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And still yet, in spite of it all, they are ''not happening''. Certainly not now, and probably not ever.
 
A subreaction of [[Better Than Canon]]. Most often the result of a [[Romantic False Lead]] [[Gone Horribly Right]] due to [[Emotional Torque]] critical mass, but sometimes happens [[Intended Audience Reaction|by design]] or [[Crack Pairing|because fandoms just make no sense]]. Often, but not always, involves disregarding a competing [[Official Couple]] with extreme prejudice. Can eventually lead to an [[AuthorsAuthor's Saving Throw]] or a [[Writer Revolt]].
 
The highest aspiration of a [[Fan Preferred Couple]] is to beat the odds and evolve into an [[Official Couple]]. This is about the only way the same couple can end up being ''both'' of these things.
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{{examples|Examples:}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
* For the [[Keroro Gunso]] fanbase, you're more likely to find fanart of Giroro with Natsumi rather than her canon crush, Saburo.
* ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'': [[Rumiko Takahashi]] originally planned for [[Victorious Childhood Friend|Ataru/Shinobu]] to be the [[Official Couple]] and [[Clingy Jealous Girl|Lum]] to be only an obstacle to their relationship. However, it soon became clear that ''everyone'' had [[Ensemble Darkhorse|fallen in love with Lum]] and her one-sided devotion to her "Darling" Ataru, including her own editors - probably because she had unintentionally made Lum ''too'' likeable and endearing a [[Romantic False Lead]] and fans found the [[Tsundere]] [[Fur Bikini|tiger-striped bikini-clad]] [[Green -Skinned Space Babe|alien]] [[Cute Monster Girl|oni]] [[EverythingsEverything's Better With Princesses|princess]] to be more [[Freaky Is Cool|appealing]] in more than [[Ms. Fanservice|one way]]) than the somewhat less [[Tsundere]] [[Ordinary High School Student]] - and she was compelled to turn Ataru/Lum into the official couple instead. Many fans have speculated that this experience was what caused her to not only make Lum's [[Expy]] Shampoo far less likeable but also [[Ship Sinking|sink]] several Fan Preferred Couples in her later series ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma 1/2]]''.
* A shocking majority of the [[Inuyasha]] fandom ships [[Noble Demon|Sesshomaru]] [[Wife Husbandry|with]] [[Morality Pet|Rin]], while his [[Implied Love Interest|canonical feelings]] for [[Dark Magical Girl|Kagura]] are all but ignored. Even more jarring since Rin is canonically a [[Shipper On Deck]] for Sess/Kagura, not to mention Sesshomaru's [[Parental Incest|''adoptive daughter'']] in all but name whom he has been taking care off since she was ''seven years old''.
** And those that don't ship Sesshomaru/Rin are busy shipping Sesshomaru/Kagome.
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** [[Portmanteau Couple Name|NaruHina]] has been popular enough to get plenty of [[Ship Tease]] in [[Filler]], a date in a [[High School AU]] bonus feature and a canon-defying [[Relationship Upgrade]] in [[Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 2|a video game adaptation]].
** [[Ho Yay|Naruto/Sasuke]] enjoys all sorts of support and homage, especially on [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls|fanfiction.net]] and its ilk, even though it has already been well-established that Naruto is straight and Sasuke is [[Ax Crazy|homicidally insane]]. To be fair, Naruto's disproportionate obsession with "saving" Sasuke ''does'' raise an eyebrow or two. Among the rest of the generic [[Ho Yay]] galore, [[Ships That Pass in The Night|Kakashi/Iruka]] stands out in popularity, with [[Those Two Guys|Genma/Raidou and/or Izumo/Kotetsu]] as popular [[Ship Mates]].
** [[Kissing Cousins|Neji/Hinata]] is supposedly popular back in Japan, presumably due to [[Incest Is Relative|cousin incest]] [[Values Dissonance|being more accepted there]]. It's worth mentioning that biologically, Neji and Hinata are half-siblings (their respective fathers are identical twins), so [[From a Certain Point of View]], this is [[Brother -Sister Incest]].
** Shikamaru is so frequently paired up with Temari (by fans in Japan, the West and pretty much anywhere the manga is known) that many assume it is already canon, even though they haven't ''technically'' gone on a date and another girl named [[Nerd Glasses|Shiho]] has shown strong romantic interest in Shikamaru. The series does hint heavily at something being there- they keep getting [[Ship Tease]] [[Shipping Goggles|half-invisible to the naked eye]]- and [[Word of God]] agrees there is something between them, but seems to suggest it's just not important enough for us to get to see it happen on-panel. Which hasn't stopped fans from anticipating a [[Relationship Upgrade]].
** Tsunade and Jiraiya {{spoiler|before the latter died}}.
* Fans of ''[[Da Capo]]'' are rather divided about who Jun'ichi should have ended up with, but most think Kotori would have been a much better match for him than Nemu for various reasons, among them not being a [[Tsundere]] or his [[Not Blood Siblings|adopted sister]]. Unfortunately, the sequel reinforced the official pairing by featuring Jun'ichi and Nemu's granddaughters. (An alternate-universe OVA was released in which Kotori wins. Kotori must have been pretty popular.) In the original VN, Nemu has almost an unrecognizable personality if you're only used to her in the anime (she's far less bitchy and far more empathic and likable). She was undoubtedly the favorite of the majority until the anime adaptations.
* In ''[[Ranma One Half½ (Manga)|Ranma 1/2]]'':
** Ryoga Hibiki is almost always paired with Ukyo Kunoji, much more frequently then Ranma Saotome is, though the popularity of this (and Shampoo/Mousse) is likely due to: A) it [[Ship Mates|not contradicting]] the [[Official Couple]], B) it [[Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends|making it easier for Ranma and Akane to get together]], C) Ryoga and Ukyo's [[Last Minute Hookup|Last Minute Hookups]] in the manga [[Strangled By the Red String|not being all that popular]], D) the anime writers added a lot of Ryoga/Ukyo [[Ship Tease]] that wasn't present in the original manga.
** [[May -December Romance|Kasumi/Dr. Tofu]] is a surprisingly common ship. Admittedly, it was one of the first genuine-seeming romances hinted at in the series, but [[Word of God]] states that Tofu's feelings are one-sided, which is hinted at in canon by the fact that [[Love Makes You Dumb]] and [[Love Makes You Crazy]] apply to Dr. Tofu to such an extent that Kasumi is honestly unaware that he acts any differently normally.
** Kuno/Nabiki is another Fan Preferred Couple that's popular for reasons similar to the ones given to Ryoga/Ukyo (i.e. it [[Ship Mates|not contradicting Ranma/Akane]] and [[Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends|eliminating one of Ranma's suitor problems]]), and like with Ryoga/Ukyo, the anime gives them a bit more [[Ship Tease]] for fans to lean on.
** In Japan the reason that the anime was shown out of order was because they wanted to introduce Shampoo earlier to boost ratings since she was the fan favorite fiancée in that country where Shampoo/Ranma was the most wanted pairing at the time.
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*** Not that the writers handled the Tai/Matt/Sora relationship all that well ''after'' they got together in the series; discussions often point out how, while Matt and Sora are clearly the parents of one another's children, the epilogue deliberately refrains from saying they got married and keeps them from interacting much at all -- in ''clear contrast'' to Ken and Yolei. The nitpicky may also bring up how Sora both addresses Tai first and dodges behind him in Diaboromon Strikes Back, when Matt was ''right there''.
** ''[[Digimon]]'' is good about those. [[Digimon Tamers|Rukato (Ruki/Rika and Takato)]] fans are a large part of the fanbase who think Ruki is a better match for Takato then Canon Love Interest Juri/Jeri. They mostly say that that is because Ruki and Takato have a "Hot-headed girl x cool-headed guy" chemistry, or even [[Slap Slap Kiss]].
