YMMV / StarCraft

For the SC1 and Brood War subjective tropes, go here. The SC2 subjectives are here.

The series as a whole

• Abridged Arena Array: There are certain maps online that are only played by Battle.net people. "Big Game Hunters" comes to mind.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Fans disagree on if Arcturus Mengsk started out as a genuinely well-meaning rebel who fell victim to He Who Fights Monsters, or if he was always ambitious and power-hungry and the Sons of Korhal were a means to an end to acquire it. If one believes he started off well-meaning, by the time of his downfall in Heart of the Swarm it's clear he's a fascist tyrant, but then the discussion becomes when he became this way, as there are several defining moments in his personal history and the history of the Terran Dominion that could cause Arcturus' character to shift. It's also debated if he's genuinely Affably Evil and is actually friendly and personable, or if he's Faux Affably Evil and his charm is part of his Manipulative Bastard Villain with Good Publicity act. Fueling these discussions is that the various writers for the games and expanded universe don't seem to agree on these things themselves, and Arcturus varies in how noble or vile he can be in different media at different points in his story.
• Base-Breaking Character: Sarah Kerrigan — the fandom is divided on if she became an irredeemable monster as the Queen of Blades, or if she was a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds who was Driven to Villainy. Her redemption arc in Starcraft II further divided the fandom between fans who preferred her as a villain versus those who liked seeing her redeemed, those who thought her redemption was well-handled versus through who didn't, and those who thought new revelations about her actions as a villain help make her redemption easier to swallow versus those who saw it as a sloppy way to retcon her actions as not being her fault.
• Broken Base:
  • Casual-Competitive Conflict is just as rife in this series as almost any other game that permits PVP.
  • On one camp, Nova is an Ensemble Dark Horse, a character with interesting personal story arc and Character Development... which was mostly chronicled in printed works thanks to StarCraft: Ghost's cancellation. The other camp, especially those who didn't bother reading her story consider her a wasted space, a tool of Arcturus Mengsk's dictatorial Dominion tyranny, a second rate Ghost compared to Kerrigan and/or 'only there for fanservice on horny gamers'. Debates about Nova's worth in the story can get ugly, and we haven't even getting started on her performance in Heroes of the Storm...
  • The way the resources are laid out in the original six story campaigns have always had a mixed reception. Those who appreciate it tend to feel that it makes maps come off more natural and immersive to the world instead of the resources being perfectly placed out for ya as if it's a multiplayer set-up. Those who don't are usually left annoyed, because it makes setting the base up a bit more of a hassle. Some cases being that you'll be left watching your workers go all the way around the pile just to reach that one mineral field that can be accessed in the way back, or when the vespene geyser is placed nowhere near the main building, so you either have to put 8+ workers on it, or flat out build another main structure just for the gas. Starcraft II changed it up to make the resources in the campaigns exactly like the set-ups in multiplayer, which of course brought some complaining that it doesn't make the world look natural anymore.
• Cliché Storm: The series has always been accused of being this. It pays homage to tons of sci-fi tropes and stories and purposefully invokes and copies them in some places.
• Common Knowledge: Where is Jim Raynor from? Most people would answer "Mar Sara", and they would be wrong. Raynor was born in Shiloh, while Mar Sara is simply the planet he was assigned to work as Marshall.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Apparently the tactics to playing the game in Multiplayer are set in stone. Trying anything new would result in the game quickly ending for you and/or your allies shunning you. Also, some of the seasoned players do not take too well to being teamed up with new players, even going as far as to verbally abuse the newbie and even bullying the newbie into leaving the game, by means of attacking the newbie's base, despite the newbie being an ally.
• Complete Monster: See here.
