OTP pairing poll results

[turps]

Last week I posted a poll about popslash OTPs. I also said I'd post the results, which I'm doing now.

Obviously this isn't comprehensive of the whole fandom, but 71 people took the poll, so it's a nice chunk.



(1) Do you consider yourself to have a OTP?

Yes: 70.4%
No: 22.5%
Depends: 7%

People who replied depends answered in comments. I'd encourage anyone to read the comments because there are so fascinating answers in there.

(2) If yes, will you only read that OTP?

YES: 3.1%
No: 73.4%
Depends and I'll explain in comments: 23.4%

Reading comments, a lot of people would read outside their OTP in certain circumstances. The writer, a lack of other stories to read, another pairing in the same story as their OTP. There were very few people who read their OTP only, which is understandable in a fandom this size, because waiting for new stories that only feature your OTP could be a long and boring wait.

(4) What is that OTP?

Trickc took the lead here, closely followed by trickyfish and JuC

Trickc - 15
Trickynicky - 1
Lambs - 3
Trickyfish - 11
Trickyfishc - 1
Kevin/AJ - 1
Joec - 1
Bassez - 4
AJ/Joey - 1
JuC - 12
Choey - 2
Chowie - 1
GSF - 1
AJ/Brian - 2
Justin/Kevin - 1
timbertrick - 1
Howie/Nick - 1

And one Dean/Sam who surely loved being with all the sparklyboys ;)

(5) Is there a reason why you'll only read that OTP?

Answers ranged from It just clicks and makes sense in my head. to JC! which surely says it all.

(6)If you don't have a OTP do you think, I'll read anything as long as *insert man of choice here* is involved?

Yes: 27.9%
No: 53.5%
Depends and I'll answer in comments: 18.6%

There were a lot of interesting comments about this question. I think daisydust summed it up best when she said Lambs is my "emotional" OTP. It's the pairing I most want to read, most often reread I can totally understand that emotional OTP, just in my case it's trickc.

(7) Or will you read anything, regardless of who's involved?

Yes: 39.7%
No: 60.3%

(8) Is there a pairing/pairings that you won't read?

Yes: 49.3%
No: 50.7%

Pretty much half and half there.

(9) If so, why?

The answers here ranged from, if I can't see it I won't read it, to certain popboys making people unwilling to read a story if they were involved with it. Also, that certain pairings just didn't work for people, which is a totally understandable reason not to read a story. I mean, why read it if you won't enjoy?

(10) Is there someone out of the groups that would stop you reading. eg, Wade, Lynn, Britney.

Lynn
Lamp
Jesus statues
Wade
Britney
Lou
Trace
Carlos
Jesse
Kelly
Timbaland

Lou got the most mentions. It seems Lou sex is something the fandom isn't ready for.

(11) Have your reading habits changed since joining the fandom? eg, you'll read more or less pairings now than at first.

Yes: 74.6%
No: 25.4%

(12) If yes, why did you change them?

There were a variety of answers here, but most were along the lines of needing more fic, or widening the pairings or kinds of stories people would read due to time or exhausting the kind that they liked to read.

(13) If a writer you admire wrote a pairing you dislike, would you read the story?

Yes: 58%
No: 11.6%
Depends, I'll explain in comments. 30.4%

In comments a lot of people said they follow favourite writers from pairing to pairing, even to new fandoms at times.

I wish I could have made this poll more extensive, but I still think it gives interesting results, and I especially enjoyed reading the comments people left. People discussed what they liked and disliked in calm rational ways, and everyone that did that, thank you.

One thing I did notice was a lot of mentioning of trends in terms of pairings written. I know JoLa was mentioned as once being a very popular pairing, in contrast to now where it doesn't seem to be written often at all.

Thinking about my own years in fandom, JuC seemed to be the main pairing when I first arrived, then there was an explosion of trickyfish and trickc. Now, that's just my perspective and it could be influenced by the fact I've surrounded myself by people who love those pairings, but I know at the last SeSa the Chris based pairings were out in front in terms of most requested and written.

It makes me wonder why that happens. I imagine the Justin v JC thing from a few years back won't have helped, with some fans taking sides, but why Chris and not Joey? Is it because some of the more vocal fans like him? Therefore more stories and more mentioning of him. That he's just easy to slash with anyone? That people like h/c and his admission of emotional problems means we want to fix him?

I'm not sure, and again, this is just my view which is admittedly biased towards the Chris based stuff. There could be huge amounts of other stories out there about the others and I'm just not seeing them. If so, tell me where they are.

