BuzzFeed Unsolved AU
| Tropes and genres | |
|---|---|
| Related tropes/genres | Ghost (trope), Ghost Hunter AU, YouTube AU |
| See also | Fusion |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Buzzfeed Unsolved AU is an alternate universe and/or fusion based on the format of the webseries Buzzfeed Unsolved where characters become ghost hunters with a YouTube series. It is essentially the exact midground of the YouTube AU and the ghost hunter AU, as the documentary-style reality TV webseries is the focus of such AUs.
Many fanworks also focus on recreated the dynamic of the Buzzfeed Unsolved hosts, with one enthusiastic and excitable character and one skeptic character. In this case the two hosts are usually shipped. Some Buzzfeed Unsolved AUs preserve the involvement of a crew in the production of the show (which has a 1st AD, a producer, and a cameraman in addition to the two hosts) but the term is equally likely to apply to any group of characters who are investigating paranormal activity for a YouTube series, even if they're doing amateur vlogs from their phones.
On Archive of Our Own, works that are Buzzfeed Unsolved AUs are sometimes exclusively or also tagged with "Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunter". This is possibly because the Buzzfeed Unsolved AU tag was previously synned to the Alternate Universe tag. As of October 2018 the only canonical tag seemed to be Based On Buzzfeed Unsolved (later renamed Inspired By Buzzfeed Unsolved), which had 19 fanworks in 2018 but 220 as of 2022. Top five most frequently tagged fandoms on these works are Buzzfeed Unsolved, BTS, Video Blogging RPF, My Hero Academia, and NCT.[1] As of 2022, the canonical tag Alternate Universe - Buzzfeed Unsolved Fusion has 243 works in a wide variety of fandoms. The top five are Buzzfeed Unsolved, My Hero Academia, BTS, Haikyuu!!, and Video Blogging RPF.[2] A general AO3 search for the phrase "Buzzfeed Unsolved AU" returns 245 works[3], of which 41 are tagged with the Buzzfeed Unsolved fandom tag, but only 11 are not crossovers. The term "BuzzFeed Unsolved AU" very rarely refers to a BuzzFeed Unsolved fanwork that is an AU.
Examples
- Black Sails: A Place You Could Walk Across (With Five Steps Now) by prouvairablehulk
- Boku no Hero Academia: UA Unsolved by kabukichou (ameliafromafairytale) a popular recursive fic of the Sixth Sense AU Yesterday Upon The Stair by PitViperofDoom
- Ghostly Shenanigans by RogueCommand and TheLadyVanora, which is recursive fic of UA Unsolved.
- Boku no Hero Academia: Amateur Ghost Hunters by bkdkwritingsdump
- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency: they say times are hard for dreamers, but it's gotten me this far ( and that's far enough for me ) by wearealltalesintheend
- IT: Am I the only, only believer? by LadyVisenya
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Buzzfeed Unsolved: The Mysterious Mass Murder at the Devil's Nest by welpthatdidntwork
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Hey There Demons by GhosteBusters
- Gravity Falls: where sunlight ends by mysterytwin
- Naruto: running with bigfoot by letthecitybreathe
- Teen Wolf: love is a cryptid too by maraudersourwolf
- Yuri!!! on Ice: Necrophilia* and Other Crimes by aceklaviergavin
Fannish Resources
- Based On Buzzfeed Unsolved tag on AO3
- Buzzfeed Unsolved Fusion tag on AO3
- Text search for "Buzzfeed Unsolved AU" on fanfiction.net
References
- ^ Inspired by Buzzfeed Unsolved, Archived version, AO3 tag, accessed 24 April 2022.
- ^ lternate Universe - Buzzfeed Unsolved Fusion, Archived version, AO3 tag, accessed 24 April 2022.
- ^ Works Search, 24 April 2022.