krait: a common krait on dusty ground (common krait)
[personal profile] gramarye1971 suggested the "Badass Normal" trope, where an unenhanced character holds their own against superpowered or supernatural competition.

This is another trope that I really don't think about as a thing in itself, but I definitely have a number of canons where it features!

Discussion and canon recs below the cut )

Since I'm not accustomed to thinking about this trope as a distinct thing, I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts and recs. What characters do you consider prime examples? Where do you draw the line for "normal," especially for characters who have long-running arcs that lead to significant increases in power/skill?

Time travel

Sep. 7th, 2019 10:53 am
krait: a sea snake (krait) swimming (Default)
Welp. More than a month ago, I said I wanted to post about some tropes I enjoy, and asked for prompts. [personal profile] schneefink suggested time travel.

It turns out... I don't actually have a lot of thoughts about time travel. :D I'm not drawn to time-traveling plots in canons. Ficwise, I could only think of a handful of stories I've enjoyed that used the trope, and my primary enjoyment wasn't the time travel itself, but the tropes that sometimes accompany it.

Mainly, time travel is a great vehicle for identity porn, or setting up pairings that would otherwise be impossible in canon. :D

Edit: [personal profile] dancing_serpent mentioned the Fish Out of Water trope, and that's definitely a trope I love, as well! I can't think of any time-travel stories where this is co-starring trope, except perhaps H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, but I'd love suggestions.



Anyway, have some fic recs

In My End is My Beginning by Lilith Sedai. The first time-travel fic I really remember reading! A nice blend of the two reasons for time-travel tropes: identity porn (because Obi-Wan can't reveal that he knows Qui-Gon), and smut (featuring adult!Obi-Wan and knight!Qui-Gon). :D

This time travel threesomes Yuri on Ice Yuuri/Victor series by seventhstar. I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, the porn or the little hints about how time travel is a regular phenomenon in this world. More AUs like this, please?

To Memory Now I Can't Recall MCU Bucky/Steve fic by Etharei - excellent weaving of actions and timestreams, which can be tricky.

If the bad time are coming let 'em come MCU Bucky/Steve by Suzukiblu. Winter Soldier does the time-travelling, runs into tiny!Steve.

Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square MCU Bucky/Steve fic by Speranza - The Avengers find a time portal. Steve jumps right in. This proves to be a dumber move than jumping out of a plane without a parachute, and the team has to go in and find him and get him out to undo the damage he's done to the present day.

It's Not Nostalgia by Zekkass - MCU Bucky/big!Steve/little!Steve threesome porn.

All that You Need to Say Nirvana in Fire Jingyan/Mei Changsu fic by Kitsunealyc. Jingyan travels years into the past in a desperate attempt to cure Mei Changsu's mysterious illness. Identity porn abounds, as Jingyan has to pretend he doesn't know Mei Changsu, while Lin Shu pretends he doesn't know Jingyan.



If you have a favourite time-travel fic or canon, please share!
krait: a sea snake (krait) swimming (Default)
I've been thinking lately how much I enjoy talking about the fictional tropes I love, so it seemed smart to open the field to prompts.

If you have a particular trope you'd like me to ramble on about, please comment with it! I need an excuse to post more, and to come up with more varied recs.
krait: Edward Elric being handed a piece of paper by Roy (next assignment)
In an effort to keep myself on track with various things, including posting, here's a round-up of where my current fannish efforts are focused.

Rewatching Nirvana in Fire
I've just started this, so if anyone wants to join in - either rewatching, or as a first-time viewing - I'd love to have company. :D At the moment I'm just four episodes in. If other people are interested in watching along, we can come up with a specific schedule and I'll make regular posts designated for discussion! If it ends up being just me, I'll probably be quieter about it; I feel like I've flooded everyone with NiF reactions lately, and you've all been very patient about it and deserve a break in return. :D

Reading Yami no Matsuei
I started this a while ago but got sidetracked, so I plan to start over at the beginning. I'll try to post after each volume completed, to avoid being sidetracked again. No specific schedule in mind, but I should manage at absolute minimum a volume a week.

Watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
Believe it or not, I've never watched FMA:B before! I didn't want to watch it before finishing the manga, and when I'd finished the manga it wasn't readily available, so it's taken me all this time to get round to it. :D The first anime will probably always be my true love, but for completion's sake I do want to get through Brotherhood as well. There may not be much to post about, though, given that this is the third incarnation of FMA for me.

Reading new SF/F from my To-Be-Read Pile
Most of my reading thus far this year has been rereading, but this pile needs to shrink, and this year is as good as any. :D No idea what will call to me first when I start going through it, but as long as I pick something, it's progress! (Reminder to self: take a picture of the pile and post it!)

Rec Some Fics
The lack of fic recs in this journal is just sad. Gotta get back in that rec habit, even if it means stumbling through different ideas on how to approach it till I hit on one that works. (By fandom, by trope, by length?) DW friends, if you have suggestions for recs you'd like to see, now is the time to toss them out here! I had fun posting about Identity Porn, and I've made at least one other post about a beloved trope before, so maybe that's a good approach. Or maybe it should be under a separate heading like "Write Some Meta" that would include stuff like characterisation notes and thoughts on archive warnings.
krait: Kuranosuke asleep on a sofa (sleepy Kura)
Today's Journaling January prompt from [personal profile] extrapenguin was Identity Porn


This is a trope that I really enjoy, and also find really difficult to describe. It's an umbrella kink that encompasses several different aspects of narrative play around the concept of identity.

The most general definition I can give is this: "Identity Porn" is a narrative examination of the tension caused by a character's efforts to conceal their identity in some way, or by uncertainty about their true identity. Stricter definitions might exclude the latter clause, but I feel that an identity "concealed" by outside interference from all parties can also meet the emotional and narrative beats of the Identity Porn trope.


Setup
Superheroes are the classic example, perhaps because of the double-whammy (a superhero passing as a regular person is in essence maintaining two concealed identities) but Identity Porn comes with lots of options. Spies, undercover detectives, clones, celebrities, military operatives, dethroned royalty, crossdressers, revenge seekers, amnesiacs, and time-travellers all get a slice of the Identity Porn pie! Identity is a complicated and very personal concept, so it makes sense that any kind of long-term manipulation of identity is going to pull a lot of emotional strings.

Discussion and Related Tropes )

Canon Recs for Identity Porn )

Fic Recs for Identity Porn )

So there you have it, lots of rambling about Identity Porn. :D If you have recs for other canons or fics, or thoughts on what makes this trope satisfying, please comment with them!
krait: Edward Elric being handed a piece of paper by Roy (next assignment)
A couple weeks ago I asked nonnies to talk me into trying Nirvana in Fire, and the first response of "watch if you like this stuff" was a list that was practically custom-tailored to my id. The list as it was given to me is below the cut!

If you like any or all of: )

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