The Pokémon Fan Dumb manages to get its own page for the shipping wars that go on here. In a series about owning monsters with superpowers, people are obsessed with pre-teens kissing for some reason.
open/close all folders
Anime
- May/Haruka was brutally hated by Pokéshippers and Misty/Kasumi fans in general, to the point where some of them stopped watching after Misty left the series. This emigration meant that things pretty much cooled down within the online fandom after a couple of years, and the return of negativity for Dawn/Hikari's introduction was much more short-lived, only persisting with the rabid May/Haruka fans. To put it in a bigger perspective, every female lead that came after Misty was subject to the Replacement Scrappy treatment.
- Misty has been bashed for "being in the way" of the (apparent) Ho Yay between Ash and Gary or Brock or of any other pairings involving Ash. Others love to use her to bash Melody from the second movie, too: as seen above, Misty wasn't happy to see her hog Ash's attention at the beginning, but to the
Fan Dumb that meant "MELODY IS A WHORE!". That Misty and Melody become good friends by the end of the film seems to be forgotten. - Many Amourshippers really hate Misty, say she is a whore, and keep repeating, "At least Serena is nice to everybody. Misty is a jerkass." Nevermind that most of Misty's worst angry outbursts were during the first season (after which she rather mellowed out), and that most of them were in response to Ash himself deliberately provoking her.
- Similar to the Brendan example below, many Amourshipping fics also feature Calem, the male player character from X and Y (who, like Brendan, never appeared in the anime), just to fill the role of an overly aggressive Romantic False Lead.
- The remaining Misty fans have an alarming tendency to kill her sisters off via house fire in fanfiction — literal Die for Our Ship, as this takes Misty off the bus and puts her back into position to be a (romantic) factor. It's confusing in that, despite their relative incompetence at head-to-head fights (which are Serious Business), we're talking about people who can summon living fire extinguishers basically at will. (Besides, their presence was the whole reason that Misty could even go on the journey instead of stay in the gym!) The better uses of this device turn into Hurt/Comfort Fic while the others make token references at best.
- Another startling fanfiction trend relates to ContestShipping (May/Drew) fics. Some writers seem to have developed a fixation with plucking Brendan (the male playable character from the R/S/E games) out of nowhere to act as a generic villain who underhandedly plots to steal May away from Drew. This is a particularly strident example, in that Brendan hasn't even shown up in anime continuity aside from some very fleeting cameos that had little, if anything, to do with May and Drew. Worse yet, he has no established personality in any fiction, and fics that pair Brendan with May are usually set in the games' universe rather than the anime, with May also being the one from the games.
- On a similar note, while the core AdvanceShipping (Ash/May) community is known for being rather tolerant with other ships, all tolerance tends to go right out the window when dealing with ContestShippers (May/Drew). They tend to portray Drew as a lecherous young man who only wants one thing from May at best, while portraying him as a rapist/abuser at worst. Aside from the sheer absurdity of portraying a friendly rival that way, does anyone think a television show like Pokémon would explore issues like this?
- Two rather
popular Ash Betrayal fics for some reason have used Drew as a villain who destroyed Ash's life. (May was a love interest in both) - Interestingly enough Gary tends to get the same treatment in a lot of Pokeshipping fics. The irony in all of it is Gary and Misty have had about one conversation in the whole series so he's just used as a Designated Villain.
- Two rather
- Not a case of killing characters off exactly, but nearly all of the above shipping categories are guilty of basically forgetting altogether the existence of characters like Pikachu, Max, and Meowth (Brock as well, though when he shows up he's usually a Butt-Monkey) who would by all common sense be ever-present. Skewered here.
- Not always true, but a decent yardstick of what you can expect from a shipping fic with Ash is to hit Ctrl-F and type "Pikachu". The ones that actually bother to include him at some point are usually the ones proficient enough with characterization to not feel too cookie cutter.
- Some extreme examples don't just drop Pikachu — they seem to forget that Pokémon in general exist in favor of focusing on the shipping. Any Pokémon that do appear will likely be relegated to the role of plot devices rather than have character of their own.
- Some GymShippers treat Ash like an annoying little kid and make it seem like Brock and Misty couldn't care less about him.
- On a similar note, while the core AdvanceShipping (Ash/May) community is known for being rather tolerant with other ships, all tolerance tends to go right out the window when dealing with ContestShippers (May/Drew). They tend to portray Drew as a lecherous young man who only wants one thing from May at best, while portraying him as a rapist/abuser at worst. Aside from the sheer absurdity of portraying a friendly rival that way, does anyone think a television show like Pokémon would explore issues like this?
