Writer on Board: Difference between revisions

[[File:AnimalMan_Grant_P2_330_6750AnimalMan Grant P2 330 6750.jpg|frame|[[Animal Man]] discusses this trope with [[Grant Morrison|his writer]].]]

{{quote|"''If you want to send a message, use Western Union.''"|'''Samuel Goldwyn''', renowned Hollywood producer}}

May also occur when a character is accused of being used just to show a particular point of view, and not because they actually have it. The high-falutin' literary term for a character ''designed'' to express the author's preferred opinions (often the [[Only Sane Man]]) is the ''[[raisonneur]]''--here—here at [[TVAll The Tropes]] the preferred term is [[Author Avatar]].

* Director [[Hideaki Anno]], who had gone through a [[Creator Breakdown|serious bout of depression]] pre-production, was famously accused of this practice in regards to the later opaque parts of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''.

* Someone on the ''[[Darker Thanthan Black]]'' staff ''really'' hates smoking. Although note that the most [[Anvilicious]] part--thepart—the cigarettes with a skull label--[[Reality Is Unrealistic|is actually a real brand]].

* [[DC Comics]] writer Keith Giffen is unabashed about his hatred of ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (Comic Bookcomics)|Legion of Super-Heroes]]'' character Karate Kid and his [[Charles Atlas Superpower|"super karate"]], and has stated outright that any time he ends up writing the Legion comic, Karate Kid will die. Could be considered a subversion in that when Giffen did write Karate Kid's death in one run of the Legion comic, he gave the character a respectful send-off via [[Heroic Sacrifice]], rather than simply [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|dropping a bridge on him]].

* Current{{when}} ''Amazing Spider-Man'' writer Dan Slott has personally expressed his dislike of Parallel Lives, the story which revealed that Mary Jane knew Peter's secret identity from all the way back to ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15, arguing that it made a "lie of all the stories that came before" and that it made MJ into someone who was fell in love with Peter because he was Spider-Man and not for just being plain old Peter. This is despite the fact that it was stated many times over the years- even as far back as Parallel Lives itself- that MJ was NOT interested in Peter because he was Spider-Man but despite of it. Then comes along ASM# 652, where Peter and MJ share a moment talking about Peter's current relationship with Carlie Cooper and why he won't tell her his secret. Peter reveals that he wants to make sure that she falls in love because he's just plain ol' Peter, and not because he's Spider-Man as he feels that MJ did with him, which essentially makes Peter Dan Slott's mouthpiece for how he feels about Peter and MJ's relationship why it was "wrong" and why his relationship with Carlie is "better."

** There is also ''Ultimate Civil War: [[Spider Ham]]'', a one-shot that is, basically, one long [[Take That]] to [[Joe Quesada]]'s run on Marvel (therefore, more of a [[Take That Us]]) because, other than showing the pointless-ness of the Civil War itself as it was forced by [[Mark Millar]] (see image), the last panel shows {{spoiler|the final alternate version of Spider-Ham: ''[[Marvel Zombies|Zombie]] [[Cash Cow Franchise|Ham]]''}}.

{{quote| ''' {{spoiler|Zombie}} Spider-Ham:''' ''[[Lampshade Hanging|"Very funny, Mr. Quesada.]] [[Franchise Zombie|Ha.]] [[Running the Asylum|Ha.]] [[Self-Deprecation|Ha."]]''}}

* A somewhat humorous example: ''[[Animal Man]]''. [[Grant Morrison]] used it to constantly pitch for animal rights, particularly stating that [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters]] and eating animals is wrong. [[Medium Awareness|Part of the plot was also the fact that the main character was slowly realizing he was in a comic book.]] In the last issue of Morrison's run, Animal Man and [[Author Avatar|Morrison]] talk face to face, and Animal Man points out that animal rights are all well and good - but sometimes he verged on eco-terrorism. And that sharing minds with animals shouldn't automatically make you a vegetarian since half of the time you're going to be sharing minds with a carnivore. And all of this felt like [[Character Derailment]]. Morrison admits he has some good points but wonders if the next writer will take that too far and have Animal Man run down a zebra and eat it alive. As both a [[Continuity Nod]] and a [[Take That]], the ''next writer had him do just that in the very next issue.''

