History FanPreferredCouple / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'' originally introduced Callum having a crush on Claudia, but by the end of season 1, the fans really enjoyed the chemistry between Callum and Rayla, and it very quickly became the preferred ship. [[spoiler: The writers seemed to agree with this notion, and they aptly [[ShipSinking sunk]] the Callum/Claudia ship in season 2 then ''heavily'' [[ShipTease teased Callum/Rayla]] before they became an OfficialCouple in the middle of season 3.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017''
** Despite the writers saying there would be a strict NoHuggingNoKissing rule when it came to Webby and the boys, that didn't stop fans quickly pairing her with Dewey due to her spending the most time with him out of the triplets, working closely with him on solving the mystery of his mother's backstory, and their shared thirst for adventure.

* It's surprisingly common for fans of ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' to ship Katz and Courage. They are in fact the most popular ship from the show, and dominate most fanfiction.

* It's surprisingly common for fans of ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' to ship Courage with Shirley the Medium, the most likely reasons being because of the fact that both characters are the only prominent characters on the show who are anthropomorphic dogs and because of how handy it could be for Courage to have someone as experienced in dealing with monsters and other paranormal creatures as Shirley around in the event that the Bagges were attacked by another supernatural menace and Courage for some reason didn't have time to consult his computer on what to do.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' has Jay and Alice, which is one of the reasons why the web series wasn't well received. Considering how much trouble Jay went through in season 2 to be with Alice (especially the next to last ep), you can't blame their reaction at seeing Jay trying to woo another girl.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Even with the BrokenBase status that the romantic subplot would eventually garner, it's undeniable that Starco (Star/Marco) was insanely popular from the get-go, with people pairing the duo months before the show's premiere. Among the shippers were Adam [=McArthur=], Marco's voice actor. While the dragged-out WillTheyOrWontThey caused a hit to its popularity, the majority of the fandom rejoiced (or at least muttered "finally") when they [[LastMinuteHookup got together 3 episodes prior to the finale]].

** Pairing Ezra up with Princess Leia became popular because of their chemistry in the episode "A Princess on Lothal". Unlike most examples, however, this usually isn't in ''opposition'' to her canon relationship with Han but simply something that happened before they met, which there are multiple Canon examples of similar situations. Most fan works that presume Ezra survives to meet Leia again Post-Film/ANewHope usually have him as an {{Amicable Ex|es}}.

** [[TheStoic Craig]] and [[NervousWreck Tweek]]; they are the most popular pairing ( ven topping the above mentioned [[HeterosexualLifePartners Stan and Kyle]]) which is especially surprising considering that they [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight only openly interacted in one episode]]. The creators eventually responded to this in [[Recap/SouthParkS19E6TweekXCraig an episode dedicated to the pairing]], which, [[AmbiguousSituation according to your interpretation]], possibly made them an OfficialCouple. Needless to say, the pairing's popularity went up even among fans who don't normally ship. And even if they were faking it at the end of the episode, they really are dating for real by the episode [[Recap/SouthParkS21E2PutItDown Put It Down]], with Craig referring to Tweek as "babe" and "honey" even when there is no need to.

** [[TheStoic Craig]] and [[NervousWreck Tweek]]; they are the most popular pairing ( even [[HeterosexualLifePartners Stan and Kyle]]) which is especially surprising considering that they [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight only openly interacted in in one episode]]. The creators eventually responded to this in [[Recap/SouthParkS19E6TweekXCraig an episode dedicated to the pairing]], which, [[AmbiguousSituation according to your interpretation]], possibly made them an OfficialCouple. Needless to say, the pairing's popularity went up even among fans who don't normally ship. And even if they were faking it at the end of the episode, they really are dating for real by the episode [[Recap/SouthParkS21E2PutItDown Put It Down]], with Craig referring to Tweek as "babe" and "honey" even when there is no need to.

* Fans of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' took no time at all to land on [[FoeYayShipping Adora/Catra]]. It's very easy to read their relationship as "girlfriends who broke up due to outside circumstances and are pretending they don't still love each other", and [[AuthorAppeal given the showrunners]], this was most likely intended. It was seen as less a question of "were they together", and more "will they ''get back'' together", with most fans leaning towards "yes." [[spoiler: They get together at the end of the series.]]

** [[TheStoic Craig]] and [[NervousWreck Tweek]]; they are the second most popular pairing (after [[HeterosexualLifePartners Stan and Kyle]]) which is especially surprising considering that they [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight only openly interacted in in one episode]]. The creators eventually responded to this in [[Recap/SouthParkS19E6TweekXCraig an episode dedicated to the pairing]], which, [[AmbiguousSituation according to your interpretation]], possibly made them an OfficialCouple. Needless to say, the pairing's popularity went up even among fans who don't normally ship. And even if they were faking it at the end of the episode, they really are dating for real by the episode [[Recap/SouthParkS21E2PutItDown Put It Down]], with Craig referring to Tweek as "babe" and "honey" even when there is no need to.

