Shipping, anyone?

I can't help but notice a distinct lack of shipping in this fanbase. Sure, there's a few pics of Shantae and Risky being... Let's call it "romantic". But there's barely anything else. So, come! Grab a seat, and share your thoughts on wich characters would make a great (or bad) romance.


I'm all for Shantae and Rottytops getting together, and I suspect Rotty's obsession with the genie's brains is an alegory for struggling with sexuality. After all, I'm fairly sure I remember a NPC from the first game calling brain-obsessed Zombies perverts. And as caffein is the only thing separating civilized Zombies from wild ones, it could be argued that they are instinctually driven to devour brains. Going back to the lesbian angle, it's like she's struggling not to force herself on the other girl.

And that's an interesting thing to me. Rotty is, by all accounts, completely amoral and pretty much does whatever she wants whenever she wants. Even other Zombies are somewhat wary of her and her brothers. Personally, I wouldn't put it past her to put her own wants over just anyone else's. So, Shantae must not be just anyone else to her.

And then there are these two posts from Shantae's Twitter:

Oct 1 2010, 1:30 PM
This place gives me goose bumps. And hiding side by side in utter blackness with Rottytops doesn’t help. Her skin is as cold as death.

Oct 1 2010, 3:00 PM
Ouch! I stepped on a spike trap and got jabbed pretty good. Rotty bandaged my leg and helped me up… Somehow she seems warmer than before.

The romantic in me just loves that. And I can't wait to see if anything in the next game validates my little theory.

Dang it, fm! You just made my nose bleed!

ShantaeVocaloid wrote:Dang it, fm! You just made my nose bleed!

'Bout time I made an impression around here.

I do support that.

Shipping, that would definitely be new to this fanbase! I'd probably sooner pair Shantae with Bolo or some other bloke, but that's just me. (Don't have a problem with yuri, it's just not my cup of tea.)

Hmm, something new to think about for Shantae fan art! Harpy Shantae and Wrench anybody? *bricked*

.Luke wrote:Shipping, that would definitely be new to this fanbase! I'd probably sooner pair Shantae with Bolo or some other bloke, but that's just me. (Don't have a problem with yuri, it's just not my cup of tea.)

Hmm, something new to think about for Shantae fan art! Harpy Shantae and Wrench anybody? *bricked*

Eh, I do enjoy random pairings, but Shantae and Bolo just can't work for me. They've just got too much of a sibling vibe between them. I think he'd work well with Sky in an opposites attract kind of way, but then I'd rather see Sky with Shantae... I think I just might have a double standard there.

Also, Harpy-tae and Wrench? I'll ship it! NOONE WILL EVER KNOW!

In b4 lock

Nai255 wrote:In b4 lock

...What?

I think he mean he will lock it.

Axol The Axolotl wrote:I think he mean he will lock it.

Well, that would just be pointless. Shipping is a staple of every fanbase ever. If Shantae ever gets a big enough following, we're certain to have tons of people projecting their romantic fantasies onto the characters, and any attempts at stiffling that would be fruitless. And I must point out that there's been no serious hint of anything objectionable in this thread thus far. Sorry if a joke about an anthropomorphic bird and and a non-anthropomorphic bird ruffled his feathers, but locking the thread would make no sense.

Sorry fm, I misinterpreted your original post was all.
It sounded like you were imagining Shantae and Rotty as more than just friends,
which didn't seem appropriate for the forum

I was. I think they make a cute couple. Furthermore, I think there's some light hinting in-game that Rotty has a crush on Shantae; though being a Zombie, it comes accross in a strange way. I understand that that this forum is entended to be as kid-friendly as the games are (cuz kids just love half-naked women and lots of risque humor ), but I don't see how discussing potential love between two characters is inappropriate.

Because gay and lesbian couples are still considered quite a grey zone in terms of kid-friendlyness.
(I wonder why. Seeing as it is already widely established as normal. But yeah...)

Aside from that, we just don't see at all how there is any kind of hint of Rotty being lesbian.
She is quite a strange character, seeing as how it is never clear what exactly is going on inside her.

But what you interpret into that, is kinda overblown if you ask me.
And I cannot imagine that Matt Bozon would include that in Shantae.
I could be wrong tho...

