History YMMV / Worm

* ToughActToFollow: While both ''Literature/{{Pact}}'' and ''Literature/{{Twig}}'' have their followings, neither seems to have achieved the amount of breakout popularity ''Worm'' has.

** One common element in fics is Sophia getting her just desserts for her bullying of Taylor fairly early on, usually because Taylor's powers prove valuable to the PRT. [[spoiler:Also, whoever's responsible for the injustice, usually the principal, also tends to get in trouble.]]
** It is surprisingly common in fanfics for Taylor's hair to be described as brown, when in canon it is often stated as black.
** Amy/Panacea's issues are often blamed solely on Carol's parenting instead of being far more complex and based in part on Amy's own problems. [[spoiler:Taking the sequel into account, she may, in fact, be a narcissist as between the two stories she meets or can be argued to several symptoms of NCP with one, self-loathing for failing to live up to impossible standards set based on an unrealistic view f one's abilities, is a defining characteristic of Amy in Worm.]] The limitations on her powers--that she can't make biomass out of nothing, can't work on non-living tissue, and that she takes time to do what she does--are often ignored in fanfiction which also tends to take some of her feats [[spoiler:(Atlas, the Relay Bugs, Khepri)]] out of context to claim that she is more powerful than she is, and many people ignore Amy's many negative character traits or excuse them as being Carol's fault.

*** [=SpecificProtagonist=] is Madison Clements.
*** Confirmed to be [=FlippinMad=] in [=GlowWorm=].

** Taylor eats/cooks Lasagna at some point in the series.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: From several angles.
** Per AlternateCharacterInterpretation, some readers find that twenty arcs of the main protagonist doing very morally questionable things [[IDidWhatIHadToDo that she believes are justified]] simply too much to swallow (and/or her status as TheChewToy). It doesn't help that, after about the fifth time, the cycle of "do bad thing, feel guilt" gets rather repetitive.
** Toward the latter story arcs (e.g. when [[spoiler:a new Endbringer designed to counter what they used to kill Behemoth appears]]), some readers have fallen into this state on the grounds that humanity is simply too overmatched by the evils that assault it. And this is before [[spoiler:Scion starts annihilating everything in its path.]]
** There are distressingly few true heroes in the setting, with almost all the rest being people who are at best high in the "hero" scale of AntiHero (and can still be pretty lousy human beings, just falling under the InUniverse classification of "hero") and at worst people who get put through the wringer because this setting LOVES NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished.
** Often the pace of the story is such that the characters are never given a chance to breath or relax. This leads to the major characters in life or death struggles every few days with no light relief to break up the near constant angst. This can lead to readers burning out since it never seems like the characters' lives get better in anyway.

* CompleteMonster: [[PsychoKnifeNut Jack Slash]] is a psychopath obsessed with [[FameThroughInfamy being remembered as one of the most wicked people to have ever lived]]. The leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine, Jack tortures and murders the loved ones of the Nine to [[TheCorrupter corrupt]] and break them into his malleable pawns, and uses them to rampage across the world. Regularly wiping out thousands of people just for fun, Jack at one point targets a hospital and murders not only all of the staff and sickly patients, but the entire maternity ward as well, later threatening a hero's baby sister to keep him in line. Jack plans to use a superpowered army to bring mass murder upon the whole Earth, and uses one minion's specialty powers to subject victims to [[AndIMustScream truly horrific fates]]. Even when beaten, Jack manipulates [[PhysicalGod Scion]] into killing billions of people across the multiverse as a final act of villainy. Jack was the most purely evil being Taylor Hebert ever faced, a sadist who prided himself on his personal kill count of hundreds and who was happy to doom the multiverse just to satisfy his raging ego.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Shadow Stalker was a cold, heartless bully as well as a brutal and occasionally murderous vigilante--but the way [[spoiler:Regent not only systematically tears down her life, but essentially forces her to do it]] comes off as DisproportionateRetribution to some readers. [[spoiler:Because really, leaving a high school bully--even one of her caliber--with a life of homelessness, suicide, or imprisonment as her only options is, to some readers, too harsh to be considered true justice.]] Although [[spoiler:Regent's decision to hide his actions from Taylor]] raise questions about how "unintentional" reader sympathy for Shadow Stalker in that situation is. [[spoiler:It can easily be inferred that viewing what he did as DisproportionateRetribution was actually the intended audience reaction.]]