*** Not that Takato and Ruki (or Ruki and Jian)<ref>Okay, ''this'' guy has more [[Spell My Name With an "S"]] going than simply having a different name in the US. His Japanese name, Jenrya Lee, is the Japanese way of writing the Chinese name Jianliang Lee. This wasn't a widely known fact when the series was new, so Jenrya and Jen are names that frequently appear in fandom. His dub name is Henry Wong. And of course, there's [[First -Name Basis]] being more intimate in Japan than in the west - "Lee-kun or -san is his most common ''onscreen'' Japanese name. So Henry, Jenrya, Jen, Jianliang, Jian, and Lee all refer to the same guy.</ref> ever got along too badly. And the [[Ship Tease]] with Ryo was mostly him hitting on her as part of their rivalry, and stunted by his few sporadic appearences in the latter third of series making it hard for most viewers to get attached to him.
** "Hot-headed girl x cool-headed guy" probably best fits Ruki and Jian, as that pairing was wildly popular in the Japanese fan community. In canon, Ruki got a lot of [[Ship Tease]] with Ryo, but you'll find more fanwork to Ruki and Jian ([[Portmanteau Couple Name|"Leeruki"]] as the Japanese fans called it) than for Ruki and Ryo.
** [[TV Genius|Koushiro/Izzy]] and [[Spoiled Sweet|Mimi]] is quite popular among the Japanese fandom (it's somewhat popular in the West, too, but not as preferred as [[The Lancer|Yamato]]/Mimi). Must have something to do with [[Opposites Attract]].
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* The amount of Domon/Allenby shipping in ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Anime)|G Gundam]]'' is rather amazing considering that this show came before [[Gundam Wing|the series]] that allegedly attracted all the [[Estrogen Brigade|stereotypical shippers]] to the franchise. Proof that [[Love Triangle|Love Triangles]] can survive and thrive even in a fairly straightforward [[Shounen]] kung-fu-with-giant-robots show.
** The manga adaptation played up Allenby and Domon's [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|teasing]]; the artist made it clear in an interview that he preferred Allenby to Rain.
* Many ''[[Mai-HiME (Anime)|Mai-HiME]]'' fans are convinced that the [[Tall, Dark and Snarky|dark and suave]] student-council vice-president Reito Kanzaki makes a much better match for Mai than male main character Yuuichi Tate, since Reito openly acknowledges his crush on her early on while Yuuichi [[Cannot Spit It Out|tends to skirt the issue]]. [[Yuri Fan|Others]] believe that Mikoto Minagi would be a better pairing option for her (hard not to see, since [[Les Yay|the two of them are attached at the hip throughout most of the series]]). Keep in mind that Reito and Mikoto {{spoiler|are brother and sister}}, but that's needlessly complicating things.
* ''[[Clannad (Visual Novel)|Clannad]]'' was ''extremely'' obvious about pairing Tomoya and Nagisa. Didn't stop many, many people from wanting to pair Tomoya with Kotomi.
* [[Bleach (Manga)|Bleach]]: Ichigo/Rukia, despite [[Tite Kubo]] stating twice that they had a unique, non-amorous relationship and both Japanese and American voice actors agreeing that there was no romantic interest, and preferring Ichigo with another [[Love Interest]], Orihime, manages to have captured the hearts and souls of 90% of the [[Fan Dumb]]. These fans believe IchiRuki to be totally [[Official Couple|canon]] and every other Ichigo pairing to be a [[Crack Pairing]].
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* Fans of ''[[Cowboy Bebop (Anime)|Cowboy Bebop]]'' can't agree on who Spike should be with, but they do seem to agree that it's not his canon love interest, [[Shallow Love Interest|Julia]]. It helps that [[Word of God]] has confirmed Spike and Faye had a thing for each other, but Spike's obsession with his past prevented him from doing anything about it.
* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has not yet reached its conclusion, but no matter who ends up "winning", ''somebody'' is going to be complaining about it, as there are numerous ships that are extremely popular in the fandom (Negi/Asuna for a start).
* The ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]'' anime has a few, despite the [[No Hugging, No Kissing]]. Ash/Misty is probably the most popular, helped by a precious few [[Ship Tease]] moments and a saccharine love ballad she sings to him buried somewhere in the 2B A Master soundtrack. With Pokémon/Human fans it's either Ash and Latias or Pikachu. Rival-wise it's May and Drew, which was given [[Ship Tease]] in most episodes Drew appeared in, getting increasingly blatant over time. Gay wise it's him and Gary, while lesbian wise it's either Zoey and Dawn or Cynthia and Dawn. Ash's Mom (Delia)/Professor Oak had a strong following for a while, possibly due to Oak acting as Ash's father figure most of the series.
* In the ''[[Pokémon Special (Manga)|Pokémon Special]]'' manga it tends to be Red and Yellow. Blue<ref>Green in America</ref>/Silver, Gold/Crystal, and Ruby/Sapphire teeter on the edge of canon, but can still be called this. With any other manga? ...Eh...Most fans don't know of any other manga. A slight example is ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure (Manga)|Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure]]'', where Jun and Mitsumi seems popular.
** Contrary to the games, Black/White is a much more popular ship amongst Pokémon Special fans then N/White, whose game counterparts are the components of one of the most popular game ships in existence.
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** There's also the fact that Rei [[Netorare|toyed with him]] on purpose, knowing full well what his feelings were.
** Of course, in a post apocalyptic world where the only people you know but aren't undead yet are gendered over 2:1 in favour of women, there's not exactly much in the way of alternatives.
* ''[[One Piece (Manga)|One Piece]]'' has a few, despite [[No Hugging, No Kissing]] being heavily hinted at as the author's intent. The fandom heavily prefers pairing Luffy with Nami, citing a unique relationship between the two as evidence, as well as the fact that author Oda's wife apparently cosplays as her. On the Yaoi side, Luffy is often paired with Zoro, or Zoro with Sanji. Other fan-favored pairings include the sorta-obvious Usopp and Kaya, as well as Zoro and Robin.
** A more extensive list includes:
*** Franky/Robin (due to them having been described as the "dad" and "mom" of the Straw Hat crew, numerous scenes of [[Character Development]] they share, and both being strongly connected to the [[Myth Arc]])
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*** Zoro/Tashigi (because of her resemblance to Kuina, Zoro's childhood friend)
*** Zoro/Perona (due to spending two years on a remote island together)
*** [[May -December Romance|Smoker/Tashigi]] or, to a lesser extent, Smoker/Hina (canonically he has a good working relationship with both of them, and Hina has a good understanding of Smoker's personality from their days at the Marine academy)
** ...yeah, the possibilities are endless.
* Some fans of ''[[Tears to Tiara]]'' like to pair Arthur and Octavia together, since they're both noble warriors and swordsmen {{spoiler|with Sad Pasts that involve their dead loved ones. And of course the fans were excited when they saw [[Ship Tease|episode 10]]}}.
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** Not actually preferred but Betty x Veronica (and Jughead x Archie to a lesser extent) are pretty popular. Maybe even more popular then Veronica and Archie.
* [[Strange Girl|Lenore]] and [[Our Vampires Are Different|Ragamuffin]] from ''[[Lenore the Cute Little Dead Girl]]'' and ''how''. To the point where most fanart and fanfiction involve the two of them. It doesn't help that they have a bucket filled with [[No Yay]] and [[Relationship Writing Fumble]], especially in the original comics.
* [[The View Askew NiverseAskewniverse|Kevin Smith]] actually devotes a rant to the misguided [[Superman]]/WonderWoman shippers in ''[[Mallrats]]''. The fact that Clark and Diana are a couple in multiple [[Alternate Universe|Alternate Universes]] (and canonically shacked up during a JLA storyline we'd rather not talk about) does not help the cause of Canon.
