The anti-sexist message of the Harry Potter fanfic Becoming Female would be a lot more effective if the characters didn't go around slut-shaming each other willy-nilly.
The author persuades its readers that the torture of smurfs, baby smurfs especially, is a repugnant act... only to then proceed to describe the horrors they went through in great detail, with pictures of said tortures accompanying them. It sends a very mixed message, to say the least.
Even after events such as Tattlerette making a speech about how smurfs should not be trafficked and the scenes that serve evidence that smurfs are not fit to be raised by humans, neither the narrator nor the nursery staff consider that the baby smurfs should be given to a village where they can be with other smurfs. While a Smurf rights group warns the possibility of liberating the babies from the nursery after Strawberry and Pom-Pom are rescued, it's meant to be seen as a bad thing that "the precious babies could be taken away".
From the start, it says that Pure-blood extremists and HYDRA are wrong and that heritage doesn't matter and anyone can be great if they try. But the story does not follow that format at all, as every significant character in the story has some special heritage/bloodline. To name a few: Lily, brilliant muggleborn witch? She's related to Jean Grey (Harry's second cousin). Hermione, other brilliant muggleborn witch? She's actually the offspring of the Scarlet Witch (daughter of Magneto and potential Sorceress Supreme) and John Constantine. What about Carol Danvers, courageous Badass Normal (prior to the character's 2019 backstory retcon in the comics, anyway) who succeeds through her wit and skill? Actually related to Captain America.
Then there's the explanation that most Kryptonians have only the Golden Age power-set under a yellow sun, and only a 'Child of the Thirteen' (Krypton's ruling oligarchy) has the full set. However, this is regarded as suspicious In-Universe - why only those thirteen families? It's eventually explained in chapter 59 of the sequel as being a complete accident: all Kryptonians had/have that potential, but it was artificially limited for whatever reason. The only reason the Thirteen unlocked it was because their ancestors made diplomatic marriages with those few non-Kryptonian species they felt were worthy allies and could breed true with, and the hybrids replaced the genes that limited their potential. Exactly why this was done in the first place is unclear.
It is also made clear that all those power-sets/inheritances were engineered by the series' Magnificent Bastard in chief, Doctor Strange, as part of his plan to stop Thanos. He explains that it isn't so much power that counts, but personality, how the possessor chooses to use it. He explicitly says that he could have given anyone powers and all, but it takes a special person to be The Hero, and like Dr Erskine with Steve, he picked Harry because he was a hero in spite of all he had/could do, not because of it.
In the Coward Trilogy, both the anti-hacking Aesop of convention and the anti-anti-hacking Aesop of the first story, Coward, are intentionally broken, both in and out of story, although the author says that the general attitude of the story is anti-anti-hacking, just like Coward.
The episode after Carmen joins is supposed to be about her learning the value of teamwork. Not only does she do almost everything herself (everybody but Takeshi has been captured and as usual he’s barely around himself), what help she does get is confusing and pointless (why are they pretending Carmen's betraying the team...to save the team?), and the main group has their Sixth Ranger and a Humongous Mecha that’s already there sit out the giant battle. Not to mention Vin just had to say they could’ve gotten out of their predicament without Carmen’s help.
Also the episode "And Voodoo to You Too" has Nick decrying the American import of Dragon Ball Z and how the dialogue was rewritten so heavily to downplay all the death and destruction. B.C. counters that otherwise it would be too intense for kids, and the older fans have the original uncensored stuff they can still enjoy note Which begs the question of just who the author thinks the original version was meant for. . A couple episodes later we have the Clip Show, which is where the series makes its most blatant attacks on Power Rangers with B.C. singlehandedly defeating a group of PR-original villains. He makes fun of other aspects of the show, like how they always have to say "destroy" instead of "kill", and how in Power Rangers: Dino Thunder the villain was changed from a little girl who's the vessel of an Eldritch Abomination. Does he think censoring violent kids shows is a good thing or not?
