Though I don't generally read NC-17, I prefer those stories that involve Alex having to make a move on Isabel. It's a facet to his character that was never explored on the show, and I find it interesting to see the spin authors write to have it happen without making him sound out-of-character. It's much more difficult to pull off than having Isabel chase after him, as we saw that on the show and has a definite starting point.
majiklmoon wrote:So, are you guys Stargazers or Alex shippers because it seems to me that you can't really have one, without the other. They are a couple after all.
I agree partly with
Applebylicious on this. It definitely is a growing trend with all ships to appreciate/love/prefer one character in a particular ship over the other one that completes that ship (i.e. many Dreamers prefer Liz over Max, from what I have read and those I have spoken to). For a long time I was the same way until I began discovering and exploring other avenues in characterisation to make Alex and Isabel equals. Before I found this, I was mainly an Isabel shipper.
To voice an unpopular opinion (from my viewpoint), I thought Alex was a weak character for much of S1. So I didn't much appreciate his character until his air time became less yet characterised more strongly than previously noted. I absolutely adored him in S2, but then again, I'm one of those rare persons who liked S2 better than S1.... But even then, I have always loved the dynamic between Alex and Isabel's characters, if that makes sense.
IMHO, I don't think you can truly love and appreciate the ship you sail until you've gone through phases with the characters it involves. I think we've all had times when we've ridiculed and made an idiot of one character or another in our lovely ships. I know I have! Yes, that includes both Alex and Isabel! And if I think about it, the reason I fell in love with Alex and Isabel as a couple was not because there were the odd people out, but because there was both a certainty and uncertainty that they'd be together. I loved their fallouts as much as their reconciliations! It reinforced my diehard love for the Stargazer relationship.
Anyway, to conclude this longwinded post, I agree with many of you on particular points. I am also, like
cardinalgirl, not a very big fan of fictions where Isabel realizes she
has to be with Alex. I'll admit to having written them, but hopefully not in the sense of
has rather than
wants, if that's understandable. I have also realized, to agree mostly with what
truelovepooh said, that many people have Isabel issues. I acknowledge that and understand that being a writer of Isabel-centrics and [Isabel] character explorations, I'm not going to be as well received as a story that involves Max and/or Liz (obviously).
(
I apologize in advanced that I'm making this thread more off-topic than it already is, but eh. It keeps the conversation going.) Now, here's something I've always wondered. I don't know if any of you have noticed, but having read many posts and read quite a lot of fiction, there's a certain level of romanticism in each story that may or may not be related to the romanticism of the author. It seems to me that those who sail the Dreamer ship tend to be hopeless romantics, others not so/as much. Do you believe this is true? That depending on the level of romanticism (and maybe realism) of the author that it easily determines/factors into who they ship?
The whole one-is-greater-than-the-other phenomenon. O_well.
Awesome.
Never thought about it that way but yes I do tend to like Alex more than Isabel. 
Although, I love them as a couple as an individual I think I always found her inaccessible.
