History Main / ShipMates

** It's also quite common for Sakura/Shirou shippers to add Rider in and make it an [=OT3=]. Again, ''Hollow Ataraxia'' [[spoiler:and its gorgeously drawn ThreeWaySex scene between them]] helps out a lot.

* ''VisualNovel/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'', either. (This is not without justification, given Rider's extremely protective attitude towards Sakura in the original game and certain scenes in ''Hollow Ataraxia''...)
*** It's also quite common for Sakura/Shirou shippers to add Rider in and make it an [=OT3=]. Again, ''Hollow Ataraxia'' [[spoiler:and its gorgeously drawn ThreeWaySex scene between them]] helps out a lot.

** Thankfully, the fandom of ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' seems to (with exceptions) prefer doing this as opposed to [[DieForOurShip the alternative]]. It just so happens that the two {{Fan Preferred Couple}}s, Finn/Poe and Kylo/Rey, mesh together nicely. So naturally, fans of one almost always ship the other as well.
** Finn/Rey shippers usually opt to pair Poe with one of his two [[EnsembleDarkhorse wingmates]], though some [[TakeAThirdOption invite Poe along for a]] OneTrueThreesome. Kylo usually gets ignored or paired with Hux or, as an alternative to the example mentioned earlier, Poe. Finn/Rey shippers are also usually inclined to pair Rose with Jannah, starting before ''Film/TheRiseofSkywalker'' came out thanks to Naomi Ackie and Kelly Marie Tran’s endearing interactions in interviews.

** After ''Film/TheRiseofSkywalker'', Kylo/Rey fans are inclined to either keep shipping Finn and Poe, or shipping Poe with [[DefrostingIceQueen Zorii Bliss]].

* A rather complicated one: Franchise/{{Batman}}/Comicbook/{{Catwoman}}, Franchise/{{Superman}}/Comicbook/LoisLane and Franchise/WonderWoman/Steve Trevor often seem to go together. This doesn't really have a logical progression of thinking from an outsider's point of view, seeing as Batman/Franchise/WonderWoman and Superman/Wonder Woman are probably the two most popular nonslash pairings involving Bats and Supes after the aforementioned {{Official Couple}}s, so someone unfamiliar with comics might expect that Supes/Lois would clear the way for Bats/Wondy and vice versa. However, a JLA fan would probably be aware of the tendency for one group of fans to ship pairings between members of the Justice League and ignore the supporting casts of the individual members, and the tendency of another group of fans to ship JLA members with outsiders and keep all JLA relationships distant and/or platonic. Batman/Catwoman, Superman/Lois and Diana/Steve shippers would both fall into the latter category.

* Various Disney crossovers ship Merida, the original prince-less Franchise/DisneyPrincess, with Jim Hawkins, one of the rare teenage male protagonists without a LoveInterest.

* Fans of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}}'' tend to see Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Hans paired up in various combinations. For those less willing to forgive [[spoiler:Hans']] actions in the film, [[CrossoverShip Jack]] [[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians Frost]] is substituted, though this almost always results in Jack/Elsa with Anna/Kristoff (though Jack/Anna isn't unknown).

