What exactly does shipping mean ?

[kayainu]

I really don't know ... *Is shot*


ADMIN EDIT:

Taken from the Bulbagarden forums

Quote:

Q: What is Shipping?
A: Shipping is the belief of love existing, now or at sometime in the future, between two (or more) characters from some fictional creation, such as the Pokémon Anime. Since 1999, the term has also been extended to include a belief of love existing between a fictional character(s) and a real person/real people, and for a belief of love between two (or more) real people. While both of these are usually made up as jokes, some of them are quite serious, and there have really been people who have fallen in love with a character from, say, the Pokémon Anime, or with a person from the Bulliten Boards such as this one.

Q: I'm confused. What's Shipping?
A: *Sigh* Belief that love exists between two (or more) fictional characters/people, happy?

Q: Why are you even including the bits about real people in those definitions, given that you're about to give us a more simple definition, insofar as it applies to the Ships that actually get discussed and/or debated?
A: If I wasn't the one writing all these questions, I'd be smacking whoever asked that for being smart. In any case, it's just because I like to be complete.

Q: So really now.....what is Shipping?
A: As far as the debates and discussions are concerned, as well as the rest of this FAQ for that matter, Shipping is the belief of love existing, now or at sometime in the future, between two or more characters from the Pokémon Anime, or one of the Pokémon Manga series.

Q: What Ships are there?
A: A complete list is currently at http://archaics.topcities.com/completelist.html, and will eventually be put up at http://www.bulbagarden.com/shipping/completelist.php. Be warned, some of those Ships weren't really created with Kids in mind. Anyway, below is a small summary of some of the more popular and well discussed Ships.
BoulderShipping - Ash & Brock
DiamondShipping - Giovanni & Delia
ElderShipping - Delia & Professor Oak
Gymshipping - Brock & Misty
PalletShipping - Ash & Gary
PokéShipping - Ash & Misty
RivalShipping - Misty & Gary / Richie & Gary
RocketShipping - Jesse & James

Q: Okay, so now I know what Shipping is. So what can I use to prove my Ship?
A: There are two general broad categories of acceptable evidence. Hints, and Meta-Hints. There's also flat out proof, but that's pretty damn rare.

Q: So, what is a Hint?
A: A hint is a piece of dialogue (spoken or "thought" (ie. internal dialoge/monologue) made by the character(s), or an action of the character(s), that directly or indirectly 'hints' to them having feelings for another character.

Q: And a Meta-Hint?
A: A Meta-Hint is generally anything that 'hints' towards a character having feelings for another character, that wasn't actually done by the character in question. In most cases, what are classed as Meta Hints are things believed to show the intent of the creators of Pokémon towards potential character relations. These could be quotes from interviews, background music playing during scenes, odd images in the animation (Such as the infamous Vine Whip Heart), and so on.

Q: "OMG, Jessie & James got married in the Manga, RocketShipping is proven!!111"
A: Yes, and no. Hints (Or in this case, blantant proof), are only valid for the specific Pokémon Universe/Timeline they come from. For example, in this case, with Jessie and James being married in the Pokémon Mangas created by Toshihiro Ono, this is proof of RocketShipping for this specific manga series only, and not for the Anime (Though, given that Ono's manga was supposed to be based off the Anime, it could potentially be a meta-hint there), or for any of the other Pokémon Manga series. Likewise, that Red and Misty married in one of the Mangas (Yes, it happened) doesn't make any difference to any of the other Mangas, nor does it hint to Ash having feelings towards Misty in the Anime. For a more in depth explanation, see the Canon Rules below.

Q: "OMG, have you heard Misty's Song, etc? They, like, totally prove AAML!!111"
A: Shooting this one down always takes a little while. Scroll down to the Canon Rules.

Q: Why do you use the English dub names instead of the Japanese names when discussing the Ships?
A: Generally, just for the sake of convenience, and ease of entry into the discussions of people perhaps not quite so familiar with the names as we are.

Q: What if I don't give a damn about debating? What if I just like talking about my favourite two characters getting together, and stuff like that?
A: That's perfectly fine. The only times you'll get harassed to debate is if you start proclaiming your Ship is true, or actually go looking for a debate in some way like that.

