Theme Pairing

Said the Toad to the Kangaroo,
"I can hop and so can you.
If we marry we'll have a child
Who can jump a mountain or hop a mile..."

— "The Toad and the Kangaroo", A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein

Some ships may have little thought out into them beyond the looks of the characters involved, or how cute they might look together. But other times, a couple is chosen due to their similarities. This is especially true if one's favorite pairing is separated by being in entirely different series, although not all theme pairings need to involve such a Crossover Ship.

Examples of themes include:

• Mirror Characters
• Similar character tropes (Pair the Smart Ones, Genki Girl/Keet, etc...)
• Similar ages outside the usual Competence Zone (if the series itself doesn't do that already).
• Similar powers or abilities (Elemental Powers especially)
• Two Ensemble Darkhorses or two Satellite Characters paired together
• Token Minority Couple
• Identical or similar names
• The characters are lookalikes

That's love, baby! Okay, not really. But truthfully, people do get along better when they have something in common, so the idea isn't total bunk.

The basis of many Crossover Ships and Ships That Pass in the Night.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Death Note: Predictably enough (for being the main leads of the anime), Light and L are paired together — they are both highly intelligent individuals who feel intellectually unchallenged by the world as well as the Chessmasters of their respective sides. On top of that, they are rivals.
• Digimon Tamers: A lot of people have gotten to like the Renamon / Impmon couple not only due to their interesting interactions but also because many found fascinating their contrasts and similarities. For one, their character arcs have them starting with a deep disdain toward humans and a craving for power. Furthermore, they are loners who awkwardly start friendships. If that doesn't seal the deal, then their reversed Color Motifs (purple and yellow) and contrasting evolutions (Renamon's evolutions call to concepts of purity and goodness in Japanese mythology/religion, Impmon/Beelzemon recalls iconography often associated with evil and the devil in Western/Christian mythology) ought to do it.
• Innocents Shounen Juujigun:
  • Etienne and Michael, as the two hyper-religious, "pure" boys.
  • Guillaume and Pierre, the two loathsome, rich boy brats.
  • Guy and Nicolas, the two hot-headed, rough, extremely loyal to Etienne boys.
• Maid-Sama!: There is apparently a minuscule fanbase for Shizuko and Kanou that ships them mostly because they both wear glasses and are the voice of reason for their respective Those Two Guys / Those Two Girls pairs. Seeing how Kanou is bad with aggressive girls together with the revelation that Shizuko apparently has a thing for glasses, maybe this isn't so farfetched after all. Sadly, this was not confirmed at all in the Distant Finale.
• Moriarty the Patriot: The fandom is dominated by people shipping William and Sherlock, who are emphasized in the series to be very similar people constantly and are two sides of the same annoying, brilliant, hyper-competitive, justice-seeking coin who are also the exact same age and height.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion has Rei/Kaworu. While this Ship That Passes In The Night is usually formed as a Ship Mate to Shinji/Asuka fics, many fics and artworks emphasize their physical similarities and similarly cryptic/mysterious natures. The fact that Kaworu tells Rei that she's "the same" as him in their only canon conversation helps.
• Nisekoi: The Fan-Preferred Couple Shuu/Ruri pairs two observant, savvy bespectacled characters who are each best friends with a member of the main harem and are frequently involved with it without romantic involvement with those in it. This is even invoked with them being referred to as "glasses buddies." Becomes an Official Couple toward the end of the series.
• Osomatsu-san: Crack Pairing Ichimatsu/Nyaa-chan have never talked to each other, let alone exchanged glances. The only thing they have in common is a cat theme and Ichi's secret fetish for cat girls. And sometimes, that's all that some fans need.
• Puella Magi Madoka Magica:
  • Shipping Madoka with protagonists of other Magical Girl animes is fairly common; in particular, those who are pink-haired (or have pink as their main hue) and The Heart of their group. Crossover Ships include Nagisa Misumi Futari wa Pretty Cure, Nanoha Takamachi from Lyrical Nanoha (with whom she shares having lots of Homoerotic Subtext with the Dark Magical Girl and being from the same production studio), and even Lux from the animesque Star Guardians Verse of League of Legends. In a twist, Star Guardian Lux is said to be Madoka and Homura's (the aforementioned dark magical girl) love child because of Lux's having Madoka's hair color and hairstyle and Homura's purple eyes. So it'd be less Theme Pairing and more Theme Parenting.
  • People pair Yuuna and Nagisa (aka the magical girl Charlotte once was) as a Toy Ship because both are the youngest magical girls associated with members of the main cast; they were adopted respectively by Kyoko and Mami. They are prevalent in fan works that ship Kyoko with Mami.
• The Rising of the Shield Hero: Despite all the animosity between them, The Four Cardinal Heroes get shipped together, especially among Japanese fans. It's implied the previous generations of The Four Cardinal Heroes were on good terms, with Naofumi's generation being something of an anomaly in that regard. It helps that unlike Idiot Hero Motoyasu and Glory Hound Itsuki, Ren is somewhat less problematic to deal with directly.
• Saint Seiya: Cancer Deathmask and Pisces Aphrodite are popular for being the only genuinely evil Gold Saints, as well as quite dreaded for their cruelty. It's helped by the fact that they're always seen together in the OVAs.
• Yo-kai Watch: Despite the Interspecies Romance nature, Blizzaria/Blazion is popular because of their opposite Elemental Powers — respectively, ice and fire.

