Likes and Dislikes in BL, Yaoi and Slash

[Lady Gyrfalcon]

This topic is (as the thread name suggests) about likes and dislikes in your m/m media, plain and simple, dears. (And/or things you'd like to see, too.)
We've already got a few good discussion topics about one and the other, so to make this easier just put it in point form, if you wish. (If you don't, feel free to essay or tl;dr, I'll enjoy reading it.)
Oh, and it doesn't have to be all at the same time, that would be a bit daft.

Likes:

• Believable relationships
  
• Fantasy or scifi elements
  
• Semi-human creatures, like centaurs, nagas, mermen, angels or demons, catboys/men, werewolves, you get the drift.
  
• Fierce Knights
  
• Good art or writing
  
• Relationships with an unusual dynamic
  
• Relationships where there isn't a painfully well defined seme-uke divide
  
• Plot other than the main relationship
  
• EPIC PLOT
  
• Adventure
  
• Plot and relationship development before any smut
  
• Other relationships as well as the main couple
  
• Middle-aged and/or past teenage characters, at times
  
• Manga with "realistic" themes that aren't about teenagers
  
• Biting and/or scratching
  
• Walling
  
• Blood and gore
  
• Yandere or possessive characters (at least somewhat) clearly presented as such
  
• Unhealthy relationships that don't pretend to be True Love
  
• On the other hand, relationships that are actually healthy and loving
  
• Occasionally, mind-control or spiritual possession
  
• Yellow-eyed guys
  
• Genderswitches
  
• Selfcest. 'Specially when it's somebody's evil self/side or something being a creeper at them
  
• A lot of other things that I can't recall right now, some of which are possibly not suitable to be repeated here
  

Dislikes:

• Shotacon (bluhh)
  
• Non-con and rapefic
  
• Incest pairings
  
• Weepy Uke
  
• Bad yaoi cliches
  
• Badly-drawn fanart and manga
  
• Laughable sex-scenes (manga included)
  
• Lack of plot and consistant characterisation
  
• Lack of relationship development
  
• Anything badly written
  

 

[User_2629207]

"Seriousness is the refuge of the shallow."

That's quite a list, m'dear! Here's mine... note that not all of these are requirements, there are exceptions etc. and all that jazz.

I like:

x PLOTPLOTPLOTPLOTPLOTPLOTPLOTPLOT. Angsty romance doesn't count.
x Gore, blood, fun things.
x Violence/Action
x Historically/Mythologically/Scientifically correct things! Research is not difficult goddommot.
x Stories where the characters are properly established before jumping in bed with one another.
x Actually DATING before sex.
x Relationships that make sense. You know, where the characters actually converse, hang out, do things other than have sex.
x Creative settings, character designs, situations etc
x Originality - this is probably the most important thing to me. Probably sharing first place with creativity.

x Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Psych, Horror etc. I'd like the stories to focus on more than just the relationships.
x Knights, pirates, adventurers, scientists, politicians, serial killers, mercenaries, doctors, nobility and all sorts of other fun types. Basically, anything but schoolboys and "regular salarymen". I like interesting lifestyles please and thank you!
x ADVENTURE~ With epic fights and stuff. Really.
x Swapping the seme-uke roles around.
x Non-penetrative sex. It exists, they don't have to have buttsex ALL THE TIME.
x Younger Seme.

x Characters above the age of twenty. This is a dealbreaker.
x Interesting sexual positions. Especially the "ekiben" position 8'D (haha why do I know dirty japanese slang?)
x Historical environments! Preferably no later than the 50's.
x Bespectacled characters, heh heh
x Feisty/possessive/controlling/topping-from-the-bottom ukes. If there must be ukes.
x Men who look and act like men. Seriously. I can not and will not read a manga that involves boys who look like prepubescent girls. How the heck would they even survive sex!?
x Older men. Like, early 30's-late40's. Possibly older. GO AHEAD, JUDGE ME.

x Slightly pudgy characters. So qt, for srs. Better yet, pudgy characters who are insecure because of their weight :'D
x Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. If the chaaracters want to both kill and ******** one another, my day is made.
x Nice clothes. Well-dressed men are awesooome.
x Unusual-looking dudes. Not necessarily attractive, my Cable/Deadpool OTP is proof of this.

