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POPULAR: Cliches in Pokémon Fanfiction

I think a lot of emotionally immature folks enjoy watching characters who are just, like, really cool and the best and so awesome. That's why they get mad at Ash being a peppy and well-intentioned but basically ordinary child. What they really want is a sexy genius badass with superpowers. Which is, to me, anathema to a good story.
 
That's fair.

I, personally, like my Catharsis with video games. Slashing through enemies with the epic endgame gear! Love it!
 
RK9 said:
Yeah, unless you have them build a new team from scratch constantly, you either need to intentionally nerf them (Which is easily being seen through) or intentionally keep them out of the action as well. It's one of the most "But why" things I tend to see.
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Building a new team for each region works better than nerfing a Pokemon cause it's weird to go from taking down a Latios to getting curbstomped by a Snivy.
 
Greninjaman said:
Building a new team for each region works better than nerfing a Pokemon cause it's weird to go from taking down a Latios to getting curbstomped by a Snivy.
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Yeah, and it's easier to make it more interesting cause you can adress stuff like what happens with the other Pokémon without the trainer around and how people look at someone leaving well trained Pokémon behind to go and train other/new ones and potentially how the trainer feels about all that and stuff.
 
Greninjaman said:
Building a new team for each region works better than nerfing a Pokemon cause it's weird to go from taking down a Latios to getting curbstomped by a Snivy.
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That's just silly, like what kind of bad writing would have something say like a longtime experienced Pikachu who's beaten a legendary before being destroyed by a freshly received Snivy?

But on this subject, that's what planning and scaling is for. See: gen 2 Kanto gyms (I think it's canonly stated gyms scale too), Falkner responding to a Charizard with a strong Pidgeot, etc. There's no need to hit the reset button and demolish all the hard work a character's done, because that's arguably bad (and frustrating!) writing too. Find some other way to keep the character going, like with better planning from the get-go to make the advancement gradual across the regions, or rethink your plans for a multi-region epic if you can't.
 
System Error said:
That's just silly, like what kind of bad writing would have something say like a longtime experienced Pikachu who's beaten a legendary before being destroyed by a freshly received Snivy?

But on this subject, that's what planning and scaling is for. See: gen 2 Kanto gyms (I think it's canonly stated gyms scale too), Falkner responding to a Charizard with a strong Pidgeot, etc. There's no need to hit the reset button and demolish all the hard work a character's done, because that's arguably bad (and frustrating!) writing too. Find some other way to keep the character going, like with better planning from the get-go to make the advancement gradual across the regions, or rethink your plans for a multi-region epic if you can't.
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Of course, this would not be a problem if the author has a new protagonist for each region.
 
RK9 said:
Nah, puberty Ash is always portrayed as actually smart and competent. And he gets into everyones pants as well! It's like a whole different character.



Yeah, unless you have them build a new team from scratch constantly, you either need to intentionally nerf them (Which is easily being seen through) or intentionally keep them out of the action as well. It's one of the most "But why" things I tend to see.
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I never get that myself. It isn't hard to keep Ash, who isn't exactly Lelouch vi Britannia, feeling like himself even if he also goes 'Ow wowsa older Serena in a bikini!' every so often. Really I don't get what is so hard about keeping in character a character who is cheerful, energetic, and well...not the most complex.
 
unrepentantAuthor said:
I think a lot of emotionally immature folks enjoy watching characters who are just, like, really cool and the best and so awesome. That's why they get mad at Ash being a peppy and well-intentioned but basically ordinary child. What they really want is a sexy genius badass with superpowers. Which is, to me, anathema to a good story.
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That reminds me, Suede said that one of the reasons why he likes the Pokémon anime is because Ash is a normal person instead of a chosen one.
 
Normal ... well, after a fashion. Even if you ignore the movies, it's quite common in the anime for Ash to turn out to be a genius at whatever pokémon-related sport happens to be the focus of the episode - I mean, this started way back in The Flame Pokémon-athon! where he's got an undiscovered talent for riding (Based on tugging on reins and bitching at a horse).

