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If a particular work has a long and continuous run, fanon may be promoted to canon because a [[Promoted Fanboy]] is now [[Running the Asylum|calling all the shots]].
 
When this happens between fictional characters, it's a [[Sure, Let's Go Withwith That]]. When it's built into the story, it's [[Schrodinger's Gun]]. You could argue this is the creators' decision to [[Throw It In]].
 
Compare with [[I Knew It!]] (where the crazy fan explanation happens to match the one the author had planned all along), [[Ascended Meme]] (where this happens to memes), [[Word of Dante]], [[Canon Immigrant]] (when elements of an officially licensed non-canon source find their way into official canon), [[Beam Me Up, Scotty]] (where the phrase that's well known was never uttered in canon), [[Official Fan Submitted Content]], [[Approval of God]] (where a creator likes a fan work but doesn't make it into canon).
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Contrast [[Jossed]] (when popular fan theories are explicitly sunk by [[Word of God]] or onscreen events).
 
Inverse of "[[Shrug of God]]". This is the screenwriter's version of [[Schrodinger's Gun]]. Compare [[Writing Byby the Seat of Your Pants]], when the author takes suggestions from himself [[Indy Ploy|as he goes along]].
 
{{examples}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
* The author of ''[[One Piece (Manga)|One Piece]]'' has a question and answer column, but half of the time when someone asks about a fact he'll agree with any reasonable guess the writer makes (for instance several of the main characters' birthdays).
{{quote| '''Fan''': "Chopper's birthday should be December 24th." <br />
'''Odacchi''': "Okay." }}
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* The authors of ''[[Kinnikuman]]'' routinely adapted fan suggested characters into the story, both minor and major.
** Same goes for [[Kongoh Bancho]], where several fan-characters have gone on to become both minor and major antagonists.
* During the first season, fans of ''[[Code Geass (Anime)|Code Geass]]'' joked that Lelouch's maid Sayoko was secretly a [[Ninja Maid|ninja]], explaining the occasional flashes of competence seen behind her quiet exterior. Between seasons the staff acknowledged the joke, and in ''R2'' it's revealed that she is in fact the heiress to the Shinozaki ninja clan.
** Denied by herself, though. She's an "SP". Which is to say, while she practices ninja martial arts, from assuming the identity of other people, and using throwing knives with deadly accuracy... She doesn't assassinate people or spy on anyone, she's just Lelouch and Nunnally's bodyguard. Or as the Japanese say, an SP or Security Police.
** Somebody made a gag comic in which the Emperor delivers a speech about breasts<ref>A parody rewrite of his funeral speech for Clovis from episode 4</ref>. [[Norio Wakamoto]], the Emperor's voice actor, made a [[Gag Dub]] of said speech word for word.
* The author of ''[[Saiyuki]]'', previous to the [[Animated Adaptation]], wrote down in [[Stepford Smiler|Cho]] [[Beware the Nice Ones|Hakkai's]] character profile "voiced by [[Akira Ishida]]" as a joke, not expecting to be taken seriously, and was pleasantly surprised that her casting suggestion was accepted.
* ''[[Dragon Ball (Manga)|Dragon Ball]]'' fanfiction has given Vegeta enough [[Sailor Earth|long-lost siblings]] to populate a galaxy (and then some). The 2008 special went ahead and ran with that premise.
* The [[Action Prologue|opening scene]] of ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' was what the last story arc was originally planned to be like, but re-writes ended up making it [[Mind Screw|a total mystery]]. When the staff was asked the fan-theory that the opening was an [[Alternate Continuity]] where {{spoiler|Simon ignores the Anti-Spiral's plea to stop overusing spiral power and the scene is right before he causes [[The End of the World Asas We Know It|the Spiral Nemesis]]}} this was reportedly their response.
