History Main / ShipMates

* Typically in ''MassEffect'' fandom, whoever of the official romance options that isn't being shipped with Shepard is sometimes paired up with someone else. Some well-known examples would be Garrus×Tali, Jacob×Miranda (which ''was'' canon), Jacob×Kasumi, Thane×Samara, Tali'Zorah×Kal'Reegar and Liara×Feron.

* ''[[Dexter]]'' holds one popular slash pairing, Dexter×Rudy[[spoiler: (Real name: Brian)]], [[spoiler:who are revealed to be biological brothers in the first season]]. Rita and Deb are often tied away from the two by work. [[spoiler:However, the Dexter×Brian shipping fics are almost always in past tense or an AU, as Dexter kills Brian in the season 1 finale.]]

* ''HaruhiSuzumiya'' Kyon×Yuki and Kyon×Mikuru]] shippers often get Haruhi out of the way by shipping her with Itsuki. Conversely, Kyon×Haruhi shippers will occasionally attempt to kill two birds with one stone by shipping Yuki×Mikuru. Or Yuki×Itsuki.

* Typically in ''MassEffect'' fandom, whoever of the official romance options that isn't being shipped with Shepard is sometimes paired up with someone else. Some well-known examples would be Garrus×Tali, Jacob×Miranda (which ''was'' canon), Jacob×Kasumi, Thane×Samara and Liara×Feron.

* Typically in ''MassEffect'' fandom, whoever of the official LIs that isn't being shipped with Shepard is sometimes paired up with someone else. Some well-known examples would be Garrus×Tali, Jacob×Miranda (which ''was'' canon), Jacob×Kasumi and Thane×Samara.

When two or more different pairings benefit one another. Often the much more benign cousin of DieForOurShip.

This is PairTheSpares in the fandom.

!!Examples:

[[AC:{{Anime}} / {{Manga}}]]
* {{Naruto}}/Hinata makes it very, ''very'' easy to have Sakura make a beeline for Sasuke.
** That's only one possible configuration (albeit one of the more likely ones). The less Sakura-hating [[HoYay Sasuke/Naruto]] fans prefer Lee/Sakura and [[KissingCousins Neji/Hinata]]. Naruto/Sakura fans have a variety of options. Most of them prefer that Sasuke [[DieForOurShip die for their ship]] or at least end up alone and unloved forever (he's [[YourMileageMayVary a rather polarizing character]]), but they can also be friendly with [[PairTheSpares Sasuke/Hinata]] shippers, or, more frequently, pair Hinata up with Neji or Kiba.
** The Sai/Ino pairing also serves to facilitate the Sakura/Sasuke and Shikamaru/Temari pairings.
** In a set of pairings mercifully unrelated to the main [[LoveTriangle love tangle]], Temari/Shikamaru fans often also like Ino/Chouji.

** Sasuke/Karin and Sasuke/Ino are also popular with Naruto/Sakura shippers. Pretty much anything that [[PairTheSpares gets Sasuke out of the way]] is fine by them. Also, Suigetsu/Karin is popular with Sasuke/Sakura fans for the same reason. (Poor Jugo...)
* This is definitely present in ''FruitsBasket'' - both of the guys Tohru might end up with, has an alternate ship waiting on the sidelines. If she goes with Yuki, Kyo's probably gonna end up with Kagura, whether he likes it or not. If Tohru goes with Kyo, then Motoko (the Prince Yuki Fanclub President) or Machi (the council treasurer, if the fans have knowledge of the manga) might actually end up with Yuki after all. (As of Volume 23, the pairing set of [[spoiler:Kyo/Tohru and Yuki/Machi]] has become canon.)

* Eriol/Tomoyo in ''CardCaptorSakura'' is frequently paired with Syaoran/Sakura (equally, Sakura/Tomoyo can go with Eriol/Syaoran). Once or twice, [[BadassAdorable Meiling]] replaces Eriol [[LesYay and ends up with Tomoyo]].
* ''[[YesPrecure5 Yes! Precure 5]]'', in multiple configurations. Nozomi and Rin are HeterosexualLifePartners, as are Komachi and Karen; stepping either pair up to SchoolgirlLesbians is made impossible by the {{Official Couple}}s being Coco/Nozomi and Nuts/Komachi. If you go for the HoYay and put Coco and Nuts together, then Nozomi/Rin and Komachi/Karen become so easy that it's difficult to support any alternate {{yuri}} pairings for any of the characters (well, there is some support for Nozomi/Urara).
** The official couples, on the other hand, have the opposite effect: by making Nozomi and Komachi unavailable, Rin/Karen becomes not just possible but practically automatic. It works even better with Kurumi/Karen, as Kurumi has hopelessly been chasing after both now-taken boys.
** And the official couples are themselves Ship Mates, Coco/Nuts being the biggest threat to either of them. Essentially, any possible pairing among the main cast makes at least two other pairings fall neatly into place.
* ''ThePrinceOfTennis'': If you're into [[TroubledButCute Ryoma]]/[[ShrinkingViolet Sakuno]], you're expected to ship [[BigEater Momoshiro]]/[[GenkiGirl An]] (and maybe, [[{{Dojikko}} Horio]]/[[{{Tsundere}} Tomoka]]). Heaven forbid you like yaoi with your het.
** And if you go to the Yaoi side, Seigaku fangirls are practically expected to ship Momoshiro/Echizen, [[AloofBigBrother Tezuka]]/[[EyesAlwaysShut Fuji]], [[BunnyEarsLawyer Eiji]]/[[NonActionGuy Oishi]] ''and'' [[BadassBookworm Inui]]/[[{{Tsundere}} Kaidoh]]. And [[BadassNormal Kawamura]]? He'll either be with Akutsu from Yamabuki or will just disappear, because he's NOT hot enough according to some.
*** On the alternate shipping side, Momoshiro/Kaidoh often comes with a side of Tezuka/Ryoma and Kawamura/Fuji. Atobe/Tezuka is fairly common to be seen with Fuji/Ryoma as well.
*** In turn, yaoi fans who like Rikkai are practically expected to ship Yukimura/Sanada, Yanagi/Kirihara, Marui/Jackal and Niou/Yagyuu. Unless Sanada and Yukimura have Yanagi as the third edge of their TenchiSolution, that is.
*** Most teams have similar combinations. As an example, Hyoutei fans often ship Shishido/Ohtori, Oshitari/Mukahi ''and'' Hiyoshi/Taki (though Mukahi/Hiyoshi or a Shishido/Ohtori/Hiyoshi [[OneTrueThreesome OT3]] can also pop out once in a while). Atobe is left aside since he's the LauncherOfAThousandShips (often shipped with Tezuka from Seigaku or Sanada from Rikkai) and Kabaji, well... let's just say he suffers the same fate as Kawamura, if not worse. Jiroh is more liable to either disappear or be paired up with Marui from Rikkai.
* ''{{Pokemon}}'': One would be hard-pressed to find an Ash/Misty supporter who doesn't also support May/Drew (and maybe pair Dawn with Paul, Kenny or Zoey for good measure). Fans who pair Ash/May or Ash/Dawn can also pair Misty/Gary, Misty/Tracy, or Misty/Brock. Or just ship May/Brock to keep main characters together.
** For ''PokemonSpecial'', Red/Yellow shippers tend to ship Blue with Green.
* ''{{Bleach}}'' has several different possible configurations, depending on whether you'd rather see Ichigo with Rukia or Orihime. Ichigo/Rukia shippers often also go for Ishida/Orihime or more recently, Ulquiorra/Orihime [[spoiler:never mind that he died]] and in extreme examples, [[CrackPairing Renji/Tatsuki]], while Ichigo/Orihime shippers frequently support Renji/Rukia.
** Some Yoruichi/Soifon shippers get Urahara out of the way by pairing him off with Shinji, Hiyori, or even Isshin. The reverse is also true.
* If a ''SailorMoon'' fan wants to pair Usagi with anyone but Mamoru, but doesn't dislike Mamoru on his own, they might pair him with Ami (to whom he's a bit of a BigBrotherMentor), Rei (who ''did'' date him briefly in the anime), or Setsuna (who is believed to have feelings for his King Endymion self, especially in [[SeraMyu the musicals]]) to get him out of the way for Usagi/Demand, Usagi/Haruka, or Usagi/Seiya. In a similar vein, Helios is often paired with Diana or Hotaru so that Chibi-Usa can be put with Perl or Hotaru herself.
* ''FullMetalAlchemist'' has two different configurations of these, depending on whether you toe the (arguably) official line or not. The former is particularly noticeable in the manga fandom, where many fans seem to expect shippers to enjoy the complete set of [[ChildhoodMarriagePromise Ed/Winry]], [[BodyguardCrush Roy/Riza, Ling/Lan Fan]], and [[MeLoveYouLongTime Al/Mei]]. Of course, in anime fandom in particular, you can't just like [[UnequalPairing Roy/Ed]] and be done with it; you also have to have Havoc take Hawkeye off Roy's hands and Alphonse remove Winry from the picture.
* ''DeathNote'': The fandom is ''filled'' with BL pairings, since most of the fandom's beloved males are considered {{Bishonen}} (even L, the blatant subversion of this trope), and HetIsEw. The most common match is Light/L and Mello/Matt or Mello/Near - it could be either with Mello as the fandom's more common LauncherOfAThousandShips.
* Even though ''TokyoMewMew'' {{canon}} gives equal support to Ryou/Retasu and Pai/Retasu, strictly canon shippers tend to gravitate towards the former, because Ryou/Ichigo is the biggest fandom threat to Masaya/Ichigo in existence besides DieForOurShip. [[{{Expy}} It helps if they're]] ''[[YesPrecure5 Yes! Precure 5]]'' [[{{Expy}} fans.]]
** There's a small subset of fans who ship, of all things, Mint/Quiche on the grounds that the other four Mews have canon or near-canon pairings. May qualify as a CrackPairing in addition to FoeYay. Tends to undergo heavy assault from canon or FanPreferredCouple sections.
* ''{{Gravitation}}'' fandom: [[TroubledButCute Yuki]]/[[{{Keet}} Shuichi]] often goes hand in hand with [[BunnyEarsLawyer Ryuichi]]/[[StalkerWithACrush Tatsuha]], and Hiro is usually paired off with fellow bandmate Suguru or band manager K (or even his canonical love interest Ayaka, for the few fangirls who don't think HetIsEw). For those who don't want Yuki and Shuichi together, Yuki is usually paired off with the ever-devoted [[WhiteHairedPrettyBoy Tohma]] while Shuichi moves on to his idol Ryuichi or [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Hiro]].

