Snowflake Challenge 2023: Challenge #11

[lebateleur]

Challenge #11

In your own space, Talk about your favorite trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I have so many! But a perennial favorite--and one I've been grooving on recently--is the steady-to-buttoned-up character absolutely losing their shit to protect someone they care about. Bonus points if that person is a potential or current love interest. Double bonus points if the character's self-image is predicated on the idea that they are a nice, steady person who never loses their cool. Triple bonus points if they snap into a state of embarrassed docility once the the threat is lifted (Oh god, I can't believe I did that. Who am I?). Think:

• Sam going Extreme Badass in Cirith Ungol.


• Hakkai pulling off his limiters to save Gojou and the rest of the Sanzo-ikko.


• Chigusa flipping out to protect Rakan (and Rakan flipping out to protect Chigusa, omg).


• Rasaad flipping a shit over those pesky feelings in the caves under Dragonspear Castle.


• Stephen going berserk at a certain development during Grace's trial.

and so on.

The other great thing about this trope/cliché is its wide applicability to characters in source material that hints at it, but either doesn't include it canonically or does but in a way that fanfic can further amplify: BBC Sherlock, Fullmetal Alchemist, Dredd, The Goblin Emperor, The Graces, Kushiel's Dart, the Queen's Thief...the list goes on.

Just give me anything that takes--or has the potential to take--a character who prides themself on being the calm, rational one who never flies off the handle and then makes them do precisely that, and I will be there for it.

これで以上です。

Comments

[shipperslist]

the steady-to-buttoned-up character absolutely losing their shit to protect someone they care about. Bonus points if that person is a potential or current love interest. Double bonus points if the character's self-image is predicated on the idea that they are a nice, steady person who never loses their cool. Triple bonus points if they snap into a state of embarrassed docility once the the threat is lifted (Oh god, I can't believe I did that. Who am I?).

*looks at her fandoms*

Uh. Yes. This.

[lebateleur]

It is a very effective form of fandom catnip, to be sure.

[wearing_tearing]

Calm and collected characters going feral is always sooo much fun!

[lebateleur]

Yes, and feral is exactly the right word for it!

[profiterole_reads]

Hakkai pulling off his limiters to save Gojou and the rest of the Sanzo-ikko.

Yes, please! :D

[lebateleur]

The first time that happened in canon...oh my.

[cornerofmadness]

That definitely makes for a lot of good juicy drama (I can just imagine Riza finally losing it in FMA)

[lebateleur]

Ooh, yes, I would love to see that. And a nice long "how she then integrated that back into her view of herself" wouldn't be amiss either. XD

[cornerofmadness]

Oh yes that would have been nice

[corvidology]

I love this SO much!

It often overlaps with my love of clams as well! :D

[lebateleur]

When done well it's just so immensely satisfying as a narrative payoff. ♥

[rekishi]

Better when the character would ONLY do it for THAT ONE person.

Yes, I can think of a few there. ^^;

[lebateleur]

Better when the character would ONLY do it for THAT ONE person.

Oh, yes. This is very much narrative catnip for me.

[rekishi]

:D

[flamingsword]

This is a good trope, and I approve! I also like the adjacent “badass (unintentional)” trope where the buttoned down character just has to save someone and keeps pushing themselves into uncomfortable and dangerous situations until they walk out the other side not looking at the explosion behind them. Mmm, tasty tasty crack.

[lebateleur]

the adjacent “badass (unintentional)” trope where the buttoned down character just has to save someone and keeps pushing themselves into uncomfortable and dangerous situations until they walk out the other side not looking at the explosion behind them.

Oh my goodness, yes, this is such a great longform character arc, and I love creators who know how to deliver it. Bonus points here for an O'Henry situation where both characters are buttoned down and end up going through this transformation in parallel. That is indeed some tasty crack.

[doreyg]

This is my entire jam for Blake & Avery :D

[lebateleur]

YAAAAASSS. Especially because they can both undergo this journey in paralle.

[silveradept]

That's a good one, especially when the pressure building part of it has been obvious and there's clear signs that the calm and collected character is trying not to lose their shit, but once it's gone off, there's no way at all to stop them from rampaging until they've got it done or they've finally burnt through all the pressurized emotion.

[lebateleur]

Oh yes, that is the progression in a nutshell. In the hands of a talented creator, you can feel that pressure building in the room while you read/listen/watch, and it is just such a wonderful rush. And there's so much potential, too, for further character development once the rampage is over or the pressure has equalized, and the character has to integrate what they've just done with who they've always considered themselves to be.

[under_the_silk_tree]

That is a good trope! It kind of reminds me of Jonathan Harker going full-on action hero at the end of Dracula.

[lebateleur]

Oh yes! That was one of my favorite parts of that novel.