What are some ships you would like, but are held back by one or two specific factors for you?

[sleepwick]

i was talking about making this thread, so here we are! im a bit worried about if this is too similar to the thread generally discussing ships people dislike, but i hope it's distinct enough through its specificness to warrant its own thread.

exactly as the title says: what are some ships you would like (like for example, they fit into a trope you like or have a dynamic you tend to like in ships, or even just that there are aspects and things you DO like about this specific ship), but are put off of for a specific reason, whether it be based on a couple of things in canon or personal headcanons?

(also as a note: don't use this thread to bash ships or other people. this is just for discussing personal preferences)

for me personally there are a lot of ships involving the protagonists that i feel this way about, but one of them that im put off by due to personal headcanons is GalarShipping. usually i love the ships between the male + female protags, but i unfortunately just could never get into this one bc i've always looked at them from the twin angle. i really do think that if it weren't for this it'd probably be one of my favorite pokemon ships considering i really love the galar protagonists (and by that i mostly mean gloria. sorry victor). i've seen some really lovely fan content of this one, and i dunno, maybe one day my personal headcanons will change and i'll be able to enjoy it. it wouldn't be the first time i've changed my mind regarding ships for this reason.

i guess i kinda make up for that one by very much enjoying the shipping between their manga counterparts though, since i don't see them as siblings there.

 

[demonerium]

PERSONALLY launchshipping (proton/archer) or any sort of rocket exec/rocket exec ship....i view them too strongly as found family to even think of shipping them together, especially since i associate proton with myself and archer with one of my best friends whom i see as a brother (long story). nothing against people who like those ships they're just not my cup of tea for personal interpretation reasons

 

[carpology]

for me, it's probably hilda/bianca (shiroshipping?). they do genuinely seem cute, but when i played black my brain immediately developed a certain viewpoint on their relationship that i think would keep me from fully shipping them. i wouldn't say i view them as siblings, but it's something similar, i guess? i just see them as very close in a way that precludes romance.

 

[Teebs96]

i really liked kuroshipping (hilbert/cheren) back in my bw1 days but i completely fell off of it in bw2. i know they BOTH got older, but the fact that cheren looks older and hilbert looks the same kinda. rubs me a weird way.

i think the vibe totally changes with cheren's new design/personality anyhow

 

[Emelie]

Maybe Chosenshipping? I like their tragic backstory but when Blue is older than Silver it kind of feels unrequited and like she sees him as a younger brother?

I like Advanceshipping but the fact that May was shipped so hard with Drew and Misty was still relevant back then, it didn't seem like it would ever become canon. Then Serena was introduced and May's Japanese VA got sick which resulted in no more cameos. But then there is all the good shipping moments in the Manaphy movie which makes me feels torn. The moment when they swim in the sea together with Luvdisc is probably my favorite shipping moment (although the summer festival with Misty in a yukata is definitely up there as well).

 

[Insanish Danish]

Thanks to my overall lukewarm feelings towards Zoey, I've never been able to fully get into Appealshipping. Like, the appreciation for the ship is there - they look good together, there's subtext, Dawn has more chemistry with Zoey than she does with most of the other characters she interacts with on a regular basis - but Zoey is just such a meh character to me that it stops me from enjoying it as much as I could. Which honestly sucks because, again, it really is a good ship in its own right.

 

[Okido]

^ TBH even as a self-proclaimed Appealshipper I totally get what you mean. Her chemistry with Dawn is great, but at the same time, I do think the pairing really could have benefited from there being a bit more depth to Zoey's character imo. Maybe the whole "rival redemption arc" thing was played out by that point in DP, but without there being much notable development on Zoey's part I can definitely see how it could ring kinda hollow for some people.

Anyways, as for ones I should like but just don't?
...Probably most protagonist x protagonist ships. On their own they're usually some of my favorite characters from the games, but together... nope. I almost always headcanon the male and female protags from the same game as siblings or cousins — especially Red/Leaf, Hilda/Hilbert, and Selene/Elio — and with ones from two different games (e.g. Dawn/Lyra), for some reason it just never really clicks for me personally. I'm no stranger to nevermets, but I think I just prefer putting them with non-playable characters since there's more contrast between them and usually an established dynamic already.

