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Needs Help: Ship Sinking

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To-do list:

  • Examples require the Ship Sinking scene to be, in some way, specifically about the characters it's sinking and require the work contain some in-universe acknowledgement about the possibility of the two being a couple. Remove any examples that don't fit. Progress is being tracked using the Ship Sinking Wick Cleaning sandbox.

Original post

Spun off from This Thread in Trope Talk

That thread was trying to figure out what Ship Sinking actually means. There were a few attempts to come up with a clear definition-

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16343113800A23179400&page=2#comment-38

"a scene blatantly set-up to demonstrate that a ship is ridiculous" (Adept)

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16343113800A23179400&page=2#comment-44

"a moment which specifically exists to make it clear that two particular characters are not, or will not become, a couple."

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16343113800A23179400&page=3#comment-51

WICK CHECK

I also did a wick check to figure out how Ship Sinking is being used currently- I found that, off-page, it was actually mostly used as a pothole, like "Alice and Bob are flirty until Bob's death in s3 sinks the ship". So I also took 40 random examples from the subpages, since those are easier to identify how theyre being used

I also found this was often being used as sort of, the opposite of Ship Tease. Like, if ship tease is "The work hints that Bob and Alice might get together", then Ship Sinking is being used as "The work hints that Bob and Alice will not get together"

     one character rejects the other's advances (9) 

     pairing is overtly mentioned in canon but does not happen for whatever reason (8) 
  • Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito Ship Sinking: Nothing quite kills a ship like giving birth to the person you're in love with. Hazuki giving birth to Eve is what will happen in the show's future.
  • Ship Sinking: Not all of Danny's dates are winners, and only a few he has no desire to even be friends with.
    • Cree Lincoln seemed nice, but her beating up children caused Danny to reject her immediately.
  • Tropes Q to Z Ship Sinking: The author does so in chapter 56 via having Harry act as a Shipping Torpedo to Clark/Lana, without Lana even appearing on-screen. Specifically, Harry points out that Clark's own account, Lana has never demonstrated overt romantic interest in him, has a boyfriend (Whitney) who Clark admits is good to her, which therefore indicates that Clark is Wrong Genre Savvy about their relationship - he sees them as Starcrossed Lovers, when in fact he's more a Dogged Nice Guy who risks breaking Lana's heart by effectively attempting Relationship Sabotage by making her choose between him and Whitney. Seemingly confirming this is the way Clark is rather ashamed when Harry puts it to him like this.
  • The Stalking Zuko Series Be Careful What You Wish For: When Katara kisses him, as she does at the end of Book 3, he's disgusted, and realizes that it's not what he wanted, with this being the last straw that ends his crush on her.
  • Billy and Karen (though they had a mutual attraction in Season 2) get sunk early in Season 3, as Karen stays loyal to her ineffectual husband Ted while Billy gets possessed by an Eldritch Abomination. It’s also explained Billy’s attraction to Karen stems from his Missing Mom, also he dies.
  • In "Graduation, Part 2", Wesley and Cordelia (who have been infatuated with one another since they met) finally kiss. The kiss is awkward enough to wipe out half a season's worth of chemistry, and when the two of them end up on Angel together, they hardly ever so much as flirt again and they end up with a Like Brother and Sister relationship.
  • General Protection Fault sunk any chance of Nick/Trudy not only by having Nick get together with Ki, but by having him permanently reject her after learning of her plans in Surreptitious Machinations ("I can't love someone I can't trust.") Todd gets this twice, with a grown-up Sidney in the Bad Future (who stays behind to let him go back in time, getting captured and executed), and an amnesiac Mischief, (who regains her memories while forgetting her feelings for him, much to his dismay).
  • Lelouch/Kallen: Sunk late in the second season after many Ship Teases and Moment Killers, when Kallen pours her heart out to Lelouch, and he doesn't respond at all, standing there with a blank look on his face, which leads her to believe that he doesn't care. In Kallen's character poem, which came with the DVD, she states that if he had said he loved her, even if it had been a lie, she "would even follow [him] to hell", and acknowledges that this is probably the reason he didn't answer her. Given that he was about to embark upon the path to world domination, only to have himself assassinated to facilitate world peace, it makes sense he'd want to distance himself from her.
  • Rebuild of Evangelion sinks nearly every single ship involving Shinji, after delivering piles of Ship Tease for them. The "first" Rei is considered to be dead, and neither Shinji nor her clone are interested in a relationship; Asuka confesses to Shinji she used to like him, but she moved on because of Bardiel and the Time Skip (however her flustered reaction towards Shinji's later admission indicates that she never moved on from her feelings for him in the first place despite everything and the reason for claiming otherwise in her confession is up to debate), and Shinji later admits he liked her as well back then; and Kaworu gets over his feelings. By the end, Shinji might have possibly hooked up with Mari Makinami of all people, albeit depending on individual interpretation.
  • Soul Edge sank the Seong Mi-na/Hwang pairing during her ending for that game, when she runs away from home and leaves a note for her father saying "marrying Hwang wasn't for her." By the following game, Soulcalibur, her father was trying to wed her to another of his students named Kim, which angered Mi-na, causing her to run away from home again. From SCII onward, her father took the hint and let it drop. SCII through SCIV also sink the possibility of rival naval vessel Mi-na/Yun-seong, as Mi-na interacts with him in a sisterly manner and an official relationship chart in the fourth game (and Broken Destiny) strictly defines their relationship as platonic.
  • The first half heavily implies at a future romance between Cyanide and Skids. Then the author took a closer look at them, decided that they actually weren't compatible, and hooked Cyanide up with the female Ronnie. To clear away any doubt, Skids says outright that Cyanide isn't his type, is revealed to have a long-time crush on Harley (which is ultimately futile, as Harley is happily with Mikhael), and is paired up with Tybalt at the end. Many fans did not take this well, as lampshaded in this comic.

