Do people tend to ignore canon ships, and why?

[ManaMinori 4,145]

The official romanti- ships that are seen in the show, such as Twilight's parents, Twilight Velvet & Nightlight, Rarity's parents, Hondo Flanks & Cookie Crumbles, Apple Jack's Aunt and Uncle, Mr and Mrs orange, Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Pinkie Pie's parents, Igneous Rock & Cloudy Quartz, Princess Celestia & (good) King Sombra, and the official romanti-ship of Twist and Truffle Shuffle* all seem to go ignored by the fans. The only canon romanti-ship that seems to get any attention at all, in fact, is Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. While fans seem to gravitate and orbit around the more non-canon / headcanon ships, such as Lyra & Bon Bon, Dr Hooves & Derpy, Vinyl Scratch & Octavia, or Celestia & Discord.

 

Any thoughts on this horribly one-sided favoritism between canon ships and non-canon ships?

 

 

 

 

*see "Hearts and Hooves Day"

[The Awesome One 1,315]

Well people love their background ponies and they love to ship them. 

 

Cadence and Shining Armor is just boring. A knight and a princess. wew.

 

There was Big Mac and Cherilee too but that was not actual romance (or maybe they decided to carry on even after the spell wore off)

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Well people love their background ponies and they love to ship them. 

 

Cadence and Shining Armor is just boring. A knight and a princess. wew.

 

There was Big Mac and Cherilee too but that was not actual romance (or maybe they decided to carry on even after the spell wore off)

I like the background blank slates, too (coughVinylandDerpycough), but I mean, there's so many already established couples who are pretty much blank slates, themselves, and it's a real shame that you hardly- if ever- see these ships getting featured in fanfics, or other art. Or even (from what I've seen) forum posts. A real shame.

[Side Bird 566]

Princess Celestia and Sombra are a couple? I don't see her with either Sombra or Discord, not in the slightest itty bitty bit.

I agree with The Awesome One on Cadence/Shining. I see their relationship a bit cliche and too.. Ew. No offence, I enjoy both of them.

I don't enjoy Derpy Hooves x Doctor either. Do people make ships off names? I'm almost 75% certain some ships are only made because of combining the two names to make something nice.

 

Speaking off offical romances, doesn't Carrot Top have a lover?

 

People do ignore canon ships a-lot.

[ManaMinori 4,145]

Princess Celestia and Sombra are a couple? I don't see her with either Sombra or Discord, not in the slightest itty bitty bit.

I agree with The Awesome One on Cadence/Shining. I see their relationship a bit cliche and too.. Ew. No offence, I enjoy both of them.

I don't enjoy Derpy Hooves x Doctor either. Do people make ships off names? I'm almost 75% certain some ships are only made because of combining the two names to make something nice.

 

Speaking off offical romances, doesn't Carrot Top have a lover?

 

People do ignore canon ships a-lot.

IDW comics, "Reflections" arc. (personally, I like Celly & Sombra a lot better than Celly & Discord). But maybe that's just me being canon bias) Though, oddly, I don't care much for Shining & Cadance......hm.

Carrot Top? I think she's with Written Script. They're seen together pretty often, and around Dinky as well, so she might be their foal.

[Jeric 46,854]

This is an interesting question. People, especially younger adults and teens, romanticize young or new relationships and associate older and established relationships with adults or parents. That connection spills over to how they subconsciously feel about fictional characters as well. 

 

I had my theory and the nosey person sitting here reading this with me just opined. I'm quoting a shrink on this one, "Married is boring."

[Frostgage 7,975]

I've actually always thought this too, and I don't think it's exclusive to MLP, it seems to happen in a lot of fandoms. I guess canon ships just aren't as much fun as the alternatives. I find myself mostly supporting canon ships, or at least implied ships, but there are a few which I know will never happen that I still ship anyway. *cough* *cough*

Edited May 9, 2015 by Frostgage

[ManaMinori 4,145]

This is an interesting question. People, especially younger adults and teens, romanticize young or new relationships and associate older and established relationships with adults or parents. That connection spills over to how they subconsciously feel about fictional characters as well. 

 

I had my theory and the nosey person sitting here reading this with me just opined. I'm quoting a shrink on this one, "Married is boring."

Marriage is boring only if you let things become that way, and stagnate. Granted, I've never been married- before, nor do I ever intend to, because relationships (and people in general) aren't something I'm personally cut out for, but I think my opinion on them - specifically, long-lasting ones- can still mean something. Fact of the matter is we, the fanbase, still know little to nothing about these already established couples (and even the ones who aren't married, like Truffle Shuffle and Twist- a cute, budding CANON romance aren't touched on) and since they're practically blank slates, the fandom- like the background ponies, can throw their own headcanons on them into the mix and make whatever of their already established relationships. We don't know if the Cakes leave Pinkie with their foalsitting, and spice up their marriage by skydiving every weekend. We don't know if Truffle Shuffle takes Twist out on dates. We don't know if the Oranges engage in BDSM or go to swingers meetups to try and keep their marriage exciting.

