Tentacles

Tentacles are used as a theme or focus in fanworks. Sometimes these fanworks are gen, but more often, they have a sexual focus. Tentaclefic is fanfiction that makes use of tentacles in some form. Fanworks and commercial works in many mediums make use of tentacles.
==Sexual Focus==
They are commonly used for kink purposes, both commercially and in fandom. 
Probably the most infamous use of tentacles is with the tentacle monster from anime, which has inspired much fanart and fanfic across a variety of fandoms as well as influences in other commercial mediums, though various types of tentacles have been used in many fandoms.
===Origins and Commercial Examples===
The most obvious and famous example is Urotsukidouji aka Legend of the Overfiend, the progenitor of the tentacle hentai genre. Another manga from the same creator, Demon Beast Invasion, is also a famous example. The genre is sufficiently old and diverse in Japan that it has spawned numerous parodies such as La Blue Girl, an anime about a sex ninja who uses her powers to battle tentacle monsters. Commercial examples tend to feature female victims and nominally male monsters, though female monsters are also somewhat common, and male victims are not unheard of. Many other kinks are commonly found along with tentacles, including inflation, pregnancy, guro, and body horror.
Outside of tentacle porn, tentacles also make an appearance in slightly less overtly sexual ways in many types of media. Superhero comics and their adaptations feature many characters with tentacles, whether organic or mechanical. The SGA episode "The Seed" also features tentacles.
=== Tropes ===
====Creatures====
The tentacles can belong to creatures, such as the tentacle monster. In these cases the encounter is often combined with non-con or rape kinks, known as tentacle rape, as the penetration is involuntary. Often, the creature is either an amazing lover or produces aphrodisiac fluids.
====Machines====
The tentacles can also belong to machines. This can be non-con, but can also take the form of elaborate sex toys. For example in some Stargate Atlantis fic, Atlantis can provide tentacles as sex toys that react to the thoughts of ATA gene carriers.Slybrarian. Room AmenitiesThingswithwings. Read My Mind Mechanical tentacle arms are common in superhero canons.
====Voyeurism====
Sometimes the kink can be voyeurism when the other half of the pairing witnesses the tentacle violation and is turned on by it, or the tentacle monster acts as an AMTDI device and makes them have sex too.
====Alien Kink====
A different kind of tentaclefic is a subgenre of an alien kink in science fiction stories, in which aliens have genitals different from the human norm, that are or come with tentacles. This can be canon, like in Babylon 5 for the Centauri, or fanon as in Star Trek: TOS K/S for Spock, who is frequently described and depicted with genitals that are alien to various degrees, including tentacled versions. For more detail, see Vulcan Genitalia. 
Similarly in fantasy, non-alien but sentient creatures can have tentacles, for example in Little Mermaid femslash,Rubynye. Now, the Matter. or other merpeople AUs.
====Temporary Tentacles====
There is also the option that a normally non-tentacled character (temporarily or permanently) grows tentacles and uses them for sex.The Upside of Having Wraith DNA by Kat Reitz and Tzigane
====Consensual Tentacles====
Especially works with alien kink or temporary tentacles may feature characters consenting (often enthusiastically!) to tentacle sex, in contrast to tentacle rape. Such works are sometimes tagged "Consentacles".[archiveofourown.org/tags/Consentacles/works Consentacles tag on AO3]
====Humans With Non-Sexual Tentacles====
Due to a genetic mutation, some female and male characters in the Sime~Gen fandom have tentacles on their arms. They are used for "feeding" and bonding to other characters, both opposite and same gender. 
While the tentacles are technically not used in a sexual way, there is a strong undercurrent of sex, both consensual and non-consensual, in these fanworks.
===Fandoms with a Lot of Tentacles===
* Harry Potter - the Giant Squid under Hogwarts lake doesn't inspire a lot of fic, but it's often mentioned in passing in other stories.
* Batman comics have canonical tentacle monsters, and Poison Ivy has tentacled plants that feature in many stories.
* Marvel Cinematic Universe also has villains (and sometimes heroes) with tentacles.
* Cthulhu Mythos and writings of H.P. Lovecraft are frequently associated with tentacles, though some fans argue that this association is exaggerated and that tentacles don't appear that often in Lovecraft's stories.
