Is it fanon?

Topic: Sometimes the voices tell me to change the topic.

Users: @SuzyQ

irc.simpworks.com

[Archonix]

Just struck me.

In fanfic Leela is often portrayed as having purple eyes, and other characters tend to have particular eye-colours as well. Lisa, for example, usually has blue; Amy often has brown. In fact now that I think about it this thing seems to be limited to the females... oh well.

Anyway, the thought that occurs to me is, how much of what we take for granted about these characters is actually the honest-to-god truth? And, more importantly, does anyone have other examples of fanon that we can steal copy examine and comment on?

[Assistant Crone]

Dear Points of View,

I don't have much to add yet, but I imagine Leela's eye to be pink, based on the goddess of beauty mosaic on that fake homeworld.

One thing I'd like to know: who would you say are the most famous fanon characters? Do they affect things?

[Lisabella]

Lisa's eyes being blue is actually a canon thing (It's revealed in "Bart Carney"), and now we have a canonical eye color for Marge as well (Hazel).  So I guess at least part of that is canonical.

[Archonix]

Shelley Greenberg, without a doubt. She turned up in a fanfic, and then a completely different author used her because he thought she was canon. Must have been a good fic...

[Molloy the Catburglar]

Lisa's eyes being blue is actually a canon thing (It's revealed in "Bart Carney"), and now we have a canonical eye color for Marge as well (Hazel).  So I guess at least part of that is canonical.

She does?  Go Team Hazel! 

[A Spy in Mancunia]

I was going to post about Lisa's blue eyes being mentioned in "Bart Carney", but Missy forestalled me.

Leela's purple eye is complete fanon, as far as I'm aware, and I don't really know why it's caught on. (Except for the fact that she's a mutant and already has weirdly-coloured hair.) Nice catch about the "Birth of Venus"-like mosaic, Beb, I'd forgotten about that.

I assume Amy's eyes are brown, since she appears to be a purebred Martian-Chinese.

While still on the subject of eye-colour, I've noticed that at least a couple of fanartists tend to draw Jessica with green eyes. I guess it's the evil femme fatale icon.

I'll return to this topic when I'm less tired. Fanon is interesting. Sometimes infuriating, sometimes fun, but always interesting.

EDIT SINCE GRAHAM POSTED WHILE I WAS TYPING: *LOL*, I remember that. She was created by Ondre Lombard in his fic "Carrie" (no relation to any other item of culture), and also appeared in his "Privately Saving Homer".

She was later nominated for Best Original Character that year, losing out against none other than Suzy Simpson. It was a very good year for original characters.

[Shockwave]

I think Leela "having" purple eyes is more of a fanart related thing than fanfic, thanks to a slew of more realistic, anime, etc. pictures of Leela depicting her as such. I think fanfic writers may have latched onto these for inspiration. So, it's still fanon of course, but I think it stems from the art side more than the writing really.

[Lisabella]

She does?  Go Team Hazel! 

Yup, as revealed in the (adorable) subplot of Little Orphan Millie this season.

[Archonix]

I suppose more fanon would show up in Star Trek than here...

[Enhas]

In some Futurama stories where Fry and Leela are married, she calls him "Phil" even though she's used the name "Fry" for years before.  I'm pretty sure that Universe 1 Leela didn't call Fry "Phil", so I don't know where this comes from besides trying to make Fry look more mature by using his real name.

[Tyrannus]

A fanon based thread? Neat!

RE: Eye colours-Leela: This is a bit of a tough one to decide whether it *could* be true. There is the 'Birth of Venus'-like mosaic but according to "The Cyber house rules" (I think that's what it's called) Leela would look perfectly normal with two eyes, and pink/purple isn't normal...so yeah, it's disputable.
-Jessica: While it doesn't have any evidence to support it it doesn't have anything to contradict it either. I personally think that green suits her, it's a nice, pretty colour.
-The Simpsons: If Lisa's eyes are blue and Marge's hazel then I suppose that means Homer's iris colour is blue, Bart and Maggie's iris colours are likely both blue, could be different.

In terms of not-yet mentioned pieces of fanon...
1) Bart's future occupation: Despite the latter two future episode views on Bart's future it isn't uncommon to see Bart involved in the law in futurefics.  personally support this on the grounds that it is the only official take on Bart's future that isn't depressing to me and it's kinda canonical.
2) Maggie being a mix of Bart and Lisa: Something done so often that it could be recognised as fanon. It's one of the few pieces of fanon I regard to be dull and unimaginative with no real use Maggie's character as a baby. A strong, quiet individual with some minor violent tendancies seems quite a bit more fitting in my opinion, it could be something else. Everyone is different after all. Maggie being a Bart/Lisa mix isn't exactly out of character, just bland, especially since Maggie's character is so flexible. She could become so many different things, even a sociopathic assassin and it wouldn't be that odd, or at least to me.
3) Sherri & Terri's heritage/nationality: An odd one, a great deal of fanfiction that features the twins in anything more than a one-line role usually implicate that they are partly east-Asian, Chinese in particular (I always though Japanese would be more fitting). This may explain their pallid skin but they could just be albinos, not to mention that according to the Skybox Simpsons trading card set Sherri and Terri were born in England. A bit of an enigma, unless they're English-born part Chinese/Japanese part African American (taking their father into consideration) albinos which sounds like something from a Mary-Sue.

