Sandbox / Unequal Pairing Wick Check

Concern? The trope page examples of Unequal Pairing are varyingly either Canon ships with a power imbalance and Fanon ships with a power imbalance, which, for the uninitiated in the fandoms, can be hard to tell apart, and for a non-YMMV trope the fanon examples may not be welcome. Wick Check is mostly looking for the canon/fanon differences.

Another concern is that Unequal Pairing may be better used as a supertrope; more relevant tropes will be mentioned if the Unequal Pairing wick could be replaced by something more specific.

What the wick check has found: Not as many fanon examples as the main page would make one think, but there's a lot of people using this trope when more descriptive subtropes are more applicable.

Suggestion: Turn Unequal Pairing into an index, move canon examples to relevant subtropes, yard "Unequal Pairing Shipping" for fanon-specific ships, as well as "Relationship Power Dynamics Woes" (or something of that nature) for examples where the characters themselves worry about their relationship dynamics. I may also take Uptown Girl to TRS at some point to see if "Morganatic Romance" (specifically the romance between a commoner and a royal) is distinct enough to be its own subtrope from the main Uptown Girl (which would be redefined to be more about wealth disparities specifically).

Wicks Checked: 44/50

About the canon work, but would also work as wicks for Age Gap Romance, Old Man Marrying a Child, Paedo Hunt, or other older/younger tropes (2/50)

1. A Taste of the Lash: In Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Del amor y otros demonios, Father Cayetano Delaura flogs himself while in an Heroic BSoD state spoiler: after he realises that Sierva Maria is getting to him. His superior finds him half-dressed, exhausted, and almost delusional after all the self-torture. Age-Gap Romance, possibly Old Man Marrying a Child.
2. Characters.New Gods Apokolips (Knockout): With Superboy, a young inexperienced clone who was sort of a teenager but less than three years old in actuality whom she was trying to manipulate and control while she was unquestionably an adult.

About the canon work, subtrope: Sleeping With The Boss (2/50)

1. Audience-Alienating Premise: While The Mister, E. L. James' follow-up to her smash hit Fifty Shades of Grey series, sold well enough, it dropped off The New York Times Bestseller List much faster than the Fifty Shades series and got even worse critical reviews. Part of this may be to do with the fact the heroine is an undocumented immigrant from Albania who is revealed to be a victim of attempted forced marriage and sex trafficking, which are very serious topics, only in this case they're used more as an excuse to put her in the hero's path; not helping is that the hero himself is her vastly more rich and powerful employer. The trivial way such subjects were dealt with and the extreme power imbalance between the Official Couple understandably made many readers uncomfortable.
2. Signal and Noise: Kristi and Alex. Their relationship would definitely be considered a conflict of interest, were it not for the screwed up nature of Pangent as a company. Not that Alex would care anyway. This page is pretty poorly explained, this is literally the only place Kristi and Alex are mentioned by name, but assuming the "X" mentioned elsewhere is Alex, it might be Sleeping with the Boss.

About the canon work, subtrope: Teacher/Student Romance (or other mentor-mentee romances) (2/50)

1. I'm Gonna Be an Angel!: Raphael and Mikael are teacher and student respectively, spoiler: although at the end of the series Mikael kinda ended being promoted to a teacher himself — but he still uses a highly respectful "-sama" when talking to Raphael. Might be Mentor Ship, possibly Teacher/Student Romance, depending on the nature of their teacher/student dynamic.
2. Characters.Degrassi The Next Generation Season 16 Graduates (Tristan Milligan): Teacher/Student Romance: Tristan is instantly smitten with his new drama teacher Mr. Yates, and fortunately/unfortunately for him, the feelings are requited. The show finally goes there when Tristan and Mr. Grant hook up at his apartment.

About the canon work, subtrope: Uptown Girl or "Morganatic Romance" (8/50)

