OTP poll

[xparrot]

I've seen OTP ("One True Pairing") used a bunch of different ways around fandom, sometimes leading to confusion and misinterpretation. I'm curious what the general trends for its use are.

(For this poll, please answer the way you personally use OTP, not the way(s) you may have seen it used by other fans.)

[Poll #1356482]
Thank you for feeding my statistics lust - and of course, please comment if you've got anything interesting (or, heck, boring XP) to add. Y'all know how much I love the talky-talky!

Comments

[pantswarrior]

In regards to when I use the term, I mostly agree with the 'a pairing I do not want broken up, but want to stay "together, forever"' answer, but I also had to choose 'my favorite pairing in a fandom, but I may have other pairings I like, including those which may break up my OTP" because neither of them is quite correct. Mostly the "OTP" designation is for a pairing that my headcanon says will be together in the end, which may or may not be my favorite pairing in the fandom, but even though my favorite pairing with either of those two characters is each other, I might also enjoy reading/writing them in other pairings.

But then, I'm also one who mostly uses it facetiously, because I don't write for the sake of a ship alone, and believe anything can be broken in fic if you have a good enough explanation for it.

[naye]

Actually, you guys are probably better judges of how I use "OTP" than I am. *g* I do tend to use it more around you than I do when I'm having fan conversations elsewhere - I mostly don't identify as an OTP'er. There are exceptions, of course, but right at this moment the only "OTP" I can think of are animanga. (Hakkai/Gojyo and Ban/Ginji.) I'm sure there are others - well, if it still counts as an OTP when you can't even remember that they exist. *g* And in most cases I still read/like stuff that explores other pairings.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I should've put "OTP means the reason you write fic" as an option, because that might be true for some people. As for checking contradictory answers, that's why I put that question as checks, because sometimes one will use OTP different depending on circumstances (I know I do; sometimes it means my favorite pairings, other times it's the pairings I don't want to see broken up, but aren't my favorite. Like, Gambit/Rogue is my ultimate X-men OTP, but I also count Scott/Jean as an OTP because I get sad when they get split up...or when one of them happens to randomly kill the other and it's not even mentioned again OMGWTFBBQ....)

I'm maybe kinda weird in that I don't write only my OTPs - but my OTPs are what provoke me into ficcing, generally. (I'm also weird because a lot of my OTPs are romance-optional; I have plenty of gen friendship/family OTPs. I call them OTPs because I relate to them in the same way a hardcore OTPer does; I'll get mopey about stories where their friendship is over...) So I started reading and writing GetBackers fic because I loved Ban & Ginji - but then I wrote fics with Ban & Shido or Ginji & Akabane. Go figure...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

IMO you do have OTPs, just not many of them - but then my opinion is weird anyway in that I have gen OTPs. So back in Sentinel, I wasn't slashing them, but I wouldn't have wanted Jim or Blair to move out or stop being partners. But then, you know I'm more sensitive about these things! (I'd try to change that - but then I wouldn't fic at all. And that would be sad XP)

[ariadne83]

I use OTP for my preferred slash pairings, but I think that's because I found my het-ships before I knew the term OTP, and it feels odd to apply it retroactively when I'm not fannish about those pairings anymore.

[ariadne83]

I'm maybe kinda weird in that I don't write only my OTP

I think I must be weird too. I considered myself McShep OTP all the way, but when I looked through the list of plotbunnies I came up with in 2008, a little less than half of them were McShep slash. There was other slash (Woolsey/Caldwell FTW), femslash, het, gen. I've come to the conclusion that for me it's more about the characters individually. If I don't think it's healthy for my OTP to be together I can't write it.

[naye]

Yeah... See, my view of it is, I guess, influenced by canon, too? In TS, I never even occurred to me that Jim and Blair would could out or stop being partners, because if they did, it just wouldn't be The Sentinel anymore! Kind of like with Ban and Ginji, or - hey, Starsky and Hutch. They're integral to their story, and to each other, and of course they belong together, but I don't really reflect over it much beyond that? I squee, though. And flail! And maybe that's what it's really all about, no matter what you call it? I have characters that, when they are together, make me happy. ♥

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I have characters that, when they are together, make me happy.

That's pretty much exactly what OTP means to me! It's just that, being as inclined to fic reading and writing and meta as I am, I tend to think about it more...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

I apply OTP retroactively, but that's because the first time I heard the term, I went, "So THAT'S what it's called!" I'd always bonded to particular relationships; even though I didn't have the fannish lexicon, the concept was always part of how I fan.

[pantswarrior]

For me "OTP" is reserved for pairings I find romantic, but I like the characters so much that I'll take them interacting any old way - or if one character is paired up with someone else, but is still interacting with or having fond memories of the other half of the OTP, I'll take it. Granted, that might come from being in a fandom where no one liked my "OTP" and preferred another pairing, but generally they'd give a nod to my OTP having happened in the past, and I always appreciated that. ...Actually I've had two fandoms like that, including one where I do ship the pairing that came later.

