Discussion Main / FanPreferredCouple

the way i see it i believe it's when paring is more popular than Official Couple while OTP is merely when couple is prefered over others. The description doesn't explicitly state that less popular Official Couple must exist but most of it compare FPC to Official Couple so i think that's it.

Die for Our Ship, at least, has no caveats regarding what ultimately counts. I feel like dividing the page thusly encourages misuse—i.e., someone feels like they can add the most popular het, slash, and incest ships, even if they concern the same characters and even if they're not more popular than the main couple.

You wanna read and learn "There's lots of Brian/Stewie(from "Family Guy" fanworks with tons of Rule34 with them getting it on.)" and be scarred for life, that's fine. But I DON'T.

Like with the Die for Our Ship page, it took me all my courage to scroll through them before making folders.

Candy Cane has been suspended. Splitting pages unilaterally like that is not permitted.

Well, regarding the two Kid Icarus arguments, the first argument doesn't look like an argument at all. And for the second, maybe you just haven't found it yet.

No because then it's a canon pairing. This trope is when a FANON pairing is more popular then a canon pairing.

I was wondering about a couple from The Wakefield Legacy: The Untold Story, a history of twin's ancestors in Sweet Valley High. The twin's paternal great-grandfather (Ted) and maternal great-great-aunt (Amanda) fall in love but their romance is thwarted thanks to her scheming twin. He marries a fellow journalist (Julia) instead. I almost positive the readers are supposed to see Amanda as Ted's true love and Julia as his second choice but most fans feel that Julia is the better match for him.

There is no Canon couple to contrast with there, in msot Zelda Games a Link/Zelda parring as as much Fanon as anything else. Malon actually comes closest to being Canon due to the implication of Twilight Princess (If you assume this Link must be descended from his Predecessor, and Epona from his).

Back in 4th Grade, I asked the girl who I had a crush on what her favorite couples on the schoolyard were. While I was disappointed that I wasn't paired with her, I noted that two of her five pairs had one person in common.

I guess what you're talking about is the opposite of Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends: i.e. the realization that, while Character A seems best with Character B, B seems best with C, but C seems best with D, etc.

Granted, that would still be "fan preferred" if a sizable portion of fans would think that way. Still, Shipping fans are rabid beasts, so there are very few situations where an Escape Raft is recognized. (Getting individual fans to admit to having Escape Rafts is another story, though it's a rare fandom that has a common raft.) There are exceptions, however.

While it is ultimately more fair for the characters,, doing it the way you suggest would make the sections explode, requiring an Example Removal to the Works pages. Though that might not be a bad thing...

^

That actually seems like a good idea.

The most part of this Trope is YMMV, or pure speculation, or just Fan-Shipping. This should be one of those "No Examples" pages.

The original was worded this way:

• In Inuyasha, there canonically seemed to be some feelings developing between Sesshomaru and Kagura, but it only ever got to Ship Tease level and didn't really go anywhere because Kagura died. Nonetheless, people prefer to pair him with Rin or Kagome, even though Rin is more like a daughter/Morality Pet for him and Kagome is in an Official Couple with Inuyasha.

Seemed workable and objective enough. Who the hell changed it into that monstrosity of fanon?

Kagura being dead doesn't mean it's not canon. If he had feelings for her it's canon, and he does. Kikyo is dead and no one says Inu/Kikyo isn't canon.

That's a good question. I think that the best way to go about it is looking at several different sources: not just Fanfiction.net but also Live Journal, polls, Deviant Art, which pairings general fans seem to agree on, etc. It's very true that sometimes fanficcers are only a Vocal Minority and a pairing only seems less popular than another one because it has a Silent Majority that simply doesn't write as many fics or speak up more often, but maybe you can get a more reliable idea of what's fan-preferred by poking around in different circles of fandom?

I remember thinking way back some time ago that England/Japan was the undisputed FPC for Japan even in Western fandom; after all, its LJ pairing community had almost twice as many members and posts as for the Greece/Japan one and it had more fanfics on Fanfiction.net overall. But then one England/Japan fan told me this actually wasn't the case: if you look at pairing popularity polls or take in account all the fics that have one of these pairings as a side pairing, Greece/Japan comes out ahead of England/Japan. England/Japan is more popular with fans who have Japan as part of their main pairing, but Greece/Japan is more popular with fans who don't have Japan as part of their main pairing, and the latter makes up a large majority of Western fandom. So yeah, Fanfiction.net doesn't always represent true pairing popularity.

