Fan-Preferred Couple: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''"I won't marry Jo to Laurie to please anyone."''|From the journal of '''Louisa May Alcott''', author of ''[[Little Women]]'', who has [[Writer Revolt|had it]] with the fan letters asking of her to do that.}}

A lot of fans are [[Shipping|rooting for this couple to get together]]. A ''lot''. Way more than are rooting for any conceivable alternative. And it is ''not happening''.

 

 

And still yet, in spite of it all, they are ''not happening''. Certainly not now, and probably not ever.

A subreaction of [[Better Than Canon]]. Most often the result of a [[Romantic False Lead]] [[Gone Horribly Right]] due to [[Emotional Torque]] critical mass, but sometimes happens [[Intended Audience Reaction|by design]] or [[Crack Pairing|because fandoms just make no sense]]. Often, but not always, involves disregarding a competing [[Official Couple]] with extreme prejudice. Can eventually lead to an [[Author's Saving Throw]] or a [[Writer Revolt]].

 

 

 

When left alone, this page very quickly decays into its natural state of equilibrium: Everyone listing huge [[Wall of Text|Walls of Text]] about their favorite [[Shipping|ships]]. We don't want that. Here are some guidelines for what examples you put on this page and how.

 

# '''No listing two different pairings with the same character in them''', unless you have a very good explanation of how they can both be the most popular at the same time.

# '''Give us specifics'''. Saying "some fans think" it should happen gives us zero information. That's true of ''anything'' on the internet.

# '''Keep it short and to the point'''. Lapsing into speculation of what in [[Canon]] set this reaction off is all right, but don't give us a friggin' plot summary.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* For the [[Keroro Gunso]] fanbase, you're more likely to find fanart of Giroro with Natsumi rather than her canon crush, Saburo.

* ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'': [[Rumiko Takahashi]] originally planned for [[Victorious Childhood Friend|Ataru/Shinobu]] to be the [[Official Couple]] and [[Clingy Jealous Girl|Lum]] to be only an obstacle to their relationship. However, it soon became clear that ''everyone'' had [[Ensemble Darkhorse|fallen in love with Lum]] and her one-sided devotion to her "Darling" Ataru, including her own editors - probably because she had unintentionally made Lum ''too'' likeable and endearing a [[Romantic False Lead]] and fans found the [[Tsundere]] [[Fur Bikini|tiger-striped bikini-clad]] [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|alien]] [[Cute Monster Girl|oni]] [[Everything's Better with Princesses|princess]] to be more [[Freaky Is Cool|appealing]] in more than [[Ms. Fanservice|one way]]) than the somewhat less [[Tsundere]] [[Ordinary High School Student]] - and she was compelled to turn Ataru/Lum into the official couple instead. Many fans have speculated that this experience was what caused her to not only make Lum's [[Expy]] Shampoo far less likeable but also [[Ship Sinking|sink]] several Fan Preferred Couples in her later series ''[[Ranma ½]]''.

* A shocking majority of the [[Inuyasha]] fandom ships [[Noble Demon|Sesshomaru]] [[Wife Husbandry|with]] [[Morality Pet|Rin]], while his [[Implied Love Interest|canonical feelings]] for [[Dark Magical Girl|Kagura]] are all but ignored. Even more jarring since Rin is canonically a [[Shipper on Deck]] for Sess/Kagura, not to mention Sesshomaru's [[Parental Incest|''adoptive daughter'']] in all but name whom he has been taking care off since she was ''seven years old''.

** And those that don't ship Sesshomaru/Rin are busy shipping Sesshomaru/Kagome.

* Soul and Maka from ''[[Soul Eater]]'', though the same can be said for all of the meisters and their weapon partners. Kid/Crona is also ''very'' popular, especially on deviantART. Although meister/weapon pairings are very popular, Soul/Maka seems to be the biggest faction, with at least three separate deviantART fangroups.

** There's also a sugnificant faction of Kid/Maka, Kid/Soul, Maka/Crona, and Stein/Spirit supporters that should not be over-looked.

** [[Portmanteau Couple Name|NaruHina]] has been popular enough to get plenty of [[Ship Tease]] in [[Filler]], a date in a [[High School AU]] bonus feature and a canon-defying [[Relationship Upgrade]] in [[Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2|a video game adaptation]].

** [[Ho Yay|Naruto/Sasuke]] enjoys all sorts of support and homage, especially on [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls|fanfiction.net]] and its ilk, even though it has already been well-established that Naruto is straight and Sasuke is [[Ax Crazy|homicidally insane]]. To be fair, Naruto's disproportionate obsession with "saving" Sasuke ''does'' raise an eyebrow or two. Among the rest of the generic [[Ho Yay]] galore, [[Ships That Pass in the Night|Kakashi/Iruka]] stands out in popularity, with [[Those Two Guys|Genma/Raidou and/or Izumo/Kotetsu]] as popular [[Ship Mates]].

** [[Kissing Cousins|Neji/Hinata]] is supposedly popular back in Japan, presumably due to [[Incest Is Relative|cousin incest]] [[Values Dissonance|being more accepted there]]. It's worth mentioning that biologically, Neji and Hinata are half-siblings (their respective fathers are identical twins), so [[From a Certain Point of View]], this is [[Brother-Sister Incest]].

** Tsunade and Jiraiya {{spoiler|before the latter died}}.

* Fans of ''[[Da Capo]]'' are rather divided about who Jun'ichi should have ended up with, but most think Kotori would have been a much better match for him than Nemu for various reasons, among them not being a [[Tsundere]] or his [[Not Blood Siblings|adopted sister]]. Unfortunately, the sequel reinforced the official pairing by featuring Jun'ichi and Nemu's granddaughters. (An alternate-universe OVA was released in which Kotori wins. Kotori must have been pretty popular.) In the original VN, Nemu has almost an unrecognizable personality if you're only used to her in the anime (she's far less bitchy and far more empathic and likable). She was undoubtedly the favorite of the majority until the anime adaptations.

* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'':

** Many fans find the more emotionally expressive pop idol Seiya Kou from the ''Stars'' season to be a much better match than the more subdued Mamoru because Usagi and Seiya's personalities mesh well together. The fact that Seiya is actually female is not addressed by the series, though the series conveniently keeps Usagi [[Selective Obliviousness|painfully oblivious]] to Seiya's feelings up until the end of the series. This is also not helped by the manga having Seiya love Usagi from afar (and even forge correspondence from Mamoru {{spoiler|since Usagi was still in denial over him dying in front of her}}) and the anime actually using her as a [[Replacement Love Interest]] when Mamoru was [[Put on a Bus]].

* In the ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' series:

** While Ken/Miyako (Ken/Yolei) wound up canon in the finale, there was very little actual development between the two other than Yolei mentioning her having a crush on him. Unsurprisingly, couplings of either with someone else usually have more fan support. Takari (Takeru/Hikari) also ended up as this since it already had a large fandom from when it was a popular [[Toy Ship]] in the first season.

*** Not that Takato and Ruki (or Ruki and Jian)<ref>Okay, ''this'' guy has more [[Spell My Name with an "S"]] going than simply having a different name in the US. His Japanese name, Jenrya Lee, is the Japanese way of writing the Chinese name Jianliang Lee. This wasn't a widely known fact when the series was new, so Jenrya and Jen are names that frequently appear in fandom. His dub name is Henry Wong. And of course, there's [[First-Name Basis]] being more intimate in Japan than in the west - "Lee-kun or -san is his most common ''onscreen'' Japanese name. So Henry, Jenrya, Jen, Jianliang, Jian, and Lee all refer to the same guy.</ref> ever got along too badly. And the [[Ship Tease]] with Ryo was mostly him hitting on her as part of their rivalry, and stunted by his few sporadic appearences in the latter third of series making it hard for most viewers to get attached to him.

