Hey all! I’ve noticed there’s a pretty massive trend of original characters being shipped with canon characters in fandoms. I was just wondering about your experiences with that type of roleplay, and whether it was great or not so great.Occasionally I’ll do a plot with it sometimes, but I usually play the canon character. I don’t really mind it.
Experiences How do you feel about Oc x Canon Rps?
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rae2nerdy
left site
Personally? Hate it with a burning passion.
I think that a lot of times people just can't come up with an OC that is well written or interesting enough that I feel like the Canon would realistically want to date them. And in the case where they're pairing the OC with a married/villainous Canon it usually just ends with the canon being made to be OOC so that they fall in love with the OC character.
I think that a lot of times people just can't come up with an OC that is well written or interesting enough that I feel like the Canon would realistically want to date them. And in the case where they're pairing the OC with a married/villainous Canon it usually just ends with the canon being made to be OOC so that they fall in love with the OC character.
Shotagonist
Headpat Afficionado
I rarely play canon stories, but personally I do not mind it (though I have issues playing as a character someone else made, canon and OC), though I am bothered a lot by it when its with canon characters who already are in a relationship.
Glassy
New Member
For me it depends, if it's purely romance then I tend to get nervous as in my experience they always end up with Mary Sues who I have to desperately try to win over as the canon character (on different sites and hey maybe I just got unlucky with the people I paired up with,) or it was all focused on the oc making it a bit boring to play as the canon character in that. It always seems to be the canon character having to become OCC or making me feel as if I'm helping someone write some kind of fanfiction/OC centric story rather than something a bit more balanced where both characters are important to the plot.
I don't hate it though, I just don't think I've found the right one yet. As I had one pretty good one as it was a nice balance of the OC having their own plot and creating a larger plot within the Universe so that I was able to do my own thing as the canon character too. Though that seems to be the rare case out of how they usually go.
I usually end up going for the canon as I'd like to get better at playing a canon/established character as right now I'm not super good or comfortable at doing that. But because I've mainly had bad experiences it has to be an interesting sounding plot, fandom I'm desperate to do or an interesting sounding character for me to do canon x OC. Typically I like to do OC's/Original Plotlines within a fandom universe or a non-shippy canon x canon where we focus on what ifs/what if this fan theory was true/what if this had happened ect.
I don't hate it though, I just don't think I've found the right one yet. As I had one pretty good one as it was a nice balance of the OC having their own plot and creating a larger plot within the Universe so that I was able to do my own thing as the canon character too. Though that seems to be the rare case out of how they usually go.
I usually end up going for the canon as I'd like to get better at playing a canon/established character as right now I'm not super good or comfortable at doing that. But because I've mainly had bad experiences it has to be an interesting sounding plot, fandom I'm desperate to do or an interesting sounding character for me to do canon x OC. Typically I like to do OC's/Original Plotlines within a fandom universe or a non-shippy canon x canon where we focus on what ifs/what if this fan theory was true/what if this had happened ect.
Onmyoji
HanGuang-Jun
Personally, I'm not a huge supporter of this trend. I just... sort of... don't like the idea of an OC in a fandom where the cast of characters is tightly knit and if the canon character you ship the OC with has some sort of canon relationships that would be messed up. There are some fandoms where OC would make perfect sense though, let's say MMORPG video games where everyone is the main character. But let's not go that way.
However I'm not entirely against this either. Yes, many experiences show that the OCs tend to be Mary Sue / self-inserts. And in many cases such rp tend to be a fight with someone's personal dating ambition. (and in such cases it's best to just nope out as fast as you can). But some are actually fun to write against. I had a few really good rp with canon x OC that sort of made sense if you consider them as AU or canon-divergent and don't take too seriously.
In such rp I would most certainly play canon. As I mentioned earlier, I don't particularly like the idea of making an OC within some fandoms, but sometimes I'm plain curious to try setting up a canon character with an OC. Sometimes I just want to rp a specific canon character and if I have to pair it with an OC so be it as long as I get to play who I want.Selfish, I know.
tldr; Not a big fan, but it could work if done right and I've seen it work so I'm not against it.
However I'm not entirely against this either. Yes, many experiences show that the OCs tend to be Mary Sue / self-inserts. And in many cases such rp tend to be a fight with someone's personal dating ambition. (and in such cases it's best to just nope out as fast as you can). But some are actually fun to write against. I had a few really good rp with canon x OC that sort of made sense if you consider them as AU or canon-divergent and don't take too seriously.
In such rp I would most certainly play canon. As I mentioned earlier, I don't particularly like the idea of making an OC within some fandoms, but sometimes I'm plain curious to try setting up a canon character with an OC. Sometimes I just want to rp a specific canon character and if I have to pair it with an OC so be it as long as I get to play who I want.
tldr; Not a big fan, but it could work if done right and I've seen it work so I'm not against it.