* While we're on the animal rights subject, take ''[[Wolverine]]'' #54. People are hunting Morlocks for sport. Wolverine, in a gratuitous little aside, condemns the hunting of ''animals'' as well as people. This is out of character, and just odd. If an author wants to get up on a soapbox, why choose Wolverine as the mouthpiece for their views? He's not exactly a role model or a paragon of morality.

** Actually, Wolverine has never been a proponent of hunting. In fact, in one of his earliest ''X-Men'' appearances, he comments on he's going to go hunt a deer. [[Storm]] acts with revulsion that he'd kill an innocent animal. He immediately chastises her, saying that hunting doesn't mean killing, and says that it takes more skill to sneak up on a doe and touch her than it does to just kill. Even when it comes to killing other people, Logan typically offers up as his only justification, that he only kills those who're trying to kill him, or other people.

* With all of the above in mind, Johns' run on ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'' was a classic, clear-cut case of [[Writer on Board]] with [[Character Derailment]] and [[Did Not Do the Research]] all over the place. The previous writer, [[Kurt Busiek]], set the Vision down a path of exploring a human social life beyond his long-term love interest, the [[Scarlet Witch]]; Johns quickly, awkwardly had the two of them [[Strangled by the Red String]]. Similarly, the Wasp turns down a marriage proposal from Hank Pym despite the fact that she was pining for him to propose under Busiek. Jack of Hearts inexplicably went from needing 14 hours in an isolated chamber to revert to human form to needing to spend 14 hours a day in the chamber, period, to keep from exploding, and additionally went from nervous rookie to raging loose canon. Finally, [[Iron Man]] and [[Black Panther]] were given a gigantic [[Conflict Ball]] over events that had long since been smoothed over during Busiek's run. Johns admitted afterward that his knowledge of the Avengers was not up to par with his mastery of DC continuity, and most of his run seemed to ignore anything that was not written by Roger Stern (the one Avengers writer Johns gushed about).

* During the latter half of Ken Penders' writing stint on the [[Archie Comics]] version of [[Sonic the Hedgehog (comics)|Sonic the Hedgehog]], many of the stories either revolved around Penders' own [[Doesn't Like Guns|anti-gun views]] or would come to a screeching halt for a few panels for an [[Author Filibuster]] about the same. An example of the former was an entire story devoted to showing how the great [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|Overlander]] vs. [[Furry Fandom|Mobian]] war began: two children - one Overlander, the other Mobian - meet between the two kingdoms to play, one of them brings a gun one day and accidentally shoots the other while they're horsing around, war engulfs both races, [[Very Special Episode|After School Special]] credits roll. An example of the latter has one of the less scrupulous members of the Freedom Fighters ({{spoiler|Fiona, who goes on to betray the team and join the bad guys in a later issue}}) asks why they don't just use guns to solve their current dilemma and is given a verbal bitch-slap by Rotor Walrus about how they have ''never'' used guns and ''never will'' use guns. This sudden [[Mood Whiplash]] is made even more jarring by the fact that Bunnie Rabbot, a character that had for a while been wearing six-shooters holstered in a bullet belt up until the issue in question, can be seen in the background, without the pistols but still wearing the belt. Further, not but twenty or thirty issues previous, Rotor had developed a huge bazooka-like laser cannon that purportedly operated much like a [[BFG|hand-held]] [[Wave Motion Gun]] and which Rotor actually fired ''directly at [[Big Bad|Dr. Robotnik]]'' at one point.

* Jim Starlin does not like religion, and he writes about it often in his comics. He also has very strong opinions on how some things in comics ''should'' be and doesn't mind using the power of [[Retcon]] to have things his way--theway—the biggest example is his take on the [[New Gods|Anti-Life Equation]], which is nothing like [[Jack Kirby]]'s. He also once used [[Galactus]], Marvel's planet-devouring star god, as a metaphor for U.S. foreign policy.

