History DarknessInducedAudienceApathy / FanFics

[[redirect:DarknessInducedAudienceApathy/FanWorks]]

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[[folder: ''My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'']]
* ''Fanfic/APuppetToHerFame'' is notorious for its grim dark and ''heavy'' levels of abuse. Even MLP story reader [=ObabScribbler=] acknowledged that the story was difficult even for ''her'', stating she felt horrible after finishing up a reading afterwards.
* Like its name suggests, ''Fanfic/TheAssassinationOfTwilightSparkle'' deals with the emotional and political fallout of Princess Twilight's murder. Its sequel fic, ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/140415/aftermath-of-a-fallen-star Aftermath of a Fallen Star]]'', attempts to expand upon this before devolving into a {{Deconstruction}} of Equestria's SugarBowl setting, including mental illness induced suicide, rape, terroristic bombing, lack of even a shred of empathy on the part of Canterlot's citizens to the point of AristocratsAreEvil, the existence of Unicornia, a separatist nation of [[FantasticRacism Unicorn Supremacists]] allied with ''Tirek'', a draconian law dictating a pony must take a job corresponding with their Cutie Mark and falsifying ones Cutie Mark to work in any other field is ''[[FelonyMisdemeanor an act of fraud and punishable by imprisonment]]'' and an on going conspiracy by Duke Blueblood to overthrow the Royal Sisters and place his pureblood Alicorn daughter on the throne, all happening right under Celestia's nose without her knowledge. It got to the point more than one viewer was hoping Canterlot would eventually meet the same fate as the one in ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria''.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Asylum}}'', some readers found the degree to which Twilight Sparkle is ground down emotionally and the overall sense of gloom throughout the first part of the story, coupled with the story's [[{{Doorstopper}} considerable length]], ''very'' gradual plot development, and lack of {{Hope Spot}}s, to be more trouble than the OntologicalMystery at the center was worth.
* A few readers feel this way about ''Fanfic/BackgroundPony''. The story is pretty bleak and resolute about grinding Lyra into the dirt, with hope seeming so distant or unreachable at times that it's easy to simply become exhausted with the entire narrative. The final chapter is especially bad in this regard; though her decision in the end was utterly selfless, the focus on her loss from said selflessness adds one final bout of angst to the pile.
* The increasing focus of ''Fanfic/TheDearSweetieBelleContinuity'' on foreshadowing/setting up [[AStormIsComing a coming cataclysmic conflict]] which portends doom for Equestria, and the distinct possibility of unhappy endings for most characters involved, has [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere driven off a few commenters]] (though many more are still hooked). Some also find the behavior of the royals who receive much of the focus to be extremely unpleasant, especially considering that their divisive behavior is implied to be at least partially responsible for said conflict.
* ''Fanfic/FalloutEquestria'', not only in the main story, but in many side-stories as well ([[DarkerAndEdgier especially]] ''Project Horizons''). People have called it ''[[UpToEleven even more depressing]]'' than the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' canon, because of a simple reason: there is only so much horror that can be placed in a video game before it becomes impossible to sell, while a fan fiction doesn't has the same restrictions... and there are so many [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rapes]], [[{{Gorn}} brutal deaths]] (and especially "[[DroppedABridgeOnHim pointless]]" deaths), [[ApocalypseAnarchy post-apocalyptic inhumanity]] and SceneryGorn of beloved Equestrian locations (more often than not loaded with ''literal'' {{Gorn}}) before people call it quits. The flashback sequences to pre-cataclysm Equestria are even worse triggers of this, because they all showcase much-beloved F.I.M. characters (especially the Mane Six) devolving into complete {{Jerkass}}es because of the pressures of the Great War and DoomedByCanon to die in said war, so why bother?
* In the ''MLP'' story ''FanFic/HarmonyTheory'', some readers are starting to feel this way, due to very little being revealed about the central mystery, despite being on chapter thirty-four and with ''over five hundred thousand words in'' with no end in sight and the villains-especially Max Cash-managing to turn around any victory the heroes do have, and coming out on top, anyway. No matter how hard the heroes have fought, it can occasionally feel like they have very little progress, while the villains seem to continuously gain progress with their mysterious plans, only being slightly inconvenienced. The fact that it takes place in a BadFuture where a pony can get a cutie mark/talent glyph in '''killing''', [[spoiler: Celestia and Luna are both trapped in their respected celestial bodies]], there is a rogue {{War God}}dess running around, planning to turn the world to ash, and the two countries that used to be Equestria are on the brink of war and even with the world at stake, many of them stubbornly refuse to work together, just might have something to do with that.
* This can even happen with shorter stories, as seen with ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/70359/i-am-not-the-actor I Am Not the Actor]]'', a study of what might have happened if one of Pinkie's clones had survived the end of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E3TooManyPinkiePies "Too Many Pinkie Pies"]] instead of the real deal. In brief, it switches between the clone screwing up whatever Pinkie used to do (not at all PlayedForLaughs) and being mostly oblivious to how much everybody around seems to resent her, Twilight attempting to drown her guilt at dooming her friend ([[FridgeHorror and the thought that the other clones may have been as sapient as this one]]) by switching between trying to self-righteously [[ReplacementGoldfish iron out the clone's "imperfections"]] and being a mind-boggling {{Jerkass}} to [[ItIsDehumanizing "it"]], and the rest of the mane cast being too uncomfortable and indecisive to have any impact on events. It seems like this cycle would continue forever if [[spoiler:[[DeusExMachina the real Pinkie didn't get out of the Mirror Pool]] and [[JourneyToFindOneself send the clone off to find herself]]]].
* While the original ''FanFic/InnerDemons'' was fairly dark, it still ended up being a case of EarnYourHappyEnding, avoiding this trope... until the sequels, which pulled some downright ''brutal'' HappyEndingOverride, especially where [[spoiler: Rarity]] is concerned, which turned off many readers. To put it in perspective, both sequels have the '''Tragedy''' tag, which is just an advance warning that a story ''cannot possibly end happily.''
