History Main / AbandonShipping

Some [[{{Shipping}} Shippers]] are [[DieForOurShip die-hard]]. They'll go through everything, FireIceLightning, nuclear explosions, you name it, but they're still sticking by their OneTruePairing no matter what. Even death is only a minor setback, thanks to the AlternateTimeline.

* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': Protagonist Izuku's father [[AmbiguouslyAbsentParent is never seen]], so it's popular to pair his mother, Inko, with his mentor, [[SupermanSubstitute All Might]]. However, [[AllThereInTheManual official sources]] eventually revealed that Izuku's parents are still married, but his dad is away because of work. This has led some to abandon the Inko/All Might ship, while others just create [=AU=]s where Inko is single or [[RelatedInTheAdaptation All Might is Izuku's father]].

* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'': Many fans dropped Mikage/Mamiya (the show's first {{canon}}ically gay couple) when it turned out that [[spoiler:Mamiya was an illusion acted out by Anthy, a ''girl''. Even without the HetIsEw aspect, the fact that it was all an elaborate ploy by her brother Akio to make Mikage an UnwittingPawn was also more than enough for the ship to be abandoned. Luckily, the manga's version of Mikage and Mamiya's story averts this by having Mamiya be who he appears to be, albeit in ghost form.]]

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The revelation in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' that [[TheHero Luke]] and [[TheChick Leia]] were siblings ''did'' kill off the {{fandom}} (and there was a {{fandom}} after the first two movies)... for a while. Since then they've grown up and have [[BrotherSisterIncest resumed shipping them]]. This happening in the past is why some people were hesitant to start supporting Kylo/Rey from ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', who have some [[FoeRomanceSubtext interesting interactions]] in the film. Some were under the impression that Rey might be Kylo's sister or cousin due to the popular theory that she was in some way related to the Skywalker family (either through Han/Leia or Luke); however, the theory was eventually disproven by [[http://i.imgur.com/4jBE4qc.png Word of God]]. It appears as though history was not bound to repeat, and in an inversion more people ended up boarding the ship.

* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': TheReveal that Peter and Claire are related did scare off most of the more casual [[{{Shipping}} 'shippers]]. However, many stuck to it, either pretending that the reveal didn't happen or just accepting it regardless. Considering that the [[{{Fandom}} fandom's]] most popular HoYay pairing is Peter and his brother, this isn't too surprising.

** A lot of Ozpin ships (including Ozpin/Glynda and Ozpin/James) took a hit after the reveal that Ozpin is [[spoiler:a ReallySevenHundredYearsOld body-jumper who changes hosts after his body dies]], meaning that [[spoiler:the Ozpin seen in volumes 1 through 3 technically isn't Ozpin]]. It doesn't help that [[spoiler:his current body, Oscar, is a 14 year old boy]].

** About half of [[spoiler:Homura x Madoka]] fans have jumped ship, thanks to [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion the ending of the Rebellion movie]]. The other half isn't going down without a fight, though.

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': About half of [[spoiler:Homura x Madoka]] fans have jumped ship, thanks to [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion the ending of the Rebellion movie]]. The other half isn't going down without a fight, though.

*** For the first couple seasons of Arrow, Olicity (Oliver/Felicity) was by far the most popular ship, thanks largely to their cute, drama-free interactions. When the two actually got together in Seasons Three and Four, though, ShippingBedDeath hit hard, thanks to a relationship liked for its lack of drama becoming overwrought with drama, pointless secrets, and screen-time hogging angst. Olicity remained widely hated during Season Five (after Oliver and Felicity broke up), and its return during the second half of the season was ''not'' welcome. What officially killed the pairing's popularity altogether, however, was the ending to the 2017 crossover ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'', where Felicity interrupted {{Supercouple}} Barry and Iris' wedding so she could tack on her and Oliver's own wedding. And that was after spending a majority of her appearance in the crossover {{wangst}}ing about the fact that she ''didn't'' want to marry Oliver, and after Barry and Iris' original wedding had already been interrupted at the beginning of the crossover by ''invading Nazis from another earth''. Not helping the matter is that during said crossover, Eobard Thawne gave Felicity a ReasonYouSuckSpeech revealing that she's never remembered in the heroic tales of the Green Arrow, Black Canary, and the Flash, inadvertently suggesting an AlternativeCharacterInterpretation to her actions: namely, [[LovingAShadow that she only married Oliver]] [[AttentionWhore so she could be remembered as the wife of the Green Arrow]].\\\

