Why is [blank] Ship So Popular?

You did. So...yeah, my comment was redundant.

What about Dipper x Mabel?

Is it weird that I ship Sasori/Deidara from Naruto, but I have no idea why they seem to be the most popular ship in the Akatsuki? I mean, good Saso Dei fics are rare, and so far I can only conclude that it's because of the whole "danna" thing.

Also, what's with Matt/Mello? I ship that as well, but that probably makes even less sense because Matt only got like five minutes of screentime. You'd think Mello/Near would be more popular because Foe Yay, but...

BillDip or MaBill. Seriously, why, dude?

Dexter and Mandark. I feel like I must be missing something, because it seems like half the FF is slashing them.

Foe Yay and yaoi shippers at work pretty much.

Here's a million-dollar question; why is shipping in general so popular? I know it's not something I can get into, but it's not even something I understand the rationale behind. Not just shipping fictional characters, but real people, too. Surely their love lives are their business, and only their business. For that matter, why do some shippers seem so adamant on shipping together opposite-sex pairs while completely rejecting the possibility that they might literally just be friends? Are opposite-sex pairs not allowed to be platonic friends?

Agreed. Shipping's not something that I've ever gotten too invested in. I usually just go along with whatever's either canon or close to it.

I don't mind people getting excited about their ships, but I do mind how omnipresent and inescapable shipping is. Feels like it's automatically the most important thing in any given fandom, no matter what the work in question is.

edited 23rd Apr '16 9:49:17 PM by SapphireBlue

The reason why it is so prevalent everywhere is because our society is obsessed with romance and sex. There is people out there that will get seriously annoyed or will drop a work altogether if romance is not included.

This is despite the fact that humans don't need romance and sex to survive. Friendships, platonic love, and social interactions can by technicality be enough for a lot of people. Of course society loves to pressure you with the concept 'that you have to have a partner or your a failure at life. You have to have sex or your a failure at life.....

I can't even imagine how frustrating this type of thing is for asexuals or aromantics. I have not heard to many good stories from them.

Constant forced shipping and Rule 34 is kinda a byproduct of this unfortunately. When we stop putting the concepts of romance on a pedestal that I imagine we will see more works that won't focus on it or draw unnecessarily draw focus away from the plot for it. Romance fanfics in themselves aren't bad. I have read plenty of good and satisfying ones. The sheer popularity of the genre though makes it hard to find those gems in the rough....

Personally, I ship because it makes me feel happy.

Sir, you just speaks of 90% of shippers out there. The rest, of course, feed on pain and suffering that happens when another ship got attacked or torpedo'ed or get scuttled.

Here's a million-dollar question; why is shipping in general so popular?

Gee, I dunno. Why has romance been a mainstay theme of fiction in general since the dawn of mankind? I suppose it might have something to do with that.

And I'm noticing there's a disturbingly large amount of Marco/Tom, which just sickens me. Screw Tom.

I ship a lot of fictional couples even though I deprioritize starting romantic relationships IRL because very often in fiction it's easier for me to assess whether two characters are actually long-term compatible and it's also safer to find out that they're not.

Here is my Million Dollar answer:

While sex is not a necessity for individual humans, it is a necessity for humanity as a whole. A child can be created only by the fusion of an egg with sperm and, prior to in vitro fertilization, sex was the only way to accomplish this.

Granted, romance is not a necessity for sex. Indeed, throughout history, a person's spouse also being that person's closest confidant is the exception not the rule. However, the creation of children is a necessity for a society, whether they consider that business noble or Dirty. So, until recently, it has been in a society's best interests to play-up the bond-making that would be the ideal conditions for sex while playing-down the pain; from my understanding, this is why Marriage was sanctioned by Governments.^note And Religions, but until roughly 500 years ago they were one and the same and still are in some portions of the world, Hence, the creation of Romance Tropes.

