Fannish Friday: Do I even have OTPs??????????

[lirazel]

I was reading ruuger's thoughts about OTPs over on Mastodon, and I had a sudden, shocking thought: I don't know that I have any OTPs in the truest sense of the word?

For every single ship that I absolutely adore (faves: Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji, Gen/Irene, Kamet/Costis, Youngshin/Junghoo, Buffy/Spike, Winter/Alex, Lord Peter/Harriet, Julie/Maddie, Evie/Rick, etc.), I don't think I really have OTP feelings? Because even with the ones I would have been DEVASTATED if they weren't together in canon (see: all of the listed above except Spuffy), I'll still happily ship at least one of them with other people in fanfiction.

Now, I won't always ship both halves of the pairing with others even in fanfiction. I love Wei Wuxian/Jiang Cheng and I can even get into Wei Wuxian/Wen Qing under the right circumstances. But I just cannot accept Lan Wangji/anyone else. I just don't believe he'd ever love anyone else. My brain totally rejects it. In modern AUs, I'm fine with him having dated other people, but even there, I don't believe he's really loved any of them. Like, sorry! But that's entirely about who LWJ is as a person, not about the ship itself.

I have wracked my brain and literally the only pairing I can think of where I'm like, "No. Not even in fanfic. If I even think of them with anyone else, I will start frothing at the mouth with anger" is...

Nick and Nora Charles.

Make of that what you will.



How about y'all? Do you have any pairings you will only accept together?

Comments

[rekishi]

Mostly one for all of my fandoms?

I can generally consider them as "they might be together with some non-canon character for some time" (because I suspect every has a past and a future), but when I write/read them? Definitely endgame.

[lirazel]

I think there are more people out there with your point of view than mine.


I have just become a multi-shipper as I get older! If I were still reading BtVS fic, for instance, I would mostly read Buffy/Spike, but I also love Spike/Dru, Spike/Angel, and Buffy/Faith.

Otoh, I have no interest in reading/writing anything Healer except Youngshin/Junghoo or anything but Peter/Harriet or Rick/Evie, but I wouldn't be put-off by someone else doing so. I think what I'm lacking is that intensity of "No! No one else ever for my ship!" that I remember having as a teenager.

[rekishi]

Oh, I'm not opposed to other people shipping my OTP with other people, either together or separately. I have a live and let live stance towards shipping, there is no way to do fandom "wrong" (except when you're doing it wrong, but then you're an anti or whatever the newest word for that is), shipping isn't pie where there is less for me just because someone else gets a slice.

I'm simply not interested in it that much, but that doesn't make someone else's stance any less valid. I don't believe in ship wars (I've lived through the original shipper vs noromo war of the X-Files generation, I'm done with that).

But I think for me, I have a certain headcanon and it's very hard to shift that headcanon away from a specific pair. But that's definitely a me thing! More fanfic is always preferable!

ETA: And I mean. Especially wangxian, no way there's to see that differently, very fixed there.

[lirazel]

But I think for me, I have a certain headcanon and it's very hard to shift that headcanon away from a specific pair

That makes sense. Do you think your intense headcanon it makes you more picky about fic in general than other people? (I ask as a person who is extremely picky about fic execution, even if I'll read many different pairings/characters/whatever.)

[rekishi]

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooo picky about fic, but not because of that, I think(?). There's just too much fic and I won't ever be able to read even a fraction of it anyway and I'm not willing to put up with some things anymore (wildly OOC-ness or grammar mistakes in every other sentence or sth). I'm also that picky about gen fic, for instance.

[pauraque]

I've lived through the original shipper vs noromo war of the X-Files generation, I'm done with that

Same here. That was a hard lesson in how destructive shipwars can be.

[rekishi]

Yes, yes indeed. And I was even only on the foreign languages fringes on it and it was bad. On the other hand, I'm mostly glad it came early on in my fandom experience. Ship and let ship.

[lirazel]

For me it was Angel vs. Spike on Buffy and it was so off-putting!

[nyctanthes]

I cannot think of one!

Oh wait, yes I can. Michael/Nikita from the original La Femme Nikita tv show. Which is funny because they were both working for a dubious organization that constantly made them seduce/marry other people.

