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Preface:
Pokemon Black and White. Ever since the game were released in the United States and other parts of the world outside of Japan, Pokemon fans were clambering to get their hands on the newest chapter in the Pokemon world and play it. What we got was a inclusion that is possibly the most epic in the series; we got a brand new region -with a mythology that is just begging to be flushed out- entirely new Pokemon to capture and, for the first time in the series, detailed character interactions between the player character and his/her rival. As we all know, it has become tradition to pair the player character with the rival and/or rivals in the Pokemon games, but Black and White introduced us to a new antagonistic force.

Not even ten minutes after getting our new Pokemon partner, we were introduced to an enigmatic character who was known only as "N," a character that would grow and develop into one of the most complex characters in the series. Before getting our fourth badge N revealed that he was the "King" of the villainous team in Unova, Team Plasma. While this was a welcome change to the other team leaders we've had in the past, N's inclusion in the games also planted a seed that would eventually grow into a weed. A horrible, character destroying weed. This weed is known as FerrisWheelShipping.  Now before we can go about trying to fix this, we have to address the issues with this pair and how the fandom portrays it.

Characters:

To understand why FerrisWheelShipping has become a weed in the Pokemon shipping community, we have to look at the two characters that are involved in the pairing: White and N. As we all know, White is the female "avatar" of the games; yet another silent protagonist with which the player can give her whatever personality and traits he or she desires. While it is shallow to judge a person based on how they dress, looking at White's character arts gives one the impression that she is an independent, ass-kicking, rough-and-tumble kind of girl; a very nice contrast to the other female player characters we got who, let's face it, looked pretty girly with their ridiculously short skirts and dresses (at least May had the decently to wear shorts under her skirt/dress. Biker shorts, but shorts none the less). Do the FerrisWheelShippers write White as any of the previously mentioned adjectives? No. No they do not. For some reason FerrisWheelShippers seem to think that White is a weak, pathetic girl who just can't stand it when her precious N leaves the region. More often than not White -the girl who defeated the Elite Four and befriended one of the legendaries of the region- will completely break town in tears after N leaves her. I kid you not. In fact, while browsing the Pokemon section on FF.Net, I read a summery that went something like: "Ever since he left I've been depressed My self-confidence has been going in a downward spiral and is about to hit rock bottom. I've even been neglecting my Pokemon. N ruined me."

Immediately sensing that this was yet another "Oh no, N left me! What am I going to do? I'm lost without him! He made this journey worthwhile; he's the reason I left home! I can't live without him!" stories I didn't read it. Why is it so hard for FerrisWheelShippers to write White as a normal girl? Speaking as someone who has had her "soul mate" leave her, I can tell you that I got over it. I didn't sit in my room and cry and long over him and get all depressed and mopey about it. I continued on with my life just fine; why is a girl who looks like she could kick anyone's ass, defeated the Elite Four, and left home on a Pokemon journey so incapable of this? Making her depressed over N's leaving doesn't add drama, it makes White look like a pathetic little girl who I would be surprised if would be able to walk without N holding her hand or at least thinking about him.

Hi Bella Swan, it's so not nice to see you in my fandom. Get the hell out.

Let's look at N next. Now N has a much more set in stone personality, motivation and back story. But the FerrisWheelShippers like to ignore that and write him as a "bad-boy" because he looks like one, apparently. I don't see it. Listen, anyone who wears a baseball cap, a pendant of what I assume is supposed to be based on an atom, and a menger sponge is not -IS NOT- a bad boy. He is a nerd. And that is what N is in canon; he's a major math, Pokemon and mythology nerd. One of N's most prominent traits is that he was raised in a sheltered environment and primarily around abused Pokemon. Because of his lack of human-to-human interaction N has problems acting the way a normal person would in public, and only really understands Pokemon. This is another part of N's personality that FerrisWheelShippers so gleefully forget and/or ignore.

In most FerrisWheelShipping stories, N is this perfectly socialized, humanity-savvy, suave, girl-swooning bad-boy. He will often express deep regret in having to fight against White("Oh White..." N started as he stroked the younger Trainer's cheek lightly, causing a bright pink blush to spread across her cheeks. "I don't want to fight you... I don't want to hurt you..." He breathed as he leaned in closer, placing a chaste kiss on her lips). In the game he honestly doesn't care what the player does, if anything he is amused by us and our attempts to stop him and his organization. He doesn't even apologize for getting the player as involved in Team Plasma's affair at the end of the game. For whatever reason the FerrisWheelShippers turn this awkward, fast talking, nerdy, holier-than-thou boy and turns him into the Edward Cullen for White's Bella Swan. This is NOT okay, since it pretty much gives a big middle finger to N's character.

The Ferriswheel scene, love in the making?:

The axis for which this pairing turns is the infamous ferriswheel scene that takes place in Nimbasa City. FerrisWheelShippers like to coat this scene with a nice glaze of sugary sweet romance in the making, often altering the dialogue entirely to suit their wishes. This includes N acting like he's on his first date with his crush, White sitting across from him, blushing and acting like the fragile little doll these fanfics make her, and there will probably be a sloppily added in embrace or kiss. There's interpreting a scene and then there's just ignoring everything that went on in the scene because it wasn't romantic enough. Here is the quote from the ferriswheel scene:

N: "They're not here. Let's ride the Ferris wheel and see if we can spot them. I love Ferris wheels… The circular motion… The mechanics… They're like collections of elegant formulas."

"First, I must tell you... I am the king of Team Plasma. Ghetsis asked me to work with him to save Pokémon. I wonder how many Pokémon exist in this world."

My God... that scene wasn't romantic in the slightest! Well, we can't have that, can we? No, that would be keeping N in character. More often than not, FerrisWheelShippers will only keep in the "I am the King of Team Plasma bit" and re-write everything else so N and White's "twu wuv" can get off to a start.  Now here's the quote  that we get after the battle we have with N:

N: "You're quite strong. But I have a future that I must change. And, for that future... I'll defeat the Champion and become unbeatable, unlike any other! I'll make all Trainers free their Pokémon! Just try and stop me! If you want to be together with Pokémon, your only hope is to collect the Badges from each area and head for the Pokémon League! Try and stop me there, if you dare! If your conviction is not strong enough, you will never be able to defeat me."

Now that was somewhat threatening, wasn't it? It was! N just openly threatened us in that quote! We can't have any icky, horrible, threats against White from N; they're the totally in love, super duper, ultra kawaii couple of this game! Y'see, more often than not FerrisWheelShippers will leave this scene out and replace it with some OCC "romance." This is not how you interpret a scene, children. This is cherry-picking scenes to make N and White look like they are so totally falling in love.

We're friends forever! Until I meet a guy that is, then I'm annoyed with you:

As we all know, Black and White focused more on the relationship the player character had with his/her two main rivals: Cheren and Bianca. These two are some of the worst-treated characters in FerrisWheelShipping stories, and while I am aware these two aren't the most well-received of the rivals, that's no excuse to treat them the way these writers do. Cheren is seen as a romantic rival to N, but it's not done in a tasteful way at all. No, because Cheren went against perfect-angelic-always right N, he's seen as a bad guy.

