Why is [blank] Ship So Popular?

Alternately, the author sees that the characters have interesting chemistry, but can't tell the difference between familial love and romantic love.

Alternately alternately, the author has an incest fetish.

I didn't write any of that.

In the dark depths of the Goof Troop fandom, the only explanation I've seen for Pete/Jr. (both incest and abuse) is that they're "both hot"... even though they are corpulent anthropomorphized cats with divergent facial structures, but that's beside the point. In other words, they don't care about the story or squicky implications.

I have acquired a large hate for the Danny/Sam pairing in the Danny Phantom fandom mainly due to the show itself screwing up the pairing up in general (to the point it became a massive Romantic Plot Tumour) and Sam herself (the show never gave her proper Character Development making her appear to be selfish, belligerent, a massive hypocrite, and possibly the worst romantic partner for Danny).

That pairing pretty much makes up more then half of the fanfiction. Very few of the fics themselves that try to shove the pairing into it's plot give Sam proper Character Development either.

It's pretty freaking irritating honestly.....

edited 14th Sep '15 11:33:29 PM by Bleddyn

Um... this isnt the "Vent about Pairings you dont like" you have to ask something along the lines of "Why are Danny and Sam paired so often?"

Discord: Waido X 255#1372 If you cant contact me on TV Tropes do it here.

...I thought I made that clear enough? I must of worded it wrong. What I was trying to say is that I do not see why the ship is so popular in it's canon form. As I said and as many others have pointed out before me Sam gets next to no Character Development in the show whatsoever and that the attraction was characterized in a rather shallow way in the show as well. People will commonly hinge upon this in the fandom which really confuses me as there is so much room provided for development.

My dislike of the character of Sam aside I seriously do not see why the canon form of the ship is so popular due to those reasons.

Although there is even more mind boggling popular ships then that (Dan/Danny and Vlad/Danny). I really do no see why those ships are popular at all.

edited 16th Sep '15 2:14:16 AM by Bleddyn

Sam is the main female lead. That's not really surprising in and of itself. She's also one of those underdog female archtypes ripe for being a Possession Sue.

A shame really. I think if written correctly she could be a great character and romantic partner. In her canon form she just isn't though.....

Alvin/Jude. I'm not surprised that it exists, given that the only other male party member in the first game is in his late sixties, but I am surprised at how ridiculously popular it is.

I mean, most of the other popular slash pairings in the series' fandom have some basis to them, but this one? Pretty much nothing.

edited 9th Oct '15 9:35:36 AM by SapphireBlue

A new Dragonball series started and now I am obsessed with Vegeta and Bulma from DBZ. I found out this is really a popular one. Surprised is a big understatement.

I live here now.

I don't quite understand it either. Vegeta is an humongous asshole albeit Bulma was never really the nicest person either (I honestly wonder if she was a bad choice for Yamcha). Some fanfics will play him as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold though which is interesting to see.

edited 17th Sep '15 3:08:10 AM by Bleddyn

I don't really understand why Roy Ed is such a popular ship in the FMA fandom... To make it work they both have to be really out of character since they kind of strongly dislike each other in the show, and it's got the added bonus of being extremely creepy considering Ed is half Roy's age (Ed is 15, Roy is 30)... I'm confused as to why anybody would like to ship them.

I have no idea what I'm doing. At all.

Agreed. It's mostly the age difference and Ed being underage that creeps me out, but also there's just no indication that they'd be interested in each other? I don't get it.

Bleddyn, I know what you mean, I was never interested in their relationship but now I am fascinated I think the fact they are both jerks is what keeps me hooked. Vegeta is an asshole but still they manage to make me want more. It's a ship I can't say I understand why I like it but I am falling in love with more and more especially after discovering fan fiction of them. I was reading some really popular ones like You'll be the Death of me on fanfic.net but now I found some really great comics on Deviant art and seeing it all drawn out has made me become even more addicted.

edited 17th Sep '15 9:21:28 AM by ErikasGirl

I live here now.

Four from the Fire Emblem Tellius series that have me scratching my head:

Heather/Nephenee: I can't see any interest on Neph's side happening given her genuinely perplexed reaction to the flirting, and Heather does flirt with other people, such as Ilyana.

