What is the WORST arc?

Tie between TBC and AVOS, but if you threatened my life and told me to pick one of those, I'd probably go with AVOS.

I’m probably not qualified to answer this, because I can’t remember/haven’t read some of the arcs. But from what I do remember: OOTS.

OOTS is one giant mess after another. The entire arc is built on retcons, poor planning, and plot lines that go absolutely nowhere in the end. Sure, this isn’t the only arc to suffer from this, but this one felt the most obvious. IMO, POT is largely responsible for a lot of OOTS problems, but the only reason I don’t consider it to be the worst is because the characters were good enough to carry the story despite lack of overarching plot. OOTS doesn’t have that.

The idea of the Three is one of the worst executed ideas. I don’t understand how they were even able to proceed with writing POT without figuring out Hollyleaf’s power. Killing her off at the last second, bringing in a new character and slapping a random power onto her does not make up for it. I liked Dovewing enough (can’t remember her now, so no opinion currently) but I hate the entire plot line involving her powers. I hate all of the powers to be honest, because in the end it was a gigantic waste of time. They didn’t do anything special in the end battle. And once it was all over, their powers were taken away. What is the point? There’s not one. It was a waste of time, just like this arc was.

We figure out Cinderpelt was reincarnated so that she could live the life she never got, only to find out, oh wait, that’s not the case. She was just possessing Cinderheart like that’s somehow better, and now that it’s the last book we can just let it all go because she magically found the happiness she was looking for. But before that, we need to waste time with pointless angst between her and Lionblaze so that he can have something to do in this arc.

And if we didn’t have enough arguments, we of course need Dovewing and Ivypool to fight and hate each other, so we can give Ivypool motivation to go to the Dark Forest. If only we had another character who went to the Dark Forest who would’ve been better suited for that… but wait, we already killed off that plot line in the last arc, so we need to shove someone else into this plot line. But we’re not going to actually make her do her job by reporting back. Oh, but wait, in the last book we find out that her sister with the powers can hear into the spirit realm anyway. Why couldn’t she do this before and spare Ivypool the torture of having to train in the Dark Forest? I don’t know!

And if that wasn’t enough arguing for you, we have the aftermath of the Squirrelflight, Leafpool, Brambleclaw drama. There’s also the Millie and Blossomfall drama that goes no where and is never resolved. We also have all of the weird ghost stuff with Rock, Midnight, and the ancients that doesn’t really go anywhere. Oh, plot twist, they’re ghosts in the end! At least the ancients were a set up for DOTC, but why did we need this really? To figure out Jay, Lion, and Dove were reincarnated from three random cats who barely appear and never did anything special worth reincarnation? Because that plot point was incredibly important in the end and wasn’t totally forgotten and never mentioned again after it was finished.

And we can’t forget the love triangle now.

Oh, but now Hollyleaf’s back from the dead! She was alive all along. But now she’s dead for real. And so is Firestar in a death scene so confusing people still don’t understand what happened a decade later. I’m so glad the main character who started it all went down in the most confusing way possible during one of the worst arcs. It sure made everything else feel worth it. I’m so glad we spent 12 books building this entire plotline up. /s

So yeah. That’s my opinion on it. Maybe there’s worse, but I can only judge what I remember.

Too many video essay watchers. They hear word about the survival rate of female characters and that's all she wrote (no pun intended)

I think it's unfair to say it's just that. I don't hate DotC, in fact I initially ranked it as the better ones on my first reading. But I do feel as if I were forcing my enjoyment of it because of the topic, looking back. I will probably be much more critical this time.

DotC's characters are noticeably weaker than those of PoT and OotS, with the exception of Gray Wing, Clear Sky (at first) and Tall Shadow. The new team has had a problem with this for a long time, and DotC is no exception. There is a lot of underutilization of characters and the fact that a lot of them keep dying too early is part of this.

The plot also leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn't go into the creation of the code, or the creation of even the naming structure. Much of the early series drags a bit, and after the well-done third book, it shoots itself in the foot with Clear Sky's redemption, which was handled quite badly. There's also more of the "random event" problem with the sickness that doesn't really figure into the whole arc. Everything about Tom is also badly plotted out and barely makes sense.

As for the antagonists, they removed their best, and replaced them with One Eye, who is very bog standard as a threat, and gets way too much credit imo (probably because Slash replaces him, and he's even less convincing). Clear Sky pretty much gets his way without really changing at all, and other characters have to twist around to forgive him when he never deserved it. Slash is also a cheap replacement for earlier antagonists, and the rogue conflict felt tacked on so that they could introduce more cats into the clan by the end.

I read the first few books of DOTC back when it first came out, and I was actually really excited to leave behind the modern cast and see how the clans were founded. I just ended up finding it very poorly written.

I’m surprised DOTC has so many votes. I remember people used to think it was one of the best series (myself included.) It has its problems for sure, but I didn’t know it was so hated.

i've seen Bumble brought up a few times but its not a common topic so i don't think that's the driving factor for most people

i will say that the forums' prevalent opinions tend to be in a minority trend compared to the fandom at large, so it could very well be that DOTC is well loved elsewhere and there's just an uncommonly higher concentration of haters here

DoTC is (was?) very popular on forums, Reddit and English-speaking Youtube; but outside of that, this Arc has been largely shunned by many people, or heavily criticized for everything that has been mentioned in this thread.

POT is probably my least favorite for having the least compelling overall story to the arc. There's a lot of parts in the arc that I like, but I feel like it has a higher proportion of stuff that feels kind of like a slog to me (Outcast is probably my least favorite main arc book).

DOTC is also probably one of my favorite arcs. There's definitely issues with it, but at least they weren't afraid to kill characters off. It felt closer in spirit to TPB than most of the later arcs do imo.

I'm kinda surprised OotS doesn't have more votes. I thought that arc was way more disliked.

i was so frustrated reading about needletail's nonsense and i really disliked violetshine so after avos i havent been able to finish books the same way i could before

The only saving grace that DotC has is new characters and concepts, the story itself had so many plot holes, rushed scenes, and lacks good character development. There's so much you can do in just 6 books. On the other hand AVoS was good at the star then fell off on the second half, even if it was necessary, Darktail should have lasted at least another book.

Noooo AVOS my beloved

To be entirely honest, DOTC is abysmally poor, the plot doesn't plot, the characters don't character, and the conflict reads like the minutes of a 3rd-grader model UN club meeting

AVoS and TBC are the only arcs I don't like to read. They both have the same problems not memorable main characters I think TBC is better in this but if you take the 3 main outside of the plot there is nothing to them whatsoever. They are purely plot devices. And the plot itself isn't even that interesting imo. They both drag on for far too long and are super repetative.