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Ship Tease / Western Animation

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How to go from a teasing bully to a tease of romance.
Examples of Ship Tease in Western Animation.

Shows with their own pages:

Individual examples:

  • Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers had quite a bit of this between Shane and Niko, especially if Chris Rowley was writing. "Scarecrow" is positively loaded. There's one scene where Shane was dancing with a local girl. Niko asks him later about his "girlfriend," and he remarks "She already has a date...and so do I." Then, there's the scene where Scarecrow busts into an injured Niko's room and attacks her. Shane breaks in and brawls Scarecrow, but is knocked against a wall. Before the Scarecrow can kill him, Niko grabs her BFG and shoots, scaring the thing off. As she swoons from the injuries she already has, Shane catches her, and says softly. "Easy, babe, sleep now." It was rather amusing when Rowley discovered the Fanfic fifteen years later...
  • Throughout All Hail King Julien there are hints that King Julien and his bodyguard Clover could be an item. She gets extremely upset when Julien starts dating her twin sister Crimson, but adamantly denies it's because she's jealous. King Julien also gets annoyed when Clover is in love with Koto and Sage, mostly in Un-King Me and The End is Near. Most subtly, both characters don't like it when characters randomly touch them, but are generally fine if it's each other doing the touching.
  • Arcane: Vi and Caitlyn's budding relationship drips with Homoerotic Subtext with all of their interactions having increasingly romantic undertones as the show progresses.
    • Caitlyn and Vi’s dynamic is very Slap-Slap-Kiss, especially during the scene where they head to the brothel in Episode 5. At one point Vi even tells Caitlyn "You're hot, Cupcake" before getting very close and asking if she's interested in men or women. Later in the same episode, as Vi is leaving the brothel, she becomes very pleased to see Caitlyn flirting with a female prostitute.
    • After Caitlyn saves Vi from Sevika we get more intimate scenes such as Vi saying she calls Caitlyn "Cupcake" because she's so sweet. Later when it becomes obvious that Vi's injuries are life threatening Caitlyn goes to find a doctor, when the "doctor" demands a trade for her cure Caitlyn doesn't hesitate to trade her rifle (her only weapon) for the cure. Once back with Vi Caitlyn helps her calm down after the cure hits her system, with the two staring into each others eyes their lips not even an inch apart.
    • When the two are captured by the firelights and despite being angry with each other, Caitlyn demands they let Vi go and that she is the one they want. When Vi reveals she's fine, Caitlyn is flustered and says she was worried about her. Later in the episode when Vi decides to return to the Undercity, she and Caitlyn share a hug, and as they part Vi strokes Caitlyn's cheek. When things go bad and a shot rings out, Vi immediately turns around yelling for Caitlyn (even though her Childhood Friend Ekko was also there).
    • When they have a very intimate talk on Caitlyn's bed with a soul-splitting Held Gaze and tender face caress (seriously, the sexual tension is insane).
    • When they part ways in the rain after failing to get the help they need from the council, both of them are obviously feeling anguish, especially after Caitlyn asks if their relationship is really impossible, followed by Caitlyn feeling tormented about it in the shower.
    • In the final episode of Season 1, for the first time in the entire season we see Vi absolutely terrified, all by the idea that Caitlyn might have become one of Jinx's victims, and just before The Reveal Vi's mind flashes to that intimate moment they had on Cait's bed.
  • Archer has unimaginable amounts of everyone on everyone but in the season 4 episodes, the most prominent is Archer and Lana, who have plunged into the Will They or Won't They? category. They used to date but since Archer's an unrepentant asshole, Lana has no desire to be in a relationship with him. However, they've slept together at least once since the breakup and Archer shows signs of actually caring about her while she flip-flops between hating his guts and realizing he isn't a total Jerkass. This is taken further in Archer: Vice. Along with comforting her several times whenever things got too dire, Archer has tried his damndest to be the father figure he feels Lana's unborn child is going to need.
  • Arthur:
    • The show teased Arthur/Francine a few times with a She Is Not My Girlfriend episode at one point and a few glimpses into the future (which may or may not be Imagine Spots) that imply both will eventually get married.
    • Another episode also teased Arthur/Sue Ellen by having her write "nice things" about Arthur in her diary, and Arthur blushed in response to learning that she did.
    • Arthur's sister D.W./her classmate James is teased in "Kiss and Tell," where she hears from her friend Emily that a boy kissed her in Paris, and wants to be kissed by a boy too. When James votes for her CD to be played at naptime in their preschool, D.W. decides he's the boy who should kiss her. When he eventually does kiss her, she's stunned for a few seconds. The two are teased again in "D.W. Unties the Knot" where D.W. starts planning her dream wedding after seeing a reality TV show about fancy weddings, and of course, she picks James as her groom (though it should be noted that D.W. didn't actually know about the "marriage" part of a wedding when she begun planning it; she thought it was just a fancy party with no life changes involved).
      For smaller examples of the two being ship teased, James pushes D.W. on a swing and later looks delighted when D.W. sits next to him in class in "Emily Swallows a Horse," and D.W. puts her hand on James' shoulder in "Night of the Tibble." It's also notable that despite being a Bratty Half-Pint, D.W. is generally more than willing to help James whenever he's in trouble even if it comes at her own expense, such as sacrificing her chance at victory to help him when his swim fin got stuck on a lane marker in "D.W. Swims with the Fishes,", or trying to keep the fact that he split his pants at school a secret to spare him from humiliation in "The Secret About Secrets," despite feeling that Keeping Secrets Sucks.
  • The Backyardigans: Plenty of ship tease, but what crossed the final line was the song "I Need a Hand" during "Caveman's Best Friend". It's the end of the song, folks. When they're holding hands. Doesn't that scream "LOVE" to you?! I guess it does.
  • The Boondocks: Huey and Jazmine, in several episodes. They even have their own Shipper on Deck in the form of Granddad.
