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rogueslayer452Challenge #11: In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. What is that one (or several!) trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme that grips your attention whenever it pops up in fandom or fanworks? What is it about it that works for you or appeals to you?
Since I have a lot of favorites this was something I had to really think about otherwise we'd be here all day as I write an essay about every single trope/kink/cliche/etc that I love. I decided to go with one that is both popular and beloved as well as polarizing within fandom spaces.
OMEGAVERSE (A/B/O)
Interestingly, I didn't get into the trope into until much later once it entered the fandomsphere, and by that time it has already been evolved and expanded through various fandoms, so I was able to bypass what initially made people so adverse to it in the beginning.
Now, first and foremost, obviously there are the kink elements to Omegaverse that I just personally find incredibly hot. From heats/ruts to the scenting and knotting and biting, and especially with the protective possessiveness and animalistic nature that overcomes the characters either during mating cycles or when they are mated to one another. However, what further attracts me to this trope beyond just those things is how creative and innovative writers have gotten to explore this kind of lore and world-building, including deconstructing the trope itself and finding alternative ways of making it work in their respective canons. For example, I love it when characters are placed in a position of vulnerability as they defy the expectations of how they present in their society, like an Omega who isn't submissive and more rough around the edges or an Alpha who wants to be the one to be bred and marked by their mate. In addition to that, it's also about the exploration of trust between the characters, and fighting against primal instinct and their personal autonomy when it comes to love and intimacy. It can create some really juicy narrative directions while still maintaining that level of hot sexytimes. Yes, I do have some personal dislikes when it comes to it as well, but like with any other trope out there it's how a writer chooses to handle it rather than the trope itself. The the great thing is how fandom has truly grown and experimented with it that I can easily ignore the stories I don't like and find the ones that I do. It's also worth noting that I tend to personally prefer reading M/M when heading into this trope.
Also, I was exposed to this kind of trope rather early myself through Dark Angel which features the main character, who is genetically engineered, going "into heat" because of her feline DNA, and we see her going through it twice in the first season. Plus, A/B/O dynamics are quite popular in a lot of Asian novels/manga/manhwa, some that have already been adapted into dramas (ex: Pit Babe, the upcoming Desire).
(Honorable mentions: Sex pollen/fuck-or-die, wing!fic, breeding kink, and soulbounding. But like I said, I have a lot of favorites it's impossible to list them all.)
Since I have a lot of favorites this was something I had to really think about otherwise we'd be here all day as I write an essay about every single trope/kink/cliche/etc that I love. I decided to go with one that is both popular and beloved as well as polarizing within fandom spaces.
OMEGAVERSE (A/B/O)
Interestingly, I didn't get into the trope into until much later once it entered the fandomsphere, and by that time it has already been evolved and expanded through various fandoms, so I was able to bypass what initially made people so adverse to it in the beginning.
Now, first and foremost, obviously there are the kink elements to Omegaverse that I just personally find incredibly hot. From heats/ruts to the scenting and knotting and biting, and especially with the protective possessiveness and animalistic nature that overcomes the characters either during mating cycles or when they are mated to one another. However, what further attracts me to this trope beyond just those things is how creative and innovative writers have gotten to explore this kind of lore and world-building, including deconstructing the trope itself and finding alternative ways of making it work in their respective canons. For example, I love it when characters are placed in a position of vulnerability as they defy the expectations of how they present in their society, like an Omega who isn't submissive and more rough around the edges or an Alpha who wants to be the one to be bred and marked by their mate. In addition to that, it's also about the exploration of trust between the characters, and fighting against primal instinct and their personal autonomy when it comes to love and intimacy. It can create some really juicy narrative directions while still maintaining that level of hot sexytimes. Yes, I do have some personal dislikes when it comes to it as well, but like with any other trope out there it's how a writer chooses to handle it rather than the trope itself. The the great thing is how fandom has truly grown and experimented with it that I can easily ignore the stories I don't like and find the ones that I do. It's also worth noting that I tend to personally prefer reading M/M when heading into this trope.