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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', [[HoYay Bubbline]] shippers tend to team up with Finn/Flame Princess shippers against people who ship Finn with either Bubblegum or Marceline.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'' fandom, there was a spirited shipping war between Tommy/Kimi and Tommy/Lil. The T/K side tended to take on Chuckie/Lil, while the T/L side favoured Chuckie/Angelica and Phil/Kimi. Chuckie/Angelica was also a fairly popular ship in its own right, less so Phil/Kimi.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Most Katara/Aang shippers also ship Sokka/Toph and/or Mai/Zuko, whereas most Zuko/Katara shippers also ship Toph/Aang and/or Sokka/Suki.
*** 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]] Ohev, the Duke, and Teo.
** Zutarians often pair Mai with Jet (even though he's dead), or Ty Lee.
** 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, and Ty Lee, plus a popular-but-non-canon ship with Zuko) so he essentially gets paired off with whoever fits the story.
** After the comic series made Zuko/Suki more popular, while it did cause new rivalries, the ship was also welcomed amongst many. In particular, many Zuki shippers also ship Katara/Aang and/or Sokka/Toph and vice versa.
*** Zuki is also liked among Mai/Ty Lee, Sokka/Ty Lee, and Sokka/Azula shippers.
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' 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.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' fandom, Huey/Jasmine usually goes hand-in-hand with Riley/Cindy.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' 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, depends on the author...)
* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' fanfic usually has a triple whammy -- Ulrich/Yumi, Jérémie/Aelita, and Odd[=/=]MarySue. Earlier fics will usually pair Odd with Sam. Latter ones will mostly pair Odd with Sissi.
* ''WesternAnimation/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 [[AlphaBitch 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.
* ''WesternAnimation/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).
** Virtually any fic that pairs [[DatingCatwoman Danny and Ember]] will have Kitty and Johnny 13 as the BetaCouple, who frequently have the role of [[ShipperOnDeck nudging the two lovebirds together]]. This is probably due to a combination of Kitty and Ember being best friends in the show, and Ember, Kitty, and Johnny all having similar "antagonists who aren't really all that evil" roles.
* Early ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' shippers would pair Jane and Jesse alongside Trent and Daria, referred to as [[http://dariawiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=GOF&oldid=34079 Gang of Four]]. It's less common now, as canon effectively sank both ships.
* For ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', some Timmy/Trixie shippers like the idea of Tootie (Timmy's StalkerWithACrush) ending up with Chester (his best friend). Some of them also support Veronica (who also likes Timmy) with Chester.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' fans who ship Mabel/Pacifica often ship Dipper/Bill Cipher as well.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
** Almost all fans who ship [[OfficialCouple Arnold/Helga]] (which is pretty much all of them) also ship the BetaCouple [[TokenBlackFriend Gerald]] / [[AsianAndNerdy Phoebe]], as per canon.
** There are a few fans who ship Helga's StalkerWithACrush Brainy with Arnold's crush [[ParodySue Lila]]. This [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight actually makes some sense]] if you consider that Lila liked [[CreepyChild Arnie]]; maybe she has a thing for stoic weirdoes?
* ''WesternAnimation/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.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'': Clash/Graphix is a popular side-ship to just about every ''Jem'' ship, but especially Misfits ships. Gwendolyn "Graphix" Synder was a character who was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen intended]] to appear in the show, but that never did because it was cancelled early (she did later appear in [[ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms comic reboot]], but Clash already had a girlfriend in Blaze by then). People often pair Clash off with Graphix to give her a love interest.
* In ''WesternAnimation/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 ''WesternAnimation/KickButtowski,'' [[FanPreferredCouple Kick/Kendall]] shippers goes well with [[BetaCouple Gunther/Jackie]], especially since the latter ship would've put an end to Jackie's AbhorrentAdmirer status to Kick. Fanfics that ship Kick/Kendall either ships Gunther/Jackie, or Jackie becomes a victim of DieForOurShip. That same thing also happens a lot to Ronaldo (the DieForOurShip part, that is, not the [[HoYay dating Gunther]] part). Alternatively, the currently canon Ronaldo/Kendall is very convenient for [[ThirdOptionLoveInterest Kick/Scarlet]] shippers.
* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'':
** Kim/Ron and [[RelationshipUpgrade Drakken]] / [[MinionShipping Shego]] are often shipped by the same fans.
** Ron/[[AlphaBitch Bonnie]] or Ron/[[YamatoNadeshiko Yori]] (for het) and Ron/Drakken (for slash) are the most used pairings by [[HoYay KiGo]] writers who want to "free" Kim from Ron.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' had this continuously evolving over the course of the show's intersecting {{LoveTriangle}}s:
** Before Asami's debut, [[UptightLovesWild Makorra]] and [[UptownGirl Bosami]] (Mako/Korra and Bolin/Asami) developed, solely based on Bolin's establishment as a [[FictionalSport pro-bender]] ChickMagnet with a {{Fangirl}} legion, and released information that Asami was also a pro-bending {{Fangirl}}.
** Post debut, Asami's characterization allowed for Borra/Masami (Bolin/Korra and Mako/Asami) shippers. And, y'know, there's the fact that Mako and Asami actually started dating in said debut. The Mako/Korra side of the ShipToShipCombat (at least those that didn't [[DieForOurShip outright hate Asami]]) tended to continue pairing her with with Bolin as a form of PairTheSpares.
** Despite the initial accusations of Zutara 2.0, Kataang/Makorra became surprisingly popular, with lots of fanart, videos, and parallel's drawn for "The Avatar's love." All of these were rendered HilariousInHindsight when the actual series concluded that Mako wasn't Korra's true love after all, and these works are equating a relationship that lasted fifty years to one that lasted six months.
** After Mako and Asami broke up and Mako and Korra became a canon couple, it became popular to pair Asami not just with Bolin but also with General Iroh (Zuko's grandson, not Zuko's uncle).
** Following Mako and Korra breaking up, Korra/Asami rose to prominence and became canon. While Mako officially ends the series unattached, Korrasami fans tend to ship him with Prince Wu thanks to the plentiful HoYay between the two. Bolin/Opal also fits in nicely with both.
* Part of what drives the Brainy/Superman ship in ''WesternAnimation/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 (even in [[Franchise/TheDCU main DCU]] continuity), so that leaves Brainiac 5 and Superman to be paired off.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fandom, [[PuppyLove Lincoln/Ronnie Anne]] shippers will often ship Clyde with either Lynn or Sid. Pairing Liam with Tabby is also popular.
* Within the ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'' fandom, [[OppositesAttract Milo/Amanda]] fans also ship [[BetaCouple Zack/Melissa]] or [[BroodingBoyGentleGirl Bradley/Melissa]]. [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Milo/Melissa]] fans that particularly don't like Amanda being Milo's love interest generally [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight pair her off to Zack]], but some of them ship [[UptightLovesWild Zack/Jackie]] instead.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'':
** Fans often pair [[MrImagination Nathaniel]], who had a crush in [[CuteClumsyGirl Marinette]] in one episode[[note]]and ends it [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle infatuated with Ladybug]][[/note]], with [[AlphaBitch Chloe or Lila]], both of whom have a crush on Marinette's love interest, [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Adrien]]. Canonically, Nathaniel doesn't like Chloe ([[TheFriendNobodyLikes though to be fair, who does?]]) and [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight possibly never met Lila]].
** In a platonic variant, Nathaniel and [[PassionateSportsGirl Alix]] are often portrayed as close, since they're the only two kids in the class who don't seem to have a canonical best friend or LoveInterest.
** Kagami and Luka, {{Romantic False Lead}}s for Adrien and Marinette respectively, are never gonna displace the [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle main love square]] in the hearts of the fans when it comes to shipping the two leads, but they're both likable characters in their own right. The solution is obvious!
* Among the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fandom, any ships among the 6 main characters that doesn't lead to conflicting pairings tend to get along decently:
** For example, a lot of fan works that center on the [[OddCouple Rainbow Dash/Pinkie Pie]] ship also feature [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl Rarity and Applejack]] as the BetaCouple.
** A couple of Rarity/Applejack shippers like to go all the way and pair the entire Mane Six with their foil within the group, resulting in [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash]] and [[SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl Pinkie Pie/Twilight Sparkle]] as ship mates.
** Anyone who ships Rarity with anyone else tends to ship Fancypants/Fleur, going with the assumption that she's his wife. (Fancypants' first appearence and a few of his cameos hint at this, but it's never stated directly) [[PrecociousCrush Spike/Rarity]] fans have a tendency to ship [[FoeYay Applejack/Rainbow Dash]] and Sweetie Belle/Button Mash as well. There's also a surprising number of Spike/Rarity shippers who ship Equestria Girls!Rarity/Applejack, as a way of appeasing fans of both pairings.
** For those who don't do [[OneTrueThreesome threesomes]] of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they ship [[ToyShip two members]] together and [[PairTheSpares ship the third one to Spike.]] For example, many Applebloom/Scootaloo shippers like to ship Spike/Sweetie Belle. It is also very easy to find [[SettleForSibling Spike/Sweetie Belle]] shippers getting along with Rarity/Applejack shippers.
** Pretty much any time both Rarity and Spike are shipped with other characters. For example, Rarity/Fancy Pants and Spike/Applejack share a few supporters.
** Many fans who ship Rainbow Dash with Soarin' will also ship Scootaloo with Rumble. Scootaloo being Rainbow's surrogate little sister and Rumble (her classmate who's also a pegasus) being the younger brother of Thunderlane, a Wonderbolt cadet.
* For ''WesternAnimation/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'' [[OfficialCouple current boyfriend]] Monty, 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 [[TokenMinorityCouple Baljeet/Ginger]]. Pairings like [[NotBloodSiblings Phineas/Ferb]] or [[ShipTease Ferb/Isabella]] usually lack any Ship Mates.
** Usually, those who ship both [[PortmanteauCoupleName Phinbella and Feretchen]] also ship the Fireside Girls with the boys' other friends, most common being Baljeet/Ginger and Buford/Adyson or Buford/Milly.
* Among the ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' fandom, T.J./Spinelli often ship Vince/Gretchen, Gus/Cornchip Girl, and Mikey/Kurst the Worst.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** It is traditionally popular in the fandom to ship Stan/Kyle opposite Cartman/Wendy.
** 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.
** Kenny/Stan is a common shipmate to Cartman/Kyle.
** A common shipmate to Craig/Tweek is Clyde/Kevin (a minor character).
* In ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' fans who ship [[FanPreferredCouple Star and Marco]] tend to ship Tom with Janna or Jackie as well. Some fans who prefer to ship Star and Tom will ship Marco with Janna or Kelly.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' fans have a good number, but the biggest example is probably Pearl/Amethyst and Lapis/Peridot. The latter was a FanPreferredCouple even before it started getting canon support, and the former is a popular ship in its own right, but it notably avoids the complaint of Amethyst being left without someone in Lapidot. It also results in the core Crystal Gems (bar SixthRanger Bismuth) all having a partner. Conversely, fans who stick by Amedot have a higher chance of shipping Lapis with Pearl, or Lapis with Jasper and Pearl with Garnet, which similarly end up with the whole cast together.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':
** In the fandom, Robin/Starfire shippers also ship Raven/Beast Boy. If they ship Robin/Raven, they pair up 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 among Robin/Raven shippers are Starfire/Aqualad or Star/Speedy, Beast Boy/Terra, and some authors like to throw in Cyborg/Bumblebee.
** Pretty much everyone also ships [[OfficialCouple Kid Flash/Jinx]], which might be why it's the only couple with its own PortmanteauCoupleName (Flinx). Though some corners of fandom use portmanteaus fairly frequently, such as [=RobStar=], [=CyBee=], Sqaqua, and the like.
** And for those into that kind of thing, [[HoYayShipping Jinx/Raven]] shippers usually pair Beast Boy with Terra. Either that, or they keep the poor fool out of luck with romance entirely while he just [[GirlOnGirlIsHot watches how well pink and purple go together.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' has a great deal of this. Thanks to its substantial fanbase of {{Crack Ship}}pers and numerous {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s, any random pairing could be thrown in beside any other ship. Some of the more notable cases:
** Before [[OfficialCouple Gwen/Trent]] broke up, Gwen/Cody fans sometimes put Trent together with [[DumbBlonde Lindsay]]. The pairing developed its own independent fandom that's probably as large or larger than Gwen/Cody, partly because fans seemed to have little interest in Lindsay's canonical pairing with [[LovableJock Tyler]] at the time.
** When some fans [[FanPreferredCouple started to prefer Duncan/Gwen]] to [[OfficialCouple Duncan/Courtney]], [[PairTheSpares Courtney/Trent]] became a popular pairing, despite the two [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight barely interacting in canon]]. When [[RelationshipUpgrade Gwen/Duncan became canonical]], fans increasingly paired up Gwen's other potential love interest, [[DoggedNiceGuy Cody]], with his StalkerWithACrush Sierra. There's also a small but devoted fan base for Cody/Courtney (who had little more canonical interaction than Courtney/Trent) usually based on [[HurtComfortFic them consoling each other]].
* It's exceedingly rare, but ''WesternAnimation/WildKratts'' fans that secretly ship Martin/Koki are also allies of Chris/Aviva.
* In ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'', the shippers of Becky/Tobey seem to also favor Scoops/Violet. Inversely, supporters of Becky with anyone else tend to stick Tobey and Violet together.
* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution''. Two words: Lancitty. Kurmanda. Goes hand in hand, and many who support them refer to it as 'supporting the canon couples of the show'.
* For ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Spitfire (Wally/Artemis) shippers will pair [[LauncherOfAThousandShips Dick]] with anyone (usually Zatanna or Batgirl) just as long as he stays away from Artemis.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* In ''Series/The100'', fans of the pairing Clexa (Clarke/Lexa) will often pair Bellamy off with Raven or Gina in order to prevent Bellarke (Bellamy/Clarke), the other hugely popular Clarke ship.
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' and ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' 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 or even Angel/Willow.
** Angel/Buffy shippers will probably ship Spike with Drusilla.
*** Spike/Willow is not ''completely'' unheard of (she's practically the only character who is repeatedly shown treating him decently, aside from Tara and Joyce who rarely appear onscreen with him anyway).
** 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. (The particular loathing of Wes/Fred as a ship among both groups is proved by the fact that both sets of shippers had a much more tolerant attitude to Wes/Gunn.)
** Xander/Cordelia shippers will very likely ship Oz/Willow and vice-versa.
** Buffy/Willow and Dawn/Faith tend to overlap due to stuff in canon or fanon supporting almost every one of the combinations you can make with those four and the rest having some other reason. Same happens with Buffy/Faith and Dawn/Willow shippers. Oddly, it doesn't happen with Buffy/Dawn and Willow/Faith shippers. Most likely because there are very few Buffy/Dawn fics and most of those are PornWithoutPlot. Then you have the rare Buffy/Dawn/Faith/Willow shippers...
** How about crossover pairings? Plenty of fans ''love'' Dawn/Connor (it works quite well, too, since the two are so similar it's not funny), and it co-exists with Buffy/Spike and Buffy/Angel (and their respective ShipMates) quite peacefully.
** Fuffy (Faith/Buff) shippers who don't hate Spike and Angel tend to also ship Spangel (Spike/Angel) and vice versa. [[http://skagdoll.tumblr.com/post/111891850258/just-sayin Check out this Tumblr post for proof.]]
** Finally, lest we forget Willow/Tara, which has the benefits of being both canon ''and'' working with just about anything (as long as you don't ship Willow with someone else, [=OT3=] non-withstanding).
* Series/{{Arrowverse}}:
** ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Diggle/Lyla is the only near-universally accepted ship -- not only were they canon in the backstory (and got back together), they coexist peacefully with every other pairing and pretty much nobody ships either of them with anyone else (the less said about Dig's stint with his late brother's widow, the better). So, for the following, assume that Diggle/Lyla is also paired with the following.
*** The Olicity (Oliver/Felicity) ship is often seen paired with Nysara (Nyssa/Sara) and Merlance (Laurel/Tommy).
*** Lauriver (Oliver/Laurel) is typically paired with Nysara and Raylicity (Ray/Felicity) [[TheScrappy if they bother pairing Felicity with anyone at all]]. Flommy (Tommy/Felicity) is a less common alternate ship, and even Sara/Tommy (who knew each other but never interacted on the show proper) has shown up occasionally.
*** Canarrow (Oliver/Sara) is usually paired with Merlance (Tommy/Laurel) and Raylicity (again, if they bother pairing Felicity with anyone at all). Nyssa rarely factors into the equation, unless the writers pair her with Canarrow (known as Assassin Canarrow) and making them a OneTrueThreesome.
** ''Series/TheFlash2014'': The lingering popularity of the [=WestThawne=] (Eddie/Iris) pairing is because it can be ship mates with ''any'' alternate [[LauncherOfAThousandShips Barry Allen]] pairing that ''isn't'' [=WestAllen=]. It's most typically seen with [=SnowBarry=] (Barry/Caitlin) and [=ColdFlash=] (Barry/Leonard Snart), however.
*** Fans who ''do'' ship [=WestAllen=] will frequently also be fans of [=KillerVibe=] (Caitlin/Cisco) due to perceived parallels between the two ships.
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'':
** Sheldon/Penny shippers who don't hate Leonard or want him to [[DieForOurShip die for their ship]] ship him with Stephanie or Amy.
** On the other side of the fandom, "Shamy" (as the gang calls Sheldon and Amy) makes a good BetaCouple for Leonard/Penny fics and Leonard/Penny makes a good Beta Couple for Shamy fics. Both Leonard/Penny and Sheldon/Amy become couples in the canon material as well. Pretty much everyone includes the also-canon Howard/Bernadette... except the slashers. They just tend to ignore her existence.
* In the ''Series/BigTimeRush'' fandom, for anyone who ships any two of [[BoyBand the four male leads]] together, the other two guys will get shipped together and Jo and Camille (Kendall and Logan's love interests) will usually get shipped together also. Those who ship Camille/Logan/James will usually ship [[OfficialCouple Kendall/Jo]] or Kendall/Carlos.
* In the ''Series/{{Community}}'' fandom, fans of [[FanPreferredCouple Jeff/Annie]] will often ship Troy/Britta, who are romantically linked to Annie and Jeff respectively in canon (although not so much during the second season). On the flip-side, Jeff/Britta shippers will often ship Troy/Annie (and increasingly commonly, Annie/Abed), in order to keep Annie away from Jeff.
* ''Series/{{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. Eventually, Holly J revealed her feelings for Spinner, who rejected her as he was with Jane. Jane cheated on Spinner with Declan in the last special, which caused them to break and Spinner to marry [[LastMinuteHookup Emma of all people]].
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** Doctor/Rose shippers often ship Martha/Tom or Martha/Mickey. If they're fans of the old series, they might also ship Sarah Jane with Harry Sullivan, claiming that he and not the Doctor was the man "nobody could live up to" for her.
** Since the Eleventh Doctor's appearance, the combination of Doctor/River and Amy/Rory became very popular.
** 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....
** Zoe/Isobel for Doctor/Jamie shippers. That's when they don't go the [=OT3=] route.
** Fans who liked Jack on the TARDIS occasionally have the Doctor (either 9 or 10) with Rose and Jack.
** For fans of the Fifth Doctor era, Doctor/Tegan can go hand-in-hand with Nyssa/Adric.
* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' fans who ship [[FanPreferredCouple Carson/Hughes]] are ''very'' prone to shipping Isobel Crawley/Dr Clarkson as well. It helps quite a bit that Mrs Hughes fans are usually Isobel fans too.
** Evelyn Napier/Edith has had a steady fanbase since the first series, despite their [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight limited interaction]]. As of season four, it's become a common ship mate to the pairing of Mary with her other suitors Blake or Gillingham.
* ''{{Series/Eureka}}'' has Allison/Stark and Tess/Jack shippers joining together, because those parings being intact prevents Allison/Jack.
* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' there 8 shippable main characters, none of whom anyone wants to leave out in the cold. Shipping in this fandom is quite the math problem, as the 8 can be arranged into 4 couples in a few different ways. (Bonus ShipMates points because they're all literally crewmates on a ship!)
** [[UnresolvedSexualTension Mal/Inara]], [[HappilyMarried Wash/Zoe]], [[RelationshipUpgrade Simon/Kaylee]], and [[FoeYay Jayne/River]] are the most common set of ShipMates. Jayne/River is the only one of these that isn't a canon pair, and it's fueled partly by PairTheSpares, partly by FoeYay.
** Supporters of [[BrotherSisterIncest Simon/River]] often take Kaylee out of the picture by pairing Kaylee/Jayne, and vice versa. Mal/Inara and Wash/Zoe can stay in place.
** For SlashFic fans, there's always Simon/Jayne ([[WordOfGod which was apparently]] [[WhatCouldHaveBeen planned to be explored more in canon]]) and River/Kaylee (who had a rather close friendship thanks to Kaylee's relationship with Simon and her general friendliness). This is also compatible with leaving Mal/Inara and Wash/Zoe in place.
** Many [[UnequalPairing Mal/River]] shippers like to break up Simon and Kaylee in favor of pairing Kaylee/Jayne, and freeing up Simon to take Inara off Mal's hands. Wash/Zoe can stay in place.
** Another way of breaking up and re-pairing Simon and Kaylee is Jayne/Kaylee and Mal/Simon.
* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' fans -- particularly in later seasons -- tend to ship Peter/Olivia and Alt-Lincoln/Altlivia. And by the end of Season 4, the Peter/Olivia shippers joined camp with [[spoiler:blue-verse Lincoln and Altlivia]].
* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Arya/Gendry is a ''very'' compatible ship, featured alongside many ships, including canon ships ([[StarcrossedLovers Jon/Ygritte]], [[spoiler:[[SurpriseIncest Jon/Daenerys]]]], Robb/Talisa, etc.) and non-canon ships ([[spoiler:[[KissingCousins Jon/Sansa]]]], Bran/Meera, Robb/Margaery, Sansa/Sandor, [[LesYay Sansa/Margaery]], Sansa/Tyrion). Because Season 7 features a [[spoiler:budding friendship between Jon and Gendry]], this upped Arya/Gendry being included in both [[spoiler:Jon/Daenerys and Jon/Sansa fics]].
* In ''Series/GilligansIsland'', fans of MAP (Mary Ann/Professor) often side-ship Skinger (Skipper/Ginger) as a way of forestalling the popular Pinger (Professor/Ginger) ship.
* In ''Series/{{Glee}}'' fandom, fans who ship Finchel (Rachel/Finn) usually have a little Quick (Quinn/Puck) on the side. Thus, the growing amount of Puckleberry (Rachel/Puck) shippers usually have Fuinn (Quinn/Finn) goin' on. On the plus side, they all have really awesome [[PortmanteauCoupleName shipping names.]]
** Those who ship the canon Klaine sometimes also pair their respective pursuers, Dave Karofsky and Sebastian Smythe. It helps that Dave is the only person in canon Sebastian has been shown to express any sort of genuine concern for.
* Most ''Literature/GossipGirl'' viewers ship [[SuperCouple Chuck/Blair]]. Some also ship Nate/Serena, in order to keep the Non-Judging Breakfast Club a unit.
** Dan/Blair generally averts Shipmates. Nate/Serena is a match, but hardly anyone cares about the idea of them since the show torpedoed it years ago. Chuck is more likely to suffer from DieForOurShip than getting any PairTheSpares action. Since Serena and Chuck are semi-related most people don't ship that either, it leaves pretty much no real ships to pair ''Dair'' with. The only ones likely to get a happy ending in Dair fics are Nate/Jenny, since they're not part of either Dan or Blair's OfficialCouple.
* In the ''Series/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 on-again-off-again boyfriend Jake. Lilly and Oliver are also commonly paired in the Mikiley (Miley/Mikayla) fandom.
* ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'' has the canon combination of Hannibal/Will and Alana/Margot. Sometimes Alana/Margot is called Murder Wives when shipped along with Murder Husbands, the fan nickname for Hannibal and Will. Presumably, the pairing of these two is to keep Alana away from Will or Hannibal.
* In the ''Series/{{House}}'' fandom, House/Cuddy shippers tend to also ship Chase and Cameron and [[LauncherOFAThousandShips Thirteen]] and either Foreman or Kutner. In contrast, House/Cameron shippers often ship Wilson and Cuddy and Thirteen and Chase. The Wilson/Cuddy pairing also tends to be popular amongst fans of House and Thirteen.
* In ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'', at least for season one, the most frequent ship mates were [[FanPreferredCouple Nina/Fabian]], [[OfficialCouple Mick/Mara]], [[OddCouple Amber/Alfie]], and then Patricia/Jerome thanks to the fans wanting to [[PairTheSpares Pair The Spares]]. It got a little more complicated once other pairings began to emerge.
* In ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', shippers of Barney/Robin often ship Ted with either Victoria, Stella or the Mother.
* ''Series/ICarly'':
** Spencer/Sam and Carly/Freddie are often ShipMates for each other, especially in stories set in the future. Gibby/Sam is second most regular pairing that supports Carly/Freddie. Brad, a character who showed up on a couple of the last episodes of Season 4 has started to be used instead of Gibby.
** Fans of Sam/Freddie generally want Carly to end up with Gibby to get her out of the way on the show. In fandom, Carly has a wider array of potential partners, such as Griffin or one of her more recent love interests like Adam. Seddie fans have one other big pairing that are ShipMates. The Spencer/Mrs Benson pairing. Spencer being Carly's sister, and Mrs. Benson being Freddie's mother. It would make Carly become Freddie's aunt, and from there the author can torpedo Carly/Freddie using LikeBrotherAndSister by having the Carly/Freddie friendship grow further into loving brother/sister type relationship, or {{Squick}} because of the idea of being romantically involved with their nephew or aunt despite it being non-blood relation.
** The Carly/Sam (Cam) pairing often outright [[DieForOurShip ignores Freddie]] with him not showing up at all. Freddie as a character in Cam fic is often lucky ''just'' to get a bare original character to make out with whilst the girls sort through their love for each other. About the only regular [[ShipMates Ship Mate]] for Cam is Freddie/Melanie.
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' varies by series:
** ''Series/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.
** ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'': Tsukasa/Natsumi and Daiki/Yuusuke or Daiki/Haruka (the alternate Larc from the [=DiEnd's=] World episodes.)
** ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'': [[HoYay Shotaro/Philip]] and [[OfficialCouple Akiko/Ryu]], or [[BelligerentSexualTension 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.]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderDenO'' had Ryotaro/Hana as a ship mate to Airi/Yuto, until Hana's actress left the show and the character was de-aged into a little girl, Kohana. If that didn't kill off the shippers, [[spoiler:it's revealed at the end of the series that Hana is the daughter of Airi and Sakurai (Yuto), making her [[IncestIsRelative Ryotaro's niece.]]]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'': Eiji/Hina, Mezool/Gamel, and Date/Gotou or Gotou/Satonaka.
** ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'': Gentaro/Nadeshiko, Kengo/Yuki, Ryusei/Tomoko ''and'' Shun/Miu, thus pairing off all the Kamen Rider Club except [=JK=].
** ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'': Nito/Mayu and sometimes Rinko/Shunpei or Rinko/Kizaki appear as ship mates to Haruto/Koyomi, the most popular ship.
* In the world of ''Series/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 ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'') is Serena/Abbie (from [[Series/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 are George/Alex (recently {{Jossed}}, as George Huang is ''canonically'' 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.
** [[HoYay Elliot/Huang]] is more common than you'd think.
** In later seasons, the popular Rafael Barba/Olivia Benson is often accompanied by Amanda Rollins/Sonny Carisi, while Barba/Carisi shippers tend to ship Benson/Rollins alongside it.
* In het parts of ''Series/LegendOfTheSeeker'' fandom, the OfficialCouple Kahlan/Richard and Cara/Leo.
* If you ship NotBloodSiblings Derek and Casey from ''Series/LifeWithDerek'', then it is likely that you also ship Edwin (Derek's younger brother) and Lizzie (Casey's younger sister).
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Sawyer/Kate is often shipped alongside Jack/Juliet. Conversely, many Jack/Kate fans now ship Sawyer/Juliet, and Sawyer/Juliet becoming canon has created a new crop of Jack/Kate shippers strictly to keep Kate from spoiling Sawyer/Juliet.
** Also, those who shipped Sayid/Shannon in earlier seasons often had her step-brother Boone (who's in love with her) paired with [[HoYay Jack]] (or [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight with anyone else he ever interacted with]] if the shipper isn't into slash).
** Conversely, those who wanted Sayid/Nadia together tend to support the Boone/Shannon pairing.
* In ''Series/LostGirl'', main character Bo is in a bisexual love triangle with both Dyson and Lauren. Most fans ship her with Lauren, not Dyson. Occasionally this causes a ship war. Most of the time though, it's not a problem because shippers far prefer Dyson with Bo's sidekick Kenzi.
* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' has several possible combinations. Merlin/Arthur is the most popular pairing and often accompanied by Morgana/Gwen or Lancelot/Gwen. If you're a het fan, you've got options like Arthur/Morgana and Merlin/Gwen, or alternatively, Arthur/Gwen and Merlin/Morgan.
* ''Series/MyBabysittersAVampire'' Most Rory/Erica shippers also ship Sarah/Ethan and Benny/Della. Most Benny/Erica shippers also ship Sarah/Ethan.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'':
** The LoveTriangle between Hook, Emma and Neal is resolved by fans with two different sets of couples: [[BelligerentSexualTension Hook/Emma]] and [[OddFriendship Neal/Mulan]], or [[FirstLove Neal/Emma]] and [[UnholyMatrimony Hook/Regina]]. It is also often resolved by pairing either Neal or Hook with Tinker Bell.
** After [[spoiler:Neal was killed off]], Hook/Emma fans often found themselves allying with [[OneTrueLove Robin/Regina]] fans to prevent [[FoeYay Emma/Regina]].
** ''Everybody'' ships [[OneTruePairing Rumbelle and Snowing]], so they work with everything.
** Some Sleeping Warrior (Aurora/Mulan) shippers also ship Neal/Philip (which works doubly if they also ship Emma/Regina or Emma/Hook).
** Fans of [[HoYay Jack/Henry]] and [[LesYay Ella/Tiana]] tend to get along pretty well.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'': Many fans were unhappy with Tommy and Kimberly breaking up and Tommy hooking up with Kat instead. Tommy/Kimberly fans often pair Kat with Billy or Jason. Of course, the reverse is known to happen too.
* Fans of the 2006 BBC ''Series/RobinHood'' 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.]]
** Robin/Isabella and Kate/Much seem to have become popular in series three, or Robin/Kate and Guy/Meg.
* ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager'': Ricky/Amy and Ben/Adrian shippers tend to go together.
* For ''Series/{{Shadowhunters}}'' fans, the canonical pairings of Magnus/Alec and Jace/Clary often go hand-in-hand, as they do in [[Literature/TheMortalInstruments the source material]].
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'':
** Fanfic authors typically ship Sherlock/John along with Moriarty/Sebastian Moran, and/or [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Lestrade/Mycroft]]. Moriarty/Molly is just one of the [[LauncherOfAThousandShips many other options]] for pairing Moriarty off.
** From the het fans we get: Sherlock/Molly, John/Mary Morstan (or John/Sarah Sawyer), Mycroft/Anthea and Lestrade/Sally (everyone hates [[TheScrappy Anderson]], so...); conversely: Sherlock/Irene, John/Mary (or John/Sarah), Mycroft/Anthea, Lestrade/Molly. It is, however, rare to see all four pairings in the same fic.
** Sherlock/John coupled with Lestrade/Molly and/or Mycroft/Anthea is also a viable combination.
** HetIsEw has given rise to: Sherlock/John, Mycroft/Lestrade and Irene/Molly, with Anderson/Sally being around only because it's canon, and because there has to be ''someone'' for people to hate.
** And then there are the people who break up the two most common slash couples to make... Mycroft/John and Sherlock/Lestrade.
** An amusing scenario is when the Sherlock/Irene & John/Mary combination ends up evolving into Sherlock/John & Irene/Mary.
** There are also fics featuring John/Lestrade (or John/Molly) and Sherlock/Victor Trevor (Sherlock's friend from university who's mentioned in the ACD story ''The Gloria Scott'').
** When John is paired with Mary, Sarah or Molly, Sherlock/Lestrade might happen as well; sometimes accompanied by Molly/Mycroft or Irene/Mycroft. Really, this fandom just goes very ''very'' wild with its ships. And that's not even taking into account all the [[SiblingIncest Mycroft/Sherlock]] and [[FoeYay Sherlock/Moriarty & John/Sebastian Moran]] fics.
* A quite monumental amount of ''Series/{{Skins}}'' Naomi/Emily fic also pairs up Katie and Effy (two parts FoeYay, one part [[HoYay Les Yay]], one part PairTheSpares, no parts canon).
