Ship Tease/Western Animation

"Panthro: Close that mouth, you're drooling."
 * The writers of Avatar: The Last Airbender are (not with basis) accused of teasing the incessant Zutara (Zuko/Katara) shippers, as traces of hinting can be found in the Avatar-dedicated Nick Mag issue and within various interviews. Most notably, trailers for the second season teased a hookup between the two - they get Locked in A Room, and they don't go the route most characters go afterwards (despite her thumb on his mouth). Followed in the same episode by a thorough and brutal Ship Sinking.
 * The four-part finale, in which the ship teasing is as brutally epic as the storyline itself, threw out more bait to the Zutara fans than the entire rest of the series combined. It even includes such classics as . (And they still have time to start a Toph/Zuko Ship Tease.) The amount of ship teasing present in the finale actually confused many casual watchers as to the ending pairings, since
 * M. Night Shaymalan somehow managed to make the Zuko/Katara fight at the North Pole full of even more Ship Teasing goodness. Probably because they skipped "The Waterbending Scroll".
 * The writers teased the Kataang (Katara/Aang) shippers in an earlier episode, where they set up a True Loves Kiss plot - but had the lights go out at the crucial moment, leaving viewers to wonder Did They Or Didn't They?
 * The Season 3, part 2 trailer, which one Katara/Aang shipper described as "a giant kick in the groin," proved that the PR staff were still up to their old tricks, and the shippers still hadn't learned their lesson.
 * Lampshaded (like everything else on the show) in "The Ember Island Players". This also contained a legitimate ship tease, where Toph punches in the arm and then says "It's how I show affection." (Which would make other previous moments where she punches her friends a ship tease...)
 * The writers apparently enjoyed the Ship to Ship Combat somewhat, as evidenced by their Super Deformed Short "School Day Shipping."
 * And they did it again with a marathon of Avatar reruns, with pop-up jokes and factoids appearing on the screen. (One pop-up quips "Love at first sight" during Aang and Katara's first meeting, and another teases "Zuko was originally going to be a love interest for Katara.") The guy who wrote these is the same one behind "Ember Island Players", so the odds of it being unintentional are probably nil.
 * The Sokka/Toph moment in "The Serpent's Pass". "You can just go ahead and let me drown now" indeed.
 * In "Sokka's Master," when Sokka returns to the group, Toph dismissively says that the others missed him... and then turns around so he can't see her, smiles, and blushes.
 * A small but notable scene in "The Western Air Temple" where Sokka actually picks Toph up and cradles her as he walks to camp.
 * In Sequel Series The Legend of Korra, they've picked up right where they left off. No sooner than the second episode did they manage an obscene amount of ship teasing between Mako and Korra, along with the trailer released on Korra Nation containing a line said by Korra to Mako: "Admit it. You like me." For the Borra pairing we have Bolin's attempts at impressing Korra, but most importantly his words to Mako after the latter berates him for bringing into their prep room another one of his fangirls (or so he assumes). Bolin tells him, "There's something special about this girl. I can feel it." And it's likely going to keep on going from there.
 * In the latest round of trailers, more specifically the Path to Korra one,
 * Episode 5 can be summed up as an episode devoted to Ship Tease. Bolin and Korra end up on a date together, with Bolin clearly showing feelings for Korra, while Korra herself shows that she has feelings for Mako through the course of the episode, reaching a climax when
 * Kim Possible, from day one, had all manner of Ship Tease going on between Kim and Ron. Certain exchanges ("If she saw us coming out of a date movie together, she might, you know..." "You. And me. On a date?" "Not that we, y'know, would or anything...") and certain scenes (the parody of the famous upside-down kiss) littered various episodes, and "Emotion Sickness" was one big tease from start to finish, while simultaneously teasing Drakken and Shego. The 1st episode has Ron declare "And contrary to popular belief, I am not dating Kim Possible" in what could be the quickest series-start-to-ship-tease since Mulder and Scully. All of which inevitably lead to their Relationship Upgrade at the end of season three.
 * "Homecoming Upset" had its fair share of Ron/Bonnie teases.
