YMMV / Red Carpet Diaries

• Abandon Shipping: Several players stopped pursuing Seth or Teja in Book 2 because both characters suffered from character derailment. In stark contrast to their personalities in Book 1, when they were helpful and sensible towards Jessica, and maintained their dreams despite constant rejection, they were characterized as immature by arguing about every little thing and resorting to name calling with no logical explanation. This frustrates players who like Seth and Teja in Book 1 because they know these two characters aren't supposed to be characterized this way.
  • This hits Teja even harder in Book 3, when she's seen bossing around the crew for the Secrets of Ninradell movie. It gets to the point that Jessica points out that she's behaving like Markus von Groot, whom Teja hates for bullying her throughout Book 1.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Victoria as a Love Interest is either a good vitriolic rival with Belligerent Sexual Tension for Jessica, a rehash of Becca from The Freshman, or a mean spirited character that doesn't deserve to be given a redemption arc, especially not after the first take of her reaction to the tabloid scandal. It doesn't help that from the four Love Interests, she is the only one who doesn't have an specific role in the main plot of Book 2, and had less screen time, rendering her character superfluous. Nevertheless, her supporters respect her for her wisdom and experience in the film industry.
  • Markus von Groot is either liked for his humor or despised for being an egotistical bully who assumes actors can't reach his level of "intellectual achievements", disparages Americans while exalting European ways, and wastes time, resources, and other people's efforts by rewriting scenes at the last minute. His detractors also hate the Double Standard espoused by his supporters, who lambast Victoria and Teja for their attitudes while turning a blind eye on his behavior.
  • Thomas Hunt becomes polarizing in Book 2, when he gets Promoted to Love Interest. His fans hailed this move because his professional conduct contrasts him with Tommy Phelps and Viktor Montmartre. His detractors criticized it as Pandering to the Base, especially since Hunt has already appeared in Hollywood U Rising Stars as a major character who can be romanced. The latter group even points out that having Jessica, who was assaulted by Viktor Montmartre, meet Hunt in a secluded area makes the latter no different from Viktor in some ways. Hollywood U Rising Stars players have even stated that they never liked him in Hollywood U and considered him cruel and verbally abusive towards his students and colleagues. There’s another group who argue that the Thomas Hunt from the original game is completely out of character in this version, since in Book 2 he would never hang out with people like the gang, or even propose to Jessica after a near death experience.
  • Teja. On one hand, her fans like her for her initial portrayal as an openly gay female aspiring director and a supportive friend towards Jessica. They also admire her for directing "Tender Nothings" after Markus von Groot arbitrarily dropped it. On the other hand, players dislike her for all the character derailment she got throughout the books: In Book 1, she immediately doubted Jessica for being the leak; in Book 2, she stopped being professional by fighting with Seth during a project and wanting Jessica to side with her; and then we have Book 3, where she offered to direct Jessica’s dream project, but ended up becoming just as bad as Markus on set. She ends up quitting “for the sake of their relationship”, but players see it as her way of getting away from being called out for her behavior.
  • Jessica. Some players like her for being an enjoyable self-insert character for players who want to play as an aspiring movie star. Other players dislike her for being a naive Mary Sue who easily lands a lead role with little effort and unable to understand the plight of more experienced people in the film industry. By Book 3, her detractors also hate that the story derails Teja's character in order to lift Jessica up as the savior of "The Secrets of Ninradell".
• Broken Base:
  • Book 2 warns from the beginning that the plot is going to revolve around #MeToo. Some fans are put off by the warning because it takes away the thrill of the plot. Others believe that the writing doesn’t match the needed tone for this serious issue. And there’s the general discussion of this being either a desperate tentative to be relevant or a case where being Anvilicious helped deliver their message. Worsening matters is that in the end, the only thing that happens to Viktor Montmartre is that he gets hounded by the paparazzi, effectively making him a Karma Houdini because the "punishment" is a mere slap on the wrist.