     Opposite of Ship Tease (8) 
  • Village of Objects ->Coin: "Hey Girls, have you seen OJ anywhere? I know he wasn't eliminated and I can't find him anywhere!" (The first thing he says when out of the "bottomless" pit, completely forgetting about his thing with Conditioner
  • Code Geass Ship Sinking: Occasionally. Can't possibly keep up with the Ship Tease. (also lacks context)
  • Mythology Gag/Comic Books In #12 of the New 52 Action Comics, Superman is given a vision of a "perfect world", which is basically the pre-Flashpoint universe: his parents are still alive; he started working at the Planet with Jimmy and Lois from his first day in Metropolis; the League headquarters is a moonbase; and he's married to Lois. That last one is when he realises this doesn't make sense.
  • Missy: Oh, don't be disgusting. We're Time Lords, not animals! Try, nano-brain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. A friendship older than your civilization, and infinitely more complex.
  • A small version of this may have just occurred on the FX show Justified between Raylan and his ex-wife Winona in "Hatless": Winona's husband gets into trouble with some bad men over land and Raylan comes to her rescue to ensure she won't be hurt. The potential for Big Damn Heroes is completely averted since Winona doesn't want to leave the house, especially since her husband is MIA. Later, she explains why she chose her new husband over Raylan (even though Raylan is tougher, funnier, and better looking) and still goes back to him at the end of the episode despite his bad decisions that endangered her. If there were any Winona/Raylan shippers, they're probably feeling pretty bad right about now. Happily, the ship has been temporarily refloated as of "Father and Sons", but the two still have loads and loads of problems to deal with in the meantime.
  • Some Warcraft fans interpreted an interlude in Arthas: Rise of the Lich King as sinking the Thrall/Jaina ship.
  • The Total Drama Action special might have done this for Trent/Gwen shippers. Not only do the two have no one-to-one interaction at all in the special (significant enough in itself) but Gwen admitted she finds Duncan attractive while Trent has already begun dating different girls.
  • Three seasons were spent alternately teasing and sinking Finn/Bubblegum, with Finn sporting an enormous Precocious Crush on her but Bubblegum not showing any romantic interest in him, despite them getting progressively closer over the seasons. "Too Young" is the pinnacle, with most of the episode depicting them having adorable bonding moments, only to swerve into a sinking ending

