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Applebow is the femslash ship between Apple and Bow from the Inanimate Insanity fandom.
Canon[]
Inanimate Insanity[]
While playing catch with Marshmallow, Bow points to Apple and tells Marshmallow to throw it to her, calling Apple a stupid kiwi. Apple doubts that Marshmallow can play sports and ends up getting hit with a ball, making Bow smile. Later when Apple finds a shark underwater, Bow throws a chair at it to try to get it to go away.
Bow votes out Apple during the contestant voting elimination. She feels tired of Apple while confusing her with other fruits such as a kiwi, a lemon, and a guava. After the elimination, Bow and Apple are matched up together in the wrestling bracket. In the round, Apple sarcastically claims to be terrified of the pink ball. Bow then pulls out a chair and smacks Apple into the ground with it, giving her the win against Apple.
Inanimate Insanity II[]
While drawing pictures with Marshmallow, Apple is caught off-guard when she sees Marshmallow's picture of Bow. Apple asks her about it and learns that Marshmallow is feeling guilty for being responsible for Bow's death during last season's finale. Apple thinks that no one cares about her death, insulting Bow in the process. When Marshmallow thinks that Bow was nice, Apple changes her mind to not make Marshmallow feel bad. Though, Apple tries to talk Marshmallow out of getting MePhone to revive her. Later when MePhone is unable to revive Bow, Marshmallow is shocked and Apple tries to make her feel better by inviting her to draw.
Marshmallow expresses her frustration to Paintbrush about Apple not caring about Bow. Later when Marshmallow is reunited with Bow's ghost in Purgatory Mansion, she tries to talk to her about how she feels around Apple. Despite not paying attention at first, Bow hears that Marshmallow is grateful that she settled her differences with Apple but she just wants some space from her. Bow then tells Marshmallow that she needs to go get more cell service and Marshmallow shortly overhears Apple when Bow disappears. Marshmallow is shocked when Apple states that she was using her vote to get father in the game and calls out for Bow to get rid of her. Bow then launches Apple away out of a window.
When Marshmallow revisits Purgatory Mansion to meet up with Bow, she tells Bow that no one has been wanting to talk to her about how she feels with Apple. Later after getting settled in, Marshmallow vents about Apple seeming like the perfect friend only to find out she was only using her. As Marshmallow questions if anything in the show is real, Bow tries to get Marshmallow to forget about Apple. Bow explains that she doesn't think Apple, calling her Kumquat, was important. Instead, she wants Marshmallow to face the real world instead of pondering what Apple's strategy was. Afterwards when Marshmallow gets the feeling that Bow is hiding something from her, Bow then admits during a rage that she didn't think Apple deserved Marshmallow's friendship and made Apple say what she said just to convince Marshmallow. When Marshmallow is stunned, Bow explains her power of being able to possess people as a ghost, which she did with Apple to make it seem like she was just using Marshmallow to get further in the game. Marshmallow is upset and tells Bow that it's making her issue worse of knowing what's real and what isn't. Bow then tells her and Dough that people like Apple were the only people that Marshmallow cared about, needing to get rid of Apple if she were to have any chance of being friends with Marshmallow. Later when Marshmallow learns of how important Bow thinks being in the competition is, Bow and Dough try to convince Marshmallow to live with them since Marshmallow isn't fond of the competition. She decides to accept the offer under one condition: Apple gets to come with.
The next time Apple is seen again, she is seen happily residing in Purgatory Mansion with Marshmallow and Bow. As Marshmallow explains to Paintbrush about how the game changes how they act, Apple adds on that she can be possessive sometimes. Bow then says that she literally possessed Apple, which Apple thinks was what she just said. Later when MePad and the last remaining competitors are taken to the mansion, the contestants try and figure out a way to send a message to finalists Suitcase and Knife. Apple gets an idea and asks Bow about her being possessive, which Bow thinks is a criticism at first only to realize what Apple is planning. Apple allows Bow to possess her body as she takes Apple to the ship Knife and Suitcase are being held in. Bow takes control over Apple's body while still being in the mansion to do so, delivering the word to Knife and Suitcase for them to come home with them. However, Knife and Suitcase tell them and the others in the mansion that they need to carry on their plan of performing a finale for Cobs. Later during the finale when Knife and Suitcase tease Cobs about there not going to be a winner, Cobs turns around to see Bow and Apple having lured Toilet into unplugging the Me device's wire. This ends up causing the ship to spontaneously disappear as Bow can be seen flying Apple down afterwards.
Inanimate Comics[]
In the mansion, Bow is explaining her eyelash routine to Apple. Apple listening along until she notices snow outside, making her excitedly tell Bow to go outside with her. Despite wanting to, Bow can't go outside and explains to Apple about being restricted to staying inside the mansion as a ghost for an eternity. Apple is saddened that Bow cannot go with her, though she gets an idea once she is outside. Apple piles up a ball of snow and brings it inside the mansion and goes out to repeat the process. Later, Bow returns to check on Apple and finds that the lobby is filled with snow. Apple explains how she took the snow and put it inside so Bow can play with her. Bow is excited and calls it cool, being happy to be able to play with the snow.
Fanon[]
The ship is somewhat rare in the Inanimate Insanity fandom overall. The two are more commonly shipped together with Marshmallow in a poly ship, Marshapplebow, since both Apple and Bow are her closest friends. With just the two together, shippers of the two have been fond of Apple and Bow putting aside their differences in Purgatory Mansion and ended up being better friends as a result. In particular, the penultimate episode of the last season saw increased interest in the two as Apple allows Bow to control her body to save the finalists from deletion, which fanart often interpreted the two coming together as one. The pairing has gotten support from the show's shipping platforms, though Marshmallow's ships with the two tend to overshadow it when not all put together.
On AO3, as of January 25, 2025, the ship has 8 works in its romantic tag and 3 under its platonic tag. It is the third most written ship for both Bow and Apple, both behind their ships with Marshmallow and the poly ship of the three.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Apple/Bow tag on AO3
- Apple & Bow tag on AO3
- FAN ART
- Apple and Bow search results on DeviantArt
- TIKTOK
- Apple x Bow posts on TikTok
Variations[]
- Mansion Gang refers to the ship between the two, Dough, and Marshmallow
- Marshapplebow refers to the ship between the two and Marshmallow
