YMMV / A Tale of Two Tricksters

• Character Perception Evolution: Back around the time the first arc was recently finished, the Adaptational Jerkass treatment that the Phantom Thieves received were frowned upon to a point the story was thought as a bashing fic to certain groups of readers and the author's personal decision to make Ren an accomplice to Akechi, becoming the Villain Protagonist of the tale was not received well with some readers claiming that it's "Out of character" and "not canon" for Ren to be so villainous. However, months after the first arc was finished and as the story continues, many new readers and those who faithfully follow the story appreciate the build up of the character building foundations done with the Butterfly of Doom in effect and the pay off as the main casts get proper Character Development all around, Ren and the Phantom Thieves included by the cause and effect of their actions by the time Arc 2 is completed. Nowadays, the way the author developed and wrote the characters in the context of how the butterfly effect changes the status quo of the Phantom Thieves are given praise.
• Misaimed Fandom: Due to the Adaptational Jerkass treatment that the Phantom Thieves (Namely: Morgana, Ann, Ryuji, and Makoto) received in the first arc of the story with the exception of Futaba, Haru, Yoshizawa and Yusuke, a group of readers had claimed that A Tale of Two Tricksters is a Phantom Thief Bashing fic in disguise. It's to a point the author had to tag that the story is not a Phantom thief bashing fic. While the sentiment had been mitigated in time, and especially since the Phantom Thieves who received the Adaptational Jerkass treatment eventually got a proper Character Development as the story continues, there are still readers who will call it as such without reading further into the following two arcs.
• Older Than They Think: Connected to the Misaimed Fandom that the story received, these group of readers thought that this is the first story to portray the Phantom Thieves in a negative light and a look to a villainous Ren. For the former, Its Just A Light Rain But The Storms Still Comin, the story that inspired A Tale of Two Tricksters, is also a story that portrayed the thieves (sans Joker, Futaba, Akechi, Kasumi and Haru) negatively for a good portion of the story as a form of flaw exploration character study to how they'd fare without Joker as the leader of the group. For the latter, there were actually a handful of stories such as Is That Really How the World Should Be? and Knights of the Round that explores on what follows after the Bad Ending where Joker accepts Yaldabaoth's deal before A Tale of Two Tricksters was published in AO3 where Joker is portrayed as villainous as he willingly accept Yaldabaoth's deal to become his enforcer, with a few stories often having variants where the other thieves sans Morgana, Akechi and Yoshizawa join after Joker as fellow enforcers of Yaldabaoth's order.

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