I was the one who added Harry/Hermione to the page months ago, and while I do get why it was removed, I still do think that it's worth mentioning, given just how notorious it was back in the day—I think if you were at all familiar with Harry Potter fandom back in the day, you knew about Harry/Hermione, and even nowadays, a lot of people outside the fandom seem to be under the impression that they were romantically involved (it's mentioned on Common Knowledge, for instance). That said, I do admit it's a bit hard for me to back it up with hard numbers, since a lot of the sites going on in the heyday of those ship wars are now gone. (Mind you, I don't actually like the ship; I think it's pretty terrible, but I feel it'd be remiss to leave out a following significant enough that mainstream media publications talked about it.)
Really, it's a good example of how FPC can be a bit of a dicey zone, because fandoms are often very segregated and their tastes can evolve significantly with time. You have pairings that dominate "shipping" circles but are viewed with disdain by a wider portion, pairings that end up being favored by one particular site, and pairings that eclipse others when given time, or fall out of relevance due to changing winds. And Harry/Hermione is a good example of that, since it seems a lot of its following was "people who thought it would definitely be canon", and when it turned out that wasn't the case, a lot of them either got bored and moved on, or became so notoriously fervent that the pairing's reputation took a dive in the eyes of shippers.
Edited by MBG on Aug 20th 2020 at 1:20:33 AM
You want to rewrite one of the current entries to include it or make one fine. But I feel it should be noted that it's not as popular as Ron/Hermione, Draco/Harry, or Draco/Hermione in said entry. Heck since to my knowledge it mostly has come from the films(correct me if I'm wrong) you could make an entry for the film section and still note that is has faded in popularity greatly. Thanks for your input. And welcome to the thread.
Edited by Bullman on Aug 20th 2020 at 3:26:18 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
Most people consider the start of the proper ship wars to be Goblet of Fire, which had a pretty hefty three-year gap between it and the next book, kicked off a big Newbie Boom as it was the book after the first film, and was the first book to really suggest that the characters were ready to start hooking up. But yeah, the films going for the Ship Tease route is definitely worth mentioning. Thanks!
You are welcome. You could show us the entry when it's ready if you want. If you have any more questions or uncertain about an entry or don't think an entry counts please stop by again. Always nice to have someone new come to the thread.
Also. Someone added this to Carrie under the Carrie x Sue:
- More minor, but Carrie/Tommy is also popular despite Tommy only going to prom with her because Sue wasn't going. This isn't helped by the fact Tommy kisses Carrie both in the 1976 and 2013 film adaptations (It's cut out in 2013, but it can still qualify if you want it too). Some newbie fans who probably only know it from Black Prom even comment about Tommy's (technically accidental death) as 'taking Carrie's boyfriend' (although again not helped by the 2013 version when his death causes the massacre).
Now there was a reason I didn't make an entry for them when I did Carrie x Sue. The popularity goes Carrie x Sue then Sue x Tommy followed by Tommy x Carrie. So this is popular but it's not the most popular for either of them. And even the entry mentions it's more minor.
Edited by Bullman on Aug 20th 2020 at 4:05:25 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
Agree, cut it.
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I see your point, but does it count as this trope specifically if there weren’t any canon-preferred couple when it was popular enough for it to qualify? But I do see your point on different ships being more or less popular in different communities, so I think it could still work if it rivalled the other popular ships for them around Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when the cast started getting into relationships. I dunno, maybe we should get more opinions on this.
Edited by Oshawott337 on Aug 20th 2020 at 2:19:13 AM
"Let’s see who’s stronger: someone that has something to protect, or someone that has nothing to lose."
Yeah. Draco/Harry is what we decided to keep. Because it had the most once we added both the FanFiction.Net and Archive of Our Own numbers together. Plus it's pretty big around the internet these days.
Let this be a lesson the most popular ship can change over time. And really quickly as well.
Edited by Bullman on Aug 20th 2020 at 9:21:45 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup threadWell, we did keep Patrome with a note that it was only really a thing pre-season 2, so maybe something like that can be done for Harry / Hermione?
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
I agree. Just note that is not that popular these days. I did something similar to Cade from Victorious.
Anymore opinions on the Carrie entry I braught up above?
Edited by Bullman on Aug 21st 2020 at 4:11:42 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup threadOkay from the Once Upon a Time tree on Live-Action TV. While most of the entries are fine. There's two that involve one character.
- Despite multiple writers, including the creators, constantly stating that its not the direction they're taking the show and never was, the Foe Yay-turned-friends pairing of Swan Queen (Regina/Emma), is a popular fan couple, so much so that Swan Queen has made it into the Final Four in every Zimbio poll since 2014, beating out canon pairings Captain Swan, Snowing, and Rumbelle each time. Unfortunately, and possibly because of above Word of God, there's a good number of Die for Our Ship folks amongst the shippers. This one can stay. It's the biggest ship for Emma and Regina. And the biggest in the fandom.