** [[Batman]]/TheJoker. Oh. Ye. Gods. This is the most popular Batman [[Foe Yay]] pairing. The fact it is canon on the Joker's side helps.
** Keeping with clowns, Harley/Ivy is a popular alternative to Harley/Joker given their close relationship in canon.
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*** Back when Gwen was still alive and Peter Parkers's official love interest, Mary Jane Watson's unexpectedly huge popularity with the readers was a serious problem for Stan Lee and John Romita. They tried a lot of things to tone MJ down and make Gwen more 'exciting', which in some respects only lampshaded their problem as it made Gwen more and more resemble MJ, most notably by changing her original hairstyle into a variant of Mary Jane's. The way Stan Lee wrote about it later, the matter was not helped by the fact that he himself found Gwen less interesting than MJ...
** And speaking of the [[Dating Catwoman|Black Cat]]... you guessed it! Outside of the core MJ/Gwen/Felicia trio, it seems that there are few women that fans would mind pairing Webhead up with. And a sizable portion of them hail outside of the ''Spider-Man'' comics (i.e. [[Spider-Woman (Comic Book)|Jessica Drew]], [[Ms. Marvel (Comic Book)|Carol Danvers]], etc.).
* There are a sizeable portion of ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'' fans who aren't exactly fond of love interest Ramona and would prefer Scott get back together with Kim Pine. Writer Bryan Lee O'Malley [[Take That, Audience!|hypothesizes that it is easier for these fans]] to relate to the [[This Loser Is You|dateless, downtrodden, outwardly-misanthropic Kim,]] which is why they vouch for her and dislike Ramona.
* In [[The Mighty Thor]], the [[Incredibly Lame Pun|mightiest]] pairing is easily the [[Foe Yay]] / [[Ho Yay]] / [[Not Blood Siblings]]-Yay of Thor/Loki. This is most likely becuase they're the two most established charatcers in the series, and have a few really heartwarming moments that the shippers run with. Plus, on the het side, the Thor/Jane (or Don/Jane, it's gotten confusing) Thor/Sif, and Thor/Amora shippers are too busy fighting with each other to deal with Thor/Loki shippers. Even though it's canon, most people regard [[Doctor Doom]] xLoki as a joke.
** Loki originally had a wife, Sigyn, to match with mythology. She vanished due to [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]], since she really did nothing except help Loki occsioanlly (and stop helping him just as much when she realized he was evil). No one really thinks about this now.
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** In spite of the fact that Storm and [[Black Panther]] are officially married, Storm and Nightcrawler remains very popular among the fans. This may be in part due to the popular opinion of much of the fandom that the Storm/Black Panther relationship is a badly-written case of both [[Token Minority Couple]] and [[Strangled By the Red String]].
*** ''[[X-Men (Film)|X2]]'' contributed a lot to this, as Storm and Nightcrawler had a scene that was borderline [[Ship Tease]].
*** Another popular pairing for Nightcrawler is to ship him with the [[Scarlet Witch]]. Part of this may be to draw attention away from Scarlet Witch's [[Brother -Sister Incest|canon intimacy with Quicksilver]] in the ''[[Ultimate Marvel|Ultimate]]'' line. It also might stem from the existence of Nocturne (of ''[[Exiles (Comic Book)|Exiles]]'' and ''[[Excalibur (Comic Book)|New Excalibur]]'' fame), their daughter from an [[Alternate Universe]]. Or maybe it's the [[Fetish Fuel]] involved. [[Take a Third Option|Perhaps all three.]] Even ''[[Wolverine and The X-Men]]'' [[Ship Tease|hints at this ship]] ([[She Is Not My Girlfriend|although he tends to deny it]]), with Wanda's time spent around Kurt at least partially influencing her decision to {{spoiler|banish Magneto from Genosha due to his [[Well -Intentioned Extremist|well-intentioned extremism]] [[Moral Event Horizon|going too far]].}}
** Don't forget Cyclops/Jean Grey, now that Cyclops/Emma Frost is the [[Official Couple]]. And reserve a spot for Scott/Emma if Jean ever comes back.
** ''[[Wolverine and The X-Men]]'' is also partly to blame for a sizable fleet of Wolverine/Emma Frost shippers. Though this might have less to do with any sort of [[Odd Friendship|chemistry between the two]] and more with the fandom's collective [[Die for Our Ship|hatred of Scott Summers.]] And yet, it's a ship that many Cyclops fan can unite with the haters on, because so many of them found pairing him with Emma instead of Jean to be ill-conceived.
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== Literature ==
* Artemis/Holly in ''[[Artemis Fowl (Literature)|Artemis Fowl]]'' has been the Fan Preferred Couple since the very first book. Even when Holly HATED Artemis.
** Which takes [[Mayfly -December Romance]] to an extreme because not only is Holly very long-lived, but Artemis began the series as a ''prepubescent child''.
* Pre-television example in ''[[Little Women]]'' due to it being autobiographical: Jo and Laurie become best friends and understand each other better than anyone else, but when the [[Relationship Upgrade]] moment comes, Jo uses the old "[[Like Brother and Sister]]" excuse, and at some point, she wants Laurie to marry her little sister Beth. The two end up marrying different people (Jo marries her [[Big Brother Mentor]] Fritz, Laurie marries Jo's ''other'' sister Amy {{spoiler|since Beth dies}})... and continue to remain best friends and confidants.
** Alcott had her own reasons for this. Her father had high ideas and forced the family to live in a commune and try and be self-sufficient while he played philosopher all day. In order to prevent her family from starving, she wrote ''Little Women'' which actually was only the first half of ''Little Women'' as we know it today. It was a great success and so her [[Executive Meddling|publishers pushed her for another]]. Fans particularly pressured her to find husbands for the little women, and to get Jo and Laurie together. However the book was very much based on Alcott's own family, with [[Author Stand In|Jo based on herself]]. Alcott wanted Jo, like herself, to remain an independent unmarried woman who earned her living through writing. However, with her family still starving, she had no other choice but to write the sequel ''Good Wives'', but [[Writer Revolt|refused to let Laurie and Jo get together]].
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* Many readers of ''[[Ivanhoe]]'' have expressed a preference for Wilfred/Rebecca over Wilfred/Rowena. This was probably intentional. Rebecca is clearly the heroine of the book (more so than Ivanhoe as the hero); the reason they didn't end up together was that the Canon couple had been in love for a long time and Rebecca would never marry a Christian. It's probably a rare case of the author himself being one of those who preferred an alternate couple!
* Many - possibly even a majority - of fans of the ''[[Earths Children]]'' series wished Ayla had stayed with charismatic Ranec from ''The Mammoth Hunters''. Indeed it seemed like Ayla only chose to go back to Jondolar (who was being a petulant ass throughout the book) because [[Unfortunate Implications|Ranec is black]]. That... or Ayla's a [[Biggus Dickus|size queen]].
** There's also those who <s> think [[Non -Indicative Name|Baby]] ate the wrong brother</s> ship Ayla/Thonolan, Jondolar's brother, who was dead before Ayla and Jondolar ever met.
* Despite her having two canon lovers, the majority of the fandom of ''[[The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries]]'' are rooting for Sookie to end up with either her boss, Sam the shape-shifter, or Bill's "boss", Eric Northman.
