'Nother Tumblr Meme

[mark_asphodel]

Stolen from damoselcastel on tumblr and a bunch of other people besides.

Send me a 'ship and I will tell you:

• When or if I started shipping it.
• My thoughts:
• What makes me happy about them:
• What makes me sad about them:
• Things done in art/fic that annoys me:
• Things I look for in art/fic:
• Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not…

[The art/fic part is the draw of this one, as I don't think I've seen that asked before.]

Comments

[rjwalker]

How about Seth x Eirika which would be my OTP.

[mark_asphodel]

Ah. Seth/Eirika.

• When or if I started shipping it: I started shipping is despite not much liking either of them because they're the main pairing for English FE8 fanfiction and some good writers sold me on it. Then the more I read and played and thought about it, I just didn't like it and stopped shipping it in 2010, I think.

• My thoughts: I like Seth. Out of the younger Jeigan types he has a characterization niche that appeals to me-- fundamentally rational and competent, with a sense of being his own man in a way that I don't see in Finn (eternal servant), Titania (eternal second-in-command) or Frederick (lol). I like Eirika despite the plot's handling of her and the way she's been enshrined as Eirika the Gullible by IS itself. I do not like them together. I find Seth's coddling of Eirika detrimental to them both and I don't find their A-support romantic in the least. It frankly turns me off.

• What makes me happy about them: Well, a princess could definitely do worse than someone like Seth.

• What makes me sad about them: Seth's dynamic with Eirika just seems to hold her back.

• Things done in art/fic that annoys me: Most fanfiction about them glorifies the precise things I don't like in their relationship. Often Eirika is made into this somewhat pathetic character constantly in need of Seth's support, and Seth gets glorified at her expense. And Ephraim's expense. And Innes's expense. And even Lyon's expense. When a Seth/Eirika 'fic makes me feel sorry for Lyon...

There are some pairings in FE that seem to have taken on a fandom life of their own, rooted in other fanfics rather than what's in the game, and IMO S/E is one of them.

• Things I look for in art/fic: Not being any of the above. I don't hate this pairing. I've written it. I can read it. I really don't like what fandom tends to do with it.

• Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not… Seth/Natasha is a pairing I've always liked and the insistence of some Seth/Eirika shippers that it's OOC just seems in keeping with the bad-faith nature of a lot of S/E stuff. As for Eirika, I like her best with Saleh but I'm happy to see her with Innes (to whom she asserts herself until he accepts it in their supports) and Forde.

[rjwalker]

Yeah, I do hate the demonizing of other pairings that often occurs in S/E fanfics. Well, at least it's not as bad as the Pokemon Shipping fandom.

[mark_asphodel]

Very true!

Honestly, my own OTP is one of the legendarily worst ones for shipping trolls in Japanese fandom.