Anvilicious / Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped: It goes back and forth on both. For example, "Girl Meets She Doesn't Like Me" is rather unsubtle in saying that you can't control everything but "Girl Meets Rileytown" imparts the important lesson that your friends are there for you if you're in trouble and you shouldn't be afraid to seek out their help.
Arc Fatigue: The Maya/Lucas/Riley Love Triangle. Even Farkle got tired of it. The two-part ski trip episode was all about resolving it once and for all. It's telling even people that shipped/were fine with Rucas (the ship that won and became canon),hated this arc.
Like most Nickelodeon and Disney characters whom she shares the archetype with, Maya. One camp says that she should be the star of the show given how she's a more compelling and interesting character than Riley (and they called it "Maya Meets World" for a while) while the other labels her as a needlessly cruel Jerkass who is taking her Freudian Excuse way too far. Though she isn't nearly as divisive as some others characters (such as Jade, Sam, or Trish) with whom she shares the archetype.
"Girl Meets Mr. Squirrels" breaks it even further. Is Maya throwing up a Jerkass Facade and there really is a nice and sensitive girl in there or is she a thin-skinned Hypocrite who can dish it out but can't take it?
Riley. Is she a boring, goody-goody heroine who doesn't deserve to be the protagonist or a nice girl who is unfairly bashed for daring to hope and smile when life can be cruel?
Lucas, to a lesser extent. Was he a good character or just a boring Satellite Love Interest that the show could have done without?
Farkle was this before he got significant Character Development, at which point he became one of the fandom's favorites.
Cory in "Girl Meets Popular." Was he justified or did he just publicly humiliate his own daughter?
The Josh/Maya romance. Josh was 17 in the first season and Maya was 12-13. The fact that the series seemed to invoke the Jailbait Wait is either Squick or heartwarming.
Is Shawn having broken up with Angela, getting together and then marrying Katy bad writing (with some calling the show racist) or were Shawn and Katy a good couple and it was realistic as it showed even couples that seem great for each other can fall out (and the fact this happened to an interracial couple was purely coincidental)?
Riley being a cloudcuckoolander is either annoying and weird or funny and adorable depending on who you ask.
Designated Protagonist Syndrome: Riley was the recipient of this from a rather Vocal Minority in Season 1 to the point that "Girl Meets Rileytown" was made as a response to these comments.
Missy in "Girl Meets Sneak Attack." All she's doing is crushing on the same boy that Riley was crushing on yet the show treats her like a monster for being proactive in her pursuit of Lucas. Justified though. The characters are twelve.
Farkle in "Girl Meets Belief." All he's done is expressed a differing, and perfectly valid, opinion, yet everyone treats him as being close-minded.
Maya in "Girl Meets Texas" for not believing that Lucas could ride a bull. Bull riding is extremely dangerous; even for trained professionals, never mind someone who's never done it before; and Lucas is only doing it for his grandfather's approval.
Farkle got this for having a crush on Riley and Maya in season 1, with his less savory behavior being blown up into his being an entitled asshole. This died down when he began to mature as a person and toned down his chasing after the girls, and disappeared completely when he and Smackle became an Official Couple.
Riley for the Maya/Lucas shippers, especially when Riley admitted she still had feelings for Lucas and was stepping aside so Maya could have her chance with him.
Fans of Shawn/Angela from the original series were not happy when the two were said to be permanently broken up, with Angela married to someone else. They blamed Katy, Shawn's new love interest, and even went so far as to claim racism over their ship sinking even though Shawn/Angela never had any racial issues attached to it and they were meant to be an example of how sometimes couples just can't work it out no matter how much they love each other.
Charlie was loathed by fans of any given Riley ship due to how entitled he was about wanting to date her. See The Scrappy below.
Family-Unfriendly Aesop: See Maya's stint as a Designated Villain. Clearly you're a bad person if you don't support your friends in an endeavour that has a serious chance of killing them.
