighters:
- Nimue is completely unable to see human villains as a threat when compared to demons, giving her a massive blindspot.
- Elyon's desperate need to be special blinds her to Phobos' blatant tyranny due to him making her the center of everyone's loving attention. Even when forced to face the facts, she clings to denial and refuses to hear the truth.
- Phobos' self-centeredness, paranoia, and quick temper make him such a Bad Boss that in the end, every single one of his allies ends up turning on him.
- According to Servantis, Queen Weira's flaw was that she wanted everyone to be happy, and thus her ability to see the best in a person seemed more akin to a defense mechanism in order to not have to face their flaws and how much harm they could bring.
- The Many Dates of Danny Fenton: As expected, Tucker's ego. His overconfident attitude and view of himself is drawing girls like Bonnie Rockwaller from Kim Possible and Mandy from Totally Spies!, instead of girls who would actually like him.
- Mass Effect The Equestrian Equation: The Equines were naturally trusting and cooperative, causing Reaper Indoctrination to wreck their defenses and cost them the war.
- Metal Gear: Green:
- Alejandro Galvez: Greed. When Diego tells his brother that they should've killed Snake the moment he was at their mercy, Alejandro refused to do so, instead seeking the bounty. When Snake inevitably escapes, busting Lady Nagant out in the process, Diego flips into a rage, before resigning himself to the realization that their fates are sealed.
- Fudaki: Pride, Suicidal Overconfidence and It's All About Me. During the USJ attack, he rushes off to fight Kurogiri, only to be teleported to the flood zone. He then rushes off to fight the USJ Nomu, believing he can take it down. His head is smashed into the ground so many times that by the end of it, brain matter was leaking out.
- Bakugou: Pride, Hair-Trigger Temper and It's All About Me. Despite Izuku being on Mother Base for ten years, Bakugou still believes himself to be the future Number One Hero, possesses so many Berserk Buttons and believes that he's the main character while everyone else, including MSF personnel, are extras or Cannon Fodder and easy to beat. The result? An easily manipulated and utterly easy to provoke dumbass who will attack or insult the source of his ire without considering the consequences of his actions, even if doing so will ruin a well thought-out plan, get him expelled and blacklisted for attacking a TA or get himself and his class killled. It's heavily implied that if Bakugou doesn't receive the help he needs to snap out of these flaws, that he will be setting himself up for a hard fall.
- That Time I Got Thrown Across Dimensions and Landed On My Big Tiddy Redhead GF Who Is Also A Devil
: For All For One, it's his laziness. Because he could always simply steal more quirks to deal with any drawbacks, he never bothered mastering any of the powers he has. Notably, while many players on both sides have haki, he's specifically stated to have only ever bothered learning the basics despite specifically knowing how powerful the advanced forms are. When he faces Izuku, the latter's far superior Conqueror's Haki leaves the world's most dangerous villain completely terrified of the teen.
- In .hack//G.U.: The Staircase to Nowhere, each of the Epitaph users has one physical/mental flaw that can spell the end for them in the Goddess Morganna's war; Haseo has his photophobia (his sensitivity to light), Atoli's fear of being alone, Endrance's weak lungs, and Kuhn's color blindness.
- Blackened Skies:
- Kaede's desire to unite everyone against Monokuma works against her, as she's willing to lie, withhold information and otherwise manipulate them in the process. Making matters worse is that she keeps pushing the issue, hounding the holdouts and trying to convince them to go along with her plans... something which only fosters further resistance and resentment.
- Kaito has a bad tendency to assume that his way is always right, and to respond to any resistance by pushing even harder.
- Never Say Never has Mondo's Hair-Trigger Temper. Not only does this nearly get him killed by Monokuma early on, this tendency to default to violent reactions almost results in him murdering Chihiro in a blind rage. This incident serves as a massive wake-up call for Mondo, who starts working on reining his anger in from that point on.
- Where Talent Goes to Die: Reiko Mitamura's flaw is her obsession with perfection, resulting in her being unable to accept failure. As a result of this, she afraid of doing poorly on a test, ends up cheating, and commits murder in order to prevent that fact from coming to light.
- In Hunting the Unicorn, Blaine's Wide-Eyed Idealism has gotten him the Warblers, Kurt, an unlucky high school friend, an emotionally estranged father, and a stalker. Not to mention that he lost his virginity to a guy who did not share his belief that Sex Equals Love.