I think the discrepancy you're seeing in ff.net is because ever since Half-Blood Prince came out, there'd obviously been much more of an emotional motivation for people to write Harry/Hermione Fix Fics than fics for a ship that's already an Official Couple. Still, that sort of consideration is not covered in the article at the moment, which may have to be fixed.

EDIT: Used google and found this. Holy cow.

I was going to bring this up too.

From what I've seen, Ginny/Harry don't fit this trope at all. They're one of the two official couples and they don't have nearly as many fanfics written about them as other couples (Hermione/Harry, Ron/Hermione, and other canon and fanon pairings get a lot more). They also don't get nearly as many results on deviantart, livejournal, or google.

I suggest the Harry/Ginny pairing be removed from the examples and possibly replaced by one that fits the criteria better like Harry/Hermione or Hermione/Draco if enough evidence can be produced in favor of them.

I'm pretty sure the trope is about non-canon pairings, so I honestly have no idea why Harry/Ginny is there.

Since no one objected to Ginny/Harry being removed from the examples in the last week, I went ahead and took them off. Are there any HP fanon pairings that fit the trope? Some others were mentioned, but most of them were conflicting.

Well, Harry/Luna is really popular, and is in fact Luna's most popular (in terms of number of fics). It's not exactly Harry's, though, if we're using the same criteria... Harry/Hermione arguably counts, unless you continue using numbers (wherein Harry/Draco has the most supporters).

The HP fandom is a very complicated beast.

A Zuko and Katara pairing is the picture for this page then people have the tendency to complain about anything that don't fit there thoughts,It's strange isn't? But don't feel bad about it, everybody here is not rude.

If you're talking about the Love Hina example, I didn't keep on deleting it because I don't like it (I do like it, as a matter of fact); I deleted it because I thought it didn't have enough of a fandom presence to merit its inclusion. If people added every pairing that a group of fans preferred to the official canon couple to this article, it would become as long as War And Peace. So while couples like Zuko/Katara are still on here, that's mainly because they're popular enough to have gained notoriety in fandom overall. From what I've seen, while there are some LH fans clamoring for pairings other than Keitaro/Naru, Keitaro/Naru is still pretty much the undisputed main pairing in the fandom. You can't say the same for Aang/Katara, Negi/Nodoka, etc.

In fact, Keitaro/Mutsumi was originally listed here before it got purged in a mass edit done specifically to remove all examples that didn't fit the trope's guidelines to avoid Trope Decay. (That edit wasn't done by me, by the way.) So while I'm leaving Keitaro/Mutsumi in for now, don't be surprised if it gets deleted by another troper down the road.

Understood the page would be extremely long, I saw a post about fan preferred couples by another troper it said examples went on the fan preferred couple pages. Love Hina being a romance story and all looks like it would fit nicely on this page even just to have a little mention here. In response about the fandom presence of Keitaro/Mutsumi pairing, In fairness I’ve never seen Zuko paired with Katara before this page though.

I guess we will all see things we haven’t before, with so many people though it’s a given.

If I was Keitaro I'd be trying for a Keitaro/Mutsumi relationship but that's probably because I like her the best, shes soooo sweet. Nice girl 4tw! ^_^

Otohime Mutsumi was a great match for Keitaroe she loved him and she won't beat him to a pulp, Avatar's newer so it would be talked about now,Love Hina's manga came out in Japan in late nineteen ninety eight but it being around longer should help it's notability.

Somebody put up Android 18 and Trunks as more preferred than Krillin and 18!? when compared to trite such as that should we even have to question the cozy parring of Keitaro&Mutsumi.

Okay, I know this is an old discussion topic, but I just saw this again and feel like some things need to be cleared up here regarding Keitaro/Mutsumi and why it doesn't belong in this article in spite of all the raving about it here, especially since someone repeatedly tried to edit it back into the article not too long ago.

