Alright, Pokemon ships. We all know that they are not only extremely controversial but cause flame wars left and right. Shipping Pokemon characters (the humans in the games/anime/manga) is usually fine. Sure, you might receive some backlash but as long as it makes sense and isn't illegal, why not?

But shipping Pokemon together.... this I fret is an issue. I seriously don't understand shipping Pokemon together. First, I'd like to ponder this question: Why do people ship ships? It's a fairly easy question. They either do it because they think the two characters in question would make a good couple, or because that the ship is canon and makes perfect sense.

Let's review those two answers, staring with the former. How can you tell that two Pokemon, whether it's the species in general or a certain trainer's Pokemon (i.e, Ash's Pikachu), would make a solid couple? Most Pokemon in the wild either battle/fight, avoid, or are neutral with. Don't even get me started with trainer's Pokemon. Just because you ship two trainers together doesn't mean you have to ship their Pokemon together as well.

Reguarding the later, there's really no Pokemon x Pokemon ship that is canon. Don't tell me something like 'BuT aMy! what aboUt *insert legendary* and *insert legendary*? tHey're from the sAme region!1!1!' That argument really isn't valid. Just because the two legendary mascots often fight with each other doesn't mean that they are canonically a couple (or just couple material period).

Before everyone sets me on fire, I understand finding two characters that are not canonically dating but might have a shot at it. I do it all the time. If you find a ship you like, then that's great! But you don't need to argue for it every single fucking day and start flame wars over debating whether your ship is canon. Because if it's a Pokemon x Pokemon ship, it's not canon. No questions about it.

If you have a ship you love and don't want to be hated on for, then perhaps ship it in private? I know that's against the whole "BE YOURSELF" bs that's gone around for quite a while now, but let's face the reality: if you put yourself out there, you may receive hate for it. That's just a fact of life.