Forums » RP Discussion » Canon + Fanon Mixing

I just had this come across my mind, and I got curious.

What is your opinion on having OCs interact with Canon Characters?

The subject is actually kinda spoken a lot already, but I feel as if it always ends up with the talk of Mary/Gary sues. But I want to hear everyone's honest opinion on it!


I personally don't mind having fan characters interact with canon, just as long as it doesn't end up as the fanon trying to get sweet sweet romance from the canon. Otherwise, I actually feel the fanon can bring interesting stories, depending on who they are.

But in cases where you base something of a franchise like Dragon Age: Inquisition, I believe the romance between a fan made character and the canon is possible, as it can very well happen in the game with the player's inquisitor. Because it's already implied by the creators, I feel as if they're giving us the a-okay to date their characters. (In other words; "Yeah! Please date the Iron Bull!")

Discuss. c:

I personally love seeing OCs from canon universes. I rarely make them myself, but I feel like it adds a little perspective on the story. Dragon Age is such a good example of this! It's so much fun to see how other players imagine their inquisitor, what choices they made, who they romanced. RPG fandoms are ripe with that sort of thing in fanfic because it's almost unavoidable, and I find that I really don't mind it. The inquisitor is a bit of a Mary Sue sometimes, sure, but who cares? It's all in good fun.
OCs also have the potential to fill in holes in the canon where I sometimes feel like a little something is missing. Like, "You know what we haven't seen yet that would be awesome? A character like ______!"

There's totally a stigma against OCs in certain parts of fandom, because I think we were all kids once. "This is my character who is best friends with Batman!" "This is my OC and she is Sonic's girlfriend!"
That's pretty harmless and we (usually) grow out of it.

But a well-written and loved OC can do a lot to win me over to a fandom. I honestly don't harbor a lot of love for the last couple of Harry Potter books, but I adore characters from that universe. It's super meaty and great to play in, and I feel like the fandom has in some ways surpassed the canon for me. There's totally a place in my heart for Hogwarts RPs and everyone's wizarding world characters. So many fandom writers have done so much to expand on the source material.

I guess I'm of the mindset of 'let's all be geeks and have fun'. Ultimately, fanon mixing with canon is just an expression of love for the original, and that's a good thing!

When I was younger I felt it was smart to keep my OC's separate from the canon characters mostly, using a really really old example, my Sonic the hedgehog character almost never actually interacted with Sonic, because he was off on his own doing his things with his friends. When I was younger I always felt 'OC being best friends with a Canon character!' was something to avoid because it seemed mary sueish to me.

Though in recent years I've kind of chilled out regarding Canon and OC things. Using another, newer example, two of my main Steven Universe characters are pretty good friends with the main characters, heck Steven was the main reason the two even stayed on Earth.

I'm still kinda iffy on having OC's be heavily involved in the stories of Canons, or being in romantic relationships, or being related to Canons. I still kinda look at those kinda things as mary sueish.

As someone who rps as canons, I do not mind it if the OC isn't over powered, clingy or just randomly my muse's sibling. That I would like permission with. Since I am kind of strict with my muses.

It depends on a lot of things basically. For example, give me something open-ended that invites making OCs and exploring beyond the canon (I think Pokémon and Kingdom Hearts are good examples of this) and I don't mind that. In fact, I do have a Pokémon FC in play, and I wouldn't mind her meeting Ash or Red during her travels and befriending them somehow in her own way.

However, I believe there's a line between enhancing and exploring deeper sides of the canon with fan characters and outright rewriting the entire canon story around a fan character. It's the latter (I.e. I'm Ash's girlfriend, Misty is my best friend, Brock is totally in love with me and has forgotten other girls exist when I'm around, Gary and Daisy Oak are secretly my younger siblings, Professor Oak entrusted me with a rare Pokémon because I'm that special, etc.) that I'm really not fond of. The same applies to players that botch up canon characters they like and do the above as well, even including a few decently written fan characters into their "world." By no means are canon characters exempt from bad storytelling. Regardless of it being botched canon or a Sue Character, I run away immediately out of fear that my own characters have to revolve around them too, whether I like it or not.

Now don't get me wrong: any of those individually could make for a decent and well thought out story or RP. I've seen a few stories where the FC is related to a character that works well. It's when the story or RP stops being about the story and all of the characters and starts doting on the FC/one canon character alone and how amazing they are that's a deal breaker.

Overall, it's really about balance. I appreciate a good and healthy balance between keeping to the canon and exploring beyond it to fill in plotholes or come up with new ideas that haven't been explored before in the original. I'm starting not to shy away from the area of Fandom RP as much as I used to because I've seen that balance and it's a beautiful thing. Every once in a while, I will play with canon characters or fan characters of a series I like. (Just don't expect me mixing characters from my own series with any canon characters anytime soon. Still kinda a bit iffy on that despite the multiversal motif I have going that invites those kinds of things.)

I seen that allot with canon Rpers.

I tend to study my canons such as Cliff, my Gunvolt muses, etc.

The whole screwing up Canons to the point they aren't themselves are notorious on places such as Facebook and dA. Now, I can understand giving a canon some Headcanons and that is if they are less known or some perks, like I did with Akira (Who is now a retired muse). However, something such as making a rather serious and hard boiled character into a squealing weirdo or something to cull their kinks is kind of draws the line for me.

Considering I have seen the canon Rpers who don't know their character well and just RP them because they are "cool". I could understand if the said RPers were rookies or young and learning.

Now I LOVE OCs in fandom universes. I 100% prefer playing with them than the original characters to be honest .

A lot of people here are mentioning Fandom OCs are susceptible to being OP, but I think it's more than that. What I have seen is when people twist the fandom to the point it's unrecognisable. If I RP Fandom, I tend to want to keep pretty close to the source which means I avoid -

• Shoehorned anthro characters/kawaii nekos
• Characters who have access to more advanced tech
• Vampires
• Extremely brutal characters that love torture
• Cannibals (Why are there so many??)

*List may vary depending on particular fandom.

Everything on that list... I've encountered at least one of. Sometimes so many I couldn't even begin to count.

I mean, if you're going to play a canon universe to the point it doesn't resemble the canon universe... I don't see why you'd bother. If you want to RP Vampires go find some people who want to RP vampires.

Personally, I really like OCs in fandom universes as well. Heck, if you look at my publicly available characters, I have an Overwatch character, three Miraculous Ladybug characters, four characters for RWBY that share a profile, a Steven Universe Gem, technically three Pokémon characters (two of which have been made flexible for other settings), two Attack on Titan characters, and two characters that exist dominantly in their own universes though also can be used for Monster Hunter type stuff.

Now... in terms of mingling with canon, sure... I'm totally for it. It doesn't hurt anyone... not physically, and if it hurts you mentally, I personally believe there is an adjustment of priorities that are in order. That said, I will say that I also prefer a lot of 'as close' characterisation as one can pull off -- and this is a tall order from anyone that isn't the original creator. I have my own perceptions as to what constitutes as 'in character' for a canon character -- so do others, and our perceptions will all be different.

When it comes to fan characters, I also have a preference for having research going into developing that character for the world that they will be in as well as whatever interests that they have that defines them as a character. What's the timeline, what's appropriate for that setting, what doesn't exist in that setting, and what would be appropriate for the character to know (mostly in terms of magic, technology, and world lore).

I know it sounds super picky, however... I feel that if a person puts that much effort into developing a character to fit in the setting that their fan character is part of, then that usually shows how much that person really admires and cherishes the fandom that they're making a character for.

Can I safely admit I do like when my canons become friends with people's OCs? It can build some fun character development.