- Abraxas (Hrodvitnon):
- For Alan Jonah, it's Pride. It's him being a Smug Snake when it comes to imprisoning and manipulating Monster X, and also messing with the decapitated Ghidorah-head and overall thinking himself a stronger and smarter person than he really is, that ultimately bites him in the ass.
- Downplayed with Mark Russell. Like in Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) and the novelization, he still has a tendency to run and hide from his emotional problems instead of confronting them. He at first refuses to see Vivienne because he's in his own words scared, and later when he sees her in person he unloads what he wants to say to her at a less-than-opportune time.
- Misery Loves Company: Gaz's short temper is her main problem. It's what causes her to insult Hecate to the point that the witch abducts her and puts her through a Humiliation Conga, and also why she blunders headlong into all of the traps in the house... including the last one, which triggers a lawn sprinkler to shoot memory-wiping water into her mouth, leading to a Death of Personality.
- The Ultimate Evil: The protagonist Valerie has a persistent tendency to be dishonest with those closest to her and keeping secrets if not outright lying, whether because she feels it's better if they don't know the truth, or just because she's embarrassed. Jade is not pleased when she learns Val hid knowledge of Jade being Hsi Wu's Other, and in the sequel, Jackie begins questioning his trust in Valerie due to her history of dishonesty.
- Wisdom and Courage: Veran is completely blinded by her pride, repeatedly underestimating any threat Link and Zelda pose to her and overlooking the loose ends, such as Navi's power to heal, that bring about her downfall.
- For His Own Sake:
- Pride crops up frequently here; Granny Hina, Haruka, Naru, Motoko and Mutsumi all wind up suffering for their stubbornness because they simply can't admit that they were wrong. Hina particularly suffers from this; while she has a moment of horrified clarity when she first learns about the sheer scope of the abuse Keitaro was suffering while running the Inn, she soon shoves that aside and doubles down on being a Manipulative Bitch, refusing to acknowledge her mistakes until it's far too late.
- Naru's Hair-Trigger Temper proves to be another major issue, alongside her self-absorbed attitude. Her willingness to lash out and resort to violence whenever she doesn't get her way naturally gets her into serious trouble, all while she continues to insist that her victims brought it upon themselves.
- Mutsumi desperately wants to be a Love Martyr who's nobly sacrificing her own happiness because she wants Keitaro to be happy with Naru... while ignoring the minor detail that he was utterly miserable thanks to Naru's constant abuse. Her inability to accept that their relationship was hopelessly toxic reaches I Reject Your Reality levels, as she can't bring herself to face the notion that her self-sacrifice was All for Nothing.
- Dad Villain AU:
- Gabriel's primary flaws are his arrogance and wrath. Upon getting his hands on the Earrings and Ring, he devotes his Wish to making Ladybug suffer in the rewritten reality by redirecting the backlash from Emelie using the broken Peacock Pin onto her and her loved ones. He does this fully convinced that he's untouchable and will never face any consequences for his cruelty... while failing to take factors like the kwami or sentimonsters into account. His underestimation of Nooroo, whom he sees as nothing more than his helpless victim, enables the kwami to escape his clutches and flee to the Dupain-Cheng bakery, resulting in Tom becoming Viceroy, now hellbent on tracking down the villain responsible and making them PAY.
- Emelie's biggest flaws are that she's incredibly self-absorbed and only considers others insofar as they pertain to fluffing up her ego. Not only does this blind her to how she loses the regard of Adrien and Nathalie through her self-centered behavior, Felix exploits this to steal the Graham de Vanily rings without her suspecting anything.
- Fashion Upgrade: Lila has two. The first is her refusal to be satisfied with getting Marinette transferred to another class and separating her from her friends. All of her subsequent attempts to sabotage Marinette backfire on her when she could have had the last laugh and her classmates' undivided attention if she simply left Marinette alone. Her second fatal flaw is her desire to constantly be the center of attention. Her constant scheming to hog the spotlight begins to erode her reputation even before she puts the final nail in her coffin by harassing Mylene because she can't stand watching all her classmates skyrocket to well-deserved fame and leave her in equally well-deserved obscurity.
- Feralnette AU:
- Alya has several bad habits: she frequently leaps to conclusions, eagerly acting upon them without taking the time to do any research — especially when Going for the Big Scoop. Filling her Ladyblog with exclusive, cutting-edge stories is more important to her than the safety of others, including her supposed friends; she sees nothing wrong with putting herself or others in harm's way. She also cannot admit when she's wrong, stubbornly sticking to her guns. Lila uses all of these things to manipulate her.
