#this is just me being bitter about social media engagement dw about it

[nymika-arts]

the real reason why tumblr is my favourite social media is people actually interact with the things I create here lmao. I post on any other app and most of the time even people I know don't stop long enough to drop a like on it

[sol1056]

S7 data cronch pt2: get the hot dogs, the fandom’s on fire

Before I jump into the more tangled datasets, there’s something interesting I want to call out, and that’s the vlogs. 

In September of last year, DW released vlogs for Coran, Keith, and Allura. A month later, we got vlogs for Lance, Pidge, and Hunk. Shiro’s vlog finally arrived on June, this year. That final vlog now shows a July date, but when it was first discovered, its posting date was 6/28. (I have no idea why it was changed. Ask @ptw30.) 

In the first part, I mentioned audience engagement. The vlogs are a good object lesson. If we take the number of views divided by the number of days since posting, we get an idea of the daily ‘value’ of each vlog. 

Shiro clocks in at 6877 views per day, while the next closest, Keith, has 4796 per day. Hey, so maybe that’s just everyone excited after waiting almost a year. 

So, how about this graph?

Shiro has 4,293 comments. The next closest are Allura and Hunk, with 692 and 976, respectively. All told, Shiro got 1.5 times as many comments as all the rest of the characters together. Now that is audience engagement. 

Alright, now that you’ve got a bit of data on which character clearly gets the fandom engaged and talking, let’s see what else we can learn about S7. 

Hop to, behind the cut. 

so about that twitter debacle

There’s no way to fully illustrate just how incomprehensibly bonkers twitter was for awhile. I know there’s a toxic side to the fandom that weaponizes twitter, but... in general, the VLD fandom isn’t noisy, compared to other fandoms. Daily counts range from 30-100 tweets. That makes it harder to tell when things go dead quiet, but it sure makes it easy to tell when things explode. 

So let’s go back to the Sunday after S7 landed. For this season, I included sentiment analysis. At first I searched on #voltron, then I realized one of the trackers lets me go by keywords, so I did a comparative search on ‘voltron’. Hashtag use seemed to be for being seen by others, while keyword seemed to be more for conversation, reassurance, and reflection.  

That’s... pretty strong, for both. And I honestly had never seen a twitter stream get a sentiment analysis as negative as the one on the right. After working my way through 11,889 tweets (from Aug 10th to the 25th), I can tell you one thing for certain.

Everyone was angry about something. 

One group, predictably, was angry at being denied their long-awaited affirmation. A second was furious at the queerbaiting; that group overlapped with a third enraged at the Bury Your Gays trope. A fourth dismissed the BYG trope yet were angry at the lack of explicit relationship beyond a single break-up scene; that caused a few flare-ups between the 3rd and 4th groups for the latter treating Shiro as queer purely on his facebook status. A fifth group (oddly, calmer voices, for the most part) was upset at VLD’s treatment of Shiro in general, from his isolation to his tokenization. 

On the other end of the spectrum, the majority of positives loved the season but were angry that others didn’t or wouldn’t. A much smaller percentage took their own shots: insisting children don’t need LGBT+ rep, calling LGBT+ fans entitled, telling DW not to pander, or complaining DW/Netflix had mixed politics and entertainment. (There’s an answer to the last one, but that’s for another post.)

I believe the technical term for Aug 10th-25th would be clusterfuck. 

going deeper for context

Getting a clearer picture than the donut chart meant considering the context. In other words, for every seemingly-neutral tweet, I’d open the feed, and majority of the time I found threads voicing bitter disappointment, frustration, and hurt. These deeper threads almost never tagged anyone, and they tended to be more nuanced, compared to upper-level mentions loaded with easily-classed negative or positive keywords.

Here’s a snapshot of the twitter stream on August 10th, which includes metrics for those deeper contextual threads.

There’s just no way to spin that much of a backlash. By the end of the first day of release, the signs were already there that --- at least as far as the majority of the internet-based fandom was concerned --- S7 was an unmitigated disaster.  

it’s just twitter, no one’s paying attention

That sounds like something a Boomer-aged exec might say. They’d also be wrong (not to mention ignorant).  

