Hey, Avocadorks! I used to do this discussion semi-regularly back over at the ol’ AV Club After Dark way back when, and due to popular demand (or me just being bored), it’s back!
For those of you who don’t know what “shipping” is, it is NOT this:
Though it can sometimes go just as wrong…
Shipping in this context is short for “relationshipping” (or less commonly “worshipping”). ‘Ships can be either canon (meaning the relationship actually exists in the source material) or non-canon (meaning it only exists in people’s imagination, whether or not the source material hints at it). It can be limited to characters within a single source (e.g., Dipper Pines and Pacifica Northwest from Gravity Falls) or be a crossover (e.g., Dipper Pines × Norman Babcock from ParaNorman). Some ‘ships have their own specific names popularized by those who ‘ship them (“Padippica” for the former, “ParaPines” for the latter). Unusual pairings (e.g., Link × Sonic the Hedgehog) are often called crack pairings because the person who thought it up must be smokin’ something. If you’re a fan of a particular ‘ship over all others, they might be your OTP (“one true pairing”).
For further information about the definition of shipping and the various sub-categories and terminology, please consult this useful Wikipedia Article.
Ground Rules:
- Promotion of relationships between real-life minors (e.g., Daniel Radcliffe or Emma Watson circa Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone), or between a real-life minor or anyone adult, is not allowed and should be flagged for removal.
- Fictional minors that have been portrayed by real-life actors is mostly okay, though I’m open to further defining/restricting this if need be.
- Try to limit it to “soft-R”, or at least put anything beyond that under a < spoiler > tag.
- If you post anything from elsewhere, please try to give the source if possible.
- Let’s try to keep out anything extreme (vore, guro, bestiality, etc.) unless it’s a discussion or commentary on the topic itself. (Incest is not off-limits, despite what some might declare in bold letters.)
- Do not shame anyone here for their particular ‘ships. Diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks, and all that. If a particular topic (that doesn’t violate the rules) skeeves you out, you can collapse the thread with the [ – ] icon in the upper right corner of the top-level comment.
- Stay civil. This ain’t fuckin’ Tumblr.