To anyone I may have left a review to:

I believe in giving honest feedback. I will tell you what you what I think the good points of a story are, and I will also tell you what can be improved. I rarely intend to be antagonistic so I apologize if it comes off that way. These are just my opinions so take them for what they are worth. My overall goal when I leave a review though is to provide an unbiased perspective on the plot, characterizations and world building of your story. I have a tendency to probably leave more negatives than positives in my review's, but that's because if I spent enough time with your story to warrant a review then it would probably take an entire essay to write about all of the good things in your story. So please don't take it as though I only saw bad things.

Quick warning - Below is the uncensored version of how I feel about various plot points and character treatment. If you're easily offended don't continue, but if you are curious as to why I may have left a review then read on for my unfiltered commentary.

Fanfiction

Everything else is kind of a subset of my comments here. Fanfiction exists because we fall in love with a story, its characters and/or its universe. We want to see those characters and that universe explored in new ways. This could mean taking characters and putting them in an AU and seeing how their personalities fit in a completely different situation. It could also mean altering certain events with the existing universe to create new challenges to overcome. Whatever route you take though these characters and their universe are what inspired you to write about it and us to read about it in the first place. With that in mind, why do some authors deviate so far from these things that the character/universe becomes unrecognizable? At a certain point you cease to write about the source material that inspired you and instead have created an original property that just happens to share some superficial similarities to whatever story tag you are writing for.

Character Bashing

Simple. Don't do it. If you result to character bashing in anything other than a parody then that is just bad writing Sorry to be blunt, but it's the truth. For one, if you do this then you've automatically gone into OOC territory with your story which kind of defeats the purpose of fanfiction in the first place. Also though, it's just silly and juvenile, and it ultimately detracts from your story. There are ways that good writers can portray characters as being very flawed without defaulting to easy bashing.

ex:

Ron Weasley - He's prejudiced, has a massive inferiority complex, and even though we're led to believe that he is Harry Potter's best friend he is also the one to turn on him numerous times throughout the story. By all rights if there is a character worth bashing then Ron Weasley is it...except he's not. He already has those traits so why bother taking it even further?

ex2:

Albus Dumbledore - There are essentially two ways Albus gets the bashing treatment. The first is to make him outright evil (see OOC). The far more common one though is to take his manipulations and multiply them by 100. There is no doubt that Dumbledore often schemed for the greater good, but the way some author's treat him makes me wonder if they are capable of critical thinking. Take for instance the final showdown in the first Harry Potter book. At the end of the book Harry and his friends have to go through some trials that they are able to overcome as 11 year olds, eventually leading to a confrontation between young Harry and the full grown wizard Professor Quirrel who is being possessed by Voldemort. Admittedly it's an awfully convenient plot point to have a series of obstacles that first year students can overcome (even gifted ones), and many author's use this as justification for turning Albus into a character who only exists to manipulate world events. For those who use this to imply that Dumbledore set Harry up though, just think about what you're suggesting for one moment. Dumbledore does all of this for the greater good right? The implication is that he would do absolutely anything to defeat Voldemort or maybe even just that he wants to set the wizarding world on a certain path. Ok that's fair. So tell me...what is the end-game for sending his 11 year old champion to face off a fully grown wizard, not to mention exposing the philosopher's stone which the dark wizard was seeking? The only reason Harry even comes out on top in that encounter is because Quirrel/Voldemort inexplicably tries to choke/put his hands on Harry activating his mother's protections. If he instead does the sane thing and uses a wand then Dumbledore's greatest asset is dead and the wizarding world's greatest enemy has the tool he needs to resurrect himself. That sure seems like something a master manipulator would do doesn't it? (/sarcasm). Take it a step further. Dumbledore is no seer, there is no way he could have known Quirrel wouldn't simply blast him with a curse from his wand, but for the sake of argument let's say he did know how the events would play out. What goal has been achieved? The world situation is exactly the same as it was prior to Harry's confrontation. Voldemort is still at large, Harry is still a mostly untrained wizard, etc...the only difference is that it's time for a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. It's a bit ironic, but author's who try to take this approach in their story end up creating logical contradictions within said story even if they don't realize it.