Note: I used two different analysis apps. Both were rather blunt-force, rating “S7 wasn’t half bad” or “brutal but what I wanted” as negative, while "go to hell, I loved VLD but not anymore" was rated positive. One of the two apps let me re-evaluate, but it only allowed for negative-neutral-positive. (Lesson learned: set up a twitter scrape ahead of time, so I can run it all against a good AI.) 

For this part, I used the second tracker and manually evaluated the values for ‘voltron’ mentions. Unfortunately, I had to rely on the tracker’s value for most non-English tweets. I designated ‘positive’ for explicitly pro-S7, and ‘negative’ explicitly con-S7. For any mentions that were ambiguous, incoherent, or personally-directed, I defaulted to neutral. My goal was to measure who was or wasn’t happy with the season itself, and not attacks on or support for the staff, DW, Netflix, or other people in the fandom. 

With that madness done, here’s the entirety of August.   

On the day of release, a total of 1853 mentions created a social media reach of 1.46 million. My next question was: is this low-influencer unhappiness vs high-influencer happiness, vice versa, or something else? This next chart is the data filtered down to influencers with a score of 7 or above (based on followers, retweets, and replies). 

That’s 78 negative mentions, 16 positive, and the remainder neutral. All told, 194 mentions had a social media reach of 1.36 million. That’s a lot considering the voltron keyword usually has a social media reach of 50K, tops.

This was a groundswell reaction. The reach was driven by big voices, but the bulk were individuals unhappy for any of a variety of reasons. Any apology --- after four days of fever pitch --- was going to have an uphill fight to calm the crowd, no matter how gracefully it was written.

On the 14th -- when news outlets began reacting to JDS’ apology -- we got a second spike. 1573 mentions with a social media reach of 1.3 million; the new megaphones in the stream were news outlets promoting articles. (Also, most of their tweets are strongly click-bait in tone, compared to the actual article titles.) 

If you googled ‘voltron legendary defender’ on the 14th, you got these results: 

Voltron Showrunner Apologizes to Fans Following Outrage over Gay Character’s Storyline [Syfy Wire]

Voltron Showrunner Pens Open Apology Letter [The Mary Sue]

Voltron Showrunner Apologizes for Series' Handling of Gay Relationship {CBR}

Voltron's Complicated, Imperfect LGBQT Representation Is Tearing the Fandom Apart [In-Depth-Gizmodo]

Joaquim Dos Santos Shares Letter About Voltron Queer Representation [The Geekiary]

The ‘Voltron’ Showrunner Apologized For Making a Mess of the Show’s Gay Representation [Hornet]

Of course, Josh Keaton got sent out to calm the anger, too. 

'Voltron' Star Josh Keaton On Season 7, Shiro's Sexuality, and How a Leader Grieves [Comicbook.com]

Shiro Voice Actor Responds to 'Voltron' Season 7 Controversy [Inverse]

Exclusive: Josh Keaton talks 'Voltron' season 7, Shiro's new arc, love and loss [Hypable]

You had to scroll past all that before you could get to anything remotely like a positive news item (and nowhere near the usual post-release deluge of compliments to the creators). 

On Aug 15th, more articles: 

Voltron: Legendary Defender’s Showrunner Offers a Genuine Apology to the Fandom [Gizmodo]

Voltron's Complicated, Imperfect LGBQT Representation Is Tearing The Fandom Apart [Kotaku Australia] (reprint)

Either these were latecomers, or DW was pulling out all the stops to hit every possible venue. Didn’t matter; the furor wasn’t dying down. Josh wasn’t sent out again, either. DW may’ve realized that ship had sailed (so to speak). 

On Aug 16th, these articles appeared: 

Voltron creator addresses fans over season 7's queerbaiting controversy [Polygon]

How “Voltron: Legendary Defender” Queerbaited Its Fans [NewNowNext]

Voltron showrunner apologises to fans after backlash over treatment of gay character [DigitalSpy]

Voltron: Legendary Defender showrunner apologises to fans after killing off gay character [PinkNews]

Why 'Voltron' fans are furious after season 7 [The Daily Dot]

Voltron Showrunner Apologizes for Season 7's Treatment of Gay Couple [ScreenRant]

'Voltron' Shiro: Stop Preemptively Outing Gay Characters To Generate Buzz [Inverse]

And it kept going through Aug 17, 2018.

