Name 5 things from fanon that are good.

 

1-5. Teh Daphnez*


*Not that fanon was capable of putting a good idea into practice, mind. But the idea that Harry would totez bang a hawt Slytherin is something we must acknowledge of the fanon hivemind.

 

vlad

I'm gonna have to disagree with you there. See, being a Power Ranger implies you actually have Power. Without it, you're just a plain old ranger (and they aren't all that competent, especially when it comes to protecting picnic baskets from bears).

What I mean is, Daphne isn't exactly fanon as much as she's a completely original character just with a canonical name. From my understanding fanon things have at least some connection to canon, but there's literally nothing about Daphne in the books. Everything we have is just her name and that she's Astoria's sister. That's it. Everything else is purely invented by ff writers. That's not exactly fanon, but rather OC.

 

If you or I ever get around to knowing every single piece of fanon then you can argue one way or the other. As it stands it's unlikely that you have such knowledge.

 

If you want five fanon things that were also implemented right, that would just come down to fanfic recs. If you want good ideas, regardless of representation, that's not as counter-intuitive as it might seem.

1. Wards (they make sense to me; protective enchantments by another name)

2. Notice-me-not spell (yeah, I'm one of those who totally thought it was canon, my justification being the Leaky Cauldron)

3. Indy Harry (again, regardless of representation, I find the idea of Harry... well, gaining more independence compared to canon to be a worthy concept. If you want an example, off the top of my head, Renegade Cause)

4. Dark Harry (I think it's a compelling trope)

5. Making DE compelling antagonists (because they weren't in canon, imo)

 

* Wand Holsters

* Aurors using back-up wands

* Runes being used for enchanting things (permanently)

* Merlin being active long before Hogwarts was founded

* The ICW functioning like the United Nations- they don't send in troops unless asked, and are more likely to sanction a troubled nation than interfere

 

1. That's basically the same thing only with a different name? I know the word Wards is used a lot in fanfiction, but isn't it basically the same as canon's protective enchantments? I mean, I could be wrong, of course.

2. I actually hate the Notice-Me-Not spell. Because it makes the Fidelius entirely unnecessary.

3. Ah, Indy Harry is a genre I've never seen appeal in. I just don't find it interesting. Most of the time Harry is a complete self-important asshole. A lot of times the concept is also combined with Evul Dumbles which further drove me away from it.

4. Now, Dark Harry I can agree is an interesting idea. If done well, I dig it. So, you got me there.

5. Same as above, though I'd argue that making Death Eaters interesting characters is just good writing instead of being a fanon invention. But then again that'd be splitting hairs.

Okay, wand holsters and Aurors using back-up wands sound like logical things that probably do/could happen in canon even though they're not mentioned in the books.

Runes never seemed HP-like to me, so meh.

I'm actually in the minority that likes the idea of Merlin being in Slytherin. It can always be explained by saying that muggle myths about him are wrong because muggles have zero accurate knowledge of wizarding history.

As for ICW, I never took it seriously. In canon they're basically a non-entity so it's probable that they're not very important or influential.

 

Andrela

I'm not sure there's a point in discussing this further, really. You asked for five "good" things. What is "good"? I gave examples based on what I think falls under that umbrella. If you just don't like fanon tropes, there's no convincing you, and you won't convince me. I just felt tempted to take up your challenge. It's all subjective no? I disagree with your assertions about the Notice-me-not spell, but since it's purely a fanon invention, who's to say my interpretation of it is the "correct" one and not yours?

 

Obnoxiously forced diversity.

For example I was reading a fem!Harry fic where she is gay. That information was in the summary at least. I don't mind fem!Harry stories as long as it isn't just canon Harry with a pussy. I like to see the differences in how she interacts with the world and its characters.

I started the story and early on it is told that Sirius is in a relationship with Peter. It wasn't written poorly, but it didn't add anything to the story from the chapters I read. It was a very minor part and I rolled my eye and moved on.

Hermione in the fic clearly has some kind of disorder. She does certain things at certain times in certain spots to help memory retention.