  • Captain Planet and the Planeteers:
    • "Rain of Terror": Kwame catches Gi after she falls off the climbing wall, ending up holding her in a Bridal Carry for a second or two. She playfully boops his nose afterwards.
    • "Beast of the Temple": Linka and Wheeler nearly kiss before the dragon shows up to kill the moment, and when Linka sees that Wheeler is all right afterwards, she throws herself at him in relief.
    • "A World Below Us": After accidentally losing her oxygen bottle while diving, Gi is rescued by a young man named Pontis who lives in the underwater city named Oceanus. The two quickly bond over marine biology, and while Gi can't stay in Oceanus, she does give Pontis a hint that they can meet on Saturday when she'll be scuba-diving – with a playful wink for good measure.
    • "The Predator": Bleak sinks the Eco-copter with Wheeler, Linka, and Kwame on board. Linka almost kisses Wheeler when they both think they're about to drown, and when Wheeler takes longer to reach the ocean's surface after they find a way to escape, it's her and not Kwame who expresses worry.
    • "Summit to Save Earth":
      • As the Planeteers are trapped in Zarm's polluted tornado, only Wheeler is shown holding someone protectively – and that someone is Linka.
      • While getting rid of Zarm, Captain Planet manages to give Gaia a quick, yet very affectionate hug. This is non-verbally lampshaded by Wheeler and Kwame, whose expressions indicate they suspect something is going on between their Parental Substitutes and they're all for it.
    • "Hate Canal": While she and Wheeler are investigating Venice in a gondola, Linka admits that the city would be a romantic place if not for the problem of the week. He puts a hand on her shoulder and she turns her head to smile at him, only for a mutated rat to interrupt the moment. After they knock the rat off the gondola, she seems interested in picking up where they left off rather than pretending it didn't happen.
    • "Hog Tide": Two of the heroes from Gaia's tale – Niko and Lydia (Wheeler's and Linka's respective counterparts) – seem rather attracted to each other from the moment they first meet. When the story is over, Wheeler asks enthusiastically if the two ended up marrying each other, but Gaia refuses to elaborate on this.
      Gaia: Now, stop pestering me for details. The storm's over, so go out; enjoy the sun.
    • "The Night of the Wolf": Ma-Ti develops a crush on a rancher's young daughter, Laura (she's about the same age as Ma-Ti himself). Wheeler notices them holding hands and is stunned by the evidence that his adoptive little brother has discovered girls.
      Wheeler: Ma-Ti? With a girl?
    • "Little Crop of Horrors": Kwame instinctively nicknames the young female scientist they're working with (something Wheeler notices immediately). He dreamily talks about how attractive she is and she ultimately hugs him and says she'd like their relationship to grow.
  • Castlevania:
    • Trevor and Sypha have multiple moment of this, to point where they're essentially a Official Couple by the end of Season 2. Also it's barely teasing if your familiar with the games and know that Sypha helps continue the Belmont Family lineage with Trevor. The first episode of Season 3 hints that Trevor and Sypha are getting more intimate by the fact they're sleeping in the back of the cart together and following the episodes confirm they're making love◊.
    • Trevor and Alucard as Vitriolic Best Buds get a healthy dose of Ho Yay shipping.
    • Interestingly Sypha gets a Luminescent Blush when Alucard first talks to her and later in Season 2 Alucard even gets fairly jealous that Sypha is beginning to like Trevor and lectures her about getting distracted.
      • Given that Alucard is bisexual in this series it's most likely he had equally strong feelings for both Trevor and Sypha in the first two seasons.
    • Hector and Isaac, lampshaded in Deadpan Snarker manner by the latter.
      Hector: But we are on the same side.
      [Hector places his hand on Isaac's shoulder]
      Isaac: Is this where we kiss like Benedictine monks from different monasteries?
    • Season 3 has Hector and Lenore and Alucard and Taka and Sumi, though it gets subverted nastily.
  • Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers:
    • Depending on the episode, Gadget was either interested in Chip, interested in Dale, interested in someone else (usually a one-shot character like Sparky), not interested in anyone, or unaware of the concept of romance.
    • One-shot teases like Dale and Foxglove, which carried over into the brief comic revival by Boom!. To a lesser degree there's Tammy and Chip, although this was rather one-sided on Tammy's part.
  • Chowder: There are a few such moments between Shnitzel and Ms. Endive, even though Endive has a Does Not Like Men attitude and Shnitzel is The Unintelligible of the group. They are ultimately Happily Married in the Grand Finale.
  • Code Lyoko:
    • There is a LOT of it between Ulrich and Yumi.
    • Used on several occasions with Odd and Sissi, who share an almost Slap-Slap-Kiss dynamic.
    • Odd gets a lot of Ship Tease with Aelita, calling her "Princess" and mentioning how pretty she is on more than one occasion. Aelita also seems to worry about him more often, usually running to help him every time he gets hurt in Lyoko, and prefers riding on the Overboard with him. And then there's their kiss in season 4. According to Word of God, though, nothing comes of it.
  • Codename: Kids Next Door:
    • Kuki and Wally fans are teased repeatedly: for instance, in The Movie, playing with Dying Declaration of Love by having one of them infected with The Virus (and passing it on just in time for Kissing Under the Influence). The final episode's Distant Finale framing sequence hints at a Last-Minute Hookup between Kuki and Hoagie, before revealing at the last moment that they were just sitting together and having Wally berate Hoagie to take his hands off Kuki, his wife, thus revealing that Wally and Kuki did get married.
    • In the case of unresolved ship tease, Nigel/Numbuh One and Rachel/Numbuh 362. The season 5 finale showed them as very close friends, with Nigel constantly trying to snap her out of her Heroic BSoD. Then came "Operation: G.I.R.L.F.R.I.E.N.D.", which has them on a First-Name Basis and did everything short of waving a flag in your face saying "SHE'S MADLY IN LOVE WITH HIM!"
    • Of course, another unresolved ship tease, Sonia/Numbuh 83 and Lee/Numbuh 84. Both were often seen together, and they were even seen holding hands in Operation: Z.E.R.O.
