Shipping wars

Shipping wars result when tensions arise between fans of two (or more) different character relationships (or 'ships) in either canon or fan fic. The fiercest wars occur between adherents to different OTPs.

In Supernatural, there was a noted absence of shipping wars in the first four seasons, due to the presence of only two main characters - Sam/Dean - if a fan is comfortable with Wincest. In Season One, for fans of het, there was some tension between fans who saw Sam/Jess as the OTP, once Sam/Sarah emerged after Provenance, but this was relatively minor.

The emergence of Dean/Castiel as a popular 'ship in 2009, has seen some skirmishes between supporters over whether the relationships are supported by canon, and which one is the true OTP in a classic example of Shipping wars.

In RPS, Jsquared is the OTP for most, although both actors occur in a number of pairings both slash and het. Surprise!JDM is considered particularly disruptive to the OTP.