Archive of Our Own ^beta

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Dandy’s world shipping culture’s relationship with the game has been interesting for me to observe.

Dandy’s World’s characters are, at least for the moment, a little one-note and our ability to discover their opinion on others is limited. Some of them may be more complex. Like Glisten’s struggles with ego potentially causing more problems than a few character’s eyes rolling, or Shelly’s problem with people ignoring her. Even if I do find how that is executed strange, it’s still more than most characters. But despite what I perceive as a low amount of characterization, shipping is one of the most common forms of fan content in the Dandy’s world fandom. It may seem strange to an outsider why it’s so common, as there doesn’t appear to be any dialogue in the game that suggests romantic undertones at all.

Despite this we ship them anyway. Why? Because of us wanting to see more of these awesome characters and their stories.

Despite the lack of romantic dialogue there are some situations that certain characters are in, that when interpreted platonically or romantically, can make for good stories. And often where the biggest ships come from are these relationships.

Fruitcake is the most popular ship in the fanbase, and has a sweet friends to lovers dynamic. Moonflower has Astro’s, although not toxic, potentially tense relationship with Dandy. And let’s not forget that recently, despite for a while being mostly based off of the funny dynamic between the two, Shrimpbowl did recently get a friends to lovers angle. Dandy stating that Shrimpo is potentially Finn’s friend in the Gossip feature.

Other than these and a few other ones I haven’t mentioned, there doesn’t appear to be a reason related to the characters in game relationships that people ship a lot of characters though. And Shrimpbowl like I mentioned was mostly based off of “vibes,” for lack of a better word, for a while. So what makes people like these “vibe” based ships?

Well, it’s mostly just the same answer as before. They love these characters and want to see them grow. Even as a person who’s probably somewhere on the aromantic spectrum like myself (I’m still not sure but that’s what I’m guessing), just imagining these two characters you love, well, loving each other is amazing. Sometimes you just like these two characters and that clicks into your brain as “Kiss each other right now, I wanna see you guys happy!” Unless of course you’re more into heartbreaking and emotional angst, which is also a good way to explore these characters.

There is also the question of why not ship them platonically? Although more platonic relationships between characters would be awesome to get, who doesn’t like a good friendship after all. In the end shipping is fun, and that’s the answer I believe I can give.

This work is mainly me talking about ships I like and why I ship them. Potentially I can do ones I don’t ship but have an interest in.

Although this specific work will be only for Dandy’s World, I plan on making a separate work for one non-Dandy’s World ship in particular I wanna talk about. I’m sure you know which one. Nevertheless I’ll start with Dandy’s World because I think i’m well acquainted with it’s shipping culture.

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Astro Novalite X Shelly Fossilian, often called Moonshell, and sometimes called Ancient Dreams, is a picture perfect example of the ship you sometimes see and know there is an audience for, to the point you sometimes see posts of it break into the more mainstream fandom areas. But yet it is still usually rare to see if you aren’t actively looking for it.

An example of one like it might be Jewelrybox or Angryhugs. Of which all have plenty of fans, and their content will be seen eventually, but again, you won’t see it often.

On a guess that is mostly based off of personal experience, Moonshell seems to be the second most popular F/M ship, and certainly the most popular one involving the Main Characters. Teacase is definitely the most popular in general, to the point it may be what an outsider may see as the generic F/M ship.

After stating what is Moonshell, I will talk about why is Moonshell. What is in the game that makes people ship these characters?

Astro and Shelly are shown to have an at the very least friendly relationship in the game in the very little material we have to go off of. In one conversation, Astro asks if she’s alright, Shelly takes surprise, and says she’s more comfortable with him here. In the other conversation, Shelly asks humorously if she can have a dream with 100 velociraptors that she tames. This time Astro is the one surprised.

Overall this is pretty typical stuff. There aren’t very many fireworks going off in terms of affection and their clearly at most friends and at least people who know each other and their abilities. Like co-workers.

As for their in game characterization, Astro and Shelly are two of the more interesting characters in the game’s lore.

I’ll start with Astro. His relationship with Dandy in particular is the most important part of his lore. Two people who have been friends since childhood potentially having a little bit of a wedge in their friendship because of one’s knowledge of another’s actions is an interesting premise to me.

Before I cite the twisted descriptions I will say that I have a theory that they aren’t 100% reliable, but I still think they are useful. Going off of the twisted descriptions, it says that Astro is “overwhelmed by guilt and despair.” I plan on making a little analysis about Moonflower as well so I won’t go that in depth about these two’s relationship, but know that it causes Astro a lot of issues.

Then we have Shelly. Shelly is a character who has been, according to the twisted descriptions, utterly ignored by all of Gardenview. I previously stated I have a few problems with how this is executed, it feels a little cartoony how it’s like there is a Shelly-shaped object in front of her at all times that just makes people not notice her. But that doesn’t mean it’s useless to analyze.

Whenever someone starts a conversation with Shelly, she reacts as if her eyes are sparkling at the notion someone would say something to her unprompted. She is one of the few toons who immediately takes up Rodger’s offer of an interview.

She is also incredibly willing to help other toons. It is in her nature to do so, with her can-do attitude and her ability name being inspiration. But it is unclear to me whether she is more motivated to do so because of her feelings of being ignored. That is just a thought I had that is unconfirmed.

