formative ships
Jun. 15th, 2021 04:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fwcuI too wanna jump on the trend. LOL. I’m keeping the list to ships I still agree with… rather than ships I genuinely can no longer stand lmfao. sorry if this isn't the most coherent tho LOL.
I actually just jotted down the names first, and then I realized some things were uh… patterns. I feel like some of these choices make it seem like I dislike most popular accepted pairings for most fandoms. which is untrue. I only dislike ships if they’re bad. I’m not receptive enough to be blankly fed maincouple and go for it. there’s also a fair amount of ships where the fanon version is Bad but the Canon version is good.
common standing
— people who are friends, people who understand each other or make efforts to understand each other, even if those efforts are somewhat futile. bonus points if there’s a third person who triangulates their complexes. bonus points if there’s a gap. bonus points if a distance seems uncloseble but they’re closer to each other than to others. bonus points if that’s unintentional.
— I just think the best ships are reliant on strong friendships or strong foundations. and, I think past that, there needs to be a common tie that links the two together that isn’t just — they have history. they’re kind of blankly by each other’s side. like whether it’s because they’ve both been left behind, or because they want to be together — a connection matters. as so, it’s titled ‘common standing’.
— bonus points for lowkeyness. bonus points if it’s not the person you thought you’d be stuck with. bonus points if it’s not the person you want to be stuck with.
*note: a lot of het ships I like and think should be romantic, I ship because they’re written with the goal of the two only being friends which is What makes them Good.
best friends
— you’re like how the fuck is this different from ‘people who are friends’ just trust bro. honestly, mark lee just put it the best way ‘even ten minutes away from him makes you miss him’
— I feel like the only way to explain Best Friends is like. the kind of ship that needs no other characters or ecosystem or whatever. the world is just consumed by the concept of the other person.
— I don’t know! like just as a shipper, as also on the narrative level... it’s Just About These Two. like they need to be beside each other at all times. any conversation they have with someone else feels like a waste of time. they don’t need anyone but the other person. the universe becomes so small. the feeling is so all-consuming.
— it’s also like. okay if you’ve had a best friend you’ve been homoerotically connected with then you know. that’s just all it feels like. not to get personal but like, for like half my high school career, I’d walk into a store and my first and only thought would be ‘what would _ like from here?” this shit makes you be so insane it’s not a joke.
star, star, sun
— either about reaching one person, or catching up to them. whatever ideal you have is clouded with them.
— making another person burn. I don’t know. I feel like it’s the best way to put it. you’re not interested in something until this other person.
— this is where most narrative parallels/narrative foil pairings tend to go.
redgreen is also... LOL very indicative of how I like t/b dynamics in specific iterations of rivalships... I explained what I thought about this exact dynamic to lin and she laughed at me for the next hour of our call. how is it my fault I also think t/b dynamics are also about winning and the loser needs to be the winner to balance it out.
roleswap
I thought this was more complicated to explain than it is but it's not. I just like when boys are girls. also these aren't like 'formative' ships, they're Recent ships that I believe very deeply in. I don't think any of them really need explanation LOL. though this category has a fair amount of celibate work wife/work husband dynamics also.
you're like 'damn. where is renhyuck though' it has come to my attention while writing this. I was originally going to put renhyuck in the 'star, star, sun' section but then I realized they fit every section. which the best ships obviously fit more than one section [kenhina notably]. but to fit All. I won't bother explaining it because if you know u know. and if you're like ? about them fitting /best_friends, I would like to direct your attention to ridin' and hot sauce era renhaech.
