YMMV / The Next Step

• Adorkable: Noah. He is on the smaller side for most of the series and, while genuinely sweet and kind-hearted, very awkward.
• Badass Decay: Amanda begins the series as a confident antagonist, but by Season 4 her role is mainly to serve as the comedic relief.
• Designated Hero:
  • Kate is portrayed as the well-meaning adult figure to the dancers, despite making many questionable decisions that she never has to atone for such as telling a room full of teenagers that Chloe stole from her despite not having concrete proof, and going out of her way to imply that Amanda, a teenaged girl, is a weak dancer.
• Seasonal Rot:
  • Season 4 received a particularly negative reception, with many fans considering it to be the low point of the series. Much criticism was aimed at the increasingly absurd storylines, overuse of older characters, underdevelopment of newer characters and the 40-episode length. A particular storyline that was panned was a love triangle between the characters of James, Riley and Alfie, as this storyline had already been done in the show's second season between James, Riley and Beth.
  • Season 5 was considered an improvement over Season 4, but contrarily was criticized for the short length of 20 episodes. Another criticism was the recycling of the rivalry between the characters of Emily and Michelle, which had previous been resolved.
  • Season 7 was a downgrade from season 6, which was criticized for it's cringey humor, lackluster storylines such as Danceminia, the love triangle between Piper, Finn and Amy, flanderization of a few characters, like Ozzy and Richelle. Though it improved in Season 8.
• Die for Our Ship:
  • Many fans harbour an outright hatred of Alfie since he is dating Riley and has, thus, broken up the beloved ship Riley and James.
  • This occurred, although to a lesser extent, when fans hated Beth for being with James and breaking up James and Riley.
  • Amy from Piper and Finn shippers.
• Gotta Ship 'Em All: Micheldon, Eldony, Westmily, Huntmily, Jiley, Jamanda, Nomanda, Nochelle, Noaquie, Richozzy, Pinn, Famy, Hamy.... and those are just the ones that have canonically been implied at some point. And not even all of them.
• Les Yay: Michelle and Emily’s relationship in seasons 6 and 7 is barely even subtext. Season 6 has them go to prom together, where they pushed aside the boy they’d both previously been interested in so they could dance together. Then season 7 ramps things up even more with Emily’s devastation at Michelle leaving, Michelle’s secret admirer scavenger hunt for Emily, and Emily leaving to be with Michelle, declaring that she needed to ‘follow her heart’. Most of the canon couples never got scenes so romantic!
• The Scrappy: Good luck finding anyone who liked Alfie - not just because he broke up James and Riley, but because that subplot all but took over the entire season. Not to mention the creepiness factor of him developing a crush on a girl he didn’t know, moving halfway across the world to integrate himself into her life, and then continuing to pursue her even after finding out she already had a boyfriend and wasn’t interested.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Despite the show wanting us to sympathize, Summer in Season 7 calls for a vote about her routine, and when hers isn't chosen she leaves the studio. She's upset, but never atones for or apologizes for her actions.

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