Derivative Ship

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Synonyms: Derivatives, 衍生
See also: Adjacent Ship, Actor-based crossover pairings
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In some Chinese media fandoms, a very popular ship will spawn derivative ships where fans look for other roles played by the same actors and start shipping those other characters together. These ships and fanworks are labeled [ship name] derivatives or [ship name]衍生. For example, Guardian fans interested in the main ship Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan or WeiLan may enjoy fanworks that pair up other characters played by Zhu Yilong (Shen Wei) and Bai Yu (Zhao Yunlan). These fanworks are called WeiLan Derivatives or 巍澜衍生.

The "derivative" terminology originated among Chinese fans, who use it for non-Chinese media fandoms as well (example: Akaso Eiji/Machida Keita from Cherry Magic). English speakers in a few C-Drama fandoms have adopted this terminology. Other English terms for the same phenomenon include Adjacent Ship, Extended Universe, etc. AO3 calls them "Character Combinations". See also Actor-based crossover pairings.