Flanderization in Fanfiction

For those who have never heard of this word or never read TVTropes, Flanderization is taking an aspect of a character, however minor it may be, and blowing it out of porportion to the point where it comsumes the entire character. So, my question is, has anyone notice these things in any fics they read?

The Weasley twins' (in)famous trick of finishing each others' sentences sometimes happens all the frickin' time in a (loooong) fic and occasionally is explained by some kind of telepathy. When it was really something they did to be cute now and then.

Jenny Islander wrote:

The Weasley twins' (in)famous trick of finishing each others' sentences sometimes happens all the frickin' time in a (loooong) fic and occasionally is explained by some kind of telepathy. When it was really something they did to be cute now and then.

Oh my god, this. It drives me insane to read a HP fic with the Weasley twins finishing each other's sentences every single time they speak. It's worse when the author has them telling very unfunny jokes.

Speaking of Weasleys, I'll go ahead and say Ron Weasley's eating habits. He likes to eat a lot, so authors take that to the extreme and decide that the only thing he ever does is eat. Like, he cares more about food than anything else and won't help Harry and/or Hermione with anything til he's eaten as much as he likes. There's also his jealousy. Ron has been very jealous of Harry numerous times, so authors decide that Ron is always jealous of Harry, no matter what's going on. I've even seen fics where the author decides that Ron wants to kill Harry so he can be the famous one instead.

Ianto and coffee in Torchwood fic. In canon, he knows how to make good coffee and appreciates it. In fic, he is obsessed with coffee.

Actually according to fandom, all twins form a hive mind eventually.

Lysander wrote:

Actually according to fandom, all twins form a hive mind eventually.

Which is odd, because I have twins (identical ones to boot), and they never finished each others sentences or most of the other things twins tend to do in fanfic. About they only thing they could be counted on to do together was get sick at the same time.

They did exchange places once (when they were in second grade), and while they fooled their teachers, they freaked themselves out, because they'd always been in separate classrooms and had no idea where they were supposed to sit or keep their stuff.

Rabid Badger wrote:

Lysander wrote:

Actually according to fandom, all twins form a hive mind eventually.

Which is odd, because I have twins (identical ones to boot)

You can only tell them apart by who they're shagging.

grmblfjx wrote:

Rabid Badger wrote:

Lysander wrote:

Actually according to fandom, all twins form a hive mind eventually.

Which is odd, because I have twins (identical ones to boot)

You can only tell them apart by who they're shagging.

Trust me, it beats when they were babies and the only way you could be 100% sure who was who was to undo their sleepers and see which one had the birthmark on his back (Andrew).

grmblfjx wrote:

Rabid Badger wrote:

Lysander wrote:

Actually according to fandom, all twins form a hive mind eventually.

Which is odd, because I have twins (identical ones to boot)

You can only tell them apart by who they're shagging.

That's only if you're lucky, and they're not shagging each other.

I'm sure the examples are too numerous to list; this is incredibly common. Why? Because it takes all of a 3-dimensional character's complexities and smooshes them into one dimension, which takes a lot less effort.

People are lazy.

I_Lam_Edhellen wrote:

grmblfjx wrote:

Rabid Badger wrote:

Lysander wrote:

Actually according to fandom, all twins form a hive mind eventually.

Which is odd, because I have twins (identical ones to boot)

You can only tell them apart by who they're shagging.

That's only if you're lucky, and they're not shagging each other.

Only one of them is gay.

grmblfjx wrote:

I_Lam_Edhellen wrote:

grmblfjx wrote:

Rabid Badger wrote:

Lysander wrote:

Actually according to fandom, all twins form a hive mind eventually.

Which is odd, because I have twins (identical ones to boot)

You can only tell them apart by who they're shagging.

That's only if you're lucky, and they're not shagging each other.

Only one of them is gay.

Like that would make any difference to the fantwits? Honestly, I'm relieved he has no interest in his band becoming famous, because I've SEEN what bandslash fans can do, and the minute they found out he had a gay twin brother, the floodgates would open. Never mind his brother's not even a member of the band, they'd slash them anyway.

Or they'd slash him with Nick or Josh, both of whom are happily married. They'd probably have to kill Liz (their bass player and Josh's wife), because she's a girl and girls are icky and get in the way of the slash.

I must have missed something here, because neither of the Weasley Twins nor the actors who play them are gay.... or so says Wikipedia at least.

Rabid Badger has twin sons, one of whom is gay, the other of whom is in a band. That's who they're talking about.

Edit: I'm fond of twincest (well, some twincest), but the telepathy-soulbond-MEANT-TO-BEEEE thing can indeed get ridiculous. There's a line between "ooh, forbidden-love type deal + hotness" and "THEY ARE CANONICALLY SOULMATES THEIR LOVE IS PURE AND GOOD."

