[Spoilers] Shipping Discussions

In light of the recent airing of The Shippiest Episode Ever and the fact that I want to talk about shipping, let's get a shipping thread up in here. Don't be hatin', don't be rude, don't be discriminatory, don't be creepy. Got it? Good.

So what do you ship? You got an OTP or an OT3 or four of each? Who's your shipping bicycle? What are some ships you used to ship but kind of sunk? Why did they sink? Why is your current ship sailing? Do you ship things in specific ways, like one-sided or fluff only or PWP only? What are your headcanons? TALK GUYS. Not sure what ship people are on about? Ctrl+F the name on this page.

I came up with some of the ships on that page. .3. Like properly started shipping them and then gave them a name. MoltenGold, that's Aurea Juniper x Chili. Accidentally came out of a fanfic as a side pairing that I ended up really liking. Croquette, that's Stephan x Ash x Cilan. Because I love them all and I love their friendship. ;w; But my OTP is onesided CaféMocha oh my god. Cilan is totally sweet on Ash but he knows Ash is young and oblivious and Cilan absolutely will not let himself act on his feelings and so just cares for Ash and shows that he adores him as much as possible in a friendshippy way. Even if it means pushing Ash toward Iris because Cilan knows that's what's best and oh my god it's heartbreakingly cute okay ;__;

not that i have a problem with it, but was your last ship there referring to cilan being gay? im just wondering. anyways the only shipping involving ash that made any sense to me was the original pokeshipping because misty is the only one that we for sure get some love for ash shown explicitly.

Uh, yeah? Or bi, I don't care. I support BestWishes OT3 and SommelierShipping as well. I kind of don't really see sexuality at all, in the shipping world or the real world. As far as I perceive, people have no sexual preference unless explicitly stated otherwise. It's not about sexuality for me; it's about compatibility. Which primarily has little to do with sexual preference. I ship otps, brotps, friendshippy, idolshippy, whatever fits the couple/trio.

I was such a hardcore PokéShipper back in the day though oh my god. AAML 4 LYF until I grew out of taking ships so seriously. Legit part of the reason I stopped watching when Advanced rolled around was that Misty left and that was not okay because she and Ash were meant 2 b I mean Together Forever and Misty's Song I mean come on. But like I said, I grew out of that lmao. So many of the 'hints' were dub-exclusive as well; they were pushing that hard. Now I view it as mutual crush with Misty being more invested but wasn't meant to be oh well. There are some really good fics out there though wow.

I'll admit to being a Pokeshipper back in the day, but that kinda dwindled. It was fun while it lasted, but I dunno I lost interest. I did like Contestshipping in Hoenn, and kinda joked around with the OT3 of Ash/Dawn/Paul in DP. Though really Dawn was kinda fun mess around with everyone. I mean there was Ash/Paul/Conway/Zoey/Kenny lol.

As for Best Wishes, the resemblance to Ash/Misty with Ash/Iris at first was hard to ignore, so it was a cute little thing at first. However, various things the writers did made me dislike different aspects of both characters, so I quickly lost interest in the ship. In light of the recent episode, I found it cute, in a way, though at this point, it didn't seem like Ash and Iris had a strong enough bond to have that much drama. It was a decent episode however, and maybe it'll bring interest back to the ship a bit for some people. :)

Somebody pointed it out once that Iris was the first girl that didn't start her journey with Ash as a result of bike destruction. While that may seem obvious, the actual implication there is that she's the first to not start out on a negative note with him. Even when the other girls' bike incident was shrugged off, there was still the lingering feeling of obligation and debt underlying their friendship. I don't know what this really means in the way of shipping- perhaps Negai doesn't seem to have the tension of the other ships because there isn't that undertone? Idk.

Continuing from that:

VM fromZeroX5 said:

You can answer this in the shipping thread if you wish.

But what do you think about each individual Ash x Main girl ship? Do you have a favorite?