Then there are the other types who, when a new plot development occurs and changes what we knew about one of these characters, leap off the ship and swim for shore (or, most likely in this metaphor, towards another boat) without even bothering to grab a lifejacket. Maybe it's because a character had a [[{{Wangst}} deep dark secret]] that severely makes people question their ability to even be in a relationship. Maybe they're [[BrotherSisterIncest really]] [[Franchise/StarWars siblings]], otherwise blood related, or maybe there's some sort of [[OedipusComplex other aspect to their relationship]] that suddenly {{Squick}}s people. Maybe it is revealed a characters has an IncompatibleOrientation. Some will even drop a pairing because [[DieForOurShip the fans are rabid]]. Or maybe shippers have just plain lost interest, with a pairing not suddenly being disliked, but rather ''another'' pairing suddenly becoming much more appealing. Whatever the case, when it suddenly seems like the former Shippers have dropped off the face of the Earth, they have Abandoned Ship.

Then there are the other types who, when a new plot development occurs and changes what we knew about one of these characters, leap off the ship and swim for shore (or, most likely in this metaphor, towards another boat) without even bothering to grab a lifejacket. Maybe it's because a character had a [[{{Wangst}} deep dark secret]] that severely makes people question their ability to even be in a relationship. Maybe they're [[BrotherSisterIncest really]] [[Franchise/StarWars siblings]], otherwise blood related, or maybe there's some sort of [[OedipusComplex other aspect to their relationship]] that suddenly {{Squick}}s people. Some will even drop a pairing because [[DieForOurShip the fans are rabid]]. Or maybe shippers have just plain lost interest, with a pairing not suddenly being disliked, but rather ''another'' pairing suddenly becoming much more appealing. Whatever the case, when it suddenly seems like the former Shippers have dropped off the face of the Earth, they have Abandoned Ship.

* In ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'', Gin/Tachihara used to have a small, but devoted following. Then chapter 68 rolled along, [[spoiler:in which Tachihara stabbed Gin and later revealed himself as TheMole]], and people dropped the ship. However, [[spoiler:later chapters revealed that Tachihara had [[BecomingTheMask become attached to his position in the Port Mafia]] and had made sure to wound Gin non-fatally, even visiting her in the hospital afterwards]], bringing the shippers back with a vengeance.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Many abandoned the Spike/Buffy ship after the infamous [[MoralEventHorizon attempted rape]] in season six.

Then there are the other types who, when a new plot development occurs and changes what we knew about one of these characters, leap off the ship and swim for shore (or, most likely in this metaphor, towards another boat) without even bothering to grab a lifejacket. Maybe it's because a character had a [[{{Wangst}} deep dark secret]] that severely makes people question their ability to even be in a relationship. Maybe they're [[BrotherSisterIncest really]] [[Franchise/StarWars siblings]], otherwise blood related, or maybe there's some sort of [[OedipusComplex other aspect to their relationship]] that suddenly {{Squick}}s people. Or maybe shippers have just plain lost interest, with a pairing not suddenly being disliked, but rather ''another'' pairing suddenly becoming much more appealing. Whatever the case, when it suddenly seems like the former Shippers have dropped off the face of the Earth, they have Abandoned Ship.

There are also notable subversions, though. What would seem like a cause to Abandon Shipping to any outside observer not only doesn't have that effect, but actually makes the Shippers fight ''harder'' for it. This is especially the case where theories about who will end up with who are {{Jossed}} or declared invalid by WordOfGod. And of course, there are those who are into more fringe pairings like IncestYayShipping, for which such revelations might endear those fans to the pairing even more. Also take note of those within Shipping fandom for which shipping ''isn't'' serious business, and [[CrackShip simply have fun shipping for shipping's sake]]. This group never cared about the actual viability of their pairing to begin with, so unless they lose interest on their own, they'll remain on that ship regardless of what comes.

Some will drop a pairing because [[DieForOurShip the fans are rabid]], but [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment let's not talk about that.]]

*** For the first couple seasons of Arrow, Olicity (Oliver/Felicity) was by far the most popular ship, thanks largely to their cute, drama-free interactions. When the two actually got together in Seasons Three and Four, though, ShippingBedDeath hit hard, thanks to a relationship liked for its lack of drama becoming overwrought with drama, pointless secrets, and screen-time hogging angst. Olicity remained widely hated during Season Five (after Oliver and Felicity broke up), and its return during the second half of the season was ''not'' welcome. What officially killed the pairing's popularity altogether, however, was the ending to the 2017 crossover ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'', where Felicity interrupted {{Supercouple}} Barry and Iris' wedding so she could tack on her and Oliver's own wedding. And that was after spending a majority of her appearance in the crossover {{wangst}}ing about the fact that she ''didn't'' want to marry Oliver, and after Barry and Iris' original wedding had already been interrupted at the beginning of the crossover by ''invading Nazis from another earth''. Olicity officially became the most ''hated'' ship in the entire ''Arrowverse'' fandom (with Felicity becoming [[TheScrappy the character equivalent]]) -- only the most hardcore Olicity shippers bother to defend it (and her) these days. Even after the writers spent most of Season Seven trying to redeem the pairing by decreasing the amount of relationship angst and redeeming Felicity's character ([[NeverLiveItDown as she rightfully got most of the blame]]), the ship's popularity never recovered (nor did Felicity's for that matter), and remained at most tolerated until the series finally ended.