 * The Boondocks: Huey and Jazmine, in several episodes. They even have their own Shipper On Deck in the form of Granddad.
 * Codename Kids Next Door has teased Kuki and Wally fans repeatedly: for instance, in The Movie, playing with Dying Declaration of Love by having one of them infected with The Virus (and passing it on just in time for Kissing Under the Influence). The final episode's Distant Finale framing sequence hints at a Last Minute Hookup between Kuki and Hoagie, before revealing at the last moment that they were just sitting together.
 * In Justice League Bruce Timm admitted to doing this with Batman and Wonder Woman after shippers misintepreted a gesture of thanks as flirting in "The Brave and the Bold". Anybody who's familiar with the DCAU (specifically Batman Beyond) knows that Batman is going to end up bitter and alone...
 * Teen Titans had Robin and Starfire Ship Tease in spades...and that's not even getting into the Psychic Link between Robin and Raven. Or the constant conflict between Raven and Beast Boy. Or Terra/Beast Boy.
 * Some of that is Shout Out to the source material. Dick and Kory have been on again off again since the Bronze Age. Geoff Johns had a bit between Gar and Raven on his run that didn't work so well. And then the Squick implications of the Terra/Slade stuff is worse when you've actually read Judas Contract.
 * The Backyardigans: Plenty of ship tease, but what crossed the final line was the song "I Need a Hand" during "Caveman's Best Friend". It's the end of the song, folks. When they're holding hands. Doesn't that scream "LOVE" to you?! I guess it does.
 * There are numerous Ship-Teasing with Gwen and Kevin in Ben 10 Alien Force.
 * The Duck Tales episode "Duck to the Future" was pretty Ship tease-y in the Magica/Scrooge department, what with Magica embracing Scrooge when the two escape from the Hindenburg...and reaching down his shirt for his Number One Dime.
 * SpongeBob SquarePants: The promos for the 10th anniversary special "Truth Or Square" all focused on a scene where Spongebob and Sandy get married. In the actual episode it turns out
 * While Fillmore was mostly a No Hugging No Kissing series, the writers definitely gave a Toy Ship vibe between the two leading characters. Mostly because their dialogue had a tendency to sound flirtatious at times, coupled with all the subtext of a Buddy Cop Show.
 * The Fairly Odd Parents special "Wishology" seems to finally lean the show in the Timmy/Trixie direction (and at the same time, gives the Timmy/Tootie shippers reason to be very sad), but at the end, the Reset Button returns Trixie to her normal self.
 * In the earlier special "Channel Chasers", there is a portrayal of Timmy's two Generation Xerox children: One who looks exactly like Tootie but has Timmy's brown hair, and the other who looks exactly like Timmy but has Tootie's black hair. It was supposed to be unclear whether Timmy's children are Tootie's or Trixie's, Butch Hartman saying it could be either of the two. Given that both of these ships have rabid fans, that was probably a good idea. It didn't stop both sides from being furious about the outcome of "Wishology", though...
 * Than the Live Action movie came along...shippers of Timmy/Tootie went crazy in a good way at the ending...
 * The Phineas and Ferb episode "That Sinking Feeling" has the two title characters try to help their friend impress a girl. Phineas later invites Isabella along (but not in the way you'd think), providing plenty of this trope. The episode even occurs on a cruise ship.
 * Phineas/Isabella gets teased a lot. For example, Isabella spends the whole episode "Out to Launch" trying to ask Phineas to a dance... only to have him misunderstand her and invite Ferb along as a third wheel. In "One Good Scare Ought to Do It", Phineas not only spends the whole episode trying to help her, but holds her hand practically through the entire song. Many smaller examples also exist.
 * An example that has shippers up on cloud nine occurs in "The Chronicles of Meap". Isabella spends the whole episode trying to get registered by Phineas's "Cute Tracker", to no effect. Then Phineas explains he already took her cuteness into account and set the device to ignore her from the start. When he resets it to stop ignoring her, it immediately shorts out. This promptly spawned a number of Epileptic Trees stating Phineas may not be as Oblivious to Love as he seems.