* [[Alan Moore]] has admitted that his series ''[[Promethea]]'' was basically a mouthpiece for his views on magic.

* A bizarre and infamous example of this trope appears in the ''[[Doom]]'' Comic when Doom Guy suddenly rambles about the dangers of nuclear power and the need to preserve the ecosystem for the children of mankind, in the middle of shooting demons and zombies left and right. Probably ''[[Played for Laughs]]'', though, but who knows...

== Fan FictionWorks ==

* There was a ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' fanfic wherein 9/11 brought Spike to tears. And not in a jealous "Why can't I be that evil?" way. In a [[The Woobie|woobie]] needing-a-cuddle-to-make-the-bad-go-away way.

* "''A Crushed Empire"'', a long-gone ''Warhammer40[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' fanfic where the Emperor is evil, all non-humans are trying to be friendly and [[Easy Evangelism|everyone converts to Christianity]]. That the instigator is a Dark Angel (read:uber-fanatic) who [[Wangst|Wangsts]]s just because his home planet got hit by an [[Apocalypse How|Exterminatus]]. The sequel is just as bad, as the races well known for their [[Fantastic Racism]] and [[Omnicidal Maniac]] tendencies are being nice to each other, and the [[Marty Stu]] Dark Angel-wannabe somehow banished the Chaos Gods. The cause of all this? [[The Bible]].

* One ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' fanfic had a Koopa kid converting another to Christianity via [[Easy Evangelism]] for no good plot-related reason.

** One ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' fic has a [[Mary Sue|female velociraptor]] (with wings) who converts Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters to Christianity.

* There arewere a myriad fanfics that havehad [[Osama Bin Laden]] being skewered by [[Final Fantasy VII|Cloud Strife's]] [[BFS]].

* There were also any number of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' fics where Kim is sent to kill bin Laden, and in the process she [[Author Tract|lectures him sternly]] on the treatment of women in Muslim countries.

* There's an ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' fanfic featuring Zuko and a [[Mary Sue]] starting a communist revolution.

{{quote| '''Packer''': ''How does it feel to be riding my horse''<br />

* The biggest failing of the film ''[[Lady in the Water]]'' was that it was just two hours of [[M. Night Shyamalan]] rubbing his self indulgence in our faces. The movie is pretty much centered around inspiring a writer (not surprisingly, played by Shyamalan himself) into writing a book that will change the world for the better at the cost of being martyred in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. He also includes a [[Take That]] against the [[Take That, Critics!|film critics]] who gave his earlier movies negative reviews by putting in a film critic character who is an [[Straw Critic|arrogant, unlikeableunlikable man]] who dies a horrible death... and was one of the most popular characters among viewers.

{{quote| '''Frank''': [[Comically Missing the Point|I want to live in a world where I can eat a sea otter and not get sick!]]}}

*** A ''[[Star Wars]]'' fan argues with ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' fans about which is better. You'll never guess who comes out on top.

* In [[Francis Ford Coppola]]'s original mid 1960's screenplay for ''[[Patton]]'', General Patton's contemporary General Omar Bradley was merely a supporting character; while Patton and Bradley knew and respected each other in [[Real Life]], they were not close by any means. When the film was finally made several years later and Bradley was added as a technical consultant to assist with Edmund North's rewrite, Bradley was suddenly the second-leading character to Patton, they were portrayed as lifelong best friends, and Bradley was often shown as the more reasonable of the two.

* ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' has been criticized for having a protagonist with no personality, who simply serves as a mouthpiece for [[Dan Brown]]'s theories. And it's not just the protagonist, either. [[Dan Brown]] repeatedly pauses the plot for [[Author Filibuster|Author Filibusters]]s that would give [[Ayn Rand]] a run for her money, if not in length or research, then certainly in obviousness.

** In ''[[Orson Scott CardsCard's Empire|Empire]]'', characters will pause during the action to explain exactly why any disrespect for the military whatsoever is unpatriotic and therefore evil.