     "character do not get together", but unclear how much was in universe(18) 

  • Far Cry 4 Ship Tease: Has some rather tender moments with Ajay, such as when she was waiting by his bedside. But when she has her Face–Heel Turn, the Ship Sinking instantly takes effect.
  • Hunter × Hunter: Other Characters Ship Tease: With Pokkle. And both sides of the ship are murderously torpedoed into the ocean blue in the same arc.
  • Series/Victoria Due to its doomed by history nature, the arrival of Prince Albert is the iceberg hitting the Victoria x Lord M "Titanic" and her marriage proposal to Albert and subsequent marriage is the "Vicbourne" ship sinking beneath the waves, never to be rescued.
  • Until Dawn The game starts giving her some with Josh. Such a shame her clinging to him when they hear a noise in the basement and how she’s talks about she thought they had a connection. Given how Josh dies or has a Fate Worse than Death their ship has no way of happening.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender "The Fortune Teller" Ship Tease: Katara's prediction does double duty as both this and Ship Sinking. It disqualifies any non-benders (Jet) for her canon ship while promoting the two main ships (Aang/Zuko), although it mostly promotes Kataang. It could also have included Haru, whom the team already met ("Imprisoned") as an impressive self-taught earthbender. (Although I am familiar with this series to know that this one 'is'' in response to in-universe flirting of Katara and Jet)
  • Miraculous Ladybug S04E03 "Gang of Secrets" Ship Sinking: Tikki's statement that kwamis don't fall in love confirms that Tikki/Plagg won't be happening, and nor will any other ship involving kwamis.
  • Mitama Security Spirit Busters Ship Sinking: Zig-Zagged. Code 34 presented Mitama as a literal Parental Substitute for Rena Haze (competing with her own mother in a "mom-off") which seemingly cleared this ship off the table, at least from Joh's perspective who outright clarified that he wasn't interested in her that way. However, the following chapters send even more mixed messages than ever before, with Rena Haze more and more flustered in presence of Mitama despite openly disliking his quirky antics, and Mitama notably dropping this innocuous line out of nowhere:
    Rena Haze: Well, it sounds like you're as attracted to me as the spirits! Ah ha ha!
    Mitama: Yeah, maybe I am.