  • Craig of the Creek
    • A few of these happen between Craig and Kit in "The Shortcut", most notably when Kit's Grandma whispers to Kit that she shouldn't trade Craig anything for her heart, causing Kit to be embarrassed.
    • Wildernessa has this with Craig. In her debut episode, as she describes the dangers of the creek, her imaginary depiction of Craig is exaggeratedly handsome. It's made very explicit that she has a crush on him in "Breaking the Ice". Cartoon Network even teased them in their social media platform accounts during the 2021 Valentine's Day with "Vote for Your Fav Ship Name", where they called them "Crildernessa", and "Your Relationship Based on Your Sign", where they use couples to represent the Western Zodiac, with them representing Taurus. What's interesting to note is on the latter post, they used Official Couples for each signs (granted, two of the couples broke upnote  and one's with a Companion Cubenote ), so it's ambiguous if they'll go down that route with them. Then, the day before Valentine's Day 2022, they were teased even further in "All the Adorable Couples", which included married couples like Nicole & Duane and Jojo & Earl, couples officially dating like Courtney & Tabitha and Bernard & Alexis, and couples who are official in all but name like Kelsey & Stacks, J.P. & Maney, and Shawn & Raj. "Craig to Future" has Courtney and Tabitha predicting based on their tarot readings that he and Wildernessa would become boyfriend and girlfriend in the future.
    • In "Sink or Swim Team", when Craig visits the Sewer Queen's house, Kelsey and J.P. assume that Craig was planning on marrying her behind their backs. When he meets her grandmother, she calls him guapo and asks the Sewer Queen if Craig was her boyfriend. She is immediately embarrassed.
  • Dan Vs. has the recurring Dan/Hortence ship teasing.
    • In "Burgerphile", after getting his order wrong, Dan stands up against Burgerphile in protest, demanding they fix his order. Hortence, an employee of the fast food chain, later joins Dan and announces herself as Dan's girlfriend. However, before the two can share a kiss, she moves to Santa Monica to become regional manager of Burgerphile. Dan claims she's gone forever despite being only a twenty mile drive away.
    • Hortence made her return in season 2's "The Wedding", where it's revealed she's getting married to Jeremiah Burger, the CEO of Burgerphile. Dan takes this news in typical Dan fashion and tries various times to sabotage the event. After Dan completely trashes her wedding, she really does move away forever, wishing not to see him again.
  • The 2015 reboot of Brit cartoon Danger Mouse contains Ship Teases for Professor Squawkencluck and DM's sidekick Penfold, with probably the biggest hints coming in the third season. In "A Fistful of Penfolds", Squawk and Penfold share a moment where Squawk admits she could kiss him, Penfold attempts to reciprocate with an actual kiss, only for Squawk to decline. She then later saves Penfold single-handily from a legion of out-of-control Penfold robots that she created.
    • Danger Mouse is often teased with Jeopardy Mouse in a love/hate relationship, but the events of the episode Melted suggest, perhaps controversially, that he may have feelings for underage super villain Dawn.
    • The episode The World Is Full of Stuff eventually reveals Danger Mouse and Squawkencluck are fated to be the shows Official Couple
  • Defenders of the Earth contains several Ship Teases involving Rick and Jedda. For example, at the end of "The Men of Frost":
    Rick: [referring to guest character Elgar] He's a great guy, Jedda. I can see why he's so special to you.
    Jedda: Yes, he is. But no-one's as special to me as you are, Rick.
  • The Dragon Prince
    • The first season tended to tease the relationship between Callum and his childhood friend Claudia. This included some playful interactions on Claudia's part, while Callum had a nice dream where he could smell Claudia's peanut butter breath. This teasing carried on into season 2, even going so far as giving them an Almost Kiss. However, subsequent episodes cause them to drift apart, and most people agree that this ship is now pretty dead in the water.
    • Since Callum isn't traveling with Claudia, he became more popularly paired with his new traveling friend, Rayla. The writers noticed this, and some teasing started happening in the end of season 2 before teasing it heavily in season 3. In fact, the two actually confirm their feelings for each other by the middle of the season with a Big Damn Kiss.
    • Amaya and Janai started off on opposite sides of the war, but they gave each other warrior's honor that gave them a considerable amount of respect. Even after she imprisoned Amaya, Janai made sure that her life was spared, and very quickly freed her when she learned her sister was in danger. And when it was too late, Amaya had to hold and calm down a weeping Janai, notably by holding her hand. The two started traveling with each other to go assist Callum and co. in their fight against Viren. They continue to grow in friendship and once again hold hands at the end of the season.
  • The DuckTales (1987) episode "Duck to the Future" was pretty Ship tease-y in the Magica/Scrooge department, what with Magica embracing Scrooge when the two escape from the Hindenburg...and reaching down his shirt for his #1 Dime.
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy:
    • The Kanker Sisters are always kidnapping and harrassing the Eds, due to their massive crush on each of their respective Eds (Lee/Eddy, Marie/Edd, and May/Ed).
      • In "Hanky Panky Hullabaloo", Edd/May is heavily ship teased when two fairies give them the arrow of love. Even after the curse is taken off the two love birds, Edd still keeps his love letter from May, safely tucked away in his hat.
    • Nazz is a crush magnet for every boy in the cul-de-sac (except for Rolf and Jimmy), as Ed, Edd, Eddy, Kevin, and even Jonny 2x4 have shown to have feelings for her and have competed for her affections on more than one occasion.
      • Edd was teased for Edd/Nazz in "The Day The Ed Stood Still." See the kiss scene which we ALL remember.
      • After spending the entirety of The Big Picture Show with Kevin/Nazz shipteasing, Eddy ends up getting a kiss from Nazz in the end. It's adorable.
    • Sarah gets her fair share of ship teasing as well, in "An Ed Too Many", she gains a crush on Edd after he gives her a flower. She still has this crush all the way into season 3 with "For Your Ed Only", where Sarah has an entire diary entry dedicated to the sock head.