*** Not to mention the fact that, despite apparently being a warning against partisanship, the [[Big Bad|Big Bads]]s are still liberals.

* The ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series by [[Terry Goodkind]] is often accused by detractors of being nothing more than Objectivist propaganda. ''Faith of the Fallen'' is two-fifths desperate battles and angst, and three-fifths [[Anvilicious]] [[Ayn Rand]] soap-boxing on how individuals working for themselves in a free market works far better than broken, inevitably corrupt socialism, and will also get you the chicks. Goodkind admittedly comes by it honestly: pretty much all fiction by [[Ayn Rand]] is a soapbox for Objectivism--mostObjectivism—most famously ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]''.

* Lewis, on the other hand, kept it under control until ''[[The Last Battle]]'', wherein [[Religion of Evil|Satan-worshipping]] [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|Arabs]] take over the world and the subtext rather becomes the text. Though it's rather more nuanced than that in practice (and certainly more nuanced than Pullman's attempt). {{spoiler|Yes, the actual Tash is essentially Satan... but the fantasy-Arabs don't know that, they're not worshiping him out of a deliberate attempt to be evil. Aslan himself specifically says that a good man who worships Tash is actually offering praise to Aslan, while an evil man who worships Aslan is actually in service to Tash. It's a fairly tolerant idea, [[Values Dissonance|for when the book was written]].}}

* [[Anthony Burgess]]' famous English novel, ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]'', is so generally believed to suffer from [[Writer on Board]] in its last chapter that until 1986 its US editions left out the offending chapter- and even now, come with a preface explaining the cut. The classic movie version also changed the ending, as did a 1990 play written for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

** Turtledove does mention repeatedly (as is his writing style) that the Mormon separatists are, amongst the major combatants, probably the most conscientious about following the Geneva Conventions with regard to [[PO Ws]]POWs and enemy wounded. So apparently [[Even Evil Has Standards]] in this timeline's universe.

* [[Michael Crichton]] tended to do this a lot, albeit that he was somewhat more subtle about it as the characters whom he [[Writer on Board|boarded]] were created more or less for the purpose of espousing a philosophy central to their characters. He also did it a lot because his ''modus operandi'' was to take a source of public fear/apprehension/paranoia and then base a novel around it. Fear of computers/robots: ''[[Westworld]]''. Fear of genetic manipulation: ''[[Jurassic Park]]''. Fear of the Japanese: ''[[Rising Sun]]''. Fear of sex discrimination: ''[[Disclosure]]''. Fear of the media and flying: ''[[Airframe]]''. And so on.

* This trope is [[Older Than Steam]]: [[Moliere]]'s plays often were whole essays against the hypocrisy and vulgarity that ran rampant throughout French society, as well as tirades against doctors (medicine ''was'' horrible back then, and many docs were VERY ignorant), pseudo-intellectuals, and self-appointed [[Moral Guardians]]. (''[[Tartuffe]]'', one of his most well-known plays, was censored for years because of this.) Characters like Philinte (''[[The Misanthrope|Le Misanthrope]]'') and Cléante (''Tartuffe'') serve as [[Author Avatar|Author Avatars]]s for the playwright.

* While the entire [[Left Behind]] franchise is a massive [[Author Tract]], the [[Writer on Board]] aspect comes into play when a previously independent, scientifically minded character is suddenly touched by God, converts, and from that moment on reminds us repeatedly how happy they are that they got rid of their delusions and bloated self importance brought on by education (self importance through [[Holier Than Thou]] is fine).

* [[George MacDonald]] - ''[[The Princess and the Goblin]]'' is a classic piece of Victorian children's literature. The lesser-known sequel, ''The Princess and Curdie'' is a bizarre, [[Anvilicious|Anviliciously]]ly heavy-handed cross between ''[[The Pilgrim's Progress|The Pilgrims Progress]]'' and The Revelation of St. John that is likely to give a child unfortunate enough to read it nightmares for years to come.

