star fox characters in fanfiction

[madame bellatrix]

-okay people,i'm sure almost everyone here is at least familiar with  the fanfiction community.in light of that,there's always certain things about fanon that drive people up the wall,myself included.so any character portrayals or other 'tropes' you like,dislike or just notice,let's discuss.

 

-for example ,i notice a few things:

 

1)creepy fox.people seem to write fox as being a loser (bad with girls,no social life...it's probably true),or just plain old disturbed .(read a story when he kidnapped krystal from panther to win her love).wtf? (okay,i did it too,but still...)

 

2)wolf's mom was fat and/or had a bunch of kids...why do people think wolf's mom was fat/had a bunch of kids?

 

3)slippy gets no love

 

4)fox x wolf with no explanation?

 

5)krystal...just krystal

[CrypticQuery]

The fact of the matter is that Star Fox, as a series, has some of the worst characterization that I've ever seen.  Pretty much anything is possible; occasionally you'll stumble across that one fanfiction that is better written than one of the games.  Of course, there is always the sea of oddities to sift through, and it appears you've only hit the tip of the iceberg. 

[The Shaper]

I'm pretty certain the problems with Star Fox in fanfiction are the exact same as problems with any other character in fanfiction.

 

Overzealous fans decide to play a character out of context, they tell a story that makes no sense, they include moments that wouldn't normally happen in the direct source, and at the end the story they told wasn't satisfactory or enjoyable from any standpoint but their own. In no particular order.

 

While we're here though;

 

1. The interactions played by them acting towards OC's are usually ridiculous (Just met you on a planet in the middle of nowhere, wanna join Star Fox?) (P.S. Krystal doesn't count, because she was hot and Fox was horny after all those years).

 

2. Lack of attention to most Star Fox characters in comparison to others.

 

3. Characters being used as blank sheets of paper for whatever the author wants.

 

 

Most of what I am saying here kind of falls apart due to the lack of decent characterization in Star Fox (Hence what Crazyfooinc was talking about) and the fact that some of them really can be treated as #3 since they don't have any set ways they should act in a scenario. But occasionally there is a semblance of characterization that fanfiction fails to meet.

[madame bellatrix]

- like to keep OC's as back ground extras,not taking over the story and all.

 

-also,when i started writing my main star fox fic,i did extensive research from the nintendo power comics to the 'farewell,beloved flaco' comics,starfox one,starfox 2, (brought fay,miyu and fara back),dusted off that old strafox 64 game,looked at assault,adventures and disregarded command...

 

-i took the whole project quite seriously,which i don't think a lot of writers do.

[Arashikage]

What about when people write blatant self-insert fanfictions and steal Krystal away from Fox?  That actually really grinds my gears.  

 

However, Fox x Wolf can be explained sort of.  There are people down in the reaches of the Internet that like yaoi.  Now for those of you who don't know, yaoi is man love, which lots of people aren't into, but at the same time, lots of people are.  Without getting too much into detail, the people who like it and Star Fox decided to ship the two iconic male characters, whether that be Fox and Falco or Fox and Wolf, either one can be seen(Unfortunately for me, I've seen them both).  

 

As for Slippy hate, I personally find Slippy to be annoying, and a generally bad pilot.  He's a great mechanic, sure.  That's nearly undisputed.  But whenever I hear his voice, I want to slap babies.  

 

As for Wolf's mother, I haven't read any fanfiction with her in it, but wolves normally have litters, and said litters have an upwards of 5 or 6 puppies.  It'd make sense for her to have many kids, and at the same time, it would make as much sense for her to be heavy.  Wolves hunt, that's a fact, but when you anthropomorph them, they don't need to hunt anymore.  They have everything they need there like we do.  If the female wolf doesn't have to hunt, she sits around at home to watch over the house and kids.  Not as many calories being burned there.  

[Drasiana]

1. A NEW THREAT ARISES... this phrasing specifically. Is used. Over. And over. sTOP

 

2. People creating teams of original characters and giving them stupid Star Fox ripoff names like GALAXY AARDVARK or whatever.

