3_ships

[alixtii]

The reveal for 3_Ships is tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken. The guessing post is somewhere or other if you want to try.

I'm not quite sure--I'm not completely familiar with all the fandoms, and gender wasn't always obvious--but I think the breakdown is fifteen m/m/f stories, nine f/f/m stories, three m/m/m, and two f/f/f. So there was a preference for writing male characters over writing female characters (no surprise there), but even more so a very strong preference towards pairings which included both genders.

I'm even more interested in which pairings were chosen in those fandoms in which more than one fic were written, though. There are three Torchwood stories, and all with the same pairing, Jack/Ianto//Tosh. This fandomwide OT3 makes sense since Jack/Ianto is the slash OTP, and Tosh becomes Hobson's choice once one eliminates Owen and Gwen (as people do). Pirates of the Carribean has, like Torchwood, a clear OT3, Will/Jack/Elizabeth, which of course is the central triangle of the movies. Both VMars fics were Keith/Veronica/Mac, which I think is less evidence of a fandomwide OT3 than Ari's and my eccentric requests skewing the results. God bless our mystery writers.

Joss Whedon projects, on the other hand, showed much more diversity in their threesome offerings. Firefly on the other hand had two rather different pairings, Zoe/Kaylee/River and Zoe/Wash/Mal. Angel has Cordy/Gunn/Wesley and Spike/Wesley/Fred.

Harry Potter, too, has two different pairings, Sirius/Remus/Tonks and Hermione/Ron/Harry, possibly as a result of the unwieldy character of the fandom? ETA: And a Hermione/Luna/Percy.

Comments

[wisdomeagle]

Harry Potter, too, has two different pairings, Sirius/Remus/Tonks and Hermione/Ron/Harry, possibly as a result of the unwieldy character of the fandom?

Wasn't there also a Luna/Hermione/Percy?

Both VMars fics were Keith/Veronica/Mac, which I think is less evidence of a fandomwide OT3 than Ari's and my eccentric requests skewing the results. God bless our mystery writers.

It is fun to imagine, though, how it might look to an outsider.

[cadence-k.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter, too, has two different pairings, Sirius/Remus/Tonks and Hermione/Ron/Harry, possibly as a result of the unwieldy character of the fandom? Hmm. What do you mean?

Both VMars fics were Keith/Veronica/Mac, which I think is less evidence of a fandomwide OT3 than Ari's and my eccentric requests skewing the results. God bless our mystery writers. Hee! The fact that there were two fics with that combo cracked me up.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Wasn't there also a Luna/Hermione/Percy?

You're not wrong about that. ETA'd.

It is fun to imagine, though, how it might look to an outsider.

It is! VMars fandom is an incest-loving fandom with no interest in male characters under 40!

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

Hmm. What do you mean?

HP fandom is so huge that it couldn't have a single OTP if it wanted to, so it makes sense there wouldn't be a clear OT3 either.

It's also possibly partly a function of how much the canon is sprawling, although I can problematize that claim.

[cadence-k.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think both of those explanations make sense now. I was so exhausted last night that I kept trying to think of which character you thought was unwieldy. I should not try to read or think when I'm that tired...

[wisdomeagle]

So, okay, this intrigued me so I went back and did what any sane person would and checked stats for previous years. Here are some things to note:

My gut feeling that HP does have one OT3 is not too far off. Harry/Ron/Hermione has been written every year except the first, once in 2004, twice in 2005, once in 2006 and once in 2007.

Here's the rest of the HP list:
Luna/Hermione/Percy (2007)
Sirius/Remus/Tonks (2007)
Sirius/Remus/Tonks (2006)
Cho/Ginny/Hermione (2006)
Hermione/Luna/Neville (2005)
Ron/Draco/Pany (2005)
Harry/Ron/Neville (2) (2004) (for the same recipient)
Harry/Hermione/Ginny (2003)

Showing... I don't even know what. A preference for Trio-era vs MWPP era, a strong preference for Trio even when they're not OT3 -- HP may be sprawling, but it does have central characters -- and kind of a stronger preference for female characters than I would have expected.