Chyeah~ Okay my list is like just as long. Sorry.
Dislikes~

x Girly boys. I hate girly boys. What's the point of it being BL if the boy looks like the average moemoe girl?
x Overly needy characters.
x Angst. In very small quantities, sure, but GOD.
x Stupid clichés.
x fixed roles in the bedroom.
x "school life" Lame lame lameee. Nobody cares about school. We all go to school. Been there done that not interesting at all, not even with sex.
x Sloppy, bad art.
x Incest and rape. Note that there are like two exceptions for this, but in general, no thank you.

x over-emotional characters. Man up, you sissies!
x twoo wuv and ultra-fluffy crap.
x "normal" characters. Why should I be interested in their lives if they're just like any other person?
x the "childhood friends"-trope
x shotacon. Though there are, what, three exceptions or something.
x overuse of the word "niisan". STFU ALREADY.
x unhealthily skinny boys.

And probably tons more because I am a picky b***h biggrin

My list is ultra long, gahh.

- Oscar Wilde.

 

[Lady Gyrfalcon]

Dude, your list is actually double as long as mine, don't lie.
The scary thing is, I found myself nodding along to practically everything you said. (Bar maybe one thing.)
Especially Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. How did I forget that?
My memory for these things is somewhat terrible, though.

Anyway. Sushii, are you me in another life or something? Oh, I have some (don't ask me how or why) Psycho Mantis/Sorrow fanart floating around somewhere, considering the point on unusual-looking dudes, should I post it in the MGS thread?

I would like to see a "good" (i.e., satisfies at least the minimum requirements for plot) yaoi manga with shibari. Or bondage, plain and simple, but shibari would be A++.  

[User_2629207]

"Seriousness is the refuge of the shallow."

Shibari is teh bomb. I have only seen it in fanart so far sad
Come to think of it, I've found it kind of difficult to find consensual bondage and S&M, which annoys me, because it's the consent that makes to so goddamn hot D<<<

I have something to add to my likes list. Something that is semi-gross and strangely fascinating. Cannibalism 8DDDDD *joins the official creeper club*

We're simply ~destined for one another~ or somesuch. yay.

- Oscar Wilde.

 

[[Ren The Ryoko]]

Hate:
Girly boys. I hate those damn "Wait, I thought this was a Yaoi? Oh...well there's no boobs...I GUESS that's a girl?" boys. HATE them. With all my heart. Seriously. Ugh.

When EVERYONE is gay. Really. Everyone? Everyone? The Prince, the Steward, the King, the King's Brother, the Captain of the Guard, the neighboring Kingdoms Prince, the stable boy, the servant, the chef, and the horse are ALL GAY?! Seriously?
But ALL the women are straight, annoying, and oblivious?
- . -;;;

Those God damn "Glowing cones". It's a p***s. This is porn. Come on people.




Like:
PLOT.
Royalty.
Incest when it's done well.
Rough sex.  

[Femme Mantis]

Oh boy my list of many lists. X3

Likes:

- Scifi plots. =P
- Gore, gore, gore. <3
- Bloody sex!
- Blood in general.... >.>
- Abusive charactors, i hate too much fluffy s**t.
- Girly boys, fun to abuse! ='D
- Believable relationships that are healthy.
- Unhealthy relationships. =o
- Horror movie type of things~.
- Shota, i have an age limit though. Nothing under 10.
- Kitty ears~. <3 <3 <3
- Kitty boys in general.
- Rape/Non con.
- Con.
- Some fluff.
- Mpreg! <3
- Charactor death.
- Angst.
- Imperfect charactors, i love the twisted ones better.
- Kinda old fashioned but i like my seme and uke to be easily indentified.
- Crossdressing.
- Certain cliches are fine by me.
- Killers in my yaoi, it is good stuff.
- A good plot.
- Good grammar.
- Well rounded charactors.
- Details.
- The crushing of female charactors because i love girls getting turned down or heartbroken in yaoi over an obviously gay guy. >3
- Cold, callous men. <3
- BDSM. ='DD
- Possessive ukes.
- Bondage. ='DD
- Fairie boys~. =o
- Long haired boys~. <3
- Feme boys.
- Tentacle monsters/rape or it can be con. >w<


Dislikes:

- Females in my yaoi. D<
- Bara, ******** GROSS AS HELL.
- Most incest.
- Bad art.
- Overly sensitive ukes who cry all the time. Dx
- Lack of blood and gore.
- Drugs in my yaoi. D=
- Alcohol in my yaoi.
- Lack of kitty ears.
- Humor sex, seriously not wanted.
- Stereotypical lovey dovey endings.  

