On Fics & Ships

[kamiyashi]

Due to the fact that the recent post on fic shipping seems to have either disappeared or got deleted, I’ve decided to take up the topic in my own post with a slightly different angle because the potential for discussions is definitely present and I encourage a healthy debate!

Comments

[starrysnafu]

As a reader I don't really enjoy romance fic for YGO, with the exception of femslash/yuri fics, which are all too rare )': I don't feel that we miss out on platonic/general relationship development all that much; it's explored in canon. Family and friendship is there in spades but romance? that's all on us.

Writing wise, I stick to gen/humor as the main focus (pairings are simply a side-effect, not the focus)

If I could issue a challenge to the fandom, it would be to write more femslash. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I think it would be good for any writer to explore the female characters more. If you can wrack up lots of experience writing m/m or het stories then gaining a little experience with writing f/f pairings can't hurt. Or at least examine why you don't write them.

[kamiyashi]

I always thought that Anzu/Shizuka, Mai/Anzu, and Mai/Shizuka made sense in yuri terms of the original series. But they also felt the most "obvious" choices as well? There were at least multiple interactions to "justify" them.

[hemntjrseth]

I always liked the idea of Ishizu/Mai myself. It made no sense at all but they looked good together.

I suppose the fault here is that DM didn't have many female characters.

[hemntjrseth]

Completely fine ^ ^

[starrysnafu]

heh, thanks :)

lol nope! I think you can find more fics for one-episode male character/one-episode male character than you can for most of the f/f ships )':

heh well I don't even see enough smut! xD at least not compared to het & m/m. I think some people like the dynamic of people that don't get along so well. The show sets up well for Shizuka/Mai I think.

XD well pay attention and you'll have more plot bunnies than you can deal with! you should def give it a shot ♥

[raichu100]

I think one thing is YGO has like 38957 males and all of 7 females (and that's if you count Dark Magician Girl)

and I'm not really into femslash at all, but even so it seems to me that the possible pairings just wouldn't be as appealing. maybe sth with Mai but I polarship forever so I probably wouldn't read it unless it was recced as really really good, lol

[starrysnafu]

well, it's definitely a valid point but I find it happens in a lot of fandoms, even ones more gender balanced, so I'm not sure it's the sole reason :/ it may be that heterosexuals tend to avoid writing their own gender in same-sex relationships since it has no sexual appeal for them, that's my pet theory. There's more Rex/Weevil fics than Anzu/female fics, and Anzu is a main character. Hell, there's more Rex/Weevil than Rex/Mai, and Rex showed canon romantic interest in Mai in the show. So it could just be that the female characters don't appeal to most YGO fanfic writers.

I don't think the show set up for a lot of good femslash potential, but I do love me some nurseshipping ♥

[raichu100]

Nurse? I guess that's one of the few that actually seems plausible. but again I'm not really into femslash so meh...probably because I'm a straight female; the point you made about "no sexual appeal" is probably right on the dot, since I think females make up the majority of fanfic writers. It would be very interesting to me to read yuri written by a straight male, though, just for a change in perspective. (I have a friend who I know likes yuri--a straight male--and I know he's not into yaoi at all, so I think that lends more weight to that theory.)