Just because you think a pairing is better than the canon one does not mean that it is a Fan Preferred Couple. You might think that Mutsumi is the perfect girl for Keitaro and Naru is an abusive bitch, but if Keitaro/Mutsumi isn't as popular as Keitaro/Naru, then it's not a FPC. Period. And considering that the Love Hina section on Fanfiction Dot Net has Keitaro/Mutsumi fics being outnumbered by not only Keitaro/Naru but Keitaro/Motoko and Keitaro/Shinobu, I highly doubt you can even say that Keitaro/Mutsumi is the most popular non-canon pairing for Keitaro.

I'll admit that I did try to put Keitaro/Mutsumi back in the article once before (as mentioned in my earlier reply above), because the Keitaro/Mutsumi editor seemed so passionate about it. However, that was before I fully realized that this article is not a place to promote one's favorite pairings or explain why a fanon pairing is so much better than a canon one. It is a place to list fanon pairings that are supported by a majority of fandom, not just by you or a Vocal Minority of fans — and from what I've seen, it's doubtful that Keitaro/Mutsumi is even the second most popular pairing for Keitaro in the overall Love Hina fandom.

Batman doesn't have a girlfriend.

He's Batman.

They're still really popular together.

Actually Batman is still single and Bruce is dead for now. He and Selina had an ongoing fling, and who knows where it will end up when he gets better. It's just the only example I could think of that was better than whatever anime was there before and people insist on putting back for some reason. Please, if someone thinks of something more recognizable and better, have at it. However, I'm going to keep knocking off that Anime pic because it's not illustrating the trope.

It's Western Animation, actually. And it's currently being made into a live-action film. I know next to nothing about the series, but I think the picture illustrated the trope pretty well.

I'm for keeping the pic. Yes, I know the series Avatar:TLA pretty well but it illustrates the trope well and it's stayed on the page for quite some time. I say take it to the forums or whatever.

It replaced the image of Link and the Fairy, which illustrated the trope better. The anime pic (so it's not anime) is still Just A Face And A Caption. Batman and Catwoman, and their teased Fan-Preferred romance have existed for 70 years. The anime picture seems to be illustrating someone's kid brother who doesn't know when to but out.

When an example has existed for nearly a century, when it can be an Ur-Example or at least a Trope Codifier...isn't it better? Am I really off base in thinking that a pair of characters who have been around since the 40's are a better example than some western animation anime? Batman is a cultural icon. Avatar? Avatar is a cultural icon now too if we're talking about James Cameron's little blue people, and not whatever cartoon this is.

Do I qualify my argument by saying I'm a comic book fan above all else? Yes. And if I was arguing for an example listing, say, Grifter and Zealot, I'd admit I wasn't contributing anything and just being a myopic fan. But this is a cultural icon.

"Batman and Catwoman, and their teased Fan-Preferred romance have existed for 70 years" It's still just a face and a caption.

"Avatar" I liked it better the first time I saw it when it was called "Pocahontas".

I say go for it.

I'll see what I can do.

(Psst... "bias" is not an adjective, you needed the word ''Biased'')

There, there. You Did Everything You Could. The truly worthy examples will come back with the help of Wiki Magic. For now, we're better off having examples that are at least well-explained. Good work.

Also cut down a bit on the examples too. Here's to hoping that I didn't go overboard either and that Wiki Magic will do its job too.

Great. Which sections do we have left that need work?

1. I get what you're saying, but I think we can at least salvage something out of the previous text. Being just an example is pretty much the point of Example as a Thesis- Maybe it could have been rewritten to put the emphasis more on the core of the trope.

2. Now the trope is swung way, way in the other direction of the objective/subjective axis. As it is it's an invitation to Gush About Pairings You Like, and given that /any/ given ship has at least one fan somewhere it's approaching People Sit On Chairs territory.

I tried to reinstate the good parts, sans cruft, plus references to your misgivings. Plus a tiny push back in the direction of not completely subjective tropes. There's actual trope material here and it'd be a shame if we eventually have to move it to Sugar Wiki.

I'm not trying to edit war here and obviously you can revert if that strikes your fancy, but... deleting and overriding the whole thing without salvaging a single sentence is really overkill. The Example As Thesis had taken completely over the earlier version and that was a problem, so the solution to that was to trim it to sane proportions, not to nuke it. Same with the quote at the top, which has to do with a serious contender for the Most Triumphant Example of this trope. I just don't see why it needed to go.

