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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''.
 
Unrelated discussions degenerate into [[Ship -to -Ship Combat]] involving them. [[Fan Art]] of them embracing passionately is everywhere. Threads dedicated to [[WAFF|gushing over their sweet, fluffy, legendary love]] and [[Die for Our Ship|scorching hatred of anyone in the way]] dominate forums. [[Shipping Goggles|Bits of trivia]] are cited and [[Word of God]] is creatively interpreted to show that they ARE going to happen. The [[Official Couple]] they're breaking up gets only three votes in fan support polls, possibly including one vote cast by a very alarmed author. They are a phenomenon shrouded in infamy.
 
And still yet, in spite of it all, they are ''not happening''. Certainly not now, and probably not ever.
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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]].
 
The highest aspiration of a [[Fan -Preferred Couple]] is to beat the odds and evolve into an [[Official Couple]]. This is about the only way the same couple can end up being ''both'' of these things.
 
== READ BEFORE ADDING AN EXAMPLE ==
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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 pairings that are less popular than rival pairings'''. Yes, this means it's not a [[Fan -Preferred Couple]] if the [[Official Couple]] is ''more fan-preferred than it''.
# '''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.
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* 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.
* In ''[[Ranma ½ (Manga)|Ranma 1/2]]'':
** Ryoga Hibiki is almost always paired with Ukyo Kunoji, much more frequently then Ranma Saotome is, though the popularity of this (and Shampoo/Mousse) is likely due to: A) it [[Ship Mates|not contradicting]] the [[Official Couple]], B) it [[Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends|making it easier for Ranma and Akane to get together]], C) Ryoga and Ukyo's [[Last -Minute Hookup|Last Minute Hookups]] in the manga [[Strangled By the Red String|not being all that popular]], D) the anime writers added a lot of Ryoga/Ukyo [[Ship Tease]] that wasn't present in the original manga.
** [[May-December Romance|Kasumi/Dr. Tofu]] is a surprisingly common ship. Admittedly, it was one of the first genuine-seeming romances hinted at in the series, but [[Word of God]] states that Tofu's feelings are one-sided, which is hinted at in canon by the fact that [[Love Makes You Dumb]] and [[Love Makes You Crazy]] apply to Dr. Tofu to such an extent that Kasumi is honestly unaware that he acts any differently normally.
** Kuno/Nabiki is another Fan Preferred Couple that's popular for reasons similar to the ones given to Ryoga/Ukyo (i.e. it [[Ship Mates|not contradicting Ranma/Akane]] and [[Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends|eliminating one of Ranma's suitor problems]]), and like with Ryoga/Ukyo, the anime gives them a bit more [[Ship Tease]] for fans to lean on.
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** [[Official Couple]] Kelda and Bill are popular with each other, though. Probabaly becuase no one had heard of either before their arc.
** 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.
* Many fans prefer [[Fantastic Four|Invisible Woman]] to be paired off with Namor rather than her own husband. Considering the playing-up of Mr. Fantastic's neglectful side AND having Sue and Reed be on opposite sides of the [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]], it seemed like a distinct possibility. (And, not surprisingly, it didn't happen. But they did tease us with it a bit.)
* 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.
** 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]].
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* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' fans seized on the obvious hints through the franchise and have embraced the PoXTigress coupling, eager to see it progress.
* ''[[Toy Story]]'''s canon couples are Woody/Bo Peep (well, at least until Bo Peep was [[Put On a Bus]] in the third film) and Buzz/Jessie, but Woody/Buzz and Woody/Jessie are easily just as popular as the canon ones, if not more.
* 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]].
* {{Warehouse 13}}'s fan prefered couple is un without question Myka/HG, though the Pete/Myka shippers are there as well.
 
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* Raoul and Christine end up together in ''[[Phantom of the Opera]]'', but most fans prefer Christine to be with Erik - ''especially'' the ones that go by the 2004 version of it (where the Phantom is portrayed by [[Adaptational Attractiveness|Gerard Butler]]). Also see the series' entry in the Theater section.
* Warren/Layla from ''[[Sky High]]'' over the canon Layla/Will.
