Thoughts on Shipping

[KennethLopezJr921]

Your series will get to the point where people will start shipping your characters with one another, canon or non canon. When that time comes, where do you stand on that?

Personally, Im not too phased when it comes to shipping. Watching a lot of videos regarding fandoms growing up, I've accepted it as something that's going to happen inevitably weather I like it or not (same goes with rule 34 but lets not go there lol). In fact its something I've been anticipating since the beginning and I've actually made some sort of game of guessing which characters people will ship the most. There's two characters that I know for a fact people will ship once they meet each other, and I'd be surprised if that doesn't become the case

[IndigoShirtProd]

This is something I'm gonna have to be okay if it does happen, though I don't know if it will. Nothing stops shippers these days but fortunately I don't think I have to worry about them for a long while. Nothing against shipping characters you like to together, but sometimes it can get obsessive.

[VibrantFox]

Honestly I've more than made my peace with it especially as someone who casually plays the shipping game and truth be told a part of me kinda looks forward to it (plus all my characters are over 18 so no concerns about weird sh!t)

I mean I do still want folks to focus on the plot so I hope my writing will be strong enough to keep a level of focus on that but of course you can't control the audience, hell i'm over 10 years into the sonic fandom so i know i'd know

I will say the more I think about it I'm really interested to see which characters people would pair coz I know what the cannon couples are but even I've got a few pairs (or trios) that I'd consider for a number of reasons so I anticipate seeing things play out

[igneriss]

I like it My story is not a romance and I don't think I can write romance, but there are two characters that are an obvoius (though non-canon) pairing. My friends ship them and then reactions to every 'ship moment!' scene keeps me motivated to draw they even use two ship names, one for cute interaction (Jerzanka) and one for not-so-cute ones (Blerzy).
It kinda makes me want to try my strenght in writing romance

[NickRowler]

I honestly do not care who people want to ship with who as long as it's not adult/child or incest.

Heck, you can ship the gay man with a woman or make the straight characters gay. I don't care, as long as no one is using my series to bully each other. I hate the whole shipping wars. If some one's ship bugs you that much, ignore them and block them and move on with your life.

[cherrystark]

People can ship whomever they want, but it always makes me cringe when people ignore the rules of "propriety" with their ships, ex. huge age gap pairings, teacher x student pairings, and step/adopted sibling pairings. For me, it becomes FAR less swoon worthy when one member of your pairing is committing a crime while being with the other member of the pairing.

[faisalhussein394]

From what I learned, you have to make the two characters have feelings for one another, interact with one another, have full interest in one another, and make it clear that these two will end up with each other in the end so that at least the majority of the shippers will tolerate it even though it is not their preferred ship but it makes sense and it's obvious to them.

If we don't make it clear, they will explode in the media, sending death threats, shipping wars, and pulling out all kinds of nonsense on why should they end up with each other. Pure chaos.

Also a shipping of incest, and age gap is a big no no.

[abigaillmartin]

Yeah I’m fine with it rule 34 is inevitable and you can’t control what your fans do so I just roll with it. Personally, I used to ship but that ship has sailed. I’ve already had my readers simping over Wellington and Randy and Eric I mean I can’t blame them look at them!

Anyways I’m fine with it. Unless if it’s incest or a weird age gap (ie a child with an adult) no no no no no.

Those are my thoughts. Honestly I’m flattered if my readers find a pairing I’d never thought of or if they see them in a simping light.

[Calculus_Homework]

Ahahha, great conversation starter for the creators on here. xD
Love your honesty! lol

Yeah... I'm fine with it. Shipping is just that sort of thing that happens when you get fanatic over stuff that includes personalities you find fun and/or attractive. So it seems harmless to me! (it usually is. fanfic and ships are just people having fun with characters they like that you made... sounds fun to get to that point with readers, as a creator! )
....
Now I'll be very honest here, rule 34 makes me morbidly curious to see what people come up with. But I do know I'll need to separate myself from it if I come across stuff I find totally appalling. LOL
Maybe if my readers are cool with me, I can make silly little jokes about that stuff and do funny drawings about it....
.... as an outlet for the trauma. /s
lol

[joannekwan]

So long as the characters involved are legal adults and not related, I don't really care who people ship with whom.