*** For the first couple seasons of Arrow, Olicity (Oliver/Felicity) was by far the most popular ship, thanks largely to their cute, drama-free interactions. When the two actually got together in Seasons 3 and 4, though, ShippingBedDeath hit hard, thanks to a relationship liked for its lack of drama becoming overwrought with drama, pointless secrets, and screen-time hogging angst. Olicity remained widely hated during Season 5 (after Oliver and Felicity broke up), and its return during the second half of the season was ''not'' welcome. What officially killed the pairing's popularity altogether, however, was the ending to the 2017 crossover ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'', where Felicity interrupted {{Supercouple}} Barry and Iris' wedding so she could tack on her and Oliver's own wedding. And that was after spending a majority of her appearance in the crossover {{wangst}}ing about the fact that she ''didn't'' want to marry Oliver, and after Barry and Iris' original wedding had been interrupted by ''invading Nazis from another earth''. Olicity officially became the most ''hated'' ship in the entire ''Arrowverse'' fandom (with Felicity becoming [[TheScrappy the character equivalent]]) -- only the most hardcore Olicity shippers bother to defend it (and her) these days. Even after the writers spent most of Season Seven trying to redeem the pairing by decreasing the amount of relationship angst and redeeming Felicity's character ([[NeverLiveItDown as she rightfully got most of the blame]]), the ship's popularity never recovered (nor did Felicity's for that matter), and remained at most tolerated until the series finally ended.

*** Barry/Caitlin (Snowbarry) was a FanPreferredCouple in Season One, partly due to similarities with Olicity above. Its popularity died down, however, after the show introduced Caitlin's fiance and OneTrueLove Ronnie Raymond. Even after Ronnie died, the ship stagnated as the show moved towards building up Barry/Iris ([=WestAllen=]), the intended OfficialCouple, and stopped with the ShipTease between Barry and Caitlin. Snowbarry did have a brief resurgence in Season Three after Caitlin finally became Killer Frost and partnered up with Savitar, an evil future version of Barry, enabling Snowbarry (albeit the evil version, which is called Savifrost) to exist at the same time as [=WestAllen=], before beginning to stagnate again after Savitar was killed off in the season finale and Barry and Iris finally got married in Season Four.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'':
** Thea/Tommy died a relatively quiet and dignified death in season two for two reasons: the official BetaCouple Thea/Roy became more popular (it later became the most stable relationship on the show), and because of the reveal that [[spoiler:they're half-siblings on their father's side]].
** For the first couple seasons of Arrow, Olicity (Oliver/Felicity) was by far the most popular ship, thanks largely to their cute, drama-free interactions. When the two actually got together in Seasons 3 and 4, though, ShippingBedDeath hit hard, thanks to a relationship liked for its lack of drama becoming overwrought with drama, pointless secrets, and screen-time hogging angst. Olicity remained widely hated during Season 5 (after Oliver and Felicity broke up), and its return during the second half of the season was ''not'' welcome. What officially killed the pairing's popularity altogether, however, was the ending to the 2017 crossover ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'', [[spoiler:where Felicity interrupted {{Supercouple}} Barry and Iris' wedding so she could tack on her and Oliver's own wedding. And that was after spending a majority of her appearance in the crossover {{wangst}}ing about the fact that she ''didn't'' want to marry Oliver]]. Olicity officially became the most ''hated'' ship in the entire ''Arrowverse'' fandom (with Felicity being [[TheScrappy the character equivalent]]) -- only the most hardcore Olicity shippers bother to defend it (and her) these days.

* In ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'', Gin/Tachihara used to have a small, but devoted following. Then chapter 68 rolled along, which revealed that Tachihara was EvilAllAlong and people dropped the ship.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' fandom saw a marked drop-off in the number of fics where River was paired with Amy and/or Rory after the reveal that [[spoiler: she's their daughter]]. Combined with [[spoiler:the Doctor marrying River]], that also did a fairly good job of killing [[OneTrueThreesome Doctor/Amy/Rory]] too, which, as you can probably guess from the way it's that trope's page picture, was previously pretty popular.

