Fanfiction Lounge

[txteclipse]

Is it generally acceptable to use your favorite Pokemon as the main characters Pokemon? (With out it seeming to degrade the story.)

The key there is the last bit. If it doesn't detract from your work, then anything goes.

EDIT: I have a few points to add. Using your favorite Pokemon as a primary character may actually be a very good thing: you would have a tendency to know more about them than a random filler. For instance, I loved Latias for years before writing her into my first fic: I knew absolutely everything about her. That allowed me to develop a (hopefully) deep and intriguing story around her and Latios, and the mystique involved with them.

Going in the completely opposite direction, it could be cool to see a new face that is hardly ever used in fanfiction (or games, for that matter). I think that there is a rather infamous Qwilfish in someone's fanfic here. You can draw attention to pokemon that may be deserving of a little attention, but for whatever reason failed to get any.

 

[icomeanon6]

Is it generally acceptable to use your favorite Pokemon as the main characters Pokemon? (With out it seeming to degrade the story.)

As with any other kind of situation, it all depends on execution. If you can give a believable reason for why a character has a particular Pokemon, and also make the particular Pokemon fun and interesting to read about, then why not?

Nuuu...English 9, I HATE you. You're making me over-analyze my fanfics. ;_; Fuega wasn't supposed to be as philosophical as it's turning out to be! Blame school!

Philosophical is good, that's why I like your story so much. :D

Also, it's nice to see that you're back in the lounge, Asty!

 

[JX Valentine]

Is it generally acceptable to use your favorite Pokemon as the main characters Pokemon? (With out it seeming to degrade the story.)

Without repeating too much of what Astinus and txteclipse said (because they've got shinier examples than anything I can come up with at seven in the morning), I'll just add with an old cliche:

Pokemon don't kill fanfics. Writers do.

That is, yeah, it's possible to have your favorite Pokemon be the main character as long as you:

A. Have a decent story suitable for the Pokemon. (For example, a story about Darkrai ruling the dream world? Okay! A story involving a Mary Sue catching a Darkrai and making it her *****? Or one involving Darkrai getting drunk with a bunch of Gastly? Um...)

B. Write the Pokemon well. Pokemon are just like humans in terms of what is and isn't plausible for a character and whether or not they're OOC. For example, Ash's Bulbasaur, the serious voice of reason in the team? Will probably never propose to have a round of sake. Likewise, that shy, quiet Lopunny you write about had better be shy and quiet in chapter two unless you have something happen to the character that makes her act contrary to what you've already established.

In other words, it depends on the execution.

 

[Bay]

Is it generally acceptable to use your favorite Pokemon as the main characters Pokemon? (With out it seeming to degrade the story.)
Like everyone else, go ahead as long as you give the Pokemon some substance and also a good reason why that person had that Pokemon if needed.

For instance, I love Ninetales and I used that Pokemon in NE (gets shot XD). However, when I wrote him (yes, a he, not a she XD) I began giving some substance to him. He's like to eat and drink a lot and can get bored easily if he hasn't done anything yet but when he's under in a few situations, he can be a very smart Pokemon.

 

[Ascaris]

Is it generally acceptable to use your favorite Pokemon as the main characters Pokemon? (With out it seeming to degrade the story.)

As the others above me have said, it depends on your writing. Don't make your favorite pokemon UBER powerful just because you like them. Just treat it like any other pokemon. If your overall writing is good, however, using it won't make much of a difference.

A note: if your favorite pokemon is a legendary the main character cannot catch it. Period.

 

[Negrek]

A note: if your favorite pokemon is a legendary the main character cannot catch it. Period.

Why not?

Character limit, character limit, how many times do I have to do this.

 

[Ascaris]

Why not?

Character limit, character limit, how many times do I have to do this.

Er... what?

They can't because it's a legend. An amazingly powerful pokemon. A character catching a legendary directly makes him a Stu.

 

[Bay]

I don't think a character catching a legendary directly makes him a Stu. If he manages to gets him easy and the legendary obeys him in that instant, then yes. However, if the plot actually revolves around trying to catch and raise one but with consequences, I think it would make one good story IMO.

 

[Negrek]

A character catching a legendary directly makes him a Stu.

Honestly? That's crap. First of all, it depends entirely upon how the legendaries are treated in the world of the 'fic. Some people don't even portray them as "legendary"--just as very powerful, rare pokémon. Why, then, would they be impossible to catch?

Team Rocket's going after legendaries all the time, according to canon. They've even managed to (temporarily) catch a couple. Why is it therefore so heinous if a non-evil person were to capture a legendary? How is it possible that this is such a mark of death that not only should one not do it, but one actually cannot? Because I'm pretty sure I can put whatever the heck I please in a Word document. Whether or not it makes for a good story is an entirely different matter.