The argument can be made that romance serves as an anesthetic of sorts; if you remove various hormones or what not, I could imagine sex being quite painful for someone on the "receiving end". Indeed, the anesthesia analogy is viable due to our "feeling good about" romance since at least the Middle Ages, if not Antiquity. Romance can be likened unto a drug because it has similar effects... including withdrawal symptoms. Carrying the analogy, Shipping can be considered something like "Second-Hand Smoke" if one could get high off the smoke of an inhaled substance. Or it could be something like Paint/Glue Fumes.

This does, however, raise the question of conflating Heterosexual or even Platonic Life-Partners with Romance. As stated earlier, a person's spouse being their "best friend" is the ideal but it's also the exception.

Maybe we have it reversed: in that the Tropes that were and are used for Romances were based on either unrealistic ideals or the closeness of said friendships, which were the Closest Thing We Got to those ideals. So it's easy to "Fumble the ball", as it were, because the ball is slippery to begin with.

There's a difference between liking romance and having it be the defining factor of a work that is not primarily about romance. I get that romance (and sex by extension) is a prominent part of fiction overall, and that shipping is an aspect of fandom that isn't going away, but it's frustrating when it feels like no one cares about anything else besides that.

It's not like I dislike romance in fiction, either - I'm totally fine with it even if I don't actively ship things, and sometimes I like it. It's just that sometimes I want to read fanfics about other things, and that's not always easy to do.

Back on topic, though, who was it that mentioned incest a few posts back? I never understood those either. It's honestly really creepy. I mean, I'm not surprised that it exists - this is the Internet, after all - but I am surprised that it gets so popular in certain fandoms. And who was it that mentioned Hiro and Tadashi? That one's really bad - at least Elsa and Anna are both adults!

but it's frustrating when it feels like no one cares about anything else besides that.

I don't think it really feels like that when one knows where to look, at least in most fandoms.

In fandoms with No Hugging, No Kissing or similarly underplayed romance angles, you already have enough of that in the canon work as it is, anyway.

I don't get Hiro and Tadashi either. That ship (and Elsa and Anna) is kind of an insult to the characters because the reason why the whole plot starts is that Hiro's only family figure in his life (besides his Aunt whom has to work a business) dies a horrible death for trying to save someone's life. This is why it makes so heartwrenching to see Hiro's reaction to Yokai's (Callaghan's) cold dismissal of his brother's death.

There is literally no romantic subtext between Hiro and Tamadashi for very very obvious reasons. Shippers seem to always find a way though...

I usually always try to go for mundane ships that make sense.

edited 24th Apr '16 4:42:48 PM by Ecrivan

It's worse then Elsanna. AT least both Elsa and Anna are of age. Hiro is a 14 year old and Tadashi is a college student.

That's not even getting into the fact Tadashi is dead. Sure they can argue that he might of somehow survived running around a burning, exploding building but it's very doubtful. Even if he did survive he would be scarred for life. Burn scars are not pleasant. And ones that bad could leave limbs borderline useless.

Shippers will still pair him though....

I do wonder what made Zutara so popular but I think I do know the answer is probably Katara is the female lead and Zuko is incredibly attractive.

Pretty much why. Zuko and Katara also have a lot more scenes then any of the canon couples do.

I do personally still prefer Mei and Zuko though.

I'm pretty sure Aang and Katara had more

No they didn't. I remember. Aang and Katara barely had moments together. Being that they were trying to save the world that isn't too surprising though....

edited 24th Apr '16 9:38:29 PM by Ecrivan

Zuko and Katara only had two or three episodes where they even spent significant not trying to kill each other time together though? Crossroads of Destiny, Southern Raiders and Into the Inferno? I mean I'm no shipper but I'm pretty sure Aang and Katara where getting development in the romantic direction from the first episode

edited 24th Apr '16 11:05:14 PM by lycropath

Well, to be fair, hanging out for a long time in-universe and getting lots of scenes aren't necessarily the same thing .