Does it bother you when a story goes against the standard fandom character interpretation of a side character/background pony? For instance, when a story doesn't make Trixie into an incompetent fraud, or when a story chooses to paint Daring Do as something other than a Laura Croft/Indiana Jones clone.

Actually though, there's more to it than that. In the case of Daring Do, we already have show canon regarding how her character acts in dangerous situations, so unless you assume the books are all totally fictional/fictionalized accounts, Daring Do would have to have proficient skills in dodging traps and thwarting evil schemes. I'm more talking about when a story has Daring being competent in one regard, but less skilled in another field, presumably not an archaeological one.

...I think I've gotten off track. Let me try to rephrase the question.

Does it bother you when a story builds off of what we already know about a character, but then takes the characterization in unexpected (but hopefully not OOC) directions? Or do you only want to read stories about canon characters as canon depicts them?

if they do it well, then no not really.

956656 A little characterization never hurt anypony. Things like The Sisters Doo don't bother me (actually, I quite like that story) because it's refreshing to see other people's takes on fanon-established characters.

No. In fact I prefer it, because it shows they have creativity. There's only so many times you can show Lyra as a handz/hewmonz obsessed goon or Octavia & Vinyl as a wacky odd couple before it becomes dull.

Personally I love it when canon characters have their traits beginning to change, especially the mane six, and extra-especially when they start down that slippery slope into madness But seriously, I really like it when authors do this, but only when it's believable. As an example, somepony such as Fluttershy isn't going to go on a vengeance campaign just out of the blue, but if a good author can develop her at such a pace that it actually becomes believable (or better yet, justifiable ), then I would undoubtedly find the story to be incredible, and the author would recieve the highest praise :D

So yeah, to sum that up, I like it, but it has to be done well, gradually and believably.

Frankly, I prefer it when they change up background characters, but they do it in a way that makes sense and feels organic. There have been many stories where they use Fanon personalities for the background characters and include them when they don't really have to in order to tell the story that they need to. It just strikes me as not terribly compelling. Why mention Lyra and Bon Bon sitting on a bench together? Or Derpy delivering mail? I mean if it helps with the telling of your story, then sure go for it. But if it's just thrown in there for no real reason, then it kind of irks me.

We are talking about fanfics, right? Everything and all is fair game.
I do have to confess though that I really like the Winningverse's Cloudkicker and Blossomforth.

I... I see. I asked this question because I've done this exact same thing twice, once with Trixie, and once with Daring. But in the case of Daring, a few people complained when she was shown as more vulnerable than how the show portrays her (she's just as competent when shown escaping traps and solving mysteries, but not as much in other situations).

Personally, I don't like it when a story doesn't take the opportunity to explore the characters. If you rely on the same old tired formula, that's how stagnation happens.

If you remove the pesky canon aspect of things, then yes, diversity does wonders here...
But considering how rigid that some people are with how a certain character is interpreted, I often find it isn't worth my time even trying to write my own unique take and/or preserving the original for further use.
I.E. Season 1 Luna anyone?

Anyone?

... Bah. Figures you young whippersnappers wouldn't have know about her.
Back in my day, Luna....

Forgive me, it appears I have gone senile for a moment in a rave self induced nostalgia trip.
Pardon me while I go on a quest to regain my sanity for a moment's notice.

My Derpy hates muffins.

Most background ponies have very few actual character traits. This means that fanfiction authors are free to interpret them in any way they see fit, as long as the little that is consistent in the show stays that way. In my opinion anyway. I feel that a fan of the show should feel free to expand upon a background character however they want without fear of persecution for not sticking to established fanon.

956656

Does it bother you when a story goes against the standard fandom character interpretation of a side character/background pony? For instance, when a story doesn't make Trixie into an incompetent fraud, or when a story chooses to paint Daring Do as something other than a Laura Croft/Indiana Jones clone.

That's less the "fandom character interpretation" and more of how they actually were portrayed in the show. I guess you could say Daring Do might not be like that "in real life" if you choose to make her a real pony, but she was definitely an Indiana Jones parody in canon. And Trixie pretty much was an incompetent fraud - she lied about being able to defeat an Ursa Major, and her only real power (other than flashy effects) came from the Alicorn Amulet. If you deviate from those, you're going to have to explain why.

But for true background ponies (Lyra, Derpy, etc.) they haven't really been established as characters in the show, so you can do whatever you want with them. They can't be out of character because they haven't really been given a character.

The common fan interpretations are more of just framework, so you still have to come up with how a character behaves beyond the one or two traits they're assigned in fanon and memes and such.