And nothing automatically makes a character a Stu.

 

[Buoysel]

Honestly? That's crap. First of all, it depends entirely upon how the legendaries are treated in the world of the 'fic. Some people don't even portray them as "legendary"--just as very powerful, rare pokémon. Why, then, would they be impossible to catch?

Team Rocket's going after legendaries all the time, according to canon. They've even managed to (temporarily) catch a couple. Why is it therefore so heinous if a non-evil person were to capture a legendary? How is it possible that this is such a mark of death that not only should one not do it, but one actually cannot? Because I'm pretty sure I can put whatever the heck I please in a Word document. Whether or not it makes for a good story is an entirely different matter.

And nothing automatically makes a character a Stu.

Dude, chill

Thanks for the responses.

Some would argue that famous people are legendary. Not because they are all powerful, but because they are the stuff of legends.

Many of you may not know who I am talking about, but I have talked to Bill Snyder. Many people say that he is one of the best college football coaches off all time. Some have even called him a legend. So just because someone is legendary, does not mean that it is impossible to meet them. You just have to have luck on your side. As for the capture of the said legendaries, good luck…

 

[Ascaris]

Honestly? That's crap. First of all, it depends entirely upon how the legendaries are treated in the world of the 'fic. Some people don't even portray them as "legendary"--just as very powerful, rare pokémon. Why, then, would they be impossible to catch?

Team Rocket's going after legendaries all the time, according to canon. They've even managed to (temporarily) catch a couple. Why is it therefore so heinous if a non-evil person were to capture a legendary? How is it possible that this is such a mark of death that not only should one not do it, but one actually cannot? Because I'm pretty sure I can put whatever the heck I please in a Word document. Whether or not it makes for a good story is an entirely different matter.

And nothing automatically makes a character a Stu.

Team Rocket? Yeah, they have resources, money, men. We're talking about regular trainers here. Sure, it might make a good story, but nine times out of ten, it does not..

Even 'powerful, rare pokemon' are hard to capture. You don't see trainers in fics trying to catch a Dragonite (not Dratini, the fully evolved form)

Of course they can catch a legendary. It;s literature after all, anything is possible. But like you said, whether or not it makes for a good story is a different matter.

 

[txteclipse]

Er... what?

They can't because it's a legend. An amazingly powerful pokemon. A character catching a legendary directly makes him a Stu.

Lord I hope not. The Latis in my first fic start out as fledglings with little to no power in terms of physical strength. They can fly around and claw things, but that's about it. The Mewtwo in my second fic is born 3' 1/2" and can't even stand at first. Again, execution is key. Fics centered around legendaries aren't automatically bad.

 

[Negrek]

Dude, chill

Chill? I wasn't aware that I had gotten worked up.

Even 'powerful, rare pokemon' are hard to capture. You don't see trainers in fics trying to catch a Dragonite (not Dratini, the fully evolved form)

I don't? Sorry to burst your bubble, but I certainly do.

Of course they can catch a legendary. It;s literature after all, anything is possible. But like you said, whether or not it makes for a good story is a different matter.

Mmm-hmm. And I'm of the opinion that simply because a character catches a legendary in a 'fic, that character doesn't get dumped in the "OMG SUE" bin. There's a very good chance that they should be, but that doesn't constitute a moratorium on legendary captures in 'fics in my book. Even if, as you say, nine times out of ten the 'fic is bad (I would argue that it's higher), you can't just say, "Because this happens, your 'fic is automatically bad." If you run across a 'fic that has a character who catches a legendary and is a Sue, then it's perfectly acceptable to cite that capture as a contribution to that character's problems. Likewise, it's fine to encourage writers not to go this route, simply because of how hard it is to make it work. But to say that a single plot factor will automatically make or break an entire 'fic, without even considering any of its other elements? Not cool.

 

[Bay]

This argument reminds me of how many people would also say "Mary Sue" if the trainer had an Eevee as a starter. XD

Anyways, yeah pretty much the execution. As long as you're not letting the main character get the legendary easy and also not having the world revolve around him like people loving him for getting that Pokemon and the legendary already respecting him, you're good.

