History FanPreferredCouple / WesternAnimation

*** A long-running debate in the fandom revolved around whether the Zutara pairing becoming canon was ever considered by the writers. While the showrunners maintain that Kataang was planned from the start and Zutara was never a possibility, [[FlipFlopOfGod some comments from other people involved in the franchise have contradicted this]]. Joshua Hamilton's ''Avatar Extras'' stated that [[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Avatar_Extras_(Book_One:_Water)#.22The_Avatar_Returns.22 "Zuko was originally going to be the love interest for Katara"]] and [[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Avatar_Extras_(Book_Three:_Fire)#.22The_Ember_Island_Players.22 "The writers and creators toyed with the idea of Zuko and Katara falling in love"]]. Even M. Night Shyamalan said that when discussing the plot of Book Three with Bryke, they had not yet decided at that point [[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Transcript:Roundtable_discussion_with_M._Night_Shyamalan "who Katara was going to end up with"]]. Many Kataang fans denied the ''Avatar Extras'' as "goofs" or "written by Nickelodeon", while they ignored Shyamalan's answer because he was not a writer for the series. These dismissals were shot down when writer John O'Bryan on the ''Braving the Elements'' podcast confirmed that there were indeed [[https://twitter.com/NickRewind/status/1427632598109540353 talks in the writing room]] about making Zuko/Katara the OfficialCouple instead of Katara/Aang.

*** A long-running debate revolves around whether the Zutara pairing becoming canon was ever considered by the writers. While the showrunners maintain that Kataang was planned from the start and Zutara was never a possibility, [[FlipFlopOfGod some comments from other people involved in the franchise have contradicted this]]. Joshua Hamilton's ''Avatar Extras'' stated that [[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Avatar_Extras_(Book_One:_Water)#.22The_Avatar_Returns.22 "Zuko was originally going to be the love interest for Katara"]] and [[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Avatar_Extras_(Book_Three:_Fire)#.22The_Ember_Island_Players.22 "The writers and creators toyed with the idea of Zuko and Katara falling in love"]]. Even M. Night Shyamalan said that when discussing the plot of Book Three with Bryke, they had not yet decided at that point [[https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Transcript:Roundtable_discussion_with_M._Night_Shyamalan "who Katara was going to end up with"]]. Many Kataang fans denied the ''Avatar Extras'' as "goofs" or "written by Nickelodeon", while they ignored Shyamalan's answer because he was not a writer for the series. These dismissals were shot down when writer John O'Bryan on the ''Braving the Elements'' podcast confirmed that there were indeed [[https://twitter.com/NickRewind/status/1427632598109540353 talks in the writing room]] about making Zuko/Katara the OfficialCouple instead of Katara/Aang.

** 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]] with an in-universe play that put Zuko and Katara together and having her refer to Aang, repeatedly, as [[LikeBrotherAndSister "like a little brother"]]. Not to mention, this couple provides the literal cover image for the trope. There was also a long-standing rumor that this pairing was one of the bigger arguments the show's creators Bryan Konietzko and Mike [=DiMartino=] and the head writer Aaron Ehasz had, with the latter wanting to explore this relationship while the former steadfastly kept for Kataang, which became the OfficialCouple. Even later material like the comics did next-to-nil to dent Zutara, and the fanbase went on to ''still'' exist for the SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' has Stormer/Kimber. The ship spawned due to "The Bands Break Up", which involved Stormer and Kimber developing an incredibly LesYay laden RomanticTwoGirlFriendship. It [[StatusQuoIsGod never gets referenced]] after Stormer goes back to The Misfits and Kimber has at least two boyfriends during the course of the series, but that hasn't stopped fans from writing Kimber ending up with Stormer sometime post-series (or at least having them as close friends with Stormer possibly falling under IncompatibleOrientation). The ''ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms'' reboot outright made them an OfficialCouple from the start.

** Despite Kuvira being in a relationship with Baatar Jr. for most of Book 4, it is more popular to ship her with [[FoeYayShipping Korra]], due to their similarities in terms of personality. This was already happening as far back as the trailers for the season. The fact that Korra is the one who brings about Kuvira's HeelFaceTurn also led to many shipping them as well. Many also felt that Baatar was less enjoyable of an option for Kuvira than Korra and that the two's voice actresses had better chemistry. Fanfics and fan art for this pairing also about the two outnumber those about Kuvira/Baatar Jr. Though, this only counts for Kuvira because Korra's most popular ship is with her canon LoveInterest, [[spoiler:Asami]].