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
** Lex/Lana was fairly popular for a while among Clark/Chloe fans. Many Chloe fans just wanted Lana to be corrupted by Lex so she wouldn't bother Clark ever again.
** Many fans hated Chimmy (the Chloe/Jimmy pairing)... but a large number of Clois (Clark/Lois) fans shipped them to an incredible degree. The Season 8 episode "Committed" seemed geared toward this end.
* ''Series/SouthOfNowhere'' fanfiction almost exclusively sticks with the OfficialCouple of Spencer and Ashley. However some fans choose to reject the BetaCouple of Ashley's sister Kyla and ex-boyfriend Aiden and often put Kyla with Spencer's ex Carmen, who Kyla showed a degree of interest (albeit not romantically) in towards the end of the series.
* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' fanfic, FanPreferredCouple Garak/Bashir will tag along quite happily with the canonical combinations of Worf/Dax, Kira/Odo, O'Brien/Keiko and Sisko/Kasidy, tends to appear as a side pairing for [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Jake/Ziyal]] (thus neatly erasing Garak/Ziyal from the timeline), and also often shows up in fics that [[LesYay pair Kira with either of the Daxes]].
* More open-minded ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' fans who ship [[BelligerentSexualTension Tucker/Reed]] also ship [[UnresolvedSexualTension Archer/T'Pol]]. Meanwhile, [[HoYay Archer/Reed]] fans go the other way 'round, shipping [[SlapSlapKiss Trip/T'Pol]].
* In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Sheppard/[=McKay=] shippers like to pair Sheppard's other partner-in-UST, Elizabeth Weir, with Radek Zelenka. It helps that Zelenka can easily be read as having feelings for Elizabeth in canon -- and that Elizabeth is quite beloved among the fandom, making writers reluctant to [[DieForOurShip kill her off]]. The other popular option is ''Daedalus'' commander Steven Caldwell, with whom Weir has a bit of BelligerentSexualTension going on.
* In ''Series/StargateSG1'' fandom, quite a few Jack/Daniel shippers also ship Sam/Janet, and vice versa. Meanwhile, Jack/Sam shippers often like to ship Daniel/Janet or Daniel/Vala.
* In ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' Zack and Maddie fans would pair Cody with London, their friendship in the third season further fueled this. In the Zack/Max fandom Cody and Maddie would sometimes end up together and vice versa. In The Suite on Deck Cody and Bailey fans put Zack with London after an episode aired where they were married for a class assignment, despite their relationship being more business based than romance based. This eased up a little after Zack got a girlfriend but some still exist. Zack and Bailey fans once again put Cody with London.
* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' has a few:
** ''[[Series/GekisouSentaiCarranger Carranger]]'': Kyousuke/Zonnette, Naoki/Youko and Minoru/Natsumi.
** ''[[Series/HikariSentaiMaskman Maskman]]'': [[FanPreferredCouple Takeru/Momoko]] and Kenta/Haruka, or Takeru/Haruka and Akira/Momoko. No one seems to like the OfficialCouple, Takeru/Iyal.
** ''[[Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman Jetman]]'': Ryuu/Kaori and Gai/Ako (thanks to their fake wedding in episode 20) or Gai/Kaori and Ryuu/Maria.
** ''[[Series/DenjiSentaiMegaranger Megaranger]]'': Kouichiro/Chisato,Shun/Miku, and Chisato/Miku on rare occasions
** ''[[Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger Gaoranger]]'': Blue/White and Silver/Tetomu, or [[HeterosexualLifePartners Blue/Black]] and Silver/White.
** ''[[Series/NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger Hurricaneger]]'': Isshu/Nanami and Ikkou/Yousuke.
** ''[[Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger Dekaranger]]'': Sen/Umeko and Ban/Mari (canon) are usually accompanied by Doggie/Swan, and either Hoji/Jasmine and Tetsu/Lisa, or Tetsu/Jasmine and Hoji/Teresa.
** ''[[Series/GoGoSentaiBoukenger Boukenger]]'': Satoru/Sakura (or Eiji/Sakura), Masumi/Natsuki and possibly [[DatingCatwoman Souta/Kaze no Shizuka]] as well.
** ''[[Series/JukenSentaiGekiranger Gekiranger]]'': Ran/Retsu and Rio/Mele. Some shippers will also throw Gou/Miki and even [[{{Squick}} Jan/Natsume]] into the mix, thus making four of the Gekirangers plus Miki and Natsume all related to each other.
** ''[[Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger Go-onger]]'': Sosuke/Miu and [[HoYay Gunpei/Hanto]], with a possible side of [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Hiroto/Saki]].
** ''[[Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger Shinkenger]]'': Takeru/Mako and Chiaki/Kotoha, or Takeru/Kotoha and Ryuunosuke/Mako. [[ManChild Genta]] is usually shipped either with [[spoiler:Kaoru]] or the woman he rescued in episode 31.
** ''[[Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger Goseiger]]'': [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend Alata/Eri]] and [[BelligerentSexualTension Hyde/Moune]].
** ''[[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger Gokaiger]]'': Marvelous/Ahim and Joe/Luka, or Marvelous/Luka and Joe/Ahim, or Marvelous/Ahim and Don/Luka, or Marvelous/Luka and Don/Ahim.
** ''[[Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger Kyoryuger]]'': Ian/Yayoi is a common ship mate to the canon ships in order to pair up two of the left-over team members.
** ''[[Series/ResshaSentaiTokkyuger ToQger]]'': Tokatti/Mio and Hikari/Kagura
** In general, unless the team members are all [[Series/ChikyuuSentaiFiveman related]] [[Series/RescueSentaiGoGoFive to]] [[Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger each other]] or an OfficialCouple is hinted at early on, most series end up with the fans shipping Red Ranger/Pink Ranger and Yellow Ranger/Green or Black Ranger (if Yellow is female.)
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Sam/Gabriel shippers tend to have Dean/Castiel show up in their fics too. The reverse, however, is not true as often because there are a lot more Dean/Castiel fics than Sam/Gabriel ones and it's just as common for these Dean/Castiel fics to leave Sam single or pair him up with Jess or Eileen instead.
** For people who ship Dean with someone other than Castiel, like Sam or Benny, it's common for them to get Castiel out of the way by pairing him up with Meg.
* In ''Series/TeenWolf'', fans of [[FanPreferredCouple Derek/Stiles]] will often have Lydia paired up with her ex-boyfriend Jackson to keep her away from Stiles, and pretty much everyone adds Scott/Allison in the mix with these two.
** Jennifer, Derek's love interest for the first half of season 3, is sometimes shipped with [[HoYay Kali]] to PairTheSpares. Same applies to Boyd/Erica.
** Isaac/Cora (which was [[ShipTease teased]] in a one-liner by Isaac himself) or Isaac/Erica may be chosen over the even-more teased Isaac/Allison by those who prefer Scott/Allison.
** Then there's Derek/Stiles, Lydia/Allison, and Scott/Isaac which is gaining popularity in the fandom (this troper herself is guilty of preferring this combination above others)
** Sheriff Stilinski/Melissa [=McCall=] is fairly popular and goes with most other pairings.
* On ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' the Damon/Elena shippers frequently ship Stefan/Caroline, Stefan/Rebekah, Stefan/Katherine or Stefan/Klaus to keep Stefan as far away from Elena as possible.
** Stefan/Elena fans usually ship Bonnie/Damon.
** Fans who ship Klaus and Caroline often will ship Tyler/Hayley or Elijah/Hayley (when they don't just [[DieForOurShip ship Hayley with Death instead]]). Matt/Rebekah as well as Stefan/Rebekah may be found in Klaroline fanfics as well, presumably to make Klaus' [[IncestSubtext obsession]] with Rebekah disappear.
* ''Series/{{Victorious}}'': A common triple straight ShipMates fleet includes Tori/Andre, the canon pairing of Jade/Beck and the 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 the 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.
** Beck/Jade to Tori/Cat, as Beck/Jade staying together kills off the the popular pairing of Jade/Cat and Tori/Beck , and the FanPreferredCouple Tori/Jade pairing.
** [[FanPreferredCouple Tori/Jade]] shippers get along quite well with Beck/Cat shippers, as this gets out the two popular rival ships for Jade.
* For ''Series/TheXFiles'', those who watched the whole series and ship Mulder/Scully, also tend to ship Doggett/Reyes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'': Altair/Malik shippers and Ezio/Leonardo shippers tend to flock together.
** Modern Assassins generally get treated to Desmond/Lucy and Shaun/Rebecca or Desmond/Shaun and Lucy/Rebecca. Throw in the latter two with the above two, and you get a lovely case of EveryoneIsGay.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' fandom, you won't find many [[VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness Etna/Mid-Boss]] fans who don't also ship Laharl/Flonne. And for ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'', Almaz/Sapphire and Mao/Raspberyl tend to go hand in hand, as do the HoYay variants: Mao/Almaz and Sapphire/Raspberyl.
* For ''VideoGame/ExitFate'' fans, Daniel/Ayara and Erin/Jasper seem to work well with each other.
* In ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' and ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'', Terry/Blue Mary shippers tend to make allusions to Andy/Mai.
** Similarly, in ''The King of Fighters'' fandom... Athena/Kensou shippers may want to keep Kyo Kusanagi, the guy Athena shows some degree of romantic interest in (depending on the medium), with his canon girlfriend Yuki. Kyo/Yuki fans who don't ship Kensou/Athena tend to put Iori and Athena together instead, invoking prospect AllGirlsWantBadBoys and BroodingBoyGentleGirl dynamics to justify it (not to mention the canon concern she shows for him in ''XIII'', never mind [[{{Jerkass}} him brushing her off]]).
** There's also the support that Ryo/King fans tend to give to Robert/Yuri, and vicecersa. Both were heavily {{ship tease}}d in ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'', but the latter has been downplayed in ''KOF''.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy:''
* For the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series:
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'': Luneth often gets paired with Refia with Ignus taken out of the equation by pairing him with Princess Sarah.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears its sequel]], if we go by the route of OfficialCouple, we have Cecil/Rosa, Edge/Rydia, Edward/Harley, Palom with Luca or Leonora and Porom/Tsukinowa.
*** For those who want [[RomanticRunnerUp Kain]] to get someone, there are two possibilities; one is to let his feelings for Rosa be recognized, which usually means Cecil goes with Rydia or [[DeathOfTheHypotenuse dies]] (or, more commonly, [[OneTrueThreesome joins in]]); the other is to pair him with either Rydia or Barbariccia.
** Averted with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' by having [[OneTrueThreesome Bartz paired with all three girls]].
** Especially in recent years with the release of the Compilation, this has become common in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' with [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Cloud/Tifa]] and [[TogetherInDeath Zack/Aerith]]. Cloud/Aerith shippers by contrast will pair Tifa with Barret, possibly inspired by her acting as a [[ParentalSubstitute substitute mom]] to Barret's daughter in ''Advent Children''. Fans who like shipping Tifa/Barret as endgame but want Cloud to get a happy ending with a living person will often ship him with Yuffie.
** This trope get used the most in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' with Vaan/Penelo, Balthier/Fran. As for Ashe/Basch, fans will often {{Handwave}} it with SecondLove. Fandom will also throw in Gabranth/Larsa as well.
*** On the yaoi side of things, fans who want to pair Balthier with Vaan or Basch will get Fran out of the way by putting her with [[CrackPairing Penelo]]. Oddly, Fran/Ashe doesn't seem to be as common. Balthier/Vaan also goes well with Basch/Vossler and Gabranth/Larsa.
*** Balthier/Ashe is also very popular, in which case Fran sometimes gets paired with Basch, even though that's a bit of a stretch.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': Supporters of [[OfficialCouple Yuna/Tidus]] tend to also support Wakka/Lulu, which became canon in the sequel, and Auron/Rikku, which... [[CrackPairing didn't]].
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'', Rikku/Gippal and Paine/Baralai are popular shipmates.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': [[MasculineGirlFeminineBoy Lightning/Hope]] fics sometimes tend to be accompanied by [[HoYay Fang/Vanille]] and [[OfficialCouple Snow/Serah]]. Switching it up results in Hope/Vanille being shipmates with Lightning/Fang and, again, Snow/Serah.
*** As of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'', Serah/Snow usually sees Noel with Yeul, while Serah/Noel fans have a variety of ships.
** Fans of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' tend to overwhelmingly favor Prompto/Noctis and Ignis/Gladiolus. Noctis/Ignis is also quite popular, in which case people usually go Prompto/Gladiolus. And that's assuming they don't just [[OneTrueThreesome pair all four together at once.]] Lunafreya, Noctis's canon love interest, is mostly ignored, but in spaces where she isn't, it's pretty common to pair her off with Nyx from ''[[Anime/KingsglaiveFinalFantasyXV Kingsglaive]]'' so as to avoid DieForOurShip issues.
* Due to most installments starting with the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Jugdral]] games [[RelationshipValues encouraging]] the player to play matchmaker, and [[ShipToShipCombat the nasty shipping wars]] that have resulted because of it, ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' fans often resort to this to make things slightly less messy.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', the uncommon and non-predestined pairing of Claud/Erinys has a small following... consisting of Lewyn/Sylvia and Lewyn/Tailtiu fans. It ''does'' help that, technically speaking, it gives Sety and Fee ''really'' good stats (and that sweet, sweet [[BackFromTheDead Valkyrie Staff]]...)
*** Similarly, some Lewyn/Erinys fans who ain't squicked by the possible BrotherSisterIncest[=/=]KissingCousins vibes tend to pair off Sylvia with Claud. (Again, nice stats and Valkyrie staff, which Coirpre can use well.) If not, they'll lean more towards Alec/Sylvia (average but still useful stats, the ''VERY'' sought-after Pursuit skill, and quite easy to get).
** In ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade 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, Heath/Legault, Kent/Sain, Matthew/Guy and Hector/Eliwood) ship Lyn/Florina as well.
*** Fans who like both het and femslash might pair up Eliwood with Ninian, then ship Lyn and Florina.
*** Eliwood/Ninian can work with any possibly canon pairing (barring Eliwood/Fiora or Eliwood/Lyn), which along with the above can include Hector/Florina or Hector/Farina (for the former, bonus points in Ninian and Florina having a RomanticTwoGirlFriendship in their Supports). Rebecca can also be paired with Wil, Lowen or Sain depending on your taste (though the former two have no other options for LoveInterests).
*** Raven/Lucius fans who don't hate Priscilla for her BigBrotherWorship towards Raven will almost surely invoke the presence of her suitors to whisk her away safely, whether [[LoveHurts her love matters]] [[StarcrossedLovers are doomed]] [[HappilyMarried or not]].
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' Innes/Eirika or Seth/Eirika often goes with Ephraim/Tana.
*** It's not that uncommon for Gerik/Marisa fans to pair Tethys off with Rennac (who ''does'' develop a crush on her in their Supports, though they have no shared ending), or for Seth/Natasha and Tethys/Gerik fans to put Joshua and Marisa together.
** The GBA ''Fire Emblem'' 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 ''Fire Emblem'' games with the Support system, though the mechanics may differ.)
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'', Ike/Soren tends to go hand in hand with whichever is relevant out of Boyd/Mist and Elincia/Geoffrey, if not both, while Lethe/Jill fics will feature the Kyza/Ranulf/Lyre triangle as the Beta Threesome.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'', it's pretty common for Gerome/Inigo shippers to ship Owain/Brady. If they go for {{yuri}} too, they may toss [[HoYay Kjelle/Severa]] in the mix.
*** If the fans don't want to pair Sumia with Chrom but aren't willing to go the DieForOurShip way either, they'll ship her with Frederick or Gaius instead.
*** [[BodyguardCrush Lissa/Lon'qu]] fans sometimes tend to ship Lissa's best friend Maribelle with either Gaius or Ricken.
*** As "the het ship(s) that almost everyone like(s)" (though [[HypeBacklash it's lost some popularity]] since ''Awakening''[='s=] heyday), Henry/Olivia tends to be a common BetaCouple in fan work.
*** Donnel/Nowi and Ricken/Nowi tend to be relatively easy to spot as well, likely to hook up the ''very'' OlderThanTheyLook [[OurDragonsAreDifferent Nowi]] with a guy whose age matches her physical looks.
*** The odd-numbered Second Generation make it easy to pair off all 13 of them with someone... if you either go [=OT3=] or pair one of them with the Avatar, that is. This would, of course, naturally constitute Morgan (of either gender) being paired with a childhood friend of their non-Avatar parent, but considering the Avatar is already romancing a child of one of ''their'' close friends (most commonly Lucina, with the Male Avatar) at this point it's a case of Nothing Is Sacred Anymore.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', Oboro has a huge crush on Takumi, so fans that ship him with anyone else (especially Leo) tend to pair Oboro with Silas or Niles.
* ''VideoGame/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. This was not followed by the sequels, which canonized Isaac/Jenna and nothing else.
** And of course there is the [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]] of HoYay. Isaac/Ivan and Felix/Piers often appear together. Alex/Felix and Felix/Piers may come as a LoveTriangle 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.
** In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', fans of Matthew/Sveta tend to put Karis with Tyrell or Amiti. Matthew/Karis fans give Amiti to Sveta instead.
* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' encourages this as many games have the bachelors and bachelorettes forming "rival couples". So, for example, many ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' fans who like Mark/Celia or Mark/Nami are quick to pair Muffy with her boss and ImpliedLoveInterest Griffin. Even in games without rival systems, people will ship rivals off together.
* The ''VideoGame/IrisuSyndrome'' character [[spoiler:Uuji]] invokes this trope, remarking that since he reciprocates Irisu's feelings and Edogawa likes Ageha, those pairs getting together would most improve the group's stability [[LoveDodecahedron (even though Ageha likes Uuji)]]. [[spoiler:Of course, Uuji's goal is the ''opposite'' of stability, so for most of the game he's doing everything he can to ensure these 'ideal' ships don't happen.]]
* Even though it's a [[NoHuggingNoKissing Two Hugs, No Kissing]] game, ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' has whole ''trees'' of these spring up. Let's see here...
** Sora/Kairi shippers probably ship Roxas/Naminé, too. Riku is taken out of the picture via Xion or Yuffie and Axel via Larxene.
*** That or Larxene gets paired with Marluxia. Or better yet, Axel, Larxene, AND Marluxia ''[[OneTrueThreesome all at once]]''.
** Sora/Riku shippers will typically go the [[ScrewYourself Kairi/Naminé]] route, if not... [[DieForOurShip the other way]]... with Axel/Roxas. Since Axel may as well be Riku's Nobody to the fandom.
*** AU fics will sometimes ship Kairi with ''Final Fantasy'' characters that haven't yet been/won't be in the series to keep Riku with Sora, Axel with Roxas, and Cloud with Leon.
*** And speaking of the ''Final Fantasy'' side of ''Kingdom Hearts'', many of the fics that ship Cloud and Aerith will have Leon shipped with either Tifa or Yuffie. Conversely, fics with Aerith/Leon may also feature Cloud/Tifa. Where slash is concerned, Leon/Cloud is sometimes accompanied by Zack/Aerith (more so in AU fics) or Aerith/Tifa.
** [[ScrewYourself Sora/Roxas and/or Naminé/Kairi shippers]] may pair Riku up with... [[{{Squick}} Mickey]]. But if he doesn't work, Xion's a good second.
** Not to mention Sora with Kairi, Roxas with Xion, and Riku with Naminé.
** Demyx/Zexion seems to be a popular ship mate in slash fics, particularly if those fics already involved Sora/Riku, Axel/Roxas, and/or Leon/Cloud.
** Some decide to pair up the whole Organization XIII by going with [[IntergenerationalFriendship Xigbar/Demyx, Lexaeus/Zexion]], [[FoeYay Marluxia/Vexen]], [[MinionShipping Xemnas/Saix]], [[{{Squick}} Xaldin/Luxord]], [[HeterosexualLifePartners Axel/Roxas]], and sometimes [[HoYay Larxene/Naminé]].
** Some of the Terra/Aqua shippers who don't want to leave Ventus out of the fun will pair him up with Lea, Vanitas, or (occasionally) Snow White.
* ''VideoGame/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.]]
* With ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'', there are two main options: the slash route with Riki/Kyousuke and Rin/Komari (and, far less likely, possibly a Haruka/Kurugaya or Haruka/Mio in the background), or the straight route with Rin/Riki, Komari/Kyousuke, and Kud/Masato.
* Typically in ''Franchise/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 from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' would be Garrus/Tali, Jacob/Miranda (which ''was'' canon), Jacob/Kasumi, Thane/Samara, Thane/Jack, Tali'Zorah/Kal'Reegar and Liara/Feron.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' made [[spoiler:Garrus/Tali]] canon if neither are romanced by Shepard. Javik is another popular choice for Liara now, and Male!Shepard/Kaidan shippers also have a tendency to ship Steve/James.
* In the ''VideoGame/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, though they realize that Raiden/Snake shippers would obviously disagree.
* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'': If you ship Liu Kang and Princess Kitana (a couple that was ''[[ShipTease this]]'' close to being {{official|Couple}}), chances are that you also pair up their respective [[HeterosexualLifePartners best friends]], Kung Lao and Jade.
** The same is true of shipping [[PairTheSpares Smoke and Jade]] if you're a fan of [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight (Younger) Sub-Zero/Kitana]].
* Though the ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series doesn't have a major shipping fandom, there is still instances of this. For ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER|1}}'', Ninten/Ana is sometimes complemented by Lloyd/Pippi. For ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', there's Ness/Paula and Jeff/Tony, as well as sometimes Jeff/Ness and Poo/Paula. For ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'', there's Duster/Kumatora with Lucas/Claus, Lucas/Ness, and occasionally Lucas/Nana (an [=NPC=]). Some fans -- especially those who got into the series around ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' -- support Lucas/Ness, Claus/Ninten, and Kumatora/Paula.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' Genji/Mercy shippers tend to ship Pharah/Symmetra while Pharah/Mercy shippers tend to ship Genji/Zenyatta.
* The ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' fandom often makes use of this concept, particularly with the inclusion of DatingSim elements from [[VideoGame/Persona3 the third game]] and beyond.
** Due to insane amounts of ShipTease and HoYay in a single game, ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' makes any pairing looks believable (which is not helped by several party members [[ShipperOnDeck rooting for]] a different pairing within the group). Despite the conflicts, most people agree to PairTheSpares; so, if you ship MC/Yukiko, you probably ship Kanji/Naoto, and some combination of Yosuke, Rise, Chie, and Teddie too. Fans who prefer [[HoYay Chie/Yukiko]] (whether they think "HetIsEw" or not) usually ship MC/Yosuke together and leave Yukiko for Chie, while Kanji and Naoto make a safe BetaCouple or ''maybe'' a safe Beta [[OneTrueThreesome OT3]] if they add Rise or Yosuke to the mix. It works.
*** When ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' was released, Yosuke's ShipTease with OriginalGeneration character Labrys freed other characters up, so it's commonly supported by [[HoYay Chie/Yukiko]] shippers.
*** ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', being the second ''P3/P4'' crossover after the ''[[VideoGame/Persona4Arena Arena]]'' [[VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax duology]] (and one that involves the entirety of both games' main casts), further opened the door for cross-title pairings, though the only ones fans seem to take seriously are Fuuka/Rise (since they're both MissionControl characters [[SupportPartyMember with similar abilities]] and spend the game's events building up a close friendship) and Chie/Akihiko (a CallForward to their student-teacher relationship in ''Arena'', which is how many fans prefer to depict their camaraderie). [[ShaggyDogStory The catch is that]] [[spoiler:the time-space paradox that allows the two groups to be brought together from their respective eras is resolved by the end of the story, causing everyone to lose their memories of their meeting]], though some write around this to effectively have things pick up from where they left off by the time of ''Arena''.
*** ''VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight'' formally introduces players to Kanami Mashita, a rising star within the {{idol|Singer}} industry [[AscendedExtra who was previously mentioned in Rise's Social Link]]. Aside of becoming Nanako's CoolBigSis and implicitly developing a crush on Dojima after [[RescueRomance he saves her life from]] a LoonyFan, she also bonds with the Investigation Team, [[PlayerCharacter Y]][[CanonName u]] and Rise most of all. Yu openly invites Kanami into his circle of friends (which means a lot given Kanami's FriendlessBackground) and Kanami, already a friendly acquaintance of Rise's, is quick to {{fangirl}} if they're dance partners. It should also be noted that Kanami herself can play ShipperOnDeck for Yu/Rise if she's commentating on them dancing together during Fever Time, exuberantly proclaiming how good they look. This culminates in a significant portion of the final dance against ''DAN'''s BigBad being devoted to a three-way performance between Yu, Rise, and Kanami. Besides the obvious [[OneTrueThreesome OT3]] application, Kanami's addition to the myriad of Investigation Team-based pairings benefits Rise if she's left unpaired, as Rise tends to only be shipped with either Yu or [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Naoto]].
*** The other members of Kanami's idol group are revealed to have insecurities and idiosyncrasies that the Investigation Team [[PlotParallel can relate to]] given their own struggles in the past. For example, Yosuke understands Tamami's frustrations over being the PluckyComicRelief of the group, while Tomoe's responsibility as [[TeamMom the leader of Kanamin Kitchen]] resonates with Yukiko because of her family duty to the Amagi Inn (and both [[BirdsOfAFeather have a good laugh]] over their ClosetGeek[=/=]{{Otaku}} tendencies). (Tamami also calls Yu dreamy before mouthing him off in classic {{Tsundere}} fashion, but that's unrelated.) Though these are all uncommon to see due to ''DAN'' being a RhythmGame SpinOff for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita Vita]], the one ship that seems to have any significant traction is Kanji/Nozomi. It doesn't hurt that Nozomi [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys visibly expresses interest in Kanji]] and has a stage persona that's as close to a {{Bifauxnen}} as you can get for an IdolSinger -- reminding many of Kanji's dynamics with Naoto before and after her reveal as a SweetPollyOliver. Coincidentally, a good number of people who support this ship appear to be players who paired Yu with Naoto.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'', pairing Ann with Ryuji makes sense due to their interactions during the game, but it also frees up [[PlayerCharacter Joker]] to be with Makoto. [[VitriolicBestBuds Yusuke/Futaba]] may also be added to the mix by fans who see Joker and Futaba as surrogate siblings.
* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games tend to get this, just like the anime:
** For the Johto games, there's Ethan/Kris and Silver/Lyra or Silver/Kris and Ethan/Lyra. The Unova games are more complicated: Cheren/Bianca is commonly a BetaCouple to N/Hilda, N/Hilbert, and Hilbert/Hilda. Some N/Hilda shippers support Hilbert/Bianca instead. Some N/Hilbert shippers also opt for Cheren/Hilda or Bianca/Hilda. Some Cheren/Hilda shippers also ship Hilbert/Bianca; pretty much, whatever pairing you like for the Unova protagonists, forming ShipMates is very easy.
** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Sun and Moon]]'', ships among the young main cast tend to come in certain configurations that ensure both Lillie and Gladion are paired. Fans who ship the male player character with Lillie tend to pair Gladion with the female player character. Fans who ship Lillie and Hau also like Gladion/female player character. If one prefers Lillie with the female player character, then Gladion is generally shipped with Hau instead.
** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRanger Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia]]'', there are two major pairs of ships: Kellyn/Kate and Keith/Rhythmi versus Keith/Kate and Kellyn/Rhythmi.
** Dawn/Cynthia fans sometimes ship Lucas/Volker as a male counterpart.
** Both Steven/May and Cynthia/Dawn are extremely common ships. Shippers of both often ship the other. Steven's and Cynthia's ship name together ("Lolishotashipping," also known as "Darksteelshipping") is even based on the idea.
** Some people who ship Hardenshipping ([[FoeYay Archie/Maxie]]) also ship the respective admins of Team Aqua and Magma together (Shelly/Courtney and Matt/Tabitha), sort of in a case of PairTheSpares.
** Gen VIII saw the rise of two rather popular rival ships that became this for each other: Gloria/Marnie and Victor/Hop.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** Within the fandom, people who ship Sonic/Blaze tend to also ship Silver/Amy.
** The most common train amongst the fandom (game-wise at least) is: Sonic/Amy, Knuckles/Rouge, and Silver/Blaze. Shadow/Maria, and Tails/Cream are optional.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': [[OfficialCouple Mario and Peach]] with [[BetaCouple Luigi and Daisy]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'': Since Hubert and Pascal aren't a part of the [[ShipToShipCombat utter shipping mess]] that is Sophie-Cheria-Asbel-and-Richard, they tend to make a pretty safe BetaCouple complement for just about any other pairing.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' features a LoveTriangle between Lloyd, Colette, and Sheena. [[HandsomeLech Zelos]] hits on both girls throughout the game, so fans of one ship tend to ship the remaining girl with Zelos.
** And Zelloyd is occasionally complemented by Sheena/Colette, although that's a bit rarer. Really, those four can go any way.
** [[PairTheSpares Zelos/Regal]] could neatly pair off with Lloyd/Sheena, Colette/Raine, Presea/Genis and Kratos/[[spoiler:Anna]]... just sayin', despite the {{Squick}} (if Regal's backstory wasn't squicky enough in hindsight...).
*** For a purely Het variant on the above, the latter two can be maintained alongside [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Regal/Raine]] by the side -- from there, you can ship either Lloyd/Colette and Zelos/Sheena, or Lloyd/Sheena and Zelos/Colette, and everybody still wins.
** In the [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOFTheNewWorld sequel]], it is not uncommon for Emil/Marta shippers to also ship Richter/Aster. On the other hand, many other Richter/Aster shippers also ship Richter and Emil, or [[OneTrueThreesome Emil/Ratatosk/Aster]].
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'': [[HoYay Fluri]] and [[HoYay Ristelle]] are both [[FanPreferredCouple immensely popular]], and so often seen together. It's really a double match made in heaven -- there's a ''lot'' of subtext to fuel both couples, most of the main characters get to be involved, and since Estelle and Yuri ''and'' Estelle and Flynn are close friends, it's really easy to put them together in fanworks.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' fans who ship [[FoeYay Spy/]][[BelligerentSexualTension Sniper]] tend to throw some Heavy/Medic in there as well. [[FanPreferredCouple Of course, everyone tends to throw some Heavy/Medic in there.]]
** Fans who ship Scout/Miss Pauling often enjoy [[IBangedYourMom Spy/Scout's mother]] as well.
** Many [[FanPreferredCouple Heavy/Medic]] fans also ship Scout/Miss Pauling as a [[PairtheSpares PairTheSpares]]. Given that it prevents several of the more prevalent rival pairings of the ship such as Medauling and Scout/Medic, it's not too surprising.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{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).
** Of course, given the sheer amount of Shipping in the Touhou fandom, if taken to extreme levels, this trope results in a ridiculous amount of cascading. For example, to support the above Yuyuko/Youmu, Reimu/Yukari, and Marisa/Alice pairs, you would ship:
*** Koakuma/Patchouli, to keep Patchouli away from Marisa (or Alice); Remilia/Sakuya, to keep Remilia from Patchouli (and Reimu) and Sakuya from Marisa; and Meiling/Flandre, to keep Meiling from Sakuya and Flandre from Remilia (and Marisa) (or do Remilia/Flandre and then Meiling/Sakuya, for similar effect)
*** Reisen/Tewi, to keep Reisen away from Youmu; Kaguya/Eirin, to keep Eirin from Reisen; Mokou/Keine, to keep Mokou from Kaguya; and Rinnosuke/unnamed-book-reading-youkai to keep Rinnosuke from Keine (and Yukari and Marisa)
*** [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters And so on, and so forth.]]
* ''VideoGame/TwistedWonderland'' players who aren't fans of [[ChildhoodFriends Trey/Riddle]] tend to ship [[TheGadfly Floyd]]/[[HairTriggerTemper Riddle]] and [[TeamMom Trey]]/[[{{Sadist}} Jade]]. With Jade and Floyd being PolarOppositeTwins, they don't generally get shipped in Western fandom, but most fans seem happy to ship one or [[OneTrueThreesome both]] of them with [[VillainousFriendship Azul]] instead.
[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'':
** Fans who like Archie and Veronica together often pair up Betty and Jughead.
** Archie/Betty fans tend to like Reggie/Veronica. It helps that Reggie is canonically the [[BettyAndVeronica 'Veronica' to Archie's 'Betty'.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' and ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' are known FriendlyFandoms, but you'd be surprised by how often Fiddleford/Ford shippers also ship Rick/Stanley.
** The four are known as the Mystery Quartet, since it's the [[{{Jossed}} Mystery Trio]] plus one.