- Lila is excessively Prideful, and is more than happy to work with Hawkmoth for the sake of satisfying her own petty grudges against Marinette and Ladybug. She overestimates the effectiveness of her own manipulative abilities, brazenly attempting to turn Ladybug and Chat Noir against Marinette right after witnessing the latter resisting akumatization. Her egotistical belief that she's secretly running the show and proud status as a Card-Carrying Villain ultimately mean that when she's struck by Lady Clarity's power, her phantom voice brags to everyone about what she's been doing.
- Future!Alix/Bunnyx is so self-absorbed that she sees herself and her timeline as The One True World, treating all other realities as less 'Real' and innately expendable. She takes an interest in the Feralnette timeline out of the belief that she can 'fix' it... but only on HER terms, refusing to offer any of the aid Marinette actually wants.
- The Karma of Lies:
- Adrien has quite a few:
- His Lack of Empathy and investment in the idea of Protagonist-Centered Morality. He's convinced that everything he does is Morally Right and Correct by default, and does not care about the impact of Lila's deceit, Chloé's bullying, Hawkmoth's terrorism or his own actions so long as it doesn't affect him personally. He's so used to being shielded from consequences thanks to his family's wealth and the Miraculous Cure that he dismisses all warnings about his behavior, certain he'll get the Happy Ending he deserves. Naturally, this means he's completely unprepared when karma starts catching up to him, especially since he truly believes that's he a good person who hasn't done anything wrong.
- His bad tendency to trust people he already knows are untrustworthy, as he believes that one hallmark of a 'good person' is to forgive others and 'take the high road' (though his actions show that only applies when he hasn't been directly wronged by them). He's so determined to prove that he was right to leave Lila alone that he ends up falling into one of her traps, and later shows that he learned nothing from this when he offers Nathalie his hand right after unmasking her as Mayura, something that has even greater ramifications for him.
- Finally, his tendency to dramatically underestimate what others are capable of, assuming that he has them all figured out. For instance, he assumes that Lila isn't really that good of a Con Artist, despite her clearly wrapping the majority of his friends around her little finger; he subsequently falls into her trap out of the belief that he's too smart to fail for any of her tricks.
- Marinette's classmates are Secretly Selfish Fair-Weather Friends who take Marinette's kindness completely for granted. Lila exploits this by convincing them that her supposed connections are just more opportunities that have been dropped into their laps, turning them against Marinette in exchange for promises of things that will never arrive. What's more, she uses this insight to ruin their chances of achieving their biggest dreams by stealing the fruits of their labor and leaving them to face the fallout. They also realize the value of their former friendship with Marinette once she gets unmasked as Ladybug, just in time for her to cut them out of her life.
- Gabriel is a Control Freak who, much like his son, arrogantly assumes that the world is his oyster and he's entitled to whatever he desires. While Adrien expects things to fall into his lap, Gabriel is more proactive in pursuing his desires, dramatically overestimating his power. This ultimately leads to his defeat in the Final Battle and the unraveling not just of his terrorist schemes, but the fall of his fashion empire.
- Adrien has quite a few:
- LadyBugOut:
- Alya's complete inability to admit when she's done something wrong means that when her classmates figure out that she posted a picture of Ladybug and Chat Noir Kissing Under the Influence of their memories being wiped by Oblivio, she doubles down and insists she's perfectly within her rights to misrepresent the situation. This inspires Ladybug to start her own blog to ensure that the truth is told, torpedoing the Ladyblog's reputation... and Alya keeps digging herself deeper by insisting that she's the victim in all of this, sabotaging her friendships with Marinette and everyone else.
- Adrien's insistence that he and Ladybug are meant to be together despite being repeatedly rejected ultimately leads to him losing the Black Cat Ring when one of his entitled rants is accidentally broadcast on her blog.
- The Lament Series (ChaoticNeutral):
- Gabriel is a Control Freak who couldn't care less what happens to others so long as he gets what he wants. His reality-warping Wish creates a world where his wife never fell ill, but she winds up as one of Paris' defenders, leaving him helplessly watching from the sidelines as she risks her life against another Hawk Moth. Meanwhile, his attempts to tightly manage Adrien's life bred so much resentment in his son that he's been perma-akumatized into Chat Blanc.