Notes for Debating:
Just a few basic principles anyone in or wanting to get into Shipping Debates should take note of.
1) People will not accept your arguements without evidence. Be prepared to back up your claims.
2) Add http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/ to your bookmarks, and self-check your arguements against the logical fallacies there. You *will* be pulled up on them if you make them, and in the process have your arguement invalidated.
3) Try not to go over old material too much in a debate unless you've got new evidence that deserves to be discussed. Things like the "General Rebuttal of PalletShipping" were made for a reason. To prevent further re-hashings of dead topics.

Canon Rules:
Just so you know in advance....the following are my own Canon Rules, and no one elses. They might not be accepted by everyone else. If that's the case though, I'll be editing these, so by the time most of you read this, it should be to the point where it can take you through any proper Shipping debate.

1) Evidence from the various Anime & Manga universes/timelines is generally only applicable to that universe/timeline. There is, however, one potential exception. Depending on the situation (For example, the crossover chapter in Magical Pokémon Journey, featuring the Anime characters), some proof/hints/meta-hints might be able to be counted as meta-hints for other specific universes/timelines.
2) The original Japanese holds precidence over all translations.
3) Information stated in official translations are only considered canon if not contradicted by the original Japanese, and not contradicted by any of the other official translations. No official translation has precidence over any other official translation.
4) Derivative works, such as the Americian CD's and Pokémon Live, are considered to be based off the Pokémon Anime for the purposes of debate. However, as they are derivative works and not an actual part of the Anime, they are only permissable as proof if they were produced in and for Japan, in Japanese. ie. If the next English Pokémon CD had Rachael Lillis (As Misty) scream "I love Ash and we just did naughty but nice things behind the Pokémon Center!", it would be at best a Meta-Hint, but more likely just be dismissed entirely (Such as Misty's Song, etc).
__________________

 

[Angelic Indigo Wolf]

It's like...
um...
er...


Well, it's another term for sticking two characters again.
For example: I like to ship Blue and Silver together (Chosenshipping)
That means I like the two of them as a couple ^^;  

[epikaa]

From Bulbapedia:

Shipping (short for "relationshipping"; カップリング Coupling in Japanese) is the belief that two characters in the Pokémon universe are in a relationship, or have feelings that could potentially lead to one. It is generally used as a suffix attached to a word related to a pair of characters. For example, a person who would like to see Ash and Misty as boyfriend and girlfriend would be a PokéShipper, and as a PokéShipper, he or she would support PokéShipping. In addition to "shipping," and "shipper," there are "ship," which is a word for the pairing itself, and "shippy," which is used as an adjective. For example, if Ash and Misty kissed, that moment would be considered PokéShippy. A basic rundown follows.

Noun
ship (pairing) : Example: "I support that ship." means "I support that pairing."

Adjective
shippy (supports a ship) : Example: "That hug was shippy." means "That hug makes them look like a couple."

Verb
shipping (action of supporting a ship) : Example: "I enjoy Pokéshipping." means "I enjoy supporting Ash and Misty as a couple."

Verb (infrequent use)
ship (action of supporting a ship) : Example: "Do you ship?" means "Do you support that/any pairing(s)?"

Person
shipper (supporter of a ship) : Example: "We are all shippers of that couple." means "We are all supporters of that pairing."

The term "shipping" originated in the X-Files fan community 1. At that time, a Shipper supported the prospect of a romantic relationship between the series' main characters, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. The term crossed over to the anime community when Maria Rocket and other Team Rocket fans from TRHQ used the term to describe a relationship between Jessie and James. Thus, RocketShipping was born. It is to this day still uncertain if this was an independent development of the term (As a play on words of the word Rocketship) or not. Regardless, soon the term was applied to dozens of other Pokémon pairings (today there are easily over 1,000 formally named and recognized pairings). Once popularized in the Pokémon fandom, soon spread to other fandoms frequented by Pokémon fans and former Pokémon fans, such as Digimon, Dragonball Z, and Harry Potter.

Japanese anime fans have their own form of naming couples, and this applies to the Pokémon fandom as well. The names of pairings are determined by combining the first two syllables of each character's name to form one word. In heterosexual pairings, the male character's name comes first. For example, a pairing between Satoshi (Ash) and Kasumi (Misty) would be called SatoKasu. In homosexual relationships, the seme (dominant) character's name comes first. For example, a pairing between Satoshi (Ash) and Shigeru (Gary) would be called ShigeSato.