• Fandom Rivalry: With Warhammer 40,000. A sane man simply doesn't bring up the two together on the majority of forums. Seriously. It is a huge can of worms. However, over the years, the rivalry became almost entirely one-sided: W40k fandom doesn't care, and the usual reaction when someone brings StarCraft is confusion that there are still people playing it.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: Rather than Cerebrates or Broodmothers, it's very common to see rogue Zerg broods being led by psionically gifted infested Terrans, like Kerrigan (albeit these are rarely as powerful as her), in fanfics and fan campaigns, mostly since Most Writers Are Human.
• Fan Nickname: "Artie" for Artanis.
• Fanon: All Zerg can be reincarnated, not just Cerebrates and Tarrasques. This comes up way more than you'd think.
  • Zerglings don't just kill terrans and protoss, they eat their stuff too. Canonically, the zerg eat mineral crystals because they require the, well, minerals to grow healthy bones and teeth. The other races make their plating from those same crystals.
• Fetish Retardant: Blizzard eventually began turning Infested Kerrigan into a Ms. Fanservice Cute Monster Girl, with large breasts and buttcheeks, wide hips, high-heels, and it's emphasized that her face looks human enough to still qualify as conventionally beautiful by human standards. However, giving her a curvy figure and pretty face doesn't detract from the fact she has Barbie Doll Anatomy with no visible nipples or sexual organs, her body is covered in bone-like spiked armor (including her pelvic region), she has infested tendrils for hair, and Volcanic Veins on her collar and face. She's just a bit too monstrous to find sexually appealing even as a Cute Monster Girl, which makes her increased sexualization unnerving and gross for some fans.
• Franchise Original Sin:
  • The sequel's story has been criticized by a faction of the fanbase for problems such as retcons, plot holes, and cheesy and cliched dialogue. The original game had the same problems in smaller doses (especially when it comes to the Brood War expansion), but fans don't get as upset about it as the sequel's instances.
  • The franchise can be classified as Science Fantasy, with the Terrans more fitting in the "science" part of the trope, the "fantasy" elements were for the Xel'naga, and the Zerg and Protoss straddled the two in their own ways. The sequel made the Xel'naga the central focus of the trilogy and made the Terrans' storyline more directly connect to them, making things more fantasy-oriented and earning the ire of many fans.
• Game-Breaker:
  • The Zerg Rush was pretty busted in the original game's early days. It took increasing the cost of the Spawning Pool from 150 minerals to 200 minerals to give the Terrans and Protoss more time to effectively counter early Zerglings.
  • The original game had no answer to the power of the Mutalisk ball, which is why the Brood War expansion had to introduce anti-air flying units for each race with an Area of Effect attack (Corsair, Valkyrie, and Devourer) just to have a counter against Mutalisk spam.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Competitive StarCraft is absolutely dominated by South Koreans. Of the ten most successful tournament players in the world (as measured in dollars earned via tournament play), only one of them is a "foreigner"—that is, a player who grew up outside Korea. It's something of a Rite of Passage now for a foreign player to defeat a Korean in tournament play.
• Goddamned Bats: Early worker units become this, especially Probes, who can warp in buildings anywhere instantly and move on to keep running. Terrans can use ranged Marines to shoot them down, Zerg and Protoss have melee units, so no such luck with them.
  "I'm in ur base, scouting ur tech, disrupting ur mineral line with pylons, stealing ur gas, delaying ur hatchery!"
• It Was His Sled: Sarah Kerrigan gets infested by the Overmind and ends up taking over as the Queen of the Blades. These were shocking twists when both happened, but considering she became the Series Mascot, everyone knows that.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some players would Play the Game, Skip the Story. You do not have to play through the single player campaigns to enjoy the multiplayer aspect of the game. Blizzard eventually acknowledged this by making StarCraft II's multiplayer free-to-play while keeping all campaigns bar Wings of Liberty as paid content.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Jim Raynor is the commander of Raynor's Raiders and the main Terran protagonist of the series. Across a life that sees him go from Confederate soldier to outlaw to marshal and finally revolutionary, Raynor has managed to go toe-to-toe with the major powers in the galaxy and led his forces to victory time and again through a combination of subterfuge, cunning, superior tactics, and trickery. He's willing to resort to piracy and mercenary work to make ends meet and support his crew, but never loses sight of his morals and the cause he fights for, which is to overthrow the oppression of Arcturus Mengsk and help the innocents that Mengsk's Dominion would trample over and leave behind. Respected even by the Protoss for his strength of character and regarded by their leaders as a true friend and warrior, Raynor is the Koprulu Sector's underdog hero who always finds a way to survive and keep fighting.