** * Despite Kuvira being in a relationship with Baatar Jr. for most of Book 4, it is more popular to ship her with [[FoeYayShipping Korra]], due to their similarities in terms of personality. This was already happening as far back as the trailers for the season. The fact that Korra is the one who brings about Kuvira's HeelFaceTurn also led to many shipping them as well. Many also felt that Baatar was less enjoyable of an option for Kuvira than Korra and that the two's voice actresses had better chemistry. Fanfics and fan art for this pairing also about the two outnumber those about Kuvira/Baatar Jr. Though, this only counts for Kuvira because Korra's most popular ship is with her canon LoveInterest, [[spoiler:Asami]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': There are far more fanworks involving Lin and Tenzin than there are of Tenzin and his ''wife'' Pema. Tenzin is HappilyMarried with four kids, but a comment in an early episode caused fans to lean towards Linzin. In their youth Lin and Tenzin dated but broke up. Pema had a little to do with it, however the two were too different to work out anyway and had been growing apart even before Pema came into the picture. A large portion of Tenzin-centric works focus on his past with Lin, are outright [=AUs=] where they don't split, or have Tenzin cheat on Pema with Lin. Pema even gets hits by DieForOurShip and is sometimes depicted as a home wrecker.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard'' fandom can't seem to make heads or tails on who to even ship Kion with. He has many times more options for significant others than any other protagonist in the whole franchise has, so nearly everyone has a different preference:
** Kion and Fuli is a fairly popular ship, but it's often criticized for being an interspecies pairing. The select few who give them biological offspring typically get it worse than most.
** Seeing as Jasiri has come the closest to outright with flirting with Kion so far, shipping the two was a given from the start. Though, considering she ''is'' a hyena...
** Some might say shipping him with Tiifu or Zuri would be the most logical, since they're lion cubs just like he is.

** The [[WesternAnimation/Ben10 original series]] had [[KissingCousins Ben and his cousin Gwen]], with their constant bickering being perceived by fans as BelligerentSexualTension. Plus, there were were no other characters available to ship them with at the time (Kevin was the only recurring child character, he only ever interacted with Ben, and the two mutually hated each other). Even after being officially paired off with other characters in future installments, as well as getting more potential shipping options in general, Ben/Gwen remain the fandom's [[OneTruePairing OTP]], resulting in loads of H-art and fan made videos of them together.

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'' fandom has Artemis/Robin (due to him having more interaction with her than any of [[ReallyGetsAround his four actual love interests]]); plus, while Artemis gets a RelationshipUpgrade with Wally, a number of fans disliked it due to the cliched BelligerentSexualTension and [[StrangledByTheRedString a perceived lack of chemistry]], though of course this opinion isn't universal. Slash fandom also shows a strong preference for [[HeterosexualLifePartners Dick/Wally]], which isn't hurt by the fact that [[spoiler:Wally's death leads to Nightwing taking a leave of absence from the Team due to grief.]]

** Over the seasons, Marge's relationship with Homer has gone through so many ups and downs that many fans have taken to alternate pairings instead. Marge/Maude is one of the more popular ones. The two seldom interact one-on-one and Maude was eventually KilledOffForReal, so their relationship is played as a tragic short-lived romance between two lonely housewives.

** 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]] with an in-universe play that put Zuko and Katara together and having her refer to Aang, repeatedly, as [[LikeBrotherAndSister "like a little brother"]]. Not to mention, this couple provides the literal cover image for the trope. There was also a long-standing rumor that this pairing was one of the bigger arguments the show's creators Bryan Konietzko and Mike [=DiMartino=] and the head writer Aaron Ehasz had, with the latter wanting to explore this relationship while the former steadfastly kept for Kataang, which became the OfficialCouple.