Also, I was exposed to this kind of trope rather early myself through Dark Angel which features the main character, who is genetically engineered, going "into heat" because of her feline DNA, and we see her going through it twice in the first season. Plus, A/B/O dynamics are quite popular in a lot of Asian novels/manga/manhwa, some that have already been adapted into dramas (ex: Pit Babe, the upcoming Desire).
(Honorable mentions: Sex pollen/fuck-or-die, wing!fic, breeding kink, and soulbounding. But like I said, I have a lot of favorites it's impossible to list them all.)
no subject
Date: 2025-02-26 12:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-26 11:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-26 05:36 pm (UTC)But, like you, I love it when writers try to test/subvert those limitations. I've read a number of very good a/b/o stories over the years that did just that.
I've never actually seen any a/b/o that was not m/m? I tend not to deal very well with stories where women are submissive, so I think I'd be even more wary.
we see her going through it twice in the first season
OMG I'd completely forgotten about that! I liked Dark Angel a lot back then, and I have absolutely watched every episode, but somehow completely struck that from my memory. Huh.
Sex pollen/fuck-or-die, wing!fic, breeding kink, and soulbounding. But like I said, I have a lot of favorites it's impossible to list them all.
I can never decide on a fave. :D I totally agree with you on the first two, as well. Sex pollen is more of a funtimes thing, but wing!fic holds a special place in my heart - it's just very romantic and cozy in addition to sexy.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-27 01:34 pm (UTC)It usually is mainly heavily focused on m/m in general, although general fandom is quite vast and so I'm sure there's been some m/f and f/f variants featuring the trope at some point.
I think this is where a lot I've seen people voice their dislike for the trope as a whole because they felt it was too heteronormative with the way it portrays certain things, which I can completely understand the adverse reaction if earlier works were depicting the trope. As I mentioned I got into this trope much later so I was lucky enough to get more of the subverted versions of it.
OMG I'd completely forgotten about that! I liked Dark Angel a lot back then, and I have absolutely watched every episode, but somehow completely struck that from my memory. Huh.
lol, you'd think that would be something you'd remember. ;)
As a massive fan of the show, having watched it when it first originally aired, it's something that tickles me whenever I read about the origins of Omegaverse, as in it was popularized by the Supernatural fandom which borrowed from Dark Angel, which was the first to feature the earliest elements of the trope.
I can never decide on a fave. :D I totally agree with you on the first two, as well. Sex pollen is more of a funtimes thing, but wing!fic holds a special place in my heart - it's just very romantic and cozy in addition to sexy.
Even now, I'm thinking of other tropes that I could have listed. There's just too many!
Sex pollen is a classic one, which is definitely a good way of providing sexytimes although I think I've come to really love the variety of exploring the emotional aftermath of such cases. I do love a good PWP (porn without plot) sex pollen fic, but I love the crunchy goodness that is the character moments afterwards, from feelings of guilt and shame to the realization and confronting of the feelings one another.
Wing!fic is something I discovered when I was in the Supernatural fandom, and it's a trope that I love a whole lot and I love that it has extended to other fandoms, too. There is something about wings that can be both powerful but also comforting as well, and the sexytimes with wink kink, wing grooming, etc.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-27 04:35 pm (UTC)IKR? Memory...
it's something that tickles me whenever I read about the origins of Omegaverse, as in it was popularized by the Supernatural fandom which borrowed from Dark Angel, which was the first to feature the earliest elements of the trope.
That also hadn't occurred to me (because obviously I'd forgotten all about the heat stuff in DA canon), but it makes so much sense. The Jensen fans would have migrated from DA to SPN! (I did. :D)
PWP (porn without plot)
I'm chuckling about the fact that you explained pwp to me. (I know, we don't know each other well, not your fault at all. <3 pwp is definitely among my fave type of fic.)
Wing!fic is something I discovered when I was in the Supernatural fandom
Same! It also makes total sense. I don't actually think I can remember any non-SPN wingfic. Ah, no. There were some good Guardian ones. (Ooops, I *really* should have remembered those, lol.)