Fanfiction Is the Darndest Thing

[SpaceProg]

Oh trust me I tried to teach other people not to repeat my mistakes. It didn't work. :/

Nothing pisses me off more than seeing people make the same shit mistakes I made.

Guess you can't really learn from mistakes that somebody else made.

[Witchyjoshy]

Oh trust me I tried to teach other people not to repeat my mistakes. It didn't work. :/

Nothing pisses me off more than seeing people make the same shit mistakes I made.

Guess you can't really learn from mistakes that somebody else made.

You can.  People just don't want to.

Or in my case they most likely weren't there to see me make the mistake, which is NO EXCUSE BECAUSE THEY SHOULD BE PSYCHIC!

[Feral Dog]

the woobification of villains.

[wrightway]

It doesn't help when the canon source woobiefies the villians. Take Walking Dead the GN vs the tv show. The Governor in the graphic novel is a raging psychopath. In the tv show he actually started out as a decent guy who just wanted the best for the people under his care.

Or Decepticons in Transformers G1 who did it for the evuls (Is Megatron huffing paint? I think Megatron is huffing paint). Versus the later comic versions and certain cartoons where they're understandable. They were pretty much slave castes and the original Autobots were corrupt politician.

[Alehksunos]

To get off the shipping and back on topic; the woobification of villains.  Probably one of the worst fandom traits ever.

As someone who casually dislikes N, I'm so, so with this post. Though like Brain Fritz's TV Walking Dead example with 'The Governor', the source game woobifies this character, while in the PokéSpecial manga he's an asshole who shows no concern for anyone around him.

Also, an inversion that pisses me off just as much; the demonization of otherwise non-malicious characters.

The Draco in Leather Pants trope takes an malicious, even abhorrent character character look like a bunch of "poor, hurt person" because the viewer loves that character so much, but Ron the Death Eater trope takes a non-malicious character and turns them into an asshole, even a Complete Monster because the viewer hates that character. In fact, I almost feel like necromancing the Pet Peeve Tropes thread just to update my list to add these, they piss me off so much.

[wrightway]

Also, an inversion that pisses me off just as much; the demonization of otherwise non-malicious characters.

The Draco in Leather Pants trope takes an malicious, even abhorrent character character look like a bunch of "poor, hurt person" because the viewer loves that character so much, but Ron the Death Eater trope takes a non-malicious character and turns them into an asshole, even a Complete Monster because the viewer hates that character. In fact, I almost feel like necromancing the Pet Peeve Tropes thread just to update my list to add these, they piss me off so much.

This one can either royally piss me off or amuse the fuck out of me based on how it's being done up. There is a lot of TWD fic out there that makes Carol the evil, possessive bitch who is trying to keep Daryl from his true love Beth/Michonne/Mary Sue/Glenn/Whatever hot guy the yaoi fangirls are fapping to this week. The over the top ones just make me giggle.

[Askold]

Woobie villains aren't necessarily a bad thing. If written well a tragic villain can actually be a good addition to a story.

But if that was simply a complaint about fanfiction writers making fic where their favourite villain is turned into a woobie simply because they want to give them some sort of justifications for villainy or make them more likeable then it's just meh.

[Flying Mint Bunny!]

Also, an inversion that pisses me off just as much; the demonization of otherwise non-malicious characters.

The Draco in Leather Pants trope takes an malicious, even abhorrent character character look like a bunch of "poor, hurt person" because the viewer loves that character so much, but Ron the Death Eater trope takes a non-malicious character and turns them into an asshole, even a Complete Monster because the viewer hates that character. In fact, I almost feel like necromancing the Pet Peeve Tropes thread just to update my list to add these, they piss me off so much.

This one can either royally piss me off or amuse the fuck out of me based on how it's being done up. There is a lot of TWD fic out there that makes Carol the evil, possessive bitch who is trying to keep Daryl from his true love Beth/Michonne/Mary Sue/Glenn/Whatever hot guy the yaoi fangirls are fapping to this week. The over the top ones just make me giggle.

I think Draco is just the right side of evil that it's not too unreasonable to have sympathetic portrayals of him, but good Lucius or good Voldermort just baffle me.

[Witchyjoshy]

Woobie villains aren't necessarily a bad thing. If written well a tragic villain can actually be a good addition to a story.