* A lot of fans of ''[[A KnightsKnight's Tale]]'' aren't fond of William/Jocelyn, instead preferring to hook him up with his hard-working friend Kate.
* Jareth/Sarah from ''[[Labyrinth (Film)|Labyrinth]]'' is quite popular, in spite of Sarah flat-out rejecting Jareth's offer to make all her dreams come true at the end of the film. It probably has a lot to do with Jareth being played by [[David Bowie]].
* In the ''[[Inception (Film)|Inception]]'' fandom, Arthur/Eames and Arthur/Ariadne is this. It's the version where the fandom has no [[Official Couple]], though; the only canon couple involves entirely different characters.
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* 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.
* The [[Official Couple]] in the ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' [[Star Trek (Film)|2009 movie]] is {{spoiler|Spock/Uhura}}. There is a sizable section of the fandom for whom Kirk/Spock is the [[Fan -Preferred Couple]], some of whom believe that the former relationship was put in purely to dissuade Kirk/Spock shippers. (Though the movie has also spawned a sizeable Kirk/Bones following.)
* Fans of the [[Rupert Grint]] movie ''[[Cherrybomb (Film)|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]]...
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** {{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 (Literature)|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.
* One of the [[Older Than Steam|oldest]] examples of this is shown in the Portuguese/Spanish (its authorship is disputed) medieval romance ''Amadis Of Gaul''. Except that in this case it's not so much [[Fan -Preferred Couple]] as ''King'' Preferred Couple. To further elaborate: the hero Amadis is inextricably faithful to the princess Oriana. During one of his quests, however, one lady Briolanja falls desperately in love with him, and puts him in jail because he refuses to go to bed with her. Apparently the king of Portugal at the time, D. Afonso, really liked Briolanja and wanted her to have a happy ending, so he himself ordered the book to be changed, and have Amadis get hitched with Briolanja (with Oriana's permission, otherwise he'd die... it's a long story). This is [[Retcon|retconned]] in later editions of the book, where the "author"/compiler himself narrates this version of the story, but immediately says afterwards something along the lines of "but this is just the king's whim and not what really happened". And then goes on with the "original" version. It's bizarre.
* For [[VC 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.
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** 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]]'':
** The writers were surprised with the acceptance Puck and Rachel got from the fans, when they first appeared as a one-episode pairing in Season 1. And even though the show is completely driven by her relationship with goody goody Finn Hudson, the "Puckleberry" fanbase is still strong after two seasons. But the Quinn/Rachel (Faberry) pairing could easily make a run for Puckleberry's money as most popular [[Fan -Preferred Couple]]. Really though, it's hard to pick just ''one'' in the huge ''and'' [[Broken Base|divisive]] Glee fanbase.
** 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]].
** Since Season 3 however it seems that Kurt/Blaine(AKA Klaine)is the most popular canon ship right now, having more fanfiction about them than any other couple(over 10,000). In fact, most 'Klainers' go as far as to say Klaine is the only reason they watch the show and if they were to break up they would stop watching altogether.
** Rachel and Quinn recently won an E poll for favorite couple. There were so many votes, the site crashed.
* Tommy and Kimberly from ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'', who were a fan favorite and the [[Official Couple]]. Later on when Kimberly retired from the Rangers, she picked [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|Katherine/Kat]] as her replacement. Tommy and Kimberly later ended([[Off -Screen Breakup|by letter]], much to the irritation of the fans). Then Kat and Tommy got together and were even [[Flash Forward|shown to be married in the future]]. A lot of fans [[Die for Our Ship|HATED this]], and loudly sounded their preference for Tommy/Kimberly.
* Payson and Sasha from ''[[Make It or Break It]]'' have over four times the fanfiction written about them than canon couple, Summer/Sasha
* Dawson and Joey in the first season of ''[[Dawsons Creek|Dawson's Creek]]''. For that matter, Joey and Pacey in the first two and a half seasons of the show. It's ultimately settled when {{spoiler|Joey/Pacey}} become the official couple in the series finale.
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** 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.
* Most viewers wanted to see Kara and Lee together, but in the [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (TV)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' we find out they don't get together after all.
** 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.
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** ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine (TV)|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.
* ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'' has a vocal majority that want Ricky and Amy together. This popularity largely stems from 1. They have a son together from a one night stand that took place [[Whole -Episode Flashback|before the show started]]. 2. Ricky is considered a [[Draco in Leather Pants]] or [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]]. Despite the show running almost entirely on [[Dating Do-Si-Do]], this is one pairing the writers keep [[Ship Tease|dancing around]].
** 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]].
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* 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:
** When the show aired the first season, the overall [[Fan -Preferred Couple]] was the [[Les Yay]] pairing of Cat Valentine, a perky [[Genki Girl]] [[Cloudcuckoolander]] with [[Goth]] looking, [[Deadpan Snarker|Deadpan Snarking]] Jade. When Tori is added to the Cat/Jade pairing, it becomes the Fan Preferred [[OT 3]] Cat/Jade/Tori, aka Catorade.
*** 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.
** 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.
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** 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]].
* ''[[Super Sentai]]'': Most series feature [[Ship Tease]] between the Red and Pink Rangers (or Red and White, if there is no Pink) so in any Sentai where they do not get together, they are likely to be the [[Fan -Preferred Couple]] instead. The most prominent example is probably ''[[Hikari Sentai Maskman]]'', which has a large fanbase in Malaysia and the Philippines because official dubs of the show were aired there. These fans often state on fansites and blogs that they would have preferred Momoko to be Takeru's love interest, rather than the canon Takeru/Iyal. Which is kinda weird since Takeru and Momoko [[Ships That Pass in The Night|hardly speak to each other or share any screen time.]]
** ''[[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.
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* This was much the story for Mason and [[Tomboyish Name|George]] from ''[[Dead Like Me]]'', even though Mason acted [[Big Brother Instinct|like a big brother to George]] and was interested in [[Alpha Bitch|Daisy]]. They ended up, with the end of the series, just being [[Better As Friends|better as friends]].'
* In ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' fanfiction Miley is rarely paired with Jake or Jesse, the guys she dated. Instead in canonical fiction (as opposed to falsely categorized stories about Miley Cyrus) she more often paired with Oliver, Lilly, or Mikayla.
* Andy and Nancy, from ''[[Weeds]]'', although their case is a complicated one. It's been made canon that Andy is in love with her and that she may or may not reciprocate his feelings and they have a tendency to act like a couple regardless of whether or not they're in other relationships at the time, but the two haven't gone past a [[Fake -Out Make -Out]] and most fans believe they'll never happen on the show. Still, that doesn't stop them from being countless times more popular than any of their canon relationships.
* It did not take long for fans of ''[[Two Broke Girls]]'' to latch onto the pairing of Caroline/Max.
* On ''[[Skins]]'':
** Effy/Cook was way more popular than Effy/Freddie ever was, though there was enough of both to lead to [[Ship -to -Ship Combat]].
** Mini/Franky aka Minky is easily the most popular ship of the third generation (with the possible exception of Rich/Grace), though, like the example above, it's not so universal that there isn't some [[Ship -to -Ship Combat]].... with Mini/Alo. But pretty much nobody likes Franky with her canon love interest, [[The Scrappy|Matty]]. As a result, there was a huge fan outcry when [[Word of God]] said not to expect anything Minky in Series 6.
** Fans of the US version seemed to prefer Tea and Tony together - at least, those who weren't offended by the [[Unfortunate Implications]] of having a "confident lesbian" character sleeping with a boy. But even fans who wanted Tea with a girl had trouble rooting for her with one-dimensional canon girlfriend Betty, and tended to ship her with her friends Michelle and Daisy instead.
* One of the most popular non-canon pairings within the ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' fandom is River/Jayne, spurred on by the series' overall theme of [[Opposites Attract]] in the three canon romances/relationships and held aloft by more than a little [[Foe Yay]] and [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]. The fact that as of the end of ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]'', River and Jayne are the only two characters {{spoiler|who are still alive}} who aren't already paired up ( {{spoiler|save Zoe, who is still grieving over Wash}}) further fuels this reaction.
