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Ships That Pass in the Night: Difference between revisions
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So you like to ship Bob and Alice. The only problem you have is the fact that Bob and Alice have exchanged little more than a few lines with one another and there seems to be little to no interaction between the two.
This is when Ships Pass in the Night. Most of these types of ships could be considered [[Crack Pairing|Crack Pairings]], but sometimes [[Shipping Goggles|fans can dig deep]] and find decent proof for their beloved ship -- or at least persuade the readers that the couple would give each other the time of day.
It's especially [[Mood Whiplash]] if no transition period is shown and the couple is suddenly [[Strangled by the Red String]].
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*** Shinji/Hikari isn't ''too'' implausible, but naturally needs some kind of push to make it work in canon since the two characters almost never talk directly to each other. There ''are'' several fanfics for this pairing that have been well-written enough to end up on the [[Fan Fic Recommendations]] list.
** Rei/Kaworu also qualifies; they never talked, and Rei said exactly two lines relating to Kaworu. There are people who find this squickier than Shinji/Rei... although, to be fair, the squick factor of the latter depends on {{spoiler|how much of Shinji's mom's genetic material you think was used to make Rei.}}
** Although most likely a deliberate-joke [[Crack Pairing]], there's also [[Screw Yourself|Rei/Rei]] and Rei/Rei/Rei, despite the fact that Rei I {{spoiler|is killed by Ritsuko's mother before the series}}, and that Rei III is introduced after {{spoiler|Rei II dies}}. This ship/[[
** There's at least one fic where, among other pairings, ''Ritsuko and Kensuke'' are paired up.
** NGE being often jokingly referred to as 'a Harem anime' because of Shinji's being surrounded by beautiful women (not to mention [[Ho Yay|Kaworu]]), there's even been a few Shinji/Maya fics to crop up - naturally, they make Shinji/Hikari look all the more plausible.
*** Shinji/Maya? Definitely counts as [[Screw Yourself]].
* Despite the fact that Ren and Pirika from ''[[Shaman King]]'' barely talk to each other in either the anime or manga ''and'' that the [[Distant Finale]] of the manga implies that Ren's wife is actually Iron Maiden Jeanne (which is also an example of this trope), they seem to be incredibly popular as a couple, with the [[Broken Base|half of the fandom]] that doesn't [[The Scrappy|dislike Pirika]] supporting the pairing. The reason for this is most likely the comedic potential stemming from the fact that Pirika's brother Horohoro and Ren fight almost constantly.
** Horohoro/Tamao is also a fairly popular pairing, even though (in the manga at least) they've barely talked to each other. Again, Tamao is considered [[The Scrappy]] to one part of the fandom, but not in the part that supports this pairing (or Tamao/Yoh, which has alot more of a basis in-canon.)
* The Yuuno/Hayate pairing has its small but still surprising share of fans in the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' fandom despite the fact that, well... have they even talked to each other? [[All There in the Manual|Even in the supplementary materials]]?
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** In this ship's defense, which of Kagome's love interests *hasn't* tried to kill her upon first meeting? I can only think of Houjou, and he. Well. Also when this pairing is done well, it is done very, very, very well.
* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'' has Sousuke/Insane Police Lady. Sure, they've had some (hilarious) interactions, and the Police Lady ''is'' obsessed with him in a [[Foe Yay]]-riffic way... and Sousuke ''did'' compliment her skill and ability (in his mind). The only problem is that she's only like that with him when he's in his Bonta-kun mascot costume. Which can only say stuff like "Fumo-fumo fuu!!" As for actual interaction between them when he's dressed normally... there's little to none. Except an instance where he asks Kaname if he should "off" the Police Lady. Granted, the people who support this pairing at least ''do'' tend to acknowledge that it's crack.
** [[
* ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' fandom now has Athena/Ikusa, Hayate's older brother.... although this would probably be considered parody, as it was invented mainly to annoy supporters of a certain other pairing.
** That one ''does'' at least make sense, considering that {{spoiler|Ikusa was the one who released Athena from her [[Gilded Cage]].}}
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* ''[[Gundam Wing]]'': Trowa/Relena is a decently popular het alternative for [[OTP|Heero/Relena]] (at least among those who don't want Relena to [[Die for Our Ship|die in a fire]]); however, the sum total of their interaction throughout ''Wing'' canon is nine lines of dialog, all related to Heero. Then there's the fact that such a ship could be seen as [[Loving a Shadow]], since Trowa and Heero are remarkably similar [[The Stoic|personality-wise]], an idea quite a few 3XR fanfics run with.