* After waiting over a year for the fifth episode, some viewers of ''WebAnimation/MyLittlePortal'' were turned off by the exponential increase in both gore and a sense of hopelessness, thanks to [[spoiler:the past fall of Canterlot and a great deal of character mutilation, along with the death of most of the original show's cast in gruesome ways. By the end of it there's practically nothing Twilight can return to]]. Illustrating this phenomenon is the fact the next episode has around ''one fifth'' of Episode 5's views, with the drop in views remaining for the one after that.
* ''Fanfic/TheNuptialverse'' gradually veers away from the character-focused vignettes of ''Post Nuptials'' in favor of arcs such as Scootabuse and an anti-Celestia movement which seems far more effective than any of the characters or situations involved would allow, diverging wildly from canon in both content and tone. A number of readers objected to the point of ''forcing the addition of a [[DarkFic Dark]] tag'' to ''Families'', and when the sequel ''Direction'' was posted with that tag from the start, they rather vocally [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere swore it off]]. (Ironically, the author only added that tag to ''Direction'' as a pre-emptive response to these objectors and has since removed it.)
* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/59019/solitary-locust Solitary Locust]]'', the tale of [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Twilight Sparkle]] accidentally turning herself into a [[EmotionEater changeling]] and going on the run, goes into exhaustive detail on both the physical injuries and mental and emotional scarring inflicted on her, [[TraumaCongaLine both of which just keep stacking up]]. It reaches the point where ''many'' readers stopped believing anything resembling a happy ending was possible, either because Twilight would be forever scarred by the experience even if she made it out or because they got the impression ''anything'' the author did would either dump more misery on Twilight or serve as a HopeSpot before [[YankTheDogsChain yanking the rug out from under her]].
* Volume I of ''FanFic/SpectacularSeven'' has been noted by commenters as being a chore to sit through. The fic keeps piling up angst and stress on top of Sunset Shimmer, from being the only person not affected by a HatePlague, to making her an UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom with the Sirens, to having a ThirdActMisunderstanding with Twilight Sparkle. The heroes all act like jerks to each other, the villains seem almost impossibly hard to defeat, and the few ways that everything can be fixed keep becoming vanishingly less likely. While things do eventually lighten up - Sunset does manage to [[EarnYourHappyEnding come out of everything in one piece]] - the author admitted that Volume I ended up far darker than he intended, necessitating [[AuthorsSavingThrow a few changes to the second volume]] to keep the story from being too depressing, and was said to be much better about handling conflict.
* ''Fanfic/WhatHaveYouDone'' and its sequel ''Even As...'' have garnered this reaction, postulating that if [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E25ACanterlotWeddingPart1 Chrysalis had not bothered to banish Twilight Sparkle to the caves after her argument with her friends]], Twilight would have taken it badly enough to [[spoiler:free [[MadGod Discord]] from his imprisonment]] and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere bugger off]], with much {{Wangst}}ing. Said friends, meanwhile, are [[spoiler:rejected by their Elements of Harmony]] for a momentary error (and WordOfGod is that [[spoiler:[[BlueAndOrangeMorality even the Elements don't really understand what they're doing]]]]), and with both them and Celestia cast in the wrong by the narrative, the only character available to root for is [[MamaBear Twilight Velvet]], a borderline OCStandIn (with a dose of UnreliableNarrator).
* This is a bit of an issue in the ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'' and MLP crossover ''Fanfic/TheWheelAndTheButterflySaga''. The cast of Dan Vs. were [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist never very pleasant people]] and the cast of MLP TookALevelInJerkass to be just as unlikable as the former. Particularly Pinkie Pie, who very soon after entering Dan's world transforms into just as much of a HeroicComedicSociopath as Dan himself, thanks to the his world's influence. The "[[DesignatedHero heroes]]" repeatedly torment innocent people, cause massive collateral damage [[KarmaHoudini with no repercussions]] and come close to killing each other several times, despite loving each other, the antagonist are even more unlikable, and the whole story is brimming with ComedicSociopathy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Other]]
* ''Fanfic/ABrighterDark'': When the main character is an unlikable DesignatedHero, the country she's fighting for is a CrapsackWorld more than happy to RapePillageAndBurn, and the country they're fighting against is a ridiculously racist CrapsaccharineWorld, readers may find it hard to care. That's not even getting into the ''ridiculous'' AdaptationalAngstUpgrade...
* ''Fanfic/AllHeEverWanted'': When almost every character is either an unlikable bastard/bitch or being constantly tortured, readers may not be sure who to root for at all. Or if there's any character worth rooting for. Especially considering that in canon ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'', all nations are given at least some sympathetic and/or kind moments, even the worst {{Jerk Ass}}es... and yet the fic removes almost all of them; i.e., seeing Prussia as a megalomaniac, abusive, rapist [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] CardCarryingVillain when he's at most a HotBlooded ButtMonkey in canon is all kinds of NO.
* ''Fanfic/AllYouNeedIsLove''. Even if it is a CrackFic and based on ''Manga/DeathNote'', it can be hard to maintain interest when everyone is either [[JerkAss an asshole]] if not outright villainous, [[TooDumbToLive an idiot]] or a ButtMonkey. Or a combination of the three.
* ''Fanfic/AmbienceAFleetSymphony'': Ties in with AudienceAlienatingPremise. Even if one able to get past Damon's questionable behavior, almost everyone is revealed to not have clean hands, the obvious villains notwithstanding. Even the "good" factions that Damon works with aren't above things such as highly questionable experiments, hostage-taking, and "[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness retiring]]" people. This makes it really difficult to cheer for anyone.
* ''Fanfic/BeMyEscape'' is widely considered one of the most depressing ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' fanfics in existence, and for good reason. The story revolves around Finn never getting adopted by Jake's parents and instead lived most of his life inside a CircusOfFear, where he was emotionally and physically abused before finally seizing a chance to escape. The land of Ooo is written as being a WretchedHive devoid of any law or morality, a good chunk of the characters are either psychologically unwell or straight-up jerks, and there's overall a strong sense of hopelessness in the tone.
