Interpreting Jugdral Popularity Data, Part III

[mark_asphodel]

So. Jugdral pairings.

Actually I wasn't looking at pairings, I was looking at who tagged their pairings, either via A X B or an AB mushed-up name, which is kind of the J!fandom FE equivalent of the cutesy names you see in, IDK, Golden Sun or Pokemon or Harry Potter fandoms.

The thing is, it quickly became clear most fen on Pixiv don't do that (though it seems to be a LOT more common with individual shrines/blogs/archives). For instance, the monstrously popular matchup of Ulster/Julia has all of three tagged entries on Pixiv.

Overall, it seems to be more of an identifying tag within a subgroup, if that makes any sense? A "here be yaoi" kind of thing for, say, "Ced X Arthur" (4 entries) or a way of communicating who you're sticking with some highly popular female character (Tinny, Ayra, Raquesis).

TL;DR-- only a small percentage of shippers for any given Jugdral pairing seem to do the name-combination thing or any kind of pairing tag, and the shippers that use it more often are IMO kind of promoting a "brand identity" that may be a hangover of old, contentious shipping wars.  Then again, the Seliph/Julia shippers, who know they're being naughty, don't tag.

Also... some names maybe don't sound good together? Some tags are definitely catchier than others.  But overall it's not so much a metric of what pairings are popular as which shippers are in-your-face about it, I think. 

Finn/Raquie: 51 (see above comments on shipwars and brand identity)
Seliph/Lana: 45
Ced/Tinny: 36
Cuan/Ethlyn: 34
Leif/Nanna: 26
Sigurd/Diadora: 25
Tiltyu/Azel: 22
Lewyn/Fury: 17 (includes "Lewyn X Fury" data)
Eldigan/Raquie: 15
Arthur/Fee: 12
Beo/Raquie: 9
Lex/Ayra: 9
Ulster/Lana: 7
Ares/Nanna: 7
Holyn/Ayra: 7
Finn/Ayra: 6
Lester/Patty: 6
Shanan/Patty: 5
Midayle/Aideen: 5
Ulster/Larcei: 4 (Not in a romantic sense, but the tag exists)
Johan/Larcei: 4
Shanan/Larcei: 4
Arthur/Ced: 4
Ced/Leen: 4
Ulster/Julia: 3 (Do not be fooled. This is very popular.)
Noish/Ayra: 3
Aideen/Jamka: 2
Noish/Tiltyu: 1 (Plus two more untagged pieces, no really)

The other thing I learned is that everyone gets shipped with Tinny. Everyone.  Still, I couldn't seem to find an ArthurTinny tag that equates to the UlsterLarcei one, though, despite that being a highly popular subject.

Also, Lex/Tiltyu seems really, really UNpopular in J!fandom, at least as Pixiv goes.  I looked through the whole Tiltyu tag and I don't think I saw anything that struck me as bonafide Lex/Tiltyu-- just a couple of OT3s with Azel.  

Comments

[the_geek]

I guess Seliph/Julia is more of a western fandom thing?

[mark_asphodel]

Oh no. It is definitely shipped... But it is not tagged with a cutesy ship tag on pixiv.

[rjwalker]

I think what we can gather from all this data is that Japan loves their moe characters.

Wait, that's not new knowledge at all.

[samuraiter]

I'd hit the "like" button on this comment if DW had one.

[mark_asphodel]

Actually, I think it *would* be news to a certain percentage of Western fandom-- the part that just can't get their head around the fact that Sigurd is NOT the most beloved Lord in Japan, that Roy is actually beloved, that Lyn is not a shoo-in for SSB4, and that Micaiah is more popular than Ike.

[the_geek]

Micaiah is more popular than Ike.

Wat? I've seen Micaiah art, but I haven't seen that much.

[amielleon]

Ike has 1258 hits and Micaiah has 329, so even allowing for the popularity of Ike/Soren and SSBB, I agree that this comment could use some elaboration....

[mark_asphodel]

I thought I remembered FE10-era Nintendo poll data (far more recent and hence more likely to be currently valid than SNES/GBA-era polls) that indicated Micaiah was the runaway favorite.

If that wasn't the case, or if the poll in no way reflect the current feelings of J!fandom, I retract any statements regarding Micaiah.

[amielleon]

There appears to be a WonderEgg poll that says that:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/932999-fire-emblem-radiant-dawn/43691670
... But the page is no longer there. And I'm not sure how official that was, or what kind of audience it had.

Normally I'd be like "well, Micaiah's beloved there and Ike's beloved on pixiv!" but a thousand is a... lot.

[jsnd]

Insert joke about Mary Sue and Steroid Sue Here

Or Steroid Leif depending on your preference

Isn't the most popular Lord actually Marth? IIRC the most popular game for the Japanese is, in fact FE3(not FE4 like many US fans seems to think but W/e)

[jsnd]

uhh, IIRC I don't think Lex x Tiltyu is all that popular either in US


Outside of the obvious reasoning for main game, which IIRC gets overshdowed by Lex - Ayra but eh >_>

[mark_asphodel]

I've at least seen fanworks for Lex/Tiltyu in Western fandom. Not many, but the number is greater than zero.

I agree mostly it's preferred by the gamer portion of fandom who like Ambush/Wrath and Arthur the Tank.

[samuraiter]

Tinny: *long-suffering sigh*
Lyn: "I'd sympathize with you more if you didn't look like jailbait."

[mark_asphodel]

She is jailbait! The designers' notes place her at about 13 years old to Arthur's 16.

[amielleon]

I was going to ask if you tried BA in addition to AB, but looking at these numbers I agree that any way you cut it, it's got to be a subculture thing.

"I ship them, but I'm not one of those shippers..."

[mark_asphodel]

I don't believe I've ever come across an example with the woman's name placed first-- at least not in FE-land.

ETA: Yaoi fans seem to go for A X B, though. I found a bunch of Ced X Faval fanfiction after the fact.

"I ship them, but I'm not one of those shippers..."

Or "Yeah, we are those kind of shippers, baby! :P"