Terminology Thursday: Derivative Ship
[ID: Infographic explaining the term 'Derivative Ship'. It uses little cut-outs of two green figures and a red heart to represent the original ship, with various 'derivative ships' branching off in different colors (blue, yellow and pink), signifying alternative versions of the original ship in different media. The main text reads 'Derivative Ship' in both English and Chinese. /End ID]
This Terminology Thursday, we’re looking at Derivative Ship: a term commonly used in C-Drama fandoms for a popular pairing that spawns crossover ships featuring other characters played by the same actors.
For example, fans of the pairing Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan (巍澜) from the series Guardian would look for other roles the two actors have played and ship these characters together. These fanworks would be labelled as WeiLan Derivatives or 巍澜衍生.
The term originated among Chinese fans who also use it for ships from non-Chinese fandoms. English speaking fans typically refers to Derivative Ship as Adjacent Ship or Actor-based crossover pairings.
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