- RocketShippers do have valid reasons for disliking Jessiebelle (her being an abusive sadist and all), but some of the more extreme ones will portray her as trying to outright sabotage Jessie and James's True Love. One particular 'shipper also deemed one-episode character Doctor Proctor from "A Chansey Operation" a "horse's ass" for flirting with Jessie.
- Anti-RocketShippers, on the other hand, will portray Jessie as an abusive harpy who doesn't care a whit about James in order to justify his running away from her to hook up with Butch. After he gives her a giant "The Reason You Suck" Speech, of course.
- Due to the fact that she actually has feelings for Ash, most shippers have declared open season on Serena. The fact that these feelings completely fly in the face of the series being known for No Hugging, No Kissing has resulted in Serena getting bashed on two fronts: from people who would rather for Ash to be with someone else and being accused of favoritism from the writers.
- Blown up to even larger proportions as her ship grew with her characterisation. It very quickly became perhaps the most heated rival to Pokeshipping, especially among newer fans who didn't grow up with the original series vs those who did. (Serena season! Misty season! Serena season! Misty Season!)
- Even PearlShippers, who are known for being flexible with other ships with Ash, have been hating on Serena.
- Most of the attacks against Serena devolve around to "She doesn't have a goal (false, though her goal wasn't developed until late in the first season)", she's a shallow character/badly developed (opinions), and is just in the show for Fanservice (ignoring the fact their own female end of their OTP has been subject to fanservice)
- Even PearlShippers, who are known for being flexible with other ships with Ash, have been hating on
- In anti-AmourShipping fanfics, Serena is often given Alternate Character Interpretation to the point where she's Flanderized into a Clingy Jealous Girl bordering on Yandere. Ash's loss to Alain in the Kalos League and Serena's departure also depicts her as dumping him for another guy.
- As of the last episode of the XY anime, Serena actually acted on her feelings for Ash and kissed him, resulting in a huge meltdown from Ash/other girl shippers who forget the unwritten rule of the anime that Ash will always be a Celibate Hero.
- Blown up to even larger proportions as her ship grew with her characterisation. It very quickly became perhaps the most heated rival to Pokeshipping, especially among newer fans who didn't grow up with the original series vs those who did. (Serena season! Misty season! Serena season! Misty Season!)
- As the most divisive of Ash's female travelling companions, Iris is always treated as the Butt-Monkey by fans of the other girls. At best she's ignored, though attacks are not uncommon. The fact that NegaiShipping is easily the least-supported Ash x Female Lead ship does not help matters.
- Though not a death example, one Ash/Iris story had Ash beat up Georgia and rant about her negative qualities so that he and Iris can make out. It's deleted now, but if you wish to see it, a review of it is on YouTube here.
- There are way too many Pikashippers (Ash/Pikachu) who have it out for any of Ash's female traveling companions, though Misty is the prime target. Her being an obnoxious lovestruck fangirl getting in the way of Ash's and Pikachu's love isn't unknown, with some fics even having Pikachu secretly hate her.
- Selene, though she wasn't even in the anime was bashed by Amourshippers, saying that she would "get in the way."
- Lillie, Mallow, and Lana, Ash's new female friends in Sun and Moon have been starting to get this as of the beginning of the series by those who see them as potential obstacles for their OTP, particularly from AmourShippers, but especially Lillie in no small part thanks to the immense popularity of her game counterpart.
- Meowth/Pikachu fans often don't take well to Buneary and make her into a creepy Clingy Jealous Girl.
- Snivy/Oshawott fans have shown a dislike towards Emolga, and see her as competition to the ship for both of the involved. It's common to see her Jerkass personality get a dose of exaggeration in order to create cheap tension.
- Pikachu/Snivy fanfics have done this to Buneary. In one instance, Buneary is turned Yandere towards Pikachu, with her attempting to strangle Snivy to death.
- Some Pikachu/Ash fans have been known to exaggerate Chikorita's Clingy Jealous Girl qualities.
- An unusual case is Ash's father, who we know literally nothing about other than he's probably alive and is on a Pokémon journey. Both Delia/Samuel and Delia/Giovanni shippers (when not writing either as Ash's dad) enjoy portraying him as the absolute worse husband possible (if he even married Delia, at that) and as a deadbeat dad. While there is some material, such as Pocket Monsters: The Animation that do support the idea that Ash's father sucks, it is far from canon and obscure enough that it cannot be expected to be fueling this trend.