- Chloé is a self-absorbed Spoiled Brat who refuses to accept the notion that Marinette isn't secretly just as selfish as her. She Wishes to swap lives with her out of the belief that this will make HER just as beloved while Marinette will end up Hated by All; this just inflicts Laser-Guided Karma on herself, as she sacrificed her status as the Mayor's daughter in the process, leaving her to face actual consequences for her bullying ways.
- Marinette Dupain-Cheng's Spite Playlist:
- Marinette's main issue is her Chronic Hero Syndrome. Despite transferring out of Françoise Dupont and trying to put all the Lila drama behind her, she still feels obligated to try and help everyone, no matter how badly they've treated her. Being Ladybug only amplifies her problems, making her feel as though she has to take responsibility for solving everything on her own. And no matter how many Self-Care Epiphanies she has about the importance of taking care of herself, the pressure to try and fix everything keeps mounting...
- Adrien's primary problems are his naivete and hesitance. His mother taught him that it was better to ignore issues rather than 'make a fuss', and while he's come to recognize that letting Lila continue lying unchallenged was a mistake, he balks at the prospect of fighting back through methods he deems too sketchy or underhanded. This enables Lila to not only counter his 'cleaner' methods, but start escalating in response to his defiance, making matters significantly worse.
- Alya's main problem is denial fueled by a reluctance to acknowledge that she might have screwed up. Despite insisting that 'Good reporters always do their research!', she drags her heels when it comes to investigating Lila's claims, and effectively stops after finding evidence that she might have lied, preferring to accept Lila's version of events. Namely because Lila paints others as the villains so that Alya can blame them instead of herself.
- Chloé is Prideful, stubborn and hard-headed, and her history of bullying and belittling her peers makes it harder for her to say or do anything against Lila, as she's dismissed simply because she's Chloé. She's also reluctant to admit how much she misses Marinette or regrets her past behavior, which only makes matters worse.
- Lila, meanwhile, is overconfident and petty. Even with Marinette out of the picture, she keeps pursuing her simply because she can, eager to rub her apparent victory in the faces of all who oppose her. This eventually bites her in the butt when Marinette is convinced to start fighting back. Heck, her behavior is what pushes Adrien to start working against her and later start loosening his moral hangups about how she gets taken down.
- Of Patience and Pettiness: Once Alya has set her mind to something, convincing her otherwise borders upon the impossible; she's so certain that she has everything figured out that she ignores all evidence to the contrary. Case in point: her stubborn insistence that she and Marinette are still besties even after she abandoned her in favor of Lila, and that Mari is exaggerating her frustration with her. Her tendency to leap to all the wrong conclusions and cling to them for all she's worth repeatedly works against her.
- The One to Make It Stay:
- Despite her aspirations to become an investigative journalist, Alya has a bad habit of presuming that her initial conclusions about a situation are right. This makes her a Horrible Judge of Character at times, as she firmly believes that Lila is just as wonderful as she claims to be, that Marinette only dislikes her out of envy, and that Marinette has only started dating Luka as part of a plan to make her former crush Adrien jealous.
- Chloé is self-absorbed and so used to getting everything she wants without changing her ways that she sees no real reason to do so even when she knows she's wrong. Evil Is Easy, and bullying others indulges her sense of superiority. She can't handle her actions having actual consequences that she cares about, and falls back on the familiar tactic of throwing a fit until she gets her way even when it won't work.
- Adrien's sense of entitlement towards Ladybug ultimately proves to be this as his determined pursuit of her over her protests creates a considerable rift between them. This only grows worse as he becomes jealous of Viperion, blaming him, Ladybug and the other temporary heroes for all the problems arising while refusing to see that he's right at the roots. Worst of all, when Miracle Queen creates a Mirage of Ladybug who seems to return his interest, he doesn't question it at all despite having every logical reason to. Instead, he's so caught up in the euphoria of her finally giving in that he lets her slip the Black Cat Ring right off his finger, leading to his Secret Identity being exposed and Hawkmoth getting his hands on his Miraculous.
- Gabriel and Adrien share the same ones in the Salt-Shot A Price to Pay. Both Agreste men are self-centered, Entitled Bastards who believe that they're above consequences — so when Adrien helps his father get his hands on the Miraculouses he needs to make his Wish, they assume that they'll get off scot-free in the resulting reality. After all, nobody else will know what they did, right? This arrogance bites them both in the backside when the Wish ensures that the life that is claimed in exchange for reviving Emilie is killed in a car accident that Gabriel causes — and while he blatantly bribes his way to victory in court, he's still Convicted by Public Opinion. What's more, Emilie is so outraged that she dumps and divorces him, disowning Adrien for defending his father's actions. Both had taken Emilie's love completely for granted, and realize too late that the Wish only ensured that she'd be brought back, not that she would love them or want to remain a family.