Face The Strange tries to push that there is nothing wrong with being homosexual, but aside from Jack Skellington, all of the characters who aren't straight are portrayed as villains, including the only actually canonically gay character in the fic: Dumbledore.
Right after Professor Skellington tells the group it's okay to be gay, we get this bit:
Draco is straight and it’s Adam and Steve not Adam and Steve.
When Hiei screws Sasuke, Dally is more ticked about Hiei banging a man than she is that he slept with someone else in the first place.
Another supposed Aesop is that screwing multiple guys, especially one that isn't your true love that you're married to, is wrong, as demonstrated with Bella. However, Dally has no problem doing it with Hiei the first day she meets him and is constantly going back and forth between various men.
"Hi-hi-hi-hiei and I are th-th-thorough!" she sobbed, "It t-t-t-urms out hes a f-f-f-faggot just like D-d-d-dumbledooooreeee!!"
Fantasia Times has three major themes running through it that get brought up repeatedly; all of them are subjected to this.
"Don't judge others based on who they are at first glance." A decent message, except the protagonists constantly belittle both Purebloods and Royals for nothing more than being...well, Purebloods and Royals. Main character Andi also engages in Fantastic Racism against some other species (anthro tigers and vampires) that was caused by a single member of each species, and she refuses to see other members of those species as anything but the same as her tormentors.
Another Aesop constantly espoused by Andi is that bullying is wrong and should be prevented at every opportunity...except she herself is guilty of constantly bullying the Royals as well as anyone else who so much as disagrees with her.
Andi also believes wholeheartedly in rejecting destiny and following one's own path, and often berates those who think otherwise. This is heavily contradicted by two things: 1) the Red String of Fate is alive and well in this series, as several characters are fated to be together; and 2) a major story arc involves her preparing her friends for their destinies, and they apparently have no way out of this. "The Sword of Ghostinya!" is a good example of how bad this gets; Danny repeatedly says he doesn't want to rule a kingdom, but is given no say in the matter when he's chosen as the next ruler of the titular kingdom.
The very core of the story about "Jaune forging his own destiny" is this, as the actual events see he’s constantly being involved in events due to the urging and machinations of other people (particularly Ozpin), and that his very ability to become a Hero was due to conveniently having a wish granted by Salem, despite never actually meeting her, as part of her intent to kill him by throwing Jaune into danger she believed he couldn’t survive. Thus despite the core theme or various statements by the author, the story mostly sees Jaune act more like a Pinball Protagonist in spite of his attempts to take control of his life. This is especially egregious in the final arc, where both Jaune and Ruby are guilted and politically arm twisted to become King and Queen of Vale to discourage another war with Mistral, with their only act of self-determination being taking the positions but not (immediately) marry.
When Ruby finally reveals the details of her Class to the rest of the guild and is then easily accepted by them, Jaune ruminates that the rest of the guild might have been just as accepting of him had he not "chose not to take the plunge Ruby had" and instead trusted his friends with his secret. The problems with this assessment are numerous. For one, Ruby was only revealing the details of her Class because the situation necessitated that she do so to effectively face Raven and would have preferred never explaining them to the rest of the Hunters at all. Secondly, Jaune's secret was of entirely greater severity than Ruby's as the revelation of his true Class could have led to his permanent incarceration or execution while Ruby's had been sanctioned by the King himself. Additionally, Pyrrha even admitted that had Jaune revealed the truth of his Class at any point before the quest to Mistral, then she would have turned him over to the authorities, and that she would have still distrusted him had he done so at a later time. And most importantly, Ruby's reveal only goes so smoothly because she not only had the immediate support of Jaune and Yang, but the rest of the Hunters have already had time to learn from the mistakes they made when reacting to Jaune having his secret revealed. And this doesn't even address the issue that being a Reaper is a new and unknown Class, and thus the whole point is to see whether or not it's appropriate for the Hero Caste, negating many of the similarities to Jaune's situation, which has a more obvious niche in society.