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* ''[[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.}}
* [[George Bernard Shaw]] was annoyed by fans of his play ''[[Pygmalion Plot|Pygmalion]]'' trying to ship Eliza Doolittle and Professor Higgins, and [[Word of God|adamantly declared]] that the two would never be more than friends (and not very close friends, at that) and declared that, after the events in his play, Eliza Doolittle eventually marries Freddy and they open a flower shop together. He wrote an [http://www.bartleby.com/138/6.html essay] about that, which was included in the 1916 print edition of the play. The musical ''[[My Fair Lady]]'', made after Shaw's death, has an ending that implies much more strongly that the two of them do get together. As ''Pygmalion'' was written in 1913 and the first film adaptation was made in 1938, this particular [[Fan -Preferred Couple]] is [[Older Than Television]].
* ''[[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'.
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** 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.
** Heck, let's not mention just Mystery Of The Emblem. ''Every [[Fire Emblem]]'' always have their own batch [[Fan -Preferred Couple]], especially those that have Support System. Such as [[Fire Emblem Elibe|Eliwood/Lyn over the one with special end Eliwood/Ninian]], for one example...
** For the seventh game, a surprisingly popular pairing amongst the [[Rule 34|steamy fanart]] crowd is [[Dark Action Girl|Dark Action]] [[Hot Mom]] Sonia Reed and her [[Number Two]], Ursula the Blue Crow. It's not hard to see why: Ursula's [[Undying Loyalty]] to Sonia combined with Sonia's [[Alpha Bitch]] personality and penchant for wearing [[Stripperiffic]] black leather lead to obvious dominant/submissive implications, and they definitely seem closer than Sonia and her canonical husband Brendan (part of this may also be due to the fact that Brendan is huge, muscular, hairy, and [[May-December Romance|in his fifties]], making him an unlikely choice for steamy fanart).
* Speaking of ''[[Super Smash Bros (Video Game)|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
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* ''[[Fate Stay Night (Visual Novel)|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)}}.
* The possibility of multiple romances for a male character in ''[[Baldurs Gate]] II'' means that those who don't like the canonical pairing of PC/Jaheira have ''hard evidence'' on their side, not even going into the other female characters the PC can't have a relationship with. And as for female characters... well, [[The Scrappy|Anomen]] that the most popular pairing with no Anomen in it gets to be the [[Fan -Preferred Couple]]. Valygar probably takes that spot.
* ''[[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 (Video Game)|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.
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' generally avoids this between characters from licensed series, in hopes of preventing any unnecessary [[Ship -to -Ship Combat]]. However, female protagonist Setsuko Ohara of ''[[Super Robot Wars Z]]'' and [[Gundam Seed Destiny|Shinn Asuka]] in the same game is probably the most supported pairing, if not, ''the'' prime [[Crossover Ship]] in existance, as it's one of the few that actually makes a lot of sense considering their close relationship in-game.
* Kairi from ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' is semi-offically paired with Sora (they both are shown to like the idea of sharing a Paopu fruit with each other, which is pretty much a mythical engagment-ring). Among [[Yaoi Fan|many fangirls]], however, the pairing of Sora with his [[Ho Yay|best friend]] [[Foe Yay|and rival]] Riku is vastly more popular.
** [[Ho Yay|Axel and Roxas]], anyone? [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls|In the circles where fanfic is written and fanart is made]], it's undoubtedly FAR more popular than Naminé/Roxas or Xion/Roxas, both of which might as well be [[Official Couple|official couples]]. They have LOADS of fan arts and fanfics. Try and go find a ''Kingdom Hearts'' fan who hasn't seen/read any of them. It's everywhere. There's no escaping the Akuroku.
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** 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.
* Khadgar and Garona in the ''[[War Craft]]'' [[Warcraft Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]]. The novel ''[[Warcraft the Last Guardian (Literature)|Warcraft the Last Guardian]]'' played them as romantic interests with each other and ever since it was accepted that they loved each other... until recently when [[World of Warcraft Comic|the comic series]] exposited that Garona gave birth to the baby of Khadgar's wizard-master.
