sunday night meta: ot3's.
People in fandom always love to yap about what OTP means to different people and while I find that discussion reasonably fruitful, what really I want to know about is the concept of OT3 to different people.
I've noticed that the concept and what it contains depends on, not just the person who calls something their OT3, but also the fandom. There are fandoms where you call something an OT3 and EVERYONE understands it the same way and gets what you mean. In other mean the term is understood in a completely different way. There are some even slightly contradictory definitions.
First one probably is the "OT3 is love triangle"-definition. Often these are (in fic headers etc) described better as two pairings to "contradict" each other. In other words, Ron/Hermione & Harry/Hermione would basically mean Ron and Harry fighting over Hermione's love. Or something. But sometimes I've seen these sort of scenarios just shortened as Ron/Hermione/Harry. I've never found love triangles appealing but I've talked to people in the HP fandom for example who love the potential love triangle in HP and thus call that sort of scenario their OT3.
The more popular definition is "OT3 is threesome". In other words, sexually, romantically, these three people just get involved with each other and they all love each other equally (there might be conflict because this isn't always the case but that is how it is ideally). I guess it's partly popular in fandom because you don't really get that in canon material (though there might be a fandom in whose canon it would be likely) and also it's a perfect way to compromise with a possible love triangle or two conflicting pairings ("I love A/C ..but also C/B! Hmm, let's put all three of you together!").
Then again, that is all just speculation on my part. So, tell me about your OT3, what you think OT3 means and whether it means different things for you with different OT3's?
PS. In case anyone cares.. This was definitely inspired by my Green Wing OT3, as seen in the icon choice.
I guess the inspiration source showed me the third "definition" of OT3. The fact is that I can't really picture the three, Guy, Mac & Caroline being together in that threesomey way. That is just ..no. That would never ever happen. I can't picture it at all. It's not a love triangle, either, since I'm not into those at all.
So I got to thinking about it - what can I say, I think about Green Wing way too much nowadays - and pretty soon I realized that the OT3ness probably is just that I like every single pairing that is contained in that OT3 - I love Mac/Caroline (who doesn't?), I like Guy/Mac (best friends, worst competitors - they're just great) AND I adore Guy/Caroline (HOT! Their scenes together are always hilarious, too).
I suppose an OT3 is a way to try to convey the love I have for all three pairings in a simple form. Some might think it's weird that I'm all "Oh yeah, I LOVE Guy/Caroline, OTP OTP but I want Mac/Caroline too, because DUDE!!" (sorry, fangirl talk there). It's just how it is in my head.
However, no matter how loudly I voice my Guy/Caroline love (and I mostly do it only because the fandom is so Mac/Caroline ruled - understandably), I think if I had to pick one pairing over them all, it would Caroline/Mac. They just belong together. They're ridiculously cute together. It's just ..yeah. They're the OTP. Guy/Caroline is ..guilty pleasure OTP. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it.
Anyway, as none of that will make much sense to all you non-GW folk out there, I'll shut up. But yeah, tell me about your OT3's! :)
PPS. This sucks as meta, I *know*. I'm way, way tired but I just *had* to get it down, y'know.
I've noticed that the concept and what it contains depends on, not just the person who calls something their OT3, but also the fandom. There are fandoms where you call something an OT3 and EVERYONE understands it the same way and gets what you mean. In other mean the term is understood in a completely different way. There are some even slightly contradictory definitions.
First one probably is the "OT3 is love triangle"-definition. Often these are (in fic headers etc) described better as two pairings to "contradict" each other. In other words, Ron/Hermione & Harry/Hermione would basically mean Ron and Harry fighting over Hermione's love. Or something. But sometimes I've seen these sort of scenarios just shortened as Ron/Hermione/Harry. I've never found love triangles appealing but I've talked to people in the HP fandom for example who love the potential love triangle in HP and thus call that sort of scenario their OT3.
The more popular definition is "OT3 is threesome". In other words, sexually, romantically, these three people just get involved with each other and they all love each other equally (there might be conflict because this isn't always the case but that is how it is ideally). I guess it's partly popular in fandom because you don't really get that in canon material (though there might be a fandom in whose canon it would be likely) and also it's a perfect way to compromise with a possible love triangle or two conflicting pairings ("I love A/C ..but also C/B! Hmm, let's put all three of you together!").
Then again, that is all just speculation on my part. So, tell me about your OT3, what you think OT3 means and whether it means different things for you with different OT3's?
PS. In case anyone cares.. This was definitely inspired by my Green Wing OT3, as seen in the icon choice.
I guess the inspiration source showed me the third "definition" of OT3. The fact is that I can't really picture the three, Guy, Mac & Caroline being together in that threesomey way. That is just ..no. That would never ever happen. I can't picture it at all. It's not a love triangle, either, since I'm not into those at all.
So I got to thinking about it - what can I say, I think about Green Wing way too much nowadays - and pretty soon I realized that the OT3ness probably is just that I like every single pairing that is contained in that OT3 - I love Mac/Caroline (who doesn't?), I like Guy/Mac (best friends, worst competitors - they're just great) AND I adore Guy/Caroline (HOT! Their scenes together are always hilarious, too).
I suppose an OT3 is a way to try to convey the love I have for all three pairings in a simple form. Some might think it's weird that I'm all "Oh yeah, I LOVE Guy/Caroline, OTP OTP but I want Mac/Caroline too, because DUDE!!" (sorry, fangirl talk there). It's just how it is in my head.
However, no matter how loudly I voice my Guy/Caroline love (and I mostly do it only because the fandom is so Mac/Caroline ruled - understandably), I think if I had to pick one pairing over them all, it would Caroline/Mac. They just belong together. They're ridiculously cute together. It's just ..yeah. They're the OTP. Guy/Caroline is ..guilty pleasure OTP. Yeah, that's a good way of putting it.
Anyway, as none of that will make much sense to all you non-GW folk out there, I'll shut up. But yeah, tell me about your OT3's! :)
PPS. This sucks as meta, I *know*. I'm way, way tired but I just *had* to get it down, y'know.