I have to admit – I wrote this post for the co-alpha. Because…. well, yeah. I don’t consider myself a shipper – and still I bother her with regular random rants about my favorite – albeit rare – tv show ships. So here’s to all of us “non-shippers” – even we get to sail across the vast ocean of imaginary pairings from time to time. (And when we do, people around us should be very, very careful regarding how they choose to tell us we’re overreacting. I live with a dedicated shipper – one who even ships the first “ship” ever to be called that. I know what it’s like.)
#1 You thought of the ship before you saw it online. Yeah, there are ships don’t fall under this category and still spread their sails quite successfully for many many people. Even so, the obscure ones sometimes make things even more fun.
#2 You read, write or imagine fics about the ship. (“Imagine” because, honestly, some things are better left off-paper.)
#3 The peak of the ship’s chemistry is the peak of the show for you. Happened to me with Grimm – not with Castle, though, Castle was always awesome. Some ships – like my beloved Renliette – are doomed to fail from the start, even canon ones. And afterwards the show in general seemed to me as interesting as reheated soup. (And I hate soup to being with.)
#4 You curse the showrunners regularly – even if you’re not big enough a fan of the show to know their names. Sure, I can always go back to random anger at RDM for what he and his crew did to Sam and Starbuck (and Starbuck in general – at least regarding, you know, he-who-shall-not-be-named-but-is-still-too-short-and-stupid), but I can’t even name a single screenwriter of Arrow. Doesn’t stop me from frowning at the screen whenever I remember the episode in which everything went downhill with my favorite character in Arrow. (What to say – my taste in characters can get somewhat peculiar.)
#5 You complain to your s. o. about the ship – regardless of whether it’s a fandom they’re a part of or not. If you’re lucky as I am, they will love you enough not to bring your sanity and/or good taste into question. And yes – I have been on both sides of that conversation. Scratchy beard…
Vesna Kurilic 
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