other ships that are very characteristic/explanatory of my tastes but were not 'formative': hori/miya, yaguchi/mori (blue period), yaguchi/takahashi (blue period), nyu/kyu, [all the jjk ships that I like], lyx/yy, yukimura/kirihara, fuji/kikumaru
there's a fair amount of 'platonic' ships that fit into ^^^ but it might've gotten confusing if I included them. in saying that. when I ship things romantically, my end vision for them might not be #established_relationship in the usual sense. I like acknowledgement and mutual exclusivity, but they don't have to actually be romantically involved or particularly intimate [why the 'celibate' in workplace romance is there]
I actually just jotted down the names first, and then I realized some things were uh… patterns. I feel like some of these choices make it seem like I dislike most popular accepted pairings for most fandoms. which is untrue. I only dislike ships if they’re bad. I’m not receptive enough to be blankly fed maincouple and go for it. there’s also a fair amount of ships where the fanon version is Bad but the Canon version is good.
common standing
— people who are friends, people who understand each other or make efforts to understand each other, even if those efforts are somewhat futile. bonus points if there’s a third person who triangulates their complexes. bonus points if there’s a gap. bonus points if a distance seems uncloseble but they’re closer to each other than to others. bonus points if that’s unintentional.
— I just think the best ships are reliant on strong friendships or strong foundations. and, I think past that, there needs to be a common tie that links the two together that isn’t just — they have history. they’re kind of blankly by each other’s side. like whether it’s because they’ve both been left behind, or because they want to be together — a connection matters. as so, it’s titled ‘common standing’.
— bonus points for lowkeyness. bonus points if it’s not the person you thought you’d be stuck with. bonus points if it’s not the person you want to be stuck with.
*note: a lot of het ships I like and think should be romantic, I ship because they’re written with the goal of the two only being friends which is What makes them Good.
jason/nico
bro if you don't think jasico should've been Canon Unfollow Me Right Now. like, okay, sorry to be a jasicoist in 2021 but this should've been both their endgames. everything was there!!! there was something seriously personal in jason being the first and only person to reach out to nico — and that wasn’t even in the typical protag to series outsider way where He’s Still Thinks Nico Is Weird Though. he genuinely was the first person to be nice to Nico and mean it!!! it was seriously so treacherous the way rr wrote their bond to just fizzle out….UMMM no it wouldn’t. solangelo was so rushed in last minute while jasico had a WHOLE FUCKING BOOK to go off on. IDK. The First Person To Be Nice To You CAN be something so personal and romantic!!! further criminally underappreciated aspect is that while sure, jason is perfect golden boy whatever dude, he's lame and boring, but social freak nico is among the coolest characters in the series so like. the flavour! the excellence! the teamwork they had! the bond! what if both of you had to stand down against Motherfucking CUPID. the whole thing with the west wind meeting them and then fighting cupid of all gods.... and these two DIDN'T end up together? they were just too ahead of their time. I'm upset.piper/leo
sorry for not being your feminist queen by being like And... PIPER didn’t need a man! but this probably was the most feminist option that wasn’t like lesbianism for her [she ends up Bi so #slay anyway]. this is the only good het pjo ship because they were written to be *only* friends. also shared jason inferiority complex and general insecurity re… everything. Idk a while ago I was like Huh Aren’t they kinda narrative parallels...and you know, if you have a hazy memory of these books like I do, THEY ARE. plus being the sidekicks to jason’s main character … I guess it’s classic ronmione precedent but that precedent exists and is perfect for a reason!!! also, biggest thing, is that neither of them see each other as who they want. which compounds on the whole jason’s sidekick leftovers and their own outsider complexes soooo much because they don’t #win.harryluna
