The VMA seat cards have been placed! Appropriately, the three most nominated artists — Rihanna, Drake and Katy Perry — are all sitting front and center in the Staples Center audience. But Perry is directly in the middle of something else: the friendly rivalry between One Direction and The Wanted.

Sure, that rivalry might be more fan-made than anything else, but we can’t help noticing that the two British boy bands are on opposite sides of the seating area with a whole row between them (and in the middle of that row sits Ms. Perry). Coincidence? We think not! Maybe the plan is actually just to seat them closer to their respective fanbases, which seem to have swarmed downtown Los Angeles. If that’s the case, it looks like Pink is a Directioner while Skrillex is on Team Wanted.

Meanwhile, in other sections of Staples Center, the Fierce 8212; Gabby Douglas, McKayla Maroney, Aly Raisman, Kyla Ross, and Jordyn Wieber — are seated behind Odd Future’s Tyler, The Creator, who, as it turns out, is seated behind Green Day. If that’s not enough to keep straight, Gotye is sitting next to Andy Samberg who is sitting behind Mac Miller who is sitting next to Childish Gambino. Chris Brown is already assigned a spot, too.

Then there’s poor Tom Petty, sitting behind them all by himself. Maybe he’s actually just been seated next to Obama’s empty chair? The beloved rocker certainly deserves such a prestigious spot.

Though these seat cards tell us where our favorite celebs are sitting, we won’t know who they’re bringing as their arm candy until the VMAs pre-show starts tomorrow at 7 p.m. ET/PT. We can’t wait to find out.

While we’re busy getting excited for all the celebrities who are going to be attending the VMAs, the awards show really is all about the music. We’re really looking forward to getting all these big stars together under one roof to see what magic can happen. From what we hear, Thursday night’s performances will be pretty incredible.

The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards are set to go live from Staples Center in Los Angeles on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET/ 5 p.m. PT on MuchMusic. But before it all goes down, don’t miss our pre-show with Demi Lovato at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT!