Sometimes, a storytelling convention gets so overused that it starts to be parodied. Eventually, the parody or inversion of the convention BECOMES the new convention. The idea that a story's protagonists could be the "popular clique" and that they are actually pleasant people may seem remarkably old-fashioned to older readers. To younger readers, that sounds so iconoclastic, it may just be innovative. Or stupid. Perhaps this isn't used anymore because of the assumption that people in the "in crowd" don't have any challenges they need to overcome. We'll see... Of course, we can't completely abandon stock characters and established types. If EVERYONE plays completely against type, the reader will find it hard to relate. The elf who wanted to be a dentist still wore the pointy hat.