** {{spoiler|Eric Northman}} became the latest canon relationship. {{spoiler|(They'd had sex before too.)}}
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* Nathan Wournos and Audrey Parker of ''[[Haven]]'' are pretty much the fandom's [[OTP]], despite the fact she practically pushed him into another girl's arms, they don't know much about each other's personal life and at least on one occasion she flirted with a man he despises right in front of him. On the other hand, {{spoiler|Nathan's curse of not being able to feel anything seems to be negated by Audrey, which led to a bit of [[Ship Tease]] when he kissed her doppelganger to reveal her nature.}}
* Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson of ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]''. Or, considering the fact that, for [[Platonic Life Partners|all intents and purposes]], Elliot and Olivia are the [[Official Couple]], Alex Cabot and [[Launcher of a Thousand Ships|Olivia Benson]].
* Just watch the last ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' movie and you will see that even the producers have become [[Brother -Sister Incest|Jalex]] fans (along with almost every fan of the show). Seriously, Justin and Alex act more like a couple than siblings. This is either due to the creators' inability to portray a "[[Innocent Innuendo|clean]]" brother-sister relationship or [[Relationship Writing Fumble|they just did it on purpose]]. Perhaps they realized that they made a great mistake when they made Justin and Alex brother and sister instead of best friends [[What Could Have Been|as originally intended]].
* Sam and Harrison in ''[[Popular]]''.
** Also [[Les Yay|Sam and Brooke]] have [[Unresolved Sexual Tension|quite the following]], even after all these years. [[Foe Yay|Wonder why?]]
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** Speaking of...Billy. Many viewers found the Dee/Lee pairing came out of the blue, and could never like Dee after what she did to Billy.
* Most ''[[Better Off Ted]]'' viewers ship Ted with Veronica over [[Designated Love Interest]] Linda, despite the fact that Veronica is [[The Stoic]] who has no interest in a romantic relationship with Ted. It helps that they have already had sex without it getting weird, plus they get along well even though Veronica is Ted's boss and Veronica gets along well with Ted's daughter Rose.
* Kirk/Spock from ''[[Star Trek the Original Series (TV)|Star Trek the Original Series]]'' is so much preferred to Kirk/[[Green -Skinned Space Babe]] [[Girl of the Week]] that it's the [[Trope Codifier]] for the [[Slash Fic]].
** And it's hardly surprising why. Although Kirk did occasionally show genuine affection for a girl (for example, in "The City On The Edge Of Forever"), none of his female love interests were [[Girl of the Week|ever brought up again once the episode was over]]. By the movies the writers just seemed to give up altogether and focus entirely on Kirk's relationship with [[The Not Love Interest|Spock]], and even people who deny that Kirk and Spock ever had a [[Ho Yay|thing]] have to admit that Spock was by far the closest relationship Kirk ever had, the only person even coming close being McCoy.
** ''[[Star Trek Voyager (TV)|Star Trek Voyager]]'' had one in The Doctor and Seven of Nine. The hell of it was that this ship was actually teased at in the show, developed, then out of nowhere was derailed for the universally reviled Chakotay/Seven pairing that capped off the series in its final season.
** ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine (TV)|DS9]]'' had a large following for Garak/Bashir. However, once the studio realized that, they forced the writers to phase the [[Ho Yay]] out of their relationship and Bashir ended up with Ezri (in the re-launch novels, they break up).
** Also, O'Brien/Bashir, which seemed to gain the [[Ho Yay]] Garak/Bashir was losing.
* ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'' has a vocal majority that want Ricky and Amy together. This popularity largely stems from 1. They have a son together from a one night stand that took place [[Whole Episode Flashback|before the show started]]. 2. Ricky is considered a [[Draco in Leather Pants]] or [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold]]. Despite the show running almost entirely on [[Dating Do -Si -Do]], this is one pairing the writers keep [[Ship Tease|dancing around]].
** In season three, {{spoiler|They upgraded to [[Official Couple]]. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced]]}}
* ''[[Scrubs]]'': JD/Cox is the most popular ship in the fandom, despite the fact that JD {{spoiler|and Elliot end up together}} and Dr. Cox has been in a stable relationship with his ex-wife since season 2. It's also kind of ironic because canon-wise, JD and Turk are the ones who have a lot of [[Ho Yay]].
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* There's a fairly large and devoted fanbase for Stella/Mac from ''[[CSI New York]]'' despite the show steadfastly portraying them as [[Platonic Life Partners]].
** Ditto for Horatio/Calleigh in ''[[CSI: Miami]]''.
* Despite being infamous for its [[Dating Do -Si -Do]], Jimmy/Ellie was one of the more popular ships that never became official in ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]''. While writers [[Ship Tease|ship teased]] it for a season, they [[Ship Sinking|ultimately decided to keep Ellie in a love triangle with Craig and Manny]]. As of late, Sean/Emma are probably the most obvious example of this.
* Jackie and Hyde on ''[[That 70s Show]]''. An interesting case since the writers actually made the two a couple in later seasons... only for them to break up and cause them to slip right back into preferred territory with even more fans then before.
* In the US version of ''[[The Office]]'', nigh everything involving Jim and Pam up until season 4 had been pretty obviously a shameless, cackling gambit to get this reaction out of the audience.
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* A decade before the term "shipper" was coined, many viewers of the 90s sitcom ''[[The Brittas Empire]]'' felt that Gordon Brittas would have been better off with his [[Hypercompetent Sidekick]] Laura than his nervous alcholic wife Helen.
* Fans of ''[[The Elephant Princess]]'' prefer Kuru and Alex over Marcus and Alex or [[Official Couple|Caleb and Alex]] by far.
* Within Doctor Who - as it's 50 years old and all - there's been a few of these. Though early Doctors were seen as mostly asexual, [[Interspecies Romance|Rose and Nine]] or [[Mayfly -December Romance|especially Ten]] is prevalent amongst the fans on fanfiction.net. However, Doctor/Rose is blitzed by, of all things [[Foe Yay|Doctor/Master]] which turns up over seven hundred thousand google results, over Rose/Doctor's one hundred thousand. Three, Four, Five and Ten with their respective Masters are most common, and the age of both characters goes a long way to explaining their popularity.
** Amy/Doctor was also briefly but extremely popular in the Eleventh Doctor's first season, despite the fact she's now married to [[Badass Normal|Rory.]]
** There is also Doctor/Romana II, they were obviously close and the fact the actors later married is a fact in their favour. Also in their favor is the fact that they're the same species, so the usual objections to a Time Lord [[Interspecies Romance]] didn't apply to them.
* ''[[Passions]]'': At one point, many fans of Ethan and Theresa got so disgusted with Ethan's behavoir, they began actively clamoring that Theresa be paired with his brother Fox.
* ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]'' features [[Genki Girl|Akiko]] and [[Troubled but Cute|Terui]] as the Official Couple. Akiko [[Broken Base|divides the fanbase]] between those who like her and those who find her too loud and annoying, and a common opinion expressed on fanboards is that Terui should have got together with guest character Lily, played by fanboy favourite Nao Nagasawa (also known as [[Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger|HurricaneBlue]].)
* Oh, ''[[Thirty30 Rock (TV)|Thirty Rock]]'' and the long, convoluted history of Jack/Liz. [[Tina Fey]] has been saying [[No Hugging, No Kissing]] since the first season, but the ship remains as popular as ever. The show is just so determined not to put them together, giving both a series of love interests which never last. ''30 Rock'' long ago started outright spoofing the idea of Jack/Liz, but this just came off as extra quirky [[Ship Tease|Ship Teases]], at least to the shippers. Eventually, they just went out and gave them an [[Accidental Marriage]], although [[Status Quo Is God|it only lasted one episode]]. The whole episode was basically just a big [[Lampshade Hanging]], saying that "we know you want Jack and Liz together, but we're not doing it."
* John/Sherlock on BBC's ''[[Sherlock (TV)|Sherlock]]'', but this is hardly surprising considering it's a modern revival of one of the oldest bromances in literature, and both actors are incredibly good-looking. Seriously, the number of romance fics that ''don't'' have John/Sherlock as the main couple number in the low dozens, and most of ''those'' are Mycroft/Lestrade fics that include John/Sherlock as the [[Beta Couple]]. Think Merlin/Arthur [[Up to Eleven]].