* While ''[[Dark Lord of Derkholm|Year of the Griffin]]'' is normally a [[Fantastic Comedy]] about the trials and tribulations of [[Wizarding School|Wizarding University]] students, it takes one moment in a chapter to get [[An Aesop|Aesoptinial]] about sexism and women's education. Thankfully, rather than disrupt an existing character, it creates a new one--aone—a horrifying misogynist gangster--togangster—to serve as its designated vice-target. Since the author has autobiographically noted that she was seen as a [[Strange Girl]] in her childhood for wanting to be smart and intellectual, it's somewhat understandable why she would feel strongly about this.

* In the [[Maximum Ride]] series, the fourth book abruptly switches to a clumsy Aesop about [[Hollywood Global Warming]], completely ignoring whatever semblance of a plot and characterization the previous books had. Among other things, the [[Big Bad]] is defeated by a random hurricane, which is explicitly linked to [[Hollywood Global Warming]].

** In the third book of the [[Posleen War Series]], ''When The Devil Dances'', a very large artillery piece happens to have been named and decorated after Bun-Bun, from [[Sluggy Freelance]]. One of the crew members suggested it and talked the commander into it, after introducing him to the comic. They don't have time to consult anyone to see if they'll have to take it off before the fecal matter hits the fan.<ref>Yet later on, a general refers to Bun-Bun, meaning he knew about the nickname and decorations, and either didn't care, or ''actively approved''.</ref>. Later on in the book, one character refers to "Bun-Bun", and the complete stranger he's talking to knows what he means. He happens to not only read the comic, but is a "big fan". This is after five years of war with a genocidal alien race that has control of most of the planet, [[Author Appeal|yet apparently the Sluggy Freelance servers are still up]], or at least a mirror or archive thereof.

*** [[SF Debris]] critiqued this perfectly while reviewing a Taylor-made episode in which Janeway apparently (but not really, of course) died. The crew had a memorial service in which ''every'' cast member made a speech about how awesome Janeway was. [[SF Debris]] pointed out that this scene was twice as long as Spock's funeral in ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''.

**** It may or may not be significant that Jeri Taylor was one of ''[[Quincy]]''{{'}}s most prolific writers.

** [[Russell T. Davies]] was all about this trope, particularly in the Ninth Doctor's run, where most episodes had a criticism of some sort. The man himself has acknowledged putting his beliefs on religion into his work, pointing to its banning in ''[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E2S27/E02 The End of the World|The End of the World]]'' as an example. The [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E4S27/E04 Aliens of London|Slitheen]] [[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S1 E5S27/E05 World War Three|two-parter]] is one long [[Take That]] against the then-current Iraq War.

* [[Aaron Sorkin]] often used ''[[Studio 60 Onon the Sunset Strip]]'' as a soapbox to air his thinly-disguised personal grievances, particularly to vicariously lecture [[Kristin Chenoweth|his ex-girlfriend]]. This also happened in ''[[The West Wing]]'' when internet critics hurt his feelings. ''The West Wing'' at least had the advantage of being pretty spot on, and quite funny, with political beliefs getting aired at least making sense in context. ''Studio 60''... not so much. On the other hand, Studio 60 appeared aimed to a be a Red State/Blue State love story, so political rants and banter were to be expected.

* Much of Series Two of ''[[Extras]]'' - in particular, the parts dealing with Andy's sitcom - seemed to be [[Ricky Gervais]] and [[Stephen Merchant]] explaining in great detail how their naturalistic style of comedy was infinitely superior to anyone else's.

** In an instance that might be called "Actor On Board", ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' has Detective Sergeant [[John Munch]], whose utter devotion to the civil liberties of every human being stops rather abruptly at the right to end one's own life. This character is played by an actor (Richard Belzer), an actor whose own father committed suicide.

** To be fair, this was because [[J. Michael Straczynski|JMS]] wanted to specifically avoid a [[Creator's Pet]] or Top Gun pilots. And he only included such cliches when [[Executive Meddling]] made him. The one time a teen character appeared as part of a legitimate story (the awakened Psi-burglar) she's crucial to the plot (and a key to the Wham of the Season 1 story!) and gets her ideal ending.