** Back when ''DigimonAdventure'' was new, Taichi/Sora fans tended to ship Mimi/Yamato and vice-versa; less often Mimi/Jou or Mimi/Koushirou. Taichi/Mimi shippers usually ship Sora/Yamato as well. Taichi/Yamato fans also shipped Mimi/Sora and Jou/Koushirou. The ToyShip, Takeru/Hikari, went with ''everything'' back in those days.
*** "[[PortmanteauCoupleName Mimato]]" is an especially odd case - in canon, the two characters [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight almost never interact in any way]], something frequently noted by non-shippers. Every other popular pairing in the series has at least ''one'' scene that its fans lean on, but being the [[PairTheSpares next-most-prominent]] male and female in the cast seems to be the only reason behind pairing them.
*** Well, except for [[HoYay Yamato]]/[[BrotherSisterIncest Takeru]], which was surprisingly popular.
** Takeru/Hikari, Miyako/Ken was popular in ''DigimonAdventure02'' fics for a time. The [[FusionDance Jogress]] evolution partnerships made this very easy for [[YaoiFangirl yaoi fangirls]]: Daisuke/Ken was already very popular, and the biggest "threats" to that pairing, Hikari (Daisuke's crush) and Miyako (Ken's fangirl, then friend [[spoiler: and finally wife in the epilogue]]), were neatly paired off together, which wasn't that off the record either as they shared a borderline RomanticTwoGirlFriendship ''and'' had their own Jogress evolution.
*** For those who ship both Het and {{Yaoi}}, there is also the option of Iori/Miyako and the ever popular Takeru/Hikari.
** In ''DigimonTamers'', Takato has a crush on Juri, and while she's amused but not really interested in one early episode, by the end, they seem to be about as much of an OfficialCouple as you can be [[ToyShip when you're ten years old]] -- which is fine, if you ship Ryo/Ruki or Jenrya/Ruki. Takato/Ruki fans tend to ship Jenrya/Juri instead.
** In ''DigimonFrontier'', Takuya/Kouji shippers like to have Izumi equivocate Junpei's canonically unrequited crush, while [[{{Twincest}} Kouji/Kouichi]] shippers are more likely to ship her with Takuya.
*** There are those of us who 'ship Kouji/Kouichi and Junpei/Izumi. We're rare, but we exist!
* In ''GundamWing'' fandom, putting [[{{Ojou}} Relena]] in a [[LesYay lesbian relationship]] (usually with [[RichBitch Dorothy]], less frequently [[GenkiGirl Hilde]], ''maybe'' [[ActionGirl Noin]]) is seen as the kinder alternative to what the fans [[DieForOurShip usually do]] to get her out of the way of [[HoYay Heero/Duo]].
** There's also the occasional Quatre/Relena, though as it splits up Trowa/Quatre, it really only shows up in Heero/Trowa fanworks where Quatre/Relena gets rid of the 'competition' by making them a het BetaCouple instead.
* It's a good thing {{Inuyasha}}/Kagome goes well with Miroku/Sango, because if there was no Sango in the picture, [[HandsomeLech Miroku]] would be grabbing Kagome's butt far more often!
** It's also convenient for Inuyasha/Kagome supporters to ship Koga with Ayame (though the latter is an anime-only character).
** Sesshomaru/Kagura fans often support [[ToyShip Kohaku/Rin]] to eliminate any possibility of the popular rival ship Sesshomaru/Rin.
* Happens a lot in the ''AxisPowersHetalia'' fandom, thanks to the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and potential relationships (the already-long entry below just ''barely'' scratches the surface of all the pairing juxtapositions and rotations going on in fanfic):
** America/England shippers tend to support France/Canada, and vice versa. France/England shippers simply rotate these pairings around to form the "[[PortmanteauCoupleName FrUK]] family," with America and Canada being in a very close brotherly relationship (or [[{{Twincest}} even closer than that]]) and France and England treating them as strictly family. Meanwhile, shippers who pair America with someone other than England (usually Russia or Japan) and don't simply treat England as America's father figure or HopelessSuitor pair him off with France.

** Prussia/Canada shippers often support France/England (and Russia/America so that America has someone too) to remove any possibility of France/Canada, although a fair number of them do go the conventional America/England + France/[[AnythingThatMoves Anything That Moves]] route. Austria/Hungary also tends to pop up in their fanworks too.
** If Austria is paired up with someone other than his canon girlfriend/ex-wife Hungary, her UnluckyChildhoodFriend Prussia [[SecondLove serves as a nice option for her]]. Unless it's Austria/Prussia, but even then, Hungary is usually portrayed as [[YaoiFangirl not objecting all that much]]. And sometimes even [[OneTrueThreesome joining in]].
** Almost all Spain/Romano shippers include or at least reference Germany/Italy in their fics too, for obvious reasons. It helps that Germany/Italy is an OfficialCouple and Spain/Romano is considered to be at least pretty damn close to one in the fandom.

*** When fans want to get Belarus, Russia's StalkerWithACrush, out of the picture too, they either take advantage of Lithuania's canon crush on her and make her jealousy and hatred of Lithuania diminish enough for them to become a [[MindGameShip Mind Game]] BetaCouple or a sidenote in the manga about America having taken care of Belarus for a while and pair her up with America instead.
** Denmark/Norway goes well with OfficialCouple Sweden/Finland in Nordic-centric fics, with poor Iceland pretty much being the [[IsntItSad fifth wheel]].
** Greece/Japan not only makes for an easy-to-set-up BetaCouple, but goes well with almost every major ship out there (especially when America/England or Russia/China is the main couple), and Turkey/Egypt can occasionally be spotted alongside of them from shippers who don't want to leave Turkey in the role of HopelessSuitor to the couple.
*** There's also Japan/Taiwan for those who want to keep the Asians together, don't know about Japan's scenes with Greece, or ship Greece with Turkey instead. And of course, Turkey/Greece by itself is a convenient way to deal with Greece when Japan goes off with someone else.