* Sime~Gen features tentacles. 
* Any fandom with a lot of aliens, mutants, or weird unexplained events may inspire tentacle fic.
===Tentacles in Anime & Manga Fandom===
Tentacles are a frequent feature of anime/manga fandom from commercial tentacle porn to yaoi tentacle doujinshi to online fic in English.
For example, Devour is a picspam devoted the the female tentacle monsters in the manga Claymore.
* The Incubi: A Study in Agony or Ecstasy. Or Both.(Part 1 Part 2) by LunarGeography. (xxxHolic, Doumeki x Watanuki). Watanuki encounters a monster of a rather different sort. Doumeki is not amused. (2007).
* In Search for Cubs by Chanchi76 (Saint Seiya). Aiolia finds a mysterious being seeking shelter inside the Leo Temple. Unfortunately for him, what was once prey is now a predator for him and the rest of Sanctuary.
===Tentacles in Media Fandom===
Tentacle creature sex:
*Why Rodney Should Stop Recommending Planets the Ancients Struck from their Database, or, The One with Tentacle Hentai by Bironic (SGA)
*Injukyoshi by astolat (Merlin). The aftermath of a tentacle sex situation where Arthur defeated the monster and Merlin has to clean Arthur in the river while he is still turned on by what happened. (podfic version, read by tatsumaki)
*Tentacles by Franzeska (Merlin). This was a Yuletide story in 2008. Merlin gets attacked by a tentacle monster and Arthur rescues him but the tentacle monster's slime was magic and makes Arthur have sex with Merlin too.
Mechanical tentacles:
*Read My Mind by Thingswithwings (SGA)
*Room Amenities by Slybrarian (SGA)
*Thought Control by Telesilla (SGA)
Alien genitals with tentacles:
*Breaking the Rules by meyari (Smallville)
*Poses by Leslie Fish (ST:TOS)
*Untitled K/S tentacle art by cannedebonbon with a story by thisissirius (ST:AOS)
Characters with other kinds of tentacles:
*Sealed by Salmon_Pink (PotC)
*Rooftops by daisynomore (SHINee)
Character transforms into something with tentacles:
* The Cetacean Situation by norah and thefourthvine (Due South/Marvel)
*Mission Mishaps, or How McCoy Ended up with Tentacles by vamplover82 (Star Trek (2009))
*The Upside of Having Wraith DNA by Kat Reitz/zechsy and Tzigane (SGA)
Fanworks for Homestuck and Welcome to Night Vale both frequently feature tentacles (or "tentabulges" in Homestuck), often presented as a standard part of a character's anatomy.
Tentacles are also common in the videogame fandom Prototype, although the Canon calls them "tendrils".
===Other types of tentacle fandom===
In other circles, this type of kink is often called GOT for "Galaxy Of Terror", the title of a 1981 cult film as well as a website devoted to the kink. The GOT community tends to be heavily male with an interest in superheroines and Western science fiction as well as commercial tentacle porn. This community produces fan art and fanfic as well as original erotica.
==Example Fanworks==
File:Scotty Lovecraft GayleF.jpg|Star Trek character fights Cthulhu from Interphase (calendar) #1 (1976) by Gayle F
File:Day of v int by southern cross foldout.jpg |interior art for Day of Vengeance, art uploaded with publisher's permission. Note: Marked for sexual assault/rape; minimized. An example of the tentacles trope. "The second is a large foldout again of Spock, his body naked, ensnared by vines and trapped inside his own mind with the vicious eyes of his tormentor watching him." from Not Tonight, Spock! #4 
==Resources==
*Tentacles tag on AO3
*Tentacle Fest Fanart and Fanfiction Fest begun March 2010.
*Takoyaoi Love Tentacle Yaoi community, no non-con allowed.
*Tentacle Big Bang
*The Morphobot Appreciation Society (Transformers)
*a list of tentacle related fanworks by feikoi.
*Merlin tentacle porn manifesto by Yue KX explains the appeal of tentacles in terms of kinks and speaks about advantages in fanworks.
*Recs tagged as Tentacles at Fancake
==External Links==
*Tentacle erotica article on wikipedia
==References==
Category:Sexual Tropes & Kinks