** Wufei/Relena is this [[Up to Eleven]]: The two '''never''' interact in any form or fashion, not just in the anime or [[The Movie]] but in all the official sidestories and sequels. Beyond that, they're polar opposites (he's an [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]], she's an [[Actual Pacifist]]), and he makes it plain that he doesn't like her on several occasions. So any pairing would require either [[Foe Yay]] of epic proportions, or a serious [[Ass Pull]].
* The [[Ouran High School Host Club]] fans who keep up with the anime rather than the manga see Kyoya/Kaoru as this, since their time together in the anime is limited to one scene of about 2 lines each. The pairing has recently developed a niche in the fandom due in part to continuing interactions in the manga.
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' has its fair share. One of the most popular ones is Hotaru/Shingo due to their similar ages. They’re never actually seen together, though as Chibiusa's close friends, it is plausible that they have met off-screen. Sometimes it is done [[Pair the Spares|to allow Ami (whom Shingo crushes on) to be in with someone else]].
* Someoka/Fubuki seemed to have become extremely popular in the ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' fandom a long, ''long'' time before the two shared any decent amount of screentime, having spent an arc and a half (about 50 episodes) taking turns getting [[Put on a Bus]] starting shortly after Fubuki's introduction. Most of the shipping seems to have stemmed from a single scene where the two share a heartwarming friendship moment conversing on the Inazuma General Hospital rooftop. It'd be another two dozen or so episodes after that before they actually end up as simultaneously active teammates for any prolonged period of time.
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== Literature ==
* ''[[Harry Potter]]'s'' [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] are prone to this.
** The most popular example might be Draco/Ginny, which was ''insanely'' popular for a while and still has a decent sized following, even though they only spoke twice in seven books, way back in Book 2, when Ginny told him "Leave him alone, he didn't want all that!" and later when Draco made fun of her Valentine to Harry. Though apparently the actual actors dated in real life.
*** Draco/Ginny is also used as a [[Beta Couple]] in [[One True Pairing|Harry/Hermione]] stories, if the writer isn't [[Die for Our Ship|feeling]] [[Ron the Death Eater|vindictive.]] As is Blaise/Ginny, which has even less canon to stand on as, except for being at the same parties during HBP, they don't interact at all.
** It should be noted, though, that after Pansy Parkinson suggests that Blaise finds Ginny attractive, Blaise says that he wouldn't touch a filthy blood traitor like her whatever she looked like."
** Sirius Black and Lucius Malfoy didn't exchange a single word in the novels. The sum total of their conversations in the films was "Get away from my godson!" "Black!" There's a pretty solid body of slash devoted to them, [[Sarcasm Mode|because a loving godfather and a man who wants to kill his godson have so much in common.]] (Of course, the popularity of this pairing is actually because they are played by [[Mr. Fanservice]] [[Gary Oldman]] and [[Jason Isaacs]].)
** As pointed out on the YMMV page for [[Half Blood Prince]], Lupin/Tonks is a canon example of this trope. Subverted, actually, because that's mostly due to the books being written from Harry's POV.
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** One possible factor is Carlos having expressed his appreciation of Molly's looks to Harry and goes on about what he'd like to do with her. Though bear in mind that Carlos [[Casanova Wannabe|fancies himself a ladies' man]] and Molly [[Hello, Nurse!|is just that hot]].
** We never see them interact, sure, but we do see Harry's inner monologue, in which ''he'' suspects that they have a thing for each other. It's just as likely that Harry is only trying to believe this so he can believe that Molly's [[Squick|squickey]] crush on him is over, but it ''is'' there.
* [[Atlanta Nights]] does this to itself. One chapter features two characters who have never spoken before or since running away to get married, and another has a character contemplating suicide over his unrequited love for a character he has never shared a scene with.
== Live Action TV ==
* Quite a few ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'' fans like to pair up [[John Munch]] and Casey Novak. Again, they haven't said much to each other, but one reporter does refer to them as [[The X-Files|"Mulder and Scully"]]. Now, we all know what happened there.