Emphasis of an OC

OC's are often necessary to create a unique story in a well established universe because at a certain point you just exhaust all of the villains and complimentary characters with the thousands of fanfiction stories. No one wants to see how bad ass your OC is to the point where he/she overshadows the MC though. A good OC compliments the main cast in either a side kick/friend role or as a villain that needs to be overcome. Seeing an OC come in and continuously save the day kind of defeats the purpose of fanfiction.

Damsel in Distress

Let's talk abut strong female leads for a moment. I'm all for Girl Power and seeing a female character show everyone else in the room up. I assume if you're attracted to a story that features one of these characters then you probably have similar feelings. So, why do so many authors (I'll extend this to professional ones as well) turn these women who have been established as bonafied badasses into damsel's in distress? Why did you build this character up so much in the first half of the story only to have her need saving, usually from a man, the first time a real confrontation occurs? Why is a girl who everyone knows as some cold hearted assassin breaking from that characterization in a crying fit because she suddenly had a bad day?

Soulbound Relationships

I'm as much of a sucker for a good character relationship as anyone. Most of the time when I'm setting filters for a fanfiction story search I'm listing the MC and a particular love interest. That being said, I absolutely despise "souldbound" stories. Seriously, be better than that. It's like hitting an easy mode for relationships, and I'm shocked that people find that interesting. Relationships should be built naturally, not created by some cosmic force tying two souls together eternally. You could be 400 pages into the most outstanding work of literature in the history of mankind, but if you then say "oh and these two character's souls are magically tied together" then your work instantly deserves to go in the trash. It really is like hitting an "easy" button.

Convenient Plot Points

To a certain extent all plot devices are rooted in a bit of over-convenience. Just don't make it obvious though.

Character Relationships - This is basically my thoughts on a number of popular character relationships that I come across. (WARNING - possible spoilers). Not sure if I'll keep this up, delete it, or possibly rework it.

Darker than Black:

(Good) Heie/Yin - I'm so torn about this relationship. I love Yin's character and the camaraderie she has with Heie. It's implied that she has feelings for him. He cares about her I just don't know if it is a romantic feeling or more brotherly. Unfortunately the few stories I've read with this pairing seem to think Heie and Yin belong in a bad romance novel. You can show their love for each other while staying in character.

(Good) Heie/Mizuki - Heie/Li is an enigma to Kirihara which helps the intrigue, and she seemed to genuinely like Li Shensung (sp) when they were around. Similar to Heie/Yin though these are both strong characters who would not likely fall victim to a bad teenage drama.

Naruto:

(Bad) Sasuke/Naruto - Sasuke's sexuality is never explicitly stated in the manga (at least not until much later), but there hasn't been anything to suggest he swings that way. In fact I would say the most accurate description of him is asexual. Naruto on the other hand is very clearly straight. He's 'loved' Sakura since their days at the academy. Their bond is more brotherly than anything. This pairing for whatever reason seems to make up nearly half of all Sasuke centric stories, and I just don't understand it.

(Good) Sasuke/Sakura - Ok this one is kind of believable (and my favorite of the Sasuke/x ships). Sakura obviously loves Sasuke , and despite the fact that I referred to him as being asexual he clearly had some feelings for Sakura that were shown the night he left her on the bench (whether those were romantic or not is debatable). That said, this pairing requires some work. Whether it is completely AU or not Sasuke needs to develop/re-develop his bond with Sakura at a slow pace. Sasuke isn't the type to be very open with his thoughts so this one can't be rushed.

Harry Potter:

(Terrible) Hermione/Draco - Are you kidding me?

(Bad) Harry/Draco - Draco could conceivably be gay, but afraid to come out being from a family like the Malfoys. Harry however is definitely not gay. He crushed on Cho Chang for years, went to the Yule Ball with one of the Patils, and obviously there is the thing with Ginny. Besides, they absolutely hate each other. Just no.

(Bad) Ron/Hermione - Ok so I don't actually read many fics with this pairing (by choice), but I'm listing it here because JK had it in the books. Seriously what was she thinking putting the 2 of them get together? Ron does not have the drive that Hermione does, and he did so many things to cause fights between the golden trio it's amazing either she or Harry ever took him back in. His seemingly fickle attitude towards friendship with Harry and Hermione make it hard to believe that Hermione would ever love someone like him. JK tells us that they are together and they love each other, but at no point in the books is it actually ever shown with anything more than "this is the way it is and don't ask questions". Unfortunately she realized too late that this was a mistake.

