To Ship or Not to Ship

[AmysGames]

I used to be super into 'shipping when I was younger, but I've been a lot less into it lately for whatever reason. Of course even back then it was always just for fun and nothing too serious—I didn't really read/write any fanfic or anything, and I was definitely never one of those "MAKE THIS 'SHIP CANON OR I'LL DIE" people.

I definitely 'ship my own characters though, haha. That's a lot of fun.

[akemikae]

When I was younger I would go out of my way to look for something to ship in anything I read/watched/etc, but now a days, I find myself just casually shipping something (at first) then looking back and wondering "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?"

The worst for me is when it was originally supposed to be canon, and then they chickened out at the last second (referring to Yosuke and the protagonist from Persona 4 here. Seriously, look it up. It was supposed to be a thing.) The reason these are so fun to ship, is cause, since they pulled out at the last second, they kept allll the rest of the stuff for it. I.E. Flirting, lingering gazes, lingering touches, blah blah blah. I realize, writing it out makes me sound pretty damn crazy, and maybe I am. I just really like the idea of people being happy together in that way, and maybe that makes me weird.

I also think it's the fault of the way some people write friendships. I can sit there and go "Uh huh, yeah, no, friends aren't THAT close, nice try." Ban from Get Backers literally has a freaking Ginji radar and can tell NO MATTER WHERE HE'S AT, if he's hurt or something. It's ridiculous.

Ironically, I actually find it frustrating when people read my comic and ship people that aren't supposed to be shipped together. I have plans, I was pretty sure I stated it from the beginning who you're supposed to ship. But eh, to each their own I guess, and just have fun, and don't yell at me when it doesn't happen. Cause I warned you. Though, I'd be willing to draw some silly shipping stuff, if requested.

Wow, that was a longer post than I meant for.

[joe_galindez]

I'm a bit of an old lady about this.

I still don't see what Hermione saw in that red-haired boy.

Sokka is totally Suyin's dad.

[dawgofdawgness]

Tch haha I'm just a 15 yr old girl so interesting relationships definitely get me hooked to a show or a comic... But what really scares me are people that ship people in real life.

Like I go on Deviantart and see porn of Dan and Phil... Wouldn't the actual people feel awkward if they were on the internet and they came upon a renaissance painting of them boning each other?

As for my own characters, I don't plan on shipping them canonically, but I can't help but draw cute stuff now and then

[joannekwan]

OMG yeah I don't get shipping real people at all! I feel second-hand embarrassment for those shipped

[joe_galindez]

Day 18 of the breeding experiment: So far they haven't acknowledged each other.

[Testaccount]

I don't mind shipping characters together, and it does help me get into a story.

Right now, I'm too focused on my own characters to think about shipping. However, if I find a good story with a cute couple, then I'll think about the ships.

I've seen some fans get so into the shipping, they attack others for not agreeing with them. It's a scary sight to see.

[phoenixrenaissance]

I usually end up going along with the canon ship in stories but I've been known to ship characters around before. Velvet and Eleanor of Tales of Berseria are my current pairing. <3

But yeah, it can be pretty fun as long as it remains harmless. There's no need for shipping wars and the like.

I'm all for seeing what people ship of my own characters. I enjoy shuffling them around in doodles and AU comics. I am a little sad that one of my female characters has been getting some hate for dating one of my bisexual guys in a mainly bl story. Comes with the territory I suppose.

[hotsubsandwich]

Hi, my name's Kayla, and I.... am absolute shipping garbage.

No but really I ship anything and everything, including my own characters. In fact I am hoping one day people ship my characters and make fan art for them because I will be over the moon that people are invested in their relationships. Like, some people's definition of success is money. I just want a dedicated fan to make shipping garbage fan art and that will be my mark of success lol.

I uuuuuused to be more hardcore into shipping (like drawing fan art and writing fan fiction) but now I just casually ship because I'm more occupied with my own stories. But I can say I almost never ship what's canon. Primarily because I subconsciously make everything into a bl or gl pairing.

[UbePie]

I’m much like Punkarsenic, I ship because I don’t see much gay representations. I don’t get the shipping of charcters that don’t like each other or that hardly talk to each other. Those seem like ships that are simply for viewing pleasure rather than any emotional connection or substance to those charcters connection to each other.

I love tragic ships. People who have suffered togheter (which is kinda the bases of my comic, lol) They are connected because of the hardship they have encountered together.

One of my ships is Captain America and the Winter Soldier, lol. I don’t care that it’s not cannon and i’m not hard core. I don’t draw fanart or anything but I support the ship.

[darkone4587]

I go along with canon, but sometimes I just like two characters and I find it funny when people put them romantically. I don't let it get to me when the canon moves away from my ideal shipping, but I still find it fun to do.

[joe_galindez]

I just like two characters and I find it funny when people put them romantically

Me too. Then again, there's at least one convincing piece of Lin Beifong-slash-Mako fanfiction. It just works.

[AmysGames]

But what really scares me are people that ship people in real life.

Totally agreed! I mean it's one thing if you're 'shipping people who are already a couple, but 'shipping people with their friends seems like it would be really awkward for the people involved, haha.

