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Spyro Fanworks Drinking Game *Update 5/18/20*

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DISCLAIMER: Just because a particular trope/cliche is listed here does not make it inherently 'bad'. As TV Tropes puts it, Tropes are tools. Even a cliche can be used in a new and interesting way. PLEASE DO NO HARASS ANYONE for using one of these cliches in their fic/comic/whatever.

This is also written by someone who does NOT drink. As such, be aware that these ratios are not great since I have no frame of reference to work with.


* Take a drink if the fic is set in the 'Legend of Spyro' canon

** Take two if the fic title has 'the Legend of Spyro' anywhere in it

** Take three if it's abbreviated to 'TLOS'

** Take three if it's 'the Legend of' with some OC or other character replacing Spyro in the title

*** Add on another drink if its basically a rewrite of the game, but with other characters/OCs included

* Take a drink if the words 'dark', 'darkness', 'blood', 'destiny', 'legacy', or 'prophecy' is written in the fic title

** Take two if it uses two of those words in the title

** Take three if there's more than three of those words in the title

* Take a drink if the fic is about Spyro and Cynder facing a new evil

** Take two if its a 'new ancient evil'

*** Add on a drink if one of the antagonist main motivations is 'getting revenge on Cynder'

*** Alternatively, add on a drink if they claim they were behind Malefor the entire time

*** Alternatively, take another one if Malefor ends up pulling a Dr. Wily and hijacks the plot. If it's used in conjunction with 'man behind the man' above, take another one

* Take a drink if it's part 'whatever' in a massive fic series

** Take two drinks if it's referred to as books instead of parts

* Take a drink if it's set exactly after 'Dawn of the Dragon'

** Take two if the prologue has 'You cannot defeat me, I am eternal!' anywhere in it

** Take three if it's either in all caps, bolded, underlined, or italicized

** Down the can/bottle if its any combination of the four

*** Add on a drink if, after all that, it basically becomes a glorified highschool AU

* Take a drink if Spyro has his purple dragon powers hijacked by someone

** Take two if it's by the main antagonist.

* Take a drink if the fic focuses more on Cynder rather than Spyro

** Take three if people hating Cynder is a major theme of the fic

* Take two drinks if the fic completely ignores the fact that Cynder said 'I love you' to Spyro at the end of DotD

** Take a drink if it does acknowledge it, but brushes it off as 'Spyro didn't hear her'

* Take a drink if 'This Broken Soul' is copy and pasted word for word into the fic at some point

** Take three if Cynder's the one singing it

* Take a drink if Ignitus reveals himself to be the Chronicler early on in the fic, thus negating any impact his supposed death had

* Take a drink if another purple dragon besides Spyro or Malefor appears in the story, despite the whole 'only one purple dragon every ten generations' thing

** Take two if s/he's the major antagonist

** Take two if she's female

** Take three if s/he's Spyros brother/sister

* Take a drink whenever an OC comes in that's in some way related to either Spyro or Cynder (mother, father, brother, sister, ect, ect...)

* Take a drink if there's a human turned dragon in the fic

** Take two if they're happy about it and/or have always wished/dreamed/hoped this would happen

** Take three if its because they were unloved/abused in their old life

* Take a drink every time Cynder angst about her past

* Take a drink if Flame and Ember appear in the story, despite the whole 'Year of the Dragon genocide' thing

** Take two if the reason for them surviving is that their eggs were laid late, or they were saved in a similar manner as Spyro

* Take a drink if an OC dragon around their age shows up in a similar manner

** Take a drink if they have a 'dark and trouble' and/or 'mysterious past'

** Take two if finding out about said past is a major part of the fic

** Take three if she's female

*** Add on a drink if they're a blatant recolor of a canon character

*** Add on another if it's a blatant recolor of Cynder

*** Add on another drink if they get paired with a canon character

*** Make it two if it's either Spyro or Cynder

*** Add another one if (in-universe) people hate him/her for some irrational reason

*** Make it another one if said reason is never explained

*** Make it another one if said reason is explained, but it's something like 'too beautiful, everyone else is jealous' or those likes