Manga
- Pokémon Adventures:
- The series has had a particularly brutal war surrounding the Kanto characters. The main ships were Red/Blue, Red/Yellow, Red/Misty, Blue/Green, Blue/Silver, Green/Yellow, and Lance/Yellow. The opposing characters typically get Flanderized; for example Blue's, Green's, and Silver's get made into abusive Jerkasses and Red goes back into an Idiot Hero or his Oblivious to Love trait is amplified. Most communities have however pretty much settled on Red/Yellow and Blue/Green.
- However, the debates have resurfaced when Red and Blue appeared together in ORAS and even had Ship Tease with each other, while Green and Yellow were nowhere to be found in said chapter (technically speaking, Green was in the simultaneously-running XY chapter, albeit it takes place much later in the timeline).
- A similar Flanderization applies to Ruby and Sapphire for those who think their antagonistic levels of incompatibility contradicts their supposedly couple status. Sapphire is portrayed as a sharp-teethed abusive jerkass who constantly bites the hell out of Ruby for causing that tragic past while Ruby is frequently portrayed as the wimpy Extreme Doormat who believes that he deserves all the shit that comes to him.
- To say nothing of the ship war between the Sinnoh trio. You have four options surrounding this one: ship Diamond/Platinum and paint Pearl as an annoying brat who does nothing but abuse Dia, ship Pearl/Platinum and have Dia be a wimpy glutton who thinks about nothing except food, ship Diamond/Pearl and characterize Platinum as a spoiled Rich Bitch who just gets in the way of their friendship, or just ship all of them together at the same time.
- The series has had a particularly brutal war surrounding the Kanto characters. The main ships were Red/Blue, Red/Yellow, Red/Misty, Blue/Green, Blue/Silver, Green/Yellow, and Lance/Yellow. The opposing characters typically get Flanderized; for example Blue's, Green's, and Silver's get made into abusive Jerkasses and Red goes back into an Idiot Hero or his Oblivious to Love trait is amplified. Most communities have however pretty much settled on Red/Yellow and Blue/Green.
Video Games
- Not even the Pokémon games are excluded from this, though the game shipping fandom was quite passive until Generation IV. Now, though, it's arguably the most fertile breeding ground for shipping warfare, where characterization is thrown out the window.
- In Barry/Dawn fics, Lucas plays the role. In Lucas/Dawn fics, Barry gets an immaturity boost.
- Unova is even WORSE in this regard. To wit: N/Hilda fics depict Hilbert and/or Cheren as a clingy, jealous Jerkass, while N/Hilbert fics depict Hilda as either incredibly abusive or too masculine for either. Cheren/Hilda and Hilbert/Hilda fics outright ignore all of N's redeemable qualities and portray him as a psychotic, sociopathic creeper. Even when N is taken out of the picture, there's still plenty of nastiness: Bianca/Hilda fans often depict Cheren or Hilbert into a self-centered Jerkass who wants Bianca all for himself, and Bianca is portrayed as too much of a ditz to even care if Cheren and Hilbert are an item. And when Cheren/Bianca is the focus rather than a Beta Couple expect to see Hilbert/Hilda portrayed as a hyper-controlling, vicious Yandere. And that's just between the player and rival characters.
- Anime characters (or the ones that got adapted and become part of Ash's companions) get thrown into the game fanfiction for no reason other then counterpart shipping fuel, and the game characters ignored or derailed, especially when they are Adapted Out from the anime.
- For Galactic related pairings other than Cyrus/Dawn, most Galactic admins are seen as incompetent.
- Silver/Kris and Ethan/Kris fics often portray Lyra as either ditzy or a Clingy Jealous Girl. Expect a line or two about Lyra "replacing" Kris and being a bragging brat about it. Ethan/Silver fics also do the same to Lyra sometimes (minus the replacing). Occasionally, Kris gets the same treatment in Silver/Lyra and Ethan/Lyra fics, only instead of her "replacing" Lyra, Lyra is constantly overshadowed by her.
- A few Silver/Lyra and Ethan/Silver fics paint Lance as a callous jerk. Granted, the man can be intimidating and he did get his Dragonite to attack a Rocket grunt, but come on.
- Lyra's also gotten a lot of shit thrown at her by rabid Ethan/Silver or Lance/Silver shippers for the fact that other fans ship her with either guy at all. Talk about ridiculous.
- Some Brendan/May fans do this to Wally. He's often written as a Crazy Jealous Guy despite him being more quite meek in the actual game.
- Calem/Serena (KalosShipping) fics Flanderize Shauna's The Ditz trait, while Calem/Shauna and Serena/Shauna (BrightTomorrowShipping/BoutiqueShipping) fics make the rival Calem or Serena arrogant and their Friendly Rivalry with their counterpart a lot less friendly.
- Anyone who doesn't ship Kukui with his wife Burnet will likely have it out for her.
