Snowflake challenge, day 9
Jan. 18th, 2026 08:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flo_neljaTalk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works.
Oh, I've done this some previous years, but it seems I'm gonna do it again. And with a trope I already talked about, but it was a very long time ago :D
So, one of my fave tropes is "Enemies forced to work together"
It can be against a common enemy, to save the world, to save themselves, because of an old promise they have to honor, all is good to :D
It can be the beginning of a long-time redemption, or, more rarely, corruption arc, or it can be something they agree to never mention again, both are good to me.
What do I love in it: the fact that they have to understand more things about each other. Or sometimes the fact that they already know so much things about each other.
I love the competence kink, the strengths complementing each other instead of fighting against each other, and how far they can go (one of the very rare versions I don't like is when when they join the heroes for a while the villains become very much weaker for absolutely no reason). I love when sometimes they have to show each other's weaknesses.
I love the emotional points, them realizing that oh no, they respect each other, they care about each other, maybe even they trust each other? Maybe they're right about it, or wrong?
I love when there is betrayal of principles for an enemy they can't let die. I also love when their principles or just pragmatism force them to save an enemy they hate so much.
The first encounter with the trope I can remember was a quite late episode in McGyver where Murdoc asks McGyver help to save his sister. The character asking their enemy for help because they didn't know where else to go is still a nice topping to the trope, even it it's not mandatory.
I love enemy shipping, and when two enemies you ship are doing this, inn canon or fanfic, it's always fantastic.
For a long time, i read a lot of fics like this about my ships. I think at the time one of my fave ships for it was Xavier/Magneto. it happens in canon (in the X-2 movie, and in too many comics to count, and in some of the nineties anime), and I wanted all the fics, that were the same, just with more ship.
I often say that my romance trope is not actually enemies to friends to lovers, it's enemies to enemies forced to work together to grudgingly trusting and understanding each others to friends to lovers :D
Sometimes it happens in canon! Buffy/Spike or Root/Shaw were such good enemies to lovers ships to me, for this!
But actually! I adore it in gen too! I think that it was the s2 episode from Veronica Mars, where Veronica and Clarence Wiedmann had to work together, that I realized, no, amount of shippy feelings: 0 but amounts of competence kink feelings: up the roof.
I'm lucky it's a very popular trope. In lots of fantasy/sf shows i was following, it was some kind of compulsory figure, be it as a funny episode that would never be talked about again, or as the Big Finale against a worst enemy.
But! Also! Sometimes I'm in a fandom where not only it happens but it's the main theme! And when it's well done, I'm so happy about it!
Last year, one of my friends lent me The Coldfire Trilogy by Celia Friedmann, and it's the main plot, a warrior prince having to ally with the main evil of his religion to save the world. their relationship and its evolution is absolutely perfect.
Last year, I also fell deep into Bungou Stray Dogs where the writer decided that past basic character introduction most situations should be resolved by some enemies working together situation, and the hero having to work repeatedly together with his enemy and their relationship slowly evolving because of that is one of the main plot points.
Please if you know fandoms like this, character arcs, romance arcs, or just very good individual episodes about this, don't hesitate to give me recs :D
But also, I hesitated about which trope to choose, so have a post to a non-snowflake post I made some time ago, about my shipping obsession for underlings with a crush on their boss.
Oh, I've done this some previous years, but it seems I'm gonna do it again. And with a trope I already talked about, but it was a very long time ago :D
So, one of my fave tropes is "Enemies forced to work together"
It can be against a common enemy, to save the world, to save themselves, because of an old promise they have to honor, all is good to :D
It can be the beginning of a long-time redemption, or, more rarely, corruption arc, or it can be something they agree to never mention again, both are good to me.
What do I love in it: the fact that they have to understand more things about each other. Or sometimes the fact that they already know so much things about each other.
I love the competence kink, the strengths complementing each other instead of fighting against each other, and how far they can go (one of the very rare versions I don't like is when when they join the heroes for a while the villains become very much weaker for absolutely no reason). I love when sometimes they have to show each other's weaknesses.
I love the emotional points, them realizing that oh no, they respect each other, they care about each other, maybe even they trust each other? Maybe they're right about it, or wrong?
I love when there is betrayal of principles for an enemy they can't let die. I also love when their principles or just pragmatism force them to save an enemy they hate so much.
The first encounter with the trope I can remember was a quite late episode in McGyver where Murdoc asks McGyver help to save his sister. The character asking their enemy for help because they didn't know where else to go is still a nice topping to the trope, even it it's not mandatory.