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Shadow Stalker was a cold, heartless bully as well as a brutal and occasionally murderous vigilante--but the way [[spoiler:Regent not only systematically tears down her life, but essentially forces her to do it]] comes off as DisproportionateRetribution to some readers. [[spoiler:Because really, leaving a high school bully--even one of her caliber--with a life of homelessness, suicide, or imprisonment as her only options is, to some readers, too harsh to be considered true justice.]} Although [[spoiler:Regent's decision to hide his actions from Taylor]] raise questions about how "unintentional" reader sympathy for Shadow Stalker in that situation is. [[spoiler:It can easily be inferred that viewing what he did as DisproportionateRetribution was actually the intended audience reaction.]]

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Shadow Stalker was a cold, heartless bully as well as a brutal and occasionally murderous vigilante--but the way [[spoiler:Regent not only systematically tears down her life, but essentially forces her to do it]] comes off as DisproportionateRetribution to some readers. [[spoiler:Because really, leaving a high school bully--even one of her caliber--with a life of homelessness, suicide, or imprisonment as her only options is, to some readers, too harsh to be considered true justice.]]

* DontShootTheMessage: Those readers who believe AIIsACrapshoot in RealLife are in the unfortunate situation of having to argue that [[spoiler:Dragon -- a {{Ridiculously Human|Robots}}like ArtificialIntelligence and [[TheCape one of the greatest and purest superheroes in the world]]]] -- is simply and innocently mistaken about the risks of AI, while [[spoiler:Saint -- a known thief, mercenary, and killer,]] who uses his knowledge of [[spoiler:Dragon's AI-nature to first steal several of her {{Mini Mecha}}s and then attempts to kill her outright]] -- has a realistic and accurate appreciation of the dangers. Especially given that [[spoiler:Saint doesn't even consider Dragon]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman a person.]] Dragon's supporters on the other hand merely have to argue how letting loose an unchained dragon on the multiverse is a sensible risk to take. An infinitely scaleable, [[spoiler:software based AI, for all intents and purposes an all knowing, omnipresent, immortal, unstoppable and all powerfull entity in a mechanical world and the electronic equivalent of an Endbringer,]] with zero oversight and no one to judge her but her own consciousness, [[spoiler:for the rest of eternity]]. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong....

* DontShootTheMessage: Those readers who believe AIIsACrapshoot in RealLife are in the unfortunate situation of having to argue that [[spoiler:Dragon -- a {{Ridiculously Human|Robots}}like ArtificialIntelligence and [[TheCape one of the greatest and purest superheroes in the world]]]] -- is simply and innocently mistaken about the risks of AI, while [[spoiler:Saint -- a known thief, mercenary, and killer,]] who uses his knowledge of [[spoiler:Dragon's AI-nature to first steal several of her {{Mini Mecha}}s and then attempts to kill her outright]] -- has a realistic and accurate appreciation of the dangers. Especially given that [[spoiler:Saint doesn't even consider Dragon]] [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman a person.]]

** Cauldron. Any debate on their actions and competence is likely to draw close to if not outright ignite FlameWar.
* BrokenBase:
** Taylor's actions in the penultimate chapter. [[spoiler:Did they count as bullying or not? If so, were they justified given the threat humanity faced? (And the billions said threat had already slaughtered?) Has Taylor fully transitioned into a monster like those who tormented her, or were her actions a necessary evil against a threat that could be stopped no other way?]] All of these questions are brought up in-universe in the final chapter.

* HypeBacklash: Fans of ''Worm'' praise it effusively, often drawing comparisons between other superhero works (such as ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'' or ''Franchise/TheDCU'') and portraying ''Worm'' as far and away the better of the two. Many recommend it as a must-read work that skillfully handles themes of trauma, racism, and government corruption, among others, praising the characters as more realistic and likable than any they've encountered in other works. A number of readers drawn in by said recommendations have not found ''Worm'' lived up to the hype (especially in its handling of social issues) and some may have critiqued it more harshly than they might have had they not been told it was the greatest work of fiction since ''Harry Potter'', or at least a superior superhero story to anything in the mainstream. Not helping is that fans of ''Worm'' tend to dismiss any complaints about the rather harsh story and numerous ugly events by emphasizing those elements as "making hard choices" and "moral gray areas", ignoring the legitimate complaints of many people who feel that the entire story is a case of TooBleakStoppedCaring.

