That’s also a good point. It’s true that there will always be men who are tough and stoic, and women who are soft and nurturing, no matter what society it is. It’s more the gender norms in that society that influence whether they stand out as stereotypical or not. I do love an “every woman is a badass” story to use your example, because there’s just not many examples of women who heavily subvert gender roles to begin with. Not when they’re often relegated to being the token or made more feminine to “tone it down”. At the same time I understand that kind of story doesn’t speak to everyone.
I guess it’s more of a diversity issue in writing. With only one or two characters of one gender, it’s easier to fall into the trap of making them stereotypical. But if you have a large, gender-balanced cast, you’re free to put them in a variety of roles and give them a whole range of traits that may or may not skew towards one gender or another. One example I really admire is how Fullmetal Alchemist has nurturing women like Trisha and Rose, but also badass women like Hawkeye, Olivier Mira Armstrong, and Izumi.
Yeah I agree, women don’t have to be either nurturing or badass. it’s why I mentioned it might be a writing issue. I forgot to mention that FMA also has female characters who don’t easily fit into either extreme like Winry and Pinako.
Here’s the thing: I do love stories about badass women. I love Katniss Everdeen, Buffy Summers, and Jessica Jones. But if every woman is a badass, than no woman is an individual.
I’m not much of a nurturer. I’m even less of a badass. So whether every woman is a nurturer or every woman is a badass, I’m seeing a world in which I don’t fit the ideal of what a woman should be. And the point is that there is no one way a woman should be, and until authors feel free to write characters who are women without the burden of Representing Women hanging over their heads, female characters are going to be lesser for it - not lesser than men, but lesser than what they could have been. A lot of the characters I’ve been able to see myself in most have been male characters, not because I’m at all “masculine,” but because male characters aren’t defined by the breach or observance of their gender role anywhere near as much as female characters are.
First of all, everyone has the right to like whichever trope they like. This is just a post to show the writer/coder Side of the recent trope.
If you want a romance that is genderlocked and orientation locked and an equal amount of RO for everyone this means when every mc wants to have two options to choose from the author needs minimum 8 characters (3 male chars straight/gay/bi; 3 female cis/gay/bi and at least 2 nb characters who only like other NB characters) 8 different characters that need to bei different and balanced to get the same Screentime, when with not genderlocked or orientation locked you just need two chars. And this is ignoring that there are cis people who would like to date nb characters too.
So ist is much easier to leave the genderlocked out. And when you make 4 non genderlocked RO everyone has a Lot people to choose from and still less Work, so I understand why the not genderlocked solution is preferred by many authors.
I do not have particularly strong inclinations towards any tropes. And I’d be loathed to discuss my dislikes. I spend enough time doing that. Too much really. All I want is a story that makes me feel something, dammit. And by something, I mean, gut-punched right in my feely bits. It is a rare author who can do so to me, but quite a few of them happen to be CoG/HG authors. So. There’s that. Kind of feel silly
I love hoss fights. Just two big meaty men swangin’ and bangin’. An absolute car crash of big meaty muscles bangin’ and clangin’ together. BIG MEATY MEN, WITH BIG CHESTS, AND BIG MUSCLES, BUMPIN’ MEAT.
YOU WANT YOUR 5 STAR MATCHES
YOU WANT YOUR INSTANT CLASSICS
NOT ME
Fantasy has always been a popular genre here, and I don’t see it going away any time soon, but I wish we got to see fantasy settings that weren’t medieval Europe or squarely in today’s time. I’d be nice to see more fantasy stories in different time periods around the world.
Always wanted to play an antagonist or anti-hero but the one who will eventually sacrifices himself for others. Kinda like Mage reborn, though he becomes an anti-hero later.
The emotionally stilted father figure… either because they’re used to being professional, because they HAVE to be, etc… It’s just. urghhh… tugs on my heartstrings every time. I also enjoy the occasional washed out alcoholic dad that cares HEAPS about his kids and loves them with his whole heart and feels guilty bc he doesn’t think he can be good enough for em…
flamboyant-but-smart villain and their stoic, emotionless right hand. Just… the DYNAMICS… the ways this could go so right and also so wrong… on one hand you have the “right hand is the secret mastermind” trope, which is pretty Okay, I’m indifferent on that one, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND YOU HAVE THE “Villain was taking advantage of the fact that the right hand is actually starved of socialization and human contact, and is highkey manipulative???” WHICH IS JUST SO FUN TO PLAY AROUND WITH… whether its the MC or a character the MC is interacting with… ejhfsnfiusorf…
Those characters that play 5d chess with multiverse theory when they talk to people, who think through every interaction, who haven’t slipped their facade… and then their facade slipping. Never ceases to be satisfying,
FOUND FAMILYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY it will never not be great its the worlds best trope… just any friendship is magic kinda stuff.
…Frenemies is always fun, especially when its because they’re defending two people on opposing sides, and then the two people reconcile and get along, and now its really awkward bc like. “I have no reason to hate you anymore but also im stubborn so like…-” ESPECIALLY when they realize the others actually fun to hang out with…
The sort of push-and-pull dynamic of enemies to lovers, except there isn’t like. a transition. They are enemies AND lovers at the same time. Like. They’ll be at eachothers throats but also enjoy casual conversation, drinking wine together and one slips poison into the others drink and the other does the old “over the shoulder” trick and doesn’t drink it… every conversation full of barely veiled murderous double entendres… but also they know murder would be unsafe at any given point. Two people who can just. PERFECTLY push eachothers buttons.
the Shy Jock character. I just think they’re cute sdebfhekjrhfns… The one that gets super flustered… yeah…