Voltron: Legendary Defender Showrunner Joaquim Dos Santos Apologizes For Alleged Queer-bating Of Fans Over Handling Of Shiro’s Sexual Orientation [Inside Pulse]

Who's Sorry This Week? Lindsay Lohan, Sarah Huckabee Sanders and other public apologies [Mic]

Meanwhile, as of the 18th, the predictive algorithm for #voltron (the actual hashtag) was estimating +6% for the upcoming week, and +6% for the month. Not even half what S6 had in its first week after broadcast, but remember, the majority of S7′s traffic wasn’t happening on the hashtag. It was happening in mentions. 

You might think from the above that things quieted by the 19th. You’d be wrong. It’s still going on. Keep in mind these pie charts are cumulative by month. On the left are the totals through the morning of Aug 22; on the right, the totals through the afternoon of Aug 25.

Midday on the 22nd, we had another spike, one large enough to offset that these are monthly totals, not daily. (The most likely culprit is the DW marketing gif that showed the scene where Adam dies, thus kicking the hornet’s nest all over again.)

As we entered the third week, the predictive algorithm for #voltron dropped to -1% for the month, and -5% for the week; for #vld, it’s -2% for the month and -6% for the week. 

In fact, almost every related hashtag is predicted to drop in popularity and use over the next week or beyond. That includes: 

voltronlegendarydefender, -2%

keithkogane, -8%

keith, -3%

shiro, -9%

lance, -6%

lancemcclain, -1%

takashishirogane, -20%

allura, -5%

princessallura, -10%

hunkgarrett, -6%

lotor, -4%

katieholt, -5%

Even ship names: 

klance, -2%

shadam, -8%

adashi, -3%

plance, -2%

pidgance, -5%

sheith, -2%

lotura, -10%

kallura, -1%

The exceptions? allurance (4%) and pidge (1%). 

It took a bombshell EP interview to knock S6 off its upward rise. This time around, the fall looks more like people tiring of the fight and checking out.

one more part coming

Thanks to the additional manipulations I did on twitter this season, this section took more words (and I cut it down from walking you through every agonizing step, no need to thank me for sparing you). I’ve also added a new dataset, and that pushed the total word count beyond even my long limit.

I’ve broken the last part out, where i’ll cover the long-term impact and possible fallout of S7.  

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

Oh yes I would love to hear explanations of why your otps are your otps!!

Really? Wow, okay, I don’t think you know what you’ve let yourself in for here haha. 

I’ll try and keep the explanations as short as possible, but there are times when I may get slightly carried away so forgive me haha. 

So as a reminder my OTP’s are Stefan/Elena (TVD), Eleven/Amy (DW), Jon/Ygritte (GOT), Buffy/Angel (BTVS), Michael/Jane (JTV), Monica/Chandler (Friends), Michael/Sara (Prison Break) and Dexter/Debra (Dexter). 

Emma/Regina (OUAT), Cook/Effy (Skins), Bonnie/Damon (TVD), Francis/Mary (Reign) and Jon/Sansa (GOT) are smaller OTP’s, but I’ll include them on the list. 

Stefan/ElenaStelena are the first ship I hardcore shipped when I actually knew what shipping was and for that reason they’ll always be special to me. I feel like I’ve spoken about why I love them so much in the past so I’m just gonna give a very brief answer and then link you to some previous asks and meta’s where I’ve talked about my love for them. In short, I love Stefan and Elena because of Nina and Paul’s chemistry which makes the relationship between them feel so realistic and organic, because of the people they became when they were together and the impact they had on each other’s lives, the inspiration they provided each other with to never give up, to always keep on fighting and live in the moment, the fact that they were genuine soul mates that connected from the first moment they met and remained connected even after Stefan’s death, that their love never stopped existing (to quote Klaus, “that kind of love never dies”) and that together they could’ve had the best possible future than they could’ve with anyone else (assuming they were both human). 