Lots of tough feelings like this are really good material for fan fiction in general, not just shipping. I will state either of would not be very likely to go immediately help each other out with these emotional problems unless their relationship was particularly close. But that potential is there of course, and sometimes that’s all you need to make it work even if it would be unrealistic in canon.

What makes these two characters go well together for some people is their aesthetics and, as is with a lot of Dandy’s World shipping, the blank slate these two characters have with each other although they are both clearly on good terms. These aesthetics might include Astro being introverted and Shelly being extroverted, warm and cold, contrasting colors, the fact their both mains, pretty simple but definitely something some people would subconsciously choose.

Why do I personally ship them? It’s the type of fan content it’s users have produced that appeals to me. Sometimes you can love a ship so much simply because the folk who make it are so talented. This isn’t to say someone isn’t more talented because they make Moonshell, I just like what they put out.

So to summarize: Moonshell is a pretty tender ship between two troubled individuals who have a few problems to work out. If you want that mix of two people who’d just sit down, hug, and make out for a few minutes and also talk about a few of their feelings this one’s for you.

If your interested in getting into Moonshell content, I don’t really read to much fan fiction at the moment despite writing it myself, but as for artists I think I know a few.

@jaywuzhere (On YouTube and TikTok)

She has some of the more famous Moonshell drawings. Including the beautiful comic “Warmth Of You.” I would like to note how well shaded and colored her art is.

@fizzboy (On Tumblr)

Although he is by no means a Moonshell artist, he has made some art of it. His Astro design with the unkempt black hair, though not necessarily made by him, inspired some to use it. He is the creator of the Alternative Universe Dandy’s Wasteland, which I highly recommend check out among his other AU’s like Dandy’s World Neo, Dungeons, and Water. He makes great stuff.

@trizookas (On Tumblr and TikTok) Also known as FartBlaster43 (On TikTok)

The self proclaimed CEO of Moonshell. Most of their art is purely Moonshell focused, and with how much they have contributed to the ship she is definitely a valid candidate for such a prestigious title.

If I got anything wrong or you would like me to add anything, please tell me in the comments. Remember to be kind though.

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Connie X Gigi, mainly known as Ghostcapsule and sometimes called HauntedCasino, is probably my favorite F/F ship in the game.

I had began lurking around the fanbase a few weeks before when Gigi released. If Connie didn’t release just over two months after Gigi came out, it’s easy to say that this ship would be relegated to simply a rarepair where a select few fans are keeping it alive.

But perhaps that isn’t the case. Certain ship’s popularity isn’t always determined by pure luck despite what one half of this ship may convince you, Ghostcapsule even if these characters had came out far apart from each other would still have notoriety in my eyes.

In my analysis of Moonshell, I described a few ships that were similar to it in terms of their fanbase size and how often you will see it. Ghostcapsule is hard to measure because while I don’t consider it a rarepair, I do consider it less popular than ships like Moonshell. And so it is harder to make a comparison with other ships accurately.

However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t try. And I don’t think it’s inaccurate to say that it is on the level of PopMusic and Fossilcleaning in terms of popularity.

Two conversations is always a good sign for a ships canon material, and Gigi and Connie have that amount. In one of their conversations they start it in a very casual way. “Hey girl” and “wassup” being their respective greetings. In their next chat, it’s more like the usual banter between toons. Connie talking about how nice it is being able to float and reach high places when Gigi says she wishes she could.
Gigi’s defining traits are her casualness and her implied thievery. Somehow this hasn’t gotten her into trouble yet from anyone despite seemingly everyone who’s accused her not buying her explanations. As a whole, one word can fit Gigi: mischievous.

Connie couldn’t be more fit of a friend of Gigi’s as she is in many ways similar. Just as much of a prankster with the added benefit of being able to sneak up on anyone without them noticing. And with how they speak to each other they are likely friends indeed.

The energy these two have is infectious at times, and putting them together is a recipe for good comic relief. Oh the pranks they could pull together… in fact, I think Ghostcapsule may be one of the best comic relief ships in the game.

Adding to this is the lack of trauma they seem to be suffering from. Which leaves a lot of room for writers, artists, and all other walks of fan work makers to make up such events themselves on varying degrees of intensity. This makes Ghostcapsule a pretty chill ship. A chill ship with chill characters. Well, mostly. When you see these two individuals put your guard up.
Now, you may wondering what exactly is romantic about any of this. I already basically said the same thing in the Moonshell analysis, but it’s a matter of preference. I ship these two platonically but generally as with most of the ships in the fandom, it’s fun to ship characters you like. Gigi and Connie are, as I already said, perfect for each other in any way.

In summary: Ghostcapsule is a good ship if you’re looking for a decently popular F/F pairing with potential, and if you want a ship with a lot of comic relief and tomfoolery. Not to act like being goofballs is their whole personality, let’s not Flanderize. but it’d be undeniably a big part of their activities.

Although it is mostly because they are less developed then the main characters, I do apologize for having less to say about this ship then Moonshell. I also don’t view as much Ghostcapsule content as I do that ship. So this time, I want to ask you guys to leave me some recommendations for Ghostcapsule content. I will put them below for other people to see.