* Plenty of ''WesternAnimation/TUFFPuppy'' fans ship Dudley/Kitty. This is actually supported by WordOfGod.

** Pairing Ezra up with Princess Leia became popular because of their chemistry in the episode "A Princess on Lothal". Unlike most examples, however, this usually isn't in ''opposition'' to her canon relationship with Han but simply something that happened before they met. Most works that presume Ezra survives to meet Leia again Post-Film/ANewHope usually have him as an {{Amicable Ex|es}}.

** ''Gravity Falls'' gives [[{{Adorkable}} Dipper]] and [[GenkiGirl Mabel]], who fit pretty nicely into the SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl archetypes perfectly and are extremely close to each other. There's just one detail in that, [[IncestYayShipping they're brother and sister]]. Twins at that. No, this doesn't deter the fanbase one bit in case you were wondering, much to the creator's dismay, as he based the duo on himself and his own twin sister. The pairing even has its own ship name, Pinecest. It did decline as time went on, due mostly to other potential ships eating its real estate.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'':
** Much of the fandom dislikes [[OfficialCouple Daria/Tom]] and would have preferred that Daria's one-sided crush on Trent eventually been [[ObliviousToLove noticed]] and requited.
** For some bizarre reason Jane also gets paired up with Mr. D of all people fairly often.

** Despite Sokka having a canon girlfriend in Suki, more people ship him with Toph (who canonically has a PrecociousCrush on him).

** Lin and Kya have no love interests, so people tend to ship them together. Kya being confirmed to be attracted to women helped spur on the ship.

** ''Gravity Falls'' gives [[{{Adorkable}} Dipper]] and [[GenkiGirl Mabel]], who fit pretty nicely into the SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl archetypes perfectly and are extremely close to each other. There's just one detail in that, [[IncestYayShipping they're brother and sister]]. Twins at that. No, this doesn't deter the fanbase one bit in case you were wondering, much to the creator's dismay, as he based the duo on himself and his own twin sister. The pairing even has its own ship name, Pinecest.
** One of the most popular ships in the fandom, despite their age differences, is Dipper and Wendy (Wendip for short) given their incredible chemistry.

** Alternative circles of fans, like on the Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn, have Dipper/Bill as one of the most popular couples.
** Mabel/Pacifica (Mabifica) is very popular due to people liking how their personalities would work together. There's a good chunk of ShipToShipCombat between it and Dipcifica fans, though a SiblingTriangle is avoided in most fanworks.

** Finn is often paired with his genderbent counterpart, Fionna. Though just as many authors and artists depict them as either JustFriends or long-lost twins, usually the latter.

** Another fan preferred couple would be the genderbent versions of Marceline and Bubblegum, Marshall Lee/Gumball.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** Ferb and Gretchen was popular with those who had a hard time overlooking the age gap between Ferb and Vanessa (but had an easy time overlooking the fact that [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Ferb and Gretchen have hardly interacted at all in the show itself]]). Yet the very second Monty was introduced as a love interest for Vanessa, Ferbnessa became more popular. Fandom is a fickle beast.
** There is also a sizable set of Doofenshmirtz/Linda shippers, to the point that it's a WMG that he is Phineas' father. Doesn't help that it's canon that they used to date.

* From ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' Kim/Ron before they became an [[OfficialCouple Official Couple]].

** The series launched with a strong following for Korra/Mako as opposed to the starting couple of Mako/Asami, birthed from the previous show's Zutara shippers latching onto it as a suitable replacement.
** Korra/Asami was a small but popular alternative to Mako/Korra and Mako/Asami during Book 1. Later on in the series, a good amount of the fandom eventually gravitated towards Korrasami in mass due to [[spoiler:Makorra and Masami both failing]] and the [[ShipTease chemistry]] going on between the girls. At the end, [[spoiler:Korrasami became the OfficialCouple. This is actually a subversion, as by the time the ship achieved Fan-Preferred Couple status, it was the ''creators''' preferred couple as well. This just wasn't clear at the time due to the (reasonable based on historical precedent) assumption that the writers couldn't possibly be deliberately giving the lead a same-gender romance in a children's series on Nickelodeon.]]
** Within hours of their debut episode, Avatar Wan and Raava started getting shipped by a surprising number of fans. Helped along when one fan drew a humanized version of Raava that the newly christened ship's shippers immediately latched onto.

