History Main / ShippingGoggles

** Sora/Riku shippers are similar. Some have even claimed that the inside artwork of an audio CD released only in Japan featuring Sora and Riku standing on a heart meant they loved each other, completely ignoring that the heart is Kingdom Hearts' symbol and shows up everywhere (and that the game uses the heart to represents one's emotions and soul than romantic love). They also keep on bringing up the reunion scene where Sora expressed more emotion at seeing Riku than Kairi, as if this ''one'' scene alone somehow outweighs all of the less-than-subtle ShipTease Sora and Kairi have received. Not to mention that Riku's clearly interested in ''Kairi''.

* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' - To the point where there is a large section of the fanbase that [[PeripheryDemographic doesn't even play the game]], preferring to spend all their energy on pairing the characters together in every way possible. Although most of pairing supporters don't actually bother to use examples from official material, hence the lack of ShipToShipCombat, the trope still applies in full force for the [[FanDumb more fanatical contingencies]] of the [[FoeYay Sniper/Spy]] fanbase, who do insist that things such as the Sniper-Spy dual update and "Meet the Spy" are "evidence" of its being canon.

*** A specific example is in "Shore Leave", which opens with Kirk having a sore back while sitting in the Captain's chair, and Yeoman Barrows (a crew woman) giving him a massage. For a moment Kirk thinks Spock is behind him doing it, and he offers Spock several words of approval. Only when he sees Spock walk around in front of him while the massage is still going on does he realize that Yeoman Barrows is doing it, and at that moment everything turns a little awkward. The fact that Kirk reacted badly when he discovered Spock ''wasn't'' rubbing his back is often held up as incontrovertible evidence that Kirk and Spock had a thing for each other.

-->--'''Creator/AndrewHussie''', [[http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?33145-AutoChat-V.53&p=4281346&viewfull=1#post4281346 on]] [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002282 this panel of]] ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''[[note]]Actually, it's four pixels, but we'll let that slide.[[/note]]e

** John/Karkat is one of the most popular ships in the fandom, and one of the most divisive. In canon, Karkat has displayed a crush on John, but seemingly got over it, whereas John has had overwhelming evidence that he's completely straight [[note]]Briefly, there's his direct statement that he wasn't a homosexual, his pretty blatant ShipTease with Vriska, Rose, and later Roxy, and his alternate universe counterpart having married and fathered a child[[/note]]. Talking about it openly in a strongly positive or strongly negative manner is good FlameBait.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' provides a case of how ShippingGoggles might be in play early on, but then the writers catch on to it and start adding more explicit and deliberate HoYay to [[TeasingCreator tease the fans]]. That said, both the "Wincest" and "Destiel" shippers can have their over-analytical moments, though Destiel has a few infamous arguments, especially since Dean and Cas were rarely even in the same room in early Season 10. In lieu of on-screen interaction, shippers started citing things like room arrangement/lighting, the clothes Dean would wear in various scenes, and background colours as "proof" that Destiel would imminently become canon. [[HoYay/{{Supernatural}} The Ho Yay page]] is filled with incidents such as "Cas walked away from Dean" and "they looked at each other while talking" as somehow supporting the ship.

** Ash/Serena, or [=AmourShipping=], has gotten it as well, with plenty of edit wars on its [[TheWikiRule Bulbapedia]] page. Some radical shippers add hints like "Serena is worried about Ash/Ash is worried about Serena" that they would even do ''as friends''. Even other AmourShippers have called them out on this, saying things like this will ruin the ship's reputation. Of course, there's plenty of actual ShipTease.

** In regards to the main popular couple, Ash/Misty, or PokéShipping. The original official AAML website had a very long hint list that consisted of just about every interaction between the characters in the whole show, no matter how small, as well as some hints invented by the dub (like the US only Misty's Song). It got so bad that Pokéshippers actually split into two designations, with fans wearing full on goggles referred to as "gakishippers", with the other Pokéshippers considering themselves more sophisticated and intelligent for being able to recognize the "true" hints.
** Ash/Gary, or PalletShipping, which is Pokémon's main slash pairing. The hints shippers see ranges from kind of believable, to just plain [[{{Pun}} Farfetch'd]].
** Ash/Serena, or AmourShipping, has gotten it as well, with plenty of edit wars on its [[TheWikiRule Bulbapedia]] page. Some radical shippers add hints like "Serena is worried about Ash/Ash is worried about Serena" that they would even do ''as friends''. Even other AmourShippers have called them out on this, saying things like this will ruin the ship's reputation.

