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Greetings Everyone! The old thread for discussing rare shippings is long past stale, but thanks to me, one can now discuss the more obscure ships of Pokemon again
Now you may be asking: "What exactly do you mean by 'Rare Shipping'? What counts as one?" Well, a rare shipping is one that has few fanfics or fanart or AMVs on the internet, and/or is pretty much unheard of. Discuss these ships here, especially those that you like!
We got some rules though, so please read and abide to them
Stay on topic. That means we will be staying with discussion rare shippings instead of the mainstream ones. Yaaaaay!
Don't bash any shippings. This is listed in the Shipper's Community rules, but I think it deserves an extra mention as this thread is the place where many, many different shippings will be brought up.
Respect each other. Enough said.
Have fun!
Here are a few topics of discussion to kick this thread off:
What are your favorite rare shippings and why?
If your rare shipping is a nevermet, meaning that the two characters have never met in canon, how do you imagine their first meetings going if they were to someday meet?
If your rare shipping is a nevermet, why do you think they would work as a couple if they met?
What are your favorite rare shippings and why?
I really enjoy the idea of creamycoffee shipping (PaulXSerena, I think), Othelloshipping (AshXHilda), and Mockshipping (PaulXUrsula). I'm just really interested in the sort of dynamic these characters might have if they were ever paired.
If your rare shipping is a never met, meaning that the two characters have never met in canon, how do you imagine their first meetings going if they were to someday meet?
Well, I'm sure the first 2 pairings are never met. I imagine Paul and Serena's first meeting to be...intriguing? I don't know, it would probably kind of cold from Paul's side, like always. Ash and Hilda meeting, I imagine, would be energetic and such.
Now I'm almost sure Ursula and Paul never met, but I just don't remember. If I'm wrong, then oh well. But I'd imagine their first meeting to be a contest of which side can be the most snide to each other
Mockshipping (Paul x Ursula) - Back when Ursula made her debut in the anime, I immediately thought she was the female version of Paul and they would be so great together. That's probably why I like it as much as I do.
Othelloshipping (Ash x Hilda) - They just honestly seem so much alike, it's hard not to see them as a couple.
BallBreakShipping (Grant x Roxanne) - Playing through ORAS for the first time won me over on this pairing. I find it extremely adorable and the fact that they're both rock type gym leaders. Most people usually ship Grant with Viola (which is cool, I like him with Viola) but my favorite Grant ship is definitely thus one.
Another one that I really but can't seem to remember the name of is Volkner x Jasmine. I don't know what it is about this pairing that got me but I do think they would be simply adorable together. I couldn't stop myself from falling for this pairing.
^Volkner/Jasmine is called AlexandrianShipping, I believe.
And I'm another one who's happy to see this thread back!
These are all interesting pairings y'all have brought up! Personally, I'm somewhat disappointed that Hilda wasn't in the anime, as I think the idea of her being a rival (or even, the main rival, sorry Trip ) of Ash would have been really cool. Ah well.
And you know, now I kind of wish that we could have had Paul and Ursula interact/battle in DP. They both tend to go for a more strategic battle style, so I think it'd be interesting to see how they'd deal with each other.
And hey, if so many people can ship Ikari, I don't see CreamyCoffee as being all that different, in terms of the dynamics involved. (Plus, the mental image I now have of Serena sassing Paul is too good for the world, and that would make my life about as much as Dawn's actual sassing of him did. XP)
Oh man, though, I have soooooooo many rare shippings, mostly because crack pairings are my lifeblood, and I live for coming up with/coming across new ones. XD But I'll just stick with 3 to talk about for now. ;P
ParadigmShiftShipping (Brock/N) - I've never actually met anyone else who's thought of this as well, and I ended up being the one to come up with the ship name for them. But, only shipper of it or not, I just really, really love these two together. I think that they actually complement each other quite nicely; I believe that N would be super appreciative of Brock's work as a Pokemon doctor, and interacting with someone like Brock would help N to continue broadening his horizons and to see more examples of people bonding positively with Pokemon, and with his ability to actually speak to them, N would be an immense help to Brock in better understanding the needs of his patients. Also, given the emotional abuse that N has suffered in his life, I think he desperately needs the good kind of mother-henning that Brock is so good at giving out, and seeing as Brock has some experience with having kinda crappy parents himself, I think he could, if not completely understand what N's going through, but understand enough. Plus I've got even more detailed queer headcanons that tie into how I see their relationship, but I'll refrain for now. XP
DeepVastShipping (Ash/Rosa) - Lol I just chose a ship off my gigantic list at random, so here we are. Anyway, I like Othello as well, but I've got a rather large soft spot for this ship as well. Mostly because I adore Rosa to the ends of the universe, and think she is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen. XD XD XD Ahem. My Rosa-fangirling aside, my understanding of how she's usually portrayed in the fandom is that she's a sweet, bubbly, kind, and optimistic person, and I think she and Ash would get along famously. And at least personally, I get the sense that she's also bold and passionate, outgoing and fearless, and so Rosa wouldn't be bowled over by Ash's, at times, forceful personality. ....But yeah, it's mostly because of Rosa's utter adorableness that I ship this. ;P
ChampsElyseeShipping (Misty/Serena) - Whee, look at me being all even-handed here! XP Anyway, this ship is basically the most recent acquisition of mine, and while I'm up for pretty much ANY kind of femslash action, and amongst the Pokegirls in particular, but there's just something about this ship in particular that I can't get enough of. XD I just...I dunno, I love the idea of these two being friends, of them coming to see how similar they can be, and to admire each other's differing strengths and to steadily mature into a strong bond and relationship. I suppose, for a frame of reference, I see them (and Ash) as being analogous to the Korra/Mako/Asami love triangle from The Legend of Korra. Um...I'll be finishing this thought behind some spoiler tags, just in case. XD
Essentially, even though Korra and Asami both started off the show in love with Mako and were 'competition' to each other, as time went on, they got over him, and by the end, fell in love with each other instead. Lol, I cannot even begin to explain what canon Korrasami means to me, and seeing something of a similar situation with Misty/Ash/Serena, really makes me get invested in Misty/Serena by default.
Obviously the situations aren't exactly the same, but again, it's similar enough to resonate for me. And as for how they'd get along, I think they'd do alright. Misty's been shown, at least in her last anime appearances, as having lost a lot of her rough edges and to have mellowed out, for the most part, of her tsundere routine with Ash---which I honestly think that past behavior had a lot do with Misty's insecurities as a character, and now she doesn't need to be so abrasive because she's gained a lot of confidence in herself, she's learned how to be independent and self-assured, and she's grown to be more kind and to show her compassion more easily. So Serena, who can insecure at times too, wouldn't be off-put by the present day Misty, as she might have been by Misty's past self. Plus, Serena's got quite the backbone herself, she just needs time to flourish in a supportive environment; Misty would relate a lot to Serena's struggles, I think, and so would definitely be a part of that support system.
And I think that Serena would help Misty to indulge her feminine and romantic side without judging or looking down on her, like her sisters tend to do, and that would be so super nice for Misty, really.
...Haha, oops have I been talking too much yet? Sorry, I get so many gushy feels about these kinds of ships. XD Anyway, so I've sort of explained how I see them working on a personal level, and now for how I see them meeting...
I actually kind of have planned out a whole headcanon of how Brock and N would meet, but that would tie into my super long queer headcanons for them, so I won't get into it here. Let's just say that I think they'd either a) meet through Ash, or b) by N making a stop in Kanto during his travels around the world, and things snowball from there.
As for Ash/Rosa, I actually have a headcanon that, somewhere down the line, Ash helps to establish a Pokemon Rescue, kinda like an SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty, for the non-Americans), to take in abandoned, abused, or neglected Pokemon (which he would get help with from Brock and N, hence them meeting), and Rosa is one of the people who ends up volunteering and helping out at the shelter/reserve.