 

There's nothing wrong with 'fresh and new' relationships, but those are bound to end up where we see the married (and some of the non-married) canon couples. Shacked up with the pony you love, for better or worse. Then what? We instantly move onto the next fresh and new ship as soon as the first couple gets hitched?

[ArcheoPony 76]

Sadly all the canon pairings on the franchise that are presented as "they're in love" without going into believable details of why they're in love are pretty meh. That's why most people don't pay much attention to them. That, and most of those characters are introduced with the pairing, without much base as to who they are as individuals. So they come off as pretty boring. Good!King Sombra is possibly one of the best examples. He is just the perfect Prince Charming, and that's really boring and dull. People would rather play around with characters with fleshed out personalities or actual traits and see who they could be compatible with because it opens up potential for interesting development, growth and dynamics.

 

Personally I always try to see potential even in established pairings,I'm actually fond of Cadance and Shining because I feel they could be fleshed out and considering their background with Twilight and respective careers there can be material to draw from and or develop. Good!King Sombra's despite being a dull as buck Gary Stu actually had potential in premise,mbut his execution as a character was horrendous.

[pony.colin 156]

I'm guessing because the romantic fanfics focuses seem to like to go with the concept of 'young love' or 'new love' - depicting a relationship in the story, often at the times starting from the beginning or somewhere in early to middle of it.  At least that's my guess.  Stable, married relationships seem like the end goal of a romance, and if a couple gets there, well there doesn't seem like much more to tell because everything has been achieved and accomplished with (it's the happy ever after ending it seems).  The romantic ship plays with the idea of the build up - but if your characters have already reached the end, then what more is there to tell?  I'm just talking from what I think would be a purely writing perspective (got nothing on the artwork)

 

Twilight Velvet & Nightlight,

 

I'm guessing because they're stable in the current status.  They've got two successful kids (one's captain of the royal guard married to a princess, the other one is a princess).  Their kids are fine and well off.   What's left at this stage of their relationship?  Retirement?  They would be both very happy with what their kids accomplished, happy and stable with their current status and social situation.  Unless they run into any serious problems, well they're going to remain happy and stable, unless you insert some sort of element in your story that intentionally tries to destabilize it for the sake of plot. Nothing would change that unless you would introduced it.   Rarity's parent's relationship seem stable as well, so same thing.   who's Hondo Flanks & Cookie Crumbles?

 

Mr and Mrs orange, could be interesting.  They seem very focused on their social presentation.  Soap opera love style?

Mr. and Mrs. Cake - family life love at this point.   Could work? I see that revolving around their roles as new parents as well though and tackling that. 

Igneous Rock & Cloudy Quartz, (I don't even know if that's their real names.  I'm going by show only, so can't remember if it was ever mentioned).  - Well, fairly blank slate.  Don't know - could be an interesting idea.

Celestia and good Sombra - that one could work well. (kind of youngish love, okay not in that sense, but just starting relationship).  I'm pretty sure there must be at least one fanfic that picks back up from where that comic arc left off. (But only if people know about this one.  Since not everyone follows the comics).

 

Of course I've never written fanfiction so I couldn't really say what might be interesting or not so interesting to try with some of the cannon-ships.

Edited May 9, 2015 by pony.colin

[Sidral Mundet 1,666]

I'm guessing because the romantic fanfics focuses seem to like to go with the concept of 'young love' or 'new love' - depicting a relationship in the story, often at the times starting from the beginning or somewhere in early to middle of it.  At least that's my guess.  Stable, married relationships seem like the end goal of a romance, and if a couple gets there, well there doesn't seem like much more to tell because everything has been achieved and accomplished with (it's the happy ever after ending it seems).  The romantic ship plays with the idea of the build up - but if your characters have already reached the end, then what more is there to tell?  I'm just talking from what I think would be a purely writing perspective (got nothing on the artwork)

 

I'm guessing because they're stable in the current status.  They've got two successful kids (one's captain of the royal guard married to a princess, the other one is a princess).  Their kids are fine and well off.   What's left at this stage of their relationship?  Retirement?  They would be both very happy with what their kids accomplished, happy and stable with their current status and social situation.  Unless they run into any serious problems, well they're going to remain happy and stable, unless you insert some sort of element in your story that intentionally tries to destabilize it for the sake of plot. Nothing would change that unless you would introduced it.   Rarity's parent's relationship seem stable as well, so same thing.   who's Hondo Flanks & Cookie Crumbles?

 

Pretty much this.  Stable relationships aren't as fun to toy with since we know (or at least infer) that it's a relationship build on a strong foundation and they've gotten past a lot of the hiccups that forming a relationship can bring.  Also focusing on non-canon pairing, such as with the background ponies, allows a bit more freedom since they aren't as defined as the other characters in the show.   Also the canonization of  Good Sombra X Celestia is very debatable. 