[lirazel]

Ah! I haven't watched that show, but I've seen enough gifsets that I get the OTP vibes!

[pegasus143]

I typically don't have OTPs. There is one particular pairing (Kara/Luther, from Detroit: Become Human) where I do feel weird about post-canon fics where they aren't together (or at least getting there), but I will happily accept fics where a third (or fourth, or more...) character is added into the relationship, or where the two of them are together while one or both of them is also with someone else.

Clearly, I am just very into polyamory XD

[lirazel]

Haha! I don't think I'd be into polyamory in real life, but I definitely enjoy it a lot in fic!

[pauraque]

I think the closest I come to this are a few canon ships where I feel that the canon makes an extremely strong case for it and I just don't see them breaking up after that. Or maybe I could imagine it, but to make it make sense you'd have to change their dynamic in ways that I probably wouldn't want to see, either in canon or in fanworks. Catra/Adora is an example that comes to mind. Like, sure, you could create a plausible scenario where they broke up, but that would just be so sad to me that I would have no interest.

But I would never be bothered by, like, showing them with other people before they got together, or adding poly ships to the mix. I also don't care if other fans don't ship them.

[lirazel]

I think the closest I come to this are a few canon ships where I feel that the canon makes an extremely strong case for it and I just don't see them breaking up after that.

Absolutely. I can think of a lot of these too.

But I would never be bothered by, like, showing them with other people before they got together, or adding poly ships to the mix. I also don't care if other fans don't ship them.

Same.

[chestnut_pod]

Too much of a multishipper! My dislikes re: mixing-and-matching characters usually have more to do with how the author "gets rid" of any canonical or semi-canonical partners, whether the method strains credulity/is sexist/etc.; though some relationships are definitely harder to break up believably, for sure.

[lirazel]

My dislikes re: mixing-and-matching characters usually have more to do with how the author "gets rid" of any canonical or semi-canonical partners, whether the method strains credulity/is sexist/etc.

Oooh, yes, definitely!!!

[lebateleur]

I certainly have some pairings I will only accept if I'm looking to read shipfic for the canon in question. But the fact that other fans ship other character combos in those fandoms has honestly never seemed that relevant to me? In fact, my OTPs for some of my longest fandom loves have even shifted over time...and even for cases when they've remained constant, someone being into a different pairing has never felt like anything that strikes at the very heart of my identity. It's just someone else being into a different thing than I am, which happens all the time in the world.

[lirazel]

In fact, my OTPs for some of my longest fandom loves have even shifted over time

Oooh, this is so interesting! Can you share an example?

It's just someone else being into a different thing than I am, which happens all the time in the world.

Exactly!

[lebateleur]

I'm not sure how familiar any of these will be, but I started as a dyed-in-the-wool Sanzo x Hakkai shipper in Saiyuki before wholly and irrevocably joining team Hakkai x Gojo. Similarly, the friends who got me into Fullmetal Alchemist were Maes Hughes x Roy Mustang people, but I shifted to Roy Mustang X Edward Elric. And I started IWtV fandom as a Louis/Lestat person, but am now 100 percent Louis/Armand (albeit the original Armand, not the reconned bratty kid version from The Vampire Lestat on).

[lirazel]

Not very familiar except IWtV, which I know enough of to understand!

[skygiants]

it's less 'do I believe that they would date other people' and more 'do I care ....' Like, realistically, I think most people could probably find their way into a relationship with a variety of other people under the right conditions and circumstances, but I'm likely not going to be interested in that enough to want to read about it! And there are some relationships that I specifically do not want to read about because it goes contrary to the point it feels like the canon was making about their relationship.

Healer is a great example here because I do think it's quite funny that the show wants me to believe that Youngshin has never dated anyone. I am sure she went on dates in college and had a perfectly fine time. But I've got no reason to read Youngshin/any of her colleagues or Youngshin/random college classmate because the show hasn't done any work to make that interesting to me, and I actively would never read Youngshin/Moon-shik because it is important to me that that relationship is not actually romantic but is in fact the specific dynamic between an older cousin who got very parentified and the kid they used to babysit. (I would however read Youngshin/Yeon-hee because their three episodes together were very compelling.)