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PokéShipping: Like I said, I used to adore it and thought it was my forever OTP and yeah no. I still like it; there's cute fanart and fic and they're a cute lil couple. But they're not my OTP. Misty probably had a thing for Ash and Ash probably had a weird fluttery feeling that he didn't know was a crush and it's just generally kinda cute in a little-kid way.

AdvanceShipping: Super adorable, but they're a brOTP before all else for me. Ash and May are the kind of people that would be BFFLs for years until one day they realize they have romantic feelings for each other. Then it would be awkward for like a month and then they'd just be like "screw it we're dating now" and go back to normal except with added kisses. (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･

what is this called again?PearlShipping: Let's be real, I still haven't seen a lot of Dawn. I missed most of Sinnoh due to not having cable and not seeking it out because I had other things to do. But from what I've seen of her and Ash, I wouldn't ship it. Much. Unless there was really cute fic or art. But they seem like they're strictly friends. Except for when it's Comakari with Paul in the middle. :3c

NegaiShipping: asdfgh sweet kids. There's a definite similarity to Poké, but with Negai I feel like there's more canon acceptance of "oh hey this is probably a crush". And it's super cute, especially in the Path of Separation episode. Ash and Iris get along really well and it's awesome that their interests overlap- rather than Iris being interested in beauty and contests, she's an active competitor in tournaments, trains her Pokémon for battle exclusively, is physically active and perfectly comfortable traversing all over the place. So she and Ash can play together while Cilan is responsible for everything else. I mean, Iris is more of a child than the other girls and Ash is more of a child than he was in all but Kanto. So it's a very cutesy first love story. CaféMocha is still my preferred ship, but the main way I ship it allows for Negai as well. :D

My favourite... um... I don't really have one. Poké was the only one that was ever an OTP for me, and I don't much feel for it anymore. I think out of all of these, Negai is the most adorable canonically and Advance is the best in my headcanons.

Everyone else should run through this as well :D

ash and dawn had their moments, but it was probably as much of a successful ship as advanceship was. you should watch DP tho its really good. not sure what to think of negaishipping, i havent really noticed an attraction between ash and iris, and if it has happened, it flew right over my head.

I've seen bits of DP and really would like to see more, but I don't really have the time to devote to that right now. It's getting hard just to keep up on recent airings of everything I want to watch, let alone take on the back catalogue.

For Negai, though, I don't really see an "obvious" attraction beyond in that one episode. It's more like a semi-constant "ah my good friend is really adorable and I have a small crush on them". I mean, with Pokémon, you really have to ship a bit differently than you would with anything else. For one, almost all of the regular characters are under 20. Most of them are under 15. It's a little weird to ship things sexually or talk about it in a sexual context. So for me it's all cute lil crushes and kisses on cheeks and dumb "I like-like you" confessions and it's just all really cute. (~￣▽￣)~

EternallyAnna said:

For Negai, though, I don't really see an "obvious" attraction beyond in that one episode. It's more like a semi-constant "ah my good friend is really adorable and I have a small crush on them". I mean, with Pokémon, you really have to ship a bit differently than you would with anything else. For one, almost all of the regular characters are under 20. Most of them are under 15. It's a little weird to ship things sexually or talk about it in a sexual context. So for me it's all cute lil crushes and kisses on cheeks and dumb "I like-like you" confessions and it's just all really cute. (~￣▽￣)~

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I think the only obvious one was Pokeshipping. I mean, yeah alot of hints were dub added...but Pokemon 2000 stayed pretty much the same in both versions. Advanceshipping seemed like a true bro/sis relationship to me. Ash and Dawn had alot of friendship stuff going on, and there was that one episode where the girl named Lyra kept point out Ash's good points to Dawn, in some attempt to pair them up. But Dawn, and Ash were both pretty oblivious lol.

What do you think of Gymshipping and Wishfulshipping while we're at it? While the former doesn't get much attention, the latter is probably the most popular one in the Best Wishes saga (at least in the states, in Japan Cafemocha dominates, with Wishful, and then Negai last.), probably due to how blatantly the writers make it that they are opposites in almost every way. One of the writers do have her hide behind him when there is an ice type present, in almost every episode he does that involves an ice type. He did the same where he made Cilan hide behind her int he Purrlion episode.

there was also the episode after ash beats volkner, and dawn chooses to cheer ash on at the sinnoh league rather than travel with kenny who had a HUGE crush on her. so that tells you something about how she feels about ash. on the other two you mentioned i dont know anything about them so could you explain?