** Some fans ship Hong Kong/Iceland specifically for this reason, as these two tend to be the fifth wheel of their respective family units. Them happening to have similar {{Kuudere}} personalities [[BirdsOfAFeather also helps]].
* ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' features an insane, sprawling LoveDodecahedron with a GenderBender at its epicenter. The shipping possibilities are ''endless.'' Ranma/Akane shippers are typically okay with the other canon-implied PairTheSpares ships, and vice versa. Fanfic writers have also had a tremendous amount of fun rearranging the OfficialCouple and implied-official couples into ShipMates that weren't remotely hinted at in canon, ranging from the semi-plausible (Mousse/Ukyo) to the outright CrackPairing (Genma/Cologne).
** This, in fact, is half of the reason for Ryoga/Ukyo and Kuno/Nabiki being so popular in the fandom, as each ship helps with the [[CleaningUpRomanticLooseEnds cleaning up of romantic loose ends]] for Ranma and Akane in fanfic a ''lot''.
* ''{{Planetes}}'': Hachimaki/Tanabe and Lucy/Cheng Shin. Each pair are also literal "Ship mates" because Hachimaki and Tanabe work together on [[CoolShip Toybox]], and Cheng Shin and Lucy are pilot/cabin crew on passenger ships.
* With three [[OfficialCouple official couples]] and various storyline overlap in ''JunjouRomantica'', the fandom is very prone to this, usually with Romantica/Egoist or Egoist/Terrorist although all three pairings being shipmates is also very common.
* Happens a lot in ''{{Hellsing}}'': The most official ''and'' popular ship mates are Pip/Seras & Alucard/Integra fans (and let's [[http://i44.tinypic.com/35d7ty0.jpg include Kouta Hirano among them]]) who are also usually in comradeship with [[LesYay Heinkel/Yumie]] and [[MentorShip Maxwell/Anderson]] fans (the latter is specially true in the Japanese fandom) but other variations exist. Alucard/Seras fans who [[DieForOurShip like]] Integra pair her off with anyone as long she's out of the way, including [[PairTheSpares Pip]] (more popular in the Japanese fandom), [[BattleButler Walter]], [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty Major or Maxwell]] or some random OC to [[HeirClubForMen continue the bloodline]], so they get along with any other shipper as long as their pair is intact.
** People who ship [[LesYay Integra/Seras]] get along with Alucard slashers. [[FoeYay Alucard/Anderson and Alucard/Walter fans]] usually get [[BattleCouple Seras/Pip]], [[LesYay Integra/Seras]] or/and [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty Integra/Maxwell]], and sometimes in the case of Alucard/Anderson shippers, they include Integra in there [[TenchiSolution 'too']], same with Anderson/Integra fans. Major/Integra fans who tolerate Alucard pair him off with a man or Seras (when they aren't fans of Pip/Seras).
* In the ''GundamSEED'' fandom, Athrun/Lacus makes Kira/Flay a lot easier to justify.
* ''FairyTail'' is actually very, very friendly to this trope rather than DieForOurShip: Lucy/Natsu fans tend to pair Gray off with Jubia and Erza with Gerard, Lucy/Gray fans tend to pair Natsu with Erza, [[HoYay Gray/Natsu]] fans will often play upon Lucy's LesYay with Erza and Jubia, and so on. Just about every main character has several alternative pairings that keep things neat and civil.
* ''{{Bakemonogatari}}'': Koyomi/Hanekawa shippers often get Senjogahara out of the way by shipping her with [[SchoolGirlLesbians Kanbaru]].
* In the ''{{Slayers}}'' fandom, it's uncommon for a Lina/Gourry shipper to '''not''' ship Amelia/Zelgadis as well, and vice versa. It's gotten to the point were a lot of fans will refer to these two pairings collectively as "trad" pairings (short for traditional; a reference to the fact they're the most popular pairings, and are almost, but not quite, canon). Quite a few (but not all) trad shippers will include Xellos/Filia under this label.
* [[HaruhiSuzumiya Kyon/Yuki and Kyon/Mikuru]] shippers often get Haruhi out of the way by shipping her with Itsuki. Conversely, Kyon/Haruhi shippers will occasionally attempt to kill two birds with one stone by shipping Yuki/Mikuru. Or Yuki/Itsuki.
* [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Evangelion]] shippers who support Asuka/Shinji, pair Rei with Kaworu. This is for Het, [[HoYay however]][[LesYay ......]]

* In ''[[DGrayMan D.Gray-man]]'' fandom, people who consider Allen/Lenalee their [[OneTruePairing OTP]] and also ship Lavi/Kanda (and vice versa) are pretty common. Another common ship combination is Allen/Kanda and Lavi/Lenalee.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' fandom tends to do this with various combinations of Elizabeth, Will, Jack and Norrington.

*** [[LesYay Ana Maria/Elizabeth]] is actually pretty popular amongst [[HoYay Jack/Will]] when they don't hate Elizabeth and don't like Norrington.
* In the new ''[[Film/StarTrek Star Trek]]'' [[Film/StarTrek movie]], there's a huge fanbase for Kirk/[=McCoy=] who gleefully add Spock/Uhura to their fic whenever they get the chance - and the reverse is true as well. It works out rather neatly.
** In fact, there's an entire grouping of ships (Kirk/[=McCoy=], Spock/Uhura, Chekov/Sulu, Scotty/Gaila, and sometimes Pike/Chapel) that tend to appear as side pairings in stories about each other.
** The StarTrekTOS Universe canon pairing of Scotty/Uhura is quite popular amongst Abramsverse Kirk/Spock shippers.
*** [=McCoy=]/Uhura also appears in quite a few Kirk/Spock fics, though it's not quite as popular as the above.
** And don't forget Chekov/Sulu, which often tags along happily.
* Some of the Victor/Victoria shippers from ''CorpseBride'' fandom also ship Emily/Bonejangles. Conversely, there's a few fics of Victoria/Bonejangles from the Victor/Emily crowd. It's a neat little shipping square.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In ''HarryPotter'' fandom, shippers of both Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione call themselves OBHWF - One Big Happy Weasley Family. Considering that these pairings ended up being canon, this may be by design. In fact, FanFic writers trying to ship these characters differently often have to make someone DieForOurShip just to make the dynamic work.
** Neville and Luna was usually added to the OBHWF to have all the kids who went to the ministry at the end of the 5th book paired with each-other. WordOfGod has it that they were just friends and [[ShipSinking reveals who they ended up with]] but there's nothing in the actual books that denies the possibility of them ending up together.
** Fans of Harry/Hermione often ship Ron with Lavender Brown or Luna instead, and Ginny with Neville or Draco. This is sometimes called "One Big Happy Pumpkin Family", since the Harry/Hermione ship was once known as "Pumpkin Pie" or "Pumpkinshipping" in the fandom, in reference to a popular H/Hr fanfic from the fandom's early days.

* In ''TheDresdenFiles'', proponents of Harry/Murphy often get rid of the competition by shipping Susan/Thomas (the so-called "Pink Court"), Elaine/Ramirez, and Luccio/Morgan (having Luccio [[DieForOurShip die in inventive ways]] also seems to be popular). Proponents of Harry/anyone-else usually get Murphy out of the way by handing her off to Kincaid.

* ''MaximumRide'' features the [[RomanticPlotTumor official pairing]] of Fang/Max. What's to be done but pair up the remaining teenager with a preteen girl? God forbid he stay single or date outside his family.
* ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' fanfics in which the main couple is [[BrotherSisterIncest Peter/Susan]] (yes, it's a Christian book, but that doesn't seem to matter anyway), also pair [[IncestIsRelative Edmund and Lucy]]. And they are ''[[{{Squick}} common]]''.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In ''DoctorWho'', Doctor/Rose shippers often ship Martha/Tom (the pediatrician from "Last of The Time Lords").
** The series following Martha's departure has her [[spoiler:engaged to Tom]] - until the 2009 Christmas special, which reveals that [[spoiler:she married Mickey Smith.]]

