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Hi everyone, and welcome! We recently realized it had been quite a few years since our rules here were last updated, so here's a refresher on our ruleset. There are a few new additions so please do make sure you acquaint yourself with 'em. In addition to these, keep in mind that all global Bulbagarden Forum rules also apply.
If it's your first time here, feel free to read this foreword as well to learn what the section is all about!
The current team of Shippers' Paradise moderators are myself (@Okido), @lisianthus, @guzmania, @Aulos, and @Lillie.
If you have any questions, you can message one of the above mods or just let us know right here in this thread!
If it's your first time here, feel free to read this foreword as well to learn what the section is all about!
Shipping has a rich history in the Pokémon fandom. While the term wasn't coined by us (that was the X-Files fandom), the Pokémon fandom was undoubtedly responsible for popularizing the term in the late 90s, and spreading it through wider fandom through Pokémon fans also being fans of other franchises such as Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, and Dragonball Z.
Shipping comes from the word "relationship". A shipper is ultimately someone who feels that group of characters have a certain relationship. This is often construed in a romantic sense, such as in a belief that a pair of characters are in a romantic relationship — or more typically for the Pokémon fandom, where most of the characters are still quite young, a belief that a pair of characters hold (developing) feelings for each other, and that they would develop a relationship at some point in the future. But you can also have ships over people being close platonic friends (friendships), or other forms of relationships. What shipping is not is inherently sexual. While there are certainly people who ship characters in a sexual relationship, that is neither the core of shipping, nor the kind of shipping that we engage in here.
Shippers come in many varieties. As a rough guide, you can think of shippers being on a continuum. Shippers at both ends of this continuum tend to be interested in "shipping hints", such as scenes from the anime which they feel indicate the characters having feelings for another, but their reasons for caring about these vary.
At one end, some people are shippers just because they think a couple might be cute together — particularly with regards to the Pokémon fandom, you might think of these kinds of shippers as being similar to parents who think their own children's crush on some other family's kid is cute. They care about the "hints" because those are typically particularly cute character interaction scenes. Some people are shippers because they're interested in the ideas and themes that can be explored in a certain pairing; such as how certain dynamics would play out or how characters would interact with each other, either in canon or in an AU ("alternate universe") setting. Finally, at the other end, you've got some people who are shippers not because they hold any particular fondness for a couple, but because they are concerned with "canon" and investigating the intentions of the production staff. They're not just concerned with the "hints" in each piece of media, but also the meta-textual hints relating to the development of each piece of media and the franchise as a whole.
Regardless, all kinds of shippers enjoy discussing the pairings they're fond of with other fans who share their interests, and that's what Shippers' Paradise is here for.
Shipping comes from the word "relationship". A shipper is ultimately someone who feels that group of characters have a certain relationship. This is often construed in a romantic sense, such as in a belief that a pair of characters are in a romantic relationship — or more typically for the Pokémon fandom, where most of the characters are still quite young, a belief that a pair of characters hold (developing) feelings for each other, and that they would develop a relationship at some point in the future. But you can also have ships over people being close platonic friends (friendships), or other forms of relationships. What shipping is not is inherently sexual. While there are certainly people who ship characters in a sexual relationship, that is neither the core of shipping, nor the kind of shipping that we engage in here.
Shippers come in many varieties. As a rough guide, you can think of shippers being on a continuum. Shippers at both ends of this continuum tend to be interested in "shipping hints", such as scenes from the anime which they feel indicate the characters having feelings for another, but their reasons for caring about these vary.
At one end, some people are shippers just because they think a couple might be cute together — particularly with regards to the Pokémon fandom, you might think of these kinds of shippers as being similar to parents who think their own children's crush on some other family's kid is cute. They care about the "hints" because those are typically particularly cute character interaction scenes. Some people are shippers because they're interested in the ideas and themes that can be explored in a certain pairing; such as how certain dynamics would play out or how characters would interact with each other, either in canon or in an AU ("alternate universe") setting. Finally, at the other end, you've got some people who are shippers not because they hold any particular fondness for a couple, but because they are concerned with "canon" and investigating the intentions of the production staff. They're not just concerned with the "hints" in each piece of media, but also the meta-textual hints relating to the development of each piece of media and the franchise as a whole.
Regardless, all kinds of shippers enjoy discussing the pairings they're fond of with other fans who share their interests, and that's what Shippers' Paradise is here for.
Shippers' Paradise Rules
1. Be mindful of others, and respect each other's ships.- Do not attack other users for liking a particular ship or kind of ship.
- Try to avoid talking about your ship in a way that diminishes or belittles other ships with those characters. (For example, when talking about the pairing Character A x Character B, there's no need to bash Character A x Character C.)
- Don't automatically assume intentions from someone and/or make blanket statements about a group of people based on a ship.
- Do not post in a ship thread just to attack that ship.
- Do not make discriminatory comments against ships or characters which attack other people's identity. This includes (but is not limited to) someone's orientation, gender, or race.
- While it's okay to have a meaningful discussion about topics like ship wars, fandom history, or how certain pairings are perceived in the Pokémon fanbase, discussion of these topics should not derail a thread. Please do not debate others on current shipping or fandom discourse — nor should you flame, namedrop, or spread gossip about others in the wider fanbase.
- You're welcome to post a relevant work you created in a ship thread, but please do not use this as a platform to advertise yourself.
- Refer to the Writer's Workshop or the Art Gallery if you want to share your off topic projects.
The current team of Shippers' Paradise moderators are myself (@Okido), @lisianthus, @guzmania, @Aulos, and @Lillie.
If you have any questions, you can message one of the above mods or just let us know right here in this thread!
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