One of the many joys of fandom is engaging in that ever-present discourse of shipping characters, some officially sanctioned, others not so much. For those unfamiliar with the term (should they exist), shipping is the act of supporting two characters being in a, typically, romantic relationship.
In the spirit of this discourse, for this week’s Tier List Tuesday, we have brought you the official, undisputed, uncontroversial rankings of some of gaming’s most electric OTP (or not so OTP) couplings.
S-Tier – YESTP
Yoshi and Birdetta/Birdo (Super Mario Bros)
A relationship seemingly built in the context of Mario hosting sporting events, Yoshi and Birdetta (Birdo) just make sense together.
Yoshi is, of course, the iconic dinosaur and friend to the Mario Brothers. Birdetta, meanwhile, originated as an enemy type in early Mario games before graduating to the Mario main roster. And yes, her preferred pronouns are she/her according to the English manual for Super Mario Bros. 2 Birdo, which described Birdo as a male who “thinks he is a girl” preferring the name Birdetta (I don’t know why Nintendo refuses to call her that; they are the ones who told us of this preference.)
Given how cute these two are together, their similar positive and friendly demeanors, and their already close bond of friendship, it is not a difficult leap to make Yoshirdo an S-Tier ship.
Sonic and Shadow (Sonic the Hedgehog)
If Heated Rivalry has taught us anything, it’s that there is no love quite like that born out of a… well, heated rivalry. I’m sure there’s a category for this, but I don’t want to dig through the horrors of BookTok.
Sonic and Shadow actually make a lot of sense by this standard… And really this standard alone. The slash ship between Sonic and Shadow, Sonadow, goes back decades — and after watching many hours of dialogue between these two, you can’t convince me that they aren’t into each other.
It is highly unlikely that this ship will ever be canon, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the most iconic true pairings. I just don’t recommend searching for this.
A-Tier – OTP
Mantis and Loki (Marvel Rivals)
A relatively new ship, Mantis and Loki is OTP wildfire. The shipping of these two powerful beings originates in Marvel Rivals, as far as I can tell, and is backed textually by Mantis’s less hostile interactions with Loki compared to the rest of the cast.
In fact, in one of their team-up animations, they even have a bit of a flirty interaction.
If you think about it, they do make sense together. Loki is a master of deception, but he could never truly deceive Mantis due to her empathic abilities. And canonically, Loki is quite lonely, so connecting with someone whose entire powers center on emotional intelligence just feels sorta right.
PLUS, their color palettes match too!
I’m team Lantis… Lomantis… Mantki? I am rooting for these kids, that’s what I’m saying.
Mercy and Genji (Overwatch)
Gency is a pairing that goes back to 2016 with the release of Overwatch.
Aesthetically, fans have always loved shipping these two together, a desire further fueled by the revelation that Mercy was the one who saved Genji from the brink of death and nursed him back to health.
In the spinoff dating sim Loverwatch, Genji even states, “Without her, there would be no Genji today.”
No wonder Genji is always saying “I need healing.” He’s talking about his heart, guys. And as a bonus, even the voice actors are on board with this one!
This ship just can’t make it to S-tier because it’s just a bit too expected. Also, it completely destroyed Overwatch searches for years. This is another one to never look up on Google.
B-Tier – OKTP
Chamber and Viper (VALORANT)
Formerly a fan ship, Riot recently confirmed that, at least in the Omega world, Chamber and Viper are a pair.
Originally, this ship felt a bit distasteful to some fans who pointed out that there are lines where Chamber asks Viper out and she replies, saying that she would rather drink her own poison. However, it would seem that the situation was only the case for the Alpha world. In the Omega world, Chamber and Viper, seemingly bonded by trauma, are together.
So together in fact, that when Chamber is injured by Alpha Earth, Viper went postal on them for it. So you know, I’ll ship it.
Jayce and Victor (Arcane/League of Legends)
As a diehard Arcane fan, I understand where this is coming from.
Jayce and Victor have an intimate relationship even before Victor becomes God incarnate. But then, after he ascends into the arcane, it becomes clear that only Jayce can show Victor that his glorious evolution is anything but glorious.
So I can see why people ship these guys (even BBno$ ships them), but I feel that shipping them doesn’t add to the intimacy of their platonic bond in the canon, so I only have it as an OKTP.
F-Tier – NOTP
Caitlyn and Vi (Arcane/League of Legends)
Caitlyn is a war criminal who gassed the entire undercity as vengeance for the actions of an individual, Vi’s sister Jinx. Vi is a sellout from the undercity who becomes a Pitlover enforcer despite the fact that enforcers literally killed her parents.
All of that is gonna be an L + Ratio + NOTP from me.
Pretty much anyone and Astarion
When will you people learn he just wants your blood! If you let him, he will drink it until you die! Beware! But yeah, he’s pretty hot.
The post Tier List Tuesday: Ranking random video game ships appeared first on The Escapist.
