Draw Your Own Story/YMMV


 * Acceptable Targets: Other forumers, regardless of whether they're active contributors. Real-world politicians also feature prominently: the first DYOS aired shortly after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein, and various members of their regimes frequently appear as side characters. Other popular targets include the U.S. Republican Party, Sydney, Australia, and former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper.
 * Author's Saving Throw: Thorvald states that Hacker Prime was a last-ditch attempt to reclaim the Hacker as DYOS XI's Big Bad after literally years of Villain Decay. While the sub-arc dragged the story's end out even further, his re-characterization was received warmly.
 * Base Breaker: The Styles Brothers, or more specifically Stylesrj’s fights with other contributors from DYOS 5–9 that always resulted in a thread-killing Flame War. This led Abaddon to create a "Styles-free" spinoff dubbed Members' Comic Quest, and after azzaman333 realized he couldn't get rid of them, engaged in the harshest Creator Backlash by drive-by-flaming future threads.
 * The so-called "Consul Era" and the move toward story-focused comics, as some argue the prevalence of self-contained plots strangles collaboration while the accumulated history scares off new participants, giving it the feeling of an ’old boys’ club’.
 * Continuity Lock Out: A couple dozen forum pages in, and even some of the contributors find themselves lost. Particularly bad in the older stories when maintaining coherence wasn't even considered.
 * Crazy Awesome: Arguably, Thorvald. Choxorn, when appearing in CivGeneral's comics, also tends to be this.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: The Gem Chamber. What's next in this parade of constant interruptions?
 * Crowning Music of Awesome: courtesy of YouTube.
 * Die for Our Ship: Chris Redfield, killed off-screen without ever appearing in the first place.
 * Ending Aversion
 * Fridge Brilliance:
 * When the Hacker's avatar gives CivGeneral the Timeline-Altering MacGuffin, it feels like an Ass Pull simply to set up Alternate 2011. But the same comic in which Dr. Richtofen steals the book concludes with the cryptic suggestion that the Hacker had somehow plotted it. Given that he had recently split from Wesker, the whole thing might have been a Xanatos Gambit to eliminate his leading rivals, since in the new timeline the Sibling Empire imprisons CivGeneral and executes Wesker while he becomes a Nobel laureate. The Hacker, therefore, no doubt aware Wesker was tracking him, intended to be overpowered in the encounter, knowing Richtofen would then steal the book.
 * Given Nikita Brezhnev can't fight Coruscant directly, his refusal to support Dr. Breen and the Enclave would seem to shoot his own ambition in the foot. Then recall that after capturing CivGeneral, Breen reveals he's willing to trigger an Enemy Civil War. CG-X is present for the conversation, meaning once he flees to the Space Nazis, word of the plan may have filtered up to Brezhnev. Thus when he tells Breen "You Have Outlived Your Usefulness", he's simply being Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves.
 * That said, Coruscant still walks away with the entire Pacific.
 * Marsha and Krieger sneak past Nazi checkpoints in a truck driven by Chuck Testa. His famous taxidermy commercial attracted controversy for the Totenkopf badge seen on his hat. Chuck wears the same hat in the comic; the guards let him pass because they think he's SS.
 * God Mode Sue: Especially prevalent in the older episodes, which didn't have so many rules and regulations.
 * Growing the Beard: DYOS 10 introduced a new set of rules intended to curb the ridiculous plot twists that had plagued earlier editions, resulting in a more cohesive story that was the first to reach a satisfactory conclusion. This was also when the core contributors began taking the narrative seriously, and subsequent instalments more closely resemble a collaborative webcomic than the free-for-all it used to be.
 * Jerkass Woobie: CivGeneral
 * Magnificent Bismarck
 * Protection From Editors: CivGeneral's depression in 2010 led his fellow contributors to back off from criticism lest they drive him out of the project. The result was some of the most contrived episodes in recent memory, a fact he himself has acknowledged.
 * Recycled Script:
 * CivGeneral does this fairly regularly.
 * Stylesjl's comics in DYOS 11 are often self-conscious imitations of other posters'.
 * Scapegoat Creator: Arguably, Stylesrj from DYOS 5-9. Ironically, most threads were closed because of other forumers derailing the story just to rant against him. He finally earned a reprieve after DYOS 10.
 * CivGeneral blames himself for DYOS 12's stall.