Fan-Preferred Couple/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character pairing that is not official but is often rather preferred by fans.
 * Straight: Bob and Alice are the Official Couple in the series but Ted and Alice have a rather vocal fanbase
 * Exaggerated: Fans think that the pairing that is Ted X Alice is perfect in every way, and that Bob X Alice has no merit whatsoever. But the storyline insists that Bob X Alice is meant to be.
 * Justified:
 * Bob X Alice is a very strong example of tropes such as Relationship Writing Fumble and Strangled By the Red String and the Ship Tease moments that Ted and Alice had were well done.
 * Ted has a very well developed history with Alice more than she ever did with Bob.
 * Ted is a Romantic False Lead in which the story tried to make him look like a good alternative to the Official Couple and it worked perhaps a little too well.
 * Inverted:
 * Fans universally agree that Ted x Alice would be a horrible pairing, fully supporting the official pairing.
 * Ted X Alice was originally the Official Couple of the series but due to Executive Meddling namely the producers thinking that Bob would be more popular, Word of God still wanted Ted to be with Alice so they tried to make the Ship Tease as subtle as they can.
 * Subverted:
 * Ted X Alice originally were suppose to be the Official Couple of the series but due to Creative Control issues that pairing was stopped.
 * Ted X Alice ultimately ends up being Strangled By the Red String and loses popularity.
 * Ted X Alice was originally a popular fanon pairing but then it got a Relationship Upgrade and becomes an Official Couple (though it works for the best if Bob was never in the picture to begin with).
 * Ted and/or Alice become The Scrappy later on in the story and therefore the pairing loses its popularity.
 * Double Subverted:
 * Ted X Alice may have been the original intention but Word of God liked Bob X Alice a bit more
 * Ted X Alice did become an Official Couple but then they broke up later on because Word of God did not want to do anything with that pairing anymore. However fans still liked that pairing and the reason(s) why Ted and Alice broke up was very poorly received.
 * Parodied: "Now I shall force Alice to duel the one he loves the most, and according to all the fanfiction I've read, that would be Ted."
 * Deconstructed:
 * Ted's fanbase is a case of Draco in Leather Pants who would actually be a terrible choice for Alice. Basically, if you think Bob is bad for Alice, then Ted is a lot worse.
 * Word of God asks the fanbase that you people do realize that you want me to let Alice cheat on Bob for Ted?
 * Reconstructed: Word of God realizes that some fans see Alice's relationship with Ted as much more organic than her relationship with Bob and that the fanbase is merely taking that relationship to a logical conclusion. As a result, Word of God allows the fans to make up their own minds who Alice ended up with in the end.
 * Zig Zagged: Bob and Alice may be the "Official Couple" but both pairings get so much Ship Tease one can't tell which one is getting any favoritism.
 * Averted: The fans are perfectly fine with Bob X Alice.
 * Enforced: Derailing Love Interests (regardless of whether if it works for or against the pairing)
 * Lampshaded: "Don't you think that the fans, being as devoted as they are, would understand how out of character a pairing like this is?"
 * Invoked: Bob X Alice is the Official Couple but Ted X Alice has more Ship Tease
 * Defied: Word of God may try to give Ted X Alice some Ship Sinking (though it often doesn't work)
 * Discussed: "Yeah, I know that Bob X Alice is the Canon pairing of the series but I've always been more partial to Ted X Alice."
 * Conversed: "You know, Alice, a lot of people feel that Ted is a better match for you than Bob."

Back to Fan Preferred Couple, it's way better than Official Couple.