As the organizer of Hypable’s BattleShips Tournament, Tariq lets you in on what he’s experienced and learned about shipping, fandoms, and the passion behind it all.
Let me just start off by saying that this whole idea was based on a whim, and I had no clue that it would be so huge. It began with this poll, in which I learned about a very interesting group of shippers called the Swan Queen Nation. I thought to myself, “I wonder what other fandoms have ships that I’ve never heard of before.” Before you know it BattleShips was born and you guys have taught me a lot about this whole shipping thing, which I’ve now realized is not just a hobby, but a way of life. At least, for some shippers it is!
I’ve also done an audio recording for those who don’t wish to read the whole thing, and you can listen below.
If you can imagine it, it’s a ship.
Shipping isn’t about whether or not you think it’s going to happen or the reality of it.
It’s more about the chemistry YOU feel between the characters and the yearning you have to see them together. Some ships may make you raise an eyebrow or have a second thought, but one thing you must never do in a shipping community is disregard it as impossible, improbable, or unrealistic! I’ve gained a few battle scars (no pun in tended…okay a little bit intended) from saying things to a couple of shippers that caused major backlash in their respective communities, and I’ve learned my lesson! A ship is a ship, regardless of who’s in it.
It’s not about making the producers see your ways, although many will always try, but about having a love for a relationship (romantic or bromantic) and sharing it with other watchers/readers. Ultimately shippers don’t care about whether it’s realistic or probable, they just want more scene time between their OTPs.
Never count a fandom out.
When I had started BattleShips, Castle was not on the original poll because we didn’t cover it. When someone in the comments asked about it, my brain had farted and I thought we did so I added it onto the poll. After realizing that we don’t, I didn’t bother to remove it because I thought to myself, “It won’t get to the top 10, I’ll be fine.”….Boy, was I wrong!
Castle shippers have proven to be one of the most passionate groups in this battle, and I’m glad they showed up! It’s actually because of them that we’ve now added Castle back onto our covered fandoms list, and they should be really proud.
It goes to show that just because you don’t think a fandom will make it, don’t count them out until the poll has ended!
And the rest of these battles went onto really unexpected results! Stiles & Derek from Teen Wolf, one of the biggest and strongest ships we’ve seen, lost to Vampire Diaries when we’d thought they’d take it all. Regina & Emma from Once Upon A Time inspired us to start BattleShips, yet when it came time to battle Glee they lose to Kurt & Blaine. Goes to show that it’s really, really tough to predict the outcome of the whole thing.
People have been complaining that it’s not fair to pit shows like Sherlock against Game of Thrones, but I’ve found it to be completely fair because this is all about rallying support and getting a group of shippers to come out of the shadows of Tumblr and vote on Hypable. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Game of Thrones put up quite a fight! It goes to show that any fandom can rally enough support to potentially beat their opponent, so don’t give up because you think it’s a lost cause.
There will always be people who disagree.
This is more like a cheesy life lesson, but I think it also counts for these battles as well. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a higher amount of down votes on comments and negative things said in the threads than I have for these battles, and it’s something you always have to take with a grain of salt.
No matter how much logic you put into an argument, no matter how much you try to get someone to see things through your point of view, you will always run across people who just don’t like what you have to say or what your opinions are so they disagree and dislike your comment. It’s human nature, we always want to be right and it’s tough when we find others who don’t like what we like.
It’s also what makes things interesting. It’s fine to disagree, and the best thing you can do as a person is agree to disagree because if we all agreed then this battle would just be one big snooze-fest. So think what you want to think, be proud, but also be open and let others think what they want to.
The best place to find a shipping community is Tumblr.
There’s absolutely no doubt about it. With all the FYEAH blogs and the personal blogs and the dedicated show blogs out there, all you have to do to find people who like the show you do is type in the name of your show into the Tag search and BAM, you have at least a hundred people who like what you like.
It’s such a great place to find commonality and refuge from other people who stare at you for shipping Drapple. If you think that you can’t find someone else who ships something then you’re absolutely wrong, because like I said: If you can imagine it, you can ship it! I’ve already tracked my Damoqueen tag, so maybe after this article I’ll find fellow DamoQueen shippers? A guy can hope!
Shipping communities are all just huge families.
I like to think of the entire world of fandom and shipping as a majorly dysfunctional, lovable family. An OTP is that boyfriend/girlfriend that our parents just don’t understand and our best friends squeal with us over. They’re the reasons we have such ridiculous conversations at the dinner table, other wise known as Tumblr. We talk about inappropriate things and get weird stares from the family that ships other things and judge us while they have their GIFs for desert.
And BattleShips is like that awkward Thanksgiving dinner we gathered you under one roof for. While there are fights and disagreements, and the ogling of our respective OTPs, we all are thankful for the shows that brought us here and are happy to share the holidays with other people who love these things as much as we do.
Those are just my two cents, and I thank you all for participating in this tournament with me. If you’d like, find me on Twitter or Tumblr!
The final Battleship takes place this Monday, December 3. Make sure to vote for the finale!