it's a ship. it goes through the gate.

[aria]

I am taking a break from being almost disgustingly productive in order to conduct a VERY IMPORTANT POLL. And if you've been paying any attention to me for the last ever, you'll know that by very important poll, I mean I love asking arbitrary questions!

Today's are born of my continuing reaction of being completely weirded out by the fact that finding Sheppard/McKay fanfic is easy: you just find someone who wrote Fraser/Kowalski way back when and click forward a little. I have convinced myself that there must be some deep mystical connection here, partly because I want fandom to be less shallow than "pretty boys! yay!" and partly because I'm fighting a losing battle against plotting a massive crossover instead of writing my Yuletide. In the spirit of that, by which I mean deep mystical connections, I want to see if there is a favorite character pattern! (For example: Fraser & Sheppard are kind of One True Characters for me. Maybe this means I have a thing for The Heroes? Maybe you like Fraser and McKay best! Snippy Canadians for the win? I don't know what I'm trying to prove here but, by god, I am going to skientifically prove it.) So!

For the purpose of this exercise, you do have to choose. Also, I'm not going to lie, I'm just kind of curious to take a headcount on how many people actually know wtf I'm talking about.

Poll #1879

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 29

View Respondents

CHOOSE

View Answers

Rodney McKay
12 (42.9%)

John Sheppard
16 (57.1%)

CHOOSE

View Answers

Benton Fraser
14 (48.3%)

Ray Kowalski
15 (51.7%)

Comments

[sasha_feather]

NOOOOOOO DON'T MAKE ME CHOOSE OMG CAN I CHANGE MY ANSWER WHIIIIIINE.

[aria]

HEE, well, technically you can change your vote! BUT YOU CAN ONLY CHOOSE ONE.

(I know, though, I know, I love Ray and Rodney so much but I still feel all funny inside to a truly ridiculous degree when I think about Fraser or Sheppard, so.)

[sasha_feather]

I guess I go for the skinny guys with the experimental hair!

[aria]

WAIT WHOA WHERE IS THAT PICTURE OF JOHN FROM.

[wintercreek]

Season five, episode ... um, eleven? "Lost Tribe," I think.

[sasha_feather]

It is by crysothemis, who is the most amazing fantastic fan artist ever!

[songofsongs]

WHY ARIA WHY MUST WE CHOOSE?

Also, I feel that I can now have an educated opinion about the second question because I have actually been watching Due South! Not that that actually helps with the choosing. BUT STILL. :D

[aria]

I AM CRUEL THAT WAY.

I cannot actually express my massive joy over the fact that both you and Amelia have been watching due South. :DDD Are you watching any of s1/2 or did you skip right to Kowalski? Because if you skipped right to Kowalski, you missed a lot of excellent stuff. EITHER WAY, I still have MASSIVE JOY because omg we can talk about Doctor Who and this. <3

[songofsongs]

*shifty eyes* Yeah, you caught me. But I just wanted CKR in my life SO BAD. Did I tell you a watched Wilby Wonderful a while back? OMG DUCK.

But I will totally go back and watch seasons one and two. It's kind of what I did with Doctor Who- I watched the episodes with Captain Jack first, then I was all "<3 THIS SHOW!", and watched the rest from the beginning. And yes, once Amelia and I are back I totally expect all manner of geeky due South/Doctor Who/Stargate: Atlantis talk in the dining hall. And if you haven't written that SGA/dS crossover you've been mentioning by then, we can influence you with marathons and backrubs. IT WILL BE AMAZING.

[aria]

I am told that this is how many people do it! Also, oh man, I think Wilby is some kind of gateway drug. I LOVED DUCK SO MUCH THAT I HAD TO WATCH DUE SOUTH, is basically how that story goes for me.

Watching seasons one and two might be kind of weird! Because by s3 you're watching ... um, a Fraser and a Chicago that have both affected one another, if that makes sense. Like, especially in s1 Fraser's naive earnestness isn't really put on at all, and Chicago is also mostly sane and normal. Or at least normaler than it gets as the show goes on.

sdklfdkjfd your vision of next semester is making me SO HAPPY. I approve in massive amounts. AMAZING INDEED. <333

[polarisnorth]

I don't think you'll find my answers surprising in any way. *g* I guess I just like verbally incontinent, slightly socially awkward snarkers...

(P.S. I can be around tonight, probably for the last time before I leave. Not really up to tagging, but if ping me if you've got the time; if not, respond to the last email?)

[aria]

...I think you have actually just unlocked my last difficulty in the crossover, actually! I'd figured out how Ray & John could bond, and how Rodney & Fraser could bond, but I was going '...what the hell do I do about Rodney & Ray??' So, y'know, thanks. :D

[carrieann]

Obviously, Ray and Rodney bound through coffee.

[labellementeuse]

I can't *believe* how few people picked Rodney! wtf. But, OK, I think I see the Sheppard/Kowalski connection: it's the hair.

[aria]

I'm surprised too! I mean, personally I love him but I'm a John girl, but ... I thought more people loved Rodney more? I dunno!

Obviously the hair has magical properties. :D

[feverbeats]

Wow, I googled McKay and Sheppard to help me choose on the arbitrary basis of relative attractiveness, and they are both rly unattractive! WHAT IS THAT ABOUT.

P.S. My answer to the second one is Vecchio. I get the feeling I am not the target audience of this poll.

