Canon Characters

[WP]

You see alot of them. Mostly anime or comic based. I like some of these characters personally, however I notice a pattern in which people get to comfortable with play canons and then decide to only exclusively play those said characters. I think this is fine in a canon setting RP, and in theory fine in freeform ( as Anything goes.) But for some reason it just usually rubs me the wrong way. Now I have alot of friends who play canons, so im not trying to offend them, it just kind of irks me to see unoriginal characters always played by good players. Their are exceptions to this of course, and some people just take from an existing canon to make original characters though I myself would not deem them "original" as their made from a pre-existing base instead of from scratch. Now you can argue "no character is original." and in a way you are certainly right, however at least "original characters" are not the same as playing a pre-existing character word for word, whether or not an original character can or is cliche is irrelevent.

I guess im just saying I would rather see mostly original characters with very few exception in freeform, this is not to say I cant RP with canons or all canons are bad, I would just rather see an "inspired" version of the characters they play rather than a carbon copy. I'm sure people will say "An inspired character is worse than a canon since your blatantly ripping it off." And to this I say there is a difference between immitation and emulation. /discuss?

[Furr]

I concur with the above gentleman.

I never really liked playing canon characters, and while some CAN do it well, it just seems.. wrong, you know? The character is not your creation, so you are essentially infringing on a copyright. I can understand the usage of an image that is another character, but if you aren't the creator of it, then you shouldn't play that same character.
The only way I can accept these carbon copies, is if they happen in alternate universe storylines, that are fundamentally different than their origin bases. But even so, I'm still not happy about it.

My way to solve this issue? Avoid playing with carbon copies or canon characters, even if they are in alternate universes. It does happen once in a while though, but that's because I know the other player.

[KitDreamer]

The aforementioned ripping off of canon characters to make an "Original Character" is generally considered fanboying or a symptom of Mary-Sue-ism, so it's unsurprising that it irks you WP. It pretty much irks everybody, myself included. Taking inspiration is fine, but there is a limit before you have to call bullshit on it.

Personally though, unless someone is playing the canon character true to the original, I don't really like the playing of canon characters. It always strikes me as odd because if they aren't going to play the original character, however good a roleplayer they are, why wouldn't they just MAKE a new character?

Tis just my opinion mind.

[Kade]

Literally RPing as Superman or Link. Not cool.

Characters like Auvic based on D&D. Fine with me.

[Moondog]

I'm not even a little bothered about people only RPing canon characters, or only playing original ones. If they're having fun with it, good for them, so long as they're doing fine by the character.

ie Ryu should not retire from fighting and open up a maid cafe desu

[Hypatia]

ie Ryu should not retire from fighting and open up a maid cafe desu

This almost made me snort Goldfish crackers up my nose.

Re: canon characters, I tend to find myself saddened by the lack of creativity, that's all.  Then again, imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery and players gonna play, and all that... /trails off

[Flamme Noire]

ie Ryu should not retire from fighting and open up a maid cafe desu

*Drags Ryu out of his "long discarded canon characters" closet and dusts him off.*

You asked for it, Moondog. 

[Styles]

I actually started a thread similar to this a few years ago. Seems like not much has changed as far as opinions go. Personally I don't mind if someone is utilizing a canon character, just so long as it's not their crutch, so to speak. I've played Majin Buu on several occasions just because it's simply fun to play him. I've had a character directly inspired by Guts from Berserk which turned out to be absolutely horrid to play towards the end.

To say it irks me to see so many canons being played....maybe so. Only because of the frequency more than anything and, let's be honest, most people straight up suck at taking on canon roles. That or the fact that people take up a canon role for the sole sake of a single idea they thought was kool; trying to get their rocks off just to use some ultimate technique they saw in the show for the first time with no real intentions of playing the character as it should be (which also falls in with 'inspired' characters)

Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's not but that's never really going to stop anyone.

EDIT: http://nexxushost.com/forums/index.php/topic,62270.msg809315.html#msg809315  <---Canon character thread I started a long time ago.

[Pitch]

Ah, yes, canon characters.

They're never really played correctly, are they? That's my only beef with them.

[Eibon]

Canon characters are cool when done correctly, so I will jump on Pitch's dick and concur.  Do it right, shit is tight.  Do it wrong, GTFO.

[KitDreamer]

Do it right, shit is tight.  Do it wrong, go suck on a dong.

fiksd so it rhymes.

[The Turtle]

I think it depends really.

I've tried it myself personally, with canons I do like, I tried to just make a few things different or have different outcomes so they'd be acceptable, some turned out bad, and some turned out good.