** Since the Eleventh Doctor's appearance, the combination [[spoiler:Doctor/River and Amy/Rory]] is becoming popular. [[spoiler: Both became effectively canon in the series finale.]] However, [[spoiler:Doctor/Amy]] fans seem to prefer the DieForOurShip route instead.
** Mickey/Jackie was a fairly common Ship Mate for Doctor/Rose too, despite being a MayDecemberRomance. After all, it's not like that alone would've stopped Jackie...
* Fans of the 2006 BBC ''Series/{{Robin Hood}}'' series often ship Robin with faithful companion Much instead of fair lady Marian. Many of them like to palm her off with brooding DracoInLeatherPants Guy of Gisborne, or else Robin/Much is accompanied by Sheriff/Guy and Marian can [[DieForOurShip die in a fire.]]
** [[spoiler: Robin/Isabella and Kate/Much]] seem to have become popular in series three, or [[spoiler: Robin/Kate and Guy/Meg.]]
* In ''{{Firefly}}'', supporters of [[BrotherSisterIncest Simon/River]] often take Kaylee out of the picture by pairing her with Jayne, and vice versa. Additionally, many [[UnequalPairing Mal/River]] shippers like to break up Simon/Kaylee, pairing Kaylee up with Jayne and freeing up Simon to take Inara off Mal's hands. Some Jayne/Kaylee shippers who are into slash will often pair off Mal and Simon with each other. And in terms of pairing the spares in fandom, many fans like to pair Jayne off with River [[strike: despite]] ''because of'' their [[FoeYay rather antagonistic canon relationship]] and the big age gap between them, or with Zoe following [[spoiler:Wash's death in the Big Damn Movie]].
* ''{{Lost}}'': Sawyer/Kate is often shipped alongside Jack/Juliet. Conversely, many Jack/Kate fans now ship Sawyer/Juliet.
** And Sawyer/Juliet going canon recently has created a new crop of Jack/Kate shippers, strictly to keep Kate from spoiling Sawyer/Juliet.
* ''{{Merlin}}'' has several possible combinations. Merlin/Arthur is the most popular {{yaoi}} pairing and often accompanied by Morgana/Gwen, or Uther/Morgana and Lancelot/Gwen. If you're a het fan you're likely to ship Arthur/Morgana and Merlin/Gwen.
** Alternatively, Arthur/Gwen and Merlin/Morgana - which seems to be the combination that the show is heading towards.

** ''[[GoGoSentaiBoukenger Boukenger]]'': Satoru/Sakura (or Eiji/Sakura), Masumi/Natsuki and possibly Souta/Kaze no Shizuka as well
** ''[[TokusouSentaiDekaranger Dekaranger]]'': Sen/Umeko, Ban/Mari, Doggie/Swan, and Tetsu/Jasmine or Hoji/Jasmine
** ''[[JukenSentaiGekiranger Gekiranger]]'': Ran/Retsu and Rio/Mele
** ''[[EngineSentaiGoOnger Go-onger]]'': Sosuke/Miu and [[HoYay Gunpei/Hanto]], with a possible side of [[CrackShip Hiroto/Saki]]
** ''[[SamuraiSentaiShinkenger Shinkenger]]'': Takeru/Mako and Chiaki/Kotoha. [[ManChild Genta]] is sometimes paired with [[ButtMonkey Ryuunosuke]], but more commonly with [[spoiler:Kaoru]] or the woman he rescued from the Nanashi Rifle Squad.
** ''[[NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger Hurricaneger]]'': Isshu/Nanami and Ikkou/Yousuke
** ''[[ChoujinSentaiJetman Jetman]]'': Ryuu/Kaori and Gai/Ako (thanks to their fake wedding in episode 20) or Gai/Kaori and Ryuu/Maria
** ''[[DenjiSentaiMegaranger Megaranger]]'': Kouichiro/Chisato and Shun/Miku
** ''[[HikariSentaiMaskman Maskman]]'': [[FanPreferredCouple Takeru/Momoko]] and Kenta/Haruka
** ''[[HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger Gaoranger]]'': [[ToyShip Blue/White]] and Silver/Tetomu, or [[HeterosexualLifePartners Blue/Black]] and Silver/White
** ''[[TensouSentaiGoseiger Goseiger]]'' is still fairly new, but the most popular combination seems to be [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend Alata/Eri]] and [[TakahashiCouple Hyde/Moune]].
* In ''HowIMetYourMother'', shippers of Barney/Robin often ship Ted with either Victoria, Stella or the Mother... even though the latter is yet to be revealed.
* In ''TheBigBangTheory'', those Sheldon/Penny shippers who don't hate Leonard or want him to [[DieForOurShip die for their ship]] ship him with Stephanie.
* In the ''HannahMontana'' fandom, people who like [[PortmanteauCoupleName Moliver]] (Miley/Oliver) more often than not pair Lilly with Miley's brother, Jackson.
** Alternatively, fans of Loliver (Lilly/Oliver) keep Miley with her her on-again-off-again boyfriend Jake.
* In ''{{iCarly}}'', Spencer/Sam and Carly/Freddie are often ShipMates, especially in post-high school or AU fics or fics which don't get their drama from a Carly/Freddie/Sam love triangle. The 2nd most regular ShipMates for Carly/Freddie are Sam/[[EnsembleDarkhorse Gibby]], mostly used when it would be inappropriate for Spencer to be involved, such as it being set during a prom or school dance. Sam/Freddie don't have a common ship-mate, due to having Griffin, Jake, Gibby, Pete, Shane and a few other potential suitors to choose from to pair with Carly.
** You would expect the 2 slash pairings, Cam (Carly/Sam) and Fencer (Spencer/Freddie) to be this, but it's rarely the case, as Spencer/Freddie requires alot of work to make the 26 and 16 year old male slash couple work. In the case of Carly/Sam, Freddie often gets paired with Wendy, a popular reccuring non-'evil' female.
* ''{{Victorious}}'': A common triple ShipMates group includes FanPreferredCouple Tori/Andre, the canon ([[LoveTriangle for now]]) pairing of Jade/Beck and the [[FanPreferredCouple Fan Preferred]] BetaCouple Cat/Robbie. It avoids anyone having to DieForOurShip or even having to break the only canon pairing up.
** Tori/Beck can be this for [[HideYourLesbians Jade/Cat]]. Either for drama by having Tori steal Beck, or so that they don't feel bad for Beck when Jade realises she likes Cat.
* ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''{{Angel}}''are pretty much the poster fandoms for this when it comes to shipping:
** Spike/Buffy shippers will almost always ship Angel/Cordelia and vice-versa. Although there are Spuffy'ers who prefer Angel/Faith.
** Angel/Buffy shippers will probably ship Spike with Drusilla.
** You pretty much can't ship Wesley/Lilah and Gunn/Fred separately, because you either wanna keep Fred away from Wes or you want to keep Wes away from Fred. Or, you know, both.
** Xander/Cordelia shippers will very likely ship Oz/Willow and vice-versa.
* On ''TheVampireDiaries'' the Damon/Elena shippers frequently ship Matt/Caroline and Stefan/Bonnie. This not only keeps Matt and Stefan away from Elena, but also shoots down any possibilities of Damon hooking up with Caroline again or showing any interest in Bonnie, despite the hints for that pairing in the books.
* If you ship NotBloodSiblings Derek and Casey from ''LifeWithDerek'', then it is likely that you also ship Edwin (Derek's younger brother) and Lizzie (Casey's younger sister).
* In ''{{Glee}}'' fandom, fans who ship Finchel (Rachel/Finn) usually have a little Quick (Quinn/Puck) on the side. However, the growing amount of Puckleberry (Rachel/Puck) shippers usually have Fuinn (Quinn/Finn) goin' on.

* Most ''GossipGirl'' viewers ship [[SuperCouple Chuck/Blair]]. Some also ship Nate/Serena, in order to keep the Non-Judging Breakfast Club a unit.
* [[TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager Ricky/Amy and Ben/Adrian]] shippers tend to go together.

** ''KamenRiderKiva'': Nago/Megumi and Wataru/Mio. On the 1986 side, the canon Otoya/Maya is popular, but some prefer [[ShipSinking Otoya/Yuri]] and King/Maya or Bishop/Maya.
** ''KamenRiderDecade'': Tsukasa/Natsumi and Daiki/Yuusuke or Daiki/Haruka (the alternate Larc from the [=DiEnd's=] World episodes.)
** ''KamenRiderDouble'': [[HoYay Shotaro/Philip]] and [[OfficialCouple Akiko/Ryu]], or [[TakahashiCouple Shotaro/Akiko]] and [[BrotherSisterIncest Philip/Wakana]]. There's also Isaka/Saeko and Kirihiko/Wakana, even though [[spoiler: Saeko and Isaka don't meet until after she killed Kirihiko. Oh dear.]]
* ''{{Degrassi}}'' had for Season 9 in canon Holly J/Declan and Jane/Spinner. Fandom would switch this around making Jane/Declan the shipmate to the popular non-canon Holly J/Spinner.
* In the world of ''LawAndOrder'', if your main pairing is lesbian, every female character in the whole intricate net of spinoffs tends to suddenly become gay. With mixed results. A popular foil to Alex/Olivia (from {{SVU}}) is Serena/Abbie (from [[LawAndOrder The Mother Ship]]), but there's no discounting Casey/Abbie, Serena/Alex, Abbie/Olivia (almost believable. And it would be ''seriously'' hot), Casey/Olivia (often in a weird ReplacementScrappy-appeal way), Melinda/Olivia (did I mention Olivia is a LauncherOfAThousandShips ?) or Abbie/Alex. All a bit bizarre.
** In the het end of the world, a popular pairing to go with Olivia/Elliot (YourMileageMayVary as to how {{Squick}} that is, and/or whether you think they're more TheStraightWillAndGrace) are George/Alex (recently {{Jossed}}, as George Huang is ''really'' gay), Fin/Melinda (ShipsThatPassInTheNight, much?) and Casey/Alex.
** The most popular partner to Alex/Olivia is Elliot/Kathy. Which is useful, because they're married with five children.
* In het parts of [[LegendOfTheSeeker Legend of the Seeker]] fandom, the [[OfficialCouple official couple]] Kahlan/Richard and Cara/Leo.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* In ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', most Katara/Aang shippers also ship Sokka/Toph and/or Mai/Zuko, whereas most Zuko/Katara shippers also ship Toph/Aang.
** Zutara and Taang shippers also have a tendency to ship Sokka/Suki (Sukka).
*** Which isn't to say canon shippers don't ship Sukka/Sokki/[[FanNickname George]]. That completes the Canon Circle, after all. Toph [[PairTheSpares has been paired off with]] [[AnthropomorphicPersonification The Physical Manifestation Of BAMFness]], Ohev, the Duke, an OC, ''Iroh''...Kataang and Maiko definitely overlap the most.
** Sokka is an interesting case because he's one of the few main characters in the show immune to DieForOurShip. This is because he has the most onscreen romantic interests (Yue, Suki, Toph, Ty Lee) so he essentially gets paired off with whoever fits the story.
** Another interesting case is Ty Lee, and while most people tend to ship her with [[LesYay Azula and/or Mai]], other times she's shipped with Haru or Teo.
** Shippers who like Taang for the OppositesAttract aspect of it but still mainly ship Kataang will often pair Toph with Teo, because he's very much like an Airbender. Ty Lee/Haru is also very popular, along with Jetzula.
* In the [[ChipAndDaleRescueRangers Rescue Rangers]] fandom, Chip/Gadget shippers usually ship Dale with Foxglove, as it frees Gadget for Chip, and Dale/Foxglove shippers often ship Gadget with Chip, to free Dale for Foxglove. (Not all Dale/Foxglove shippers necessarily ship Chip/Gadget, though.) Which one is the OneTruePairing and which one is the BetaCouple, however, [[YourMileageMayVary depends on the author...)]]
* In ''TeenTitans'' fandom, Robin/Starfire shippers, also ship [=Raven/BeastBoy=]. If they shipped Robin/Raven, they would pair Beast Boy and Starfire together (or make one a victim of DieForOurShip).
** In the early days of the show, fan fiction pairing Robin/Starfire, Beast Boy/Terra and Raven/Cyborg was not uncommon.
** Also common amoung Robin/Raven shippers are Starfire/Aqualad or Star/Speedy, Beast Boy/Terra, and some authors like to throw in Cyborg/Bumblebee.
* ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'' shippers who shipped Numbuh 3 with Numbuh 4 would also ship Numbuh 5 with either Numbuh 2 ([[spoiler:whom she ended up with anyway]]) or Numbuh 1 (prior to the aforementioned reveal). Those who shipped the latter would often pair Numbuh 2 with [[TheLibby Numbuh 86]]. 2/5 goes fairly well with 1/362, The Kid/3 if you want to see 4/86. Lizzie doesn't get much love anymore, but she went well with the aforementioned couples of 3/4 and 2/5. If you ship 2/5, you might get along with Cree/Maurice shippers, who might get along with Heinrich/5 shippers. It's a veritible minefield.
* ''DannyPhantom'': [[OfficialCouple Danny/Sam]] is often accompanied with Tucker/Valerie or Tucker/Jazz. Danny/Valerie and Tucker/Sam also could work out, though Sam's mostly [[DieForOurShip killed off or portrayed as a mega-bitch]] in any Danny/Valerie fics (though the same could be said for Valerie in most Danny/Sam fics).
* ''KimPossible'': Ron/[[TheLibby Bonnie]] or Ron/[[YamatoNadeshiko Yori]] (for het) and Ron/Drakken (for slash) are the most used pairings by [[LesYay KiGo]] writers who want to "free" Kim from Ron.
** Kim/Ron and [[LikeBrotherAndSister Drakken]]/[[MinionShipping Shego]] are often shipped by the same fans.
* It's very common in ''SouthPark'' fandom to ship Stan/Kyle opposite Cartman/Wendy. Stop looking at me like that.
** Recently, Stan/Kyle and Cartman/Butters from the HetIsEw crowd.
** More shippers have been switching to Cartman/Butters after Wendy and Cartman's fight in "Breast Cancer Show Ever".
** Kenny/Butters is even more popular than Cartman/Butters. Strangely, only a handful of people ship Kenny/Cartman.
* ''{{Ben 10 Alien Force}}'' shippers appear to adhere to the doctrine of "The enemy of an enemy is my friend;" [[HoYay Ben/Kevin]] and [[KissingCousins Ben/Gwen]] shippers don't tend to be rivals as much as allies against [[DieForOurShip Ben/Julie]]. Ben/Kevin and Gwen/Charmcaster are even stauncher allies.
* For ''TheFairlyOddparents'', some Timmy/Tootie shippers like the idea of Trixie Tang (Timmy's unrequited crush) ending up with Remy Buxaplenty (his rival). Some of them also support Veronica (who also likes Timmy) with Chester.
* In ''JimmyNeutron'', Nick/Betty and occasionally even Timmy/Betty is popular for no real reason except this, considering that Timmy and Betty [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight never even met in the show]].
* In ''InvaderZim,'' Zim/Gaz often goes along with Dib/Tak and vice versa, in order to pair all four of them up without having to resort to BrotherSisterIncest (or use of a more minor character). If Zim and Tak get together, Gaz and Dib are usually just not paired with anyone.
** GIR/[=MiMi=] often goes along with either Zim/Tak or Dib/Tak, though not always.
** [[HetIsEw Most Gaz/Tak shippers also ship Zim/Dib,]] though usually Zim/Dib stories simply don't pair Tak or Gaz with anyone.
** If Dib isn't in the main couple and his romance isn't very important to the story, he may be shipped with [[FlatCharacter Gretchen]] (who has a crush on him in the Valentine's Day episode). Fics that have Dib/Gretchen as the main pairing are rare and tend to lack Ship Mates, though.
* ''TotalDramaIsland'' fans who like Gwen/Cody sometimes put Trent together with Lindsay; since then the pairing has started to develop its own independent fandom. (Note that for ''this'' pairing, Tyler may have his own Ship Mate, if he isn't just ignored or [[DieForOurShip killed off for the ship]].)
** Noah/Izzy is also a very popular side ship (with Owen often ignored entirely), as well as DJ/Eva and Heather/Ezekiel (even though none of the last four actually interfere with shipping, the same fans just like them together).
** More recently, Trent/Courtney, which already had a very small following, has been gaining momentum, since now a lot of people want to put Gwen with Courtney's love interest, Duncan. Duncan/Courtney fans will typically pair Trent and Gwen.
** Pairing Sierra with Cody (which she has a crush on) is a good excuse to pair Gwen (or Beth) with someone else, and pairing Alejandro with Bridgette or Lindsay will do the same with Geoff or Tyler.
* Part of what drives the Brainy/Superman ship in ''{{Series/LegionOfSuperheroes}}'' is the fact that everyone else in the main cast (at least in season one) ships nicely with someone else. Phantom Girl/Timberwolf, Saturn Girl/Lightning Lad, and Bouncing Boy/Triplicate Girl are all various levels of official, so that leaves Brainiac 5 and Superman to be paired off.
* For ''PhineasAndFerb,'' some fans go with canon, shipping [[ToyShip Phineas/Isabella]] and [[PrecociousCrush Ferb/Vanessa]]. Alternatively, some fans ship Ferb with Gretchen (the [[{{Meganekko}} glasses-wearing Fireside Girl]]), which frees Vanessa up with ''her'' [[GirlOfTheWeek one-shot love interest]] Johnny, and also leaves Isabella all to Phineas, whom she has the hots for anyway ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation and maybe him with her too]]). And of course, either of these scenarios can include non-related ships, usually [[OfficialCouple Candace/Jeremy]] or [[TokenShipping Baljeet/Ginger]]. Pairings like [[NotBloodSiblings Phineas/Ferb]] or Ferb/Isabella usually lack any Ship Mates.
* ''CodeLyoko'' fanfic usually has a triple whammy - Ulrich/Yumi, Jeremie/Aelita, and Odd/[[MarySue Mary Sue]]. Earlier fics will usually pair Odd with Sam.

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]
* Many Marius/Cosette fans in the ''LesMiserables'' fandom also ship Eponine with Enjolras, or with Montparnasse if they are less kind about the difference in social classes (the latter perhaps inspired by the novel, where it's more-or-less canon in a depressing sort of way).
* The ''PhantomOfTheOpera'' fandom has an ongoing ship war between Phantom/Christine and Raoul/Christine. Fans often get around this by shipping Meg Giry with whichever one doesn't get Christine. When they don't just straight up make the other suitor [[DieForOurShip die for their ship]], anyway.
** And those who ship Phantom/Raoul often also ship Meg/Christine.
* Fans of ''TheTwentyFifthAnnualPutnamCountySpellingBee'' ship the barely {{Cannon}} Barfee/Olive with {{Fannon}} Logainne/Leaf and Chip/Marcy.

[[AC:VideoGames]]
* ''TalesOfSymphonia'': Lloyd/Colette shippers also ship Zelos/Sheena.
** The reverse is also true with Lloyd/Sheena and Zelos/Colette fans.
** [[PairTheSpares Zelos/Regal]] could neatly pair off with Lloyd/Colette Sheena/Raine Presea/Genis and Kratos/[[spoiler:Anna]]... just sayin', despite the {{Squick}} (If Regal's backstory wasn't squicky enough in hindsight...)
* Especially in recent years with the release of the Compilation, this has become common in ''FinalFantasyVII'' with [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend Cloud/Tifa]] and Zack/Aerith.
* In ''FireEmblem: Seisen no Keifu'', the uncommon and non-predestined pairing of Claude/Fury has a small following consisting of Levin/Sylvia and Levin/Tiltyu fans.
* In ''FireEmblem: Blazing Sword'', Eliwood/Ninian fans often pair Hector with Lyn, while Florina/Hector fans ship Lyn/Rath instead. Kent/Lyn and Sain/Fiora also tend to go hand in hand, and fans who ship all the popular slash couples (Rath/Wil, Raven/Lucius, Kent/Sain, Matthew/Guy and Hector/Eliwood) ship Lyn/Florina as well.
* In ''FireEmblem: The Sacred Stones'' Innes/Erika or Seth/Erika often goes with Ephraim/Tana.
** It's not that uncommon for Gerik/Marisa fans to pair Tethys off with Rennac, or for Seth/Natasha and Tethys/Gerik fans to put Joshua and Marisa together.
** The GBA FireEmblem games in general has this built right into the game itself: you can almost always find someone else for a character to A-support with. And as a bonus, since characters can, in addition to their one A-support, also have a B-support with another character, if you can link your Ship Mates together with B-supports, you will have created a small group of near-invincibility with all the stat boosts. (Also applies to other FireEmblem games with the Support system, though the mechanics may differ.)
* Given the nature of the game, ''[[BaldursGate Baldur's Gate]]'' fanfic tends to have pairings between secondary party members in addition to the primary Ship.

** Sora/Kairi shippers probably ship Roxas/Namine, too. Axel is taken out of the picture via Larxene.

** Sora/Riku shippers will typically go the Kairi/Namine route, if not... [[DieForOurShip the other way]]... with Axel/Roxas. Since Axel may as well be Riku's nobody to the fandom.

** Sora/Roxas and/or Namine/Kairi shippers may pair Riku up with... [[{{Squick}} Mickey]]. But if he doesn't work, Xion's a good second.

* ''GoldenSun'': The first wave of fandom had Isaac/Mia, Garet/Jenna and Ivan/Sheba. With the second game came along the pairings Isaac/Jenna, Felix/Sheba, Garet/Mia and Alex/Mia. Interestingly enough, you almost always find them in this order. It's almost impossible to find Garet/Mia that didn't contain Isaac/Jenna, and Garet/Jenna that didn't contain Isaac/Mia.
** And of course there is the [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]] of [[HoYay HoYay]]. Isaac/Ivan and Felix/Piers often appear together. Alex/Felix and Felix/Piers may come as a [[LoveTriangle Love Triangle]] or turn Alex into a StalkerWithACrush. To be fair, Alex's reaction to Piers makes him sound like a [[HoYay jilted lover.]]
** The fact that the characters travel in groups of four for the longest time makes it very easy to PairTheSpares (well, ignore [[{{Squick}} Kraden]] in the second game...). In fics set in-game, Jenna/Sheba will probably have Felix/Piers on the side (the few in existence, anyway) and Isaac/Ivan tends to have Garet/Mia. Strangely, though, there has yet to be a Saturos/Menardi + Felix/Sheba + Alex/Jenna fic.
* For ''ExitFate'' fans, Daniel/Ayara and Erin/Jasper seem to work well with each other.
* In the ''{{Disgaea}}'' fandom, you won't find many Etna/Mid-Boss fans who don't also ship Laharl/Flonne. And for {{Disgaea 3}}, Almaz/Sapphire and Mao/Raspberyl tend to go hand in hand, as do the HoYay variants: Mao/Almaz and Sapphire/Raspberyl.
* ''[[{{Touhou}} Touhou Project]]'': For Yuyuko/Youmu shippers, Reimu/Yukari is often beneficial as it keeps Yukari from being paired with Yuyuko. The benefit is similar for Marisa/Alice shippers (by keeping Reimu from being paired with Marisa).
** Similarly, Koakuma is shipped with Patchouli to get Patchouli/Marisa out of the way for Marisa/Alice.
* ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has Canderous/Bastila, which started out as a CrackPairing in an influential fanfic (the author was a professional romance author and wanted to see if she could pull it off), because MostFanficWritersAreGirls and play with a female PC. In case you're curious, the link to this fic is [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1652394/1/After_the_Fall here]].
* ''FateStayNight'': Saber/Shirou and Rin/Archer, which is very amusing because [[spoiler:Archer ''is'' Shirou from the future. Man knows how to stack the deck.]]

** Along the same lines (but arguably even ''more'' so), we have Sakura/Shirou and Rin/Archer, which allows Sakura to get her (well-deserved) happy ending whilst ''also'' giving her sister [[spoiler:her own version of Shirou]] to be with (Saber, of course, is [[spoiler:[[ShipSinking dead]] in almost every ending]], so she doesn't count). It's also not unheard of for Saber/Shirou shippers to attempt to pair up Sakura and ''Rider'', although this is a lot less plausible than the Rin/Archer pairing.
* Let's not forget [[OfficialCouple Mario and Peach]] with [[BetaCouple Luigi and Daisy]], of ''SuperMarioBros'' fame.
* In the ''MetalGearSolid'' fandom, those who actually ''like'' Johnny/Meryl sometimes also appreciate the fact that he took Meryl off of Snake's hands. Snake is thus free to keep his hands on Otacon. The same can be said for those who are content to leave Jack/Rose as they are, [[YourMileageMayVary though they realize that Raiden/Snake shippers would obviously disagree]].
* Typically in ''MassEffect'' fandom, whoever of the official LIs that isn't being shipped with Shepard is sometimes paired up with someone else. Some well-known examples would be Garrus/Tali, Jacob/Miranda (which ''was'' canon), Jacob/Kasumi and Thane/Samara.