Idea
The Pun Tyrant
There are various reasons I don't look favorably at these types of RPs.
The first is that I don't like involving cannon characters if it can be helped. Period. It's limiting to creativity, innective compared to the point and in my opinion a distortion of the original work.
That said, those reasons also apply to cannon x cannon RPs alike. When it comes to cannon x OC the problem I have with them (and I will admit, I haven't really done many RPs like this before, so a good chunk of my beliefs regarding this come from surrounding experience with the clues provided) it mostly regards how one-sided they are. 9/10 cases, the cannon character is the one that the poster expects another to play. While this isn't 100% forcing the character onto someone, it is giving one player a massive degree of freedom over the other. Furthermore, the one with more freedom also seems to me far more likely to be pesky about the work of the other. After all, if they want that cannon character in the RP so badly, they have set expectations about that character- expectations that the other player may be unable or unwilling to meet, even potiantially fundamentally disagree with.
On the OC end, things don't get much better. There's a tendency, even if we ignore the Mary Sues and the like, for there to be this "one upping" tendency in OCs that get involved with cannon characters. If the coolest characters are a dragon and a magician, the OC will tend to be a half-dragon with magician powers. If the cannon is a swordsman, the OC will be a slightly better swordsman. That kind of thing. Of course, this isn't nor should it ever be an absolute rule, but it is a tendency from what I can tell. The fact that the person is thinking in terms of pairings and wants to shove their OC without giving room for the unexpected element of the other OC also prompts the same kind of reaction from me as seeing a character sheet in an interest check: This person is far too focused in their character, and will likely give them priority over the story.
As such, if I were to sum up all the problems and why cannon X OC doesn't work for me, it'd be like this: I don't get anything out of it, unless I'm so desperate to play a given cannon character that I'd take this leap of faith for it. It's a really hard sell, something this likely to be completely one-sided and obnoxious (regardless of whether it actually becomes like that) and 99% of the time there is little to no effort put into trying to turn that around.
PS: In the 1/10 cases where the other person wants to play a cannon, the cannon characters almost invariably transforms into a Gary Stue or some hyper-competent almost omniscient being who may have a shitty personality but never seems to fail. And if you try to dispute any of it, prepare for long rants about the character's speculative lore faster than you can say "too much information".
Edit: PPS: I notice now I sounded a bit...overly aggressive in this post. I'd like to apologize for that. It is just my personal stance regarding why I personally am really not a big fan of it. If you do it I have nothing against you, and a lot of the conjectures here are me picking up on clues left in the typing, a method which is often but not always accurate.
The first is that I don't like involving cannon characters if it can be helped. Period. It's limiting to creativity, innective compared to the point and in my opinion a distortion of the original work.
That said, those reasons also apply to cannon x cannon RPs alike. When it comes to cannon x OC the problem I have with them (and I will admit, I haven't really done many RPs like this before, so a good chunk of my beliefs regarding this come from surrounding experience with the clues provided) it mostly regards how one-sided they are. 9/10 cases, the cannon character is the one that the poster expects another to play. While this isn't 100% forcing the character onto someone, it is giving one player a massive degree of freedom over the other. Furthermore, the one with more freedom also seems to me far more likely to be pesky about the work of the other. After all, if they want that cannon character in the RP so badly, they have set expectations about that character- expectations that the other player may be unable or unwilling to meet, even potiantially fundamentally disagree with.
On the OC end, things don't get much better. There's a tendency, even if we ignore the Mary Sues and the like, for there to be this "one upping" tendency in OCs that get involved with cannon characters. If the coolest characters are a dragon and a magician, the OC will tend to be a half-dragon with magician powers. If the cannon is a swordsman, the OC will be a slightly better swordsman. That kind of thing. Of course, this isn't nor should it ever be an absolute rule, but it is a tendency from what I can tell. The fact that the person is thinking in terms of pairings and wants to shove their OC without giving room for the unexpected element of the other OC also prompts the same kind of reaction from me as seeing a character sheet in an interest check: This person is far too focused in their character, and will likely give them priority over the story.
As such, if I were to sum up all the problems and why cannon X OC doesn't work for me, it'd be like this: I don't get anything out of it, unless I'm so desperate to play a given cannon character that I'd take this leap of faith for it. It's a really hard sell, something this likely to be completely one-sided and obnoxious (regardless of whether it actually becomes like that) and 99% of the time there is little to no effort put into trying to turn that around.