I love enemy shipping, and when two enemies you ship are doing this, inn canon or fanfic, it's always fantastic.
For a long time, i read a lot of fics like this about my ships. I think at the time one of my fave ships for it was Xavier/Magneto. it happens in canon (in the X-2 movie, and in too many comics to count, and in some of the nineties anime), and I wanted all the fics, that were the same, just with more ship.
I often say that my romance trope is not actually enemies to friends to lovers, it's enemies to enemies forced to work together to grudgingly trusting and understanding each others to friends to lovers :D
Sometimes it happens in canon! Buffy/Spike or Root/Shaw were such good enemies to lovers ships to me, for this!
But actually! I adore it in gen too! I think that it was the s2 episode from Veronica Mars, where Veronica and Clarence Wiedmann had to work together, that I realized, no, amount of shippy feelings: 0 but amounts of competence kink feelings: up the roof.
I'm lucky it's a very popular trope. In lots of fantasy/sf shows i was following, it was some kind of compulsory figure, be it as a funny episode that would never be talked about again, or as the Big Finale against a worst enemy.
But! Also! Sometimes I'm in a fandom where not only it happens but it's the main theme! And when it's well done, I'm so happy about it!
Last year, one of my friends lent me The Coldfire Trilogy by Celia Friedmann, and it's the main plot, a warrior prince having to ally with the main evil of his religion to save the world. their relationship and its evolution is absolutely perfect.
Last year, I also fell deep into Bungou Stray Dogs where the writer decided that past basic character introduction most situations should be resolved by some enemies working together situation, and the hero having to work repeatedly together with his enemy and their relationship slowly evolving because of that is one of the main plot points.
Please if you know fandoms like this, character arcs, romance arcs, or just very good individual episodes about this, don't hesitate to give me recs :D
But also, I hesitated about which trope to choose, so have a post to a non-snowflake post I made some time ago, about my shipping obsession for underlings with a crush on their boss.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-18 02:22 pm (UTC)This is the root of my Harry Dresden/Marcone love in the Dresden Files. I just never put it into words before.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-18 02:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-18 02:42 pm (UTC)The books didn't really take off for me until the fourth one. The books really hit their stride at that point. It's well worth picking up the series again.
As for fanfic featuring these two, I highly recommend -
Unconditionally by Macx
no subject
Date: 2026-01-18 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-18 07:10 pm (UTC)Some recs?
no subject
Date: 2026-01-18 10:18 pm (UTC)« it's enemies to enemies forced to work together to grudgingly trusting and understanding each others to friends to lovers :D »
Et ça garantit une fic de plusieurs chapitres!
Mais oui, j'aime bien l'enemy shipping parce que ce sont les jeux de pouvoir qui m'intéressent (sans forcément que ce soit sexuel quoique du non-con/dubcon pour briser la relation, c'est aussi dans mes cordes)
no subject
Date: 2026-01-18 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-21 12:50 am (UTC)Ça, ou les rapports de pouvoir entre différentes races (genre humain vs Elfes vs Nains vs dieux) ou peuples qui se disputent un territoire convoité.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-19 01:15 am (UTC)enemies to enemies forced to work together to grudgingly trusting and understanding each others to friends to lovers
This is the way!
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Date: 2026-01-19 06:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-19 05:36 am (UTC)I also tend to see the "Only I May Defeat You" situation happen where opponents will show up to lend a hand or knock a bigger problem down to a manageable size, because they have determined there must be a climactic showdown between the two of them, and nothing else is allowed to interfere with that or cut short the appointment with destiny. I don't remember any particular specific example off the top of my head, but it tends to show up in works where there's a Rival character, even if they're not a villainous one.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-19 08:04 am (UTC)Ha ha not this trope but I remember one time where Peter Parker was pretending to be another super-hero for reasons, and when asked about Sipder-man he said "you will no onger hear about Spider-Man" and soo all of Spider-Man's friends and Spider-Man's enemies came to fight him "what have you done to Spider-Man?" and the fight were not a good part but he knew they cared :D
Maybe I should give a second chance to She-Ra. I tried it, and the politics were annoying to me.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-19 10:03 pm (UTC)The politics do slide more into the background in the later seasons, as the world-destroying threats start being bigger and more properly world-destroying. Maybe it will be more bearable for you if you know there won't be as much politicking in the future.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-20 06:07 am (UTC)