Also, do trends happen on the BSB side? I only tend to read Kevin/Nick, so would love it if the BSB fans could let me know. Did Kevin leaving affect the stories written at all, or have you seen anyone change their OTP because he's not an official boy?

Thank you to everyone that took the poll and left comments. I really do recommend reading through them, there's some interesting stuff there.

Comments

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

(10) Is there someone out of the groups that would stop you reading. eg, Wade, Lynn, Britney.

Lynn
Lamp
- - -

Someone put Lamp?!?!? Oh this makes me sad and filled with woe! How can ANYone put Lamp?!?

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I know! I had woe too!

Obviously they don't see the appeal of Lamp :(

*pets him*

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

Does that mean more for us? Someone should write some Chramp comfort fic.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

They should.

*peers at you*

[raynedanser.livejournal.com]

*peers at you*

Keep peering. ;-) I need much, much more coffee. :D

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

I'd bet Kelly's an issue for people writing Joey. Even more so now that they are married.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

You know, you're right.

Still, you'd think if we as a fandom can slash people whatever their sexuality, being married shouldn't be a problem.

It makes me wonder if say JC got married, people would stop slashing him as much.

[erilyn.livejournal.com]

It's an ethical dilemma/squick for many people, breaking up a couple in fic. And Bri makes it that much squickier to summarily dismiss their relationship.

Doesn't excuse not slashing Joey in AUs :)

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Bri has to add to the squick of breaking them up.

Still, the more Joey slash the better I feel.

[ephemera-pop.livejournal.com]

these polpls / conversations are always such a good reminder to me that my settings are just not the mainstream ones - I know so many poly folks and kids being raised in poly situations, I honestly forget that other people see Kelly and Bri as a thing between Joey and the guy of choice ...

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I can see why people don't want to break up Joey and Kelly. They have this happy family vibe going on, and unless you've been around people in a poly situation in may seem impossible to replicate.

Saying that, I think his marriage is used as a convenient excuse at times. Kevin didn't seem to be slashed less after he got married, and if the marriage thing is such a squick, there are always ways to work around that. Yet most people don't.

[sperrywink]

Oooh, thanks for the results! I love stuff like this!

I think I came into fandom during the Trickyfish era, that is at least where I started out. I then migrated to TrickC, but I'm really just Chris-centric, so I'm one of those fans with that bias.

I think the Joey thing is largely the married thing (and Chris is cutest ;)

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I love results too, I just wish I had a more detailed poll.

I started in trickyfish too, then went to trickc, and man, I should just copy paste your comment because, snap!

Chris is the cutest! I still think it's a shame Joey isn't slashed more, make it early years is marriage is a problem.

[brighton-girl.livejournal.com]

Lou got the most mentions. It seems Lou sex is something the fandom isn't ready for.

The world isn't ready for it! *lol*

It was such an interesting poll and I am glad you posted the results!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

The world isn't ready for it! *lol*

That's very true. What I'm ready for is to see his ass thrown in jail.

You're welcome :)

[pensnest]

Wot, no pie charts? Not even a bar graph? Hmph.

It strikes me as quite surprising how low the Lambs and Bassez figures are. Well, Lambs particularly, since there seems to be a good variety of Lamby fic around, fluffy, porny, angsty, what not. With Bassez/Basez (stupid name!) there *ought* to be potential for smart boys and snark with those two, as well as a large side of geeky joy, but most of the stories I can think of are fairly sappy and/or weepy. Hmm. Hmm.

I'd agree with you on the way Chris-pairings seem to have overtaken the JuC, it's my perception too that JuC was the biggest pairing even when I entered the fandom. Perhaps it's logical to assume that as people have left the fandom, a great proportion of them were JuC writers/readers. Why the Chris fans have stayed, who knows!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Sadly I don't have the skills for graphs :(

When I was reading through the comments I was struck how often Bassez was mentioned as a pairing people dislike. I have to be honest, it's not a favourite pairing of mine either, yet JC and Lance are both wonderful, so why isn't there more great fic with them together?

I came into this fandom in 2002, and back then JuC seemed to be the pairing of the moment. That seemed to last for a long time, then suddenly the Chris pairings surged ahead. I'd love to know why, because it doesn't seem to fit any canon happenings.

Chris drops out of sight and stories about him increase. It's a mystery.

[phaballa.livejournal.com]

Keeping in mind that I'm fairly new to popslash...

