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Ship Mates / Western Animation

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  • Adventure Time: Bubbline shippers tend to team up with Finn/Flame Princess shippers against people who ship Finn with either Bubblegum or Marceline.
  • In the All Grown Up! 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.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:
    • 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/George. That completes the Canon Circle, after all. Toph has been paired off with Ohev, the Duke, and Teo.
      • Kataangers who don't like Mai usually ship Zuko with Jin.
      • 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 Die for Our Ship. 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.
    • Zuko/Sokka got a huge rise in popularity following the show's Newbie Boom when put on Netflix. Shippers of that pairing usually keep Katara with Aang, pair Mai with Ty Lee, and pull a Pair the Suitors with Sokka's canon girlfriends Suki and Yue (even though the latter is dead).
  • Ben 10: Alien Force shippers appear to adhere to the doctrine of "The enemy of an enemy is my friend"; Ben/Kevin and Ben/Gwen shippers don't tend to be rivals as much as allies against Ben/Julie. Ben/Kevin and Gwen/Charmcaster are even stauncher allies.
  • In The Boondocks fandom, Huey/Jasmine usually goes hand-in-hand with Riley/Cindy.
  • In the Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers fandom, Chip/Gadget shippers usually ship Dale with Foxglove, as it frees Gadget for Chip, and Dale/Foxglove shippers often ship Gadget with Chip, to free Dale for Foxglove. (Not all Dale/Foxglove shippers necessarily ship Chip/Gadget, though.) Which one is the One True Pairing and which one is the Beta Couple, however, depends on the author...)
  • Code Lyoko fanfic usually has a triple whammy — Ulrich/Yumi, Jérémie/Aelita, and Odd/Mary Sue. Earlier fics will usually pair Odd with Sam. Latter ones will mostly pair Odd with Sissi.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door shippers who shipped Numbuh 3 with Numbuh 4 would also ship Numbuh 5 with either Numbuh 2 (whom she ended up with anyway) or Numbuh 1. Those who shipped the latter would often pair Numbuh 2 with Numbuh 86 or The Kid. 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.
  • Danny Phantom:
    • Danny/Sam is often accompanied with Tucker/Valerie or Tucker/Jazz. Danny/Valerie and Tucker/Sam also could work out, though Sam's mostly 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 Danny and Ember will have Kitty and Johnny 13 as the Beta Couple, who frequently have the role of 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 Daria shippers would pair Jane and Jesse alongside Trent and Daria, referred to as Gang of Four. It's less common now, as canon effectively sank both ships.
  • For The Fairly OddParents!, some Timmy/Trixie shippers like the idea of Tootie (Timmy's Stalker with a Crush) ending up with Chester (his best friend). Some of them also support Veronica (who also likes Timmy) with Chester.
  • Gravity Falls fans who ship Mabel/Pacifica often ship Dipper/Bill Cipher as well. Wendy/Dipper shippers are also very often Mabel/Pacifica shippers.
  • Hey Arnold!:
  • Invader Zim:
    • 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 Brother–Sister Incest (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.
    • 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 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.
  • 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 intended to appear in the show, but that never did because it was cancelled early (she did later appear in 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 The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Nick/Betty and occasionally even Timmy/Betty is popular for no real reason except this, considering that Timmy and Betty never even met in the show.
  • In Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil, Kick/Kendall shippers goes well with Gunther/Jackie, especially since the latter ship would've put an end to Jackie's Abhorrent Admirer status to Kick. Fanfics that ship Kick/Kendall either ships Gunther/Jackie, or Jackie becomes a victim of Die for Our Ship. That same thing also happens a lot to Ronaldo (the Die for Our Ship part, that is, not the dating Gunther part). Alternatively, the currently canon Ronaldo/Kendall is very convenient for Kick/Scarlet shippers.
  • Kim Possible:
    • Kim/Ron and Drakken/Shego are often shipped by the same fans.
    • Ron/Bonnie or Ron/Yori (for het) and Ron/Drakken (for slash) are the most used pairings by KiGo writers who want to "free" Kim from Ron.
  • The Legend of Korra had this continuously evolving over the course of the show's intersecting LoveTriangles:
    • Before Asami's debut, Makorra and Bosami (Mako/Korra and Bolin/Asami) developed, solely based on Bolin's establishment as a pro-bender Chick Magnet 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 Ship-to-Ship Combat (at least those that didn't outright hate Asami) tended to continue pairing her with with Bolin as a form of Pair the Spares.
    • 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 Hilarious in Hindsight 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 Ho Yay between the two. Bolin/Opal also fits in nicely with both. Also commonly seen alongside Korrasami is Kya/Lin, as the former is canonically attracted to women, and the two fit nicely as an older and wiser couple helping out the younger duo.
  • Part of what drives the Brainy/Superman ship in Legion of Super-Heroes 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 main DCU continuity), so that leaves Brainiac 5 and Superman to be paired off.
  • In the The Loud House fandom, Lincoln/Ronnie Anne shippers often ship Clyde with either Lynn or Sid. Pairing Liam with Tabby is also popular among them.
  • Within the Milo Murphy's Law fandom, Milo/Amanda fans also ship Zack/Melissa or Bradley/Melissa. Milo/Melissa fans that particularly don't like Amanda being Milo's love interest generally pair her off to Zack, but some of them ship Zack/Jackie instead.
