Sonic Couples have won the poll. Joy. Guess I have to talk about Sonic couples. Also, SHADOW AND JOHN CENA R MEANT 2 B TOGEHER AND IF U DONT AGREY U CAN JUST DIY!

Sonic couples are very prominent in the Sonic fanbase, even more so than fan characters, it's no lie. Simply looking up the word "Sonic" in Google Images will show at least one picture of two Sonic characters in love. However, this is true for any fanbase. I'm pretty sure there's fan art shipping Ness and Lucas together (as much as I regret to inform you).

So, if shipping is so prominent in pretty much every other fanbase ever, what's the problem with shipping Sonic characters? Let me answer that question with another question: who ships Sonic characters? "Sonic fans—oooh," you reply. For those who are wondering what the problem is, have a look at an IGN review of a Sonic game. Look at the like bar, and tell me that Sonic fans aren't relentless. You can't do it, can you? I'm a Sonic fan, and I'm saying this!

"Okay, so they're certainly a little overly dedicated, but what does this have to do with Sonic couples?" you ask. And I reply in a deep gruff and sexy voice, "Everything..." I have seen Sonic fans say that they want certain Sonic characters to get killed off because they're not with their "twoo luv." Amy and Sally are two main examples, and, oh, are they juicy ones. Now, I'm going to admit something with you guys right now: I am a SonSally fan. My second favorite cartoon series is Sonic SatAM (right behind Batman: The Animated Series), and I enjoy the comics when they're not throwing love triangles into my face, but I digress.

Now, while I may be a big fan of SatAM and my least favorite Sonic character may be Amy Rose, I would not be so heavily supportive of Amy Rose being killed off. Why? Because that would be one of the dumbest ideas in the universe. Wanting a character killed off to be with another character is beyond all levels of stupidity. And don't think that SonAmy fans are any better. I've seen SonAmy fans do the exact same thing. They say, "Oh, Sally's such a Mary-Sue! I hate her because she kissed Sonic and Amy should be with Sonic! I wish Sally could die!" Heck, I've heard someone say that they've actually killed two chipmunks because of how much they hate Sally! Two chipmunks! These people have gone full on Chris-Chan level, and that's hard to reach.

But I'm going off on a tangent. I still haven't even gotten to fanfiction yet. So, the problem is that, because of this bias I mentioned in the last paragraph, fanfictions often portray characters out of character. You don't know how many times I've seen Sally portrayed as either a slut, a brat, or violent because of this bias. (Surprisingly, I haven't seen quite as much OOC problems with Amy. Clever girl) And that's where I get to my main point: Sonic couples in fanfiction are dangerous because of the consequences and risks of falling into an "out-of-character syndrome" hole. I've already discussed the effect of portraying a Sonic character as an unlikeable jerk, but the other effect of this is portraying the couple the same way. Like I've said before, I don't expect perfection, but I expect effort. However, in a similar way where Sonic or any other character can be portrayed as a self-insert, the partner in question can be portrayed as the author's dream girl. I've seen Sonic characters do un-Sonic-character things so that the author can masturba—er, shoehorn Sonic couples into his story.

So, in conclusion, Sonic couples are dangerous. While they can be done right, it's not easy. You risk portraying your characters out-of-character. My advice for avoiding this is to do two things: focus on story over romance, and don't be too hateful on characters you may not like. If you don't do these things, your ship may sink. And if you remember in that one popular romance movie on a boat, sinking ships can kill Leonardo DiCaprio, and nobody wants to kill Leonardo DiCaprio.

Well, that was certainly a lot more of a mouthful than what I usually do. I really enjoyed doing this episode, surprisingly. I thought an episode on couples would be a complete dud, but it turned out to be my favorite episode so far. Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review and flame!