* Some readers of ''Fanfic/Digimon02TheStoryWeNeverTold'' were either turned off by the much more cynical and angsty version of the story compared to canon to the point of being grimdark, or the fact that certain characters ([[SourSupporter Matt]], [[AlphaBitch Mimi]], and [[KidsAreCruel Cody]] in particular) [[TookALevelInJerkass are much more unpleasant than they ever were in the show]]. However, once [[spoiler: Ken dies]], [[CharacterDevelopment most of their jerkass traits disappear]] and the series slowly but surely becomes more optimistic as the Digidestined starts to make their own resolve, thus subverting this trope over time.
* ''FanFic/DumbledoresArmyAndTheYearOfDarkness'' and its sequels ''want'' to be a "serious" take on the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series. Unfortunately, the author has mistaken gratuitous gore and bloodshed for seriousness. People die ''en masse'' even when canon insists they lived, morally-ambiguous characters are transformed into pure evil, ''nobody'' gets out without severe injury (physical or mental), and if it looks like something good is about to happen, the heroes will destroy it with their own stupidity or selfishness--and yet the narrative expects us to sympathize with them, especially in the case of Neville Longbottom. Once hailed as a work of art, it's now seen as a mass of potential buried in overdone "drama".
* ''Faery Heroes'': A PeggySue in which Harry, Hermione, and Luna go back in time. This in of itself is not apathy-inducing, but the story suffers from both RonTheDeathEater ''and'' DesignatedHero, and the resulting EvilVersusEvil conflict is so bland and cliché-riddled that you'll want everyone to be killed by the [[FairFolk fae]].
* ''FanFic/ForgedDestiny'': It can be argued that the story suffers this starting from Book 5. While the first four Books of Forged Destiny has elements of darkness and each Book had a BittersweetEnding, there was usually still enough of a balance between the darker moments with moments of levity, worldbuilding and character building moments to counteract it. However, from Book 5 onwards, many of the arcs end with progressively darker and more bitter consequences with very little levity or time to relax and process the events properly in between. The end result is that the story feels like it's determined to drag Jaune through the dirt, breaking down his friendship with the Guild, putting him into an environment of extreme paranoia and distrust, killing off several people who he had come to respect and trust and overall undermining any sense of growth or levity for the sake of drama. The current arc in Book 8 only seems determined to continue this trend with [[spoiler:the reveal that [[WhamEpisode Blake's family might have been attacked and murdered by Ruby's mother, a person who for all intents and purposes was seen as a decent person with, at worst, a bad case of Chronic Hero Syndrome]].]]
* As if ''VideoGame/HammerBrother'' couldn't possibly have more going against it, the fact that it ends with the eponymous hero being eaten by the Buried Alive Model makes all the suffering you went through all for naught. Even before that, a near complete lack of power-ups, [[PlatformHell absurd difficulty]] and [[RatchetScrolling getting stuck at random]] makes the already horrible fangame even worse. On top of that, it tries to mimic ''VideoGame/BrutalMario'', but fails to understand why that game's darkness worked.
* ''Fanfic/{{Heimatfront}}'', a crossover series, takes place in Nazi Germany during the last days of the war, focuses on Maria Nitzchmann (aka [[Anime/GirlsUndPanzer Miho Nishizumi]]), a BDM conscript, who delivers some tanks to the German army, but finds herself caught up in the fighting, and wants to do what she can to ensure a more favorable outcome for Nazi Germany. Unfortunately, not only [[ForegoneConclusion do you know how this will end]], especially considering [[FailureHero Maria's lucky to even survive her battles]], but when [[spoiler:Maria finds out about the Holocaust]], her superior, Roy Messner (aka [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Roy Mustang]]) bluntly tells her that he knows about it, too, and essentially says she has two choices- fight a losing battle and essentially enable crimes against humanity to continue, or let Germany fall to its enemies, who will take revenge on the people. It's historically accurate, but not only do you know Maria won't succeed, you have to question whether she should.
* In ''Fanfic/TheJadedEyesSeries'', the author said they wanted to write a Harry Potter darkfic, and ''lord'' but it shows. It starts with a six-year-old Harry not only being beaten and abused by the Dursleys to such extent that he ought to be ''dead'' (how a six-year-old survives being kicked around a basement by his considerably larger uncle is never made clear), and apparently not one single person in the neighborhood or school notice any of his copious injuries. From there, Harry murders all three Dursleys in their sleep, sets out on his own, and every single person he meets from there on out are either selfish or put through circumstances that are horrible. Characters like Lily and James Potter, Dumbledore, and Lupin are given RonTheDeathEater treatment so they're completely unlikable, but the characters who show UndyingLoyalty to Harry come across as equally horrible because they know he's doing things like dissecting kidnapped Muggles and overlook it because he's somehow just that charismatic. When the protagonist is a nihilistic kid who only views others as tools, the supporting cast are either {{Jerkass}}es or his enablers, and [[spoiler:the story ends with his helpers gladly helping him take over the world and murder countless Muggles and his adopted mother magically aborting her conscious-but-unborn baby so she can birth him after he's turned into stone]], the entire thing is incredibly unpleasant. Oh, and it goes on for nearly ''seventy chapters''.
* ''FanFic/LatiasJourney'' is a prime case of such, right where the ''Your Secret Admirer'' prequel (which [[DarkerAndEdgier goes to hell rather quickly]] in its own right) left off. Almost right out of the gate, there is plenty of moments of over-the-top violence, GratuitousRape, sex, profanity, and Creator/Ri2's [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking refusal to]] [[ShowDontTell show and not tell]] with a side-order of {{Wangst}} (Mostly from the titular heroine, but May also has her moments of such as well.) and {{Flanderization}}, among the cast. The real kicker is that Latias [[StrangledByTheRedString falls in love with the Ghost King]], the ''being responsible for destroying Latias' home in the first place.'' The author himself eventually gets fed up with making the characters suffer and decides to give them all a happy ending at the last minute, except for James who is left in outer space.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12879916/1/ The Longest Road]]'' falls into this every once in a while, especially when it tries to make scenes that are ''supposed'' to be emotional. Perhaps the most egregious example is during the Pokémon League, when Ash battles Lance and, despite winning, his Squirtle (evolving to Wartortle during the match) ends up badly injured because Ash refused to switch him out (never mind he had the rest of the team available). Not only Ash falls into a blatant case of {{Wangst}} about it, but he also somehow decides that it's ''[[NeverMyFault Misty's fault]]'' because she failed to convince him to switch Pokémon.