* The fandom for Shane Acker's ''WesternAnimation/{{Nine}}'' has always had quite a bit of ''fun'' with shipping since its period of going strong rather than squabbling for the most part, but the shipping bases for two of the three [[FanPreferredCouple Fan-Preferred Couples]] of [[OfficialCouple 9/7]], [[HoYay 9/5]], and [[MentorShip 2/5]] coexist especially nicely.
* Fans of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}}'' tend to see Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Hans paired up in various combinations. For those less willing to forgive [[spoiler:Hans']] actions in the film, [[CrossoverShip Jack]] [[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians Frost]] is substituted, though this almost always results in Jack/Elsa with Anna/Kristoff (though Jack/Anna isn't unknown).

* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' fandom tends to do this with various combinations of Elizabeth, Will, Jack and Norrington. Some fans also throw [=AnaMaria=] into the mix to even out the gender ratio a bit, but most fans turn to slash because there just aren't enough girls to even the whole thing out. [[MostFanficWritersAreGirls That isn't to say that slash isn't always the first preference...]]
* ''Film/StarTrek2009'':
** The Scotty/Uhura pair barely hinted at in ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'' is quite popular amongst Abramsverse Kirk/Spock shippers who use it as a pretext to break up the canon Spock/Uhura from the new movies or pair Uhura up with someone, after Spock breaks up with her in favor of Kirk in their fanfics. [=McCoy=]/Uhura also likes to tag along as well.
** Kirk/Spock fans also sideship [=McCoy=]/Chapel and, after the sequel, [=McCoy=]/Carol (that gets rid of the considered a given future Kirk/Carol).
** Kirk/[=McCoy=] fans 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.
** Straight-up het shippers tend to go with Kirk/Rand or Kirk/Carol, [=McCoy=]/Chapel, and Spock/Uhura. (And Chekov/Sulu, which goes with anything.)
** Straight-up slash shippers tend to go with Kirk/Spock, Chekov/Sulu and Scotty/Bones, with some Chapel/Uhura, Carol/Uhura, Uhura/Gaila being thrown in sometimes.
** Many fics featuring T'Pring/Uhura (for either TOS or the reboot) will have Kirk/Spock as the BetaCouple or just in the background, and likewise, T'Pring/Uhura occasionally shows up as a supporting relationship in K/S. (The 'occasionally' is due to the popularity of K/S versus the comparative rarity of T'Pring/Uhura -- the former is the FanPreferredCouple and the latter ShipsThatPassInTheNight.)
* The ''Film/{{Inception}}'' fandom has a few popular combinations:
** If you ship Arthur/Eames, the accompanying pairing is Mal/Dom and/or Ariadne/Yusuf, or simply Ariadne/Dom.
** Ariadne/Arthur and Mal/Dom are the popular het pairings, and can often be found in the same fic.

* The 2012 remake of ''Film/{{Les Miserables| 2012}}'' has spurred the evolution of the following ship combination, which is steadily gathering steam: Enjolras/Grantaire, Cosette/Marius, Jean Prouvaire/Courfeyrac, Eponine/Combeferre or Eponine/Montparnasse, and Joly/Bossuet or Joly/Musichetta or Joly/Bossuet/Musichetta.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Thankfully, the fandom of ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' seems to (with exceptions) prefer doing this as opposed to [[DieForOurShip the alternative]]. It just so happens that the two {{Fan Preferred Couple}}s, Finn/Poe and Kylo/Rey, mesh together nicely. So naturally, fans of one almost always ship the other as well.
** Finn/Rey shippers usually opt to pair Poe with one of his two [[EnsembleDarkhorse wingmates]], though some [[TakeAThirdOption invite Poe along for a]] OneTrueThreesome. Kylo usually gets ignored or paired with Hux or, as an alternative to the example mentioned earlier, Poe. Finn/Rey shippers are also usually inclined to pair Rose with Jannah, starting before ''Film/TheRiseofSkywalker'' came out thanks to Naomi Ackie and Kelly Marie Tran’s endearing interactions in interviews.
** Han/Leia, meanwhile, makes for a nice side ship that gets along with everyone. It helps that they ''are'' the OfficialCouple of the original trilogy.
** Ever since ''Film/TheLastJedi'', many Kylo/Rey shippers also tend to pair off Finn and Rose. Kylo/Rey shippers who are also Finn/Poe fans pair Rose with [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Kaydel Ko Connix, Jannah]] (from ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''), and even [[FoeYayShipping Hux]]. Some even go the OT3 route with Rose, inviting her into the existing Finn/Poe ship. Say what you will about Rose; she has launched a lot of ships!
** After ''Film/TheRiseofSkywalker'', Kylo/Rey fans are inclined to either keep shipping Finn and Poe, or shipping Poe with [[DefrostingIceQueen Zorii Bliss]].
** Finn/Poe shippers who don’t like Kylo or just prefer to ship full slash often pair Rey with Jessika Pava or Rose. If it’s for the latter reason, then they usually also ship Kylo/Hux.

* ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' fics often ship both Charlie/Veruca and Violet/Mike.
* In ''Film/TheHobbit'' fics, Thorin/Bilbo and Kili/Tauriel go well together as two [[StarCrossedLovers star-crossed]] [[InterspeciesRomance interspecies relationships]] that fans like [[FixFic writing happier endings for]]. Those who want to continue the interspecies theme sometimes throw Gimli/Legolas into the mix too (often by having the two meet much earlier than in canon) and those who are ''really'' committed to the interspecies theme will add Fili/Sigrid to complete the trifecta of Durin royals falling in love with someone outside their species.

* In ''Literature/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.

* ''Literature/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 Edmund/Lucy. The same for vice-versa. And they are ''[[{{Squick}} common]]''.
* In the ''Literature/GoodOmens'' fandom, people like to pair up Adam with Pepper and Brian with Wensleydale. And, of course, it doesn't hurt to throw in the canon pairings of Newt/Anathema and Shadwell/Madame Tracy in at least some of the tonnes of Crowley/Aziraphale fics there.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'' fans who want Ivypool to be with Bumblestripe tend to ship Bumblestripe's mate Dovewing with Tigerheart so that Bumblestripe is left open.
* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' fandom, Katniss/Peeta shippers often pair Gale with Johanna, though the latter is kind of a case of ShipsThatPassInTheNight. (Interestingly, [[SlashFic Peeta/Gale]] shippers sometimes pair ''Katniss'' with Johanna. Chalk it up to BelligerentSexualTension.) Gale/Madge has also been popular, even before Haymitch noticed its potential [[spoiler:but since Madge dies in a BusCrash near the end of ''Catching Fire'' (along with most of District 12), you have to alter the events prior to ''Mockingjay'' to make it work.]]
* In the ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'': Piper/Leo fans often ship Jason/Reyna. (Or vice versa). This has the added bonus that Reyna is actually Jason's other canon love interest (they would have got together if Hera hadn't interfered), so fans aren't stretching too far.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': Sansa/Sandor shippers tend to also ship Arya/Gendry, as well as Jaime/Brienne. This has less to do with "taking out the competition" (as [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters the characters in these ships]] tend to have few on-page interactions with others outside of these pairings, and there aren't many ([[RuleThirtyFour mainstream]]) rivaling "ships" between them) and more to do with the [[BeastAndBeauty similar]] [[UptownGirl appeal]] [[MayDecemberRomance these ships]] [[BelligerentSexualTension share]].
** A popular set of pairings for five of the Stark children (Robb, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and their half-brother [[HeroicBastard Jon Snow]]), especially in modern [[AlternateUniverse AUs]], is [[HeterosexualLifePartners Robb/Theon]], [[LesYay Sansa/Margaery]], [[BelligerentSexualTension Arya/Gendry]], [[HoYay Bran/Jojen]], [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Rickon/Shireen]], and [[StarCrossedLovers Jon/Ygritte]]. [[HappilyMarried Catelyn/Ned]] also tends to appear in this works, but this is less a matter of ShipMates than logic, them being the parents of the Stark kids (except for Jon, who is Ned's illegitimate son).

* Fans of the 2006 BBC ''Series/RobinHood'' 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.]]
** Robin/Isabella and Kate/Much seem to have become popular in series three, or Robin/Kate and Guy/Meg.
* In ''Series/LostGirl'', main character Bo is in a bisexual love triangle with both Dyson and Lauren. Most fans ship her with Lauren, not Dyson. Occasionally this causes a ship war. Most of the time though, it's not a problem because shippers far prefer Dyson with Bo's sidekick Kenzi.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Sawyer/Kate is often shipped alongside Jack/Juliet. Conversely, many Jack/Kate fans now ship Sawyer/Juliet, and Sawyer/Juliet becoming canon has created a new crop of Jack/Kate shippers strictly to keep Kate from spoiling Sawyer/Juliet.
** Also, those who shipped Sayid/Shannon in earlier seasons often had her step-brother Boone (who's in love with her) paired with [[HoYay Jack]] (or [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight with anyone else he ever interacted with]] if the shipper isn't into slash).
** Conversely, those who wanted Sayid/Nadia together tend to support the Boone/Shannon pairing.

* ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' has several possible combinations. Merlin/Arthur is the most popular pairing and often accompanied by Morgana/Gwen or Lancelot/Gwen. If you're a het fan, you've got options like Arthur/Morgana and Merlin/Gwen, or alternatively, Arthur/Gwen and Merlin/Morgan.
* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' has a few:
** ''[[Series/GekisouSentaiCarranger Carranger]]'': Kyousuke/Zonnette, Naoki/Youko and Minoru/Natsumi.
** ''[[Series/HikariSentaiMaskman Maskman]]'': [[FanPreferredCouple Takeru/Momoko]] and Kenta/Haruka, or Takeru/Haruka and Akira/Momoko. No one seems to like the OfficialCouple, Takeru/Iyal.
** ''[[Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman Jetman]]'': Ryuu/Kaori and Gai/Ako (thanks to their fake wedding in episode 20) or Gai/Kaori and Ryuu/Maria.
** ''[[Series/DenjiSentaiMegaranger Megaranger]]'': Kouichiro/Chisato,Shun/Miku, and Chisato/Miku on rare occasions
** ''[[Series/HyakujuuSentaiGaoranger Gaoranger]]'': Blue/White and Silver/Tetomu, or [[HeterosexualLifePartners Blue/Black]] and Silver/White.
** ''[[Series/NinpuuSentaiHurricaneger Hurricaneger]]'': Isshu/Nanami and Ikkou/Yousuke.
** ''[[Series/TokusouSentaiDekaranger Dekaranger]]'': Sen/Umeko and Ban/Mari (canon) are usually accompanied by Doggie/Swan, and either Hoji/Jasmine and Tetsu/Lisa, or Tetsu/Jasmine and Hoji/Teresa.
** ''[[Series/GoGoSentaiBoukenger Boukenger]]'': Satoru/Sakura (or Eiji/Sakura), Masumi/Natsuki and possibly [[DatingCatwoman Souta/Kaze no Shizuka]] as well.
** ''[[Series/JukenSentaiGekiranger Gekiranger]]'': Ran/Retsu and Rio/Mele. Some shippers will also throw Gou/Miki and even [[{{Squick}} Jan/Natsume]] into the mix, thus making four of the Gekirangers plus Miki and Natsume all related to each other.
** ''[[Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger Go-onger]]'': Sosuke/Miu and [[HoYay Gunpei/Hanto]], with a possible side of [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Hiroto/Saki]].
** ''[[Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger Shinkenger]]'': Takeru/Mako and Chiaki/Kotoha, or Takeru/Kotoha and Ryuunosuke/Mako. [[ManChild Genta]] is usually shipped either with [[spoiler:Kaoru]] or the woman he rescued in episode 31.
** ''[[Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger Goseiger]]'': [[VictoriousChildhoodFriend Alata/Eri]] and [[BelligerentSexualTension Hyde/Moune]].
** ''[[Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger Gokaiger]]'': Marvelous/Ahim and Joe/Luka, or Marvelous/Luka and Joe/Ahim, or Marvelous/Ahim and Don/Luka, or Marvelous/Luka and Don/Ahim.
** ''[[Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger Kyoryuger]]'': Ian/Yayoi is a common ship mate to the canon ships in order to pair up two of the left-over team members.
** ''[[Series/ResshaSentaiTokkyuger ToQger]]'': Tokatti/Mio and Hikari/Kagura
** In general, unless the team members are all [[Series/ChikyuuSentaiFiveman related]] [[Series/RescueSentaiGoGoFive to]] [[Series/MahouSentaiMagiranger each other]] or an OfficialCouple is hinted at early on, most series end up with the fans shipping Red Ranger/Pink Ranger and Yellow Ranger/Green or Black Ranger (if Yellow is female.)

* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', those Sheldon/Penny shippers who don't hate Leonard or want him to [[DieForOurShip die for their ship]] ship him with Stephanie or Amy.
** On the other side of the fandom, "Shamy" (as the gang calls Sheldon and Amy) makes a good BetaCouple for Leonard/Penny fics and Leonard/Penny makes a good Beta Couple for Shamy fics. Both Leonard/Penny and Sheldon/Amy become couples in the canon material as well. Pretty much everyone includes Howard/Bernadette, (which has also become canon too)... except the slashers. They just tend to ignore her existence.
* In the ''Series/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 on-again-off-again boyfriend Jake. Lilly and Oliver are also commonly paired in the Mikiley (Miley/Mikayla) fandom.
* In ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'', at least for season one, the most frequent ship mates were [[FanPreferredCouple Nina/Fabian]], [[OfficialCouple Mick/Mara]], [[OddCouple Amber/Alfie]], and then Patricia/Jerome thanks to the fans wanting to [[PairTheSpares Pair The Spares]]. It got a little more complicated once other pairings began to emerge.