** 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 (Video Game)|Aveyond]]'':
** Most fans think Lars/Rhen is a better pairing than the canon Dameon/Rhen. Dameon successfully flirts with Rhen in the game, but there never seems to be a spark, even when they get gushy. Then it turns out that Dameon is [[The Mole]] (though already revealed to the players around the beginning of the game), making even less of a reason for that pairing. And then we have Lars, who was once cruel to Rhen since she was [[Made a Slave]] to his family, then finds out she's {{spoiler|royalty}}, and he apologizes to her rather awkwardly. Though it is rather obvious the game tries to enforce the Dameon/Rhen pairing and tries to avoid Lars/Rhen, it is even more blaringly obvious that the Lars/Rhen pairing is far more popular in fandom. Build C of the game throws Lars/Rhen shippers a bone by adding an option to have Rhen go back to Shadwood Academy with Lars, only to state in the epilogue that [[Ship Sinking|Rhen did marry Lars]]... or did she?
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** Almost everyone seems to like Diego/Mia too.
** Same with Ema/Klavier from ''[[Apollo Justice]]''.
* According to the canon of ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|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>
** Cecil/Kain/Rosa is a Fan Preferred ''[[OT 3]]'', as well.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|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.
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* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'', Cloud and Tifa are an [[Official Couple]], and Sephiroth's romantic status and sexual orientation are never mentioned. Still, Sephiroth/Cloud is such an immensely popular fan fic and fan art pairing that newbies have been known to accept it as canon. This is despite the two of them being bitter enemies. Zack is also popularly paired with Cloud or Sephiroth or both, despite being in another [[Official Couple]] with Aerith.
** Right when ''VII'' came out, the most popular pairing was actually Cloud/Aeris.<ref>Aerith was not [[Spell My Name With an "S"|a common spelling]] in the English-speaking fandom at the time.</ref> The legendary [[Player Punch]] had ''worked'', and back then the Square forums were inundated with "please bring Aeris back in the remake!" requests, while the fanfic scene was full of steamy writing starring spiky-haired SOLDIER and [[Moe]] flower girl. However, newer players tend to align with Cloud/Tifa if male, or [[Ho Yay Shipping|Cloud/Sephiroth]] if [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls|female]], and the fanbase in general has turned more and more spiteful towards Aerith. The Compilation torpedoes the ship further; the old guard are happy to ship what they shipped before ''Crisis Core'', but there's fewer every year, and new players who got into ''FFVII'' through the Compilation and the internet scene tend to accept Zack/Aerith as holy writ [[Base Breaker|if they accept Aerith's right to exist at all.]]
*** When it comes to [[Ho Yay Shipping]] Cloud and Sephiroth were lets just say very popular (though the majority of the other male characters were far from excluded). On the [[Les Yay Shipping]] side Tifa is very popular in this regard as well especially with Aeris (but Yuffie is not entirely exempt from this), on the [[Foe Yay]] side there is Scarlet (and to a lesser extent Elena). Tifa/Aeris is generally played for Romance while Tifa/Scarlet is generally played for [[Girl -On -Girl Is Hot|fanservice]] (though keep in mind the former can be willing to do fanservice as well).
** No love for Sephiroth/Aerith (Aeriseph)? There's quite a fanbase to it.
** Feel free to add something, but ho yay should be more substantial than nothing but wishful thinking. That goes for Cloud/Sephiroth too.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VIII]]'', there's a pretty large [[Broken Base]] over the official couple of Squall and Rinoa. This has led to numerous factions that want to see him paired with other people...such as his rival Seifer, his teammates Zell, Irvine, and Selphie, and his former teacher Quistis. That's also leaving out the group that likes to see [[Incest Is Relative|Laguna and Squall]], canon be damned. Saying that any one is really ''preferred'' over another is a tough call, but there's enough fighting over the subject that it tends to lead right into [[Ship -to -Ship Combat]]... along with the fans that ''liked'' Rinoa and Squall. This dovetails nicely with the fans that just fight over whether or not ''[[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VIII]]'' is actually a good game or not.
* As for ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'', large swathes of fandom have fallen for [[Lady of War|Lightning]] and [[Squishy Wizard|Hope]]. Sometimes they age Hope up; [[Shotacon|sometimes they don't]]. This is also one of the most popular pairings in Japan, gaining the [[Portmanteau Couple Name|portmanteau ship name]] "hopurai".