I will spare you the Gateverse results except to say that participation from Gateverse fans really fell this year -- one fic vs. 7 last year and 9 the previous year -- and that, despite what I might want to believe, my OT3 really isn't the fandom OT3. And SGA's favorite character (my least favorite) is obvious from him being in 10/11 stories. This might be why I'm not in Gate fandom anymore.

Angel:
Wesley/Fred/Spike (2007)
Wesley/Cordela/Gunn (2007)
Wesley/Cordelia/Gunn (2004)
Angel/Nina/Spike (2004)
Darla/Lindsey/Lilah (2003)
Angel/Lindsey/Faith (2003)

... You know how sometimes you can't really determine anything from the data. Yeah.


Buffy:
Xander/Anya/Spike (2006)
Xander/Oz/Giles (2006)
Riley/Buffy/Angel (2006)
Giles/Willow/Oz (2005)
Willow/Oz/Xander (2004)
Oz/Devon/Xander (2003)
Buffy/Willow/Xander (2003)

Oz and Xander, represent! (Over-represent, even. Or, the people who participate in 3_ships do not always equal fandom as a whole; see also VMars this year). Total lack of OT3, represent!

Last year there were two Torchwood stories, both Jack/Ianto Gwen.

Dr. Who:
Ten/Rose/Jack (2) (2006)
Nine/Rose/Jack (4)[!] (2006)
Nine/Rose/Jack (2) (2005)
Ten/Rose/Sarah Jane (2006)

Inara/Kaylee/Zoe (2007)
Mal/Zoe/Wash (2007)
Kaylee/Jayne/River (2006)
Mal/Zoe/Wash (2006) (2, for the same recipient)
Mal/Zoe/Wash (2) (2005)
Mal/River/Kaylee (2006)
Zoe/Wash/Kaylee (2006)
Kaylee/Inara/Simon (2006)
River/Mal/Simon (2) (2005)
Jayne/River/Simon (2005)
Inara/Mal/River (2005)

Maybe Mal/Zoe/Wash is edging into OT3 territory. Weird. But wow, lots of diversity.

Pirates:
Jack/Elizabeth/Will (2) (2007)
Jack/Elizabeth/Will (2006)
Jack/Elizabeth/Will (2) (2003)

Jack/Norrington/Elizabeth (2006)
Jack/Norrington/Elizabeth (2005)
Jack/Norrington/Elizabeth (2003)

Jack/Elizabeth/Anamaria (2004)
Jack/Norrington/Will (2003)

Do you think this fandom has an OTP, maybe?

Lord of the Rings also reveals an OTP bias:
Maedhros/Glorfindel/Erestor (2005)
Elladan/Elrohir/Aragorn (2005)
Aragorn Elessar/Arwen Undomiel/Legolas Greenleaf (2005)
Aragorn/Boromir/Arwen (2004)
Aragorn/Boromir/Arwen (2003)
Arwen/Aragorn/Eowyn (2003)

Aragorn/Arwen/other = OT3.

[wisdomeagle]

VMars fandom is an incest-loving fandom with no interest in male characters under 40!

That must be why I feel so at home there.

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

This is awesome.

This shift from Jack/Ianto/Gwen to Jack/Ianto/Tosh makes perfect sense to me and would even be funny if the fandom's dislike of Gwen weren't so problematic. (But hey, I like Gwen, probably more than Toshiko even.)

Do you think this fandom has an OTP, maybe?

LOL.

I don't have anything else to say in response to your analysis, but having the data like this is wonderful, thank you!

[invisionary.livejournal.com]

Well, having had a little experience writing girlslash, and threesomes, part of me wants to say that a big reason that mixed sex threesomes are so much more popular than same-sex threesomes is because it's easier to avoid pronoun confusion. *g*

[zvi-likes-tv.livejournal.com]

Up far too late reading more OTP imbroglio than is good for me, I came across this post.

Out of curiousity, when you referenced Gate, did you mean strictly SG-1, or did you look at SGA too?

[wisdomeagle]

I looked at both. And then deleted my notes, because I am an idiot. But yes, the total fics/year are combined SGA/SG-1, and 10/11 SGA stories feature John Sheppard as part of the threesome.