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curious teal deer about shipping
Because of the Five Things meme that is going around, I've seen lots of people post answers to "five favourite canon ships" and I had a sudden brainwave: miraculously, I have a new system that helps me separate my OTPs with those other things I like to ship. That system is: I assume my OTPs are actually canon. I'm not sure this is a hard-and-fast rule, and it might also make me slightly nuts, because most of my OTPs are not actually canon, but I think it's a cool shorthand.
And because I am a little compulsive and like mapping out my fannish whatevers, here is my ship list, with OTPs and those other things I ship. Please adjust your tinhats before takeoff.
OTPs
Adama/Roslin [Battlestar Galactica]: I don't know if this one fits the OTP rule I set up, since these two actually are canon, but my noise of joy when they finally kissed and then later when they finally slept together was a noise that could only be heard by bats. In space.
Aziraphale/Crowley [Good Omens]: I'm given to understand that Neil Gaiman reacts with tolerant amusement by now when he's asked whether Aziraphale and Crowley were doing it; I'm sure authorial intent was more concerned about plot than genitalia, but authorial intent also says that they have a cottage on the South Downs together, and I assume that they live happily ever after together whether or not any sex is involved.
Booth/Brennan [Bones]: They aren't quite canon! Yet! I suppose that assuming they will end up together doesn't make me in any way delusional, because I know the way these things go, but I have spent embarrassingly large amounts of time during episodes yelling at the screen "KISS! KISS ALREADY!"
Doctor/Master [Doctor Who]: I'm entirely sure that the subtext was intentional in s3 of new Who, and maybe one day the Doctor sobbing over the Master's body will not wrench my soul, but today is not that day. I also believe Cornell confirmed that, when REG!Doctor accommodatingly built the Master an android body awesomely voiced by Derek Jacobi to be his live-in boyfriend in Scream of the Shalka, the subtext of the live-in boyfriend part was also entirely intentional. I'm not really sure if the subtext in old Who was entirely intentional, because Ainley exuded mad amounts of chemistry at everything, and it's possible that Delgado and Pertwee, happy in their BFF-itude, were just all physically affectionate because they were friends, not because they were trying to imply anything about their respective characters, but -- really, the Master's motivations make negative amounts of sense if he's not madly, unhealthily in love with the Doctor. That is more than canon enough for me to be content with.
Dumbledore/Grindelwald [Harry Potter]: I was part of the joyful faction when JKR belatedly announced Dumbledore's gayness to be canon, mostly because it meant that the really amazing subtext I'd been using like a lifeline to pull me through Deathly Hallows was intentional subtext. I think JKR may have also said something about Dumbledore's big gay crush being unrequited, but I tend to ignore this because the epilogue was so relentlessly heteronormative that I figure I should fight back by taking the power-hungry gay teenage Victorian wizard boyfriends as canon. Plus it's just plain awesome.
Fraser/Kowalski [due South]: Authorial intent, the actors playing it, an on-screen admission of attraction, an on-screen admission of mutual love, an on-screen kiss, and the two characters going off into the sunset together at the end. It is all very sly and subtexty but it is also so staggeringly intentional that it's difficult for me to imagine it not being canon.
Frodo/Sam [Lord of the Rings]: I am always hesitant to admit this one to people who are fans of Lord of the Rings without actually being in fandom; mostly fandom seems to take it as written, and everyone else seems horrified at the very notion. I understand the latter reaction completely, because I almost actively don't want any fic, and if I have it I want it to be all snuggling and hand-holding and occasional tender kisses -- in short, what the book already gives us. I often find myself earnestly explaining that I'm glad Sam ended up with Rosie, that I find them adorable, that I am charmed by their multitude of children, and that I think it's wonderful that Sam was still whole enough to live the rest of his life. But about a breath down beneath those words is the nine-year-old Aria who first read the Lord of the Rings and was crushed by the ending, because Sam and Frodo? They're supposed to be together, right now, and the only way I could deal with it was by consoling myself that Sam would go away over the Sea eventually also. They're honestly my first OTP, and I can't actually articulate how important they are.