PS: In the 1/10 cases where the other person wants to play a cannon, the cannon characters almost invariably transforms into a Gary Stue or some hyper-competent almost omniscient being who may have a shitty personality but never seems to fail. And if you try to dispute any of it, prepare for long rants about the character's speculative lore faster than you can say "too much information".
Edit: PPS: I notice now I sounded a bit...overly aggressive in this post. I'd like to apologize for that. It is just my personal stance regarding why I personally am really not a big fan of it. If you do it I have nothing against you, and a lot of the conjectures here are me picking up on clues left in the typing, a method which is often but not always accurate.
Jannah
Barely holding on.
Not a fan. When it comes to fandoms I'm strictly a OC x OC person. I just don't like nor feel comfortable writing other people's characters.
Hey, it’s chill! No worries, I genuinely enjoy seeing how others feel about certain subjects. No need to apologize here!
Jannah
Barely holding on.
I should add that, while this is probably not true for all cases, oftentimes those seeking Canon x OC RP's are young and/or inexperienced RPers who are looking for a sort of wish fulfillment. They may have a crush on a particular character in their chosen franchise, thus want to create a character to "date" them. Said OC may or may not be a self-insert.
rae2nerdy
left site
Oh some of them make it abundantly clear it’s just about having a crush on canons..
As in “here are my canon crushes if you play one for me I’ll play your crush for you.”
Sometimes crush is substituted for love interest.
huckleberrie
blood is rare & sweet as cherry wine
I don't like them, personally. Even with doubling. It tends to end up with me putting more effort towards playing their "crush" and getting little to zero in return. It also feels like I'm being used??? to fulfill some wish and it just rubs me the wrong way. Most OCs that are shipped with a canon are, as most people pointed out, Mary Sues/Gary Stus. They don't interest me and there's never any character development.
I wouldn't mind playing a canon character for somebody's OC if I've previously written with them or a get a good vibe off of them, but for the most part it's a "no" from me.
I wouldn't mind playing a canon character for somebody's OC if I've previously written with them or a get a good vibe off of them, but for the most part it's a "no" from me.
CrowOuttaHell
Skull-Faced Writer
Not a fan of it in RP. Like the others have stated above, it either ends up with the OC being so unrealistically into the Canon's league, or the Canon having to become OOC for the sake of the OC. Personally, leave Canon x OC to fanfiction since half the time, people who play OCs in the ship are looking for some sort of wish fulfillment.
obieblu
WoD, Just Chillin'
I haven't done a lot of fandom RP, but what little I did, at the most had 'monster of the week' cannon characters. For example, some Smallville and Charmed RP where some of the characters were 1-episode features. It was better for not falling into the trap of either the Cannon Main dominates or OC Main dominates. Technically cannon characters, but with minimal personality and history so players could grow them. That balance seemed to work fine.
PhoenixMire
ᛚᚨᚦᚢ:ᚹᛁᛞᚢᛉ:ᛖᚱᚦᛟ
Fully agree with this! I loathe OC x canon unless the writer of the OC can somehow prove that their character would be a good match for a canon character, and that they don’t want the canon character to be ridiculously OOC.
I mostly hate this trend because of fanfiction. I used to read a lot of it. I don’t anymore... but back when I did, literally all the OC x canon stories I found were horrible. The OCs were blatant Mary Sues or self inserts (or both), and the canon characters always acted laughably opposite of their actual personalities.
If someone really wants to ship their OC with a canon character, then write a fanfic... I don’t feel like they should be sucking other people into their fantasies.
It makes me sad that it’s such a massive trend on this site, because the vast majority of the time, I don’t give a care about people’s OCs and I certainly don’t want to see them shipped with canon characters. I’d like to RP fandoms but it’s frustrating when all people want to do is ship their OC with canons.
Again, I’m fine with OC x canon if I feel like the OC could be a good match for the canon character, and if the OC themselves is an interesting character and not an annoying Mary Sue. But tbh, I haven’t seen this very often...
rae2nerdy
left site
PhoenixMire
Yeah I rarely play canons at all when I do fandom (I find it limiting tbh) but if I do I usually just play them with other canons or platonic OCs. Typically the platonic relationships are found family or mentor/mentee.
Not all fandoms would work with OCs obviously but the ones I like tend to have strong themes of found family / mentorship anyway. So you're just slotting a new character into the established theme of the source material.
PhoenixMire
ᛚᚨᚦᚢ:ᚹᛁᛞᚢᛉ:ᛖᚱᚦᛟ
Personally I prefer to RP canon characters, because I get really attached to them and want to explore their lives and personalities and such - and I tend to enjoy canon divergent plots, since I find "what if" scenarios interesting. I don't at all care about my own OCs when it comes to fandoms (there are very few exceptions to this). I don't want to insert them into a world I like alongside characters I like, because I like the already established characters and I feel like my OCs pale in comparison, and I just... can't care about them.
