DE: There's this canon, but you've likely never heard of it

[bjornwilde]

 And continuing the theme, from gavin62truck :

Do you have any opinions/feelings on playing a character from an uncommon/unpopular fandom?

Comments

[auraofmystery]

I don't know what you're talking about, all my characters are from hugely popular canons. And they're all 100% historically accurate, as well. I might as well say I play from 15th century RPF...


Seriously though, I sometimes feel sad for Teresa and Mac, because they don't get the insta-tags that Korra and Dick get, because everyone knows Korra and Dick. I worry there is the idea that 'who is this character? I don't know, I will skip them.' I may be guilty of that myself, which is where it comes from. Because I like to play in my comfort zone, and I know what I'll get from say, Wonder Woman, but I have no idea what a thread with Michael-the-Archangel will be like. (Picked two characters with the same mun because.)

OTOH. There's a real sense of pride in knowing that there are people who would never have heard of, let alone watched/read, canons like Claymore, Leonardo and Fray had it not been for me. And every time that happens I get smug.
AFAIK, no one has picked up Batman or Birds of Prey just because they loved Dick and Dinah from the bar.

Also, because I am nothing if not completely ruled by my anxiety, I can say it's comforting knowing that no one knows just how OOC Teresa is, while everyone knows how much I suck at Korra. ;)

[bjornwilde]

From where I'm sitting, and remembering, I think your Korra is spot on. You have captured that inherent playful and willfulness of her.

I also keep meaning to pick up Claymore, primarily because of you and Clare-mun. = ]

[genarti]

Yeah -- it's a thing I catch myself doing, too, but all the same I notice that Clare and Regan and Trowa might get a thread or two (or none), whereas if I put in River or Thor or Enjolras I have to do it knowing that I'll probably get a threadzilla and have to close the post. (On the other hand, it can be kind of nice to say "Oh, I'm tired -- I'll put in Clare, and I'll get a nice manageable number of threads.") As you say, I think a lot of it's just that people know what they're getting with the well-known characters -- at least in broad strokes, since of course the thread details are often a surprise.

(And pfft, your Korra is awesome and excellently IC! I do get what you mean, though. It's definitely a different experience.)

[innerbrat]

Yeah, part of the reason I hardly ever play Will and got so spotty with Death was THREADZILLA.

(Also, Death's threads became 'so you're Death,' and Will's often become 'So, you're Death' too, but this is my fault because I never play them so they have no relationships!)

[genarti]

Yeah, exactly. And, I mean, threadzillas are awesome! I love them! But one needs a certain store of energy (and time) going in to be ready to keep up with them.

(Heh, yeah, I know that feeling too. It's a vicious cycle! But I do love how you write both of them all the same.)

[aberration]

Your Korra is amazing, wtfever. (I was admittedly trying to think of someone to throw at her, with difficultly due to being at work/Asami being annoyed that she Is Not Allowed).

[gottadealwithit]

Not gonna lie, I was partly fishing for compliments (because I CAN, in safe spaces) but partly not but ILU and will take anyone. Except work.

SO CLOSE TO ASAMI OMG.

[aberration]

It is legit! You should know you are amazing!

(Bbbut how would you feel about a Korra's-time Katara?)

[gottadealwithit]

I would feel very excited about that! It would be amazing!

[damncompass]

Most of my characters are either minor characters from popular fandoms, or characters from uncommon fandoms. (I think I'm about the only Valentine RPer on the internet, not to mention Joshua)

I'm actually more intimidated by playing in a popular fandom or a prominant character than I am by a more minor fandom or character. I feel like there'd be less people telling me I'm doing it wrong. I also feel like I can bring the canon to other people, so other people can share in its awesomeness, or just tell me I'm crazy for liking it.

That's one reason I was so intimidated by playing Mark for so long. He's a main character in a fandom that was pretty popular at the time.

[cameoflage]

Yeah, that fear of doing it wrong and being told off for it was the reason I originally pushed away my thoughts of playing Jack Skellington.

[boston_bruiser]

Voodoo is really the only one of mine from an uncommon fandom.

Which means I'm probably not constantly under the microscope as to how I play him. Feels good bro.

[alas_a_llama]

I'm not sure I have any characters which aren't from uncommon/unpopular fandoms.

Or, well, Wan probably isn't, since ATLA/Legend of Korra are pretty big fandoms.

In theory, Sherral is from one of the best-selling video game franchises of pretty-much-ever (Final Fantasy is behind Mario, Pokemon, Grand Theft Auto, The Sims and Call of Duty, but ahead of Legend of Zelda and Halo, so there's that) but in practice, his minor-characteriness and FF12 being one of the less well-loved games of the series kind of negates that.