- Two Letters:
- Alya tends to suffer from Theory Tunnelvision along with being stubborn and impulsive, especially when Going for the Big Scoop. This bites her in the backside when she impulsively decides to try exposing the new Ladybug's true nature by crashing an akuma battle while disguised as Chat Noir. The new Ladybug uses this against her, making her out to be a Paparazzi eager to expose her Secret Identity for the sake of breaking an 'exclusive bombshell' on her Ladyblog, turning the public against her.
- Adrien is so self-absorbed that he never considers the thoughts or feelings of others; all that matters to him is getting what he wants. Marinette used this against him after their Unrequited Love Switcheroo; while she was acting very oddly at the time, Adrien didn't care because she was seemingly agreeing to become his girlfriend.
- Alix's stubbornness and inflexibility work against her. While the Rabbit Watch lets her Time Travel, offering plenty of ways to try and deal with the problems caused by the new Ladybug, she expects Marinette to fix everything instead... once she forces her out of retirement.
- Villain Of Your Own Story: Alya tends to suffer from Theory Tunnelvision, along with being extremely stubborn and inflexible. Once she's decided something or made an assumption, that's that — nothing can sway her from her course. No amount of evidence can get her to reconsider her beliefs or her plans; she'll just keep doubling down, blaming anything that goes wrong on anything but herself.
- Weight Off Your Shoulder turns the downsides of having Skewed Priorities and a Lack of Empathy for others into a Running Theme:
- Tikki repeatedly scolded Marinette for any signs of weakness, accusing her of having Skewed Priorities whenever she let herself be distracted from her heroic duties by drama unfolding in her civilian life. Marinette becomes so convinced that she's a Failure Heroine that she ultimately decides to pass on her Earrings and Guardianship to a Superior Successor, one who gives Tikki exactly what she wanted: a Ladybug who is solely focused on being Ladybug. This spurs Tikki to have a Jerkass Realization.
- Adrien berates his classmates for showing No Sympathy for Chloé when her Karma Houdini Warranty expires, accusing them of not caring about her feelings. Ironically, this applies better to Adrien himself; he is so convinced that Chloé is still the sweet girl he remembers that he deliberately ignores how much she's hurt her whole class with her bullying. This refusal to empathize with her victims ruins his reputation as being their "sunshine boy", helping Marinette realize she was Loving a Shadow.
- In one Bad Future, we see an Adrien that never grew out of this mentality. After marrying Marinette, he fully expects her to do all the heavy lifting in their marriage without sparing a single thought to her feelings or perspective in return. This All Take and No Give dynamic results in their divorce; even as it's being finalized, Adrien shows No Sympathy for his ex-wife and continues begging her to stick around and fix all his problems for him.
- Being a Spoiled Brat, Chloé naturally doesn't care about how her actions affect others so long as she gets what she wants. Not only does this result in the expiration of her Karma Houdini Warranty, her father is also dragged down due to her overreliance on throwing his name and weight around as a threat. She also loses one of her few allies when she casually informs Ms. Bustier that a "mere teacher" like her doesn't have enough influence to suit her needs, but thanks her for all the times she forced her classmates to bend to her will, along with revealing that she intends to work with Gabriel so that they can dictate Adrien's life while Gabriel is in prison. Her complete Lack of Empathy or remorse triggers Ms. Bustier's own Heel Realization.
- Ms. Bustier prioritized the bullying Chloé's feelings over those of her victims, encouraging them to Turn the Other Cheek and attempt to "set a good example" for their tormentor. She only realizes her mistake after being confronted with the results: Chloé never learned empathy as she had no reason to care about others, especially since she kept getting away with her constant cruelties.
- Then we have Future!Alix, who became a Time-Traveling Jerkass as Bunnyx. Her callous dismissal of all the pain and suffering Hawk Moth inflicts upon his victims, combined with the arrogance she's built up as she's convinced herself that she's "preserving the sanctity of the timestream" with her meddling, repeatedly results in her Saying Too Much. This tendency towards Loose Lips repeatedly costs her, as once others learn about her self-serving and unsympathetic attitude, they naturally turn against Future!Alix and call her out.