** "Hot-headed girl x cool-headed guy" probably best fits Ruki and Jian, as that pairing was wildly popular in the Japanese fan community. In canon, Ruki got a lot of [[Ship Tease]] with Ryo, but you'll find more fanwork to Ruki and Jian ([[Portmanteau Couple Name|"Leeruki"]] as the Japanese fans called it) than for Ruki and Ryo.

* ''[[Strawberry Panic!|Strawberry Panic]]'' fans will often hate Amane for two things: taking away their beloved Hikari/Yaya Coupling and being a [[Bifauxnen]]. It doesn't help that many viewers, and several reviewers, who weren't even in a [[Shipping]] mindset, found the Hikari/Amane romance subplot to be bland and forgettable.

* The most popular pairing in ''[[Slayers]]'' fandom used to be Lina/Zelgadis, given that both are level-headed and intelligent - despite the fact that Zelgadis cannot stand Lina at times -, as opposed to the canon Lina/Gourry. Nowadays, it has a rather small following. This might have something to do with [[Official Couple|Amelia]] becoming less hated over the years partly due to [[Character Development]]. Other [[Alternate Continuity|official works]] have noted this - the [[Light Novel]] series artist now draws Zelgadis and Amelia together, and several manga adaptations, namely the manga version of the fifth anime season, has a massive [[Ship Tease]] in regards to them.

** The manga adaptation played up Allenby and Domon's [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|teasing]]; the artist made it clear in an interview that he preferred Allenby to Rain.

* [[Bleach]]: Ichigo/Rukia, despite [[Tite Kubo]] stating twice that they had a unique, non-amorous relationship and both Japanese and American voice actors agreeing that there was no romantic interest, and preferring Ichigo with another [[Love Interest]], Orihime, manages to have captured the hearts and souls of 90% of the [[Fan Dumb]]. These fans believe IchiRuki to be totally [[Official Couple|canon]] and every other Ichigo pairing to be a [[Crack Pairing]].

** And the anime hasn't helped, adding a LOAD of IchiRuki [[Ship Tease]] that was not in the original manga.

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' has quite a number of them, thanks to [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] and [[Ho Yay]]. The main Fan Preferred Couple by a wide margin is America/England with a ''lot'' of fans loving their [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]] dynamic and the amount of [[Ship Tease]] they get in canon and also the fact that the pairing has plenty of potential for humor, fluff and angst in fanworks. There are [[Launcher of a Thousand Ships|many other popular pairings for America and England]], but even a casual glance over the fandom in general will confirm that "US/UK" stands heads and shoulders above the closest competition. (In the English fandom at least; it's a much closer call in the Japanese fandom where it stands toe-to-toe with England/Japan.)

** While America/England is still incredibly popular, Germany/Italy and France/England have been giving them a run for their money as of late. Russia/China and Sweden/Finland are also on the rise.

* There have been some similar [[Les Yay]] debates over ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'', mainly involving [[Shrinking Violet]] Sakaki. The most popular Fanfic pairings for her seems to be with Kagura. Chiyo/Osaka seems to be another favored pairing in the fandom.

** The Tomo/Yomi pairing is outright considered [[Fanon]].

** Hikaru/Kaoru is the most popular pairing on fanfiction.net, despite it being the least likely of all the pairings to become canon.

** From the same website, Haruhi/Kyouya is apparently more popular than Haruhi/Hikaru.

* Fans of ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' can't agree on who Spike should be with, but they do seem to agree that it's not his canon love interest, [[Shallow Love Interest|Julia]]. It helps that [[Word of God]] has confirmed Spike and Faye had a thing for each other, but Spike's obsession with his past prevented him from doing anything about it.

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has not yet reached its conclusion, but no matter who ends up "winning", ''somebody'' is going to be complaining about it, as there are numerous ships that are extremely popular in the fandom (Negi/Asuna for a start).

* The ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime has a few, despite the [[No Hugging, No Kissing]]. Ash/Misty is probably the most popular, helped by a precious few [[Ship Tease]] moments and a saccharine love ballad she sings to him buried somewhere in the 2B A Master soundtrack. With Pokémon/Human fans it's either Ash and Latias or Pikachu. Rival-wise it's May and Drew, which was given [[Ship Tease]] in most episodes Drew appeared in, getting increasingly blatant over time. Gay wise it's him and Gary, while lesbian wise it's either Zoey and Dawn or Cynthia and Dawn. Ash's Mom (Delia)/Professor Oak had a strong following for a while, possibly due to Oak acting as Ash's father figure most of the series.

* In the ''[[Pokémon Special]]'' manga it tends to be Red and Yellow. Blue<ref>Green in America</ref>/Silver, Gold/Crystal, and Ruby/Sapphire teeter on the edge of canon, but can still be called this. With any other manga? ...Eh...Most fans don't know of any other manga. A slight example is ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure]]'', where Jun and Mitsumi seems popular.

*** Ironically, the one thing that had Special fans dropping the N/White like hot potatoes was the one thing that made their game counterparts so popular. Can you say, [[Ferris Wheel Date Moment|Ferris]] [[Trauma Conga Line|Wheel]]?

* The only [[Official Couple|official couples]] in ''[[Nabari no Ou]]'' are Thobari/Hanabusa and Kouichi/Raimei. However, thanks to the [[Serial Escalation|sheer amount of]] [[Ship Tease]] Yoite/Miharu and Raikou/Gau get, fans overwhelmingly prefer to [[Squee]] over those pairings instead.

* Many fans of ''[[Highschool of the Dead]]'' think that [[Hot Amazon|Saeko]] is a far better match for Takashi than Rei. This is probably due to several reasons, including Saeko not being a [[Clingy Jealous Girl]] like Rei.

** There's also the fact that Rei [[Netorare|toyed with him]] on purpose, knowing full well what his feelings were.

** Of course, in a post apocalyptic world where the only people you know but aren't undead yet are gendered over 2:1 in favour of women, there's not exactly much in the way of alternatives.

** A more extensive list includes:

*** Franky/Robin (due to them having been described as the "dad" and "mom" of the Straw Hat crew, numerous scenes of [[Character Development]] they share, and both being strongly connected to the [[Myth Arc]])

*** Zoro/Tashigi (because of her resemblance to Kuina, Zoro's childhood friend)

*** Zoro/Perona (due to spending two years on a remote island together)

** ...yeah, the possibilities are endless.

* Some fans of ''[[Tears to Tiara]]'' like to pair Arthur and Octavia together, since they're both noble warriors and swordsmen {{spoiler|with Sad Pasts that involve their dead loved ones. And of course the fans were excited when they saw [[Ship Tease|episode 10]]}}.

* [[Foe Yay|L/Light]] and [[Ho Yay|Mello/Matt]] are the [http://fanlore.org/wiki/Death_Note most popular ships] in the ''[[Death Note]]'' fandom.

** While the slash fans dominate the fandom, L/Misa fans contribute their share of fan art as well.

* [[For the Lulz|Shizuku]] and [[Clueless Chick Magnet|Natsuru]] in ''[[Kämpfer]]'' are essentially this in the eyes of the fans, who love seeing Shizuku trolling the hell out of Natsuru. The official according to the [[Light Novel]] is Natsuru and Akane, while the anime opted for the "everyone wins" route.

* Within the ''[[Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl]]'' fandom it's extremely rare to see someone who ships Hazumu and Yasuna. This is despite, or maybe because, she was the girl Hazumu was going after for most of the series. The shipping was so noticeable that {{spoiler|an anime [[OVA]] came out that [[Ship Sinking|killed the Hazumu/Yasuna]] ship with a flimsy excuse, to get Hazumu and [[Victorious Childhood Friend|Tomari]] [[Relationship Upgrade|together]]}}. It has a mild excuse in the anime, where the ending before the [[OVA]] does have aspects of [[Ass Pull]].

* Tohru/Natsuno and Tatsumi/Ozaki are shipped the most in ''[[Shiki]]'', especially [[Ho Yay|Tohru/Natsuno]].

* In ''[[Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]]'' Kurogane and Fai are the biggest non canon pairing due to the massive amounts of [[Ho Yay]] between them, and the fact that neither of them have any love interests.