Comic Books

• Spider-Man: Puma and Black Cat. Both have feline Animal Motifs and are of neutral alignment.
• Jason Todd and Rose Wilson are shipped together usually because both of them have similar rough childhoods and huge daddy issues that defined their teenagerhood and adulthood.

Crossover Ships

• Both Martin Crieff (from Cabin Pressure) and Molly Hooper (from Sherlock) are rather unfortunate in many aspects of their lives and overdue for something nice to happen to them. There's also the fact that Molly pines after Sherlock, who's played by Benedict Cumberbatch, the same guy who played Martin Crieff.
• The Doctor from Doctor Who and Sailor Pluto from Sailor Moon share many things: filling the role of The Only One, being Time Travellers, having Survivor Guilt, and being Genocide Survivors.
• Elsa from Frozen: It's common to pair her with just about any other character with ice powers. Jack Frost from Rise of the Guardians is the most popular, though there are others, such as the Ice King from Adventure Time and Mr. Freeze from Batman.
• Voldemort (from Harry Potter), Orochimaru (from Naruto), and Medusa (from Soul Eater) are a One True Threesome that share the Reptiles Are Abhorrent theme and are creepy Big Bads.
• THE iDOLM@STER: SideM: It's not uncommon to see people ship the SideM characters with other idols from the iM@S franchise due to similarities. Unsurprisingly, a lot of this comes from the massive cast of THE iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls:
  • Hideo and Sanae are usually drawn together because they both were policemen before pursuing idolhood, naturally leading people to portray them as working the same unit when showing their past lives. Double the fun since they also share a birthday.
    • Hideo also gets grouped in with sharp-toothed characters very often, such as Akira or Shouko Hoshi. Especially Akira after her debut.
  • Daigo and Tomoe get some fanart due to their implied Yakuza Prince/Princess backgrounds.
  • As a minor gag, Ranko and Kaoru get pictures together due to their voice actors being siblings in real life, and close ones at that. You can also see her with Asselin due to their heavy Chuunibyou themes.
  • Noriko and Haruna for their love of doughnuts.
  • Shingen and Aki Yamato share a military background, so you'll sometimes see them getting along in fanart.
  • Pierre is sometimes paired with Takane due to the latter's frog mascot suit obsession. He's also sometimes paired with Yayoi due to being around the same age, both carrying a frog-themed item, and both being Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
  • Chris Koron and Nanami Asari aren't shipped together, but because of their shared interest in ocean life, they have a lot of art of them bonding over it.
  • High×Joker draws a lot of comparisons to THE iDOLM@STER: Shiny Colors Houkago Climax Girls for also being a 5 man irregularly themed group of teens. A lot of the members also share personality traits as well.
• Amaterasu (Ōkami) gets shipped with Bec (Homestuck) because they're both dogs/wolves with godlike powers.
• Steven Universe:
  • Pearl and Jet Link from Cyborg 009 is a pretty popular couple in some circles since they have similar noses, hair colors, styles (although Pearl's hair is lighter and shorter), and love to dance.
  • After the events of "Arcade Mania", fans began shipping Garnet with Tien Shinhan from Dragon Ball Z because they both have a Third Eye.
  • Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls has started being shipped with Peridot. There's a consistent joke in the Gravity Falls fandom that Bill resembles a Dorito, and the same joke has been applied to Peridot as well.
  • The crossover episode "Say Uncle" briefly teased Lion and Giant Realistic Flying Tiger from Uncle Grandpa. The two characters are the moderately sapient, big feline pets of the main (and titular) characters.
• Some Touhou Project fans ship Yuyuko and Kirby because they share Big Eater and Extreme Omnivore tendencies.
• Blossom (The Powerpuff Girls (1998)) and Dexter (Dexter's Laboratory) became a popular pairing in part thanks to their similarities: they're both red-headed child prodigies who originate from Cartoon Network series.