* In ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'', fans mentioned to the writer Chiaki J. Konaka, that clearly the character of Alice was a ghost. Konaka ''originally didn't intend this when he wrote it'' but when he looked back; admits that's a very possible theory on his webpage.
* ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'': "Hibird" was the fan nickname for Hibari's unnamed pet bird. Upon hearing this, Akira Amano just made it canon, finding the nickname cute.
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* [[Marvel Comics]] would often get reader mail that would try to explain away some of the continuity or logical fallacies in the stories. A sufficiently clever explanation would win the fan a "No Prize". When some apparently-not-so-clever fans started writing in asking when they would receive ''their'' No Prize, Marvel responded to them by mailing them... an empty envelope. Sadly, this practice has fallen to the wayside, though oddly, the empty "No Prize" envelope is considered of some value by the more hardcore fans.
* The [[Death Is Cheap|return]] of Stephanie Brown to the [[Batman]] universe used the [[Retcon]] that Leslie Thompkins had not basically killed Steph as we were led to believe, but rather faked her death and dragged her off to hide out in Africa with her where she'd be safe from psychos in costumes. Decide for yourself whether this was simply the most obvious fix, or whether the legion of forum threads and fix-it fanfics using this exact scenario during the intervening years of her death inspired DC.
* Ravage in ''[[Transformers Shattered Glass]]'' was originally invented by Dave Willis to star in a couple of ''[[Shortpacked (Webcomic)|Shortpacked]]'' strips, and later got [[Face BookFacebook]] and [[Twitter]] pages as a joke. He ended up so popular that the writers incorporated him into the real comic.
* The Disney/Boom Comics ''[[Darkwing Duck (Comic Bookcomics)|Darkwing Duck]]'' series reveals that DW had been receiving a stipend from the S.H.U.S.H. agency--one of the more popular theories as to how he could be Darkwing and lead a family life as Drake Mallard with no apparent job.
* The [[Fan Nickname]] "Clor" for the clone of Thor from Civil War got used in the recap page of Ant-Man and the Wasp, which is from current Ant-Man Eric O'Grad's POV. Officially though, the character's name is Ragnarok.
* When ''[[Animal Man (Comic Book)|Animal Man]]'' meets his writer, ''[[Grant Morrison (Creator)|Grant Morrison]]'', the latter expressed regret that he didn't have time to use a few ideas some of the fans suggested (it was his last issue), namely to have Buddy fight animal-themed villains and his [[Foil|polar opposite]], a [[Complete Monster]] who finds pleasure in animal cruelty. To make up for that Morrison makes them both materialize out of thin air and attack Animal Man, while he is thanking everybody he worked with on the series. On the related note, he also mentioned that Buddy is what writers wants him to be, so if they'll decide to make him eat meat, he will. Next writer on the series decided to play with that and wrote a story where Buddy copies the abilities of a lion, its overcome by its instincts and tries to eat a gazelle.
* This was the exact reason we have the explanation for the origin of [[Captain America]]'s legendary shield. A fan by the name of "Fred Janssen" wrote in to the 60's-era Captain America comic with a theory involving Dr. Myron McClain and his work with Adamantium and Vibranium, the fictional super alloys in the Marvel Universe. Marvel liked the idea so much that, with a bit of altering, they took it and ran with it!
* The controversial [[Spider -Man]] story ''Sins Past'' revealed that in the past, Gwen Stacy slept with Norman Osborn, without revealing when or why. [[Big Name Fan]] J.R. "Madgoblin" Fettinger pored through his back issues and found a time when it could have happened and a reason why she might have done so at that point in time; namely, that Osborn had saved her father from the Kingpin, she had gone to see him to thank him, and one thing led to another. After posting this theory on his website, [http://www.spideykicksbutt.com/GreenwithEvil/DeFloweringGwen.html here], some of Marvel's writers found it and decided it worked, so they canonized it.
 