** Sora/Riku shippers are similar. Some have even claimed that the inside artwork of an audio CD released only in Japan featuring Sora and Riku standing on a heart meant they loved each other, completely ignoring that the heart is Kingdom Hearts' symbol and shows up everywhere (and that the game uses the heart to represents one's emotions and soul than romantic love). They also keep on bringing up the reunion scene where Sora expressed more emotion at seeing Riku than Kairi, as if this ''one'' scene alone somehow outweighs all of the less-than-subtle ShipTease Sora and Kairi have
received. Not to mention that Riku's clearly interested in ''Kairi''.

-->--'''Creator/AndrewHussie''', [[http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?33145-AutoChat-V.53&p=4281346&viewfull=1#post4281346 on]] [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002282 this panel of]] ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}''[[note]]Actually, it's four pixels, but we'll let that slide.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' has gotten this with Ness and Paula, to the point when they were a former example on OfficialCouple on this wiki. They have plenty of chemistry and ShipTease, sure, but they're more [[ImpliedLoveInterest Implied Love Interests]]. It doesn't help that their predecessors, Ninten and Ana, [[OfficialCouple were more blatantly stated to be a couple]].

** Same with ''VideoGame/Mother3'' with Lucas and Kumatora. Their canon relationship is more LikeBrotherAndSister, with the only hints of something more being the MasculineGirlFeminineBoy trope and that time when Kumatora [[ReluctantFanserviceGirl reluctantly disguises as a waitress in Club Titiboo]] and yells at Lucas, [[SheCleansUpNicely "Don't change your expression!"]]. Of course, a lot of fans interpret this relationship as romantic, and they're a popular ship.

** Ash/Serena, or AmourShipping, has gotten it as well, with plenty of edit wars on its [[TheWikiRule Bulbapedia]] page.

** Sora/Riku shippers are similar. Some have even claimed that the inside artwork of an audio CD released only in Japan featuring Sora and Riku standing on a heart meant they loved each other, completely ignoring that the heart is Kingdom Hearts' symbol and shows up everywhere (and that the game uses the heart to represents one's emotions and soul than romantic love). They also keep on bringing up the reunion scene where Sora expressed more emotion at seeing Riku than Kairi, as if this ''one'' scene alone somehow outweighs all of the less-than-subtle ShipTease Sora and Kairi have received. Not to mention that Riku's clearly interested in ''Kairi''.

** In regards to the main popular couple, Ash/Misty. The original official AAML website had a very long hint list that consisted of just about every interaction between the characters in the whole show, no matter how small, as well as some hints invented by the dub (like the US only Misty's Song). It got so bad that Pokeshippers actually split into two designations, with fans wearing full on goggles referred to as "gakishippers", with the other Pokeshippers considering themselves more sophisticated and intelligent for being able to recognize the "true" hints.
** Ash/Gary, or Palletshipping, which is Pokemon's main slash pairing. The hints shippers see ranges from kind of believable, to just plain [[{{Pun}} Farfetch'd]]

** John/Karkat is one of the most popular ships in the fandom, and one of the most divisive. In canon, Karkat has displayed a crush on John, but seemingly got over it, whereas John has had overwhelming evidence that he's completely straight [[note]]Briefly, there's his direct statement that he wasn't a homosexual, his pretty blatant ShipTease with Vriska (and Rose), and his alternate universe counterpart having married and fathered a child[[/note]]. Talking about it openly in a strongly positive or strongly negative manner is good FlameBait.

** Even if you are not a slash fan, thanks to the fans it is a little hard to watch it now without seeing some of the accidental gayness of Kirk and Spock's relationship, even if you believe this was not what the writers intended. And even that whole "not what the writers intended" thing takes a battering when Gene Roddenberry himself says that "We certainly believe the affection was sufficient for [a romantic relationship], if that were the particular style of the 23rd century."
*** [[http://fanlore.org/wiki/Shatner:_Where_No_Man#Gene_Roddenberry_on_Shatner.2C_.26_Kirk The full quote]], related to an attempted comparison of Kirk and Spock with AlexanderTheGreat and his devoted friend Hephaistion, was something Roddenberry was maneuvered into saying by two of the great Shipping Goggles manufacturers of all time.