- Another Foe Yay pairing, Captain Hook/Emma (Captain Swan), is one of the most popular fan couples to arise from the show. Tumblr alone has a huge Captain Swan fanbase, and more recently, the pair were a nominated for the 2013 People's Choice Awards "Hottest TV Couple" contest, against popular canon couples. As of the Season 3 finale, they're upgraded to Official Couple.. This one has to go. Big, but Emma/Regina is bigger.
Any thoughts?
Edited by Bullman on Aug 24th 2020 at 10:52:55 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
Nope. Emma/Regina was always bigger even from the very beginning of the show. With Emma/Hook always coming in second.
Edited by Bullman on Aug 25th 2020 at 7:36:47 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup threadOkay I cut Captain Swan. And now another entry from Live-Action TV:
- Jim Gordon and Leslie Thompkins in Gotham. As well Oswald Cobblepot and Edward Nygma.
Okay. Technically speaking Oswald/Edward is the biggest ship in the fandom. But a couple of things, it's basically the only cannon ship Oswald has. 2) Edward doesn't have one besides a few girls who don't last very long. So I could go either way them. If we keep them it's going to have to get a rewrite.
Jim Gordon/Leslie Thompkins are not this. They obviously going to get together even when they met in season 1 and were canon for the majority. Besides most fans online ship Jim with Oswald over her.
Edited by Bullman on Aug 29th 2020 at 7:10:17 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup threadThis example of YMMV.Phineas And Ferb always struck to me as "pushing it":
- Fan-Preferred Couple: Ferb and Gretchen has become popular with those who have a hard time overlooking the age gap between Ferb and Vanessa (but have an easy time overlooking the fact that Ferb and Gretchen have hardly interacted at all in the show itself).
Yeah. For the life of me. I can't think of anyone who ships Ferb and Gretchen. And most fanfiction I can find online about him is Ferb/Venessa. So cut.
Edited by Bullman on Aug 30th 2020 at 8:24:28 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread![]()
I'll admit, I looked at the entry earlier and didn't delete only because the entry seemed to imply it only applied early on and since I wasn't sure if Ferb/Gretchen was more popular than Ferb/Vanessa at a certain point. But if you think it was always more popular, than that's a fair cut.
I got a questionable entry regarding YMMV.Henry Stickmin Series
- Fan-Preferred Couple:
- Henry and Ellie, unsurprisingly, given how well they work together in Complex and the fact that Ellie is pretty much the only female character Henry's ever interacted with. Most of their dynamic in Mission just fuel this even further to the point that one fail and one ending implies that they might start a romantic relationship.
- After the final instalment came out, Henry/Charles picked up a lot of popularity as well, rivaling Henry/Ellie in popularity.
I checked Archive of our own and Henry/Charles surpasses Henry/Ellie by a mile so the first entry is out of the picture. Also if I recall correctly does the series imply any Ship Tease with Ellie or creator preffered pairing? If not then I don't that the latter would count either
Edited by Loekman3 on Sep 2nd 2020 at 11:27:30 PM
There is no ship tease or Creator preferred couple. I just played it a couple of days ago. And Henry/Charles is indeed more popular than Henry/Ellie. Cut away.
Edited by Bullman on Sep 2nd 2020 at 11:34:51 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup threadOkay here's an entry from Literature :
- A good chunk of the Emily of New Moon fandom favours Emily/Dean over Emily/Teddy, as even fans of Emily/Teddy find him a painfully dull, flat character with all the personality of a paperclip.
Okay two things. One) This entry comes off as way to complainy. And two) This does seem popular on FanFiction.Net, but it one of those ones they don't let you sort through pairings of characters on. So I can't tell if it's the most popular. Plus on Archive of Our Own, Emily/Teddy is more popular than Emily/Dean.
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup threadOkay so q troper added this entry to the Harry Potter tree on Literature:
- In general, the fact that virtually no one liked how Luna was paired off with this random character that never appeared in the text proper means any other pair with her automatically counts as a Fan Preferred Couple. The most popular ships for Luna (besides Neville) include pairing her with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny..
Okay so this way to general. So as someone who was never that big of a part of the fandom. What was Luna's most popular ship. Was it Neville? Because we already have that listed, was it Harry or Ginny? Because even then we will need a rewrite.
I tried to discuss it with the troper, but I they stopped replying to me in general.
Edited by Bullman on Sep 9th 2020 at 5:10:21 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

Don't know much about that show, but if one of the other characters got enough Ship Tease with another character and the show made it clear they were over, then I think it can count. Like, I know for How I Met Your Mother, Robin/Barney and Ted/Mother are listed even though they were canon once because the show broke them up one way or another and made it clear Ted/Robin was going to be a thing. So if it's something like that, I think it could work.
"Let’s see who’s stronger: someone that has something to protect, or someone that has nothing to lose."