*** Add another drink if they're eyes change color based on their emotions

*** Add on another drink if they're somehow more powerful than Spyro or Cynder

*** Again, add on a drink if they're a purple dragon

*** Make it two if they're some kind of special dragon that's somehow more powerful than a purple dragon

** Take two drinks if they possess some element that is not one of the canon four (fire, ice, electric, or earth)

** Take three if its something ridiculous like blood, spirit, or pure energy

*** Add on another drink if they possess more than one element

*** Down the can/bottle if the second element is equally ridiculous

* Take three drinks if Ember's derailed into a complete bitch who tries to sabotage Spyro and Cynder's relationship

* Take a drink if Spyro and Cynder break up during the fic

** Take three if it was caused by Ember

*** Take another drink if they end up getting back together again three or so chapters later

* Take a drink every time Spyro/Cynders superpowered evil sides are brought up

** Take two if they actually appear in the fic

* Take a drink if the fic is set in the far future and focuses on a new purple dragon

** Again, take two if she's female

** Take a drink if any character in it is a descendant of Spyro and/or Cynder

** Take two if its the purple dragon

* Take a drink if its revealed Ignitus is Spyros biological father

** Take two if it's revealed he's Cynders biological father

* Take a drink if another war starts up over the course of the fic

** Take three if it's because of Malefor

* Take a drink if the fic ends on a sequel hook

** Take three if it's already part of a massive series

* Take a drink every time Flame gets jealous of Spyro (be it over his own fame or Ember fawning over him)

** Take two if he eventually attacks Spyro because of this.

*** Take three if he eventually goes evil because of this.

* Take a drink if Flame is completely head over heels for Ember, despite the fact that they never met in canon.

* Take a drink if Flame is already in a relationship with Ember with no relevance to the plot what-so-ever just because the author doesn't want Ember getting in the way of SpyroXCynder.

* Take a drink if Flame somehow becomes the new fire guardian.

** Take two if he beats Ember for the title.

* Take a drink if the story has Flame acting like a hot-head, despite being rather cheerful and looking up to Spyro in the games proper.

* If by some stroke of luck you're reading a classic verse fic focusing on Spyro X Ember, take a drink if the main reason Spyro's considering getting together with Ember is that he's going through puberty

* Similarly, outside of characters like Ember, Flame, and possibly Elder Tomas, take a drink if said Classicverse fic ignores anything that happened between the Classic Trilogy and TLoS

* Take a drink if you're reading a Classicverse fic that does acknowledge stuff that happened between the Classic and Legendverse trilogies, and is set after Shadow Legacy, but for whatever reason still has Ember fangirling and trying to hook up with Spyro, despite hooking up with Bandit over the course of that game.

* Take a drink whenever a Classic Spyro X Elora fic fails to acknowledge the fact that Elora is far older than Spyro, and how massive the species gap between them is.

* Take a drink if a Classic Spyro fic has it to where the only moves Classic knows are how to charge and flame things, despite knowing actually combat techniques and magic in Shadow Legacy.

* Take a drink if the fic only ever has Classic Spyro use fire, despite the fact that he, too, also has more breaths than fire.

* Take a drink if anyone swears using human swear words even though it's never been said before in either universe.

* Take a drink if anyone has a name that fits into Classic series but not TLOS series.

** Take two drinks if the name is obviously human.

* Take a drink if most adult dragons are useless in battle.

* Take a drink when a fic has pointlessly gory or violent scenes for the sake of it.

* Take a drink whenever a killed off in a glorified fashion that makes it clear the author personally hated the character.

* Take a drink if dragons kiss each other on the lips despite having the wrong mouth shape.
NOTE: READ THIS BEFORE COMMENTING!

