Worst Plot Tumors in Fiction
The Blind Eternities forum
Posted on Dec. 6, 2021, 6:06 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
A "plot tumor" is an element of a story that begins as a minor detail, but then gradually grows in importance until it completely overtakes the story, akin to a cancerous growth in a living creature. Followers of the story usually regard plot tumors as negative occurrences that indicate a decrease in the quality of the story, hence their name.
Therefore, I would like to discuss some of the worst instances of plot tumors in fiction.
Yu-Gi-Oh originally focused on numerous different games, hence its name, which translates to "king of games" or "game king" in English, but one chapter featured a card game, entitled Magic and Wizards in the manga and Duel Monsters in the anime, in which the readers were very interested. The readers kept asking if the card game existed in actuality, so the author of the series, Kazuki Takahashi, eventually made the card game the entire focus of the series, which I personally feel was a major mistake, as it detracted from the original focus of ordinary games become deadly situations. I do not know if Takahashi willingly made that decision or if his editors pressured him to do it, as the card game has proven to be highly marketable, but I would be very interested to see how the series would have been if it had remained with its original premise.
By far one of the worst plot tumors that I have ever seen in a story are the Uchiha clan and their Sharingan in Naruto; in the beginning of the series, the Uchiha clan seemed to be just like any other clan in the ninja world and their Sharingan was little different from any other kekkei genkai, and there was no indication that they were anything special. However, as the series progressed, the Uchiha clan’s importance to the story continually increased, to the point that they were revealed to be descendants of the founder of the ninja world. Equally bad was the Sharingan, which was originally simply a way to copy jutsu, but continually displayed new abilities, with the worst offender being Itachi Uchiha, who conveniently revealed new jutsu with little foreshadowing on multiple occasions, when he was in peril. I wish that the author of that series, Masashi Kishimoto, had not made such a decision, but that would mean that the entire series would need to have been rewritten, and it would be drastically different from how it is, now.
What does everyone else say about this? What are some of the worst plot tumors that you have seen in fictional stories?
DemonDragonJ says... #3
I also think that Freeza is becoming a plot tumor in Dragon Ball Super, since he has now returned three times in that series (he has not actually appeared in the current arc, but he is relevant to the story), and none of those appearances have recaptured the aura of menace and awe that he had in his initial appearance.
Niko9 says... #2
I hadn't really heard this term before, but it sounds like a good one to be aware of. Sometimes it's easy to get so wrapped up in something creative that you can't see the forest for the trees, as they say :) I can't think of a really good example right now, but when you described it I thought, oh yeah I get that.
Part of writing things is failing, for sure, and sometimes the best thing you can do is get people who will be honest with you. Because nobody is going to have all good ideas :) And, sometimes it takes someone with a little distance from the story to say, you know, this doesn't work. I've definitely tried to write things in my own little world before and those are the ones that always ended up going downhill fast, so I completely get how things like this happen.
December 8, 2021 8:21 a.m.