** Tenzin's daughter, [[BrainyBrunette Jinora]], is the center of two such pairings. She's usually [[AgeLift aged-up]] to be closer to Opal and Korra's age (Jinorra?) and both pairings seem to be evenly split in popularity, judging from the steadily growing amount of fan art dedicated to them.

** The [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 original series]] had [[KissingCousins Ben and his cousin Gwen]], due to what became a ''[[DidntThinkThisThrough major]]'' [[RelationshipWritingFumble writing fumble]]. They were originally supposed to be friends/classmates before the writers changed their minds and made them cousins to justify always having Gwen tag along with Ben and his grandfather on their adventures. This resulted in their constant bickering being perceived by fans as BelligerentSexualTension. Even after being officially paired off with other characters, Ben/Gwen remained the fandom's [[OneTruePairing OTP]], resulting in loads of H-art and fan made videos of them together.
** ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'': For a period of them on FF.net, four of the five most favourited romance stories are Ben/Kevin.
** ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' introduced several possible love interests for Ben before settling with Kai, a character from the original series. Unfortunately for Kai, she had two things going against her: 1) the shipping was heavily focused in the final arc, with the writers introducing [[KidFromTheFuture Spanner]] to actively ''force'' the pairing, and 2) Looma Redwind and Esther were very popular since their debut, while Kai was polarizing since her debut thanks to her treating Ben like a literal dog. Esther/Ben itself is the more popular het ship for Ben.

* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' didn't have anything regarding shipping in Book 1, but Book 2 had many fans shipping protagonists MT and Jesse. WordOfGod claims they wrote the two of them as being [[JustFriends strictly platonic]], but viewers came to view many of their interactions as ShipTease. One of the antagonists even mockingly refers to Jesse as MT's boyfriend when he isn't present, and she doesn't refute (granted, she had better things to do than scream HesNotMyBoyfriend at the time).

** The series launched with a strong following from Korra, the main character, and Mako, as opposed to the starting couple of Mako/Asami.
** Korra/Asami was a small but popular alternative to Mako/Korra and Mako/Asami during book 1. Later on in the series, a good amount of the fandom eventually gravitated towards Korrasami due to [[spoiler:Makorra and Masami both failing]] and the [[ShipTease chemistry]] going on between the girls. At the end, [[spoiler:Korrasami became the OfficialCouple. This is actually a subversion, as by the time the ship achieved Fan-Preferred Couple status, it was the ''creators''' preferred couple as well. This just wasn't clear at the time due to the (reasonable based on historical precedent) assumption that the writers couldn't possibly be deliberately giving the lead a same-gender romance in a children's series on Nickelodeon.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'': a majority of the fandom are Jenny/Brad supporters.

** Ferb and Gretchen has become popular with those who have a hard time overlooking the age gap between Ferb and Vanessa (but have an easy time overlooking the fact that [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Ferb and Gretchen have hardly interacted at all in the show itself]]). Yet the very second Monty is introduced as a love interest for Vanessa, Ferbnessa becomes more popular.

** Given that Mordecai wound up with neither of his two girlfriends, the shipping wars between the two resulted in a draw, as nobody won. Still, that hasn't stopped fans of each insisting that either Margaret or CJ should've been with him at the end. Shippers of Mordecai/CJ were especially distraught, given that WordOfGod claims they didn't even stay friends afterwards, despite Mordecai and Margaret continuing to be close.

** While the original '70s cartoon was NoHuggingNoKissing, most of the people at large assumed that Fred/Daphne were at least implied. Meanwhile remnants of Shaggy and Velma being siblings during the show's creation could have been interpreted as pairing of the two.

* Fans of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' took no time at all to land on [[FoeYayShipping Adora/Catra]]. It's very easy to read their relationship as "girlfriends who broke up due to outside circumstances and are pretending they don't still love each other", and [[AuthorAppeal given the showrunners]], this was most likely intended. It's seen as less a question of "were they together", and more "will they ''get back'' together", with most fans leaning towards "yes." [[spoiler: They get together at the end of the series.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Even with the BrokenBase status that the romantic subplot garnered, it's undeniable that Starco (Star/Marco) was insanely popular from the get-go, with people pairing the duo months before the show's premiere. Among the shippers were Adam [=McArthur=], Marco's voice actor. While the dragged-out WillTheyOrWontThey caused a hit to its popularity, the majority of the fandom rejoiced when they ''[[LastMinuteHookup finally]]'' [[LastMinuteHookup got together 3 episodes prior to the finale]].

