University Shipping

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Fandom
Name(s): University Shipping
Abbreviation(s): N/A
Scope/Focus: Art, fan fiction, and related discussion about shipping humanized versions of universities.
Date(s): June 2020 - Present
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Summary

University Shipping is a yaoi and yuri-centric fandom focused on shipping anthropomorphized Canadian (and international) universities. It originated on the r/Waterloo subreddit as a by-product of uWaterloo Department Anime Girls, but has since acquired a life of its own.

History

Thank you to u/smilehacks for your work on the initial masterpost.

University Shipping began as a meme on June 26, 2020, in the subreddit r/uWaterloo, following the daily upload of uWaterloo Department Anime Girls by the user u/alyssnya. The first post of six, Math, has since gained almost 1000 points on the subreddit at time of writing, indicating a highly positive response.

After these daily posts began to gain traction, u/uoftxwaterloo made a comment on the post 'day 4 of drawing every faculty an anime girl: arts' on June 27, 2020, reading "Day 1 for asking uWaterloo x UofT / Upvote if you agree".

On June 28, they posted this image in r/uwaterloo and in r/UofT, though the post in r/UofT was deleted by moderators. After this, u/uwutulu posted the initial uToronto/uWaterloo yaoi art.

The first instance of University Shipping fanart

Ships

UofT/uWaterloo

The University of Toronto: St. George Campus is a post-secondary institution located in the city of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. The University of Waterloo is a post-secondary institution located in the city of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada. The schools, sometimes renamed 'Tor' and 'Walter' by the fandom, were the impetus of University Shipping.

Art of the male versions of UofT and uWaterloo first appeared in the post 'Uwaterloo x UofT tsundere' by u/uwutulu on the r/uWaterloo subreddit, posted on Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 2:52:52 UTC. This post was met with wide praise, gaining upward of 600 points in its first two days on the subreddit. Speculation began immediately about the characters, with user u/cipherdelic commenting, "UoT is the loudmouth, rich, popular kid who has never known intense longings or the dark side of love and seduction. UWloo is the quiet virginal nerd who is actually a sadistic and passionate lover and leaves UoT begging for more". In the piece, UofT and uWaterloo are depicted with what will become their signature looks: for UofT, a blue long-sleeved shirt with the University of Toronto logo on the arm, and for uWaterloo, a black long-sleeved shirt with the University of Waterloo logo on the arm.

Further art was posted of the pair, depicting 'Chad' UofT and 'Virgin' uWaterloo, reversing the dynamic of u/uwutulu's image. A user by the name of u/MyTorontoAccount submitted a post titled 'UWaterloo X UofT Part 2 😳' on r/UofT at 16:42:27 UTC on Monday, June 29, 2020. This art shows 'Chad' UofT in a backwards black snapback and a spirit hoodie with the uToronto logo on the sleeve. 'Virgin' uWaterloo has a pair of circle-rimmed glasses on, and is wearing a blue shirt with the uWaterloo logo on the sleeve. In the art, UofT is wearing a face mask around his chin—likely a reference by the artist to the contemporary COVID-19 quarantine—and has an earring in. All around, he is much more suave-looking that the 'Virgin' UofT from the original post. He is dressed with a sense of style, in comparison to his more nerdy counterpart. This design was used by u/relativelyjilly in their post to the r/uWaterloo subreddit, titled 'I thought they should kiss so I drew it', which was posted on Monday, June 29, 2020 at 21:20:57.

UTSG is occasionally characterized as being the sibling of UTM and UTSC, its real-world sister schools, the University of Toronto, Mississauga Campus and the University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus.

A few female designs for UofT and uWaterloo popped up at the same time, first from u/notredherring. Their post, titled 'ask and you shall receive, u/AltruisticAirport' was posted at 07:00:11 on Sunday, June 28, 2020, and featured UofT with her iconic wavy blue hair and white bangs, and uWaterloo with brown hair and twintails. In addition, instead of a blue long-sleeved shirt, u/notredherring gave f!UofT a navy turtleneck jumper, foregoing the usual branded spirit wear, and gave uWaterloo a black hoodie.

Fanfic

Fanart

m!UofT and m!uWaterloo

UWaterloo X UofT by MyTorontoAccount

f!UofT and f!uWaterloo

Ask and you shall receive, by notredherring

Carleton/uOttawa

This ship was established in a comment on a post in r/geegees. u/imgonnagonowbye posted the comment "Neither ;) here’s one for you guys tho uottawa x carleton u", linking to the art. It was quickly reposted into the other subreddits as a screenshot.

Fanart

Western/Queens

Queens University is a post-secondary institution located in the city of Kingston, in Ontario, Canada. The University of Western Ontario—commonly shortened to Western University or simply 'Western'--is a post-secondary institution located in the city of London, in Ontario, Canada. The schools are also called 'Wesley' and 'Quentin' by the fandom. Western is often depicted as Caucasian, with brown hair and light brown eyes. In art, he is depicted as a frat boy despite Western's lack of a Greek society. He has a buzzed undercut, with a styled fringe, and wears a purple letterman jacket with Western's 'W' on the sleeve. Queens is often depicted as Caucasian, with blond hair and blue eyes. He wears a blue, red, and gold Queens Rugby sweater with a white collared shirt underneath. In fanworks he is characterized as a sporty 'Chad' archetype.

Art of Queens and Western was first posted to the subreddit r/uwo on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 at 20:18:40 UTC by u/sagtag2020. The post depicts a scene from or adjacent to a fic uploaded to the subreddit by the same user in the post, 'UWO X QUEENS'. In the fic, Western and Queens share a drunken kiss at a party. This fic also depicts a side character named Laurie who could be a nod to Laurier University.

Fanfic

  • 'UWO X QUEENS'[4] by u/sagtag2020 [5]

Fanart

  • UWO chad boi x queens frat boi [6] by u/sagtag2020 [7]

Ryerson/YorkU

Ryerson/YorkU was established on June 30 on the r/ryerson subreddit in a post by u/honeyume ambiguously depicting York and Ryerson in an intimate moment.

Queens/Western established on the r/uwo [8] subreddit in the fan fiction post 'UWO x QUEENS'[9] by u/sagtag2020 [10]. This account also posted art of the pair shortly after.

Guelph/McMaster joked about briefly on the r/uoguelph [11] in a post [12] by u/somethingabnormal [13].

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