Holmes/Watson [Sherlock Holmes]: Wait, they're not canon? Well, I suppose Watson was married a couple of times. And that Holmes is frequently and fervently in favour of hard scientific fact over messy things like emotions. And I am quite happy to watch them being all old-married-couple as they go about their case-of-the-story. But I ship them like burning and I will even refer you to the relevant deliciously subtexty passages for your consideration.
Joe/Billy [Hard Core Logo]: The entire plot is about how Joe is willing to do literally fucking anything to get Billy back. I know, I know, they could totally have had this really intense destructive friendship without sexualizing it, but I don't believe you, okay. I don't really believe John either, if we're holding up subtexts, but I am glad that subtext is there. In conclusion, boyfriends.
Kara/Leoben [Battlestar Galactica]: Um, I have no defense for this one, and it is way less canon than either Sam or Lee could ever hope to be. But somewhere in my gmail archive I have the text from an interview with Katee Sackhoff (source of interview now lost in the depths of the internet) where she says "If anyone is fitting for [Kara] and if there’s anyone that she would actually allow herself to be happy with and be with, it'd probably be Leoben. Anders is too weak for her emotionally. Lee is too much of a boy scout. He makes her feel guilty for her anger and who she is, her faults. He makes her feel guilty just by being who he is. So if there was any person that she could let her guard down with and be happy with, probably Leoben." And that might have made me keysmash with joy a little; oh my epic frakked-up sheer delight.
Remus/Sirius [Harry Potter]: Of all awkward things to hold on to. Long gone the days of "theirloveissocanon" as the ship's battlecry, but some things eventually become habit. I still have this momentary flash of confusion whenever I remember what actually happened to Remus in the last two books. (All right, I have the flash of confusion for reasons much more broad than shipping preferences, but the point remains.)
Sam/Gene [Life on Mars]: What? Annie was the love interest? No, no, Annie was the best friend, and Gene was the love interest. I'm aware that my desire for Sam and Gene to end up together is at a disconnect from reality, but so is Sam, so this should not greatly impede me.
Sheridan/Delenn [Babylon 5]: I have not watched this show in about two years, and I've only seen the first three seasons (SPOIL ME AND DIE; usually I do not care about spoilers but for some reason for this show I really deeply do), but I totally wanted Sheridan and Delenn to get together way before they actually did. Again this does not quite fit the OTP rule, but I haven't seen this show in forever and they still fill me with fuzzy joy.
Thom/Roger [Song of the Lionness]: This one, I have heard tell, actually is canon. This delights me because I am horrible and sick and twisted, and I deeply wish it had been allowed to remain explicit canon rather than being slyly subtextual stage left, because Liam Ironarm bores the everloving hell out of me and I could've spent a lot less time reading about Alanna's various tribulations with him and more about that part where Roger was totally nuts and slowly killing Thom whilst keeping him in line by way of clever seduction. Mm.
Tom/Carl [Young Wizards]: I can't actually figure out if this one is real canon or not. Tom and Carl are a couple of good-looking guys in their thirties who live in the same suburban house, have apparently been partners at least in wizardry for a number of years, and have occasional scenes of almost wrenchingly awesome bantering domesticity. The canon is never fussed with making its teenage protagonists question this in one way or another, but I have a difficult time fathoming a world in which they're not together, like a warm fuzzy comfort OTP for my soul.
Not-really-OTPs
Arthur/Merlin/Gwen/Morgana [Merlin]: My cheating way of saying that I will take these four in pretty much any combination. How so awesome, crack show? And it'll be back sometime this autumn, too!
Bran/Will [Dark is Rising]: It's not canon because they're eleven years old and then doomed, but in any futurefic, this pairing is still the first thing I look for. I feel about Bran/Will in much the same way I feel about Frodo/Sam: it doesn't need to be explicit, just full of love.
