Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-27144409-20170705210718/@comment-27425734-20170707014224

RayStrikeAbius wrote: 1. For some reason fans seem to be drawn to making characters around these things, and I dislike it to an extent.

2.''' Often leads to said fans either bitching about Canon "ruining their character", ignoring the rules altogether and saying their version is the right one, or both. Trust me, I know. I spent 10 regrettable years of my life on Fanfiction.net'''.

3. Why go through all of that trouble when you could just wait for the info and then work off of that? 1. Agreed, but there's an attitude held by some towards the idea of only creating characters that follow the rules of the canon. To these people, this limits your creativity. In my opinion, Fanfiction is an outlet for people to channel all sorts of crazy ideas that would never make sense in the canon. So long as they're done well, I don't have a problem with them.

For example, Coer Al'Aran, arguably one of the best writers in the RWBY Fanfiction community, wrote a story about Jaune Arc and Blake Belladonna pairing with one of the two only existing as a ghost. Is this possible on Remnant? There's no way of knowing, but the story is well-written enough that I don't see any problem with it. Of course, there is a line to how much crazy I'm willing to accept, but that line blurs if the story entertains me enough.

2. I've seen people say these types of things. However, I think the creators sometimes hold part of the blame when they don't properly explain things from the beginning.

For instance, according to the Faunus page, Faunus only having one trait wasn't explained until midway through Volume 3. I think people being pissed about this is understandable since it was never explicitly stated before this point that Faunus could only have one trait (Even if all the Faunus shown prior to that point only had one trait, some might argue that Blake's preference for fish is a trait along with the night vision possessed by most Faunus. Therefore, an OC can have two physical traits).

So, a Wolf Faunus OC with a tail and ears now defied the canon which naturally would irk a writer working on a story they started prior to Volume 3. I've learned from my own experiences on Fanfiction.net that most writers are either too lazy, busy, and/or impatient to make minor edits on every instance of an ongoing story for such an insignificant aspect of the story. So, they don't bother changing it and go on a rant in their author's notes about how stupid it would be for them to do so.

3. As a writer myself, I understand all too well that sudden burst of inspiration that strikes a person when see a show like RWBY where inserting an OC into the canon plotline is relatively easy, and they immediately start working on a character. It's a principle of write first, research later, that guides some writers into creating an OC who is a half-Maiden, half-Silver-Eyed Warrior that uses two scythes and a katana. And flaming wings that emerge from their back, a la Maximum Ride. They also might have a Semblance that steals other people's Semblances, controls time/shadows/darkness/the evil within themselves, or makes their entire life function like a video game (i.e. the Gamer). And of course the inherent belief that new writers hold that "This idea of mine has never been done before, so I should release it now, so some other schmuck can't claim it as his own!".

In short, some people can't stand the idea of having to wait three or four years when RWBY finally reveals a secret organization of Grimm Arrancar that has been lurking in the shadows and guiding canon events the entire time, or that Cinder's Semblance lets her steal other people's Semblances and even Maiden abilities if augmented by that weird Grimm bug glove given to her by Salem. So, they start writing a story and when that story's done they write a sequel, and as they garner reviews, favorites, follows, and tons of views from their readers, they start thinking how great they are. And then, RWBY finally reveals a half-human Grimm and it infuriates this person to no end when they start getting reviews telling them that their OC doesn't fit the established rules of the canon.