I'm sure that there are a lot more examples of fanon that isn't "shippy" but my mind is a bit of a blank now.

By the way, does this thread apply only to already existing fanon?

[A Spy in Mancunia]

Lots of interesting points here!

RE: Eye colours-Leela: This is a bit of a tough one to decide whether it *could* be true. There is the 'Birth of Venus'-like mosaic but according to "The Cyber house rules" (I think that's what it's called) Leela would look perfectly normal with two eyes, and pink/purple isn't normal...so yeah, it's disputable.

Maybe everyone who saw her just assumed she was wearing oddly-coloured contact lenses. Purple hair isn't exactly natural either. (At least not in the Futuramaverse. In OFF, it obviously is.)

I tend to go with Bart's law career as well. It's been used on two occasions (the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court thing, and the mention of him studying law), and, well, it's fun. I thought "Bart to the Future"'s vision of him as a down-and-out loser was a bit predictable. (Not like that's the biggest problem with that episode, but still.)

2) Maggie being a mix of Bart and Lisa: Something done so often that it could be recognised as fanon. It's one of the few pieces of fanon I regard to be dull and unimaginative with no real use Maggie's character as a baby. A strong, quiet individual with some minor violent tendancies seems quite a bit more fitting in my opinion, it could be something else. Everyone is different after all. Maggie being a Bart/Lisa mix isn't exactly out of character, just bland, especially since Maggie's character is so flexible. She could become so many different things, even a sociopathic assassin and it wouldn't be that odd, or at least to me.

Word! I don't like it when fanwriters take the easy way out by overtly making Maggie a mix of her siblings.

Interesting part about Sherri and Terri being partly East Asian, I think I've come across that in at least one fic. Now that you mention it, I can see the possibility as regards their looks: apart from their slightly paler skin (though I don't think it's in every episode, so it might be an "animators screwed up" thing), I seem to recall a lot of Asian characters on OFF having upturned noses. They're obviously not albinos, though.

Now, where do you get the "part African American" thing from? They don't really look it, and I don't remember their father being African American. (I've probably opened a can of worms with this question.)

[Shockwave]

In some Futurama stories where Fry and Leela are married, she calls him "Phil" even though she's used the name "Fry" for years before.  I'm pretty sure that Universe 1 Leela didn't call Fry "Phil", so I don't know where this comes from besides trying to make Fry look more mature by using his real name.

I've personally found that annoying, but that really stems from the fact that Leela would then be a Fry as well if they were married... perhaps. There have been no examples in the show of what happens when a mutant marries a norm with regards to names, since mutants' surnames are actually their first names. It raises the question as to whether Leela would simply keep her own name to avoid confusion, or whether she'd be Fry Leela, Leela Fry, Turanga-Fry Leela, or some such variation. In either case, I'd say that if married to him she'd still call him "Fry" in 95% of cases, perhaps only calling him "Philip" or "Phil" in more intimate situations (or --more likely-- when he's in trouble.) When you call somebody something for 7-8 years plus you generally don't suddenly switch what you call them overnight.

[Tyrannus]

Now, where do you get the "part African American" thing from? They don't really look it, and I don't remember their father being African American. (I've probably opened a can of worms with this question.)

In "Homer's odyssey" Sherri and Terri's father has skin of a similar colour to Carl's, though a bit lighter so I kinda jumped to that conclusion, on closer inspection, it may just be a very strong tan. An embarassing mistake on my part, sorry. I guess my mind was more of a blank than I thought.

In terms of appearance, it seems the twins inherited all their characteristics from their mother (they don't wear glasses though), so they could be partly something else, and not be noticable, but either way they seem to be of mixed race. It should also be noted that in "Future-Drama" Sherri and Terri's offspring looked exactly like Nelson and got nothing from the twins themselves (Just as back-up to the claim).

[Officer 1BDI]

RE: Eye Color, Don't all three Simpson kids have blue eyes in canon based on Homer's "freak" portrayal of them in "Lady Bouvier's Lover"?

(I think their eyes were blue; it's been forever since I've seen that episode.)

I've always assumed Fry's eyes were blue or green simply because 80% of the fanart seems to push for one of the two colors, and I've always seen Amy with dark brown eyes because of her apparent heritage; but I've never given that much thought to any other character's eye color... not even Leela's.  Purple has always looked somewhat odd to me, but I accepted it as a possibility because of her mutant background; Adlai's comment never even crossed my mind before this thread.

I admit to being guilty of the "Leela calls Fry by his given name" detail in the past.  In my defense, I was trying to use it to show an increased level of intimacy between the two, but in retrospect I went overboard with it.  To be honest, I'll probably use it again, but only for the sorts of situations that Kenneth mentioned.