Top Ten Pairings

[redbrunja]

Top Ten Pairings

10. Regina/Emma

First of all, yes, this is the only femmeslash ship on the list. It's here because, first of all, I fucking love Regina Mills and I want her to find her true love... and that true love is totally Emma. (I mean, not according to the writers, but what do they know. Pay attention to that sentence, it's going to be a them.) Regina and Emma are both strong, damaged women, their personalities clash, Regina is (understandably) controlling and Emma struggles with commitment and responsibility, but I think these two women could make a relationship work. ADDITIONALLY, it neatly solves the tangled mess of Henry's parenthood, by explicitly putting Emma in a step-parent role, which fits more emotionally and logically than, boom! Emma's magically a single, devoted parent.

9. Maka/Soul

Originally, I had two other ships vying for this slot: Belle and the Beast from Beauty and the Beast and Alucard/Integra from Hellsing. I almost did a general 'Beast leashed by a Beauty and why that dynamic is awesome' entry, but I decided not to cheat.

Maka and Soul made the cut because I find their dynamic particularly cool. While Maka is literally wielding Soul as a weapon, who is keeping who in check and who is going berserk changes back and forth. Additionally, there is a wonderful 'cool dude FUCKING CRAZY about a nerdy bookworm dynamic.'

8. Anya/Dimitri

“You think a princess and a guy like me…” wait, wrong pairing. No, wait, it isn’t.

What can I say? I’m a sucker for a princess and a rogue on a banter-y roadtrip.

7. Cameron/John

TSCC: The story of a boy falling for a robot who’s slowly becoming a person and was programmed by the boy’s future self.

6. Leia/Han

And here we having one of formative-as-fuck pairings. Seriously, it’s a hailstorm of tropes I love: banter, girls saving boys, fighting evil together, and burning hot chemistry.

5. Pepper/Tony

Pepper/Tony is one of the few couples that I am quite literally OTP about. They are perfect for each other, they spark off each other even as an established couple, they’re ridiculously in love with each other…..

4. Cassie/Nick

This ship is the perfect example of why and how I like my older man/young girl pairings. He's hot (PLAYED BY CHRIS EVANS, PEOPLE) and she's competent, wise beyond her years, and emotionally has the upper hand in the relationship.

3. Natasha/Clint

I figure if you have paid any attention AT ALL to my livejournal in the past year, you know why I ship these two.

2. Katara/Zuko

I have written at length elsewhere about why my otp tag for this ship is “forever bitter” so I don’t want to rehash that – this is a place for squee. (That said, check out all of 12_12_12’s avatar meta, but especially this entry regarding Katara and her type.)

I had a ridiculously hard time trying to express why I love this pairing so much, and I ended up deleting what I had written about three times.

I just think that these two characters are quite literally perfect for each other. Besides the straight-forward mirroring between them in seasons one and two, and the deliciously passionate attractive-enemies part of it, I think that Zuko and Katara are really fucking well matched. Zuko understands, respects, and doesn’t attempt to curtail the darker and more violent sides of Katara’s personality, and Katara is both gives Zuko the opportunity to be the best person he can, and doesn’t forgive easily (and never forgets).

1. Kate Daniels / Curran The Beast Lord (The Kate Daniels series)

One of these things are not like the others.

I explicitly did not want to allow books into these 'best character/best pairing' lists, because I feel like that would have made them unmanagable, but I couldn't put a couple besides Kate and Curran here. This pairing is perfection. I love Kate Daniels, violent, flawed, noble and I love Curran - who is handsome, possessive, arrogant, and also possesses humor, intelligence and the most WELL-DEVELOPED sense of boundaries that have ever been given to an alpha male character.

Furthermore, Kate and Curran do not even come without shouting distance of a love triangle. All the drama  and struggle in their relationship comes from two very different people negotiating their relationship, both before and after they start having sex.



Top Five Friendships:

Lorelei & Rory (Gilmore Girls)

Sure, they were also mother and daughter... but they were also totally each other's best friends.

Carol & Jess (Marvel comics)

This is totally cheating because I want these two to make out but even leaving that aside, these two have a great relationship. They care about each other, support each other, banter, and go out for coffee-dinosaur punching dates.

Leslie/Ann (Parks & Rec)

Besties! Galentines!

Julie/Maddie

Code Name Verity is basically all about what awesome friends these two fierce WWII ladies are.

Calvin and Hobbes

No explanation needed.

