snowflake #3 - AU, fusions, and crossovers, oh my!

[chase_acow]

Challenge #3

In your own space, put some favorite characters into an AU, fuse some favorite canons together, talk about your favorite AU/fusion tropes, or tell us why AU/fusions aren’t your cup of tea.

I love Alternate Universes and fusions! I think it's fun to try to keep the characters consistent or try to weave unexpected bits of canon in a new way. The way I like settings isn't always tied to how or why I like characters, so I absolutely have no trouble mixing and matching for any of the fandoms I'm interested in. I don't necessarily do a one-for-one character switch either. Like if I were doing MCU and Mass Effect, I wouldn't necessarily want Sam to be Commander Shepard and faithfully follow that that storyline. I'd enjoy whatever where he gets to splash around in the universe and have his own adventure.

It's technically AU, but I'm really into canon + magical realism. So everything is the same except they have daemons, or there are soulmates, or there is time travel correspondence through a shared mailbox. Or people's hearts can be sewed up with different colored thread to heal, or hearts have their own agency based on the character's feelings for other people. I dig heart AUs.

I'm less into Crossovers where the point is to have character from fandom A meet character from fandom B. It feels awkward to me, and I don't usually write or read it.

Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine is one of my new favorite pieces to poke at for Falcon and the Winter Soldier Alternate Universes. She's affable evil and kind of fun to have as a lesser villain. I still don't know what to do with Sharon - is she bad, has she been replaced, is it a long con? Who knows?

I'm not into High School, Coffee shop, Flower/Tattoo shop or most other mundane AUs. I don't like coffee, and it seems so generic? To be contrary, I of course immediately thought about an exception - Junk Cheap by DevilDoll, a Stargate Atlantis AU where Sheppard owns the building McKay has to live in while teaching and operates a junk store on the bottom floor. It was unexpected but kept Sheppard's military history, worked for the characters and I still remember it fondly a million years later.

For auexchage I once received the Star Trek Voyager characters fused into Captain America: The Winter Soldier and I was amazed at how well it worked -> This is Why I Have Trust Issues

Comments

[razielim]

"I'd enjoy whatever where he gets to splash around in the universe and have his own adventure."

Yeah, that stuff is so fun! Watching them play around in the setting and make it their own :D

[chase_acow]

Like in video games, side quests sometimes get you random lore and weird fun that a main character couldn't have on the main story line. That's where I like my AUs!

[dine]

oh, Junk Cheap is so fabulous! I've read and reread it many times over the years, and my friend rattlecatcher and I will sometimes randomly quote lines to each other. in fact that was included in a "just reread it" comment (can't kudos more than once) and devildoll was surprised and pleased, I think

[chase_acow]

I've got it in my marked for later list so I can reread it too! It took me a min to find it, but I'm so glad that some of these older stories are still around.

[turps]

I'm really enjoying these AU answers.

It's technically AU, but I'm really into canon + magical realism

Oh yes, I like those too.

And that Voyager fic looks like something I need to read. *tabs*

[chase_acow]

I hope you enjoy the Captain America!Janeway fic! I thought they did a great job of finding places for the characters.

[perspi]

I am SO enjoying reading people's answers to this challenge! I, too, have a weakness for magical realism! And mundane AUs can sometimes work, but personally, high school AUs aren't my jam and I have a real hard time with college or college faculty AUs -- it's one of those things where being TOO familiar just wrecks the experience because usually the details of the AU aren't at all right...

[chase_acow]

Normally, my only exception for High School or college settings would be a marching band AU. Though sadly I have not run across any in my long history of fandom! : )

I sometimes poke at the 'take your characters to work' AUs, but then I totally get bogged down in the details. I just continue to be surprised at how realistic the 9-1-1 shows on Fox get dispatchers.