* ''Series/{{Victorious}}'': A common triple straight ShipMates fleet includes Tori/Andre, the canon pairing of Jade/Beck and the 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 the 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.
** Beck/Jade to Tori/Cat, as Beck/Jade staying together kills off the the popular pairing of Jade/Cat and Tori/Beck , and the FanPreferredCouple Tori/Jade pairing.
** [[FanPreferredCouple Tori/Jade]] shippers get along quite well with Beck/Cat shippers, as this gets out the two popular rival ships for Jade.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/{{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 or even Angel/Willow. [[ShipTease Ours is a forbidden love.]]
** Angel/Buffy shippers will probably ship Spike with Drusilla.
*** Spike/Willow is not ''completely'' unheard of (she's practically the only character who is repeatedly shown treating him decently, aside from Tara and Joyce who rarely appear onscreen with him anyway).
** 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. (The particular loathing of Wes/Fred as a ship among both groups is proved by the fact that both sets of shippers had a much more tolerant attitude to Wes/Gunn.)
** Xander/Cordelia shippers will very likely ship Oz/Willow and vice-versa.
** Buffy/Willow and Dawn/Faith tend to overlap due to stuff in canon or fanon supporting almost every one of the combinations you can make with those four and the rest having some other reason. Same happens with Buffy/Faith and Dawn/Willow shippers. Oddly, it doesn't happen with Buffy/Dawn and Willow/Faith shippers. Most likely because there are very few Buffy/Dawn fics and most of those are PornWithoutPlot. Then you have the rare Buffy/Dawn/Faith/Willow shippers...
** How about crossover pairings? Plenty of fans ''love'' Dawn/Connor (it works quite well, too, since the two are so similar it's not funny), and it co-exists with Buffy/Spike and Buffy/Angel (and their respective ShipMates) quite peacefully.
** Fuffy (Faith/Buff) shippers who don't hate Spike and Angel tend to also ship Spangel (Spike/Angel) and vice versa. [[http://skagdoll.tumblr.com/post/111891850258/just-sayin Check out this Tumblr post for proof.]]
** Finally, lest we forget Willow/Tara, which has the benefits of being both canon ''and'' working with just about anything (as long as you don't ship Willow with someone else, [=OT3=] non-withstanding).
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Sam/Gabriel shippers tend to have Dean/Castiel show up in their fics too. The reverse, however, is not true as often because there are a lot more Dean/Castiel fics than Sam/Gabriel ones and it's just as common for these Dean/Castiel fics to leave Sam single or pair him up with Jess or Eileen instead.
** For people who ship Dean with someone other than Castiel, like Sam or Benny, it's common for them to get Castiel out of the way by pairing him up with Meg.
* On ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' the Damon/Elena shippers frequently ship Stefan/Caroline, Stefan/Rebekah, Stefan/Katherine or Stefan/Klaus to keep Stefan as far away from Elena as possible.
** Stefan/Elena fans usually ship Bonnie/Damon.
** Fans who ship Klaus and Caroline often will ship Tyler/Hayley or Elijah/Hayley (when they don't just [[DieForOurShip ship Hayley with Death instead]]). Matt/Rebekah as well as Stefan/Rebekah may be found in Klaroline fanfics as well, presumably to make Klaus' [[IncestSubtext obsession]] with Rebekah disappear.
* If you ship NotBloodSiblings Derek and Casey from ''Series/LifeWithDerek'', then it is likely that you also ship Edwin (Derek's younger brother) and Lizzie (Casey's younger sister).
* In ''Series/{{Glee}}'' fandom, fans who ship Finchel (Rachel/Finn) usually have a little Quick (Quinn/Puck) on the side. Thus, the growing amount of Puckleberry (Rachel/Puck) shippers usually have Fuinn (Quinn/Finn) goin' on. On the plus side, they all have really awesome [[PortmanteauCoupleName shipping names.]]
** Those who ship the canon Klaine sometimes also pair their respective pursuers, Dave Karofsky and Sebastian Smythe. It helps that Dave is the only person in canon Sebastian has been shown to express any sort of genuine concern for.
* Most ''Literature/GossipGirl'' viewers ship [[SuperCouple Chuck/Blair]]. Some also ship Nate/Serena, in order to keep the Non-Judging Breakfast Club a unit.
** Dan/Blair generally averts Shipmates. Nate/Serena is a match, but hardly anyone cares about the idea of them since the show torpedoed it years ago. Chuck is more likely to suffer from DieForOurShip than getting any PairTheSpares action. Since Serena and Chuck are semi-related most people don't ship that either, it leaves pretty much no real ships to pair ''Dair'' with. The only ones likely to get a happy ending in Dair fics are Nate/Jenny, since they're not part of either Dan or Blair's OfficialCouple.
* ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' fans -- particularly in later seasons -- tend to ship Peter/Olivia and Alt-Lincoln/Altlivia. And by the end of Season 4, the Peter/Olivia shippers joined camp with [[spoiler:blue-verse Lincoln and Altlivia]].
* ''Series/TheSecretLifeOfTheAmericanTeenager'': Ricky/Amy and Ben/Adrian shippers tend to go together.

* ''Series/{{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. Eventually, Holly J revealed her feelings for Spinner, who rejected her as he was with Jane. Jane cheated on Spinner with Declan in the last special, which caused them to break and Spinner to marry [[LastMinuteHookup Emma of all people]].

* For ''Series/TheXFiles'', those who watched the whole series and ship Mulder/Scully, also tend to ship Doggett/Reyes.
* More openminded ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' fans who ship [[BelligerentSexualTension Tucker/Reed]] also ship [[UnresolvedSexualTension Archer/T'Pol]]. Meanwhile, [[HoYay Archer/Reed]] fans go the other way 'round, shipping [[SlapSlapKiss Trip/T'Pol]].
* In the ''Series/{{Community}}'' fandom, fans of [[FanPreferredCouple Jeff/Annie]] will often ship Troy/Britta, who are romantically linked to Annie and Jeff respectively in canon (although not so much during the second season). On the flip-side, Jeff/Britta shippers will often ship Troy/Annie (and increasingly commonly, Annie/Abed), in order to keep Annie away from Jeff.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'':
** Lex/Lana was fairly popular for a while among Clark/Chloe fans. Many Chloe fans just wanted Lana to be corrupted by Lex so she wouldn't bother Clark ever again.
** Many fans hated Chimmy (the Chloe/Jimmy pairing)... but a large number of Clois (Clark/Lois) fans shipped them to an incredible degree. The Season 8 episode "Committed" seemed geared toward this end.
* In ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' Zack and Maddie fans would pair Cody with London, their friendship in the third season further fueled this. In the Zack/Max fandom Cody and Maddie would sometimes end up together and vice versa. In The Suite on Deck Cody and Bailey fans put Zack with London after an episode aired where they were married for a class assignment, despite their relationship being more business based than romance based. This eased up a little after Zack got a girlfriend but some still exist. Zack and Bailey fans once again put Cody with London.
* ''Series/SouthOfNowhere'' fanfiction almost exclusively sticks with the OfficialCouple of Spencer and Ashley. However some fans choose to reject the BetaCouple of Ashley's sister Kyla and ex-boyfriend Aiden and often put Kyla with Spencer's ex Carmen, who Kyla showed a degree of interest (albeit not romantically) in towards the end of the series
* In ''Series/TeenWolf'', fans of [[FanPreferredCouple Derek/Stiles]] will often have Lydia paired up with her ex-boyfriend Jackson to keep her away from Stiles, and pretty much everyone adds Scott/Allison in the mix with these two.
** Jennifer, Derek's love interest for the first half of season 3, is sometimes shipped with [[HoYay Kali]] to PairTheSpares. Same applies to Boyd/Erica.
** Isaac/Cora (which was [[ShipTease teased]] in a one-liner by Isaac himself) or Isaac/Erica may be chosen over the even-more teased Isaac/Allison by those who prefer Scott/Allison.
** Then there's Derek/Stiles, Lydia/Allison, and Scott/Isaac which is gaining popularity in the fandom (this troper herself is guilty of preferring this combination above others)
** Sheriff Stilinski/Melissa [=McCall=] is fairly popular and goes with most other pairings.
* A quite monumental amount of ''Series/{{Skins}}'' Naomi/Emily fic also pairs up Katie and Effy (two parts FoeYay, one part [[HoYay Les Yay]], one part PairTheSpares, no parts canon).
* In ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' fanfic, authors typically ship Sherlock/John along with Moriarty/Sebastian Moran, and/or [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Lestrade/Mycroft]]. Moriarty/Molly is just one of the [[LauncherOfAThousandShips many other options]] for pairing Moriarty off.
** From the het fans we get: Sherlock/Molly, John/Mary Morstan (or John/Sarah Sawyer), Mycroft/Anthea and Lestrade/Sally (everyone hates [[TheScrappy Anderson]], so...); conversely: Sherlock/Irene, John/Mary (or John/Sarah), Mycroft/Anthea, Lestrade/Molly. It is, however, rare to see all four pairings in the same fic.
** Sherlock/John coupled with Lestrade/Molly and/or Mycroft/Anthea is also a viable combination.
** HetIsEw has given rise to: Sherlock/John, Mycroft/Lestrade and Irene/Molly, with Anderson/Sally being around only because it's canon, and because there has to be ''someone'' for people to hate.
** And then there are the people who break up the two most common slash couples to make... Mycroft/John and Sherlock/Lestrade.
** An amusing scenario is when the Sherlock/Irene & John/Mary combination ends up evolving into Sherlock/John & Irene/Mary.
** There are also fics featuring John/Lestrade (or John/Molly) and Sherlock/Victor Trevor (Sherlock's friend from university who's mentioned in the ACD story ''The Gloria Scott'').
** When John is paired with Mary, Sarah or Molly, Sherlock/Lestrade might happen as well; sometimes accompanied by Molly/Mycroft or Irene/Mycroft. Really, this fandom just goes very ''very'' wild with its ships. And that's not even taking into account all the [[SiblingIncest Mycroft/Sherlock]] and [[FoeYay Sherlock/Moriarty & John/Sebastian Moran]] fics.

* In the ''Series/{{House}}'' fandom, House/Cuddy shippers tend to also ship Chase and Cameron and [[LauncherOFAThousandShips Thirteen]] and either Foreman or Kutner. In contrast, House/Cameron shippers often ship Wilson and Cuddy and Thirteen and Chase. The Wilson/Cuddy pairing also tends to be popular amongst fans of House and Thirteen.
* ''{{Series/Eureka}}'' has Allison/Stark and Tess/Jack shippers joining together, because those parings being intact prevents Allison/Jack.

** The LoveTriangle between Hook, Emma and Neal is resolved by fans with two different sets of couples: [[BelligerentSexualTension Hook/Emma]] and [[OddFriendship Neal/Mulan]], or [[FirstLove Neal/Emma]] and [[UnholyMatrimony Hook/Regina]].
*** It is also often resolved by pairing either Neal or Hook with Tinker Bell.

* ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' fans who ship [[FanPreferredCouple Carson/Hughes]] are ''very'' prone to shipping Isobel Crawley/Dr Clarkson as well. It helps quite a bit that Mrs Hughes fans are usually Isobel fans too.
** Evelyn Napier/Edith has had a steady fanbase since the first series, despite their [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight limited interaction]]. As of season four, it's become a common ship mate to the pairing of Mary with her other suitors Blake or Gillingham.
* In ''Series/StargateSG1'' fandom, quite a few Jack/Daniel shippers also ship Sam/Janet, and vice versa. Meanwhile, Jack/Sam shippers often like to ship Daniel/Janet or Daniel/Vala.
* In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Sheppard/[=McKay=] shippers like to pair Sheppard's other partner-in-UST, Elizabeth Weir, with Radek Zelenka. It helps that Zelenka can easily be read as having feelings for Elizabeth in canon -- and that Elizabeth is quite beloved among the fandom, making writers reluctant to [[DieForOurShip kill her off]]. The other popular option is ''Daedalus'' commander Steven Caldwell, with whom Weir has a bit of BelligerentSexualTension going on.
* In the ''Series/BigTimeRush'' fandom, for anyone who ships any two of [[BoyBand the four male leads]] together, the other two guys will get shipped together and Jo and Camille (Kendall and Logan's love interests) will usually get shipped together also. Those who ship Camille/Logan/James will usually ship [[OfficialCouple Kendall/Jo]] or Kendall/Carlos.
* Series/{{Arrowverse}}:
** ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': Diggle/Lyla is the only near-universally accepted ship -- not only were they canon in the backstory (and got back together), they coexist peacefully with every other pairing and pretty much nobody ships either of them with anyone else (the less said about Dig's stint with his late brother's widow, the better). So, for the following, assume that Diggle/Lyla is also paired with the following.
*** The Olicity (Oliver/Felicity) ship is often seen paired with Nysara (Nyssa/Sara) and Merlance (Laurel/Tommy).
*** Lauriver (Oliver/Laurel) is typically paired with Nysara and Raylicity (Ray/Felicity) [[TheScrappy if they bother pairing Felicity with anyone at all]]. Flommy (Tommy/Felicity) is a less common alternate ship, and even Sara/Tommy (who knew each other but never interacted on the show proper) has shown up occasionally.
*** Canarrow (Oliver/Sara) is usually paired with Merlance (Tommy/Laurel) and Raylicity (again, if they bother pairing Felicity with anyone at all). Nyssa rarely factors into the equation, unless the writers pair her with Canarrow (known as Assassin Canarrow) and making them a OneTrueThreesome.
** ''Series/TheFlash2014'': The lingering popularity of the [=WestThawne=] (Eddie/Iris) pairing is because it can be ship mates with ''any'' alternate [[LauncherOfAThousandShips Barry Allen]] pairing that ''isn't'' [=WestAllen=]. It's most typically seen with [=SnowBarry=] (Barry/Caitlin) and [=ColdFlash=] (Barry/Leonard Snart), however.
*** Fans who ''do'' ship [=WestAllen=] will frequently also be fans of [=KillerVibe=] (Caitlin/Cisco) due to perceived parallels between the two ships.
* In ''Series/The100'', fans of the pairing Clexa (Clarke/Lexa) will often pair Bellamy off with Raven or Gina in order to prevent Bellarke (Bellamy/Clarke), the other hugely popular Clarke ship.
* In ''Series/GilligansIsland'', fans of MAP (Mary Ann/Professor) often side-ship Skinger (Skipper/Ginger) as a way of forestalling the popular Pinger (Professor/Ginger) ship.
* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Arya/Gendry is a ''very'' compatible ship, featured alongside many ships, including canon ships ([[StarcrossedLovers Jon/Ygritte]], [[spoiler:[[SurpriseIncest Jon/Daenerys]]]], Robb/Talisa, etc.) and non-canon ships ([[spoiler:[[KissingCousins Jon/Sansa]]]], Bran/Meera, Robb/Margaery, Sansa/Sandor, [[LesYay Sansa/Margaery]], Sansa/Tyrion). Because Season 7 features a [[spoiler:budding friendship between Jon and Gendry]], this upped Arya/Gendry being included in both [[spoiler:Jon/Daenerys and Jon/Sansa fics]].
* In ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' fanfic, FanPreferredCouple Garak/Bashir will tag along quite happily with the canonical combinations of Worf/Dax, Kira/Odo, O'Brien/Keiko and Sisko/Kasidy, tends to appear as a side pairing for [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Jake/Ziyal]] (thus neatly erasing Garak/Ziyal from the timeline), and also often shows up in fics that [[LesYay pair Kira with either of the Daxes]].

*** Really, Ship Mates here often depends on whom you're pairing Enjolras with. If Grantaire, you generally need a way to get Courfeyrac and Combeferre out of the way (with Combeferre/Feuilly being a moderately popular option for this purpose). If Feuilly, Courfeyrac/Combeferre is a somewhat common recourse. If Combeferre, Courfeyrac/Prouvaire is useful. Though Grantaire does generally tend to hang around as a ''Stalker with a Crush'' if not shipped with Enjolras, as opposed to going to someone else...