John/Rodney & Ronon/Keller [Stargate Atlantis]: These two get lumped together because I feel about them in much the same way: aw, I'm sad it didn't happen for real! It would've been awesome! I haven't seen s5, and I don't actually trust any reports on the awfulness of the canon Rodney/Keller, because the fandom appears to hate Keller and I was reasonably fond (enough to really want to ship her with Ronon, even) so maybe the actual canon is just fine, but I will still ship these instead.
I don't think it's entirely fair to say the entire Buffy & Angel casts, especially because there are pairings I wouldn't like to see at all, but what I have discovered is that if you can write good Jossian dialogue and understand the characters' motivations fairly well, I really will buy and love nearly any pairing from these shows, and ship it happily until I'm distracted by something else shiny.
There are, however, only two ships I get really enthusiastic about despite knowing they are Not Canon At All, In Any Way:
Doctor/Martha [Doctor Who]: This one got shot down and burned, baby, burned. But I really can't help it; they're my two favourites, and I think if anyone had paid proper attention to the thematic arcs the season was building and the sheer amounts of lovely chemistry David Tennant and Freema Agyeman had with each other, the romantic arc would have played out differently.
Fraser/Kowalski/Vecchio [due South]: Utterly canon-impossible, considering that the two Rays are only in the same room for perhaps ten minutes total out of the entire series, and then the first Ray hightails it to Florida with the second Ray's ex-wife. And yet. I love these three guys a whole hell of a lot, and although I'm content with Vecchio moving to Florida because canon says so, I'm much happier if he doesn't. I can't ship just Fraser/Vecchio, because I know that either their time is finite or that it leaves Kowalski out in the cold, but all three of them -- It's like when, in Doctor Who fandom, I got sick of all the Rose vs Martha debates and wanted them to just have a threesome with the Doctor so that fandom would shut up, except in the Ray vs Ray debates (a decade old! moving on!) I don't care about shutting anyone up; I genuinely want all three of them to be together. Win/win.
So does this identifying-your-OTPs method also work for you? Are any of my 'canon' ships so astonishingly laughably not-canon that you don't know quite what to do with them? What are your OTPs? These questions intrigue me!
And because I am a little compulsive and like mapping out my fannish whatevers, here is my ship list, with OTPs and those other things I ship. Please adjust your tinhats before takeoff.
OTPs
Adama/Roslin [Battlestar Galactica]: I don't know if this one fits the OTP rule I set up, since these two actually are canon, but my noise of joy when they finally kissed and then later when they finally slept together was a noise that could only be heard by bats. In space.
Aziraphale/Crowley [Good Omens]: I'm given to understand that Neil Gaiman reacts with tolerant amusement by now when he's asked whether Aziraphale and Crowley were doing it; I'm sure authorial intent was more concerned about plot than genitalia, but authorial intent also says that they have a cottage on the South Downs together, and I assume that they live happily ever after together whether or not any sex is involved.
Booth/Brennan [Bones]: They aren't quite canon! Yet! I suppose that assuming they will end up together doesn't make me in any way delusional, because I know the way these things go, but I have spent embarrassingly large amounts of time during episodes yelling at the screen "KISS! KISS ALREADY!"
Doctor/Master [Doctor Who]: I'm entirely sure that the subtext was intentional in s3 of new Who, and maybe one day the Doctor sobbing over the Master's body will not wrench my soul, but today is not that day. I also believe Cornell confirmed that, when REG!Doctor accommodatingly built the Master an android body awesomely voiced by Derek Jacobi to be his live-in boyfriend in Scream of the Shalka, the subtext of the live-in boyfriend part was also entirely intentional. I'm not really sure if the subtext in old Who was entirely intentional, because Ainley exuded mad amounts of chemistry at everything, and it's possible that Delgado and Pertwee, happy in their BFF-itude, were just all physically affectionate because they were friends, not because they were trying to imply anything about their respective characters, but -- really, the Master's motivations make negative amounts of sense if he's not madly, unhealthily in love with the Doctor. That is more than canon enough for me to be content with.
