Same here, I tend to question the author’s intentions to their stories
Don’t forget the blonde, pretty, popular mean girl with (always) 2 minions… oh, and the love triangle, between the rich, popular guy (who isn’t necessarily good, either) and the bad boy who the MC thinks she can turn good… and makeovers are the most annoying… dye my hair a different colour and put on makeup (and god forbid any glasses) and suddenly the MC is popular and amazing and gets 2 boys fighting for her love (which is sickening). And falling for your teacher? Who’s older than you and pretty much a pedophile? Gross, in my opinion. I don’t mind the Chosen One trope, though, if it’s done right.
Cliches can be annoying and boring, but if you write them well, and don’t make the tropes so one-dimensional, and shake things up with a twist, the story could still be really good.
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I actually created a story about a girl who is unfairly slut shamed and later dumps a bad boy because of his tendency of violence. Totally against the norm here. It’s called ”Runaround Sue”.
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Love interests in general. Like, I appreciate a good romance story but whenever I want variety or a story with a strong female MC, the description always goes something like this:
You’re an independent, strong, badass secret agent following the case of a runaway murderer… [blah blah blah]
And I’m like “YES A GOOD READ” until I see the ending which is something like this:
And can you resist the sexy new intern you work with?
AND THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS NO. LIKE YOU WILL SCREW THAT MOFO AND YOU HAVE NO CHOICE
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This is related to stories, but it’s more of story scenes I’m sick of seeing. Some people may have mentioned this, but:
- Main Character has a best friend who (Alright, I’m not here to judge, but kind of… always another skin tone) and she/he doesn’t help the plot and is somehow a, how do you say it? What you would call a sidechick. She is on occasionally a person with different sexual preferences. She also suggests the Main Character to reckless things and go to a party.
- Speaking of parties- I know it’s high school, but why do people need parties so much? It’s really annoying and usually involves the bad boy’s house or something with them drinking from iconic red cups (alright, alright, I’m sorry there) and Main character gets into a accidental-
Well, I don’t want to say it, but,
Synonym of body tangle with the bad boy, I guess.
In the party she meets a few other guys, or previously, and she gets more romantically linked to all of them. Maybe includes a choice where you choose who to hang out with. - Speaking of school, nobody has homework. Alright, I understand… the main character might even start as a nerd and occasionally when trying to avoid people say something that goes, “I… um… need to do homework” but with an animation where it shows she’s bad at lying, and she get’s convinced to go somewhere. Not the point, but, they don’t even have homework, or, very rarely, tests.
What I mean to say is: people seem to love schools that don’t help the characters except help them find love. - Speaking of love, they immediately love bad boy 1 (probably the one you’ll have to end up with, or if you choose the others, it’s a 50/50 where you get a worse ending or a happy one), or maybe bad boy 1, 2 and 3.
You love them after meeting them for 2 days, getting invited to a party (did I mention having a huge crush on them forever, or them suddenly taking an interest in you, whether it’s just because you turned from skinny to fat, because it’s a bet, because you went from nerd to cool) and starting to have a whole plotline involving them and one of them’s bad childhood or something which makes you emotionally attached? (Sorry, getting to the gang stuff here) - Speaking of attachment… Hey, I understand everyone’s an orphan, except for those flashback scenes and the occasional first episode where the mom shows up (and she’s probably in a bad financial situation) or those Episodes showing the parents having problems with their marriages and affairs, step parents, or, if they include them, well, yes they might be supportive, but they don’t really tell the main character off unless it’s the ones about rebelling, which I think also involves a motorcycle riding leader of some sort? I keep getting of track.
- Speaking of which, the main character is always perfect and they haveee to be imperfect so we add a touch of clumsiness to them, I guess, or weird sense of humor.
- Speaking of, humor, I find it funny when the bad boy (introduced) walks into the locker hallway and everyone swoons, and the Main character as well. He does that pose where you wink and lift your arm (forgot the name) and is oblivious to the Main character swooning but can see everyone else swooning, and the main character has a chance of fainting.
Alright, I’m being slightly biased here, but it’s all in good fun.
I’m so sorry if I offended anybody, and I understand there is now way more diversity and different plotlines now. Sorry if you considered me rude, I didn’t mean that.
