Hi, I've never posted in the discussion here before, but this topic came up with a friend, and I'm curious about other opinions/experiences.
I've played around in a lot of fandoms over the years, but I was never a fan of AUs centered around radically different worlds (and I'm no good at thinking of short and sweet words for things XD). Examples: - school AU - teens, early twenties, teachers, etc - vampire/werewolf/etc supernatural AU - magic/fantasy AU - daemon AU - maybe familiars or something to do with souls or spirits, too? - assassin/serial killer AU - organized crime AU - stripper/prostitute AU - A/B/O AU D/s or BDSM AU - soulmate/soulbond AU - animal/shapeshifter/pet AU - gender/sex change AU - trope blends and fandom-specific AUs like Hogwarts/HP - historical setting AU - working in the modern world AU (they've graduated school! probably!) - throw all your athlete, dancer, musician, writer, artist, professional children's card game player AUs here
............you get the idea.
I've read a little of the more light-hearted AUs (like coffee shop and buddy cop, both of which I read here! XD), because sometimes you just need something easy to read that might make you laugh. I can't do fluffy (moments of sweet are all I want), and some AUs tend to go in that direction, but that may be more of a fandom tendency thing depending on the fandom. I usually lean toward dark and angsty, and so many of these AUs can go that way, but I've never really enjoyed them. Granted, some squick me out or blend together things I hate and love (I avoid A/B/O like the plague, but gimme all the elements of D/s you got dude)... but they don't really click with me. I've never had the urge to read or write or draw any of it.
That is, until TFA screwed everything up for me. XD
I don't know why, but Kylo Ren works really freakin well in modern Earth AU settings to me. It's a good way to explore his character and think about how he would act if the stakes were lower. (Like dealing with one world instead of a galaxy, having no Force just good ole gravity, still using sharp pointy objects to threaten people, having all the black clothing and ways to avoid sunlight that he could ever want, etc -- in all seriousness, though, I don't like when he's exaggerated into an obnoxious caricature who never changes. It got boring very fast.) Of course, it can still end up hurting my heart and breaking my brain, but fandom does that to me all the time anyway. Kylo Ren will do that to me anyway, with or without jeans and a T-shirt (and boots -- I tried the sneakers look on him, but he only kept one beat-up pair in the back of his closet).
So! Finally, here are my two questions for anyone reading this: (1) Do you read/write/draw radically different AUs for Star Wars? (2) Are you generally a fan of those kinds of AUs, stick with canon-related AUs (like "what if" or change one thing), or don't like to play around in AUs at all?
I'm not counting relationships in AUs for this, so you can skip any het/slash/gen/other parts if you want. I think aging characters up or down can be included, though.
Radically different AUs - fandoms you can and can't venture that far from canon
I've played around in a lot of fandoms over the years, but I was never a fan of AUs centered around radically different worlds (and I'm no good at thinking of short and sweet words for things XD).
Examples:
- school AU - teens, early twenties, teachers, etc
- vampire/werewolf/etc supernatural AU
- magic/fantasy AU
- daemon AU - maybe familiars or something to do with souls or spirits, too?
- assassin/serial killer AU
- organized crime AU
- stripper/prostitute AU
- A/B/O AU
D/s or BDSM AU
- soulmate/soulbond AU
- animal/shapeshifter/pet AU
- gender/sex change AU
- trope blends and fandom-specific AUs like Hogwarts/HP
- historical setting AU
- working in the modern world AU (they've graduated school! probably!) - throw all your athlete, dancer, musician, writer, artist, professional children's card game player AUs here
............you get the idea.
I've read a little of the more light-hearted AUs (like coffee shop and buddy cop, both of which I read here! XD), because sometimes you just need something easy to read that might make you laugh. I can't do fluffy (moments of sweet are all I want), and some AUs tend to go in that direction, but that may be more of a fandom tendency thing depending on the fandom.
I usually lean toward dark and angsty, and so many of these AUs can go that way, but I've never really enjoyed them. Granted, some squick me out or blend together things I hate and love (I avoid A/B/O like the plague, but gimme all the elements of D/s you got dude)... but they don't really click with me. I've never had the urge to read or write or draw any of it.
That is, until TFA screwed everything up for me. XD
I don't know why, but Kylo Ren works really freakin well in modern Earth AU settings to me. It's a good way to explore his character and think about how he would act if the stakes were lower. (Like dealing with one world instead of a galaxy, having no Force just good ole gravity, still using sharp pointy objects to threaten people, having all the black clothing and ways to avoid sunlight that he could ever want, etc -- in all seriousness, though, I don't like when he's exaggerated into an obnoxious caricature who never changes. It got boring very fast.) Of course, it can still end up hurting my heart and breaking my brain, but fandom does that to me all the time anyway. Kylo Ren will do that to me anyway, with or without jeans and a T-shirt (and boots -- I tried the sneakers look on him, but he only kept one beat-up pair in the back of his closet).
So! Finally, here are my two questions for anyone reading this:
(1) Do you read/write/draw radically different AUs for Star Wars?
(2) Are you generally a fan of those kinds of AUs, stick with canon-related AUs (like "what if" or change one thing), or don't like to play around in AUs at all?
I'm not counting relationships in AUs for this, so you can skip any het/slash/gen/other parts if you want. I think aging characters up or down can be included, though.