- What Goes Around Comes Around:
- The whole Agreste family shares one: arrogance. Gabriel, Emilie and Adrien all believe that their personal desires are more important than anybody else's, and that they deserve to get what they want because of who they are. Who cares about anyone else?
- Adrien is also shown to have an extremely Self-Serving Memory, lying straight to Marinette's face by claiming he 'stood by her' against Lila when all he did was stand by while the Manipulative Bitch socially isolated her. And since he doesn't take others into consideration, he claims this right in front of their classmates, unintentionally revealing to them that he knew about her scamming them all along.
- Alya suffers from Skewed Priorities; her Ladyblog comes first and foremost, and she takes everything else, like Marinette's friendship, for granted. She fails to consider Marinette's perspective over being forcibly outed as Ladybug, demanding special perks for being her 'bestie'. She also pushes her ship over Marinette's objections, dismissing Luka as an 'easily discardable' Romantic Runner-Up, heedless of how much this upsets her.
- The Wolves in the Woods:
- Alya's Moral Myopia repeatedly bites her in the backside: she honestly doesn't get why her parents are so appalled when they learn what their daughter has been doing. This also costs her the regard of all her remaining classmates when she crosses a line they won't cross by scheming to maliciously slander all of Marinette's new friends at St. Catherine's, presenting things like one girl being Delicate and Sickly and another being homeless as 'flaws' they can use to ruin their lives.
- Adrien is convinced that the whole world should revolve around him and what he wants. As Chat Noir, he feels free to throw childish tantrums whenever things don't go his way, and this Hair-Trigger Temper bites him in the tail when he attempts to Cataclysm one of the new heroes when she steps in to defend Ladybug from one of his hissy fits.
- All of his misbehavior as Chat Noir haunts him further when Nadja runs an expose that reveals a laundry list of his selfish and unheroic behavior to the world.
- Conversations with a Cryptid, Izuku has two major ones that lead to his downfall.
- Izuku's Selective Obliviousness gives him strong Nerves of Steel to maintain a level head in a very fraught and dark investigation but causes him to miss subtle but vital clues until it's too late.
- Izuku constantly picks up more and more responsibilities due to his Chronic Hero Syndrome. As a result, he ends up with so many things to do that his classmates rarely see him and gets so little rest that he gets kidnapped in a moment of distraction.
- Pride proves to be Katsuki's undoing in Failure to Explode: After having his ego constantly massaged at Aldera Middle School, he assumes that he doesn't need any backup plans - that he's completely guaranteed to make it into U.A.'s Hero Course. As a result, he doesn't bother applying to any other schools, or even any other courses at U.A.... so when he doesn't clear the bar, he's got absolutely nothing to fall back upon.
- Heroics and Other Things That Don't Require Superpowers: Bakugou's fatal flaw is his It's All About Me status and his refusal to get along with anyone. This erodes his good will with the staff and eventually costs him his UA admission altogether. When Bakugou tries to start his villain career without correcting those flaws, All for One found him too obnoxious to deal with and found his Quirk more valuable than Bakugou himself, stealing it and leaving Bakugou for dead.
- Nemesis: Bakugou's primary flaw, an inflated sense of Pride, is mercilessly exploited by Mischief (aka Izuku) throughout the fic, deliberately riling him up whilst forcing him to face his past as a bully.
- In The Scorpion Jar, Katsuki's fatal flaw is his inability to simply leave Izuku alone. Once Izuku resolves to ensure that none of the bullies at Aldera can become Nominal Heroes, his plan for dealing with Katsuki is to prepare a recording device and bide his time. Katsuki might not be interested in trading intel for test answers like the rest of the Opportunistic Bastards at Aldera, but he simply can't stand the concept of Izuku achieving anything that might make him feel like he's not a "worthless deku". Soon enough, Katsuki comes after him, and his fate is sealed by Izuku recording all his insults and threats to kill him.
- Whispered Tribulation: Aizawa arrogantly believes that his judgment is top-notch, even as paranoia over villains repeatedly attacking his students wears down his sanity. Thus, once he thinks he's identified a potential mole — Quirkless Gen-Ed student Midoriya Izuku — he immediately kidnaps him, confident that he's correct. So confident that the only thing stopping him from torturing a 'confession' out of Midoriya is Principal Nedzu's intervention. Since Aizawa refuses to consider any possibility that he might be wrong, he proceeds to dig himself ever deeper over the course of the fic.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- Alicorn:
- Rainbow Dash is impulsive and reckless and tends to lash out without thinking whenever she feels threatened and hurt.