If you want to know more about why Stelena are my OTP you can also check out these posts (x) (x) (x) (x)Eleven/AmyWhere do I even start with these two dorks? With Eleven and Amy, they just captured me right from the very beginning. I adored their dynamic and the way Matt and Karen bounced off each other so perfectly. Just like Stefan and Elena, there’s the idea of soul mates (or in Doctor Who terms “the first face this face saw”) with Eleven and Amy that I’m really just a sucker for. It’s like they were always meant to find each other and be together. They both needed each other at the exact time that they met (again another Stelena theme) and something about that is so beautiful to me. I also think that Eleven freed Amy from a life of misery and the status quo that she was desperate to escape (a lot like Rose did in the early seasons) and gave her a better, more enriched and incredible life. Again, the idea of two people significantly impacting upon one another’s lives in a positive way is a concept I’m drawn to. 

I also love that they’re truly best friends - they trust each other, have fun together, confide in each other - but beyond that there’s this much more deeper and profound love. To me, Eleven and Amy’s love is that kind of love that’s not really quantifiable; you can’t put a label on it or really describe it because it’s so complex. It’s not “oh they’re best friends” or “oh they’re in love”, it’s a combination of the two and there’s still more layers to it than that, but there’s absolutely no denying their love and how powerful it is. 

I already wrote a pretty in-depth meta on Eleven and Amy that really does sum up the reasons I love them which you can read here. 

Jon/YgritteThis is a ship I never anticipated I’d fall in love with. Just like any of my other ships, the first aspect that I love about Jon and Ygritte is Kit and Rose’s chemistry (which is clearly amazing since they’re now engaged to each other haha). 

GOT as a show is generally pretty dark and depressing, but Ygritte brought light and joy into the show for me and I just loved her interactions with Jon. Jon as a character is pretty introverted, shy, broody and let’s face it sometimes socially awkward, but with Ygritte he came to life. Even though they met as enemies and Ygritte was his prisoner, there was an element of playfulness in their relationship from the start. Ygritte really challenged Jon, changed his perception of the world, opened his eyes to the prejudices towards Wildlings that his people and himself had, showed him the realities of their world and for that reason Jon became a more enriched and wise soul. And for Ygritte, Jon was someone different too, someone that changed her perceptions. They were quite literally from two different worlds, but that’s why they had such a huge impact on each other. Ygritte was a lot more headstrong and determined to maintain her morals, principles and opinions, but even she became more open and understanding. She said it herself, “You didn’t stop being a crow the moment you walked into Mance Rayders tent”. She knew he wasn’t a “true” Wildling and still technically “a crow” but she chose to overlook that and place her trust in Jon as the man she loved. 

In reality it’s a relationship that never would’ve worked in the world in which they lived, because they were too different. But at the same time, they had this profound connection and understanding. And I loved that through all their differences the two things they had in common were that they were warriors - they were willing to fight til their dying breath for what they believed in - and more importantly, they loved each other. Unlike what I said about Eleven and Amy and how complicated and complex their love/relationship was, Jon and Ygritte’s was utterly uncomplicated. They were in love and that was it. And it’s a love that was a beam of light amongst the darkness. It wasn’t a perfect relationship by any means, but there were those moments of peace, tranquility, intimacy and laughter that they shared that are rarely found in the GOT universe. 

Buffy/Angel

I already answered why Bangel are my OTP in a previous ask and I really can’t add anymore than what I’ve already said. (x)

Michael/JaneMy heart’s not even ready to talk about these two. I’m still healing from Michael’s death. Michael and Jane really represent to me everything that a healthy and positive relationship should be. Two people that were best friends, had fun together, bounced off one another, had a complete understanding and acceptance of each other’s identities, had a mutual respect and consideration for one another, worked as a team to sustain and improve their relationship and build a life together for themselves, Mateo and any future children they had and let’s not forget, they were genuinely in love. 

I wasn’t sold on them from the get go, but as the seasons progressed their relationship proved to absolutely be the right thing for both Jane and Michael. They were just so compatible and so in sync. When they got married and moved in together, it was honestly the most enjoyable time for me to watch JTV. I’ve always loved the show, but that was the point where I actually got excited to watch episodes and I remember just a few episodes before Michael died I thought to myself, “Wow, I never expected JTV would get this good after Jane married Michael.” And the reason that always sticks in my head is because the writers decided to completely ruin that by killing Michael (yes, I’m still bitter, can you tell? haha) immediately afterwards. 

