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Do you feel Iris is less shippable than past female companions?

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Cybersai

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I remember when DP first started, Dawn was paired almost immediately with every early DP character. She was paired with Ash, Paul, Zoey and Gary right at the start. Later on there was Conway, May, and Barry. People seemed to pair Dawn up with these 7 characters in a heartbeat.

Iris has now existed for 40 episodes (in Japan at least), which is actually a lot of time. In that time, there is the usual pairing with Ash, although for some reason Negaishipping doesn't seem to have that big support that Advance and Pearlshipping had early on. Otherwise people pair Iris with Cilan, which reminds me of Gymshipping (Misty/Brock), from the early seasons.

Why isn't Iris paired with more characters? Do you think people feel Iris is less shippable, since she's a bit more unusual as to what we'd expect for a female protagonist?
 
Why are you /only/ comparing her to Dawn? Dawn's reaction to Paul's assholery and her chemistry with Zoey are what got her paired with them on top of Ash, and Gary was not "right of the bat". That was episode 45, which is what BW is just shy of.

Considering enough people consider Unova a Kanto expy, she should be compared to Misty, in the fact that everyone they've crossed so far (save Langley) is either hell-bent on Ash (Trip, Kenyan), or is Burgundy (compare Brock's de facto 'ship that wasn't Jenny/Joy at the time: Suzie). And Misty was paired with, by episode 40, a grand total of three people: Ash, Brock, and Gary. Yeah, real shippable at the time, since no one was written for her to click with outside the main twerps (and Ego might be popular, but it was less to do with on-screen chemistry and more to do with it being a in-age alternative). It wasn't until Ep 78 that people realized they /could/ 'ship Misty with anyone else (hello Ritchie). And then golly, next came Danny, a whole 15 episodes later. Rudy, yes, another ten after Danny. ...And that's it. That's where her shipping popularity stops until 200 episodes later, with Tracey. So Ego having been knocked off the scale, Misty has, after a grand total of, what, 700 odd episodes? Three people she's popularly paired with. And it doesn't have anything to do with her not being on the show anymore. During those 270+ episodes, she got herself involved with seven people in some range of popularity by the end. Lorelei couldn't even get in there due to people hatin' on the gay back then.

(Dawn was instantly paired up with Barry due to Twinleaf's popularity before Barry even showed up in the show. She openly fangirled Gary and May, and Conway was openly pervy+smart. Yeah, I wonder why she was paired up with them so quickly.)

So why must Iris be slung around like Dawn was? May was popular with only a handful of blokes and chicks, too, and that took episodes upon episodes to do as well. Why is she being compared to people who have 200-abouts episodes under their belts when you should be comparing them at when they were around episode forty, too.

Which looks like this:
Misty: Ash, Brock, Gary
May: Ash, Drew
Dawn: Ash, Paul, Zoey

And they only got to be extremely popular in the end-result, because of time spent and gradually became awesome for people to support (also mentioned how Ego kinda fell off the bandwagon at some point). So what if Iris isn't making shipping waves almost a year in. Do you know how much of a RELIEF it is?

Do I feel she's less shippable? Given that the writers have /only/ given her chemistry with Cilan and Ash, yes. Will that change? The series isn't over yet, so it could as easily as it couldn't.
 
She simply hasn't interacted with as many characters and has fewer rivals. But considering how some people don't even need interaction to ship two characters (say, Dawn x Drew. It exists somewhere), it's sort of a moot point.
 
I wasn't only comparing her to Dawn. Just that as the previous girl, and as someone who was here in 2006/2007 when DP was in its infancy, I remember the huge popularity of all the Dawn ships. Perhaps at the time people made the mistake in assuming her Contest arc would have lots of shipping in it since we just came out of AG at the time, but there were also people who were very supportive about pairing her with Ash, Paul and Zoey right off the bat, and then eventually Kenny, Conway, Barry and even May when they debuted in DP.

BW has actually introduced lots of new characters like Trip, Bel, Burungly, Langely and Kenyan outside of the trio. Even with Langely being her apparent rival, I don't see much Iris ship threads popping up on any of the various forums I visit.

Also, anyone notice how the main female is always paired with whatever rival Ash has at the time? Dawn was shipped with Paul, and Misty with Gary....yet for some reason you don't see anyone shipping Iris with Trip. Of course I can't include May since Ash had no main rival in Hoenn.

I don't know, but I've been in the online fandom since around the time AG was beginning in Japan, and I've seen a ton of more excitement regarding shipping for both May and Dawn during their runs even at only 40 eps in, then what we're seeing with Iris now. I honestly think people have forgotten how popular some of those old AG May ships were, its just that AG is so old now they're not talked about as much anymore.

I'd like to see more Iris ship support, 40 episodes is enough time to gather opinions on characters even in this series.
 
^ Then openly ship Iris with other people other than Satoshi and Dent, Scott. No one's stopping you. :p

Also, I'm a flavescentshipper, which is my second favorite BW ship to cafemocha. Contrary to your beliefs, the Iris and Shootie pairing DOES have fans. And like Dana, I ship Iris actively as well.
 
