The Fundamental Shipping Error

In all likelihood, there's only one man who'll read this. It's also likely that he won't care because shipping isn't his thing.Still, it's the principle of the thing that counts and I feel like someone needs to say it, so may I please present... my first blog post. You hear that? That's bored silence, I'm used to it.

Alright anonymous masses, let's talk. Or rather, I'll jump up on a soapbox, and you have to sit there and take it. Sucked in.

From the title, and opening salvo you have inferred that I'm about to launch into a rant about shipping. It's an issue that's close to my heart, because I've spent more time then is entirely healthy thinking about it over the past third of my life. I come to you today because I'm sick of languishing in silence. Maybe this will work some of the kinks out of my spine.

So, The Fundamental Shipping Errorr, I say. "What is it?" You say. I get a slightly condescending look in my eye, doff my hat and raise an eyebrow, "You already know.".

Okay, I can't write like that, but it's on paper so I might as well carry on. You do already know what it is. If you'ver ever cringed when two characters are brought together suddenly. If you've ever thought, "I just don't see the chemistry," or "This is just some thirteen year old's escapist fantasy." The fundamental shipping error is the failure to respect a canon character's situation in full. It is closely related to the concept of shipping goggles, so I'm pretty sure there's already a term for this. For the sake of arguement though, we'll stick with this one.

Shipping goggles are something all shippers come equipped with. Sometimes it's subte, almost unnoticable. Sometimes it's fairly blatant that the author isn't seeing most of what happens on the show.

This is easier if I go by example. In order to go by example, I need to introduce context or author bias. Either will do as terminology.

I am a Flutterdash shipper. That's the easiest part.

The next, an axiom of shipping everywhere, "There's always another inconvenient character.". It's sad, but true. For every ship out there, in every series with or without canonically defined couples, there is always a character who exists in a manner that frustrates certain varieties of shipper.

So if I ship Flutterdash, have a guess who that character is. You're looking for a character that's easily shipped with both parties, one who can bring down any chance of a story being written by certain authors via their mere existennce.

Did you say Pinkie Pie? (Holy cow, when did I get this douchey?) Well you're right. Applejack would come in a distant second, but Appledashers are an entirely diffrent beast to the softer side. I just called us the softer side. I'm in far, far too deep.

Anyway, yes, lovable, sweet Pinkie Pie is the single most annoying charcter in existence to ship around, because she posesse both the afforementioned qualities. Furthermore, Pinkie Dash and Flutterpie are two of the more popular ships in the fandom, to the extent that I would say Pinkiedash is the most popular. This makes hoping for Flutterdash in any story a fool's errand.

I'm going to go to an aside here. Yes again, now shut up. I said hope. Why? There are two kinds of shipping story. There's the shipping story, and then there's the story with shipping. One is a given on entrence, the other is very, very much a luck thing if you're a shipper. The second kind makes up the vast majority of stories on the vault, a slim majority on EQD and possesses a minority on Fimfiction and anywhere that allows the freeflow of published content. The Games We Play, Within and Without, Romance Reports, hell even Fallout: Equestria, I'm not just bandying about huge names here, this is an exact correlation. The best stories, featuring shipping are all the one's where it's secondary to the plot. Which means in a lot of cases when you, as a shipper, pick up a long story with a hefty name, unless you know in advance what will happen, you are playing heartbreak roulette.

What's more, Pinkiedash possess a disproportionate pressence in these stories. You can see why, even if I like Pinkie Pie objectively, I can bring myself to call her inconvenient. I can't vouch for everybody associated, but from evidence I can infer that there are a lot of people out there who feel the same about certain characters. If I had to guess, and this can't be anything but, Fluttershy fills this slot for Pinkie Dashers for the same reasons I outlined in my case and a few more. And I'll bet the Flutterpie diehards aren't too keen on Dash... okay, further aside, alot of the time Flutterpie crops up it's second fiddle to Appledash or Twidash anyway so I don't think that's likely. Still you know where I'm going. This is a thing. That happens.

Finally back on topic.

Everything Absolute Anonymous has written featuring Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, save for The Games We Play and Pinkie Pie watches Paint Dry... no that's an example too. Fine. Point is, everytime AA picks up a pen, with predeliction to write Pinkiedash, the fundamental error occurs. Everyime Cloudy Skies picks up a pen full stop, this occurs. Most times you see an author list pairing in the summary, outside of clop fiction, the Fundamental Error is about to occur. It is the "I Love You and I always Have" fallacy.

And it's just me that considers it a problem. It feels egotistical to say it, but in my limited experience I can honestly state that anybody else who feels the way I do about this isn't a shipper to start with.

I find the length some people go to to explain away and ignore a character's relationship with the rest of their nearest and dearest to be truly horrendous. I like my shipping stories where Pinkie is as much a part of the story as the two leads. Sometimes a story is just about two characters, I can accept that, but the rest of the time, it's bad form to ignore the fact that the mane 6 are all the very best of friends and write inconvenient characters out of the story forr the sake of your own limited writing ability.

Yet... Maybe it's just me. The authors I list in example are some of the most beloved in the fandom. Writing around the issue keeps the various shipping factions not only segregated but placated. It just doesn't make for as good a story. It makes me angry when Pinkiedash stories ignore, belittle or relegate Fluttershy. It makes me equally angry when the same happens to Pinkie Pie in Flutterdash stories. Yet, we don't all have the talent or ability to write all 6 of the mane 6 in character, with a lot of screen time while still making a ship feel unforced. In fact I've seen maybe one or two fics ever that managed that. For the record, Home is Where The Hearts Are by Violet CLM.

I gues it isn't really... no it is. It's an error. It's a problem. A malease. But it's not one we'll be getting rid of. Hence "Fundamental".

If you're reading this, if you're out there and you know what I'm talking about and you've ever wondered how you can improve, this is how. Transcend the error and all the limitations and restrictions it imparts, rather then deducts. I promise you, any story you write, in whatever way shape or form will be better for it.

Also, no more Dash hurts her wings fics. FFS. Dash doesn't have to lose the ability to fly to fall in love. Hurt/comfort is over done anyway. Unles you want to write one where Rarity takes care of her afterwards, that's the only permutation I haven't seen before. After that's done, we can bury the concept and move past it.

...Argh, we'll never be rid of them. I know that. We could call that one the "Dash Shipping and Wings Clause". Someone else probably has a better name for it.

Anyway, this tururous stretch of broken colloquialism is over. I'm sorry if I've managed to lower the amount of respect you have for humanity. If I have inadvenrtantly dropped in your estimation, you never knew me anyway.

Everhopeful,
Out.