I'm not targeting any fic specifically here. This is just a bunch of common plot/plot points I've seen over and over again in this fandom, and it's really starting to get on my nerves. Just like anything that uses clichés, I realize fics that have these in them can still be good. Clichés aren't bad by nature. But when you over abuse them, it tends to get very grating and fast. Remember folks, always challenge the norm, and never go with the common plots. Always try to be creative and different.


Also note, a cliche is a common plot element overused by the fanbase to the point it becomes silly. It's not just a thing to list something from a specific fic you hated. If you wish to suggest a cliche for the list, keep that in mind.

... Eh, I guess you can consider this a bit of venting over how many clichés and cookie cutter fic clones there are in this fandom these days. Started writing this when I was in a 'bleh' mood, and someone wanted to see it so... Yeah. Something I should point out, I don't personally drink, so...

I guess you can consider this a list of 'things that should be avoided in Spyro fanfics if possible'. It's not ment to offend, but rather help new writers in the fandom avoid the common pitfalls most Spyro fics seem to fall into. Granted, some of them can use these clichés and still be really good regardless, but in general its best to try and come up with some new that hasn't been done in the fandom before. Always strive to be creative and different.

Should be noted, drinks that have two asterisk next to them are suppose to add on to ones that only have one asterisk above them. For example, if something says take a drink because 'x reason' and there's a two asterisk one under it that goes 'take two if its was because 'x reason', you take two drinks, and not three. The only time you add it together with something is if the next example below it has three asterisk.

This is pretty much just a early draft of this. I'm still adding more common clichés as I remember them. If anyone has anything they'd like to add to this, feel free to suggest it.

UPDATE 4/25/2014: Added a good amount of new stuff to this since I first posted it. Will list the users whose suggestions got added below. Also, for those wondering why I didn't just put 'Mary/Gary Sue/Stu' in the list instead of that massive drinking chain listing common sue traits, that's because the term 'Mary Sue' has really devolved over the years. Basically, it's gone from 'Character whose overly sympathetic, stupidly powerful, everyone in-universe loves, and is more or less perfect in everyway' to 'character I hate'. As such, I feel it better to list the standard sue traits to clear up confusion on that... even if its likely to destroy your liver, bladder, and/or kidneys in the process. XD;; /shot

I'm still searching for common classic Spyro fic clichés so people don't think I'm specifically targeting LoS fics, but... yeah. Considering the list starts off with 'Set in the LoS canon', that should give you an idea of the LoS fic to classic Spyro fic ratio there is on the net. Pretty much the only classic Spyro fic cliché I can think of/find is 'Spyro goes through puberty, starts noticing girls (namely Ember)'. If anyone has any clichés they can think of that are common in classic fics, feel free to suggest it.

UPDATE 4/6/15: As the date to the side there shows, I am very, very slowly getting more Classicverse clichés added to the list, with the two most recent ones being fics that ignore anything that happened between the Classic and Legend trilogy outside of Ember, Flame, and possibly Elder Tomas. I was debating if that really should go there, given nostalgic fans and all, but... having recently played A Hero's Tail myself, there's few things from it that I wouldn't mind getting adapted into the main Classicverse "canon" outside the ones listed, with Red being a rather big one. He does pull a Heel Face Turn after Shadow Legacy and become a good guy, after all, and on top of that, I like the idea of him becoming a mentor to Spyro, especially since many allusions were made that said he was much like Spyro himself when he was young. True, he may be a bit generic, but... eh'.

Also added the little detail of how no one remembers the fact that Bandit is still a thing in most Classicverse fics that have Ember it and are set after Shadow Legacy. Granted, I am especially guilty of this myself, but I do at least try to write an explanation for it in some of my more recent works. (Bandit is either too old for Ember, and he thought Ember was older due to dragon age and all that, it just doesn't work out on a personal level, or something extremely spoileriffic for something I'm currently writing at the moment that I don't want to reveal until I get around to that point and such.)

Either way, I'm going to continue looking for more clichés from Classicverse fics so it doesn't feel like I'm specifically targeting the Legendverse. May also add Skylanders too because it's at least connected to Spyro in some way, but... I don't know on that.