** 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]] with an in-universe play that put Zuko and Katara together and having her refer to Aang, repeatedly, as [[LikeBrotherAndSister "like a little brother"]]. Not to mention, this couple provides the literal cover image for the trope. There was also a long-standing rumor that this pairing was one of the bigger arguments the show's creators Bryan Konietzko and Mike [=DiMartino=] and the head writer Aaron Ehasz had, with the latter wanting to explore this relationship while the former steadfastly kept for Kataang, which became the OfficialCouple. It was eventually debunked, but the fact it spent almost a decade being unquestioned by the fan community goes to show the fervor Zutarians had for the pairing. Even later material like the comics did next-to-nil to dent Zutara, and the fanbase went on to ''still'' exist for the SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', operating under the idea that Katara and Zuko [[DecemberDecemberRomance began a relationship in their old age]] following the deaths of their respective partners.

** Following the resurgence the series has experienced thanks to being broadcast on Netflix, Sokka/Zuko has become extremely popular, although according to statistics it still has a ''long'' way to go before overshadowing either Zutara or Kataang.

** Milhouse is often shipped with OneShotCharacter Samantha Stanky from the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E23BartsFriendFallsInLove Bart's Friend Falls In Love]]" as a result of Milhouse's canon crush Lisa being shipped with Nelson instead and Samantha being one of the few people who's actually nice to Milhouse.

** Over the seasons, Marge's relationship with Homer has gone through so many up's and down's that many fans have taken to alternate pairings instead. Marge/Maude is one of the more popular ones. The two seldom interact one-on-one and Maude was eventually KilledOffForReal, so their relationship is played as a tragic short-lived romance between two lonely housewives.

** Bart/Laura Powers from the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E8NewKidOnTheBlock New Kid On The Block]]" is a fan=favourite pairing due to the chemistry between the two's rebellious and fun-loving personalities, as well as Laura's promise to date Bart once he grew up a bit more.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': Among the show's fandom, the Gumball and Carrie ship remains popular even after Gumball and his love interest, Penny, became an official couple in season 3 while Carrie got together with Darwin. Interestingly, Ben, the creator of the show, finds the fans' pairing amusing. This is referenced in "The Shippening", in which Sarah’s fan fiction comes to life: when the brothers come across an adult Gumball and Carrie with a baby, Darwin yells at Gumball for stealing Carrie from him.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': The fandom really likes to ship Anne and Marcy, and did not take it well when [[spoiler: the latter was nearly KilledOffForReal]].

** 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. There was also a long-standing rumor that this pairing was one of the bigger arguments the show's creators Bryan Konietzko and Mike [=DiMartino=] and the head writer Aaron Ehasz had, with the latter wanting to explore this relationship while the former steadfastly kept for Kataang, which became the OfficialCouple. However, Ehasz stated in a Reddit [=AMA=] that this rumor was unsubstantiated, 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 the SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', with these fans operating under the idea that Katara and Zuko [[DecemberDecemberRomance began a relationship in their old age]] following the deaths of their respective partners.

* ''WesternAnimation/ElTigre'' has El Tigre and Black Cuervo, which was only helped by the show confirming that the men in the former's family are destined to end up in a (short-lived) relationship with the women in the latter's at some point during their lives. It was so popular that 'Tigre + Cuervo Forever', a catch phrase for the following, became the title of an episode. Meanwhile, Frida gets paired with either Dr. Chipotle Jr. or Sergio a lot. Frida/Django is quite popular, too. WordOfGod later confirmed that all these pairings end up happening during high school and college.
* Although ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'' was created as a NoHuggingNoKissing series, Fillmore/Ingrid have a fanbase of a rather impressive size. The shippers have a lot to base off of, since their buddy-cop conversations can often be taken as a subtle DoubleEntendre, sounding somewhat flirtatiously on more than one occasion.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Grojband}}'', There's a sizable fan community for Nick/Mina, who ship them because Nick is one of the nicest characters in the show and Mina is a long-suffering woobie.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
** There are far more fanworks involving Lin and Tenzin than there are of Tenzin and his ''wife'' Pema. Tenzin is HappilyMarried with four kids, but a comment in an early episode caused fans to lean towards Linzin. In their youth Lin and Tenzin dated but broke up. Pema had a little to do with it, however the two were too different to work out anyway and had been growing apart even before Pema came into the picture. A large portion of Tenzin-centric works focus on his past with Lin, are outright [=AUs=] where they don't split, or have Tenzin cheat on Pema with Lin. Pema even gets hits by DieForOurShip and is sometimes depicted as a home wrecker.

* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow''
** Given that Mordecai wound up with [[TakeAThirdOption 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 (with characters in-universe actually siding with the latter group). Which makes it ironic that shippers of Mordecai/CJ ended up the most distraught, as WordOfGod claims they never spoke to each other even once following their breakup, while he managed to still be good acquaintances with Margaret.
** Although Thomas and CJ never met, [[PairTheSpares fans like pairing them together]], especially from the Mordecai/Margaret fans. Some are the reasons are [[ButtMonkey Thomas]] deserves a nice girl and it beats having the Mor/Mar fans [[DieForOurShip bashing poor CJ]]. But since it was revealed [[spoiler: Thomas' a Russian spy and went on the run,]] it's not known the current status if this ship.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhantomInvestigators'' was for the most part pretty NoHuggingNoKissing among the four leads, with any romance with them only being crushes on one-shot or background characters that did not go past one episode. While the show doesn't have a large fanbase due to it's obscurity, many diehard fans of the show tend to ship Daemona and Casey. Doesn't hurt that many of their interactions could easily be read as ShipTease, such as Daemona wrapping her arm around him at one point in "Birthday Presence" and calling him adorable at the beginning of "Were-Dog".

* ''WesternAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls2019'': While Diana's absolutely smitten by Steven Treavor in the show proper, Diana/Tatsu immediately exploded in popularity after "[=#SoulSisters=]", due to being BirdsOfAFeather and having excellent chemistry with each toher.

** Lin and Kya have no love interests, though Lin does have romantic history with Tenzin, so people tend to ship them together. Kya being confirmed to be attracted to women helped spur on the ship. Similarly to Sokka/Zuko from the show's parent series, the ship saw a huge rise in popularity fallowing the show being added to Netflix, even overtaking Lin/Tenzin on most fanwork sites, coming in 4th on [=AO3=] in terms of pairings, and is only topped by the canon ships.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': Beast Boy/Raven. The creators and writers of the show repeatedly stated that the two character would never be more than PlatonicLifePartners, though such a relationship was often joked about in the [[ComicBook/TeenTitansGo tie-in comic series]]. The ship became increasingly popular, quickly becoming the [[ShipMates preferred complementary ship for Starfire/Robin shippers]]. At the very least, a substantially large amount of people prefer it to the official canon couple of Beast Boy and Terra (the difference on FF.net is about ''twelvefold'' in the romance category). The popularity is noted in other versions of the ''Titans'', however; the mainstream comics had them as a couple at varying points during the mid-2000s, and the animated comedy ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' completely embraced the pairing (while turning Robin/Starfire into a case of unrequited love), dedicating several moments and whole episodes to their relationship.

* [[BadassAdorable Lucky]]/[[TimeTravelRomance Rebecca]] and [[LittleMissSnarker Cadpig]]/[[HandicappedBadass Tripod]] are two notable examples in the ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' animated series fanbase.

* Until well into 1990, ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers''' preferred shipping was Dale/Gadget, pairing [[SmurfettePrinciple the only girl on the team]] with the fun-loving goofball rather than with the bossy workaholic. But then came "Good Times, Bat Times" and brought [[EnsembleDarkhorse Foxglove]] with it. She and Dale looked so cute together in what came closest to a happy relationship for a Ranger in the entire show that Dale was out of the LoveTriangle for many many Rangerphiles. FanFic and FanArt keep shipping the two, and [[ComicBook/ChipNDaleRescueRangers the Boom! Comics]] support this ship as closely to {{Canon}} as possible.
** This did make way for Chip/Gadget, but while they do have a whole lot of supporters, they're the reason for a case of BrokenBase: Despite [[SmittenTeenageGirl Tammy's crush on Chip]] ("Adventures in Squirrelsitting") and Gadget's potential crush on Sparky ("Does Pavlov Ring a Bell?"), the question isn't with whom to ship Chip and/or Gadget. It's rather ''whether or not'' to ship Chip and Gadget. Among the fans, there are the Pros who support this ship and make it the second FanPreferredCouple, there are the Antis who oppose it, whether or not they have an alternative, and then there are [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Neutrals]] who keep themselves outside of the debate.

