Long story short, it started when Zac appeared in battle bunny Riven her splash art. Afterwards, people began pairing them up for their mixed personalities I think. Something cute about the bad ass warrior girl and the kind/goofy guy. Also they have this whole beauty and the beast thing going on. Anywayz, more people went drawing the pairing, and from there it kinda snowballed :)
huh interesting... never even knew there was an actual “backstory” to the ship
I saw your message, and honestly I strongly disagree :) I have commissioned smut with those two as well, but moreover I've commissioned a lot of cute art too. What got me interested in the pairing personally was a cute drawing that someone made with them, and I followed suit with commissions. Heck, I also see a lot of smut with Diana and leona, and katarina and garen. Does that make those pairings smut pairings as well? :)
I actually dislike seeing smut/nsfw art of Diana and Leona lol. I’d rather it’d be NSFW of them in cuts and bruises and blood while fighting each other/against something/someone rather than–sweat and cum lol. I don’t see them doing smut together unless–IDK, it’s desperate and angry sex but that’s an entirely different thing that would need a probably really good background story for me to nod at it. (Or Modern AU)
Mang, you do you if you like the pairing. I’m not telling you guys to stop shipping them O: I, however, do not like it–along with the others I’ve listed. And nobody can change my mind on those CX
Well if your interested in why the Riven x Zac ship excists, it isn't just because of "fanservice" :) Long story short, it may have started when Zac appeared in battle bunny Riven her splash art, but what made people love the pairing was their mixed personalities :) I guess there is something cute about the bad ass warrior girl and kind/goofy guys pairings :) Also both have been harmed by Zaun in the past, and both overcame their "original programming". As such the pairing because very popular
Okay so I'm gonna ramble now and I'd like it known this is purely my own opinion. I'm not telling anyone what to ship or what not to ship, but these are my thoughts right here. Sticking them under a readmore so noone has to deal with my bullshit if they don't want to.
P.S. I apologise if I sound snippy, I'm tired af and I've had a long day.
Let me start by saying that I don't think that Battle Bunny Riven has any bearing on Riven's character whatsoever and I refuse to acknowledge it in my portrayal. As I said in my post, one of the reasons I can't stand the ship is because the vast, vast majority of SO MUCH of the art that has perpetuated it involves that skin, over-sexualises Riven, and diminishes BOTH of their characters in the process. Riven doesn't magically change her personality because she's wearing a bunny suit.
Mixed personalities isn't enough reason for a ship, certainly not when the personality that's presented in most of the fan creations (for Riven at least) is something I cannot and will not get behind. I appreciate that perhaps you have thought about the more emotional side of it where the characters might interact in certain ways because of similarities etc etc and I'm not here to tell you what you can and cannot ship, but I can't help but seriously doubt that the vast majority of the rest of those who 'appreciate' the works that come of it are doing so because they think the characters are actually compatible.
Quite apart from anything else, I don't believe that romance is first and foremost in either of their minds. I can't speak fully for Zac but Riven is an incredibly difficult person to get to know, never mind get into her heart. Chances are also pretty high that she will have a fundamental aversion to Zac simply because he's a Zaunite creation. It's an unfortunate and unfair judgment to make, certainly, but not one she can easily change and not one that she has any interest in changing. Some cuts just go a little too deep.
Then there's the wonder of exactly how human Zac is. Not so much my wonder as Riven's. His existence is something that doesn't make sense to her, that she doesn't understand. While that would never normally stop her from indulging her curiosity if it was strong enough -- the knowledge that he's Zaunite? Again, not touching that with a ten foot barge pole.
On another note, I actually disagree with you in terms of Riven overcoming her 'original programming'. She has her ideals forged on influence from Marcus DuCouteau, and those haven't changed since the Ionia/Noxus war. If anything, they've only become stronger as she's recovered, along with her resolve to uphold Marcus' Noxus. Though I don't suppose that's related to the ship.
TL;DR I appreciate the fact that you ship it, but there is literally nothing on this earth that will make me ship it or even entertain it as a possibility.