Yeah I rarely play canons at all when I do fandom (I find it limiting tbh) but if I do I usually just play them with other canons or platonic OCs. Typically the platonic relationships are found family or mentor/mentee.
Not all fandoms would work with OCs obviously but the ones I like tend to have strong themes of found family / mentorship anyway. So you're just slotting a new character into the established theme of the source material.
If I'm writing OCs, I want an entirely original setting, no fandoms. I feel like I'm kind of alone on this opinion, which makes it really hard and discouraging to find fandom RPs.
But I agree with the platonic thing - I love platonic relationships! I wish more people could appreciate them. There are some fandoms in which I'd love to explore the relationships of the canon characters, but in a platonic way (I like best friend dynamics or even some mentor/student dynamics or sibling dynamics), but everyone seems to want romance.
Jannah
Barely holding on.
It's hard for me to find fandom RP's too because almost nobody is willing to do OC x OC(I don't write canons at all). Plus a lot of people are looking for fandoms I either know nothing about or have never even heard of at all. I don't follow pop culture very closely so I don't know 5hat many TV shows, etc.
rae2nerdy
left site
And for me I find the canon world usually far more interesting than the canon characters. I mean I love the canon characters but I'm usually content to let their stories exist in the source material. When I do fandom roleplays I am looking to flesh out the world around the characters.
To use an example : It's like the MCU. The Netflix shows existed in the same universe, but other than name dropping a few characters they had nothing to do with the plot/characters of the movies. That's kind of what I'm looking for in fandoms.
I'm not looking to play with someone else's characters so much as I'm looking to flesh out the world and see how other people are reacting to all the plot events.
PhoenixMire
ᛚᚨᚦᚢ:ᚹᛁᛞᚢᛉ:ᛖᚱᚦᛟ
Hey, different strokes for different folks. I tend to prefer TV shows or such that are character-driven more than plot-driven, so we see the characters grow and develop, and I care more about them than I might care about the actual world.
The only time I'm okay with inserting my own OCs into a fandom is if I feel like the canon characters... aren't that interesting or well-written. So I'm okay with tossing them aside and instead trying to figure out how my own characters would exist in the world.
Otherwise, I don't care about my OCs or anybody else's in a fandom setting. I'd prefer canon characters.
rae2nerdy
left site
True and for me my fandoms tend to be world building heavy so that's probably why I am drawn to that aspect. Plus like some others have mentioned the canons in my fandoms tend to be intimidatingly well written and I don't think I have quite the writing chops to pull them off.
That said I think we're both kind of in the minority in the "Hey can we um maybe just have friendships? Please? No. Oh well okay then."
Jannah
Barely holding on.
Honestly, this is often true. For example, I'm a Harry Potter fan, but I'm far more interested in the universe itself than most of the characters. There's very few canon Harry Potter characters I genuinely love. Like, yes, but love? No. The adult characters in it also tend to be far more interesting to me than the student characters.
rae2nerdy
left site
So I may or may not have spent an entire week figuring out how much it would cost to take a bus from one end of new york to another using wizard money. Also too how wizards would buy houses. And how much the average wizard salary is.
I am truly the biggest harry potter nerd and love to do deep dives into the universe and fan theories for it.
Jannah
Barely holding on.
I came here from a Harry Potter RP site(OC's only of course) and some of the members there are not even fans of the series. They simply like the universe and wanted an opportunity to create their own stories within it.
rae2nerdy
left site
See I have a complicated relationship with the series itself. I like it but I don't think I love it quite as much as I did as a kid. I LOVE the world though. I have tried to look for harry potter sites but can never find anything active anymore. I think sadly I missed my time for those.
Tyriant
Actual garbage can
I honestly don't have a huge problem with oc x cannon rp. Is it wish-fulfilly and cringey? Oh god yes. I've seen some absolute train wrecks of characters lusting after cannon characters who would have zero interest in them at all, clearly self-insert trash. But I've also seen a lot of very well written, interesting characters that could fit well in the universe and be believable as potential love interests.
I feel like at its heart roleplaying is a form of wish-fulfillment to begin with, so as long as my rp partner doesn't drive me up a fucking wall with their characters and essentially use our rp as a vehicle to live our their fantasies surrounding their cannon love interests, I'm ok with it.
I feel like at its heart roleplaying is a form of wish-fulfillment to begin with, so as long as my rp partner doesn't drive me up a fucking wall with their characters and essentially use our rp as a vehicle to live our their fantasies surrounding their cannon love interests, I'm ok with it.
