What are your opinions on shipping days/weeks?

[Likeitornot.]

In this fandom, as in many others, we have our own shipping days for various shippings; for instance Sommeliershipping day is February 17th - this is due to BW019's Japanese airdate being this date.

On this day, fans of the shipping converge to celebrate their ship through fanart, AMV projects, fanfiction and other forms of fanworks. The Japanese fandom also has shipping days, though they're not always the same day as the western fandom's. Shipping days tend to be chosen based on either episodes of one of the character's debut, a particularly shippy episode as agreed by the fans or based on wordplay (for instance, I believe the 4th of April is Palletshipping day - this is due to their Japanese names, Satoshi and Shigeru - "shi" is Japanese for four). It's not just the pokemon anime shippings that have these days, some of the manga shippings and maybe a few of the game versions (I have never actually seen one for the game shippings, though) have dates too.

In the past four or so years, larger shipping communities (Pokeshipping and Contestshipping) on tumblr have dedicated shipping weeks, and they have a theme-based event, so a different topic for fanworks on each day for seven days. Of course, this week surrounds the original shipping day and emphasis is still placed on this particular day. There's a lot of organisation involved, and these juggernaut celebrations tend to require a large fanbase in the first place.

Of course, there can be confusion - for instance, Pearlshipping has had different dates to celebrate and I noticed fandom communities on different sites might have various dates for a particular ship. The whole concept of the shipping week when introduced was controversial for some members of the fandom; not everyone enjoyed the idea of an entire week.

Anyways - the crux of the matter is, what are your opinions on shipping days/weeks? Do you participate in them at all? Would you participate in several shipping days, or only the one for your otp/favourite pairings? Do you feel all the shipping celebrations should just be curtailed to a day, or do you appreciate the idea of an entire week if the large fanbase celebrates it?

 

[GeminiAngel87]

I participate in shipping days/weeks of my favorite pairings and I like the day and week celebration. I find it a great way to not only show our appreciation for our favorite pairings/otp's but a wonderful way to interact with our fellow like mind fans of that ship.

 

[SinnohEevee]

How about a shipping day on February 14th or a shipping week that starts on February 14th?

 

[Nicolas721]

About time we have this thread, I ship First week of july x Christmas.

Every day is a good day to celebrate PokeShipping, but I'd logically choose April 1st as it's the day they meet.

 

[Cybersai]

I assume they do this on the day the characters meet? Like for example Drew's first episode was what....AG35 or something back in 2004? So whatever the anniversary of that ep is years later people celebrate it.

Although I don't see the difference really, people are still celebrating stuff like Amourshipping regularly even though XY has been over for 5 months now, not to mention as said the older ships like Ash/Dawn or the other DP-related ships in general daily.

 

[Likeitornot.]

How about a shipping day on February 14th or a shipping week that starts on February 14th?

Diplomatically speaking, I don't think Valentine's Day would be a good day for one particular shipping - people in general like to use Valentine's Day to celebrate their shipping and I think it would be acrimonious for one group of shippers to claim that date for their ship - that's just my view on the matter, though.

Every day is a good day to celebrate PokeShipping, but I'd logically choose April 1st as it's the day they meet.

Actually, Pokeshipping Day lands on November the 7th - this is the Japanese release date of Brock and Misty's departure from Ash. Presumably it was chosen as the date due to the emotional scenes shared between Ash and Misty in her farewell, and of course the handkerchief, the symbolism of which was highly discussed amongst Pokeshippers.

assume they do this on the day the characters meet? Like for example Drew's first episode was what....AG35 or something back in 2004? So whatever the anniversary of that ep is years later people celebrate it.

Contestshipping Day, being July the 10th is actually based off the Japanese airdate of the episode where they first meet - Now That's Flower Power! and yes, I believe in 2014 the fans considered it the tenth anniversary however this isn't the case for every shipping. Sommeliershipping didn't receive a date until around 2015 and Pokeshipping's date is not based off the episode where they first encountered each other, as proven above. Also, for some shippings that is impossible to ascertain - Palletshipping for instance.

Most shipping days tend to be based off of the Japanese airdate of when the two characters first meet/interact with each other on-screen, though.

 

[SinnohEevee]

Diplomatically speaking, I don't think Valentine's Day would be a good day for one particular shipping - people in general like to use Valentine's Day to celebrate their shipping and I think it would be acrimonious for one group of shippers to claim that date for their ship - that's just my view on the matter, though.



Actually, Pokeshipping Day lands on November the 7th - this is the Japanese release date of Brock and Misty's departure from Ash. Presumably it was chosen as the date due to the emotional scenes shared between Ash and Misty in her farewell, and of course the handkerchief, the symbolism of which was highly discussed amongst Pokeshippers.



Contestshipping Day, being July the 10th is actually based off the Japanese airdate of the episode where they first meet - Now That's Flower Power! and yes, I believe in 2014 the fans considered it the tenth anniversary however this isn't the case for every shipping. Sommeliershipping didn't receive a date until around 2015 and Pokeshipping's date is not based off the episode where they first encountered each other, as proven above. Also, for some shippings that is impossible to ascertain - Palletshipping for instance.

Most shipping days tend to be based off of the Japanese airdate of when the two characters first meet/interact with each other on-screen, though.

They can't just celebrate all the shippings on the 14th?

 

[Likeitornot.]

They can't just celebrate all the shippings on the 14th?

Oh; sorry I misunderstood you. They do, though - indiscriminately. If you're asking why does the fandom not compile all of the celebration into one day - that day - I'd say it's due to the fact other shippings would not be able to bask in the limelight because of all the congestion from the more popular shippings. While shipping days tend to be given to shippings that have a popular fanbase, sometimes less common shippings have their day of celebration if they have one or two dedicated fans to celebrate it. I think it's also due to maybe the unique appeal of the separate shippings - different days have different meanings to different shippers.

 

[WolfeyStar]

I really like the ideas of these day/weeks, as it offers a chance for the community of shippers to celebrate together. But I don't like how it only seems to be anime ships that get days. Do any game/manga ships get days, or is only anime?

Also my ship has never met in the anime so we'll probably never get a day cries

 

[FireMeowth]

The ongoing Marissonshipping Week (which is sadly nearing its end already) has made this by far the best week of the year for me. So much beautiful fanart and -fiction! <3

It even inspired me to make a contribution of my own, which became my very first Pokémon fanfic (so that was a pretty big step for me)! It's rather short, but I'm very proud of it, and giving back to all the other shippers who never fail to amaze me with their work is always a great feeling.

So yeah, I'm a huge fan of shipping days/weeks. Getting together with other fans and celebrating the characters we love is wonderful.

...Right, now I'd better get back to reblogging more cuteness~

 

[Almonds]

Shipping days/weeks are awesome because the amount of fan arts and fanfics increase exponentially

 

[Olive]

When it comes to rare ships or old antique ships (like Ability) shipping days are about the only time the community can energize itself enough to generate all the cute art and stories that make ships worthwhile. It's also usually the only time you see some members of certain shipping communities, so its nice for the socialization aspect as well.

To sum that up: I am indeed a fan of shipping days.