Welcome to the Guess That Rec tournament!
Do you like enemies-to-lovers? Non-stereotypical queer rep? A cyberpunk setting with dragons in space about friendship, family, and the dangers of capitalism?
Well, this isn't any of those things! This is Guess That Rec, a tournament by the mod of @besttropeveershowdown where we'll be voting on media based entirely on bad, Booktok-style recommendations. Inspired by @guess-that-ship and this post, the rules of the tournament are simple: submit a recommendation for your favorite piece of media, and we'll vote on which ones we like best, BUT, here's the kicker: You may not mention anything about the actual plot of the story. Instead, we will be voting based on promo-post-style recommendations, which can include tropes, representation, setting, genre, very general theme, and anything else, as long as it doesn't describe anything that actually happens in the story!
Do you want a high school story about a neurodivergent protagonist working through their trauma by going on adventures in the big city? Queer-coded side characters? Male characters breaking through their toxic masculinity and expressing their feelings? Wholesome sibling relationships?
Then you'll love Catcher in the Rye!
The tournament will work similarly to the way @guess-that-ship does. Each rec will be assigned a number for the poll with the rec itself going in the body of the post, and each round, there will be a poll pitting 2 recs against each other. Vote for whichever piece of media sounds most appealing based on the rec alone. At the end of each round, I will reveal the identity of the loser. Guessing what work each rec is for in the comments is encouraged!
The submission form is here.
Any type of media is permitted. Both fiction and nonfiction are allowed, but everything must be presented as if it's fiction.
You may NOT mention anything to do with the actual plot or premise of the story. You may, however, mention:
Tropes (ex. enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, unreliable narrator)
Representation (ex. disabled protagonist, gay side character)
Character dynamics and relationships (ex. dysfunctional siblings, grumpy x sunshine lesbians)
Setting (ex. in space, in the Old West)
Genre and subgenre (ex. historical fiction, whodunnit, workplace comedy)
Comparisons to other media (ex. if you liked Avengers you'll love this, it's Twilight meets Hunger Games)
General themes (ex. love, grief, family)
General elements (ex. murders, adventures, road trips)
Anything else that has NOTHING TO DO with what the story is actually about!
3. You may NOT make anything up: everything must be technically true, or at least up for interpretation. So, in my Catcher in the Rye example, I can't say that there are "canonically gay characters" because there aren't, but I CAN say that there are queer-coded characters. Similarly, if there's a character in your piece of media who exhibits autistic traits but has never been confirmed autistic, you can't call them "autistic", but you can call them "autistic-coded" or mention their specific traits. The use of weasel words (ex. describing a mentally ill serial killer stereotype as "neurodivergent", or a gay villain as a "major queer character") is allowed and encouraged.
4. Do not include any identifying details (ex. title, character names, identifying place names) in your rec.
5. Funnier submissions will be given higher priority. Submissions are funnier if A) they're of media that most people have heard of, and B) they are technically true while not at all capturing the vibe of the media.
5a. Additionally, remember that this is meant to be BAD recs: don't just use this as an excuse to recommend your favorite media! If a Booktok-style rec actually provides a good picture of what your media is, consider either rewriting or not submitting it.
6. Should the same media be submitted by two different people with different recs, priority will generally be given to the first submission, unless a later submission was significantly funnier by the guidelines stipulated in rule #5.
7. There is no banned media: go nuts!
Submissions will be open for at least 2 weeks, depending on how many I get, after which polls will begin! Happy recommending!
Tagging @tournament-announcer!