  • The Overmind, the master of the Zerg Swarm, was created by Amon to assimilate the Protoss and provide Amon with Hybrids he could use to eradicate all life in the galaxy. Realizing Amon would destroy the Zerg once they had fulfilled their purpose, the Overmind was unwilling to allow its children to die, but since it could not defy the objective Amon had forced upon it, it concocted a scheme to sabotage Amon's plans indirectly. When the Zerg found the Terrans, the Overmind saw their psionic potential and infested Sarah Kerrigan, transforming her into its "daughter". In her, the Overmind created a psionic Zerg that was not controlled by Amon and would be powerful enough to inherit the Swarm from it. After it invaded the Protoss homeworld Aiur, the Overmind was destroyed by Tassadar, and it died satisfied with what it had accomplished, assured that Kerrigan would remain free from Amon and save the Zerg from him.
  • Sarah Kerrigan, the self-proclaimed "Queen of Blades", was a Terran woman with abnormally strong psionic abilities who was infested by the Zerg and became one of their most dangerous agents. After the death of the Zerg Overmind, Kerrigan began a plot to seize power for herself and claim revenge on all who had wronged her. She convinced her enemies she had reformed with the Overmind's death and became their ally, and exploited their fear of the Zerg and the UED to pit them against each other, then betrayed them once she no longer needed their aid. When the dust had settled Kerrigan effectively ruled the sector—all the Zerg were under her control and any enemy that could have posed a threat was dead or had their armies crippled. While her de-infestation and reformation softened her considerably, Kerrigan remained a cunning tactician who outsmarted logistically superior opponents and eventually took back control of the Zerg, and in the process willingly became re-infested and more powerful than ever. Kerrigan has repeatedly proven herself one of the most dangerous creatures in the galaxy, and anyone foolish enough to anger her or stand in her way will find themselves at the mercy of her Swarm.
  • Gabriel Tosh is the leader of the Spectres. Following disillusionment with the Terran Dominion, Tosh left their Ghost Program and joined Project Shadowblade with the intent to dethrone Mengsk. He attempts to free his old friends that became Ghosts from the Dominion and convince them to join him as Spectres, so they can reunite their old team to fight together. After he makes a partnership with Jim Raynor, Tosh lies to him about his true intentions so he can trick Raynor into mining jorium and terrazine for him, giving Tosh the resources he needs to create a new generation of Spectres. Canonically, Raynor aids Tosh in breaking into New Folsom Prison and Tosh remains with his crew for a time, training volunteers as Spectres to aid Raynor's rebellion against Mengsk.
  • Legacy of the Void: Alarak is a Tal'darim warrior who uses both schemes and power to climb the links of the Chain of Ascension and establish himself as an Ascendant of his people, killing rivals along the way and pitting his enemies against each other to advance his standing by proxy. When he's roped into a confrontation between the three Ascendants above him and the Highlord Ma'lash, Alarak surveils the situation and then sits things out, letting the other four kill and weaken each other until he sweeps in and cleans up what's left, leaving only Ma'lash outranking him. Alarak then reaches out to the Daelaam, who have been enemies of the Tal'darim for centuries, and makes them an ally to kill Ma'lash. As Highlord, Alarak turns his people against their traitorous god Amon and helps the Daelaam banish him back to the Void and eventually kill him. He's brutal, he's powerful, he's cunning, and he's merciless—Alarak is the pinnacle of what other Tal'darim aspire to be.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Resource alerts are so notable that they've named a few tropes!
    You must Construct Additional Pylons!