* ''Fanfic/TheNowakverse'' as a whole. It is a product of [[TheNineties the late '90s]], ''Under the Bridge'' being amongst the first ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' fanfics. The very first one, ''Fanfic/RhymeAndReason'', had pretty much set the tone for most of these early works, and that tone was [[DarkerAndEdgier pretty dark]], taking the possibilities that the [[TheyFightCrime crime-fighting]] setting of ''CDRR'' offered its creative fans to extremes without time constraints or Creator/{{Disney}}'s in-house rules. And although they don't have {{Downer Ending}}s, John Nowak's fics in particular can get very dark. This sort of fic was very popular back in those days, not only, but particulary in the ''CDRR'' fandom. However, seen from the point of view from some ten years later or even today, this can be too much darkness at once. And Nowak himself was convinced enough of having overdone it shortly after publishing ''Under the Bridge'' that he {{MST}}ed his very own fic together with Matt Plotecher, himself famous for his ''Fanfic/ChipNoirDalesRescueRangers'' series which doesn't have "Noir" in its name for nothing either.
* ''Fanfic/RequiemForALoud'' is about Lincoln Loud suffering from neurofibromatosis[[note]]A condition that causes tumors to form in the brain, spinal cord, and nerves[[/note]] and is only given about two-to-three weeks to live. While the whole terminal illness concept has been [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny done to death already]], the story manages to work around it by showing how Lincoln dying is affecting those around him (i.e. his friends and family). By exploring the characterization and how they're dealing with the situation, the story manages to be quite depressing given that each of his 10 sisters has reacted ''very'' badly towards Lincoln's imminent death. Overall, everything just seems to be crumbling apart for them.
* ''FanFic/TheRoadToCydonia'' reveals itself as this soon after ''Fanfic/ReflectionsLostOnADarkRoad'' begins; ''Manga/InuYasha'' shows up as a more idealistic figure, but is revealed as AllJustADream of a schizophrenic psionic Kagome. [[spoiler: Or rather her mother]]. But even that pales before the introduction of the ''FanFic/DarkTitans''--all are quickly neutralized by UNETCO forces, upon which they are repeatedly subjected to [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids intense, prosthelytizing cynicism]].
** Starfire runs right into Herb of the Musk, [[spoiler:who is so dedicated to JustFollowingOrders that despite realizing that she's desperately trying ''not'' to kill him, he just uses her hesitation to [[CurbStompBattle casually beat her unconscious]]. X-COM then {{Mind Rape}}s her to try to deduce her origins. Only the appearance of the other Titans proves her a non-combatant (due to voluntarily allowing their minds to be read), which leads them to instead cautiously draft her and return her to the rest of the Titans with the intention of turning her into an ally while they research the dimensional crossover. When most of the other Titans petition for national citizenship to register to fight the aliens, it is mentioned that according to UN legislation [[InhumanableAlienRights aliens have no rights]], and she's ''not'' an exception.]]
** Jinx makes a friend for the first time since she left both the HIVE Academy and the Titans, [[spoiler:a rogue alien clone of Akari Unryuu, only for X-COM to accidentally-on-purpose return her to alien control, rather than let her die, so they can [[PlayingWithSyringes experiment on her to discover weaknesses in human-ethereal hybrids.]]]]
** Raven gets a pat on the head by VideoGame/XCom psi researchers, who refuse to acknowledge her EldritchAbomination father as a "demon" rather than an alien, instead encouraging her to abandon her training and tap into her new-found MindControl abilities, as being in the X-COM dimension actually dulls Raven's darker emotions and demon power and allows her to tap into her human-side's powers instead. [[spoiler:This presents other dark temptations, however, and after a return to Azarath, she gets DrunkOnTheDarkSide, [[RelationshipResetButton bringing the Raven/Ryoga/Jinx love triangle back to square one]] (if not pulling a flat-out three-way ShipSinking) via [[MindRape mind raping Jinx into forgetting her love for Ryoga]] and (in Ryoga's eyes) crossing the MoralEventHorizon. Also Jinx starts to believe thanks to this [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor that being a heroine just isn't her calling in life]].]]
** Titans!Ryoga efforts at bonding with his fellow Titans are at one time mocked by his militaristic counterpart, saying that pretending to be a NiceGuy will compromise his ability to command a team in the field. The two Ryougas spend much of the story unable to see eye-to-eye for a variety of reasons.
** Cyborg gets it the lightest--his courageous superhero act is typically less valued by X-COM, who want him to [[StayInTheKitchen Stay In The Lab]] building superweapons. He tried to skirt both areas, helping in the lab and in the field. [[spoiler: He decides to shut down the empathic parts of his mind to be more effective, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul with the predictable backfire that follows]].]]
** All in all, you don't read the fic wondering what will happen to anyone from the X-[=COM=]verse, as it's mentioned multiple times that they will likely all die in the titular assault on Cydonia. Some profess that they don't care if they live or die, or [[AndThenWhat what happens to their civilization after they kill all the aliens]], as long as there is a civilization at all to return to, so why should the reader? What you wonder is if Our Heroes the Teen Titans will make it out of the Waffen-XX dimension ''alive'', or if they'll even get to ''[[DyingAsYourself die sane.]]''
** Though, conversely, many characters speak often about the end of the war and their desire to survive it, [[spoiler:for example, X-COM's Ryouga, who has slowly and painfully found a way out of his previous depression, and Ryu, who hopes to rebuild his family dojo and have a family, and the Amazons who want to rebuild their village after the terror site, but all have heard that Cydonia is likely to be a suicide mission and as a result of recent alien assaults on X-COM bases, morale is at a low point. Mental states are further stretched thin by efforts to investigate other dimensions and attempt to return the Titans to their home.]]
* Before the rewrite, ''FanFic/SonicXDarkChaos'' had this in spades and was strongly criticized for it by several reviewers. The Sonic characters were [[TookALevelInJerkass even bigger jerks]] than their original depictions. The ''extremely'' grimdark setting didn't help, with the entire universe doomed in an over-the-top CosmicHorrorStory filled with [[{{Gorn}} gruesome violence]] and a generous topping of EvilVersusEvil and BlackAndGrayMorality for good measure. Maledict and Tsali being absurdly overpowered didn't help. The author [[AuthorsSavingThrow rewrote it several years later partially to avoid this trope]] - while the setting is actually ''darker'' than before, the story itself has [[BittersweetEnding a somewhat more upbeat conclusion]].