Though in my opinion on cannons, if one does play them I feel like they should Play to their personality, traits (those that are known, I know from experience sometimes you have to make some up on a whim to make them make sense), and prowress (to an extent) while as stated before, adding SOME little tid bits to make things from their original setting different.

[KitDreamer]

I think it depends really.

I've tried it myself personally, with canons I do like, I tried to just make a few things different or have different outcomes so they'd be acceptable, some turned out bad, and some turned out good.

Though in my opinion on cannons, if one does play them I feel like they should Play to their personality, traits (those that are known, I know from experience sometimes you have to make some up on a whim to make them make sense), and prowress (to an extent) while as stated before, adding SOME little tid bits to make things from their original setting different.

Though in my opinion on cannons, if one does play them

opinion on cannons

cannons

...brb making this as a character

http://larsbrownworth.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Cannon.jpg

(on a side note we managed to get through most of the first page of a thread without someone typoing canon as cannon. well done folks. Also I want to see ryu open a meido cafe now. And he solves all customer complaints with a dragon punch.)

[CaptainRobin]

An absence of canon characters does not constitute a presence of creative characters. Their presence is not subtracting (neither adding to, really, though) from anything.

People come here to have fun. If their definition of fun and yours differ, then... deal with it? I dunno...

[Mistifunk]

I've never played a canon character, have no intention to. To me it kinda feels like a rip off, even if it is played well. It's just not.. I dunno, mine. I've no problem with others who play canon characters, so long as they're not making the character a complete fail of the original. Y'know, like making Sasuke Uchiha gay for his elder brother, Itachi. I can't stand that. :|

I agree with Pitch - no problem so long as it's done right.

[Soja]

I played a canon character once.

Horribly.

But then I got better.

[WP]

I've never played a canon character, have no intention to. To me it kinda feels like a rip off, even if it is played well. It's just not.. I dunno, mine. I've no problem with others who play canon characters, so long as they're not making the character a complete fail of the original. Y'know, like making Sasuke Uchiha gay for his elder brother, Itachi. I can't stand that. :|

I agree with Pitch - no problem so long as it's done right.

Yeah I mostly agree their not mine and peope are entitled to play whatever they want, but I think its much more interesting to have OC's around. I guess other canons bother me more than others, but I would just rather they stick to their own closed settings if they want to play them, with afew exceptions like Kuraudo, but even then I would rather he play something LIKE Kuraudo than Cloud Strife himself, but then again theres a shit ton of people with anime based rip offs and he plays the character very well. Or Bradley it was awesome that someone played Fuherer King Bradley, so I guess some characters "fit" in more than other but I would still rather he play a character LIKE Bradley rather than Bradley himself, and I think alot of that player which is a shame cause he will ONLY play Canons,all in all its mostly the DBZers, Saiyans, and Narutards that that bug me, I just dont know why. I guess maybe the characters are kind of silly, I mean DBZ was kinda fly by the pants anime, Akira Toriyama didnt put much thought into it. So yeah I can deal with some Canons its just not my first choice I guess.

[Familiar]

Need more Tolkien based characters imo.

[WP]

Need more Tolkien based characters imo.

Everytime you see an Elf or Orc thats pretty much Tolkienesque. D&D wouldnt exist as it is if not for Tolkien nor would the majority of common fantasy Archetypes.

[Furr]

What Familiar meant: More characters based on Tolkien's work. Not some D&D bastardization of the concepts written up by Old Man Tolkien.

Need more Ents. And Shirefolk.

[Mistifunk]

need moar Elf.

[The Turtle]

Fine yes Typo on canon, I'd like to think despite that, what I said still counts -_-...

Though is someone really did play a literal Cannon...That'd be different to say the least.

[Flamme Noire]

Need more Tolkien based characters imo.

Everytime you see an Elf or Orc thats pretty much Tolkienesque. D&D wouldnt exist as it is if not for Tolkien nor would the majority of common fantasy Archetypes.

Agreed.  Fantasy owes so much to that man.  Lord of the Rings was actually the inspiration for my first two characters  (Elven Nobles).

[WP]

Need more Tolkien based characters imo.

Everytime you see an Elf or Orc thats pretty much Tolkienesque. D&D wouldnt exist as it is if not for Tolkien nor would the majority of common fantasy Archetypes.

Agreed.  Fantasy owes so much to that man.  Lord of the Rings was actually the inspiration for my first two characters  (Elven Nobles).

Yeah "Orcs" are all Tolkien there are no orcs in folkore.

[Familiar]

What Familiar meant: More characters based on Tolkien's work. Not some D&D bastardization of the concepts written up by Old Man Tolkien.

Need more Ents. And Shirefolk.

Hm, I may come up with an Ent based character. Have a nice picture of a Druid chick that could work.