(Bad) Harry/Ginny - There are a few reasons I list this one as "bad". For one this pairing almost assuredly leads to a Ron/Hermione pairing which I think is just stupid. Second, Ginny's idolization of him I would think would be a huge turnoff. Even though she seemed to get over him in the middle books I would think Harry might be a bit wary of forming any kind of deep relationship with her. Which brings me to point #3. Exactly what relationship did they have before he pounced on her in book 6? As far as JK's writing goes the answer is virtually none. Ginny is non-existent through most of the series and the only really implied interactions between her and Harry are in the fact that Harry spends a lot of time with her family (for reasons other than her being there) and seeing each other in the Gryffindor commons.

(Good) Harry/Hermione - It should be pretty obvious that I believe this was the correct relationship for Harry to have in the books, at least out of those that seemed to be options. Hermione was always there for Harry, anytime Ron would abandon them she stood by Harry and not Ron, and obviously cared deeply for him. The pairing almost made too much sense, maybe that's why JK did not go that route. Still though, it was such a perfect match that it basically ruins every other Harry/x, Hermione/x relationship. As for how this relationship should proceed. Harry is definitely oblivious to the opposite sex and so any relationship should be built upon. This is doubly true as Hermione never appeared to show any outward deep romantic feelings for him. Any good story revolving these two should have them continue to develop their relationship and come to terms (after a number of events) to how they really feel about each other. Don't simply take a starting point from one of the books and suddenly have them announcing their love for each other.

Full Metal Alchemist:

(bad) Ed/Envy - Ed likes girls. Ed hates Envy. Envy is a humunculus. Ed hates humunculai.

(bad) Ed/Roy - Ed likes girls. Roy likes girls. Ed is a teenager while Roy is old enough to be his dad.

(Neutral) Ed/Rose - Ed likes girls. Ed and Rose share a mutual bond that can easily develop into something more.

(Good) Ed/Winry - For some reason the best (and might I add canon implied) pairing in the FMA universe is the one least used on this site. Absolutely everyone wants to make Ed act out the author's fantasies with Ed/whatever 'hot' male character in the FMA universe. Ed has loved Winry since they were kids. Winry loves Ed. I will always caution writers in developing a relationship in their story too quickly, but this one can be done so a little quicker than many of the others (assuming you are sticking to some semblance of the FMA universe anyway). The only thing getting in the way is the stubbornness of each character. So the one thing to be conscious of is that neither is particularly willing to make the first move, and Ed is certainly the type to hold in a lot of feelings.

Ranma 1/2: (all Ranma's are male unless otherwise noted)

(Neutral) Ranma/Ryoga - Both are clearly heterosexual. However, if Ranma is somehow stuck in his girl form it is conceivable that his chemistry might change to that of a girl so she becomes attracted to Ryoga. Ryoga's willingness in this is up for debate as he has a rivalry with Ranma, but it can be done. Male Ranma/Ryoga stories however simply do not work.

(Good) Ranma/Akane - This is the canon pairing and it really makes for good stories. They are both so emotionally stunted that there is always the issue of getting over their awkwardness with each other. However, even once that awkwardness has been overcome Ranma will never be the type to constantly spill his feelings to someone, and Akane is much the same way.

Final Fantasy VII:

(Bad) Cloud/Zack - Admittedly I don't know a lot about their relationship beyond what was told in the original Final Fantasy 7 game, but I know this doesn't work. In a single word Aeris.

(Neutral) Cloud/Aeris - I never really cared for that particular relationship. Part of it is because I always liked Tifa's character better, and Aeris never really resonated with me. It's canon and you can make a valid argument for it with their interactions in the game, but I just don't like Aeris.

(Good) Cloud/Tifa - Why? Because they're my two favorite characters in the game and they have a history with each other.

Final Fantasy VIII:

(Bad) Squall/Seifer - They aren't gay. Squall has 2 other relationships that work out far better. They don't get a long at all.

(Neutral) Squall/Quistis - I would like this one better were it not for the next pairing I will mention, but it does work. Quistis has certain feelings for Squall that could be romantic the only question is does he return them, and how do you go about forcing it out of him. Because of their relationship dynamic and the next pairing I will mention, I really like this as a sister/brother pairing more though. It's really perfect for that.