Fan Works

• Forest Of Despair:
  • People used to ship Minato and Mirabilis together because of their similar themes: Ultimate Traveler and Ultimate Florist, which leads the to connect with nature and be adventurous.
  • Similarly, people ship Kira and Cassius, they are respectively the Ultimate Jeweler and Ultimate Jeweler Smuggler.
• A Very Potter Musical: Fans have theorized that Lockhart wants to impress Rita Skeeter because they both have a bone to pick with the Power Trio.

Films — Animation

• Duchess from The Aristocats and Lady from Lady and the Tramp are shipped together because both are fancy, lady-like, and easygoing Uptown Girls whose canonical love interests are "Tramps".
• Big Hero 6:
  • Hiro and Peni Parker from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse are both young teens who have a Robot Buddy and have traveled to Another Dimension. Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon also seems a popular pairing for Hiro with the whole A Boy and His X, with said X giving them emotional support and helping them grow up.
  • Like Hiro, Varian from Tangled: The Series is a teenage inventor who got lost in revenge after having a loved one (big brother and father, respectively) tragically die in situations that could've been avoided.
• The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part:
  • Sweet Mayhem and "Wyldstyle" Lucy are shipped on the basis of being an action-oriented, Light Feminine and Dark Feminine couple. The former is a Dark Action Girl with a swapped color palette (Mayhem's hues are pale pink and sparkly sky blue) while the Wyldstyle is a heroic Action Girl who wears black and fluorescent shades of pink and sky blue. Additionally, they find themselves in equivalent roles despite being at opposite ends of the conflict. One is The Dragon and the other is The Lancer. Not counting Mayhem's bad case of hero worship over Wyldstyle, which would turn their dynamic into something akin to Hero/Hero-Worshipper.
  • Sweet Mayhem is also paired with Benny because both of them wear spacesuits and have a cheery disposition.
• Rapunzel from Tangled and Mavis from Hotel Transylvania are both girls isolated from the real world by their overprotective parents and therefore are very eager to go and explore it. Golden Blond and Jet Black has them as the main pairing.
• Jane from Tarzan and Captain Amelia from Treasure Planet are similar characters — cultured women with 18th-19th century aesthetics and British accents. Illuminated has them as its main pairing.

Films — Live-Action

• Edward Scissorhands: Edward is shipped with Lydia from Beetlejuice by virtue of both being the troubled protagonists of Tim Burton films and embodiments of Dark Is Not Evil.
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Thor from The Mighty Thor and Storm from X-Men is a pairing with a substantial following because both have weather and Shock and Awe superpowers. It was further spurred by the creators making them an official couple in Marvel Adventures, albeit the start of their relationship happens off-screen as revealed in the 29th issue. Their Fan Nickname is "biracial thunder babies".
  • Wanda, Loki, and Dr. Strange are frequently shipped together due to their shared affinity for magic, even though they've otherwise never interacted with each other. The news that Wanda will be appearing in the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness adds fuel to the ScarletStrange ship.

