I am having a strong, visceral reaction to the sentiment that Fallout show fans don't want to see OCs in the tags.
I’m confused!!! Are there truly enough people purposefully mis-tagging east coast fallout OCs in the Fallout Prime (or whatever tag is popular, they really should have given this show an Actual Name) that it becomes noticeable and annoying? Not that I’ve seen. Are people using the search function and thinking they're searching tags, just seeing anything with Fallout in the body of the post? Which is gonna be mostly OCs... Water wet, fire hot, more at 11. (Again, Show Could Really Use Actual Name….) Or it could be they're upset about people straight up making OCs that slot into the show's canon? Or just. Making OCs at all?
Regardless, I am Concerned.
I really want to stress to fans new to the Fallout IP, who maybe haven’t played the games or RPGs in general, that this fandom has been around for decades. And it's always been about OCs, first and foremost. It's baked into the experience of the game. You make your little guy. You do your little quests. You cry about not being able to kiss your favorite little guy or whatever. It’s what we’ve built these communities around.
And this is not unique to Fallout.
Fandoms for RPGs with customizable protagonists and branching choices attract people who love making OCs!!! Look at the Bioware fandom, Elder Scrolls, Cyberpunk 2077, BG3 and sooo many TTRPGs!!!
We created these fandom spaces to share our creations with each other, talk about how OCs interact with canon characters, our friends OCs, the plot, setting, lore. Shipping is deeply OC/Canon and OC /OC focused. Sure there's Canon/Canon, but the overwhelming majority of fanworks are focused on bespoke, home grown, free range Original freaks Characters.
So if you’re new to Fallout and your first exposure is the TV show, and you're coming from spaces where OCs are not common or popular, please understand that this is not a space where OCs will ever be “cringe” or whatever being free and having fun is called these days. It’s literally the norm, the culture, the Reason we’re all here. And if we want to put OCs into Fallout The Show (really. Could use a name that’s not just. The IP…) we’re gonna do that too. And complaining about it is going to be deeply unpopular. If you’re ready to die on that hill you can block block block and call the gamers mean exclusionary cringe whatevers, but remember you’re coming into a decades-old fandom and telling us that you don’t want us here? And by the same token complain that game-first fans hate the show and don’t want you in the fandom when genuinely…its a time honored tradition to criticize the media we love?
Just like. Try it. Try making an OC and putting them in the show and making them kiss the guy with a mouth on his chest. Kiss the mouth on the chest of that guy. Make art about it. Write some lore. A saucy little ficlet. We’ll reblog it. We’ll love it.
I promise you’ll have fun.
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