There are FerrisWheelStories where he pseudo-rapes White, treats her like shit, and disregards her all in a very shallow attempt to make N look better by comparison. It is a disgusting way to portray a character like Cheren, did I just dream the part in the game where he said he felt sympathetic for N and hoped he would come back someday? Again, this is a instance of the FerrisWheelShippers cherry-picking scenes of the games in order to make N look like a fuckin' angel on earth and Cheren like the worst guy in the history of ever.

While Bianca isn't treated as terribly, she is the one White is the most annoyed with. At the most, Bianca's there to ruin any "romantic" moment between N and White or is mentioned in one chapter to encourage White to along with the strange, leader-of-an-evil-team boy they both hardly know before disappearing never to be heard of or mentioned again.

This is not how friendships work. You don't be friends with people who treat you like shit or who you're annoyed with, let alone be friends with them for ten years. Some guy entering White's life should not automatically change her opinions on her best friends of a solid ten years, but it does. It's just another character trait FerrisWheelShippers give White to make her that much more shallow and that much more like Bella Swan. Because they (mostly Cheren) are adverse to N's ideals then they're automatically not worthy to be filth stuck on the bottom of White's boot. Some people, like myself, feel grateful to have even one friend by her side, and yet FerrisWheelShipping!White acts like she'd rather not associate herself with them, even after being friends with them for ten years.  I'm sorry for repeating myself, but this just really bothers me.

Ghetsis:

Ghetsis is another one of the big issues FerrisWheelShippers have, meaning that they try and keep him out of the story as much as possible. I can only assume this is because Ghetsis is EEEEEEVVIIIIILLLLLLL and is implied to have emotionally and/or physically abused N when he was a child. Since the FerrisWheelShippers seem to think N is a God on earth, they cut out Ghetsis because he was soooo evil and mean and nasty to poor innocent, hot, harmless, hot sexy N.  The problem with this is that Ghetsis was the mastermind behind Team Plasma, he's the one who was pulling N's string the entire time and the reason N so feverishly pursued his goals. Brainwashing takes a long long time to expel from the human mind, and having such a charismatic figure ruling over his life it would probably take N that much longer.  But no. In most FerrisWheelShipping stories N is completely over any sort of mental scarring and brainwashing Ghetsis had placed on him, in fact N doesn't even care that Ghetsis is living in his castle! This is another problem I have with the most common portrayal of N in  fanfiction: somehow, someway, he is cured of --or was immune to-- Ghetsis' mind control and any sort of scar that was burned into his mind when N was a child. This isn't how brainwashing and mental scarring is recorvered. In some cases it can take years for mental scars and bigotry to be expelled from the mind, especially if someone had certain ideas and opinions pounded into his/her head since childhood. Since N is in his early twenties at the least in the games, that would make it that much harder. His mind has fully developed with the idea that whatever Ghetsis says is one hundred percent correct,it's been embedded into his psyche.

Ideally, White would be there to try and remove Ghetsis' influence on N's mind and help him step out of Ghetsis' shadow. But NO. N is perfectly mentally healthy and doesn't need any form of therapy or character development to get rid of Ghetsis' influence! That would cause an interesting conflict, and we can't have icky, horrid, terrible, disgusting character development or conflict in our FerrisWheelShipping story; it would get in the way of the love! DUH!

Just because Ghetsis didn't do as much as N doesn't mean you can just push aside one of the most influential villains in the series for the sake of your shallow romance. He's every bit as interesting a character as N is, just in a very different way. You can't write him out just because he was evil and treated N like he was less than human, that shows that you don't care about the mental relationship that he and Ghetsis share. It is a deep, psyche-scarring one and would create a lot of interesting plot points, especially if N had reoccurring nightmares of the atrocities Ghetsis committed against himself and the player. But again, that would cause conflict and a interesting character arc for N and we can't have that. That would leave less time for the totally in character sex and making out scenes.

True love?:

A common theme in FerrisWheelShipping stories is the so-called "true love" between White and N. To be fair the "true love" aspect can work, it just takes a lot of time and development for the reader to be convinced that the two characters are in love. The problem is that most stories make N and White fall deeply and truly in love with each other after meeting once. The beginnings of love will usually start with White commenting to herself "Oh my... he sure is hot!" Hello Bella Swan, it's so NOT nice to see you in my Pokemon fanfiction.

If you look through my gallery, you would see that I have a lot of romance stories in my archives, and I will admit that I like a good romance every now and again. The difference being that the couples I write for I give a stable ground for their love to stand on: Chell and Wheatley have been best friends and co-workers for a few years in my AU fics, Chell spent most of her time with Wheatley in Portal 2 , and White and Nobori have known each other for ten years in my ExpressShipping stories. Can you spot the pattern here? It's that the couples I write for have a previous history with each other and have spent a good handful of time with each other. This simply does not happen in FerrisWheelShipping stories. Most writers make N and White instantly attracted to each other and willing to do anything for each other, including making out in a Pokemon Center where anyone could see them and N completely getting over the bigotry he's been fed all his life.  Never mind the fact that she and N interacted for maybe thirty minutes tops, and such a ground breaking change in character in N can't happen in the span of one ferriswheel ride and a few meetings and battles.

Here's the thing about love: you have to be friends with the person before you get into a romantic relationship with them. Even me "soul mate" and I were friends for about three months before we kissed for the first time and started our relationship proper. But since development is the FerrisWheelShipper's natural enemy (along with conflict) they conveniently skip over all that pesky development and time and go straight for the love and kissing! Because that's totally not signs of a shallow, doomed-to-fail relationship. Not in the slightest.

In most cases, if the story is written in first person, White will gush and comment about how amazing N's eyes are or how flawless his face is, or how he is just so beautiful. Often making connections to N through everyday things she sees. She has a Pokemon with green eyes? She thinks of N. She sees someone with a black and white baseball cap? She thinks of N. She sees the Nimbasa City ferriswheel? She thinks of N. She eats green beans? She thinks of N. She realizes that Team Plasma is ultimately trying to overthrow the governing body of Unova, forcibly changing a way of life that has been in place for who knows how long? She thinks of N. -Slow clap- Our heroine, ladies and gentlemen. What a stunning example of female will-power and sense of self.

Not to mention when it comes to N she constantly has basorexia- an overwhelming hunger to kiss. I know there are some girls like this, otherwise the word wouldn't exist. But seeing White constantly think about kissing N, making out with N, locking tongues with N, swapping spit with N whenever someone so much as mentions him? It gets annoying and shows just how shallow this portrayal is. This isn't how a girl who is truly in love acts, this is how a girl who is in lust and wants nothing more than N in her pants acts.