Fan-Preferred Couple: Maya/Lucas and Riley/Maya were both way more popular than the canon Riley/Lucas. Josh/Maya also had a big following.
Fanon Discontinuity: Some remove Smackle getting together with Farkle, either so Farkle can get together with Riley and/or Smackle with Lucas.
The whole love triangle. Either Lucas comes clean about his feelings for Maya, he gets together with Riley much faster, or Maya and Riley ditch Lucas for each other.
For some fans, Maya and Lucas gaining feelings for each other in general. Either because of shipping reasons or they felt it led to the eventual love triangle.
Funny Aneurysm Moment: All of Smackle's "socially inept nerd" moments in season one take on a sadder tone when it's revealed she has Asperger's Syndrome and has always struggled to understand people and emotions.
Jerkass Woobie: Ava Morgenstern is a pint-sized diva who bosses Auggie around and always has to have her way, but she also comes from a dysfunctional home where her mother is just as mean to her father. Her parents end up divorcing in the Season 3 opener, and she's hurting quite a bit over it.
Rescued From the Scrappy Heap: Farkle's character development impressed a lot of fans, even those who found him annoying and hated his fixation on Riley and Maya.
Let's just say that Charlie was a bit too entitled when it came to dating Riley and leave it at that.
Riley dipped into this a bit in Season 2 as she became something of a Cloudcuckoolander.
Seasonal Rot: Very few people consider Season 3 to have been bad, but quite a few found it a step down from Season 2.
She Really Can Act: Rowan Blanchard's dramatic performances in "Girl Meets Rileytown."
Ship Mates: In the earliest days of the fandom, before Farkle/Smackle became canon, many a Lucas/Maya fanfic paired him up with Riley.
Rucas shippers either have Maya paired with Zay or Josh.
Ship-to-Ship Combat: In addition to the Riley/Lucas/Maya love triangle, there was Maya/Josh vs Maya/Lucas and even Katy/Shawn vs Shawn/Angela. Farkle/either girl got hit with this early on, but the show sank both by having him get together with Isadora Smackle.
Oddly enough, this was averted when the show also teased Lucas/Smackle, a ship that gained a decent-sized fandom. Possibly because the ship tease was mostly played for laughs and it was clear Smackle and Farkle were meant to be together.
Strawman Has a Point: The cheerleading coach in "Girl Meets Rah-Rah." Riley's Determinator attitude is commendable but, as the coach points out, she lacks the athleticism necessary and she hasn't dedicated herself to the craft as much as the rest of the squad.
Take That, Audience!: Still trying to figure out who Riley's bully was in "Girl Meets Rileytown"? It's the viewers who complained that Riley, and all the "good girls" like her, make for boring protagonists.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Maya in "Girls Meets Mr. Squirrels." You'd think that after all the insults she's thrown Lucas' way, she could handle having one fired back at her. One could make an argument that being teased about her height is a sensitivity button for her, but she's never shown any height issues before.
What Do You Mean It's for Kids?: Like its predecessor, GMW was not scared to tackle serious issues. A prime example is "Girl Meets the Forgiveness Project." Watch that and then remind yourself that there was an Austin & Ally crossover.
Win the Crowd: Some fans of BMW expressed their skepticism of this show in no unsubtle terms when it was first announced. As more of the original cast returned and expressed support for it however, support for it swelled.
Maya. Like Shawn, she's having a bad childhood. Unlike Shawn, it's Played for Drama from the start.
Riley has shades of this during her I Just Want to Be Special moments where she fears she won't measure up to her friends or parents. "Girl Meets Rileytown" however is the prime example of this.
Farkle has many moments of this, especially in "Girl Meets Flaws" when a bully insults him so badly he stops wearing his turtlenecks and hides in the closet during classes.
Smackle. Her Asperger's Syndrome cripples her ability to relate to other people and understand emotions, even when she slowly becomes part of the core group of friends and becomes an Official Couple with Farkle. She completely owns being socially inept, but it doesn't make her feel any better.
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