Talk:Modern AU/@comment-99.118.64.7-20141127190520

Not a fan of high school au's anymore (pfft who am i kidding i will forever read them no matter their problems) solely because it seems that they mischaracterize them to simply shove 'em into sterotypes. They become bland and one-dimensional, and most importantly just not themselves.

Hiccup seems to be pigeonholed into the 'nerd' category, and is weak and wimpy. He loses his entire personality to sit around pining for Merida and blushing whenever she breathes. I've never seen him portrayed any other way and it's incredibly sad. Fanon Hiccup is literally composed of three traits. I could not sum up canon Hiccup in three traits if I tried. He's smart, witty, sarcastic, brave, brash, impulsive, wise, naive, kind, curious, ambitious, clever...fanon Hiccup is just smart and shy.

Jack is probably characterized even worse. He's a cassonova play boy pimp princess with girls (and boys) fawning over him left and right. He's a 'bad boy' who's always getting into trouble, sleeps with girls and boys and then leaves them, and doesn't ask his parents permission when signing up for webkinz. That's...not Jack. Never once did he act like this. I should also mention that the bad boy/good girl trope that seems to plague Jackunzel (and hijack isn't exempt from it either, though obviously it becomes bad boy/good boy) is overused and annoying as hell.

Rapunzel tends to be characterized correctly, albeit a wee bit off. They take her niceness and up it to 10, then ignore pretty much every other trait she has. She becomes a boring shell that's just nice and sweet and pretty. Or she has a tragic past and abusive mother that does nothing but pull her and Jack (who also has an abusive past or whatever) together so they fall in love. Child abuse is not something to use lightly, and should never be just a plot device. If you're gonna use it, then use it correctly and understand that it will have long term affects on Rapunzel, and she won't be healed right away because of Jack's hotness.

Merida is forced into this "cool athletic" action girl trope. She is defined solely by her unattainable staus rather than herself as a character. She has no personality, she's just athletic and popular and that's it. While she starts out independent and tough, she'll eventually be reduced to a  blushing mess at the sight of Hiccup and that's it. There is nothing else to her, she's boring and flat.

Stoick and Elinor become abusive parents who don't want the best for their children, but rather want to simply hurt them (and bring them into a forced romance because of this). They are nothing beyond empty shells that want to oppress their children.

North is usually an adoptive parent, and he too is abusive. The other guardians never seem to appear. Astrid is now bitchy and wants to just sit around and bitch because Merida stole her boyfriend. The other kids from HTTYD become bullies.

This isn't a huge problem, this fandom is pretty much known for it's mischaracterization, and I can understand that some writers are young and simply do not understand. That's okay, I've been there. You are free to write these characters however you want, I just simply want to point out that these tropes are very tiring. It's the same plot over and over again, and perhaps a little PSA will encourage some creativity?

I can't tell you and how and what to write, only give you advice and you as a writer can choose to take it or not. The story is your's and your's only and no one can tell you that you shouldn't write it. These tropes are popular for a reason, right? Because it works.