My Favorite Ships... Or "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" · 9:25pm Feb 14th, 2015
Shipping.
For many, it’s a source of enjoyment. For others, it’s the most important part of the show. For the rest, not even worth consideration.
No matter what side of the shipping spectrum you find yourself on, you’d be hard pressed to deny that in this, or any, fandom, shipping makes up a sizable part of the artwork/analysis/general discussion. And while I’m not really into shipping in general, MLP has given me a few that seem to agree with me more and more.
So, in the spirit of Valentine’s/Hearts and Hooves Day, here is a quick list of the MLP ships that, to some extent, I find myself enjoying/defending more than others.
FlashLight—And with this, I have painted a target on my back.
You would not believe how hard it was for me to find this scene.
In all seriousness, this is one pairing that I only ship because of its place in the Equestria Girls movies. (I advise taking that with the largest grain of salt you can find.) Granted, most of the interactions with these two are limited to: a) the human world; and b) incoherent sentences. But the way I see it, since most of the characters within the human world are their pony equivalents with a few tweaks to their personalities at worst, who’s to say Twilight couldn’t hook up with her world’s Flash?
At this point, it’s clear that all I’m doing is defending this couple rather than actually talking about it. But that’s really all I can do. The forced romance in the first (and, to a lesser extent, second) movie is pretty much the sole driving force that makes Flash Sentry among the most hated characters in the franchise, and he really doesn’t deserve that. (And if I hear one more “steal you waifu” joke…)
The fact it this ship could go either way in terms of how DHX chooses to handle it. Jerry Peet makes the argument that the whole scenario is played more as a running gag or even a parody of high school romances. And if it never goes anywhere, it’s not like I’ll be disappointed.
CheeriMac—But not for the supposedly obvious reasons.
What the CMC should have realized from the start.
Direct from the Valentine’s special itself, Cheerliee and Big McIntosh were probably the first “troll” couple until FlashLight came along. The thing is, a lot of people ship these two for what I find to be all the wrong reasons. They look at the episode and say, “There’s your proof.” Me, I wait until the end before I start proclaiming this one, with the two playing one last joke on the CMC (as if getting saddled with Big Mac’s chores wasn’t punishment enough) before walking off into the sunset. The two have also been seen together in the background in “Just for Sidekicks” and the “Perfect Day for Fun” music video (further leading to my assertion of pony character’s relation with their human counterparts). Fandom nods or confirmation? You be the judge.
And the big one: this makes sense. Seriously, look at these two in terms of their personality and tell me why they wouldn’t work. They both work hard at their respective jobs, they’re all around nice ponies, and they act as a grounding agent for their respective circles when they go too far.
I’m not saying that DHX has to follow through with this one, but it wouldn’t hurt their characters as far as I can tell.
OctaScratch—Behind LyraBon, these two are probably the most popular background pony ship in existence.
Because there’s nothing in the show itself.
I’ll be honest, I don’t so much support the ship as much as I simply… tolerate it. Vinyl and Octavia are among my favorite background pony characters, and putting them together in the same room is the perfect opportunity to make some great stories (like the ones I write [shameless plug FTW!]). What I like most about them is their “Odd Couple” dynamic, meaning how they appear to be polar opposites (even if only within their fanon interpretations) but can still coexist reasonably well together.
If anything, the romance aspect to that is something that barely registers with me. I’m not saying that, if incorporated into whatever story or video I’m looking at, I’m against it. But it’ll always take a backseat to the characters’ interactions, which are what we all really come for.
Right?
There is actually a bigger point to this exercise: if my comments here are any indication, it’s that my shipping goggles do not fit me so well. I don’t watch My Little Pony to see what characters get together; I watch it to see what the characters do. All these ships I “support” are more an analysis of character interaction than anything else.
And besides, today is Valentine’s Day; shouldn’t you be more worried about your own loved ones as opposed to what characters love each other?
Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, everypony.
This is CF signing out.
