Hunting the Unicorn: Difference between revisions

* [[Adult Fear]]: Blaine is a ''minefield'' of this: He's painfully lonely, makes absurd mistakes because nobody's there to tell him otherwise (or he waits until the absolute last minute to ask for help), and then {{spoiler|he gets a [[Stalker With a Crush]] who ''kidnaps him and his friends''.}} And is he a juvenile delinquent? No, he goes around being a [[Knight in Shining Armor]] because [[Dramatic Irony|that's what his parents taught him before they dropped out of his life]].

* [[All Love Is Unrequited]]: Blaine comes damn close. Two guys were his unrequited love interests, his father's emotionally negligent, and two more guys had to deal with Blaine's own [[Selective Obliviousness]]. Five people, one successful relationship. {{spoiler|And Alex makes it six.}}

* [[A Man Is Always Eager]]: [[Played With]]. There's nothing wrong with losing your virginity once you're legally able to consent--it's when you also think ''[[Sex Equals Love]]'' that things [[Break the Cutie|end badly.]]

* [[Anguished Declaration of Love]]: Blaine [[Cannot Spit It Out|doesn't actually say]] he loves Kurt yet, but it's obvious what his huge speech in ''The Clock'' means.

* [[Calling the Old Man Out]]: Blaine tries to call his dad out on his [[Parental Neglect]]--but he's concussed and can't seem to recognize that he's actually talking to [[Parental Substitute|Greg,]] who is very clearly concerned.

* [[Cannot Spit It Out]]: The Warblers are increasingly annoyed by Kurt and Blaine's inability to say "I love you."

* [[Central Theme]]: [[Purity Personified|Purity]]--[[Deconstruction|how it wouldn't work in reality]], and [[Reconstruction|how it would]].

** Being broken [[Reconstruction|can make you a better person.]]

* [[Cool Big Sis]] ''and'' [[Big Brother Mentor|Brother]]: Blaine's siblings Kyle and Lydia are respectively a photographer and an art student studying in California, and have a much better relationship with Blaine than their parents do. Then again, it doesn't do much good since [[Lonely Rich Kid|they're not home very often]].

* [[Courtly Love]]: A depressing take on Kurt and Blaine's [[But Not Too Gay]] portrayal. Kurt's not too enthusiastic on the matter of sex, but Blaine takes it ''really'' far. And he has a [[The First Cut Is the Deepest|reason]].

* [[Culture Clash]] / [[Values Dissonance]]: A source of conflict for Blaine, whose mother is old-fashioned.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: A literal (attempted) curb-stomp is mentioned in Blaine's flashback about Terry.

* [[Damned By Faint Praise]]: The only thing Kyle can say about his and Blaine's father is that he could be worse.

* [[Dance of Romance]]: Terry tried to invoke this. [[Subverted Trope|It didn't work.]]

* [[Deconstruction Fic]]: ''And how''. Ties in nicely with [[Cerebus Retcon]] above.

** Blaine's chivalrous nature makes him a good person, but he's also insecure, fragile, and naive. The Warblers poke fun at how [[Sickeningly Sweethearts|painfully romantic]] and [[But Not Too Gay|chaste]] he is, while his decision to let Kurt go back to McKinley is derided as [[Extreme Doormat|being Kurt's bitch]]. On the other hand, the Warblers, Greg, and Blaine's siblings are so protective of him that he ''doesn't tell them things'' because he's afraid they'll [[Disproportionate Retribution|overreact]].

* [[Honor Before Reason]]: Blaine follows this and verges on [[Too Dumb to Live]] ([[Born in The Wrong Century|in the modern era, at least]]).

* [[Horrible Judge of Character]]: ''Blaine.'' [[Played With]] in that while he ''is'' [[Selective Obliviousness|selectively oblivious]], his real flaw comes from being insanely trusting.

* [[If I Can't Have You]]: {{spoiler|Alex threatens to run over a concussed Blaine ''with Blaine's car'' if David or Wes calls 911.}}

* [[I Have This Friend]]: {{spoiler|Who has a stalker.}}

** Wes and David {{spoiler|''force Alex to kidnap them'' because they won't leave Blaine alone}}. The other Warblers are {{spoiler|helping the police look for them.}}

* [[No Name Given]]: {{spoiler|Blaine's first.}}

* [[Noodle Incident]]: How did Blaine end up stranded in the rain with a drunk Wes and David? Wes ''won'' a bet.

** David and Wes once hospitalized Blaine's dad while the Andersons' mansion was being renovated. It made the paramedics laugh at him.

* [[Oblivious to Love]]: Blaine, ''so much.'' And with ''The Butterfly,'' it has a terrifying bent.

* [[Oh Crap]]: When David realizes that {{spoiler|Blaine's stalker has slipped past campus security [[Right Under Their Noses|disguised as a delivery guy]].}}

* [[One of Us]]: A lot of readers are tropers, and some have read ''[[The Last Unicorn (Literature)|The Last Unicorn]]''.

* [[Papa Wolf]] / [[Mama Bear]]: Greg, Burt, and Carole, in a strong contrast to Blaine's parents. Emphasized in ''King Haggard,'' where Luke asks Greg why he didn't find out {{spoiler|Blaine got kidnapped}} until hours later.

