This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Seth: There is a related trope in Yaoi fandom. You will never find shipping X Fics or fanart pairing two characters that are actually gay in the series. Or as a friend once put it to me "There is no smut of them if they are gay in canon". Eg. You will find hundreds of Naruto X Sauske pics but no Wolfram X Yuuri pics.
The fact that they are actual couples seem to dissuade Yaoi fangirls.
Solandra: Sounds like Shipping Bed Death. That would explain why I've found only one Gravitation fanart site so far and five times as many for Naruto and Yu-Gi-Oh slash.
Lale: I don't think it's the same as Shipping Bed Death because it seems to be about the sexuality rather than the shipping. But, yeah, crazy (ridiculous) phenomenon.
Etrangere: Removed the House MD example which belongs to Ho Yay.
Amplt0 Removed two of the Fire Emblem examples for Radiant Dawn. Boyd and Mist, as well as Elincia and Geoffrey require you to get them to at least A support (I'm not sure, Elincia/Geoffrey might even require you to load data from Path of Radiance where they have A support in addition to the RD support level), so they're no more canon than any other optional Fire Emblem pairing. Especially when you consider that Mist also has an ending with Rolf. I left in the Micaiah/Sothe example, because they at least come with an A support right from the beginning, but even that example is debatable.
Runespoor Elincia/Geoffrey only requires A support in Radiant Dawn, and Mist's only ending is with Boyd.
Lale: Moving Sokka and Suki to Beta Couple.
Austin: About Joey and Mai, was that a product of the dub? Wikipedia has a statement from the creator of the series that all they share is a platonic friendship.
Doyle: I'm not knocking Doctor/Romana - I've modded a livejournal comm for that ship - but 'official couple'? Since when? The actors were briefly married, yes, but there's no textual romance in any of the TV episodes, novels, audio plays or comics that I've come across. There's as much if not more support for Romana/Leela and Doctor/Charley (or Doctor/Sarah).
theorc: I think the actors said it was possible, but on the show it was just UST and some wishful thinking. It's an interesting ship, but I don't think it's official.
Cut some natter. The article says that they don't have to really do anything explicit. Also, mark your spoilers, dammit. I had to add the spoiler tags here.
- Interestingly, there has been no serious Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moment yet... One would ask how they are gonna end up with only 1 novel left.
- Well, the fact that in the 4th novel Haruhi apparently stayed by Kyon's hospital bed when he was unconscious for 3 days (from her temporal point-of-view) and was pretty distraught the whole time probably does count as such a moment.
- Interestingly, there has been no serious Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other moment yet... One would ask how they are gonna end up with only 1 novel left.
fleb: Reverted Slick Nick Shady's anti-contributions on this page, too, for the record.
Rogue 7: Shikamaru and Temari actually dating? I really like that couple and even I think that's a stretch.
St Fan: First, why was the following in Web Comics, and second, why is this the only "official couple" mentionned while there are dozens official pairings in Elf Quest? Removed until clearing up.
- Leetah and Nightfall in the original Elf Quest series. When they first meet Nightfall already has a male lifemate, and Leetah is about to acquire one, but the two women have several scenes peppered throughout the storyline indicating that they are close friends and confidantes. But it wasn't until the first issue of the second Elf Quest story, "Siege at Blue Mountain", that they were seen in a more intimate situation — would you believe, dancing nude in the forest at night? (Big probably NSFW image)
◊ — which pretty much clinched that they were a couple, and confirmed the open nature of elfin marriages.
Sonica: I find having Cloud and Tifa being 'played straight' rather YMMVy. There's no Word of God about it yet. Even as a Cloud x Aerith fan who's not heavily into the grand LTD, preferring to ship in peace, and doesn't mind Cloud x Tifa, it's a wee bit of a stretch to put them under 'official'.
