When someone says they “ship” two characters they are referring to their desire to see two characters achieve a romantic relationship. The origin of the term is difficult to determine given the every fluctuating nature of Internet memes and colloquialisms, though TV Tropes has some interesting theories on where the term may have begun. Click here to give the article a read. It’s quite interesting.
“Shipping” knows no bounds when it comes to genres. It can and often transcends canon. It can be applied to any and every story and can be considered to be a very serious point of discussion when it comes to a serie’s particular fandom. In fact, “ships” commonly are christened with a portmanteau of the romantic relationship; generally a result of combining the two names together.
A key drive behind these “ships” is in the anticipation and subsequent release of endorphins upon witnessing the ships finally come into port. The factions of the fandom will back a particular “ship”, or “team” and, by participating in the result of that team winning, galvanise their interest in the story. In fact, the result of that “ship” can be the sole deciding factor as to whether or not the audience continues with the story at all, so strong is the desire to see that particular result.
A ship can make or break a story for many fans. If desired ship is denied, this can result in mass disillusionment and, in turn, abandonment of the story altogether. Considering it’s pull being akin to that of addiction, the fandom will seek the next source of “shipping”, starting the cycle again.
Do you have a particular ship that you back? Does your comic have fans that ship particular characters?Let us know in the comment section below! And join us on Sunday evening for our Quackchat at 5:30PM(EST)!
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The many ships of the sea
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Nov. 8, 2019
4 likes!
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ShaRose49 at 5:04AM, Nov. 9, 2019
If a fan only sticks with a story to see a particular ship happen that fan is shallow indeed. I wish people were more obsessed with good stories than they were with ships, though even I can enjoy a little bit of romantic subplots in a story.
bravo1102 at 5:40AM, Nov. 8, 2019
I remember one big thing in Star Trek fandom was Kirk and Spock getting together. So "shipping " can be about any two characters. One creator asked permission to use one of my characters for a relationship with her MC. She was set up to reappear when the comic stopped. I have her permission to use the character so you never know. Everyone brings up Moonlighting as the example of when "shipping " two characters ruins a series. I like seeing it done because if done right you can show how a couple becomes a great team as well as a steady romantic couple.
marcorossi at 2:44AM, Nov. 8, 2019
I was a big fan of Patlabor, and I mostly shipped the Goto-Nagumo couple. The serie had some obvious latent couples but never really entered the development of the love stories. But at the time (20+ years ago) the kind of internet based fandom we have today wasn't yet a thing, so while people presumably always shipped fictional characters, this happened inside one reader's head, often subconsciously. On the other hand today this kind of shipping is part of a sort of second layer of fruition for fans, where being part of a group of fandom is as much part of the pleasure as reading the fiction itself, IMHO.