** This trope is also why the author discontinued the prequels ''Fall of the Seedrians'' and ''Battlestar Dandelion''. In particular, the latter has Tsali (a genocidal mass-murdering fox android) as the [[VillainProtagonist protagonist]] against the Metarex in a blatantly EvilVersusEvil war, while Hertia and her people slowly descend into religious fanaticism, civil strife, and HeWhoFightsMonsters in their desperation to stay alive. And pretty much all of them are DoomedByCanon anyway.
* Whenever ''Super Smash Bros. The Animated Series'' isn't being [[MindScrew mind-bogglingly weird]], it's this. The author clearly intends for it to be a DarkerAndEdgier take on the world of ''Super Smash Bros''...which apparently equates to poorly-described fight scenes, random swearing, lots and ''lots'' of GratuitousRape, and most of the cast becoming [[FlatCharacter completely interchangeable]] [[{{Jerkass}} Jerkasses]]. This, combined with being outright ''boring,'' makes the series ''unbelievably'' hard to get through.
* ''Fanfic/TheirBond'' is a {{doorstopper}} of a ''Zelda'' fic that [[SlashFic ships Zelda and Impa]], but it's also a DarkFic with emphasis on the "dark". There's a major plot thread about Zelda dealing with her DarkAndTroubledPast. The first 20 chapters alone go into great detail about how [[BrokenBird deeply troubled]] Zelda is but there's little levity between the chapters of [[DrivenToSuicide suicidal]] depression and descriptions of her [[spoiler:past abuse and RapeAsBackstory]]. It doesn't get much better when other characters are revealed to have their own problems, such as [[spoiler:Link's]] [[TheAlcoholic alcoholism]]. This can make the story difficult to get through.
* Another ''Manga/DeathNote'' fanfic, ''Fanfic/ThoseWhoStandForNothingFallForAnything'', can easily induce apathy in many readers. While it IS supposed to be satirical, it's difficult at times to care about the characters when they're not only mostly sleazy politicians, but exhibit few redeeming qualities among them and seem increasingly bent on making their lives and each other's miserable. L and Light are the worst of the bunch, and so far they've not gotten much comeuppance for any of the rotten things they do.
* [=KnightMysterio=], the author for ''Fanfic/WakingNightmares'', is aware of this and has mentioned in [[http://knightmysteriolibray.tumblr.com/post/73693935391/knight-do-you-know-of-the-trope-called this tumblr post]] that he is attempting to make sure that this does not happen. (Given that the story has '''''[[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slenderman]]''''' as the main villain.)
* Excessive darkness is an all too common problem in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' fanworks. The game does has a very dark phase, but the fanworkers fixate on that dark phase and make it the bread and butter of their fanwork, with the resulting art/fic being ridiculously melodramatic, {{wangst}}y, and worst of all, boring. It also tends to parallel the rather creepy tendency of some fans to take VideoGameCaringPotential centered on the Second Generation characters to the extreme of viewing them almost as if they were the fans's real life children, focusing only on their difficult backstories and reducing them to {{woobie}}s to coddle and adore and project issues on. (Often while [[HypoCrite ignoring/handwaving]] the First Generation characters' also rather harsh problems.)\\
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A good example was the now lost "Future of Despair" webcomic, based on said dark phase [[spoiler:alias the BadFuture]]. [[http://feanons.dreamwidth.org/992.html?thread=275168#cmt275168 Some]] [[http://feanons.dreamwidth.org/1266.html?thread=853746#cmt853746 fans]] used to criticize it for its [[OscarBait contrived]] {{melodrama}}, its portrayal of the female characters [[{{Chickification}} as weaker or weepier than they ACTUALLY are]] in canon [[spoiler:(and, in at least one case, as downright TooDumbToLive)]], the ClicheStorm and how it [[FanonDiscontinuity downright ignores/handwaves some parts of the canon itself solely to force sympathies out of the readers]].
--->'''Random commenter:''' I like drama, don't get me wrong. But there's drama...and well, '''there's drama'''.
* Pretty much everything ever written by Creator/DakariKingMykan is either this, or inverts it [[Webcomic/LasLindas Las Lindas-style]]. In a nutshell, the fanfics that play this straight involve either [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 Daisuke/Davis Motomiya]] or [[WesternAnimation/TeenTitans Beast Boy]] [[TookALevelInJerkass level-grinding in douchebaggery]] [[DidNotGetTheGirl because they didn't get Kari/Terra (respectively)]], and pushing away their friends...or their friends turning unsympathetic for no reason. And needless to say, it's all downhill from there. Expect [[DownerEnding bad endings should those happen.]] [[FanFic/TheEndOfEnds The End of Ends]] being especially bad in this regard. (Except for the other Titans [[UnintentionallySympathetic being woobies]] compared to [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic Count Logan]].) In short, it's virtually impossible to be invested in any of his fanfics...unless you're [[BileFascination masochistic enough]] to put yourself through reading them.
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* ''Fanfic/BeMyEscape'' is widely considered one of the most depressing ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' fanfics in existence, and for good reason. The story revolves around Finn never getting adopted by Jake's parents and instead lived most of his life inside a CircusOfFear, where he was emotionally and physically abused before finally seizing a chance to escape. The land of Ooo is written as being a WretchedHive devoid of any law or morality, a good chunk of the characters are either psychologically unwell or straight-up jerks, and there's overall a strong sense of hopelessness in the tone. [[spoiler: And then there's the DownerEnding, where Finn gets recaptured after Marceline, the one person who was able to fix his mental state, dies]].