Oscar/Kieran: Some people claim to see romantic sparks but all I see is one person getting jealous of and annoying the other.

Ike/Mia: They don't even support but it's just as popular as Ike/Elincia and Ike/Lethe, his support-based het ships (which didn't get endings or RD Ship Tease to begin with, but at least there's something in POR.)

Zihark/Ilyana: They are friends but Zihark explicitly states he's not interested in dating again. Plus, their friendship seemed to be based at least in part in the idea he was immune to her seductive teasing.

I've seen Harry/Hermione done well all of ONCE. It was a sad fic, but well written. :)

Ones that baffle me?

Jack Skellington/Victor from The Mightmare Before Christmas/Corpse Bride respectfully.

Ness/Lucas from Mother.

Fillmore/Sarge from Cars. (the very first slash fic I ever read had these two together, and my 13 year old self was very confused)

N/Hilda or Hilbert from Pokemon. This one especially annoys me when people say they should have gotten together at the end, because... the Pokemon protagonists bar the X and Y one maybe are always blank slates. Yes, in the sequel it says they went off to look for N. But, there's no mention of romance whatsoever and for all we know it could be just "I want my friend back!"

edited 9th Oct '15 6:53:12 AM by Angelwing

One thing I've come to realize, and maybe it's because of the lack of actual LGBT couples in mainstream media, is that a lot of vocal shippers to "default" to Yaoi/Yuri pairings.

I think you're right. Outside of things like yaoi manga where it's built into the premise, there aren't that many canon slash pairings. So a lot of the time, people who want to ship slash have to look to things that are plausible, but not actual canon.

It would still happen if there were more canon slash pairings, given that plenty of non-canon het pairings get just as much attention, but I think the "people looking for representation where they can find it" factor is definitely significant.

I think the reason this one is so popular is because of the Ferris Wheel Date Moment^note I know it's not an actual date, but speaking as someone who doesn't ship there are still some weird vibes being given off by it and N's bizarrely obsessive behavior towards the protagonist in general.

edited 9th Oct '15 6:19:50 PM by Karxrida

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody remembers it, who else will you have ice cream with?

• sigh*

Look, I'm just calling it as I see it. I think it's weird, too, and can't see N being in a relationship due to his personality and upbringing.

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody remembers it, who else will you have ice cream with?

I know...

It's just... I never saw anything between them at all during the game. His love was for Pokemon not people.

Roxas/Namine. As far as I can tell, the only setup or romantic subtext is near the end of KH 2. They spent probably about 20 minutes of screentime together in the entire incredibly long series, and everyone acts like it's true love.

edited 11th Nov '15 10:02:46 AM by TooManyIdeas

please call me "XionKuriyama" or some variation, thanks! | What is the good deed that you can do right now?

Could be that my Shipping Goggles were on too tight, and I haven't played RD at all (hell, haven't even finished POR), but when Mia first showed up I thought she seemed kinda-sorta-maybe into Ike based on first impressions. (but then, I had the same reaction with Marcia, too....)

Never seen an example of it myself, but 99% sure it's purely a product of the two of them being in SSB. Especially since Ness/Paula is both canon and damn near the most adorable thing ever, with the main contender being their precursor ship (Ninten/Ana) in Mother 1.

Yeah, pretty much. And honestly, Days is the biggest thing that shoots the ship in the foot, since it definitively shows that Roxas and Namine never came into contact with each other during the former's time in the Organization.

At this point, the ship probably only survives from sheer inertia of having been around so long, and piggy-backing off of Sora/Kairi. I mean, the only way I can make any sense of it is if Roxas and Namine are both using each other for a Replacement Goldfish (Roxas standing in for Sora on Namine's side, Namine standing in for Xion on Roxas's side).

edited 11th Nov '15 10:24:41 AM by EvaUnit01

I'd assume most of the Roxas/Namine fans got onboard before Days. It made more sense right after KH2.

edited 11th Nov '15 9:16:51 PM by SapphireBlue

..didn't I just implicitly kinda/sorta acknowledge that?