Pokemon Fanfic OC Ideas and Cliches!

[MorningDragon]

Hey y'all! I'm new here so in case I do something wrong like post in the wrong section or whatever, please excuse me and feel free to point it out for me!

Basically, I'm working on a Pokemon Fanfic. The premise of this fic is a generational saga that chronicles each generation whilst leaving things for the next to improve upon in their own direction (I intend to write about all the regions if possible). It's going to include OCs as main characters in this fic. I have kind of sorted out what I want the main plot to be about; it's a journey fic with the protagonist battling his way through Gym Leaders, an egotistical rival, and a villainous organization (Team Rocket) on his conquest to fulfill a seemingly impossible dream. As for the setting? It's an amalgamation of the game-canon and Adventures manga and to a lesser degree, the anime. Albeit, Ash does not exist on this one, and by extension, neither does Red and Blue. They're replaced with OCs who're their equivalents to my fanfic continuity more or less (the rival being Prof. Oak's grandson for instance). I figured there was no need to have them as protags as we already have an idea of how their story goes and they are significantly less interesting imo. The main draw behind the Pokemon franchise to me is not so much the characters as it is the setting wherein Pokemon are ubiquitous.

It *does* include some canon characters every now and then (Yellow and Green/Blue (the female), Brendan and May, etc) with some paired with my OCs, but outside of the basics, I haven't put much thought about what the story will include besides your traditional Pokemon Journey and Gym Battles, so I was hoping for some ideas. I want to make sure that my plot isn't generic, I really want it to be unique and captivating, but I need help finding out what plots have been popping up continuously and what I should avoid. Which Pokemon are overused by fic writers for their main character OCs?

Also, I am fully aware that a Journey fic is as cliche as it comes, and pairing an OC with a canon character is the cherry on top of the cake, but cliches aren't inherently bad, it can be a breathe of fresh air depending on the execution.

I'd really appreciate your help in this matter! Thank you!

 

[Bay]

Hi there, welcome to the forums! So you're asking which plots and such have been overused in journey fics. For now I'll mention one overused idea and if I can think of more I'll come back.

Don't know if this still happens now, but I remember long ago "chosen one" fics are the rage. Basically you have a character being chosen like a legendary or a group/organization telling your character they have a destiny/prophecy to fullfill. Those kind of plots make events and characters warp around your main character instead of letting the events flow naturally.

As for overused Pokemon, I haven't paid much attention to that but I remember people would complain characters with Eevee as their starters. In the end though as long as you make the Pokemon interesting it shouldn't matter too much.

 

[Cavespider_17]

"Beep beep beep.
My Alarm clock goes"

To me that cliche is one of the biggest put offs reading. If I see it as the first line I usually just walk away. Another Cliche or thing I hate about chosen one fictions is that the main character *Always* wins without consequence. Oh you just killed a villain? No prison sentence for you because you are the chosen one. Oh you just happened to win against that gym leader despite your team being weaker and unbearable? (Like Ash in the Anime until Surge) Why? Because you are the chosen one.

Rant over. Hope that helps. :P

 

[Vragon2.0]

For me, I'd say the regular bully mons in PMD. That while can be intimidating the first go, kinda are left in the dust later.

I also don't like it, when a character's only real use is in one section/arc and then is never used again. Sure there are exceptions (death after all), but if the character is there, it can be quite annoying if there isn't really anymore use of it, especially if it's a liked character.

Also, the character that the world just doesn't understand.....not everyone needs to be edgy McEdglord.

 

[Venia Silente]

There's many many many tropes and clich?s overused in fanfics; but I don't pay attention to the quantity alone, as the mere presence of a clich? does not indicate that the fic is good or bad by itself, and similarly just because a fic does something presumably original and presumably groundbreaking would it be an indication that the fic is good.