Literature

• Harry Potter: If a Peggy Sue plot of some sort it's involved and they travel back to the Marauders Era, expect Lily Evans and Hermione Granger to be drawn to each other like moths to the light. Highly esteemed muggle-born witches with plenty of smarts, talent, love for books, and stubbornness, as well as their strong sense of justice.
• In the Honor Harrington fanbase, this is the basis for Sonja Hemphill/Shannon Foraker. Canonically, both are Havenite admirals and become fast friends because of that. Furthermore, both are STEM women: Shannon is a Playful Hacker while Sonja is a Gadgeteer Genius. Lesbian technological geek geniuses? The idea was inevitable. One More Time has them as the main pairing.

Live-Action TV

• There's a portion of the Doctor Who fandom that ships Adric/Nyssa because they are Orphaned, Human Alien, Teen Geniuses traveling through time and space together.
• Gossip Girl (2007):
  • Chuck and Blair are Birds of a Feather, two dark, ruthless people who scheme and manipulate their way to the top but who deeply care for the people close to them.
  • Serena and Nate. A carefree, Brainless Beauty duo, both fickle and free-spirited and neither with any real ability to come up with a cunning plan nor with any real drive in their lives. Often compared to a pair of golden retrievers (with Chuck and Blair being their masters).
  • Even Dan/Blair who are both Brainy Brunettes who love posh art and cinema.
  • Dan and Nelly Yuki are both intellectual outsiders. It helps that Nelly has had a crush on Dan for years.
• A few viewers of Masterchef Australia's season 12 have taken to shipping Reynold and Jess due to their respective titles as the Dessert King and Queen of the series, despite the fact that their on-screen interactions are fairly minimal.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Galadriel and Sauron are written as Mirror Characters, with Light/Darkness Juxtaposition being an important representation of what they mean to each other.
• The Muppets (2015): Scooter and Walter make a somewhat popular pairing among fans on Tumblr and Twitter due to them both being younger human-based Muppets with Adorkable personalities.
• Once Upon a Time:
  • Regina and Maleficent is a very popular ship within the fandom that started mainly because both were witches. It helps that they are both villains who poisoned their princess enemies with sleeping curses that were broken by True Love's Kiss and devoted mothers. The fact that the two have major amounts of Les Yay helps their shippers a lot.
  • Ruby and Whale were a reasonably popular ship during season two. This is mainly due to the fact that they resemble/are based on classic Universal Horror characters (Ruby is a werewolf and Whale is Doctor Frankenstein), and was aided by Ship Tease between the two. However, with the two becoming increasingly out of focus, the ship has faded quite a bit in popularity.
• Power Rangers Megaforce: Both Troy/Emma and Jake/Gia are shipped as they share the elements Sky and Earth respectively.
• Pretty Little Liars: Crack Ship Lucas/Mona revolves around the headcanon that they might have been friends due to both being extreme outsiders before Mona was uplifted and became popular. Later, Mona herself uplifts Lucas and he becomes her second in command.
• Star Wars: Din Djarin (from The Mandalorian) and Boba Fett gained popularity as a romantic pairing of two badass Mandalorian bounty hunters who follow a personal code of honor and who were both involved in loving father-son family relationships.