* On ''WebAnimation/DCSuperHeroGirls'' , the most common pairings are Wonder Woman/Harley Quinn due to their opposites attract vibe, Supergirl/Batgirl due to how they supported each since the former moved to Super Hero High, Harley/Ivy and Lady Shiva/Big Barda for the same reasons as WW/Harley as the well as the latter's bonding in Hero Of The Year, and Flash/Frost due to how they're almost always paired up in background scenes.

** That said, everyone ships Laney and Corey, with the vast majority of fan art featuring them.
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' is a NoHuggingNoKissing show, but still has several common pairings. The most popular ([[BrokenBase but also most reviled]]) is the perceived FoeYay between [[TheNapoleon Zim]] and his rival, [[SympatheticInspectorAntagonist Dib]]. For a straight example, Zim and Gaz (Dib's malevolent little sister) is also extremely popular, with Dib and Tak (a [[EnsembleDarkHorse one-episode wonder]] female Irken invader) being less popular than either of the aforementioned, but still a major presence in the fandom.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/LegendsOfChima'' fandom, there's a minority of fans who prefer Laval/Eris over the [[OfficialCouple Official Couples]] of Laval/Li'ella and Eris/Rogon.

** Even though almost nothing is known about Rani, another lion cub character announced for season 3, she's been shipped with Kion by some already. This later gets confirmed as the OfficialCouple of the show, with Kion marrying Rani in the finale.

* ''WesternAnimation/PennZeroPartTimeHero'': Let's face it, most of the fandom ships Penn/Sashi. They're practical canon, minus the canon part. [[spoiler:Then they had their kiss in the GrandFinale.]]

** Edna is also sometimes paired with Bart Simpson in fanfics and fanart, with Bart usually depicted as a teenager or adult with a now older Mrs. K. One possible future in the Simpsons universe revealed an older Bart was not above dating teachers from Springfield Elementary (having slept with his sister's tutor Ms. Hoover), and the two have had a prior dating history when Bart wrote to Edna under the alias 'Woodrow' to mess with her.
** Nelson/Lisa is generally considered a better future outcome than Milhouse/Lisa, by fans and voice actors alike. So much so that in ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsTappedOut'', Nelson and Lisa spend significantly more time referencing their relationship than Milhouse does expressing his crush.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'' has a weird case of this. Hints dropped in the series originally seemed to show Otto/Nova as canon, but it seemed like almost everybody in the fandom shipped Sprx/Nova. Then hints of that started to show and eventually it became the canon. A comment from one of the voice actors mixed with that the creator does pay attention to the fandom seems to hint that the coupling was changed because of this, making the FPC the OfficialCouple.

* ''WesternAnimation/UglyAmericans'': While Mark has had a number of girlfriends, he's most often shipped with his roommate, Randall, due to the amount of HoHay between them.

* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' has it's fair share, although none will probably ever become canon on account of the show being episodic.
** A large portion of the fandom prefers to ship Tina with Zeke as opposed to Jimmy Jr, her usual crush. Granted that Zeke has a canon crush on Tina and is generally a lot nicer to her than Jimmy Jr., it's easy to see why this pairing is so popular.
** Rudy and Louise are easily the most popular ship other than Tina and Zeke, as [[ChildhoodFriendRomance close friends]] who bring out the best in each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain''
** The show 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 it (granted, she had better things to do than scream HesNotMyBoyfriend at the time).
** Book 3 gave the fandom best friends Simon and Grace, helped by the former clearly nurturing a crush on the latter and WordOfGod teasing that they may have already been romantically involved in the past. The pairing took [[AbandonShipping a major hit]] over the course of the season, which ended with [[spoiler:Simon trying to murder Grace in cold blood]], but that doesn't stop some fans from writing [=AUs=] where things work out better for the couple.