* ''[[No. 6]]'' has Shion and Nezumi, who are ''by far'' the most shipped couple in the fandom. It helps that they have truly massive amounts of [[Ho Yay]] and [[Ship Tease]] and {{spoiler|go on to have two on-screen kisses}}.

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' has its fair share. A good majority of the fandom ships Natsu/Lucy, partly in due to their ''[[One Piece]]'' parallels and their overall closeness. Jellal/Erza and Gray/Juvia is also abundantly supported, helped in fact by the continuous [[Ship Tease]] for the former and the [[Stalker with a Crush|adorable]] [[Dogged Nice Guy|interactions]] for the latter. [[Beta Couple]] Gajeel/Levy is also unanimously supported by the fandom.

** Also Cobra and Cubelious{{spoiler|Kinana}}

* ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'': While Yusuke/Keiko is ''the'' [[Official Couple]] of the series, there are also fans of [http://kaskachan.deviantart.com/art/request-Kurama-x-Botan-202199630 Kurama/Botan], [[Heterosexual Life Partners|Kurama/Hiei]] (Googling this one gives you ''plenty'' of NSFW imagery), [[Just Friends|Yusuke/Botan]], [[Foe Yay|Yusuke/Hiei]], Koenma/Botan, Sakyo/Shizuru, and [[Dogged Nice Guy|Kuwabara]]/[[Oblivious to Love|Yukina]]. {{spoiler|The last one might be canon in the manga, though it's left ambiguous}}.

* [[Tower of Druaga]]: Even most Kaaya fans preferred Jil and Fatina as a couple. [[Strangled by the Red String|Could have something to do with how poorly written Jil X Kaaya is.]]

 

== Comic Books ==

* A lot of people forget that [[Archie Comics|Archie and Veronica]] were the original [[Official Couple]]; it's only because of Betty being a [[Better Than Canon]] match for him that [[Betty and Veronica]] even became a ''question''. The newspaper comic version does a much better job of emphasizing Archie/Veronica, but this still just doesn't help at all. During the last couple of decades, the writers have tried to make the triangle more even; Betty gets about as many dates with Archie, and Veronica has several other (one-shot) boyfriends.

* [[Strange Girl|Lenore]] and [[Our Vampires Are Different|Ragamuffin]] from ''[[Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl]]'' and ''how''. To the point where most fanart and fanfiction involve the two of them. It doesn't help that they have a bucket filled with [[No Yay]] and [[Relationship Writing Fumble]], especially in the original comics.

** [[Batman]]/TheJoker. Oh. Ye. Gods. This is the most popular Batman [[Foe Yay]] pairing. The fact it is canon on the Joker's side helps.

** Keeping with clowns, Harley/Ivy is a popular alternative to Harley/Joker given their close relationship in canon.

** There's quite a bit of support for Robin (Tim Drake)/Batgirl (Cassandra Cain). They're opposites in a lot of ways, but they end up complementing each other very well. Support for the pairing got stronger when Tim's official love interest [[Comic Book Death|was believed to be dead]].

*** Back when Gwen was still alive and Peter Parkers's official love interest, Mary Jane Watson's unexpectedly huge popularity with the readers was a serious problem for Stan Lee and John Romita. They tried a lot of things to tone MJ down and make Gwen more 'exciting', which in some respects only lampshaded their problem as it made Gwen more and more resemble MJ, most notably by changing her original hairstyle into a variant of Mary Jane's. The way Stan Lee wrote about it later, the matter was not helped by the fact that he himself found Gwen less interesting than MJ...

** And speaking of the [[Dating Catwoman|Black Cat]]... you guessed it! Outside of the core MJ/Gwen/Felicia trio, it seems that there are few women that fans would mind pairing Webhead up with. And a sizable portion of them hail outside of the ''Spider-Man'' comics (i.e. [[Spider-Woman|Jessica Drew]], [[Ms. Marvel|Carol Danvers]], etc.).

** In the ''[[Thor (film)|Thor]]'' movie fandom, however, Thor/Jane is ''much'' more popular (proabbly due to the whole Donald Blake [[Sharing a Body]] issues not being present) but Thor/Loki is still very strong, with Loki's main other choices being [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]] on the [[Ho Yay]] end and Darcy Lewis or Sif on the straight end. Most of the competing ship's stories are fairly similar in number though.

** It should be noted though, that even with a few clashes, most Thor fans seem respectful of other couple choices and there isn't too much [[Die for Our Ship]] or [[Ship-to-Ship Combat]]. Weird for a [[Comic Book]], but that's not a bad thing.

* [[X-Men|Wolverine/Jean Grey]], anyone? This originated when [[Wolverine]] was a new member of the X-Men, and had yet to establish himself as the [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]. Creating a love triangle with him and the existing Cyclops/Jean Grey couple was in large part to flesh out and draw interest to a then-unestablished character, but the Wolverine/Jean pairing (and [[Wolverine Publicity|Wolverine himself]]) became far more popular than the creators could have imagined.

** In spite of the fact that Storm and [[Black Panther]] are officially married, Storm and Nightcrawler remains very popular among the fans. This may be in part due to the popular opinion of much of the fandom that the Storm/Black Panther relationship is a badly-written case of both [[Token Minority Couple]] and [[Strangled by the Red String]].

* Quite a few fans think Victor Van Dort from ''[[Corpse Bride]]'' ended up with the wrong woman and Emily was more compatible with him; at any rate, he'd gotten to know her far more than Victoria.

* Many Tinkerbell fans think that Tink/Bobble is the better ship, as opposed to Tink/Terrence.

** [[The Little Mermaid|Ariel]]/[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Jasmine]], anyone?

* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' fans seized on the obvious hints through the franchise and have embraced the PoXTigress coupling, eager to see it progress.

 

 

* In ''[[Red Eye (film)|Red Eye]]'', many ship Lisa and Rippner, in spite of (or because of?) all the attempted murder on both sides, as well as the intense chemistry between [[Rachel McAdams]] and [[Cillian Murphy]], especially during the lavatory scene.

* In ''[[Push]]'': Compare Nick and Cassie's number of [[YouTube]] videos (over twenty) to Nick and Kira's (none). Yeah.

* Fans of the [[Rupert Grint]] movie ''[[Cherrybomb]]'' can generally be split into two categories: devoted [[Ho Yay|Malachy/Luke]] shippers who simply ignore Michelle's existence; and batshit crazy, ''foaming-at-the-mouth'' Malachy/Luke shippers who openly detest Michelle and loudly [[Die for Our Ship|wish her dead]]. This is a pretty extreme reaction given that in canon, both guys are seemingly straight and spend most of the movie competing for Michelle's affections. That said, several cast members have alluded to the strong homoerotic subtext of Malachy and Luke's relationship, so it probably doesn't exist ''entirely'' in the minds of [[Yaoi Fangirl|yaoi fangirls]].

* From ''[[Clue (film)|Clue]]'', the movie: There seems to be this whole thing about [[The Butler Did It|Wadworth]] and [[French Maid|Yvette]]...

* For ''[[X-Men: First Class|X Men First Class]]'', Erik/Charles is ''the'' official pairing, even according to certain screenwriters and actors. It's incorporated even in fics that involve the younger X-Men (by having them act as parents), and those who do ship Erik/Raven or Charles/Moira are a small minority.

* In the ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]'' series: Michael/Laurie is the fandom's favorite. Rob Zombie's remakes of the films give this pairing a boost because, apparently, [[Incest Subtext|Mikey loves his baby sister]].

 

 

** {{spoiler|Eric Northman}} became the latest canon relationship. {{spoiler|(They'd had sex before too.)}}

* Many fans (and even more [[Hatedom|non-fans]]) of ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' think that Bella would have been better off with Jacob than Edward. A lot of reviewers of the film adaptation of ''New Moon'' agreed with them, saying that Bella had more chemistry and believable development with Jacob than she did with Edward.