** Peridot/Lapis started out as [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight a ship passing in the night]], as it was just a pairing of two unrelated but popular new characters. Then they became roommates in the third season, slowly becoming LikeAnOldMarriedCouple. On both [[Website/{{Fanfictiondotnet}} FF.net]] and Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn, their pairing has the most works dedicated to it, surpassing canon ships like Rose/Greg and Ruby/Sapphire. It is something of a controversy magnet, though.
** While support for this pairing is near nonexistent everywhere else, the [=SU=] fandom on Website/FourChan's /co/ board is very fond of Greg/Pearl, both as a present-day pairing and as an AU where he fell for her instead of Rose. For the first half of the show, this was purely a CrackPairing thanks to Pearl absolutely ''loathing'' Greg due to having been the RomanticRunnerUp in a LoveTriangle involving Steven's mother. This ship would become a little less crazy when they became friends who hang out regularly after Steven forced them to talk things out in Season 3, with [[https://joethejohnston.tumblr.com/post/147725066143/building-a-scene-its-over-isnt-it the original outline for "Mr. Greg"]] serving as ammo for the pairing. [[spoiler:Factory reset Pearl's devotion towards Greg in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'' also helped.]]
** Another ship that is very popular on /co/ (and Tumblr) is Steven/Spinel, which briefly outshone the popularity of the canon Steven/Connie ship, with many thinking there could be a lot of bonding due to their complex histories with Pink Diamond. Plus, they just look cute together. As a result, Connie is very often the subject of DieForOurShip from this group of fans.

* ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan'': The pairing of Ilana and Lance (dubbed Ilanca by the shippers) has been favored since the very first episode, despite how in the show they're posing as siblings and have other potential love interests, and the show's creator Genndy Tartakovsky, has stated in interviews that he wants their relationship to be a platonic one.

** After ''Mystery Incorporated'', many fans online began shipping Daphne and ''Velma'', as many see Fred/Daphne as seen as overdone and boring.
** Several episodes of ''Be Cool Scooby Doo'' also touch on the Shaggy/Daphne 'ship, with the more cuckoo Daphne trying to help out Shaggy with his fears or bring out the best in him and Scooby, one episode even has her pretending to be Shaggy's girlfriend for the duration of the story and seemingly enjoying it too much.

* ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'': While neither couple is official, Becky/Tobey is easily more popular than Becky/Scoops.

** Following the resurgence the series has experienced thanks to being broadcast on Netflix, Sokka/Zuko has become extremely popular, possibly even overshadowing Zutara.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn'': As soon as the show began airing, fans were excited to see the maddening misadventures of Harley and her bestie Poison Ivy unfold, and to see whether or not their chemistry as friends would blossom into something more. An actual relationship between the pair had been teased throughout the DCAU era and some of the DC Elseworlds, but had often been denied in the mainline continuity. While the Ivy/Harley fans saw their desires come to fruition at the close of the second season, it wasn't without a cost...as during the build up, Ivy was paired with Kite Man, a well-meaning if simple minded villain who genuinely cared for Pam and wanted what was best for her. Ivy appeared to like him just as much, but often second guessed herself due to how close she was with Harley. Ivy sits on her feelings so long that she almost goes through with marrying Kite Man, that is until Kite finally admits that Ivy has her heart set on other people and calls it off. The season two finale where Ivy chooses Harley at the end pleased many of the fans, while ticking off a contingent of people who were invested in Ivy's relationship with Kite, believing it to be a refreshing take for the character rather than have her play out what they considered a long worn out pairing.

** The Zuko/Katara (aka "Zutara") fanbase is legendary, considerably outstripping both {{Official Couple}}s Kataang (Katara/Aang) and Maiko (Mai/Zuko) put together. The "Ember Island Players" episode [[FandomNod lampshaded this tendency heavily]] with a play that put Zuko and Katara together and having her refer to Aang, repeatedly, as [[LikeBrotherAndSister "like a little brother"]]. Not to mention, that this couple provides the literal cover image for this trope. It was a long-standing rumor that this pairing was one of the bigger arguments the show's creators and the head writer had, with the latter wanting to explore this relationship while the former steadfastly kept for Kataang, which became the OfficialCouple. Said writer would confirm in a Reddit [=AMA=] that the interview in which he allegedly said this never happened, only adding to the "Fan-Preferred" aspect of the ship. Even later material like the comics depicting the official pairing hasn't done much to dent Zutara, with many even calling out ShippingBedDeath; it's to the extent that the fanbase still exists for ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', with these fans operating under the idea that Katara and Zuko began a relationship in their old age following the deaths of their respective partners.

** Another ship that is very popular on /co/ (and Tumblr) is Steven/Spinel, which came to vastly outshine the popularity of the canon Steven/Connie ship, with many thinking there could be a lot of bonding due to their complex histories with Pink Diamond. Plus, they just look cute together. As a result, Connie is very often the subject of DieForOurShip from this group of fans.