- Twilight is jealous and lets that jealousy fester into resentment without doing anything about it.
- Celestia is so used to solving problems with overwhelming magical or political force that she's easily intimidated by problems that can't be solved that way, like her broken relationship with her daughter.
- Getting Back on Your Hooves: Checker Monarch is a master manipulator, but her plans ultimately fall apart because of her inability to understand empathy.
- In The Irony Of Applejack, Vigil's is the fact that he's obsessed with perfection.
- Loved and Lost: Prince Jewelius is a cunning master manipulator, but his massive ego ends up screwing him over several times after he lets it loose. Despite launching a successful coup that tarnishes the reputations of the princesses, the Mane Five, Spike, and Shining Armor, he decides to lure them all back to Canterlot so that he can gloat about his evil schemes and personally ensure that his cousin and aunt will die. This proves to be a foolish decision as it sets in motion the events leading to his downfall and karmic death.
- In Pony POV Series:
- Discord's is Pride, his complete inability to take any level of responsibility for any of his actions, and his hedonism. Nearly every bad thing that's ever happened to him ultimately stems from one of those three things, with the last one being the entire reason he was unable to live happily with Celestia, Luna, and the Paradise Ponies as Dissy, as he could bare to give up his fun even a little bit for his loved ones.
- Nightmare Eclipse's flaw is Wrath, as she's completely incapable of ever actually stopping her vengeance on Discord for his many crimes, even when he sincerely has had a change of heart and she's become even worse than him.
- RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse:
- Luna's is irrational fear, mainly of becoming a tyrant like her sister, which prevents her from taking decisive action against the Decadent Court.
- And Corona's is a mixture of self-reliance and pride. She became so obsessed with protecting her little ponies from the perils of the world, and so convinced that they could not possibly survive without her intervention, that she became a tyrant and tried to rule every last aspect of every pony's life in the name of protecting them.
- Androgyninja's A Drop of Poison:
- Sakura's biggest issue is her cynical belief that practically everyone in Konoha looks down upon her for being civilian-born and regards her as little more than Cannon Fodder. While there is plenty of bias working against her, which only grows worse in the sequel, her reluctance to trust others cuts her off from a lot of potential allies.
- Sasuke is an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy with a severe Lack of Empathy who regularly dismisses others as being "beneath him" and not worth his time. Even being directly ordered to protect others won't stop him from prioritizing his own, personal glory, and he overestimates just what he's capable of handling, forcing others to bail him out.
- Naruto is a Wide-Eyed Idealist with a highly romanticized concept of what the shinobi world is like who also suffers from Detrimental Determination. He sincerely believes that any problem can be overcome with sheer willpower, no matter how massive, and struggles to grasp the notion that he and his friends could easily be killed if they aren't careful. This even extends so far as him yelling at Sakura for the Crime of Self-Defense, not wanting to believe that she truly had no choice but to kill Tsunami's cousin Shota during their mission in Wave.
- Blackkat's Reverse: Kurama's impulsiveness and tendency to think with his heart rather than his head repeatedly gets him into trouble. In particular, his decision to run away from Konohagakure with Naruto in order to protect him from their neglect and abuse incites their wrath, and he continues courting the anger of other villages by traveling around saving their abused jinchuuriki as well.
- The Kakashi Way: Hiruzen's problems are primarily rooted in denial. Despite knowing that Danzo was incredibly ambition and coveted the Hokage position, he still desperately wanted to believe that Danzo's desire to protect Konohagakure would prove stronger... much like how he desperately wanted to believe that his second term as Sandaime was only a temporary measure and that he'd soon find another successor. Both issues got tied together in his mind; as far as Hiruzen was concerned, dealing with Danzo wouldn't just mean admitting that his old rival was dangerous, but that he was going to be stuck as Hokage for a long time. Thanks to his reluctance to face either issue head on, Danzo was able to enact a lot of schemes that ended up hurting Konoha and various residents thereof in myriad ways, requiring an outsider intervening to put an end to it... something Hiruzen deeply regrets.
- War of the Biju:
- Kabuto has a bad tendency to underestimate his opponents. Even somebody like Edo Tensei!Itachi, whom Kabuto personally summoned for the war because he knew how powerful he was... yet when they wind up facing each other, he still underestimates what he's capable of.