* For [[V. C. Andrews]]' Casteel series, a lot of readers preferred Heaven to be Troy instead of Logan, even after Troy was revealed to be Heaven's ''uncle''. This is because, aside from incest not exactly being rare in Andrews' works, Troy was the [[Troubled but Cute]] guy [[All Girls Want Bad Boys|female readers swooned over]] who actually turned out to be more thoughtful and caring towards Heaven than Logan was, making readers wish that he didn't have to be related to Heaven.

* The pairing generally preferred by the ''[[Vampire Academy]]'' fanbase is {{spoiler|Rose and Adrian}}, spoiler-tagged for the benefit of those who don't know it's not the end pairing yet.

* In ''[[Darkest Powers]]'', Derek and Chloe were the fan preferred couple from the very first book, despite Derek's brother flirting with Chloe and Chloe tentatively reciprocating.

* In [[Sherlock Holmes]], there is Holmes/Watson - one of the, if not ''the'', most slashed pairing ever. Non-yaoi fans can also [[Promoted to Love Interest|promote Irene Adler to love interest]].

* Subverted in ''[[The 39 Clues]]'' book series. Starting in the third book, fan-preferred couple {{spoiler|[[The Smart Guy|Amy]] and [[Handsome Devil|Ian]]}} (spoilered for those who haven't read the third book) seem to be set up as the [[Official Couple]], but [[Anchored Ship|never really get together]]. Fans reacted by [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5773510/1/Down_With_Kurt throwing books at the wall when the girl showed an interest in another boy], comparing such boys to the [[Big Bad]], accusing them of being a [[Bigger Bad]], and writing [[Fan Fiction]] [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5773510/1/Down_With_Kurt dedicated entirely to torturing or complaining about said boys]. Also deconstructed because the boy is really a [[Draco in Leather Pants]] who probably would make a bad boyfriend for the girl.

* Judging by fanfiction.net, Draco/Hermione is the most popular pairing in the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' fandom, with 46,151 stories. The canon ships (Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione) are at 20,628 and 22,181 respectively. Harry/Draco seems to the most second most popular with 32,898. Harry/Hermione is at 22,863 (all numbers as of May 23, 2012).

* ''[[Chuck]]'' fan writers occasionally ship up John Casey and Ellie, the title character's sister, even though Ellie is [[Happily Married]] to Captain Awesome.

* ''[[Smallville]]'' has two. The big one is Chlark, the pairing of best friends Clark Kent and Chloe Sullivan, the only two characters to remain main cast members for all ten seasons. Though the characters have kissed, and both have shown to have feelings for the other at various times (often not at the same time), the inevitability of Clark Kent and Lois Lane being the [[Official Couple]] long before it happened (or Lois was even introduced) causes some fans to be convinced that Chloe Sullivan really ''was'' Lois Lane, and would be changing her name any day now. Though Clark's pairing with Lois became accepted eventually and even somewhat popular (much more so than Clark with his first love interest, Lana Lang) Chlark still seems to be the most beloved pairing of this show.

** There are also a bunch of minor ones. Clark and Lex shared so much [[Ho Yay]] it's practically canon. Additionally some fans seemed to be very on board with the idea of Lex and Chloe hooking up. Others preferred Lois with her original long-term love interestion, Oliver Queen, who ended up married to Chloe.

* Olivia and Peter on ''[[Fringe]]''. And while [[Romantic False Lead|Altlivia]] gets a lot of [[Die for Our Ship]] attitude from fans, [[Ship Mates|most of us prefer her with Lincoln anyway]].

** Also [[Les Yay|Sam and Brooke]] have [[Unresolved Sexual Tension|quite the following]], even after all these years. [[Foe Yay|Wonder why?]]

* Several examples from ''[[Glee]]'':

** Before they became canon, Brittany/Santana were definitely way more popular than Brittany/Artie. It was a joke in the fandom for a while about how Brittana fans were getting so fuming-at-the-ears mad over some plotting mass of Bartie fans who didn't actually exist.

** Rachel/Finn was definitely preferred over Finn/Quinn and Rachel/Jesse in Season 1, though when both were resuscitated in Season 2, after Quinn and Jesse had been developed somewhat, there was more [[Ship-to-Ship Combat]].

** Kanaan's very existence was an example of [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]. When Teyla's actress became pregnant, it had to be acknowledged onscreen, and then something had to become of the baby. So Teyla's one true love becomes... someone who exists just enough for us to know who's babysitting once Teyla returns to action. The writers felt that retroactively pairing Teyla off with one of her fellow main characters would've been weak, because fans would've wanted to know ''how'' they got together.

* In ''[[The Middleman]]'', the Middleman and Wendy, despite the fact that the [[Word of God]] has stated this pairing would never be allowed as long as the original creator remained in control of the show.

** Speaking of...Billy. Many viewers found the Dee/Lee pairing came out of the blue, and could never like Dee after what she did to Billy.

* Most ''[[Better Off Ted]]'' viewers ship Ted with Veronica over [[Designated Love Interest]] Linda, despite the fact that Veronica is [[The Stoic]] who has no interest in a romantic relationship with Ted. It helps that they have already had sex without it getting weird, plus they get along well even though Veronica is Ted's boss and Veronica gets along well with Ted's daughter Rose.

** And it's hardly surprising why. Although Kirk did occasionally show genuine affection for a girl (for example, in "The City On The Edge Of Forever"), none of his female love interests were [[Girl of the Week|ever brought up again once the episode was over]]. By the movies the writers just seemed to give up altogether and focus entirely on Kirk's relationship with [[The Not Love Interest|Spock]], and even people who deny that Kirk and Spock ever had a [[Ho Yay|thing]] have to admit that Spock was by far the closest relationship Kirk ever had, the only person even coming close being McCoy.

** ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine|DS9]]'' had a large following for Garak/Bashir. However, once the studio realized that, they forced the writers to phase the [[Ho Yay]] out of their relationship and Bashir ended up with Ezri (in the re-launch novels, they break up).

** Also, O'Brien/Bashir, which seemed to gain the [[Ho Yay]] Garak/Bashir was losing.

** In season three, {{spoiler|They upgraded to [[Official Couple]]. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced]]}}

* ''[[Scrubs]]'': JD/Cox is the most popular ship in the fandom, despite the fact that JD {{spoiler|and Elliot end up together}} and Dr. Cox has been in a stable relationship with his ex-wife since season 2. It's also kind of ironic because canon-wise, JD and Turk are the ones who have a lot of [[Ho Yay]].

{{quote|'''Dean:''' ...that's ''sick''.}}

** Although this pairing is now rivaled by Dean/Castiel.

** Ditto for Horatio/Calleigh in ''[[CSI: Miami]]''.

* Despite being infamous for its [[Dating Do-Si-Do]], Jimmy/Ellie was one of the more popular ships that never became official in ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]''. While writers [[Ship Tease|ship teased]] it for a season, they [[Ship Sinking|ultimately decided to keep Ellie in a love triangle with Craig and Manny]]. As of late, Sean/Emma are probably the most obvious example of this.

* In the US version of ''[[The Office]]'', nigh everything involving Jim and Pam up until season 4 had been pretty obviously a shameless, cackling gambit to get this reaction out of the audience.

* All the ''[[Coupling]]'' fans wanted to see Jeff and Jane hook up. They were supposed to in the 4th series, but then Richard Coyle (Jeff) quit the show, and was replaced by the man who would "Mount Jane... I'm not giving you instructions."

** The preferred hetrosexual pairing is the main character Tori with Andre in a [[Just Friends]] romance.

** The preferred hetrosexual [[Beta Couple]] is Cat with [[Jerkass Woobie]] Robbie. These two pairings keep the [[Official Couple]] Jade and Beck together, form a fleet of [[Ship Mates]], and only leaves Tori's older sister Trina who is more like a guest character than a main character unpaired.

** Nate and Jenny were quite popular towards the beginning of the show. They even became canon in Season 2. However [[Executive Meddling]] ended it because apparently the fact that Jenny was played by an actual teenager, [[Dawson Casting|unlike the rest of the cast]], made Chace Crawford uncomfortable.