      • Edd may reciprocate these feelings, in the pilot episode, he tries flirting with her by revealing that someone has also "touched his stuff".
      • In "May I Have This Ed", Jonny is seen asking Sarah to the dance, this goes as you'd predict.
    • Not even the Eds themselves are safe from being shipped with each other, in "Your Ed Here", Kevin has Eddy and Double Dee kiss on the lips. Eddy does this so Kevin won't blow the whistle on his middle name, but regardless, diehard Eddy/Edd fans go crazy for this scene.
      • Eddy's Brother would later ask if Double Dee was his girlfriend in a teasing manner.
  • Elena of Avalor:
    • Gabe has some moments with Elena, since he has a Bodyguard Crush on her.
    • When Gabe gets possessed by a cursed sword and starts referring to himself as "El Guapo," Naomi first confirms that it translates to "Handsome" before agreeing that it's an apt description.
  • El Tigre: This is all supported by Word of God confirming that Manny and Frida would become a couple when they got older.
    • "Oso Solo Mio" ends with Manny and Frida watching El Oso run off into the horizon with the thing he loves most — money. Frida comments on how beautiful love is before sliding herself towards Manny. Manny simply looks at her confused before a heart-shaped Iris Out appears around the pair. Awww.
    • The final scene in the final episode sees Frida suddenly kiss a surprised Manny in her arms after the Riveras defeat every villain in Miracle City.
  • The Fairly OddParents!:
  • In the Family Guy episode "Internal Affairs", Meg is seen holding a present at Kevin's party.
  • While Fillmore! was mostly a No Hugging, No Kissing series, the writers definitely gave a Toy Ship vibe between the two leading characters. Mostly because their dialogue had a tendency to sound flirtatious at times, coupled with all the subtext of a Buddy Cop Show.
  • Fireman Sam:
    • Norman and Mandy in one episode, where they hold hands while lost in the smoke from a fire. Realising they're still holding hands several minutes after being rescued, Norman reacts with the appropriate disgust of an eight year old boy.
    • Elvis and Penny in the original series, as well as Dilys and Trevor throughout.
    • In the CGI series, not only does Penny get some with Elvis when she thanks his selflessness in trying to get himself fired so Penny wouldn't in a misunderstanding on his part with a kiss, but when Ben Hooper, the new coastguard, is introduced, she sees him for the first time in a toned-down but still noticeable Crush Filter, and a later episode has the two complimenting and conversing with each other, at the expense of forgetting their work with Sam salvaging buoys.
    • Dilys also has some with Sam, Station Officer Basil Steele, and Chief Fire Officer Boyce.
  • Four Eyes!: One episode has Skyler turned into a frog and Emma turns him back to normal a la The Frog Prince. Pete quietly fawns over the potential of the couple.
  • Gabby’s Dollhouse:
    • The show constantly tends to put DJ Catnip and MerCat next to each other in the same scene,prompting the fans of that couple to ship them
    • There are also people who ship Cakey with Baby Box, who are also often put on the same scenes
  • Gargoyles
    • Gargoyles touching another's hair is seen as an intimate act, akin to kissing. So when Goliath briefly strokes Elisa's hair as she is recovering from a gunshot wound, it's a sign that Goliath already had strong affection for her.
      • Earlier, Elisa accidentally brushes against Goliath's hair when he picks her up. He is pleasantly surprised but doesn't protest.
    • In "City of Stone", when inspecting what the Manhattan clan believe to be a stone statue of Elisa (not realizing it actually is Elisa), Goliath gently touches Elisa's cheek and his claw lingers there.
    • In "Eye of the Beholder" which takes place during Halloween, Goliath is able to walk freely in the streets arm in arm with Elisa. Elisa remarks she wanted to walk with Goliath for some time now before they have a Dance of Romance.
    • After Elisa is transformed back into a human, she and Goliath (still transformed into a human at this time) briefly hold hands and smile at each other.
    • When following Elisa undercover and keeping up with his persona, Goliath tells Dracon that he doesn't care about humans getting hurt unless that human is Elisa. Dracon takes it to mean that Elisa is Goliath's woman.
  • Gravity Falls:
    • In "Summerween", Candy Chiu hanging on to Dipper after the Trickster's threat was enough to send some shippers into fits of squeeing. There were aleady Candy/Dipper shippers before, but this was the first remotely shippy real interaction they could grasp. In "Roadside Attraction", she canonically gets a temporary crush on Dipper, of which Mabel and Grenda are way too eager of helping them get alone time together. However, due to Dipper feeling uncomfortable about her crush, and her losing interest by the end of the episode, this doubles as Ship Sinking.
    • The episode "Northwest Mansion Mystery" was full of Dipper/Pacifica Northwest (known as Dipcifica/Padippica by the fandom) teases. Let's see, there's Pacifica hugging Dipper, then getting embarrassed and trying to bribe him to forget about it, Dipper walking into a column due to trying to act suave in front of her, and of course the tender moment the two share when Dipper tells Pacifica You Are Better Than You Think You Are. Not to mention that in the video game "Legend of the Gnome Gemulets", when Mabel mentions it, they seem to inconspicuously deny it ever happened, although Mabel seems to think otherwise. If THAT weren't enough, the published journal has Dipper admit he thought Pacifica was becoming a decent person, looked nice in a dress, and smelled like champagne and flowers. The last sentence, crossed out, is him wondering if there was "some vibe" going on between them. Don't Color This Book, It's Cursed! throws a little more fuel on the fire by including Dipper and Pacifica ("after we cure her rich-kid ails with our wonderful friendship") as a couple on a two-page spread of "Mabel's Future Match-Making Projects". Dipper then thinks about this after Mabel says it's after Pacifica starts to become more friendly. In Gravity Falls: Lost Legends, the first story, "Face It", is devoted completely to Dipper and Pacifica's relationship. They hug and later Pacifica accidentally sends a text to Mabel about it, who seems pleased. It even extends into its sister show, Amphibia, where a hidden cryptogram reads: "Dipcifica 4 Lyfe". note 
    • There is also quite a lot of Ship Tease for a popular ship that sinks in the second season which is then reinvigorated by the fans near the end, Wendip (Wendy and Dipper). Despite Dipper himself realizing that it is hopeless at times, the show has several episodes where the tease appears reciprocated. A couple of notable episodes include "The Inconveniencing" with their first session of really hanging out and "The Deep End," where Dipper and Wendy continually chill and have fun together as lifeguards at the pool. Then there is "Into the Bunker." This episode begins with teasing but ends with sinking. The tease happens in the beginning with Dipper and Wendy watching a movie at her house, and there is a bit of it when they get trapped in the closet and bump into each other. After that, however, the ship sinks after Wendy kindly rejects Dipper. There is a little more teasing after that, though, when Dipper and Wendy hug in "Weirdmageddon Part 1". "Weirdmageddon Part 3" is ultimately the biggest revival of the ship with Dipper and Wendy switching hats as they part ways until next summer.