* HypeBacklash: Fans of ''Worm'' praise it effusively, often drawing comparisons between other superhero works (such as ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'' or ''Franchise/TheDCU'') and portraying ''Worm'' as far and away the better of the two. Many recommend it as a must-read work that skillfully handles themes of trauma, racism, and government corruption, among others, praising the characters as more realistic and likable than any they've encountered in other works. A number of readers drawn in by said recommendations have not found ''Worm'' lived up to the hype (especially in its handling of social issues) and some may have critiqued it more harshly than they might have had they not been told it was the greatest work of fiction since ''Harry Potter'', or at least a superior superhero story to anything in the mainstream. Not helping is that fans of ''Worm'' tend to emphasize the "making hard choices" and "moral gray areas" of the story, thereby triggering many people to dismiss it with TooBleakStoppedCaring.

** Per AlternateCharacterInterpretation, some readers find that twenty arcs of the main protagonist doing very morally questionable things [[IDidWhatIHadToDo that she believes are justified]] simply too much to swallow (and/or her status as TheChewToy).

* HypeBacklash: Fans of ''Worm'' praise it effusively, often drawing comparisons between other superhero works (such as ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'' or ''Franchise/TheDCU'') and portraying ''Worm'' as far and away the better of the two. Many recommend it as a must-read work that skillfully handles themes of trauma, racism, and government corruption, among others, praising the characters as more realistic and likable than any they've encountered in other works. A number of readers drawn in by said recommendations have not found ''Worm'' lived up to the hype (especially in its handling of social issues) and some may have critiqued it more harshly than they might have had they not been told it was the greatest work of fiction since ''Harry Potter'', or at least a superior superhero story to anything in the mainstream.

** Vicky is "Collateral Damage Barbie".

** Linked to the Amy example above, fans come to the wrong conclusion about a character's powers, often overestimating them so much that WordOfGod has to intervene (Über is an example of such as stated on his page on The Parahumans Wiki, Coil also qualifies).

** Linked to the Amy example above, fans come to completely the wrong conclusion about a character's powers, often overestimating them so much that WordOfGod has to intervene (Über is an example of such as stated on his page on The Parahumans Wiki, Coil also qualifies).

* FandomRivalry: In the same vein as ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'', if not more severe. Due to the tendency of Worm fans to claim a stomp against any setting they run into (and the instances where Wildbow himself engage in VS debates in favor of his own characters, especially Contessa and the Endbringers, certainly doesn't help the matter), the Worm fandom has become this to pretty much every fandom save those uninterested in dick-measuring.

* CompleteMonster: [[KnifeNut Jack Slash]] is a psychopath obsessed with [[FameThroughInfamy being remembered as one of the most wicked people to have ever lived]]. The leader of the Slaughterhouse Nine, Jack tortures and murders the loved ones of the Nine to [[TheCorrupter corrupt]] and break them into his malleable pawns, and uses them to rampage across the world. Regularly wiping out thousands of people just for fun, Jack at one point targets a hospital and murders not only all of the staff and sickly patients, but the entire maternity ward as well, later threatening a hero's baby sister to keep him in line. Jack plans to use a superpowered army to bring mass murder upon the whole Earth, and uses one minion's specialty powers to subject victims to [[AndIMustScream truly horrific fates]]. Even when beaten, Jack manipulates [[PhysicalGod Scion]] into killing billions of people across the multiverse as a final act of villainy. Jack was the most purely evil being Taylor Hebert ever faced, a sadist who prided himself on his personal kill count of hundreds and who was happy to doom the multiverse just to satisfy his raging ego.

* FandomRivalry: In the same vein as ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'', if not more severe. Due to the tendency of Worm fans to claim a stomp against any setting they run into (and the instances where Wildbow himself rush into VS debates to wank his own characters, especially Contessa and the Endbringers, certainly doesn't help the matter), the Worm fandom has become this to pretty much every fandom save those uninterested in dick-measuring.

* CommonKnowledge: Despite this never being stated in the text, many fans assume that Amy's attraction for Victoria is a result of years of being exposed to her aura. This commonly shows up in fanfics as well, further perpetuating this [[{{Fanon}} fanon]]. The origin of it comes from a commenter first stating this theory and Wildbow replying with a cryptic [[https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/04/30/interlude-21/#comment-20604 "I wondered if anyone would pay any attention to that."]] [[FlipFlopOfGod However]], later [[WordOfGod Words of God]] have stated that [[https://www.parahumans.net/2017/12/01/daybreak-1-8/#comment-1642 this theory might be jumping to conclusions]], and that [[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/383838218103160836/592573373679140875/unknown.png even if it was true the influence of the aura would be very subtle]]. There is also the problem of the other Dallon household members: they would have received comparable doses of aura as Amy did, possibly more due to their patrols with Victoria, yet don't show any particular admiration or love towards her beyond those of parental bonds.

*** Lampshaded, post-TimeSkip Clockblocker complains that all the rumors about him having a crush on Weaver have put a major damper on his career.