Some popular ships include

* PokéShipping: Ash and Misty
* AdvanceShipping: Ash and May
* ContestShipping: May and Drew
* Palletshipping: Ash and Gary
* Pearlshipping: Ash and Dawn
* RocketShipping: Jessie and James

- - -

I stickied this since many members may bombard us with this question. ^^  

[Apple Blossom19]

Shuuchu

I stickied this since many members may bombard us with this question. ^^

Shouldn't you also define "Canon"? I mean I have a vague idea at what that means from Wikipedia, but I seriously don't know what the true Otakudom definition is sweatdrop Or is that better left to another topic???  

[Synopsis]

Apple Blossom19

Shuuchu

I stickied this since many members may bombard us with this question. ^^

Shouldn't you also define "Cannon"? I mean I have a vague idea at what that means from Wikipedia, but I seriously don't know what the true Otakudom definition is sweatdrop Or is that better left to another topic???

-Canon (only two 'n's) refers to anything, whether it relates to shipping or not, that happens or is said in the original source material. ie: Rocketshipping is canon in the Manga because Jessie and James get married and have a child together.  

[iSadVampire]

And here I thought the term shipping was only used for Yu Gi Oh... guess I was wrong...  

[Merochu-chaaaan]

I don't get the meaning of 'canon'.
xD
Gaaaah!

 

[[Ren The Ryoko]]

-Pikaika_MeLodii-

I don't get the meaning of 'canon'.
xD
Gaaaah!

Quote:

Canon
refers to all official and undeniable information within a general series. Originally a religious term used to refer to which scriptures written "counted" in a religion, the term has expanded to have meaning in fictional series as well.

In the Pokémon franchise, notably, there are several canons, sharing several things among them, most notably the existence of Pokémon. Aside from this and the interrelation of the various species of Pokémon (such as by evolution), these worlds can vary from one another in canon and storyline either very little or very greatly.

This is the opposite of fanon which is composed entirely of fan speculation.

 

[Merochu-chaaaan]

[Ren The Ryoko]

-Pikaika_MeLodii-

I don't get the meaning of 'canon'.
xD
Gaaaah!

Quote:

Canon
refers to all official and undeniable information within a general series. Originally a religious term used to refer to which scriptures written "counted" in a religion, the term has expanded to have meaning in fictional series as well.

In the Pokémon franchise, notably, there are several canons, sharing several things among them, most notably the existence of Pokémon. Aside from this and the interrelation of the various species of Pokémon (such as by evolution), these worlds can vary from one another in canon and storyline either very little or very greatly.

This is the opposite of fanon which is composed entirely of fan speculation.

Oh, 'kay! Thanks so much!

 

[Niemy]

Thanks! xp  

[nozomi165]

it means romance between two people love exists for them  

[xxKarachan]

*basically saying what has already been said* >3> But I wanted to offer examples, so... yeah. =D


For something to be canon, it exists in an official work (such as the anime, or the games, or any of the manga).

Of course, due to variances between these different media, something can be canon in one universe, while being fanon (something created by fans, and the opposite to canon) in another. For example, in the end of the Electric Tale of Pikachu Jessie and James are shown to be married, and Jessie is pregnant. Thus, in the Electric Tale of Pikachu, Jessie x James (also known as "RocketShipping") is canon. However, despite hints toward it in the pokemon anime, RocketShipping is not currently considered to be canon in that universe.

Canon is not only used to describe shipping. As a roleplayer, I'm most familiar with the term being used to describe characters. For example, Professor Oak is a canon character, though specifics of his personality and appearance may change between media. Paul is a canon character as well, though he is only considered canon in the anime. While he could theoretically exist in any of the other works, it isn't considered canon because he hasn't (undeniably) appeared in them.
A character that I created myself who is a Pokemon trainer is not a canon character, but is usually referred to as an OC, or original character.  

[rayhirasawa]

i have never been so confused in my entire life confused  

[alice165]

love exists between two people wink biggrin  

[alice165]

love duh rolleyes biggrin