 

3. Anything with goddamn humans in it. Either "I am the last human of Earth because Andross destroyed it" or "Andross attacks Earth for no reason and Star Fox goes to defend it".

 

4. People have this really obnoxious tendency of making Fox into their kind of self-insert OC. I mean, it doesn't help that Fox's personality in the games is less than existent but it's just so painfully obvious that fanboys live vicariously through him and that's a pretty obvious explanation for the often downright-vitriolic defense of Fox/Krystal.

 

5. Grimdark. Holy fuck. This drives me up the wall perhaps more than anything else in fanfiction. What game did you play, here? You are a participant in the fandom of a video game that revolves around cartoon space animals cracking corny jokes while they shoot giant floating monkey brains. Adding EXTREME NUDITY AND INTENSE VIOLENT SEQUENCES contributes nothing. Look, you can include darker elements to the series, that isn't the issue. Hell, the games themselves did it. But there's this thing called tact, and the overcompensation graph goes off the chart when you feel the need to write about Krystal decapitating someone with her staff before getting raped by General Scales while Falco cries about contracting space AIDS after he becomes a prostitute to make ends meet for he and Katt's lovechild (but Panther is the real father!). This isn't fucking Requiem for a Dream or Saving Private Ryan. It's Star Fox. The name is goofy as shit. This is a series that has a frog with a mustache named Beltino in it, for God's sake. Just stop. When you write grimdark Star Fox fic the only thing that you're proving is that you have no idea how to cultivate the existing atmosphere that provided one of the only reasons that anyone even likes this series.

 

6. By a similar token, though less rage-inducing, Furry CNN fanfiction. People love making Star Fox over-political for some reason. I understand why given that warring militaries are a major aspect of the games but by the same token they're not the only aspect. Reading about a bunch of dudes with tails drone on about Generic Military Conspiracy X is really not as interesting as you think it is.

 

7. There is like a 98% chance that any OC is an insipid, uninspired cookie cutter piece of cheesecake. There have been like three Star Fox OC's in the history of forever that I've read about that didn't either instantly delete themselves from my memory or make me want to rip my own teeth out and mail them to the author with a note that reads "THIS IS WHAT YOU'VE DONE" written in my own blood. The worst of it is these authors think these characters are THE BEST THING. I don't know what makes you think your military wolfman boning Krystal and totally becoming a member of Star Fox and upstaging everyone else in the series is appealing to anything other than you and your hand of preference.

 

8. STOP BREAKING THE UNIVERSE. Your trenchcoat-wearing were-Jedi dragon with colour-changing eyes and Super Saiyan powers makes no fucking sense, I don't care that he can totally beat up like twelve Androsses at the same time. Did you know it's totally possible to create a cool character that operates within the perimeters of the series we've been given? Wow!

 

9. Slash is cool! Ship whatever characters you want! You know what isn't cool? Completely dismantling their personalities to make them "more like gay people". Don't be a dick.

 

10. Star Fox: THE NEXT GENERATION. For your regular dose of terrible with completely new characters that you have no reason to care about!

 

...

 

Suffice to say, I don't really try to read Star Fox fanfiction anymore.

[chaos_Leader]

^ Thank you Dras. I couldn't have said it better myself if I tried, really. You hit most points I can think of that I agree completely

 

I wish I could be as articulate in my grievances as Dras and others have been. But I think this just about covers all the crap that makes star fox fanfic terrible. Hell, it was largely because of the very gripes mentioned above and that I had when looking at Star Fox fanfiction that sort of spurred me getting into writing. IE: "you know what? This is all crap. I can do better."

 

though I would be curious, on the other side of the equation: what elements has anyone seen/read that actually seem to work really well in Star Fox fanficton, (or any fanfiction for that matter)? I can understand "not doing the dumb stuff listed here", and I also can understand if there have been so few good or even "decent" Star Fox fanfiction that people have read that there's simply not enough of a sample pool to draw from.

