This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
We really need a "sister trope" to this; because not all huge additions to canon in fan fiction are necessarily horrible mutations. I mean the sorts of things that are based on the canon, but only a very small part of the canon, which is then expanded to create a mostly original story... For example: Giving a minor character a backstory; filling a plot hole; explaining some otherwise unexplained action or fact; creating a past or future of the setting... Things that aren't quite alternate universe, but that are far enough from the canon story to be not quite "more of the same", either. I once saw a rather good story based on a single sentence from the "Silmarillion", which created an entirely new middle-earth race. Perhaps the authors of these stories are people who want to write original fiction, but are still using "training wheels"?
- The sexual pairing of various characters (see Shipping).
Moved this here because I can't quite see what it has to do with theories about the series Canon.
BT The P: I dunno man, the "they should have been together!" bit that a lot of shippers do qualifies as a "theory" in my eyes. Especially when in the category of "they were secretly schtoinking non-stop between episodes." I've heard this one applied to as unlikely a target as Gargoyles, but mostly by friends and fellow viewers who were then hormonal teenagers.
In Kim Possible fandom, there is an observed phenomenon of fans who got sick of all the so-called "evidence" shippers would dig up about Kim and Ron subconsciously wanting each other the whole series. So, now that the series Canon puts them together, they (rather spitefully) write creative and interesting ways to either "unmake" the events in question (with clones, illusions, dreams, etc.), or rapidly break them up.
Ununnilium: Mmmmkay, adding a cleared-up version to the entry. `.`v
Red Shoe: As a bit of a footnote, the two major classes of Fanfic mentioned in the opening paragraph are, in Doctor Who fandom, called "trad" and "rad", or, for various historical reasons, "frocks" and "guns".
Lale: How is this different from Epileptic Trees?
nwj: I think it's a difference in the degree of plausibility of the theory and also the degree to which the theorist genuinely believes in the theory's possible validity.
Nezumi: Erm... correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe Mithra men are supposed to never leave home as in the original Mithra homelands on the distant southern islands, not just never leave the house. Thus, unless one of the expansions finally visits those islands and there's still no Mithra males, there's no need to explain away the absence of Mithra males. ... Which raises the question of why some people feel the need to when it's already explained for every possible occurrence in the game as released so far.
Pteryx: All the more reason why it qualifies as Fan Wank, if you ask me. The entire "That's not good enough! We need a better, sexier explanation!" factor there is not insignificant.
If you're going to do an entry on fanwank it would be appreciated if you'd give credit to the man who coined the phrase, the late Craig Hinton, coined in his Doctor Who reviews and novels.
Fast Eddie: These kinds of comments always crack me up. The anonymous person has figured out how to leave a comment wanting a change to an article, which is exactly the same process as making the change. I wonder what they think is going on here?
Daibhid C: Incidentally, AHistory: A History of the Doctor Who Universe, in its dedication to Hinton, has a somewhat different definition of fanwank, saying it simply refers to "excessive continuity". So, for instance, a Story Arc of Doctor Who stories which are all sequels to different TV stories, with plenty of recurring characters, and linked by a Big Bad who comes from an entirely different story and his MacGuffin from a different story again, would be Fan Wank, even if it didn't actually plug any (real or imagined) plot holes. (Yes, New Adventures Alternate Universe arc, I'm looking at you.)
Daibhid C: And while I'm discussing this, Craig Hinton wrote novels such as The Quantum Archangel; a direct sequel to "The Time Monster" which also featured a war between the Time Lords, the Daemons, the Exxions, the Sontarans, the Rutans, Faction Paradox and others, references to every supercomputer in the series, and had an alternate universe where the Master and the Rani team up with the Meddling Monk and Drax, and another where the Time Lords (led by the Doctor, and including Morbius and the Monk) are allied with the "Cyberlords". I don't think he intended "fanwank = crap", although it may have been meant as somewhat self-deprecating.
Doyle: Yeah, 'fanwank' as defined by Craig Hinton and as commonly used on Doctor Who Forum means a story referencing a lot of past continuity, not the more common (at least in every fandom I've ever been in) definition of the word. —-
I have something I think may qualify as Fan Wank: the inner workings of the Killing Curse in Harry Potter. It's said to leave no outside evidence of damage, and yet to kill its targets quickly and (almost always) without fail. Perhaps it targets the victim's central nervous system (i.e. brain), quickly overloading and fatally short-circuiting/frying the target's neurons and whatnot. This would kill the target very quickly without leaving signs of external damage. Any thoughts?
Daibhid C: If you've come up with your own Fan Wank, Epileptic Trees or similar ideas, Wild Mass Guessing is the place for them.
Rogue 7: I've seen This
site referenced several times about the wiki, and I must say I've been laughing my ass off reading it. It's nice to know that, crazy as I am, I'm a sane fan.
Nightelf: Changed the Ranma 1/2 entry a bit. For those of us who experienced the more militant side of the Defenders of the True Fiancee, the previous entry was basically flamewar bait. Entry was changed to try to be more diplomatic. That said... does the pairing portion of it even belong? Belongs more in shipping, methinks.
Lilfut: On the title quote's subject (Bowser Jr.), having once read that site obsessively, I can say it's practically canon there. As in, I thought it was All There in the Manual for a while.