1. Characters.A Song Of Ice And Fire House Greyjoy (Asha Greyjoy): With Qarl the Maid, who is the grandson of a thrall. Her narration makes it clear that she genuinely loves him and would be happy to marry him, but at that time she's still trying to be crowned queen and his low social status would completely kill that effort.
2. Characters.I Claudius Empresses (Caesonia): Caligula is already the reigning Emperor when they get married. She's the daughter of a complete nobody who somehow won Caligula's heart. Another royal/commoner example.
3. Castle (One Piece): Niji, a prince of a powerful nation, is in love with Cosette, the head chef turned Lady-In-Waiting.
4. The Dangers in My Heart: Downplayed. While both are in middle school, Yamada has a modeling/acting career and makes basically ten times Ichikawa's allowance. While she has no power over him and wouldn’t exercise any in the first place, their social differences cause Ichikawa feelings of inferiority. Her later affirmed love for her job leads to him feeling a sense of distance from her and admits fearing that she’ll eventually forget about him as they grow up. When he arrives at Yamada’s modeling job with a pastry gift for her, he sees the extravagant food they have on set (including the same treats he picked out) and runs off until Yamada finds him. She then confesses that she felt insecurity about her job and thought about quitting; Ichikawa asking if she loved doing it in the first place made her keep trying and invite him to watch her in the first place. Uptown Girl.
5. Robin Hood S 03 E 12 Something Worth Fighting For Part One: Villain Has a Point: Isabella needles Kate right before the Designated Girl Fight, telling her: "You [and Robin] don't belong together. An ill-raised peasant? Hardly a worthy companion for a man of noble birth." It's meant to be a jealous, classist comment, but Robin/Kate are clearly an Unequal Pairing that is already on the rocks. Assuming Robin was a titled noble at some point before leaving to become Robin Hood, this would be Morganatic Romance.
6. The Big Bang Theory S 10 E 8 The Brain Bowl Incubation: Raj, a successful astrophysicist, falls in love with Issabella, the night cleaning lady at the university. Sounds like Uptown Girl.
7. Cranford: William Buxton promptly disabuses Peggy of this notion regarding their relationship. Can't get a handle on William or Peggy's social standing, the way the rest of the page is phrased it seems like they're both from wealthy families, but I'm leaving it as Uptown Girl regardless.
8. Kingdom Days: Rose and pretty much anyone other than Joesph, since she's a Princess and they're commoners, or her servant.

About the canon work, subtrope: Inappropriately Close Comrades (4/50)

1. Aliens: You Are in Command Now: This also applies to Ripley, thanks to Hicks' low-key command style. The Marines defer to Ripley because of her greater experience with the aliens and her more forceful personality compared to the inept Lt. Gorman. Hicks plays along because her orders make sense, quietly providing his own expertise and authority when needed. It's likely not a coincidence that Ripley's (civilian) rank was raised from Warrant Officer to Lieutenant First Class for this movie — more than one reviewer assumes that Hicks regards Ripley as his superior officer. Even the failure to resolve their UST plays into this. Inappropriately Close Comrades.'
2. The Autobiography of James T. Kirk: The reason why Kirk refuses to act on his feelings for Janice, it leads to an awful relationship when one person has that much power over another. Inappropriately Close Comrades.
3. The Machineries of Empire Sexual Extortion: It's mentioned that sexual relationships between Kel, especially Kel of different rank, are strictly forbidden, because the formation instinct means the junior Kel has no choice but to obey a superior, making it impossible for the sex to be truly consensual. Despite draconian punishments, and attempts to reduce the problem with libido-suppressing drugs and plenty of porn, it still happens quite frequently.
4. The Orion Conspiracy: Devlin finds out early on that Captain LaPaz and Lowe (who is on a lower rank than LaPaz) are married. This becomes a plot point later on when spoiler:Devlin finds out that LaPaz is eight weeks pregnant and has to use this information to blackmail her into giving him the keys to his son Danny's cupboard.

About the canon work, fits in other subtropes (11/50)