** Before the release of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', some shipped the PlayerCharacter with Leonie due to her being a former student of their father and greatly idolizing him. Their B support caused many to abandon the pairing, which has her chewing out Byleth for not idolizing Jeralt as much as she does, which might not be so bad if it weren't gated-off until [[spoiler: right after he dies]].

* ''AbandonShipping/AvatarTheLastAirbender''

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'':
** Shippers of Finn/Princess Bubblegum got excited at the end of Season 2, but when [[ShipSinking "Too Young"]] rolled around in Season 3, well ... That caused many shippers to walk the plank. If you were still a fan of the couple, even the remotest chance of them being together was evaporated by the Season 3 finale. Shippers of the couple are scarce, ''very'' scarce.
** Finn/Marceline shippers saw hope at the ending of "Too Young", but like the Finn/Bubblegum shippers, they too took a dive after "Incendium", where he finally got a love interest that was his own age and liked him back (Flame Princess) but even that pairing has been sunk for now.
** Many say the Finn/Marceline ship died when the two agreed they were not romantically interested in each other in season 2's "Go With Me".
** Those who shipped Lemongrab with his clone and brother, Lemongrab 2, understandably jumped ship when the former [[spoiler:ate the latter alive.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': Terry/Bruce was a big favorite for fans. The way they were presented you'd think they were perfect....until JLU ''Epilogue'' came out and well, turns out [[spoiler:''Bruce is Terry's biological father and...'']]. Well the pairing is now very rare. [[spoiler:''Actual'' incest]] is something that makes even Batslashers uncomfortable sometimes.
* In the original ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10}}'' series shipping the two leads, Ben and Gwen, was the main ship [[KissingCousins even if they were cousins]]. This could mainly be chalked up to them being the only children characters in the show.[[note]]Okay, there are other named kid characters, but the kid character with the most appearances after our leads (the villain Kevin 11) only appeared in five episodes in the original series, while others were lucky to get more than one.[[/note]] As more series were made, and characters introduced and given more regular screentime, many Bwen fans abandoned ship for other pairings. Oddly, ''WesternAnimation/{{Ben 10 Omniverse}}'' hurt the ship additionally because many fans [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks hated Gwen's new redesign]]. Nowadays, while still common, Ben/Gwen material makes up a significantly smaller amount of fanworks than it did in the late 2000s.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'':
** Fans started shipping Harrow/Viren as soon as they were shown to have a very close relationship. Their introductory scene was Viren waking up Harrow who playfully said that he'd kill him if he continued to do so, and they continue behaving LikeAnOldMarriedCouple, helped by Viren's children's mother never been mentioned and Harrow being a widower. Many jumped ship quickly when Viren stepped up as the show's villain and described Harrow as a brother to him killed the ship for many.
** Slash fans started shipping [[OppositesAttract Soren/Runaan]] since the two were among the most attractive males in the show. This was quickly dropped when their age gap was shown much larger than expected (Runaan is old enough to have raised a girl just a little younger than Soren). This was permanently sunk as season one starts heavily implying that Runaan already has a male romantic partner in his home country, which was confirmed with the introduction of Ethari, Runaan's husband.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
** The ship of Bill Cipher/Dipper Pines, or Billdip, became the biggest OTP of the fandom for Season 2, to the point where it became extremely hard to find a fanfic that featured both of the characters that didn't ship them. However, come "Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future" and "Weirdmaggedon Part I", where a lot of the DracoInLeatherPants characterisation that fans had given Bill were blown completely out of the water, a lot of shippers jumped.
** A lot of [[IncestYayShipping Dipper/Mabel]] fans abandoned Pinecest not because of anything defined in the series, but because they preferred other ships. Season 2 had more emphasis on characters like Wendy, Pacifica, Bill Cipher, and others to ship the twins with besides each other.
* Ever since the show began airing, many ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'' fans shipped Henry and June, mainly due to a number of their interactions coming off as ShipTease. But then fifteen years later in 2011, a fan asked Mark Marek, who did the Henry and June wraparound segments about whether or not it was truly canon. He confirmed on the fan's now-defunct fansite that [[{{Jossed}} neither Henry nor June had romantic feelings for the other]], but that they were intended to be more LikeBrotherAndSister than anything else. The fans were more or less split in half at it; while a very good portion of the fans ignored it and continued shipping them, other fans jumped ship.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': While there were already very few of them, most of the Mr. Cat/Pretty shippers abandoned the ship for Mr. Cat/Kaeloo following the events of Episode 105.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** During season 1 and season 2 of the series, Twixie (Twilight/Trixie) was one of the most popular ships and received a lot of fanworks. "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E5MagicDuel Magic Duel]]" caused some fans to abandon the ship however "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E6NoSecondPrances No Second Prances]]" was the real nail in the coffin. Twilight's questionable attitude and behavior towards Trixie caused many of the remaining Twixie fans to abandon ship, with many jumping onto Starlight/Trixie due to their chemistry in the episode.
** Spike/Apple Bloom was very popular in the early days of the show, possibly because [[ToyShip they were the first major young characters introduced]]. The pairing declined in popularity as the show went on and the two [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight almost never interacted]], and other popular pairings for Spike emerged like Ember and Smoulder. These days, if Spike is being shipped with any of the Crusaders, it's likely with [[SettleForSibling Sweetie Belle]].
* In the early days of the fandom ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' fandom, shipping Professor Utonium with his daughter's teacher, Ms. Keane, was very popular. The writers saw this and made an episode about this happening in-series. The episode is nothing but a TakeThatAudience against the shippers and went out of its way to portray the pairing as not working well. Considering it's a post-movie episode - and fans often think those episodes suffer from heavy SeasonalRot - many opted to ignore it but it still created a noticeable dent in Utonium/Keane.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':