  • RWBY: Official Manga Anthology This is the case for Weiss and Yang, as Yang confides in Weiss that she sees her as another lively sister. The feeling is also mutual on Weiss's part as in the show, Weiss all but confirms with Yang that she views Team RWBY, as more of a family more than her own brother and father.
  • Tropes Q to S Ship Sinking: The final chapter is ambiguous on ships involving Laxus, but it explicitly sinks Laxus/Mirajane, at least if Lucy's narration is any indication.
  • Star-Crossed Ship Sinking: Taylor, despite experimenting before, is not attracted to Sophia.
  • Sudden Contact Ship Sinking: Sinks her own ship with Raynor by refusing to join in on another rebellion.
  • Doctor/Sarah Jane was Ship Teased heavily throughout the Fourth Doctor/Sarah Jane years, but shot through both of its hearts when she gets unceremoniously Put on a Bus. After the departure of Leela, the producer at the time had wanted Sarah Jane to return as companion and to develop the relationship in a more blatantly romantic direction, but Elisabeth Sladen declined to return and so Romana was created as a (very loose) Suspiciously Similar Substitute. It wasn't until Sarah Jane returned in the 2006 episode "School Reunion" that it was finally confirmed on screen that she'd been in love with the Doctor, but the series did not pursue this further.
  • The possibility of Suzaku x Euphemia was sunk when Euphemia died after being shot by Lelouch in Episode 23 of Season 1.
  • Elfen Lied: Fan favourite couple Lucy/Kouta seemed to have some floating in the anime, but when the manga arrived to the part of having Kouta remember that she killed his family, all hopes came crashing down and he ended up with Team Mom Yuka — and this is after Lucy's death, much to the rage of some fans. In the anime, Lucy herself tells him that her destiny to remake the world for her species means they can't be together, though it ends on an ambiguous note.
  • Endgame also proved to be the final, decisive nail in the coffin for Romanogers fans, due to the ending mentioned for Captain America above as well as Black Widow’s unalterable death on Vormir.
  • Higher Learning: Whatever relationship that Misato and Kaoru had crashed down when Shinji left NERV temporarily and Misato blamed Kaoru for it. Their relationship died definitely when Kaji reunited with Misato after nearly getting assassinated.
  • Schlock Mercenary introduced 19-year-old Lieutenant Ventura at the beginning of the previous arc. She started to get along a bit too well with commander Andreyasn until his girlfriend showed up to sink that ship in a very clear and precise manner. At the end of the arc, she pretty much singlehandedly promoted a Red Shirt to Mauve when he saved her life, and the subsequent affection she showed him because of it. That ship was sunk early next arc when said Mauve Shirt assured his fellow crewmates he doesn't like little girls.
  • Princess Tutu: Are you still waiting for Ahiru to end up with the Prince, despite how dark the series has gotten since the end of episode 13? You'll change your tune come episode 24 because he prefers Rue and Ahiru seems to have chosen Fakir. A lot.

     definitely not supported in canon, fan shipping only (11) 

  • Website/Neopets A surprising number of people shipped Tomos and Nabile together, before, all of a sudden, Nabile decided she wanted to marry Jazan.
  • Naomi and Cook's bantering developed into an Odd Friendship, but some Nookie shippers (mainly those on the Everyone Is Bi horse) saw plenty of UST there, despite the fact that Naomi's Single-Target Sexuality is firmly pointed in Emily's direction. The book tried to sink it with some very impassioned statements from Naomi; the show finally managed it.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple Merlin/Arthur supporters knew it was never going to happen, but even after Arthur falls in love with Gwen, there's still hope for a unspoken unrequited love story from the side of his servant, right? Enter Merlin, Arthur/Gwen Shipper on Deck. He ships it more than the couple does. Whenever a threat to the pairing emerges, he becomes rabid fan-girl in the throes of Die for Our Ship.
  • While there are people who think Ragna/Nu is cute, Chronophantasma Extend arcade suggests that losing to Lambda has driven Nu completely off the deep end, changing her goals from "merge with Ragna" to "everybody dies". How this pans out in the next game is yet to be seen.
  • Linkara/MarzGurl was sunk for good when Lewis's girlfriend, Iron Liz, became a part of his show. Though most fans seem to like Liz, so this isn't the problem it would be in other fandoms. After Liz left the show, Linkara started dating, and is currently married to, Viga, sinking any chance for a MarzGurl-
  • Silver/Blaze was pretty popular around the time Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) was released, until it was revealed that Blaze locked herself away in an Alternate Dimension. This is further emphasized with the revelation that Blaze and Silver don't even live in the same timelinenote , making any interaction limited at best. They are often seen with each other whenever on screen, but this is likely due to audience recognition than any real feelings for each other.shipping resurrection.
  • In Yu-Gi-Oh! GX: People started shipping Judai with Asuka or Johan pretty quickly, thanks to all the Ship Tease / Homoerotic Subtext he was getting with them. Not only did he choose his Stalker with a Crush / Forgotten Childhood Friend Yubel instead, he swore to love them and only them forever, leaving the odds of Judai/Asuka or Judai/Johan happening practically nonexistent.
  • Not only do Abigail and Morgan interact with each other the least out of all the main characters, but in one of the few times they speak, they learn that Abigail is Morgan's distant ancestor.
  • Eerie Cuties sank both fandom ships regarding Layla, whom the readership hoped was in denial about not being a lesbian, or at least bi, because they wanted her to hook up with Tiffany or Brooke.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2: In the main game, it's unclear what relationship Mythra had with the hero Addam, her previous driver. The prequel DLC immediately makes it clear that there was no romance whatsoever; Addam acts like a put-upon father trying to deal with his bratty teenage daughter. Addam even has a wife, though she never appears on screen.
  • Many people were surprised to find out in Guilty Gear 2 Overture that Ky Kiske is unofficially married to a Gear and fathered a son; later on, that Gear is revealed to be Dizzy. Ky/Jam supporters got an ouch there and for some reason, Ky/Dizzy fics started to pop up more often.
  • The Big Bang Theory Quite simply, they most likely noticed viewers preferring the possibility of Sheldon and Penny and decided to sink it by removing all the positive aspects between them and keeping only the negative.