[aria]

HAHA you are so absolutely not the target audience of this poll. And on the one hand, if I didn't watch them a lot I would be totally confused about wtf was attractive about either Sheppard or McKay, and on the other hand, you think Kowalski isn't attractive either because you're INSANE (...or, y'know, just have different taste than me). But anyway this is a "who do you love most" poll, not a "who would you bang first" poll. Although to be fair my answers to both are the same. :D?

[littledust]

WELL I GUESS I SHOULD WATCH DUE SOUTH TO TAKE THIS.

[aria]

I GUESS YOU PROBABLY SHOULD. :DDD

[were_duck]

I agonized over my answers aria!! I love them all because they are so weird and fucked up in totally compelling ways! I am actually surprised there aren't more crossovers for these shows together-- I don't think I have read any! Do my bidding and write one, k??

[aria]

I KNOW RIGHT. On all counts! And yes, yes, as soon as I've written my Yuletide and a Doctor/Master fic before Christmas and then possibly worked on my due South big bang a little more, I absolutely want to write a crossover. :D

[wintercreek]

Emotionally opaque men FTW! I am very, very glad that Mr. Creek is not emotionally opaque because I don't think I could deal with it in my own relationship, but as far as fictional men go I always fall for the opaque ones. Additional instances: Sherlock Holmes, Spock, Joel Fleishman (from Northern Exposure), and probably others.

[aria]

...I think you have nailed it! EMOTIONALLY OPAQUE PEOPLE ARE FUN TO WRITE. Or something. And I am also mad fond of Holmes and Spock, so I really do think you've nailed it. :D

[wintercreek]

They give better narrative tension - the ones who are all forthcoming with their thoughts and self-aware and things just give it up too easily.

Which is not to say that one cannot write a Ray or a Rodney or anyone else being unaware of their feelings. But since they are a) inclined to declare things loudly (at least to themselves) once they figure it out and b) likely to be paired with a person whose opacity will not contribute to their revelation at all, they are usually the more translucent, if not transparent of the two (or however many).

Uh, OPACITY YAY!?

[missfuneralsong]

YOU ARE ASKING ME TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FRASER AND RAY WHAT HOW CAN I DO THAT.

[aria]

I AM CRUEL THAT WAY.

I think -- uh, Fraser is my favourite by the very, very slimmest of margins; maybe it's because they're both incredibly complicated but I'm sort of comfortable with Ray, whereas Fraser makes me fight him? I'm not articulating this right.

BUT ANYWAY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE BECAUSE I NEED THIS FOR SPURIOUS STATISTICAL PURPOSES. (Unless you haven't seen SGA! I have no idea if you've seen SGA.)

[missfuneralsong]

ARGH OKAY I CHOSE RAY. Idk, it just kind of continually amazes me what a fantastic character he is? But Fraser is too. But. THAT WAS VERY CRUEL OF YOU. Anyway, Ray.

And I have seen SGA! One episode of SGA. That still qualifies me, yes? :D?

[aria]

:DDD *is cruel*

Okay, I'm curious: do you remember the title of/what happened in the episode you saw?

[missfuneralsong]

Um. Well, it was a while ago. I know it had Jewel Staite in it because I spent most of it going "EEE KAYLEE", and I think there was amnesia involved?

[aria]

Possibly sadly, right away I go, "Oh, it must have been 4x06, Tabula Rasa!" Of course it's easy to remember the amnesia episode's title when it shares one with the Buffy amnesia episode. :D

[missfuneralsong]

It also shares one with a Lost episode! No amnesia there, though. But that's ... not important.

I really need to pick me up some SGA DVDs, don't I. I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING YOUR POSTS ABOUT IT. I AM INTRIGUED.

[aria]

Well, for the record, I think due South is a much better show, and on the theirloveissotrue end of things I think the Fraser/Kowalski love is a lot truer than the Sheppard/McKay love, BUT, that said, SGA is pretty fun (it really hits its stride mid-s2, but there are some good bits s1 also) and the fic is kind of mind-bogglingly amazing. So, y'know, give it a shot!

[everysecondtuesday]

The first part of that poll was so easy for me, but the second is heartbreakingly difficult. IDK! Eventually I chose Benton Fraser, because he came first.

I think the link between Fraser/RayK and Sheppard/McKay lies in that scene in S1 in which Sheppard helps throw McKay over the balcony. And maybe it is something about emotionally repressed character/neurotic and energetic character? I am not sure. I actually wasn't as much for Sheppard/McKay as I was about any stories with McKay at all.

[aria]

I think I am 100% with you on the difficulty of choosing, although in my case my John love is stronger than my Rodney love, although only by a little bit.

I think you may be on to something re: the emotionally repressed character/the neurotic and energetic character, yes, although there are also fun John-Ray and Fraser-Rodney cross-sections. Who knows!

[obsessioncalled]

For me it was the other way around - I noticed just about everyone who wrote McKay/Sheppard had also written dS, and that's why I started watching dS in the first place.

As for the poll, Rodney and Ray (though really, if I had to choose only one Ray, it'd be Vecchio) <3

Somewhat related: Hi, I'm Q, I'm adding you. :D I've been reading your journal for a couple of weeks now and I figure I should probably say hi (perhaps the switch to DW will be the end of my lurkerdom?), because Due South! Doctor Who! SGA! I approve of all of these things.

[aria]

Hilariously enough, I watched SGA first but mostly because I had a friend who was fangirly about it; then I got really into due South, and thought, "You know, there's a lot of crossover between dS people and SGA people, so maybe I should give SGA another go."

Choosing Vecchio is always a good response! Just not for the skientific purposes of the poll. :D

And hi! I'm glad you approve of these things and I am happy you're no longer lurking. :)