Original character

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An example of an original character ponysona design inspired by My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic April the Pony.png
An example of an original character ponysona design inspired by My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

An original character (OC) typically refers to a type of fictional character created by someone that is not affiliated with a company, or by a member of a fandom. They are a non-canonical character created by the author of fan fiction, a fan artist, or creator of another fan work, who exists within a certain fictional universe and may interact with existing characters or locations. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] The term can also be used in a wider sense to refer to any fictional character. [6] Acronyms can also be gender-specific, like OMC (original male character) and OFC (original female character). [7] [5]

Contents

Overview

OCs are used in various subcultures including the Star Wars fandom, the Harry Potter fandom, [1] , and the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom. Takashi Iizuka mentioned that the character customization system in Sonic Forces was influenced by the Sonic community's tendency to create original characters; [8] tools for creating Sonic OCs exist on sites like Newgrounds. [9] Cosplayers create original characters based on their imaginations, fan fiction, and other works. [10] For cosplayers, OCs can give them a larger range of choices of characters to cosplay as. [11]

OCs has been used in the furry fandom. [12] A majority of furries have a fursona, [13] defined as a personally claimed persona resembling an anthropomorphic animal. [14] [15] According to a 2020 survey in The New Science of Narcissism, 95% of furries have a fursona. [16] : 180  Some members of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom uses pony OCs as personas called ponysonas . [17] According to researchers studying the fandom, 39% of bronies have a ponysona. 46% of bronies reported having an original character, and their ponysona was among the first original characters they created. [18]

OCs can serve as protagonists [1] or as minor characters in a story. [19] A writer may add another author's OC into their own work. [20] An OC can provide a different point of view to a fictional universe; for instance, a fan fiction author can create an OC that is a student at one of Hogwarts’ rival schools. [1] There has been some debate online over whether writers should write about their OCs in situations in which they suffer. [6]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Vicente, Vann (2021-11-14). "What Does "OC" Mean, and How Do You Use It?". How-To Geek. Retrieved 2024-06-02.
  2. ↑ Whitehead 2018, p. 73.
  3. ↑ Barner 2017, p. 188.
  4. ↑ Franceschi 2017, p. 81.
  5. 1 2 Carson, C. (2017). "What is fanfiction and where to find it: Definitions and fan archives". Beyond the Book:fanfiction. S2CID   63070065.
  6. 1 2 Carpou, Madeline (2022-05-27). "Should You Be Allowed to Make Your OC Suffer? Twitter Debates a Controversial Tumblr Ask". The Mary Sue. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
  7. ↑ Richard, Moriah (2022-06-25). "What Is Fan Fiction in Writing?". Writer's Digest . Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  8. ↑ Frank, Allegra (September 25, 2017). "Sonic Forces' Custom Hero mode might not be the wish fulfillment you want". Polygon . Archived from the original on December 27, 2019.
  9. ↑ Feldman, Brian (2020-02-14). "The Staff of New York Shows Off Its Sonic OCs". Intelligencer. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  10. ↑ Winge 2018, pp. 118–119.
  11. ↑ Crawford 2019, p. 173.
  12. ↑ Adams 2023, p. 101.
  13. ↑ Reysen 2021, p. 96.
  14. ↑ "Words We're Watching: 'Furry' and 'Fursona'". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2021-06-30.
  15. ↑ "Definition of FURSONA". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2024-03-31.
  16. ↑ Campbell, W. Keith; Crist, Carolyn (2020-09-29). The New Science of Narcissism: Understanding One of the Greatest Psychological Challenges of Our Time—and What You Can Do About It. Sounds True. ISBN   978-1-68364-403-3.
  17. ↑ Alexandratos 2017, p. 67-68.
  18. ↑ Kosnáč, Pavol (2016). Fiction, Invention and Hyper-reality: From Popular Culture to Religion. Taylor & Francis. pp. 79–97. ISBN   9781317135494.
  19. ↑ Schott 2023, p. 49.
  20. ↑ Black 2008, p. 40.

Bibliography

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