For a long time, I was terrified to write Chris. JC is my overall favorite, but Chris has a special place in my heart because of all the guys, he's the one I think is genuinely a brilliant guy--funny and smart and non-persona-y. And he IS kind of messed, so I was really scared to write him because I was pretty sure I'd fail. Whereas the rest of the guys seemed a lot easier.

Joey. I love Joey, but I can't get a handle on him. My betas always say, "There's not enough Joey in this, you need to write more scenes!" and I struggle with that. I think because he's got a wife and kid and I never knew him as anything else, so it's hard for me to a) slash him and b) get a handle on him since I can't make him gay.

Which is really just a convoluted way of saying, I think Chris is more popular because he's AWESOME. When you first start out in popslash, you're distracted by the shiny, pretty boys--Justin and JC and Lance. And then you realize that you want to make out with Chris's brain, and he eclipses all others :P

[phaballa.livejournal.com]

Also, did no one say 'Timbaland' in the "please don't add him in fic" category? Because--*shudders*.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Nope, they didn't.

But I'll add him to the list, just for you.

[phaballa.livejournal.com]

Land 'O Lakes: a pairing I hope is NEVER written.

Also, I am pleased no one mention K-Fed. More people need to write J-Fed fic. Because I shouldn't be the only one.

[ephemera-pop.livejournal.com]

Dude - I am actively seaking the Timberlake/Timberland. They're just so *adorable* together on screen.

[phaballa.livejournal.com]

Good luck with that :P I hate Tim with a fiery passion... but I respect that I'm the only one!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

You know, I like that you admit having problems in getting a handle on Chris and Joey, not because I want you to fail or anything, just, so many people seem to write without thinking about characterisation. One of the things that drive me nuts is when someone grabs hold of one aspect of their character and only run with that. Especially JC as a pretty kitty and Chris the crack monkey. I know why people say that, and yes, they are that to an extent, but only that? No way, and it's lazy characterisation if that's all you write.

Sorry, you got my kitty monkey rant, it slips out every so often.

Would making Joey gay in an AU be any easier for you?

When you first start out in popslash, you're distracted by the shiny, pretty boys--Justin and JC and Lance. And then you realize that you want to make out with Chris's brain, and he eclipses all others :P

A very valid point, though Chris was it for me from the first, no one else got a look in *g*

[phaballa.livejournal.com]

Oh, I definitely have a hard time with Chris and Joey. They're so complicated! And yeah, I don't want to fuck it up. I don't want to do a disservice to them by writing something one-dimensional that ignores the complexities of them being actual people. I think partly why I like RPS so much better than FPS is because these *are* real people and there's so much more to them than a fictional character.

[vaudevilles.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I have a coherent comment somewhere. But for now... *licks your brain*

[desultory6.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have definite issues with how some characters are written in fic and JC is one of the major ones.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I know I keep banging on about the pretty kitty thing, but it drives me insane.

JC did admit to liking to sleep, he is pretty, but he's so much more. He can be a pissy bitch at times, sarcastic, intelligent, hard working, determined, the list goes on.

To write him off as a pretty kitty does him such a disservice.

[turloughishere.livejournal.com]

I really don't know why I don't feel the JC-love. There are a lot of stories where he's an absolutely wonderful secondary character that I really like but as soon as the focus is on him I just seem to lose interest. I wonder if it's because to me he seems to be very much a musician and an artist and that's not a personality type that I'm interested in at all. It's a bit strange, whatever it is.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I think it comes down to you're only interested in someone or you're not. JC has so many good points, and obviously you can see those, but if that spark of interest isn't there, the story won't capture you.

Which is me replying what you already know, showing I have no great insights *g*

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

That's interesting, because I tend to get waaaaay more hits on JuC stories than on any other pairing. Like, 2 to 3 times as many. And I don't think it's because those are objectively better stories either.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

There must be a load of stealth JuC fans out there ;)

I wonder if a lot of people still read popslash but don't actively take part on LJ? I'd like to think so, because as much as I want to see activity on here, I like to think there are others out there thatstill enjoy the groups and stories too.

[imsinkingfast.livejournal.com]

I can tell you for sure there are people out there reading and looking for popslash. The fiction page of my site requires you to email for the password. Not a day goes by that I don't get at least one request for the password. And that's just my site!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

That's great!

It's a bad habit but I keep forgetting that the popslash fandom doesn't just exist on LJ. I love the idea that there's fans out there, as interested as we are.

[duoshinigami.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeee! So happy youposted this :D You are so wonderfull organized and awesome! I loved reading the little info inbetween questions. THough I did read most of the comments I still liked reading that!