Incest of any type creeps me out, especially when the author seems to portray it as a good thing. It's not necessarily Flanderization for all characters, of course.

I could see Azula, for example, using it to freak the poo poo out of Zuko.

Oh my God, you said poo poo! That's a naughty word, mister! No TV for a month!

3: nyoro~n

I've been in the Ninja Turtles fandom for quite some time, and Flanderization runs rampant there.

Now, the Turtles have like five million different incarnations, and each have subtle (or not so subtle) differences in characterizations, but usually, in broad strokes the four Turtles remain the same: Leonardo's the leader, Donatello's the brainy one, Raphael is the rebel and Michelangelo is the goofball.


So, going through the four in that order:

Leonardo, who in many ways gets the weakest characterization of the Turtles even in canon -- he's the leader, he's a perfectionist, and he's really dedicated to becoming the best ninja he can be, but often seems like he doesn't have much of a life outside this -- gets Flanderized in one of three ways: either he's completely one-dimensional and boringly perfect, or he's an angst machine with a martyr complex the size of Brooklyn, or he's an irritating nag who won't give anyone the time of day (especially not Raphael.)

Donatello is the intelligent, sensitive and compassionate type (unless you count the 80s cartoon, where he is more of a wacky Mad Scientist type character) who sometimes technobabbles and -- at least according to the 2k3 cartoon -- sometimes quietly crushes on pretty girls. When Flanderization kicks in, he becomes a shy pacifist nerd who prefers to just lie flat and let everyone walk over him because he lacks the heart (and the spine) to tell them no -- which doesn't at all fit the actual Donatello, who can and does stand up for himself and is actually very capable of talking to people without blushing.

(And you can't have a pacifist ninja!! Pacifists do not fight -- ever! What's so hard to understand about this concept?)

In Raphael's case, his temper and frustration at being an outcast (present in most incarnations of him) is excaggerated until he's a mess of self-loathing who can't look in a mirror without punching it and then calling all the broken shards dickfaces. Not to mention, the Flanderized Raphael hates, or at least resents, Leonardo (whether this is deserved or not depends on whether the author in question likes Raph or Leo better) and can't go a single day without ending up in a fight with him. The canon Raphael doesn't lose his temper nearly that often, and while he does fight with Leonardo, it's mostly over the big decicions, not over every little thing

Michelangelo's Flanderization has changed a bit over the years. In the eighties and early nineties, the Flanderized Mike was a slovenly, pizza-eating party animal who talked like a surfer and viewed himself as "a radically cool dude" (and kinda acted almost exactly like the canon Michelangelo from the 80s cartoon), but the 21st century Flanderized Mike is a hyperactive five-year-old on sugar high, who revels in (or sometimes resents) his role as the "baby" of the family and constantly uses "puppy-dog eyes" to "charm" his way out of trouble. He also constantly needs to be taken care of and protected, because it's not like he's a trained warrior or anything.

(Thanks to this, I've developed an idiosyncracy towards any fic that calls Mike "the baby." Bleah.)

A common theme in Doctor Who badfic is the Doctor being completely obsessed with bananas (or, his Mary Sue daughter being obsessed with them). Same with Rose and her chips.

Fire Emblem 7
*Canon!Eliwood is gentle and thoughtful, doesn't like war and cries twice when he has valid reasons too. Fanon twists this into him being a flailing moeboy who cries at the drop of a hat, is obsessed with protecting little earthworms from stomping and faints at the sight of blood.
*Hector is a brash warrior who doesn't always think before he opens his mouth and likes fighting. So naturally fanon decides he's a big hulking thoughtless brute who doesn't care who he hurts and in more extreme cases rapes his friends.
*Lyn. She's an Action Girl with a strong attitude, a gentle awkward side and hidden insecurities. Therefore, fanfic pegs her as either a militant feminist or a distressed damsel.
*Florina. Oh God, Florina. Her shyness and fear of men become her only defining characteristics, sometimes even to the point of fetishization. Same goes for Ninian, whose tragic past, angst and few instances of being a distressed damsel automatically brand her a wilting wallflower who faints and cries at the drop of a hat and gets kidnapped every few minutes.
*Wil is apparently a hyperactive idiot on a sugar high and incapable of being serious. Conversely, Rath does not talk. Ever. His entiere vocabulary is ellipises.
*Nino's innocence and youth are exaggerated to the point of fetishization. She's either sugary and oblivious or weepy and damsellicious. And Jaffar is only there to talk in ellipses and hover over her.
*Lucius is kind, gentle and looks feminine, and somehow people only seem to remember that about his character and not the fact that emotionally he's one of the strongest characters in the game.
*Kent and Sain: Mister Stickbutt the Funhater and Sexy McPervert. Need I say more?
*Bartre is stupid and isn't good with big words, reading or writing. Naturally, fanfic chooses to glom onto this and conveniently ignore the fact that he does have a functioning brain and is indeed capable of speaking in proper sentences.
*Serra becomes the most annoying screechy harpy in the game and everyone's frustration with her becomes flat-out hatred. Especially Erk's.
*Priscilla is usually defined by her feelings for Raven, the fact that she only supports with guys, and three ill-fated romances (Guy, Heath, Sain).
*Legault's complexity is ignored in so fangirls can have him spend every hour of every day hitting on Heath.
*Guy doesn't fare much better than Eliwood, only he doesn't cry or protect earthworms as much as he flails.