Another one comes at Salem and Jaune's confrontation in Book 8. After Raven wishes to bring Salem down from an Eldritch Abomination and into an immensely powerful but now kill-able RPG being, Salem gives a rather long-winded diatribe about the inherent pettiness of humanity and how despite constantly summoning her to grant their desires, no one who makes a wish either expects to sacrifice anything nor shows any gratitude for having their dreams come true; effectively trying to give The Reason You Suck speech. This is a pretty nonsensical argument when one remembers that the entire story showcases how to get Salem to appear, one has to commit horrific acts deserving of death (with the few exceptions being ones the author pointedly never elaborates how they came about), and that Salem usually goes about making the wish in a way that harms more people than just the wish maker. Worse is the fact Word of God has constantly explained that Salem MUST grant a wish, and it MUST be in a way that results in death, thus removing any agency in Salem's actions, and indeed making her inner-character entirely irrelevant. Thus she's not only undeserving of any gratitude, one can say Salem is less of the Big Bad that the characters fight, than the author's system of how her wish granting plays out as being the true evil in the story.
The author of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is MagicFan FicFrigid Winds and Burning Hearts has stated that two of the major themes of the story are that neither of the Princesses are wholly right or wrong, and that it is the responsibility of an individual to face the consequences of their past actions. But Celestia's actions and supporters come off as typical tyranny while she never get any defense or change to speak in it; she's absent after the first chapter. Meanwhile, Luna's flaws and misdeeds are never presented without an immediate argument in her defense and the reservations about her own beliefs acquired in earlier chapters are tossed aside with ease, noting that Celestia’s methods and philosophies have proven themselves useless. Luna's ancient adviser and confidant Morning Star, introduced as a self-serving manipulator and mastermind of the attempted coup, has been revised as a benevolent reformer whose proposals are recognized as flawless even by those who hear them second-hand and lack any knowledge of the matters involved.
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is principally about how great "rationality" is and how it makes you a better person. But far more often, Harry's successes are found less through intelligent and logical reasoning or research, and more through pure emotional appeals, the narrative bending the rules of magic in his favor, or blind luck.
One of the messages the author of Hogwarts School of Prayer and Miracles desperately tries to hammer in during the author's notes is that sorcery and witchcraft are bad, and that's why she's rewriting the story. That said, the prayers that make food appear and perform actions around the school are much more akin to magic rather than religious faith, and God is treated as a magic wand who conjures whatever they need by just praying for it. People who dislike the moral will point out how they're just using sorcery with a religious coat of paint over it, and those who like the moral will be able to testify that praying does not magically fill a table with cooked bacon.
The Joys and Sorrows of Young Charles Finster: Subverted with "Germ Warfare." After Stu gets Chas out of his Terrified of Germs phase and convinces him there’s nothing wrong with playing in the mud, Chas, Stu, Melinda, and Betty all end up being made to take baths by their respective parents.
The Karma of Lies revolves around the concept that evil wins when good people do nothing — Lila did incredible damage thanks to Adrien's refusal to act against her. However, part of Marinette's Karmic Jackpot stems from her opting to cut ties with him and the rest of her ungrateful classmates, which includes no longer going out of her way to oppose Lila.
The Ever After High/Kamen Rider Ryuki crossover fic Knights of the Otherworld supposedly supports the first show's general message of "girls, you don't have to wait around for Prince Charming, you can take control of your own destiny." Unfortunately, it does this while making the fic about a bunch of (mostly male) superheroes who are the only ones who can do anything about monsters invading the kingdom. So the fic encourages the subjects of the fairytale kingdom to be free to choose their own futures, while making them completely dependent on the author's much more powerful characters. This makes the story into exactly the kind of standard plot about male heroes and damsels in distress that Ever After High was subverting. The attempted reboot has gotten even worse about this, making the people of the fairytale kingdom unable to understand the danger the invading monsters pose to them, requiring teens from Earth to come and look after them.
ʻOhana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten, but Lilo did leave several experiments behind. Word of God stated this did piss off Dr. Koopa and Metallix, until Angel's capture turned out to be the last straw for Metallix.