     characters were together, but this definitively ends the relationship (6) 
  • South Park S 21 E 10 Splatty Tomato Ship Sinking: Once again, Heidi/Cartman: this time it's truly sunk for good with Heidi's determination to end the relationship and ignoring Cartman's repeated threats of suicide.
  • Nick Spencers Spider Man One of the biggest in Spider-Man's recent memory. After one of the most infamous comic book stories ever written and dozens upon dozens of moments of Ship Tease and attempted Ship Sinking, with many attempts at keeping such a thing happening, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are officially back together as a couple within the end of the first issue. For bonus points, the dialogue takes extra time to point out why they work so well as a couple, in complete defiance of the past decade of stories.
  • Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Did Not Get the Girl/Ship Sinking: While Strike Back ended with Justice headed for prison and Jay promising to wait for her, in this movie Justice is married to another woman and, despite Jay being her daughter's father, considers him to not be dad material. It doesn't help that he never even bothered to catch up with her in over 18 years.
  • General Hospital's legendary Super Couple Luke and Laura of all people were subjected to this. Starting in 1995 when the couple first became estranged when she couldn't deal with his involvement with the mob anymore, then kicking into high gear in 1998 when they were forced to deal with the fact that he'd raped her 19 years earlier, the writers threw one problem after another at them until they finally divorced in 2001, a few months before they would have celebrated their 20th anniversary.
  • HERZ: Shinji/Kurumi sank long before the story started when Kurumi got Shinji drunk and took advantage of him… and Shinji thought she was Asuka through the whole thing. After that night he started to avoid Kurumi, and she knew she had lost.
  • Even canon ships aren't safe. The second season is kicked off with Miss Martian suddenly kissing Lagoon Boy, even though she was dating Superboy at the end of first season. Granted, a lot can change in five years, but the show didn't address their breakup until the next episode. Subverted in that due to later character development, they actually get back together when Miss Martian realizes she was only using Lagoon Boy as a rebound and dumps him for Superboy.
  • Hayate Ayasaki x Athena Tennos is torpedoed in chapters 264-265 when Athena recognizes that, although they are both still in love with each other, she isn't the most important person in Hayate's life anymore and persuades him to let them go their separate ways. Chapter 266 made it seem like the ship might get refloated when Athena reveals that she kept the ring Hayate gave her and warns Nagi Sanzen'in that she might not give him back next time, but it gets depth-charged in 552 when Athena tells Ayumu Nishizawa that though she still loves Hayate, she does not see herself reflected in his eyes anymore.

     Meta (Word Of God or 4th wall breaks say they wont be a couple) (7) 

     zce and/or potholed without any context (13) 

     other (4) 

Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 7th 2022 at 10:04:47 AM

Piterpicher Veteran Editor IV from Poland, for real (Series 2) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Veteran Editor IV
#26: Jan 1st 2022 at 3:00:35 PM

Sounds very likely.

Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)
themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
#27: Jan 1st 2022 at 3:34:06 PM

I've thought that too but I don't get angry about it anymore. Getting angry about it was the reason why I went on a months-long hiatus, and honestly it's not worth it.

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
WarJay77 Big Catch, Sparkle Edition from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#28: Jan 1st 2022 at 3:40:19 PM

I occasionally do that, but only if I feel like removing those examples would hurt the trope unnecessarily. Like with Moral Event Horizon, before we finalized the new definition, some of the changes people wanted to make would've made a lot of otherwise perfect examples unfitting due to a technicality while also allowing a bunch of examples that really shouldn't count.

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Acebrock He/Him from So-Cal Since: Dec, 2009 Relationship Status: My elf kissing days are over
He/Him
#29: Jan 1st 2022 at 8:50:34 PM

I tend to vote down turning a page into fan speak because I always found definition only pages to be rather pointless.

Edit: especially if options I think are better are presented

Edited by Acebrock on Jan 1st 2022 at 8:51:35 AM

My troper wall
Karxrida The Unknown from Eureka, the Forbidden Land Since: May, 2012 Relationship Status: I LOVE THIS DOCTOR!
The Unknown
#30: Jan 1st 2022 at 9:00:08 PM

Kinda want a rename if we go with the "Require the Ship Sinking scene to be, in some way, specifically about the characters it's sinking and require the work contain some in-universe acknowledgement about the possibility of the two being a couple" option (we should really start numbering crowner options or something smh) to disconnect it from Shipping due to it being YMMV, but it's honestly not a huge priority.

Edited by Karxrida on Jan 1st 2022 at 9:00:36 AM

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody remembers it, who else will you have ice cream with?
Twiddler (On A Trope Odyssey)
#31: Jan 2nd 2022 at 5:02:28 AM

Downvoted "Require prior Ship Tease". At least two of the Ship Sinking examples in Tremmor's post (Harry/Hermione and Katara/Zuko) do not have prior Ship Tease.

Tremmor19 reconsidering from bunker in the everglades Since: Dec, 2018 Relationship Status: Too sexy for my shirt
reconsidering
#32: Jan 2nd 2022 at 5:44:04 AM

[up][up]i actually cpuld see that too— if "fanspeak only" wins i would try to make a new objective trope following that definition

nw09 Since: Apr, 2018
#33: Jan 2nd 2022 at 9:48:57 AM

[up][up][up]Agree with that.

GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#34: Jan 4th 2022 at 2:51:45 AM

Calling in favor of the following:

Require the Ship Sinking scene to be, in some way, specifically about the characters it's sinking and require the work contain some in-universe acknowledgement about the possibility of the two being a couple

I think the only thing left to do is remove examples that don't fit that definition, but correct me if I'm wrong.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Tremmor19 reconsidering from bunker in the everglades Since: Dec, 2018 Relationship Status: Too sexy for my shirt
reconsidering
#35: Jan 4th 2022 at 4:27:17 AM

^ Cool! I will start looking over examples and removing the ones that don't fit.

There should also be a rewrite of the description, I'll get to that soon if no one else does

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#36: Jan 4th 2022 at 4:40:03 AM

Oh, right, rewriting the description is something that should be done due to the definition changes, so thanks for bringing that up.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#37: Jan 4th 2022 at 5:02:49 AM

The only name I can think of is Sinking Their Own Ship.

However, it's sometimes easier to think of a new name once the description has been written/tweaked. Sometimes, something just jumps off the page at you.

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
WarJay77 Big Catch, Sparkle Edition from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#38: Jan 4th 2022 at 11:19:08 AM

Sinking Their Own Ship sounds like it's either about a person in the relationship self-sabotaging, or someone literally sinking their own vessel.

But are we even changing the title? All we're doing is updating the description and doing cleanup.