  • Grojband loved doing this with Corey and Laney, especially in later episodes, where the former seems to become less oblivious to Laney's gargantuan crush on him. For example, in the Once per Episode song of "For Hat and Country", Corey mentions "his gal" and a silhouette of Laney's head appears, while in the episode "Curse of the Metrognome", the two have an Accidental Kiss and both clearly enjoy it very much (with the two giving each other small smiles as they sing together in the episode's song).
    • The Grand Finale "Hear Us Rock!" is loaded to the brim with this. When Laney tells Corey that it's been a pleasure playing with him, Corey tells her that the pleasure was his, and then there's Corey's Once per Episode Spoof Aesop which he addresses directly towards Laney, even hugging and caressing her as he talks.
    Corey: Saving the world's one thing, Lanes. But there's other one things that are everything. A one thing so special you'd die to save it and be lost without it. And losing the one thing that's everything could leave you with nothing. A nothing so empty and cold you can't even feel the wicked heat that's right beside you.
  • Hey Arnold! does this with some of the lesser characters: Harold with both Rhonda and Patty, Sid and Rhonda (in the episode "Wheezin' Ed"), Sheena and Eugene. Phoebe and Gerald also count earlier on, but they're more or less the official Beta Couple by season 4.
  • The Hollow: Adam with Mira, Subverted when she actually kisses him and he reacts by awkwardly saying he has no interest in her.
  • Iron Man: Armored Adventures is loaded with this. Tony/Pepper, Tony/Whitney, and Rhodey/Whitney all get ship teases in the series, but that's just the intentional ones. Unintentionally there's hints of Pepper/Gene all over the place, though Word of God has it they were meant to just come across as friends.
  • In Ivanhoe: The King's Knight, Rebecca gets ship tease with three different characters: Saladin's son Nur, Front-de-Boeuf's Danish cousin's son William Lampton and her friend Wamba in that order.
  • Jake And The Neverland Pirates: There are affectionate moments between Jake and Marina, the mermaid. According to an interview that's no longer online, Marina's voice actress, Ariel Winter, supports the pairing. There's also ship tease between John and Izzy in Battle for the Book.
  • In one Jem episode, Minx and Techrat meet. Techrat Hates Being Touched however he doesn't mind Minx touching him. Word of God is that the two would have ended up together if the series hadn't been Cut Short.
  • Jimmy Two-Shoes does this endlessly with Jimmy and Heloise.
    • In "There's Always a Hiccup", a doctor suggests that Jimmy cure Heloise's hiccups with a slight obstruction of the air passage, such as a prolonged kiss. Jimmy reluctantly decides to provide it, but in the ensuing hilarity, Heloise ends up kissing Beezy instead.
    • In "Fused Together", Jimmy and Heloise go to the movies together, albeit with the both of them fused to Beezy's back. The episode ends with Heloise cuddling up to Jimmy as flaming arrows form a giant heart around the two (not counting Beezy). Awww.
    • In "I Am Jimmy" Jimmy comes into Heloise's room when all of Miseryville is in hibernation. After trying to wake her up normally, he looks into the book she's holding, reading that a princess was awakened by a kiss. He looks at Heloise for a moment, who has sparkles over her... then tosses the book aside, muttering, "You can't believe everything you read."
    • Season 2 does this in virtually every other episode, due to Heloise's crush on Jimmy become more gigantic than ever. Some episodes are focused entirely on Heloise trying to get Jimmy to notice her!
  • According to the Writer's Bible of Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures, the writers wanted to Ship Tease Jonny/Jessie in the first season. When a new head writer took over in season 2, Ship Tease was also planned for Hadji/Jessie while continuing the Jonny/Jessie teasing from the previous season, hinting at a possible Two Guys and a Girl Love Triangle. The Jonny/Jessie teasing culminated in the second season episode "Ghost Quest" where Jonny and Jessie kiss while possessed by the ghosts of two former lovers. With the kiss continuing for several seconds after the ghosts, as it took them that long to realize they were back in control of their bodies.
  • In Justice League Bruce Timm admitted to doing this with Batman and Wonder Woman after shippers misinterpreted a gesture of thanks as flirting in "The Brave and the Bold". Anybody who's familiar with the DC Animated Universe (specifically Batman Beyond) knows that Batman is going to end up bitter and alone...
  • A season 4 episode of KaBlam! featured Henry falling in love with a one-shot character, Dawn. June was mad. So were the H/J Shippers. Did the creators forget about episode 29? (Oh wait, never mind. They did.)
  • Kim Possible:
    • From day one there's all manner of Ship Tease going on between Kim and Ron. Certain exchanges ("If she saw us coming out of a date movie together, she might, you know..." "You. And me. On a date?" "Not that we, y'know, would or anything...") and certain scenes (the parody of the famous upside-down kiss) littered various episodes, and "Emotion Sickness" was one big tease from start to finish, while simultaneously teasing Drakken and Shego. The first episode has Ron declare "And contrary to popular belief, I am not dating Kim Possible" in what could be the quickest series-start-to-ship-tease since Mulder and Scully. All of which inevitably lead to their Relationship Upgrade at the end of season three.