** Speaking of ''[[The X-Files]]'', one popular fanfic pairing is Skinner with Scully's mother.
* On ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', Sylar and Heidi make for an interesting ship. They've never been seen to meet in the series, but the ship bears a [[Unfortunate Implications|dubiously canon odor]] due to two timelines in which Sylar murdered and impersonated Heidi's husband.
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* For ''[[Glee]]'', pairing Kurt with Mike Chang (Other Asian) would make much more sense than the proposed boyfriend being cast for him. They don't have a lot of interaction and it may be a case of [[Pair the Spares]], but there are hints of it in the show, intentional or not.
** And among the fandom, Jesse seems to get shipped with Quinn a lot, despite the fact that the two have only spoken once.
** Glee actually made a successful example by having Mike date Tina in season 2 after they made out at Asian Camp. Mike was [[Living Scenary]] at the time but the two actually are the most successful couple in the show's history having never broken up.
* A large contingent of the ''[[Supernatural]]'' fandom ships Sam/Gabriel despite the hostile nature of their few canon interactions, presumably because the ship is a good mirror for the Dean/Castiel ship. This is rarely framed as [[Foe Yay]]. Perhaps more surprising is the small but growing support for Meg/Castiel (who were on screen together for all of thirty seconds) and Gabriel/Crowley (who never shared a scene).
** Someone was paying attention to these crack pairings, {{spoiler|in season 6, Meg and Cas meet for roughly 30 more seconds, except this time they make out}} way to fuel the flames show writers.
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* In the [[Syfy]] miniseries ''[[Tin Man]]'' fandom, the most popular [[Beta Couple]] to Cain/DG seems to be [[Broken Hero|Glitch]] and [[Demonic Possession|Azkadellia]], despite the fact that they meet (as adults) exactly twice in the series--oh, and that bit about her ''cutting out half his brain and putting it in a jar.''
* The ''[[Grimm (TV)|Grimm]]'' fandom features a sizeable fan base for Barry Raeb/Roddy Piper. The two have never met and would most likely be natural enemies (one is a bear, the other is a rat), but they are both [[Cute but Troubled]].
* There is an anthology of [[Suite Life On Deck]] stories called The Strange Love Collection which exists pretty on this trope. Examples include [[Wizards of Waverly Place|Alex Russo]] and London's [[Stalker with a Crush]] Corrie, Addison and the Russian chess champ Sasha and Bailey and Jessica (which actually [[Hilarious in Hindsight|preceded]] their [[Les Yay]] in a later episode
* Both BAMF & dressed for business, [[The Vampire Diaries|Elijah & Pearl]]
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* Thanks to it's origins as a [[Shmup]], the vast majority of ''[[Touhou]]'' characters have never interacted or shown evidence of being aware of each other. Thus, almost all ''possible'' ships are like this. On the plus side, the fandom is fairly sane and prefers to ship people who at least have reason to know each other... though sometimes this takes the form of having adjacent stages in gameplay that may be miles apart in canon. Most exceptions tend to be bad jokes (eg. shipping the bug girl with the plant lady) or instances of a [[Little Black Dress]].
* The ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'' fanfiction page has quite a few popular yaoi fics, a majority of them being about Kalas and Lyude, even though Kalas gives no indication of liking the latter, and vice-versa.
* The website ''[[Legacy of Kain]]'' fansite ''[http://www.freewebs.com/srg-teamvirus/vampiricromance.htm Bleeding Beauty]'', devoted to the character Umah from ''Blood Omen 2'', makes a case for Umah/Magnus, two characters that never meet in the game (after considering pairing her with ''every other character in the game'').
* [[Guilty Gear|Ky/Dizzy]], of all pairings, managed [[Official Couple]] status. Since the latter is incapacitated, they don't even interact much in the game that reveals this!
** That's fixed later, in some endings that have quite a bit of [[Ship Tease]]. I.e., one of them has Dizzy seeking for someone able to help her train and control her powers, and the one who gave her a hand on that was Ky.
* Theoretically, shipping almost any party member in [[Mass Effect]] with anyone ''but'' [[Player Character|Shepard]] will result in this. This effectively means that [[Friendly Sniper|Garrus]]/[[Wrench Wench|Tali]] is exactly as possible as [[Blood Knight|Grunt]]/[[Only Sane Man|Jacob]], which in turn is as likely as [[Hive Mind|Legion]]/[[Omnidisciplinary Scientist|Mordin]] or ''any combination of the above''.