But if that was simply a complaint about fanfiction writers making fic where their favourite villain is turned into a woobie simply because they want to give them some sort of justifications for villainy or make them more likeable then it's just meh.

...My favorite villain is a villain because he's a selfish bastard who was spoiled as a brat and had every single whim catered to.

It's his redeeming factors (and his charm and his... looks) that make me like him.  Such as the fact that he cares about his kids, cares about his troops, and that his troops generally serve him out of adoration, not fear.

If you don't know who I'm talking about, look at my avatar.

People trying to woobie-fy him or passing off his kidnapping attempts as "playful flirting" piss me off, though.

[nickiknack]

Woobie villains aren't necessarily a bad thing. If written well a tragic villain can actually be a good addition to a story.

But if that was simply a complaint about fanfiction writers making fic where their favourite villain is turned into a woobie simply because they want to give them some sort of justifications for villainy or make them more likeable then it's just meh.

^This
I love a good tragic villain (looks at her avatar), I think it gives them more depth and character, but as long as it's part the original work, and not just pulled out ones' ass in a fanfic.

[wrightway]

I wish I could find a pic someone did that said something along the lines of "Loki was so busy trying to be Odin's favorite he didn't realize he was Thor's."

[TheUnknown]

When I said 'woobification of villains,' I didn't mean "the industry is making too many sympathetic villains."  I meant when the fandom takes a villain, sympathetic backstory or no, and proceeds to gloss over or excuse their villainous behavior because 'it wasn't their fault' and 'they didn't know any better' and 'they just need someone to fix them.'  Draco In Leather Pants is a symptom of this.  Azula is a prime target for this, but one of the worst offenders I've seen is Loki (on tumblr, anyway).  That gif in Nicki's sig of Jane slapping Loki?  That scene garnered so much Jane hate and Jane bashing, with people saying that they wanted to see her die because how dare she slap their precious Loki.  Loki's story is sympathetic, but he's not some poor puppy-dog who was beaten and 'just needs to be loved.'  He did what he wanted to and, as far as I know, wasn't remorseful for it.  There's not some cuddly teddy bear yearning to break free.  Btw, I'm not accusing Nicki of doing any of this.

Severus Snape is another big offender, despite not actually being a villain.  Fangirls like to see him as some wonderful person who only joined the Death Eaters because Lily was a shallow bitch who wouldn't give poor Snape a chance and accept his apology, and that James Potter is a coward who never changed and would never love Lily like Snape did.  I've read a fic where the author used Regulus Black as a mouthpiece chewing out Lily for "abandoning Snape." 

They completely ignore the fact that Snape was alienating Lily because of his interest in the dark arts and him hanging out with Death Eaters, that Snape called Lily the wizard equivalent of the N word to save face in front of his "friends" when Lily tried to protect him, that she didn't accept his apology because he was only sorry since he thought "she was different" but still believed everyone like her was a 'mudblood,' that Lily married James when he stopped being a bully and actually changed and mellowed out, and that James stood up against an invincible foe, knowing he'd die, in order to protect his family.  Snape, on the other hand, was willingly working for Voldemort, was the one who gave Voldemort information about the prophecy, only felt remorse when Lily was targeted, and was willing to hand over her husband and infant son over to Voldemort in order to "protect" her.  Speaking of Harry, Snape treated him like shit because he happened to look like his father.

[wrightway]

Starscream. If ever there was a fandom woobified villain it's Starscream.

[Shane for Wax]

I'd like to point out that where people flock to Loki and call him a wee lamb, etc., my person I tend to defend is The Master. I don't woobify him. And he wasn't really woobified in canon. He was still a dick in his own right (sexist, racist, homophobic, the whole lot). But I can understand where he was coming from with most of the stuff he did (taking over the world and such).

I haven't really seen people try to woobify him. They have decided to do other things I disagree with, tho (but I won't get into that~).

There is a point where people defend just to make their obsession not look batshit insane. They defend the character to defend themselves, as it were, which is where it all goes wrong.

I won't defend my adoration of the Master like that. I know he's an ass and I know he's got very few redeeming qualities. Literally the last thing he did in his first New Doctor Who appearance was throw his death in the Doctor's face. I just think that people also don't remember the story of the Master, of the fact that he was twisted almost literally from birth.

[SpaceProg]

While it's often done haphazardly, there's something to be said about a well-done woobie.