* An overwhelming majority of the ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'' fandom ships Jesse with Jonny. In the lead in movie to the ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'', Jonny and Jessie had mutual crushes on each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
** Derpy Hooves and Dr. Hooves are very popular together, to the point of the Doctor being considered the father of Derpy's fanon daughter Dinky. The episode "Slice of Life" has the Doctor has the one pony Derpy turns to and one of the few ponies that does not view her as a walking disaster (the Doctor even let's Derpy walk around his "workshop" and play around without a care) and towards the end Derpy gives the Doctor a sweet hug. Let this ship sail!
** Vinyl Scratch(DJ Pon-3)×Octavia shipping is also extremely popular, with both of them being fan-favorite musicians. The episode "Slice of Life" even canonized that the two are roommates.
** The introduction of the dragon princess Ember in Season 6 has seen a landslide of stories and art pairing her with Spike.
** While pretty much every main character is a LauncherOfAThousandShips and the main characters are paired in every combination, the most popular ships seem to be Dash×Pinkie, Dash×Applejack, Dash×Fluttershy, and Rarity×Applejack. These are in large part due to their chemistry and to their screentime together, especially in early episodes. The one that seems to have won out by the series finale is [[spoiler: Dash×Applejack, since they're apparently living together]].

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'':
** Professor Utonium and Ms. Keane has a strong fan following. They were the subject of one episode late into the series, and it was thoroughly deconstructed [[spoiler:and eventually annulled by Ms. Keane's cat, with the Professor having an aversion to cats due to one being the BigBad of [[ContinuityNod an earlier episode]].]]
** [[ToyShip Pairing the girls with]] [[DistaffCounterpart their Rowdyruff Boys counterparts]] is ''the'' most popular shipping target of the fandom. This was lampshaded in season six's "City Of Clipsville", which was intended as a TakeThat to the shippers. [[MisaimedFandom It was actually embraced by the shippers]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}''
** T.J./Spinelli is incredibly popular, ever since their PracticeKiss in "The Experiment" and the confirmation on Spinelli's side in "Parents' Night".
** Also Gus/Cornchip Girl, the MoeCouplet of the series. The Japanese title for their episode, "The Army-Navy Game", is "Gus's Girlfriend".
** Vince/Gretchen also has a pretty big following, thanks to all the ShipTease.

* Even though ''WesternAnimation/RocketPower'' was mostly NoHuggingNoKissing, there's a large following for Twister/Reggie. It's the most commonly encountered pairing in ''Rocket Power'' fanfiction.
* ''Franchise/ScoobyDoo'':
** 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 development were interpreted as pairing of the two.
** In the 80s the subtle hints shifted over to Shaggy/Daphne with the two even sharing a long hug in one episode. Note that several of the 1980s versions of Scooby-Doo had written Fred and Velma out of the cast, while always keeping Shaggy and (frequently) Daphne.
** Since then starting with ''Zombie Island'', Fred/Daphne started being played with more directly to a split base.
** In ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'', Fred/Daphne and Shaggy/Velma are actual pairings at the start of the show and even offers a moment of Shaggy/Daphne as a MythologyGag.
** Several episodes of ''Be Cool Scooby Doo'' touch on the pairings but none are focused on at all.

* Besides the apparent OfficialCouple of Mister Smarty Smarts and Octocat on ''WesternAnimation/{{Spliced}}'', there seems to be a preference for Peri/Patricia, for [[OppositesAttract one]] [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan reason]] [[BirdsOfAFeather or]] [[ThemePairing another]].
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels''. Kanan and Hera (Kanera) is by and far the most popular ship in the fandom. Their frequent ShipTease moments, TeamMom and TeamDad dynamic, and the creators taking a less is more approach by focusing more on their [[HappilyMarried egalitarian and supportive]] relationship than any romantic tropes got more or less the entire fandom shipping them long before the pairing was confirmed as romantic.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderbirdsAreGo!'': The most prevalent 'ship is 'Pen'N'Ink', aka the pairing of Gordon Tracy and Lady Penelope. The show has hinted at the pairing significantly over the years, with the two-parter "S.O.S" being somewhat of a pay-off. Other fans like to pair the Hood's niece, and IR member Kayo, with one of the Tracy boys, Alan in particular.

* ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'' has Beck/Paige due to the less than subtle FoeYay.
* Given the rampant amount of HoYay between them on ''WesternAnimation/UglyAmericans'', Randall/Mark is pretty popular in fan-art.

