Then why would you want it closed so quickly? Allow others to get a voice in.
This will be left up for a few days so everyone can have a chance to get their thoughts in.
I'm currently reviewing a change in our fandom character ruleset in light of feedback regarding fandom characters. This was supposed to be a reply to the following thread, but I thought it'd be better to split it off into an official thread for better visibility: https://toyhou.se/~forums/14.suggestions-bugs/95652.-rules-edit-kin-characters-albums
To clarify, our current rules do not disallow upload of fan-characters as long as the canon permits derivative content, the characters are correctly credited, and all fanart is being used with permission. The reason being that up until now I haven't minded this platform being used for fandom RP.
I'm up for changing the site rules if fandom characters are a nuisance, but just wanted to verify since there seems to be some confusion: do people want both canon characters and derivative characters banned, or just canon characters? Where these are defined as the following:
- Canon characters:
- EG: Re-uploading Naruto with no changes made to his design or history (usually includes GIFs and screenshots from the anime or copy pasted paragraphs from the character's wiki page)
- Derivative characters:
- Any characters derivative from canon content - this includes:
- Explicit redesigns (eg. Naruto as a dog or furry)
- Characters that're described as an OC or sona but resemble the canon character in both personality and appearance or cosplay them 24/7
- Personalised playable MCs (eg. customised Kamui/Robin, Frisk, Gudako/Gudao)
- Personalised pet site/game characters (eg. FlightRising dragons, Neopet/Subeta/ChickenSmoothie pets)
- Characters belonging to a canon species (eg. pokemon OCs, LOZ OCs)
- Characters belonging to a canon setting (eg. BNHA/Hogwarts OCs that use the school uniform taken from canon designs)
- This is quite a wide range, so if you have specific thoughts on what you find unacceptable or acceptable for a derivative character that'd also help with gauging the community's opinion for the new ruleset.
- Any characters derivative from canon content - this includes:
I won't be making this a poll; please do post if you have feedback even if you just want to add a +1 to banning one or both of the options.
For people who would prefer not to post in thread but would still like some input, I've popped up a Google form where you can drop off your feedback: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeaQVmEpF1r8vAqEoHomYa7u_2cMcpoXWKBfhVDjpPWaNQwJg/viewform
+1 to reuploads of canon, already existing characters.
As far as derivative characters go, I think it depends. For instance, characters that are inspired by canon ones but are distinct enough should be allowed in my eyes, whereas "Character X but they are Y" would not be very original. That being said I'm personally not that familiar with derivative character stuff, but in general I wouldn't allow characters that are too closely based on individuals that are canon to a series.
Canon characters should remain banned, "Redesigns" and Personalised playable MCs should be banned as well, they're just ways of people trying to pass Canon characters as their own. Everything else is more of a crew area and should depend on if the souce allows it. (eg, flight rising dragons ect)
Anything based on a canon character should be banned in my opinion, people are lax just because the character is owned by a company, but that shouldn't matter.
The character isn't yours, no matter whether its owned by multiple people or just one person. If someone made a dog version of my chraacter and called it their own I'd be pretty pissed, as I imagine many people would be.
It’s a good idea to have everything backed up should it be lost. But TH admins said they’d be giving users time to save their stuff if it’s removed.
I just don’t think demanding the form be closed after such a short period of time is the best idea when, as you said, many would have no idea it exists.
alright y’all I’m gonna give my input so bear with me mk
I don’t think kinsonas should be banned, cuz they technically aren’t copyright infringement and a lotta people make them for Th sole purpose of not being able to draw humans for example I’m strictly a furry artist and I can’t draw humans for the life of me, I don’t think there’s a problem with creating a character with just some traits of an already canon character that you love What I do see a problem with tho is if you take the example that everyone seems to be using, naruto (hottie btw) and literally just adding some cat ears to him and then claiming it as an oc cus that’s still technically naruto but he just has cat ears if ya feel me But yea I don’t think furry versions of canon characters should be banned cuz like the design is still unique and also a lotta people design characters like that for comfort, and to feel more close to the fandom that the character is based on being that they have a chance to make actually good art of the fandom they’re in
Sorry my grammar is bad and it’s like a run on sentence I’m not good at explaining stuff y’all
I'll follow RedRabbit here. I cannot draw humans neither and largely prefer to draw furries, but then I can make my own furry characters? There is no need to turn canon OCs into furries just so that I have something to draw.
And if I want to draw a canon character as a furry just for fun, then I draw it, but I don't make it a character, and don't give it a TH profile. Just keep it in your DA gallery without claiming the character.
Okay...I guess I'm going to chime in again. I actually have more to say, which was kinda unplanned.
You may interpret how a character looks for a game/book/etc that has no canon appearance all you want. But...that does not make the character your own. Those interpretations are literally just fanart. I could draw carlos from nightvale a million times til sundown but that doesn't mean I own that character. You can make designs inspired by your interpretations all you want, but either don't use them as interpretations of that character or post them to somewhere for fanart.
As for the respecifying...here's a fun fact: Marval has spiderham...which is literally an anthro version of spiderman. Comics will do alternate universes all the time. And some of them include changes in species. But they still consider those the same characters as the originals. Then you have twilight...which has a genderswap the author herself made. Again, an AU. Still the same characters.
And please...don't use fanfictions that were actually published as an excuse to make copies. Take 50 shades...it's a completely different subgenre for a completely different audience from Twilight. If it had been a beat-for beat copy or had only a few changes from twilight, it would have been flagged for plagiarism. Twilight's about a romance between a human and a vampire that includes superpowers(those special abilities select vamps have fit in that category) and werewolves. 50 shades is about a woman and her relationship with a dude that pretty much hired her for BDSM(I know less about 50 shades than twilight) that is in a setting with a distinct lack of the supernatural. Notice how the two have only the fact that they have a romance in common? Albeit both romances also are less than ideal. I mean, that's not also including the fact that literature and character design(what the main concern in this topic is) are two completely different things.
Yeah, you can argue any of the many adaptations of fairytales...but those are using inspiration from creative commons works. Those are a different story, because creative commons means that the work is no longer under copyright protection. And most likely the creators of said works are dead.
Honestly....at this point this whole thing is going in circles. I'm entirely frustrated by this whole thing. Someone put a lot of work and effort into designing the canon characters...their work should be respected and not have copies posted onto a site where it is generally assumed that what you post as a character, you own.
I've been thinking about this, but what popular character archetypes/aesthetics? For example: pale skinned men with long-ish dark/black hair who are moody/brooding and/or antagonistic and have magic powers. I can think of four canon characters (Loki, Snape, Kylo Ren, and V) off the top of my head that fit that archetype/aesthetic and there are probably countless more (especially if you remove magic from the equation because, oops, you have one of the most popular romance tropes!). How do you tell the difference between "canon character with numbers filed off" and "oc who is the same archetype/has the same aesthetic of canon character" because, frankly, I don't trust most people to be able to.