Typically I'd prefer to see something that ties back to their appearances in the show. That's how I came up with my version of Lyra - she's excitable, since you usually see her jumping up and down in crowd shots. She's a musician based on her cutie mark. She has a sweet tooth because she got really upset when parasprites ate her cake. I even explained why she was in Cloudsdale in "Sonic Rainboom."

No matter what you do, it's really important to give characters enough depth to be compelling. Lyra's a prime example of that. Most of the time she's obsessed with humans just because that's how everyone writes her, and they don't do anything interesting with it, and they don't give her much more of a personality beyond that. It's not that uncommon to have a non-human character be interested in humans, so there's a lot you can potentially do with it than just "HANDS!!!!!11"

When I started Crisis of Infinite Offspring, I specifically chose Lyra to be Big Mac's girlfriend because it went against popular fandom.

There is plenty to do with background ponies, not just the same old Vinyltavia or LyraBon.
It's boring to do the same thing over and over.

I just dont like it when they take out the core aspect of a character that makes them special to the show.

Too many fics out there making Trixie "humble" she out there for number 1 and anyone who tries to take that away from her makes me stop reading and give the thumbs down. Though making her fall in love with Twilight without establishing a good base. I mean come on, in every episode they appear together in, they are rivials. So you have to show how the thin line of hate turns to love for it to make sense.
Unless it is an alternate universe where "boast busters" never existed....

957136

I'm talking about interpretations beyond what canon tells us for sure, though. So yeah, my Daring Do in Greyfeather Prediction is extremely competent when it comes to working out puzzles, not getting killed in traps, etc, and because she was shown to be good at what we know she's good at, I thought I'd fulfilled my obligations to canon, so to speak. What we don't see her do in the show is fair game, right?

Maybe I'm thinking about it the wrong way. It's probably more believable to make Trixie a practical businesspony than it is to make her a really good singer. And in the same way, I'm thinking it's more logical to give Daring a chronic fear of spiders (because it's an Indiana Jones nod) than it is to make her cry when she's upset.

So maybe, when you're dealing with characters with some traits shown but who still lack a full personality, the best method is to use discretion when choosing the new character traits you give them.

On the other hand, though, what if the whole point of the story is that Daring really isn't as brave as her books say she is, but only because the situations she encountered in the books never left her feeling like she was truly ever in mortal peril?

...Eh. I'll think on this.

957241

Maybe I'm thinking about it the wrong way. It's probably more believable to make Trixie a practical businesspony than it is to make her a really good singer. And in the same way, I'm thinking it's more logical to give Daring a chronic fear of spiders (because it's an Indiana Jones nod) than it is to make her cry when she's upset.

If by "practical businesspony" you mean "publicity expert," then yeah. She's definitely good at giving herself a positive image and building up hype. It seems like her show was very successful before she came to Ponyville.

Also, everyone in MLP is a good singer. It's somewhat of a musical.

It's a good thing I saw this post. I'm thinking of writing a story which deals with the activities of the background ponies during the events of the show. I wasn't sure how I would do this without deviating from the fan's interpretation, but now I can rest easy that I don't have to keep to the 'characterization' that the fans have created. Not to say I won't keep some elements in there, should I ever start the story, maybe the established relationships or making Lyra's obsession with humans (more like a hobby though).

I like the fanon for background characters but only on a basic level.

For example, I can dig Lyra being obssesed with humans but the way it is generally handled is most of the time just plain terrible, completely forgetting that Lyra still needs to be a pony and put her talent to use.
It's like almost everyone who writes Lyra forgets that she has a lyre cutie mark and that's not properly exploited.

Or VinylxOctavia. It never makes fucking sense for them to meet.
They come from completely different worlds that never intersect and just going "Hey! Everyone goes to shady bars when they feel down. Even you" doesn't fix anything.
I don't go for one. I just sit at a sofa, watch soap operas, wail and eat ice cream like a lot of people, why would Octavia go there instead of staying at home and meditating to pony Bethoven?

Or Derpy being disabled being rarely put to good use.

As I like to point out more often than not; guys, we dumb.

I have no particular problem with new interpretations. Assuming they're good.

Not to say things can't unbalance me from time to time, when it goes a bit... far. I've read a few fics where Lyra doesn't even know BonBon, and I sit there scratching my head going 'But... we see them together all the time, canonically!'.

Speaking of Lyra, that's one where I do prefer people depart from the usual. The human thing... it bugs me. Not because I'm against the idea, it's just that it feels like people throw it in everywhere with no purpose. When a fic actually makes it, y'know, relevant, no issues. I can enjoy it.

I think I get points for accidentally shipping Berry Punch and Derpy Hooves, it just sorta happened naturally. Wierd.