1. Authoritative in Public, Docile in Private: In The Wheel of Time, Nynaeve and Lan marry in a culture where the higher-ranking member of an Unequal Pairing is expected to take an obedient role in private for balance's sake. Nynaeve's only word on being "outranked" on her wedding night is "glorious". Not terribly familiar with Wheel of Time, Unequal Pairing might still fit here, unless this is a Muggle–Mage Romance.
2. Stock Shoujo Heroine: Chise Hatori from The Ancient Magus' Bride hits all the tropes despite being from a shonen series (though it's often mistaken for shoujo). However, she's played as a darker example than most. She has strong willpower, is ceaselessly kind, has immense magical potential, has a love interest who's older than her, etc. Unfortunately, Chise's "gift" — which seems to run In the Blood — has caused her family to fall apart horrifically and Chise to be tormented by spirits her whole life, to the point that she ultimately sold herself into slavery because she could not deal with the endless misery. Her beloved, Elias Ainsworth—who bought her, by the way—is not a man at all but an ancient fae entity with an alien perspective on humanity who initially sees her more as a scientific curiosity than anything else, and when he does develop feelings for her, they are alien and dangerous. Yet Chise clings to him like a lifebuoy because he's the first person in a long time to have treated her with anything even vaguely resembling kindness, even if it's (initially) a mask. The main premise of the story is Chise gradually forming new friendships and developing some independence from Elias, while Elias himself starts growing past his fairy Immortal Immaturity and learning that love is not a one-way street. Property of Love.
3. BetterCallSaul.Tropes O To Z: Played for Laughs in "Dedicado A Max" when Kim and Jimmy get turned on by him roleplaying Kim and Kim roleplaying Kevin. He has no interest in her fucking her boss, and she has no interest in her boss, it's just a fun roleplay that ends in Kim topping Jimmy in the shower. This is Power Dynamics Kink since it's only about what they find kinky, not their actual relationships.
4. Characters.Fate Grand Order Other Characters (Boggart): Unequal Pairing: What his marriages with human women usually come down to, as humans are seen as slaves at best by the majority of faeries, and even invoked by himself since if every faerie he ever married ended up hating his guts and betraying him, he figured that at least said slaves would never betray him. This is Claimed by the Supernatural.
5. Solitude: L worries its unethical to get involved with his suspect. Not that it stops him. Cop/Suspect, if that exists as a trope.
6. they'll name a city after us: All god/mortal pairings are by design. But it especially applies to the case of Apollo and Percy since he has kidnapped her and trapped her in Delos, which is practically an extension of his will. Divine Date generally, A Match Made in Stockholm for Apollo/Percy.
7. Captive Prince: Several couples count. Laurent/Damen and Torveld/Erasmus are Property of Love, Berenger/Ancel is Elite Man–Courtesan Romance.
   • Initially, Laurent and Damen (a prince and his Sex Slave). They become an equal pairing once Laurent spoiler:frees Damen and Damen spoiler:regains his position as the prince of Akielos. By the end of the story, they're both spoiler:kings intent on spoiler:ruling their countries together.
   • Prince Torveld of Patras and his Sex Slave Erasmus are the Beta Couple of the first book. (By default, any of the Sex Slaves and their masters would be an Unequal Pairing.)
   • The aristocrat Berenger and his escort Ancel are a spoiler:real couple by the end of the short story "Pet," even though this means Berenger is still paying for Ancel's livelihood/services. Berenger does lampshade it a bit by saying that he can't expect Ancel to stay with him if he loses his fortune. Ancel insists he'll stay with him as long as he can, and realizes that this is the first relationship he's ever been in that was spoiler:genuine, and not solely for money.
8. The Comfortable Courtesan: Causes some problems when Hector falls in love with Euphemia, as he's convinced that because of his managerial position over her it would be abusive. Either Sleeping with the Boss or Elite Man Courtesan Romance.
9. Who Is The Prey: He Yan is a professor, and Fu Shenxing a famous CEO who forces her to be with him. From what I can gather, this is just a case of kidnapping/sexual assault, and isn't really a romance of any kind.
10. King Of The Hill S 8 E 22 Talking Shop: April says that peer counselors are not allowed to date their clients since they're vulnerable. Naturally, it backfires on Bobby when he ends up breaking that rule. Therapist/Patient is Florence Nightingale Effect, right?
11. Kamigami no Asobi: Since Cassandra was a human, Apollon gave her some of his power to make their relationship equal. In his main route in the game Anubis seeks a way to make Yui immortal in order to be with her in equal lifespans. Divine Date.

About the canon work, doesn't fit any existing subtropes/unsure (6/50)

1. HoYay.Ace Attorney: Simon Blackquill had a very Gumshoe/Edgeworth-esque vibe with Detective Bobby Fulbright, only with more Unequal Pairing involved due to Simon being an inmate and Bobby his handler. '''There isn't a trope for Prisoner/Prison Staff, and Sleeping with the Boss isn't really applicable, so Unequal Pairing would probably still work here.
2. Chatting at the Amber Teahouse: Averted. Even though Seriho is Sarasa's boss, they work more as a team than as a boss and subordinate. The age difference doesn't matter much, either, given that Seriho so often seems younger than Sarasa. Because this example talks more about the actual implications and dynamics of their relationship, so I wouldn't say that Sleeping with the Boss is as accurate in this case.
3. Gunslinger Girl: Age issues aside, these girls are brainwashed to unconditionally love and obey their handler and are kept isolated from boys their own age, making any relationship morally ambiguous. It's noticeable that those relationships in canon with a romantic touch (Petra/Sandro and possibly Triela/Hilshire) try to emphasize that the cyborg concerned is more free-thinking than her co-workers. Questionable Consent might be better, but so might Wife Husbandry so the OG Unequal Pairing might be best.
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer S2E19 "I Only Have Eyes for You": Grace is a teacher having an affair with an underage student. Angelus is a centuries-old vampire who had an affair with sixteen-year old Buffy. The analogy becomes even more apparent in "Becoming, Part One", when we're shown that Angel was given the responsibility for protecting the Slayer. Like Grace, he betrayed that responsibility for his own selfish needs. This is fair for UP because it uses it to compare two different kinds of unequal relationships.
5. StarWarsTheOldRepublic.Tropes A To G: In the Sith Warrior story, Vette's sister is a Sex Slave (whom the Warrior has the opportunity to buy free), and it's not possible for male Warriors to romance Vette herself unless the Warrior removes her shock collar to free her. In contrast, the romances for female Smugglers and Warriors have issues: the Smuggler's first opportunity to sleep with her Love Interest Corso Riggs is when he propositions her while drunk, and the female Warrior's romance with Malavai Quinn consists basically of her declaring him her Chosen Conception Partner and him going along with it out of a combination of discipline to superior orders and fear of her power (though funnily enough, he also tries to betray you, and you have the option of choking him within an inch of his life, and then continuing the romance anyway). Completely defied by the female Inquisitor's Love Interest Andronikos Revel, however: if she starts flirting with him, he makes a point of going to her and setting clear ground rules about his freedom to walk away. If she agrees, they start a Friends with Benefits relationship that becomes more serious. Unclear - it might be Inappropriately Close Comrades, it might be Sleeping with the Boss.
6. The Labyrinth of Grisaia:
   • JB is crushing pretty hard on Yuuji, though she’s both his boss and something of a mother figure to him despite certain events between them in the past. This would be Sleeping with the Boss if this was canon, but since it's just a crush I'm not sure if it's anything since it's not an actual relationship.
   • Turns out Asako and Yuuji also had a thing going, apparently even including mutual love. This is a ZCE.

