Favorite Tropes
Talk about your favorite tropes in media or transformative works. (Feel free to substitute in theme/motif/cliche if "trope" doesn't resonate with you.)
Top of all of these would be imaginary creatures in general. I love a work that's got an in depth bestiary, especially if there's some thought put into how they live in their world - maybe not hardcore spec bio but a sense that the creatures are part of their world and not just a grab bag of cool looking designs.
Somewhat related, bond creatures, animal companions, etc. Daemons, Pern type dragons, that kind of thing... oddly enough I was never actually into Pern although the premise is admittedly very cool (the books just didn't grab me and, like I keep saying, I'm not a Fandom Person). Daemon AUs are one of the only fanfic tropes I'll actively seek out, mostly because there's some good ones that go into depth about how life would work if everyone had an inseparable animal companion. In general I like to imagine the logistics of an animal companion world - how does it affect things like jobs, housing, transport?
In-universe pop culture - the "show within a show" trope and more. It's interesting from a serious worldbuilding stance - asking what is important enough to this culture that they reflect it in their own works. What shows do they like? What music do they make? What does it say about them? It's also just plain fun and an excuse to let go and make something completely ridiculous, as any setting with a fictional soap opera will tell you.
Lately I've been really into redemption and grey morality. I like the idea of a world where nobody has to be written off as a monster. Not that the path back is easy, but it's there, you can take it, and people don't sneer at you for at least trying.
Sticking with monsters, I also like the concept of a misunderstood Bad Thing (a monster, a robot, whatever) that's actually perfectly nice, with the good guys having to face the fact that they were being unfair. Kind of like the first How To Train Your Dragon movie which hits that spot perfectly. Or maybe the monster isn't that nice, but the good guys are worse in comparison and just have better images? Though I'm not sure I can think of an example. I'm sure I will right after I post this...
Sci-fantasy, magic as technology, magic IN SPACE... I think this one upsets a lot of people who insist that's doing magic wrong, but I like what I like. There's nothing wrong with either approach, just go for what makes you happy! I want to see more fantasy settings that grow and develop - I know of a couple that get to roughly early 20th century levels, but where's my fantasy worlds that develop space travel?
And very important to me, optimism. I don't mean everything has to be perfect, but I'm no fan of constant bleakness and dystopia, or reinventing optimistic settings as Actually Dystopia. Unless it's funny, I guess, because there is something very absurd about dystopias once you get past the initial horror. But yeah, either make me laugh, or give me somewhere that I would actually want to dive in, explore, and maybe even live in if someone gets around to inventing those damn portals to fictional universes already. Either way, give me something to smile about instead of going on about how horrible life is.