Gliscor'd said:
I wasn't only comparing her to Dawn. Just that as the previous girl, and as someone who was here in 2006/2007 when DP was in its infancy, I remember the huge popularity of all the Dawn ships. Perhaps at the time people made the mistake in assuming her Contest arc would have lots of shipping in it since we just came out of AG at the time, but there were also people who were very supportive about pairing her with Ash, Paul and Zoey right off the bat, and then eventually Kenny, Conway, Barry and even May when they debuted in DP.
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You used Dawn as your primary example. That's like saying, "Why Isn't Iris being whored out like Dawn was?" when you compare Iris to the girl that, yes, does probably have the most 'ships that are actively popular than any other travel chick. You made it sound like a tier system: every girl should get higher and higher in the characters people are willing to throw them with omg why isn't Iris conforming to this expectation I have?!

BW has actually introduced lots of new characters like Trip, Bel, Burungly, Langely and Kenyan outside of the trio. Even with Langely being her apparent rival, I don't see much Iris ship threads popping up on any of the various forums I visit.
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I'm waiting for BW 40 in English to pass judgment on any shipping possibilities, considering Langley's /only/ just started getting paired with people and Kenyan hasn't even gotten 'shipped with Ash yet. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone keeps up with the Japanese version. Also contrary to popular belief, shippers don't have to escalate every time a new person sets foot on screen. Not every region is the same at the last one.

Also, anyone notice how the main female is always paired with whatever rival Ash has at the time? Dawn was shipped with Paul, and Misty with Gary....yet for some reason you don't see anyone shipping Iris with Trip. Of course I can't include May since Ash had no main rival in Hoenn.
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No, you're looking at it from the wrong way. Yes, they're paired together, but not because they're solely Ash's rivals. The circumstance behind Misty/Gary and Dawn/Paul are incredibly different, and so is Trip/Iris. And yeah, like Aestivate says, Flavescentshippers exist. OMG IT'S NOT OBNOXIOUSLY POPULAR WHAT ARE WE GONNA DOOOOOOOOO?

I don't know, but I've been in the online fandom since around the time AG was beginning in Japan, and I've seen a ton of more excitement regarding shipping for both May and Dawn during their runs even at only 40 eps in, then what we're seeing with Iris now. I honestly think people have forgotten how popular some of those old AG May ships were, its just that AG is so old now they're not talked about as much anymore.
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You're over-blowing why, though. May was the shiny new girl, the very first change in female companions. People got excited; Hoennshipping was already in the wings, too. Dawn got her skyrocketing popularity because she quickly established herself on three other people: she got herself a very dude-lady rival, a childhood friend who liked her (admittedly, Penguinshipping didn't catch on immediately, but it got there further along), and she didn't like being ignored by the jerkface (which translates into her wanting his attention). Iris is girl number four. And they didn't give her a rival until almost forty episodes in, unlike Cilan, who got one not even 20 episodes in. It's gonna be a slow start for her, but once Langley and her interact more, I'm expecting a mediocre following.

I'd like to see more Iris ship support, 40 episodes is enough time to gather opinions on characters even in this series.
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Oh yeah? What Iris 'ships you support there?


This whole REGION is very dead on shipping in general, and it's not simply Iris. Kodakshipping isn't on the level of Pallet or Coma, Negaishipping isn't on the level of Pearl, Advance, or Poké, and Imaginationshipping isn't on the biggest high either. Cilan's currently the shippiest character of the series in terms of popularity, and it's still only three people. I repeat, it's not just Iris.
 
Everything I wanted to say, Luna put much more articulately. I agree, it's not just Iris who is getting "less" ships. D:
 
I don't know if anyone else gets this feel...but I feel that she is more "kidish" and I just really don't ship her because of it.
 
Well I'm a big Wishfulshipper (Dento x Iris) so I don't notice it as much ^^; but I have noticed that she isn't shipped with almost everybody like Dawn. I wasn't part of the forums in the Misty/May era so I can't say how popular other ships were for them =/ honestly...I don't care much if Iris is shipped with many people or not. I like to keep it small.
 
I've seen Iris paired with Trip, just not as heavily as Dawn. I think Dawn is just paired more heavily because she's "cuter" or something. That's what some of my friends have told me, I personally like her, but I don't do a lot of hetero shipping and I'm not a fan of BW anyway. XD Personally it seems like BW is kind of dead with shipping, except FerrisWheelShipping, which isn't even anime based.
 
Not many characters have been introduced. Bianca and Trip are the only other characters who are a big enough part of the show to be a candidate.
I don't ship Iris with Cilan, I think it's clear that Cilan is older than she is and it feels a bit wrong. I didn't mind shipping Brock with Misty even though I didn't personally favor it. I suppose the reason for that was because Misty seemed to be on Brock's level, both intellectually and physically built. Not saying she was a genius or smarter than Ash, just that she came across as having more life experience.

Iris and Ash are shippable but there's just been no hint of anything romantic. Not even a tiny one. The closest we've gotten is them being told that they're a like and them objecting to it. When Misty was around Ash was much more immature so he participated in the banter more and it seemed much more cute. These days he just brushes Iris's digs off and it never really goes anywhere. Dawn and May were quite girly, especially Dawn, so it's easier to ship them.
Iris is quite tomboyish like Misty but she's never shown any kind of romantic side unlike Misty who did express an interest in romance, very early on.
 
CrackFox said:
Iris is quite tomboyish like Misty but she's never shown any kind of romantic side unlike Misty who did express an interest in romance, very early on.
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The Cottonee episode says otherwise. She is very much into romance. She just hasn't had a chance to show it until then and doesn't have many other chances to get into it, either.
 
The Cottonee episode says otherwise. She is very much into romance. She just hasn't had a chance to show it until then and doesn't have many other chances to get into it, either.
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True and I think that side of her will come out more and more. I'm just saying that the reason she hasn't gained a strong shipping might be due to the fact that she hasn't emphasized that part of her personality as much as the others. Dawn didn't really need too. She was hopelessly pretty and girly and the lead character, stereotypically always ends up with the hot chick.
May had Contestshipping which in my opinion, is the most likely to ever be made, actually canon.
 
CrackFox said:
Iris and Ash are shippable but there's just been no hint of anything romantic. Not even a tiny one.
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I imagine the reason for this is the writers have no interest in starting some new NeoPokeshipping type plotline, considering they know they would have to abandon it when Iris leaves the anime when BW ends. And yes, I'm aware its called Negaishipping.

When the show first started it was originally planned to end after Kanto, hence why Pokeshipping could exist. They had no idea the show would turn into a decade spanning series at the time. With Iris, they have no reason to do this.

Dawn and May were quite girly, especially Dawn, so it's easier to ship them.
Iris is quite tomboyish like Misty but she's never shown any kind of romantic side unlike Misty who did express an interest in romance, very early on.
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What does being girly or tomboyish have to do with shipping characters?

I don't consider Iris tomboyish. She has a bit of a jungle girl vibe but she's as girly as any other character on the show.
 
Cilan makes a good ship for her. I haven't seen her really interacting with Luke or the other boys like she does the girls. But Negaishipping might can get better if Iris's catch phrase wasn't also a pety insult. Plus just because Dawn was pretty doesn't mean she got shipped much. Pearlshipping wasn't that popular. They paired her up with Zoey who I believed was too involved into her. Kenny who was a childhood close friend. And a ship with Paul with had no true interaction at all. So Iris will get her own ships in due time. It may not be with Ash but it'll come.
 
Let's see the amount of characters that people pair up with all four of our main females

Misty

Typically just about everyone paired up Misty with Ash. For those who weren't into Pokeshipping we had Tracey and Brock who filled the gap. Occasionally you would see a person use Gary as Misty's boyfriends of choice. Despite the fact that we had episodes with other guys clearly interested Misty, those ships never really hit it off within the fandom.

People for Misty: 4

May

Despite May being quite well received in the fandom at large, she was pretty much shipped with only a few character. You either paired May with Drew or Ash. End of story. Any other shippings were just too small.

People for May: 2

Dawn

Dawn compared to all the other girls, had the most pairings that had sizable followings. First you got Ash since it's the Main Boy/Main Girl pairing. Then we had the surprisingly popular Ikarishipping, which paired up Dawn with Paul. Zoey was quite the popular choice for a girl/girl pairing. Conway had the whole creepy stalker thing going for him. Pairing Dawn with Barry became popular especially since many people already paired up their game counterparts. Dawn fangirled over Gary, so it's pretty easy to see why people flocked to that pairing too. Kenny and his very noticeable crush on Dawn did not go unnoticed by the shipping fandom, although it had considerably less popularity than what one would expect.

People for Dawn: 7

Iris:

Right now people are falling into the pattern with what they did with May. She's pretty much paired up with either Ash or Cilan. That's pretty much it. However I see that people are starting to like Iris with Trip or Langley.

People for Iris: 2, however may become 4 pretty soon.


I feel that Iris is pretty much on par with shippability (that is SO not a word) for the show's female protagonists, barring Dawn. The only reason she feels less shippable is because we jut came off of Dawn who was paired almost as much as Ash usually is.
 
^ But aren't you forgetting one-shot ships? People also shipped Misty with Rudy. May was also shipped with Kelly and Harley.

If you're only going for the most "popular" ships, then Gymshipping and Egoshipping were never as popular as the others. I am pretty sure Orangeshipping was the second most popular Misty ship after Pokeshipping. More people ship Misty with Tracey than Brock, at least from what I've seen.

Cookieshipping for May was also fairly popular. I would put it on par with Dawn/Barry or Dawn/Conway level at the least.

With Iris it really does feel like Cilan is the only well received option for her at the moment. I don't see much fanfare going for Iris/Trip or Iris/Langely, at least not yet anyway. Maybe as the saga progresses, as we have another 100+ eps left.
 
Please note: The thread is from 14 years ago.
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