Golden Sun

Golden Sun is a series of role-playing video games developed by Camelot and produced by Nintendo.
The first game in the series, Golden Sun (released in Japan as Golden Sun: The Broken Seal), was released in 2001 to critical acclaim and much anticipation for its sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, which was released in 2003. Though Camelot had always left open the possibility of a third game in the series, it wasn't until six years later, in June 2009, that they announced Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, which was released the next year and featured the children of the characters from the first two games.
== Fandom History ==
The first game was released in Japan in August 2001 and in North America in November, and the second in Japan and North America in June 2002 and April 2003 respectively. The first fanfic was posted to FanFiction.net no later than January 2002.FF.net. New Discoveries & New Worries by Mystik Seasons. 17 January 2002. (Accessed 05 December 2011.) Fansites began cropping up no later than January 2003.Triad Orion. Triad Sanctuary - News. Archived October 2009. (Accessed 05 December 2011.)
== Shipping & Slashing ==
=== Pairing Names ===
In the Golden Sun fandom, it is not uncommon to ship any variety of characters together, especially permutations of the original eight playable characters. Most conceivable pairings have a pairing name in the form "___shipping" (à la animanga fandoms such as Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!). Such names are often humorous, and may be derived from the characters' elements physical appearances, or other traits, or from well-known fanfiction stories with the pairing.
Crack pairings are also common, and most have their own shipping names as well. For example, see Alephshipping and Laundryshipping. 
:See also: List of Golden Sun Pairing Names
=== Ship Wars ===
Since the release of the first Golden Sun game, there have been numerous ship wars over which pairings would become canon. The largest of these ship wars was between Valeshippers, who shipped Isaac x Jenna, and both Mudshippers, who shipped Isaac x Mia, and Flameshippers, who shipped Garet x Jenna. Valeshipping was confirmed canon by Dark Dawn.
Essays and meta written include:
* Mudshipping/Flameshipping Vs. Steamshipping/Valeshipping by Triad Orion
* Imilshipping: A Canon Nightmare by Triad Orion
Minor ship wars also took place over Windshipping (Ivan x Sheba) and Lighthouseshipping (Felix x Sheba), though they did not tend to get particularly heated.
=== Slash ===
Slash is somewhat less popular than it is in other fandoms, though its popularity and degree of acceptance varies with different communities. Common slash pairings include Lavashipping (Isaac x Garet) and Earthshipping (Isaac x Felix). Slash is perhaps most common on journal communities. For example, gs_yaoi is a LiveJournal community dedicated exclusively to Golden Sun yaoi and yuri.
== Fanworks ==
Fanfiction is perhaps mostly found on FanFiction.net's Golden Sun section. However, there are usually fanfiction sections on fansites and message boards, and there are a couple LiveJournal fanfic communities and a mostly-defunct Golden Sun Fan Fiction Archive.
Popular authors include Triad Orion, Midnight C, Amber Rei , Elena Carlson, Akiko Date, Dracobolt, Isaac says Booga, etc.
Fanart is mostly found on deviantArt, and there is also some on pixiv. There are often fanart sections of fansites and message boards as well.
Doujinshi is rare but exists (e.g. Pika Pikado by Shining House). The doujinshi anthology Golden Sun 4-Koma Gag Battle is the best-known Golden Sun doujinshi and has been scanlated into English by two different groups (though a physical copy is still difficult to come by).
Forum RPGs and Fandom RPGs are common on the forums of various fansites.
ROM hacking and hack games are common, and there is a Golden Sun Hacking Community website. Popular hack games include:
* Project Iris
* Pokémon Jupiter Version, a GS-themed hack of a Pokémon game
== Golden Sun Communities ==
=== Fan Sites ===
* Golden Sun Universe , a Golden Sun wiki
* Golden Sun Fan Fiction Archive
* The Adepts of Weyard (Old URL) (Current)
* Garet's Kitchen (Golden Sun Wiki Page) (Archived Version on Oocities)
* Golden Sun Hacking Community 
* Golden Sun Odyssey (Archived)
* Golden Sun Realm 
* Golden Sun Syndicate 
* Golden Sun: Adept's Refuge 
* Golden Sunrise 
* GS-Archiv (Archived)
* The Lost Waters 
* Temple of Kraden 
=== Journal Communities ===
* adepts_gs (LJ), a general fan community
* gsfanfic (LJ), for fanfiction
* gs_yaoi (LJ), for yaoi and yuri
* gsfest (LJ), a challenge/fest community
* goldensun100 (LJ), a drabble community
* weyard (DW), a general fan community
== References ==
Category:Golden Sun