Discussion When Fanon Catches Up to Canon (or Legends)

Have you ever had a situation where you create a character/story/premise in a fanfic (or concepts for a fanfic), only for some time later (whether it be days to a few years later), an officially licensed work ends up featuring very similar elements to your fic? Especially when the fic question isn't that particularly well-known?


What sparked this idea for a thread:

When we were presented with more info on the The Old Republic expansion, "Knights of the Fallen Empire" following its trailer at E3 2015, I caught some similarities between a fanfic I'm writing (considering it's the only one I've ever written so far, it shouldn't be hard to figure out which one) and Fallen Empire's premise.

As indicated by a message I got in my inbox, I'm not the only one who caught note of this and the sender even asked if I was on BioWare's writing team or they were "stealing" ideas (stealing is a legally subjective term when it comes to taking from fanfics). I don't work for BioWare nor have I ever, and I'm not quite sure whether they are intentionally borrowing ideas (if so, I'm somewhat flattered since it's gotten recognition from people who do official work for the franchise) or this conception was a coincidence.

The similarities are as follows:
- A hidden empire (detached from any of the known galactic powers) operating in the Unknown Regions with a supposedly immortal Emperor.
- Said empire is probably being used for a greater purpose.
- The Emperor also has a very similar name (specifically, the difference is that this emperor has three more letters attached to the end).

Judging by what I've seen so far and what I already know for my own fic, there's some notable differences as well (and the person who gave me the message is also aware of this).


Again, have you ever had a similar experience with your own fics?

 

Great question!

Although I cannot remember what mine were, I had a series or at least several stories in mind for Wraiths, published one, then the EU brought them out as an X-Wing squadron.

Killed my concept stone dead. When it buried my idea and salted the earth, I thought that was vindictive.

 

It might be a very large coincidence since I believe games like TOR take years to plot out and get out. They might have been working on this update since about the time the game first came out and have only recently managed to get all or most of the finishing touches on it since it will be available in late September or Early October if you are a subscriber.

I don't know.

The closest thing that I sort of predicted was the use of Inquisitors. What I really did was repainted the Emperor's Hands by stripped them of thinking that they were the only one, they have specialized training like Marta is trained for spy work while Bryce is trained for combat and they are known/called the Empire's Elite. Rebels then introduced 'the Inquisitor' and that he had been trained in the ways of the Force to deal with Rebels and the like.

So I wouldn't call it a prediction and they did say that they would reuse and recycle some ideas from the Legends so I think that mine is a coincidence. But you do never know who is reading your work. And since at the end of the day we are just playing in the sandboxes of others so some ideas don't belong to us.

 

Yeah when me and my Mate did our first fic we were accused of copying FotJ I think for a pet nexu cub and Darth Zannah for a girl Sith. At the time we didn't know either existed and we certainly didn't rip them off for our Before story.

 

Oh please, different eras and different circumstances I am sure. Sith aren't known for their kind hearts. Besides who in their right minds would let a little girl have a carnivorous animal as a pet? Sure you took safety precautions but you can't take the predator out of it. One day you won't be able to take away it's strength or it's frustration. However it would make a good pet for a Sith or a crime lord.

 

Whatever Misty.

 

This thread is odd.

 

The only one I know publicly is that there is a fanclub/group here on the boards called the New Galactic Empire - started far before the Legends canon introduced the same. They could have borrowed it, but if you think about it...the Legends Empire is a new Galactic Empire!

Also a bit unlike yours, I had a series of Doctor Who fics that were kept in private conversation (we were finishing them there before posting).

But my writing them earned me the nickname "Moffat" - completely coincidentally, I predicted quite a few new episodes and still managed to be almost completely in canon with all 700 something old episodes. Just a note that it does and can happen, so I don't know if it was a really strange coincidence like mine was...or it was intentional. You can't really tell.

 

I have noticed a few minor references from my fics used in profic, and I am suspicious there was something in the new animated Clone Wars series in which a Senator had a similar sl to what I had in mind for my Shistavanen Senator, Mizet. Theoretically, they could use ideas fan fic writers come up with. I don't mind as long as they don't take an entire story or character. But I don't think fans fic writers can really complain, though because we are borrowing from others.