Generally, I find Jane and Michael’s relationship to be so fun and uplifting to watch. They were actually funny together and there’s so many times where I’d just be grinning like an idiot at the TV during their scenes. I love that they kinda broke that stereotype that when you’re in a long-term relationship you stop having fun or things become boring, because with them it never did. And even when they felt like they were at risk of that they made sure they kept things fun by singing karaoke and impulsively buying a cat haha. I also loved that they destroyed the trope of the boyfriend the female protagonist has at the beginning is the underdog and completely irrelevant. Too often in movies or TV the writers start off with a female character having a boyfriend but invest no time in that boyfriend and completely dismiss the relationship as being insignificant when the new handsome mysterious guy comes along to sweep her off her feet. I loved that the writers actually acknowledged that actually, Jane was with Michael for a reason and even though she was attracted to Rafael and fell in love with him, she was much more compatible with Michael and in the end chose him over the new handsome guy. 

Something I loved about their relationship when they got back together is that they really worked to resolve their issues in a mature and healthy way. I remember watching 3x09 and it really reaffirming for me what I loved so much about their relationship. Michael was stressed about trying to get into law school, which was making Jane feel unsettled and stressed and when she tried to confront Michael he lost his shit because he couldn’t deal with taking on her stress when he was already stressed about sitting his exams. And for a majority of the episode it was basically this cycle of them both being anxious and stressed but not communicating that effectively or dealing with it as a couple so it came out in frustration. But by the end of the episode they fully confide in each other about their worst fears and they say this: 

I was wrong to push you away. And I know we have to figure out how to deal with stress better as a couple. We just… have to find a way to relax that reminds us that even in the worst-case scenario… we still have each other, right?

And this right here is the perfect example of a mature, healthy marriage and a big part of why I love Jane and Michael so much. Particularly, since TV shows and any fictional couples in any media are generally not written in this way. We rarely see them face real-life problems that they then work together to overcome. But that’s exactly what a relationship should be - supportive, loving, accepting. It’s about knowing that no matter how hard or tough things get, it’s always easier because you have someone right by your side that’s there to tackle it with you. That kind of love is the best kind because it empowers the people involved and makes them stronger. 

Monica/ChandlerDo I really even need to explain why Monica and Chandler are my OTP? I don’t think there’s anyone in the history of the world that’s watched Friends and not loved (or at least admired) their relationship. Just like Michael and Jane, Monica and Chandler’s relationship is the ideal I strive towards and everything I think a relationship should be (except Monica and Chandler have an edge over Michael and Jane since Chandler didn’t die months after they were married). Everything I could say about them is exactly what I’ve already said about Jane and Michael, because for me the two relationships are very similar. Best friends that had total respect and understanding, that were completely in tune and understanding of who they were fundamentally as people, that were accepting of each other’s flaws (Monica of his social awkwardness, sarcastic jokes and commitment issues and Chandler of her “high maintenance” ways) and that worked together as equals to build a life together that would make them both happy. I genuinely can’t find a single critique of this relationship.

Michael/SaraWith Michael and Sara, I just love the subtly of them. Unlike most of these other shows, Prison Break never threw relationships in your face. Michael and Sara’s love was always there and you knew it was, but it wasn’t over-dramatised or given lots of cheesy dialogues because it wasn’t needed to solidify them as an amazing love story. 

