Shippy questions

[jedi_of_urth]

Wow, I'm getting caught up on all sorts of stuff today, now onto goldy_dollar's shippy questions.

I’ve been trying to get my answers to these questions straight and I’m still not sure I did very well, but I wanted to answer because I find it interesting.


1). Are you a multi-shipper or do you trend towards OTP shipping?

Somewhere in the middle. I tend to OTP ship but in many cases I can at least consider other ships, but it’s not the same as with my OTP. However in the case that a OTP doesn’t jump out at me I can appreciate any ship but it doesn’t mean I actually “ship” them so much.

For example, in Buffy, I’m a Buffy/Giles shipper I wanted them to be together, I wrote fic if I’d vidded at the time I probably would have but at the same time I would have been okay with Buffy/Xander too. And I’m a Harry/Hermione shipper, but particularly in the movie verse I find Harry/Luna cute.

However in something like Stargate I don’t have a OTP and I wind up in a situation where I can ship Sam with just about anyone. And in Firefly besides no splitting up Wash/Zoe I think I’d be able to accept just about any pairing.


2). How important is "canon" to you when it comes to shipping? Does the creator's intentions have any bearing on what you end up shipping?

I have to have seen something in canon that made me tune into the ship to begin with, I don’t ship out of the blue, and I sure don’t OTP without having seen something that made me think the characters belonged together. That said, I’m quite capable of saying “Father’s love my ass” or “love like a sister whatever” and go happily on believing in the ships I see and believe in.

But Doctor Who is a rare gift where I ship the same as the writers and if anything they out-ship me, they give me canon where I’m 99% sure that it isn’t just my perspective on things but is in fact what was meant to come across.

So I have to have “subjective canon” at least, but when I can have “objective canon” it’s even better.


3). Do you tend to follow a pattern when it comes to shipping with similar themes and journeys?

I’m a sucker for unconditional love, people who stand together through everything. Loving more than romance gets me, which may have something to do with why I enjoy several ships that plenty of people read as familial. Partners, equals, friends, together always, and importantly make each other happy.

However, that’s as a general rule, there are exceptions to every rule. Jack/Gwen should really appeal to me and Guy/Marian shouldn’t but I find Jack/Gwen off-putting and Guy/Marian endlessly interesting.


4). Are you a Main Character shipper? Or do you often find yourself shipping secondary characters?

For OTP’s, I’d say main characters almost exclusively, for secondary ships at least well established secondary characters, minor characters pretty much slip past my notice so I have no draw to ship them. If I don’t feel I know a character I feel no reason to ship them with anyone and there’s so many character I know better to focus on.

One exception to this is a canon relationship involving minor characters, whether it’s expanding on the James/Lily relationship or loving Daniel enough to have hoped for good things in the Daniel/Sha’re story.


5). Any other thoughts on your shipping habits?

I’m not a slasher by nature (canon slash is a different matter), if it’s left to subtext I will gravitate towards het ships (again generally, not always).

I know I’ve said before but I do not have much in the way of a thing for bad boys, this connects with my not liking ships who fight as a rule either. Sure a dark side I can get behind, but who are generally good.

I’m sure there’s more, but I think I’ve rambled enough.