[TCPeppyTc]

I agree complety. Chaos_Leader have you written anything yet besides Starfox Legacy? and is SFL still a work in progress?

 

When people read fanfiction, they tend to want to know more about the characters they already know and love. A "new character" I find is acceptable ( even if from other dimension) as long as they relate to and help build the personas of the already existing characters.

 

I hate to say it, but SF fans may come from a smaller, more limited, less worldly pool than fans of say, Star wars, Harry Potter, or Game of Thrones.

 

Perhaps more than 1/2 of the fanbase are moody, angsty teens and preteens. They may project their own insecurities/ worries onto the Starfox team ( poor them! )

 

Also, the plot and characterization of the SF universe is paper thin, so may tempt people to say more ridiculous stuff. Idk though...

[Snys93]

Wow guys,  now I don't even want to attempt continuing to writing my fanfic lol.

 

When I write I try making it original without using any canon characters, seeing that its sacrilegious to do so. I dislike crossovers, yiff-fics and the like, so I write my own characters and write a thesis on them before I am to put them in a predisposed fictional universe for them to inhabit and interact in.

 

I know its a cartoon, but whats the point in writing a fanfic about Starfox if you can't make it seem more real and tactile? I don't see them as animals but aliens with almost human characteristics that so happen to look like dogs or cats, foxes or apes. Or just highly evolved species' that we as humans could never imagine achieving our evolutionary status as sentient beings.

 

I might as well say it, maybe Starfox SHOULDN'T have been populated with birds, frogs, rabbits, monkeys and hound dogs and be just like any other scifi out there. I seems just such ridiculousness to think anyone would take this seriously. But YOU ALL do, thats why you're all members of this site. Thats why were all here.

[Drasiana]

Wow guys,  now I don't even want to attempt continuing to writing my fanfic lol.

 

Just so you don't feel like this is a personal attack, I've never read your fanfic and know nothing about it. These are just tropes I've noticed and grown exceptionally sick of after spending a good 10~ years in the fandom with them.

 

I know its a cartoon, but whats the point in writing a fanfic about Starfox if you can't make it seem more real and tactile?

 

The point of writing a Star Fox fanfiction is to write a story about a series that you like and exploring aspects of it that interest you. The overall "point" of fanfiction is not and shouldn't be warping the existing universe to an unrecognizable point out of misplaced notions that superficially "realistic" elements instantly equate to quality.

 

I don't see them as animals but aliens with almost human characteristics that so happen to look like dogs or cats, foxes or apes. Or just highly evolved species' that we as humans could never imagine achieving our evolutionary status as sentient beings.

 

You can dress it up as nicely as you want, but half the cast is named after an animal. "Slippy Toad" is a real name being used here. They're animals. Anthropomorphic animals from space, sure, but it really isn't more sophisticated than that.

 

I might as well say it, maybe Starfox SHOULDN'T have been populated with birds, frogs, rabbits, monkeys and hound dogs and be just like any other scifi out there. I seems just such ridiculousness to think anyone would take this seriously. But YOU ALL do, thats why you're all members of this site. Thats why were all here.

 

I'm not entirely sure the point you're trying to make here. If Star Fox was about humans it would be like any other sci fi but who would take it seriously other than us which is why we are Star Fox fans? Huh?

 

The reason I have such an issue with the grimdarkery going on in the fandom is that it's for the most part, immaturity dressed up as maturity. People equate "darkness" with being "more adult" or "realistic" and this is an incredibly infantile and overly simplified view of the medium that isn't at all accurate to what we have to work with, nor does it give it any sort of justice at all. You can handle "mature" themes like death and rejection, loss of hope and guilt in Star Fox fanfic, don't get me wrong. But keep in mind I just rattled off a ton of themes that The Lion King handled. People want to make Star Fox into something it isn't instead of taking what it is and developing that, and I don't know why they do that, because we didn't fall in love with what Star Fox isn't.