(Good) Squall/Rinoa - Like that wasn't obvious. Do I really need to explain this one?

Final Fantasy XIII:

(Bad) Hope/Light - No. Absolutely not! If you do this you need to have your keyboard stolen! I am annoyed by the fangirling that goes on with pairings in many franchises and fics, but the audacity that so many authors have in believing this pairing works on any level really and truly irks me. Hope is like 14, Lightning is 21. Hope clearly respects Lightning and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had a crush on her (what 14 year old boy wouldn't find a petite girl slicing through enemies like that hot?). The problem though comes from Light's feelings. She treats him like a little brother or even as his surrogate mother. Even when he grows up and becomes a man she will always be nearly a decade older than him, and even for those stories that have some kind of occurrence where Hope ages while Light doesn't (or Light becomes younger) you can't get by the fact that her initial feelings towards him are not the kind that can easily translate into romantic ones. The only possible route to take to make this work is to make it completely AU, screw with their ages to make them closer to each other from the beginning, and go from there. The problem with that though is as a reader it's hard to think of little Hope as anything but a kid and Lightning as an emotionally-detached soldier with a protective nature over Hope. On top of that, what exactly would be the point in writing a Final Fantasy XIII story if you are going to take so many liberties with the characters? There really is no logical explanation to a romance between these two. If you write a romance between these two characters then you are just being obstinate and it saddens me that there are actually people who encourage those stories with favorable reviews.

(Neutral) Light/Fang - Light's sexuality is never stated. Fang's sexuality is in question and she certainly has the right personality to get under Light's skin and make it work though. I'll go more into why this only gets a neutral rating next...

(Good) Light/NA - The FF13 story for Light lacks any easy to believe relationships. Snow has Serah, Sazh is way too old, Hope and Vanille are both too young, and Fang is questionable. Cid is a possibility, but his part in the game was so brief he might as well be an OC if you decide to write him in. It's very hard to imagine Light ever having any overly dramatic romance. She's too independent, driven, and calculating for any story with her being like "oh I love you" to be believable. This is a girl who had to grow up fast to take care of her little sister, became a soldier to provide for them, and was always driving towards some goal. Any relationship she has should be written to show her independence as a person. Unfortunately I've rarely seen her personified in that way. Normally I find stories where she is blushing like a schoolgirl and perhaps acting more like a damsel in distress would towards her knight (or Knightette in Fang's case). I believe it is just very difficult to write a romantic relationship with her that is believable so I prefer to only have, at most, hinted pairings with her. This (and other instances of character/NA) does not mean that the character is incapable of love, it just means that their attributes do not make it very likely to develop a relationship in the middle of a compelling plot.

(Good) Light/Serah - Sisterly relationship only. I find the relationship between these two sisters very unique and interesting. Their parents died when they were both pretty young, and Lightning was forced to grow up fast. She adopted a bit of a cold demeanor because of it and is very protective of her little sister. Given Serah's natural caring demeanor it potentially creates quite a few interesting scenarios between the two. Lightning being a soldier who is detached and her little sister worrying about her emotional stability. It's cute and one of the more powerful bonds to read about in terms of affecting the reader.

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic:

(Bad) Revan/Carth - KOTOR is a unique game in that the main character is what you make him/her to be. As a personal preference though I don't like Carth and so I don't like this pairing. Aside from my general dislike of Carth's character, this pairing also requires Revan to be not dark or even grey but light, and I've already mentioned I find light sided characters rather boring. - pairing is not an instant kill, but it does make me wary from the start.

(Good) Revan/Bastilla - This relationship can work whether Revan is male or female. The force bond that is forged between them creates a unique relationship that can be strengthened no matter what sex Revan is. I still don't like "light sided" Revan here, but a kind of grey Revan works great. I also really like stories where they had some contact before the Mandalorian War (my personal favorite would be 1 sided "hero worship" of Revan, not necessarily them having any contact)

(Good) Revan/NA - Revan has a mission to complete, whether it is the Mandalorian Wars, Crushing the Republic (good or bad intentions), or redeeming him/herself after being brainwashed. This doesn't leave a lot of time for love.