    • "Homecoming Upset" had its fair share of Ron/Bonnie teases.
    • Drakken and Shego also get this in episodes like "Graduation" and "Emotion Sickness".
  • Even The Magic School Bus, which was primarily an Edutainment Show and aimed at little kids, managed to sneak in some hints between most of the kids. The most consistently teased pairings were the three cases of Opposites Attract: Ralphie/Keesha, Carlos/Dorothy Ann, and Arnold/Wanda. Arnold was a veritable Chick Magnet; he was also teased with Phoebe ("The Busasaurus") and Dorothy Ann ("Cracks a Yolk"), and a girl in another class named Tiffany ("Wet All Over"). One episode teased him with both Phoebe and Wanda at once ("Goes Cellular").
  • The Marvel Rising franchise teases Miss Marvel/Inferno and Squirrel Girl/Patriot. For the former, its due to Miss Marvel showing complete trust in him from the beginning while he helps her be more open with who she is as a hero, even blushing. As for the latter, it's essentially an "opposites attract" vibe where she's more fun loving while he's more serious, yet still have fierce loyalty.
  • Milo Murphy's Law:
    • The eponymous Milo is revealed to have a not-so-secret crush on Amanda in "Smooth Opera-tor". The two get ship teased again in "School Dance", in which Amanda is shown that Milo can fix her carefully orchestrated school dance in spite of Murphy's Law. Amanda fully reciprocates his feelings during "Cake 'Splosion", in which she realizes Milo is prepared for any mishap with his carefully packed backpack, urging him to stick with her during the final round of Cake 'Splosion even hug-tackling him when they won. Afterwards, Amanda has Milo's cheek twice; in "Managing Murphy's Law" and "Ride Along Little Doggie", has shown jealousy to another girl in "Spy Little Sister", and hangs out with Milo and friends more often.
    • The show will sometimes tease Melissa and Zack as well. When the show crossed over with Phineas and Ferb, Buford and Baljeet are convinced the two of them are a couple. The Season 2 finale "Sphere and Loathing in Outer Space" not only has Melissa and Zack share a moment in which Melissa is impressed by Zack's declaration of not being afraid anymore (complete with Perry being a Shipper on Deck), but Melissa kisses Zack on the cheek as well by the end of the adventure.
  • Miraculous Ladybug might as well be the one to top them all. The main premise of two superheroes who are in love with each others' alter egos is a breeding ground for this.
  • Molly of Denali:
    • Molly and Tooey are best friends who hang out all the time, to the point where Tooey most likely spends more time with the Mabrays than his own family. However, Molly and Tooey are way closer than best friends usually are. They are fiercely loyal to each other and frequently hug, hold hands, and link arms. In episode four, season three of the tie-in podcast, Tooey admits he trusts Molly by letting her take his place in the Arctic Wolf Relay Race, even if he'd been training for a long time.
    • In "Grandpa's Drum", Molly and Tooey find a picture of Grandpa Nat and an unnamed girl (called Shyahtsoo in the credits) when they were kids. They were shown to be very close, and Nat apparently trusted her enough to give his drum to her. Shyahtsoo also speaks very fondly of him, recalling how he loved to sing, dance, and joke a lot. When Molly and Tooey sing and drum together, Nat starts seeing visions of himself and Shyahtsoo when they were younger, doing the exact same thing.
    • In "A Splash Of Mink", Vera and Jake, as well as Nat and Midge are shown dancing together.
  • Despite their relationship being explicitly platonic, My Life as a Teenage Robot threw in some teasing for Brad and Jenny from time to time.
  • The Owl House had plenty of Ship Tease with Amity and Luz, which fans officially called this ship Lumity. Now keep in mind, The Owl House is a Disney show and Luz and Amity are the first main Disney LGBTQ characters (According to Word of God and later on stated in season 3 directly, Luz is bisexual, while Amity is a lesbian; so yes, Luz is Disney's first bisexual main character and Amity is also Disney's first openly lesbian major character).
  • PAW Patrol: Ryder and Katie. He pushes her on a swing at the end of "Pups Save a Train," and they dance together in "Pups Save Friendship Day" (the lyrics were talking about "best friends", and with others dancing with characters they're often seen with, the song and visuals infer that Ryder and Katie are best friends). In "Pups Save a Dragon," when they learned the play they were rehearsing for required that the princess (Katie) had to be woken by "True Love's Kiss," Ryder was nervous at the prospect, while Katie smiled and giggled at the idea.
  • Phineas and Ferb:
    • Phineas/Isabella gets teased a lot. Isabella spends the whole episode "Out to Launch" trying to ask Phineas to a dance... only to have him misunderstand her and invite Ferb along as a third wheel. In "That Sinking Feeling" Phineas and Ferb attempt to help Baljeet impress a girl, and Phineas later invites Isabella along, but not in the way you'd think. In "One Good Scare Ought to Do It", Phineas not only spends the whole episode trying to help her, but holds her hand practically through the entire song. Many smaller examples also exist.
      • Isabella spends the whole of "The Chronicles of Meap" trying to get registered by Phineas's "Cute Tracker", to no effect. Then Phineas explains he already took her cuteness into account and set the device to ignore her from the start. When he resets it to stop ignoring her, it immediately shorts out.
      • In The Movie, Phineas seems rather pleased when Isabella kisses him, and makes like he's going to do/say something else, but never gets the chance.
      • "Phineas and Ferb's Quantumn Boogaloo" almost confirms the ship, while at the same time opening a new can of worms. While 20 years in the future Isabella is ecstatic to hear Candace's kids comment she looks like their Aunt Isabella, proving she must marry Phineas. Then past!Candace points out she could also marry Ferb and still be their aunt, prompting a look of shock from Isabella - and a point and a wink from the usually stoic Ferb.
      • "Act Your Age" finally ends the teasing and has them get together after high school.
