Big one for me; Bashing an aspect of a fandom to make the people following it the bad guy of the story.
Examples:
- Making Action Replays a narcotic that causes brain damage note
- Treating complaints against gameplay design problems with x character as a form of discriminationnote
- Going on tangents or crafting straw characters against players who don't play how you want them to note
edited 21st Sep '14 6:54:06 AM by BaffleBlend
"It's liberating, realizing you never need to be competent." — UltimatepheerI personally considered protraying Organization XIII as total sociopaths as that's what Nobodies were in canon before Nomura ruined it by Pandering to the Base.
Super Robot! SUPER ROBOT! ◥▶◀◤ Also, if some of my posts don't make sense, please take note that I might lack slee
I personally dislike this approach. I mean, they still weren't "good people" by any means. Besides, I never really bought the whole "no emotions" thing. I mean, if that's the case, then what's going on with Saix's boss fight?
Anyway, I guess I strongly dislike Ron the Death Eater, especially when related to Die for Our Ship. I mean, if you want, for example, to have Harry and Hermione hook up, then why do you need to demonize Ron? Hell, why involve Ron in the pairing at all? Just pretend that the epilogue didn't happen, or that they decided it wasn't working out. I mean, it's fanfic, who cares if you make changes?
...Would you accept Namine/Xion? I know there's not really any basis for it in canon, but I could always just have it develop over time...
edited 23rd Sep '14 2:11:30 PM by KarkatTheDalek
Oh God! Natural light!![]()
Before Nomura pandered to the base, II hammered in that they were literal born sociopaths with the subtlety of a brick to the face. The only reason why they act like that is A) They don't know any better or B) They want to try and resemble humans as closely as they can.
When I thought that plot bunny up it was around a year after KHII was out. I was going to deconstruct the whole concept of Nobodies. And no, I'm not saying that.
edited 23rd Sep '14 2:04:12 PM by HeirophantsFool
Super Robot! SUPER ROBOT! ◥▶◀◤ Also, if some of my posts don't make sense, please take note that I might lack sleeActually, the KH 2 novels did allude to the fact that they could develop feelings, if memory serves. I always figured that even with KH 3 D's revelations, they're still sociopaths by default, and it's only through indulging those memories of emotions and developing bonds that they actually start to grow replacement hearts. Hence why Saïx was so easily turned into a Xehanort vessel: he never indulged in those memories and always remained aloof and detached. Either way, I don't see the harm in exploring the idea of Nobodies as sociopaths in an AU. I've seen plenty of fics stick to earlier canon without too much scrutiny.
As for Naminé and Xion, sure, I think that'd be pretty cute, actually! But I'm the kinda person who will ship the chars I like in multiple pairings. I'd just kill to see some more Kairi/Riku and Replica/Naminé. The former seems to get a lot of hate from fans of Sx K and Sx R alike, and that makes me sad.
And on the topic of ships, another red flag for me is when two chars hook up, and suddenly their romance is all they care about. Like two leads pair up, and their other friendships are somehow diminished as a result. Or worse, their other friends become jealous, and there's this whole angsty jealousy plotline in the middle of an adventure story. It's the kinda thing that has to be handled very carefully, especially if the story has a bigger plot going on.
My Fanfiction Account | Kingdom Hearts: The Antipode seriesI think for a while, the Org XII being sociopaths idea stuck to some characters. I remember a web comic that opens with Axel burning an orphanage. Which is Played for Laughs.
Then I think what happened was that likeable characters came out of the woodwork and people felt sorry for whacking them around. Especially since it's foreshadowed that they can have hearts (Axel, for one).
edited 23rd Sep '14 7:12:47 PM by Psyga315
Ansem Retort is the one where Axel burns an orphanage. I love that comic.
I tried to read it for a bit, but I guess I just didn't find the first few strips that funny, so I didn't read any further.
