Fanlore:Featured Article Archives/2023: Week 37
Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, also known as McShep, is the slash pairing of Rodney McKay and John Sheppard in Stargate Atlantis fandom.
It is by far the most popular ship in the SGA fandom, and became the fandom juggernaut.
There is some argument that SGA is not much of a threshold fandom, and that slash fans seem to have come to SGA, and thus McShep, from other existing slash fandoms. It has been called an "old school slash" fandom, possibly because of the lack of ironic distance, or the subject matter and types of stories being written, rather than simply the 'tone' of the fandom. It might even have been something that happened due in part to Fannish Drift.
Although, others assert that they were drawn to the pairing because of the dynamic between the two characters and their close canonical friendship, and that inspired them to create friends to lovers fanworks.