    • The episode "Vanessessary Roughness" does this for Ferb/Vanessa, especially given the cheek-kiss at the end.
    • The hour-long special "Summer Belongs To You" teased two of the three most prominent pairings in the show: Phineas/Isabella and Ferb/Vanessa (and Buford/Baljeet, of all things). It didn't tease Candace/Jeremy however, considering they became an Official Couple at the end of the special.
    • Baljeet and Ginger get a little in "Bee Day" and "Bee Story". It's the first time we see them actually interact. Baljeet tells Phineas to wait a little while he talks with Ginger. And Ginger actually was still listening to what Baljeet was talking about, when (he said earlier) most people would either leave or fall asleep by that point.
  • Ready Jet Go!: In the early episodes, Jet and Sydney had some shipping moments, such as skating together on an ice chunk in Saturn's rings, or Jet comparing Sydney to Venus (the brightest planet in the sky, in his words). However, later on, Jet began to have more ship tease with Sean. He's affectionate with him, once sang a soft duet with him, and gave him an Affectionate Nickname, Sean-zo. Mindy also gets some Puppy Love moments with Mitchell, who at first was annoyed by her sneaking up on him, but later warms up to her and makes her his Morality Pet. Even the robots, Jet 2 and Boop, and the pets, Sunspot and Moonbeam, get some teasing.
  • The Real Ghostbusters: The series contains several moments that tease a romance between Egon and Janine.
    • In "Ragnarok and Roll", thinking he has to commit a Heroic Sacrifice, Egon tries to say something to her.
    • In "Robo-Buster", he's very irritated with her new boyfriend, Paul Smart, when she brings him to the firehouse. He glares at the guy and refuses to shake hands with him.
    • In "The Grundel", he's visibly unhappy when she leaves him out of her declaration of love to the others. When she stops him on his way upstairs to say that she loves him "most of all", he forgets himself and smiles before trying to brush it off.
    • In "Camping It Up", Janine and Egon cling to each other while Ray is telling a scary campfire story and then during the first Bigfoot sighting. Later, they run together when a lightning strike splits a tree and end up sprawled on the ground. Egon asks Janine if she's all right and helps her up.
  • Scooby-Doo is infamous for possibly the longest ever (still ongoing!!) never-resolved Will They or Won't They? between Fred and Daphne (if you're not counting the live action movies). In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated Fred proposes to Daphne, and while that didn't work out Episode 51 had Fred come right out and say he loves Daphne followed by The Big Damn Kiss. However, after the jump to a different timeline, it's unclear if Fred's intentions were still valid at that point.
  • In Sonic Boom, there are two episodes that hint at Sonamy; one has Amy ask Tails to shut down a mind-reading robot before it voices her deepest desire (It Makes Sense in Context), while another has Sonic stammering when Knuckles implies that Amy's preparing for a date, the context being that he may be secretly jealous. A third has the cast finding and reading Amy's fanfiction, but goes into no further detail on what it is.
  • South Park:
    • Stan and Wendy are an Official Couple, but he does have some Ship Tease with his best friend, Kyle. Kyle, in the meantime, has some pretty thick subtext with Cartman, who has in turn been teased with Wendy before.
    • In Cartman Finds Love, Cartman obsessively ships Token/Nichole since they're both black- and when he hears that Nichole likes Kyle, he tells her that he and Kyle are in a relationship in order to get him out of the way. She then proceeds to get together with Token. Kyle in the mean time learns about Cartman's rumor in regards to the two of them and demands he tell the truth- but Cartman convinces him to keep quiet so he won't ruin Nichole's happy relationship. Nichole, however, dumps Token when she fears they're only dating because they're both black. Once Cartman learns Kyle is taking Nichole to a basketball game, he follows them, gets on the megatron, proclaims his "love" for Kyle (complete with singing him a ballad and calling him "babe") and humiliates him in front of thousands. Kyle, who was an unwilling participant in Cartman's plan since he did really like Nichole, storms out angrily.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants: The promos for the 10th anniversary special "Truth Or Square" all focused on a scene where SpongeBob and Sandy get married. In the actual episode, it turns out it's all part of a play.
    • A slightly more serious example (it's SpongeBob after all) is the rather blatant teasing of SpongeBob and Pearl in a few pre-movie episodes. The Chaperone involves SpongeBob taking Pearl out to the prom, and the ending shows that the two would have smacked lips had it not been for Mr. Krabs' worry that SpongeBob stepped on his flowers. Bossy Boots has a slightly more toned down tease - the two are still very close and Pearl actually pecks SpongeBob (on the forehead, but still). Later episodes that have SpongeBob and Pearl appear together downplay this significantly because Pearl gets a rather mean personality streak, so it's possible that this is an example of Early-Installment Weirdness as well.
    • Earlier episodes hinted at a possible romance between SpongeBob and Sandy, most prominently in "Ripped Pants" where SpongeBob rips his pants to make Sandy laugh after Larry seemingly takes her attention off of him (and then sings a song about how said ripped pants gag ended up with him losing her). This was quickly dropped from that point onwards until the aforementioned "marriage" scene from "Truth or Square".
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks: Tendi and Rutherford have quite a lot of moments that can easily be read as romantic, like Tendi being jealous of Rutherford going on a date with Barnes, and Rutherford saying he would want Tendi to be his captain anytime. Mariner even asks Tendi if the two of them are dating and Tendi's response is an uncertain "Not really?". Word of God has it that the two of them definitely would be a compatible couple, but officially they won't become an Official Couple because their close friendship is more important than romance. This fact is clearly shown in "Parth Ferengi's Heart Place, where the two of them pretend to be married while on Starfleet travel guide duty. They're very uncomfortable when confined into the social expectations of being a couple, but once they return to the Cerritos they go back to their Pseudo-Romantic Friendship as usual.
  • Star Wars Rebels:
    • Kanan and Hera have enough moments to fill a book, acting Like an Old Married Couple, referring to the younger crew members as "the kids," and having a few almost kisses, to the point of even being each other's Implied Love Interest. Season 4 sees them confirmed canon.