[WriteCodes46 178]

There's one canon ship in particular that fans seem to absolutely despise: Twilight Sparkle × Flash Sentry

[ManaMinori 4,145]

There's one canon ship in particular that fans seem to absolutely despise: Twilight Sparkle × Flash Sentry

that's not a ship, though. They're not together in any kind of relationship- whether romantically or even friendship. It's basically just a schoolgirl crush at this point, ans they haven't hooked up

[WriteCodes46 178]

that's not a ship, though. They're not together in any kind of relationship- whether romantically or even friendship. It's basically just a schoolgirl crush at this point, ans they haven't hooked up

Twilight has explicitly called Flash a best friend, and it's pretty obvious they have some romantic involvement (Hasbro wanted there to be a romance subplot in Equestria Girls, that's the whole reason Flash Sentry even exists). If by hooking up you mean the intimate meaning of it, that would essentially constitute an act of bestiality, and they couldn't even hint at it in the movies.

[Moonlight 7,287]

I like both Shining Armor x Princess Cadence and Mr. Cake x Mrs. Cake, they're both adorable couples. People tend to just not like the ship itself whether it be because they don't like one of the characters or that they don't seem like a good match. I actually look up to both the ships I mentioned, they both seem close to each other and comfortable that people who ship one of them with someone else makes me uncomfortable.

[Manman20x6 359]

Wait... since when is princess Celestia x king Sombra official?

 

It's only in the comics (Which I haven't read yet).

[The Crimson Cross 7,532]

Even though I mostly ship Dislestia, it's mostly because it's always more fun to find an impossible pairing.

*shudders at the Supernatural shippings*

 

Well, I think it gives people a chance to be creative and support their favourite characters!

[MAIKUN 262]

Mine are Twist-Truffle Shuffle and of course, Button Mash -Sweetie Belle. I mean, the canon ships being ignored by the fans are NOT cool. Not cool at all.

[Ashen Pathfinder 16,161]

Wait... since when is princess Celestia x king Sombra official?

 

Pretty much from the IDW comics; and it was the alternate universe Sombra. ^^

 

[Shanks 10,816]

That is a good question, part of it is a sort of wish fulfillment which is a bit more difficult to utilize with cannon pairings as with non cannon pairings  there in some cases can be a bit more wiggle room as to the nature of their relationship though with the fact that romance in MLP in most cases seems to be more implied than overt I would argue that people who explore cannon pairings also have a certain degree of wiggle room. Simply put the idea of "what if" is very appealing to a lot of people, what if Applejack got together with Rainbow Dash? Or what if Octavia got together with Vinyl Scratch? I am not a major shipper but for some reason even I don't fully understand it seems to bring some of that out of me.

 

 

There's one canon ship in particular that fans seem to absolutely despise: Twilight Sparkle × Flash Sentry

That one is more semi canon as Twilight seems to have a crush on him but it didn't really show it develop into any kind of relationship. Spike and Rarity is also semi cannon due to the fact that Spike has an obvious crush on Rarity though it is just as obvious that Rarity does not feel the same way though that is one of the most popular MLP ships.

[Conred 274]

The canon and implied pairings like Sombra/Celestia, Flash/Twilight Cranky/Matilda and Shining/Cadance are very boring and generic with little to no thought or dynamic. Shippers mostly prefer to base shipping on existing dynamic or possible dynamic (if the characters didn't even met)

 

Tv show, however at least recently trying to create some new canon pairinigs with interesting dynamic. And so there is Fluttershy/Discord, Dash/Soarin, BigMac/Cheerile and Pinkie/Cheese but they didn't pushed it past friendship yet.

[Xenomorphic 362]

Maybe its because these ships were made by fans just like you and maybe they relate more to it I guess.

[dekutree64 713]

Not enough controversy. Most good shipping fanfics have either same gender, age difference, species difference, incest, or occasionally just different social status is enough to make it interesting. Of the potential canon couples, only Sparity has one of those aspects (age difference), and is indeed my favorite.

 

There's nothing wrong with good clean male/female romance, it's just boring to watch/read about most of the time.

[Steve Piranha 29,429]

IDW comics, "Reflections" arc. (personally, I like Celly & Sombra a lot better than Celly & Discord). But maybe that's just me being canon bias) Though, oddly, I don't care much for Shining & Cadance......hm.

Carrot Top? I think she's with Written Script. They're seen together pretty often, and around Dinky as well, so she might be their foal.

I've also seen Lyra with a blue stallion a couple of times in Filli Vanilli 

[Mesme Rize 15,685]

Well, i wouldn't consider myself the biggest shipper in the fandom, but that's also something that kind of bothers me. People ignore canon ships to the point, that they put there own fanon ships above the canon, even flatout saying that they deny canon completly.

 

Meaning, that Big Mac gets shipped with Fluttershy, Rarity still gets shipped with Blueblood and of course my favorite of all time, Twilight Sparkle gets shipped with Cheerilee.