rogueslayer452 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rogueslayer452) wrote2026-01-29 03:24 am
rogueslayer452) wrote2026-01-29 03:24 am
Fandom Snowflake Challenge: Favorite Tropes
Challenge #09: Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)
I'm skipping around the challenge a bit since I'm still constructing my answers for the other ones as I'm way behind at the moment, but this one is one that I know I can answer easily since I definitely have a lot of favorite tropes. I answered last years trope challenge with only one specific trope which I still maintain is a top favorite in recent years, but this will be a more extensive list. Mind you, not all my favorites as that would take forever, just a handful.
01. Hurt/Comfort. Emotional, physical, psychological, any kind of hurt that is immediately followed by comfort is literally one of the best tropes. I like seeing characters getting knocked down and then being soothed by others. Also, the more severe the hurt, the more cathartic and satisfying the comfort is.
02. Close Proximity. Sharing a bed, being trapped in a room, handcuffed together, forced to work together, any and all scenarios that requires characters to simply be close to each other, it's a trope I eat up every single time. The intimacy of sharing a space with a person who a character might secretly have feelings for, or doesn't know they have feelings for until they are forced in those situations. Or, even better, that they don't like each other or had some kind of falling out with one another. This gives a perfect window of opportunity for them to actually confront these difficult things that they attempted to run away from.
In television, bottle episodes are great for character development and furthering individual arcs that would otherwise have been overlooked or given less focus if it were a regular episode. In fanfiction, that can also be the case in addition to potential sexytimes or unresolved sexual tension between characters.
03. Pining / Mutual Pining. There is nothing like a good old-fashioned pining, whether the other character is oblivious or is also mutually pining. It's about the longing, the yearning, the unresolved tension between characters as they want to say something but don't, where you, in turn, internally scream at them to just use their words and communicate. But that's what makes the whole thing so juicy, because it's the inner conflict, the self-esteem issues, and the contradictions of the characters that makes it so interesting. You feel for them, but also want to bonk them on the head for being idiots, especially when it's mutual pining.
04. Time Loop / Time Paradox. Characters getting stuck repeating the same day or event, or discovering that through time travel you managed to create something to happen without knowing it at the time. The latter is especially very wibbly wobbly timey wimey and it's such a complex thing that, when done right, it breaks my brain in the best kind of way. The former is a very common trope used in fiction in various ways. Both are great ways of giving characters something to think about in trying to solve it, and can become a vehicle of them undergoing some introspection of themselves and their situations.
05. Interspecies Relationships. Listen, I'm a monsterfucker at heart. Any combination of human and a non-human entity, be it a monster, a ghost, a celestial being, an alien, a machine. I'm all for it. Hell, even doing interspecies relationships between other non-human creatures together as well.
06. Sex Pollen / Fuck Or Die. A classic trope that I'll never get tired of. Obviously it's hot when putting characters you want together in such a scenario because, well, that's why such a trope exists, but what I truly love about it is the emotional aftermath once the effects of the pollen/spell/curse wears off. An aspect of this trope are the dubcon/noncon elements, so afterwards there would be the horrifying realization of what had just occurred, the guilt and possible humiliation associated with it, and the awkwardness of confronting not only their feelings but also facing the other person involved. It's very crunchy and delicious stuff.
I'm skipping around the challenge a bit since I'm still constructing my answers for the other ones as I'm way behind at the moment, but this one is one that I know I can answer easily since I definitely have a lot of favorite tropes. I answered last years trope challenge with only one specific trope which I still maintain is a top favorite in recent years, but this will be a more extensive list. Mind you, not all my favorites as that would take forever, just a handful.
01. Hurt/Comfort. Emotional, physical, psychological, any kind of hurt that is immediately followed by comfort is literally one of the best tropes. I like seeing characters getting knocked down and then being soothed by others. Also, the more severe the hurt, the more cathartic and satisfying the comfort is.
02. Close Proximity. Sharing a bed, being trapped in a room, handcuffed together, forced to work together, any and all scenarios that requires characters to simply be close to each other, it's a trope I eat up every single time. The intimacy of sharing a space with a person who a character might secretly have feelings for, or doesn't know they have feelings for until they are forced in those situations. Or, even better, that they don't like each other or had some kind of falling out with one another. This gives a perfect window of opportunity for them to actually confront these difficult things that they attempted to run away from.
In television, bottle episodes are great for character development and furthering individual arcs that would otherwise have been overlooked or given less focus if it were a regular episode. In fanfiction, that can also be the case in addition to potential sexytimes or unresolved sexual tension between characters.
03. Pining / Mutual Pining. There is nothing like a good old-fashioned pining, whether the other character is oblivious or is also mutually pining. It's about the longing, the yearning, the unresolved tension between characters as they want to say something but don't, where you, in turn, internally scream at them to just use their words and communicate. But that's what makes the whole thing so juicy, because it's the inner conflict, the self-esteem issues, and the contradictions of the characters that makes it so interesting. You feel for them, but also want to bonk them on the head for being idiots, especially when it's mutual pining.
04. Time Loop / Time Paradox. Characters getting stuck repeating the same day or event, or discovering that through time travel you managed to create something to happen without knowing it at the time. The latter is especially very wibbly wobbly timey wimey and it's such a complex thing that, when done right, it breaks my brain in the best kind of way. The former is a very common trope used in fiction in various ways. Both are great ways of giving characters something to think about in trying to solve it, and can become a vehicle of them undergoing some introspection of themselves and their situations.
05. Interspecies Relationships. Listen, I'm a monsterfucker at heart. Any combination of human and a non-human entity, be it a monster, a ghost, a celestial being, an alien, a machine. I'm all for it. Hell, even doing interspecies relationships between other non-human creatures together as well.
06. Sex Pollen / Fuck Or Die. A classic trope that I'll never get tired of. Obviously it's hot when putting characters you want together in such a scenario because, well, that's why such a trope exists, but what I truly love about it is the emotional aftermath once the effects of the pollen/spell/curse wears off. An aspect of this trope are the dubcon/noncon elements, so afterwards there would be the horrifying realization of what had just occurred, the guilt and possible humiliation associated with it, and the awkwardness of confronting not only their feelings but also facing the other person involved. It's very crunchy and delicious stuff.
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