[[AC:WebComics]]
* In the ''{{Megatokyo}}'' fandom, many Piro/Kimiko shippers get [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Ping]] out of the way by shipping her first with Miho, and after that was [[ShipSinking sunk]] by WordOfGod confirming that Miho isn't gay, with Junko. Conversely, Piro/Ping fans suggest that Kimiko and Miho should hook up.
* ''RedString'' readers have been trying to pair everyone off for ages. When Kazuo/Miharu was the canon ship, Karen/Makoto, Eiji/Reika, and Fuuko/Maya were popular. Then Kazuo and Miharu broke up, Fuuko moved, and Karen learned she couldn't love Makoto like that. Throw a bunch of new characters in, and now you've got Makoto/Miharu, Kikuko/Kazuo, Fuuko/Hanae, Karen/Jun, Maya/Yuuki, and Eiji/Reika. If you still believe in Kazuo/Miharu, you can ship Makoto/Tomi with them, and Kikuko gets to be awesome by herself. Luckily for the ''Red String'' fandom, most of the readers are pretty civil in matters of shipping.

<<|ShippingTropes|>>
<<|JustForPun|>>

* ''RedString'' readers have been trying to pair everyone off for ages. When Kazuo/Miharu was the canon ship, Karen/Makoto, Eiji/Reika, and Fuuko/Maya were popular. Then Kazuo and Miharu broke up, Fuuko moved, and Karen learned she couldn't love Makoto liked that. Throw a bunch of new characters in, and now you've got Makoto/Miharu, Kikuko/Kazuo, Fuuko/Hanae, Karen/Jun, Maya/Yuuki, and Eiji/Reika. If you still believe in Kazuo/Miharu, you can ship Makoto/Tomi with them, and Kikuko gets to be awesome by herself. Luckily for the ''Red String'' fandom, most of the readers are pretty civil in matters of shipping.

* This is definitely present in ''FruitsBasket'' - both of the guys Tohru might end up with, has an alternate ship waiting on the sidelines. If she goes with Yuki, Kyo's probably gonna end up with Kagura, whether he likes it or not. If Tohru goes with Kyo, then Motoko (the Prince Yuki Fanclub President) or Machi (the council treasurer, if the fans have knowledge of the manga) might actually end up with Yuki after all. [[spoiler:As of Volume 23, the pairing set of Kyo/Tohru and Yuki/Machi has become canon.]]

* Eriol/Tomoyo in ''CardCaptorSakura'' is frequently paired with Syaoran/Sakura (equally, Sakura/Tomoyo can go with Eriol/Syaoran).
** Once or twice, [[BadassAdorable Meiling]] replaces Eriol [[LesYay and ends up with Tomoyo]].

* In [[DGrayMan D.Gray-man]] fandom people who consider Allen/Lenalee their [[OneTruePairing OTP]] and also ship Lavi/Kanda (and vice versa) are pretty common. Another ship combination is Allen/Kanda and Lavi/Lenalee.

*** [[LesYay Ana Maria x Elizabeth]] is actually pretty popular amongst [[HoYay Jack/Will]] when they don't hate Elizabeth and don't like Norrington.

** [[spoiler:The series following Martha's departure has her engaged to Tom - until the 2009 Christmas special, which reveals that she married Mickey Smith.]]

** Mickey/Jackie was a fairly common ShipMate for Doctor/Rose too, despite being a MayDecemberRomance.
*** After all, it's not like that alone would've stopped Jackie.

** [[spoiler:And, as it happened, Marian did die at the end of series two, when she was murdered by Guy.]]

*** Which isn't to say canon shippers don't ship Sukka/Sokki/[[FanNickname George]]. That completes the Canon Circle, after all. Toph [[PairTheSpares has been paired off with]] [[AnthropomorphicPersonification The Physical Manifestation Of BAMFness]], Ohev, an OC, ''Iroh''...Kataang and Maiko definitely overlap the most.
*** Sometimes Toph also gets paired off with The Duke.
** Sokka is an interesting case because he's pretty much one of the few main characters in the show immune to DieForOurShip. This is because he has the most onscreen romantic interest (Yue, Suki, Toph, Ty Lee) so he's essentially gets paired off with whoever fits the story.

** Shippers who like Taang for the "Opposites Attract" aspect of it but still mainly ship Kataang will often pair Toph with Teo, because he's very much like an Airbender. Ty Lee/Haru is also very popular, along with Jetzula.

*** ... you guys do realize that these are [[NoYay 10-year-old kids]], right?

* ''CodeLyoko'' fanfic usually has a triple whammy - Ulrich/Yumi, Jeremie/Aelita, and Odd/ MarySue. Earlier fics will usually pair Odd with Sam.

<<|JustForPun|>>)

* [[HaruhiSuzumiya Kyon/Yuki and Kyon/Mikuru]] shippers often get Haruhi out of the way by shipping her with Itsuki. Conversely, Kyon/Haruhi shippers will occasionally attempt to kill two birds with one stone by shipping Yuki/Mikuru.

* If you are a ''YuGiOh'' fan and you ship Yugi and Yami, you will also ship Ryou Bakura and Dark Bakura, Seto Kaiba and either Anzu Mazaki or [[FoeYay Katsuya Jonouchi]], Hiroto Honda and Ryuji Otogi, and, if you're feeling crazy, Marik and Dark Marik. Also, probably Mokuba and Shizuka.

Examples:

* ''CodenameKidsNextDoor'' shippers who shipped Numbuh 3 with Numbuh 4 would also ship Numbuh 5 with either Numbuh 2 ([[spoiler:whom she ended up with anyway]]) or Numbuh 1 (prior to the aforementioned reveal). Those who shipped the latter would often pair Numbuh 2 with [[TheLibby Numbuh 86]]. (In fact, some fans, including [[FroggoFan64 this troper]], ''still'' ship 1/5 and 2/86 despite "Operation: INTERVIEWS".)
** It's actually a little more complicated than that. 2/5 goes fairly well with 1/362, The Kid/3 if you want to see 4/86. Lizzie doesn't get much love anymore, but she went well with the aforementioned couples of 3/4 and 2/5. If you ship 2/5, you might get along with Cree/Maurice shippers, who might get along with Heinrich/5 shippers. It's a veritible minefield.

** The most popular partner to Alex/Olivia is Elliot/Kathy. Which is useful, because they're married with five children.

** This goes not just for the main LoveTriangle but for the entire cast, with everyone but Momiji and Kagura in a relationship by the end. Which, of course, makes it easy to pair up ''these'' two together for a perfect NoLovesIntersect scenario.

* ''ThePrinceOfTennis'': If you're into [[TroubledButCute Ryoma]] x [[ShrinkingViolet Sakuno]], you're expected to ship [[BigEater Momoshiro]] x [[GenkiGirl An]] (and maybe, [[{{Dojikko}} Horio]] x [[{{Tsundere}} Tomoka]]). Heaven forbid you like yaoi with your het.
** And if you go to the Yaoi side, Seigaku fangirls are practically expected to ship Momoshiro x Echizen, [[AloofBigBrother Tezuka]] x [[EyesAlwaysShut Fuji]], [[BunnyEarsLawyer Eiji]] x [[NonActionGuy Oishi]] * and* [[BadassBookworm Inui]] x [[{{Tsundere}} Kaidoh]]. And [[BadassNormal Kawamura]]? He'll either be with Akutsu from Yamabuki or will just disappear, because he's NOT hot enough according to some.
*** On the alternate shipping side, Momoshiro x Kaidoh often comes with a side of Tezuka x Ryoma and Kawamura x Fuji. Atobe x Tezuka is fairly common to be seen with Fuji x Ryoma as well.
*** In turn, yaoi fans who like Rikkai are practically expected to ship Yukimura x Sanada, Yanagi x Kirihara, Marui x Jackal and Niou x Yagyuu. Unless Sanada and Yukimura have Yanagi as the third edge of their TenchiSolution, that is.
*** Most teams have similar combinations. As an example, Hyoutei fans often ship Shishido x Ohtori, Oshitari x Mukahi ''and'' Hiyoshi x Taki (though Mukahi x Hiyoshi or a Shishido x Ohtori x Hiyoshi OT3 can also pop out once in a while). Atobe is left aside since he's the LauncherOfAThousandShips (often shipped with Tezuka from Seigaku or Sanada from Rikkai) and Kabaji, well... let's just say he suffers the same fate as Kawamura, if not worse. Jiroh is more liable to either disappear or be paired up with Marui from Rikkai.