** The above gains a certain hilarity in [[Mass Effect 3]] where {{spoiler|if Shepard failed to romance either, Garrus and Tali hook up at the end of the game.}}
** Party members, at least, can be chosen to go on missions together - at the very least, they serve together on a ship with a very small crew. More difficult to justify is the surprisingly popular pairing of Oriana/Kolyat - relatives of different party members, who never interact with each other, barely interact with the player character, and live on different planets, and seem to be paired up largely due to being the only teenagers in the game.
* In [[Sonic the Hedgehog]], [[Toy Ship|Tails and Cream]] is a popular pairing. However, the two do not interact, and Tails' [[Girls Have Cooties|stance on romance]] would make things... Not work.
** Shadow and Amy is astonishingly popular considering how little the two interact.
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** Of course, Vaarsuvius has been shipped with [[Launcher of a Thousand Ships|just about the entire cast]], as well as [[Star Trek: The Original Series|Mr. Spock]]. It helps that [[Ambiguous Gender|(s)he]] can be written [[Ho Yay|any]] [[Les Yay|way]] [[Heterosexual Life Partners|the]] [[Bi the Way|fanon]] [[Gender Bender|wants]].
** [[No Fourth Wall|Quasi-in-universe example]]: At one point, Elan tells Haley that when she gets back to normal, she can make out with any of the strip's recurring villains she wants. The name of the strip in question is "We Recommend [[Dark Magical Girl|Tsukiko]]." Given that Haley and Tsukiko have only had one major interaction (the fight beneath Azure City), this counts.
* ''[[Homestuck]]'' fans have a big habit of taking advantage of the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], [[Love Dodecahedron]] and ''many'' [[Bi the Way|bisexual characters]] for shipping purposes, leading to many of these. Probably the most significant is John/Eridan, a moderately popular ship between two characters who have not once interacted in canon yet.
** By a very strict reading of this trope, even Dirk/Jake could technically qualify, because as of the end of Act 6 Act 2 the two have not yet directly interacted in canon once. However, they are best friends, Dirk canonically has a crush on Jake, {{spoiler|and Jake canonically has some degree of romantic feelings for Dirk, however small}}, meaning that the pairing somehow manages to be this trope and yet have absolute ''buckets'' of [[Ship Tease]] simultaneously.
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== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'',
** [[Toy Ship|Toph/the Duke]] and Toph/Teo are popular [[Ship Mates]] for the [[Official Couple|canon pairings]]. Unfortunately, the only evidence for the former is Duke letting Toph use his helmet as a barf bag during "The Day of Black Sun" and a hug in the finale. (during the finale commentary , the creators coyly [[Trolling Creator|point out the hug]]) There's hardly any at all for the latter.
** Jet/Zuko could be considered this as well, as they only interacted in a couple of episodes, but became a popular slash pairing due to heavy amounts of Subtext (specially coming from Jet's [[Ho Yay]] towards Zuko).
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** One that there's more than a few shippers for is Stan and Ike despite the interaction between the two being nothing more than Ike being the little brother of Stan's best friend. Can get into Squick territory thanks to a 6 year age difference.
** Kenny/Butters is surprisingly popular; while you do see them hanging around each other quite a bit, they don't actually interact - Kenny interacts a lot more with Kyle, and Butters with Cartman. The only justification seems to be that they're both blonds.
* ''[[Total Drama Island]]'' crack fans will pair just about anyone together, so there are several popular examples of this: Izzy/Ezekiel, Noah/Katie, DJ/Eva, Tyler/Gwen, Cody/Bridgette, Cody/Sadie and DJ/Sierra, all of which have had little to no on-screen interactions.
** Don't forget [[Fan Nickname|Billy the Intern]]/[[Fan Nickname|Emily The Flight Attendant]] from the fourth aftermath of Action.
** Trent and Courtney are becoming a popular fanon couple despite barely interacting in canon (in fact Trent may be the contestant Courtney has talked to ''least'' on the whole show.) Helping them is that they are [[Ship Mates]] for people who want to see Gwen and Duncan together.