[Sieffre]

I'm stealing the bullets.

LIKES:

• Sad endings where people die. Or they don't stay together. Because not all relationships last. I especially like characters that move on after a while and see other people.
  
• Platonic relationships.
  
• Sharp dressing.
  
• Characters that smoke.
  
• Prisons.
  
• Nazis. And uniforms in general.
  
• M/M/M or M/M/F threesomes. Wouldn't object to more people, either.
  
• Gunslingers/Western plots.
  
• Interesting hair: long hair, red hair, messy or shoddily cut hair, dreadlocks and baldness.
  
• Evil cults, brotherhoods, or religions, especially if they're not really evil but just have a non-mainstream cause.
  
• Hidden identities.
  
• Scars.
  
• Prostitution.
  
• Crack plots done seriously.
  
• Men that are old (anywhere from late twenties to early fifties to, like, I dunno, I guess death or something?)
  
• Stubble.
  
• Incest (brother/brother or father/brother).
  
• Physical flaws like being a little overweight or ugly.
  
• Dancing or dance lessons. And I mean like classical dancing, not club dancing.
  
• Superheros.
  
• Safe sex especially after mid-80s.
  
• Fatherhood.
  
• Trips to/set in foreign countries (bonus for Venice, double bonus for Arabia).
  
• Freckles everywhere.
  
• Characters being impotent or swearing abstinence.
  
• Mad scientists/doctors.
  
• Enemies: they just hate each other; they're on opposite sides of a fight or war; they believe in opposing religions or political ideologies.
  
• Asphyxiation.
  
• Zombies.
  
• Bottoms that top/riding.
  
• Not human. Especially where it counts.
  
• Set in historical times.
  
• Oriental/middle-eastern decor.
  
• Tattoos.
  
• Characters being domestic. Not girly-like, but just efficient.
  
• Flying.
  
• Steampunk.
  
• Characters/Themselves. Narcissistic masturbation ftw.
  
• Short people. Like 5'4" or something.
  
• Masochistic characters that like emotional abuse and humiliation as well as physical pain.
  
• Chivalry.
  
• Bara. But only with MBT's snarky commentary.
  
• Bringing their boyfriend home to meet their parents. Especially if it's awkward. Especially if it's awkward for an interesting reason other than the homosexuality thing.
  
• Mashups. They're funny, ok?
  
• Characters that get by on very little money and are content with that.
  
• Women as side characters. Straight pairings among side characters too.
  
• Alternate universes. And alternate endings.
  
• Guys running around barefoot.
  
• When characters fight and annoy one another on occasion.
  
• Batshit insane characters.
  
• Tentacle porn.
  
• Drug abuse. (Cocaine, heroin, ludes and absinthe are my favourites.)
  
• Characters having other things in their lives besides their partners, like friends and jobs.
  
• Really insanely long stories.
  
• Anything that is unexpected.
  

HATES:

• Shota. I have quite a few exceptions but they're for pretty bizarre reasons, so.
  
• Vampires, especially of the long-black-hair, frilly-shirt type.
  
• Any character being in a band especially if it's an emo or indie band.
  
• Teenagers in general.
  
• Long hair.
  
• Bondage/BDSM.
  
• Crying especially if someone else is present.
  
• Gay men liking opera. Especially if they live in New York.
  
• Yukatas.
  
• Male pregnancy. It doesn't even make sense.
  
• Gore.
  
• "Willowly" skinny-limbed people.
  
• Backstory in pwp that doesn't really matter.
  
• Bestiality and furries.
  
• Crossdressing. The only exception is the Joker from TDK.
  
• Rape.
  
• Stories that drag on long after they should have ended.
  
• More than like, 20% of the plot being about school.
  
• Cat/bunny/koala/whatever ears.
  
• Tails, too.
  
• Lack of straight and female side-characters.
  
• Healing c**k. Especially for rape.
  
• Invisicock (unless, y'know, the character is invisible)
  
• Sex that is the same every. single. time.
  

How did that get so long? And I know I'm missing a bunch of stuff too.
Anyway, most have exceptions and I didn't list obvious things like solid plots and character flaws and so on and so forth.  