    • Ezra and Sabine have some during the third and fourth seasons. In the series finale, Ezra hyperjumps away to parts unknown. Several years later, after the Empire has been defeated, Sabine still believes he is alive and finally has time to search for him.
  • Super Little Fanta Heroes features some between Quasimodo and Hua Mulan.
  • Talespin: The episode "A Star is Torn" opens with Baloo and Rebecca leaving a restaurant, which very much has the vibe of a date, and Rebecca actually being giggly. The main plot, in which Baloo becomes embroiled with a movie star who shuts Rebecca out, gives Becky some legitimate concerns about this, but doesn't particularly go out of its way to contradict the impression that she's also jealous. And throughout it all, the only word used to describe their relationship is "friends", except when Baloo says She's Not My Girlfriend.
  • Teen Titans had Robin and Starfire Ship Tease in spades...and that's not even getting into the Psychic Link between Robin and Raven. Or the constant conflict between Raven and Beast Boy. Or Terra/Beast Boy. Beast Boy and Raven are teased in the Teen Titans Go! comics, based off the animated series.
  • Teen Titans Go! continually teases the Beast Boy and Raven pairing even further than its original cartoon, featuring many shorts dedicated to them.
  • Lots of this in the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. Donnie has a crush on April, which was mostly played for comic relief in the first couple of seasons, though the teasing became more serious after this scene. The writers also include some ship tease for Casey and April, too. On top of that, Leonardo has a variance of Dating Catwoman with Karai. They seek each other out for fun, they both care about the other's well being despite technically being enemies, and their battles absolutely reek of sexual tension.
  • In ThunderCats (1985), Cheetara is teased with both Lion-O (they spend an episode psychically linked, he's been shoved into her, and she has a throwaway line in the pilot about how handsome he'd become) and Tygra, who she eventually gets together with in the tie-in comics.
  • The writers of Thunder Cats 2011 decided to take the original concept above and run with it, making Tygra Lion-O's adoptive older brother, giving them a longstanding, deep-seated Sibling Rivalry and a shared attraction to Cheetara.
    • In "Omens Part One", The Charmer Tygra openly flirted with Cheetara while she's clad in priestly vestments that leave only her eyes visible.
    • In "Song of the Petalars", Lion-O had a moment holding hands with Cheetara as she comforts him during a moment of grief... promptly killed by Snarf's glomping his face.
    • In "Journey to the Tower of Omens", Lion-O is a bit nervous over Cheetara's Hands-On Approach towards coaching him in the Sword of Omens' use, (which Wilykit notices, and merrily mocks with smooching noises) while Tygra later gapes over Cheetara's Super-Speed, to which a smirking Panthro quips:
    Panthro: Close that mouth; you're drooling.
  • Babs and Buster Bunny (No relation) in Tiny Toon Adventures. Buster and Babs can't seem to decide whether they're just really good friends or a couple, and the writers had quite a bit of fun teasing us about it until the third season (when they finally started being overtly romantic).
  • Transformers: Prime:
    • "Metal Attraction" deliberately plays with Bulkhead/Arcee, right down to Miko acting jealous (a tease in an of itself depending on you want to look at it).
    • The biggest amount of shipping seems to be between Arcee and Jack, if only because the writers seem to like teasing nearly every type of relationship the two of them could possibly have.
    • Arcee has been teased with almost every other Autobot. Ship tease moments include: Arcee/Cliffjumper in Out of the Past, Arcee/Optimus Prime in Scrapheap, Arcee/Wheeljack in Plus One, and Arcee/Bumblebee in Predacons Rising.
    • Knock Out and Breakdown were ship teased so hard, it often felt more like text than subtext. It was so blatant, the IDW comic writers made it canon, with it being outright stated that they're conjunx endura (married).
  • WordGirl: Violet has some with Scoops, since he has a crush on her. Scoops himself later gets some teasing with Becky (who has a crush on him) once he learns of her Secret Identity, because sharing the secret brings them closer together.
  • Work It Out Wombats! has moments between Ellie and Mr. E, who has a crush on her, unbeknownst to her:
    • In "Gift For a Fish," Ellie catches Mr. E in a Bridal Carry. Next, he makes big, cute eyes at her after she tells him to be careful. Finally, Ellie asks Mr. E to dance. Mr. E joyfully responds "That is a thumbs up affirmative!!!"
    • In "Cafe Chaos," Mr. E invites Ellie, a 'special friend,' for a special luncheon. They have a good time together, and Ellie thanks Mr. E for inviting her. Mr. E shyly admits that he had a great time too, and he leaves with a huge smile on his face.
    • In "Sparklepants," Mr. E gladly orders a pair for Sparklepants for Ellie, even though the Sparklepants annoyed him at first.
    Ellie: Is there any way I could have a pair of Sparklepants?
    Mr. E: Well, thanks to these two (JunJun and Zadie), we're all out of these terrific trousers.
    Ellie: (sighs sadly)
    Mr. E: (warmly) But I'd be happy to order a pair for you.
  • X-Men: Evolution:
    • Being the Official Couple, it's only natural that Scott and Jean had plenty of Ship Tease before their Relationship Upgrade in early Season 3. Gambit and Rogue also had their share of Ship Tease, likely as a reference to their relationship in the comics.
    • Despite them both getting love interests in Season 2, Kurt and Kitty had a lot of Ship Tease throughout the show. There is some debate over whether the writers did this deliberately to please (or torture) the Kurt/Kitty shippers, if it's a case of Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading, or if Kurt and Kitty would have gotten together had there been a Season 5.
    • The New Mutants had a truckload of it. From Iceman making an ice ballerina spin for Jubilee, to everything Sunspot and Wolfsbane did in "Retreat", to how much time Cannonball and Magma spend together.
  • Young Justice: Between Robin/Artemis, although they end up sharing The Big Damn Kiss with Zatanna and Wally respectively in the first season finale, with Artemis and Wally becoming an Official Couple.

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