I get the feeling y'all are all just a bit more serious-minded than I am. Sorry if I've offended anyone.

I know there's been no real reason to think Rotty's a lesbian, and there's even less of a reason to think Shantae might be one. And if I'm being completely honest, I don't really see it happening in the games either. But there is one really small indicator.

In the Zombie Caravan, there's a girl who sais "Zombie guys are disgusting. They only like women for their brains!" That's obviously poking fun at the idea of men only liking women for their bodies, but to me it equates brain-munching with carnal desire in zombie culture. While we haven't seen enough of Rotty's interactions with other characters to really understand her, we have seen her obsess over Shantae's brains since her introduction.

But that's all totally irrellevent. This thread isn't about wether any characters are, or are not, cannonically involved. It's about shipping. Not every fan ships, but every fanbase has shippers, and I set up this topic for us.

I'm pretty sure Rotty's interest in Shantae is mostly centered on picking on her for being such a goody-two-shoes and wanting a bite of her half-genie brain. Nothing really romantic there.

In any case, there's not really enough notable characters in the series to make shipping feasible yet. Maybe in the future, but not now.

Heh, that wouldn't stop the shop keeper from getting shipped with a scorpion woman. =P *bricked* Still, good point; there will need to be a lot more characters, and a larger fan base before we see lots of shipping going on around here.

Anyway, yeah, the implications would be too subtle to draw that conclusion from, so yeah, definitely not a canon pairing.

fm3 wrote:Eh, I do enjoy random pairings, but Shantae and Bolo just can't work for me. They've just got too much of a sibling vibe between them. I think he'd work well with Sky in an opposites attract kind of way, but then I'd rather see Sky with Shantae... I think I just might have a double standard there. :surprised:

That is pretty true, with the way she slaps him around in the first game, and reading on Twitter how Bolo burned Shantae's clothes when he thought she melted.

Even though I don't have a problem with yuri, it'd be nice to see her paired with someone that's a male character. But who though?

The choices are pretty slim when it comes to male characters, so I'd have no idea who would be a good ship for Shantae.  I wonder if Pirate's Curse will add a few more characters to the series, it could use them.

I figured pairing Shantae with Bolo after some major character development on his part.
But apparently WayForward wants him to stay the buffon-character for all time.

Which I find to be quite a shame. I see a lot of potential character development in him.
But right now, he is pretty much treated like MGS2-Raiden (before MGS4 mind you).
But I shall hope it'll change eventually.


Maybe like Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable turned out to be in the end.
(I watched the later episodes of this series, but didn't like them. The earlier ones were much better. But I figured I mention this anyways)


If not, I can figure a laid-back, carefree, but friendly and helpful guy to be Shantae's love interest.

I finally got Pirate's Curse yesterday and beat it today (these games are too short), and while it didn't add much evidence for my OTP, it did give us some fun with Sky. I NEED that clip in the credits to go somewhere in Half-Genie Hero. Who's with me?

Iiiii'm just going to leave this here.

http://s111111919.onlinehome.us/shantae/ShantaeComic_BoloTakenOut.GIF

Not to say that it supports any of the previous shippings, but at least in the first game (and the ending of Pirates Curse) it gives us the fact that Bolo has a crush on Risky. Wouldn't that be a strange pairing if it worked out! XD

As for men, there's really only the Barons (Ammo, Hypno, ...Squid, Techno), Mimic, Bolo, The Golems, a couple zombies... Also the wanderer, and the inhabitants of Scuttle Town. And Joe. But we know who Joe's cannon is.

Ex321 wrote:Iiiii'm just going to leave this here.

http://s111111919.onlinehome.us/shantae/ShantaeComic_BoloTakenOut.GIF

Not to say that it supports any of the previous shippings, but at least in the first game (and the ending of Pirates Curse) it gives us the fact that Bolo has a crush on Risky. Wouldn't that be a strange pairing if it worked out! XD

As for men, there's really only the Barons (Ammo, Hypno, ...Squid, Techno), Mimic, Bolo, The Golems, a couple zombies... Also the wanderer, and the inhabitants of Scuttle Town. And Joe. But we know who Joe's cannon is.

You forgot Bran-Son, though I don't think he's interested in the ladies.