Handling Shipping. · 2:49am Apr 24th, 2012
So! If you hadn't noticed, I just finished Strange Bedfillies (Or, Nopony Loves Twilight Sparkle). And, since I'm feeling lazy and not writing anything of consequence (or even PONY STORIES) at the moment, I figured I'd hammer out one of these blog entries!
A blog entry on shipping. You guys love that stuff, right?
Anyway, more history lesson/personal confession here. Way back when I first discovered the intarwebs, I stumbled across this stuff called 'slashfic,' and it confused me. It...still does, in a way, but more on that later. It wasn't the pairing of characters so much as WHICH characters were usually paired. As just about any anime protagonist seemed to be inevitably paired off with his archenemy, for...whatever reason. I suppose one could argue adding a twisted psychosexual angle to an antagonistic relationship could be done WELL, but more often than not, it wasn't. Sturgeon's law, y'know. And like hell if I'm gonna go digging through Fanfiction.net's Trigun section for the best Legato/Vash fic, or whatever.
Ultimately, the biggest WTF I voiced was the whole Draco/Harry phenomenon. Which is kind of funny in retrospect, as the characters are BOTH losers, when you think about it, but that's something else entirely. Of course, there's also the argument that there's really a suave, charming, and somewhat evil character in Harry Potter fandom who just happens to be named Draco Malfoy as well. But, I digress. I don't mean to hate on HP fandom at all- guys with ponies on the shelf shouldn't throw stones. Or something.
So yeah, for years and years, I stood by my conviction of 'shipping is bad. Don't do it! (Unless you at least have some degree of canon to support your claim like, say, Sokka/Suki now shut up).
Until I started watching ponies. (I get the feeling that's a pretty common line that comes up when talking in fandom).
Perhaps it's because there's next to nothing in the way of canonical, textual relationships, but somehow, a bit ago, it 'clicked' for me. Shipping is ultimately a game. And it can be somewhat fun to monkey around with. Perhaps MLP makes it a little easier, as while there isn't much text to support it...there's not much to disprove it, either. Sure, characters fight and bicker, but that's usually in the amusing way that makes for fun odd couple banter. Makes it a lot easier than if the two characters were literally trying to murder each other the previous episode, y'know? On top of this, I can't help but find the fandom characters/ships absolutely fascinating. I mean, Lyra/Bon Bon has become a shout out gag by the animators, which is great. Though really, it's Octavia/Vinyl Scratch that floors me. Here you have two characters with...what, 60 seconds of screentime between them? And they're not even in the same episodes...and yet, it's like, knife-fight level fanon, right there. I suppose that Vinyl Scratch Tapes fic is the ur-example of said pairing- unless I'm wrong?
When it comes to the mane six, I find myself not writing shippy-ish stories for the romantic aspect, so much as the romantic COMEDY angle. I don't go to out and out crack-ships, but (like most things that make it into my pony stories), I just ask myself 'is this funny?' And...it goes from there. Which may mean I may never ship Rainbow Dash with anypony, because I find it a lot funnier if she's single and clueless.
In any case, mulling over all this makes me wonder if I should sit down and write a proper 'shipping' fic of some sort. Using, of course, the super secret shipping formula which I shall NOW SHARE:
HOW TO WRITE A SHIPFIC.
Step 1: Pick two ponies. Doesn't matter who. Dartboards are nice.
Step 2: Come up with an excuse for the two ponies to hang out. Working together on some project, one caring for the other after an injury, or cross-state kidnappings are all popular.
Step 3: Pony A angsts about how they find themselves having feelings for Pony B.
Step 4: Pony B angsts about how they find themselves having feelings for Pony A.
Step 5: Continue angsting until there is a final burst of 'I love you!' coming either immediately before or immediately after random kisses.
Step 6 (Optional): pr0n.
Use these secrets wisely.
There's already plans to make a the Changeling Queen and Twilight shipping (with some added a love triangle with Shinning Armor, Cadence, and Doppple-dence. These people are insane) Oh, and apparently, some people think that the changelings are an STD. For serious.
Yes, I love shipping!
image.made-in-china.com/4f0j00QvDaFRsKbVbi/FedEx-Express.jpg
I also love romantic and/or random pony shipping! Have you read that one with Rainbow Dash and a kitchen sink yet?
ALSO, a random and arbitrary googling has told me that A&E has a show called 'Shipping Wars,' but it is not about flamewars on various fan-forums.
I'm disappointed.
Shipping is simultaneously the stupidest and greatest thing ever.
I roflmao'd at the "how to write a shipfic" piece. and this blog answers so many question I"ve had about the topic of shipping.
lolshipping
But yeah shipping fics are hard.
As for step 6.
images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2009/11/30/129040952216985822.jpg
I was first introduced to the concept of shipping (and fanfiction in general) by the X-Files fandom around the turn of the millennium (and wow, phrasing it like that makes me feel old!), where people were pairing everyone with everyone. I understood, on an intellectual level, why people would do it, but so many of the pairings seemed completely insane to me. My experience with the Harry Potter fandom was similar, except that the pairings seemed even more far-fetched (I mean, who didn't see by the end of book two that Ron and Hermione were totally going to be a couple?) and the people pushing them even more frenzied.
And so it went. But then, along came the ponies, and suddenly, shipping clicked with me. Applejack has a secret crush on Rainbow Dash she can't express? Sure! Pinkie Pie and Dash are boinking behind the other ponies backs? Makes sense! Rainbow Dash is torn between Spitfire and Soarin as she loves them both? Yay! (You may notice that my examples are somewhat Dash-heavy. This is probably not accidental.)
For some reason, throwing a bunch of colorful little magic ponies into torrid romances, lesbian love polygons and heated one-night stands just seems to work.
Rule 15 of the Internet: The more beautiful and pure a thing is, the more satisfying it is to corrupt it. Hence ponyshipping and Equestrian dystopia stories.