In "Frenchfry", the Aesop is that it's important to eat healthy, but Dr. Koopa keeps babbling on how Nani can't prevent him from eating burgers, which he justifies by reminding everyone of his princiary status. Furthermore, he also states "All food is healthier when homemade", which is contradicted by Frenchfry, who makes homemade food, but it's extremely unhealthy.
In Thousand Shinji, Shinji suffered a lot because the Emperor wanted him developing empathy and learning that mortals suffer when gods are assholes. In this story, Shinji and the other gods have forgotten about it completely.
The Chaos Gods don't move their followers to other universes because they don't want their people to go down the same road that Old Chaos did and make their same mistakes, and they want to be around to watch their followers' evolution... still New Chaos makes the same mistakes and is going down that same road!
Discussed in the My Little Pony: Friendship Is MagicFan FicTwilight Switch. After witnessing Applejack losing a large harvest of apples, Twilight feels guilty about not being able to help and tries to figure out a spell to fix it. Applejack eventually explains that she'd lost the apples due to her own hard-headedness; if Twilight just magicked up a solution, it'd be like a "get out of stubbornness free" card and she wouldn't have to deal with the consequences of her actions, effectively ruining a hard-learned lesson.
Pokémon Equestrian Adventures: The chapter "The Summer of Adventure" has the usual message of "don't judge a book by its cover". Flash is paired with a Shuckle for the first activity, and is told how Shuckle is the worst Pokémon in the activity by Timber Spruce. Flash works hard to earn Shuckle's trust by bonding with it and show that there is more to him than just what his Pokédex entry might say. However, this message is ruined since, despite all their efforts, Flash and Shuckle still end up losing to Timber and Politoed, and Celestia punishes Flash for staying up all night training Shuckle without permission, which not only makes his efforts All for Nothing, but counterproductive and turns his friends against him for setting them back. So apparently the real moral to take from this is "don't bother trying to prove a jerk wrong because you will just fail and be punished for your efforts".
The Prayer Warriors keeps emphasizing that women are weak and should be subservient to men. However, in Battle with the Witches, it's Ebony who does most of the work in gathering the keys to bring down Dumbledore; in Threat of Satanic Commonism, it's Mary who kills "John Lennon"; and in Evil Gods Part Two, it's Ebony (again) who can capture Socrates. These examples, as well as several other cases of female Prayer Warriors fighting multiple enemies at once, makes one have to wonder just how weak and useless the women are.
Anime Starfiresomehow rationalises restraint against non-superpowered opponents as a version of supremacism, and not in the "You should show restraint against the aliens as well" direction, but rather the other one. note Possibly a very loose, some generations-removed, memetic leftover from the popular online or GTA style: "If you are willing to accept the unavoidable realities of eating animals, you have to be willing to murder, eat, and put anybody in a genocide camp, or you're a hypocrite, as benevolence has to include all or nothing, and as all is impossible per definition, you should all become casual spree-killers, or you are all horrible people" rationale. This despite that her teammates would have preferred to use non-lethal force against the alien war-breeds as well, but they were conceptually designed to be impossible to use it against, and near impossible to even keep alive in confinement to boot. However, she also makes a valid point about that the term "inhuman" is contradictory, as there will always be some human perfectly willing to commit any level of atrocity.
The psychologist that Starfire spoke to stated that UNETCO members who started to not find the act of murder unpleasant and actually greatly enjoyed it were sensibly weeded out of the organization, yet Shampoo is also portrayed as being extremely sexually stimulated from playing sadistic hunt-games with completely outmatched prey (including previously doing so for sport and training at the age of 13, against non-superhuman opponents), and then enthusiastically slaughter them in as brutal manner as possible, and she is still there without anybody batting an eyelash.
Taking Ryoga's advice, everyone gave Jinx leeway for her jerkass behavior. However, this only gave her a chance to take it up to eleven.
The Elfen Lied fanfic Robo Bando goes on and on about how pedophiles are complete scum and need to die, yet one of the later main 'heroes' is the Pedobear.
