What irks you more, a story were Harry is uber powerful but just dicks around for a long time. Or stories were Harry is pathetic, at every turn he is getting beaten on and it all seems so hopeless.

I personally think they both ruin a story, but I at least have some respect for someone who writes a pathetic Harry. Yeah it’s annoying, and yeah it’s stupid but it is what they chose to write, so be it, I just won't read it. Writing a super!Harry story were Harry does nothing with all these uber powers he has is just shoddy writing.

 

that's like asking what's worse :Hinny Fluff Or Snarry Smut! I'd rather take the catherina wheel every day.

 

The inspiration for this post came to me earlier today. After reading a pathetic Harry story I went and clicked on the first Super!Harry story I could find, and to my horror it was even worse…its been a bad FanFiction day for me.

I do agree with you however that this is a poor question, I guess I’m just curious if you guys agree with me that a Pathetic!Harry, whilst still bad, is better then a Super!Harry. You could even almost say I’m fishing for an argument with someone who strongly believes in Super!Harry...

 

While I agree that both are incredibly bad, I personally find that Pathetic!Harry really pisses me off. If I wanted to read about someone who was utterly useless, moronic, clumsy, perverted, and just generally 'blearg!', I'd go read my Love Hina mangas. To be honest, my favorite variety of Harry is when he is channeling the spirit of Mr E. Blackadder, Esq.

 

Which is why I loathe prepubescent nimrods who write sex scenes (stained future)

And

Fangirls who get tired fingers whenever the words "Snape", "Malfoy", and "Harry" are in a sentence together (DebsSnapeFanNow).

 

If I'm reading a story, I generally like if my protagonist wins. Overpowerful Harry will win, and I won't worry about it. Low stress fic-reading, but a bit blah.

Pathetic Harry, on the other hand, makes me worry about him. I don't have time to worry about the fictional main character of each of the five books I happen to be reading at any given time. I also get frustrated when he acts like an utter idiot, and things mess up. I get a sore throat if I scream at my computer screen too much, trying to get a character to listen. Wimp!Harry just isn't healthy.

 

Don't like wimp!Harry. Super!Harry is usually boring but can be fun. Wimp!Harry is usually whinying about something or other.

 

I prefer Super!harry since at least I know that he can kick ass if he wants to. But i hate pussy!harry since it just makes me so mad.

 

in hind-sight well-written wimp!harry has ALOT of place for charcter development, and as such MIGHT make a good fic.

 

I like Super!Harry if it's well done. The problem is that it's been played out. Rituals, time control, and demon hybrid is starting to become all too common.

Vagina-ish Harry disgusts me and I can't stand to finish the story. I can't stand overly emotional men.

 

I can't stand canon Harry, which is pretty much the same as pathetic Harry. As was stated before If I really wanted to se someone be pathetic I'd go watch End of Evangelion. [spoiler:98ae1a5c31]At least in that the guy finally kills the bitch.[/spoiler:98ae1a5c31]


but anyway I think Super Harry doesn't really bother me all that much so long as the reason for it goes beyond Voldemort, and does a good job of explanation. That's always the explanation for continued advancement in video games. At first is looks like you only have one objective relatively small but in the end it turns out you have to save the whole world or even the whole universe. Thus making both games and fics a real challenge to write.

However an average type Harry with specific talents in certain abilities can be good too. Like this one who learns soul magic and finds out about all of the flaws involved with the Horcrux.

"You fool, you're no match for me, Potter. It was always only a matter of time for you, just as it was for Dumbledore."

"You're mistaken, Tom. I didn't come here to beat you in a duel or get revenge. I came here to end this war."

Voldemort rolled his eyes. "Enough. Avada Kedavra!"

The green light slammed into Harry just as he finished a spell Voldemort didn't hear.

A ball of energy rushed towards Voldemort as Harry fell dead, his eyes lifeless.

Voldemort attempted to knock the spell away but it dodged his attempts circling around him and hitting him in the back.

At first it seemed nothing was happening, but then he heard the boy's voice in his mind.

"Your soul is not strong enough, Tom. You should never have split it apart. Now your body is mine. You are my prisoner."

"Noooo!!" Voldemort screamed as his consiousness was thrown into a cage of energy and locked away forever, serving as a part of Harry's new and improved magical core. He quickly transfigured his body to look like Voldemort's. And cast a soul reflection hex on himself, altering Voldemort's deformed body back to his relatively healthy and young one. He placed a parceltounge lock on the dead body so no one could undo the transformation, and proceeded to levitate it out of the cave they were in, readying his mind for what would happen next. He wondered why he never asked Dumbledore how he defeated Grindewald while he was still alive...

 

What story was that? I've never read that in my life.

 

actually I just made that up... :?

 

Good one you sneaky son of a...

 

I liked that. I was hoping there was a story but I like that ending.

 

The worst by far is a Super!Pussy!Harry.
*cough*Saving Connor*cough*
To be so uber strong, and still bitch and moan all the time. Beagh

 

yeah thats quite bad
at least if i'm not mistaken the author warns for slash so you can prepare for it (didn't bother to read the story myself)
but almost as bad are the ones where it's a promising start and then suddenly he runs to big and strong uncle remus or granddaddy dumbledore because big bad draco/dudley stole him his lollypop (figuratively speaking) or where he wines for pages whe he killed someone (most times even in defense) fearing that his friends won't like him any more (if they do - they were not his friends anyway...) and nevermind that he killed quirrel in first year

so as you can see i detest pussy harry way more than some uber-powerful harry. even if this one if badly written it most times has some nice action scenes and is generally not so frustrating to read (i tend to place myself in the protagonists place while reading so you can understand i dont like the protagonist abused ;D )