Can fanfiction be better then canon?

TB100

TB100

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Now over the years, fanworks has gained quite the reputation over the years, for being shitty and badly written, but as of recent, there's been a trend as of late that Fanfiction can not only be seen just as good, but even better then the original work for whatever reason, such as changing a plot elements that is disliked in canon, to making a scrappy more likable than in canon, but what do you think? can Fanfiction be better then canon? Can a fanfic writer do better than the original author?

Personally, I think so, but it really depends on the work and what exactly is wrong with the canonical approach and how a fanfic writer approaches it compared to how the original creator approached it, and what not
 
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So far, I've never read any fanfiction that I would prefer over the canon, but it's definitely possible. I just haven't found it yet, haha!
 
Making good fanfics are way more, than possible! (Of couse, if someone tries to do this.)
For example, I have seen one fanfic about Crash Bandicoot, where his enemy Dr Neo Cortex and his minions sent away from their island to real city. That was great, I swear!
Also, I can disagree with situations if canon is bad! Because... Kids! (Or any other kind of idiots.) They can turn bad canon story into HORRIBLE story. Just imagine Sonic 06 fanfic by someone dumb. I can take example from youtuber sonic star 123, because I had conflict with him!
 
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CM30 said:
I'd also say I've seen a fair few fan games and mods that are better than certain official works. Those are basically interactive fan fiction.
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one example I'll cite is Silent Threat Reborn

Basically: Freespace is a pretty good late 90's space combat simulator and its sequel, Freespace II, considered to be the best in its class despite being a commercial failure . Sandwiched between those two is an expansion to the first game, Freespace: The Silent Threat, which is universally agreed to be an huge piece of shit thank to its marginal additions, shoddy mission design and threadbare, incoherent plot.

So many of the veterans mission designers in the Freespace modding company teamed up and took 6 years to develop a full-on remake of Silent Threat. They even hired a professional recording studio to do the voice acting It's not without its flaws, but it's universally considered a vast improvement over tis source of inspiration.
 
Inappropriate but fitting
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I dont really feel like I can add a whole lot to this conversation as I seek out fanfiction like never at all ever, but I have seen some on occasion, and like fan art too, of certain characters or things I like. And Ill often see people completely change the things you like about said characters/ things.

Like, for example, theres one character I really like, shes great cuz shes boyish and can be rough and likes things like pro wrestling and other junk, and doesnt always get into "girly" things and always try to act all weird or whatever, but alot of the fan-stuff I see for her completely remove those things from her, and I think thats lame.

So I dunno, from my experience people generally take things they like and change them into something theyd want, which can ruin a product. Is at least my small experience : p
 
Depends on the even though they suck 99.999% of the time that doesn't mean its IMPOSSIBLE for fanfics to be better but you really gotta look to find the good stuff.
 
Probably. TV Tropes has a fair few problems with neutrality (it usually either drastically over or under exaggerates everything).
 
CM30 said:
Yeah, it's possible. TV Tropes has a page on that:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BetterThanCanon

I'd also say I've seen a fair few fan games and mods that are better than certain official works. Those are basically interactive fan fiction.
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Is it just me, or does that TV tropes page seem incredibly biased? Like canon is always 100% better then fanon, and it's practically mocking fans for even rejecting it to begin with. (Even as we talked about how Canon can suck, or just non existent.) Like am I the only one thinking this?


Edit: I deleted the original post because I didn't like it, but as soon as I saw a reply, I reposted it. (Yes I do recognize it, and yes I do know people want me to stop doing it, and I do too, I just can't help it sometimes.)
 
Well, I think some of the bad rep fanfiction gets is due to the inherent nature of fanfiction. Canon is a dodgy subject but it is what is defined as the truth and trying to reject it is a bit silly and delusional. As bad as the canon can be that's what is the truth. Of course this varies widely and it's not always so cut and dry like the Star Wars canon controversy. Sometimes fan elements are embraced but this is rare.
 
Better is a very subjective term and it strongly depends on what the single individual is looking for.

I like to write fics in private as a hobby and don't consider myself good and I can say that I'm a sucker for canon, even if I don't like something I see direct defilement of canon as defeating the point of writing something within an estaplished universe, it's possible to like it more then canon, but it's just as likely that changes, especially if they are handled badly, can rub someone the wrong way.

What I personally like the most are attempts to expand on and explore characters, relationships, locations or just general themes in a way that makes sense within estaplished continuity, especially in cases where things are left intentionally ambiguous, even then though there are bound to be biases that won't agree with everyone.
 
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Yes, 100%. This is what I think:
You know when you give a creator ideas that will obviously make their creation better, yet they don't accept it? I feel that is that case, yes. It would be better than the original.
 
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