* The Guy/Marian ship on ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' ended with one half of it murdering the other. Doesn't stop the shippers.

** Shawn/Gus is also a popular pairing, mainly for thier copius [[Ho Yay]] moments.

* Sheldon/Penny on ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' is the [[One True Pairing]], as far as the shippers are concerned. The breakup of the [[Official Couple]], Leonard/Penny, [[And There Was Much Rejoicing|invited some celebration]] on the part of more than a few fans. [[Word of God]] states it will never happen, however.

** Despite her canon relationship with Matt, whom she admits to love, Caroline is mostly shipped with [[Our Werewolves Are Different|Tyler]] and [[Vegetarian Vampire|Stefan]]. And the fans who don't like Damon with Elena seem to like him admitting feelings for his onetime girlfriend/food supply

* Joshua and Lisa on ''[[V-2009]]''. Mainly because the two have a nice chemistry and are very protective of one another and - oh yeah! Lisa's canon [[Love Interest]] is [[The Scrappy|Tyler]].

** ''[[Choujin Sentai Jetman]]'' has Ryu and Kaori, thogh many fans prefer her with Gai.

** On the American adaption of ''[[Mahou Sentai Magiranger]]'', the fan preferred couples seemed to be Yellow/Pink and Green/Blue. Both were mostly disrailed towards the end of series, but remain popular in fandom.

* Annie and Auggie on ''[[Covert Affairs]]'', despite so far them being [[Just Friends]] without any hint of [[UST]], Annie unable to get over her ex and being tentatively interested in Jai, and Auggie having his own [[Love Interest|love interests]].

** The writers are [[Ship Tease|clearly playing it up for the fans]], however, considering the [[Sexy Mentor|flirtatious]] [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|sparring]], Auggie giving Annie his phone number and her kissing him on the cheek, and {{spoiler|pretending to be have an affair to cover an op}} in Season 2.

* A decade before the term "shipper" was coined, many viewers of the 90s sitcom ''[[The Brittas Empire]]'' felt that Gordon Brittas would have been better off with his [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]] Laura than his nervous alcholic wife Helen.

* Fans of ''[[The Elephant Princess]]'' prefer Kuru and Alex over Marcus and Alex or [[Official Couple|Caleb and Alex]] by far.

* ''[[Passions]]'': At one point, many fans of Ethan and Theresa got so disgusted with Ethan's behavoir, they began actively clamoring that Theresa be paired with his brother Fox.

* ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'' features [[Genki Girl|Akiko]] and [[Troubled but Cute|Terui]] as the Official Couple. Akiko [[Broken Base|divides the fanbase]] between those who like her and those who find her too loud and annoying, and a common opinion expressed on fanboards is that Terui should have got together with guest character Lily, played by fanboy favourite Nao Nagasawa (also known as [[Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger|HurricaneBlue]].)

* John/Sherlock on BBC's ''[[Sherlock]]'', but this is hardly surprising considering it's a modern revival of one of the oldest bromances in literature, and both actors are incredibly good-looking. Seriously, the number of romance fics that ''don't'' have John/Sherlock as the main couple number in the low dozens, and most of ''those'' are Mycroft/Lestrade fics that include John/Sherlock as the [[Beta Couple]]. Think Merlin/Arthur [[Up to Eleven]].

* On ''[[Frasier]]'', Niles/Daphne was always infinitely preferred to Niles/Maris, even though Niles and Maris were married. To give you an idea of why: part of the reason Maris remained [[The Ghost]] throughout the show's run was because her actions were so horrible and psychotic, and her appearance so bizarrely described that the writers deemed it impossible to ever write dialogue for or cast a character of her level of monstrosity. (Niles and Daphne eventually became the [[Official Couple]]).

* ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'': A vast majority of 'phans' prefer the Phantom and Christine to Christine and Raoul.

** The sequel ''[[Love Never Dies]]'' [[Derailing Love Interests|derails Raoul]] into an alcoholic, emotionally neglectful husband just to raise the possibility that the Phantom and Christine can be an official couple. {{spoiler|It's revealed that she always loved the Phantom more all along, and they are the official couple at the end.}}

* ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Misérables]]'': A large portion of fans seem to believe that Eponine is a better match for Marius than Cosette. Admittedly, Cosette doesn't do much in the musical besides hit a B flat and flirt with Marius.

** In a lot of respects, that suits Victor Hugo's purpose well: Eponine's role in the original novel was a commentary on the unfairness of class distinctions in contemporary French society, which meant that Eponine/Marius was not 'proper'.

** There are still a few Fiyeraba shippers, but most of them seem to be straight preteen girls who have just seen the musical.

* Tracy/Seaweed from ''[[Hairspray]]'', rather than Tracy/Link.

* ''[[Jade Empire]]'' has a maximum of three romantic options within the party... so, naturally, the most popular pairing is The PC/''Sagacious Zu'', a character who {{spoiler|makes a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}} right when the canon romances begin to play themselves out.

** Not to mention he's at least twice as old as the three romantic options, seeing as he was already an adult when he {{spoiler|killed Sun Li's wife and "kidnapped" Dawn Star, an infant at the time. By the way, Dawn Star was named for the spectacle the burning of Dirge causes.}}

** Atokad11 has pretty much made it clear that he seems to want Katua and Sheeda to have Marth equally (Note: he also states that every FE Lord follows the principles of paedophilia, incest and polygamy), and has made a series of how the two of them, along with Tana from Sacred Stones and 3 girls from the Tales series, go on a crusade to destroy all the fangirls in the world, along with [[Callisto Hime]].

** Largely as a result of [[Marth Debuted in Smash Bros]], Marth/Roy for ''Melee'' and Marth/Ike for ''Brawl'' are both much more popular than the canonical Marth/Shiida amongst Western fans.

* Speaking of ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'', many fans of ''Brawl'' are partial to the pairing of Solid Snake/Samus Aran. The game itself encourages the pairing through Snake's codec transmissions on Shadow Moses Island in which he talks to Otacon and Mei Ling about Samus; he says things like "Sounds like my kind of woman" and "But underneath that metal exterior beats the heart of a woman." The fact that the pairing is technically impossible outside of the Smash Bros. setting (not least because Snake doesn't even belong to Nintendo) deters pretty much no one. Before ''Brawl'' it seemed the preferred pairing was Samus and Capt. Falcon. Outside of Smash Brothers continuity, Samus is typically paired with Master Chief from Halo

** [[Fire Emblem|Marth]] and [[Super Mario Bros.|Peach]] or [[The Legend of Zelda|Zelda]], anyone?

* ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate Stay Night]]'' is an H-game, so naturally the only canon pairings are with the main character (and, well, there's some with the villains). Even so, there are at least as many [[Future Badass|Archer]]/[[Tsundere|Rin]] fans as there are [[Stay in the Kitchen|Shirou]]/Rin fans, if not more. Never mind that {{spoiler|Archer is the [[Future Badass]] OF Shirou, making that pairing technically canon}}.

** It also probably has a lot to do with the fact that Shirou has two ''other'' girls to choose from, one of whom is the main girl of the Fate route/anime (and thus the most popular pairing) or Sakura, who desperately needs him. Plus, the game (particularly UBW) strongly hints that Archer cares deeply for Rin, and the version of Shirou that does end up with Rin is the one who {{spoiler|most closely resembles Archer of the three (although a ''lot'' more optimistic)}}.

* ''[[Drakengard]]'' 2 has [[Replacement Scrappy|Nowe]]/[[The Atoner|Manah]] as the canon pairing. A lot of fans, however, would have preferred Nowe with [[Knight Templar|Eris]].

* Jon Talbain and Felicia from ''[[Darkstalkers]]'' have appeared in more fanart than can be counted. This being said, there's not much to link them in the games, though the comics and OVA can be seen as evidence.