Off the top of my had many a one clich?s and tropes that you can find (and play with):

• "Waking up late! Because adventures always start this way!" Somehow popular in story novelizations but... Yeahh... no. Only Ash woke up late and only in the mainline anime; the rest of the protags have always been on time or in situations where time does not matter.
• "I would NEVER abuse Pok?mon like you! And I'll prove it by sending mine to beat yours in a battle!" Like... really. I will intentionally not delve in this one any further.
• "Pok?mon Training marketplace is glorified cockfighting!" This one is related to the above and seeps in from people who try too hard for grimdark edgelord factor.
• "You are the Loser One". Like, raising a completely lame character from Chapter One where they can't even talk to a Caterpie right to somehow Chapter 10 where the universe depends on them.
• "Poison (or Dark) type! Must be an evildoer!" I mean, the games abuse this to a point but... have you ever stopped to consider what could possibly have more evil potential than a Normal-type Meowth that can naturally produce money by beating other Pok?mon up?
• "Oshawott, use Water Gun! And now, allow me to grandstand on this political or ethical issue of importance. In this essay I will..." Really. Using too much time to talk as if the world freezes in the meantime. It works *sometimes* in kiddy 80s anime, but unless you hae some sort of Dialga support... well, not anymore.
• Giving the lead MC an Eevee as a Starter... and then doing nothing across the story with the potential to evolve into different forms.
• Giving the MC a Legendary Pok?mon as a starter, or very early into the story.
• Giving the MC a rich family that could entirely support their adventure... but they don't.
• Characters having exactly the Starter that best matches their hair colour, gender, dressing trends, eating habits and even nervous tics.
• Mouth beams. Pok?mon using any and all attacks as if they were energy blasts that can only come from your mouth. Even Dragon Ball gave us a foot Kamehameha as propulsion! And where are my elbow-summoned sweeping orbs and wave-shooting antlers!

 

[MorningDragon]

So many good answers in this thread so far!

Hi there, welcome to the forums! So you're asking which plots and such have been overused in journey fics. For now I'll mention one overused idea and if I can think of more I'll come back.

Don't know if this still happens now, but I remember long ago "chosen one" fics are the rage. Basically you have a character being chosen like a legendary or a group/organization telling your character they have a destiny/prophecy to fullfill. Those kind of plots make events and characters warp around your main character instead of letting the events flow naturally.

As for overused Pokemon, I haven't paid much attention to that but I remember people would complain characters with Eevee as their starters. In the end though as long as you make the Pokemon interesting it shouldn't matter too much.

Thanks! I was never on-board with the chosen one idea because it unnecessarily brings in themes of destiny and prophecy into a story. Heroism can occur from any place and to any one, it's not just decided preemptive, so the chosen one cliche won't be a problem.

I hold no aversion towards cliches like Eevee being a starter, I do however hold a pet peeve when such cliche were used without much thought put into it, especially for superficial reasons like "this is my favorite Pokemon." At any rate, none of my characters will have Eevee as their starters, I prefer to go by the official starters. Speaking of which, I am quite conflicted of which starter I should choose for my protagonist. The two Pokemon that comes to mind are between Bulbasaur (who is so underrated that it's almost a crime) or Charmander (who whilst being one of the most iconic Pokemon, is also one of the most overused by fanfic writers). I do like the type triangle formula the writer of Pokemon Adventures went by and considered following it as well (i.e, Grass -> Fire -> Water, Kanto -> Johto -> Hoenn).

For me, I'd say the regular bully mons in PMD. That while can be intimidating the first go, kinda are left in the dust later.

I also don't like it, when a character's only real use is in one section/arc and then is never used again. Sure there are exceptions (death after all), but if the character is there, it can be quite annoying if there isn't really anymore use of it, especially if it's a liked character.

Also, the character that the world just doesn't understand.....not everyone needs to be edgy McEdglord.

My policy is to try and not sticking to the old things once they're over. Since if I don?t discard the old and focus on what?s new, I'll start getting too attached to some of my old characters and there might be a possibility of them hogging the spotlight of the subsequent part's main characters. That includes the main characters. Some previous main characters will occasionally appear prominently in the subsequent story arcs, but that's usually only when the stakes are ridiculously high to the point where it's endangering the entire world. But I'd take your advice to heart and try my best to utilize all my characters to their fullest extent, if they're well-received, they might reappear occasionally reappear.