- Itachi, meanwhile, has his insistence on working alone bite him in the backside when he faces Kabuto, since he doesn't have any backup. As a result, his attempt to reverse his own Edo Tensei winds up failing.
- What You Knead: Take your pick with Jiraiya: not only is he a completely shameless pervert, he's incredibly prideful and impulsive, and tends to deal with his regrets by running away from them, all while insisting that he knows better than anyone else.
- Your Heart a Haven of Thorns: Hiruzen shares one with his personal summons, the Monkey King Enma: arrogance. Specifically arrogance born from their respective positions, which they believe protect them from suffering any adverse consequences from their actions. Hiruzen is the current Hokage of Konoha, serving his second term after the Yondaime's passing, and believes that his authority and grandfatherly facade make him untouchable, while Enma has been protected from the wrath of those he's offended by his father's machinations. This arrogance sets both of their downfalls in motion — in fact, Hiruzen is directly responsible for voiding Enma's Karma Houdini Warranty thanks to ignoring an explicit warning that Enma's life will be endangered if he insists on continuing the Chuunin Exams.
- This Bites!:
- Jeremiah Cross has a horrible combination of being an adrenaline junkie and having a big mouth. When his heart starts pounding, he'll gladly throw his wit around and goad just about anybody with his Self-Insert knowledge regardless of how easily they could kill someone like him. The first major instance of his flaw hitting the Straw Hats is when his bragging to Smoker about helping Vivi save Alabasta leads to the Celestial Dragons placing a bounty on the princess.
- Buggy the Clown has his ego and subsequent temper. Buggy spent twenty years shacking it up in East Blue, pretending to be a weakling, no-name pirate, with a vow to never return to the Grand Line, all so he could have something resembling a normal life again – only to break that promise because he wasn't able to let go of his grudge against Luffy after being beaten by him. Every terrible thing that's happened to him since then, including being incarcerated in Impel Down and having his past as a Roger Pirate exposed, can be traced back to his decision to chase after Luffy, regardless of the consequences.
- Power Rangers Cosmic Defenders: The Three Victorious Generals all have some degree of an I Work Alone complex. This leads to Katseayor facing off against multiple Rangers at once all by himself, among other problems with their method.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness: It's shown time and time again that Arial Kuyumaya's greatest flaw is her stubbornness and temper. Being infatuated with Dark, it's stated she flew into a rage every time she merely suspected that Dark was involved with someone else, and when she met Mizore, she nearly killed her in a jealous rage while repeatedly refusing to accept that Dark didn't love her like a wife. It's only after she essentially destroys Dark's opinion of her and nearly drives him over the Despair Event Horizon that she finally listens to reason and accepts that she is Dark's guardian angel/mother figure and nothing more.
- Event Horizon (RWBY): Ozpin's is, once again, failing to extend trust to others even as he encourages them to trust in turn. In hindsight, it's blatantly obvious that Ciel could have solved the loops much faster if Ozpin had told Qrow what was going on. Qrow only got involved in the last loop because Ciel was late and accidentally barged into their meeting. Without one of Ozpin's most talented subordinates involved, the task was much harder.
- A Rabbit Among Wolves: The White Fang want to bring about equality for Faunus. However, their past grudges and distrust toward humanity means they push away otherwise decent humans and moderate faunus with their violent acts.
- Sonic X: Dark Chaos: Both Maledict and Jesus' monomaniacal pride is what keeps them from understanding the terrible consequences of their endless warfare. Likewise, Tsali's vengeful wrath basically jump-started the Metarex War.
- Radio Silence: Primogen Alicia points out that Gerard Rafin's arrogance means that he never teaches his childer skills they might need because he thinks he can't possibly pick a childe who isn't already perfect. This bites both him and his childe, Wendy, in the ass when Wendy goes to Baltimore for help, only to lose her temper when Director DeLaire and the Primogen don't immediately jump to do her bidding - proving to them that she doesn't have the ability to keep calm under pressure, and would therefore be a greater liability than an asset.Alicia: I think it was downright shit of [Gerard Rafin] to put all that pressure on you to save the day and get him out. But I don't think it was malice. I just think it's more of Uncle Smelly's arrogance. That he thinks he's so damn brilliant that he couldn't possibly have chosen a childe who has more room to grow, that he can't possibly have chosen a childe who still has things to learn themselves. It's always been his greatest weakness, even more than his dickish behaviour — and it’s what's going to damn him now.