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' has Wander/Lord Hater hardcore shipped, which became closely followed by Wander/Lord Dominator after the events of season two.

* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' gives Raimundo and Kimiko a bit of ShipTease, but never follows through with making them an OfficialCouple. The fandom near universally ships them anyway. Fans of HoYay also have Chase/Jack.

* There are no pairings in ''WesternAnimation/TheZetaProject'', but fandom loves Zeta and Ro together as a pairing. It's actually a challenge to find fanfics that ''aren't'' Zeta/Ro.

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
** ''Gravity Falls'' gives [[LovableNerd 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.
** The other popular ship in the fandom happens to be Dipper/[[DefrostingIceQueen Pacifica]] (Dipcifica for short), which became heavily teased by the creators during the episode "Northwest Mansion Mystery" and in [[VideoGame/GravityFallsLegendOfTheGnomeGemulets various]] [[Literature/GravityFallsJournal3 side]] [[ComicBook/GravityFallsLostLegends material]] released during and after the series.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
** The season three episode "What Was Missing" caused an ''explosion'' in the popularity of Bubblegum/Marceline, and from there it grew until it almost dominated the whole fandom, with by far the largest chunk of fanart and fanfiction devoted to them (and their genderbent versions, for that matter). Combined with the large amount of ShipTease within the show and comics, plus WordOfGay, most AT fans effectively treated the pairing as canon. [[spoiler:Then they had TheBigDamnKiss in the finale, properly rekindling their relationship.]]
** [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys Fionna and Marshall Lee]] already had plenty of support even without him saying or doing anything. But then "Bad Little Boy" rocketed the ship to the top and it hasn't looked back.

* ''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.

* [[HoYay Brian/Stewie]] from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' gets a lot of love, given how blatant Stewie's affection for Brian is and the amount of episodes centered around the two and their interactions. The episode ''Brian and Stewie'' is especially well-received by fans of [[PortmanteauCoupleName Brewie]].
** Meg/Neil for some. In "8 Simple Rules of Buying My Teenage Daughter" and "Once Bitten", she was actually happy to go out with him.

** Alternative circles of fans, like on the Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn, have Dipper/Bill as one of the most popular couples. This almost entirely comes from the fact that Bill once possessed Dipper's body, and punctuated it with an EvilCostumeSwitch, giving them a sudden avenue for SelfFanservice.

** While [[GottaShipEmAll the vast majority of the cast is shipped with everyone else]], [[FanNickname Lyra and Bon Bon]] tend to be paired almost exclusively which each other. Case in point, do a search for either character and you'll get almost nothing but Lyra/Bon Bon pictures, whereas if you try a similar search with any other characters you'll probably get five or six different pairings before you get past the first page. There are outliers that pair them up with other characters, of course, but the pairing is so widespread in the fandom that in most fanworks its assumed to be the case unless it's explicitly stated otherwise. When the two met up at a Ponyville market in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E19PuttingYourHoofDown Putting Your Hoof Down]]", their saddle bags had each other's cutie mark on them And ''then'' [[UpToEleven sent over the top]] by their human versions' "love duet" performance in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks''. While "Slice of Life" had them constantly refer to themselves as "best friends", their constantly looking at each other with bedroom eyes and having blatantly romantic body language has many in the fandom convinced that not only has their ship sailed it is on an around-the-world journey. And in the end [[spoiler:they became an OfficialCouple]].

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** [[TheEveryman Stan]] has a canon girlfriend, but the fandom seems to like his HoYay and HeterosexualLifePartners status with [[HotBlooded Kyle]] as a better romantic alternative.
** [[TheStoic Craig]] and [[NervousWreck Tweek]]; they are the most popular pairing (even 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.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
** 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. However, it is also something of a controversy magnet thanks arguments over whether Lapis is even a good ''friend'' to Peridot, spurred mainly by [[spoiler:Lapis running away in Season 5, taking the barn and all of Peridot's belongings with her]].
** 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 some vague wording in the original outline for "Mr. Greg"]] serving as ammo. [[spoiler:Factory reset Pearl's devotion towards Greg in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'' also helped.]]
** After ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie'', Steven/Spinel 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.