Video Games

• Animal Crossing:
  • Gulliver the seagull occasionally gets paired with one of the dodo birds, Orville and Wilbur, by fans, given that they're bird characters with a theme of traveling across the ocean.
  • The villagers Audie and Whitney tend to be paired together a lot, romantically or platonically, due to them both being wolves with contrasting color palettes—Whitney has a more wintry look compared to Audie’s summer vibe.
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger: Carl is paired with Dorothy Albright from Arcana Heart because both are short-haired blondes and Stage Magicians. Furthermore, their costumes look like color palette-swapped versions of each other.
• Danganronpa: It is not uncommon for fans to pair characters together that have similar ultimate talents or personalities. Some examples include:
  • Kazuichi Soda and Miu Iruma (Both have ultimate talents related to building things and working with machines).
  • Kaede, Ibuki, and/or Sayaka (All three have music-related ultimate talents).
  • Tsumugi and Hifumi (Both have ultimate talents relating to anime/manga and are both obsessed with it).
• Deltarune: Rouxls Kaard is sometimes paired with Mettaton (due to both of them being confident, bombastic characters that serve as recurring antagonists for the player) or Papyrus (as both are Large Hams who are also rather bad puzzle-makers).
• Dark Dream Chronicle: The Demented Horror Mask of WhiteSuit and The Insane Eyes Mask of WhiteDress as well as The Smiling Clown Mask of Vadiir and Doc; though the "theme" part wasn't actually present until the shipping had started.
• Dissidia Final Fantasy:
  • The Cloud of Darkness and Exdeath are frequently paired together due to their shared obsession with the Void.
  • Firion and Lightning get paired up due to a shared rose motif. In Duodecium, Firion tries and fails repeatedly to ask Lightning to return the Wild Rose to him when she found it. It comes off as if he's trying to ask her on a date but can't bring himself to, which convinces Cecil to give Firion some romantic advice.
• Guilty Gear: Ky Kiske is paired with Millia because they share quite a few traits. Their Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold notwithstanding, they are Child Soldiers who lost their parents at a young age as well The Rival to more uncouth characters, and respectively very gentlemanly and proper.
• Identity V: Purportedly how many of the video game's ships came about.
  • Embalmer/Photographer: White/Grey-haired pretty boys who are both noted to be obsessed with life and death.
  • Mercenary/Ripper: The two playable characters known to have killed others for a living (or personal entertainment) prior to coming to the manor.
  • Seer/Priestess: Survivors known to worship gods or, at the very least, possess some form of supernatural abilities.
  • Priestess/Enchantress: Female Survivors known to possess some form of supernatural abilities, with a side of parental issues.
  • Coordinator/Mercenary: Former military officers and victims of societal stigma, who appear to be using aliases, and seemingly had ulterior motives for coming to the manor.
  • Mechanic/Prisoner: Driven by the desire to invent and become a big name in the world.
  • Photographer/Perfumer: Eccentric French aristocrats with issues stemming from the deaths of their twin siblings.
  • First Officer/Barmaid: Alcoholics who came to the manor in search of a missing family member.
  • Postman/Gravekeeper: Borderline misanthropic loners, who have No Social Skills (and may have been involved in criminal activities) but, deep down, just want to be loved by others.
  • Prospector/Acrobat: Implied mood-swingers, involved in tragedies that left many dead, who both have "Ton" in their names.
  • Cowboy/First Officer: Archetypal examples of traditionally heroic characters, who appear charming and confident on the surface, but are actually driven by guilt and self-loathing.
  • Evil Reptilian/Violinist: Implied Italians physically transformed by supernatural deities.
  • Axe Boy/Dream Witch's Follower: The Baby of the Bunch.
  • Embalmer/Gravekeeper: Male Survivors who have No Social Skills, both have occupations related to the dead, and have participated in activities that are against the law.
  • Priestess/Feaster: Hooded individuals who both have some relation to the Cthulhu Mythos.
  • Geisha/White and Black Guards: Undead Asian Hunters who died due to unfair circumstances and were slandered shortly before or after their deaths.
  • Mechanic/Forward: Brains and Brawn
  • The Mind's Eye/Postman: Survivors whose disabilities(with the former being blind and the latter implied to be mute) are the least of their problems.