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honestly this happens in so many stories
I find that some really well put together stories do include a few of these topics but the plot comes together, and makes sense as to why the character was put in that situation. A good story (that I recommend) is Trophy Wife, where she falls for a famous basketball player. So, essentially she also becomes somewhat famous “out of the blue”. But, it shows the dark side of the spotlight and focuses on some common issues such as infidelity and depression. Sometimes you have to look at the message or quality of the story, or even the progression and the motives. If it makes sense as to why the character gets accidentally pregnant, I think it can still be an enjoyable story. I would just hope that the whole story has a message along with the plot that would pull everything together.
But I mainly agree. Some of the featured stories are EXTREMELY cliche and Episode should really rethink their featured section. A few stories that win contests are MUCH MUCH BETTER and have meaningful themes. I love finding hidden gems while exploring through Community Stories and I almost never even take a second look at the featured section. Especially because they have gem choices which don’t even influence the story that much.
Here are some stories I recommend:
-The Trophy Wife (By: As Told By Brandi)
-Loving in Retrospect (By: Nour D.)
-Bittersweet Wounds (By: CERI.)
-Adrenaline (By: Evil Ebonni)
Note: although this includes a love trianlge, the overlays and animations are absolutely fabulous and it focuses on themes such as accepting yourself.
-Fade Into Me (By: Kaylee)
Note: I believe this has been discontinued but still worth checking out! Also, there is a love triangle once again but a very quality written story focusing on depression and other themes.
-Falling For Sin (By: CERI.)
Note: I don’t remember much of this story, but it does have an interesting plot and it focuses on themes, once again, such as depression and overcoming hard times in relationships.
-Studs And Sonnets (By: writer.LB)
Note: I think this is discontinued…
-Torched in Flames (By: S.W. Rose)
Note: I think this is also discontinued… STILL CHECK IT OUT
-Maid For You (By: Alex Light)
-Felwinter (By: Merryweather)
EDIT: Sorry for this long rant. And if I have any grammar mistakes I apologize. But some things just need to be said, haha
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When people act like the MC can break the bad boy/girl’s image or make a character who is isolated and “misunderstood” suddenly super charismatic.
I’d really love to see some stories where they end with the bad boy/girl basically saying bug off you can’t change me or vise versa where the MC is just like fuck this and finds someone actually work their time. 
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I completely agree! And the stories that are actually good barely even get noticed. Many of those “bad boy” stories break the episode guidelines, but they still get featured. It’s a terrible influence to younger people reading.
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Oh boy, that’s an amazing point. As someone of a similar age who uses plenty of escapism to ignore my problems, I can totally understand why it would appeal to people. And you’re right, it really does take advantage of people’s anxiety. We need more stories with strong, inspiring MCs!
Please note this is my opinion
You guys all have persuading reasons about cliche stories. Bad boy etc, some people (not me just stating) enjoy these types of books, I must say there is some books out there that have the same storyline but are better than others. I read one called Complicated and it was really interesting. Anyway enough said thanks for sharing your opinion 
-Blossom
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I would think the reason why there are hardly any male MC stories is because 95 percent of episode users are female and the majority of those are teenagers. It would be nice to have more though.
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To stay on topic I just read a story the other day (can’t remember the name of it at the moment) and it had not one, not two but THREE gem choices in the SAME CHAPTER!! The worst part was it wasn’t even that good so I just had to drop it like a bad habit.
If Episode is going to be this greedy with the gems they could make sure the stories that use them are good first. This is ridiculous.
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people are talking about how badly cliches can be. we know that there are well done stories with cliches
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Werewolf stories that involve falling in love with the Alpha’s son and having a “wolf” inside you who is a completely different person.
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In my opinion, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the bad boy trope unless it actually steps into the territory of emotional abuse and makes being treated badly by your boyfriend look romantic. However, it’s been done so much! What about a romance with a nice guy? What about a romance where the bad boy isn’t actually… bad?
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Yeah, I can appreciate a “bad boy” with a good side that isn’t emotionally abusive, and maybe he was just driven to becoming the bad boy type because of his past or his family, etc.
Though it would be great to see different kinds of partners, there aren’t enough nice guys! My favourite example is Kin from Galactic Game, he’s so sweet.
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I love Jude from The Girl Upstairs. He’s such a sweetie… and he has problems that are mostly associated with bad boys, but works through them like a mature person 
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Character development! Yeet! In a lot of basic bad boy stories, he doesn’t change and just keeps up the old abusive behaviors, and the MC always falls for him. MCs/LIs who work through problems and continue changing are the best.
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I like a brooding loner (snarky/aloof outside soft inside or any variation) but rare u see any character development wth any LIs in episodes v.v ppl are multifacited so should characters
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