Overused Fic Elements

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Lightning Dust, Jan 15, 2013.

  1. Lightning Dust

    Lightning Dust Pushing my limits

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    Just to vent a bit, I've decided to list all the things that I think need to be used a lot less in RPs and fanfics; even if they don't stop, they at least need to be tuned down a lot because they are not canon but everyone seems to think they are:


    1) Sequels and spinoffs of My Little Dashie


    2) The idea that Derpy is obsessed with muffins. Seriously, she only said the word "muffins" one time, and it wasn't even a random statement; she said it while admiring a tray of free MUFFINS. The statement was completely relevant to the context and yet everyone thinks that's all she ever thinks of.


    3) Cupcakes alternate endings


    4) The idea of Dr Hooves being a timelord. As someone who has never seen Dr. Who, I feel really left out when I see people saying all this stuff about the TARDIS and sonic screwdriver and stuff like that as if they're things everyone knows everything about.


    5) Lyra being obsessed with humans.


    6) The idea that Scootaloo is an orphan. Seriously, just because we haven't seen her parents yet doesn't mean she must not have any. We didn't see Rarity's parents until season 2 and she's one of the mane six, who are a bit higher up the totem pole than the CMC in how much the show revolves around them. Give it time; they have all the time in the world to show her parents.


    7) The idea that Dash and/or Fluttershy are either orphans or were raised by very abusive parents. Once again, just because their parents haven't been shown doesn't give the fandom the right to declare them orphans as if it was canon.


    8) The idea that Dash was bullied a lot as a filly, especially in cases when she is bullied for being a fillyfooler.


    9) Human-in-Equestria fics that aren't crossovers. It's one thing if you're doing a crossover where a human like Ash Ketchum or Hank Hill come to Equestria, where they're having characters from one show interact with characters from MLP; it's another thing when you have some dude named Ted who is more than likely the author himself show up and hang with the ponies.


    10) Stories where somepony comes out of the closet to their crush, but then gets shunned by them.


    11) Stories where Dash breaks or loses her wings.


    12) Stories in which the characters are humans from the get-go, as if they were never ponies to begin with. It completely kills the point of My Little PONY!

    13) The idea that Derpy is a mailmare. She has never been shown delivering mail, but 3 other ponies in Ponyville have. How many postal workers can a town the size of Ponyville possibly need?
     
    #1 Lightning Dust, Jan 15, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 16, 2013
  2. Vulpine Taco

    Vulpine Taco A Pony Every Pony Should Know

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    I agree with most, though I have to ask, do you have a problem with these being treated as canon or do you just dislike them?
     
  3. Lightning Dust

    Lightning Dust Pushing my limits

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    I wouldn't have much of a problem with most of them on their own, but they've spread like weeds over the fandom so that people seem to be forgetting that they're not canon. So, to answer your question, my main problem with it is that they're always being treated as canon.
    I would seriously laugh myself to death if they had an episode where they showed Scootaloo's parents or something like that, something that completely derails every single one of these stupid sob-stories about her in one shot.
     
  4. Aynine

    Aynine Angel of Maledict Fortune

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    #5 is a fan thing, but without a lot of imagination it doesn't really go anywhere.

    #6 has a lot of show implications. Faust already said she wanted to have an episode based around her being disabled in a way, but it was turned down (for obvious reasons).

    #8 has show precedent for bullying, and it's a common idea because it's easy to work with.

    #10 is another easy sadfic path.

    #11 -- Yes, this is very overused. lol It pretty much follows a linear path.

    #12 -- I actually considered doing a humanized story because there's a lot more body language to work with. Forelegs and hooves can only offer so much if you're trying to remain within the physical realm of reason for the show, even if you're not trying to stay completely anatomically correct.

    #13 -- Iirc, an old famous fanfic depicted her as a mailmare and that's how this started, but it was before I really joined the fandom, so to speak.
     
  5. NotWhatWeExpected

    NotWhatWeExpected Today is tomorrow New Zealand
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    You COULD just not read those ones. Doctor Who has a huge fanbase, so more often than not the person reading it has seen Doctor Who.

    Besides, Time Turner the little earth pony who keeps all the clocks in ponyville on schedule? Bo-ring!
     
  6. Lightning Dust

    Lightning Dust Pushing my limits

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    No she didn't. That was fake. It's like the Tara Strong Tweet about Twilight becoming an Alicorn in season 3 and the Lauren Faust DA announcement that Dash was going to get a boyfriend in season 3; it was all photoshopped by someone trying to make it look like she had made that announcement.

    I don't TRY to read them; the references just appear in fics without warning. I'll be reading a fic that doesn't say anything about Dr. Whooves in the description, but the author will just gratuitously throw the references in there out of nowhere.
     
    #6 Lightning Dust, Jan 17, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2013
  7. Eight Star

    Eight Star The Old One
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    I think the Dr Whooves references mostly come from the earlier fanbase trying to come up with a character name for him without digging much on names. Though, Hasbro was a bit slow with them anyway.

    His name is Time Turner.

    Then again, "Derpy" was initially named Ditzy Doo. Which is a more appropriate name anyway, but they let their writers have a bit too much fun with the script sometimes.

    Oh, and everypony knows that Pegasus are born from Gorgon's Blood, Pain, and Sea Foam. :derpe:
     
  8. Lightning Dust

    Lightning Dust Pushing my limits

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    Thank you; it's been a while since I had a nightmare.
     
  9. Eight Star

    Eight Star The Old One
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    This Nightmare Brought to you by: Greek Mythologies​. ::S:
     
  10. GrimDark

    GrimDark A Pony Every Pony Should Know
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    I wholeheartedly agree with the points of interest you've brought up, Lightning Dust. Good day to you, friend.
     
  11. Endblock

    Endblock The fabulous being

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    Agreed on most of these... But I will admit to using a few of these in my extended rps... Btw is there really a fic about hank hill going to equestria? Because I kinda want to read that now.
     
  12. Narrow

    Narrow تمتص أنيمي

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    I think you mean bronies obsessing over pointless background characters.
     
  13. Echoax

    Echoax Greed Probably
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    Yeah, no kidding. I can think of a certain gray horse people seem to care to much for.
     
  14. Narrow

    Narrow تمتص أنيمي

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    Derpy is clearly better than the main characters. Clearly.
     
  15. Echoax

    Echoax Greed Probably
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    Especially with that canon backstory written by her fans.
     
  16. Narrow

    Narrow تمتص أنيمي

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    Is she a lesbian orphan who was raised by abusive parents?
     
  17. Echoax

    Echoax Greed Probably
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    You can hope. That's the most original idea I've ever heard. Maybe she has a weird obsession with muffins?
     
  18. Narrow

    Narrow تمتص أنيمي

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    ...That too. I forgot about that.
     
  19. StarSwirl The Neckbearded

    StarSwirl The Neckbearded An Everypony Regular

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    . . . All that above nonesense aside, ( =P ) I agree that a lot of those things are cliched. But some of the things you mentioned, in my opinion, are just you don't like a certain thing. Which is fine, but I tend to disagree with them. I'll just say this: With things like Dr. Whooves or Lyra being obsessed with humans, I think they're silly of course, but for example in a fic I am writing to where King Sombra's crystals cause mutagenic change all over Equestria, Lyra is interested in humans because they've been extinct for millions of years but their technology was "very advanced," (Electric devices, guns, and stuff we have today basically) and her mother was a anthropologist.

    By the way, fan-fiction is for extrapolating. So background characters can be extrapolated to have a personality. I don't see why this is wrong? :dunno:
     

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