  • In Book 2, the shift of focus from dealing with Viktor Montmartre to the Hollywood U characters is either praised as a much needed break from the depressing #MeToo-inspired storyline or criticized for disrespecting an important issue in favor of blatant exploitation of nostalgic Hollywood U players, culminating in Thomas Hunt Promoted to Love Interest despite the objections of some players, who pointed out that he's already one in Hollywood U. Another important factor is players' opinions on the other love interests, who are either dismissed or defended, especially since most of them except Matt are either barely visible (Victoria) or suffered from severe character derailment (Seth and Teja), both blamed on the writing doing them a grave disservice.
• Creator's Pet: Thomas Hunt is considered a blatant example by his detractors, who pointed out that as an already popular character in Hollywood U Rising Stars, he already has his story told and therefore has no business intruding into this story, let alone become a love interest. The most frustrating part of him being Promoted to Love Interest is that it's done at the cost of the sexual harassment issue, which many players find an insulting move.
• Designated Villain: Rick Bauman and Marlene Stanger, the studio executives checking up on Tender Nothings in Book 1 Chapter 12, were depicted as rather unfriendly and the source of Markus' frustrations. Their actions throughout their screen time, however, show them consistently doing their jobs by making sure that the movie will be a financial success. The premium option where Jessica and Teja take them to a tour of the set also shows them as receptive of the movie.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • While some of the characters from Hollywood U Rising Stars have become this from their brief cameos in Book 1 to the point they were given more scenes in Book 2, the most notable stand-out is Addison Sinclair. Many players say they like her character design, Nice Girl personality back in Hollywood U, and her adaptation in Choices being loyal to her original character. Players are also glad there's a premium option to kiss her even if it's brief.
  • Chadley Fortnum in Book 2 has gained a decent fanbase for being a Nice Guy towards Jessica despite him being a Dumb Muscle and their fake dating.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Thomas Hunt has been nicknamed "Daddy Hunt" by players pursuing him because of his noticeably older age compared to Jessica and their attraction to his character.
  • Apricott Persimmon is sometimes called "Miss Fruit" because both her first and last names are the same as actual fruits.
• Fanon Discontinuity: To some players, the events of Books 2 and 3 never happened because of the blatant disregard for the sexual harassment plot in Book 2, Teja's character derailment in the two books, and the lack of focus on wedding preparations in Book 3.
• First Installment Wins: Many players consider the first book as the best book of the series despite its flaws, and even so reception is mixed.
• I Knew It!: Several people correctly guessed that a man who appeared several times in Book 3 was Jessica's stalker, who turned out to be her old boyfriend named Martin Schmidt.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: While it's the first of this genre from Choices, the story of a Country Mouse trying to be a famous starlet in Hollywood is a genre so recurring in general, let alone the series of clichés throughout the story.
• Jerkass Woobie: Victoria. Despite her acerbic personality, she also had a harsh life as a waitress at a sleazy restaurant, where she had to dress to entice older men while keeping up with her acting career. Even after working hard and building a solid acting career that inspired many, she still struggled with staying on the set as time goes by because of the film industry's dismissal of older, more experienced women as replaceable regardless of their skills. She was also a victim of sexual harassment by a famous co-star, but was silenced. While starring in Tender Nothings is meant to be her saving grace, she gets bullied by Markus von Groot for her age and rumors that she's washed up, and nobody stands up for her. The final straw is when her secrets were leaked in public, and she feels betrayed by Jessica, a newbie actress who supposedly leaked the secrets, even if she's ultimately innocent. Not picking the premium scene to keep her on the movie means her nightmare of being seen as washed-up finally comes true.
• Just Here for Godzilla: A lot of the readers only finished the book to see the cameos from Hollywood U Rising Stars, hoping it was going to be like High School Story.
• Romantic Plot Tumor: Thomas Hunt becoming a love interest is viewed as such by the story's detractors, who point out that the sexual harassment plot involving Viktor Montmartre is used as a setup to build Hunt as a love interest.
