Fanfic Overused trope done right
Fanfic has its fair share of Original Character fics. Most of them are written by aspiring teenage writers as their first story, hence why most OC stories are infamous for their bad grammar and plot inconsistency. Attack on Titan: A Blacksmith Tale has none of those egregious mistakes.
Our star character at first seems to be your average cardboard guy that brings nothing interesting to the table. He comes from a wealthy family that resides within Wall Sina, which makes you think why would someone like him even want to risk his life slaying titans on the battlefield. All of this is explained later in the story. The story reaches to a point where the MC brings out more than his cardboard traits, a gift, to be precise. This is where big changes occur.
Does that mean that the story will become a generic shonen that uses that Power of Friendship to win every single challenge? No, far from it. This is Attack on Titan, people here have the short end of the stick. When The Gift is revealed, it causes a shift in the behavior of a lot of characters, which is the realistic way to handle the unknown. A lot of pressure will befall our main character, which will trigger his Sanity Slippage, and his own girl has trouble coping with it. This change alters the original formula of the story.
The story doesn't follow canon to the letter. It changes drastically, which is a breather considering the infamy of these types of stories.
The MC doesn't steal the spotlight from the canon characters. Each character has its fair share of badassery as the story continues its progress. It adds the balance that the majority of OC stories lack. Of course, sometimes this is not enough. In my opinion, I feel that Eren is slightly underutilized in this story. In some scenes, he even feels like a side character.
With all of this said, Attack on Titan: A Blacksmith's Tale is the prime example of what happens when the author of an OC story is being diligent in his work. It's a great story with an intriguing MC which fits surprisingly well in the plot, in Attack on Titan of all series.
Fanfic Smart, Dilligent, yet drawn out and peppered with errors
I do like this story, truly, but as it's gone on certain arcs have vastly overstayed their welcome. Chief among them is the "Dillon feels sorry for himself" character arc that has gone on since the 57th Expedition and has not stopped.
Pros: -In the beginning I really enjoyed how Dillon, being a psion, operates as a wild card in-universe and humans/titans both can't really deal with him. It's a way to make a character unique but without being a Mary Sue. Even the way it was weaved into canon as a Marleyen experiment to mass produce Founding Titans.
-I like how things are slightly better in this universe, with characters living longer or not dying at all because of Dillon, Annie and their efforts
-The characterization for the side characters of the 104th and the Survey Corps, especially Sasha, is top notch. I've grown to care for them more than the main cast because of a con I'll mention later.
Cons: -Due to the nature of this fic and when it was written, Crod's established universe has been very much Outdated by Canon. Which is beginning to become a detriment. I truly worry where some things end up going because we're in full AU territory at this point.
-A few spelling errors here and there, but nothing to lose sleep over.
-The pacing would be good with a more consistent schedule, but due to both issues that I'm sure I don't need to know and the author's insistence on cramming in original storylines inbetween the big arcs, we have been stuck in Uprising for over a year. Which is disconcerting when there's so much good content, that I am certain a creative person like Crod can do wonders with, that we're nowhere close to seeing.
-Designated Monkey. There is a very clear bias against certain characters based on the author's opinions. Ymir and Eren being at the top of the list. A lot of page time is dedicated to petty insults and there's no attempt by other members of the cast to even talk to them about these things.
-Finally, as I alluded too before. I'm done with Dillon's Wangst. Crod has officially spent way too much time making Dillon's life as dismal as possible to the point that it's hurting the narrative. He doesn't want to cooperate with the Survey Corps, he rarely interacts with people besides Annie in a positive way anymore and he finds a way to injure himself every other chapter. It's just gotten absurd.
In conclusion, it's a 6/10 from me at this point. I know it can get better, but some of these things need to change.