With anything else, the root cause of my disinterest is usually that I already ship one or both of those characters with another different character, and most of the time I just do not have the heart to multiship lol. There are a lot that I appreciate in concept, or that even make me go "yeah, I can see it"... but my partiality for some other pairing will just completely prevent me from getting all that invested in it, unfortunately.

 

[guzmania]

idk the ship name but
n x the bw protag wouldve been so good
if they were simply closer in age
a shoutout to skullshipping for having great potential but being hindered by guzma needing serious therapy before entering a romantic relationship

 

[c la fet]

Dahlia/Fantina (Turnonshipping)

I know Dahlia is probably the best person to ship with Fantina because Fantina explicitely says something positive about her but I can't bring myself to ship them.
I don't really know why, maybe it's because they're too similar.

 

[Herbizarre]

Dahlia/Fantina (Turnonshipping)

I know Dahlia is probably the best person to ship with Fantina because Fantina explicitely says something positive about her but I can't bring myself to ship them.
I don't really know why, maybe it's because they're too similar.

Could it be because of the name of the ship itself ? I would understand if it were the case.

 

[DigitalGen6]

(Alright, here goes.)
Hilbert/Hilda. In game, I personally see them more as like siblings (like twins or something) or best friends while in the manga (so Black/White) I like the ship. I just consider Hilbert and Hilda to be separate people from Black and White (ex. Hilda not being a producer).

As for Red/Leaf, I see them more as really good friends, but at the same time I ship them (and at the same time I also ship Blue/Leaf).

idk the ship name but
n x the bw protag wouldve been so good
if they were simply closer in age

Oh you mean FerrisWheelShipping?

 

[guzmania]

(Alright, here goes.)
Hilbert/Hilda. In game, I personally see them more as like siblings (like twins or something) or best friends while in the manga (so Black/White) I like the ship. I just consider Hilbert and Hilda to be separate people from Black and White (ex. Hilda not being a producer).

As for Red/Leaf, I see them more as really good friends, but at the same time I ship them (and at the same time I also ship Blue/Leaf).

Oh you mean FerrisWheelShipping?

YES thats it thank you!

 

[sleepwick]

n x the bw protag wouldve been so good
if they were simply closer in age

honestly thinking abt this again like HUGE agree. there r a lot of protag ships in general that i think would be really good/that i'd be able to appreciate more if they were closer in age.

 

[c la fet]

Could it be because of the name of the ship itself ? I would understand if it were the case.

The name is strange but I don't mind.
I think they would be friends but for the moment they have too little to be more (in my opinion of course). The way Fantina's quote is worded makes you think they haven't met each other yet.

 

[Sheep40]

The SV protag with any of the rivals or any other major character.

Arven and nemona exhibit too much of an age gap. Penny is too traumatized to commit to a relationship.

Everybody else is a literal adult.

 

[Kanjouhi]

nemona/the sv protags, one of my friends rlly likes it but idk i just think there's probably a pretty significant age gap there (the protags look to be around 11-12 and i feel like nemona is like 16 or around there), of course ik most shippers see them as around the same age but i just, rlly can't lol

 

[Kanjouhi]

nemona/the sv protags, one of my friends rlly likes it but idk i just think there's probably a pretty significant age gap there (the protags look to be around 11-12 and i feel like nemona is like 16 or around there), of course ik most shippers see them as around the same age but i just, rlly can't lol

same with arven/protags tbh. i just can't see the protags being shipped with anyone at all in general even past the fact that there aren't really any unique characters around their age (and even shipping them with each other rubs me the wrong way because they're honestly the most "twin siblings" pair of protags in the whole greater franchise to me)

 

[asiryn]

I've mentioned this (at least somewhat) on other threads before, but I'd be a much bigger ContestShipper than I currently am if it wasn't so overhyped and overdone in the fandom at large, and I'd still be able to like PokeShipping as a romantic ship; but alas, my PokeShipping burnout is still very much ongoing. I do experience some amount of ContestShipping burnout in the sense that I'd much rather see and ship other May and Drew ships instead of it, but the ship is still managing to at least be the most tolerable of all the "Big Het 5" ships (which is what I call Poke, Contest, Ikari, Wishful, and GeekChic). And speaking of those, while I just don't see any romantic chemistry in Ikari, Wishful, and GeekChic, I'd also probably be a lot more tolerant of them as well if they didn't also fall prey to being so overhyped in the fandom.