What intrigued me about these two in the beginning was mostly that it was essentially a forbidden love and I think everyone has one of those ships. He was an inmate and she was a doctor. The only rule of Sara’s job was to never fall in love with an inmate. A rule that was utterly broken when Michael came along haha. I loved those first scenes with Michael and Sara in the infirmary because it was so simple but effective in showing the building bond between them. Michael was an inmate that wasn’t truly a criminal. He was the odd one out in prison, he wasn’t like the others and seeing Sara was the only bit of normalcy he really got. He really cherished those moments. And I think for Sara, she was kind of unfulfilled in her life and searching for a connection without even realising it and she found it in Michael. She saw something in him that she just couldn’t let go of. He intrigued her, excited her and she knew she had to figure him out. But I think Michael saw the same in her. He saw that there was something in her that was sad or broken and he wanted to know why, but he also just saw in her a beautiful soul. I think part of why I love Michael and Sara so much as a couple is because I love them so much as individual characters. Both of them are characters that at first seem pretty simple and obvious, but there’s a lot of depth to them. I still remember how shocked I was when it was revealed that Sara was a recovering addict. It put an entirely different slant on her character and made me understand her motivations, actions and behaviours in a completely different way. Of course, a large part of the reason Michael and Sara are my OTP is that they never stopped fighting for each other. I talk about Stefan and Elena never giving up on each other but in comparison to Michael and Sara, Stefan and Elena are pitiful. The circumstances upon which Michael and Sara met and the situation they were in for basically the entirety of their relationship meant they never really had the chance to develop a “normal” relationship. Their lives were in constant chaos and they were always in danger. Yet through all of that, they never, ever gave up on each other or their love and the amount of sacrifices they made to keep each other safe is unbelievable. I mean, Michael faked his own freakin’ death, assumed the identity of a terrorist, cut himself off from everyone he loved for 7 years and went from prison to prison, ending up in an awful prison in a war torn country. Just the circumstances of their relationship, what they sacrificed for each other and the fact that they overcame it all is amazing and that alone makes them OTP worthy in my books. 

Dexter/DebraThese two are probably amongst the most unpopular or unknown of my OTP’s, but people don’t know what they’re missing out on with these two. Generally most of my OTP’s are what constitute as “healthy” or “good” relationships, but Dexter and Debra are anything but. I’d say they’re probably one of my darkest OTP’s (along with Cook and Effy), but that’s what I love about them. Just like Eleven and Amy, Dexter and Debra are so damn complicated, but that’s what makes them so fascinating to me. Dexter is introduced from the off as a psychopath that is incapable of human emotions including love, yet it’s established within the first few opening lines of the show that if he could have feelings for anyone he would have them for Deb. From the pilot and that line, Dexter’s feelings for Deb developed so much and we saw that Deb really was the one person he was capable of developing feelings for. At the end of season 1 when Dexter discovered that Rudy/Brian was his brother it seemed so obvious that Dexter would choose his brother, his own flesh and blood, someone that was just like him, over his foster sister. But he didn’t. Even in season 1 when Dexter was supposed to be at his coldest, he couldn’t let Deb die and actually killed his own brother to protect her. Immediately, this is something that drew me to the Dexter and Debra ship, because the appeal of a man that is incapable of love or emotion having love for this one woman is undeniable. 

Because Dexter and Debra are foster brother and sister there is a slight element of that forbidden love and when Debra came to the realisation that she was in love with Dexter it was pretty much presented as being sick and wrong. For some reason, I never saw it that way. The fact that they were raised as brother and sister and were in each other’s lives from such a young age is part of the whole reason why Debra fell in love with him. I think in terms of both of their characters, them being in love made total sense and this is why they’re my OTP. They were both twisted and traumatised people. Deb even said it herself, “You’re a serial killer and I’m more fucked up than you are.” They were both unhealthy and bad people, so it made sense for them to develop a slightly twisted and confused relationship with each other where the boundaries of sister/brother became kinda distorted. It made sense from Deb’s POV regarding the fact that, like she explained, all of her relationships with men had been so unstable except with Dexter. And it made sense from Dexter’s POV as someone who was incapable of love but always loved Debra. They both had such traumatic and unstable lives that it was only natural they’d form a co-dependency and I think any psychologist you speak to could explain why they’d love each other from a psychological stand point, because it did make complete sense. 

Dex and Deb were also soul mates. Again, an underlying theme with most of my OTP’s but they really were. There was this whole idea tied to them that one couldn’t exist without the other and that they were the other half of each other. And I think that was just proven by the finale when Deb died and Dexter basically became a recluse and ceased to exist by all accounts. They even admitted themselves that they were the one constant in each other’s lives and without that constant Dexter couldn’t go on. 