It seems to me your "straight description" additions were really great and helped the article a lot.

Good points! I like the new article; I think it's much better now. My main aim was trying to make clear that Fan Preferred Couples don't arise from just Bad Writing; the Example As Thesis nagged at me because it seemed so narrow. I can see now that I made it too broad, so I'm glad that others jumped in to improve it; that's what Wiki Magic is for!

All right, I thought this was just a random drive-by editing. The wiki is full of those and I was getting frustrated with the mindless reverting. I admire your civil reply to my lashing out, which was pure venting and I did not expect would be actually read by whoever removed the links.

I'm fine with things as they are (just no link). That said, as far as I recall, none of the threads were specific pairing threads; they were standard polls in the main forum. What do you mean by "badly conducted", or did I miss something? More importantly yet, after taking the time to write this paragraph, will I ever be able to honestly claim that I have a life?

It's because the polls are unscientific. In order for any poll to be scientific, a credible source of information, there's a process that the person conducting it has to go through. One of the most important things to keep in mind is the process of random sampling to ensure that the poll results won't be skewed in any particular direction. That's why you go through a member list and, for example, pick out every 20th person and ask them to take the poll. That's your random sample right there.

Narutofan is a major fan site, but what if there is a higher proportion of Naruto/Hinata fans that frequent that site when compared to other major fan sites? If you don't use random sampling, the poll results could be vastly different from site to site or even within a single site depending on what the subject is.

Polls can be fun, but unless they're scientific polls, they shouldn't be used as evidence since they're unreliable.

And I wouldn't worry about "not having a life." Your reaction just means you took offense at something that pushed your buttons, which happens to everyone. Admitting that you were lashing out speaks volumes about who you are since not everyone will admit to that.

It's because the polls are unscientific. In order for any poll to be scientific, a credible source of information, there's a process that the person conducting it has to go through. One of the most important things to keep in mind is the process of random sampling to ensure that the poll results won't be skewed in any particular direction. That's why you go through a member list and, for example, pick out every 20th person and ask them to take the poll. That's your random sample right there.

Narutofan is a major fan site, but what if there is a higher proportion of Naruto/Hinata fans that frequent that site when compared to other major fan sites? If you don't use random sampling, the poll results could be vastly different from site to site or even within a single site depending on what the subject is.

Polls can be fun, but unless they're scientific polls, they shouldn't be used as evidence since they're unreliable.

And I wouldn't worry about "not having a life." Your reaction just means you took offense at something that pushed your buttons, which happens to everyone. Admitting that you were lashing out speaks volumes about who you are since not everyone will admit to that.

I get what you're saying about the poll being unscientific. I just don't feel we should be holding anything to these standards around here. Consider that virtually all examples in TV Tropes, including subjective tropes, are listed just because one person decided to add that in. One person! Talk about unscientific! And here they asked over two hundred and fifty of them. If you're familiar with statistics (and I suspect you are), you'd know that credibility gains are not linear. Just imagine for a minute that in truth, every example in here is prefaced by an invisible "This Troper thinks that...". Any remotely decent poll compares mightily fine to that.

I believe you can have something that's not a shining beacon of research methodology but still has a point. The supposed sources of bias (Fans of one faction are more likely to answer polls? To go online? To flock to this specific website?) are purely theoretical and we have no reason to suspect they are true, as far as I can see. Again, that's not good enough in general, but I think it's good enough for here.

Why? Well, IMO when listing an example for a subjective trope we should take all the justification we can get (and this is about as good as it's going to get; nobody is going to conduct a rigorous investigation of nigh anything mentioned in this website, ever). Decent justification is what staves off the inevitable "lol i beg to differ" justifying edit and/or blanking with "lol i beg to differ" edit summary and/or natter and/or obligatory YMMV stamp that waters down discussion until nothing is an example of everything, and you end up having to do an Example Sectionectomy like in the Shipping article. But again, I see your point and I'm fine with things as they are as long as we don't find ourselves slipping down that aforementioned slippery slope.