Remus is outed as a werewolf and then there is the whole Werewolves Are People Too PSA and the discussion of of racist and intolerant the Ministry is. Apparently, in this fic, werewolves were only considered creatures until the 60's where they got some rights.

Then a couple chapters later a new girl is introduced and it looks like she is going to transition into a boy because "she has boy magic" or some such. Seriously.

I stopped reading soon after. Not that I have any problem with any of these things in of itself, but it felt like the author was checking off a list of diversity quotas which all combined took me out of the setting.

And those were just the first 10 chapters of a 30 chapter fic. I'm sure by now there are disabled people in wheelchairs roaming the halls of Hogwarts and probably an autism diagnosis.

 

That sounds less like a forced diversity thing and more like the author is on some non-comformist/special snowflake kick. Like when you have a slash story and every fucking man is gay.

 

Cyclops

My eyes are fucking bleeding after reading that summary. And I'm transgender so that's saying something.

 

When words like "sans" "et al" "faux" "faux pas" pick the french word that you use to add culture to a sentence is used every other paragraph because you can't find a different word to use.

It peeves me off so bad it hurts.

 

Sans and et al are French huh? TIL

 

My mistake about "Et Al" that's Latin "Coup d'etat is another French word used often in the English language.

 

Authors that have written a lot of stories, but all of them are so similar you might as well make a checklist for all the things you should expect in each one.

 

This: http:/www.fanfiction.net/u/649126/James-Spookie

A short summary of his books. Harry and Daphne get together. Marriage contracts. Daphne's family is against the Death Eaters but they pretend to be a part of them for safety. Tracy and Neville get together and bash Ron.

 

Try this one for size:

1. Harry is a super genius and/or has a ton of powers.

2. Literally every single woman, including his own sisters, is on some level sexually attracted to Harry. None of them seem to like any other man, presumably because they're all sexist pigs or something.

3. Literally every single woman (including Fem!Harry) is a lesbian, but still find Harry hot. Gay men don't seem to exist.

4. Harry probably has at least one sister. If he has a brother, it can only be as a WBWL.

5. Hermione, Ginny, and Luna are all good people that will immediately follow Harry and everything they say.

6. Dumbledore, Ron, and Molly are all horrible people who are, among other things, insanely sexist and homophobic. Kindly ignore how Dumbledore of all people is homophobic.

7. Harry will literally spend more time fighting Dumbledore and co. than Voldemort. In fact, you get the sense Dumbledore is supposed to be worse.

8. Harry inevitably runs away from the Wizarding World because of how awful it is, but comes back when he's a teenager and manages to kick its ass insanely easily.

9. Harems are going to happen, because like I said, every single (lesbian) woman is still going to be attracted to Harry enough to want him badly.

Uh, I feel dirty that I know all that. And I didn't even get to Silently Watches.

 

I blame Chinese cartoons.

How about Starfox5?

Short summary: Hermione is the greatest genius the world has ever seen, has absolutely no faults and becomes the queen of wizarding Britain. Harry falls in love with her and does everything she tells him unquestioningly, no matter how OOC that is. Ron apparently got over his Hermione crush so it doesn't matter. Wizarding Britain is incredibly stupid, backwards, corrupt, racist and primitive, and needs a 14 year old muggleborn girl who knows ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING to tell them what to do. The good guys defeat Voldemort and the Ministry through superior firepower with no important casualties and execute all the people they don't like Jacobin-style. H and Hr marry and live happily forever. The end.

 

He's probably sekkrit ghei.

 

Gah. Sometimes I legit wonder "How are some of these cliches even a thing"?

And then I poke at other authors on FFn or TtH (when I still cared about that site) and realize, yeah... they became cliches for a reason. Hell, even I'm guilty of it (I stopped writing more than a few fics because I realized I was falling into that quagmire). I like to think it's the kind of thing good authors grow out of - coming up in this fandom, I was all about Indy!Harry, Super!Harry, and Ron The Death Eater-style bashing... but if you are any good at your craft (or want to get better at it), you leave the cheap shit behind.