** Thanks to [[Dark Action Girl|Larxene]]'s [[No Sense of Personal Space]] in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories|Chain of Memories]]'', fans (or at least, the ones who don't say that [[Het Is Ew]]) tend to pair her up with Axel. The [[Het Is Ew]] people pair her with Naminé, who is also a reciever of Larxene's molesting in-game.

** While ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep|Birth by Sleep]]'' is in no way light on [[Ship Tease]] from all directions, the most popular ship ''by far'' is that of [[Anti-Hero|T]][[Knight in Sour Armor|e]][[Determinator|r]][[Skilled but Naive|r]][[Mighty Glacier|a]] and [[Lady of War|A]][[Squishy Wizard|q]][[Hot Chick with a Sword|u]][[Action Girl|a]]. Not a believer? {{spoiler|Go see the [[Downer Ending|Last]] [[Tear Jerker|Episode]] for proof.}} It doesn't help that Ven, the other member of the [[True Companions|trio]], appears to [[Shipper on Deck|ship them]] and Terra and Aqua seem to act more like Ven's ''[[Team Dad|pa]][[Papa Wolf|re]][[Team Mom|nt]][[Mama Bear|s]]'' than his surrogate [[Big Brother Instinct|brother]] and [[Cool Big Sis|sister]]. Bonus points in that this is perhaps ''the only'' het ship in the fandom that ''even the [[Yaoi Fangirl|yaoi fangirls]] [[Beyond the Impossible|are supportive of]]''.

* Although ''[[Persona 4]]'' doesn't have an ''official'' couple (thanks in part [[Chick Magnet|to the fact that you can date everyone]]), the Protagonist usually seems to end up with {{spoiler|Naoto}} in fanworks, to the point that the aforementioned spoiler is practically entering [[It Was His Sled]] territory. Yukiko and Rise are in a dead heat for second, with Yukiko apparently winning by a slight margin.

** Naoto's [[Launcher of a Thousand Ships|pretty much head and shoulders over everyone else]]. The protagonist, Kanji and Rise seem to be the most popular options, but it does go further than that.

* ''[[Persona 3]]'' has the option of the hero dating any girl in your party as well, but the fans overwhelmingly prefer him with Yukari, Aigis, or Elizabeth. Mitsuru/Akihiko and Mitsuru/Yukari are also very popular, moreso than pairing her with the Main.

** Thanks to certain Social Link events in ''Persona 3 Portable'', {{spoiler|Shinjiro}}/FeMC has been reaching this level in epic proportions. It ''does'' make a certain amount of gameplay sense, since {{spoiler|dating him allows for you to indirectly ''save [[Ensemble Darkhorse|his]] life''. Sort of like [[Tales of Symphonia|Zelos]]. Although he ends up hospitalized for the rest of the game until the senior's graduation day.}}

** Snake and Meryl dated for about three weeks after [[Metal Gear Solid]] 1. After they split, Snake went off to live with Otacon, thus beginning a ten-year partnership. They even adopt a child. The vast majority of [[Ship Tease]] involving Snake is with Otacon, not Meryl. ("You and your overactive libido," anyone?) [[Word of God|David Hayter, Snake's voice actor, has repeatedly gone on record saying that he and Otacon's voice actor played the two as lovers.]] Meryl ends up marrying {{spoiler|[[Butt Monkey]] Johnny Sasaki.}} Snake/Otacon isn't a FPC at all, it's pretty much the [[Official Couple]].

* Nearly every couple in ''[[Silent Hill]]'' is Fan Preferred, as most characters are either dead, insane, or both. The most popular seems to be Harry, the protagonist of the first game, and Lisa, the nurse he periodically encounters who attempts to help him, which was [[Ship Sinking|torpedoed]] ''hard'' near the end when {{spoiler|Lisa discovers she was [[Dead All Along]] and becomes a permanent part of the town ([[Mind Screw|or something]]).}}

* ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' has [[Cute Monster Girl|Neeshka]]. The majority of fans seem to prefer her to the canonical [[Stalker with a Crush|Elanee]].

** Neeshka was planned to be a canon couple, but it was cut from the game due to time restraints. It's not too hard to see where they intended to take it, and it's a lot more complete than Elanee's, even though it isn't, you know, complete. In the same vein, Bishop was also a planned but cut romance option that fans seems to prefer; there's a downloadable mod made by fans that adds in a romance option.

** Jaina and everyone's favorite orc, Thrall, is another popular ship. Such that [[Word of God|Chris Metzen]] ''mercilessly'' sank with the recent novel having Thrall become mates with the Maghari Shamanka Aggra [[Last-Minute Hookup|seemingly out of nowhere]]. Baring ''that'', stated with extreme confidence [[Ship Sinking|that the Thrall/Jaina pairing will never happen]] during the Q&A at Blizzcon 2010.

* ''[[Aveyond]]'':

* Although [[Touhou Project|ZUN]] has stated that he likes the concept of his characters [[Les Yay|paired up]], [[Shrug of God|he hasn't bothered to tell us WHICH pairings he likes]]. So, the rampant shipping of the [[Loads and Loads of Characters|Loads And Loads Of]] [[Touhou/Characters|Characters]] (particularly with certain characters *cough[[Even the Girls Want Her|Marisa]]cough* being seen as a [[Launcher of a Thousand Ships]]) goes unchecked by the presence of an [[Official Couple]]. However, certain ships are frequently seen calling at port: [[Cute Witch|Marisa]]/[[Marionette Master|Alice]], [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire|Remilia]]/[[Meido|Sakuya]] (although [[Butt Monkey|Meiling]]/Sakuya is almost as, if not just as popular), [[Our Ghosts Are Different|Yuyuko]]/[[Hot Chick with a Sword|Youmu]], [[Green Thumb|Yuuka]]/[[Little Bit Beastly|Wriggle]], [[Bottle Fairy|Yuugi]]/[[Tsundere|Parsee]], and [[Hot for Teacher|Keine]]/[[Who Wants to Live Forever?|Mokou]], to name a few. Of all of these, only Marisa/Alice comes even remotely close to being hinted at in canon, and some of these are of characters who aren't even confirmed to have ''[[Ships That Pass in the Night|met]]'' in canon.

* [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright]], my god. [[Ho Yay|Phoenix]]/[[Foe Yay|Edgeworth]] is one of the most popular pairings (aided by the creators' tendency to [[Ship Tease|bait]] their numerous fangirls), but Phoenix/Maya's pretty close. And Franziska/Adrian, [[Tomboy and Girly Girl|for]] [[Les Yay|some]] [[Whip It Good|reason]]. You get a decent amount of Phoenix/Franziska too (but strangely, very little of Phoenix/Iris, the one canonical relationship the guy's ever had). And that's just scratching the surface here.

** Almost everyone seems to like Diego/Mia too.

** Same with Ema/Klavier from ''[[Apollo Justice]]''.

* In ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', a fairly significant portion of the fanbase [[Shipping|ships]] Terra/Locke, despite the fact that Locke/Celes is the [[Official Couple]]. Celes/Edgar is also a fairly common ship, and the Japanese fanbase for Terra/Sabin is quite significant.

** Setzer: Setzer reacts with interest when Terra's name is first mentioned, and Terra is the only person to ask Setzer a personal question during the whole World of Balance; when {{spoiler|the world is destroyed,}}, it's Setzer who grabs Terra {{spoiler|from the split deck of the Blackjack,}}. Setzer will save Celes in the ending instead of Locke if Locke is not present. Celes will also encourage Setzer to fight Kefka and to recover his friends' airship, snapping him out of despair.

* Despite being from ''[[Crossover Ship|completely different games]]'', there's a decent number of fans who find something very appealing in the pairing of Dante of ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' and Bayonetta of, well, ''[[Bayonetta]]''. Fans can't figure out [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny|who'd win a fight]], but they agree that the end result will certainly be sex. It probably has something to do with the fact that both are sexy [[Gun Fu|gun-wielding badasses]] with a penchant for [[Rule of Cool|awesomely stylish action]], and that both were in series created by [[wikipedia:Hideki Kamiya|the same person.]]

