FanPreferredCouple Cleanup

Here is another one, were the In-Universe usage is worrying me:

• Happens In-Universe in the South of Nowhere story Romance on the Set. Spencer was originally cast as the main character Mandy's love interest, but fans of the show preferred Mandy with the Perky Goth Rachel instead.

I don't know if we should list In-Universe examples.

I say cut.

I agree.

I actually don't see any reason not to list in-universe examples, unless there's another trope that already covers them.

I agree.

Maybe Everyone Can See It can cover it, altought I am not sure if that trope only applies to official couples.

Edited by ASghhrv6ub on Jun 25th 2021 at 6:47:39 AM

I mean if everyone else is okay with it fine. I can't really think of an argument of why nit to do it.

Edited by Bullman on Jun 25th 2021 at 8:48:05 AM

Yeah, I think In-Universe examples like that are allowed for YMMV items. As long as it fits with the trope, which is that the fans In-Universe prefer a different couple to the canon couple, which seems to be the case.

While we are all here. Anymore opinions on the Star Trek examples?

Okay, so I don't know much about Star Trek, but I did some research on popularity and which ones were official and here are my results based on that:

• Kirk/Spock: It seems like in the original series, there were only Girls Of The Week, right? So I'm leaning cut.
• Doctor/Seven Of Nine: Your assessment seems to be correct, and the entry seems lowkey complainy, anyways, so I say rewrite it.
• Garak/Bashir: Is it okay if he's technically only married in the expanded universe and not within the same show? If so, then yeah, keep.
• O'Brien/Bashir: Ao 3 seems to list the canon couple as O'Brien's most popular ship. Is it more popular elsewhere?
• Odo/Kira: From what I can tell, it does seem to be eventually creator preferred. However, it doesn't sound like they had any canon couples before that getting in the way and Ao 3 also shows that they have more popular ships in Odo/Quark and Jadzia/Kira, respectively.
• Trip/T'Pol: Yeah, they're canon and even then, Trip seems to have a more popular ship with Reed.

Edited by Oshawott337 on Jun 25th 2021 at 11:00:54 AM

Even in the case of Kirk/Spock I feel like Girl of the Week or not, that pairing was definitely not intended or necessarily desired by any of the production staff on that show, yet managed to become astoundingly popular in spite of it all. It's definitely something on the scale of unintentionally enormous pairings.

Yeah. Like I have said before. Kirk/Spock invented shipping, but if it doesn't our rules should we give it special treatment because of that.

I don't know should we count books.

O'Brien/Bashir I don't know. Maybe we should cut.

I can rewrite the others. Make them about Janeway/Chakotay, Odo/Quark, Jadzia/Kira, and Trip/Reed.

Hmm, I guess since it's definitely a huge historical example, maybe it can be argued as an exception in this case.

Also, on second thought, since Garak/Bashir does seem to be his biggest pairing in the franchise period, I'd say it counts. And it does seem like he gets with someone else at the very end of the show (not sure if it's the same girl?), so there actually is a creator preferred pairing within the show, anyways. Just be sure to mention in the entry what the creator preferred pairing is.

Edited by Oshawott337 on Jun 25th 2021 at 11:35:37 AM

In aggregate, even if the girls of the week weren't necessarily meant to be lasting, you can decipher from the context that they were certainly more creator-preferred than Kirk/Spock at least.

Fair enough. I guess I wasn't really thinking about how a Girl of the Week is generally a definitively canon Love Interest even if for an incredibly short time, which would definitely put them above a completely non-canon one.

Regarding the example I brought up, it is somewhat vague, making it a zero-context example. Can we expand it? I have no idea, but if we can't, it must go.

Yeah even if we allow In-Universe examples. That entry still needs to be expanded.

From Western Animation:

• Over the seasons, Marge's relationship with Homer has gone through so many ups and downs that many fans have taken to alternate pairings instead. Marge/Maude is one of the more popular ones. The two seldom interact one-on-one and Maude was eventually Killed Off for Real, so their relationship is played as a tragic short-lived romance between two lonely housewives.

I am going to be honest. This has to go. Homer/Marge is way more popular. The only ship more popular is Burns/Smithers.

Edited by Bullman on Jun 30th 2021 at 1:22:36 PM

It sounds like it is trying to mock those that ship it.

Yeah I'm inclined to agree that it doesn't fit.

Yeah, Homer/Marge is still the most popular ship involving Marge. Even amount alternate ships, Maude/Marge isn't extremely popular. I'd say Marge/Ned is more popular.

That example from The Simpsons looks like a cut.

Talking about examples from The Simpsons, what was the consensus about Nedna?

I think it wasn't clear if Ned or Edna had an official love interest. I remember Ned having a relationship with a Christian country singer for at least two episodes, but I don't know if that's considered official.

Yeah it was unclear if Ned or Edna had a creator preferred one at the time.

Edited by Bullman on Jun 30th 2021 at 3:45:49 AM