I think the overall reason Dexter and Deb are my OTP is not only because the messiness of them is interesting to me, but because despite that messiness they were just two people that at their core loved each other deeply and couldn’t live without each other. 

Also, if you’ve watched Dexter or plan to in the future and ship Dexter and Debra, please check out this fanfiction. It’s honestly the best story I’ve ever read and perfectly captures the complexity of their relationship and why I love them so much. 

Emma/Regina

With Emma and Regina I’ve already explained in-depth why I love them in previous asks, which you can read it here and here. 

Cook/Effy

I love Cook and Effy and think they’re so underrated as a couple (though admittedly the Skins fandom has gone quiet over the last couple of years). Like Dexter and Debra, the appeal with Cook and Effy is rooted a lot in the messiness of them. I like that they’re not a traditional or simple relationship like Monica and Chandler. I like that they’re different and unique. 

With Cook and Effy, I think there’s an association there I just can’t break. “We are Cook and Effy. The fucking world knows us.” I mean, that quote from Cook really sums it up doesn’t it? There’s just something about the two of them that makes them connected forever in my mind. I think that a lot of it is to do with the fact that they’re just so damn similar as characters. They were both reckless, passionate, crazy people that thrived on living each day and doing whatever the fuck they wanted. Deep down their reasoning for doing that was the same - because they were unhappy and lonely and trying to bury it with shallow pursuits of “fun”. A lot of their actions are directly the same and there are so many parallels to their similarities. It’s like they were such intensely emotional and sensitive people that the only way they knew how to handle that was to ignore it and pretend not to care about anything. It’s strange because the writers always seemed to portray it as being that Effy loved Freddie more than Cook because Freddie was different from her, more “good” and she needed someone like that to balance out the “bad” in her. I do understand the concept, but how boring is that? Her and Cook was such a more interesting dynamic and I really think that if they’d been written properly they could’ve had an amazing love story whereby they actually helped to heal each other and that as they grew and matured they could’ve been really happy together. I think that Effy was able to reach Cook in a profound way that no one else could and she could’ve helped reign him in and I think that Cook’s more care-free and fun attitude would’ve helped Effy’s depression to some extent (unlike Freddie who actually exacerbated it, even though he did try his best to help). 

I just think for all their flaws and the messed up elements of their relationship, they were a true powerhouse of a couple that had so much potential, were so great to watch on-screen and I just connected with them when I was a young teenager, which is a connection that doesn’t seem to be able to be broken. (x)

Bonnie/Damon

Bonnie and Damon are the third ship on this list that I consider being a dark ship that I’m drawn to. But I’ve already spoke in-depth about my love for Bonnie and Damon in the past which you can read in the following posts, (x) (x) (x) (x)

Francis/Mary

It honestly still surprises me that one of my OTP’s is from a show as terrible as Reign. In my opinion, Francis and Mary’s relationship was the only good thing about the show and seeing their endgame is the only reason I watched the finale after not watching it for over a season. 

What I love about Francis and Mary is that they’re a couple that were politically “set up” but they actually genuinely fell in love and built a happy relationship. Putting the whole drama with Conde aside (which was honestly just a gross and pointless plot device that I will never forgive the writers for), their relationship was loving, supportive and encouraging. Francis respected and admired Mary as a woman and a queen. He didn’t try to assert dominance or power over her as the man (something which would’ve been considered the norm in that time period) and he supported all of her political efforts and endeavors. 

There’s also a huge association with light with Francis and Mary. Yet another theme I seem to be drawn to (although I didn’t realise it until now haha). There are numerous times where they refer to each other as being their light and much like Jon and Ygritte, it’s this sense of the world they lived in was harsh and tough but in finding love with each other there was a beam of light that shone in their lives. Which I think is a very beautiful thing. 

Francis and Mary are also simply the love of each other’s lives. From the beginning there’s an inevitability of them. You know they’re the one for each other, you can just see it. It’s why even when they broke up and Mary “fell in love with” Conde, I had no doubts that she’d find her way back to Francis. It’s also why even decades after his death and having been in other relationships, Mary’s ultimate happiness and heaven was with Francis. He was the love of her life, her light and the finale really just solidified that fact. 