** To be fair, Renji/Rukia actually makes sense. Renji and Ichigo both have a "more than friends but less than lovers" relationship with Rukia.
** To be far, Ishida/Orihime makes just as much sense as well. they spent much of the Soul Society arc together, have similar interests (like sewing and schoolwork, #1 and 3 in the class) as well as Ishida protecting and comforting her in the HM arc.
*** I wonder where all this leaves...Ichigo...

** There's a small subset of fans who ship, of all things, Mint/Quiche on the grounds that the other four Mews have canon or near-canon pairings. May qualify as a {{Crack Pairing}} in addition to {{Foe Yay}}. Tends to undergo heavy assault from canon or {{Fan Preferred Couple}} sections.
* ''{{Gravitation}}'' fandom: [[TallDarkAndSnarky Yuki]]/[[{{Keet}} Shuichi]] often goes hand in hand with [[BunnyEarsLawyer Ryuichi]]/[[StalkerWithACrush Tatsuha]], and Hiro is usually paired off with fellow bandmate Suguru or band manager K (or even his canonical love interest Ayaka, for the few fangirls who don't think HetIsEw). For those who don't want Yuki and Shuichi together, Yuki is usually paired off with the ever-devoted [[WhiteHairedPrettyBoy Tohma]] while Shuichi moves on to his idol Ryuichi or [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Hiro]].

** In ''DigimonFrontier'', Takuya/Kouji shippers would have Izumi equivocate Junpei's canonically unrequited crush, while [[{{Twincest}} Kouji/Kouichi]] shippers would be more likely to ship her with Takuya.
*** There are those of us who 'ship Kouji x Kouichi and Junpei x Izumi. We're rare, but we exist!

** There's also the occasional Quatre/Relena, though as it splits up Trowa/Quatre, it really only shows up in Heero/Trowa fanworks where Quatre/Relena gets rid of the "competence" by making them a het BetaCouple instead.
* It's a good thing {{Inuyasha}}/Kagome goes well with Miroku/Sango, because if there was no Sango in the picture, Miroku would be grabbing Kagome's butt far more often!

** America/England shippers tend to support France/Canada, and vice versa. France/England shippers simply rotate these pairings around to form the "[[PortmanteauCoupleName FrUK]] family," with America and Canada being in a very close brotherly relationship (or [[{{Twincest}} even closer than that]]), while France and England treat them as strictly family. Meanwhile, shippers who pair America with someone other than England (usually Russia or Japan) and don't simply treat England as America's father figure or HopelessSuitor ([[DieForOurShip or downright kill his characterisation for the sake of shipping]]) often pair him off with France.

** If Austria is paired up with someone other than his canon girlfriend/ex-wife Hungary, her UnluckyChildhoodFriend Prussia [[SecondLove serves as a nice option for her]]. Unless it's Austria/Prussia, but even then, Hungary is usually portrayed as [[YaoiFangirl not objecting all that much]]. And sometimes even [[{{OT3}} joining in]].

*** When Russia is paired up with others aside of Lithuania, some fans recognize that Lithuania has a canon crush on Russia's little sister Belarus and thus make Belarus' jealousy and hatred of Lithuania diminish enough so they can become a [[MindGameShip Mind Game]] BetaCouple - at least enough for Lithuania to court Belarus again without having his fingers broken. In other cases, Lithuania is replaced with America, who was once mentioned in author's notes to have taken care of Belarus for a while.

*** In the rare cases where Turkey/Greece is set up as the side pairing instead and Japan isn't left on his own, he's paired with Taiwan. And of course, Turkey/Greece by itself is a convenient way to deal with Greece when Japan goes off with someone else (if they mention him at all, that is).

* ''[[RanmaOneHalf Ranma 1/2]]'' features an insane, sprawling LoveDodecahedron with a GenderBender at its epicenter. The shipping possibilities are ''endless.'' Ranma/Akane shippers are typically OK with the other canon-implied PairTheSpares ships, and vice versa. Fanfic writers have also had a tremendous amount of fun rearranging the OfficialCouple and implied-official couples into ShipMates that weren't remotely hinted at in canon, ranging from the semi-plausible (Mousse/Ukyo) to the outright CrackPairing (Genma/Cologne).

* If you are a YuGiOh fan and you ship Yugi and Yami, you will also ship Ryou Bakura and Dark Bakura, Seto Kaiba and either Anzu Mazaki or [[FoeYay Katsuya Jonouchi]], Hiroto Honda and Ryuji Otogi, and, if you're feeling crazy, Marik and Dark Marik. Also, probably Mokuba and Shizuka.

*** [[LesYay Ana Maria x Elizabeth]] is actually pretty popular amongst [[HoYay Jack x Will]] when they don't hate Elizabeth and don't like Norrington.

* RedString readers have been trying to pair everyone off for ever. When Kazuo/Miharu was the preferred ship, Karen/Makoto, Eiji/Reika, and Fuuko/Maya were popular. Then Kazuo and Miharu broke up, Fuuko moved, and Karen learned she couldn't love Makoto liked that. Throw a bunch of new characters in, and now you've got Makoto/Miharu, Kikuko/Kazuo, Fuuko/Hanae, Karen/Jun, Maya/Yuuki, and Eiji/Reika. If you still believe in Kazuo/Miharu, you can ship Makoto/Tomi with them, and Kikuko gets to be awesome by herself. Luckily for the Red String fandom, most of the readers are pretty civil in matters of shipping.

* ''TheChroniclesOfNarnia'' fanfics, in which the main couple is [[BrotherSisterIncest Peter/Susan]] (yes, it's a Christian book, but that doesn't seem to matter anyway), also pair [[IncestIsRelative Edmund and Lucy]]. And they are ''[[{{Squick}} common]]''.

** Once or twice, [[BadassAdorable Meiling]] replaces Eriol [[LesYay and ends up with Tomoyo]]. Too bad this is still very uncommon. :(

** To be fair, Renji/Rukia actually makes sense. Renji and Ichigo both have a "more than friends but less than lovers" relationship with Rukia. As does Ishida/Orihime, as they spent much of the Soul Society arc together, have similar interests (like sewing and schoolwork, #1 and 3 in the class) as well as Ishida protecting and comforting her in the HM arc.

* ''TotalDramaIsland'' fans who like Gwen/Cody sometimes put Trent together with Lindsay; since then the pairing has started to develop its own independent fandom. (Note that for ''this'' pairing, Tyler may have his own Ship Mate, if he isn't just ignored or [[DieForOurShip killed off for the ship]].)
**Noah/Izzy is also a very popular side ship (with Owen often ignored entirely), as well as DJ/Eva and Heather/Ezekiel (even though none of the last four actually interfere with shipping, the same fans just like them together).
** More recently, Trent/Courtney, which already had a very small following, has been gaining momentum, since now a lot of people want to put Gwen with Courtney's love interest, Duncan.

* In the world of ''LawAndOrder'', if your main pairing is lesbian, every female character in the whole intricate net of spinoffs tends to suddenly become gay. With mixed results. A popular foil to Alex/Olivia (from {{SVU}}) is Serena/Abbie (from [[LawAndOrder The Mother Ship]]), but there's no discounting Casey/Abbie, Serena/Alex, Abbie/Olivia (almost believable. And it would be ''seriously'' hot), Casey/Olivia (often in a weird ReplacementScrappy-appeal way), Melinda/Olivia (did I mention Olivia is a LauncherOfAThousandShips ?) or Abbie/Alex. All a bit bizarre.
** In the het end of the world, a popular pairing to go with Olivia/Elliot (YourMileageMayVary as to how {{Squick}} that is, and/or whether you think they're more TheStraightWillAndGrace) are George/Alex (recently {{Jossed}}, as George Huang is ''really'' gay), Fin/Melinda (ShipsThatPassInTheNight, much?) and Casey/Alex.

** Prussia/Canada shippers often support France/England (and Russia/America so that America has someone too) to remove any possibility of France/Canada, although a fair number of them do go the conventional America/England + France/[[AnythingThatMoves Anything That Moves]] route.

* In the ''{{Megatokyo}}'' fandom, many Piro/Kimiko shippers get [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Ping]] out of the way by shipping her first with Miho, and after that was [[ShipSinking sunk]] by WordOfGod confirming that Miho isn't gay, with Junko. Conversely, Piro/Ping fans suggest that Kimiko and Miho should hook up.