And in regards to Misty/Serena meeting, given Misty's love of France in OS, I think she'd jump at the chance to visit Ash in Kalos, and Serena could give her a personal tour of the best cafes in Lumiose City or something. ;D
id love to see a Lucy/Brock pairing. both had a thing for each other though extreme infatuation/habit on Brock's part is the usual thing. though if he found someone who did reciprocate then he'd be serious about it though he'd have to fight his usual habits. Lucy might need to teach him a lesson if he falls back to his usual habits. i was surprised to see she wasnt mystified or shock but rather she blushed at the proclamation. i was rather annoyed when Max did his usual ear dragging to halt his advances.
^ I wouldn't necessarily consider Luckshipping to be a rare ship, tbh. There are a lot of people who support it, myself included.
I too support AlexandrianShipping. Ever since Volkner first debuted in the anime, I started shipping and honestly, I'm so disappointed they didn't meet while Jasmine was in Sinnoh. It was literally the very next episode after Ash and Volkner's gym battle. They would seriously be so cute together.
Here are some other ones I support.
Othelloshipping - this ship is so underrated but I still really love it and I personally think Ash and Hilda would have gotten along great. She could have been such an awesome rival for him and I'm so disappointed she didn't appear in the anime.
Mockshipping - I've held such a soft spot for this pairing. Paul and Ursula are so much alike and it's hard to not see them together.
Furthershipping - I've always had such a soft spot for this pairing, ever since FR/LG came out but I've always found that it goes overshadowed by LeafGreenShipping. I also do somewhat have a headcanon. Basically, Ash and Leaf are childhood friends. They grew up together in Pallet Town and Leaf is on her own journey. That's why Ash never shows any interest in anyone, he already has his heart set on Leaf.
These are the only pairings I can think of now but if more come to mind, I'll include them in my next post.
true enough, though from what i understood from the OP was a pairing that never was allowed to develop. he made so many confessions but 99% of them were not successful and they sink his rare confessions that have a chance. if i remember correctly he also got the heart of that waitress from the moo moo milk bar when they stumbled upon a lost miltank that couldn't produce milk for the shop.
Brock aside, Hikari/Dawn x Ash was a pairing i liked, though Serena/Ash is also rather good imo. i think serena is one thats the only one to have had a thing for him before they met in EP1. all others had to develop after meeting him. though i really do feel sorry for his female travelling partner. he's so darn dense and the producers will never have him settle for any female lead. there was also Dawn's competition rival who ash thought was a boy that would've been interesting.
though i guess they'll finally allow Ash to settle down with a girl once his gang sees through a familiar pattern of a talking meowth and 2 suspiciously familiar villians that always follow them. i can understand Jesse and James can fool every one but there's only 1 walking, talking meowth.
^Again, though, ANY of the Ash/Main Girl ships don't count as "rare" pairings, so it's inappropriate to discuss them in this thread. As stated in the intro post, for a ship to be considered "rare", it can't have a good amount of popularity and fanworks made for them, and both of these traits Pearl and Amour have in spades. Personally, the only Ash/Pokegirl ship that might qualify for this thread would be Ash/Bonnie, or maaaybe Ash/Iris if you really wanted to stretch, and even then, I still wouldn't count them as fitting in with this thread, as they're just unpopular in comparison to the mega popularity that the other Ash/Pokegirl ships have.
Here's my general rule of thumb, at least at the first step in considering if they qualify at all as a "rare" ship: do the two characters have a good amount of canon interaction? If the answer is "yes", then the ship probably isn't a rare one.
But again, that's just the first step, and asking that question doesn't always work in the specific. For instance, Gary/Leaf have no interaction whatsoever in the anime, as "Leaf" isn't a character that exists in that medium, and yet this ship is super popular and you'll mostly find it as the ship mate of lots of other popular pokeani ships in fanworks, so it also doesn't qualify for this thread. On the other hand, Ash/Morrison have quite a bit of interaction in the anime, as Morrison is Ash's main Hoenn rival, and yet I would consider this to qualify more as a rare ship, because I never hear ANYONE ever talk about Morrison in general, let alone in regards to his relationship with Ash. Heck, last time I checked, Morrison didn't even have a character tag on ffnet!
So I suppose the question to ask yourself would be this: have you ever heard a lot of people talking about this ship before? If the answer is either "no", or "a handful of people", then the ship qualifies as a rare pairing.
