What about different versions of the same character? (A sampling of examples I've thought of)
-The Doctor from Doctor Who; do Nine/Rose and Ten/Rose count as different ships or can they only appear once as Doctor/Rose? -Character A/Character B, but we've seen versions of them in parallel universes? And maybe mix-and-match Character A/version of character B from ep-X? -One of the characters gets-replaced by a not quite exact cope of themselves? Are A/original-B and A/new-B the same or different relationships? -Different fictional versions of real people? Say you want to write John/Abigail Adams from 1776 and the John Adams mini-series? -Different versions of characters across adaptations? Either classics characters that have been greatly reinterpreted (are Elizabeth/Darcy from the novel the same ship as in The Lizzie Bennett Diaries?) or say comic book characters that have been adapted a few different times in movies/shows/cartoons (can you write Lois Lane/Clark Kent from the Arrowverse, Smallville, Lois & Clark, the animated series, and the Snyderverse as separate ships or are they the same?) -What about in-canon major resets? pre/post Crisis? New 52?
(the last is definitely the least relevant to me, but it is worth saying with the rest of these)
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-The Doctor from Doctor Who; do Nine/Rose and Ten/Rose count as different ships or can they only appear once as Doctor/Rose?
-Character A/Character B, but we've seen versions of them in parallel universes? And maybe mix-and-match Character A/version of character B from ep-X?
-One of the characters gets-replaced by a not quite exact cope of themselves? Are A/original-B and A/new-B the same or different relationships?
-Different fictional versions of real people? Say you want to write John/Abigail Adams from 1776 and the John Adams mini-series?
-Different versions of characters across adaptations? Either classics characters that have been greatly reinterpreted (are Elizabeth/Darcy from the novel the same ship as in The Lizzie Bennett Diaries?) or say comic book characters that have been adapted a few different times in movies/shows/cartoons (can you write Lois Lane/Clark Kent from the Arrowverse, Smallville, Lois & Clark, the animated series, and the Snyderverse as separate ships or are they the same?)
-What about in-canon major resets? pre/post Crisis? New 52?
(the last is definitely the least relevant to me, but it is worth saying with the rest of these)