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' features a LoveTriangle between Lloyd, Colette, and Sheena. [[HandsomeLech Zelos]] hits on both girls throughout the game, so fans of one ship tend to ship the remaining girl with Zelos.
** And Zelloyd is occasionally complemented by Sheena/Colette, although that's a bit rarer. Really, those four can go any way.
** [[PairTheSpares Zelos/Regal]] could neatly pair off with Lloyd/Sheena, Colette/Raine, Presea/Genis and Kratos/[[spoiler:Anna]]... just sayin', despite the {{Squick}} (if Regal's backstory wasn't squicky enough in hindsight...).
*** For a purely Het variant on the above, the latter two can be maintained alongside [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Regal/Raine]] by the side -- from there, you can ship either Lloyd/Colette and Zelos/Sheena, or Lloyd/Sheena and Zelos/Colette, and everybody still wins.
** In the [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOFTheNewWorld sequel]], it is not uncommon for Emil/Marta shippers to also ship Richter/Aster. On the other hand, many other Richter/Aster shippers also ship Richter and Emil, or [[OneTrueThreesome Emil/Ratatosk/Aster]].
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'': [[HoYay Fluri]] and [[HoYay Ristelle]] are both [[FanPreferredCouple immensely popular]], and so often seen together. It's really a double match made in heaven -- there's a ''lot'' of subtext to fuel both couples, most of the main characters get to be involved, and since Estelle and Yuri ''and'' Estelle and Flynn are close friends, it's really easy to put them together in fanworks.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfGraces'': Since Hubert and Pascal aren't a part of the [[ShipToShipCombat utter shipping mess]] that is Sophie-Cheria-Asbel-and-Richard, they tend to make a pretty safe BetaCouple complement for just about any other pairing.

* The ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' fandom often makes use of this concept, particularly with the inclusion of DatingSim elements from [[VideoGame/Persona3 the third game]] and beyond.
** Due to insane amounts of ShipTease and HoYay in a single game, ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' makes any pairing looks believable (which is not helped by several party members [[ShipperOnDeck rooting for]] a different pairing within the group). Despite the conflicts, most people agree to PairTheSpares; so, if you ship MC/Yukiko, you probably ship Kanji/Naoto, and some combination of Yosuke, Rise, Chie, and Teddie too. Fans who prefer [[HoYay Chie/Yukiko]] (whether they think "HetIsEw" or not) usually ship MC/Yosuke together and leave Yukiko for Chie, while Kanji and Naoto make a safe BetaCouple or ''maybe'' a safe Beta [[OneTrueThreesome OT3]] if they add Rise or Yosuke to the mix. It works.
*** When ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' was released, Yosuke's ShipTease with OriginalGeneration character Labrys freed other characters up, so it's commonly supported by [[HoYay Chie/Yukiko]] shippers.
*** ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', being the second ''P3/P4'' crossover after the ''[[VideoGame/Persona4Arena Arena]]'' [[VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax duology]] (and one that involves the entirety of both games' main casts), further opened the door for cross-title pairings, though the only ones fans seem to take seriously are Fuuka/Rise (since they're both MissionControl characters [[SupportPartyMember with similar abilities]] and spend the game's events building up a close friendship) and Chie/Akihiko (a CallForward to their student-teacher relationship in ''Arena'', which is how many fans prefer to depict their camaraderie). [[ShaggyDogStory The catch is that]] [[spoiler:the time-space paradox that allows the two groups to be brought together from their respective eras is resolved by the end of the story, causing everyone to lose their memories of their meeting]], though some write around this to effectively have things pick up from where they left off by the time of ''Arena''.
*** ''VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight'' formally introduces players to Kanami Mashita, a rising star within the {{idol|Singer}} industry [[AscendedExtra who was previously mentioned in Rise's Social Link]]. Aside of becoming Nanako's CoolBigSis and implicitly developing a crush on Dojima after [[RescueRomance he saves her life from]] a LoonyFan, she also bonds with the Investigation Team, [[PlayerCharacter Y]][[CanonName u]] and Rise most of all. Yu openly invites Kanami into his circle of friends (which means a lot given Kanami's FriendlessBackground) and Kanami, already a friendly acquaintance of Rise's, is quick to {{fangirl}} if they're dance partners. It should also be noted that Kanami herself can play ShipperOnDeck for Yu/Rise if she's commentating on them dancing together during Fever Time, exuberantly proclaiming how good they look. This culminates in a significant portion of the final dance against ''DAN'''s BigBad being devoted to a three-way performance between Yu, Rise, and Kanami. Besides the obvious [[OneTrueThreesome OT3]] application, Kanami's addition to the myriad of Investigation Team-based pairings benefits Rise if she's left unpaired, as Rise tends to only be shipped with either Yu or [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight Naoto]].
*** The other members of Kanami's idol group are revealed to have insecurities and idiosyncrasies that the Investigation Team [[PlotParallel can relate to]] given their own struggles in the past. For example, Yosuke understands Tamami's frustrations over being the PluckyComicRelief of the group, while Tomoe's responsibility as [[TeamMom the leader of Kanamin Kitchen]] resonates with Yukiko because of her family duty to the Amagi Inn (and both [[BirdsOfAFeather have a good laugh]] over their ClosetGeek[=/=]{{Otaku}} tendencies). (Tamami also calls Yu dreamy before mouthing him off in classic {{Tsundere}} fashion, but that's unrelated.) Though these are all uncommon to see due to ''DAN'' being a RhythmGame SpinOff for the [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita Vita]], the one ship that seems to have any significant traction is Kanji/Nozomi. It doesn't hurt that Nozomi [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys visibly expresses interest in Kanji]] and has a stage persona that's as close to a {{Bifauxnen}} as you can get for an IdolSinger -- reminding many of Kanji's dynamics with Naoto before and after her reveal as a SweetPollyOliver. Coincidentally, a good number of people who support this ship appear to be players who paired Yu with Naoto.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'', pairing Ann with Ryuji makes sense due to their interactions during the game, but it also frees up [[PlayerCharacter Joker]] to be with Makoto. [[VitriolicBestBuds Yusuke/Futaba]] may also be added to the mix by fans who see Joker and Futaba as surrogate siblings.
* Given the nature of the game, ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' fanfics tend to have pairings between secondary party members in addition to the primary Ship.

* ''VideoGame/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. This was not followed by the sequels, which canonized Isaac/Jenna and nothing else.
** And of course there is the [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]] of HoYay. Isaac/Ivan and Felix/Piers often appear together. Alex/Felix and Felix/Piers may come as a LoveTriangle 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.
** In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', fans of Matthew/Sveta tend to put Karis with Tyrell or Amiti. Matthew/Karis fans give Amiti to Sveta instead.
* For ''VideoGame/ExitFate'' fans, Daniel/Ayara and Erin/Jasper seem to work well with each other.
* In the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' fandom, you won't find many [[VideoGame/DisgaeaHourOfDarkness Etna/Mid-Boss]] fans who don't also ship Laharl/Flonne. And for ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 3|AbsenceOfJustice}}'', Almaz/Sapphire and Mao/Raspberyl tend to go hand in hand, as do the HoYay variants: Mao/Almaz and Sapphire/Raspberyl.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{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).
** Of course, given the sheer amount of Shipping in the Touhou fandom, if taken to extreme levels, this trope results in a ridiculous amount of cascading. For example, to support the above Yuyuko/Youmu, Reimu/Yukari, and Marisa/Alice pairs, you would ship:
*** Koakuma/Patchouli, to keep Patchouli away from Marisa (or Alice); Remilia/Sakuya, to keep Remilia from Patchouli (and Reimu) and Sakuya from Marisa; and Meiling/Flandre, to keep Meiling from Sakuya and Flandre from Remilia (and Marisa) (or do Remilia/Flandre and then Meiling/Sakuya, for similar effect)
*** Reisen/Tewi, to keep Reisen away from Youmu; Kaguya/Eirin, to keep Eirin from Reisen; Mokou/Keine, to keep Mokou from Kaguya; and Rinnosuke/unnamed-book-reading-youkai to keep Rinnosuke from Keine (and Yukari and Marisa)
*** [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters And so on, and so forth.]]

* [[OfficialCouple Mario and Peach]] with [[BetaCouple Luigi and Daisy]], of ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' fame.
* In the ''VideoGame/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, though they realize that Raiden/Snake shippers would obviously disagree.

* If you ship [[Franchise/MortalKombat Liu Kang and Princess Kitana]] (a couple that was ''[[ShipTease this]]'' close to being {{official|Couple}}), chances are that you also pair up their respective [[HeterosexualLifePartners best friends]], Kung Lao and Jade.

* [[Franchise/AssassinsCreed Altair/Malik]] shippers and Ezio/Leonardo shippers tend to flock together.
** Modern Assassins generally get treated to Desmond/Lucy and Shaun/Rebecca or Desmond/Shaun and Lucy/Rebecca. Throw in the latter two with the above two, and you get a lovely case of EveryoneIsGay.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' fans who ship [[FoeYay Spy/]][[BelligerentSexualTension Sniper]] tend to throw some Heavy/Medic in there as well. [[FanPreferredCouple Of course, everyone tends to throw some Heavy/Medic in there.]]
** Fans who ship Scout/Miss Pauling often enjoy [[IBangedYourMom Spy/Scout's mother]] as well.
** Many [[FanPreferredCouple Heavy/Medic]] fans also ship Scout/Miss Pauling as a [[PairtheSpares PairTheSpares]]. Given that it prevents several of the more prevalent rival pairings of the ship such as Medauling and Scout/Medic, it's not too surprising.
* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games tend to get this, just like the anime:
** For the Johto games, there's Ethan/Kris and Silver/Lyra or Silver/Kris and Ethan/Lyra. The Unova games are more complicated: Cheren/Bianca is commonly a BetaCouple to N/Hilda, N/Hilbert, and Hilbert/Hilda. Some N/Hilda shippers support Hilbert/Bianca instead. Some N/Hilbert shippers also opt for Cheren/Hilda or Bianca/Hilda. Some Cheren/Hilda shippers also ship Hilbert/Bianca; pretty much, whatever pairing you like for the Unova protagonists, forming ShipMates is very easy.
** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Sun and Moon]]'', ships among the young main cast tend to come in certain configurations that ensure both Lillie and Gladion are paired. Fans who ship the male player character with Lillie tend to pair Gladion with the female player character. Fans who ship Lillie and Hau also like Gladion/female player character. If one prefers Lillie with the female player character, then Gladion is generally shipped with Hau instead.
** In ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRanger Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia]]'', there are two major pairs of ships: Kellyn/Kate and Keith/Rhythmi versus Keith/Kate and Kellyn/Rhythmi.
** Dawn/Cynthia fans sometimes ship Lucas/Volker as a male counterpart.
** Both Steven/May and Cynthia/Dawn are extremely common ships. Shippers of both often ship the other. Steven's and Cynthia's ship name together ("Lolishotashipping," also known as "Darksteelshipping") is even based on the idea.
** Some people who ship Hardenshipping ([[FoeYay Archie/Maxie]]) also ship the respective admins of Team Aqua and Magma together (Shelly/Courtney and Matt/Tabitha), sort of in a case of PairTheSpares.
** Gen VIII saw the rise of two rather popular rival ships that became this for each other: Gloria/Marnie and Victor/Hop.

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy:''
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': Supporters of [[OfficialCouple Yuna/Tidus]] tend to also support Wakka/Lulu, which became canon in the sequel, and Auron/Rikku, which... [[CrackPairing didn't]].
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'', Rikku/Gippal and Paine/Baralai are popular shipmates.
** Fans of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' tend to overwhelmingly favor Prompto/Noctis and Ignis/Gladiolus. Noctis/Ignis is also quite popular, in which case people usually go Prompto/Gladiolus. And that's assuming they don't just [[OneTrueThreesome pair all four together at once.]] Lunafreya, Noctis's canon love interest, is mostly ignored, but in spaces where she isn't, it's pretty common to pair her off with Nyx from ''[[Anime/KingsglaiveFinalFantasyXV Kingsglaive]]'' so as to avoid DieForOurShip issues.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** Within the fandom, people who ship Sonic/Blaze tend to also ship Silver/Amy.
** The most common train amongst the fandom (game-wise at least) is: Sonic/Amy, Knuckles/Rouge, and Silver/Blaze. Shadow/Maria, and Tails/Cream are optional.
* In ''VideoGame/FatalFury'' and ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'', Terry/Blue Mary shippers tend to make allusions to Andy/Mai.
** Similarly, in ''The King of Fighters'' fandom... Athena/Kensou shippers may want to keep Kyo Kusanagi, the guy Athena shows some degree of romantic interest in (depending on the medium), with his canon girlfriend Yuki. Kyo/Yuki fans who don't ship Kensou/Athena tend to put Iori and Athena together instead, invoking prospect AllGirlsWantBadBoys and BroodingBoyGentleGirl dynamics to justify it (not to mention the canon concern she shows for him in ''XIII'', never mind [[{{Jerkass}} him brushing her off]]).
** There's also the support that Ryo/King fans tend to give to Robert/Yuri, and vicecersa. Both were heavily {{ship tease}}d in ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'', but the latter has been downplayed in ''KOF''.
* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' encourages this as many games have the bachelors and bachelorettes forming "rival couples". So, for example, many ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonAWonderfulLife'' fans who like Mark/Celia or Mark/Nami are quick to pair Muffy with her boss and ImpliedLoveInterest Griffin. Even in games without rival systems, people will ship rivals off together.

* The ''VideoGame/IrisuSyndrome'' character [[spoiler:Uuji]] invokes this trope, remarking that since he reciprocates Irisu's feelings and Edogawa likes Ageha, those pairs getting together would most improve the group's stability [[LoveDodecahedron (even though Ageha likes Uuji)]]. [[spoiler:Of course, Uuji's goal is the ''opposite'' of stability, so for most of the game he's doing everything he can to ensure these 'ideal' ships don't happen.]]

* Withing ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'', there are two main options: the slash route with Riki/Kyousuke and Rin/Komari (and, far less likely, possibly a Haruka/Kurugaya or Haruka/Mio in the background), or the straight route with Rin/Riki, Komari/Kyousuke, and Kud/Masato.

* In the ''Webcomic/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.
* ''Webcomic/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.

* The ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' fandom has largely been spared ShipToShipCombat,[[labelnote:*]] as a testament to that, the shippers of the incompatible ships of Percy/Vax and Percy/Vex are actually quite friendly with one another[[/labelnote]] but it's safe to say that if one of the twins ends up in a ship, there will be an obvious compatible ship for the other. So people who ship Vax with Keyleth (or with Gilmore) might also ship Vex with Percy. Alternatively, if you ship ''Vax'' with Percy, you could always ship Vex with Zahra and Keyleth with Kashaw.

* SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' had this continuously evolving over the course of the show's intersecting {{LoveTriangle}}s:
** Before Asami's debut, [[UptightLovesWild Makorra]] and [[UptownGirl Bosami]] (Mako/Korra and Bolin/Asami) developed, solely based on Bolin's establishment as a [[FictionalSport pro-bender]] ChickMagnet with a {{Fangirl}} legion, and released information that Asami was also a pro-bending {{Fangirl}}.
** Post debut, Asami's characterization allowed for Borra/Masami (Bolin/Korra and Mako/Asami) shippers. And, y'know, there's the fact that Mako and Asami actually started dating in said debut. The Mako/Korra side of the ShipToShipCombat (at least those that didn't [[DieForOurShip outright hate Asami]]) tended to continue pairing her with with Bolin as a form of PairTheSpares.
** Despite the initial accusations of Zutara 2.0, Kataang/Makorra became surprisingly popular, with lots of fanart, videos, and parallel's drawn for "The Avatar's love." [[spoiler: All of these were rendered HilariousInHindsight when the actual series concluded that Mako wasn't Korra's true love after all, and these works are equating a relationship that lasted fifty years to one that lasted six months.]]
** After Mako and Asami broke up and Mako and Korra became a canon couple, it became popular to pair Asami not just with Bolin but also with General Iroh (Zuko's grandson, not Zuko's uncle).
** Following Mako and Korra breaking up, Korra/Asami rose to prominence [[spoiler:and became canon.]] While Mako officially ends the series unattached, Korrasami fans tend to ship him with Prince Wu thanks to the plentiful HoYay between the two. Bolin/Opal also fits in nicely with both.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':
** In the fandom, Robin/Starfire shippers also ship Raven/Beast Boy. If they ship Robin/Raven, they pair up 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 among Robin/Raven shippers are Starfire/Aqualad or Star/Speedy, Beast Boy/Terra, and some authors like to throw in Cyborg/Bumblebee.
** Pretty much everyone also ships [[OfficialCouple Kid Flash/Jinx]], which might be why it's the only couple with its own PortmanteauCoupleName (Flinx). Though some corners of fandom use portmanteaus fairly frequently, such as [=RobStar=], [=CyBee=], Sqaqua, and the like.
** And for those into that kind of thing, [[HoYayShipping Jinx/Raven]] shippers usually pair Beast Boy with Terra. Either that, or they keep the poor fool out of luck with romance entirely while he just [[GirlOnGirlIsHot watches how well pink and purple go together.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'':
** Kim/Ron and [[RelationshipUpgrade Drakken]] / [[MinionShipping Shego]] are often shipped by the same fans.
** Ron/[[AlphaBitch Bonnie]] or Ron/[[YamatoNadeshiko Yori]] (for het) and Ron/Drakken (for slash) are the most used pairings by [[HoYay KiGo]] writers who want to "free" Kim from Ron.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** It is traditionally popular in the fandom to ship Stan/Kyle opposite Cartman/Wendy.
** 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.
** Kenny/Stan is a common shipmate to Cartman/Kyle.
** A common shipmate to Craig/Tweek is Clyde/Kevin (a minor character).
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'' 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.