Shining Pretty Cure: After a session at the library, Youko learns the value of studying... but the Cures only knew how to effectively defeat the Monster of the Week because of her and Hibiki's habit of spending their time at the arcade instead. This is lampshaded, of course.
The story tries for an anti-suicide message during the ANTI-THESIS arc. But the reason for it is...Shinichi's a powerful cyborg constantly hounded by evil cyborgs who want to reprogram him into an unstoppable killer and he was about to be defeated and captured by one of them. Never mind how, in that case, there are some defensible reasons to go through with it. Even if Shinichi did die, two of his closest friends are Rias from High School D×D and Hime from Princess Resurrection (supernatural women who use their powers to bring the male main character back from the dead as one of the first things in their respective stories).
The story tries to incorporate the theme of "monsters and people aren't so different" as an allegory for the barriers people make between themselves that Rosario + Vampire had. It mangles this horribly, however. Most of the story's villains are cyborgs sent from the same evil organization that gave a lot of the heroes their powers, but the heroes always kill them without a second thought. Whenever they actually do talk somebody from it into turning over a new leaf, it's always either a girl who falls in love with the guy who talked her into leaving, or else it's someone who was already friends with one of the heroes from when they were both evil. Turning the message into "the only people worth saving are beautiful girls who'll become your Love Interest, or people you're already friends with." note Back when the fic was being posted, there were Kamen Rider shows where the villains were defeated non-lethally, like Double and Fourze. These had the villains' powers being destroyed, but the person being left unharmed.
Sonic X: Dark Chaos emphasizes with the Angels that Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are bad. Really, really bad. However, compared with the Demons, they were portrayed as the more honorable and nicer faction overall. The rewrite fixes this somewhat by making the Angels far more morally gray than the original, even with some of more sympathetic Angel characters like Jesus. It also makes the Demons more gray too, to emphasize the fact that both sides are flawed and similar.
Threadbare South Park: Played for Laughs in Elephant Balls. At the end of the story, Kyle says they should never lie, when Charlie points out that although they lied about Mr. Garrison having cancer, they were still able to raise money for his scrotum elephantitis surgery (of course, they had to lie because everyone they talked to thought scrotum elephantitis was a juvenile joke they made up).
The Unity Saga: The two trilogies each end in ways that come off as mutually-exclusive in what they're saying.
At the end of The Road to Unity, which has devoted time to examining the cost of being a hero, Luke and Seven's retirement to raise a family is depicted in a positive light, despite the bittersweetness of how many lives were lost in the conflict. This is all rather spoiled, however, in that with the rebirth of the Galactic Empire and Luke's return to Tatooine, everything said heroes fought for has been rendered null and void.
And then The Price of Unity has the opposite conclusion, that Sebastian Skywalker really is the one person who can unity the Galaxies and shall have to devote his whole life to it. While the trilogy does stick to its predecessor's ethos that heroes are flawed, fallible people beneath their reputation, it's hard not to feel it'd have been kinder of his parents to continue the damn fight instead of foisting this inhuman responsibility upon him.
Following from the above, it's never really made all that clear why Unity under the domination of a single leader à la Genghis Khan or Alexander The Great would be preferable or more viable than the humanistic ideals of The Federation. The story itself notes that Alexander's empire fell apart after his death. Except, at the end of the day, no real reason is given as to why Unity would survive Sebastian. In effect, Unity was formed from the conquest of different races that have no motivation to work together, other than against a common enemy or out of veneration for a leader-figure who will eventually die. While Star Trek and Star Wars may each be somewhat naive in their traditionally idealistic portrayal of people, the Utopia Justifies the Means mindset of the Unity Saga winds up feeling more out-of-touch than either of its inspirations.
Year Zero (2016): The "Wake up and give a shit" message (in other words, stop slacking and get involved in the revolution) is compromised when a reality-warping Eldritch Abomination has the final word on humanity's fate, not helped that all the effort the resistance put into fighting off the Smith administration, including assassinating Smith himself, is shown to have little impact on the world at large.
" is contradictory, as there will always be some human perfectly willing to commit any level of atrocity.