Comments | butterfly: On the use of OTP...

butterfly

On the use of OTP...

Jul 07, 2008 23:19

So, I actually have different kinds of OTPness.

1. Ultimate and complete One True Pairing, cannot picture either one of the characters with anyone else as long as the option to be with their OTP exists. Doctor/Rose falls into this category, as well as Zoe/Wash (from Firefly) and Fraser/Kowalski (due South). With the Doctor and Rose, their OTP nature ( Read more... )

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Comments 46

mskatej July 8 2008, 09:11:16 UTC

butterfly July 9 2008, 03:40:54 UTC

An OTP for me are a couple who have great onscreen (sexual) chemistry and who I see as deeply loving each other no matter what happens between them. They need to be more important to each other than anyone else too - I like an epic feel to the relationship. Ongoing tension between the characters is essential if I'm to remain interested, and I particularly enjoy pairing characters with opposite personalities.

*nods*

Yeah. I have to feel a connection between two people to be able to OTP; a connection greater for them than anyone else they know.

Apparently I am okay with the hero of the story having multiple loves! Because actually now that I think about it Buffy can have both boys, and Clark can have both but I don't want to see Lex, Lois, Spike or Angel with anyone else. Weird.

That's interesting! I think that I do that, a bit with some pairings, where I'll ship one of the characters outside the main relationship but not the other.

a_white_rain July 8 2008, 09:20:37 UTC

I use 'otp' quite randomly. It generally means a pairing I like. And I have a short attention span on pairings I like.

However, there are different ways that I ship. In context of the canon, there are some pairings where I can't see the characters with anyone else - Aang/Katara, Doctor/Rose, Zoe/Wash, for example. It basically means, I think it's end game. Canon. The first two by me seeing them integrated, and the last because it would simply make me sad to see them apart on screen (*sobs at Wash's death*).

Similar, but not quite the same, is a paring where I can see the characters, but the ways in which they feel for each other, make it so that, whatever happens, in order for me to buy anything, that relationship really really needs to be acknowledged for one or both characters for me to get behind alt!ship - Sasuke/Sakura, Seishirou/Subaru, Lee/Kara, Buffy/Angel, and Tidus/Yuna, as example. Usually this is as such because of obsessive love that defines the pairing (Seishirou/Subaru, SasuSaku), the fact there is so much baggage ( ... )

butterfly July 9 2008, 03:45:39 UTC

However, there are different ways that I ship. In context of the canon, there are some pairings where I can't see the characters with anyone else - Aang/Katara, Doctor/Rose, Zoe/Wash, for example. It basically means, I think it's end game. Canon. The first two by me seeing them integrated, and the last because it would simply make me sad to see them apart on screen (*sobs at Wash's death*).

Wash's death still makes me sad, too. Because their love was so adorable and sweet and lovely. I have a hard time picturing Zoe falling in love again. She's such a soldier and her finding Wash in the first place and actually letting him into her heart was such a 'one in a million' thing.

Which is similar to how I feel about Doctor/Rose, now that I think about it! I can't imagine the Doctor finding a person who'll make him feel the way that Rose did, especially since he treats that relationship like it's the first time he's ever felt that way. With nine hundred+ years of history, that's saying quite a lot.

I don't really argue that any of these ( ... )

a_white_rain July 9 2008, 07:59:23 UTC

butterfly July 9 2008, 08:20:23 UTC

With Zoe, I can say there is no one in the cast I can really see her with... But I think it's within her characterization to fall in love again, set up right.

The Doctor is a bit different - it just takes so much to get through his defenses, which are bound to be up more than ever.

*nods*

There's a bit of 'this is like Zoe turned up to eleven' in there, I think. Because the Doctor has these insanely high defenses and I still don't think that he fully understands how Rose through them, but it's only going to make him more paranoid about not letting people close enough to hurt him that badly again. And Zoe still has people in her life -- she has Mal, especially. While the Doctor had to mind-wipe his best friend to save her life and can never have a relationship with her again. And he's incredibly close-mouthed for a man who talks so much.

Rose was just... such a huge deviation from how he normally does things. That's something that's become so clear in watching some older Who and in seeing the difference between how he treats Rose ( ... )

Thread 10

jedinic July 8 2008, 12:58:16 UTC

I rarely use OTP. I used to run a website called "Soulmates", made up of all my favourite couples, but it got out of control when I opened it up to other suggestions and it was mix-and-match in every direction!

I'll always have my favourite couple(s) in a fandom, but unless they end up happily together in canon (or there's the potential for that in canon), I can't call them an OTP.

Sheridan and Delenn from "Babylon 5" are the best example that springs to mind. I'm still not sure how I feel about Doctor/Rose right now and if I can accept it!

butterfly July 9 2008, 03:48:20 UTC

*hugs*

Doctor/Rose is a very complicated issue right now, definitely. Because they kinda got a happy ending. But the Doctor that the show is actually following got a completely tragic ending. Maybe not quite as painful as if he'd run into Rose and she'd found someone new, but he's hurting a lot right now.

spiletta42 July 8 2008, 12:58:20 UTC

Those are pretty good definitions of OTP types for me, too ( ... )

butterfly July 9 2008, 03:50:09 UTC

Vala really is very good for Daniel, I agree. Of course, the oddity of having the episode "Unending" in canon means that, without a doubt, we know that their relationship would make them both happy for a lifetime. This is not a promise that most shows give about pairings.

rusty_halo July 8 2008, 15:12:56 UTC

I don't really use OTP unless I'm being tongue-in-cheek. I'm not really invested in "forever love," since situations change and people change and it just seems like a really narrow definition of what love can be.

When I do use it, it just means that it's a pairing I really, really like. Generally "my favorite pairing for that character," rather than "the only pairing I can ever imagine for that character."

I'm more of an OTC person--I adore one character and see everything through that character's eyes. So a favorite pairing to me is usually something that brings out interesting aspects of the character I love. Like, I'd say Remus/Sirius is my Harry Potter OTP, but honestly, I'd read anything with Sirius in it as long as he's written well.

If I had to choose, I'd say Doctor/Master is my Doctor Who OTP. They've been in each others' lives since childhood, they're equals and distorted mirror versions of each other, and they certainly bring out interesting aspects in each other! But that doesn't mean that I don't love and adore Doctor ( ... )

butterfly July 9 2008, 03:53:37 UTC

Yeah, the Doctor/Master relationship is a whole different kettle of fish from the Doctor/Rose relationship (which makes me really understand why they brought in the Master on the Rose-less season). There's so much painful history there, with the Master. So many complicated emotions. And the Master is so fixated on the Doctor and getting to him (Ha! One could also say that Rose was also fixated on getting to the Doctor. Yes. I amuse myself).