** By contrast another very popular romantic pairing via fandom is [[Sixth Ranger|Fang]] and [[The Hero|Lightning]], which is labelled as [[Portmanteau Couple Name|"FLight"]]. Aside from being inspired by the minor amount of [[Les Yay]] between the two in the game and the common understanding of [[Girl -On -Girl Is Hot|Girl on Girl is Hot]]. But on a more thoughtful level, the two are clearly set up as each others Foil (see [[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]] page) within the narrative, yet interestingly when Lightning is down it is Fang who props her up and in return when Fang is down it is Lightning who props her up. Finding hordes of pics, fanfics, and vids of [[Portmanteau Couple Name|"FLight"]] when simply just searching for just one of the two characters alone via google, deviantart, youtube, etc etc is inevitable.
* Thanks to ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'' and '''[[Memetic Mutation|THE]] [[Power of the Void|VOID]]!''', [[Fan Nickname|Voidshipping]] [[Final Fantasy V (Video Game)|Exdeath]]/[[Final Fantasy III (Video Game)|Cloud of Darkness]] is ''huge'', despite running on huge dosages of [[Crack Pairing|crack]]. [[Theme Pairing|It's]] [[Large Ham|kinda]] [[Narm Charm|easy]] [[Broken Record|to]] [[Cargo Ship|see]] [[Birds of a Feather|why]].
** Also, the [[Minion Shipping]] of [[Final Fantasy II (Video Game)|Emperor Mateus]] and [[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)|Ultimecia]], due to their alliance in-game. It doesn't hurt that she's one of ''two'' characters in the entire game that The Emperor respects and [[Battle Couple|the two are seen coordinating a trap]] for [[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Terra]] to fall prey to in the opening intro. The only thing keeping this from being full-on [[Unholy Matrimony]] is [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover|the nature]] [[Crisis Crossover|of the game]].
** Let's not forget the humble, but growing number of Warrior of Light/Cosmos shippers out there.
*** It doesn't hurt that, WoL's strong and undying sense of duty to his goddess aside, it is eventually revealed that {{spoiler|the pair are actually perfect manikins respectively modeled after Cid of the Lufaine and his wife.}}
** Or [[Final Fantasy II (Video Game)|Firion]] and [[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Lightning]] in ''012''. Put together a [[Adorkable|charmingly dorky]], [[Heroic Resolve|idealistic]] [[Hot -Blooded|youth]] and a [[Sugar and Ice Personality|stoic]], [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo|aloof]], [[Knight in Sour Armor|war-hardened warrior]], have them [[Ship Tease|bond over]] [[Something About a Rose|Firion's Wild Rose]], and have [[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Cecil]] act as Firion's [[Shipper On Deck|wingman]]; you've got the recipe for another fast-sailing ship right there.
** There's also a lot of fanart and fanfiction for Cloud and Terra due to the fact she apparently reminds Cloud of Aerith and the two of them bond over their dreams for the future.
* From the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series in general, Ifrit/Shiva is a very popular pairing between [[Summon Magic|summons]], most likely due to the "[[Playing With Fire|fire]] and [[An Ice Person|ice]], [[Beast and Beauty]]" thematic they have going on.
* Fans of ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' vastly prefers the pairing of Selvaria Bles with Johann/Oswald the Iron. Considering what kind of dick Maximillian (the one Selvaria is canonically interested at) is, it should come as no surprise. Radi Jaeger is sometimes a decent substitute too.
* 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 [http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideki_KamiyaHideki Kamiya|the same person.]]
** Alternatively, pairing up Dante with Morrigan from ''[[Darkstalkers (Video Game)|Darkstalkers]]''. It's had a notable following for some time, which was only bolstered by their appearance in ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Video Game)|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]].
* ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]'' is pretty light on [[Ship Tease]] in general, but fans love the idea of [[Butt Monkey|Duster]]/[[Black Magician Girl|Kumatora]]. Also [[Twincest|Claus/Lucas]], thanks to the [[Yaoi Fangirl|Yaoi Fangirls]].
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* 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 (Video Game)|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.