Avatar: The Last Airbender
*Aang: Fun-loving young boy, manages to stay optimistic and hopeful even in times of crisis. Well, mostly. To fandom-especially militant Zutarians-this translates to a selfish, entitled brat with Peter Pan Syndrome who doesn't care about anything except happy funtimes and humping Katara's leg. Speaking of Katara, her being displeased with the boy now and then translates to "see how much she doesn't love him or even like him?!"
*Mai is completely emotionless and only ever says "I'm bored". Unless she's chasing after Zuko and being psychotically jealous of Katara.
*Katara, dear God. People forget about her being a well-rounded character and portray her as a damsel in distress based on the times she got captured, a mega psychobitch for daring to get emotional and cranky now and then and making death threats to a guy who once helped to kill her best friend and capture a city, or a weepy crybaby who makes speeches about hope every five seconds.
*Zuko is featured as the victim in a lot of rape, mpreg and even a cancerfic. As if he isn't enough of a woobie in canon.


Sorcerer Hunters even though this isn't one of my main fandoms anymore: Apparently, Carrot is a girlchasing idiot or Sacher's bitch, Marron is either a voiceless stoic or a weeping uke, Gateau is an idiot and/or a rapist, Tira is a shy weepy little maiden, Chocolat is a sex fiend and both girls exist only to fawn over Carrot.

DeeDee wrote:

A common theme in Doctor Who badfic is the Doctor being completely obsessed with bananas (or, his Mary Sue daughter being obsessed with them). Same with Rose and her chips.

Oh, thank you for reminding me of this. I'll have to have Rose eating lots of chips once she recovers from her eating disorder in the badfic challenge

Oh Jeez. I could rant for hours about this one...
In several animes with a clumsy girl in it, her clumsiness is taken to extremes and she often ends up causing serious injury to herself and/or others.
Also the angry girl becomes so angry she'll put people in the hospital for no reason at all. Winy from Fullmetal Alchemist is especially like that.
Flanderization frequently occurs in crack fandoms like Excel Saga.
In Love Hina:
Kaolla Su's fondness for bananas turns into a very unhealthy fixation. One I read said she keeps a banana in her vagina at all times. (Well, that might explain why she's so hyper.)
In Haruhi Suzumiya:
Haruhi often gets turned into superbitch! Haruhi that goes ballistic when she doesn't get what she wants. Mikuru is often made so submissive she'll take her clothing off in front of the whole school just because Haruhi ordered it.

Cid's smokes. You'd think that a character who has a cigarette as a permanent feature of his character sprite couldn't be Flanderized further in this regard, but I've seen it done. Also, Vincent's angst. He is seriously not that angsty in the game. If anything, he displays resignation and even black humor about his fate. It's just his first scene (in which I contend he's still loopy from thirty years of dreaming) that shows real wangstbucket potential.

2D's lack of common sense was pretty much exaggerated the fuck out of during the Phase one days. I mean like, to the point he was a Ralph Wiggums clone.

Also, Brawl fucking warped a lot of the way fanbrats perceived some characters. For instance, Lucas would just randomly turn into Shinji Ikari for no explained reason other than "that's the way he is in Brawl lololol". I know he's a silent protagonist and usually those "personalities" leave much to the imagination (and to be desired), but...shit.

Oh, boy, where do I start?

Bleach fandom: Renji gets written as a dumb jock a lot; some folks have said it's been taken to the point that he apparently can't read, which working for Byakuya Kuchiki of all people, I can't imagine going over too well.

Yuugioh, there are soooooo many:
*Anzu's crush on Yuugi. I don't think I have to elaborate.

*Kaiba's standoff attitude. Particularly, when he's apparenlty too self-absorbed to take care of a brother that it's been shown time and time again that he loves and became a Kaiba for.

*Yuugi's innocence. I'll give that not everyone's familiar with him being teasted with dirty magazines like he was in the manga, but...he's still sixteen. Certainly, he knows how sex works by now. guys.

*Ryou's innocence: I buy that even less that I do Yuugi.

Harry Potter: Tonks and the use of the word "Wortcher!" There are other expressions of surprise in the English language. Use them.