 * In The Movie, Phineas seems rather pleased when, and makes like he's going to do/say something else, but never gets the chance.
 * The episode "Vanessessary Roughness" does this for Ferb/Vanessa, especially given the cheek-kiss at the end.
 * The hour-long special "Summer Belongs To You" teased two of the three most prominent pairings in the show: Phineas/Isabella and Ferb/Vanessa (and Buford/Baljeet, of all things). It didn't tease Candace/Jeremy however,
 * "Phineas and Ferb's Quantumn Boogaloo" almost confirms the ship, while at the same time opening a new can of worms. While 20 years in the future Isabella is ecstatic to hear Candace's kids comment she looks like their Aunt Isabella, proving she must marry Phineas. Then past!Candace points out she could also marry Ferb and still be their aunt, prompting a look of shock from Isabella - and a point and a wink from the usually-stoic Ferb.
 * For some reason, despite the species difference, the show loves teasing Doofenshmirtz and Perry.
 * Arthur teased Arthur/Francine a few times with a She Is Not My Girlfriend episode at one point and a few glimpses into the future (which may or may not be Imagine Spots) that imply both will eventually get married.
 * Despite their relationship being explicitly platonic, My Life As a Teenage Robot threw in some teasing for Brad and Jenny from time to time.
 * Iron Man Armored Adventures is loaded with this. Tony/Pepper, Tony/Whitney, and Rhodey/Whitney all get ship teases in the series, but that's just the intentional ones. Unintentionally there's hints of Pepper/Gene all over the place, though Word of God has it they were meant to just come across as friends.
 * Scooby Doo is infamous for the possibly the longest ever (still ongoing!!) never-resolved Will They or Won't They between Fred and Daphne (if you're not counting the live action movies).
 * Assuming you don't take "Let's Split Up Gang" as kind of euphemism...
 * Finally They Will in Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated where Fred even proposes to Daphne
 * Even The Magic School Bus, which was primarily an Edutainment Show and aimed at little kids, managed to sneak in some hints between most of the kids. The most consistently teased pairings were the three cases of Opposites Attract: Ralphie/Keesha, Carlos/Dorothy Ann, and Arnold/Wanda.
 * Arnold was a veritable Chick Magnet; he was also teased with Phoebe ("The Busasaurus") and Dorothy Ann ("Cracks A Yolk"), and a girl in another class named Tiffany ("Wet All Over").
 * On Jimmy Two Shoes, Jimmy comes into Heloise's room when the rest of the town is in hibernation. After trying to wake her up normally, he looks into the book she's holding, reading that a princess was awakened by a kiss. He looks at Heloise for a moment, who has sparkles over her...then tosses the book aside, muttering "You can't believe everything you read."
 * Another episode focusing on Hiccup Hijinks had a doctor suggesting that Jimmy cure Heloise's hiccups with a slight obstruction of the air passage, such as a prolonged kiss. Jimmy reluctantly decides to provide it..
 * Yet another episode ends with
 * A season 4 episode of Ka Blam featured Henry falling in love with a one-shot character, Dawn. June was mad. So were the H/J Shippers. Did the creators forget about episode 29? (Oh wait, never mind. They did.)
 * During season 2 of Total Drama Island the writers loved to tease Duncan with girls other than his canon love interest Courtney. Mostly this was with Gwen but he also ended up kissing Heather (as part of a challenge) and going on a 'date' with Lindsay (to deliberately infuriate Courtney). Then season three, the tease with Gwen became the truth!
 * Crack Shippers had a field day when Noah/Bridgette was thrown at them out of NOWHERE.
 * Noah/Izzy seem to be just friends, but a lot of their interactions come off as cutesy or romantic. They also happen to be a Fan Preferred Couple.
 * According to the Writer's Bible of The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest, the writers wanted to Ship Tease Jonny/Jessie in the first season. When a new head writer took over in season 2, Ship Tease was also planned for Hadji/Jessie while continuing the Jonny/Jessie teasing from the previous season, hinting at a possible Two Guys and A Girl Love Triangle. The Jonny/Jessie teasing culminated in the second season episode "Ghost Quest" where Jonny and Jessie kiss while possessed by the ghosts of two former lovers.
 * Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers had quite a bit of this between Shane and Niko, especially if Chris Rowley was writing. "Scarecrow" is positively loaded. There's one scene where Shane was dancing with a local girl. Niko asks him later about his "girlfriend," and he remarks "She already has a date...and so do I." Then, there's the scene where Scarecrow busts into an injured Niko's room and attacks her. Shane breaks in and brawls Scarecrow, but is knocked against a wall. Before the Scarecrow can kill him, Niko grabs her BFG and shoots, scaring the thing off. As she swoons from the injuries she already has, Shane catches her, and says softly. "Easy, babe, sleep now." It was rather amusing when Rowley discovered the Fanfic fifteen years later...
 * Hey Arnold does this with some of the lesser characters: Harold with both Rhonda and Patty, Sid and Rhonda (in the episode "Wheezin' Ed"), Sheena and Eugene. Phoebe and Gerald also count earlier on, but they're more or less the official Beta Couple by season 4.
 * Used on several occasions with Odd and Sissi in Code Lyoko, who share an almost Slap Slap Kiss dynamic.
 * There's actually been a pretty good amount of ship teasing in Transformers Prime after only a season, including Cliffjumper and Arcee.
 * Chowder: There are a few such moments between Shnitzel and Ms. Endive, even though Endive has a Does Not Like Men attitude and Shnitzel is The Unintelligible of the group.
 * Ed, Edd n Eddy: Edd was teased for Edd/Nazz in "the day the Edd stood still." See the kiss scene which we ALL remember.
 * Eddy gets a kiss from Nazz too in the movie. It's adorable.
 * The Powerpuff Girls did the Foe Yay variety of this at times between Him and Bubbles, Mojo Jojo and Blossom, and Buttercup and Him.
 * And Buttercup and Ace.
 * X Men Evolution:
 * Being the Official Couple, it's only natural that Scott and Jean had plenty of Ship Tease before their Relationship Upgrade in early season 3. Remy and Rogue also had their share of Ship Tease, likely as a reference to their relationship in the comics.
 * Despite them both getting love interests in season 2, Kurt and Kitty had a lot of Ship Tease throughout the show. Your Mileage May Vary on whether the writers did this deliberately to please (or torture) the Kurt/Kitty shippers, if it's a case of Relationship Writing Fumble, or if Kurt and Kitty would have gotten together had there been a season five.
 * Everyone had a Ship Tease moment with everyone at some point, listing it all would be impossible but the fansite Beyond Evolution has a list of a number of possible couples. Each one lists the episodes that had a ship tease moment. It organizes the couples based on their possibility of existance. Some of the listed Ship Teases are with Shipping Goggles (Lance/Kitty in No Good Deed? They didn't even interact, Jean/Lucas? He kidnapped her).
 * Young Justice: Superboy and Miss Martian, Kid Flash and Artemis.
 * "Humanity" is full of Robin/Zatanna teasing.
 * Depending on the episode, Gadget from Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers was either interested in Chip, interested in Dale, interested in someone else (usually a oneshot character like Sparky), not interested in anyone, or unaware of the concept of romance. Trying to figure out which viewpoint has the most support, however, is the hottest and most divisive topic in the fandom, and bringing it up is either the fastest way to start a Flame War, or the fastest way to get someone to step in and change the subject.
 * In ThunderCats, Cheetara is teased with both Lion-O (they spend an episode psychically linked, he's been shoved into her, and she has a throwaway line in the pilot about how handsome he'd become) and Tygra, who she eventually gets together with in the tie-in comics.
 * The writers of ThunderCats (2011) have decided to take the original concept above and run with it, making Tygra Lion-O's adoptive older brother, giving them a longstanding, deep-seated Sibling Rivalry and a shared attraction to Cheetara. They're now all teenagers, which adds to the moodiness. So far:
 * In "Omens Part One" The Charmer Tygra openly flirted with Cheetara while she's clad in priestly vestments that leave only her eyes visible.
 * In "Song of the Petalars" Lion-O had a moment holding hands with Cheetara as she comforts him during a moment of grief... promptly killed by Snarf's glomping his face.