Jon/Sansa

This is the first time I think I’ve ever got the chance to talk about Jon and Sansa and explicitly admit that I ship them. It’s not a ship that came to me immediately and I think I’m gonna find it hard to explain why I ship them, but I’ll try my best. 

Putting aside the obvious reason of Kit and Sophie’s amazing chemistry, I think Jon and Sansa have come to be one of my favourite ships because they kind of incorporate elements of some of my other OTP’s. 

There are similarities to Debra and Dexter regarding the brother/sister relationship that isn’t technically/biologically a brother/sister relationship and how I feel the romantic feelings both couples feel for each other actually kinda stems from their relationships as children when they were brother and sister. Just like with Debra and Dexter, Jon and Sansa being in love makes total sense from a physiological perspective. Allow me to explain. Because Jon and Sansa were so different as children they grew up estranged and didn’t develop a “normal” sibling relationship, then they separated and both went through so much trauma and thought their entire family was dead so when they finally reunited they formed this entirely new bond. It was instantly an intense bond because they were so elated that they’d found a family member when they thought it an impossibility but also because they were a connection/reminder of their other family members. But because they didn’t have an established platonic/sibling relationship as children they were kinda creating an entirely new relationship that hadn’t really existed. And because they’re both older now, have gone through changes from children to adults, their bodies/appearances have changed so they’re more attractive and they both have sexual attractions/feelings. Add on top of this that Sansa has had extremely unhealthy and abusive relationships with most of the men in her life and Jon is the only man she has been able to truly trust and that they both had literally just been through the most horrific traumas before reuniting (Sansa was being abused/raped by Ramsay and Jon was murdered) and you’ve got this incredibly complex, confused but interesting relationship. And I’m kind of a sucker for those kind of complicated relationships that aren’t black and white. 

A big part of what also kinda made Jon and Sansa my OTP is the fandom. A lot like the Swan Queen fandom, the Jonsa fandom is just so active and creative and wonderful. I’ve never enjoyed reading any fanfiction as much as I enjoy reading Jonsa fanfiction. There’s also so many fantastic metas that really spoke to me and made me realise how much sense Jon and Sansa make as a couple.

There are just so many Jon and Sansa tropes/headcanons that I love. That they’re Ned and Catelyn 2.0 who marry for political reasons but actually build an incredibly healthy relationship with mutual love, that they’re two broken people that started to heal each other, that they share beds to keep their night terrors at bay, that Jon is the first man to actually treat Sansa with respect, that he’s the first one to make love to her and actually show her that sex is supposed to be gentle, kind and loving, that what starts out as a political marriage is actually mutual love that they’re both too afraid to admit, that they rule Winterfell and have little Starks named after Robb and/or Ned. Obviously, it’s an idealistic view on the relationship that’s mostly reserved for fanfiction, but I love it and thanks to Swan Queen, I discovered that shipping non-canon ships can actually be more fun a lot of the time. 

Jon and Sansa becoming my OTP is also because of my love for them as characters and the Starks overall. I can’t see Sansa ever getting a happy ending unless she marries Jon, because as a woman (and a Stark woman especially), she will just be expected to marry someone else for a political alliance and after everything she’s been through I just don’t want that for her (particuarly since there’s no one she’s even close to developing a genuine emotional or romantic connection with). Even if her and Jon married but it never developed into anything romantic, at least she’d be safe and cared for by someone that genuinely loved her and had her best interests at heart. As for Jon, I adore Jon with every ounce of my being and I think he deserves better than D and that she can’t give him what he wants. Jon has always craved to be a true Stark, he’s a northerner to his core and I think his heart belongs in Winterfell with his family and that includes Sansa. I know there’s complications with him being a Targeryen and the Iron Throne and all that jazz, but  when I simplify it in my mind, I want a happy ending for the Starks and Jon and Sansa being together (romantic or not) seems like the best way for that to happen. 

So that’s it!  In a very brief and summarised format (trust me this is short in comparison to what it could be haha) there’s why my OTP’s are my OTP’s. I hope I didn’t bore you too much haha and thanks for asking! :)