In fact I am hoping one day people ship my characters and make fan art for them because I will be over the moon that people are invested in their relationships. Like, some people's definition of success is money. I just want a dedicated fan to make shipping garbage fan art and that will be my mark of success lol.

Guilty of this too, lol. If I ever get 'shipping garbage fanart of my characters, I'd consider myself successful.

[Devika]

If I ship two characters, it's because there's been something in the source material to support it. Like a little flirt, some chemistry, budding romance - basically them being cute together. It's like me cheering them on kinda?

I can totally see the gay/racial representation thing though. Like when my sister and I watched 80 Days Around the World we kept wondering why the heck Monique went for the white dude Fogg when Passepartout (played by Jackie Chan) was better in pretty much every aspect? It was ridiculous even for a funny movie - she admired Fogg for managing to do stuff that Passepartout did all along like... Yay you finally landed a hit on a bad guy! You didn't stumble over your own feet! Nah it felt forced.

People shipping real persons though... Like youtubers... No. Fictional characters are projection surfaces for your own hopes, dreams, and interests. Real people on the other hand have their own hopes, dreams, and interests and it feels weird to impose my own on them. Like, I can't do that. Heck I can barely do that on fictional characters. Like, I've never made 18+ art because it feels like I'm disrespecting the character's integrity! (Am I the only one?)

[darkone4587]

Sounds somewhat interesting, even if I don't see it. But hey to each their own no shipping wars here.

[Wumbl]

I do it. Hell, I have a personal blog dedicated to headcanons and shipping.
The appeal for me is just being able to obsess over things with my social groups and bond over it.
I like coming up with rare pairings or writing things that people can enjoy and talk with me about.
It's very social for me.

I'd never get emotionally involved though - ship wars are pathetic. It's all meant to be a hobby, not something to get angry over. I've been targeted by some really hateful and intolerant people because of some innocent, light-hearted shipping they didn't like. I tend to just mock them and shrug it off because who puts so much focus into hating someone they don't know? I can't even be bothered to hate people I do know.

[enidean]

I like shipping so long as there's material, either canon or fanon , to feed on. If I like how the character dynamics are and see a lot of fan content and if the ship is right up my alley, then I do ship it! I tend to become fan of pairings that aren't very popular. That or they're popular with the korean / japanese fandom and don't really have much of a western fanbase haha.

To be honest though, I don't like getting involved in communities surrounding ships since people can get pretty intense and I'm no all really into the 'discourse' or debate surrounding ships.That being said, when it comes to my own characters, I pretty much ship anyone with anyone lmao. Spread the love and all that.

[azureXtwilight]

I usually love to ship characters XD Usually my ships does become canon since I shop the characters the creator heavily imply as having attraction to each other. But when the creator does create shippings out of the blue, I'd probably feel dissapointed but hey, that's what fanarts are for! There's no need to go on a rampage toward it.

[NickRowler]

I am not a hardcore shipper but I sometimes ship. However if the canon breaks my ship, I don't get upset. A lot of my ships are sort of based off characters with a close platonic/romantic relationship in the canon. The only time when my ships got WEIRD was for TF2. I love PyroXScout.

I find hardcore shippers to be absolutely obnoxious. When I was a teen in the Naruto fandom, the shippers were awful. I remember meeting someone who wanted to hit me because I didn't embrace their ship.

I do ship within my own stories, outside of what is posted.

[shazzbaa]

I am absolutely a shipper.

I only really started shipping like.... in my adult life, after I realised that relationships didn't have to be kissing and gooshy romance (which I'm.... less into) and could just be people having feelings for each other. aND THEN I GOT REALLY INTO IT.

I have like 4 different Undertale ships that I'm really loud about (a lot of my tumblr followers came from PapyrusxMettaton sketches), which is probably the franchise I've gotten the shippiest with. If your fic or art ships something I don't, but you can sell me on it, I'll still be into it. Character dynamics are just super interesting to me, and imagining what would work or not work, what elements of their personalities would complement each other and which elements would be an obstacle to be overcome -- all of that is just super interesting character-imagining exercise for me. Plus like.... how does this character deal with falling in love? Sometimes it's just interesting to inflict a character with a crush and ponder what they'd do.

I don't tend to go against canon, though? Like, working with what we know of the characters in canon is sort of part of the fun.

As far as my own characters, I ship a few of them, but that's usually kinda secondary -- like, there's some characters where it wouldn't work for them to be together, but I still really like the idea and enjoy shipteasing it a bit. I feel like, for me, shipping is less about "enjoying them being cute together" and more about exploring the possibilities of a relationship -- and once my characters are more established, there's less to explore.
HOWEVER, my comic getting an actual pairing with an actual shipname among readers continues to be one of the things I'm the MOST delighted by. Every time someone tells me they're starting to ship my characters or some new page is making them get into a ship even more I'M SO FREAKIN THRILLED, even if I know for a fact that those characters will never even slightly hook up.

Shipping is great and I'm all for it.

(Don't ship real people though. I got real-person shipped once and can confirm it is EXTREMELY uncomfortable.)