Gym never really intrigued me. Like I never saw attraction from either towards the other. They were friends, sure, but even then they had very little interaction without Ash. I think they had a very... cousin-ish relationship. Not super close like bro&sis but close enough to be comfortable with each other's quirks and to have a way of dealing with them.

Wishful is kind of cute, but I very much see them as close friends. With the hiding behind each other thing, that's something I'd do with my close friends. Comfortable enough to be like that, not awkwardly avoiding contact because of crushes. Like Gym, they've got less of a romantic context and more of a close friend thing going. Iris' reactions to Cilan's enthusiastic obsessions are very similar to Misty's dealing with Brock's hitting on every girl. And Cilan knows how to pacify Iris when she's being childish. They're even more comfortable than Misty and Brock were I think, and part of that is probably because they do things without Ash sometimes and actually speak to each other apart from doing exposition for things. idk in my mind they're sweet, but not sweet on each other.

zdude, I'm not sure leaving Kenny is indicative of a crush on Ash. From what I've seen, it's just that she doesn't like Kenny like that and wouldn't want to deal with the awkwardness. For hints like that, look back to Orange when Misty chose Ash over Rudy.

zdude18 said:

there was also the episode after ash beats volkner, and dawn chooses to cheer ash on at the sinnoh league rather than travel with kenny who had a HUGE crush on her.

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If anything that episode played middled ground. I mean Dawn chose to stay with Ash, but she told Kenny that he looked really cool/handsome when he beat Ash in battle. I think most Pearlshippers took this as a blow oddly IMO. Ash was oblivious to the entire situation of course. All he knew was that Kenny wanted to BATTE, beyond that he knew nothing of the conditions Kenny set of the battle.

so that tells you something about how she feels about ash. on the other two you mentioned i dont know anything about them so could you explain?

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Go watch "Gone with the Windworks", and "A Rivalry Gible on". Both those episodes kinda had Lyra pushing Ash/Dawn in a way. In the former they all were trapped in a room, and Lyra was wondering what kind of relationship Ash/Dawn had given Lyra said "If we're trapped in here forever we might as well get married". She was wondering who she'd choose between Ash, Brock, and the other character that traveled with her Khoury. Dawn denied any gf/bf relationship with Ash, so Lyra kept pushing Ash's strong points, while Dawn was left confused.

In the other episode, Lyra ultimately realized that she liked Khoury while observing Ash/Dawn arguing, as she was making comparisons between them and her/Khoury. Hoped that helpedd. :P

wasnt meaning to imply that she liked him like that, was trying to prove how close they are as friends. my bad. youre probably right.

ive seen those and yeah they could be taken both ways, as for gymshipping and wishfulshipping, i dont think theres much there imo.

zdude18 said:

wasnt meaning to imply that she liked him like that, was trying to prove how close they are as friends. my bad. youre probably right.

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I think all of Ash's pairing have their perks I suppose. With Misty, and Iris they could easily keep Ash in check because they are very critical of him at times. Misty physically, and Iris verbally lol. Iris is probably the only girl who can straight up keep up with him in battle, given they've battled each other in a tournament twice with Iris winning the first, and Ash the other. Given I'm not the biggest fan of Ash/Iris interaction (though it's improved a great deal as of Episode N), I have preference for Ash/Misty..given he actually fought back at her verbally much moreso than Iris. I think Iris' whole "UR SUCH A KID" spam early on to the mid point of the series, turned alot of people off on Ash/Iris since alot of people thought Iris disliked him.

As for May and Dawn, I think they have the capacity to learn a great deal from him still. While they may have a preference for beauty I think they'd be conformable around his "roughness" while at the same time retaining their style, after they've been in a relationship in a while. I did think it was a cute little thing that Ash/Dawn had a duet song in Japan about their frienship. It was cute, and is the only one Ash has with any girl...which could be why it's a really popular pairing.

wow ive never seen that song, could you possibly link it in a post here?

zdude18 said:

wow ive never seen that song, could you possibly link it in a post here?