Getting back to the "no development is allowed" issue. In the essence of fairness this isn't a FerrisWheelShipping-exclusive problem. These "no development required" romances plague the romance genre, and everyone sucks it up and gushes about how the couple's love is so pure and touching and meaningful. Just because Romeo and Juliet got away with falling in love at first glance doesn't mean everybody can. The difference is that Romeo and Juliet was a tragic, touching story where the romance was only there to show how stupid the fighting and hatred between the two families was. Most of the stories that parade "Romeo and Juliet" syndrome are high school romances with little-to-no resemblance of any sort of ground breaking tragedy. What made Romeo and Juliet's story so touching is that even though their families wanted to brutally murder each other, they managed to fall in love despite the bigotry that no doubt had been shoved into their heads.  Yes, White and N have the truth verses ideals conflict, but that is quickly forgotten in order to make room for the romance. Nothing comes of it, there is no drama and there is no tragedy, their relationship becomes a Disney fairytale romance.

(Also, here's another quote, spoken right before the final battle with N,
N: "Now, I will create the future I desire! I shall sweep you before me!" OMG, SO ROMANTIC! N'S SO TOTALLY IN LURVE WITH WHITE!!11)

Here's a breakdown of what I think a good romantic relationship is: It's 70% friendship and mutual respect, 25% time and development, and 5% intimacy. FerrisWheelShippers on the other hand ignore those other two aspects and go straight to the intimacy, having N and Hilda hug and kiss and tell each other they love each other oh-so-much and then have a sex scene. To me this is just the author jumping up and down and proclaiming,

"Look, see! They're hugging and kissing and telling each other they love each other and having sex and everything! They're totally in love! This is what was MEANT to happen in that game! Now start praising me!"

It's immature and sounds more like some poor teenager's skewered perception of love. Love is a very complicated emotion, and it should be treated as such but hardly ever is. Love is as much a mental and emotional experience as it is a physical one. There are more ways to show love between characters than to have them make out whenever they're in a scene together. The way they talk to each other, the way the act around each other, subtle movements that make towards each other. A brush of the hand, a caress of the cheek, and a deep gaze speaks volumes more about a character's relationship than just having them kiss and hug and make love. Expressing a romance between subtle actions means so much more because the two romantic leads don't need any of the shallow physical proclamations of love; they understand each other's feelings so well that actions like that are not needed.

Granted this is N we're talking about here, a guy who wouldn't know what the word "subtle" meant even if you slapped him in the face with it, but still. And even more to the point there is no way in hell N would know what kissing a girl on the mouth or hugging her would mean. To him, love is just another word for a close friendship with another person; since he hasn't been exposed to such a complicated emotion he doesn't know how to react to it. Of course, again, FerrisWheelShippers make N know exactly what love is and makes him the perfect lover and all that other garbage that fans of the pairing lap up. It never is explained how N knows about sex between humans and how to pleasure a woman at all (and him learning about it at a young age is for a more fetishy part of the fandom), and yet he does.  Sexual education just doesn't come naturally. And being "handsome" or "smoldering" or "glorious" or "beautiful" or any of those other purple prose-worthy words doesn't automatically implant the information into the brain. Teaching N about consensual sex between humans has nothing to do with Ghetsis' goals, so why would be bother teaching it in the first place? It's never explained how and why N knows about sex and what to do with a penis and a vagina. He just knows because he's that super-special-aweseome-sexy-perfect-hot-sexy-beautiful-flawless-perfect-sexy-beautiful.

Again, let's look at one of the couples I write for: NoborixWhite (and not just because they're my OTP -shifty eyes-). I've written their relationship as a subtle one, they don't say "I love you" very often because they don't need to. How they feel for each other can be summed up in a gesture or in a look. When they do make their feelings blatant it's mostly because White thinks it's funny to see the usually stern and stoic Nobori flustered. They're intimate when they're alone, but that doesn't mean they make out every second of the time they spend together (unlike what a certain author makes White and N do). Again, it's usually subtle: touching each other's faces, lacing their fingers together, White toying with Nobori's hair, things like that. And here's the amazing part: my White doesn't refer to Nobori as "beautiful" or "glorious" or "amazing" or "smoldering." -GASP- A female lead not commenting on her significant other's looks? Oh my God, wow!

First comes Love, then comes Marriage:

As fanfiction writers we are drawn to the idea of writing "what if?" scenarios for our favorite fandoms. What if Shiloh Wallace took over GeneCo, what if Victor Van Dort married Emily at the end of Corpse Bride, what if Lord Voldemort didn't kill Lily and James Potter, what if Kefka Palazzo was completely successful in his quest to kill the world? Ecetera, ecetra.  One of the biggest "what if?" scenarios for Black and White is: "What if White lost against N?" Now everyone has their own opinion on what the scenario would be like if N triumphed in the end. Or at least that's what I want to say. In almost every scenario of this type that I've seen, N makes White his queen. Now I'm not innocent of this trope myself, but I am one of the few who are taking it in another direction.

In most "White marries N" scenarios, she is completely and totally willing to give up her freedom, family, friends, ability to travel around the world and possibly her Pokemon. Why? Because she'll have her precious-perfect-sparkly-hot-beautiful-gorgeous-hot-sexy-beutiful-flawless N with her, that's why!

This isn't how teenage girls work, or grown women for that matter. No matter how much you love a guy (or think you love a guy), every woman has to think about commitment,  even adult woman have to have a moment to think over the proposal. Again this would make for an interesting emotional conflict, White having to chose between her dreams of traveling the world with Pokemon and being able to see her mom and friends whenever she wanted, or marrying the man she loves and trying to stop him from drastically changing Unova, making him a better person in the process. Guess what? We never get that. All it takes is a few sugar coated, cliché romantic words from N and a little kiss and White is ready and willing to give up everything her life is based around and never look back. -Slow clap- One again: our heroine.

What is it with these stories and avoiding conflict? It is possible to have a balance between conflict and romance, you know.

Pokemon? In my story?:

Pokemon is the axis which this series turns; it has been the motivation and drive for the player character to go out into the world and beat the bad guys since day one.  This is no exception in Black and White, in fact I would say that Pokemon play a bigger role in this story than any other that has been provided to us. In fact the main antagonistic force is a group of Pokemon rights activists, N being the biggest activist of them all.

Like many things, the FerrisWheelShippers conveniently leave out this little detail about N's personality and motivations. They also leave out the fact that White is a Pokemon Trainer, and probably became one because she loves Pokemon. At the most they'll name drop some Pokemon here and reference a Pokemon there, but they only serve as background decorations and a way for the author to remind us all that N and White both have Pokemon. White barely interacts with her Pokemon (if she does she's comparing her Pokemon's green eyes to N, or feeding them poffins) and there is hardly every any instances of N communicating with Pokemon. You know, that one thing he could do that set him apart from other humans? Completely forgotten so we can get another pointless sex/making out scene.

Sorry to ruin your fetish- oh excuse me, your "romance"- but if you locked N in a room with White, a math book and Pokemon he'd go straight for the Pokemon. Or go for the math book and then go to the Pokemon, but you get my point.