** David, Nick, Trent, and Wes drag Blaine to counseling. ''Literally.''

** ''Nikos'' starts with Kurt and Blaine saying "I love you," {{spoiler|abruptly cuts to Blaine, Wes, and David getting kidnapped,}} and ends with the Warblers freaking out via text-message.

** ''The Hunters:'' {{spoiler|Blaine's not a virgin.}} Elaborated via [[Flash Back]] in ''The Princess.''

** ''The Butterfly:'' {{spoiler|Blaine has a stalker.}} In ''Nikos,'' {{spoiler|he kidnaps Blaine, Wes, and David.}}

** In ''The Butterfly,'' a stoned Nick accidentally falls in the swimming pool and somehow mistakes Jeff for [[Batman]]. [[Lampshade Hanging|Nick then remembers his last name is Grayson.]] [[Subverted Trope|And worries that "Bruce" will whoop his ass for cursing so much.]]

** In ''Drinn,'' Nick insists that Jeff give Blaine a hug, because [[It Makes Sense in Context|Jeff's the only one pretty enough to cancel out the estrogen in Blaine's system.]]

** The shout-outs to [[Team Starkid]] and [[Harry Potter]].

** Blaine is [[Actor Allusion|half-Filipino,]] his eyes are [[Eyes of Gold|tawny]] like Molly Grue's, and he twists his hands like Lir.

* [[Shower of Angst|Shower Of Repressed Sexuality]]: Blaine takes a lot of them.

* [[Shown Their Work]]: The author read a ''lot'' about chivalry to characterize Blaine instead of relying on [[The Theme Park Version]] of a [[Knight in Shining Armor]], and explores both [[The Power of Love|why]] [[Character Development|chivalry]] [[Good Feels Good|works]] and [[Wide Eyed Idealist|why]] [[Broken Ace|it]] [[Love Martyr|doesn't]].

** [[Unicorn|Unicorns]] are frequently thought of as sweet, helpless, and pure, and this is why Blaine's dreams involve Kurt turning into one or vice versa. But the author compares Kurt to the medieval unicorn, which is a symbol of pure ''[[Pure Is Not Good|wildness.]]''

* [[Sickeningly Sweethearts]]: [[Deconstruction|Deconstructed]] in that Blaine has no other outlet for love besides Kurt, and he's also really conflicted about the ''other'' kind of feelings.

* [[Sir Swearsalot]]: Nick. Trying to watch his language makes things worse.

* [[Skewed Priorities]]: Nick was more worried about getting caught smoking weed than of ''potentially drowning.'' And the Warblers value their bets over the fuzzy legality of tampering with security cameras, although they do have lines they won't cross regarding Kurt and Blaine's privacy.

* [[Sophisticated As Hell]]: The Warblers, who use a profuse amount of [[Precision F-Strike|Precision F Strikes]].

{{quote| '''Brandon:''' We're about to serenade a ''complete fucking stranger.''<br />

* [[Subtext]]: Several of these tropes are implied heavily at most. And let's not forget the dreams.

* [[Sure Let's Go With That]]: When Blaine said "[[Exact Words|I've never been anyone's boyfriend,]]" Kyle and Lydia thought he was [[That Didn't Happen|pretending his first relationship never happened.]] Blaine's not about to tell them the truth.

** There's also ''The Creatures of Night,'' where the Warblers listen to "[[Spring Awakening|Touch Me]]" and Blaine ends up uncomfortable.

* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: In ''The Hunters,'' Blaine claims that he's not repressing his feelings. Though he ''is'' repressing his feelings about Kurt, they're [[Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality|very specific ones]].

* [[Theme Naming]]: Ky'''l'''e, B'''l'''aine, and '''L'''ydia. Their father is '''L'''uke.

* [[There Are No Therapists]]: Blaine avoids dealing with his issues because "they're not that bad" compared to Kurt's. They certainly aren't, but they're still pretty serious.

** No longer applicable, as of ''The Hunters.''

* [[Thicker Than Water]]: Blaine won't let ''anyone'' question how his parents raised him, and he puts up with his father's [[Parental Neglect]] by saying things could be worse.

* [[Used to Be A Sweet Kid|Used To Be A Good Father]]: Luke Anderson, which is why Blaine's [[Love Martyr|Love Martyrdom]] is so depressing. In a subversion (inversion?), it's a wonder Blaine's ''stayed'' a sweet kid.

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Blaine.

** ''Nikos.''

** "Having a rough patch, [[Code Name|Tom?]]" Said to the dean by {{spoiler|Greg}}.

* [[What You Are in The Dark]]: [[Played With]] during ''The Clock'' for Kurt ''and'' Blaine; they're having a heartfelt talk about Kurt's transfer, and don't know they're being taped by the Warblers. Which leads to a [[Foregone Conclusion|subversion]] of [[The Power of Love]]--Blaine really has changed for the better and they're both head-over-heels for each other, but Kurt is too independent to be content with staying at Dalton.

[[Category:Hunting The Unicorn]]

[[Category:Fan Fic]]