** Many fans waited patiently for Terra [[spoiler:to be revived]] and for her and Beast Boy to be an OfficialCouple. The series finale ''did'' bring her back but not as expected. [[spoiler:It's implied Terra is either an amnesiac or is purposely lying to Beast Boy in order to [[IJustWantToBeNormal avoid going back to being a superhero]].]] The episode ends on a DownerEnding that almost killed the ship, if not for persistent fans [[FixFic attempting to 'fix' it]] or [[FanonDiscontinuity ignoring it]]. Nevertheless many fans stopped shipping BB/Terra.
** Cyborg/Raven was a BetaCouple during season 1. It's since become a rarepair due to most fans pairing Cyborg with Bumblebee, Jinx, or Sara (Cyborg's canon girlfriend in ''ComicBook/TeenTitansGo'').
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'':
** ''Total Drama World Tour'' provides an in-universe example: LoonyFan Sierra seems to have been a ShipperOnDeck for FanPreferredCouple [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Duncan]]/[[PerkyGoth Gwen]], at least in part because Cody has a crush on Gwen and ''Sierra'' has a crush on him. ([[AllLoveIsUnrequited You following this]]?) However, Duncan was already with [[WellExcuseMePrincess Courtney]], and when he and Gwen [[YourCheatingHeart hooked up behind her back]], Sierra turned on Gwen out of principle. (Though the fact that Cody ''[[SubvertedTrope didn't]]'' abandon the himself/Gwen ship probably helped.)
** Out-of-universe, many Duncan/Courtney fans abandoned ship after Courtney became antagonistic in ''[[SeasonalRot TDA]],'' most switching to Duncan/Gwen. Her personality improved in season three, but it didn't stop the D/G RelationshipUpgrade.
** From the SpinOff ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaPresentsTheRidonculousRace'' many fans jumped ship from Noah/Cody in favour of Noah/[[spoiler:Emma]] and Noah/Owen.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
** During Season 1, Rose/Pearl was an exceedingly popular pairing due to fans loving their relationship and how Pearl viewed Rose Quartz as TheLostLenore. It would go on to lose a lot of support in Season 2, when more was shown of their relationship, and it was revealed to be more unhealthy than originally perceived; Pearl had a complicated relationship with Rose that led to her being a ClingyJealousGirl and generally nasty towards Greg in the past. It still has its fans, but many moved onto other ships, especially Pearl and [[OneShotCharacter Mystery Girl]]... though even those pairings took a hit for a long period of time following "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E14CryForHelp Cry For Help]]", as many felt Pearl just wasn't in the right mindset to be in a relationship in general. [[spoiler: It didn't help when it was revealed that Pearl originally spent several thousand years as Rose/Pink's ''servant''.]]
** Most of the ships involving Garnet were abandoned after the episode "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E49JailBreak Jail Break]]" revealed she is actually the RomanticFusion of two Gems named Ruby and Sapphire, meaning she effectively ''is'' a relationship. A later episode, "[[Recap/StevenUniverseS2E7LoveLetters Love Letters]]", even has her directly state that she has no interest in being in a relationship with anyone else.
** "Alone At Sea" caused Jasper/Lapis fans to jump off the ship in droves, as it blatantly showcases how toxic and damaging the relationship was for both Gems, with Lapis even saying that she never wants to feel the way she felt with Jasper ever again. It doesn't help that the scene has them on a ''[[VisualPun literal]]'' sinking ship.
** Pearl and Mystery Girl lost some shippers after it was revealed that Pearl has been flirting with various women since that episode.
** Jasper/Lapis/Peridot was a popular OneTrueThreesome early in the fandom. It acted as a villainous counterpart to the popular Garnet/Pearl/Amethyst (also known as "Polygems"). It lost most of its shippers when the official characterizations were revealed to be different from how fans expected. Many shippers switched to shipping Lapis/Peridot, Jasper/Peridot, or Lapis/Jasper instead (though as mentioned above, that last ship lost a lot of support after "Alone At Sea").
* The ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'' fandom jumped off any ships involving Shiro with a female character (most prominently the Shiro/Allura ship) once Season 7 revealed that he used to have a male love interest. It didn't help that, while [[FlipFlopOfGod some Word of God]] has been vague on Shiro's exact orientation, some of the show runners ''have'' explicitly described him as gay.
* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower:'' Catra's third-season VillainousBreakdown, in which she took a meat cleaver to her own personal life in the hope of catching Adora with the edge, did a lot of damage to her fanfic romantic life. Between Adora [[BeyondRedemption visibly giving up on her]], her betrayal of Scorpia's trust, and Glimmer's mother making a HeroicSacrifice to stop a disaster Catra set in motion, the Catra/Adora, Catra/Scorpia, and Catra/Glimmer ships all took damage, and a lot of people moved over to "Catra/''therapy''". They're still popular, especially Catradora, but a lot of the remaining shippers have focused their attention on AU's, scripted out their own Catra redemption arcs, or stuck in a TimeSkip in which Catra got help and/or saved Angella from interdimensional limbo in order to explain why any of those people are willing to put any faith in Catra at all.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The great majority of Heiman (Cartman/Heidi) shippers abandoned the ship because of how poorly he treated her in Season 21.
* ''WesternAnimation/TalesOfArcadia'': During ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'' Eli/Steve, the BullyAndWimpPairing of the series, was a rather popular ship, on par with the main couples, but the sequel to that series, ''WesternAnimation/ThreeBelow'' introduced Steve's official love interest, Aja, the main character of that show, and as the two became official, the former ship became less prominent though still pretty popular. This also caused the rise of Steve/Aja [[ShipMates ship mate]], Eli/Krel.
[[/folder]]