• The Scrappy:
  • Chazz has provoked the ire of players for his unreliability as Jessica's best friend and agent. In Book 1, he lied to Jessica about his career with John Castle just to make himself look good in front of her eyes. In Book 2, he resigned in response to Matt's injury on set instead of Jessica getting assaulted by Viktor Montmartre. In Book 3, players hate his suggestion to cut off Byrony from Jessica's movie on The Secrets of Ninradell, which they interpret as his disregard for female characters.
  • Even thought Apricot Persimmon was intended to be a Hate Sink character to represent the nepotism in Hollywood, many fans hate her for being a Flat Character and a flanderized version of Victoria pre-Character Development. Almost no one paid the premium scene to help her and learn about her character, since she was barely relatable to that point.
  • Victoria's mentee Arianna Jackson is hated for behaving like a Bratty Half-Pint who makes fun of Jessica and Victoria's ages and acts disrespectful towards them. Exacerbating matters is when she gets cast into the Secrets of Ninradell movie despite reading only two lines on top of her behavior.
• Seasonal Rot:
  • Many players consider Book 2 to be this for the following reasons: the weak execution of the sexual harassment plot involving Viktor Montmartre (up to and including Viktor receiving an unsatisfying fate), Chazz being an unreliable friend, Matt and Thomas being forced on Jessica, Teja and Seth suffering from character derailment, and Victoria given no storyline despite her mention of being a sexual harassment victim in the past. It has gotten to the point that some players have lost interest in this series.
  • Book 3 is considered worse than Book 2 because of its attempt to merge three separate storylines (Jessica getting engagement to her love interest of her choosing, directing a movie on her favorite childhood book, and facing a stalker) into one book, which players find an extremely bad idea. Meanwhile, players find the movie plot convoluted and complain that the stalker and wedding plots have faded to irrelevance. Players looking forward to getting married to their love interests of their own choosing are also frustrated that their love interests are barely present for wedding preparations, rendering the engagement unnecessary to many.
• So Okay, It's Average: The general consensus for Red Carpet Diaries is that is while it is considerably better than Home for the Holidays, it's still nowhere near as good as most of the other Choices stories.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Victoria. This post explains why she could've worked well as a character had Pixelberry not favor their male love interests more. The narrative slows down her storyline and Character Development in favor of more screen time for Matt, and players' opportunities to know her better and even stand up to Markus as he bullies her. Chapter 12 is considered the breaking point, when she verbally assaults^note She originally physically assaulted Jessica before the rewrite in response to a huge negative backlash, yet that didn't stop players from still feeling angry at her for her original reaction. Jessica. Her supporters are furious that in a later chapter, they have to pay diamonds to keep her in the movie despite her storyline tied to her participation in it as an integral member since the beginning, which they consider a disservice to her character. By Book 2, she is given zero storyline, with most of her scenes relegated to emotional support for Jessica, even though a premium scene reveals that Victoria's also a victim of sexual harassment, which would've allowed her to play some prominent role in the story. To many players, she is an example of Pixelberry's mistreatment of female love interests throughout Choices.
  • A lot of the fans of Hollywood U Rising Stars agree that the characters from the game are very underused in Book 1, which could've been a good moment for Jessica to work with them.
  • Many players think Viktor Montmartre is an underused antagonist who should've been used and written better had the writers not discard the #MeToo-inspired plot and build up Thomas Hunt as a love interest for Jessica. Instead, his relatively weak actions towards Jessica outside of his sexual harassment of her depicts him as a Paper Tiger.
  • Chazz by Book 2. Like Victoria, he lacks a storyline, and most of his scenes are relegated to emotional support for Jessica.
  • Players felt that Apricott Persimmon's insecurities of not knowing how things work for her roles as a result of her sheltered upbringing should've been hinted at during her debut and developed throughout her screen time, which would've provided an interesting perspective of a sheltered character. They also noted her brief moment of softness towards Babou the ocelot if the latter is adopted, indicating that there's more to her than a mere diva.