  • Miraculous Ladybug:
    • Fans often pair Nathaniel, who had a crush in Marinette in one episodenote , with Chloe or Lila, both of whom have a crush on Marinette's love interest, Adrien. Canonically, Nathaniel doesn't like Chloe (though to be fair, who does?) and possibly never met Lila.
    • In a platonic variant, Nathaniel and 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 Love Interest.
    • Kagami and Luka, Romantic False Leads for Adrien and Marinette respectively, are never gonna displace the 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!
    • Fans who prefer their ships gay often pair the main characters Marinette and Adrien with their same-gender best friends Alya and Nino respectively. Since doing just one and not the other would both break up the canon Beta Couple and leave a main character completely unpaired, these ships almost always come together — even works which are clearly about just one of these relationships will often still include at least a passing mention that the other one did happen.
  • Among the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic 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 Rainbow Dash/Pinkie Pie ship also feature Rarity and Applejack as the Beta Couple.
    • 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 Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash and 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) Spike/Rarity fans have a tendency to ship 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 threesomes of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they ship two members together and 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 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.
    • Fans of Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash also like to ship Discord with Celestia, in order to avoid a potential FlutterDash/FlutterCord triangle.
  • For the first season of The Owl House, Luz was the only main character with an Implied Love Interest in Amity, so many of the various ship mate choices (such as the fairly popular Eda/Camila, "Luz's two moms") were Crack Pairings. Then the second season introduces Eda's canonical ex-partner, Raine Whispers, and the two of them are quite clearly shown to have lingering feelings for each other. Furthermore, Launcher of a Thousand Ships Hunter is heavily implied to have a crush on Luz's close friend Willow Park (and it's also strongly hinted to be mutual). By the end of Season 2, Luz/Amity, Eda/Raine, and Willow/Hunter are most commonly shipped together.
    • Fans who ship Lunter (Luz/Hunter) tend to ship Amillow (Amity/Willow).
  • For Phineas and Ferb, some fans go with canon, shipping Phineas/Isabella and Ferb/Vanessa. Alternatively, some fans ship Ferb with Gretchen (the glasses-wearing Fireside Girl), which frees Vanessa up with her current boyfriend Monty, and also leaves Isabella all to Phineas, whom she has the hots for anyway (and maybe him with her too). And of course, either of these scenarios can include non-related ships, usually Candace/Jeremy or Baljeet/Ginger. Pairings like Phineas/Ferb or Ferb/Isabella usually lack any Ship Mates.
    • Usually, those who ship both 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 Recess fandom, T.J./Spinelli often ship Vince/Gretchen, Gus/Cornchip Girl, and Mikey/Kurst the Worst.
  • The Simpsons
    • Many fans of Ned Flanders/Reverend Lovejoy will ship Maude Flanders/Helen Lovejoy so their wives won’t be left out. These ships are usually referred to as “male Flanjoy” and “female Flanjoy”.
    • Burns/Smithers shippers tend to be fans of Chalmers/Skinner as well, due to both of them being boss/employee ships propelled by canonical Ho Yay.
    • Lisa/Nelson shippers tend to ship Milhouse/Samantha or Milhouse/Bart to get Milhouse out of the way of the Milhouse/Lisa/Nelson Love Triangle.
  • South Park:
    • It is traditionally popular in the fandom to ship Stan/Kyle opposite Cartman/Wendy.
    • Stan/Kyle and Cartman/Butters from the Het Is Ew crowd. Wendy/Bebe are also shipped together in this 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 Star vs. the Forces of Evil fans who ship 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.
  • Star Wars Rebels fans who ship Ezra with Sabine will also ship Kanan with Hera and often (but not always) Zeb with Kallus as well. However, the reverse is not necessarily true: knowing someone ships Kanera or Kanera+Kalluzeb doesn't predict if they ship Sabezra.
  • Steven Universe fans have a good number, but the biggest example is probably Pearl/Amethyst and Lapis/Peridot. The latter was a Fan-Preferred Couple 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 Sixth Ranger 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.
  • Teen Titans (2003):
    • 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 Die for Our Ship).
    • 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 Kid Flash/Jinx, which might be why it's the only couple with its own Portmanteau Couple Name (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, 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 watches how well pink and purple go together.
  • Total Drama has a great deal of this. Thanks to its substantial fanbase of Crack Shippers and numerous Ensemble Dark Horses, any random pairing could be thrown in beside any other ship. Some of the more notable cases:
  • Voltron: Legendary Defender:
    • Many Keith/Lance shippers used to ship Shiro/Allura too, as it neatly took care of both the man shipped the second-most frequently with Keith in the fandom and the woman Lance flirted with the most frequently in canon in one fell swoop. When Shiro was revealed to be gay, they shifted to pairing him with Adam or Curtis instead.
    • Shiro/Keith shippers, on the other hand, usually back Lance/Allura (or, after the series finale's events, Lance/will-never-move-on-from-Allura).
  • It's exceedingly rare, but Wild Kratts fans that secretly ship Martin/Koki are also allies of Chris/Aviva.
  • In 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.
  • X-Men: Evolution. 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 Young Justice (2010), Spitfire (Wally/Artemis) shippers will pair Dick with anyone (usually Zatanna or Batgirl) just as long as he stays away from Artemis.

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