* AbandonShipping/AvatarTheLastAirbender

!!Examples

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' shows just how easily it can happen to an already established OfficialCouple:
** Many people that previously liked the Katara/Aang ship have come to dislike it now that they are officially together in ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise The Promise]]'' as they have fallen into a ShippingBedDeath. They are portrayed as [[TrueLoveIsBoring unrealistically perfect]], continuously [[SickeningSweethearts flaunting obnoxious displays of affection]] ([[LampshadeHanging which other characters even point out]]) with Katara undergoing {{Chickification}} to [[DemotedToSatelliteLoveInterest become a trophy for Aang]] in the process. Fans of Katara have not been pleased with how her character has been distorted to make the Katara/Aang ship work. She became even more different in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra''; see that specific entry below for details.
** Mai/Zuko becomes more unpopular as the two just do not work out as shown in [[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderSmokeAndShadow Smoke And Shadow]]. Continuing on from the series and previous comic, Mai/Zuko remains incredibly unstable with the two [[PoorCommunicationKills not being able to talk to each other]], having [[TheMasochismTango endless fights]] and [[RelationshipRevolvingDoor constantly breaking up]] turning them into a truly [[DestructiveRomance toxic relationship]]. Mai tells Zuko to his face [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech how miserable he makes her feel, that she was an idiot for dating him and how she wants to move on from him]]. Many fans thought that Mai's status as a DesignatedHero led to Zuko being {{Misblamed}}; Mai was being a {{Hypocrite}} as [[TheUnfairSex she had contributed just as much]], if not [[NeverMyFault more to the failure of their relationship]].
** Ursa and Ozai are married and have two children but there has always been a very vague stance on their relationship. ''[[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch The Search]]'' comics pretty much killed any notion of romance ever happening between the two with the reveal that she was [[ScarpiaUltimatum basically kidnapped to be Ozai's wife]] as part of a eugenics experiment and never loved him. Many Urzai shippers were either angry because their old headcanons were {{Jossed}} or they abandoned ship. [[FanonDiscontinuity Some people chose to ignore this revelation completely]] because [[{{Retcon}} it went against what Bryke had previously said]] about them [[LyingCreator getting along well in their early marriage]]. Like Katara/Aang and Zuko/Mai, the fanbase for all these ships have considerably shrunk after the release of the comics.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
** The series might set a record for turnaround time for a ship being created, then abandoned: A promotional [[http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/61387742.html poster]] for the show distributed at [=ComicCon=] 2011 featured Korra with an Earthbender boy and a Firebender boy. Naturally, some fans started [[HoYay Hoy Yay Shipping]] them right away. Later, during the panel for the show, it was revealed that the boys were siblings, and everyone not into IncestYayShipping jumped ship.
** When all that was known about Meelo was that there was a character with his name, people thought he might be Korra's LoveInterest. Needless to say, when he turned out to be a toddler, that thought died out completely.
** Tenzin and Korra. They were the first two named characters and were paired up almost immediately in a MentorShip... until it was found out that Tenzin was a married man in his fifties with three kids and a pregnant wife.
*** That same barrier, however, has done nothing to sink the Tenzin/Lin ship. In fact, it may be the Linzin ship’s impossibility of ever sailing again that has fueled its voyage through the hearts of the fandom.
*** Furthermore, Tenzin/Pema was shipped by nearly everyone until Lin's past relationship with Tenzin was revealed. Especially when it was further revealed that Pema was pursuing a relationship with Tenzin ''before'' he broke up with Lin, and in fact played a role in breaking them up. As one fan said:
---> They did it. They actually did it. Bryke killed the show's one [[OneTruePairing otp]].
** And Amon/Tarrlok gained a small MindGameShip[=/=]FoeYayShipping following after [[spoiler:Amon de-bends Tarrlok]] in a fairly HoYay-tastic scene, only to fall into this trope once it's revealed [[spoiler:they're brothers]], meaning that anyone who didn't like [[spoiler:incest]] jumped ship, and resulted in a few HilariousInHindsight pieces of fanwork before that particular revelation.
** In season 2, many shipper shipped Bolin with Korra's cousin Eska due to promotional material. Turns out the relationship is quite abusive on Eska's side, leading many to jump ship, though others still hold firm.