If there are Pokemon in the story its for a random out-of-no where battle with N, (even though even a child could tell that N only battles when he absolutely has to and doesn't battle for recreation) or between White, N and the antagonist. I say "the antagonist" because very, very, very, very rarely does Ghetsis sustain his rightful place as the main bad guy in FerrisWheelShipping stories. If he does, he doesn't battle, he plays the role of "that one creepy old guy who wants to rape the heroine because the author said so."

I don't get why FerrisWheelShippers hardly ever have N interacting with Pokemon, even the word of God has said that N values Pokemon above all else. That aside it is very possible to have Hilda and N bond over their shared love for the creatures. Oh, wait, that would mean that there would be actual development in their relationship, and as we all know: relationship development is one of the FerrisWheelShipper's natural enemies.

Conflict and Villains:

In order to make a compelling and enjoyable story, some sort of conflict is required. To pull reference from my own works: the conflict in "Lillies" was Wheatley trying -and failing- to confess to Chell. In "His Way" the conflict was, of course, Wheatley's insanity and how the human mind his AI was created from objected to his attempts to kill Chell. In "Inbound Train" the conflict was Nobori's growing feelings for White, and how he felt disgusted with himself for loving a girl who's nine years younger than he is. And finally, in "Four Years" the conflict is N struggling to understand White and trying to get her to see him as a friend. In most cases the conflict makes the story, no matter how big or how small it is, without a conflict there is no substance. There are only very few times a story can get away without some sort of conflict -emotional or otherwise- but in order to make up for the lack of conflict good character interactions and development are needed.

As we've covered before, FerrisWheelShippers seem adverse to any sort of conflict outside of "Why isn't N kissing me as much?" or "When am N and I going to have sex, if ever?" and "What sort of dress should I wear for N and mine's wedding?" It's shallow, shallow, shallow (kind of like the vast majority of the fans of this pairing, HEYO!). When they try to add in more conflict they really scrape the bottom of the barrel for it, making Cheren an evil jerk who hates N, making the Subway Masters evil and having them want to get into White's pants for no adequately explained reason. I'm not kidding about that last part, by the way. Read "Fill Me With Your Poison" chapter 8; the author makes Ingo and Emmet antagonists for absolutely no reason other than the fact they're hot (I wouldn't mind it so much if she actually wrote them in character, but her inability to write anyone in character is another rant for another day). This would be an interesting plot point if it wasn't in a "White Swan marries Nward Cullen" story; in those stories the main antagonist should be Ghetsis. He's the one pulling N's strings and obviously he's smart enough to coax White into going along with Team Plasma's goal for region-wide Pokemon liberation (implying that the White in these stories even has an opinion to be swayed in these stories after falling in "love" with N, hah!) but he just seems to piss off in these stories. He shows up for about four sentences to go,

"Oh, hey. How are you two doing? I hope you're happy White, my soon to be daughter-in-law. Okay, bye." Then just vanishes; he's only mentioned in passing in between White and N's "twu wuv" scenes. Granted Ghetsis never actually did any of the dirty work himself -he considered himself far too grand to sully his own hands- working through Team Plasma, the Seven Sages and N. However keep in mind that Ghetsis was the leader of the Seven Sages, and probably served as N's advisor during the course of the game; telling N what to do and where to go, giving him insight on where White was going, ect ect. Ghetsis is a manipulator, he wouldn't let anyone under his power do anything unless it somehow benefited him in the end. Somehow I doubt his son, soon-to-be daughter in law, and her friend going on a cruise helps his plans for world domination any.  If he does make another appearance it's just the author going,

"Oh hey, by the way, Ghetsis is so totally evil and stuff. He's got something planned because he's so evil. Did I mention he's evil?"  That doesn't work if he only shows up once every thirteen chapters for three sentences. Ghetsis was subtle with his manipulation, yes, but he served as a crutch for N and he damn well knew it. His influence always made itself known, especially through N since Ghetsis is the one who raised him.   Remember that N is very childish, and like any child he probably listens to every word that his "father"  tells him to do and follows them as closely as he possibly can. And like a child N probably went to Ghetsis if he encountered any unexpected problems. And yet N doesn't in these stories, it's another part of the whole "N is totally mature and civilized now, lol" thing that FerrisWheelShippers like to do oh-so-much.

In the end:

I really, really wish that the whole "Twilight" thing would stop with this pairing. I can see so much potential for character development and growth for this pairing that no one wants to pursue, and I think I know why. Fans of this pairing lap up the "twu wuv" aspect of this pairing; they feel funny in their pants at the idea of N being a lady-swooning bad boy who knows exactly how to pleasure a woman and only has eyes for Hilda. The sad thing about this is that it works. Stories like this will get more favorites and comments gushing praise than stories where N is in character and his and White's relationship has to develop- the latter doesn't provide instant gratification for the fan's fetish. Yes, I called it a fetish, there really is no other way to describe what this pairing has become. The writers of the fics make the stories from White's point of view, give her only a skeleton of a personality and free will so that the reader can more easily fill her shoes and goddamn it, it works!  I know that White is an empty shell, I know that she has no "canon" personality outside the manga, but I doubt that the female players of Black and White are easily manipulated, weak-willed, pathetic girls in real life (or at least I hope they're not).

In the end, it's not about the complex character development we get for N, it's not about the fantastic plot we get or the epic villain we have the pleasure of enjoying; it's about having a good-looking rival character have a romantic relationship with the heroine. I bet if N looked like Giovanni or Cyrus or Archie or Maxie we wouldn't have this problem, know why? Because none of those men are bishounen like N is, that's why. In the end, fangirls only flock to N and squeal over FerrisWheelShipping because N is "sexy," they care not for his personality. Stories like mine, where N has to work for Hilda's respect and friendship aren't going to get nearly as much praise. Stories like mine where Hilda's main romantic interest isn't N aren't going to have hoards of fangirls flooding to them and praising my writing abilities. I'm never going to become as popular as  HikariAngel85 or RelaxOnTheSand, for example, for my Black/White stories because I don't appeal to the fetish-loving masses that make up the majority of the FerrisWheelShipping fanbase. I don't write stories where Hilda instantly falls in love with N or where N is suddenly the perfect lover,  because I think that's just a poor way to garner attention. As such, my stories aren't nearly as popular. It's the Twilight esque trash that they write and draw that's popular! And I'm not only talking those two. I'm talking about everyone on DA and over on Fanfiction.net who writes and/or draws N as this Edward Cullen wannabe and Hilda as a knock-off of Bella Swan. I'm talking about every fangirl out there who makes Hilda emotionally break down and give up her dreams all because N left her behind.

It's just plain sad how low this pairing's fanbase has sunk, it's gotten to the point where incest and crack pairings are more endearing; and that is rare. I'd rather look at BlankShipping than FerrisWheelShipping. I'd rather read NxGhetsis than Nward CullenxHilda Swan. And I usually don't like incest because of how horrendously OOC the characters are in those situations. The fact that little N raping!Ghetsis and Twincest!Nobori and Kudari are more in character than FerrisWheelShipping is just... there is no words. It's just... wow....