* On ''[[Frasier]]'', Niles/Daphne was always infinitely preferred to Niles/Maris, even though Niles and Maris were married. To give you an idea of why: part of the reason Maris remained [[The Ghost]] throughout the show's run was because her actions were so horrible and psychotic, and her appearance so bizarrely described that the writers deemed it impossible to ever write dialogue for or cast a character of her level of monstrosity. (Niles and Daphne eventually became the [[Official Couple]]).
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* ''[[Tales of Vesperia (Video Game)|Tales of Vesperia]]'' has a ludicrous amount of Rita/Raven fanart, especially on Pixiv, probably owing to their dynamic seemingly having [[Slap Slap Kiss]] potential.
** Flynn/Yuri and Estelle/Rita have the most amount of fanwork by far on the English side of fandom, but Yuri/Judith makes a very strong showing as well.
* Almost all ''[[Tales of Legendia (Video Game)|Tales of Legendia]]'' fans prefer Senel/Chloe to the heavily implied Senel/Shirley. After all, Senel and Chloe spend most of the game getting to know one another and discovering what they have in common. Meanwhile, Senel introduces Shirley as his [[Like Brother and Sister|sister]], was in a relationship with Shirley's ''actual'' sister, and when he spurns Shirley, she turns into a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]].
* ''[[Jade Empire]]'' has a maximum of three romantic options within the party... so, naturally, the most popular pairing is The PC/''Sagacious Zu'', a character who {{spoiler|makes a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]}} right when the canon romances begin to play themselves out.
** Not to mention he's at least twice as old as the three romantic options, seeing as he was already an adult when he {{spoiler|killed Sun Li's wife and "kidnapped" Dawn Star, an infant at the time. By the way, Dawn Star was named for the spectacle the burning of Dirge causes.}}
* For a time in the ''[[Fire Emblem Akaneia|Mystery Of The Emblem]]'' fandom, people greatly preferred Marth with [[Spell My Name With an "S"|Katua/Catria]] instead of his canon girlfriend and eventual wife Sheeda/Shiida/Caeda, whom they preferred to pair with Ogma. In an aversion of [[Die for Our Ship]], they get along with Marth/Caeda fans (better then the [[Crack Pairing|alternatives]] that originated from the [[Fan Dumb]] in ''[[Super Smash Bros]]'', which was emphasized in the fanfic "Time Cannot Erase" by [[Callisto Hime]]).
** Atokad11 has pretty much made it clear that he seems to want Katua and Sheeda to have Marth equally (Note: he also states that every FE Lord follows the principles of paedophilia, incest and polygamy), and has made a series of how the two of them, along with Tana from Sacred Stones and 3 girls from the Tales series, go on a crusade to destroy all the fangirls in the world, along with [[Callisto Hime]].
** Largely as a result of [[Marth Debuted in Smash Bros]], Marth/Roy for ''Melee'' and Marth/Ike for ''Brawl'' are both much more popular than the canonical Marth/Shiida amongst Western fans.
** Heck, let's not mention just Mystery Of The Emblem. ''Every [[Fire Emblem]]'' always have their own batch [[Fan Preferred Couple]], especially those that have Support System. Such as [[Fire Emblem Elibe|Eliwood/Lyn over the one with special end Eliwood/Ninian]], for one example...
** For the seventh game, a surprisingly popular pairing amongst the [[Rule Thirty Four34|steamy fanart]] crowd is [[Dark Action Girl|Dark Action]] [[Hot Mom]] Sonia Reed and her [[Number Two]], Ursula the Blue Crow. It's not hard to see why: Ursula's [[Undying Loyalty]] to Sonia combined with Sonia's [[Alpha Bitch]] personality and penchant for wearing [[Stripperiffic]] black leather lead to obvious dominant/submissive implications, and they definitely seem closer than Sonia and her canonical husband Brendan (part of this may also be due to the fact that Brendan is huge, muscular, hairy, and [[May -December Romance|in his fifties]], making him an unlikely choice for steamy fanart).
* Speaking of ''[[Super Smash Bros (Video Game)|Super Smash Bros]]'', many fans of ''Brawl'' are partial to the pairing of Solid Snake/Samus Aran. The game itself encourages the pairing through Snake's codec transmissions on Shadow Moses Island in which he talks to Otacon and Mei Ling about Samus; he says things like "Sounds like my kind of woman" and "But underneath that metal exterior beats the heart of a woman." The fact that the pairing is technically impossible outside of the Smash Bros. setting (not least because Snake doesn't even belong to Nintendo) deters pretty much no one. Before ''Brawl'' it seemed the preferred pairing was Samus and Capt. Falcon. Outside of Smash Brothers continuity, Samus is typically paired with Master Chief from Halo
** [[Fire Emblem|Marth]] and [[Super Mario Bros|Peach]] or [[The Legend of Zelda (Franchise)|Zelda]], anyone?
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** [[Ho Yay|Axel and Roxas]], anyone? [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls|In the circles where fanfic is written and fanart is made]], it's undoubtedly FAR more popular than Naminé/Roxas or Xion/Roxas, both of which might as well be [[Official Couple|official couples]]. They have LOADS of fan arts and fanfics. Try and go find a ''Kingdom Hearts'' fan who hasn't seen/read any of them. It's everywhere. There's no escaping the Akuroku.
** Thanks to [[Dark Action Girl|Larxene]]'s [[No Sense of Personal Space]] in ''[[Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories|Chain of Memories]]'', fans (or at least, the ones who don't say that [[Het Is Ew]]) tend to pair her up with Axel. The [[Het Is Ew]] people pair her with Naminé, who is also a reciever of Larxene's molesting in-game.
** While ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep|Birth by Sleep]]'' is in no way light on [[Ship Tease]] from all directions, the most popular ship ''by far'' is that of [[Anti -Hero|T]][[Knight in Sour Armor|e]][[Determinator|r]][[Skilled but Naive|r]][[Mighty Glacier|a]] and [[Lady of War|A]][[Squishy Wizard|q]][[Hot Chick With a Sword|u]][[Action Girl|a]]. Not a believer? {{spoiler|Go see the [[Downer Ending|Last]] [[Tear Jerker|Episode]] for proof.}} It doesn't help that Ven, the other member of the [[True Companions|trio]], appears to [[Shipper On Deck|ship them]] and Terra and Aqua seem to act more like Ven's ''[[Team Dad|pa]][[Papa Wolf|re]][[Team Mom|nt]][[Mama Bear|s]]'' than his surrogate [[Big Brother Instinct|brother]] and [[Cool Big Sis|sister]]. Bonus points in that this is perhaps ''the only'' het ship in the fandom that ''even the [[Yaoi Fangirl|yaoi fangirls]] [[Beyond the Impossible|are supportive of]]''.
*** Also from ''BBS'' (moreso among fans of yaoi), [[Foe Yay|Ventus/Vanitas]]. {{spoiler|This becomes [[Squick|Squicky]] because Ventus and Vanitas are technically the same person. However, as other pairings demonstrate, the semi-canon Xion/Roxas included, in the universe of ''Kingdom Hearts'' [[Screw Yourself]] isn't uncommon.}}
* Although ''[[Persona 4]]'' doesn't have an ''official'' couple (thanks in part [[Chick Magnet|to the fact that you can date everyone]]), the Protagonist usually seems to end up with {{spoiler|Naoto}} in fanworks, to the point that the aforementioned spoiler is practically entering [[It Was His Sled]] territory. Yukiko and Rise are in a dead heat for second, with Yukiko apparently winning by a slight margin.
