Pepelope

Pepelope is the het ship between Pepe Le Pew and Penelope Pussycat from the Looney Tunes fandom.

Looney Tunes Shorts
Ever since her introduction in the 1949 short For Scent-imental Reasons, Penelope had served as the recurring target of Pepe's romantic pursuit of a female skunk despite her being a cat. This typically happens when an outside force gives her a skunk stripe down her back, Pepe notices her, and immediately falls madly in love with her. This usually causes Penelope to run away from him, not just because of his overbearing affection but also because of his skunk smell. Despite this, Pepe casually pursues Penelope typically on the pretense of her playing "hard to get", and usually ends up finding her in her various hiding spots. Sometimes (like in the 1955 short Past Perfumance) Pepe is still attracted to Penelope even after he learns that she's actually a cat.

Despite all the chasing, Penelope has been shown to also have feelings for Pepe. She's seen acting on these feelings during situations where Pepe's smell isn't a problem for her. One example is in For Scent-imental Reasons, where Penelope ends up dunked into a barrel of dirty rainwater, leaving her with a now stuffy nose that makes Pepe's smell a non-problem. Realizing this situation, and seeing how attractive Pepe is while covered in paint, Penelope locks him in the perfume shop they've been in and chases him, with Pepe not finding her attractive anymore due to being a soggy mess. Another example is the 1952 short Little Beau Pepé, when Pepe sprays himself with a myriad of perfumes in an effort to "restoke the furnace of love", but ends up masking his bad odor and making Penelope fall in love with him enough to chase him.

The ultimate subversion and reversal of their usual dynamic is the 1959 short Really Scent. In this short, Penelope - named Fabrette here - immediately falls in love at first sight with Pepe since no other male cat wants her (since she was born with a skunk stripe) just as he does. Unfortunately, the usual problem of Pepe's smell rears it's head when they try to hug, and Penelope can't deal with it even when they try again. However, for once, Pepe becomes cognizant of his odor problem and rectifies it at a deodorizing facility...while Penelope does the opposite and gains a bad smell via locking herself in a limburgh cheese factory. When the two reunite, Pepe tries his usual routine until he notices how foul-smelling Penelope is and immediately books it from her, with Penelope in pursuit.

Looney Tunes Comics
Pepe's and Penelope's dynamic in the comics is much the same as in the shorts.

Other Media
In a 2009 Valentine's Day commercial for AT&T, Penelope reacts with lovestruck delight at Pepe texting her. Notably, before receiving the text, she was painting a skunk stripe on her back.

Fanon
Pepelope is a fairly popular ship for the Looney Tunes fandom. Fans of the ship tend to take note of the amount of merchandise of the two, particularly from the 90's, depicting them as mutually in love with each other. They also the moments in the shorts where Penelope turn her situation with Pepe around as proof that she does have genuine feelings for him as long as the smell problem is dealt with. This particular point is often paired with the implication of all of the Looney Tunes characters being actors performing in scenes to make it so that they end up being a legitimate couple when their away from the camera.

With all of that said, this ship isn't seen favorably by a significant number of people. Pepe's whole character is seen by them as an uncomfortable stereotype of French men and so aren't fond of his romantic pursuit of a girl that, to them, wants nothing to do with him. It's only made more evident to detractors by the moments Pepe has physically trapped Penelope or mentally manipulated her into coming out of hiding. This view had only been amplified as the years went by and the dynamics of Pepe and Penelope began reminding people about the unfortunate events that currently plague the real world.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Pepe/Penelope on FanFiction.Net
 * Pepe/Penelope on FanFiction.Net