    You Require More Vespene Gas!
    SPAWN MORE OVERLORDS
  • OMG ZERG RUSH KEKEKEKEKEKE.^ExplanationTwo other things Starcraft is known for — the infamous Zerg Rush strategy and being a popular e-sport in Korea.
  • MY WIFE FOR HIRE!^ExplanationA Mondegreen of the voice clip "My life for Aiur".
  • Terrible, terrible damage!^ExplanationA Catchphrase of commentator Dustin Browder. It's become an Ascended Meme in Starcraft II.
  • Refering to all Protoss as Brotoss.
  • Executor Nral, a youtuber who has recently become popular and makes plenty of campaign highlight and meme videos, has generated quite a number of these through his Running Gags with two notable examples being:
    • Tassadar steering the Gantrithor into a collision course with the Overmind (or vice versa) and Artanis doing the same to Amon via the Spear of Adun. Cue the Overmind shouting "OH FU-" (via presumably a custom-recorded fan voiceline) when it ends up in the collision scenario.
    • Tassadar, a Suddenly Voiced player Executor using Tassadar's portrait, or even the mission objectives or some other character or source telling Artanis, Raynor and etc. to "stop simping" for Kerrigan and thwart her plans. Also generally the act of Executor Nral creating alternate continuities where Kerrigan is thwarted and an alternate method of defeating Amon is used (such as the aforementioned scenario of Artanis impaling the dark god with the Spear of Adun).
• Moral Event Horizon: In-story, Raynor and Kerrigan saw Mengsk using psi emitters to launch a Zerg invasion of Tarsonis as this. If players disagree, then Mengsk definitely crosses it when he sends Kerrigan to intercept the Protoss fleet to stop them from halting the invasion before the Confederacy is totally destroyed, and then when the job is done leaving Kerrigan and his remaining forces to be overrun by the Zerg. The novels reveal that Mengsk knew Kerrigan was the Confederate assassin who killed his family and thus implies his future abandonment of her was a delayed revenge, but Kerrigan was under neuro-resocialization when she killed the Mengsk family, on her own she was fully loyal to Arcturus and his cause, just expressing some hesitation at his increasingly brutal methods of fighting the Confederacy.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  "Battlecruiser operational."
  "Carrier has arrived."
  "Nuclear launch detected." (at least, when it's yours; when it's someone else's, then it's a major Oh, Crap!)
  • The sound of Interceptors launching from a Carrier is nearly a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
  • The sound of a massed group of Siege Tanks transforming, before the ensuing chorus of explosions.
  • The siren-chime that plays when a Ghost(s) starts laser-guiding a nuke; unless it's your opponent's Ghost(s) targeting your base/army and you're scrambling to stop them.
• Play the Game, Skip the Story: Downplayed but still applicable. While there is a good-sized part of the fandom that is genuinely interested in the lore of the franchise (they didn't print dozens of novels, comics, and graphic novels for nothing), it's the multiplayer that made it famous and what ensured its longevity. While there is some overlap, the fans interested in the story of the franchise and the ones that are interested in the multiplayer are worlds apart.
• Popular with Furries: The Zerg have a fan base for those who like scalies from outer space. Hydralisks have an Ugly Cute snake person body type and Kerrigan even treats the Hunter Killer strain like her own personal pets. Dehaka has a bipedal dinosauroid figure and the Primal Zerg are also reptilian and dinosaur-like to help win over dinosaur fans. In co-op games, Dehaka can even transform into a Not Zilla form under the right conditions.
• Porting Disaster: The Nintendo 64 is the only console that StarCraft I was ported to, and a lot of compromises had to me made to fit the original game and the Brood War expansion onto the cartridge. There's no voice acting for mission briefings or in-game scenes, and unit dialogue is simplified to one or two lines; mission briefings are static portraits with text boxes appearing one at a time, and they all use the Terran briefing room; FMVs are simplified to still frames with captions; the in-game HUD takes up a very large part of the screen; and playing with a controller is simply not as comfortable as playing with a mouse and keyboard. Further, the game obviously had no internet access and thus online play; the only form of multiplayer was a 2-player mode with a split screen, which obviously is a major complication to an RTS game when both players can see what the other is doing at all times.