[madame bellatrix]

-i'd be lying if i didn't say i'm not guilty of some of the stuff.key example,the main story i'm working on may be disliked by a good number of people because it touched on some of said tropes example,dome cities on titania,sargasso as a city in space,samus ,BACKGROUND OC's.I do not believe in using oc's as a main character in fanfiction,ever,it's against my code.i use them as supporting characters to flesh out main characters,period.

 

Also,while i may be a slash/yaoi fan at times (other times it just makes me mad),as i grew up on the stuff,i don't like it unexplained.hell,wolf x leon makes more since in context than wolf x fox (seriously,the creepy lizard's been on his ass since the beginning and occasionally says weird shit...who's to say they aren't secret lovers,but I highly doubt it).Again,may seem like hypocrisy ,as i am writing fox x wolf as the main couple.it's just bending characters just to put them together without any explanation that irks me. here's how your average fic writer writes it one of them usually thinks 'oh,he's hot,but i'm scared to tell him...nevermind that we've been actively been shooting each other out of the sky and fighting for how long now? lets kiss nervously and jump in bed together!'

 

-instead,i'd write it as some twisted on and off love/hate,affair as the lives they've lead would always put  them at odds with one another.(except maybe post-aparoid )

 

-and last, the grim dark thing i agree that darker isn't better.i like to balance dark and light-hearted.i'm also a fan of inside jokes and occasional running gags,which i make use of .

[Arashikage]

I'm almost inspired to write the worst fanfic in the world and break every single rule as an example.  I just have to be able to be tongue-in-cheek enough to make it noticeable, but barely.  

[madame bellatrix]

I'm almost inspired to write the worst fanfic in the world and break every single rule as an example.  I just have to be able to be tongue-in-cheek enough to make it noticeable, but barely.  

-eh ,go for it.i'll be rootin' for ya

[Faisul]

I think there are two general directions people seem to go when writing fanfiction. One is to elaborate on a setting they know well, by continuing or fleshing out an official story arc or to try to add depth to one aspect of the world or other. The most notorious pitfalls, Dras mentioned them - the stupid grimdark 're-imagining' of an established setting (See: Fallout Equestria for the most dire example I can think of), or atom smashing two unrelated settings together (like, Star Trek and Warhammer 40k, or Star Fox and Star Wars). Neither works unless it's for the sake of comedy or it's to prove some point or other, but most people writing these things simply do so to make some sort of weird doll house for themselves where they can cram their favorite characters together and make them smooch or something.

 

Another direction is character-focused, and this avenue seems to bring about the most problems. Dras also mentioned the big ones - the mary sue self-insert OC (do not steal) with amazing super powers that upstage the hero and is just so much better than anyone else and always gets the girl, or the warping of well-developed personalities in the official canon into waify, flamboyant queens. I have no problems with waify, flamboyant queens, mind you, but if the waify flamboyant queen was a rugged stoic or a deranged psychopath in the canon, having these personalities be erased in favor of the fic author's wank material is very annoying. These characters rarely have any depth, and the dialogue and general writing in such fics is the same quality as dime-book housewife porn - in my experience.

 

A story is only as good as its characters, and a setting only as good as the story it contains. Fanfic authors wanting to take an official canon in a new direction can do so to their heart's content, but they can also at least have the courtesy of making it interesting. The vast library of generic star fox slash porn out there is perhaps the most boring thing I can imagine, with characters twisted out of recognition and fitted into stock porn roles just to gratify the boring author and the boring people who enjoy this kind of thing. It's their right to do whatever they want with the words they put together but I reserve the right to say it's fucking boring.

 

An example of a good fan production where the atmosphere and tone of Star Fox has been successfully changed is Fredryk Phox's Star Fox cartoon, where the characters retain their base personalities but not without having them tweaked in subtle (or not so subtle) ways, casting the tone of the setting into a very different but interesting direction. He is able to pull it off because he understands how characterization works, and doesn't just fill the character gallery with stock character types to then throw them into a random chain of events that gets them to bone or wallow in melodrama over not getting to bone. Boning is not the most important thing in the world, guys! It's actually pretty boring when it's some passion-less, by-the-numbers wank fantasy involving favorite characters getting jiggy just to titillate boring people! Also, I know triangle relationships are drama but it's a really boring kind of drama unless one of the jilted parties is like, I don't know, a sentient color or something.