About fanon pairings/fanon interpretations/pairings (4/50)

1. Ignored Enamored Underling: This is one of the common interpretations of Pearl and Rose Quartz's relationship in Steven Universe, with most of their canon portrayal being based around the Lady and Knight dynamic. The other common interpretation is that Rose was in a casual, open relationship with Pearl until Greg came around, with Pearl being an Insecure Love Interest to her 'liege'. (The Alternative Character Interpretation of this interpretation is that Rose actually played along with Pearl's inferiority complex.) A canon pair, but refers to fanon interpretations.
2. PortmanteauCoupleName.Western Animation Miraculous Ladybug: There is also the massively controversial Sin Square comprising of Gabriel Agreste and Marinette. Gabriel/Marinette = Gabrinette, Gabriel/Ladybug = Gabribug, Hawk Moth/Ladybug = Ladyhawk, and Hawk Moth/Marinette = Marimoth. Age Gap Romance would be an acceptable substitute. Also includes complaining about shippers.
3. ShipMates.Anime And Manga: The former is particularly noticeable in the manga fandom, where many fans seem to expect shippers to enjoy the complete set of Ed/Winry, Roy/Riza, Ling/Lan Fan, and Al/Mei. Of course, if you're not into that version of things, you can't just like Roy/Ed and be done with it; you also have to have Havoc take Hawkeye off Roy's hands and Alphonse remove Winry from the picture. Not an FMA superfan, but I think this would be Age-Gap Romance as well.
4. Ukefication.Western Animation (About The Dragon Prince): Going in the opposite direction, some others make Rayla the distressed damsel who sits around and worries while Callum gets to do all the cool stuff. Are some people allergic to equal pairings and Battle Couples? More snark.

ZCE's (4/50)

1. Characters.Trapped In A Dating Sim The World Of Otome Games Is Tough For Mobs Main Cast (Leon Fou Bartfort): Celibate Hero: While Leon is an enthusiastic admirer of the female form, the second-class status of aristocratic husbands has left him reluctant to start anything romantic. Various personal issues (e.g., preferences, power dynamics, and social standing) further complicate the matter. The closest he usually gets with his love interests is Holding Hands. He doesn't get his First Kiss until Volume 7. A ZCE on what the power dynamics actually are. Also, I hate the titles of light novels.
2. Havemercy: One of Royston's major problems in engaging in a relationship with Hal. Royston loses the battle. I believe the actual trope is Uptown Girl, but this is a ZCE.
3. Kings:
   • Michelle and David.
   • Also, Tomasina and the palace guard. Not even commented out.
4. Mimpi Metropolitan: Shipper on Deck: As each others' best friends, Alan and Prima support Bambang/Melani; Bambang and Prima support Alan/Pipin; and Bambang and Alan (jokingly) support Prima/Mami Bibir. I'm guessing "Mami" Bibir means she's much older than him, so it might be Age-Gap Romance, but this is still a ZCE.

Not an Unequal Pairing (2/50)

1. Poltergay: Marc is a construction worker, Emma is an archaeologist. This is not an Unequal Pairing, this is just two people in unrelated fields in a relationship. Also, I just had to type the word "Poltergay".
2. TheNostalgiaCritic.Tropes H To N: A Match Made in Stockholm: Benny/Critic is a friendship version, the latter having helped kidnap the former. While still an Unequal Pairing - Malcolm saying Benny would stalk Critic if he could and helping Hyper when she pays him - Critic likes the guy (while still hating Hyper) enough to recommend him to the Devil as an assassin. Not a romance.