* ''[[Blaz Blue]]'': It's pretty known that Litchi is a [[Love Martyr]] for Arakune, but it doesn't stop people for pairing her with [[Large Ham|B]][[Boisterous Bruiser|a]][[Dogged Nice Guy|n]][[Rated "M" for Manly|g]]. This gets even more prevalent when due to story development, {{spoiler|Litchi's love for Arakune was one of the reasons why she pulled a [[Face Heel Turn]], thus if Arakune was not her main love, she would've no need for that. And surprise, Bang is revealed to possess a Nox Nyctores that might be the key to cure BOTH Litchi and Arakune and possibly annulling her [[Face Heel Turn]]...}}
** 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).
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** [[Fanon]] also seems to have a fondness for [[Street Fighter (Video Game)|Ryu]]/[[Street Fighter II (Video Game)|Chun-Li]], despite neither of them having married by the time of ''[[Street Fighter III (Video Game)|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.]]
* In the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' fan community, Chris/Jill has the most supporters since the [[Resident Evil 1|first]] ''Resident Evil'' game's release. The second most preferred pairing is in fact Leon/Claire instead of Leon/Ada, although the latter has a sharp rise after ''[[Resident Evil 4]]''. For the main antagonist Wesker, however, he has lots of Wesker/Redfield shippers somehow, with obviously some [[Yaoi Fangirls]] supporting the Wesker/male Redfield pairing.
* ''[[Shining Force|Shining Force II]]'''s plot is something of a [[Cliché Storm]], complete with a [[Sleeping Beauty]] princess who needs to be [[Intimate Healing|awakened with a kiss]]. Everyone tells [[The Hero|Bowie]] that he's the right one to wake Princess Elis, [[Standard Hero Reward|marry her, and inherit the throne]]. When it comes her turn to talk, [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|Sarah]] bursts into tears, says that you're the best choice, and runs off, only to be [[Pair the Spares|comforted]] by another member of the [[Five-Man Band]], while [[But Thou Must!|you get to go up and wake the princess]]. Most fans, of course, much prefer Sarah to Elis, who doesn't get more than two lines in the whole game and exists solely to be the [[Distressed Damsel]].
* In the ''[[Professor Layton]]'' fandom, it's canon that the professor and Claire were in a relationship, and ten years later, even after her death, he still loves her dearly. Of course, [[Het Is Ew|the fangirls prefer to ship Layton with Luke.]]
* Prior to ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', the two main fan-preferred couples for ''[[Mass Effect]]'' were Male!Shepard/Tali and Female!Shepard/Garrus. The two were so popular, [[Bio Ware]] made them both [[Sure Why Not|official options,]] and they still take up the bulk of ''Mass Effect'' fanfic. As for non-Shepard pairings, the two main preferred couples are Tali'Zorah/Kal'Reegar and Liara/Feron.
** 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 (Video Game)|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.
** And of course, this isn't the worst of all, it is ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|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.
* ''[[Pokémon]]'' is a hard series to tackle, due to the numerous continuities and hundreds of shippings. Shippers tend to have a habit of shipping protagonists with each other, or rivals and protagonists, leading to those being the top shippings. Though [[Pokémon Black and White (Video Game)|Hilbert or Hilda/N]] is quite popular for their games, more so then the two protagonists together. Likewise, [[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Video Game)|Cynthia/Dawn]] is almost as popular as said protagonist and either her rival or Lucas. Also, [[Pokémon Gold and Silver (Video Game)|Silver/Lyra]] has a strong following.
** 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 (Video Game)|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 (Video Game)|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]].
** Two surprisingly popular [[Crack Pairing|Crack Pairings]] involving Mileena are Johnny/Mileena and Scorpion/Mileena. Most fans rationalize that Johnny [[Casanova Wannabe|is the kind of guy who would tap that anyway]] (the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaalCI26XKU ending] to ''[[Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks (Video Game)|Shaolin Monks]]'' even has Cage talk about looking for Mileena). The latter has been floating around in the fandom for some time, but came roaring back with a vengeance in ''MK9'' thanks a [[Memetic Mutation|memetically]] popular mission in the Challenge Tower involving Mileena (already reimagined here as a [[Psychopathic Manchild]]) acting [[Yandere]]-ish towards Scorpion... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlFonA6dORI over a teddy bear.]