  • Postman/Seer: Male Survivors who care a lot about their Animal Companion.
  • Prospector/Prisoner: Survivors who were physically and mentally scarred by traumatic events in their past.
  • Prospector/Gravekeeper: Survivors associated with work that involves going underground in some capacity.
  • Painter/Prisoner: Aristocrat and former aristocrat.
  • Mechanic/Soul Weaver: A skilled mechanic and someone with special mechanical prostheses.
  • Going into One True Threesome territory, Postman/Gravekeeper/"Prisoner": Male Survivors who (to varying degrees) were possibly involved in criminal activities.
• The King of Fighters: Expect to see Kula Diamond paired up with K' — they are fellow NESTS refugees, Kyo "clones", a Red Oni, Blue Oni duo, and of opposing elements (fire and ice).
• Given how fond Mega Man (Classic) fans are of shipping Robot Masters with each other, this is a given. Some notable examples:
  • Quick Man x Elec Man, because both of them are confident and speedy- not to mention Quick Man was canonically based on Elec Man.
  • Wood Man x Plant Man, since they're both plant-based Robot Masters.
  • Bubble Man x Splash Woman, since they're both aquatic Robot Masters that are more suited for water than land (Bubble Man can only move on land by jumping, and Splash Woman can't move on land at all due to being a mermaid).
• Mortal Kombat:
  • Mortal Kombat II: Secretshipping, the name of the pairing of Smoke and Jade, two of the secret characters from the game.
  • Mortal Kombat: Deception: Fans seem to be fond of pairing up Ashrah and Raiden despite no tangible connections existing between the two aside from being members of the Forces of Light. As noted on the Characters page, this is rooted in how similar the two look to each other, with many mistaking originally Ashrah not only as Raiden's Distaff Counterpart, but his wife. Their move sets are also similar.
• OFF: The Batter and the Scout (from Team Fortress 2) because they both use baseball bats as weapons. Later, it became an One True Threesome with the addition of Leon Kuwat from Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, who is also a baseball player.
• Pokémon:
  • Pokémon Sword and Shield: It's quite popular to ship Scorbunny with Buneary (as well as Raboot/Cinderace with Lopunny), due to both lines being based on bunnies coupled with their masculine and feminine designs respectively (especially the latter pair). While the Buneary line isn't compatible with the base game of Sword and Shield, they do show up in the Isle of Armor. Wooloo gets shipped with Mareep and Cottonee, as they're both based on sheep. Unfortunately, Mareep isn't available in this game.
  • On the human side of things, it's common to see Allister getting shipped with Acerola (from Pokémon Sun and Moon) since they are both young children who specialize in Ghost-type Pokémon, as well as both of them having a Mimikyu (Allister in-game, Acerola in the anime).
  • Jasmine (Pokémon Gold and Silver) is a Steel-type leader from Johto, while Volkner (Pokémon Diamond and Pearl) is an Electric-type leader from Sinnoh. Their ship is strangely popular and the only connection that can link them is that Jasmine's Magnemite are part-Electric and that both are Gym Leaders in cities that have lighthouses.
• Splatoon: Being that they both hail from the long-gone era of humans and desire to get rid of all marine life to recreate the world they once knew due to an implied Despair Event Horizon, some have taken to shipping Commander Tartar and Mr. Grizz.
• Street Fighter: Since the release of ''Super Street Fighter IV'', Guy from Final Fight is shipped with Ibuki on the basis that both characters are ninjas.
• Super Smash Bros.: A few crossover and crack pairings have come out for these reasons:
  • Captain Falcon and Samus Aran have been shipped on the basis of both being badass bounty hunters with a moral code who fight evil with their fists in addition to their weaponry at hand; not to mention both pilot a Cool Spaceship (as the Blue Falcon has flight capabilities).
  • Samus Aran and Bayonetta get paired due to both being tall and badass ladies who can more than fight in high heels (at least when Samus isn't wearing her space suit).
  • Joker and Byleth have been shipped on account of them coming from games with multiple paths depending on your choices, their Badass Bookworm tendencies and the multiple shipping options they have at hand, some which are controversial.
  • Meta Knight and Lucina are paired as well, owing it to both being swordfighters who use a mask to conceal their faces and similar attire choices and color schemes.
• Yo Kai Watch: Blizzaria/Drizzelda have a few shippers on deck, due to them both having control over bad weather (and of course, being cute girls).