Comments

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Is there anyone Han and Leia aren't formative for? And YES to Anya and Dmitri being in the same vein. PERFECTION EVERYWHERE.

Don't talk to me about Julie and Maddie. Ever.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Is there anyone Han and Leia aren't formative for?

Yeah, I look back and I'm like, 'HOW many times did I watch those movies again?'

Don't talk to me about Julie and Maddie. Ever.


It is physically painful to think about the fact that they were never at Castle Craig together.

[lokifan]

YAY ANYA AND DIMITRI! I LOVE IT!

And I love your nearly-top-ten pairing of Beauty and the Beast, too. I brought that fairytale into my basically unrelated dissertation and was basically just like OTP, ALL POSSIBLE VERSIONS, OTP. And I love the Disney version to bits, not least because their love song ("bittersweet and strange, finding you can change, learning you were wrong") is like. The perfect love song for my most favouritest pairings' journeys.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

And I love the Disney version to bits, not least because their love song ("bittersweet and strange, finding you can change, learning you were wrong") is like. The perfect love song for my most favouritest pairings' journeys.

Same here! I understand why the Disney version gets the flack it does, but I don't think it totally deserves it? Like I think the fact that the Beast changes AND THEN Belle starts reacting and responding to the new Beast is very significant and awesome.

[phemyscira.livejournal.com]

Same here! I understand why the Disney version gets the flack it does, but I don't think it totally deserves it? Like I think the fact that the Beast changes AND THEN Belle starts reacting and responding to the new Beast is very significant and awesome.

AGREED. Okay, I can see why people interpet that movie as 'girl changes man' story, but I think the fact that The Beast wants to change and actually does is what makes the movie less problematic than series such as Gossip Girl. Chuck and Blair's relationship continues to be destructive and unhealthy, whereas Belle and Beast's relationships becomes healthy and fulfilling because the beast makes the choice to be less hateful and standoffish.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

but I think the fact that The Beast wants to change and actually does is what makes the movie less problematic than series such as Gossip Girl.

Agreed.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

When I saw this at first I was on my phone, and I got mixed up reading it and thought the dinosaur-punching coffee dates were Leslie and Ann's, and I was like, what have I been missing by not watching Parks and Rec?!

Also, Calvin & Hobbes are totally the best. :D

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

and thought the dinosaur-punching coffee dates were Leslie and Ann's, and I was like, what have I been missing by not watching Parks and Rec?!

Leslie would be SO down for dinosaur-punching. Ann, not so much. But now I want to buy Leslie Captain Marvel comics!

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

I love that Kate/Curran are your #1! Fave pairing for life. It's such a shamet there aren't more like it, I mean, the lack of love triangle alone is so rare, but then all the other million-and-one things that make them awesome... *sighs happily* I just love that each book keeps getting better, which is an unprecedented opinion for me! And that once they're in a relationship, it doesn't lose its spark, I usually get bored at that point once the UST is gone, but there are still so many compelling elements to their dynamic that I can't possibly lose interest!

CASSIE/NICK, HELL TO THE YES. The best younger girl/older man pairing ever. I love how the movie lets me ship them without any guilt because srsly, the subtext cannot be unintentional, GUH. So sad there's no sequel, but oh well, they'd prob wreck it anyway, at least this movie's perf all on its own.

there is a wonderful 'cool dude FUCKING CRAZY about a nerdy bookworm dynamic.'

Um. Exactly my kind of dynamic! I don't suppose you have any fic recs...?

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I love that Kate/Curran are your #1! Fave pairing for life. It's such a shamet there aren't more like it, I mean, the lack of love triangle alone is so rare, but then all the other million-and-one things that make them awesome... *sighs happily*

Exactly! My mom is reading this series right now, and she's calling me with all her thoughts and it's a great way to relive the series.

So sad there's no sequel, but oh well, they'd prob wreck it anyway, at least this movie's perf all on its own.

To be honest, this is how I feel. They gave me a great subtexty movie and a small but steady fandom was born; let's not ruin it with a sequel.

there is a wonderful 'cool dude FUCKING CRAZY about a nerdy bookworm dynamic.'

Um. Exactly my kind of dynamic! I don't suppose you have any fic recs...?

As a matter of fact.... (http://metisket.livejournal.com/11723.html)

Also, I've written this (http://redbrunja.livejournal.com/324002.html#cutid1).

But I don't think it wil make much sense without reading the manga or watching the anime.