Some of the stuff that I read about it on this site seems amusing, though, so maybe I'll give it another try someday.
edited 24th Sep '14 1:09:22 PM by KarkatTheDalek
Oh God! Natural light!I am going to repeat this again as I keep seeing this appear over and over again in fanfic descriptions and I find it irritating. I cannot stand Shipping with no buildup or very rushed buildup whatsoever. Fanfics were a Fanon couple is already established have this issue a lot as flasbacks usually are not proper buildup.
To be quite frank I pretty much at this point despise most shipping done bad in general (although I can get a good laugh if they try to include a Lemon scene and fail to at the very least to appeal to any of the perverts)
edited 24th Sep '14 3:05:08 PM by Bleddyn
A red flag for me: while a fic that has a single "what if x happened instead" in a summary can get my interest, a summary that has an obscene amount of "what if"s will turn me off near every time.
Like... "What if X character was the opposite sex instead. And the evil group were actually good, and going out with the protagonists. And they all grew up together. And the MacGuffin of power didn't actually exist. And it all took place in Victorian England" - that's an exaggeration, but it's not so far off from stuff I've actually seen.
Basically put, what the summary is actually saying is "what if this were a totally different/original story," but instead of describing it like an AU they instead imply that there's some connection to the actual plot. I'm not a fan A Us that are basically original stories with original characters who happen to have the names of canon characters in general, but I still prefer it if the summaries are actually honest.
@Known Unknown
The most hilarious part is when they go "takes place in Victorian England" and instead it's the Dark Ages, because they don't know the difference.
I'd be thankful if those authors just flat out didn't post their masturbatory literature.
Even though I know there's a great deal of people who eat it up like it were candy coated... Well, in the end, I guess it isn't too important. The grand majority of them are fairly bland and forgettable. The fact that if you've read one of them you've read them all helps.
himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimari![]()
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Yeah, it really doesn't help that Fifty Shades Of Grey is one of the more (in)famous examples of "write fanfic, then file off serial numbers, PROFIT."
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Well, a lot of people just write fanfiction for fun, or for practice, or maybe they have this story that they just really want to tell. And since they're posting it online for free, it's not like you can argue "that was such a waste of money!"
Maybe a waste of time, but hey, if they enjoyed writing it, then they probably didn't think it was. And you're the one who decided read it for free, so...
edited 2nd Oct '14 12:22:18 PM by KarkatTheDalek
Oh God! Natural light!
This is true, of course. I think it just bears remembering that, unless the story is, say, morally reprehensible, it doesn't deserve the lashing some works in other mediums might get.
I really like it when characters watch the movie/read the book. I absolutely hate it when the writer either changes the content of the movie/book or changes the pairings/gender of the characters around. I mean, what is the point? I want to read how the characters I like react to the story I know, not a bunch of ooc people reading about a so called "improved" version of the original.
I once had a "fun" time reading a Hermoine/Sirius shipping Reading The Books fic where Hermione goes back in time and reads Harry's parents and co. the books - whenever the relationship between Ron and Hermione inevitably came up, seeing the author try to write around it was part amusing, part annoying. To the point of writing the blatant stuff like the Big Damn Kiss in the last book as entirely one sided on Ron's part, and pulling bad fanfic's favorite "it only lasted a week before they broke up offscreen" bit to explain it.
I too very much like the concept of Reading the Book / Watching the Movie fics, but they tend to be ruined by bad characterization, cookie cutter jokes, lazy writing and a general lack of creativity with the idea. Most of the good ones - at least, the good Harry Potter ones - were purged from the internet, too.
@Karkat
A great deal of them are morally reprehensible, presenting a supposedly heroic protagonist who steals, lies, tortures and cheats.
Take something like Partially Kissed Hero, one of the most popular fics in the Harry Potter section. In that fic, the protagonist is a monster, who's also presented as being infallible and always, 100% morally correct, even when he's going against the very things he's preaching about.
And really, that's only one amongst many, that just happens to be one of the most popular.
himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimari

Being too strict or too lax with the canon in general.