[User_2629207]

"Seriousness is the refuge of the shallow."

Ugh, I agree with almost everything you said, Sieffre : D Especially about the sharp dressing (yes I am a fashionfag) and moving on and there being straight people around...

- Oscar Wilde.

 

[Sieffre]

Ooo, I like that term. Fashionfag! surprised But hey, a well-cut suit = instant sexy.  

[User_2629207]

"Seriousness is the refuge of the shallow."

ikr? It's the best-looking item of clothing for men, and all men should own at least two suits imo. And a hat.

I have another thing to add to this list now.

x High heels. Seriously. Everybody looks sexy as hale in 'em. And this doesn't necessarily mean feminine shoes. Back in the day, many men's shoes had high heels as well, especially boots. Mm, boots...

- Oscar Wilde.

 

[Sieffre]

And spats.
You can't get more classy than that.  

[Lady Gyrfalcon]

Hrrrng, sharp dressing and spats.
I want me some spats. I've got braces/suspenders more or less covered, but some spats for my nice shoes would be lovely.

Anyway, suit-wise. I especially like the classic shirt, waistcoat, trousers and tailcoat combo.
Waistcoats and tailcoats in general just don't get enough love. I prefer ones with them to plain business-ish suits, by far. But they only show up in period manga, mostly, it's such a shame. Changes in fashion aren't always better, I suppose.
But yaoi-wise, if it's a period manga then there's always the associated drama regarding sexuality, which makes plenty of sense but gets somewhat grating eventually. I'd love to see a fantasy or alternate history manga with a variation on Victorian or Edwardian fashions, but with different social norms.

/fashionfag convention continues  

[User_2629207]

"Seriousness is the refuge of the shallow."

That's it, I am making it my mission in life to draw hot well-dressed menz.

Lady Gyr, I totally agree and know for a fact (proven by the discovery of PVC in 1835) that the Victorians were kinky SOBs , and the whole prude bull was just a cover-up for the cesspool of sexual deviance that was the 1800s.

So the whole oh-no-we're-gay-la-di-da-social-status-inappropriateness-what-the-hell-ever thing is silly shenanigans! We all know they were bitter horndogs in private biggrin But for some reason, mangakas and writers don't realize this...

Anyway, to be fair, men's fashion - the good kind, mind you, hoodies and baggy jeans do not and will not ever count as fashion imo - hasn't really changed a lot over the last 200-or-so years. You still see a lot of victorian influences on the runway, it's just that when it comes to men's clothing, most people don't give a damn what's on the runway. Here's an example fyt.

- Oscar Wilde.

 

[Sieffre]

@Lady Gyrfalcon: Spats.

I'm actually more partial to the shirt-and-waistcoat combo. Not that suit jackets aren't nice of course...

And the sexuality drama is one of the things I like about Victorian society. It's the whole forbidden aspect, perhaps? And as Saffron says, it obviously went on in great abundance anyway. (But come on, their society was that sexually repressed in public, they gotta have an outlet in private.)

And yeaaah, men are lucky in still getting at their suits easily. Women have much worse luck, although they really hit their peak in the 20s-ww2.

Some more likes:

• Reading the newspaper.
  
• Private/public library settings, especially if that's the "meeting" scene.
  
• Bathing/shaving with a straight razor.
  

 

[Lady Gyrfalcon]

Ahhh, Gentleman's Emporium. Their shipping costs to Europe are high enough that it wouldn't be worth my while unless I bought a fair number of items.
I would love to have a proper straw boater hat for the summer, though. sad

I'm inordinately obsessed with waistcoats. I want to make a brown brocade one for myself.

Ah! Anyway! I seem to have gotten a little off-topic, my apologies.

I suppose for me, it's something that I'll take or leave. Sometimes, it just frustrates me, and I skip off to other things, but other times it does seem like a bit of intrigue.
I suppose it can be an overused theme in yaoi, for obvious reasons, but I'd really like to see someone use it very well.

But some I forgot earlier:

• Pre-20th century military styles.
  
• Badass couples!
  
• Battle couples. There's nothing I like more than something like two characters fighting back to back, making impossibly calm snarky comments and shooting smouldering looks at each other whenever there's a moment of respite. Sounds like a recipe for disaster in an actual battle, but I'll be damned if it isn't very enjoyable in fiction.