It is with great excitement that we announce BattleShips 2.0! A fandom shipping tournament that will pit ship against ship to see which TV couple has the loudest fan base.
BattleShips 2.0 is the second annual TV shipping tournament, originally debuted in the fall 2012. This time, we’re bringing a new twist to the TV battles and we think it’s going to be very exciting!
Last year, we asked our readers to pick their favorite fandoms, and then pitted your top relationships from each show against each other to see who had the bigger fandom! Blaine and Kurt from Glee are last year’s reigning champions from BattleShips 2012.
This year, we’re bringing back the top 16 shows voted on last year and giving the game a whole new twist. Last year’s Battleships had so many close runs that we wanted to make this year’s contest as fair as possible. How? Get all the runner-ups from last year’s BattleShips and put them against one another to see which of the underdogs can come out on top this time!
The list of relationships below are all of the runner-ups from last year’s original BattleShips competition, voted (and battled out!) by you, the readers. Each of these couples were so close to winning their nominations and representing their fandoms in BattleShips, so we decided to give them all a second go. Check out last year’s polls yourself!
The Vampire Diaries – Elena & Stefan
Downton Abbey – Sybil & Branson
New Girl – Schmidt & CeCe
Teen Wolf – Stiles & Lydia
Big Bang Theory – Sheldon & Amy
Merlin – Arthur & Gwen
Castle – Esposito & Ryan
Bones – Angela & Hodgins
Avatar – Zuko & Katara
Doctor Who – Rory & Amy
Sherlock – Sherlock & Irene
Game of Thrones – Sansa & Sandor
Once Upon A Time – Rumpelstiltskin & Belle
Glee – Rachel & Quinn
Supernatural – Dean & Sam
How I Met Your Mother – Lily & Marshall
Well, folks, that’s where the twist comes in: The Knockout Round!
We’re well aware that some of you may be unhappy with the ship of choice for your fandom, either because the characters in that ship are now dead or because you feel that another ship could fight a better fight. We won’t argue with you, since last year some new characters and relationships have formed that may be worth fighting over, so we’d like to give you a chance to knockout the current pre-selected couple from their spot in BattleShips.
Simple! Starting Wednesday each fandom will have its own nomination battle to nominate one ship to represent the fandom in BattleShips. For example, The Vampire Diaries nominations will be Wednesday and you will pick which ship – from Bonnie/Jeremy, Caroline/Tyler, etc.– will represent The Vampire Diaries for the rest of the tournament.
Except there’s one very important rule: The winners from last year’s BattleShips nominations will be excluded from the poll. Since Elena/Damon won last year’s The Vampire Diaries poll, it wouldn’t be fair if they were able to win two years in a row, so they won’t be in this year’s nominations. This year is all about the runner-ups and the new ships.
If another ship is able to get more votes than the pre-selected one on the list above, they’ve knocked out that pre-selected ship from the tournament and will represent the fandom in the rest of the game.
But here’s the twist: We’re giving all of the pre-selected ships listed above a 200 point lead at the beginning of the battle. This way only the truly bigger ships will be able to overcome the ones above and win the nomination.
On Wednesday when The Vampire Diaries starts its nomination poll, Stefan/Elena will have 200 votes when everyone else has 0. Do you think another ship from the show can catch up and beat them in 24 hours? If so then Stefan/Elena will be knocked out of their position and the new ship will be The Vampire Diaries’ ship for the rest of the tournament.
We’re glad we made you ask! BattleShips 2.0 has 4 stages:
1. Nominations & Knockouts
2. Versus Battles
3. Sudden Death rounds
4. Victory!
Nominations & Knockouts
This is where you nominate the couple that you want to represent your show for the rest of the tournament. It’ll put Bates/Anna shippers against Sybil/Branson shippers to see which relationship from shows like Downton Abbey should go forth. This is also where newer ships like Captain Swan can overtake Rumplestiltskin/Belle’s lead if that ship has enough fans.
Poll duration: 24 hours. You’ll have 24 hours to knockout the pre-selected couple from their spot as your fandom’s nominated ship.
Versus Battles
Once each fandom has selected their ship, we’re putting show against show to see which fandom has a louder voice. Will the Sybil/Branson shippers get more votes than the Rumplestiltskin/Belle shippers? The only way to know is to get your fandom to fight for your ship! Once a ship wins a battle they’ll face the winners of the previous battle until one ship has beaten all the others.
Poll Duration: 48 hours. You’ll have two days to get your ship to fight for its claim to the throne, so make sure you tell your friends to help vote for your favorite TV couple!
Sudden Death Rounds
In the event that a Versus Battle ends with a margin of 100 votes or less, then there will be a second battle the following day with the same ship. That battle will only last 6 hours and start with a fresh vote count. The ship that’s able to get the most votes in 6 hours will win the sudden death round and go forth in BattleShips.
Victory!
Once all is said and done a new TV ship will take the crown from Blaine & Kurt from Glee and be named Hypable’s Ship of the Year. It’s all about which fans can get a bigger voice, so do you think your ship has a chance to win?
BattleShips begins Wednesday, January 8
Our first nomination battle will be for The Vampire Diaries on Wednesday January 8, so TVD fans get ready to ship your OTP!
Tell us: What show do you think will win BattleShips 2.0?