• Squick:
  • Remember the Mutalisk portrait? Look at the concept arts, and their appearance in SC2. That is not their face. Also take a moment to read about their method of attack. Yup. They are shitting parasites at the enemy.
    • Zerg players, however, fondly remember the old Mutalisk portrait. "I like his butt better than his face" indeed.
  • Upon finding Kerrigan after she's been infested, Raynor is disgusted with himself, as on some level he finds her new form just as alluring as her human form, and maybe more.
• Strangled by the Red String: A lot of fans see the love story between Raynor and Kerrigan as this. To be fair, the game focused more on the battles and the strategy, so we have no idea of what happened between them offscreen. StarCraft II makes a much better job at fleshing out their relationship. However, some fans think this trope applies now in the sequels and that there was no need for this relationship to exist as it is.
• Too Cool to Live: Tassadar, Fenix, Edmund Duke, General Warfield and Zeratul.
• The Woobie:
  • As Mike Liberty points out in one of the novels, Raynor is one of very few good and honorable human beings in the sector. And he keeps watching his friends die or betray him, and he gets to live with the knowledge that the evil overlords of two of the factions got there with his help.
    • There's also the story of his wife and son. Johnny got drafted into and (supposedly) died in the Ghost Program and Liddy died of grief not long after.
  • Also Kerrigan and her fate in general. She certainly didn't originally plan for infestation. Heart of the Swarm confirms this big time.
  • Zeratul is put into basically a living hell in the first game, where almost every single choice he did led to doom for what he cared for the most. His first in-game action was killing Zasz on Char, which while definetly badass as no one thought cerebrates could be permanently slain, it gave the Overmind information on where Aiur was, leading the vast majority of the Zerg Swarm there, while Zeratul was stranded on Char with Tassadar and Raynor due to Kerrigan's presence. He finally arrives on Aiur... only to find out the Conclave wants to arrest Tassadar. After this problem is solved, Zeratul lends a hand in killing some cerebrates and aiding on the Overmind's destruction to send the zerg in disarray... which ends up dooming Aiur, and forcing the survivors to take Zeratul's idea of using Aiur's warp gate and going to Shakuras, the then-safe Dark Templar homeworld... which gets invaded by the zerg due to that plan. After activating the Xel'naga temple, Zeratul does not appear until Kerrigan kidnaps Raszagal to have Zeratul kill the new Overmind in exchange of letting the matriarch go, which he does... only to find out Raszagal was Brainwashed long before he met with her back in Shakuras. As a result, Zeratul decides he would rather see Raszagal dead than brainwashed, takes her back and kills her - something he could not forgive himself for (Even though Raszagal did so). With a remnant of the Protoss fleet that was alongside him, Zeratul finds a dark moon, believing Artanis's forces are there... but Samir Duran and his hybrids-in-development were what his fleet detected. It's as if there had been a Cosmic Plaything on Zeratul in the first game. While the second game is much nicer to him, Legacy of the Void reveals he had a very poor reputation among most Protoss for what he did in the first game - letting the zerg invade Aiur and killing Raszagal - and it's not until his researching of the prophecy turning out to be right that he got some respect. Shame he had to die to an Amon-controlled Artanis beforehand.
• Ugly Cute: While the Zerg are presented as a Horde of Alien Locusts who assimilate or destroy all in their path, many of their designs can be seen as charming, and some even have had plushes made accordingly. The Zergling has appeal in a similar vein as a dog and it helps that Kerrigan even had a Zergling as a companion of sorts. The Hydralisk even gets pet treatment and has been shown as pet-like in some cutscenes as well. The Mutalisk is also well regarded, being the signature harassment flier of the Zerg yet also having charm as well. The list can go on.

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