Wanna know my hated pairings? So far, in the Final Fantasy series as Meg mentioned, I hate two pairings there. One that is overrated and one that fans made crazy and not to mention overused. Fans of the pairings I will mention here, you have been warned! Don't like? Don't read! If you want to read, then read at your own risk.
Cloud Strife x Tifa Lockhart
Honestly, I don't see any romantic bond between them. The fans claim this is a canon pair; how can that be so when you can actually manipulate Cloud's choices on who's his true woman then? There's no canon pairing. No one hooked with anyone. You have your own taste on who Cloud should end up, but that doesn't mean you can accept the pairing as canon.
Obviously, I sensed a lot of cons in this pairing. So here's the story:
Back when they were very young, Cloud made a promise to Tifa that he would join SOLDIER to protect her. So he left Nibelheim for Midgar and applied for the SOLDIER test. The result of the test is that he failed in some aspects of it, so he ended up becoming a lowly Shinra Infantry Guard Militia, thus breaking his promise to her. That's why in Crisis Core before Sephiroth burned Nibelheim down, Cloud hid his face from Tifa through his Shinra Guard helmet.
Then, during FFVII, Cloud, now absorbed Zack Fair's memories through Mako poisoning, fell in love with the flower girl and Cetra Aerith Gainsborough, which is canon; however, they never ended up being together canonically... It was shattered when Sephiroth murdered her right in front of him. Tifa did sense that his memories are boggled up and that he's lying, especially on his take on what happened before FFVII (it was retconned in a good way thanks to Crisis Core). In its ending after Sephiroth has been defeated by Cloud for good, Cloud told Tifa he would one day meet Aerith again.
I also sensed some obsession from Tifa towards Cloud during Advent Children too. He never even bothered answering her calls. He still had that guilt over Aerith's death, thanks to Geostigma. When Cloud saw Tifa injured by Loz, lying down in Aerith's flower field, she told him "You're too late..." which rather hurt him. Cloud even didn't give a damn about her lectures towards him, especially her question "Which is it? A memory, or us?" which he never even bothered to answer. So he left her again to rescue the children from the three Remnants' clutches. I never heard Cloud say to Tifa that he loves her, not even once... She was just there to help him, especially taking down Bahamut SIN...
So in the end, Cloud only considers Tifa as a friend; nothing more, nothing less... He once fell in love with her back then, but he fell out of love with her; now it's Tifa's turn but Cloud hardly answers her feelings for him back... And this is why CloTi is the most overrated Final Fantasy VII pairing of all time! Even if they've known each other since childhood, I disapprove of this pairing!
Next FF pairing I hate:
Lightning Farron x Noctis Lucis Caelum
I honestly sense no romantic bond between them. The crazy fans obviously did it because of their looks and similar personalities only, not to mention being main characters of their respective games (Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XV (formerly Versus XIII). There is no canon FF game where these two actually met, therefore no actual story between them! The fantards even bashed on Stella Nox Fleuret, which we all know little of since she is quite a mysterious woman, but will be revealed more of her soon as more info on FFXV is finally revealed (we'll see how Tetsuya Nomura-san, who is actually fond of Stella, puts his efforts into FFXV since he is the director of it and all that; he's been digging quite deep in this since its teaser since 2006). Why bother bash on a person we don't even know a thing about, huh? I hardly even doubt those fantards have any legit reason why they pair these two up or any comebacks once others see the cons and criticize it. Lightning's and Noctis' eau de toilette weren't a good enough reason for me to ship them...
Just because two games share the same mythos (Fabula Nova Crystallis) doesn't mean there should be connections between these worlds and its respective characters exclusive to them. None of the creators ever mentioned connections among the three FNC FF worlds at all.
And I think Lightning is even manlier than Noctis. There's no way Noctis can dominate her back...
I've been discussing FFXV's info with a fellow DeviantArt member on this through my comment of a Noctella fanart of hers, since we're both NoctisXStella fans; some hints of it are already revealed in FFXV, like Noctis teling Stella "My heart won't let go". Through this, we have valid points and reasons why we hate Lightis!
Here's my discussion with her on why we love Noctella and hate Lightis. It's my comment to her NoctisxStella fanart.
And that rant I have is over. So far, CloTi and LighTis are the FF pairings I hate!
So in the words of Kefka Palazzo:
I hate hate hate hate HATE these pairings!
My top five most hated pairings:
1. Lightning x Hope
2. Lightning x Hope
3. Lightning x Hope
4. Lightning x Hope
5. Lightning x Hope
I mean just....just...WHY? Why do people try to make Lightning a pedophile? But not only that, they think it's cute. WHAT? Gross. So freaking gross.
I really agree with you there, Meg, although you are just saying one pairing. I too hate Lightning x Hope, despite Lightning smiling at Hope several times. That is exactly where I am getting at. Why do fantards even make Lightning a complete pedophile? And it's cute? REALLY?! Yeah, it's rather creepy and disgusting! That is also out of character for both characters!
You wanna know what's even gross on the pairing, Meg? There are already two Hentai Mangas of them, and I actually read them. One where Lightning 'trains' Hope while Fang has a real dick ****ing Vanille (Uuugh! Another reason for me to hate same-sex pairings AKA Yaoi and Yuri pairings) and one where Hope wants Lightning so bad. I do not sense any romance between them AT ALL! NONE!!
I think we all should be careful on who we ship together, especially on crack pairings. We must come up with our own valid/legit reasons why we love shipping two characters.
P.S. I am for underloved pairings...