2014 Slash Madness: Round One!

By Alexander Stevenson

July 20, 2014 / 11:20 AM

In case you are new to this crazy annual event, TheBacklot's bracket tourney crowns fandom's most popular slash couple of the year. By "slash" we mean fantasy male couples from TV and movie subtext and the alternate universe of slash fanfic and fanart. Real people and textual gay couples such as Glee's Kurt & Blaine are excluded. Finally, we always leave popular female fantasy couples to our sisters over at AfterEllen.

For this, our 3rd Annual Ultimate Slash Madness Tournament, we've arranged the 32 competing slash couples - or "One True Pairings" (OTP) - into four broad divisions: "Classics" (perennial favorites), "Rising Stars" (slash couples from current TV shows), "Big Guns" (OTPs that ranked highly in previous tourneys) and "Big Screen" (Favorite OTPs from movies).

Below is the tournament bracket form for your reference. Click on it to view full size.

Voting for Slash Madness Round One begins on the next page and polls for this round will be open through Friday, July 25th 11:59 p.m. eastern. Voting is unlimited (for humans!) -- and you'll notice that this year we are trying out a new CAPTCHA system to keep things fair.

Happy voting, and don't forget to lobby for your favorites in the comments and via Tumblr! #slashmadness

Next page... CLASSIC PAIRINGS DIVISION

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Bonus Fandom Public Service Announcement!

Several popular slash couples and shows prominent in TheBacklot's Slash Madness Tourney are also duking it out as we speak over at the MTVu Fandom Awards! Destiel, Sterek and Johnlock are in the running for Ship of the Year , Hannibal is up for Breakout Fandom of the Year and Supernatural is competing for Fandom of the Year. When you take a break from Slash Madness, head over there to show your support!