** Alternatively, pairing up Dante with Morrigan from ''[[Darkstalkers]]''. It's had a notable following for some time, which was only bolstered by their appearance in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3]]''. There is also a sizable number of people who have decided to save themselves the trouble and just turn the above two ships into an [[One True Threesome|OT3]].

* Despite the relative youth of the ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'' fandom, [[Mr. Fanservice|Mike]]/ Sis is ''very popular'', despite - or probably because - nothing actually happens between them in-game, just some serious [[UST]].

* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'': ''Any'' coupling outside of RED Spy/BLU Scout's mother and possibly Demoman/the opposing Medic's wife is based in [[Fanon]], but the highly suggestive lines the Heavy has leads to Heavy/Medic being the most popular. [[Valve]] even [[Ship Tease|shipteases]] these guys with the Beaux and Arrows achievement, which you get when you pin a Medic to a Heavy using an arrow.

** While Ragna X Rachel is getting more attention there is a following for [[Toy Ship|Carl X Rachel]] mainly through their interactions in the first game (and to a much lesser extent the second).

* ''[[Left 4 Dead|Left 4 Dead 2]]'' fans were drawing and shipping Zoey with Ellis way before their meeting and interaction in The Passing. Probably due to them being both the youngest and arguably most attractive looking in their groups. But still nothing compares with Nick/Ellis which has come to dominate the fandom with their [[Ho Yay]]. And ever since the release of The Passing, Rochelle/Francis has also been a target due to how the two interact (they both hate stuff).

** [[Street Fighter Alpha|Rainbow Mika]]/[[Street Fighter IV|Hakan]] also has a surprisingly large following.

** [[Fanon]] also seems to have a fondness for [[Street Fighter (video game)|Ryu]]/[[Street Fighter II|Chun-Li]], despite neither of them having married by the time of ''[[Street Fighter III|III]]'', the two merely being good friends, and Ryu most likely being some mix between a [[Chaste Hero]] and [[Celibate Hero]]. Some the other media adaptations [[Ship Tease|have not helped in this regard.]]

** Garrus/Tali is also somewhat popular, and in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', {{spoiler|provided you don't romance them both, they hook up.}}

* While there's no explicit romance in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'', the closest the game has to an actual love interest for Link is Ilia, which is the least popular of the three major ships in the game.

* There's a few [[Left 4 Dead|Hunter x Witch]] shippers out there.

** Some fans prefer to pair Silver with [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons|Lance]] thanks to him having the most impact on Silver (even though [[Offscreen Moment of Awesome|we never actually get to SEE that conversation]]).

* ''[[Mortal Kombat (video game)|Mortal Kombat]]''. The closest we have to a canon couple would be that of Liu Kang/Kitana (which was shot down in ''4'' when Liu Kang reluctantly denied Kitana's offer to rule by her side in Edenia due to his status as Earthrealm's protector and the champion of Mortal Kombat) and ''maybe'' [[Ship Tease|Younger Sub-Zero/Sareena]], as well as Baraka's [[Stalker with a Crush|one-sided crush]] on Mileena (whether or not the feelings are reciprocated are left ambiguous). [[Shipping Goggles|Believe it or not]], the occasional bouts of [[Ship-to-Ship Combat]], [[Die for Our Ship]], and [[Ships That Pass in the Night]] do come into play among the fandom. However, the ''one'' pairing most fans seem to approve of is [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|Johnny Cage/Sonya Blade]]. It doesn't help that [[Mortal Kombat (film)|the movie]] gave them pretty of [[Ship Tease]] (an aspect that seemed to have been [[Ret Canon|ported over to]] [[Mortal Kombat 9|the 2011 game]]) and Sonya's relationship with her CO Jax Briggs [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|is strictly professional]].

** [[Pair the Spares|Smoke/Jade]] seems to be somewhat popular, stemming almost mainly from the fact that the two were originally seen in ''[[Mortal Kombat 2]]'' peeking out from behind the trees of [[When Trees Attack|the Living Forest]]. The ship is sometimes used as [[Ship Mates|an anchor]] to [[Ships That Pass in the Night|Sub-Zero/Kitana]], but mainly sails independently of the duo's respective [[Heterosexual Life Partners|best buds]].

* Despite ''[[Lux-Pain]]'' having a small fanbase, two of the main pairings that everyone can agree on are [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|Shinji/Mika]] and [[Ho Yay|Ryo]]/[[Childhood Friend Romance|Hibiki]]. As for the main character himself, while he is shipped with everyone, the most popular pairing by default is [[Ho Yay|Akira]]/[[Opposites Attract|Atsuki]].

** To put it simply, Akira/Atsuki has the ''most'' [[Ship Tease]] in comparison to the other potential love interests for Atsuki like [[Tsundere|Rui]] and [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Yayoi]]. Shinji/Mika is popular given that by pairing Mika up with Shinji, it greatly averts her being a victim of [[Die for Our Ship]] as well as evidence in the game that shows that she's moving away from Akira and getting close to Shinji. Finally, with Ryo/Hibiki, the fact that Hibiki is already confirmed to be in love with Ryo is one thing but whether or not Ryo has feelings for his best friend is up to debate although, there are some conversations that suggest that the feelings are mutual.

* The ''[[Tales of Graces]]'' canon pairing is Asbel/[[Damsel in Distress|Cheria]], but most of the players seems to favor Asbel/[[Cute Bruiser|Sophie]].

* ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]'' fans tend to either be Spyro/Ember fans or Spyro/Cynder fans however Ember/Flame has managed to become rather popular despite the two never speaking to each other.

** The Mineral Town-based games have a straight example in Carter, the local priest; who is the most popular pairing for [[Distaff Counterpart|Claire]].

* While ''[[Frozen Essence]]'' lets Mina hook up with no less than five characters, the one who comes the closest to being a "default option" for her is Rune who she needs to pursue to get the True End. Naturally, the majority of players prefer Mina to be with [[Blood Knight|Caius]] or {{spoiler|[[Secret Character|Zareh]]}} instead; the former because [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]], the latter because of him having been in love with Mina [[Childhood Friend Romance|far]], ''[[I Will Wait for You|far]]'' [[Dogged Nice Guy|longer]] than anyone else.

** Ditto for there being far more Shaun Hastings/Desmond Miles out there than the canon-suggested {{spoiler|Desmond/the late Lucy Stillman}}.

** There's also a fair number of loyal Ezio/Rosa fans, in spite of the official hookup with Sofia Sartor.

* Notorious fandom shipping wars (and various sunken ships) aside, it's a surprise to replay ''[[Golden Sun]]'' and realize there is ''no canon evidence'' that Saturos and Menardi are a couple.

 

 

* Depending on you and your god, Faye and Marten from ''[[Questionable Content]]''. Of course, one can say Dora is the better choice for the first five hundred strips, but recent events all but silenced Marten/Dora supporters.

** Hannelore/Marigold evoked this reaction, especially after the author [[Ship Sinking|sunk the ship]] in a strip explicitly titled [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1492 "Suck It, Shippers"] which just made more people aware of the pairing and thus subscribe to it. Recent events seem to have shaken up the preferred couple for Hannelore, though.

* ''[[Megatokyo]]'': [[Word of God]] places [[Les Yay|Miho/Ping]] squarely in this column. It remains to to be seen whether Piro/Miho will end up here as well, but it seems likely.

* In ''[[The Dreamer]]'', although the official couple in the 18th century is [[Official Couple|Alan/Bea]], there are fans who prefer Alex/Bea, considering that Alan borders on [[Marty Stu]], and Alex doesn't.

* Practically none of the ''[[Boy Meets Boy]]'' fans like Cyanide/Ronnie or Skids/Tybalt, preferring Cyanide/Skids. This might have something to do with the way Cyanide spends most of the comic pining over Skids, or Tybalt's tendency toward being a [[Jerkass]] (and sometimes an actual villain) who'll sleep with [[Anything That Moves]]. The author actually initially planned for Cyanide and Skids to hook up, but changed her mind somewhere along the line and decided to do a [[Writer Revolt]], even outright stating to many disappointed fans that Cyanide and Skids would never get together.