* A very early episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'', "Emancipation", was centered on Samantha Carter becoming a [[Blithe Spirit]] on a planet where [[No Woman's Land|women were oppressed in every way possible]]. The feminist message was conveyed with all the subtlety of a naquadah explosion, and it wasn't exactly the show's best episode. The events from it were [[Canon Dis ContinuityDiscontinuity|never mentioned again]].

** In fairness to the writers, this was during a period where just about ''all'' [[Prime Time]] tvTV shows had some ackwardawkward and obvious addition of greenessgreenness to it; being uber earth friendly was like the chickenpox for all the major networks.

{{quote| '''Willow''': And you know, what happened with Xander, it doesn't compare. Not with what you and I had. Not with whatever you've been doing with her.}}

* ''[[The Wire]]'' {{'}}s lead producer/writer David Simon (a former writer with the ''Baltimore Sun'') devoted most of the fifth season to serve as a backing groundbackground for his views on the state of the newspaper industry. While the season still has great moments peppered throughout, it is increasingly bogged down with subplots about a rookie newspaper writer at the ''Baltimore Sun'' who can't believe her stories keep getting buried in the paper, another reporter who outright lies and distorts facts to string the public along about a serial killer's whereabouts, and a city editor whose only defining characteristic is that he always adheres to truth and honesty. In any other series, these characters would have had time to grow and change, but after only ten episodes, the show ends, and the audience barely knows more about them than they did at the beginning of the season. Also, compared to the themes of the previous seasons (which focused on the drug trade, the rise of a criminal leader, corrupt politicanspoliticians and the state of Baltimore's school system), having an episode where two reporters get ''a story published'' just isn't as exciting. Some people accused Simon of using the show as a vehicle to air out his own personal grievances with the ''Sun''.

* Why would the producers of ''[[Dallas]]'' make an entire season [[All Just a Dream]] just to bring back one character? Answer: They didn't. Executive producer [[Leonard Katzman]] wanted that entire season retconned out of existence because the misogynistic Katzman hated that the women on the show had been made into much stronger characters during his absence from production. Bringing back Bobby Ewing was just a bonus.

* All three of the ''[[Blake's Seven|Blakes Seven7]]'' episodes written by Ben Steed [[Character Derailment|trample characterisation]] for the sake of sexism. In "The Harvest of Kairos" Supreme Commander Servalan goes meekly along with the manly Jarvik (rather than killing him, which was statistically more likely). "Moloch" had women as helpless victims; Servalan is briefly added to their number, and she doesn't do much more than look outraged. "Power" featured a war of the sexes and an [[Author Filibuster|uncharacteristic sermon]] from Avon -- usuallyAvon—usually an equal-opportunity misanthropist -- aboutmisanthropist—about how he, as a man, would always be stronger than a woman.

* Alan Alda began writing episodes for the later seasons of ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|M*A*S*H]]'' and the show tended to become his personal soapbox when those episodes were aired.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' did this at least twice, with one episode in which Laura Roslin was forced to weigh the consequences of protecting a woman's right to an abortion with the need to protect the small amount of human life that was left, and again with another episode which Tyrol was used to champion the greatness of organized labor. In the Battlestar Galactica podcast, Ronald D. Moore admitted that he was engaging in this trope with these two episodes, but that he basically didn't care.

* ''[[Funky Winkerbean]]'' usually dips only occasionally into Tom Batiuk's views. However, in mid-September of 2009, he suddenly ran a plotline in which a group of angry parents protest a production of ''Wit'', a play about "cancer" and "death". As Batiuk's own dip into these two topics was a source of mockery and harsh criticism (mainly due to his lack of skill in shifting a gag-per-day strip into [[Cerebus Syndrome|heavy drama]]), it was pretty obvious that he still had a chip on his shoulder.