 * In "Journey to the Tower of Omens" Lion-O is a bit nervous over Cheetara's Hands On Approach towards coaching him in the Sword of Omens' use, (which Wilykit notices, and merrily mocks with smooching noises) while Tygra later gapes over Cheetara's Super Speed, to which a smirking Panthro quips:
 * In "Journey to the Tower of Omens" Lion-O is a bit nervous over Cheetara's Hands On Approach towards coaching him in the Sword of Omens' use, (which Wilykit notices, and merrily mocks with smooching noises) while Tygra later gapes over Cheetara's Super Speed, to which a smirking Panthro quips:


 * Despite the theme of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic being, well, friendship, it does have a number of these moments:
 * The episode "Secret of My Excess" was basically one big Spike/Rarity tease. In the next episode where they're actually shown together, "Dragon Quest", Rarity is extremely affectionate towards Spike. It should be noted that this is the only case in which one of the parties involved (Spike) is canonically in love with the other.
 * "Hearts and Hooves Day" has Cheerilee and Big Macintosh fall in love due to a love potion administered by the Cutie Mark Crusaders. So after it has worn off, we shouldn't expect it to last, right? Except that the final moments of the episode have
 * It should be mentioned that . Regardless, the fans will still argue about it until they're blue in the face.
 * During the Photo Montage in A Canterlot Wedding Part 2, Rainbow Dash is seen with Soarin' (one of the Wonderbolts), Rarity with Fancy Pants, and Spike dancing alongside Sweetie Belle. A catchy love song is playing when this happens.
 * Adventure Time
 * The two-parter "Mortal Folly"/"Mortal Recoil" was filled with Finn/Bubblegum teasing. Even beyond Finn defeating The Lich with the The Power of L-l-liking Someone A Lot thanks to the sweater Bubblegum gave him, and Finn's subsequent ineffective attempt at admitting this to Bubblegum, the two-parter ends with Bubblegum turned thirteen years old and giving Finn a congratulatory hug. "Too Young" continued this teasing with a vengeance, only to swerve into a Ship Sinking ending.
 * "What Was Missing" was one colossal tease for Bubblegum/Marceline, the pinnacle of which was either A) a song that hinted at some incredible emotional pain in their past relationship with all the subtlety of a mountain, or B) that Bubblegum's stolen treasure was a shirt Marceline gave her (directly paralleling Finn's stolen treasure; a wad of Bubblegum's hair). The publically released storyboard reveals that originally there were even more hints planned.
 * "Go With Me" is odd in that it seems to be both teasing and sinking Finn/Marceline at once--the whole episode makes a point of showing how they get along better than either does with Bubblegum, but Marceline pointedly turns Finn down when he seems to be asking her on a date. When it turns out to be Not a Date she goes, and they bond over their hatred of romance in the most romantically platonic way possible.
 * "Hot to the Touch" is dedicated to nothing other than teasing Finn and the Flame Princess.
 * South Park: Stan and Wendy are an Official Couple, but he does have some Ship Tease with his best friend, Kyle. Kyle, in the mean time, has some pretty thick subtext with Cartman, who also has been teased with Wendy before.
 * While not necessarily played straight (it's more a parody of shipping, if anything), Cartman Finds Love makes Cartman's only previously implied intimate relationship with Kyle Broflovski canon. Kind of. Cartman obsessively ships Token/Nichole, since they're both black, and when he hears that Nichole likes Kyle, he tells her that he and Kyle are in a relationship, so therefore she can't date him. She then proceedes to get together with Token. Kyle, in the mean time, learns about Cartman's rumor about the two of them and demands he tell the truth, but Cartman convinces him to keep quiet so he won't ruin Nichole's happy relationship. Nichole, however, dumps Token when she fears they're only dating because they're both black, and once Cartman learns Kyle is taking Nichole to a basketball game, he follows them, gets on the megatron, proclaims his love for Kyle (complete with singing him a love ballad and calling him "babe") in front of thousands. Kyle, who was an unwilling participant in Cartman's plan since he did really like Nichole, storms out angrily.