I guess the problem I have with the concept teenage Ash/Mature!Ash (Call it what you like) is twofold. First is the idea that being seventeen and being mature are the same things. I was seventeen once. I've worked with seventeen-year-olds since. This really is not an excuse to be snarky, but seventeen isn't mature, it's a different kind of immature. The other problem is that's rare I see a teenager in fanfic written like a teenager. For the teenage author, you don't have the perspective to really nail it; for the adult author, it's easy to either forget or exaggerate how much of a twerp you really were .
 
Nitro Indigo said:
What Suede meant is that at the very beginning, Ash was a normal person because the fantastical elements were commonplace.
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I'm not sure if Suede is going through the show for the first time or is familiar with the later seasons, but it's interesting to note how the show's sudden shift from being intended to last for one or two seasons to Simpsons-tier longevity had some interesting effects on Ash's character in regards to how normal he is--honestly, the show can't seem to make up it's mind on that. Some series' portray him as an exceptional trainers, others not so much and more of just pretty good for his age. Kanto Ash was supposed to basically be normal, I think. Other series backed away from that, then they'd go back in that direction.
Even more blatantly special, movie 8 introduced the idea of him having Aura sensitivity, then after DP that was dropped until suddenly not only returning in Journeys but looking like it'll be more prominent than ever.

I think this actually explains a good amount of the OP!Ash phenomenon; at times the series showed him as being on the verge of a breakthrough only for the next series to get cold feet and back away, which is incredibly frustrating for a lot of viewers when it's all buildup with no payoff. To a great extent I feel like the fics are a form of working off that frustration, which is why they're OP!Ash and not an entirely new character.
 
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@Nitro Indigo And yet he had that experience of seeing Ho-oh, and the uniquely powerful pikachu, and was accompanied by not one, but two gym leaders. He was always Special. It was just balanced by him being a complete doofus as well.

@Daren That's the first explanation of the phenomenon that tracks for me. Cheers, I feel enlightened.
 
I think rather that Ash fits the mould of the apparently ordinary person who turns out to be in some way extraordinary. It's a similar appeal to some of the characters in Harry Potter - apparently normal kids who turn out to possess latent magic power, that sort of thing. True, he's more ordinary in the context of the world, because everyone can command cool dragons that fit right into your pocket
 
Hm, cliches in pokemon fanfiction...well, it's probably been addressed but...

1. Ash Betrayed stories

There are actually a few sub-genres within this one that is very annoying. Specifically the cookie cutter template of a tournament, Ash getting either a legendary pokemon or lucario, becoming bad-ass, and a few others but that's all I'll name for now. Also, making it so in a majority of betrayed fanfiction Delia and Pikachu are...for some unexplained reason always terrible characters? Like they aren't just terrible, they are HORRIBLE. Delia is always treated as if she uses Ash for money, is a horrible mother, and is having an affair on some all-holy father of Ash's. Pikachu is just...always betrays Ash because he thinks he'll get stronger with...Max of all people? I don't know why Pikachu almost always goes with Max. It's weird. And I feel like people forget a lot about how Pikachu used to not like battling until a certain point-when he began battling for Ash. It was literally never about getting stronger...actually, heck, betrayed stories make every single character so OOC its weird the author puts them in a fanfiction. And it isn't even OOC with a good reason. It isn't how they characterize those characters, it's just not the same characters. It isn't an AU that makes sense, it just is random. And don't even get me started on the harem tag. That's incredibly both sexist and demeaning towards woman.

