Trope bingo

[vilakins]

Wow, that was fast! I signed up earlier today and got a trope_bingo card already.

fake relationship	sharing a bed	de-aged	huddle for warmth	au: circus
accidental baby acquisition	au: historical	secret twin / doppelganger	genderswap	poker/strip poker
au: fantasy	locked in	FREE ★ SPACE	mind control	au: cop / detective
in vino veritas / drunkfic	holiday	cross-dressing	food porn	kidfic
soul bonding / soulmates	alpha / beta / omega	telepathy / mindmeld	kiss to save the day	snowed in

I've already written a few of those, but of course they don't qualify. One is completely new to me; can you guess which?

Comments

[feng_shui_house]

I'm guessing AU: circus is new to you. I hadn't seen that one before.

[vilakins]

Well, I've read it! No, not that one; one that almost looks like B7 but isn't.

[feng_shui_house]

Alpha/Beta/Omega?! Oh, man, I don't think you want to go there. :^) That's a scheme where people have 3 sexes and it's very kinky.

[vilakins]

Yeah, I know; I looked it up. I will not be writing that one. :-P

[feng_shui_house]

I wrote one. :^)

But I changed it to make the relationships much much more consensual and equal. I like kinky sometimes, but doormats never.

[vilakins]

You did? Which fandom was that for? I don't like power imbalances either.

[feng_shui_house]

I wrote Howling Commando for Iron Man & Avengers fandom.

I changed it to make the Omega (normally pretty much the wimpy doormat) into a vital part of human society. The Omegas are a very small proportion of humanity, but stabilize the aggressive Alphas and by their very presence keep them from becoming little more than feral beasts. The Omegas also make up a disproportionate number of geniuses in scientific and other fields. The Betas are the vast majority of the population, and are considered 'the shopkeepers' mainstay of civilization, but without the drive of the Alphas, or the spark of genius of the Omegas.

In my very AU story, aliens have invaded and humans are in serious trouble. LOTS of stuff happens, lots of Marvel characters join in, there is epic quest, angst, the occasional orgy, etc. Mostly it's plot and characters and Alpha devoted to the Omegas and a heaping helping of cuddling and various woobies being brave, etc. scattered around wherever it fits.

It was going to be a single chapter, but so many people commented on wanting more that it turned into an epic. It's astonishingly popular. Here's some of the stats on it. (I LOVE AO3's stats feature.)
Words: 41576 Kudos: 1080 Hits: 58664

[vilakins]

Big fandom; big trope too, I'm guessing!

[feng_shui_house]

Definitely a big fandom! Very active, I often get hits within a few seconds of posting. The A/B/O trope is popular in many fandoms,too.

I started out with a plot bunny that could logically merge 3 popular tropes & then amused myself by figuring out others that could work within it. I wound up with 6 very popular tropes, so that fic has appeal for a lot of readers.

[vilakins]

What were the other tropes?

I copied the tropes from the tags.

[feng_shui_house]

# Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics
# Soul Bond
# Were-Creatures
# Mpreg
# Fuck Or Die
# Alternate Universe - Apocalypse

Re: I copied the tropes from the tags.

[vilakins]

That's an impressive set!

Re: I copied the tropes from the tags.

[feng_shui_house]

Three of them kinda go together naturally, but then I started thinking, hey, this could take place in an apocalyptic world, and there's no reason the ABO can't have Soul Bonds as well- can make them some sort of compatibility gadget by sight with degrees of NO! Yeah, Ok. and TRUE LOVE 4EVER (with the last being the rarest) and then I thought, Cap. America, the Hulk, the Abomination & the Red Skull are all basically variants of the werewolf idea with varying degrees of permanence/temperament/intelligence/physique, so why not use the Super Soldier serum and have it turn someone into an animalistic form for limited periods of time?

And that got me the other 3 tropes to fit in. It was like a puzzle.

Re: I copied the tropes from the tags.

[vilakins]

I am so out of touch. What are compatibility gadgets and NO!

Are you doing the bingo? You could ace that.

Re: I copied the tropes from the tags.

[feng_shui_house]

I invented those terms. :^)

Soul-bonding has a variety of methods for people realizing they're bondmates- some just *know* when they touch, some feel a 'pull' that subconsciously draws them together, some have a 'red string' they can see leading to them, some have their intended's name written in ink or tattooed on their hand or finger at birth or appears at puberty or later, but one of the common ways is a 'gadget' which varies but is usually something set in the skin of the wrist, and usually gives off a light- this can be black if your bondmate isn't alive (either dead or not yet born), and different colors if you haven't met the bondmate, and/or have met but haven't activated the bonding.

I went with a light in the skin which reacts to potential sex partners with Red for NO! I do NOT want to have sex with you (even if biology is forcing them to want sex in general it will still show if non-consenting), Green for ok,I don't mind having sex with you (which would be quite common), and Blue which only shows up when you're bonded. If after bonding, something happens to your bondmate your blue light will flicker and die if they do.

No, I'm not doing the bingo. I'm having more fun just free-wheeling, grabbing whatever idea or prompt suit me at the moment. Just wrote a fluffy fic in which love notes are featured and there's no nookie at all.

Re: I copied the tropes from the tags.

[vilakins]

Wow, who'da thought? I'm glad you gave your people choice.

[kerravonsen]

Now I looked it up too. Oh my. No no no no no.

[vilakins]

Quite!

[mab_browne]

The A/B/O concept is one that seems to have taken the ids of many by storm. My id remains a hold-out.

Have fun with your bingo card. :-)

[vilakins]

It doesn't appeal here either.

I'll have to think up some new twists on the tropes I've already done.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Kiss to save the day perhaps, I've read everything you have posted, I think I haven't checked your site recently, and I would say that isn't your style.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

It isn't, but I can always go the humour route.

That's not the one BTW. :-)

[van.livejournal.com]

alpha / beta / omega, I'm sure... ugh. Do you have to go with the "official" interpretation of that, or can you give it a B7 twist?

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That's it! I won't be doing that square but I think I can manage a line or two very well without it.

If I wanted to do the lot I could always invent the lowest grade of all and subvert the whole thing.

[van.livejournal.com]

Yeah. If I had to write it, I'd definitely subvert it, or make it all B7 where it's not about the "fandom trope" one at all. Bleh.

But glad you can do some without using that line.

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

I admit, I couldn't even get past the introduction on the trope page for that one without running away screaming. Which is too bad, because the column it's in on mine would otherwise have been perfect.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Ha, yeah, it would! How about a row or a diagonal?

[astrogirl2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there are a couple of possibilities.

[thisbluespirit]

Good luck! Everybody on my flist seems to be getting one, which is great, since I am really looking forward to the resulting fic. \o/

And resisting the temptation to be a sheep. (It's my sort of thing, but I know full well there are reasons that it would be stressful just now. And I have a plan of my own. A ridiculous and opposite sort of plan... :lol:)

But, yay! Can't wait to see what you come up with.

(And I was going to guess au: circus until I saw everybody's answers. I can see that clearly I don't want to know what that is. I'd vaguely supposed it just meant a threesome or something... 0_o)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Someone guessed that on DW but though I didn't realise it was a trope, I've read at least two B7 circus stories. It's usually Vila's circus. :-)

I look forward to seeing what you're planning.

[thisbluespirit]

:lol: I said to astrogirl2 that B7 AUs as anything, so i'm not even surprised. Aw, Vila has a circus? I'd have thought he'd have been scared of the clowns.

Yes... If I don't change my mind! ;-)

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

I think he'd come into his own as an entertainer. :-)