 

[JX Valentine]

Even 'powerful, rare pokemon' are hard to capture. You don't see trainers in fics trying to catch a Dragonite (not Dratini, the fully evolved form)

Excuse me if I'm missing the point of your argument, but are you trying to say it's cool to have trainers with no motivation? Because if we take this quote absolutely literally, that means you don't want us to write about trainers who don't even try to do part of what a trainer does by definition. =/

That said, have to agree with Negrek. There's actually no unwritten rule that bans you from writing about a character capturing a legendary, executed well or not. Pulling it off, meanwhile, takes a bit of effort, sure, but it's not entirely impossible to do so. The problem is that a lot of writers in this fandom lack the skill or motivation to pull that kind of thing off, so they stick to safeties -- i.e., assuming there's a ban on writing about legendaries when there isn't and that having a legendary automatically makes one a Sue. This is basically like saying that having an adjective as a name automatically makes one a Sue, which means God forbid if we want to write a Special-verse fic.

As for Buoysel's point, yes, they're legendaries and therefore mythological figures (meaning this is a lot like making Athena your *****), but on the other hand, they're still fundamentally Pokemon first. They can be captured. This is even canon across several different universes. (Ruby had a Celebi in Special. The hero avatar in the games have every option to capture the game-verse legendaries. Team Rocket has done it numbers of times in the anime.) It just depends on how it's executed when you get right down to it. That's both in terms of how the capture went down and what the character does with the legendary thereafter.

 

[Percy Thrillington]

Execution.

It's a magic word, poke poke. If I told you that two trainers in my fan fic caught a legendary Pokémon and harness its power, would you automatically jump to the conclusion that these characters are part of the Gary-Stu replica merchandise? Yes, you would. Now that I think about it, I would.

But what if I were to say that these two trainers happened to carry a ball that was practically the GS ball (a ball which unlocks Celebi in the Japanese versions of the second generation games) and the Master Ball? Would you jump to the same conclusion then?

No, you wouldn't, as the situations would be tampered with.

But yeah, your claim on any character who catches a legendary Pokémon being a Mary-Stu is pretty wrong.

 

[Alter Ego]

But what if I were to say that these two trainers happened to carry a ball that was practically the GS ball (a ball which unlocks Celebi in the Japanese versions of the second generation games) and the Master Ball? Would you jump to the same conclusion then?

This does heavily depend on how your trainers got a hold of this wonderful ball. If that part is something along the lines of 'they got it because Joe's dad is a pokémon professor lolone.' then I would think that they still haven't stepped out of Stu/Sue territory. =O

That being said...well, actually I think that the arguments on this have already been laid out well enough. As long as the effort and resources put into the capture do the prey justice, I see no issues with capturing strong pokémon. If the legendary is just caught in the vein of 'lul master ball' then I'm going to call foul, though, unless of course it's a fic set in the game world. I do believe that a driven, suitably talented individual could feasible capture a legendary, at least if they made it their life's ambition.

Damn, now I'm getting yet another half-developed fic idea...as if I didn't have enough of those already. XD

 

[txteclipse]

Damn, now I'm getting yet another half-developed fic idea...as if I didn't have enough of those already. XD

I'm suddenly getting one, too. Angsty teenage legendary gets in a fight with its parents and decides to go get itself caught to spite them.

Legendary: this guy looks suitable.
Some random trainer: Lololol a legendary!!1!! Go pokeball!!!11!1 *catch*
Legendary: Suddenly I'm thinking this may not have been such a good idea...

 

[Percy Thrillington]

Alter Ego, let's just assume that they acquired the item in a believable manner.

I've decided to go back to the topic rather than throw out my opinions and leave as I normally do, mostly because I'm able to say more than I did.

They can't because it's a legend. An amazingly powerful pokemon.

Can I ask why Pokémon such as Celebi, Manaphy and Phione suddenly spring to mind? From what I can tell, their stats are reasonably bad (as with other Pokémon) and in the movies, they don't exactly do anything special. Phione may or may not be classified as a legendary, I can't remember the outcome of that argument, but I do know that the other two definitely are not amazingly powerful Pokémon which therefore tears your point in half, unfortunately.

However, before I can truly say that you can't say what you've stated because you're wrong, we must look at everything from all prospectives. Celebi has the ability to manipulate time and Jirachi appears and grants wishes once every one thousand years. Before I continue to argue against your point, I need to know if these sort of characteristics cause these Pokémon to be classified as amazingly powerful. What say thee, poke poke?

On a completely off-topic note; do you Americans have Sunny D? I'm writing a one-shot and it plays an important factor in it but I don't want you people reading it and not understanding a word so I need to know.

 

[Negrek]

On a completely off-topic note; do you Americans have Sunny D? I'm writing a one-shot and it plays an important factor in it but I don't want you people reading it and not understanding a word so I need to know.

Yeah, but I'd suggest avoiding brand names in fanfiction in general, unless it's set in our actual world somehow.