* In ''WesternAnimation/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]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' has a great deal of this. Thanks to its substantial fanbase of {{Crack Ship}}pers and numerous {{Ensemble Darkhorse}}s, any random pairing could be thrown in beside any other ship. Some of the more notable cases:
** Before [[OfficialCouple Gwen/Trent]] broke up, Gwen/Cody fans sometimes put Trent together with [[DumbBlonde Lindsay]]. The pairing developed its own independent fandom that's probably as large or larger than Gwen/Cody, partly because fans seemed to have little interest in Lindsay's canonical pairing with [[LovableJock Tyler]] at the time.
** When some fans [[FanPreferredCouple started to prefer Duncan/Gwen]] to [[OfficialCouple Duncan/Courtney]], [[PairTheSpares Courtney/Trent]] became a popular pairing, despite the two [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight barely interacting in canon]]. When [[RelationshipUpgrade Gwen/Duncan became canonical]], fans increasingly paired up Gwen's other potential love interest, [[DoggedNiceGuy Cody]], with his StalkerWithACrush Sierra. There's also a small but devoted fan base for Cody/Courtney (who had little more canonical interaction than Courtney/Trent) usually based on [[HurtComfortFic them consoling each other]].
* Part of what drives the Brainy/Superman ship in ''WesternAnimation/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 (even in [[Franchise/TheDCU main DCU]] continuity), so that leaves Brainiac 5 and Superman to be paired off.
* Within the ''WesternAnimation/MiloMurphysLaw'' fandom, [[OppositesAttract Milo/Amanda]] fans also ship [[BetaCouple Zack/Melissa]] or [[BroodingBoyGentleGirl Bradley/Melissa]]. [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Milo/Melissa]] fans that particularly don't like Amanda being Milo's love interest generally [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight pair her off to Zack]], but some of them ship [[UptightLovesWild Zack/Jackie]] instead.
* For ''WesternAnimation/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'' [[OfficialCouple current boyfriend]] Monty, 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 [[TokenMinorityCouple Baljeet/Ginger]]. Pairings like [[NotBloodSiblings Phineas/Ferb]] or [[ShipTease Ferb/Isabella]] usually lack any Ship Mates.
** Usually, those who ship both [[PortmanteauCoupleName Phinbella and Feretchen]] also ship the Fireside Girls with the boys' other friends, most common being Baljeet/Ginger and Buford/Adyson or Buford/Milly.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' fanfic usually has a triple whammy -- Ulrich/Yumi, Jérémie/Aelita, and Odd[=/=]MarySue. Earlier fics will usually pair Odd with Sam. Latter ones will mostly pair Odd with Sissi.

* Early ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' shippers would pair Jane and Jesse alongside Trent and Daria, referred to as [[http://dariawiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=GOF&oldid=34079 Gang of Four]]. It's less common now, as canon effectively sank both ships.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
** Almost all fans who ship [[OfficialCouple Arnold/Helga]] (which is pretty much all of them) also ship the BetaCouple [[TokenBlackFriend Gerald]] / [[AsianAndNerdy Phoebe]], as per canon.
** There are a few fans who ship Helga's StalkerWithACrush Brainy with Arnold's crush [[ParodySue Lila]]. This [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight actually makes some sense]] if you consider that Lila liked [[CreepyChild Arnie]]; maybe she has a thing for stoic weirdoes?
* In ''WesternAnimation/WordGirl'', the shippers of Becky/Tobey seem to also favor Scoops/Violet. Inversely, supporters of Becky with anyone else tend to stick Tobey and Violet together.
* ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution''. Two words: Lancitty. Kurmanda. Goes hand in hand, and many who support them refer to it as 'supporting the canon couples of the show'.

* It's exceedingly rare, but ''WesternAnimation/WildKratts'' fans that secretly ship Martin/Koki are also allies of Chris/Aviva.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', [[HoYay Bubbline]] shippers tend to team up with Finn/Flame Princess shippers against people who ship Finn with either Bubblegum or Marceline.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'' fandom, there was a spirited shipping war between Tommy/Kimi and Tommy/Lil. The T/K side tended to take on Chuckie/Lil, while the T/L side favoured Chuckie/Angelica and Phil/Kimi. Chuckie/Angelica was also a fairly popular ship in its own right, less so Phil/Kimi.
* For ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Spitfire (Wally/Artemis) shippers will pair [[LauncherOfAThousandShips Dick]] with anyone (usually Zatanna or Batgirl) just as long as he stays away from Artemis.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' fans who ship Mabel/Pacifica often ship Dipper/Bill Cipher as well.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' fandom Huey/Jasmine usually goes hand-in-hand with Riley/Cindy.
* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'':
** Fans often pair [[MrImagination Nathaniel]], who had a crush in [[CuteClumsyGirl Marinette]] in one episode[[note]]and ends it [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle infatuated with Ladybug]][[/note]], with [[AlphaBitch Chloe or Lila]], both of whom have a crush on Marinette's love interest, [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan Adrien]]. Canonically, Nathaniel doesn't like Chloe ([[TheFriendNobodyLikes though to be fair, who does?]]) and [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight possibly never met Lila]].
** In a platonic variant, Nathaniel and [[PassionateSportsGirl Alix]] are often portrayed as close, since they're the only two kids in the class who don't seem to have a canonical best friend or LoveInterest.
** Kagami and Luka, {{Romantic False Lead}}s for Adrien and Marinette respectively, are never gonna displace the [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle main love square]] in the hearts of the fans when it comes to shipping the two leads, but they're both likable characters in their own right. The solution is obvious!

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fandom, [[PuppyLove Lincoln/Ronnie Anne]] shippers will often ship Clyde with either Lynn or Sid. Pairing Liam with Tabby is also popular.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' fans have a good number, but the biggest example is probably Pearl/Amethyst and Lapis/Peridot. The latter was a FanPreferredCouple even before it started getting canon support, and the former is a popular ship in its own right, but it notably avoids the complaint of Amethyst being left without someone in Lapidot. It also results in the core Crystal Gems (bar SixthRanger Bismuth) all having a partner. Conversely, fans who stick by Amedot have a higher chance of shipping Lapis with Pearl, or Lapis with Jasper and Pearl with Garnet, which similarly end up with the whole cast together.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'': Clash/Graphix is a popular side-ship to just about every ''Jem'' ship, but especially Misfits ships. Gwendolyn "Graphix" Synder was a character who was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen intended]] to appear in the show, but that never did because it was cancelled early (she did later appear in [[ComicBook/JemAndTheHolograms comic reboot]], but Clash already had a girlfriend in Blaze by then). People often pair Clash off with Graphix to give her a love interest.

*** Until the [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows seventh book]], some of the more hardcore OBHWF fans would extend the Big Happy Family by pairing off Bill with Fleur, Charlie with Tonks, the twins with their Quidditch teammates, and Percy with Penelope Clearwater. Bill ''did'' marry Fleur in the books, and [[WordOfGod Jo has said]] George ended up with Angelina (one of the female players on the Gryffindor Quidditch team), but the rest didn't happen.

** Marauder fics set during their high school or pre-war days very commonly pair Sirius and Remus with each other and James with Lily. Peter gets to be alone and unloved because nobody likes him anyway.
*** The other popular pairing from that time frame is Snape/Lily, which often features James/Sirius or James/Remus to [[PairTheSpares get him out of the way]]... or sometimes the shippers just go with RonTheDeathEater. And probably pair Sirius/Remus too.
*** It's also fairly common to give Lily some sort of female friend -- either an OC or an OCStandIn (Marlene [=McKinnon=] and Mary [=MacDonald=] are particularly common) -- and pair her with one of the other Marauders (usually Sirius).

** The most recent book, ''Changes'', alters the situation a bit.

* In ''Series/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.]]
** And if they're fans of the old series they might ship Sarah Jane with Harry Sullivan, claiming that he and not the Doctor was the man "nobody could live up to" for her.
** 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.]]

** [[spoiler:Robin/Isabella and Kate/Much]] seem to have become popular in series three, or [[spoiler: Robin/Kate and Guy/Meg.]]

* ''Series/{{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.

* In ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', those Sheldon/Penny shippers who don't hate Leonard or want him to [[DieForOurShip die for their ship]] ship him with Stephanie.
** Or, as of season 5, Amy.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' it seems that Sam/Gabriel shippers tend to have Dean/Castiel showing up in their fics as well. The reverse, however, is not true as often, possibly because there are a lot more Dean/Cas fics than Sam/Gabe ones. At least on Website/FanFictionDotNet and Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn, anyway.
** Most Sam-centric fics (that aren't Sam/Dean or Sam/Cas. Or Sam/Dean/Cas) have Destiel as the side pairing.
** Dean/Benny shippers on the other hand tend to have Castiel end up with Meg.
** Sam/Jessica is a common side pairing in Dean/Castiel fics.

** Fans who ship Klaus and Caroline often will ship Tyler/Hayley or Elijah/Hayley.
*** Matt/Rebekah as well as Stefan/Rebekah may be found in Klaroline fanfics as well, presumably to make Klaus' [[IncestSubtext obsession]] with Rebekah disappear.
*** Actually, most Klaus/Caroline fans hate Hayley too much, so they'll often ship her and Death.

* In ''Series/{{Glee}}'' fandom, fans who ship Finchel (Rachel/Finn) usually have a little Quick (Quinn/Puck) on the side. Thus, the growing amount of Puckleberry (Rachel/Puck) shippers usually have Fuinn (Quinn/Finn) goin' on.
** On the plus side, they all have really awesome [[PortmanteauCoupleName shipping names.]]

*** Although some claim to ship Chuck/Ivy. Who have barely been on screen together.
** Those who follow Canon go with Chuck/Blair Serena/Dan Nate/Jenny

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fandom, [[PuppyLove Lincoln/Ronnie Anne]] shippers will often ship Clyde with either Lynn or Sid.

** With Draco/Harry becoming the fandom's current big fish, Ginny/Luna has seen a notable uptick in popularity. This is likely because it's Ginny's [[HetIsEw most obvious gay pairing.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' fandom, [[PuppyLove Lincoln/Ronnie Anne]] shippers will often ship Clyde with Lynn.

** Thankfully, the fandom of ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' seems to prefer doing this as opposed to [[DieForOurShip the alternative]]. It just so happens that the two {{Fan Preferred Couple}}s, Finn/Poe and Kylo/Rey, mesh together nicely. So naturally, fans of one almost always ship the other as well.
** Finn/Rey shippers usually opt to pair Poe with one of his two [[EnsembleDarkhorse wingmates]], though some [[TakeAThirdOption invite Poe along for a]] OneTrueThreesome. Kylo usually gets ignored or paired with Hux.

** An interesting fact that gets left by the wayside: [[DryDockedShip Kylo/Poe]] shippers, back in the days when ''Film/TheForceAwakens'' came out, shipped Finn/Rey, often with Rey being a biological Skywalker or Solo.
** Quite a few Finn/Rey shippers who don’t hate Rose Tico also pair off Rose with Jannah as well.

** Ever since ''Film/TheLastJedi'', many Kylo/Rey shippers also tend to pair off Finn and Rose.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': Supporters of [[OfficialCouple Yuna/Tidus]] tend to also support Wakka/Lulu, which became canon in the sequel, and Auron/Rikku, which... [[CrackPairing didn't]].

** 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.

* In ''Film/TheHobbit'' fics, Thorin/Bilbo and Kili/Tauriel go well together as two [[StarCrossedLovers star-crossed]] [[InterspeciesRomance interspecies relationships]] that fans like [[FixFic writing happier endings for]]. Those who want to continue the interspecies theme sometimes throw Gimli/Legolas into the mix too (often by having the two meet much earlier than in canon) and those who are ''really'' committed to the interspecies theme and don't mind het will add Fili/Sigrid to complete the trifecta of Durin royals falling in love with someone outside their species.

** Before [[OfficialCouple Gwen/Trent]] broke up, Gwen/Cody fans sometimes put Trent together with [[DumbBlonde Lindsay]]. The pairing developed its own independent fandom that's probably as large or larger than Gwen/Cody, partly because fans seem to have little interest in Lindsay's canonical pairing with [[LovableJock Tyler]].

* ''Series/{{Victorious}}'': A common triple straight ShipMates fleet includes FanPreferredCouple Tori/Andre, the canon pairing of Jade/Beck and the BetaCouple Cat/Robbie. It avoids anyone having to DieForOurShip or even having to break the only canon pairing up.

** Beck/Jade to Tori/Cat, as Beck/Jade staying together kills off the the popular of Jade/Cat and Tori/Beck , and the also FanPreferredCouple Tori/Jade pairings.

* ''Series/{{Victorious}}'': A common triple straight ShipMates fleet includes FanPreferredCouple Tori/Andre, the canon 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 the [[HoYay Les Yay]] FanPreferredCouple [[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.
** Beck/Jade to Tori/Cat, as Beck/Jade staying together kills off the the FanPreferredCouple of Jade/Cat, and the also popular Tori/Jade and Tori/Beck pairings.

* ''VideoGame/TwistedWonderland'' players who aren't fans of [[ChildhoodFriends Trey/Riddle]] tend to ship [[TheGadfly Floyd]]/[[HairTriggerTemper Riddle]] and Trey/Jade. With Jade and Floyd being PolarOppositeTwins, they don't generally get shipped in Western fandom, but most fans seem happy to ship one or [[OneTrueThreesome both]] of them with [[BenevolentBoss Azul]] instead.

* ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' fandom tends to do this with various combinations of Elizabeth, Will, Jack and Norrington.
** Only one female? [[HoYay Oh my.]]
*** Those who have similar reactions tend to throw [=AnaMaria=] into the mix, but a lot of the fandom turn to slash because there just aren't enough girls to even the whole thing out. [[MostFanficWritersAreGirls That isn't to say that slash isn't always the first preference...]]
*** [[HoYay AnaMaria/Elizabeth]] is actually pretty popular amongst [[HoYay Jack/Will]] when they don't hate Elizabeth and don't like Norrington.
* In ''Film/StarTrek2009'':
** The thanks to Sybok's coercive powers Scotty/Uhura pair barely hinted in [[Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier the movie every Star Trek fan wants to pretend never happened, including Roddenberry]] is quite popular amongst Abramsverse Kirk/Spock shippers who use it as a pretext to break up the canon Spock/Uhura from the new movies or pair her up with someone, after in their fanfictions Spock breaks up with her in favor of Kirk. [=McCoy=]/Uhura also likes to tag along as well.
** Kirk/Spock fans also sideship [=McCoy=]/Chapel and, after the sequel, [=McCoy=]/Carol (that gets rid of the considered a given future Kirk/Carol)
** 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.

** And don't forget Chekov/Sulu, which often tags along happily.

*** Finn/Rey shippers usually opt to pair Poe with one of his two [[EnsembleDarkhorse wingmates]], though some [[TakeAThirdOption invite Poe along for a]] OneTrueThreesome. Kylo usually gets ignored or paired with Hux.
*** Han/Leia, meanwhile, makes for a nice side ship that gets along with everyone. It helps that they ''are'' the OfficialCouple of the original trilogy.

Also kown as, often more derogatorily, sideshipping.