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** And while Chie (The remaining female main character) doesn't get shipped with the protagonist, there's a lot - ''a LOT'' - of fan material with [[Les Yay|her and Yukiko]]. [[Subtext|The game helps a lot already.]]
** Fans of the older characters in the game tend to ship Dojima/Adachi. A lot. Never mind that {{spoiler|Adachi is the [[Big Bad]] of the game and tried to get Dojima's daughter killed. And all of this started when Adachi tried to rape two '''women'''.}} It's said that Adachi/Nanako has a particularly big pairing in Japan, also. Nanako is a seven year old, by the way.
** On the [[Ho Yay]] side, the protagonist is popularly shipped with [[The Not Love Interest|Yosuke]], despite the latter not being an actual [[Gay Option]], due to the many, uh, ''[[Did I Just Say That Out Loud?|questionable]]'' [[Man Hug|mom]][[My Friends and Zoidberg|ents]] he has with the main character.
* ''[[Persona 3]]'' has the option of the hero dating any girl in your party as well, but the fans overwhelmingly prefer him with Yukari, Aigis, or Elizabeth. Mitsuru/Akihiko and Mitsuru/Yukari are also very popular, moreso than pairing her with the Main.
** Thanks to certain Social Link events in ''Persona 3 Portable'', {{spoiler|Shinjiro}}/FeMC has been reaching this level in epic proportions. It ''does'' make a certain amount of gameplay sense, since {{spoiler|dating him allows for you to indirectly ''save [[Ensemble Darkhorse|his]] life''. Sort of like [[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Zelos]]. Although he ends up hospitalized for the rest of the game until the senior's graduation day.}}
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** Edward/Belf is pretty well-received for the lulz
** Talia/Devin from ''Ahriman's Prophecy'' also seems rather popular. Like the ''Aveyond'' 3 example, you can put them together in individual gameplay, but the canon pairing is Devin/Alicia.
* Although [[Touhou Project|ZUN]] has stated that he likes the concept of his characters [[Les Yay|paired up]], [[Shrug of God|he hasn't bothered to tell us WHICH pairings he likes]]. So, the rampant shipping of the [[Loads and Loads of Characters|Loads And Loads Of]] [[Touhou (Video Game)/Characters|Characters]] (particularly with certain characters *cough[[Even the Girls Want Her|Marisa]]cough* being seen as a [[Launcher of a Thousand Ships]]) goes unchecked by the presence of an [[Official Couple]]. However, certain ships are frequently seen calling at port: [[Cute Witch|Marisa]]/[[Marionette Master|Alice]], [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire|Remilia]]/[[Meido|Sakuya]] (although [[Butt Monkey|Meiling]]/Sakuya is almost as, if not just as popular), [[Our Ghosts Are Different|Yuyuko]]/[[Hot Chick With a Sword|Youmu]], [[Green Thumb|Yuuka]]/[[Little Bit Beastly|Wriggle]], [[Bottle Fairy|Yuugi]]/[[Tsundere|Parsee]], and [[Hot for Teacher|Keine]]/[[Who Wants to Live Forever?|Mokou]], to name a few. Of all of these, only Marisa/Alice comes even remotely close to being hinted at in canon, and some of these are of characters who aren't even confirmed to have ''[[Ships That Pass in The Night|met]]'' in canon.
* [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright]], my god. [[Ho Yay|Phoenix]]/[[Foe Yay|Edgeworth]] is one of the most popular pairings (aided by the creators' tendency to [[Ship Tease|bait]] their numerous fangirls), but Phoenix/Maya's pretty close. And Franziska/Adrian, [[Tomboy and Girly Girl|for]] [[Les Yay|some]] [[Whip It Good|reason]]. You get a decent amount of Phoenix/Franziska too (but strangely, very little of Phoenix/Iris, the one canonical relationship the guy's ever had). And that's just scratching the surface here.
** The one almost everyone seems to like, though, is [[Butt Monkey|Gumshoe]]/[[Dojikko|Maggey]]. Probably because it's pretty much canon, and pairing the two [[Butt Monkey|Butt Monkeys]] together is cute anyway.
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** Special mention for the [[Foe Yay|Kefka/Terra]] (Japanese) fanbase. There is definitely a good bit of fanart for them. Then again, Kefka was an evil megalomaniac with a very pretty young woman under his complete control; it wouldn't exactly be out of character for him to have a go. He certainly seems to be... ''excited'' by her killing skill.
* In ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'', Cloud and Tifa are an [[Official Couple]], and Sephiroth's romantic status and sexual orientation are never mentioned. Still, Sephiroth/Cloud is such an immensely popular fan fic and fan art pairing that newbies have been known to accept it as canon. This is despite the two of them being bitter enemies. Zack is also popularly paired with Cloud or Sephiroth or both, despite being in another [[Official Couple]] with Aerith.
** Right when ''VII'' came out, the most popular pairing was actually Cloud/Aeris.<ref>Aerith was not [[Spell My Name With an "S"|a common spelling]] in the English-speaking fandom at the time.</ref> The legendary [[Player Punch]] had ''worked'', and back then the Square forums were inundated with "please bring Aeris back in the remake!" requests, while the fanfic scene was full of steamy writing starring spiky-haired SOLDIER and [[Moe]] flower girl. However, newer players tend to align with Cloud/Tifa if male, or [[Ho Yay Shipping|Cloud/Sephiroth]] if [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls|female]], and the fanbase in general has turned more and more spiteful towards Aerith. The Compilation torpedoes the ship further; the old guard are happy to ship what they shipped before ''Crisis Core'', but there's fewer every year, and new players who got into ''FFVII'' through the Compilation and the internet scene tend to accept Zack/Aerith as holy writ [[Base Breaker|if they accept Aerith's right to exist at all.]]
*** When it comes to [[Ho Yay Shipping]] Cloud and Sephiroth were lets just say very popular (though the majority of the other male characters were far from excluded). On the [[Les Yay Shipping]] side Tifa is very popular in this regard as well especially with Aeris (but Yuffie is not entirely exempt from this), on the [[Foe Yay]] side there is Scarlet (and to a lesser extent Elena). Tifa/Aeris is generally played for Romance while Tifa/Scarlet is generally played for [[Girl On Girl Is Hot|fanservice]] (though keep in mind the former can be willing to do fanservice as well).
** No love for Sephiroth/Aerith (Aeriseph)? There's quite a fanbase to it.
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** Let's not forget the humble, but growing number of Warrior of Light/Cosmos shippers out there.
*** It doesn't hurt that, WoL's strong and undying sense of duty to his goddess aside, it is eventually revealed that {{spoiler|the pair are actually perfect manikins respectively modeled after Cid of the Lufaine and his wife.}}
** Or [[Final Fantasy II (Video Game)|Firion]] and [[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Lightning]] in ''012''. Put together a [[Adorkable|charmingly dorky]], [[Heroic Resolve|idealistic]] [[Hot Blooded|youth]] and a [[Sugar and Ice Personality|stoic]], [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo|aloof]], [[Knight in Sour Armor|war-hardened warrior]], have them [[Ship Tease|bond over]] [[Something About a Rose|Firion's Wild Rose]], and have [[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Cecil]] act as Firion's [[Shipper On Deck|wingman]]; you've got the recipe for another fast-sailing ship right there.
** There's also a lot of fanart and fanfiction for Cloud and Terra due to the fact she apparently reminds Cloud of Aerith and the two of them bond over their dreams for the future.
* From the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series in general, Ifrit/Shiva is a very popular pairing between [[Summon Magic|summons]], most likely due to the "[[Playing With Fire|fire]] and [[An Ice Person|ice]], [[Beast and Beauty]]" thematic they have going on.