I get a bit nervous with Yugo and Sherral (and - well, we'll see what the situation is like with Wan) because it can sometimes be a bit of a struggle getting tags for them, because they're, well, minor characters from not massively popular fandoms (descending into downright obscurity with Yugo). On the bright side, though, it gives me a fair amount of freedom with them. If I go massively wrong somehow, ~nobody will know~ and I'm not at risk of annoying anyone with very strong opinions on them.

I'm pretty sure I've never convinced someone to get one of my pups' canons just because they like how they are in bar, which is probably a good thing, since both those two have - not massive amounts of screen time. I think Sherral has about six lines, tops.

[camwyn]

Hey, for what it's worth I was actually more interested in getting Knights of the Old Republic so that I could play through it and get to KOTOR 2 and see what Atton's canon was actually like?

[alas_a_llama]

:D. Atton is an exception to the 'welp, I hope that nobody is getting the impression that these characters are major' rule, since he actually is a major character.

[innerbrat]

I really want to watch Yugo's canon, though.

[alas_a_llama]

I keep meaning to put up a rec post (and probably a rec post for its immediate successor, which is about breakdancing fruit samurai and monsters from an alien forest), so at some point, I will. With handy links for fansubbed episodes.

[bbq_platypus]

I think I might actually be drawn to that sort of character. Of all the pups I've played, active and inactive, I'm almost positive that I'm the only person in history to have played three of them: The Waco Kid, Borgel, and John McCabe. I don't think I've ever seen a Kane, either, though we do have a Tanya in-bar. 'Course, Jim's canon isn't so much "unpopular" as "never played" - I got about 200 tags for Jim on my first-ever EP. It was the holiday season and people generally like that movie.

Honestly, I think I'm more intimidated by playing characters from popular canons. There's more pressure not to fuck up, since more people will know it if you do. I can also be something of an ambassador and evangelist for the obscure canon I'm drawing from. The EPs in which maybe one person tags come with the territory. If nothing else, the slowtimes are easier to manage.

I say this as I'm about to do a joint application with another mun for two characters from a REALLY popular canon. Can't say I didn't ask for this, though.

[gavin62truck]

Tommy and Lou, my poor boys. There is no fandom for "Rescue Me," only long dead forums where viewers have gone to complain and snark about it. Oh, I know there are still fans of the show out there, but it's not the kind of show that generates any activity. It's not a show I would recommend either, and if you do decide to take it up, feel free to ragequit at any time, but I think there have been at least...three or four Milliways people who started watching because of the way I played Tommy. Uh, go me, I guess?

I have the same insecurities about people simply not knowing the canon and therefore not tagging Tommy or Lou; or, y'know, just the fact that Tommy can be so disagreeable and not a good fit for conversation. Both fine and understandable! I tend to carefully choose who I tag with Tommy based on how well I know the canon/character, or if I don't know the canon at all, how well I know the pup based on the threads I've read. And failing that, how well I know the mun.

[bjornwilde]

I say go for it. I know, at least for me, there is the worry that no one will tag your pup but how else are people going to discover how awesome your canon is? I had this worry with Andrea.

As others have mentioned, playing characters from smaller canons has the advantage of working outside of preconceived notions on how the character should be played. You also get to define the tone and feel of that world to a certain extent, at least within Milliways.

I know I seem to fit the smaller following or minor character of a big following matrix. There are exceptions of course, but it can actually be liberating to play a pup from a smaller canon or a minor character that doesn't get much screen time. At the very least, you get more wiggle room within the canon and plot.

[last_kallig]

This girl here is my very first character from a popular fandom. I am a bit intimidated by the sheer size of the Star Wars Extended Universe and its fandom.

Annabelle Newfield and Kreyu are both from obscure pen and paper RPGs, so there's no real fandom to speak of.

[minkhollow]

Sometimes, in these situations, I wish it was easier to find canonmates. That's what I get for wanting to poke at the inner workings of a ~15-year-old out-of-print fantasy novel, I guess. XD

Sometimes I get into RPing uncommon fandoms because someone else is already in them; Cam's Whistler is entirely why I watched Sneakers in the first place (this after years of my parents trying to get me to watch it because Because). I was hella intimidated and would've backed off if she thought I hadn't known what I was doing with Carl. (In that respect it's not too dissimilar from RPing a popular character. You don't want to do wrong by them, and there's a built-in audience.)

[damncompass]

*shifty eyes about Mark and Angel and being intimidated*

[not_my_sandbox]

Runescape isn't exactly obscure. Just in an RP sense.

Well, no... in an RP sense, it is very self contained. Umm... so that means freedom since I stay outside of the Runescape sandbox? I guess?