there’s this gifset of them from the sixth movie where harry takes luna as his date to the slugclub. and there’s obviously a moment either preceding, or after where someone goes ‘luna?’ and harry goes ‘luna’s cool. I like luna.’ and another one where in the fourth movie, luna dresses in a lion head costume for harry’s quidditch game … all this to say!!! they should’ve been the canon straight endgame!!! justice for weird girls!!! etc!!! again the whole angle of like, this is not the person who harry thought he’d end up with or who he thought he wanted compounding on all his complexes, but in the end — it’s luna!!! they’re friends!! even if she’s not cool quidditch girl like ginny is, she’s helped on his adventures, he still sees and appreciates her charms. not to be unfeminist and make this about harry, but piperleo is about piper To Meeee! but, luna is one of the best examples of harry’s kindness and receptiveness because even to the other ‘outsiders’ he befriends, she’s the weird one out and every single time, he’s like ‘no luna is cool’ … obviously luna understands harry well enough, and harry even if he doesn’t understand her, is still willing to try!!! something about luna showing the best of harry's best traits...idk!touka/kaneki/hide
for a trio with such little meaningful canon interaction, just throughout the series the willingness to search for the other, fight for the other, wait for the other... idk it really was just super moving everytime you read it. I think when you read through the story, the relationships feel very unfair and wasted because of how one-sided it is. but, and this is something I feel is better conveyed in the art than the actual story, but the unyielding kindness and endless forgiveness they all had for each other just at some point makes the relationships feel so warm. prime example is touka through out :re. and like the way haise cries when he first has coffee from :re is the emotion that feels carried out through all of their moments. no idea if I explained that well but yeahhh.bokuto/kuroo
when I say guys who are friends. I have this curse where all of my ships get uh, brozoned by fandom at large because friendship is the most romantic thing ever to me and friendship is not romantic to the masses who think friendship is just friendship. sorry for not needing romantic juxtaposition to value dynamics. IDK if you’ve read any bokuto and kuroo interactions then you get it. also find it hilarious that like… bokuaka/kuroken are thought of as closer pairs which is due to team proximity, but they’re actually best friends/better friends with each other. THE HAPTICS you know!!! it is not about the person you end up spending the most time with, but the person you seek out regardless of distance! [and school rivalry!]. best hq ship To Me Til This Very Day. sorry for liking Guys Who Are Just Dudes. I Will Never Change. I Will Never Improve.best friends
— you’re like how the fuck is this different from ‘people who are friends’ just trust bro. honestly, mark lee just put it the best way ‘even ten minutes away from him makes you miss him’
— I feel like the only way to explain Best Friends is like. the kind of ship that needs no other characters or ecosystem or whatever. the world is just consumed by the concept of the other person.
— I don’t know! like just as a shipper, as also on the narrative level... it’s Just About These Two. like they need to be beside each other at all times. any conversation they have with someone else feels like a waste of time. they don’t need anyone but the other person. the universe becomes so small. the feeling is so all-consuming.
— it’s also like. okay if you’ve had a best friend you’ve been homoerotically connected with then you know. that’s just all it feels like. not to get personal but like, for like half my high school career, I’d walk into a store and my first and only thought would be ‘what would _ like from here?” this shit makes you be so insane it’s not a joke.
iwaoi
:,) idk if it was actually supported in canon but every iwaoi fic represented iwaoi Like That. tho it is canon that oikawa’s genius could’ve been drawn out more by a better ace but he wanted iwacchan. Or something like that. ALSO THEIR LITTLE END STORY….dan and phil
not to be like I was a Phannie in 2014/2015 possibly 2016 but like, I was. I think it’s like obvious why people were phans.markhyuck
it’s so interesting. Because this is something you grow out of. like it’s this singlemindedness that very teenhood based, and like mahae have grown out of it. which is obviously not a bad thing, and is honestly a necessary step to having better friendships and relationships. but it’s still bittersweet, no? everytime I’m like was markhyuck ever really all that and I remember them and they wereeee… I think like… it got really popular to push all the pining onto haechan’s side, but what that narrative misses out on is that hc was mark’s best friend also!!! the in love with your best friend factor is only applicable if you’re BEST FRIENDS.star, star, sun
— either about reaching one person, or catching up to them. whatever ideal you have is clouded with them.
— making another person burn. I don’t know. I feel like it’s the best way to put it. you’re not interested in something until this other person.