 

The really great fanfiction keeps the fundamentals of a setting or the characters of a franchise in mind while also adding to it - shifting tone or atmosphere into new directions, or adding history and background to events portrayed in official canon, without having the whole thing spiral into a boring stereotype or boring porn. That kind of thing is so artless as to be non-existing, just another number in a mind-numbingly dull catalog of almost exactly identical crap that seems to just go on and on and on and on.

[madame bellatrix]

-yes,definately agree on crossover thing,sometimes,you gotta leave it alone...however,i think starfox can cross over pretty damn well with mass effect ,anyone agree with this?

 

-also ,the oc thing drives me up the wall,and all the bad porn....

 

-and you know what,faisul? you named it right,it's the lack of atmosphere,and character depth,etc .i think it's more people projecting their fantasies into it than anything and not trying to 'tell a story'. fredryk phox is telling a story and that's it.he's got the characterization,atmosphere,the world and everything set up ,people's backstories and all too (i can't wait for it to be finished ) .i think a good number of people in the fanfic-circuit are just shippers too .i've read fics where the plot is the selected couple hooking up and bangin' each other ... i much prefer there to be some kinda background plot going on.

[Jcopper24]

So glad that I read this tread. I've started writing my own fanfiction based on the Cornerian army and its members. I'm limiting the number of my own O.C.s to 3 while accepting others provided I can find a space for them. I include characters like Bill Grey, Fara Phoenix (who admittedly starts a relationship with an O.C. but it builds HIS character), Fay Spaniel, and Miyu Lynx because they get so little screen time if any. I use real names for enemies and locations with as few original creations as possible. If anyone is interested it can be found at the following link

 

http://jcopper24.deviantart.com/art/Lylat-Wars-Sector-Y-Chapter-1-378497985

 

It follows story arcs that take place in different locations and time periods during 64 and Assault. Also checkout the topic "Cornerian Army Fanfiction" for more. Feedback and questions welcome. Thanks and I hope I can do Star Fox justice.

[Drasiana]

Fara Phoenix (who admittedly starts a relationship with an O.C. but it builds HIS character)

 

I don't know if this just came across weirdly but I'll comment on it as a general note for ALL writing:

 

Please don't use female characters purely as an item to progress the character arc of a man. Women aren't plot devices and writers need to stop using them as nothing but catalysts.

[TCPeppyTc]

Agreed Dras. In this day and age, with all the advancements women have made, youd think everyone would have figured out how to make interesting female characters!

[Drasiana]

You'd think but I still get a weirdly huge number of male writers asking me "how to write women" and I'm like you literally just write a dude and then change the name and pronouns after the fact I will not be offended if you write my gender as if we are people whoa

[TCPeppyTc]

Hmmmmmm.... can I ask you how to write women if I ever need help? 

[Jcopper24]

The intention was to build them both due to the lack of official info on Fara. I intend to give her her own chapters where she is productive and capable. I admit, most fanfictions do use females for male advancement. I'm trying to break that pattern by reading these "Do Not" posts. I am new to writing so bare with me while I improve.

[Snys93]

Female characters in charge has always been awesome. Never liked how there are only male generals and commanders.

[Jcopper24]

Hence why Fay is the head of Maintenance, and Miyu is the head combat instructor. Add in Fara as a captain and everyone has equal opportunity more or less in my fan fic. 

[Xortberg]

Dras tell me

 

How I rite wimminz

 

Pls

[Drasiana]

First you must harvest a tampon from an elderly lesbian matriarch. Use the tampon to paint the sign of the Triple Goddess on the floor of a burned wedding chapel while naked and anointed with rosemary and lipstick. Chant the incantation of the prophet Carrie Bradshaw and set fire to a garter. This will summon Her, and only She can give you what you need to unlock the secrets of The Women for writing purposes. Godspeed.