* During the last few years of Jonny Hart's life, ''[[BC|B.C.]]'' was increasingly dominated by his [[The Fundamentalist|fundamentalist]] Christian religious beliefs. Despite being ostensibly set in the ''Stone Age''.

* When the setting information for a tabletop game includes slaves, the authors quite often feel the need to throw in an aside about how bad slavery is/was in the real world. This is presumably in case anyone is [[Viewers are Morons|thick]] enough to read "here's a fictional country that practices slavery, like countless civilizations in [[Real Life]] history" as "let's all keep slaves". ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'' works dealing with it go out of their way to say that, according to the game's [[Character Alignment]] system, slavery is always and only an evil act. A supplement for ''[[Exalted]]'' on the economy of the setting took this to its logical extreme by opening with an [[Author Filibuster]] about how great it is that we don't practice slavery anymore. A notable aversion is ''[[Vampire: The Requiem|Requiem for Rome]]'', set during the Roman Empire, where slavery is presented as just part of the setting without any hand-wringing (even though it's noted vampires are ''brutal'' to their slaves). Given the flack some supplements, such as Charnel Houses of Europe, received, this may not be unreasonable behavior.

** ''[[GURPS]]'' provides detailed rules for owning slaves including possible slave personalities which range from "fanatically violent hatred of being a slave" to "unable to think for himself". Of course, laws about slaves are presented (realistically) as equally wide -ranging and remains totally quiet on the morality of owning slaves.

* ''[[The Chronicles of Fate]]''. The [[Myth Arc|entire theme]] of this setting is basically one big anarchist message about how [[Family-Unfriendly Aesop|society is bad]]. That's it. That's all it's about. [[Railroading|You cannot play a good character who believes in law, order, and following the rules in this world]]. Everyone who does those things is, [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil|by definition, evil in this sitting]]. [[Inverted Trope|Only people who practice chaos and freedom are heroes]]. Perhaps the creator of this setting is [[Anvilicious|trying to say something]] about their views on anarchy vs civilized society?

* In an example of [[Tropes Are Not Good]], ''[[FATAL]]''. Read the page for more information.

* ''[[Venus Envy]]''. Most noticeable in the frequent [[Filler|fillersfiller]]s, in which she cries about everything from persecution of transgendered people to the war in Iraq. The main story only seems like a story in comparison to the filler, since it limits itself to just one theme (don't beat on TGs). Still extremely writer-heavy.

* [[Living with Insanity|David Herbert]] does this occasionally, but sometimes the message [http://www.livingwithinsanity.com/index/?p=290 can be a good one.]{{Dead link}}

* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'''s Zach Weiner is a vocal atheist (or as he refers to himself, a [https://web.archive.org/web/20140717165059/http://www.theweinerworks.com/?p=326 Mesognostic]), and occasionally does comics mocking religion.

* Tropes sites - both [[TV Tropes]] and [[All The Tropes]] itself- hashave shades of this. Editors will frequently inject their opinion about something they don't like, usually starting with [[This Troper]]. Subjective Tropes pages have plenty of these.

* ''[[Homestar Runner|]]'': The Brothers Chaps]] seem to have a low opinion of celebrity-endorsed activism, and made [https://web.archive.org/web/20131111131248/http://www.homestarrunner.com/pistols4pandas.html a cartoon] portraying the concept as essentially a ridiculous scam that never really helps anyone. However, [[Tropes Are Not Bad]], and said cartoon is gut-bustingly hilarious.

* ''[[Family Guy]]'', especially post-revival, has many cases of this. Brian is frequently a mouthpiece for the writers' liberal political views, and other characters occasionally fill the role as well. Characters with dissenting views -- conservativeviews—conservative Christians, pro-lifers, Republicans, Southerners, people who practice abstinence, radical feminists, etc. -- are frequently portrayed as being [[Strawman Political|dumber than dirt]].

