YMMV / Tactical Cupcakes

• Character Perception Evolution: Updike was initially perceived negatively by many fans, even by T.C. herself. But after "Howdy Cloudy" came out, revealing Updike and Cloud are an adoptive family, Updike was quickly redeemed in the community as a result of the character's lighter side being shown through the plot twist.
• Creepy Awesome: The more grounded threats presented by Lia and Updike led to them gaining a good amount of popularity as reoccurring villains.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Because of Mid-Fight Masses content no longer being made, Sarvente and Ruv are often referred to as either "[REDACTED]" or "[DATA EXPUNGED]".
  • Updike is commonly referred to "Updad" by fans, due to him being Cloud's adoptive father. The official Discord even has an emote of the same name. It is also an already popular joke among FNF mod fans to give Updike nicknames based on his actual name.
• Narm: The love triangle arc, with T.C. and Ruv both wanting to win over Sarvente, came to an end after a series of Real Life Writes the Plot occurrences, with Ruv being victorious. Then, the new couple had to be retconned, leaving with an emotional final appearance. However, despite it being played as serious, the speed in which Ruv gets with Sarvente, T.C. finding out, coping with being friend-zoned, only for the couple to immediately leave LORE makes it unintentionally humorous.
• Realism-Induced Horror: Lia and Updike are arguably the scariest of the series' villains because they have little in the way of exaggerated traits or powers, and are people one could imagine meeting in real life.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Garcello’s death. It’s even sadder than it was in the actual mod, because T.C. is shown to be really torn up about his death. The LOREmix makes this even more heartwrenching with the added dialogue between T.C. and Garcello, especially after he dies.
  • It’s Complicated is painful and rather uncomfortable to watch. For context, T.C. is enjoying a dream date with Dream!Sarvente (courtesy of Sky), it quickly goes awry as T.C.’s insecurities manifest in Dream!Sarvente, who begins to berate and mock her for ever thinking that T.C. had a chance. For anyone who has ever been insecure or worried about being rejected this harshly (or even have been), this can hit close to home. Thankfully it’s not the actual Sarvente saying this, but it’s still heartbreaking.
    • Then comes the It's Complicated remix, in which TC stops by the church after hanging out with Skylar, Ski and Senpai, and comes across the sight of Sarv and Ruv engaged in premarital hand-holding. Prior to the episode, Ruv confessed his own feelings for Sarvente, and now TC has found out about it, and has taken it as the sign that she's lost her chance. She spends the song looking completely miserable, and Sarv can only look at her in concern, wondering why she's upset to begin with.
  • Sarvente and Ruv parting ways from the LORE Friends as of Parish LOR Emix. In a meta case, it's because of the Fanwork Ban on usage of the Mid-Fight Masses characters, in-universe it's because Sarvente and Ruv see themselves as Doom Magnets, and don't want their friends to get hurt because of it. TC and Tankman in particular take the news the least well, actually tearing up over it, though TC at least gets to properly say goodbye to them through the song.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Fans of Mid-Fight Masses were understandably not pleased when Sarvente and Ruv had to be Put on a Bus.
• The Woobie: T.C. just can't catch a break. Even putting aside her Dark and Troubled Past, she's constantly antagonized by villains such as Drip Spirit, Lia and Updike, had to witness at least one person she's friends with die in front of her, ended up actually dying in one episode (though she got better), and the one person she had a crush on ended up with someone else (with said person and their other having to leave the group later due to Real Life Writes the Plot).
• Unexpected Character: Updike being a major antagonist is a big one, since his only appearance in his source mod was a single (hidden) song with no dialogue.