fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3202 ]

07. http://i.imgur.com/msjTGbj.png

Probably people just see better chemistry between A and B than C and D. Or they find more fic potential in A/B, or A and B are more interesting characters to them, or A and B are hotter. Shipping isn't some kind of fair and rational process, it comes down to what people like in their gut (or... other places). Thius is like saying "I can't believe how much more popular the chocolate cupcakes are than the vanilla!" That may not be the way you expected things to go, but it's not strange that a lot of people have similar preferences.

Exactly. I'd also add that it isn't even always so much better chemistry as it is just 'different' chemistry, and certain dynamics and relationships are more exciting or interesting than others. (Everyone has their favorites.)

While I do wish there was more of a 'balance' in fandom just so everyone could get what they want, that isn't usually how fandom works. You like what you like, they like what they like, and you can't force yourself to see or enjoy something that isn't doing it for you.

Certain relationship dynamics are just more appealing to a greater number of people (most often those that can be read as sexual tension). Also the relative attractiveness of the individual characters probably help. And with so many shipping fans being women... gender. So two hawt dudes who get into each other's faces a lot have the highest probability of getting a devoted fandom, it's not weird.

Kingsman fandom is like this, too. God help you if you're not into Harry/Eggsy.

I've been into pairings with less fic than Harry/Merlin (the second largest pairing), but compared to Harry/Eggsy? ...Yea, it isn't much.

(I don't ship Harry/Merlin, but I do wish there was more of it for those interested. I get the feeling the majority of people in this fandom don't multi-ship...)

It's kind of inevitable, but that doesn't stop it from being frustrating when one pairing just bulldozes the rest of the fandom.

Amen to that.

You may as well ask why more people like purple vs. orange. All colors are equal after all, right? People like things because they like them. Sometimes they have concrete reasons, but sometimes the reasons are harder to pin down. The reasons might be something like they really like A and like their dynamic with B, or they think A and B really pretty together, or they like the associated tropes, or their relationship echoes other relationships they've liked in the past, or they like it because it's popular, etc.

Like 99.9% of the time for me it's all about the chemistry and dynamic between the characters, and if I like the characters. If I like A/B but not C/D it's almost always because I think A/B has chemistry and C/D doesn't (and I may dislike C and/or D as characters, too).

And this doesn't apply to me because I'll ship pretty much anything if I think there's chemistry, but sometimes pairings will be more/less popular based on who's more good looking and, depending on the fan, gender/race might make a difference too. (Example, in one of my fandoms, there are two pairings that should theoretically be equal, but one is waaaaay more popular. One is two white dudes and one is het where they're both non-white...which do you think is more popular? It shouldn't be that way but in a lot of cases it unfortunately is.)

Like 99.9% of the time for me it's all about the chemistry and dynamic between the characters, and if I like the characters. If I like A/B but not C/D it's almost always because I think A/B has chemistry and C/D doesn't (and I may dislike C and/or D as characters, too).

Same here. Sometimes I happen to like a pairing that's really popular amongst the rest of the fandom, sometimes it's one that isn't as popular. Either way, though, it always comes down to whether or not I think the characters in question click well, and if I could see them in a relationship.

Castle fandom is like this, to a degree. Caskett far exceeds Ryaposito. And while Castle and Beckett have good chemistry, their Nathan Fillion and Stana Katie aren't terribly friendly IRL. Meanwhile Ryan and Esposito are the main slash ship and Seamus Dever and Jon Hurts are lovable goofballs who do all kinds of side projects together.

Shipping is a strange and mysterious thing that varies from person to person, that's why.

Personally, my shipping method is: A is my favorite character, let's try all these pairings that involve A! Oh, A/C is the one that works best for me, guess I'll OTP that.

Yeah, I do the same. In my case, shipping is just another way to explore a character I love.

I do that, too :D. Like you said, I might find that one pairing involving my favorite character that REALLY appeals to me, but I'm more than happy to explore their dynamic with as many characters as I can, too :p.

put simply, it's all about screen time. the character with the most screen time (there's always going to be one or two with the most screen time) is going to be paired most often with whomever has the second most screen time.

even if A/B and A/C have equally good chemistry, A/B will be the more popular ship if A and B have more screen time (either by themselves or together) than C does.

my main fandom has 5 main characters (none are canonly romantically involved) but only three of those characters are more fully fleshed out as a result of having the most screen time and interactions. but of those three, there's definitely one pairing that gets the most attention and it's the m/m ship because the characters share a lot of screen time together.

it's all about screen time. the character with the most screen time.

That is demonstrably untrue in a lot of fandoms tho. Speaking from personal experience something like... say, shipping Clint Barton and Phil Coulson is HUGE, rivaling things like Steve/Bucky. There are thousands of fics but they literally never share the screen and only speak once whereas any other ship involving either man and say... a woman or a black man who they have canon relationships/interactions with is minuscule in comparison, most barely breaking 100 fics if that.

The same thing happens with Steve/Sam, Tony/Rhodey... over and over again. And looking back at the comics fandom as well, Sharon, Natasha, Bobbi Morse... all erased in favor of white men very often.

Race and gender play a huge role in what is popular in most fandoms and what gets written about. Time and time again that's been the case.

Edited 2015-10-11 13:29 (UTC)

There are thousands of fics but they literally never share the screen and only speak once whereas any other ship involving either man and say... a woman or a black man who they have canon relationships/interactions with is minuscule in comparison

Mostly true, but don't forget about Clintasha. I don't know how the two pairings stack up when including kink memes and Tumblr, but based just on AO3 and ff.net, I think Clintasha might be the bigger ship. At the very least, it's close to Clint/Coulson's numbers.

I can't speak to ff.net's numbers on any ship because I can't remember the last time I was there. lol

They might be even, honestly I don't look at either ship with any regularity at this point but taking a quick spin on the Clintasha tag on AO3... a lot of it seems to be Stucky or Steve/Tony fic and not focused on Clintasha much at all (ie they're listed third or forth in the ship tags).

The same thing happens with Steve/Sam, Tony/Rhodey... over and over again.all erased in favor of white men very often.

You make a good point, but I do think the biggest Tony pairing is Tony/Pepper. Maybe not on A03, but if you bring in numbers from fanfiction.net, it would definitely be the main ship.

Well, I haven't been on ff.net in... a very, very long time. But even on AO3 most of the fics labelled as Tony/Pepper are background or past-relationship stuff anyway. Most of those fics focus in on Tony/Steve as end game.

Again, I can't speak to ff.net's numbers because that's not my scene. But even the kink memes I've been on don't tend to focus on Pepper at all.

[ SECRET POST #3202 ]

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Do you not understand how popularity works?

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