Description
Preface:
Pokemon Black and White. Ever since the game were released in the United States and other parts of the world outside of Japan, Pokemon fans were clambering to get their hands on the newest chapter in the Pokemon world and play it. What we got was a inclusion that is possibly the most epic in the series; we got a brand new region -with a mythology that is just begging to be flushed out- entirely new Pokemon to capture and, for the first time in the series, detailed character interactions between the player character and his/her rival. As we all know, it has become tradition to pair the player character with the rival and/or rivals in the Pokemon games, but Black and White introduced us to a new antagonistic force.

Not even ten minutes after getting our new Pokemon partner, we were introduced to an enigmatic character who was known only as "N," a character that would grow and develop into one of the most complex characters in the series. Before getting our fourth badge N revealed that he was the "King" of the villainous team in Unova, Team Plasma. While this was a welcome change to the other team leaders we've had in the past, N's inclusion in the games also planted a seed that would eventually grow into a weed. A horrible, character destroying weed. This weed is known as FerrisWheelShipping.  Now before we can go about trying to fix this, we have to address the issues with this pair and how the fandom portrays it.

Characters:

To understand why FerrisWheelShipping has become a weed in the Pokemon shipping community, we have to look at the two characters that are involved in the pairing: White and N. As we all know, White is the female "avatar" of the games; yet another silent protagonist with which the player can give her whatever personality and traits he or she desires. While it is shallow to judge a person based on how they dress, looking at White's character arts gives one the impression that she is an independent, ass-kicking, rough-and-tumble kind of girl; a very nice contrast to the other female player characters we got who, let's face it, looked pretty girly with their ridiculously short skirts and dresses (at least May had the decently to wear shorts under her skirt/dress. Biker shorts, but shorts none the less). Do the FerrisWheelShippers write White as any of the previously mentioned adjectives? No. No they do not. For some reason FerrisWheelShippers seem to think that White is a weak, pathetic girl who just can't stand it when her precious N leaves the region. More often than not White -the girl who defeated the Elite Four and befriended one of the legendaries of the region- will completely break town in tears after N leaves her. I kid you not. In fact, while browsing the Pokemon section on FF.Net, I read a summery that went something like: "Ever since he left I've been depressed My self-confidence has been going in a downward spiral and is about to hit rock bottom. I've even been neglecting my Pokemon. N ruined me."

Immediately sensing that this was yet another "Oh no, N left me! What am I going to do? I'm lost without him! He made this journey worthwhile; he's the reason I left home! I can't live without him!" stories I didn't read it. Why is it so hard for FerrisWheelShippers to write White as a normal girl? Speaking as someone who has had her "soul mate" leave her, I can tell you that I got over it. I didn't sit in my room and cry and long over him and get all depressed and mopey about it. I continued on with my life just fine; why is a girl who looks like she could kick anyone's ass, defeated the Elite Four, and left home on a Pokemon journey so incapable of this? Making her depressed over N's leaving doesn't add drama, it makes White look like a pathetic little girl who I would be surprised if would be able to walk without N holding her hand or at least thinking about him.

Hi Bella Swan, it's so not nice to see you in my fandom. Get the hell out.

Let's look at N next. Now N has a much more set in stone personality, motivation and back story. But the FerrisWheelShippers like to ignore that and write him as a "bad-boy" because he looks like one, apparently. I don't see it. Listen, anyone who wears a baseball cap, a pendant of what I assume is supposed to be based on an atom, and a menger sponge is not -IS NOT- a bad boy. He is a nerd. And that is what N is in canon; he's a major math, Pokemon and mythology nerd. One of N's most prominent traits is that he was raised in a sheltered environment and primarily around abused Pokemon. Because of his lack of human-to-human interaction N has problems acting the way a normal person would in public, and only really understands Pokemon. This is another part of N's personality that FerrisWheelShippers so gleefully forget and/or ignore.

In most FerrisWheelShipping stories, N is this perfectly socialized, humanity-savvy, suave, girl-swooning bad-boy. He will often express deep regret in having to fight against White("Oh White..." N started as he stroked the younger Trainer's cheek lightly, causing a bright pink blush to spread across her cheeks. "I don't want to fight you... I don't want to hurt you..." He breathed as he leaned in closer, placing a chaste kiss on her lips). In the game he honestly doesn't care what the player does, if anything he is amused by us and our attempts to stop him and his organization. He doesn't even apologize for getting the player as involved in Team Plasma's affair at the end of the game. For whatever reason the FerrisWheelShippers turn this awkward, fast talking, nerdy, holier-than-thou boy and turns him into the Edward Cullen for White's Bella Swan. This is NOT okay, since it pretty much gives a big middle finger to N's character.

The Ferriswheel scene, love in the making?:

The axis for which this pairing turns is the infamous ferriswheel scene that takes place in Nimbasa City. FerrisWheelShippers like to coat this scene with a nice glaze of sugary sweet romance in the making, often altering the dialogue entirely to suit their wishes. This includes N acting like he's on his first date with his crush, White sitting across from him, blushing and acting like the fragile little doll these fanfics make her, and there will probably be a sloppily added in embrace or kiss. There's interpreting a scene and then there's just ignoring everything that went on in the scene because it wasn't romantic enough. Here is the quote from the ferriswheel scene:

N: "They're not here. Let's ride the Ferris wheel and see if we can spot them. I love Ferris wheels… The circular motion… The mechanics… They're like collections of elegant formulas."

"First, I must tell you... I am the king of Team Plasma. Ghetsis asked me to work with him to save Pokémon. I wonder how many Pokémon exist in this world."

My God... that scene wasn't romantic in the slightest! Well, we can't have that, can we? No, that would be keeping N in character. More often than not, FerrisWheelShippers will only keep in the "I am the King of Team Plasma bit" and re-write everything else so N and White's "twu wuv" can get off to a start.  Now here's the quote  that we get after the battle we have with N:

N: "You're quite strong. But I have a future that I must change. And, for that future... I'll defeat the Champion and become unbeatable, unlike any other! I'll make all Trainers free their Pokémon! Just try and stop me! If you want to be together with Pokémon, your only hope is to collect the Badges from each area and head for the Pokémon League! Try and stop me there, if you dare! If your conviction is not strong enough, you will never be able to defeat me."

Now that was somewhat threatening, wasn't it? It was! N just openly threatened us in that quote! We can't have any icky, horrible, threats against White from N; they're the totally in love, super duper, ultra kawaii couple of this game! Y'see, more often than not FerrisWheelShippers will leave this scene out and replace it with some OCC "romance." This is not how you interpret a scene, children. This is cherry-picking scenes to make N and White look like they are so totally falling in love.

We're friends forever! Until I meet a guy that is, then I'm annoyed with you:

As we all know, Black and White focused more on the relationship the player character had with his/her two main rivals: Cheren and Bianca. These two are some of the worst-treated characters in FerrisWheelShipping stories, and while I am aware these two aren't the most well-received of the rivals, that's no excuse to treat them the way these writers do. Cheren is seen as a romantic rival to N, but it's not done in a tasteful way at all. No, because Cheren went against perfect-angelic-always right N, he's seen as a bad guy.