** Though in the episode ''FOX-y Lady'', Brian's flaws are pointed out perfectly. {{spoiler|Lois was ordered by her new employers at [[Fox News]] to expose [[Michael Moore]]'s (theorized) homosexuality. When it is discovered [[Rush Limbaugh]] is (possibly) his lover, the exposé is cut. Brian is repulsed by Fox News avoiding the truth to protect a fellow conservative, but urges Lois to do the story anyways to nail Limbaugh. Lois asks why this is any different than Fox trying to discredit Moore. Brian stammeringly claims it is OKokay because he is admitting his hypocrisy}}.

* ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'': "Eugene, Eugene!" demonstrated this and [[Adaptation Decay]] with a [[Show Within a Show]], by having a guy who's just been spurned by his girlfriend direct a production of a musical, and completely changing its ending to reflect his own life.

* [[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]: Since [[Insufferable Genius|being condescending]] and [[Soapbox Sadie|outspoken about her beliefs]] was partly built into her characterization, [[The Simpsons|Lisa Simpson]] has frequently been used as a mouthpiece, though she is [[Lampshade Hanging|frequently acknowledged as being annoying to those around her]].

** In an example of Guest Star on Board, [[Paul McCartney|Paul]] and Linda McCartney only agreed to appear in the episode where Lisa becomes a vegetarian on the condition that she remain a vegetarian for the rest of the series. On the other hand, Paul and Linda end the episode by telling Lisa that even if she doesn't approve of other people eating meat, it ''isn't'' okay to force them to change or shove her own vegatarian choices down their throats – a lesson that is almost immediately ignored when Lisa manages to turn her "apology" into explaining how her ''father'' was wrong.

** Though it's undoubtedly a fact that Bob Skir derailed almost all of the ''[[Beast Wars'']] characters, the matter cannot be entirely blamed on him alone. On his website, Skir admitted that Hasbro specifically hired him because he had no prior experience with Transformers and they even ordered him not to watch ''[[Beast Wars]]''. Bob Skir receives the most flack for ''Beast Machines'' because out of all the writers and producers on the show, he was the one who made himself the most accessible to the fans (which resulted in him having to cancel a Botcon appearance due to death threats). Others (such as Marty Isenberg and many other writers on the show) received no such backlash from the fandom, even though they played an equal part in making ''Beast Machines'' what it is.

* ''[[South Park]]'' has, in later seasons, become nothing but a vehicle for [[Trey Parker and Matt Stone|Trey and Matt]] to dispense whatever magical wisdom they feel obliged to share with us.

* Some say that Butch Hartman's ''extremely'' unsympathetic portrayal of the popular and rich kids in both ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' and ''[[The Fairly Odd ParentsOddParents]]'' is his way of showing how bad rich kids can be if they abuse their position, while taking it [[Up to Eleven]] and almost making them [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]s. Then again, the protagonists of both shows have rich girls as love interests; not to mention Danny ultimately {{spoiler|ends up with a rich girl, though she hides her wealth to avoid fake friendship}}.

** When {{spoiler|said rich girl's parents are shown as absolute [[Jerkass|Jerk Asses]]es and pretty much [[Jack Chick]] clones while the girl is a [[Soapbox Sadie]] who hates them and pushes her ultra-radical views on EVERYONE}}, the point about Hartman's hatred of the rich and popular people stands.

* ''[[Bionicle]] 3: Web of Shadows'' deliberately jerked protagonist Toa Vakama [[Out-of-Character Moment|out of character]] for the entire movie, because the writers thought that him becoming a traitor would be more dramatic than, you know, someone to whom it might have made sense to play that role. So they [[Character Derailment|derailed him]] to be more reckless, foolish (the exact opposite of how what he was like in the previous movie) and dangerously misguided (... again), and the other characters consequently acted meaner toward him. Also, this fit in well with their plans to make the movie one giant ''[[Star Wars]]'' - [[Homage]]. The ''real'' ''Bionicle'' writer detests this story to this day, although many fans think that he managed to handle it quite well in the novelization, and admittedly, this made Matau's [[Character Development]] all the more engaging and lead up to a powerful (if highly clichéd) [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].

[[Category:Tropes of Legend{{PAGENAME}}]]