* This is a bit of an issue in the ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'' and MLP crossover ''Fanfic/TheWheelAndTheButterflySaga''. The cast of Dan Vs. were [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist never very pleasant people]] and the cast of MLP TookALevelInJerkass to be just as unlikable as the former. Particularly Pinkie Pie, who very soon after entering Dan's world transforms into just as much of a HeroicComedicSociopath as Dan himself, thanks to the his world's influence. The "[[DesignatedHeroes heroes]]" repeatedly torment innocent people, cause massive collateral damage [[KarmaHoudini with no repercussions]] and come close to killing each other several times, despite loving each other, the antagonist are even more unlikable, and the whole story is brimming with ComedicSociopathy.

* This is a bit of an issue in the ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'' and MLP crossover ''Fanfic/TheWheelAndTheButterflySaga''. The cast of Dan Vs. were [[UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist never very pleasant people]] and the cast of MLP TookALevelInJerkass to be just as unlikable as the former. Particularly Pinkie Pie, who very soon turn into just as much of a HeroicComedicSociopath as Dan himself, thanks to the latter's influence. The "heroes" repeatedly torment innocent people and cause massive collateral damage [[KarmaHoudini with no repercussions]], the antagonist are even more unlikable, and the whole story is brimming with ComedicSociopathy.