There are FerrisWheelStories where he pseudo-rapes White, treats her like shit, and disregards her all in a very shallow attempt to make N look better by comparison. It is a disgusting way to portray a character like Cheren, did I just dream the part in the game where he said he felt sympathetic for N and hoped he would come back someday? Again, this is a instance of the FerrisWheelShippers cherry-picking scenes of the games in order to make N look like a fuckin' angel on earth and Cheren like the worst guy in the history of ever.

While Bianca isn't treated as terribly, she is the one White is the most annoyed with. At the most, Bianca's there to ruin any "romantic" moment between N and White or is mentioned in one chapter to encourage White to along with the strange, leader-of-an-evil-team boy they both hardly know before disappearing never to be heard of or mentioned again.

This is not how friendships work. You don't be friends with people who treat you like shit or who you're annoyed with, let alone be friends with them for ten years. Some guy entering White's life should not automatically change her opinions on her best friends of a solid ten years, but it does. It's just another character trait FerrisWheelShippers give White to make her that much more shallow and that much more like Bella Swan. Because they (mostly Cheren) are adverse to N's ideals then they're automatically not worthy to be filth stuck on the bottom of White's boot. Some people, like myself, feel grateful to have even one friend by her side, and yet FerrisWheelShipping!White acts like she'd rather not associate herself with them, even after being friends with them for ten years.  I'm sorry for repeating myself, but this just really bothers me.

Ghetsis:

Ghetsis is another one of the big issues FerrisWheelShippers have, meaning that they try and keep him out of the story as much as possible. I can only assume this is because Ghetsis is EEEEEEVVIIIIILLLLLLL and is implied to have emotionally and/or physically abused N when he was a child. Since the FerrisWheelShippers seem to think N is a God on earth, they cut out Ghetsis because he was soooo evil and mean and nasty to poor innocent, hot, harmless, hot sexy N.  The problem with this is that Ghetsis was the mastermind behind Team Plasma, he's the one who was pulling N's string the entire time and the reason N so feverishly pursued his goals. Brainwashing takes a long long time to expel from the human mind, and having such a charismatic figure ruling over his life it would probably take N that much longer.  But no. In most FerrisWheelShipping stories N is completely over any sort of mental scarring and brainwashing Ghetsis had placed on him, in fact N doesn't even care that Ghetsis is living in his castle! This is another problem I have with the most common portrayal of N in  fanfiction: somehow, someway, he is cured of --or was immune to-- Ghetsis' mind control and any sort of scar that was burned into his mind when N was a child. This isn't how brainwashing and mental scarring is recorvered. In some cases it can take years for mental scars and bigotry to be expelled from the mind, especially if someone had certain ideas and opinions pounded into his/her head since childhood. Since N is in his early twenties at the least in the games, that would make it that much harder. His mind has fully developed with the idea that whatever Ghetsis says is one hundred percent correct,it's been embedded into his psyche.

Ideally, White would be there to try and remove Ghetsis' influence on N's mind and help him step out of Ghetsis' shadow. But NO. N is perfectly mentally healthy and doesn't need any form of therapy or character development to get rid of Ghetsis' influence! That would cause an interesting conflict, and we can't have icky, horrid, terrible, disgusting character development or conflict in our FerrisWheelShipping story; it would get in the way of the love! DUH!

Just because Ghetsis didn't do as much as N doesn't mean you can just push aside one of the most influential villains in the series for the sake of your shallow romance. He's every bit as interesting a character as N is, just in a very different way. You can't write him out just because he was evil and treated N like he was less than human, that shows that you don't care about the mental relationship that he and Ghetsis share. It is a deep, psyche-scarring one and would create a lot of interesting plot points, especially if N had reoccurring nightmares of the atrocities Ghetsis committed against himself and the player. But again, that would cause conflict and a interesting character arc for N and we can't have that. That would leave less time for the totally in character sex and making out scenes.

True love?:

A common theme in FerrisWheelShipping stories is the so-called "true love" between White and N. To be fair the "true love" aspect can work, it just takes a lot of time and development for the reader to be convinced that the two characters are in love. The problem is that most stories make N and White fall deeply and truly in love with each other after meeting once. The beginnings of love will usually start with White commenting to herself "Oh my... he sure is hot!" Hello Bella Swan, it's so NOT nice to see you in my Pokemon fanfiction.

If you look through my gallery, you would see that I have a lot of romance stories in my archives, and I will admit that I like a good romance every now and again. The difference being that the couples I write for I give a stable ground for their love to stand on: Chell and Wheatley have been best friends and co-workers for a few years in my AU fics, Chell spent most of her time with Wheatley in Portal 2 , and White and Nobori have known each other for ten years in my ExpressShipping stories. Can you spot the pattern here? It's that the couples I write for have a previous history with each other and have spent a good handful of time with each other. This simply does not happen in FerrisWheelShipping stories. Most writers make N and White instantly attracted to each other and willing to do anything for each other, including making out in a Pokemon Center where anyone could see them and N completely getting over the bigotry he's been fed all his life.  Never mind the fact that she and N interacted for maybe thirty minutes tops, and such a ground breaking change in character in N can't happen in the span of one ferriswheel ride and a few meetings and battles.

Here's the thing about love: you have to be friends with the person before you get into a romantic relationship with them. Even me "soul mate" and I were friends for about three months before we kissed for the first time and started our relationship proper. But since development is the FerrisWheelShipper's natural enemy (along with conflict) they conveniently skip over all that pesky development and time and go straight for the love and kissing! Because that's totally not signs of a shallow, doomed-to-fail relationship. Not in the slightest.

In most cases, if the story is written in first person, White will gush and comment about how amazing N's eyes are or how flawless his face is, or how he is just so beautiful. Often making connections to N through everyday things she sees. She has a Pokemon with green eyes? She thinks of N. She sees someone with a black and white baseball cap? She thinks of N. She sees the Nimbasa City ferriswheel? She thinks of N. She eats green beans? She thinks of N. She realizes that Team Plasma is ultimately trying to overthrow the governing body of Unova, forcibly changing a way of life that has been in place for who knows how long? She thinks of N. -Slow clap- Our heroine, ladies and gentlemen. What a stunning example of female will-power and sense of self.

Not to mention when it comes to N she constantly has basorexia- an overwhelming hunger to kiss. I know there are some girls like this, otherwise the word wouldn't exist. But seeing White constantly think about kissing N, making out with N, locking tongues with N, swapping spit with N whenever someone so much as mentions him? It gets annoying and shows just how shallow this portrayal is. This isn't how a girl who is truly in love acts, this is how a girl who is in lust and wants nothing more than N in her pants acts.