** An interesting variation is the effects that ''Korra'' has had on [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender the parent show]]'s [[FanPreferredCouple Tokka]] ship. When Toph's daughter Lin showed up, with no father mentioned, a lot of people wanted it to be Sokka; however, when it came out that Lin used to date Tenzin ([[KissingCousins Sokka's nephew]]), most fans abandoned the idea. However, when it turned out that Toph had ''another'' daughter with a ''different'' unknown father, the idea picked up again, though others reject the implication that Sokka would become a DisappearedDad (since he's known to have lived into Korra's lifetime). It doesn't help that Suyin ''does'' bear some semblance to Sokka.
** Similarly, some Sukka (Sokka and his canon girlfriend Suki) fans jumped ship because [[WhateverHappenedToTheMouse Suki was the only Gaang member not referenced]] in the series. This combined with the above possible implications with Suyin made some worry that Suki and Sokka broke up eventually. Still a large sum stood firm because the series never ''proved'' Sokka and Suki broke up, or that Suki died at a young age, or whatever other topic that could explain how Sokka ended with Toph. She could just have been not mentioned.
** The Katara/Aang ship became the victim of bad writing in [[ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise The Promise]] but many believe things got ''even worse'' in WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra. WordOfGod states that the audience was "exaggerating" Aang's neglect and that Katara/Aang were indeed HappilyMarried but there is [[ShowDontTell nothing in the series itself to show this]]. Kya and Bumi were still angry after decades that [[ParentalFavoritism Aang took only his youngest child around the world]] while [[DisappearedDad leaving Katara all alone to rear the two elder ones]]; Katara underwent massive BadassDecay as she was now [[{{Chickification}} a passive housewife]] who [[NeutralFemale never protested against Aang's (albeit unintentional) abandonment of them]] (and this is coming from a girl with serious [[ParentalAbandonment abandonment issues]]) as though she was somehow fine with her children feeling neglected by their father. It felt as though Katara was forced to StayInTheKitchen despite spending her whole life fighting against this patriarchal system.
** There's also the fanbase's rather... belligerent relations with the Makorra ship. When the show was prepping for its debut and the key details of the cast were revealed, they were the most popular ship by far - Zutara shippers from the original series, in particular, picked up the ship as a SpiritualSuccessor to the one they favoured. This lasted until about midway into Book 1 and beyond, even with the LoveTriangle with these two and Asami Sato... but then when Mako started becoming dishonest about the fact that he'd cheated on Asami and tried to deflect blame, a number of fans slowly lost their taste for him (and ironically Asami, who was disliked instinctively by many, became ''more'' popular), which was not helped by the ''extremely'' vague break-up kiss they had in the season finale before Mako [[LastMinuteHookUp hooked up with Korra]]. A lot of people felt they were StrangledByTheRedString... Then, Book 2 had people turn off from Mako with ''either'' girl due to a break-up with Korra, getting back together with Asami, and then when Korra returns sans some of her memory he ''got back with her again'' - pretending their breakup never even happened. The Book 2 finale [[ShipSinking killed the ship for good and all]] when Korra got her memory back and they decided they were BetterAsFriends; Masami lost a good contingent of its supporters around this time as well (and is even deader). While there remains a vocal gathering who do wish the pairing had worked out by the end, the airing of Books 3 and 4 saw [[FanPreferredCouple the majority of the fanbase]] turn towards [[LesYay Korrasami]] ([[MemeticMutation which ended up being dubbed as the NEW Zutara or Zutara 2.0]]) while most didn't want Mako with ''anyone'' anymore. As it turns out, this was deliberate - [[WordOfGod Word of Bryke]] has it that Makorra was only endgame for Book 1 and when they got renewed, they knew the couple was going to end in Book 2, and [[spoiler:Korrasami is the canon endgame ship for both female characters.]]
** Bolin/Korra was one of the top 3 ships in the fandom during Book 1 but dwindled astonishingly by Book 4. This is likely due to Bolin receiving other love interests, Korra not showing romantic interest in Bolin, and the fact that Bolin once liked Korra was ignored after Book 1.
** An interesting example is Jinora/Skoochy. He's a very minor character who appeared in season one: a homeless, orphaned [[TheArtfulDodger Artful Dodger]] who was paired with Jinora [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight simply because he happened to be]] [[ToyShip of similar age]]. The ship was popular until season three, when we meet Kai, [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute a homeless, orphaned Artful Dodger Jinora's age]] whom ''she actually starts dating.'' Needless to say Skoochy no longer served a purpose.
** Iroh II/Asami, Iroh II/Bolin, and Tahno/Korra were all popular ships during Book 1, however it's almost impossible to find shippers of them anymore. This is due to both Iroh and Tahno [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse disappearing from the series]] after Book 1, bar cameos.