[lirazel]

Like, realistically, I think most people could probably find their way into a relationship with a variety of other people under the right conditions and circumstances, but I'm likely not going to be interested in that enough to want to read about it!

Oh, yes, definitely!!!

I am sure she went on dates in college and had a perfectly fine time.

Absolutely.

But I've got no reason to read Youngshin/any of her colleagues or Youngshin/random college classmate because the show hasn't done any work to make that interesting to me

Very very true.

I actively would never read Youngshin/Moon-shik because it is important to me that that relationship is not actually romantic but is in fact the specific dynamic between an older cousin who got very parentified and the kid they used to babysit.

YES!!! Making that relationship romantic/sexual in any way would make it less interesting than it is (and also squick me some).

(I would however read Youngshin/Yeon-hee because their three episodes together were very compelling.)

I think I would read this too!

[adriennefae]

I think the closest thing I have to an OTP as you've defined it here is Grace/Frankie. I don't get upset at the idea of either of them dating other people or content for other ships existing or anything, but I'm also not at all interested in seeing it. And for this pairing in particular, even if they aren't a romantic couple, they clearly prioritize each other above the various love interests they've had in canon and changing that feels like it would really miss the point of the show in a way.

I have other ships I call OTPs because they're by far my favorite ship in whatever canon, but it doesn't necessarily mean I can't possibly see the characters with anyone else. Like, I've called Bobbie/Chrisjen my OTP in The Expanse, but I still like Chrisjen's relationship with Arjun and I also have a couple of crossover ships for her. And then there are other canons where I don't really have OTPs at all and am more of a multishipper, like Discovery.

[lirazel]

And for this pairing in particular, even if they aren't a romantic couple, they clearly prioritize each other above the various love interests they've had in canon and changing that feels like it would really miss the point of the show in a way.

I didn't watch the last couple of seasons, but judging by the ones I did watch, I completely agree.

I have other ships I call OTPs because they're by far my favorite ship in whatever canon, but it doesn't necessarily mean I can't possibly see the characters with anyone else. Like, I've called Bobbie/Chrisjen my OTP in The Expanse, but I still like Chrisjen's relationship with Arjun and I also have a couple of crossover ships for her.
Yes, same!

I truly love multishipping!

[sunshine304]

I think mine is indeed Wangxian. XD I have fic where one or both of them have dated other people but WangXian is always endgame and has to be for me to read the fic. XD I also have read very few where usually WWX starts out being in a relationship with another canon character or starts something with one (often MXY, I think there also was some NHs or WQ, oh and that one fic with Qin Su), but I'm not shippy about it and it's basically only one step on the road to getting to WangXian. XD

Pretty much with anyone else in CQL/MDZS, I'm fine with multi ships, like I can read 3zun/NieLan/XiYao, Jiang Cheng in severel ships, or even JYL with someone else if it's written well, or f/f pairings... IDC. But WangXian must be endgame. I can't accept anything else. XD

I'm not defensive about it, though. And I can see why people enjoy shippijng WWX with other characters; it works for his personality. I find it funny though that almost no-one can seriously see LWJ with anyone else, though. XD It really is very much down to LWJ's character and the person that he is.

I wasn't so super OTP about my other ships in my old fandoms. There were some I definitely preferred, but usually I didn't mind exceptions if the story was interesting.

[lirazel]

I find it funny though that almost no-one can seriously see LWJ with anyone else, though. XD It really is very much down to LWJ's character and the person that he is.

Right??? We all agree: WWX is the only one for him!


I wasn't so super OTP about my other ships in my old fandoms. There were some I definitely preferred, but usually I didn't mind exceptions if the story was interesting.

I get this. Wangxian is such a good ship. Such a good ship!!! One of my all-time favorites for sure.

[elperian]

Do you have any pairings you will only accept together?

I have a lot of these! But I also see a difference between the pairings I find enjoyable to think about versus the ones I'm super invested in, or what I would accept in fanfic versus a canon presentation.

[lirazel]

But I also see a difference between the pairings I find enjoyable to think about versus the ones I'm super invested in, or what I would accept in fanfic versus a canon presentation.

Yes, definitely!