Fannish 5

[lea_hazel]

fannish5: 5 (canon) couples that seemingly came out of nowhere:

Feferi/Sollux on Homestuck. I mean, I like them, and I was never a TA/AA shipper (I pale ship them), so it didn't bother me. But even looking back, I don't think there was so much as a hint before the kiss. And after, there wasn't much about them being matesprits, right up until the end.


Nico/Victor on Runaways. Didn't last long, for good reason. I was on the fence, if they would have developed them further I might have started liking it, but as it was it was more like part of Nico's searching for a place to fit in, which is apparently a common theme for team leaders in comics.

Duncan/Meg on Veronica Mars. I really felt like they were doing it to throw a wrench in Meg and Veronica becoming friends. Their efforts to keep Veronica socially isolated were largely futile, and they ended up tossing a perfectly good character, who I liked a lot.

Jason/Crystal on True Blood. Suddenly, werepanthers.

I... can't really think of a fifth? Maybe Peter and Olivia on Fringe count. It's sort of hard for me to tell, since I'm often disproportionately averse to official couples in general. Usually I dislike them even if I know they're largely inevitable, so my resentment tends to settle towards over exposed-couples, not under-exposed ones.

I will note, though, that even though I like Rose/Kanaya a fair bit, I've yet to see a shred of evidence in canon that Rose is romantically inclined towards Kanaya, despite plenty of the reverse.

Comments

[ex_pippin880]

I have a soft spot for Aradia♥Sollux. :3 They were the first pairing I fanart'd after PM/WQ.

(Though I admit that mostly that might be just because alive Aradia was the best and thus anyone alive Aradia liked was the best?)

But Feferi IS JUST SO GLUBBING HAPPY with Sollux! :3

[lea_hazel]

I don't actually dislike Aradia<3Sollux, it's just that I'm so fascinated by moirallegiance, flushed romance actually seems like sort of a waste. I'm weirdly invested in the idea of them as double reacharound moirails - alive!Aradia stabilizes Sollux, but once she becomes a ghost(bot) she's the one who needs stabilizing.

[ex_pippin880]

Oooooh!

Also: yes! Moirails are totally more interesting than a lot of people think. Equius could have been like Vriska or Eridan, guys, but MOIRAIL.

[lea_hazel]

Which is not to say that Vriska is Kanaya's fault! Or that Eridan is Feferi's! I hear a lot of people saying that and it ticks me off and makes me sad. :( Besides, canon states quite clearly that unstable trolls are naturally drawn to people who balance them out, so Eridan and Vriska were meant to figure out that their moirails weren't fated, and find better ones.

The thing that makes good moirails successful is that the relationship really is mutual. Vriska was totally mooching off of Kanaya and giving her nothing back. On the flip side, Equius really did protect Nepeta from, uh, people like Vriska.

So I really like moirallegiance when it works right, because I feel that a good moirallegiance is an honest reciprocal relationship. It is in some ways like friendship, but also not. What bothers me sometimes is that it comes from a societal structure that puts the onus of preventing bad behavior on someone other than the person committing it, which is a problem. But like I said, canon says trolls seek out their moirails, so it's supposed to come from an understanding that one needs restraint. Bottom line is, I'm fascinated and ambivalent.

I could basically talk about conciliatory romance for hours.

[ex_pippin880]

Which is not to say that Vriska is Kanaya's fault! Or that Eridan is Feferi's!

Karcrab dropped the ball though. :o(

Also, ugggh people saying that. I had to stop reading the forum during Murder Month. (And: moirails are two-sided! How did Vriska help Kanaya?)

What bothers me sometimes is that it comes from a societal structure that puts the onus of preventing bad behavior on someone other than the person committing it

At least not all of the moirails we've seen have been actively like this! Nepeta seems to be an excellent moirail just by being herself.

(Though auspisticing is like this too a bit. "Hey, you there, stop these two trolls from destroying one another!" An equal three-way auspistice would be pretty cool but I'm not sure if it could actually work?)

I hope this comment makes sense. It is 5am and I can't sleep. :(