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I suppose if you've only watched the dub you probably wouldn't know. :P But it was the third(?) opening to to DP in Japan. Nothing real shippy per-say. But I guess it depends on you perspective. Both of their Japanese VA's sing the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNmvuPIZKho

I don't have many ships as a whole, but I definitely ship a few things. One, is Rocketshipping. I know a lot of people give James crap and call him gay, but honestly, I think he's just awkward. I think Jessie and James are meant to be together, but it probably won't end in any real relationships. Anna described it as a brotp, which I think is pretty accurate. NeoRocketshipping on the other hand, I totally think Butch and Cassidy are together in more than a team manner. And my newest, Ballerinashipping. If you have seen this weeks Watch-a-long, you'll see what I mean. Kirlia and Wobbuffet are totes meant for each other. They're even in the same egg group (not that it really matters in the show, but it is a testament of their compatibility) which I thought was interesting since Pokemon in the show don't always fall in love outside their species, and sometimes the matchups make no sense at all. Also, before I stop, there is no way Ash's mom is NOT doing the do with Prof Oak, aka the smoothest MF on the planet. I am interested in any thoughts you guys have on these ships.

Honestly, I see Misty as having a crush on Ash, but i don't think he ever had the same feelings for her. He might have thought of her as cute, or attractive, but on a personal level I don't think Ash has been into Misty beyond a platonic capacity. I haven't seen enough of the other girls Ash has traveled with to say on them though...

RocketShipping is so good when it's done well. The first piece of media I ever cried at was a RocketShipping fic, I'm dead serious. Found it though randomly browsing archives as a child and I've never been able to find it since. It involved J&J dying and being separated in the afterlife and if you know of it hit me up because I read that in 2004 and really would like to see it with grownup eyes. But like I talked about with Necrum earlier, I ship them primarily as Platonic Life Partners. I don't see them getting together romantically, but I don't see them ever being with anyone else. Meowth is fully capable of going his own way and just visiting them once in a while, but I don't think J&J would do very well without each other.

NeoRocket I like never think about, but it's always been like "yep they're together. whatever." I don't ship them actively, it's just a fact in my mind. Ballerina was super duper cute in that episode and I wish there had been more of it. ;; ADULT/ELDER/LAB/PATRONSHIPPING THOUGH. Why the hell does that even have four names ugh I've always used ElderShipping. That's so a legit thing though. I still support Oak being Ash's real daddy as well. But Delia's a lucky girl. I've read some really amusing fics that involve those two and Tracey too. (~￣▽￣)~

lol what can i say, professor oak is D MAN

Can we just talk about MustardShipping for a second because that was really cute in more of a bromantic way. And Spokeshipping. And MapleSyrupShipping. (ﾉ´ヮ´)ﾉ*:･

but no actually let's talk about stuff we saw in GT streams

my current favourite is TeencareShipping omg Holly was like genuinely interested in Brock and he worked well with her and I hope they end up together. Like srs this is my only real Brock ship omg

and then there's StaffShipping which is the cutest thing ever idc if it's Pokémon x human. Ships- love, even- don't have to be sexual.

I'd rather ship the pokemon than the trainers.

-I like Ash and May's bulbasaurs being together. Despite the fact that May know has Venusaur, this has oddly made me like the ship more. I already broke the creepy rule.

-Ash has a female Unfezant. I'd like to think that, after leaving it behind in the lab, it might become lovebirds with one of his male flying pokemon.

-It took a lot for Bayleef to overcome her crush on Ash, and accept that they weren't soulmates. For a pokemon to walk-in and have a crush on Bayleef would be the cutest thing. I don't know who, though.

-I would like to think that now that Buneary is out there becoming famous, separate from Pikachu, that she'll find a stable romantic party in the form of a new member in Dawn's team. Perhaps a newer Pikachu clone?