** "Day of the Dove" has a mind-whammied Chekov going into a fury because he believes the Klingons killed his brother. Sulu's the only person who knows Chekov well enough to know he has no siblings. As far as shippers are concerned, case closed.
*** George Takei, however, says that he played Sulu as straight.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' has a lot of shippers who tend use ShippingGoggles, especially some Swan Queen and Sleeping Warrior shippers. Despite Regina [[spoiler:having a true love in the form of Robin Hood]], and Aurora's true love being Prince Philip, they continue to be ignored. Emma and Regina can't even ''smile'' at each other without shippers jumping on it and insisting it's "proof", despite WordOfGod saying Swan Queen was never going to happen.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' provides a case of how ShippingGoggles might be in play early on, and then the writers catch on to it and start adding more explicit and deliberate HoYay to [[HoYay/{{Supernatural}} toy with the fans]] (e.g. Dean/Castiel).
** Both the Wincest and Destiel shippers can have their over-analytical moments, though Destiel has a few infamous arguments now, especially since Dean and Cas were rarely even in the same room in early Season 10. In lieu of on-screen interaction, shippers started citing things like room arrangement/lighting, the clothes Dean would wear in various scenes, and background colours as "proof" that Destiel would imminently become canon. The [[HoYay/{{Supernatural}}]] page is also filled with incidents such as "Cas walked away from Dean" and "they looked at each other while talking" as somehow supporting the ship.

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' fandom, there was a very vocal group of Clark/Chloe shippers who would interpret any detail as a sign that Chloe was Clark's one true love, and sometimes even that she would "become" the Lois Lane we all know and love from the comics... even after the actual LoisLane joined the show in Season 4.
* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'' fans will pick any excuse to ship Arya with Gendry, even though she's ''twelve'' and he's around seventeen or eighteen, such as when she looks at him while he's shirtless and working a forge. Most of this is because there is more [[ImpliedLoveInterest tension]] in the [[Literature/ASongofIceandFire original book series]] that gets cut out for the adaptation.
** Among Arya/Gendry shippers, the age difference is seen as less of a problem because in the medieval context of the show huge age gaps are normal in betrothals and arranged marriages: e.g. there's a Lannister who's betrothed to a baby and Tyrion in his 30's is married to Sansa who is 14. Usually the pair would wait until the younger (in this case Arya) is ready to consummate a marriage.
* ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'': Practically every frame gets interpreted as a Sherlock/John moment, and some weird things are used to justify/prove it. Shippers swear the fact that John [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday repeatedly insists that he's not gay]] in the face of people mistaking their relationship is somehow proof that he ''is'': "Me thinks the doctor dost protest too much". This is either ignoring that Sherlock doesn't care when people make that mistake, or using his apathy as some kind of paradoxical proof that Sherlock is also gay: "Notice how he doesn't correct them or anything?" Also, thanks to the creators being savvy enough to know how these two would come off in a modern setting, practically ''everyone'' who meets them tends to mistake them for a couple. To shippers, this is somehow also proof: "[[EveryoneCanSeeIt Everyone can see it but them!]]"
** Some take the "not gay" thing as ''well'', he's not ruling out bisexuality

** actually this pair gets shipped because in the medieval context of the show within which they exist huge age gaps are normal in betrothals and arranged marriages there's a Lannister who's betrothed to a baby and tyrion in his 30's is married to sansa who is 14. usually the pair would wait til the younger (in this case Arya) is ready to consummate a marriage.so its actually not that crazy a ship. are there ship goggles activated? yes. is pairing insane? no, not really.

->''"Really the best thing about [[NotSoStoic the smirk]] is that it demonstrates that literally a single pixel can serve as [[ShipTease shipping fuel]]. It was worth it for that scientific demonstration alone."''

[[folder:Films]]

* ''Film/TheAvengers'': While pretty much every combination of couples has been shipped following the film, support for Clintasha reached the point it is interpreted as the token romance in the film. They actually spend very little time actually interacting, or doing anything that could imply a romantic relationship; while Natasha's primary motivation is saving Clint's life, she makes it clear in one scene that she doesn't care for love, and their partnership is more along the lines of comrades in arms. What's shown is continually exaggerated to either that Natasha is self-conscious and does secretly harbour a crush on him (which would be out of character for her, though somewhat truer to the character's comics incarnation), or that they are actually dating (which would make her claim about not loving him make no sense).

* ''Series/{{Merlin}}'': The slashers of Merlin/Arthur are eager to point to every single interaction between them as evidence that the two of them are attracted to each other/in love/sleeping together/destined soulmates. In [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsik2ml_fBs this two-second clip]] (slowed down so you can see it properly), the act of Merlin catching Arthur's head as he falls over becomes Merlin "definitely stroking Arthur's hair."