** A rare canon example of this trope: in the Yukon episode Courtney suggests they huddle together for warmth. [[Dogged Nice Guy|Cody]] immediately tries to get with [[Just Friends|Gwen]] (instead winding up with [[Stalker with a Crush|Sierra]]), [[Love Makes You Dumb|several girls]] latch onto [[Evil Is Sexy|Alejandro]]...and [[Ambiguously Gay|Noah]] suddenly hugs [[Granola Girl|Bridgette]] while smiling contentedly, even though the two had never interacted before. Just a quick bit of [[Ship Tease]], but if one is a [[Crack Pairing|crack shipper]], it was [[Crowning Moment of Funny|highly amusing]].
* Out of the three main fan pairings in ''[[Ben 10]]'', only Gwen/Kevin was like this ''at first'', as the [[Kissing Cousins|Ben/Gwen]] and [[Foe Yay|Ben/Kevin]] shippers had ''plenty'' of evidence to back themselves up. The writers may have caught on to this, and paired Gwen and Kevin off [[Strangled by the Red String|awkwardly]] in [[Ben 10: Alien Force|Ben 10 Alien Force]] to [[Ship Sinking|sink]] the [[Portmanteau Couple Name|Bwen and Bwevin]] shippers. This was [[Romantic Plot Tumor|so forced]] it had the effect of stopping approximately no-one.
* In the case of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', this likely would apply to Ferb & Gretchen (the Fireside Girl who [[Meganekko|wears glasses]]). Despite Ferb's [[Precocious Crush]] on Vanessa and the fact that he and Gretchen have never truly interacted onscreen, it's a very popular ship in the fandom
* Just try to tell some of the [[Wolverine and the X-Men]] fans that [[Ditzy Genius|Forge]] and [[Ugly Cute|Toad]] have never so much as been in the same room together. That doesn't stop them from being rather plausible if they ever did meet, or the fact that their ship is hands-down ''the'' cutest one in the fandom.
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* In ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'', Chester and Trixie is a moderately popular ship. The rationale for pairing them is that they both work for the school newspaper, aside from being a good [[Pair the Spares]] couple if you ship Timmy with somebody else.
** Chester and Veronica too.
* A fair number of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' fans support [[Opposite Sex Clone|Dani]]/[[Creepy Child|Youngblood]], even though they never meet in the series. The logic is that they're the only two recurring "kid" characters; everyone else is a teenager or adult.
* A lot of ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'' fans seem to ship [[Spoiled Sweet|Charlotte LaBouff]] and [[Witch Doctor|Dr. Facilier]], even if they never canonically interacted. This also ignores the detail of Facilier trying to kill Lottie's beloved father.
* ''[[Daria]]'' has a few examples--some fans ship [[Homeschooled Kids|Ted]] with [[The Woobie|Stacy]], for example, based on their similarly kind and intelligent personalities. [[Berserk Button|Mr. DeMartino]] / [[Hippie Teacher|Ms. Defoe]], the most notable teachers to still be single at the end of the series, are also sometimes paired together.
* A small number of ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' fans pair [[Stalker with a Crush|Brainy]]/[[Parody Sue|Lila]] as a [[Ship Mates]] for [[Official Couple|Helga/Arnold]]. It's [[Pair the Spares]] to be sure, but when you consider that Lila liked Arnie, who's possibly even ''weirder'' than Brainy, it actually makes a bit of sense.
* In the season 22 finale of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Ned Flanders and Edna Krabappel, two of the few characters in the show's [[Loads and Loads of Characters|large cast]] who have never interacted, start dating.
* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', Soarin' once bought a pie from Applejack. They're a fairly popular ship. There isn't much else to say.
** Those fans seeking an alternative to the yuri pairings that make up the majority of MLP ships often have to resort to...unorthodox options; Twilight Sparkle/[[All There in the Script|Doctor Whooves]] and Pinkie Pie/[[Fan Nickname|Pokey Pierce]] are among the more sane ones, and even they make use of background ponies whose actual personalities and relationships with the main characters are tenuous at best.
*** Applejack's cousing Braeburn has appeared in one episode, and lives very far from everyone else, but since had lines, a discernable personality and is male, he appears in a lot of ships - though not only straight ones, but also to fill out the low yaoi quota in Ponyville and to be the one a main character tries to have a straight relationship with before they realise the prefer mares. Presumably he does a lot of travelling.
** Speaking of which Big Macintosh hasn't [[The Quiet One|spoken]] to many ponies apart from his sister, however since he is (other than Spike) the only recurring male character he gets shipped around a lot.
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