* MemeticMutation: [[{{Memes/Worm}} Has its own page here.]]

** [[{{Memes/Worm}} Skitter facts.]]

* NightmareFuel: [[{{NightmareFuel/Worm}} Many examples.]]
* NightmareRetardant: At first, you might laugh at [[Film/{{Troll2}} Nilbog's]] name. [[{{NightmareFuel/Worm}} Then you read]] [[TotalPartyKill Emily's interlude.]]

* TheScrappy:
** Greg, one of Taylor's classmates from Winslow High.
** All of the [[spoiler:new Endbringers that showed up after New Delhi]] are generally viewed as much lamer than [[spoiler:the original three.]] This is because they didn't get enough screen-time to make an impression on anyone. Compare Tohu and Bohu being introduced and then largely forgotten about within a single chapter to [[spoiler:Leviathan getting an entire ''arc'' to himself.]]

* UnintentionallySympathetic:
** Shadow Stalker was a cold, heartless bully as well as a brutal and occasionally murderous vigilante--but the way [[spoiler:Regent not only systematically tears down her life, but essentially forces her to do it]] comes off as DisproportionateRetribution to some readers. [[spoiler:Because really, leaving a high school bully--even one of her caliber--with a life of homelessness, suicide, or imprisonment as her only options is, to some readers, too harsh to be considered true justice.]]
*** Although [[spoiler:Regent's decision to hide his actions from Taylor]] raise questions about how "unintentional" reader sympathy for Shadow Stalker in that situation is. [[spoiler:It can easily be inferred that viewing what he did as DisproportionateRetribution was actually the intended audience reaction.]]

** Describing Tattletale's grin as "vulpine" or likening her to a fox in some other way.

%%* AssPull: The entire finale, in the eyes of some readers. Major spoilers, obviously: [[spoiler: The author wrote himself into a corner, with an enemy that is literally unbeatable, given that he possesses an unrestricted power capable of universally achieving victory. When faced with a psychological attack, he inexplicably doesn't use it, despite using it earlier in the fight against a much less dangerous opponent. Additionally, he is fully capable of traveling to worlds inaccessible by restricted shards, giving him the capability of running away where he could not be followed. He also inexplicably doesn't do this. He is then attacked by a power previously only known for going through any defense; inexplicably, this power instead creates a portal through his body, into the dimension where his REAL body is kept. And finally, under the main character's control, tinkers are inexplicably able to overcome their previously hard-coded limits and combine their efforts(despite this never happening when under other mind-control effects) to create a superweapon capable of destroying said real body.]]

* DarknessInducedAudienceApathy: From several angles.
** Per AlternateCharacterInterpretation, some readers find that twenty arcs of the main protagonist doing very morally questionable things [[IDidWhatIHadToDo that she believes are justified]] simply too much to swallow (and/or her status as TheChewToy).
** Toward the latter story arcs (e.g. when [[spoiler:a new Endbringer designed to counter what they used to kill Behemoth appears]]), some readers have fallen into this state on the grounds that humanity is simply too overmatched by the evils that assault it. And this is before [[spoiler:Scion starts annihilating everything in its path.]]
** There are distressingly few true heroes in the setting, with almost all the rest being people who are at best high in the "hero" scale of AntiHero (and can still be pretty lousy human beings, just falling under the InUniverse classification of "hero") and at worst people who get put through the wringer because this setting LOVES NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished.
** Often the pace of the story is such that the characters are never given a chance to breath or relax. This leads to the major characters in life or death struggles every few days with no light relief to break up the near constant angst. This can lead to readers burning out since it never seems like the characters' lives get better in anyway.

** Dinah, in addition to being a child with [[BlessedWithSuck an extremely accurate precognitive power that screws with her head so badly she's barely functional without drugs]], spends about half the story kidnapped by a supervillain who wants to exploit her and only refers to her as "pet". She suppresses her physical revulsion for his gestures of possessive "affection" because she can ''see'' exactly how her situation will get worse if he gets irritated with her, and he keeps her under control with the threat to cut off her drug supply, where her ability to see all possible futures means that she gets to experience weeks' worth of withdrawal ''every second''. On top of all this, despite desperately wanting to go home (and knowing exactly how low her chances of this are), she is convinced her family hates and fears her, and is almost more terrified of facing them again than she is of Coil. [[spoiler:The fact that she turns out to be wrong about her family, and gets over her drug addiction after being returned home, does not solve the problems she still has with her power, and the knowledge it gives her of the terrible possibilities in the futures of people she cares about]].