  • Gloria’s character, while starting as the cooky neighbor, ends up becoming pointless. While it looked like the writers wanted to use her as Jessica’s role model and a glimpse of how things would turn out for her if she lost all her friends in the path to fame, the problem is that Jessica’s conflict was because she got blamed for leaking everyone’s secrets, not by any change in her attitude. Many readers think she should have her backstory shown as well, even as a premium. Book 3 even had the backstory posters of the Love Interests, Chazz, and Chadley, but not Gloria’s.
  • Teja has talked about being a second generation immigrant in one scene, and a woman of color director in a “boy’s club” in another, yet both of these things are ignored even though her overworking in Book 3 could have easily been connected to them.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Book 2's sexual harassment plot involving Viktor Montmartre is underused. The main problem is that it was discussed in one scene, along with various issues associated with discrimination, only to be set aside until the finale, when it was given an unsatisfying conclusion.
  • Book 3 has Teja’s character completely derailed, ending with her quitting the movie and encouraging Jessica to be the director instead. Many readers were disappointed that they didn’t get to call her out on her glaringly obvious bad leadership. The lack of conflict in that resolution also avoids a major drama before the wedding if the player chose her as the fiancée.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Victoria. While the narrative depicts her storyline as a comeuppance for her initial bad impression towards Jessica, her story as a veteran actress rejected by Hollywood for her age and struggling to prove the press wrong is a harsh reality plaguing many actresses, which has caused players to understand her as a product of an industry that disregards women's skills and judges them by their appearance. While players are put off at her verbally attacking Jessica for supposedly betraying her, nobody is supposed to take kindly to betrayal, especially since she is the one who extends an olive branch to Jessica in the first place.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Chazz from the beginning is supposed to be the Best Friend character, but many of the things he does are questionable both in the professional and personal aspects of the relationship.
    • In Book 1, he lies to Jessica about his situation in John Castle's agency, later admitting that he is one mistake away from being fired, with Jessica herself having to solve one of his messes with a client via Premium option.
    • In Book 2, he is being told about Viktor Montmartre harassing Jessica by putting her in Hollywood's blacklist. His response? He has to avoid been seen in public with Jessica to save his job. But later he decides to quit out of indignation... because Matt was being dropped off because of his accident. Again. Matt, who isn't even his client, was where Chazz drew the line, and not Jessica, his best friend who had been unfairly harassed and mistreated by a producer who wanted to sleep with her. And on top of that, he asks Jessica if she can tag along to his boss' office for moral support (as a Premium Choice, of course!)
  • To some players, Victoria Fontaine has shades of this in Book 1. While she's supposed to show Hollywood's sexist attitudes towards actresses who look too old despite their talents, her antagonistic attitude towards Jessica comes across as not wanting younger actresses to achieve their dreams if she can't maintain her own career.
  • In Book 1 Chapter 12, Markus von Groot is depicted as someone feeling the strain of Executive Meddling affecting his creative vision. The problem is that he has been wasting funds by rewriting scenes at the last minute and bullying the actors and his assistant Teja, harming the production of Tender Nothings in the process. Moreover, when the cast members' secrets were leaked and an argument ensued, he didn't ease tensions in the set. Instead, he threw a tantrum over a painting that got accidentally ruined, blamed everything on others without realizing his own faults, and quitted working on the movie. As a result, players view him as an unprofessional Manchild who should be fired instead.
    • When Markus appears again in Book 2, he appears to act friendlier towards Jessica, but he mentions filming a documentary on how his experiences in America have ruined him, which portrays him as unrepentant of his Cultural Posturing instead.
  • In Book 3, Teja comes off as inconsequential. While the book established that she already had a lot in her belt before accepting to direct The Secrets of Ninradell, many of her following actions already showed her to be a terrible professional, like forgetting the decision of not working with Seth ever again if they were to remain friends, or giving orders to the crew and then forgetting all about them, or rewriting scenes at the very last minute. In other words, exactly what Markus did in Tender Nothings. The last straw was her decision to step out of the movie. The main problem is that many saw it as Teja backing out, and turning around the whole situation by making it look like it was a selfless gesture so Jessica can step up as director.