One of my mysterious kinks...
Apr. 6th, 2024 10:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flo_neljaOne of the dynamics that's really easy to sell to me is an underling with a crush on their boss. Why? I have no idea. First example I remember was in middle school, I had no idea what a boss was at the time (maybe it helped).
If you have a ship that fills the criteria, please don't hesitate to rec a canon to me! (if you love the canon, don't hesitate to go for the rec even if they're secondary characters)
By tvtropes term, it can very much overlap with Bodyguard Crush, and it can be found also in Inappropriate Close Comrades and Sleeping with the boss but the last tow are less about a one-direction crush.
It overlaps with loyalty kink but it's not exactly this either. Well, it's because I can't find a well ordered list on the Internet that I'm doing my own :D
Most of these ships have dark content, because it's a power imbalance trope, and also because I'm here for drama rather than people dealing with feelings maturely :D Some of them are far worse than others though! :D
*
They were the first I remember with this dynamics! I was in middle school at the time. My memories are confused, but when Electra revolted against Nemo because she thought he had abandoned the cause, I felt things (I sure didn't know what shipping was at the time) and in the end when it was revealed thay had been sleeping together I felt more things. ^^
I still ship them as one of my first ships.
Second example I remember are Enjolras and Grantaire in Les Misérables (same, didn't know what shipping was, I was 14 and had no Internet), and damn, did their scenes make me feel things again. For the longest time it was a tiny ship. Seriously, when I discovered ffnet I looked and there were, like, three fics ^^
Even if the dynamics are very different, both are examples of people voluntarily joining a revolutionary organization.
But after I had chances to explore more cases of this, there are more situations, supervillain and henchman (a classic), god and priest (yeah it counts), nobility and servant, basic military or office hierarchy...
So, some vaguely chronological list of the ones I've shipped over the years.
*In my second anime/manga phase when I was, like, 19-20. Anime has so much of this trope! I didn't even ship it every time I met it, I was spoiled for choice
- Ellis/Rezo and Garv/Valgarv in Slayers.
- Knives/Legato in Trigun
- Treize/Lady Une in Gundam Wing
- Roshiel/Katan in Angel Sanctuary
*And than I discovered Internet shipping and I rewatched some relationships with new eyes
- Morgoth/Sauron in the Silmarillion, the crush is not canon or subtext but damn does it make things more interesting.
- Warren/Andrew in Buffy
- Parleur/Halween in Parleur (obscure fandom!)
*More anime
- Gin/Kira and Aizen/Momo in Bleach, I was so deep in this fandom. Yoruichi/Soifon might qualify in their backstory too.
- So many relationships in Code Geass, Kallen/Lelouch was right here but everyone had these.
- Light/Mikami in Death Note qualifies too. Me shipping the weird side ship.
*Space shows
- Baltar/Gaeta in Battlestar Galactica
- Scorpius/Braca in Farscape (though weirdly it wasn't my fave ship)
- You know I could have had more. I really didn't watch all the Star Trek for example. Though the ones I've heard about seem to be quite equal sides crushes :D
*Comics does this trope far less than manga. Still, I had a few ones
- Savant/Creote from Birds of Prey
- Magneto/Exodus from X-men
- I had a friend who shipped deeply M. Mallah and the Brain from Doom Patrol and if only by fandom osmosis I wanted to ship it too.
*Ten years ago period
- Acolyte/Radiant Goddess and Radiant Goddess/Old God, two times the charm :D
- You know it was so much my fave ship and it had all my tropes and Bill/Ford can claim the religious angle.
- Pearl/Rose! It's exactly this.
*I want to label this recent ones. Some of them were more than 5 years ago. It's still recent in my heart.
- Jon/Martin from The Magnus Archives, where the canon decided, you know what, we could make a romance of it.
- Wei Wuxian/Wen Ning on Mo dao zu shi
- Nandor/Guillermo in What we di in the shadows
- Izzy/Ed in Our flag means death
- Gideon/Harrow in The Locked Tomb
Lots of these ships are very, very popular :D
There's a case where I'm not sure whether it suits the trope or no, it's when the crush/romance is clearly on both sides from the beginning, or hidden on both sides. I sure have enjoyed some ships like this (Roy/Liza, Sam/Frodo, Cain/Riff, Fox/Xanatos, Hanako/Alice, Hideko/Sook-hee, Shim Chong/the chancellor's bride) but I don't think it exactly hits the kink.
And then there's the resolution of the trope I don't like at all: when love happens to be requited, and they get together, but the power imbalance stays in fully, and it's not meant to be dark? It's meant to be fluffy and cute? This really ruins it for me (first examples I can think about are Varrick/Zhu Li in Legend of Korra and Vastra/Jenny in Doctor Who)
Also, I can't believe I have no example with a female boss and a male underling. I know these exist and I really got nothing against this configurations. But all the ones I have in my head are not asymetrical enough to count.
If you have a ship that fills the criteria, please don't hesitate to rec a canon to me! (if you love the canon, don't hesitate to go for the rec even if they're secondary characters)
By tvtropes term, it can very much overlap with Bodyguard Crush, and it can be found also in Inappropriate Close Comrades and Sleeping with the boss but the last tow are less about a one-direction crush.
It overlaps with loyalty kink but it's not exactly this either. Well, it's because I can't find a well ordered list on the Internet that I'm doing my own :D
Most of these ships have dark content, because it's a power imbalance trope, and also because I'm here for drama rather than people dealing with feelings maturely :D Some of them are far worse than others though! :D
*They were the first I remember with this dynamics! I was in middle school at the time. My memories are confused, but when Electra revolted against Nemo because she thought he had abandoned the cause, I felt things (I sure didn't know what shipping was at the time) and in the end when it was revealed thay had been sleeping together I felt more things. ^^
I still ship them as one of my first ships.
