Have you ever looked at your all your OTPs from all your fandoms, and tried to figure out what they have in common? Do you have a type, when it comes to OTPs? Do you see a couple interact for five seconds and immediately think, oh yeah I’m gonna ship them hard? Or does it take a while for a couple to grow on you? Are your OTPs wildly different from each other, and you have to scratch your head and wonder, how can I ship them, but also them? WTH?
Shipping is weird.
Sometimes it takes a while because obviously the more we see of characters, the more we know about them – sometimes it even takes a rewatch and the perspective of later knowledge.
Other times it’s like a lightening bolt and immediate.
So how I get there can be varied but in terms of the ships … thinking how to phrase this um, everyone is different right, so why people like ships/characters are different. However, I reckon that if anyone looked deep down at their ships/favourite characters, there would be common factors.
For me my favourite characters are either scientists or just really smart – intelligence is obviously something I like. All my OTP’s are clever people.
With some of my OTP’s there are obvious power dynamics, and others not so much, but ALL OF THEM are equals in the relationship. I only ship mutual respect, that is absolutely key and unfortunately not something I see a lot. I’ve seen dozens of shows and I only have a handful of OTP’s.
I guess what I’m trying to say is traits like intelligence or mutual respect are more like concepts and therefore apply to all the many and varied different situations. Those are just two examples of course, and they are specific to me, but I reckon that if people looked they might find some equally broad criteria which all of their OTP’s fit into. I could be wrong obviously but I do think that there is a trigger for us, for why we like what we like, and we might not realise what that trigger is but it’s always there.
