Crash Bandicoot (Fandom)

Crash Bandicoot is a franchise that consists of games published and produced by various companies. It has a large fandom, and is one of the few Western franchises to have a fandom in Japan.

Plot
The series follows a general storyline, albeit mostly disjointed barring a few specific references to previous installments. There are a few spin-off titles that deviate from the main storyline and tell their own separate story.

Games
In the game series, Crash was created by his arch nemesis Dr Nero Cortex to be the leader of his army. However, following a failed experiment, Crash escaped and thus began the chain of the events that started the series. Crash has thwarted Cortex's attempts at world domination many times over the years, usually with the help of his sister Coco and the voodoo mask Aku Aku.

Manga
Following the success of the series in Japan, a manga series was created to tie into the games for Japanese audiences. The mangas mostly follow the events of the original Crash Bandicoot and its sequel Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, but also tell their own unique story.

TV Shows
Crash Bandicoot content has made a few appearances in the 2016 Netflix series Skylanders Academy. This includes Crash Bandicoot himself for a few episodes and even his sister Coco. Crash would team up with the Skylanders in order to help them accomplish their mission.

Characters

 * Crash Bandicoot
 * Coco Bandicoot
 * Crunch Bandicoot
 * Tawna Bandicoot
 * Isabelle
 * Megumi
 * Ami
 * Liz
 * Dr Neo Cortex
 * Dr N. Gin
 * Nina Cortex
 * Pinstripe
 * Komodo Moe
 * Komodo Joe
 * Dingodile
 * Pasadena O'Possum
 * Yaya Panda
 * Hasty

Ships
Note: Most ships do not have agreed upon ship names at the moment. This list includes pairings with fanworks.

Het

 * Crashadena — the ship between Crash Bandicoot and Pasadena O'Possum
 * Crash×Nina — the ship between Crash Bandicoot and Nina Cortex
 * Crash×Perci — the ship between Crash Bandicoot and Perci
 * Crash×Tawna — the ship between Crash Bandicoot and Tawna Bandicoot
 * Crash×Yaya — the ship between Crash Bandicoot and Yaya Panda
 * Crunch×Ami — the ship between Crunch Bandicoot and Ami
 * Dingo×Tawna — the ship between Dingodile and Tawna Bandicoot
 * FakeCrash×Megumi — the ship between Fake Crash and Megumi
 * FakeCrash×Pasadena — the ship between Fake Crash and Pasadena O'Possum
 * Hasty×Yaya — the ship between Hasty and Yaya Panda
 * NGin×Coco — the ship between Dr. N. Gin and Coco Bandicoot
 * Klonoa×Coco — the ship between Klonoa and Coco Bandicoot
 * Pinstripe×Tawna — the ship between Pinstripe and Tawna Bandicoot
 * Tails×Coco — the ship between Miles "Tails" Prower and Coco Bandicoot

Slash

 * Crash×Cortex — the ship between Crash Bandicoot and Dr Neo Cortex
 * Joestripe - the ship between Komodo Joe and Pinstripe Potoroo

Femslash

 * Coco×Nina — the ship between Coco Bandicoot and Nina Cortex
 * Coco×Perci — the ship between Coco Bandicoot and Perci
 * Coco×Tawna — the ship between Coco Bandicoot and Tawna Bandicoot
 * Coco×Yaya — the ship between Coco Bandicoot and Yaya Panda

Poly

 * Komodo×Yaya — the ship between either Komodo Moe or Komodo Joe and Yaya Panda
 * Nitro Squad — the ship between Isabelle, Megumi, Ami and Liz (may include Tawna)

Family

 * Cortex×Nina — the ship between Dr. Neo Cortex and Nina Cortex
 * Crash×Coco — the ship between Crash Bandicoot and Coco Bandicoot
 * Komodo Brothers — the ship between Komodo Moe and Komodo Joe

Friend

 * Crash×Spyro — the ship between Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon
 * Team Bandicoot — the ship between Crash, Coco, and Crunch (may include Tawna)

Fanon
The Crash Bandicoot series gained incredible popularity when it first released in 1996, and for the rest of the 90's continued to be a powerhouse that even rivalled Super Mario and Sonic The Hedgehog. Even though the franchise went dormant around 2010, the overwhelming success of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy in 2017 showed that the fandom was as strong as ever.

That said, it is often considered to be one of the most fractured and toxic fandoms. This was due to how, following Universal Interactive (who owned Crash Bandicoot) departing from Sony in 2000 (who owned the series creators, NaughtyDog), the overall quality of the series began to decline. Matters came to a head with the release of Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind Over Mutant. Despite being well received games, they took the series in a different style artistically and in gameplay, alienating many long time fans. This generated a rift in the community between those who are nostalgic for the older PlayStation titles and those who supported the series despite it's mishaps.

Shipping in the Crash Bandicoot franchise has mostly been a quiet affair for much of its lifespan. However, following the release of Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled in 2019, the shipping scene began to accelerate. This was due to how, in the 8 months following the games release, almost the entire Crash Bandicoot cast was added as a playable character. Coupled with the games incredible success, a lot of the obscure characters became well known and gained popularity, such as Pasadena O'Possum and Yaya Panda. However, finding an exact ship is often difficult without directly looking for it via a search engine, as most ships not only lack portmanteau names but also are rarely tagged.