[Hated Trope] Crossovers that fundamentally don’t understand the source material

[u/Calvinball08]

When a crossover basically does the exact opposite of what the source material clearly lays out because the creators clearly just don’t care about the source material at all.

Emil - Dead by Daylight

The one that inspired this post. Emil as a character is the most hopeful, optimistic, and kind character in the entire NieR series, maybe in all of Yoko Taro’s games (maybe aside from Yonah). His goal is to help as many people as he possibly can and even when he goes through immense suffering he always comes out the other side ready to keep on helping people.

Then Dead by Daylight adds him as a killer skin, because “he looks creepy.” You know, the aspect of the character that’s his biggest struggle, that causes him to be scared of how people will judge him, and that makes him hate himself. That’s what we’ll base our entire concept on. Genius idea.

Iron Giant - Ready Player One

Technically you could argue that it’s not an example because it’s just a part of the game and Wade is the one misunderstanding the source material. To that I raise you that this is actually an in universe example of the trope, with the game including the Iron Giant as a crossover where you can use him as a weapon, thereby misunderstanding the source material.

Also it’s probably the filmmakers completely misunderstanding the source material/not caring as well.

[u/Pathetic_Cards]

Eh, I liked it. But my standards are kinda low. It was a fun read, it definitely wasn’t a literary masterpiece.

I like it better than the movie because it at least feels like it’s pulling from the author’s genuine affection for the things it’s referencing, the film feels a little more soulless. But the back half of the book is a little soulless too, so… yeah.

It’s not a long book, it’s fine. If it were any longer it probably wouldn’t be, which is why I imagine the sequel is not well-liked.

[u/HomerJunior → u/Pathetic_Cards]

The first book is a (somewhat clumsy) love letter to 80s pop culture and is one of the worst books I've ever loved. The second book exists because Cline got a contract to make one, and I gave up on it within 2 chapters - specifically due to a 867-5309 reference that was then called out in the narration just in case we missed it, instead of letting the obvious reference sit on its own.

[u/Arbusc → u/Pathetic_Cards]

The sequel is kinda dogshit. It undoes some character development, has a dead character sort of come back as a villain and acts contrary to everything the first story said, and the characters more or less end up in the same position as they did at the start.

His not-Last Starfighter book is much better in comparison.