Getting back to the "no development is allowed" issue. In the essence of fairness this isn't a FerrisWheelShipping-exclusive problem. These "no development required" romances plague the romance genre, and everyone sucks it up and gushes about how the couple's love is so pure and touching and meaningful. Just because Romeo and Juliet got away with falling in love at first glance doesn't mean everybody can. The difference is that Romeo and Juliet was a tragic, touching story where the romance was only there to show how stupid the fighting and hatred between the two families was. Most of the stories that parade "Romeo and Juliet" syndrome are high school romances with little-to-no resemblance of any sort of ground breaking tragedy. What made Romeo and Juliet's story so touching is that even though their families wanted to brutally murder each other, they managed to fall in love despite the bigotry that no doubt had been shoved into their heads.  Yes, White and N have the truth verses ideals conflict, but that is quickly forgotten in order to make room for the romance. Nothing comes of it, there is no drama and there is no tragedy, their relationship becomes a Disney fairytale romance.

(Also, here's another quote, spoken right before the final battle with N,
N: "Now, I will create the future I desire! I shall sweep you before me!" OMG, SO ROMANTIC! N'S SO TOTALLY IN LURVE WITH WHITE!!11)

Here's a breakdown of what I think a good romantic relationship is: It's 70% friendship and mutual respect, 25% time and development, and 5% intimacy. FerrisWheelShippers on the other hand ignore those other two aspects and go straight to the intimacy, having N and Hilda hug and kiss and tell each other they love each other oh-so-much and then have a sex scene. To me this is just the author jumping up and down and proclaiming,

"Look, see! They're hugging and kissing and telling each other they love each other and having sex and everything! They're totally in love! This is what was MEANT to happen in that game! Now start praising me!"

It's immature and sounds more like some poor teenager's skewered perception of love. Love is a very complicated emotion, and it should be treated as such but hardly ever is. Love is as much a mental and emotional experience as it is a physical one. There are more ways to show love between characters than to have them make out whenever they're in a scene together. The way they talk to each other, the way the act around each other, subtle movements that make towards each other. A brush of the hand, a caress of the cheek, and a deep gaze speaks volumes more about a character's relationship than just having them kiss and hug and make love. Expressing a romance between subtle actions means so much more because the two romantic leads don't need any of the shallow physical proclamations of love; they understand each other's feelings so well that actions like that are not needed.

Granted this is N we're talking about here, a guy who wouldn't know what the word "subtle" meant even if you slapped him in the face with it, but still. And even more to the point there is no way in hell N would know what kissing a girl on the mouth or hugging her would mean. To him, love is just another word for a close friendship with another person; since he hasn't been exposed to such a complicated emotion he doesn't know how to react to it. Of course, again, FerrisWheelShippers make N know exactly what love is and makes him the perfect lover and all that other garbage that fans of the pairing lap up. It never is explained how N knows about sex between humans and how to pleasure a woman at all (and him learning about it at a young age is for a more fetishy part of the fandom), and yet he does.  Sexual education just doesn't come naturally. And being "handsome" or "smoldering" or "glorious" or "beautiful" or any of those other purple prose-worthy words doesn't automatically implant the information into the brain. Teaching N about consensual sex between humans has nothing to do with Ghetsis' goals, so why would be bother teaching it in the first place? It's never explained how and why N knows about sex and what to do with a penis and a vagina. He just knows because he's that super-special-aweseome-sexy-perfect-hot-sexy-beautiful-flawless-perfect-sexy-beautiful.

Again, let's look at one of the couples I write for: NoborixWhite (and not just because they're my OTP -shifty eyes-). I've written their relationship as a subtle one, they don't say "I love you" very often because they don't need to. How they feel for each other can be summed up in a gesture or in a look. When they do make their feelings blatant it's mostly because White thinks it's funny to see the usually stern and stoic Nobori flustered. They're intimate when they're alone, but that doesn't mean they make out every second of the time they spend together (unlike what a certain author makes White and N do). Again, it's usually subtle: touching each other's faces, lacing their fingers together, White toying with Nobori's hair, things like that. And here's the amazing part: my White doesn't refer to Nobori as "beautiful" or "glorious" or "amazing" or "smoldering." -GASP- A female lead not commenting on her significant other's looks? Oh my God, wow!

First comes Love, then comes Marriage:

As fanfiction writers we are drawn to the idea of writing "what if?" scenarios for our favorite fandoms. What if Shiloh Wallace took over GeneCo, what if Victor Van Dort married Emily at the end of Corpse Bride, what if Lord Voldemort didn't kill Lily and James Potter, what if Kefka Palazzo was completely successful in his quest to kill the world? Ecetera, ecetra.  One of the biggest "what if?" scenarios for Black and White is: "What if White lost against N?" Now everyone has their own opinion on what the scenario would be like if N triumphed in the end. Or at least that's what I want to say. In almost every scenario of this type that I've seen, N makes White his queen. Now I'm not innocent of this trope myself, but I am one of the few who are taking it in another direction.

In most "White marries N" scenarios, she is completely and totally willing to give up her freedom, family, friends, ability to travel around the world and possibly her Pokemon. Why? Because she'll have her precious-perfect-sparkly-hot-beautiful-gorgeous-hot-sexy-beutiful-flawless N with her, that's why!

This isn't how teenage girls work, or grown women for that matter. No matter how much you love a guy (or think you love a guy), every woman has to think about commitment,  even adult woman have to have a moment to think over the proposal. Again this would make for an interesting emotional conflict, White having to chose between her dreams of traveling the world with Pokemon and being able to see her mom and friends whenever she wanted, or marrying the man she loves and trying to stop him from drastically changing Unova, making him a better person in the process. Guess what? We never get that. All it takes is a few sugar coated, cliché romantic words from N and a little kiss and White is ready and willing to give up everything her life is based around and never look back. -Slow clap- One again: our heroine.

What is it with these stories and avoiding conflict? It is possible to have a balance between conflict and romance, you know.

Pokemon? In my story?:

Pokemon is the axis which this series turns; it has been the motivation and drive for the player character to go out into the world and beat the bad guys since day one.  This is no exception in Black and White, in fact I would say that Pokemon play a bigger role in this story than any other that has been provided to us. In fact the main antagonistic force is a group of Pokemon rights activists, N being the biggest activist of them all.

Like many things, the FerrisWheelShippers conveniently leave out this little detail about N's personality and motivations. They also leave out the fact that White is a Pokemon Trainer, and probably became one because she loves Pokemon. At the most they'll name drop some Pokemon here and reference a Pokemon there, but they only serve as background decorations and a way for the author to remind us all that N and White both have Pokemon. White barely interacts with her Pokemon (if she does she's comparing her Pokemon's green eyes to N, or feeding them poffins) and there is hardly every any instances of N communicating with Pokemon. You know, that one thing he could do that set him apart from other humans? Completely forgotten so we can get another pointless sex/making out scene.

Sorry to ruin your fetish- oh excuse me, your "romance"- but if you locked N in a room with White, a math book and Pokemon he'd go straight for the Pokemon. Or go for the math book and then go to the Pokemon, but you get my point.

