hydratrashmeme | Chatter post

Chatter post

For all your discussion needs.

Ground rules:
- Try to keep it loosely trash party related, or at least Cap fandom related.
- Disagreement is fine, nastiness is not.
- Being offended is not carte blanche for nastiness.
- Trashmeme ground rules apply. Read at your own risk, no romanticizing your noncon garbage, no wank about the moral acceptability of noncon kink.
- Body shots, sniper shots, and tetanus shots are all available at the open bar. Party like it's 2014, kids.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hey trash party -

I'm new, and I was wondering if there's anything the trash party generally considers gauche or in poor taste. I've noticed a number of posts recently that asked for "no ____ characterization" (and one thread that turned into an argument) so I wanted to know if I'm doing it wrong. It does sound like a lot of us are writing from life here, so it makes me nervous if what I'm putting out there is stepping on other people's land mines.

If you mean the argument yesterday, I think people were mad about the idea that "Captain America wouldn't do ____" (when ____ was something that people saw as positive and supportive). Maybe people could have been less harsh but given what the conversation was about, I can see why it was hurtful to be told that Steve wouldn't do that.

In general, I think people just naturally get a little grumpy when they're always seeing a characterization that they don't like, but it's just people being grumpy, not that that characterization is against the rules. The only characterization rule as I understand it is not to write bad guys as good, or good guys as bad (including when it's done unintentionally, like the author is writing a good guy as raping someone, but the author doesn't realize it is rape; that would be shut down in a hurry).

"In poor taste" is like the definition of the trash party so no worries about that!

Thanks, that totally helps. 99% of what I've filled here I can't put anywhere else for a number of reasons, but first and foremost because disability is a huge part of my life. I really can't afford for people to think that I'm actually infantilizing myself or others (because sometimes people suck and don't get that fiction can be a safe outlet. They want to read everything as a Cry For Help or whatever :P) But yeah anyway I didn't want to upset people here either.

aw, please don't worry about that, I really don't think people will think that.

I think part of it is just that people have different emotional/characterization kinks. The exact same stuff happening to a character can either punch me in the gut or leave me cold depending on whether it's infantilization or competence porn, brokenness or resistance. There's a certain amount of annoyance involved when a widespread trope that doesn't hit your kinks is also something you consider OOC, but I think most of the "no _______ characterization" in prompts is just YKINMK.

I was one of the people getting a bit upset in the argument last night, but there are a zillion signs posted around this landfill that it's a minefield and no one should expect it to be safe. Besides, upsetting prompts or fills is a whole different matter than some rando shitting on characterizations they dislike in the comments. Upsetting prompts and fills are what we're all here for.

So far, people have been really nice to each other. That argument last night was the first I'd ever seen.
If you fill a post, respect the "no _ characterization", but that doesn't mean it's unacceptable elsewhere, just that it's not the OP's cup of tea. Mentioning at the beginning of the fic about any kinks that weren't prompted that might bother someone is nice, too.
We have so many different versions of various characters here, and that's part of what I love. So far there hasn't been any insistence that we get things 'right', and hopefully that keeps up. Our lovely Mod is really nice when she explains something doesn't fit the meme, and does it better than we could, anyways.

DA

I can't remember whether I've actually written prompts specifically requesting "no ___" but I've definitely described potential writing projects that way to myself -- "what about Bucky's Broken Dick + competence porn?" or the like. But if I have written prompts that way, it's because for the particular prompt I'm thinking about that's what I want to see, not because that's what I *always* want to see. I love trashysad confused childlike Bucky. I love angry feral Bucky. I love mostly-functional-and-dealing Bucky. I love the variety in the dumpster.

I think I have written prompts requesting no-xyz-characterisation. It's never been 'cause that type of characterisation doesn't appeal. It's usually 'cause I've seen a minor kink in a different fic (where the characterisation IS the major kink) and I'd like to read a whole fill about that minor kink.

Best example I can think of is spanking and ageplay. They go together like strawberries and champagne, but sometimes I just want the strawberries.

(OP again) Yeah, that makes sense - I also appreciate the variety. Though out of curiosity, what would you define as "competence porn"? I'm unfamiliar with that term.

I'm not 100% sure, but it seems like people use that about stories where Bucky is superficially functional post-WS, where he's either pulling off amazing missions by himself post-hydra, and/or is very clever and snarky? Googling it, it seems to mean something different but in this fandom it always seems to be applied to Bucky and involve that characterization.

Competence porn is basically, like, someone is really really good at something and it's written in such a way that even if the other characters aren't marveling at it, the author is definitely making a big deal of it to the reader. It's not dramatic tension: the joy comes from seeing the character just kicking epic amounts of ass. In movies/TV it often involves a montage to establish someone's skill.

Bucky is generally considered to be very very good at killing people (I mean, that's canon!), but people don't always play that up in their fics. I am one of these people, because I am bad at writing action sequences. But I love reading fic where his skill is emphasized.

Heh, well as someone with a huge physical competence kink, the best examples of competence porn (for me) would be any of the WS' action sequences in Cap 2. Especially that fight before the big reveal. Good god, that knife flip..... Also I recommend you check out Nate Bateman if you have time!! I saw him on my tumblr dash last night and lost my mind.

SA

Nick* Bateman, whoops

DA I'd add in Steve's action sequences. The first ten minutes of TWS on the Lemurian Star, his fight with Batroc, that fight in the elevator, and then him taking out the quinjet (without harming the pilot, too), unf!

AYRT

God yessss, tbh now that I think about it, pretty much the entire film was competency porn lmao

This is actually something that bothers me in all kink memes. If I'm considering filling something, and the OP has requested that the filler make some specific good guy/non evil character look bad on purpose just because the OP doesn't happen to like that character, I lose interest in writing the fill.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Chatter post

re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

competence porn

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette

Re: dumpster etiquette