* Many ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' fans waited patiently for Terra [[spoiler:to be revived]] and for her and Beast Boy to be an OfficialCouple. The series finale ''did'' bring her back but not as expected. [[spoiler:It's implied Terra is either an amnesiac or is purposely lying to Beast Boy in order to [[IJustWantToBeNormal avoid going back to being a superhero]].]] The episode ends on a DownerEnding that almost killed the ship, if not for persistent fans [[FixFic attempting to 'fix' it]] or [[FanonDiscontinuity ignoring it]]. Nevertheless many fans stopped shipping BB/Terra.

* Prior to the release of ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'' there was a good amount of speculation whether Kristoff or Hans would be Anna's or Elsa's love interest. Many shippers understandably shipped Anna with the handsome Hans. [[spoiler:The film spectacularly killed it off at the end, with Hans revealing to a dying Anna that he had lied about loving Anna and was just after the throne.]] Nevertheless that killed the ship for most fans. Oddly enough, Hans and Elsa are still an extremely popular ship despite them having no positive interactions and [[spoiler:the fact Hans had always planned on ''killing'' Elsa. He left her sister to die and would have killed Elsa if not for Anna doing a HeroicSacrifice.]]
* Early on, when all the fandom knew of Vanellope was her name, the ''Disney/WreckItRalph'' fanbase shipped her with Ralph. As it turns out, Vanellope is a cute little ''nine'' year old girl. The fanbase immediately stopped shipping them and instead preferred a big brother-little sister, or even father-daughter, friendship.

** Some Emma/Rumpelstiltskin shippers jumped ship after Rumple's actual love interest, [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast Belle]], was introduced.

* A lot of people playing ''VideoGame/RadiantHistoria'' for the first time ship Stocke with [[spoiler:Eruca]] right up until they figure out that [[spoiler:the reason they're so drawn to each other is that ''she's his sister'']]. This also makes a couple of [[HeIsNotMyBoyfriend earlier misunderstandings on other characters' parts]] much, much funnier.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': During season 1 and season 2 of the series, Twixie (Twilight/Trixie) was one of the most popular ships and received a lot of fanworks. "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E5MagicDuel Magic Duel]]" caused some fans to abandon the ship however "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E6NoSecondPrances No Second Prances]]" was the real nail in the coffin. Twilight's questionable attitude and behavior towards Trixie caused many of the remaining Twixie fans to abandon ship, with many jumping onto Starlight/Trixie due to their chemistry in the episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/TalesOfArcadia'': During ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'' Eli/Steve, the BullyAndWimpPairing of the series, was a rather popular ship, on par with the main couples, but the sequel to that series, ''WesternAnimation/{{3Below}}'' introduced Steve's official love interest, Aja, the main character of that show, and as the two became official, the former ship became less prominent though still pretty popular. This also caused the rise of Steve/Aja ShipMate Eli/Krel.