If there are Pokemon in the story its for a random out-of-no where battle with N, (even though even a child could tell that N only battles when he absolutely has to and doesn't battle for recreation) or between White, N and the antagonist. I say "the antagonist" because very, very, very, very rarely does Ghetsis sustain his rightful place as the main bad guy in FerrisWheelShipping stories. If he does, he doesn't battle, he plays the role of "that one creepy old guy who wants to rape the heroine because the author said so."

I don't get why FerrisWheelShippers hardly ever have N interacting with Pokemon, even the word of God has said that N values Pokemon above all else. That aside it is very possible to have Hilda and N bond over their shared love for the creatures. Oh, wait, that would mean that there would be actual development in their relationship, and as we all know: relationship development is one of the FerrisWheelShipper's natural enemies.

Conflict and Villains:

In order to make a compelling and enjoyable story, some sort of conflict is required. To pull reference from my own works: the conflict in "Lillies" was Wheatley trying -and failing- to confess to Chell. In "His Way" the conflict was, of course, Wheatley's insanity and how the human mind his AI was created from objected to his attempts to kill Chell. In "Inbound Train" the conflict was Nobori's growing feelings for White, and how he felt disgusted with himself for loving a girl who's nine years younger than he is. And finally, in "Four Years" the conflict is N struggling to understand White and trying to get her to see him as a friend. In most cases the conflict makes the story, no matter how big or how small it is, without a conflict there is no substance. There are only very few times a story can get away without some sort of conflict -emotional or otherwise- but in order to make up for the lack of conflict good character interactions and development are needed.

As we've covered before, FerrisWheelShippers seem adverse to any sort of conflict outside of "Why isn't N kissing me as much?" or "When am N and I going to have sex, if ever?" and "What sort of dress should I wear for N and mine's wedding?" It's shallow, shallow, shallow (kind of like the vast majority of the fans of this pairing, HEYO!). When they try to add in more conflict they really scrape the bottom of the barrel for it, making Cheren an evil jerk who hates N, making the Subway Masters evil and having them want to get into White's pants for no adequately explained reason. I'm not kidding about that last part, by the way. Read "Fill Me With Your Poison" chapter 8; the author makes Ingo and Emmet antagonists for absolutely no reason other than the fact they're hot (I wouldn't mind it so much if she actually wrote them in character, but her inability to write anyone in character is another rant for another day). This would be an interesting plot point if it wasn't in a "White Swan marries Nward Cullen" story; in those stories the main antagonist should be Ghetsis. He's the one pulling N's strings and obviously he's smart enough to coax White into going along with Team Plasma's goal for region-wide Pokemon liberation (implying that the White in these stories even has an opinion to be swayed in these stories after falling in "love" with N, hah!) but he just seems to piss off in these stories. He shows up for about four sentences to go,

"Oh, hey. How are you two doing? I hope you're happy White, my soon to be daughter-in-law. Okay, bye." Then just vanishes; he's only mentioned in passing in between White and N's "twu wuv" scenes. Granted Ghetsis never actually did any of the dirty work himself -he considered himself far too grand to sully his own hands- working through Team Plasma, the Seven Sages and N. However keep in mind that Ghetsis was the leader of the Seven Sages, and probably served as N's advisor during the course of the game; telling N what to do and where to go, giving him insight on where White was going, ect ect. Ghetsis is a manipulator, he wouldn't let anyone under his power do anything unless it somehow benefited him in the end. Somehow I doubt his son, soon-to-be daughter in law, and her friend going on a cruise helps his plans for world domination any.  If he does make another appearance it's just the author going,

"Oh hey, by the way, Ghetsis is so totally evil and stuff. He's got something planned because he's so evil. Did I mention he's evil?"  That doesn't work if he only shows up once every thirteen chapters for three sentences. Ghetsis was subtle with his manipulation, yes, but he served as a crutch for N and he damn well knew it. His influence always made itself known, especially through N since Ghetsis is the one who raised him.   Remember that N is very childish, and like any child he probably listens to every word that his "father"  tells him to do and follows them as closely as he possibly can. And like a child N probably went to Ghetsis if he encountered any unexpected problems. And yet N doesn't in these stories, it's another part of the whole "N is totally mature and civilized now, lol" thing that FerrisWheelShippers like to do oh-so-much.

In the end:

I really, really wish that the whole "Twilight" thing would stop with this pairing. I can see so much potential for character development and growth for this pairing that no one wants to pursue, and I think I know why. Fans of this pairing lap up the "twu wuv" aspect of this pairing; they feel funny in their pants at the idea of N being a lady-swooning bad boy who knows exactly how to pleasure a woman and only has eyes for Hilda. The sad thing about this is that it works. Stories like this will get more favorites and comments gushing praise than stories where N is in character and his and White's relationship has to develop- the latter doesn't provide instant gratification for the fan's fetish. Yes, I called it a fetish, there really is no other way to describe what this pairing has become. The writers of the fics make the stories from White's point of view, give her only a skeleton of a personality and free will so that the reader can more easily fill her shoes and goddamn it, it works!  I know that White is an empty shell, I know that she has no "canon" personality outside the manga, but I doubt that the female players of Black and White are easily manipulated, weak-willed, pathetic girls in real life (or at least I hope they're not).

In the end, it's not about the complex character development we get for N, it's not about the fantastic plot we get or the epic villain we have the pleasure of enjoying; it's about having a good-looking rival character have a romantic relationship with the heroine. I bet if N looked like Giovanni or Cyrus or Archie or Maxie we wouldn't have this problem, know why? Because none of those men are bishounen like N is, that's why. In the end, fangirls only flock to N and squeal over FerrisWheelShipping because N is "sexy," they care not for his personality. Stories like mine, where N has to work for Hilda's respect and friendship aren't going to get nearly as much praise. Stories like mine where Hilda's main romantic interest isn't N aren't going to have hoards of fangirls flooding to them and praising my writing abilities. I'm never going to become as popular as  HikariAngel85 or RelaxOnTheSand, for example, for my Black/White stories because I don't appeal to the fetish-loving masses that make up the majority of the FerrisWheelShipping fanbase. I don't write stories where Hilda instantly falls in love with N or where N is suddenly the perfect lover,  because I think that's just a poor way to garner attention. As such, my stories aren't nearly as popular. It's the Twilight esque trash that they write and draw that's popular! And I'm not only talking those two. I'm talking about everyone on DA and over on Fanfiction.net who writes and/or draws N as this Edward Cullen wannabe and Hilda as a knock-off of Bella Swan. I'm talking about every fangirl out there who makes Hilda emotionally break down and give up her dreams all because N left her behind.

It's just plain sad how low this pairing's fanbase has sunk, it's gotten to the point where incest and crack pairings are more endearing; and that is rare. I'd rather look at BlankShipping than FerrisWheelShipping. I'd rather read NxGhetsis than Nward CullenxHilda Swan. And I usually don't like incest because of how horrendously OOC the characters are in those situations. The fact that little N raping!Ghetsis and Twincest!Nobori and Kudari are more in character than FerrisWheelShipping is just... there is no words. It's just... wow....