Web Animation

• Happy Tree Friends: Lumpy/The Mole is a popular couple due to being the most inept of the cast and having a high kill count as a result.

Web Comics

• A popular Crack Ship in the Aurora (2019) fandom is the Collector and Dr. Jolon, or Collectolon, two Life-magic-using Mad Scientist characters who have never met in canon.
• Homestuck: Crack Ship Eridan/Roxy is entirely based around their common interest in wizards.

Web Video

• Aventures: As soon as Cygne appeared, a lot of people were already shipping her with her fellow half-elemental and Launcher of a Thousand Ships Shin. Her smooth attitude and the comically out-of-place romantic music used during their conversation probably helped.
• The Classroom: Taylor and Garrett's relationship is based primarily on their similar — if cynical — world views.

Western Animation

• Hayley Smith from American Dad!, Meg Griffin from Family Guy, and Roberta Tubbs from The Cleveland Show are all the unappreciated daughters on Seth MacFarlane shows.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender: Ursa and Hakoda are the single, loving parents of major characters (respectively, Zuko and siblings Katara and Sokka), who are pressured to abandon their kids because of the war. They are the main pairing of fanfics such as Guide Me Home.
• Daria: The "Future Alter Egos," though not firmly canon, go even farther by pairing Depraved Bisexual Allison with The Alcoholic Lindy, as both are morally ambiguous characters who are introduced in movies.
• DuckTales (2017): Some of the fanbase ships Delpad (Della Duck/Launchpad McQuack). One of the main reasons is them being daring pilots who often enough cross the line toward recklessness. They also have a close relationship with the Duck/McDuck family.
• The Fairly OddParents!: Norm and Desiree (from Danny Phantom) were created so Butch Hartman could Ship them as a Theme Pairing but he forgot. Also, they were both created so the fans would fall in love with them and have sympathy for them. It was a Batman Gambit to make the fans stop falling in love with Crocker and other Dracos In Leather Pants.
• Gravity Falls: Dipper has been paired with Wirt (Over the Garden Wall), due to both being Adorkable nerds with goofy siblings. Dipper has also been shipped with Norman (ParaNorman), given they're both teens involved in the supernatural.
• Kim Possible fans like to pair Kim and Shego, the Action Girl and Dark Action Girl who are both more reasonable and level-headed than their eccentric male counterparts.
• Lilo Pelekai from Lilo & Stitch has occasionally been shipped with Mac from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends due to a couple of similarities they have — being bullied and having a crazy non-human blue friend, among others.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • After the release of "Marks and Recreation", Cultural Rebels Starlight and Rumble get shipped together. Both are initially skeptical about Cutie Marks. Starlight because she thinks the Marks only drive a wedge in the pony society and Rumble because he thinks the Marks label ponies in a way that traps them in limited roles for the rest of their lives.
  • Claro de Luna pairs together Princess Luna and Octavia as both are Ensemble Dark Horses and are perceived as classy by the fandom (Octavia for being an Elegant Classical Musician and Luna for her Flowery Elizabethan English). At the time of the fic's publishing, Octavia was only a background character in one episode (and an episode that Luna wasn't even in, at that).
• The Powerpuff Girls:
  • Pairing up Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory and Blossom is not rare as they're both Child Prodigy redheads.
  • Dib from Invader Zim is shipped with Bubbles because the two share being Artificial Humans with a bad case of Cassandra Truth. They have amassed a small following on DeviantArt and Tumblr, where their ship is called Dibbles.
  • Jack Spicer from Xiaolin Showdown and Teen Princess Morbucks are shipped on the basis of both being Evil Redheads, Spoiled Brats, Harmless Villains, and Lonely Rich Kids (to an extent, as they are both insufferable) who use their riches to build evil, powered gadgets and suffer from Parental Neglect (Jack's parents are never there and we never see Princess' mom. It might be implied that her parents got divorced or she works overseas a lot. Also, King Morbucks doesn't seem to have an interest in her well-being and he's only around to give her money when she asks for it.)
• Miraculous Ladybug: Félix and Lila are shipped because they are the only effective (minor and mostly Out of Focus) villains who have actually managed to get one over the heroes — the former by stealing all of the Miraculous jewels from Ladybug and the latter by managing to get Marinette akumatized. They both have also been Hawk Moth's minions at some point but are ultimately self-serving.
