Crack pairings

[darkunlimited.livejournal.com]

What are your guys' stance on uncommon/crack pairings in FE8?

Personally, I don't mind who gets paired up with whom as long as the situation that leads up to it is in any way plausible; this includes AUs, so to me, any of them are possible, really... I just like the idea of seeing characters become closer to each other through some unexpected circumstance that you wouldn't usually see in the Fire Emblem games--that's the stuff of fiction.

But what do you think? Do you like the idea of crack pairings, or does the idea of trying to romantically pair up characters who have had next to no interaction just not appeal to you? Feel free to defend your OTPs and such, too; I just want to shift the conversation towards the characters' personal relationships, and what people think about them.

Comments

[nagasasu.livejournal.com]

I love crack pairings, I feel like in general that's what I tend to ship. Although Fire Emblem is the weird exception where I kinda like canon.

And AUs, I have an open love of them.

Mmmm, Knoll/Tana is the only FE8 ship that's actually doesn't have a support. (raphiael has me yearning for romance writer!Knoll and fangirl!Tana) Marisa/Natasha too, although they actually gets support.

[raphiael]

oh right I needed to write that.
Before or after genderbent Ephraim?

[nagasasu.livejournal.com]

:o You are going to write it? I was thinking of doing it myself...

AFTER GENDERBENT EPHRAIM FIC DAMMIT.

[raphiael]

You should do it XD I mean, there is never enough cracky AU, right? Not to mention I should really focus on my other WIPs.

OKAY OKAY OKAY
;__; you are a cruel mistress

[nagasasu.livejournal.com]

...I have my own WIPs to finish too. ;_;

KUKUKU MY EYES CAN BE SO CRUEL, JUST AS I CAN BE SO CRUEL. ERRR, I MEAN, I APPROVE!

[raphiael]

I mostly work with pairings just to see how characters would react to each other, so to me, crack or canon doesn't matter. I'm a not-so-secret fan of L'Arachel/Lyon, for example - just because I find the idea really interesting, even outside of humor fics. I'll read just about anyone with anyone if it seems like it could make a good story, and if it sings to me enough, I'll write it.

I guess the only thing that would bother me is if people bashed on other pairs to justify their crack - like, I dunno, if Colm was painted as an unabashed jerk so that Neimi could flee into Dozla's loving arms, or if someone went off about how terrible Franz/Amelia was and then extolled the obviously perfect love of Amelia and Marisa in comparison. But that is basically my stance on canon pairings, too.

[darkunlimited.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is, I think getting other pairings out of the way is kind of crucial to certain characters--say, Eirika--who already have a choice of canon beaus. Really, one of my favorite parts of the whole "crack pairing" idea is that, since it's so unexpected, it can become the source of a lot of confusion and conflict. (I don't seem to see a lot of fics about characters cheating on each other, for instance, even though it happens all the time IRL. Who says Eirika can't have Saleh on the side while she's married to Innes?)

[raphiael]

Getting them out of the way is one thing - though the lovely thing about later FEs is with only a few exceptions, no one definitely ends up with anyone else. What I'm talking about is more writing the available options into OOC villainish roles to make the crack look appealing, if that makes any sense? Always frosts me, even if I like the pairing being favored.

[darkunlimited.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, I understood that. I just don't know why people do that; it doesn't make the pairing any more appealing, and it really just makes their writing look bad. ._.

[raphiael]

Yeah, I don't get it myself. My feeling is, if you think something's worthwhile, it should stand on its own and not need all other options knocked down in order to work.
Alas.

[crimsonmorgan.livejournal.com]

Ah, I love crack pairings. In contrast to the canon pairings you have to think much more about how they meet, what they have in common, how they could fall in love and it just needs more creativity.

Theoretically I'd probably have to call Fado/Hayden a crack pairing, but they somehow managed to enter the "canon possibilities" area of my head XD

[darkunlimited.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY. Crack pairings require more work, but they do offer the writer tons more flexibility to portray the characters how they want to. Culture shock in particular can be the source of a lot of interesting relationships... People with similar backgrounds don't have quite as much to offer one another.

I think most FE pairings are actually in the realm of canon possibility, so long as they survive and stick around long enough to form relationships.

[norree.livejournal.com]

As far as Fire Emblem goes, I like crack pairings. I think this series in general is easier to justify a crack pairing, because so many people are traveling together, they have to all talk to eachother at least once.

So, for FE, as long as it can be justified in the fanfic or fanart etc, (I don't mean justified with what we know as canon, but if they can make up something that could happen) go for it! :'D I love almost all couples in fe8~

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I personally find Magvel, out of all the games in the franchise, to be my favorite playing ground for uncommon/crack pairings. Whether it's characters with supports who don't have paired endings (L'Arachel/Rennac, Ephraim/Kyle, Innes/Gerik) or things that just ain't going to happen in the canon timeline (Glen/Eirika, Ephraim/Selena), or mashing up the "canon possible" pairings together into polyamory of some kind (Tethys/Gerik/Marisa), it can be a lot of fun.

That said, I'm not so much a pairing-centric writer as a plotbunny writer and I don't really read and write for the pairings. Doing odd things with pairings in the course of the story is just part of the "what if?" fun. So, generally speaking PWP doesn't do much for me, and I prefer to have a crack pairing explained in a plausible manner. I mean, if Glen survives Valter's attack, joins Eirika's army, and they get together after the war? Neato. Glen and Eirika making out in the Lagdou Ruins for no reason? Kinda creepy, actually.

[darkunlimited.livejournal.com]

I think the comparatively small cast helps Magvel, too; no one region appears to be isolated from another, so the characters have a lot of chances to interact with each other.

Yeah, I pretty much require a plausible explanation if I'm going to jump on a crack pairing bandwagon. But I am all for things like SyrenexDuessel if you can somehow prove that it works.