Fan-Preferred Couple: Difference between revisions

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.

 

{{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.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' has been [[Long Runners|running since 1999]] with no [[Official Couple]]s for almost fifteen years. Do the [[Shipping|Shipper]] frustration math yourself. (At long last, when the characters' marriages and children were revealed ''in the epilogue'', the final pairings are {{spoiler|Naruto and Hinata, Sasuke and Sakura, Shikamaru and Temari, and Sai and Ino. While Naru/Hina did become the Official Couple, it's still appropriate to include here because, for much of Naruto's run, he spent much more time with (and seemed much more interested in) Sakura.}})

** [[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]].

** Not to mention the massive fandom that surrounded Taichi/Sora (Tai/Sora) that did a major WTF when Yamato (Matt) -- [[Gainax Ending|with almost no prior development]]—ended up [[Strangled by the Red String|marrying the latter]] and relegating Taichi to [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|his original relationship role]]. With that said, the dub pushed the pairing more than the original, but many are still convinced that Taichi/Sora was [[Relationship Writing Fumble|actually meant to happen]]. [[Die for Our Ship|Divorce fics ensue]].

*** Not that the writers handled the Tai/Matt/Sora relationship all that well ''after'' they got together in the series; discussions often point out how, while Matt and Sora are clearly the parents of one another's children, the epilogue deliberately refrains from saying they got married and keeps them from interacting much at all—in ''clear contrast'' to Ken and Yolei. The nitpicky may also bring up how Sora both addresses Tai first and dodges behind him in Diaboromon Strikes Back, when Matt was ''right there''.

*** 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.

* The amount of Domon/Allenby shipping in ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam|G Gundam]]'' is rather amazing considering that this show came before [[Gundam Wing|the series]] that allegedly attracted all the [[Estrogen Brigade|stereotypical shippers]] to the franchise. Proof that [[Love Triangle]]s can survive and thrive even in a fairly straightforward [[Shounen]] kung-fu-with-giant-robots show.

** 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.

** 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]]?

* In a series like ''[[Durarara!!]]'' with [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] and many possible pairings, guess which pairing is the most popular? That's right, it's [[Foe Yay|Shizuo/Izaya]]. Despite Narita [[Word of God|claiming that the two will never end up together]], he deliberately ships the two together. Check the [[Ship Tease]] page for all the examples.

** 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]])

* 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}}

== 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.

* [[The View Askewniverse|Kevin Smith]] actually devotes a rant to the misguided [[Superman]]/WonderWoman shippers in ''[[Mallrats]]''. The fact that Clark and Diana are a couple in multiple [[Alternate Universe]]s (and canonically shacked up during a JLA storyline we'd rather not talk about) does not help the cause of Canon.

** 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.

* An interesting situation occurs in the ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (Comic Book)|Knights of the Old Republic]]'' comic since many fans wanted Zayne to hook up with [[Action Girl|Jarael]] instead of his more obvious love interest, Shel. The reason this is an interesting situation is because {{spoiler|Zayne and Jarael become a couple in the last issue, thus making this a rare example of the Fan-Preferred Couple ''turning into'' the [[Official Couple]]}}.

* [[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.

* 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.

* Within the Goofy related parts of the [[Disney Animated Canon]], there's Max's love life. In ''[[A Goofy Movie]]'' he was given a girlfriend named Roxanne. In the sequel she doesn't appear, but she pops up in ''[[House of Mouse]]''. Come ''Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas'', and he has a new girlfriend. Undoubtedly, Max/Roxanne is the Fan-Preferred Couple and many fans make [[Fix Fic]]'s about this.

* The ''[[An American Tail]]'' franchise has the Fan-Preferred Couple of Tony and Bridget. Interestingly this ''was'' a canon pairing initially, but later [[Direct to Video]] sequels [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|wrote Bridget completely out of the story]] [[Retcon|with no explanation]], and had Tony swooning over an [[Indian Maiden]].

* 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]].

 

 

** 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.

** 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."

* Jack Carter and Nathan Stark are ''the'' Fan-Preferred Couple in ''[[Eureka]]'' and keeps being it even after {{spoiler|Stark dies}}.

* ''[[Victorious]]'' as a Nickelodeon teen comedy is unlikely to end with canon lesbian or gay pairings. This has lead to a handful of Fan-Preferred Couple variations due to the Segregation rule:

*** By the end of Season Two the Fan-Preferred Couple shifted to Tori/Jade aka ''Jori''.. to the point where phrases including the name have ''trended worldwide'' on [[Twitter]]. [http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9060396&l=91c33b5239&id=134265793307 The creator has started teasing the pairing as well.]

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

** 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.

* ''[[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.

* ''[[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]]'':

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

* According to the canon of ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'', [[The Lancer]] [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Kain]] [[Memetic Badass|Highwind]] is Rosa's [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] and thus, [[Romantic Runner-Up|second fiddle to]] [[Official Couple|Cecil]]. Instead, many fans pair him up with [[Blow You Away|Elemental]] [[Cute Monster Girl|Archfiend]] [[Evil Is Sexy|Barbariccia]], as she [[Foe Yay|has a rivalry with him and simultaneously harbors feelings for him]] as [[Theme Pairing|"a fellow creature of the sky"]]. What was originally a [[Crack Pairing]] became considerably popular over time, especially [[Ship Tease|thanks to]] ''[[Final Fantasy IV: The After Years|The After Years]]''.<ref>In a bit of irony, it should be noted that in the DS remake of ''IV'', Rosa and Barbariccia [[Acting for Two|share]] [[Talking to Himself|VAs]]: [[Yuko Kaida]] (JPN) and [[Karen Strassman|Kirsty Pape]] (ENG).</ref>

* 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.

* In the ''[[Metroid]]'' fandom, there are [[Foe Yay|Samus/Ridley]] shippers. Yes, [[You Killed My Father|that]] [[Complete Monster|Ridley]]. Then again, the closest thing to a [[Canon]] couple is [[May–December Romance|Samus/Adam]].

* ''[[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).

** And of course, this isn't the worst of all, it is ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Ocarina of Time]]''. The game gives link [[Word of God|SIX]] love interests ([[Childhood Friend Romance|Saria]], [[Friend to All Living Things|Malon]], [[Sweet Polly Oliver|Zelda]], [[Exposition Fairy|Navi]], [[Childhood Marriage Promise|Ruto]], and [[May–December Romance|Nabooru]]), and fans will give him more ([[Mayfly-December Romance|Impa]], [[Heroes Want Redheads|Anju]], [[Foe Yay|Ganondorf]], etc). So people has a lot of choices.

* 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.

* 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.

*** 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]].

**** Arguably it was canon for the entire final season, they just didn't ''admit'' it until the last five minutes.

* 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.

** Because ''Total Drama'' has [[Loads and Loads of Characters|so many major characters]] and an active [[Crack Ship]]ping community, this trope happens a lot for the less popular couples—for example, [[Cloudcuckoolander|Izzy]] is paired more with [[Deadpan Snarker|Noah]] or [[Homeschooled Kids|Ezekiel]] than her canon boyfriend [[Big Eater|Owen]], while [[Iron Butt Monkey|Tyler]] gets ignored so [[Dumb Blonde|Lindsay]] can wind up with Trent instead.

* ''[[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]]}}.

* Chip/Gadget in ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'', to the point where [[Portmanteau Couple Name]]s aren't necessary anymore because the only terms needed are "pro" (for being in favor of Chip/Gadget) and "anti" (for explicitly opposing this ship, regardless of alternatives). Well, okay, and Dale/[[One-Scene Wonder|Foxglove]].

** 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]]