* ''[[The Cyantian Chronicles]]'': In Campus Safari, Chatin has three suitors, Collin, Cisco and Twinky. There have been both forum and [[Shout Box]] debates over which guy will get her in the end. As of September 2008, she hasn't made a choice but seems to be leaning toward Twinky. There's no debate on Cilke and {{spoiler|Chrome}} hooking up though; everybody likes that pairing.

* The ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'' fans have proudly declared their support for the [[Les Yay]] pairing of [[Lovable Sex Maniac|Marena]] and [[Perky Goth|Secret]]. Jukashi has been known to [[Ship Tease|tease]] the shippers on occasion.

** [[Action Girl|Karen]]/[[Weak but Skilled|Ten Winds]] is rapidly gaining on them.

* John/Karkat is probably the most popular ship in the ''[[Homestuck]]'' fandom.

** You mean Dave/Terezi, Rose/Kanaya, and ''John/Vriska'' aren't?

*** Hussie is aware of and may have responded to this by having Jane's confession to Jake [[Cannot Spit It Out|backfire]], Jake revealing he is [[Bi the Way|rather open-minded]] (and aware of Dirk's feelings), and making "cotton candy" - the [[Fan Nickname]] for the Roxy/Jane pairing - an [[Ascended Meme]].

** A long time ago, John/Jade and Rose/Dave were pretty big. {{spoiler|Then we learned they were siblings.}} This hasn't exactly stopped the fanworks, but it's smaller than it used to be.

 

== Western Animation ==

** [[Sequel Series]] ''[[The Legend of Korra]]'' does not yet have an [[Official Couple]], but Korra/Yue has already reached [[Memetic Mutation|memetic]] status.

*** The Korra/Mako (aka "Makorra") fanbase has reached the legendary status of Zutara, if not surpassed it. Not surprising, since many Zutara shippers [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Jumped Ship]] to Makorra after Zutara was definitively [[Ship Sinking|Sunk]].

* The ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' fandom is overwhelmed with Fred/Daphne supporters and a sizeable deal of Shaggy/Velma fans, mainly because these are almost always the pairs who end up together during "let's split up, gang" moments. There ''are'' some other shipping groups, but these two are the most popular ones by a huge margin. It also helps that they've become more-or-less official in the [[Scooby Doo Mystery Inc|newest Scooby-Doo series]].

* On ''[[Total Drama]],'' [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Duncan]]/[[Perky Goth|Gwen]] was this to [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Duncan]]/[[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!|Courtney]]. But that dynamic has switched due to canon changes.

** As of World Tour, [[Foe Yay|Alejandro/Heather]] is quite popular among the fans, due to fabulous amounts of [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]. It's almost canon...

* Reef/Fin from ''[[Stoked]]'' is ''easily'' more popular than any other pairing on the show, {{spoiler|even though Reef/Lo is the [[Official Couple]] as of season two}}.

* ''[[Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!]]'' has a weird case of this. Hints dropped in the series originally seemed to show Otto/Nova as canon, but it seemed like almost everybody in the fandom shipped Sprx/Nova. Then hints of that started to show and eventually it became the canon. A comment from one of the voice actors mixed with that the creator does pay attention to the fandom seems to hint that the coupling was changed because of this, making the FPC the official couple.

** And ironically, though Sprx/Nova is still the main fandom ship, there are now more Otto/Nova shippers around filling the FPC bill.

* [[Word of God|Rob Renzetti]] confirmed that, had ''[[My Life as a Teenage Robot]]'' continued, Jenny would have ended up with Sheldon...no doubt upsetting a majority of the fandom, who are Jenny/Brad supporters. Though in fairness, Jenny/Sheldon does have a pretty large fanbase too.

* Professor Utonium and Ms. Keene from ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' has a strong fan following. Though it's dwarfed by [[Toy Ship|the pairing of]] the girls with [[Distaff Counterpart|their Rowdyruff Boys counterparts]].

** This pairing was actually the subject of one episode late into the series, and it was thoroughly deconstructed {{spoiler|and eventually annulled by Ms. Keene's cat, with the Professor having an aversion to cats due to one being the [[Big Bad]] of [[Continuity Nod|an earlier episode]]}}.

** It goes a bit beyond [[Ship Tease]] when you have the characters kiss while possessed by a pair of ghosts, then ''keep kissing for ten seconds after the ghosts leave''. Of course, Jonny and Jessie proceed to pretend they didn't realize they'd regained control of their bodies until Hadji pointed it out.

* On ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'', Fifi la Fume's occasional official love interest is Hamton J. Pig, mostly because of [[Pair the Spares]]. However, a quick search on [[Deviant ART]] reveals that a sizable portion of the fandom prefers to ship Fifi with either of her one-time love chase victims, Calamity Coyote or Furrball Cat, the latter likely due to her predecessor [[Pepe Le Pew]] being officially paired with Penelope Pussycat.

* There are no pairings in ''[[The Zeta Project]]'', but fandom loves Zeta and Ro together as a pairing. It's actually a challenge to find fanfics that ''aren't'' Zeta/Ro.

* Number 1 (Nigel)/Number 5 (Abby) from ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' are a significantly more popular ship than the canonic Number 2 (Hoagie)/Number 5 and seems to be on the same level of popularity as the canon Wally/Kuki.

** Nigel and Rachel (N. 362) has a reasonably large fanbase that overshadows some of the canon ships.

* Characters didn't pair off into romantic couples in ''[[Storm Hawks]],'' but the fans love to pair them up. The most popular pairings seem to be [[The Hero|Aerrow]]/[[Action Girl|Piper]], [[Foe Yay|Aerrow/Dark Ace]], and [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Stork]]/[[Genki Girl|Piper.]]

* Even though ''[[Rocket Power]]'' was mostly [[No Hugging, No Kissing]], there's a large following for Twister/Reggie. It's the most commonly encountered pairing in Rocket power fanfiction.

* Despite it being nonexistent in the series, some ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' fans like to pair Fluttershy with Applejack's older brother, Big Macintosh. Naturally, when a plot for the show's Valentine's Day episode involves {{spoiler|the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to hook up Big Macintosh with Cheerilee,}} [[Portmanteau Couple Name|Fluttermac]] supporters weren't too thrilled with the development.

** Also, Lyra/Bon-Bon. The episodes often have little references to this pairing, so it's almost canon. It's so fan-preferred that whenever someone writes a story that ships Lyra or Bon-Bon with some other character, someone will joke that "Lyra is cheating on Bon-Bon!" or vice-versa.

** In canon Rainbow Dash has zero interest in romance but the running joke among the fandom is "Rainbow Dash ships with everything." If fan faction posted on the main fan website is to be believed the most popular of these ships is Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

*** Recently Spike's crush on Rarity has resulted in a sizable jump in fanart and fanfic devoted to pairing the two. This doubled with the events of the episode "Secret Of My Excess", in which the two have a substantial amount of affectionate scenes together

 

== Other ==

* There is a staggeringly large demographic that ships [[Thomas Jefferson]]/[[John Adams]], despite them having both been married and Jefferson's long-term relationship with his dead wife's enslaved half-sister, not to mention the decades-long hate-on where they never ''saw'' each other (though that may only have ''[[Foe Yay Shipping|encouraged]]'' said demographic) plus Adams and his wife having written some of the spiciest, raciest love letters ever to come out of American politics to each other. This example probably more properly belongs under theater as it's likely an outgrowth of ''[[1776]]'' the musical.

* As per the introduction, [[Alice and Bob]]. Probably because canon keeps using them to illustrate concepts instead of mining for the obvious romantic potential.

[[Category:Unexpected Reactions to This Index]]

[[Category:Fan-Preferred Couple]]

[[Category:Example as a Thesis]]