And as far as the BSB sides goes I was told the KeviNick and Frick n Frack was all a reeeeeeeeaallly popular pairing. When I got into the fandom though it seemed that everything was going more towards Arok. Everything I saw was Arok (it was my OTP at the time so it didn't bother me.)

In contrast to that situation I see very little BSB fic at all now. Mostly because I don't go around journals searching for it and I have apparently poured mostly Nsync fans into my flist :D (not that I mind).

I actually think Sweet Rok is the trend now and Howie/Nick is close behind it. For a bunch of people saying they don't like Brian he is probably the one I see most often in the fiction. THough it could just be the people on my flist.

I say the new trend should be GSF in Sparkly fandom! Everyone just needs to get inspired to write group lovin' with awesome funny chris, cute side kick justin, laid back picked on jc, serious annoyed lance with the hidden love for them on the inside, and happy helpful joey! Or something like that...and then they need to go! OH! Backstreet! And then I would apply stereotypes to them but they are harder to do for lack of GSF in that part of the fandom

and I just noticed i am going to be late for class so bye!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

More like procrastinating than organised and awesome, but thank you anyway. *smooch*

So it looks like BSB has pairing trends too. Cool. Though I still wonder why those trends happen.

I don't go looking for BSB fic either, I read it if it's on my flist, but otherwise, nope.

I keep seeing people say they don't like Brian too, yet I don't understand why, especially when he seems to be in the most popular pairing trends. That's just weird.

You know, GSF would be an awesome trend! Hopefully that'll happen.

Hope you weren't late for class.

[imsinkingfast.livejournal.com]

Question: What's the difference between these?

Trickc, Trickyfish, Trickyfishc

I've never seen that last one before.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Trickc is JC/Chris.
Trickyfish is Lance/Chris
Trickyfishc the best of both, JC/Lance/Chris

You know, I do like the pairing names, but some need a code book *g*

[imsinkingfast.livejournal.com]

Doh! All this time I thought TrickyFish was another JC/Chris pairing! Tricky being Chris and Fish being JC, as in fish being the symbol for Jesus Christ... JC. lol! Well you learn something every day. :-)

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Nope, the fish part refers to Lance's surname. But I love your explanation so much! It makes so much sense.

[bossymarmalade.livejournal.com]

This might be just me and how I look at story-composition, but I find that Chris adds more friction to a story. Like, I am all for writing Joey as more than a one-note "giver of hugs", but when it comes down to it he's not an instigator or a crazy man or as sharp as Chris. There's just a lot more places to go with Chris when it comes to having 'stuff' happen in your fic, in my experience!

Also, I see that Hiatus has TOTALLY killed support for my beloved timbertrick. Le sigh!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. Chris is someone who can be used in a lot of ways within a story. He's such a complex character and that has to be a bonus when you're writing.

I don't understand why timbertrick isn't more popular. There's so much there, a deep friendship that's lasted for years, two amazing people, both smart and talented and kinda weird. There's so much to love, and yet people don't.

[vaudevilles.livejournal.com]

Yay pollage!

And it's interesting (well to me anyway) I read a story last night that had about two lines of Chris in it. And while it was well written grammatically it had no drive to it and not much of a plot. So I think you and Maggie are right - Chris is an instigator and that energy makes him easier to write, especially when we don't know what he's really doing thus freeing up canon, which maybe why Chris-fic exploded in 2003 or so?

[village.livejournal.com]

Also, I see that Hiatus has TOTALLY killed support for my beloved timbertrick. Le sigh!

Mags, you read my mind, man. I mean really? Second to last?!? Not glorious timbertrick! Although, I can't say that I don't understand. Even I - ME! - am starting to lose faith in the love.

[geneli4.livejournal.com]

interesting!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Yep *g*

[turloughishere.livejournal.com]

I feel very proud of being in such a minority for the OTP thing :-) It absolutely depends! Trickyfish is my Nsync OTP but I'm equally happy to see Lance with anyone of the Boys (except you-know-who :-) and for BSB I don't have an OTP at all. And while I love Lance I won't read every story with him in it, and I won't read a JuC story unless there's another pairing that interest me in the story too, so yes I'm very much an "it depends" kind of person for almost all the questions in this poll.

Ha! While I was writing this I suddenly realised that there actually is a character I will read in any kind of story (not het of course) and that's Kevin. But that's mostly because there simply aren't enough stories with Kevin being written, if there were as many Kevin stories as Lance stories I would probably be much more selective for him too.