Heres the big question, do you ship jenny with sheldon or brad or someone else?
Okay, this’ll be another long one. Before I begin, I’ll just add that the following is just my opinion, and that everyone is entitled to their ships. Even the crack-ships and self-insert OCs, because your own happiness is what’s really important.To make a long story short, I don’t really have a preferred ship, partially because the show didn’t conclude with one; I’ve said before that I tend to follow canon ships exclusively, and the same goes for this show. Along with that, every single one has its upsides and downsides, which - to make a short story long - I’m going to try to list here.While I’ve seen a lot of potential ships for Jenny, I’m going to restrict this to the three most popular characters I’ve seen paired with her: Sheldon; Brad; and Vega. (This ship has been getting a bit more attention lately with the show’s minor resurgence, so I feel it’s deserving of being on this list.)SHELDONPros: He’s really nerdy, which not only makes him a placeholder to every single nerd that loves the show (myself included), but also the human most capable of carrying on a relationship with Jenny given his mechanical skill. If Jenny moves out of Nora’s house, she’s going to need someone with technical know-how to keep her in prime combat condition, not to mention someone who is willing to take up the fight themselves (which is possible thanks to the Silver Shell). He also seems to care about her more than anyone else, and most of the actions he makes are in an attempt to help or protect her.Cons: He tries repeatedly to manipulate Jenny into relationships, such as his persona of the Silver Shell; the only reason he keeps it up is because it’s an identity that Jenny has some level of attraction over at various points. In modern parlance, he’s Catfishing her. On top of that, his other disturbing actions range from stalking her to stealing her blueprints. Imagine if someone who crushed on you stole intimate photos of you from inside your own home to gawk over. All of this implies a serious lack of maturity on Sheldon’s part, and the fact that this behavior was normalized is kind of disturbing; Jenny rewards him on occasion with hugs and kisses when he helps her out in some way, even though she still doesn’t seem to be interested in long-term relationships with him. Seeing Sheldon’s advances kinda reminds me of myself when I was his age. That’s not a good thing.In order for me to ship it, Sheldon needs: some serious character development. Lose the stalker tendencies, have him gain some self-confidence, and just treat Jenny like she’s a person instead of a potential girlfriend; to me, that gives Jenny a reason to consider him. It turns from “I’m doing this as a reward for your insane level of devotion” to “I’m doing this because I care about you, and I’m grateful that you care about me, too.” Hell, especially if Jenny goes with someone else, Sheldon will likely need to have done this in order to get over what would otherwise be crippling grief.BRADPros: Brad’s connection with Jenny has lasted longer than any other option, given that he’s the first human outside the lab to make close contact with Jenny. She has brought much-needed excitement into his life, and in return tries his best to help her get accustomed to being a teenager. Their relationship - while far from perfect - is more real than the one that Jenny has with Sheldon, because it’s pretty much a pure friendship. There are some implications that feelings exist between the two because of this, particularly in the later seasons, which is much appreciated.Cons: Brad’s advice doesn’t always work out, since he’s so accustomed to his life as a human. Whether it’s true or not, Brad sees himself as a chick magnet, so at this point in his life he’s not the type to settle down. He’s also had a couple of disagreements with Jenny, and was perfectly willing to get married to Tammy when he saw how good she looked (though he changed his mind later, of course). Even after they separated, he was perfectly willing to see her outside of marriage, too, so looks are a very important factor to him. Jenny has also attempted numerous relationships while still being friends with Brad, so her feelings are still rather ambiguous. While his Freudian slip in “Hostile Makeover” implies some level of attraction to Jenny, this is quite literally because her chest grew right in front of him. Jenny just doesn’t seem to conform to his standards in her default settings. On top of all this, Brad’s shown more overt attraction to Melody than Jenny, which created a rift between the two when Jenny forced Melody away.In order for me to ship it, Brad needs: to start being less self-absorbed and show more romantic interest in Jenny. While it’s a simpler change, it also changes who he is as a character from a companion to a specifically romantic interest, so I don’t know if it would be as interesting as the previous statement regarding Sheldon.
VEGAPros: Vega is a robot, which is a solid advantage over the other two, and Jenny got pretty darn close to her during the events of EFCP. She’s a capable fighter, so combat team-ups would be a certainty, and she genuinely enjoys the company of Jenny. She even offered her a position in her new government on Cluster Prime; given that she knew her for only so long, this is rather the bold move. From the get-go, she’s treated Jenny like an equal and a friend, so it would be incredibly easy to see a relationship develop between the two.Cons: We, the audience, don’t know that much about Vega. She’s only appeared in EFCP, so she lacks the level of character detail that Brad and Sheldon do. What are her true ambitions? What about her relationship with her mother? I don’t feel I have enough to make a decision about her; it could be just about anything. Plots with her as a love interest could be interesting, but plots with her as a potentially strong villain (it’s in her family tree, after all) could be even more fascinating.In order for me to ship it, Vega needs: more story exposure and character traits in general. She’s a woefully underrepresented character in general, so she’s going to need this anyway, but she would definitely need it before I start considering her ship.Feel free to send responses and suggestions!
