The Action Hero

There are many archetypal characters out there in fiction. To be sure, certain genres attract those archetypes more ferociously than others. High fantasy is full of them, anything with a Shakespearean bend has a handful at least and the same is true for YA fiction.

I like to think that YA has it's own special archetypes which are somewhat derivative of the traditional ones. For me they break down thusly:

The Girl With EMOTIONS - I think we all know what I'm talking about here folks. Yes, I'm looking at you Ms. Meyer. I really am.

Hero/Heroine - The brave, outstandingly heroic and triumphant. The Hero is an archetype which spans any and all genres.

Stalker Boy - This is a disturbing new trend in female oriented fiction. The Heroification of a figure which should be distrusted/reviled/avoided/warned about. Stalker boy is made off as "romantic" and those females who find is behavior disturbing are told they are overreacting. It's not hysteria when he watches you sleeping after climbing in your window. Seriously. You should call the polices.

Chosen One (Yup, it's everywhere) - There is a difference between a hero and a Chosen One. Generally, heroes are brave and have feats of awesome which they can become rather narcissistic about... A Chosen One, on the other hand (see Belgariad, Codex Alera, The Thief, The Blue Sword, etc) has no choice in the matter. They must rise to the challenge whether they want to or not. They can be cocky, sure, but there's a real humanity to them that heroes can lack in their most pure form.
(Note here, read Greek myths, some of those heroes are total jerks)

Sidekick - Coming in three flavors Strong, Comedic and Smart
 Truly, the friends of MC in books tend to fall into these categories. There's the tough guy, the smart girl and the funny guy.

As for me, I know I use archetypes when writing. Hints of Chosen One abound, but I tend to push for "heroic" but not Hero. I want to write characters that flirt with archetypes without necessarily fitting neatly into the little package of descriptors and such that go with them. I want to write people, not classes.

I do enjoy many books with archetypal characters (IE, The Belgariad by David Eddings is a favorite of mine) but I'm not interested in writing them. The trend of YA archetypes/stereotypes is somewhat disturbing to me, to be honest.

Sure, there are some strong females out there that don't rely on men, but why is it the ones everyone points to when reacting to the accusation of "There are no strong females" are emotionally damaged shells by the end of the series. (Hello Katniss). There has to be balance. Balance I say.

What sort of archetypes have you seen in your own writing? Do you avoid them? Embrace them?