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* ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]'' is pretty light on [[Ship Tease]] in general, but fans love the idea of [[Butt Monkey|Duster]]/[[Black Magician Girl|Kumatora]]. Also [[Twincest|Claus/Lucas]], thanks to the [[Yaoi Fangirl|Yaoi Fangirls]].
* Despite the relative youth of the ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'' fandom, [[Mr. Fanservice|Mike]]/ Sis is ''very popular'', despite - or probably because - nothing actually happens between them in-game, just some serious [[UST]].
* In the ''[[Metroid]]'' fandom, there are [[Foe Yay|Samus/Ridley]] shippers. Yes, [[You Killed My Father|that]] [[Complete Monster|Ridley]]. Then again, the closest thing to a [[Canon]] couple is [[May -December Romance|Samus/Adam]].
* ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'': ''Any'' coupling outside of RED Spy/BLU Scout's mother and possibly Demoman/the opposing Medic's wife is based in [[Fanon]], but the highly suggestive lines the Heavy has leads to Heavy/Medic being the most popular. [[Valve]] even [[Ship Tease|shipteases]] these guys with the Beaux and Arrows achievement, which you get when you pin a Medic to a Heavy using an arrow.
* ''[[Blaz Blue]]'': It's pretty known that Litchi is a [[Love Martyr]] for Arakune, but it doesn't stop people for pairing her with [[Large Ham|B]][[Boisterous Bruiser|a]][[Dogged Nice Guy|n]][[Rated M for Manly|g]]. This gets even more prevalent when due to story development, {{spoiler|Litchi's love for Arakune was one of the reasons why she pulled a [[Face Heel Turn]], thus if Arakune was not her main love, she would've no need for that. And surprise, Bang is revealed to possess a Nox Nyctores that might be the key to cure BOTH Litchi and Arakune and possibly annulling her [[Face Heel Turn]]...}}
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** [[Fanon]] also seems to have a fondness for [[Street Fighter (Video Game)|Ryu]]/[[Street Fighter II (Video Game)|Chun-Li]], despite neither of them having married by the time of ''[[Street Fighter III (Video Game)|III]]'', the two merely being good friends, and Ryu most likely being some mix between a [[Chaste Hero]] and [[Celibate Hero]]. Some the other media adaptations [[Ship Tease|have not helped in this regard.]]
* In the ''[[Resident Evil]]'' fan community, Chris/Jill has the most supporters since the [[Resident Evil 1|first]] ''Resident Evil'' game's release. The second most preferred pairing is in fact Leon/Claire instead of Leon/Ada, although the latter has a sharp rise after ''[[Resident Evil 4]]''. For the main antagonist Wesker, however, he has lots of Wesker/Redfield shippers somehow, with obviously some [[Yaoi Fangirls]] supporting the Wesker/male Redfield pairing.
* ''[[Shining Force|Shining Force II]]'''s plot is something of a [[ClicheCliché Storm]], complete with a [[Sleeping Beauty]] princess who needs to be [[Intimate Healing|awakened with a kiss]]. Everyone tells [[The Hero|Bowie]] that he's the right one to wake Princess Elis, [[Standard Hero Reward|marry her, and inherit the throne]]. When it comes her turn to talk, [[Unlucky Childhood Friend|Sarah]] bursts into tears, says that you're the best choice, and runs off, only to be [[Pair the Spares|comforted]] by another member of the [[Five -Man Band]], while [[But Thou Must|you get to go up and wake the princess]]. Most fans, of course, much prefer Sarah to Elis, who doesn't get more than two lines in the whole game and exists solely to be the [[Distressed Damsel]].
* In the ''[[Professor Layton]]'' fandom, it's canon that the professor and Claire were in a relationship, and ten years later, even after her death, he still loves her dearly. Of course, [[Het Is Ew|the fangirls prefer to ship Layton with Luke.]]
* Prior to ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', the two main fan-preferred couples for ''[[Mass Effect]]'' were Male!Shepard/Tali and Female!Shepard/Garrus. The two were so popular, [[Bio Ware]] made them both [[Sure Why Not|official options,]] and they still take up the bulk of ''Mass Effect'' fanfic. As for non-Shepard pairings, the two main preferred couples are Tali'Zorah/Kal'Reegar and Liara/Feron.
** Garrus/Tali is also somewhat popular, and in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', {{spoiler|provided you don't romance them both, they hook up.}}
* While there's no explicit romance in ''[[The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'', the closest the game has to an actual love interest for Link is Ilia, which is the least popular of the three major ships in the game.
** And of course, this isn't the worst of all, it is ''[[The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|The Ocarina of Time]]''. The game gives link [[Word of God|SIX]] love interests ([[Childhood Friend Romance|Saria]], [[Friend to All Living Things|Malon]], [[Sweet Polly Oliver|Zelda]], [[Exposition Fairy|Navi]], [[Childhood Marriage Promise|Ruto]], and [[May -December Romance|Nabooru]]), and fans will give him more ([[Mayfly -December Romance|Impa]], [[Heroes Want Redheads|Anju]], [[Foe Yay|Ganondorf]], etc). So people has a lot of choices.
* There's a few [[Left 4 Dead|Hunter x Witch]] shippers out there.
* ''[[Pokémon]]'' is a hard series to tackle, due to the numerous continuities and hundreds of shippings. Shippers tend to have a habit of shipping protagonists with each other, or rivals and protagonists, leading to those being the top shippings. Though [[Pokémon Black and White (Video Game)|Hilbert or Hilda/N]] is quite popular for their games, more so then the two protagonists together. Likewise, [[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (Video Game)|Cynthia/Dawn]] is almost as popular as said protagonist and either her rival or Lucas. Also, [[Pokémon Gold and Silver (Video Game)|Silver/Lyra]] has a strong following.
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* The ''[[Tales of Graces (Video Game)|Tales of Graces]]'' canon pairing is Asbel/[[Distressed Damsel|Cheria]], but most of the players seems to favor Asbel/[[Cute Bruiser|Sophie]].
* ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]'' fans tend to either be Spyro/Ember fans or Spyro/Cynder fans however Ember/Flame has managed to become rather popular despite the two never speaking to each other.
* ''[[Harvest Moon (Video Game)|Harvest Moon]]'' fans typically cling to one or two pairings per game; for example Pony/[[White -Haired Pretty Boy|Skye]] is probably the most common pairing for the ''Cute'' game. However for ''[[Harvest Moon a Wonderful Life]]'' Nami/Mark is the most popular pairing in the game, for whatever reason.
** The Mineral Town-based games have a straight example in Carter, the local priest; who is the most popular pairing for [[Distaff Counterpart|Claire]].
* While ''[[Frozen Essence (Visual Novel)|Frozen Essence]]'' lets Mina hook up with no less than five characters, the one who comes the closest to being a "default option" for her is Rune who she needs to pursue to get the True End. Naturally, the majority of players prefer Mina to be with [[Blood Knight|Caius]] or {{spoiler|[[Secret Character|Zareh]]}} instead; the former because [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]], the latter because of him having been in love with Mina [[Childhood Friend Romance|far]], ''[[I Will Wait for You|far]]'' [[Dogged Nice Guy|longer]] than anyone else.
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* The ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' fandom is overwhelmed with Fred/Daphne supporters and a sizeable deal of Shaggy/Velma fans, mainly because these are almost always the pairs who end up together during "let's split up, gang" moments. There ''are'' some other shipping groups, but these two are the most popular ones by a huge margin. It also helps that they've become more-or-less official in the [[Scooby Doo Mystery Inc|newest Scooby-Doo series]].