* In ''FanFic/TheRivalPrefectsTrilogy'', no reason is given for the rivalry between the two prefects so it might be difficult to care about who comes out on top.

* ''FanFic/ShatteredSkiesTheMorningLights'' has this in spades. Despite being a massive crossover between ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'', ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', ''Franchise/PrettyCure'' and ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', the author puts them through the grinder so much, it's hard to root for them. They're BroughtDownToBadass (saying BroughtDownToNormal would be too much, but the girls have lost every single upgrade ever), the BigGood is a cynical creature who just idly watches everything and does jack, any victory for the girls is rendered either a PyrrhicVictory or a case of TheBadGuyWins and even if one villain is taken down, another just suddenly shows up to take his place! And woe if you're a ''Pretty Cure'' fan as the writer either {{RetGone}}s or BrainwashedAndCrazy everyone.

* ''Faery Heroes'': A PeggySue in which Harry, Hermione, and Luna go back in time. This in of itself is not apathy-inducing, but the story suffers from both RonTheDeathEater ''and'' DesignatedHero, and the resulting EvilVsEvil conflict is so bland and cliché-riddled that you'll want everyone to be killed by the [[FairFolk fae]].

* ''FanFic/TheRoadToCydonia'' reveals itself as this soon after ''Fanfic/ReflectionsLostOnADarkRoad'' begins; ''Manga/InuYasha'' shows up as a more idealistic figure, but is revealed as AllJustADream of a schizophrenic psionic Kagome. [[spoiler: Or rather her mother]]. But even that pales before the introduction of the ''FanFic/DarkTitans''--all are quickly neutralized by UNETCO forces, upon which they are repeatedly subjected to [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids intense, prosthelytizing cynicism]].\\

Starfire runs right into Herb of the Musk, [[spoiler:who is so dedicated to JustFollowingOrders that despite realizing that she's desperately trying ''not'' to kill him, he just uses her hesitation to [[CurbStompBattle casually beat her unconscious]]. X-COM then {{Mind Rape}}s her to try to deduce her origins. Only the appearance of the other Titans proves her a non-combatant (due to voluntarily allowing their minds to be read), which leads them to instead cautiously draft her and return her to the rest of the Titans with the intention of turning her into an ally while they research the dimensional crossover. When most of the other Titans petition for national citizenship to register to fight the aliens, it is mentioned that according to UN legislation [[InhumanableAlienRights aliens have no rights]], and she's ''not'' an exception.]]\\
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Jinx makes a friend for the first time since she left both the HIVE Academy and the Titans, [[spoiler:a rogue alien clone of Akari Unryuu, only for X-COM to accidentally-on-purpose return her to alien control, rather than let her die, so they can [[PlayingWithSyringes experiment on her to discover weaknesses in human-ethereal hybrids.]]]]\\
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Raven gets a pat on the head by VideoGame/XCom psi researchers, who refuse to acknowledge her EldritchAbomination father as a "demon" rather than an alien, instead encouraging her to abandon her training and tap into her new-found MindControl abilities, as being in the X-COM dimension actually dulls Raven's darker emotions and demon power and allows her to tap into her human-side's powers instead. [[spoiler:This presents other dark temptations, however, and after a return to Azarath, she gets DrunkOnTheDarkSide, [[RelationshipResetButton bringing the Raven/Ryoga/Jinx love triangle back to square one]] (if not pulling a flat-out three-way ShipSinking) via [[MindRape mind raping Jinx into forgetting her love for Ryoga]] and (in Ryoga's eyes) crossing the MoralEventHorizon. Also Jinx starts to believe thanks to this [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor that being a heroine just isn't her calling in life]].]]\\
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Titans!Ryoga efforts at bonding with his fellow Titans are at one time mocked by his militaristic counterpart, saying that pretending to be a NiceGuy will compromise his ability to command a team in the field. The two Ryougas spend much of the story unable to see eye-to-eye for a variety of reasons.\\
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Cyborg gets it the lightest--his courageous superhero act is typically less valued by X-COM, who want him to [[StayInTheKitchen Stay In The Lab]] building superweapons. He tried to skirt both areas, helping in the lab and in the field. [[spoiler: He decides to shut down the empathic parts of his mind to be more effective, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul with the predictable backfire that follows]].]]\\
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All in all, you don't read the fic wondering what will happen to anyone from the X-[=COM=]verse, as it's mentioned multiple times that they will likely all die in the titular assault on Cydonia. Some profess that they don't care if they live or die, or [[AndThenWhat what happens to their civilization after they kill all the aliens]], as long as there is a civilization at all to return to, so why should the reader? What you wonder is if Our Heroes the Teen Titans will make it out of the Waffen-XX dimension ''alive'', or if they'll even get to ''[[DyingAsYourself die sane.]]''\\
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Though, conversely, many characters speak often about the end of the war and their desire to survive it, [[spoiler:for example, X-COM's Ryouga, who has slowly and painfully found a way out of his previous depression, and Ryu, who hopes to rebuild his family dojo and have a family, and the Amazons who want to rebuild their village after the terror site, but all have heard that Cydonia is likely to be a suicide mission and as a result of recent alien assaults on X-COM bases, morale is at a low point. Mental states are further stretched thin by efforts to investigate other dimensions and attempt to return the Titans to their home.]]
* ''FanFic/ShatteredSkiesTheMorningLights'' has this in spades. Despite being a massive crossover between ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'', ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', ''Franchise/PrettyCure'' and ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', the author puts them through the grinder so much, it's hard to root for them. They're BroughtDownToBadass (saying BroughtDownToNormal would be too much, but the girls have lost every single upgrade ever), the BigGood is a cynical creature who just idly watches everything and does jack, any victory for the girls is rendered either a PyrrhicVictory or a case of TheBadGuyWins and even if one villain is taken down, another just suddenly shows up to take his place! And woe if you're a ''Pretty Cure'' fan as the writer either {{RetGone}}s or BrainwashedAndCrazy everyone.
* Before the rewrite, ''FanFic/SonicXDarkChaos'' had this in spades and was strongly criticized for it by several reviewers. The Sonic characters were [[TookALevelInJerkass even bigger jerks]] than their original depictions. The ''extremely'' grimdark setting didn't help, with the entire universe doomed in an over-the-top CosmicHorrorStory filled with [[{{Gorn}} gruesome violence]] and a generous topping of EvilVersusEvil and BlackAndGrayMorality for good measure. Maledict and Tsali being absurdly overpowered didn't help. The author [[AuthorsSavingThrow rewrote it several years later partially to avoid this trope]] - while the setting is actually ''darker'' than before, the story itself has [[BittersweetEnding a somewhat more upbeat conclusion]].
** This trope is also why the author discontinued the prequels ''Fall of the Seedrians'' and ''Battlestar Dandelion''. In particular, the latter has Tsali (a genocidal mass-murdering fox android) as the [[VillainProtagonist protagonist]] against the Metarex in a blatantly EvilVersusEvil war, while Hertia and her people slowly descend into religious fanaticism, civil strife, and HeWhoFightsMonsters in their desperation to stay alive. And pretty much all of them are DoomedByCanon anyway.
* Whenever ''Super Smash Bros. The Animated Series'' isn't being [[MindScrew mind-bogglingly weird]], it's this. The author clearly intends for it to be a DarkerAndEdgier take on the world of ''Super Smash Bros''...which apparently equates to poorly-described fight scenes, random swearing, lots and ''lots'' of GratuitousRape, and most of the cast becoming [[FlatCharacter completely interchangeable]] [[{{Jerkass}} Jerkasses]]. This, combined with being outright ''boring,'' makes the series ''unbelievably'' hard to get through.
* ''Fanfic/TheirBond'' is a {{doorstopper}} of a ''Zelda'' fic that [[SlashFic ships Zelda and Impa]], but it's also a DarkFic with emphasis on the "dark". There's a major plot thread about Zelda dealing with her DarkAndTroubledPast. The first 20 chapters alone go into great detail about how [[BrokenBird deeply troubled]] Zelda is but there's little levity between the chapters of [[DrivenToSuicide suicidal]] depression and descriptions of her [[spoiler:past abuse and RapeAsBackstory]]. It doesn't get much better when other characters are revealed to have their own problems, such as [[spoiler:Link's]] [[TheAlcoholic alcoholism]]. This can make the story difficult to get through.
* Another ''Manga/DeathNote'' fanfic, ''Fanfic/ThoseWhoStandForNothingFallForAnything'', can easily induce apathy in many readers. While it IS supposed to be satirical, it's difficult at times to care about the characters when they're not only mostly sleazy politicians, but exhibit few redeeming qualities among them and seem increasingly bent on making their lives and each other's miserable. L and Light are the worst of the bunch, and so far they've not gotten much comeuppance for any of the rotten things they do.
* [=KnightMysterio=], the author for ''Fanfic/WakingNightmares'', is aware of this and has mentioned in [[http://knightmysteriolibray.tumblr.com/post/73693935391/knight-do-you-know-of-the-trope-called this tumblr post]] that he is attempting to make sure that this does not happen. (Given that the story has '''''[[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slenderman]]''''' as the main villain.)
* Excessive darkness is an all too common problem in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' fanworks. The game does has a very dark phase, but the fanworkers fixate on that dark phase and make it the bread and butter of their fanwork, with the resulting art/fic being ridiculously melodramatic, {{wangst}}y, and worst of all, boring. It also tends to parallel the rather creepy tendency of some fans to take VideoGameCaringPotential centered on the Second Generation characters to the extreme of viewing them almost as if they were the fans's real life children, focusing only on their difficult backstories and reducing them to {{woobie}}s to coddle and adore and project issues on. (Often while [[HypoCrite ignoring/handwaving]] the First Generation characters' also rather harsh problems.)\\
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* ''Fanfic/RequiemForALoud'' is about Lincoln Loud suffering from neurofibromatosis[[note]]A condition that causes tumors to form in the brain, spinal cord, and nerves[[/note]] and is only given about two-to-three weeks to live. While the whole terminal illness concept has been [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny done to death already]], the story manages to work around it by showing how Lincoln dying is affecting those around him (i.e. his friends and family). By exploring the characterization and how they're dealing with the situation, the story manages to be quite depressing given that each of his 10 sisters has reacted ''very'' badly towards Lincoln's imminent death. Overall, everything just seems to be crumpling apart for them.