Dumbledore/Grindelwald [Harry Potter]: I was part of the joyful faction when JKR belatedly announced Dumbledore's gayness to be canon, mostly because it meant that the really amazing subtext I'd been using like a lifeline to pull me through Deathly Hallows was intentional subtext. I think JKR may have also said something about Dumbledore's big gay crush being unrequited, but I tend to ignore this because the epilogue was so relentlessly heteronormative that I figure I should fight back by taking the power-hungry gay teenage Victorian wizard boyfriends as canon. Plus it's just plain awesome.
Fraser/Kowalski [due South]: Authorial intent, the actors playing it, an on-screen admission of attraction, an on-screen admission of mutual love, an on-screen kiss, and the two characters going off into the sunset together at the end. It is all very sly and subtexty but it is also so staggeringly intentional that it's difficult for me to imagine it not being canon.
Frodo/Sam [Lord of the Rings]: I am always hesitant to admit this one to people who are fans of Lord of the Rings without actually being in fandom; mostly fandom seems to take it as written, and everyone else seems horrified at the very notion. I understand the latter reaction completely, because I almost actively don't want any fic, and if I have it I want it to be all snuggling and hand-holding and occasional tender kisses -- in short, what the book already gives us. I often find myself earnestly explaining that I'm glad Sam ended up with Rosie, that I find them adorable, that I am charmed by their multitude of children, and that I think it's wonderful that Sam was still whole enough to live the rest of his life. But about a breath down beneath those words is the nine-year-old Aria who first read the Lord of the Rings and was crushed by the ending, because Sam and Frodo? They're supposed to be together, right now, and the only way I could deal with it was by consoling myself that Sam would go away over the Sea eventually also. They're honestly my first OTP, and I can't actually articulate how important they are.
Holmes/Watson [Sherlock Holmes]: Wait, they're not canon? Well, I suppose Watson was married a couple of times. And that Holmes is frequently and fervently in favour of hard scientific fact over messy things like emotions. And I am quite happy to watch them being all old-married-couple as they go about their case-of-the-story. But I ship them like burning and I will even refer you to the relevant deliciously subtexty passages for your consideration.
Joe/Billy [Hard Core Logo]: The entire plot is about how Joe is willing to do literally fucking anything to get Billy back. I know, I know, they could totally have had this really intense destructive friendship without sexualizing it, but I don't believe you, okay. I don't really believe John either, if we're holding up subtexts, but I am glad that subtext is there. In conclusion, boyfriends.
Kara/Leoben [Battlestar Galactica]: Um, I have no defense for this one, and it is way less canon than either Sam or Lee could ever hope to be. But somewhere in my gmail archive I have the text from an interview with Katee Sackhoff (source of interview now lost in the depths of the internet) where she says "If anyone is fitting for [Kara] and if there’s anyone that she would actually allow herself to be happy with and be with, it'd probably be Leoben. Anders is too weak for her emotionally. Lee is too much of a boy scout. He makes her feel guilty for her anger and who she is, her faults. He makes her feel guilty just by being who he is. So if there was any person that she could let her guard down with and be happy with, probably Leoben." And that might have made me keysmash with joy a little; oh my epic frakked-up sheer delight.
Remus/Sirius [Harry Potter]: Of all awkward things to hold on to. Long gone the days of "theirloveissocanon" as the ship's battlecry, but some things eventually become habit. I still have this momentary flash of confusion whenever I remember what actually happened to Remus in the last two books. (All right, I have the flash of confusion for reasons much more broad than shipping preferences, but the point remains.)
Sam/Gene [Life on Mars]: What? Annie was the love interest? No, no, Annie was the best friend, and Gene was the love interest. I'm aware that my desire for Sam and Gene to end up together is at a disconnect from reality, but so is Sam, so this should not greatly impede me.