Sword Art Online:

(Good) Kirito/Sinon - I never hated Asuna, but I always felt like her character/relationship with Kirito never really made sense. Maybe though it was just because there is so much that we don't ever see in the original SAO arc because of the time skips. Then there is Sinon who is one of the deepest characters in the source material. It's hard not to fall for her story. Plus, we got to see every moment of her interactions with Kirito. The bond that they formed seemed more real.

Teen Titans (cartoon):

(bad) Raven/BB - It's canon but I don't care. It really just doesn't work. I see the argument, he's the "funny" one and opposites attract. If they formed a relationship and spent tons of time together I can easily see him winding up as a corpse though. Maybe I would feel differently had I read the comics, but as far as the cartoon goes their personalities would not mesh well.

(Neutral) Raven/Robin - They both understand each other better than any of the other titans, and they have similar personalities. It only works as a sub plot though because there is only so much you can have two standoff-ish characters show each other during an adventure before it becomes corny.

(Good)) Raven/NA - Outside of Robin none of the Titans really make a good fit for her. It's also nearly impossible to write a good story with a relationship involving her being anything other than a minor subplot because of who/what she is. She always has to keep her emotions in check, and even for those of you who try to get around this by saying after she defeated Trigon she was free...the girl spent the first 16 years of her life controlling her emotions and developing a sarcastic and witty personality as a defense mechanism. She isn't going to turn into a bubbly cheerleader overnight, if ever. If that were her personality AT ALL she would have had a much more difficult time controlling her emotions all those years.

Mass Effect:

(Bad) F-Shepard/Alenko - Sorry, I just really don't like Alenko's character at all. Nothing more than that. I was more than happy to leave him on Virmire.

(Neutral) M-Shepard/Ashley or Miranda - Grouping these together because they both work out for basically the same reasons. Both human and both opposite genders.

(Good) M/F-Shepard/NA - A few things here. I don't usually skip over F-Shepard/(whomever) stories based on pairing, because I don't really have any strong feelings about any of them. Honestly, the only relationship for F-Shepard that I think is believable is with Alenko (or maybe one of the females in the crew) which I'm obviously not a fan of. Ultimately though this comes down to Shepard as a character. Shepard is a decorated marine, SPECTRE, and slayer of reapers...that's a lot of responsibility. Even if you don't go the renegade Shepard (my favorite) s/he is still has a lot going on and finding time to romance a member of the crew (all of whom are subordinates I might add) just doesn't seem likely. Shepard has a mission and exaggerated romances take away the focus of the most important mission in the galaxy. Romancing Shepard only serves to take away from the phenomenal story that is Mass Effect.

My Wishlist Essentially this is my wishlist for this site and its authors.

- More search options. I want an additional story theme to be available for authors to check "Yaoi/Yuri". In addition to that I want the ability to exclude up to two characters from search results and the ability to exclude stories with a yaoi/yuri theme. These additions would drastically reduce my search time for new stories and just make my experience a lot easier.

- More KOTOR fics. I enjoy the old republic universe so much more than the one shown in the movies. Jedi are not extinct or nearly so, and there is Revan who kicks ass. A few themes I would love to see more of are:

1.) Pre-Mandalorian Wars and on...Revan is a customizeable character from the start and is totally unique to the individual playing him, and so I think it's so much cooler when we get to see him/her growing up in the enclave, excelling among his/her peers and eventually leading them into war. I've come across a few stories that did this and then continued on through the events of the game or further. I found those Revan's so much more appealing because I could watch them grow and understand all of the actions better.

2.) KOTOR/Movie crossover - I've seen 2 or 3 instances of Revan being sucked through time and dropped into the time of the movies (note I say sucked and not used some force trick to open a portal on a whim...don't even bother writing if that is in your head) and it is just so cool. Whether it was movies 4-6 where he is tossed into a world of a galactic empire with darth vader and leia or the new trilogy coexisting with the newer jedi council and clone war. It's such a seldom used concept, but it is one that I find incredibly intriguing.

3.) COMPLETELY AU - Revan never joined jedi. Instead he was found and trained by Kreia to be an assassin or something like that. Maybe he is contracted to be the body guard of an important figure, or maybe he is tasked with infiltrating the jedi (having the jedi act as more of a school than what we see it as) for whatever reason. So many possibilities and yet I've never seen this story done.