* Whenever ''Super Smash Bros. The Animated Series'' isn't being [[MindScrew mind-bogglingly weird]], it's this. The author clearly intends for it to be a DarkerAndEdgier take on the world of ''Super Smash Bros''...which apparently equates to poorly-described fight scenes, random swearing, lots and ''lots'' of GratuitousRape, and most of the cast becoming [[FlatCharacter completely interchangeable]] Edgelords. This, combined with being outright ''boring,'' makes the series ''unbelievably'' hard to get through.

* In ''FanFic/TheRivalPrefectsTrilogy'', no reason is given for the rivalry between the two prefects so it might be difficult to care about who comes out on top. [[spoiler:The fact that one of them gets turned to stone and remains conscious afterwards also makes for a rather dark ending.]]

** And there's a big case of the aforementioned inversion in the ''Fanfic/MyBravePonyStarfleetMagic'' series. It's a [[ClicheStorm maelstrom of sentai cliches]], cases of racism and sexism, and a few cases of [[MoralEventHorizon line-crossing by the]] [[DesignatedHero so-called heroes of Starfleet]]. (Especially in regards to what happens to Ace Ray.) And yet, everything'll just turn out rosy for the heroes in the end. Doesn't help that the Mane Six are shadows of their former selves. (Nevermind the fact that [[spoiler: Twilight dies]] in episode 16 of the second sequel, or Princess Cadance being [[DesignatedMonkey the author's chewtoy]] just because she got happily married.) Of course, the villains suffer from [[GenreBlindness a dose of incompetence]], [[GenericDoomsdayVillain being generic in their evilness]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking how by-the-numbers their plans are]] pretty much negates any chance of them being [[RootingForTheEmpire rooted for to kick the asses of]] the "heroic" cast right out of the gate.

* ''{{FanFic/Pandemic}}'' has the dreamwardens, which are drastically different in tone from the rest of the story (though they'd been featured in side stories before, to little fanfare).

%%* ''FanFic/{{Pandemic}'' has the dreamwardens, which are drastically different in tone from the rest of the story (though they'd been featured in side stories before, to little fanfare).

* "FanFic/Pandemic" has the dreamwardens, which are drastically different in tone from the rest of the story (though they'd been featured in side stories before, to little fanfare). InternetBackdraft and a general fandom rebellion ensued in the comments.