— this is where most narrative parallels/narrative foil pairings tend to go.
redgreen
redgreen is the ORIGINAL rivalship of all time. TO ME. redgreen seriously perfect because green is an asshole and red seems nonreactive AF but is also competitive enough to beat his ass and take champion from him. and then fuck off to mount silver afterwards because he's that fucking depressed over it and needs to repent. THERE'S NO WAY IT'S NOT GOOD. it's about the mutual hateship that has Layers underneath it. which is green hates red, and red doesn't hate green, he just wants to not be hated by green. IT'S VERY DEEP. and okay I admit all of the fun is in the fact you only have FR/LG to work off of, BUT there's nothing like hating someone because they made you the most short-lived champion of all time, but they only did that because they wanted to be acknowledged by you. LIIIIKEEEEEEE. green's longstanding immaturity + refusal to not be a dick is also a huge part of why it remains good even post 'reconciliation'. sometimes people literally don't need to grow up and mature and become agreeable. sometimes it's about being two fucked up halves of a misshapen relationship!!!redgreen is also... LOL very indicative of how I like t/b dynamics in specific iterations of rivalships... I explained what I thought about this exact dynamic to lin and she laughed at me for the next hour of our call. how is it my fault I also think t/b dynamics are also about winning and the loser needs to be the winner to balance it out.
ushishira
this ship fucks so hard because shirabu doesn’t value ushijima as a person, but only his strength. and he changes the trajectory of his whole volleyball career for that strength. NOW THAT FUCKS. THAT FUUUUCKS!!!! love it when characters are so consumed by their ideals. also hilarious because I think ushijima did like shirabu as a person which shirabu obviously didn’t give a fuck about. I love it when people are not on equal standing at all.kenhina
okay if you read the last page of ch.305 and didn’t fucking go This Whole Time…. It’s Been A Love Story… [also do want to say, this nekoma match is where the series ended for Me because I thought it was narratively fitting] then like you have serious problems. You have no idea how to read. Etc. KENMA THINKS VOLLEYBALL IS FUN. BECAUSE HINATA MADE IT FUN FOR HIM. THAT’S LITERALLY TRUE LOVE RIGHT THERE!!! + the fucking knife + cage imagery later on. OH YEAH. OH YEAH. they could also be a fair fit for the common understanding section but they're here because chapter305 and the few chapters after Are the Sacred Kenhina Texts. TO ME.roleswap
I thought this was more complicated to explain than it is but it's not. I just like when boys are girls. also these aren't like 'formative' ships, they're Recent ships that I believe very deeply in. I don't think any of them really need explanation LOL. though this category has a fair amount of celibate work wife/work husband dynamics also.
- jaime/brienne - inversed genderswapped beauty and the beast. the knight x lady [who is a lord] dynamic. jaimebrienne is everything. just Everything.
- shinobu/giyuu - work wife/work husband slay. NARRATIVE PARALLELISM SLAY ALSO!!!
- jean/kaeya - work husband/work wife slay WITH genderswapped social standingisms and repression on every single side to make up for it. jeankaeya is simply the best mondstadt ship.
you're like 'damn. where is renhyuck though' it has come to my attention while writing this. I was originally going to put renhyuck in the 'star, star, sun' section but then I realized they fit every section. which the best ships obviously fit more than one section [kenhina notably]. but to fit All. I won't bother explaining it because if you know u know. and if you're like ? about them fitting /best_friends, I would like to direct your attention to ridin' and hot sauce era renhaech.
other ships that are very characteristic/explanatory of my tastes but were not 'formative': hori/miya, yaguchi/mori (blue period), yaguchi/takahashi (blue period), nyu/kyu, [all the jjk ships that I like], lyx/yy, yukimura/kirihara, fuji/kikumaru
there's a fair amount of 'platonic' ships that fit into ^^^ but it might've gotten confusing if I included them. in saying that. when I ship things romantically, my end vision for them might not be #established_relationship in the usual sense. I like acknowledgement and mutual exclusivity, but they don't have to actually be romantically involved or particularly intimate [why the 'celibate' in workplace romance is there]
no subject
Date: 2021-06-16 11:34 pm (UTC)edit: omg wait ahhh i havent had hp thoughts in a while and i tended to ship harry w/ male chars more but omg yes harry/luna was my fav het harry ship.... love this