[AmazementComics]

I think that it’s absurd to think you have that much ownership over ideas you put out into the world. Once its out there it isn't fully yours anymore. If the author wanted that much ownership over their concepts they shouldn't have published it in the first place.

Personally, I find some of the “ships” people have for my characters both IRL and on the internet to be quite humorous and occasionally insightful. No harm no fowl. Except rule 34. That might just be inevitable depending on how big your stories become in the future 🤷‍♂️.

[tarraxahum]

Honestly I'm genuinely curious to see - if that ever happens - who will be shipped with whom and why. There are canon pairings and there are more of them planned, but, like. Non-canon ships are often fun. I actually have my bets on some non-canon pairings that might occur, provided my comic is ever popular enough for that. In short, I think that'd be fun.

The only thing I'd want people to maintain a boundary on is my character's identities. No shipping lesbians with men, no nsfw stuff for the sex-repulsed asexual, etc etc. That's where I draw the line.

[BoomerZ]

I think shipping happens when not enough is going on in a comic to keep readers busy enough with the plot. Unless coming out of left field, your plot should be giving the reader enough to have fun with. Long, dragged out storylines are fertile ground for the readers to insert stuff they wish was there.

[aqua03]

Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of shipping when it leads to fights and harassing the creators over not making the fans' ships canon like what happened with Voltron.

[bulgariansumo]

To be honest, I'd be a little annoyed if it overshadows any talk about other character dynamics. But if either of my series do get popular enough for people to start shipping, I'd keep my mouth shut because I don't want to seem like a curmudgeon about it.

[Kelheor]

I have a few ships myself (some are canon, some are not) and on average I am fine with people shipping, especially when the couple is obvious.
But because I also know that shipping can get really obsessive, we make as few remarks on the couples/their relationships in the actual story as possible when the romance is nowhere to be found near the main story's plot. I just don't want people to get crazy over possible love story, because there won't be one.
(Sometimes I actually find myself suffering over it, because I can't share my ship thoughts/artworks with the readers xD)

If the story has a more pronounced romance subplot, I won't have a problem with it and I will still hope people will stick with the series not only for that one ship idea.
I guess in the end there's not much we can do anyways, just hope it all won't come down to craziness

[Katzalcoatl]

I ignore it and let my fans do what they want. If the ship is popular I may create a side story with said ship just as a fan service. But it will not be canon (unless planned).

P.S. People ship @Kelheor's horses. I mean have you seen those horses? I don't blame them.

[harlan]

I'm super cool with it. It means the readers are engaged and invested enough in the story and the characters to ship. Some pairings just come across with chemistry even if the story doesn't lead to a relationship between them. I love this kind of reader feedback.

I'm not a usually a serious shipper myself, but I have one exception: FinnPoe 4eva! 🤣

[XiuLyn_12]

I like it! Canon or non-Canon!
Sometimes people nitpick from random interactions and make their own ship which I think they're a genius, lmao!
If someone made a non-canon ship from my story, to me that means they're actually reading.
They have to make a legal ship, though. No pedophile or incest stuff.....

[Lilmonstart]

well tbh I don´t mind them actually I would be curious about what ships would come up in my story unless its a weird ship or wrong ship
In the end I can´t control what people likes and ships even I had shipped characters from shows that aren´t canon
the only thing I don´t like about this is when people fight over pairings people make up
I mean they´re not even canon, like just be glad that person´s weird ship isn´t official

In terms of my own webcomic I also like predicting which characters will get shipped
Even I have ended up shipping some of my characters but I can tell if they´re gonna be canon or not or if their relationship gonna be relevant or not

In the end it´s kinda fun to say: "these two look cute together"
or "these two have alot of chemistry" but it´s just that