I like Serena/Miette (FondantShipping). I think Miette is lying about her crush on Ash to get at Serena.
I imagine Shauna giving Serena some advice about calling Miette's bluff. Then it all comes out that she actually likes Serena, and Miette runs off fearing Serena will hate her. In the end Serena finds Miette and they talk it out. Cute!
^Again, though, ANY of the Ash/Main Girl ships don't count as "rare" pairings, so it's inappropriate to discuss them in this thread. As stated in the intro post, for a ship to be considered "rare", it can't have a good amount of popularity and fanworks made for them, and both of these traits Pearl and Amour have in spades. Personally, the only Ash/Pokegirl ship that might qualify for this thread would be Ash/Bonnie, or maaaybe Ash/Iris if you really wanted to stretch, and even then, I still wouldn't count them as fitting in with this thread, as they're just unpopular in comparison to the mega popularity that the other Ash/Pokegirl ships have.
Here's my general rule of thumb, at least at the first step in considering if they qualify at all as a "rare" ship: do the two characters have a good amount of canon interaction? If the answer is "yes", then the ship probably isn't a rare one.
But again, that's just the first step, and asking that question doesn't always work in the specific. For instance, Gary/Leaf have no interaction whatsoever in the anime, as "Leaf" isn't a character that exists in that medium, and yet this ship is super popular and you'll mostly find it as the ship mate of lots of other popular pokeani ships in fanworks, so it also doesn't qualify for this thread. On the other hand, Ash/Morrison have quite a bit of interaction in the anime, as Morrison is Ash's main Hoenn rival, and yet I would consider this to qualify more as a rare ship, because I never hear ANYONE ever talk about Morrison in general, let alone in regards to his relationship with Ash. Heck, last time I checked, Morrison didn't even have a character tag on ffnet!
So I suppose the question to ask yourself would be this: have you ever heard a lot of people talking about this ship before? If the answer is either "no", or "a handful of people", then the ship qualifies as a rare pairing.
My two favorite Rare Pokemon Ships are the ones I named in the "What's This Ship Called?" thread: ArtsyShipping (Tracey Sketchit x Shauntal) and RattyShipping (Youngster Joey x Yellow). These two ships were born out of a very old fanfic project that never took off, in which I took a bunch of Pokemon characters that never met and threw them together in a reality show. The fic was called Total Drama Pokemon Island and featured the aforementioned ships because I thought they would be interesting.
I like ArtsyShipping because Tracey and Shauntal are both quiet people who love to observe and do creative things based on their observations - Tracey draws, and Shauntal writes. RattyShipping was born because Joey and Yellow both owned Rattata, and Yellow use her powers to understand the potential of Joey's Top Percentage Rattata.
Speaking of Tracey Sketchit, I feel that, for a main anime character, he gets very, very little love. Ships involving him don't seem to get attention at all. Which is a shame, because he was an interesting character IMO.
- Neonshipping (Cassidy/Butch) - This pairing is not well known since they only appeared in Pokemon Chronicles. They're both a great (and funny) team in which Cassidy and Biff (pwahahah) are definitely a dynamic pairing. They even hold hands during the Luvdisc episode. I personally love this pairing so much, and would like to see them someday in the later pokemon series.
- Rangershipping (Lunick/Solana)- I never really heard many people talk about this pairing before. Both of them do interact in the first Pokemon Ranger game and its sooo sweet! I fell in love with this pairing because Lunick really seen Solana's skills grew in the game.
- - Pandorashipping (Saturn/Dawn) - I always wish these two both interacted more in the anime series because they never... did had a personal conversation at all. I personally love this shipping because I feel like Saturn and Dawn's characteristics clashing each other. Imagine... Saturn teasing Dawn as she gets irritated.
I also personally enjoy generic villain grunts being paired up with the main heroine. Its.... very underrated because the generic villain grunts do not have much character. Hudur, I'll just name one.
- Undermineshipping (Kris/Team Rocket Grunt Male) - This caught my eye because there was awesome fanart between these two. I know that Kris met many team rocket grunts in the game.