Some ships that I'd probably like if it weren't for the age differences (as I perceive them, anyway): Ash/Alain, Ash/N, Hilda/N, Hilbert/N, Serena/Mairin, Ash/Sawyer, (game) Iris/Bianca, Ash/Bianca, (anime) Bonnie/Iris, Drew/Harley, (game) Guzma/Plumeria (he's like Kukui's age to me, and I see her as being late teens, 21 at the most), (anime) Brock/Olivia (well...idk if I'd actually ship this one, but at the very least, I wouldn't have the same kind of vehement opposition toward it that I do now XD); I'm currently undecided as to how old I think Jacq is (it's very hard for me to pin down, for some reason), but if he's more on the young side (like, 30-40), then Clavell/Jacq counts here (Jacq in particular says things and is a l w a y s mentioning Clavell and it kinda gives me "old married couple" vibes (particularly the way he talks about Clavell scolding him), so I can absolutely see where their shippers are coming from, but....I'm also very much not into ships with large age gaps, even if both characters are adults, so....for the time being, I find myself at an impasse. but if I could be convinced that Jacq is within at least a decade of Clavell (like, in his 50s to Clavell's 60s?), then I'd probably be down with shipping this)

Some ships that I'd probably like if I didn't view them as siblings/familial: Ash/Brock (and tbh...most Brock ships w/ Ash's main companions count here...probably the only exceptions are Kiawe, Cilan, and Tracey, as they also feel like 'older big brothers' of the group; Misty/Brock also gets a bit of a pass w/ me, as she and & Brock both felt like Ash's older mentors to me, and their bickering gave off more "old married couple" energy (vs Ash/Misty, which gives "bickering siblings" vibes)), Bea/Allister (I know a lot of ppl think of them as being related, so I'm not alone, but idk if there's any canon backing to that (like how Gordie & Melony's league cards reveal them to be mother & son; I don't recall seeing anything like that for Bea & Allister), so here they are), Penny/any Team Star leader (the found family vibes are too strong for me here XD)

Alain/Mairin gets the double whammy for me....has an age gap AND sibling vibes. XD

protag/protag ships where the character you didn't choose to play as doesn't really appear as a separate character in the story; so, Hilbert/Hilda, Nate/Rosa (the Battle Subway doesn't count to me), Elio/Selene, Chase/Elaine, Victor/Gloria, Florian/Juliana. Similar to what others have said, this scenario makes me read them as twins. (Ethan/Kris escapes this fate bc they look absolutely nothing alike, so I therefore have a harder time viewing them as siblings, even tho I know it'd be possible in Pokemon, given siblings like the Striaton triplets.)

Okay, I think I'm gonna stop here for now. XD

 

[DigitalGen6]

Ash/Sawyer

I think they’re both the same age, idk

 

[asiryn]

I think they’re both the same age, idk

-shrugs- I disagree, but that's why I said "as I perceive them". XP To me, Sawyer seems younger than Ash, and in general like he's only a little older than Mairin (who's definitely way younger, imo). Bearing in mind that I do headcanon Ash as aging over the years, imo it seems like Sawyer would be 12 or so to Ash's 15/16 (it also doesn't help matters in this case that Ash's XY design is the most "teen" and the oldest that he's ever looked, at least to me), w/ Mairin being 10/11-ish. So as it is, I'd be okay with headcanoning Sawyer crushing on Ash, but not Ash reciprocating (same deal w/ Serena/Mairin).