- More undercover fics...Similar to section 3 previously but expanded. I love stories where the lead from that franchise is strong but is has to go undercover as a student at a high school, college, or maybe some government organization. The reasoning can vary but I just love this theme. Like when Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin) is a high school student but still an assassin, maybe he has to move around a lot and so he's the new kid keeping his night job as a secret...I once read a full metal alchemist story where Edward Elric (Full Metal Alchemist) had to go undercover at a school in another country and had to keep his identity as a state alchemist a secret...Gohan (Dragon Ball Z) going to school and keeping his identity a secret from Videl and his other classmates...I think you get the picture. I don't know, I just find it so much fun for the main character to always be on his/her toes trying to keep something like that a secret, all of the close encounters with their peers suspecting something is 'off' but not knowing what or having any proof.

- More non-romance stories...Probably 90% of the time when I'm looking for a new fic to read I want it to have some kind of real conflict (ie: action against an external threat). Because of this I think it's very realistic to not have the protagonist fall in love with someone in his team or he is working with. For instance, when Samuel L Jackson played his character in Snakes on a Plane did he have any romantic interest? No, cause he had some mother fucking snakes on that mother fucking plane and he had to get rid of them! He didn't have time to find someone to hook up with! Pardon the language...Basically I want to come across a story that only focuses on the plot and the conflicts brought about by it without a big deviation to form a romance. Character development in the form of platonic bonds are absolutely great, but I get kind of tired of it seeming to be a requirement to feature a romance in every story.

4.) More Teen Titans stories featuring a relationship-neutral and very strong Raven as the protagonist. I don't know about the comics, but as far as the cartoon goes Raven is by far the strongest in the group (she took on the demon Trigon). She also has some major hurdles to get through for any romantic relationship to take place. Despite these 2 facts of the series:
a.) Something like 80-90% or more of the stories feature her with some pairing
b.) Most stories feature her as being strong, but it's never really emphasized. My favorite TT fic has apparently been discontinued :(, but she was an assassin. She had all of her normal magic powers and on top of that she knew martial arts. She was a total mary-sue, but it did not come across that way. She was powerful and smart, but I never got the impression that it was over the top because of how the story was flowing.

5.) More Underworld stories that feature Selene and acknowledge her ability as a fighter. I don't understand most of the Underworld writers here, I mean really don't understand. In the first Underworld movie up through half way into the Underworld Evolution (2nd movie) it was heavily implied that if Selene wasn't already the best death dealer in the coven then she was one of the best. All of this is of course before she drank Corvinus' blood and gained the strength of an elder. Despite this most of the Underworld stories I have come across have her as a weakling relative to other major characters. I once saw a story where Victor didn't actually die, and when he reappeared he was way stronger than Selene...I think we can use the transitive property here which states Selene Marcus Victor. I've also seen stories where she has a lot of trouble fighting average lycans. WTF? Did you people bother to watch even just the trailers for the franchise you are writing about?

6.) More time travel fics. I would like to see some stories with this theme were the protagonist jumps forward in time decades or centuries. It's rare to see one of these but it offers a lot of potential because you get to create your own world the character is thrust into depending on how big of a jump it is. Specifically though I like time travel stories where a character is sent back in time with his memories intact.

7.) Some legitimate Blood: The Last Vampire/Blood C fics. I am going to start off with a bit of a rant. The series known as Blood was awful. Honestly, it reminds me of an American animated movie called Ninja Scroll which tried to piggy off the back the success of a hugely popular Japanese anime of the same name. The two stories are nothing alike. This is how I view Blood. The original Blood: The Last Vampire won several awards with its dark tones and main character Saya who was a half breed vampire with little care in the world except for killing demons. She also kicked ass. Fast forward years later to the anime series Blood. In this Saya is still a half breed of sorts, but she is an innocent school girl who worries for her family/friends and is absolutely useless in a fight every time until her retainer comes to save the day. If the main character Saya even remotely resembled the one from the original you could pass this off as an AU, but shes does not. Which finally brings me to the original movie and later anime known as Blood-C. Although Blood C is in general an alternate universe to that of the original Blood: The Last Vampire, the main character has many identifiable traits that make it work like being strong, indifferent to others (especially as seen in season 2 of Blood C) and a bit of a loner, and very calculating. There many possibilities with a character like that both within her own universe and in others.