Regarding your comments on X-Men, it occurs to me that I don't ever refer to canon ships as OTP. I mean, they're canon. To me it goes without saying that they're a "true pairing", because I'm a giant canon snob. ;) So Scott and Jean are a big duh for me (though I always liked the little hints that there was still some UST from Logan, I like things messy), while Gambit/Rogue... well, I've been out of the fandom long enough now that I don't know whether they made it past all the UST, so last I knew, they were OTP material. But then again, it's been long enough that Scott and Jean could have gotten a divorce or something for all I know. (I think I drifted away around Age of Apocalypse... which now that I'm thinking about it could have annulled the fact they got married. Hmm. Good old Marvel timelines.)

[lifevolutionary.livejournal.com]

I'm a silly and need to correct one of my answers: for fic writing habits I meant to tick the second box not the first ^.^' sorry!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

No harm done! If you go here:
http://www.livejournal.com/poll/?id=1356482&mode=enter
you should be able to change your responses.

[busaikko]

The meaning of OTP that I first heard was 'one true pairing', and I totally misinterpreted that to mean 'a pairing that is true in the sense that it is believable', not 'OMG nothing must disturb their love'. My head is not bothered at all by having multiple OTPs featuring the same characters (John/Rodney, John/Todd, Rodney/Katie, Rodney/Keller...). Each has facets that I enjoy seeing and/or playing with, and in the world of each discrete story so long as the pairing is believable, I'm happy... even if the characters are damaged or killed or the relationship fails.

[lifevolutionary.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I didn't know about that function *makes a note*

[lysambre.livejournal.com]

As far as I'm concerned "One True Pairing" can only be used for, well, ONE pairing, otherwise it just cease to be one true pairing, and becomes One Of Many Pairings.

In 15 years of fandom, in quite a few different ones, the only pairing I've ever called OTP is John/Rodney in SGA. Not that I didn't love the other pairings at the time, some I still read from time to time, but this pairing is the one that has touched me the most, thus making it my one and only OTP.

[pineapplechild.livejournal.com]

I'm generally using OTP for a romantic pairing (the first time I saw it in used in gen floored me, because it has a very shippy connotation for me) that is the default pairing for those charaters in my headspace. So, while I will read OTP breaking fic, you have to sell me on it. Also, my tastes sometimes change. The only really dramatic shift for me was in HP, when I first started, I was otp-ing the heck out of Sirus/Remus, and wouldn't read otp breaking fic at all. Then somewhere somewhen, someone slipped me a Severus/Remus fic, and I was hooked. I still like Snupin that has past Sirus/Remus, or unrequited crush Sirus/Remus, and when I read the third book, I still go "so...gay...!" sometimes, but. Snupin. Nom nom nom.

[lysambre.livejournal.com]

Just a little add on :

I've always thought that OTP was derived from One True Love, which to me means, once again, that it is something unique, and that could explain my way of understanding the definition of it :).

[airairo.livejournal.com]

This is really interesting! It's cool how fandom terms change and grow over time. It's our language, so it only makes sense! I think "...,a pairing I do not want broken up, but want to stay "together, forever" is closest to what I'd consider an OTP. I have lots of OTP's, but usually they don't break each other up (with some exceptions... I do have two OTPs that totally overlap with each other... and these work out in my head because I can separate them on a timeline XD) Mostly I think of OTP as "my preferred pairing for that particular character".

[iko.livejournal.com]

I use the term OTP usually in jest as I am a fairly equal-opportunity multi-shipper, so when I say something like "Doctor/TARDIS OTP" it's not meant to be taken seriously. I do have my moods and have preference at any given moment, but in the entire scheme of things, in the fandoms I participate in the most, I don't have OTPs.

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

I feel I should add that I've used the term OTP perhaps three, four times during the entirety of my fannish experience, so answering this was a bit tricky.

[calime]

The meaning of OTP that I first heard was 'one true pairing', and I totally misinterpreted that to mean 'a pairing that is true in the sense that it is believable'
Yes. This. Seconded.

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's "one" as much as "true," and had very little to do with believability; it's all about emotional appeal. I think it's like a kink - one of those things that certain people are programmed for, and others aren't. The first time I heard OTP I was like, "oh, is that what you call it?" Because I'd always had those special relationships; they're just part of how I fan. But fans who don't get such attachments have a hard time getting the concept. And in the reverse, I have trouble understanding how fanning works for people who don't get OTPs!

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

From my understanding, and Fanlore agrees, one's single favorite pairing was the original meaning of OTP.

I have a hunch the phrase's meaning extended due to fandom butterflies like myself - I can pick a favorite pairing in an individual fandom, but I cannot possibly pick a favorite across all fandoms. But within a fandom, I often get a special attachment to One pairing, and that's my OTP...

[xparrot.livejournal.com]

Relatively few fans use OTP for gen pairings (only 17% of respondents so far!) - I use it because I'm a gen fan and I've had multiple fandoms that I only read gen, but still have a particular relationship that I adore and can't bear to have broken (move apart, stop being friends, etc...)

[nikojen.livejournal.com]

I'm a gen person by default, and tend not to be inclined to ship. I mostly use "OTP" to refer to any pairing that *does* bring out my inner shipper-fangirl in all her squeeing glory, and *occasionally* for canon pairings that I may not be rabid about, but which are important enough to how I view canon that any fanfic that ignores/disses/breaks that pairing feels excessively OOC.