Edited by WarJay77 on Jan 4th 2022 at 2:19:54 PM

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Adept (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#39: Jan 4th 2022 at 8:32:55 PM

I don't think a rename is necessary, although we might need more specific guidelines on what sort of examples can or cannot qualify. e.g. a character explicitly turning down a suitor who was obviously a Romantic False Lead.

GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#40: Jan 4th 2022 at 9:50:32 PM

Nobody suggested renaming this until after I made the crowner, and it never got added while the crowner was still going. Should I hook a crowner for whether to rename this?

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Eiryu Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#41: Jan 5th 2022 at 6:21:12 AM

I don't think we need to rename this.

Bullman "Cool. Coolcoolcool." Since: Jun, 2018 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
#42: Jan 8th 2022 at 1:17:54 PM

I don't think we need a rename, just rewrite the description.

Edited by Bullman on Jan 8th 2022 at 3:26:15 AM

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
#43: Jan 8th 2022 at 9:19:39 PM

Will add this to SquarePegRoundTrope.Q To Z. Any objections/modifications to make?

  • Ship Sinking is not just any fan Shipping that's invalidated by canon. It requires the sunk paring to have prior Ship Tease, romance, or the possibility of romance brought up in-work. It also only applies to specific paring being acknowledged as sunk (just X character becoming a couple/being taken for is not this).

Questions about this in ShipSinking.Film:

  1. Is this enough to fit the new Ship Sinking criteria between Flash and Princess Twilight? It never outright states she's lost intreats in him, the series has just dodged the issue since.
  2. Flash and human Twilight still got tease in the novels which seemingly contradict the movies/series. What do we do for Depending on the Writer examples of Sinking?

Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
#44: Jan 9th 2022 at 6:46:48 AM

How does character death factor in, as well? In my experience, character death isn't guaranteed to stop fandoms from shipping characters, and if a character has to go through a grieving process for the one who died, it doesn't seem to me like it's automatically a sunk ship either. It just means that the ship can't go in a "happily ever after" direction.

If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Eiryu Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#45: Jan 9th 2022 at 7:56:53 AM

I don't think death counts. I can think of at least one manga in which the protagonist died horribly and his love interest just spent the rest of the timeline...grieving horribly and not getting over it. That's almost the opposite of ship sinking.

Bullman "Cool. Coolcoolcool." Since: Jun, 2018 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
#46: Jan 9th 2022 at 9:24:08 AM

Can this trope still count if the couple eventually get together?

Edited by Bullman on Jan 9th 2022 at 12:30:40 PM

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
WarJay77 Big Catch, Sparkle Edition from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#47: Jan 9th 2022 at 11:31:19 AM

I'd say no, because then it was just a Red Herring.

I mean... erhhh... maybe you can argue it's a Subversion.

Edited by WarJay77 on Jan 9th 2022 at 2:31:36 PM

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Bullman "Cool. Coolcoolcool." Since: Jun, 2018 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
"Cool. Coolcoolcool."
#48: Jan 9th 2022 at 1:47:20 PM

So, let's this couple breaks up a period of time but a couple of seasons later they decide to get back together. Would that be a subversion? Because I would think that if they get back together the same season it wouldn't.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#49: Jan 9th 2022 at 1:49:37 PM

That's precisely why I wanted the trope to be retroactive...

TheMountainKing Since: Jul, 2016
#50: Jan 9th 2022 at 4:22:28 PM

[up]x7 Remove the "prior Ship Tease" part. The crowner voted against that.

[up]x6 Fans not shipping a character anymore is Abandon Shipping, not Ship Sinking. A ship that has been sunk can still be extremely popular in the fandom.

Edited by TheMountainKing on Jan 9th 2022 at 7:23:40 AM

Trope Repair Shop: Ship Sinking
1st Jan '22 2:51:04 AM

Crown Description:

What should be done with Ship Sinking?

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