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** 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 (Visual Novel)|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.
* ''[[Assassin's Creed I (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed I]]'' has Altaïr Ibn La'Ahad with Malik a-Sayf, which didn't stop even after the PSP game ''Bloodlines'' paired Altaïr with Maria Thorpe {{spoiler|1=who'd been the unnamed female Templar in AC1}}. ''[[Assassin's Creed II (Video Game)|Assassin's Creed II]]'' and [[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Video Game)|its sequel]] has Ezio Auditore da Firenze with Leonardo da Vinci, and ''confirmed'' the Altaïr/Maria pairing... not that that, or [[Assassin's Creed Revelations (Video Game)|the fourth game]] pairing Ezio with {{spoiler|Sofia Sartor}} has stopped the shippers.
** 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.
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* Despite both Ben and Gwen receiving love interests in ''[[Ben 10 Alien Force (Animation)|Ben 10 Alien Force]]'' (potential or otherwise), support for [[Kissing Cousins|Cousinshipping]] has not waned in the slightest. Why should it? [[Relationship Writing Fumble|Gwen herself]] says Julie should find Ben attractive because he's "funny, sensitive, and well-mannered... unlike some people I know." Not to mention Julie being widely seen as a [[Shallow Love Interest]]; Gwen at least was fortunate enough to get officially paired with an actual character.
** Same deal with Kevin/Ben; it's sometimes hard to believe that all the [[Ho Yay]] with them is unintentional.
* ''[[South Park]]'': [[The Everyman|Stan]] has a canon girlfriend, but the fandom seems to like his [[Ho Yay]] and [[Heterosexual Life Partners]] status with [[Hot -Blooded|Kyle]] as a better romantic alternative. On the other end, his canon girlfriend, Wendy, is usually paired with [[Foe Yay|Cartman]], who some people would rather see be paired with [[Ship -to -Ship Combat|Kyle]]...
* Much of the ''[[Daria]]'' fandom dislikes [[Official Couple|Daria/Tom]] and would have preferred that Daria's one-sided crush on Trent eventually been [[Oblivious to Love|noticed]] and requited. To say nothing of the [[Les Yay|Daria/Jane shippers]].
* Even after [[Official Couple|Angela got with Broadway]], many ''[[Gargoyles]]'' fanfic authors ''insisted'' on pairing her with Brooklyn.
** There are also those fans who think Goliath should hook back up with his [[Psycho Ex -Girlfriend]] Demona, despite the fact that she's tried to kill him several times for not agreeing with her. Apparently that's Goliath's fault.
* Beast Boy/Raven shippers in ''[[Teen Titans (Animation)|Teen Titans]]''. The creators of the show repeatedly stated that Beast Boy/Raven would never happen, yet it was an increasingly popular and a [[Ship Mates|preferred complementary ship for Starfire/Robin shippers]]. At the very least a substantially large amount of people preferred it to the official canon couple of Beast Boy and Terra (the difference on FF.net is about ''twelvefold'' in the romance category).
** And, although the Robin/Raven ship [[Ship -to -Ship Combat|never quite matched]] the popularity of Beast Boy/Raven or [[Official Couple|Robin/Starfire]], it came pretty darn close to catching up.
** Cyborg is most commonly shipped with Bumblebee despite that in the [[Recursive Adaptation]], ''[[Teen Titans Go (Comic Book)|Teen Titans Go]]'', both Bumblebee and Cyborg have suitors.
* In the ''[[Batman Beyond (Animation)|Batman Beyond]]'' fandom, the majority of the fans go for Terry with his best friend Max or one-time girlfriend [[Dating Catwoman|Melanie]]. Few actually pair him with his on-and-off canon girlfriend Dana Tan, as she's [[Shallow Love Interest|the least developed character of the three]]. As a matter of fact, in the Season One DVD Behind the Scenes featurette, it is discovered that Alan Burnett actually wanted to write an episode where Terry and Max ended up together, but Bruce Timm refused, and Terry ends up getting hitched to Dana in the future as shown in the JLU episode "Epilogue."
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