I'm putting together a new page for the TV Tropes Wiki, to go in their new and smallish fanfiction section (it's not just TV Tropes anymore). It's going to be on descriptive tags that indicate exaggerated or out-of-character traits for individual characters, like "Angry!Uber!Harry". My extant list of examples is:
* ''Angry'': The character is more prone to anger and rage than in canon.
* ''Dark'': A heroic character is made evil for the story.
* ''Fem'': (Sometimes "Female".) A fairly rare tag, used to indicate that a character of uncertain or variable gender is female or predominantly so in the fic.
* ''OOC'': "Out Of Character". Generic warning that the character is likely to be nothing like you expect from watching the show/reading the book/seeing the movie.
* ''Psycho'': The character is insane, or acts like it. Specifically, he may behave like a psychopath or sociopath.
* ''Uber'': (Sometimes ''Super''). The character is far more personally formidable than in canon, sometimes to the point of having actual super powers.
Anyway, I was hoping people could point me at examples they've seen or used, and/or refine this existing list.
Thanks!
-- Bob
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The Internet Is For Norns.
Quote:
* ''Dark'': A heroic character is made evil for the story.
I wouldn't say that "Dark" is necessarily evil... perhaps "ruthless" is a better description...
as for example, I'd recommend sifting through the
Dark Lord Potter Forums' library section... they seem to use this sort of tagging quite a bit.-Z, Post-reader at Medium
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If architects built buildings the way programmers write programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.
-Z, Post-reader at Medium
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If architects built buildings the way programmers write programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.
"Fem" is also used for fics in which an obviously male character's gender is swapped for the purpose of the fic. This is especially common in anime fanfiction.
Canon! - is obviously used to denote that the author is trying to stick as close to the canon character as possible.
Angst! or Emo! - are used to indicate the character will be excessively emotionally distraught during the fic.
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Epsilon
I was debating "emo", as it seemed reasonable but I'd never actually seen it to my recollection. Thanks for confirming I was on the right track!
-- Bob
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The Internet Is For Norns.
How about "Sanctified" for when an obvious villain from the original series turns into one of the good guys?
(Yes,I'm referring to that petty sociopath known as Nabiki Tendo.Why do you ask?)
Or "Nerfed" this is when a competent character is turned into a complete incompetent.A classic example is Sir Guy of Gisbourne who went from a dangerous enemy in the original Robin Hood stories to the Sheriff Of Nottingham's incompetent sidekick."There's only one kind of monster that uses bullets"-Colonel VanHeusen , from "It! The Terror From Beyond Space"
I'd call both of those "OOC", since the characters are so blantantly Out Of Character. But some folks might like a more specific warning...
-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
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Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
I know that a number of fanfic communities have specific tags that they use to describe tropes that occur with some regularity (Slytherin!Harry, Vamp!Willow and so forth) and I've seen a number of uses where it was come up with on the fly, but pretty clear regardless (can't remember any offhand, but things like Cyborg!Xander or Amberite!Xena.) Also used with the title or shortened title of a fanfic universe to designate that version, particulalry when there have been major changes to same.
-Yaoi/Slash (or less often FenSlash/Yuri) sometimes bi- Even without cannon basic this male charicter now swings that way. Usually because the writer decided that two of the leads are so cute/kawaii standing next to each other they must never breed (or breed with anything that moves, or joing the new harem). Not only is this charicter that way is a major plot point.
Ex: Naruto/Sasuke, from Naruto (though pretty much any to similar age male charicters will do , Kakashi/Iruka is another overly common one)... also, Spike/Xander BTVS That is not hate/rivalry that is clearly foreplay. Usually subset of shipping and often 'Plot, What Plot?'
-Something like 'Possessed by the Writer' 'PbtW'... the charicter is suddenly spewing forth rants and opinions that have nothing to do with the charicter's normal behavoir and everything to do with the writer's opinions.
-'Reformed' This normally evil charicter is now one of the main good guys, usually for some minor reason or because the writer felt said charicter 'needed' or 'begged' to by reformed.
-'In name only' this charicter has either had all the lifeshaping events earased from their past (they most kept or improved upon the skills)... or they have all the good things sucked out of their life or they were raised by sentient kitchen appliances... anyway you look at it this charicter is only recognizable by the helpful nametag/cuecard/floating letters that point out this charicter is actually 'X' and not someone's Orginal charicter.
TekkaRanma's(?) Slade/Ranma: No curse, no nekoken, no ssocial problems, etc... still this Slade is called 'Ranma' so it can be in the Ranma catagory.
-'Important' A background charicter that is suddenly a main charicter. Either they were in one scene in one episode or they got transfered to a different ship/unit/school or they somehow or other managed to get killed off... but they are now around all the time and important to the plot.
-'Personally inverted' Yes, we all know how 'X' acts, his back story, his interactions with the other charicters.... Psych!!! It was alll an act! The mask we all know and love/hate is off and now the charicters is showing his real colors. The brain damage is repair so now he is back to acting like he did off screne pre-series. Now the nice guy is killing off the neighbors and sending their remains back as BBQ, or the pychopath is really an undercover agent that will spend the rest of the series knitting sweaters for orphan kittens... either way that is not the charicter we thought is was.
There's another reason for the Fem! tag...
Harry Potter Fiction: for some inexplicable reason, the first American editions of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's/Philosopher's Stone excised a comment on the ethnicity and gender of Blaise Zabini {a boy of African descent} during the Sorting.
Due to this ambiguity, and the rarity of the name Blaise for Boys in the US, there is a lot of Fem!Blaise fanfiction which has Miss Zabini as an attractive Caucasian girl.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll