I got into CV when I was a tad older (I'd say around 13-14 years old), and my entrypoint in the franchise was none other than Symphony of the Night. And right there, I was INSTANTLY hooked into their relationship. This was my very first ship-obsession, way back in the day! I'd hunt down fanarts, fanfictions and anything related to these two over my love for them. I remember how devastated I was that there wasn't a subbed upload of the Radio drama Nocturne of Recollection so, it took me many years to learn what really went down there. I remember feeling so frustrated that there wasn't a TV show about those two. I'd doodle and write about them all the time! I wanted so much more out of them. In hindsight, it was obvious they were clearly my primary distraction from the admittedly, rough period I was going through at the time in my personal life. To which I'm forever thankful for.

I have heard how Nocturne ruined their relationship so, those can honestly fuck right off!

This one was my gateway into Yaoi & queer ships in general, all those years ago. I come from a time and a country, where talking about lgbtq+ stuff was (and still is to a degree) a taboo. Outside of raunchy/edgy comedies/media that treated queer stuff as bad or stupid, I wasn't really aware nor understood stuff outside of the heterosexual norm. So, when I was a teen browsing the internet, becoming acquaintanced with fanfictions on FF.net I stumbled upon my first ever RichterxAlucard fanfiction.

I can definetely say it opened the horizons to me, and for years I struggled to comprehend and digest it. I remember going through phases of loving yaoi & delving deep into it, while going through phases of refuting it and despising anything yaoi/yuri/queer related. I don't hate myself for what I did, afterall as mentioned, my upbringing and the context I was inserted in truly clashed into what Yaoi/queerness brought to the table. I was very much a product of my time and I was just a teen, finding out things about myself.

Nowadays, I'm happy I can say I have matured and done a lot of personal growth. And I no longer feel "ashamed" or any resemblance of "guilt" for enjoying the things I do. I have come a long way to get where I currently am. And to this day, I'm forever thankful for this ship to make me open my eyes for something I was never aware of. As such, this ship has a very soft spot for me, there's something very nostalgic about it even though I'm no longer as into it as I once was!

Back when Youtube was the brand new thing, and I first learned about Shipping tribute videos. I'd go back and forth between watching Pokemon and Sonic related ones. Surprise, Surprise, this franchise was HUGE for me when I was a kid/teenager. And although I'm no longer into STH, I still look back on it fondly, especially in regards to this ship.

As far as I'm aware, this ship STILL remains as a 'never met in canon' one. However, that was never a problem for me. Because I remember, loving the idea of these two together so much back then. Tikal was my favorite STH character, and I also remember being a big Shadow fan so this was like match made in heaven for me (SA1 and SA2 were my favorite games to play on my Sega Dreamcast). Also, the fanarts being showcased in those videos to this day, live rent-free in my mind. I remember being so happy when a few years later, I managed to find a good chunk of those fanarts on DeviantArt when I got there.

I don't have a whole lot to say outside of how Shadikal and Twinleafshipping were my entrypoints, into the world of shipping in fandoms.

I remember losing my absolute mind, when I first heard of the Super Smash bros. series as a kid. I had the pleasant opportunity of first trying out Melee, because a kid brought their copy of the game over for us to play on my Wii. And as you can imagine I was even more ecstatic, when Brawl was first announced. I'd save up on my allowance money to buy it for my birthday that year, and in the meantime I'd watch all the release trailers religiously.

At this point, I was already well-familiarized with Ship tribute videos. So, cut to when I finally got my game and for the first time I got into a ship, on my own. That being SnakexSamus, and I was so happy to find out many others ALSO liked that ship's idea and I had the joy of watching so many ship tribute videos about it. I even remember using SSBB's scenario picture taking feature, in order to get my very "own original" Snakus shots. I'm convinced this was the thing that made me join Deviantart as a kid, and I even remember making a Snakus club (if you're og to that place, then you'll know what I'm talking about). This pre-dated their groups feature, but the concept was the same thing, a place to gather up/find people with the same interest where they'd post things themed around the club's main subject and the club would help promote them.

Anyway, I never really kept up with the series outside of Brawl. But it didn't diminish the fact I was heart broken and devastatedl, when the time came for the Wii U to get its own Smash Bros. and Snake didn't make into it. At least, I was happy to see they were "back together" for the Switch's Ultimate.