* ''Film/TheAvengers'': While pretty much every combination of couples has been shipped following the film, support for Clintasha reached the point it is interpreted as the token romance in the film. They actually spend very little time actually interacting, or doing anything that could imply a romantic relationship; while Natasha's primary motivation is saving Clint's life, she makes it clear in one scene that she doesn't care for love, and their partnership is more along the lines of comrades in arms. What's shown is continually exaggerated to either that Natasha is self-conscious and does secretly harbour a crush on him (which would be out of character for her), or that they are actually dating (which would make her claim about not loving him make no sense).

* actually this pair gets shipped because in the medieval context of the show within which they exist huge age gaps are normal in betrothals and arranged marriages there's a Lannister who's betrothed to a baby and tyrion in his 30's is married to sansa who is 14. usually the pair would wait til the younger (in this case Arya) is ready to consummate a marriage.so its actually not that crazy a ship. are there ship goggles activated? yes. is pairing insane? no, not really.

Shipping Goggles is when a viewer interprets the smallest, most ambiguous [[{{Canon}} canonical]] evidence in favor of their {{ship|ping}} of choice, even if said "evidence" is insignificant relative to other evidence, or outright nonexistent. Maybe that glance lasted just a ''little'' too long, or that remark in that conversation could be interpreted as innuendo. The ship in question can range from one that seems entirely plausible but doesn't yet have clear canon evidence, right up to a CrackPairing between characters who are [[FoeYay bitter enemies]], live in different universes, [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight have never met]], or [[IncompatibleOrientation whose sexuality]] or circumstances makes any relationship between them extremely unlikely. Reasons for putting on Shipping Goggles vary; sometimes it's just wishful thinking, sometimes it's to defend the ship against other competing ships, and sometimes it's JustForFun. Merely being an implausible pairing doesn't automatically mean that Shipping Goggles are in play however, as often a ship's supporters will admit that their support for a particular pairing has nothing to do with the source material.

Note that as with everything TropesAreTools, although [[CharacterDerailment this can]] [[TransplantedCharacterFic be bad]] [[PossessionSue in some]] [[DieForOurShip situations]]. Many shippers would admit to doing this to some extent; in fact, having your own interpretation of {{Canon}} is part of the fun of {{Shipping}}. However, it can become FanDumb when people try to [[ShipToShipCombat force their ships on others]]. Not to mention what happens when such fans are RunningTheAsylum...

Caution should be used not to confuse every case of LGBTFanbase {{Gaydar}} as Shipping Goggles -- if fans believe a character is gay, it is not necessarily because fans want to ship them.

* From JojosBizarreAdventure part 3, Jotaro and Kakyoin is a very popular pair despite the fact that they don't share any HoYay at all. Sure they have moments like Jotaro praising Kakyoin after the latter saved his life but they are all HeterosexualLifePartners moments, that people overrate. The fact that [[http://jojo.wikia.com/wiki/CLAMP_in_Wonderland:_1994_Summer CLAMP made a fan comic where they marry each other and have a kid]] doesn't help...
* The ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' fandom had a truly bizarre case of this in Mimi and Matt/Yamato - as they didn't do ''any'' of those things, or even interact at all. They weren't [[RelationshipWritingFumble too friendly]] or [[FoeYay too deliciously antagonistic]] or even [[CrackPairing bizarre enough of a pair to be interesting]]. They didn't ''avoid'' each other - [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters seven kids and seven]] {{Mons}} means one kid just never wound up talking to that one other; it happens. Didn't stop fans from being extremely rabid, to the "pair one with someone else in a fanfic, ''I dare you''" level. No one's sure why. [[note]]One possible explanation is PairTheSpares: in many a series, fans will latch onto the lead male and lead female in a series unless there's overwhelming evidence for another appealing pairing with one of the two, and that happened with Tai(chi) and Sora. The next-most-leading guy and girl are the Matt and Mimi.[[/note]]
** [[http://digigayfuel.ytmnd.com/ This.]] Although [[HoYay Taichi/Yamato]] is nothing particularly weird, the captions have certain errors in them. The most blatant would be claiming that Jou and Sora married in the end of the series. In truth, Sora married [[spoiler:Yamato]]. This, of course, would [[spoiler:kind of [[ShipSinking ruin the pairing]]. By the way, of all three couples that Taichi, Yamato and Sora could form, Sora/Yamato was the one with least ShipTease. [[{{Understatement}} Fans]] [[FlameBait didn't]] [[FanonDiscontinuity approve]].]]

* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', AllLoveIsUnrequited and while the concept of some of the feelings being reciprocated is sometimes teased, those deliberate teases are often [[TrollingCreator meticulously calculated]] for [[MasterOfTheMixedMessage the maximum possible value of ambiguity]]. Too many characters consistently fail to come clean about how they honestly feel, and to get a clue of where they stand one must make sense of a galore of telling omissions, contradictory nudges, ha-ha-only-serious-only-not moments, ShipTease in adaptations of dubious relevance and Red Herrings. It goes without saying that this state of affairs terribly aggravates the inborn shipper disposition towards seeing "evidence" whenever two characters so much as appear in the same panel. Some- true to form- go off the deep end and see "evidence" in name etymologies, loose parallels to other works of fiction, loose parallels to the author's love life, "?!" dialogue bubbles, volume cover color schemes and "hidden symbolism" in 17-year-old concept art. Many, many, many lengthy essays have been written from all sides about how so-and-so is subtly hinted at secretly being in love with someone, flabbergasting anyone who reads manga more casually.
** [[spoiler: With the last chapter, all mysteries are cleared up. And, in true TrollingCreator fashion, Kishimoto pairs Choji and Karui, who had minimal if ''any'' interaction prior to the finale.]]
* ''Manga/OnePiece''

** Not to mention the parodied {{Crack Pairing}} of Soul and Black Star. Some fans seemed to take it as {{Word of God}} that it was time to goggle up.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}''

* While "Manga/{{Hunter x Hunter}}" has the obvious {{Ho Yay}} from Hisoka/everyone, some fans have looked really, really hard for signs of Killua/Gon and Leorio/Kurapika.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter''

*** And then years after the series had finished, Rowling stated that the Ron/Hermione pairing doesn't make much sense and was written as a form of wish fulfillment on her part. She then claimed that they would need counseling to make it work and added that "in some ways [Hermione] and Harry are a better fit", causing the shipping wars to get even worse...

* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''

** The fans who will interpret ''literally any time'' Holmes mentions the "woman" who beat him as evidence that he can't take his mind off Irene Adler. Even though Watson explicitly [[ShipSinking noted that Holmes had no romantic inclination towards Adler]] ''in the introduction of the only book she appears in'' - and even makes a pretty good case in that same book for Holmes being [[SexIsBoring uninterested in dull things like sex or romance]].

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''

* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''

* ''Series/{{Once Upon a Time}}'' has a lot of shippers who tend use ShippingGoggles, especially some Swan Queen and Sleeping Warrior shippers. Despite Regina [[spoiler: having a true love in the form of Robin Hood]], and Aurora's true love being Prince Philip, these shippers continue to deny the 'ships written into canon by the writers in favor of their own logic. Though WordOfGod has confirmed a person can have more than one true love, all known instances have occurred after someone's previous true love has died; or, in Mulan's case, [[spoiler: have unrequited feelings for someone that is mistaken by shippers to be true love]].
** Swan Queen shippers are particularly egregious. Emma and Regina can't even ''smile'' at each other without shippers jumping on it and insisting it's "proof", despite both of them being romantically involved with someone else ''and'' WordOfGod saying Swan Queen was never going to happen.

* In ''Series/GameOfThrones'' fans will pick any excuse to ship Arya with Gendry, even though she's ''twelve'' and he's around seventeen or eighteen, as when she looks at him while he's shirtless and working a forge.
** however most of this is because there is more [[ImpliedLoveInterest tension]] in the [[Literature/ASongofIceandFire original book series]] that gets cut out for the adaptation.

* TabletopGame/TwilightSparklesSecretShipficFolder can only be justified by this trope. And RuleOfFunny.

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney''

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''

** Xiaomu pulls this in ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' if you team her and Reiji with [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWars Sanger Zonvolt]].

* ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod''. Pretty much any interaction between Baam and another female character at all, ever, will be seen as evidence of a ship. Of particular note is Baam / Yihwa (whose interaction consists mostly of her expressing distrust for him and him saying he ''has no interest in her at all''.)
** Things have changed since back then however, as now Yihwa does show genuine romantic interest in Baam. One cannot say the same about the latter, however...

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls''

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''

* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}''

** Things have changed since back then however, as now Yihwa does show genuine romantic interest in Baam.

*** And then years after the series had finished Rowling said that in some ways Hermione and Harry are a better fit than Ron and Hermione (though saying that they would be all right), and saying that Harry's love for Ginny is true, the shipping wars just get worse. Apparently for Harry/Hermione shippers, "in some ways Hermione and Harry are a better fit" automatically means that they should be married. No wonder even after all these years they are still called delusional and militant.