* In spite of the fact that the ''[[Happy Tree Friends]]'' is a show about cute critters that die horribly and painfully, the amount of fanfiction is quite big. Most fans prefer [[Mind Game Ship|Flippy and Flaky]] together, due to the fact that both seem to have mental problems and Flaky appears to be Flippy's closest friend and it has been hinted several times that he may like her, because he stopped killing her in recent episodes, for an unknown reason, even though she has developed a phobia of him. They even have their own [[http://photobucket.com/images/flippy<!-- 20and20flaky/ very large section of Photobucket images]]. -->
* On ''[[Total Drama]],'' [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold|Duncan]]/[[Perky Goth|Gwen]] was this to [[Jerk With a Heart of Gold|Duncan]]/[[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!|Courtney]]. But that dynamic has switched due to canon changes.
** Because ''Total Drama'' has [[Loads and Loads of Characters|so many major characters]] and an active [[Crack Ship|Crack Shipping]] community, this trope happens a lot for the less popular couples--for example, [[Cloudcuckoolander|Izzy]] is paired more with [[Deadpan Snarker|Noah]] or [[Homeschooled Kids|Ezekiel]] than her canon boyfriend [[Big Eater|Owen]], while [[Iron Butt Monkey|Tyler]] gets ignored so [[Dumb Blonde|Lindsay]] can wind up with Trent instead.
** As of World Tour, [[Foe Yay|Alejandro/Heather]] is quite popular among the fans, due to fabulous amounts of [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]. It's almost canon...
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** And ironically, though Sprx/Nova is still the main fandom ship, there are now more Otto/Nova shippers around filling the FPC bill.
* [[Les Yay|Kim]]/[[Foe Yay|Shego]] for ''[[Kim Possible]]''. [[Portmanteau Couple Name|Kigo]] shippers tend to be loyal to and passionate about their ship, dedicated about mining [[Subtext]] and usually they end up [[Heel Face Turn|redeeming]] [[Dark Action Girl|Shego]]. One episode of the [[Un Cancelled]] [[Post Script Season]] has Shego turned good by a [[Mirror Morality Machine]], quickly becoming Kim's best friend. It's practically an act of [[Fan Service]] and a gift to the Kigo fans. Naturally, [[Status Quo Is God|it's all reversed at the end]].
** [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|Ron]]/[[Yamato Nadeshiko|Yori]]. Very often used as a side-plot to KiGo, but also as a stand-alone development. It helps that it's [[Me Love You Long Time|practically canon]], at least on Yori's side.
** Kim/Ron before they became an [[Official Couple]].
* [[Word of God|Rob Renzetti]] confirmed that, had ''[[My Life As a Teenage Robot (Animation)|My Life As a Teenage Robot]]'' continued, Jenny would have ended up with Sheldon...no doubt upsetting a majority of the fandom, who are Jenny/Brad supporters. Though in fairness, Jenny/Sheldon does have a pretty large fanbase too.
* Professor Utonium and Ms. Keene from ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' has a strong fan following. Though it's dwarfed by [[Toy Ship|the pairing of]] the girls with [[Distaff Counterpart|their Rowdyruff Boys counterparts]].
** This pairing was actually the subject of one episode late into the series, and it was thoroughly deconstructed {{spoiler|and eventually annulled by Ms. Keene's cat, with the Professor having an aversion to cats due to one being the [[Big Bad]] of [[Continuity Nod|an earlier episode]]}}.
* Chip/Gadget in ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (Animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'', to the point where [[Portmanteau Couple Name|Portmanteau Couple Names]] aren't necessary anymore because the only terms needed are "pro" (for being in favor of Chip/Gadget) and "anti" (for explicitly opposing this ship, regardless of alternatives). Well, okay, and Dale/[[One -Scene Wonder|Foxglove]].
* Despite [[Word of God]] stating that Jessie from ''[[The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (Animation)|The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest]]'' was ''not'' created as a love interest for any of the characters, an overwhelming majority of the fandom ships her with Jonny. There's also a smaller group that ships her with Hadji. This is probably due to massive amounts of [[Ship Tease]] for both ships.
** That's the second season. According to the [[Word of God]] from the first season, Jonny and Jessie ''were'' to be romantically linked just around the corner. It's in the first season writers bible [http://questfan.com/Page/Writer%27s_Bible.html\] ''and'' on the DVD extra, oddly enough.
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* Number 1 (Nigel)/Number 5 (Abby) from ''[[Codename Kids Next Door]]'' are a significantly more popular ship than the canonic Number 2 (Hoagie)/Number 5 and seems to be on the same level of popularity as the canon Wally/Kuki.
** Nigel and Rachel (N. 362) has a reasonably large fanbase that overshadows some of the canon ships.
* Although ''[[Fillmore]]'' was created as a [[No Hugging, No Kissing]] series, Fillmore/Ingrid have a fanbase of a rather impressive size. The shippers have a lot to base off of, since their buddy-cop conversations can often be taken as a subtle [[Double Entendre]], sounding somewhat flirtatiously on more than one occassion.
* Characters didn't pair off into romantic couples in ''[[Storm Hawks (Animation)|Storm Hawks]],'' but the fans love to pair them up. The most popular pairings seem to be [[The Hero|Aerrow]]/[[Action Girl|Piper]], [[Foe Yay|Aerrow/Dark Ace]], and [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Stork]]/[[Genki Girl|Piper.]]
* Even though ''[[Rocket Power]]'' was mostly [[No Hugging, No Kissing]], there's a large following for Twister/Reggie. It's the most commonly encountered pairing in Rocket power fanfiction.
* Although the show often dabbles in [[Ho Yay]] and [[Ship Tease]], ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' doesn't really have any canon pairings that last. However, Skipper/Marlene is by ''far'' the most common pairing among fans, which time and again proves unsinkable. The two episodes (three if you count "Otter Gone Wild") where one of the pair gets a trial run with another romantic interest act, if anything, as fuel for the fire for Skilene shippers. Not that there's very much canon at all to support it.
* ''[[X-Men Evolution]]'': Several fans would argue that [[Platonic Life Partners|Kurt and Kitty]] make a better couple than Lance and Kitty or Kurt and Amanda (your mileage ''will'' vary on whether or not the [[Ship Tease]] between Kurt and Kitty was intentional). Also, there are many who would rather have Scott be with [[Hopeless Suitor|Rogue]] rather than [[Heroes Want Redheads|Jean]].
* ''[[Sym Bionic Titan]]'': The pairing of Ilana and Lance (dubbed Ilanca by the shippers) has been favored since the very first episode, despite the fact that in the show they're posing as siblings and have other potential love interests. Not to mention that the show's creator Genndy Tartakovsky, has stated in interviews that he wants their relationship to be a platonic one.
* ''[[Star Wars the Clone Wars]]'': Ahsoka/Rex (or [[Portmanteau Couple Name|Rexsoka]], if you wish) remains the most popular Ahsoka pairing, even though she has a canon love interest in the form of Lux Bonteri. This is probably because Lux is comparatively new on the scene, and Rexsoka was already well-established in the fandom before his episode premiered in Season 3. Karen Traviss and Karen Miller's [[Ship Tease|teases towards Rexsoka]] in the novels did ''not'' help things.
* Despite it being nonexistent in the series, some ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' fans like to pair Fluttershy with Applejack's older brother, Big Macintosh. Naturally, when a plot for the show's Valentine's Day episode involves {{spoiler|the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying to hook up Big Macintosh with Cheerilee,}} [[Portmanteau Couple Name|Fluttermac]] supporters weren't too thrilled with the development.
** Also, Lyra/Bon-Bon. The episodes often have little references to this pairing, so it's almost canon. It's so fan-preferred that whenever someone writes a story that ships Lyra or Bon-Bon with some other character, someone will joke that "Lyra is cheating on Bon-Bon!" or vice-versa.
** In canon Rainbow Dash has zero interest in romance but the running joke among the fandom is "Rainbow Dash ships with everything." If fan faction posted on the main fan website is to be believed the most popular of these ships is Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
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