Second example I remember are Enjolras and Grantaire in Les Misérables (same, didn't know what shipping was, I was 14 and had no Internet), and damn, did their scenes make me feel things again. For the longest time it was a tiny ship. Seriously, when I discovered ffnet I looked and there were, like, three fics ^^
Even if the dynamics are very different, both are examples of people voluntarily joining a revolutionary organization.
But after I had chances to explore more cases of this, there are more situations, supervillain and henchman (a classic), god and priest (yeah it counts), nobility and servant, basic military or office hierarchy...
So, some vaguely chronological list of the ones I've shipped over the years.
*In my second anime/manga phase when I was, like, 19-20. Anime has so much of this trope! I didn't even ship it every time I met it, I was spoiled for choice
- Ellis/Rezo and Garv/Valgarv in Slayers.
- Knives/Legato in Trigun
- Treize/Lady Une in Gundam Wing
- Roshiel/Katan in Angel Sanctuary
*And than I discovered Internet shipping and I rewatched some relationships with new eyes
- Morgoth/Sauron in the Silmarillion, the crush is not canon or subtext but damn does it make things more interesting.
- Warren/Andrew in Buffy
- Parleur/Halween in Parleur (obscure fandom!)
*More anime
- Gin/Kira and Aizen/Momo in Bleach, I was so deep in this fandom. Yoruichi/Soifon might qualify in their backstory too.
- So many relationships in Code Geass, Kallen/Lelouch was right here but everyone had these.
- Light/Mikami in Death Note qualifies too. Me shipping the weird side ship.
*Space shows
- Baltar/Gaeta in Battlestar Galactica
- Scorpius/Braca in Farscape (though weirdly it wasn't my fave ship)
- You know I could have had more. I really didn't watch all the Star Trek for example. Though the ones I've heard about seem to be quite equal sides crushes :D
*Comics does this trope far less than manga. Still, I had a few ones
- Savant/Creote from Birds of Prey
- Magneto/Exodus from X-men
- I had a friend who shipped deeply M. Mallah and the Brain from Doom Patrol and if only by fandom osmosis I wanted to ship it too.
*Ten years ago period
- Acolyte/Radiant Goddess and Radiant Goddess/Old God, two times the charm :D
- You know it was so much my fave ship and it had all my tropes and Bill/Ford can claim the religious angle.
- Pearl/Rose! It's exactly this.
*I want to label this recent ones. Some of them were more than 5 years ago. It's still recent in my heart.
- Jon/Martin from The Magnus Archives, where the canon decided, you know what, we could make a romance of it.
- Wei Wuxian/Wen Ning on Mo dao zu shi
- Nandor/Guillermo in What we di in the shadows
- Izzy/Ed in Our flag means death
- Gideon/Harrow in The Locked Tomb
Lots of these ships are very, very popular :D
There's a case where I'm not sure whether it suits the trope or no, it's when the crush/romance is clearly on both sides from the beginning, or hidden on both sides. I sure have enjoyed some ships like this (Roy/Liza, Sam/Frodo, Cain/Riff, Fox/Xanatos, Hanako/Alice, Hideko/Sook-hee, Shim Chong/the chancellor's bride) but I don't think it exactly hits the kink.
And then there's the resolution of the trope I don't like at all: when love happens to be requited, and they get together, but the power imbalance stays in fully, and it's not meant to be dark? It's meant to be fluffy and cute? This really ruins it for me (first examples I can think about are Varrick/Zhu Li in Legend of Korra and Vastra/Jenny in Doctor Who)
Also, I can't believe I have no example with a female boss and a male underling. I know these exist and I really got nothing against this configurations. But all the ones I have in my head are not asymetrical enough to count.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-06 08:46 am (UTC)Et j'aime bien le Elektra/Nemo aussi, même si c'est ça a un côté oedipien comme le nom du personnage l'indique déjà.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-22 07:04 pm (UTC)Totalement d'accord !
no subject
Date: 2024-04-06 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-04-22 07:05 pm (UTC)Sadly I don't do video games, but thanks you for informing me they exist! <3
Is it possible to read only the comics with this part or is it too complicated?
no subject
Date: 2024-04-23 04:55 am (UTC)I wrote a fandom promo a couple of years back that has links to the relevant material, if that's helpful: https://fffx.dreamwidth.org/18154.html?thread=246762#cmt246762
The comics listed there are the main story ones, as opposed to one-offs released for special events, and have most of the shippy Miss Pauling/Helen moments.
Besides those, I'd say the best place to start for Miss Pauling and Helen would be the Meet the Director comic, and the best introduction to the world and to Miss Pauling on her own would probably be the Expiration Date short film (although heads up that this pre-dates Miss Pauling canonically being made a lesbian and is focused on a male main character wanting to date her).
no subject
Date: 2024-04-22 04:36 pm (UTC)Gin/Kira is such a nostalgic ship for me and Jon/Martin becoming canon was delightful! + the mess that is Harrow/Gideon is *chef's kiss* Can't think of any ships like these that you haven't listed already, but I'll definitely share if I should find any!
And yeah, I agree on how this gets wonky if the couple canonically gets together in a supposedly fluffy way but the power imbalance stays... Those are cases where I suspect the writer(s) aren't fully aware of what they're doing.
no subject
Date: 2024-04-22 07:13 pm (UTC)It's funny because I'm aware that I have a wide list of ships with incredibly different dynamics and levels of messiness. That's one of the reasons it's a funny kink :D