How I Met Your Mother

How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom about the lives of a group of six friends from their mid-20's to their mid-30's. The context of the show is that in the year 2030, Ted (the main character) sits his two children down to tell them "the long version" of how he met their mother; a long meandering story about the friendships and romances he had in the years leading up to their meeting.
==Fandom==
*Neil Patrick Harris's character Barney Stinson is considered the show's breakout character - usually a fan favorite. Many fans started watching (and continued) because of the actor, his catchphrases and his "Bro Code" guide being a few of favorites, especially his love of wearing suits. However, Barney is also a controversial character, with many fans objecting to his near-continual attempts to trick women into sleeping with him.
*Up until she's finally introduced in the last season, there was a great deal of speculation as to the identity of The Mother, what kind of person she would be, and how her relationship with Ted would play out.
*The fans were, by and large, deeply unhappy with the finale when it airedAcuna, K. Fans Are Not Happy With The 'How I Met Your Mother' Series Finale, Business Insider, 1 April 2014 (Accessed 9 March 2015). See also the fail_fandomanon threads HIMYM Finale Tonight (31 March 2014) and Re: You Will Never Forgive.... (09 March 2015). and are still upset about it even years later.fail_fandomanon thread RUINED FOREVER (30 July 2018)
===Pairings===
Popular pairings include Barney/Robin, Lily/Marshall, and Ted/Robin, all of which are canonical, though the popularity and prevalence of the pairings waxed, waned and generally fluctuated over the course of the show and its character development. Ted/Barney is the most common slash pairing.
Rarer pairings include: Barney/Lily, Lily/Ted, Lily/Robin, Tracy/Robin, and Tracy/Ted.
===Tropes and Fanon===
*The show featured a lot of very popular catchphrases which became popular amongst the fans (both in and out of the context of the show) 
**"Suit up!"
**"Legen-- wait-for-it --dary!" 
**"Challenge Accepted!"
**"True story."
**"NOBODY ASKED YOU PATRICE!!!" ("Patrice" is sometimes exchanged for another name)
* Same-actor crossovers are sometimes used, mostly for Cobie Smulders' characters Robin Scherbatsky and Maria Hill (MCU); usually Robin was a undercover operation.
* Tobin Structure
==Notable Fanworks==
*At Last by measuringlife - "When Ted meets Tracy, he realizes for the first time that love can be easy." In this story Ted compares old relationships with Tracey and says she's the one. It follows little snippets of their life and love. He repeats over and over how much he loves her.
*How I met the man who stole my yellow umbrella Season 1 by Charlie Cecilia - "In this AU Tracy survives and tells Penny and Luke how she met Ted, right after he told them his story." Tracy tells the children her side of the complicated story of how her and Ted met to their children. This shows the sweet side of their relationship before any illness came into the picture.
==Archives and Fannish Links==
* How I Met Your Mother fanworks at AO3
* How I Met Your Mother fics at FanFiction.Net
==Resources==
* HIMYM newbieguide by bananacosmic (2010)
* TV.com's HIMYM Community
* Barney/Robin Ship Manifesto by damalur
* Barney/Lily Ship Manifesto by otempora42
== References ==
Category:How I Met Your Mother