Sheridan/Delenn [Babylon 5]: I have not watched this show in about two years, and I've only seen the first three seasons (SPOIL ME AND DIE; usually I do not care about spoilers but for some reason for this show I really deeply do), but I totally wanted Sheridan and Delenn to get together way before they actually did. Again this does not quite fit the OTP rule, but I haven't seen this show in forever and they still fill me with fuzzy joy.
Thom/Roger [Song of the Lionness]: This one, I have heard tell, actually is canon. This delights me because I am horrible and sick and twisted, and I deeply wish it had been allowed to remain explicit canon rather than being slyly subtextual stage left, because Liam Ironarm bores the everloving hell out of me and I could've spent a lot less time reading about Alanna's various tribulations with him and more about that part where Roger was totally nuts and slowly killing Thom whilst keeping him in line by way of clever seduction. Mm.
Tom/Carl [Young Wizards]: I can't actually figure out if this one is real canon or not. Tom and Carl are a couple of good-looking guys in their thirties who live in the same suburban house, have apparently been partners at least in wizardry for a number of years, and have occasional scenes of almost wrenchingly awesome bantering domesticity. The canon is never fussed with making its teenage protagonists question this in one way or another, but I have a difficult time fathoming a world in which they're not together, like a warm fuzzy comfort OTP for my soul.
Not-really-OTPs
Arthur/Merlin/Gwen/Morgana [Merlin]: My cheating way of saying that I will take these four in pretty much any combination. How so awesome, crack show? And it'll be back sometime this autumn, too!
Bran/Will [Dark is Rising]: It's not canon because they're eleven years old and then doomed, but in any futurefic, this pairing is still the first thing I look for. I feel about Bran/Will in much the same way I feel about Frodo/Sam: it doesn't need to be explicit, just full of love.
John/Rodney & Ronon/Keller [Stargate Atlantis]: These two get lumped together because I feel about them in much the same way: aw, I'm sad it didn't happen for real! It would've been awesome! I haven't seen s5, and I don't actually trust any reports on the awfulness of the canon Rodney/Keller, because the fandom appears to hate Keller and I was reasonably fond (enough to really want to ship her with Ronon, even) so maybe the actual canon is just fine, but I will still ship these instead.
I don't think it's entirely fair to say the entire Buffy & Angel casts, especially because there are pairings I wouldn't like to see at all, but what I have discovered is that if you can write good Jossian dialogue and understand the characters' motivations fairly well, I really will buy and love nearly any pairing from these shows, and ship it happily until I'm distracted by something else shiny.
There are, however, only two ships I get really enthusiastic about despite knowing they are Not Canon At All, In Any Way:
Doctor/Martha [Doctor Who]: This one got shot down and burned, baby, burned. But I really can't help it; they're my two favourites, and I think if anyone had paid proper attention to the thematic arcs the season was building and the sheer amounts of lovely chemistry David Tennant and Freema Agyeman had with each other, the romantic arc would have played out differently.
Fraser/Kowalski/Vecchio [due South]: Utterly canon-impossible, considering that the two Rays are only in the same room for perhaps ten minutes total out of the entire series, and then the first Ray hightails it to Florida with the second Ray's ex-wife. And yet. I love these three guys a whole hell of a lot, and although I'm content with Vecchio moving to Florida because canon says so, I'm much happier if he doesn't. I can't ship just Fraser/Vecchio, because I know that either their time is finite or that it leaves Kowalski out in the cold, but all three of them -- It's like when, in Doctor Who fandom, I got sick of all the Rose vs Martha debates and wanted them to just have a threesome with the Doctor so that fandom would shut up, except in the Ray vs Ray debates (a decade old! moving on!) I don't care about shutting anyone up; I genuinely want all three of them to be together. Win/win.
So does this identifying-your-OTPs method also work for you? Are any of my 'canon' ships so astonishingly laughably not-canon that you don't know quite what to do with them? What are your OTPs? These questions intrigue me!
no subject
Callum is fandom's bicycle. *eg*
no subject
Yes. Yes he is. :DDD