2. Ash-Greninja and Serena

Yeah...as a character, I respect Serena. As an author myself, I respect Serena. As a person, I respect her. But may hell be unleashed if I ever said I liked her. In all honesty, I blame a lot of the fandom for that, which is sad, because I used to quite like Serena-which now, thanks to her fan-base, this is ruined. Ninety nine point something percent of pokemon fanfics are about Serena returning to either Alola(when it was airing) and now Galar. And the same thing applied to freaking Ash-Greninja.
Oh, Ash-Greninja...it gets irritating when people try to imply that Ash's bond with Greninja is stronger than it is with Pikachu, and then you see people getting annoyed during the Eight Gym Badge Arc of Kalos that Ash was ignoring Pikachu when like...I don't know where that came from???!!! It's why Ash-Greninja has this magical telepathy thing with Ash that nobody else has, is the number one pokemon on Ash's side in majority of betrayal stories, and is always dubbed as "Ash's strongest".
The characters themselves aren't cliches that are considered bad by any means, of course, but it's the fan-fictions that usually surround these two that are bad. It's worse on YouTube. Can I please search up pokemon without seeing "ASH -GRENINJA RETURNS TO GALAR!" or "SERENA RETURN TO GALAR CONFIRMED?!" click-bait videos and its just like...come on, you want Serena and Greninja to return...for how long? A lot of this videos and such keep implying that both characters will return for a long period of time, which is...a lot to ask for, in all honesty. So, not only do you want the return of two characters but you also want them to stay for an extended period of time. You're allowed to dream, but I see people bash on the writers for this, which is just...tiring to see, in all honesty. It's one thing to get frustrated with the writers for certain decisions in terms of ACTUAL WRITING ABILITY, but it's a whole other thing to bash them for...what, not giving a return to two favored characters?

3. Putting Game Schematics in the Anime World

Again, this is more personal if anything, but does anyone else think this way too? Like it's one thing if you want to make the anime more like the games, and that's kind of the overall purpose of your story, but it's a whole other thing if your story is completely crazy and fantastical...yet it follows the game rules. Can anyone come up with actual logistical reasoning as to why electric types are weak against ground types in the anime? No, which is why this happening in the anime is ignored for the game rules of "ground types are just immune to electric attacks" and that's it. I've yet to see someone try and explore how the rules of the game changes in the anime, and how they can expand on that. What about the move-bank? Why can a pokemon only learn four moves? Hell, I've seen some fics where a pokemon is poisoned in battle and when they are recalled by their trainer, they're magically not poisoned anymore...and nowhere is it said or shown that the pokemon was given something to help heal them. I myself am writing a story where it addresses all of these things, but in all honesty, I wish I wasn't the only one. Pokemon are measured by their levels, evolution is more like the games, and a lot of it is never explained...pokemon are strictly described by their natures...and why, for the love of god, are pokemon treated as objects? This might be why I favor stories where a pokemon is talking somehow, or they show dialogue on the pokemon's side, and/or the characters understand them(*ahem* mind you, for a logical reason...otherwise I don't approve...) because they at least present the pokemon as less of an "I'm just here lol" kind of thing. Again, I have seen a few fics where the pokemon don't speak at all and are given personalities and treated as if they were actual characters, but other than that...yeah, all they're good for is battling.

4. Iconshipping

Ash and Serena the main pairing? Iconshipping and Insectivore MUST follow. NO EXCEPTIONS.
Granted, this is my bias towards lagomorphshipping, but in my defense...lagomorphers are treated like crap. I've expressed my opinion on lagomorph on a fic before as well as other people(literally all we said can be summed up as I love lagomorh/I like lagomorph) and we were instantly bashed for not liking iconshipping which..."icon"shipping? In all honesty, I thought the Pikachu X Sylveon ship was based on the Pikachu Short, Eevee and Friends, in which case, I'm not against it-since in the short, the two characters mentioned actually looked quite cute together. But people talk about Serena's Sylveon with Ash's Pikachu. But like...
Fandom: Serena's Sylveon and Ash's Pikachu for life!
Me: Wait, I thought Serena's sylveon had a relationship with Clemont's Bunnel-
Fandom: Iconshipping!
I may be exaggerating a tad...but when you're in middle school, you tend to exaggerate a lot. ANYWAY...

That's actually all I have for now...because those are the biggest ones that always get on my nerves.
 
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