Strip the Tropes!
Dear f-list, I promise that one day soon, I’ll stop squealing about Merlin and will make a decent post that comes with actual content. Really, I promise. I’m afraid that today is not that day, but in the meantime, you could entertain yourselves by browsing TV Tropes, a site that has made it its mission to compile a number of commonly used tropes in TV, movies and literature. I was pointed towards it a few days back and have yet to stop digging around whenever I have a quiet minute to myself. The grin is also hard to hide, especially when studying entries such as the one about High School AUs. After all:
>> This is the most common form of Alternate Universe Fic, probably because most Fan Fic writers are teenage girls, and high school is something they have lots of personal experience with and can easily write about. However, this in no way means that it is usually good. <<
Eheh.
That aside, stripper!Merlin won, by far and large - nearly three votes out of four. (Which, because it’s my brain, resulted in me immediately giving the canon-Tortall-crossover another look despite canon losing spectacularly.) This wouldn’t have anything to do with the prospect of naked Merlin, now would it, people? No, I’m sure your motivation was as pure as snow and you’re really more interested in the courses he takes than in the clothes he doesn’t wear to work. Right? Right.
In any case, you made the right decision because inderpal is currently making manips to go with stripper!Merlin and his stage make-up and some such. (She just posted something like a humorous teaser in her LJ, so you can catch a glimpse.) In addition, the whole fic is growing into something like a multi-media thing, with her manips and then some embedded music to go with scenes, and… And I only just started writing it!
But speaking of awesome: semiramis drew Merlin’s Circus AU performance, and it is awesome. Like whoa. It comes with a light bulb and a cute little dragon, but more importantly, it comes with Merlin’s clothes being just the way I thought they’d look like, and with really cool shading. This fits the scene in my head so perfectly that it had me gaping in awe for a moment.
On a less self-indulgent note, I have to say that I really love how much art there is in Merlin. I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a fandom that comes with such a high number of really, really talented artists - definitely some stunning original artwork such as drawings and paintings, but also some great manips and videos. It makes my heart happy, let me tell you. I get why there isn’t so much of that in fandoms that are mostly RPS and it makes sense to me, but the wealth of aesthetic fannish material that comes with Merlin is a wonderful side to the fandom.
Another wonderful side to the fandom is Bradley James. I dare you not to love him after watching him wreak havoc on a train station in the middle of nowhere. Go on!
ETA:
Oh, oh! I almost forgot! Is there any good stripper music you guys could hook me up with, songs that aren't the Britney and/or Lady Gaga kind of seductive? I already have Rogue Trader's Voodoo Child, Creedence Clearwater Revival's I Put A Spell On You and Emiliana Torrini's Jungle Drum, and they're all golden.
>> This is the most common form of Alternate Universe Fic, probably because most Fan Fic writers are teenage girls, and high school is something they have lots of personal experience with and can easily write about. However, this in no way means that it is usually good. <<
Eheh.
That aside, stripper!Merlin won, by far and large - nearly three votes out of four. (Which, because it’s my brain, resulted in me immediately giving the canon-Tortall-crossover another look despite canon losing spectacularly.) This wouldn’t have anything to do with the prospect of naked Merlin, now would it, people? No, I’m sure your motivation was as pure as snow and you’re really more interested in the courses he takes than in the clothes he doesn’t wear to work. Right? Right.
In any case, you made the right decision because inderpal is currently making manips to go with stripper!Merlin and his stage make-up and some such. (She just posted something like a humorous teaser in her LJ, so you can catch a glimpse.) In addition, the whole fic is growing into something like a multi-media thing, with her manips and then some embedded music to go with scenes, and… And I only just started writing it!
But speaking of awesome: semiramis drew Merlin’s Circus AU performance, and it is awesome. Like whoa. It comes with a light bulb and a cute little dragon, but more importantly, it comes with Merlin’s clothes being just the way I thought they’d look like, and with really cool shading. This fits the scene in my head so perfectly that it had me gaping in awe for a moment.
On a less self-indulgent note, I have to say that I really love how much art there is in Merlin. I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a fandom that comes with such a high number of really, really talented artists - definitely some stunning original artwork such as drawings and paintings, but also some great manips and videos. It makes my heart happy, let me tell you. I get why there isn’t so much of that in fandoms that are mostly RPS and it makes sense to me, but the wealth of aesthetic fannish material that comes with Merlin is a wonderful side to the fandom.
Another wonderful side to the fandom is Bradley James. I dare you not to love him after watching him wreak havoc on a train station in the middle of nowhere. Go on!
ETA:
Oh, oh! I almost forgot! Is there any good stripper music you guys could hook me up with, songs that aren't the Britney and/or Lady Gaga kind of seductive? I already have Rogue Trader's Voodoo Child, Creedence Clearwater Revival's I Put A Spell On You and Emiliana Torrini's Jungle Drum, and they're all golden.