[saphyria]

It might be difficult to find canonmates with an uncommon canon, occasionally, but the freedom that comes from not having to worry about too many strong opinions, differing interpretations, shipping wars, fandom wank, or much of anything that usually comes from large, deeply entrenched fandoms? Is really nice. It also means that, where a canon leaves something extremely vague (I'm looking at you, Robin McKinley and Garth Nix), things are left gloriously open for you to fill in details of the world as you like, so long as it fits the framework canon gives.

However, vagueness means that sometimes people who do know the uncommon canon forget the things that are explicitly set down in canon.

[not_my_sandbox]

However, vagueness means that sometimes people who do know the uncommon canon forget the things that are explicitly set down in canon.

Oh god this is me all the time. And pretty much everyone else who plays someone nonhuman from my canon. So much vague and sparse backstory! @_@

[sdelmonte]

I love playing Knox. I have total freedom with him. No expectations whatsoever. I miss having direct canonmates, but I get to do what I want.

[aberration]

I share the feeling that it's more intimidating to play a character (especially a main character) from a popular canon than one from a small canon. I don't... care as much about worrying people won't tag my EPs because I'll just tag out, whatever. But the getting-them-right pressure is greater for a more recognizable or liked character. Though I think my most particular... er... feelings? on this was at a time when I had the sense that a character I was playing was both one that others had had an interest in playing before (or maybe after) the point where I grabbed them, and at the same time, the feeling that some others didn't like the character (not like, me as playing the character, but the character in their canon). And that was... weird. I don't know.

All of my characters except Manny come from what I would say are reasonably well-known, if maybe not popular fandoms. Elle is pretty much the last vestige from the once sizeable Heroes contingent for VERY UNDERSTANDABLE REASONS. A:TLA/LoK is massive, Adventure Time is pretty massive, How To Train Your Dragon... is part of that whole computer-animated smorgasbord collective, and Parks and Rec is generally well-known. I do wish there were a way for me to share Grim Fandango more easily, because I get that PC games are not everyone's thing but I really love the story. Of course I could do that by like, finishing my extremely late OOM or something, but. >_>

[ceitfianna]

Most of my characters are smaller characters or from not well known canons with of course major exceptions. I enjoy it, sometimes it means like Debi said that other people don't know your characters and don't tag them as much, but it also means there aren't as many expectations going in. I recommend it, but then I'm naturally drawn to secondary characters anyway.

I love my characters from big fandoms though I don't have many of them just Charles and Tumnus. I don't worry as much about Tumnus but I do have points of fretting about Charles since he's only movie and Marvel is one of those huge fandoms. I think it helps a lot to play in Milliways where everyone's nice and patient. The wider world of the internet can be daunting. My newest headvoice is from a popular canon but as I've been discovering, popular depends on the crowd. I've also gotten into my smaller canons from other Milliways players. Sameth and William both came about because I was curious about their canons from seeing them played in Bar.

[yakalskovich]

I always play either a) characters from unpopular to nonexistent fandoms or b) minor characters from popular fandoms and c) never anybody from a popular ongoing TV shows -- I thought, but in the course of 2013 I acquired Hannibal Lecter and Katrina Crane. Everybody else more or less answers to that description, though.

But especially Teja is from a canon that has NO fandom -- and I'm ever so glad I did get him off the ground regardless.

[inlovewithwords]

Henry is from a popular fandom, and overall Lois mostly is; on the other hand, many people have... nnngh, ideas I don't like about her. Also, Smallville's declined somewhat recently, so it is getting more off-beat.

In general, I can get pretty sad about my favorite canon being, you know, all but deserted, and about often losing castmates in popular fandoms I've played in (to the point of getting really bitter about constant flaking out about certain ones with almost no exceptions). I actually really love getting to play with castmates.

See, RP is about playing with people, right? Not parallel to people or just testing totally uncharted waters. I like exploring canon relationships, too, and some... for instance, no matter the friendships Tavi gets in the Bar, Max will always be his best friend by a long and totally unquestioned shot (Kitai is different). I really enjoy getting to relax with those. Good canon relationships are like my brain cotton-candy and always lift my mood. As such, rare fandoms get kinda lonely--and the unknown ones? Ugh, sometimes because of that no one tags them and I lose heart and steam.

This is not exclusive, however. Eriond is so, so easy to play on his own just because he's so sweet and easy-going and just Likes People. I love him for that.

The big issue, of course, is Tavi. Milliways has been great for getting to play him, other games I have been at just... I get lost in the crowd and this is actually rather OOC for him. Makes it hard. And as much as exploring new worlds and forging new relationships is fun with him, as said above... castmates are a great support for him and I whine constantly about not having them. By the way, the bizarre contradiction to this is that elsegame I play Septimus, who is not only from obscure canon but-- not exactly obscure, but very dead pre-canon character. He's pretty oddly active for me and is tagged reasonably frequently. SO I DON'T KNOW Tavi is just special snowflake.