I've been reading FFNs collection of AoT fan fiction since reading the last of the manga a few days ago. What I love is you guys and your originality. Originality lends itself to tropes though, as people like your idea and the adopt it as their own headcannon. Soon it's an irresputable "fact" that Mike and Nanaba date and if you pair either of them with someone else in your own work all hell breaks loose.
I'd like to note that it's been a while since I saw the anime and there is quite a lot of information presented in the manga. If any of these tropes I'm making fun of are cannon, please feel free to drop me a line and I'll take it off the list. This is intended to be my attempt to gently poke fun at my fellow writers, not criticize anyone for having fun writing an obvious Mary Sue in an obvious AU headcannon setting.
Most Cliche Attack on Titan Fan Fiction Tropes
1. Despite the survey corps having a fully licensed medical staff, everyone goes to Hanji Zoe for medical aid and medicine in general. Double points if you create medical degrees where none exist to justify your OC hitting up Mx. Zoe for pain pills.
2. Your Mary Sue reminds Levi of Isabel, and after two weeks of denying his budding feelings he's suddenly going to kiss her one day behind the stables. Probably after insulting her cleaning skills. Double points if public hand holding soon follows.
3. Your OC is moodier, shorter, taller, faster, stronger, darker, better at hand-to-hand, sassier, better with horses, better with knives/swords, and/or angrier than a main character. Double points if they two turn out to be related later on. Triple points if your OC's sempai notices them because of this similarity.
4. Instead of working to gain the trust of his subordinates, your Levi prefers to threaten and intimidate people into submission. Double points if he strikes your character without incurring disciplinary actions for assault. T ripple points if it was 'for their own good' or to 'teach them their place'.
5. Eren Yeager has romantic interests in a 30+ year old superior who battered and humiliated him in front of God and Country shortly after they met. Double points if you have no idea how traumatic it is to be beaten in front of other people and don't know you can't just get over that shit because the guy who did it had his reasons.
6. Your OC is also a titan shifter. Double points if they didn't know. T ripple points if they do.
7. Your write Omegaverse and this is your lineup: Alphas are Erwin, Eren, Mikasa, Jean, Reiner and Omegas are Levi, Armin, Marco and Bertolt. Double points if your Omegas are hiding their status to not get kicked out of the military. T ripple points if your OC's crush comes to rescue them from their first heat/rut.
8. Your write Sentinel/Guide and this is your lineup: Sentinels are Levi, Mikasa, Mike, Sasha, and Reiner. Your Guides are Erwin, Annie, Marco, Nanaba and Krista. Double points if Erwin is Levi's guide. Triple points if you rewrote No Regrets to accommodate this trope.
9. You've ever rewritten a cannon scene to include your OC and show everyone they were the real hero of the moment. Double points if they're a member of the 104 who survived Trost. Triple points if they know how Marco died and/or know who's corpse Annie apologized to, or why.
10. Despite Armin having the only known copy of that book, and it getting destroyed when he was a child, somehow all the Survey Corps veterans know about the ocean and getting to see it is their real reason for dying horrible deaths trying to exterminate the Titans. Double points for each character, whether OC or Cannon, who even know about the ocean outside the main trio.*
* I love the ocean and only live 30 minutes from some of the most beautiful beaches in America. However, I call B.S. on this trope because I won't even fight traffic to get to one, let alone Titans!
If you have any suggestions for tropes which need to go on this list then by all means leave me a PM and I'll see if I've seen it enough to add it.