Further update on the same day as the above: Added Elora and the fact that nobody remembers that Classic actually does have more advanced combat skills to the list.

Granted, I'm a bit bias on the Elora part since, even during the haydays of the Classic trilogy, I was never really a fan of the pairing, being perfectly honest. Sorry, folks, but I refuse to see it as anything other than a possible childish crush. Besides the fact that Elora appears to be in her late teens to early twenties, it's common fanon that Spyro is, at the very least, twelve during the events of the Classic trilogy. Not only would the fact that, if that is true, any serious attempt to pair them up would count as... yeah, a dragon and a faun is a rather big species gap, IMO. I'm fine with Hunter and Bianca, but by the time Spyro is old enough to date Elora, he would likely be either twice to three times her size, not to mention there would still be that age gap... I just really can't see that working out, being honest.

Anyways, that mini-rant aside, as said, nobody remembers Spyro learned Dragon Kata (basically karate for dragons) or magic during the course of Shadow Legacy. Granted, it's understandable considering it's a rather obscure DS game, but it does bug me when fics that acknowledge it happened don't have Spyro pulled any advance fighting skills outside of charging or flaming. Also, nobody seems to acknowledge the fact that, even in the Classic trilogy, Classic had more breath options than just fire. Granted, they didn't stick until a Hero's Tail, but still.

UPDATE 10/7/17: Somehow, I completely forgot everyone's favorite canon recolor 'original character donut steel', Flame. I mean, this is kind of understandable: While Ember has enough character quirks from her limited screen time in the games (or to just be used as an excuse for author to circlejerk about how nothing should dare stand in the way that is the holy unity that is SpyroXCynder) Flame doesn't really have too much going for him. He shows up to be saved by Spyro in-game and... That's about it, really. 

None-the-less, that doesn't mean he doesn't have some cliches about his use in fanfics. I added the most common ones I know of... However little that may be.

UPDATE 4/6/18: So figured I was done. Wasn't gonna add any more since this list is basically complete; every cliche and common plot element that can be thought of in Spyro fics had basically been chronicled, with any other suggestions just seeming like minor nitpicks.

Of course, this was before the Reignited trilogy happened.

Although there aren't many Classic cliches to list because people really don't write for the Classic side the upcoming trilogy remake might change things. As such, I figured I'd update this again. Not many new stuff added this time; more so, this is a 'heads up' update. To anyone of those who still follow Spyro fanfics, I'll be counting on you to help me find common ones among Classic fics to add to the list.  

In the meantime, let's get hyped our favorite purple dragon isn't dead anymore! :D

UPDATE 5/18/2020: Oh hai reader. Been a while since I last updated this. Kind of been in a serious 'I don't care anymore' mood for about two years; which only now am I starting to recover from. My interest in Spyro fiction is slowly returning and, as such, I felt it was time to get back to this.

Granted the updates are minor (mainly a disclaimer to not harass anyone for using a cliche listed here (seriously don't, that ain't cool) and adding the recent trend in Spyro fiction where Legend Spyro gets his powers hijacked somehow) but hey, it's something. The biggest change, however, was that I changed it to apply to all Spyro fanworks and not just fan fiction, as I noticed there are also a lot of common tropes/cliches that get used in comics and even fan art. As my disclaimer says though, this isn't necessarily bad; but I do hope it gets people to realize how common certain things in this fan base are, and hopefully encourage more originality with future works. 

Sorry if I don't always reply. I tend to suffer bouts of 'I don't care about anything' throughout my life, which makes actually replying (or listing cliches) difficult. I'll try to be better about it in the future though.

I would not suggest doing this with large cans/bottles unless you really hate your liver, bladder, and/or kidneys.

Users whose suggestions have been added to the list:

DeethIrteen

Dardarax

HamburgerMarsupial

DragonXSoulfire
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Still probably not as bad as the Twilight drinking game...