• Puppy in My Pocket: Adventures in Pocketville: Ava/William, as they are both leaders of some kind (Ava being The High Queen of Pocketville whilst William is the de facto leader of the Royal Guards). As a bonus, you get the Interspecies Romance of them being respectively a cat and a dog.
• Teen Titans:
  • We'd Fly Away Together pairs Robin with Terra because they're both troubled teens who became apprentices to Slade.
  • The Jinx/Raven fic To Catch A Raven pairs the two up because they're both magical gothic teens.
• Spliced: Peri and Patricia are among the most level-headed and relatable characters in the cast, with Peri fulfilling the role of the Only Sane Man whenever Patricia is not around to do so. Making it a case of Single Woman Seeks Good Man. They are also the more normal-looking ones — Patricia by virtue of being an actual if weird anima (a platypus) and Peri because he's a cute, furry spliced mutant with small cat-like ears and small tentacles as feet.
• Steven Universe:
  • Back when they were first introduced, Lapis and Peridot were paired together often, simply because they were the only two Homeworld gems that had been introduced at that point. Though later episodes would provide shippers with much more reason to pair the two together.
  • Bismuth and Jasper were paired together soon after the former's introduction, due to them both being big, buff gems with radical views.
  • Aquamarine and Navy are sometimes paired together, due to both of them being fake cuties that manipulate and mock the Gems just for fun. It also helps that they both have adorable designs.
  • Greg and Blue Diamond pretty much exploded in popularity after "Steven's Dream", due to their shared grief in losing a loved one and coming to something of an understanding over it. It's not uncommon to find AUs where Greg fell in love with Blue Diamond instead of Rose Quartz, or even some of Blue becoming Greg's Second Love.
  • Hessonite and Emerald have supporters, mostly because of both being very high-ranked Gems with similar designs. They have never met in the show, and while Hessonite's appearance in Save the Light is considered canon, the events of the game she appeared in were never alluded to in the show.
  • Spinel/Pink Pearl quickly became a popular ship following the release of Steven Universe: The Movie, partially because they've both received trauma, directly or indirectly, by the actions of Pink Diamond. Them both being pink and cute also helps.
• Winx Club:
  • If all the Homoerotic Subtext wasn't enough, Musa/Aisha is one of the most popular pairings. They are both passionate, Broken Birds (the former's mother died and the latter's childhood was loveless) who have to rebel against their parent(s) so they can achieve their dreams (pursuing a musical career and breaking out of the perfect princess ideal). They are also tomboys with a girly streak in the form of loving dancing, liking cute critters, and being sensitive inside. Coincidentally, they both maintain a Vitriolic Best Buds friendship with Stella, as they clash the most against her.
  • Sixth Ranger Roxy and Dragon with an Agenda Selina are paired both platonically and romantically because they are the Tag Along Kids of their respective teams, come from Gardenia (Earth), and have very similar magic sources — Roxy is the fairy of animals while Selina is the witch of snakes.
  • Bloom's name alludes to a flower blossoming and her Enchantix transformation reflects that; also her mother owns a flower shop. Flora is the fairy of nature and her bedroom is always a miniature greenhouse brimming with plants (and flowers) of all kinds. Add that they've been roommates since the series began and it's very easy to see why FireFlower was born.
  • A platonic example occurs with Daphne and Sylvanas Windrunner from World of Warcraft. As it turns out, they are Mirror Characters in just about everything — powerful warriors who get brutally murdered by The Dragons of invading, Zerg Rushing evil forces led by a Satanic Archetype. Then, they are cursed watching the ruins of their loved home planet/country for years as bodiless spirits. Fanfic Paradoxus makes this a key Plot Point.

In-Universe Examples

• Archer: Barry and Katya are Russian bionic humans. Also, Katya usurped Barry's position in the KGB and his role as the Big Bad. They elope together at the end of the second season.
• Le Dernier Vol: Bill and Marie are connected by their love of flying.
• Horde Champion: Anevay and Sylvanas are both bitter, nihilistic, and intensely traumatized individuals who belong to the Horde.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi: In-universe and an Interspecies Romance as well. Fuka and Fumika Narutaki (twin sisters) both marry Hellas princes. Twin princes.
• Wipeout (2008): The episode "Winners and Losers" features an in-universe platonic version. It presented some winner/loser pairs with a similar theme that had been given to them in previous episodes.
• Twilight Sparkle's Secret Shipfic Folder invokes this by pairing ponies because they are both Alicorns, Changelings, Unicorns, or Lesbians. Or a combination.

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