 
== Fan Works ==
* ''[[Nobody Dies (Fanfic)|Nobody Dies]]'' is particularly notable for going meta. It's an [[Neon Genesis Evangelion (Anime)|Evangelion]] fan fiction with multiple [[Expanded Universe|fan fictions]] of it. A few of them, like [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5881723/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies_The_Kei_Files The Kei Files] and [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6061370/1/Nobody_Dies_The_Story_of_NERVAlaska The Story of Nerv-Alaska], were canonized and referenced in the main material.
** Sometimes it also happens just from the discussion threads:
{{quote| '''Poster''': "So, given Unit 05's original personality, I would not be surprised if [[Stephen Colbert]] was the President of the United States in this story."<br />
'''[[Word of God|Gregg]]''': "It's canon in my book!" (President Colbert later makes an appearance in the story.) }}
* "[[Uncyclopedia|Uncycylopedia]] (which is online encyclopidia like [[Wikipedia|wikiped]]) said [[Peter Chimaera|I]] was writing story called [[Quarter Life Halfway to Destruction (Fanfic)|Quarter-Life: Halfway to Destruction]] and dontn't know where come but [[Defictionalization|I decide to write anyway]]."
* Several small aspects of the revised canon of [[Methods of Rationality]] were proposed by posters to the author's blog; for instance, the distribution of [[Stable Time Loop]]-inducing [[Time Machine|Time Machines]] to students in order to deal with their class schedules is, canonically, due to wizards looking at the hard problem of writing a conflict-minimizing schedule given classes and requesting students and brute-forcing it with magic.
** Because they've never heard of event-scheduling being a textbook application of greedy algorithms?
* A fanfiction author wrote how [[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy|Grim and Mandy]] ended up getting married in ''[[Grim Tales From Down Below (Fanfic)|Grim Tales Fromfrom Down Below]]'', and Bleedman added the whole thing in.
* Two of Jakayrta's stories in the [[Poke Wars]] universe are regarded as canon by Cornova himself.
* In ''[[Kyon: Big Damn Hero (Fanfic)|Kyon Big Damn Hero]]'', Kyon's [[Morph Weapon|Morph Weapons]] were named [[Stellar Name|Altair and Vega]] after it was proposed on its [[Kyon Big Damn Hero (Fanfic)/WMG|WMG page]].
* A reviewer proposed during the St. Galleria arc of [[The Tainted Grimoire (Fanfic)|The Tainted Grimoire]] to have Luso get Parivir clothing when he actually becomes a Parivir. The author worked this into the story in Chapter 65.
 
 
== Film ==
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean (Film)|Pirates of the Caribbean]]: At World's End'' featured one of these when Keith Richards was written into the film as Captain Teague, Keeper of the Code {{spoiler|and Jack Sparrow's father}} after, as Terry Rossio put it, "the world collectively woke up one day and decided that Keith Richards was going to be in these films." This was likely due to [[Johnny Depp]] discussing it in interviews, since he was an influence of Depp's portrayal of Jack Sparrow.
** It happened again in the same film with Barbossa's first name becoming "Hector", an idea that was worked out privately with Depp and Rush while filming ''Curse of the Black Pearl'', and caught on with fans after Depp mentioned it in the DVD's commentary.
** Also happened with the minor character of Lt. Theodore Groves, played by Greg Ellis--he was just "Groves" in the first movie, but fans took a shine to him and gave him a first name and a backstory, much to the actor's surprise and delight, and the creators were [[A Worldwide Punomenon|onboard.]]
* In ''[[Transformers (Filmfilm)|Transformers]]'' (2007), a very common fan theory was that {{spoiler|[[The Starscream|Starscream]] was among the F-22s that fire on Megatron in the climax.}} The producers haven't said definitely that it's canon, but their stance so far has been "Sure, why not?"
** The tie-in comic ''The Reign of Starscream'' acknowledged this by having Starscream consider it, but decide not to.
** When one of the writers was answering fans' questions in a forum topic on the movie's website, he was asked how Bumblebee was suddenly able to speak at the end of the movie. His answer was that the healing laser Ratchet used earlier in the movie had repaired Bumblebee's vocal processor. When another fan suggested that Bumblebee was healed by the [[MacGuffin|Allspark]], which was clearly shown to heal another damaged Transformer earlier in the movie, the writer admitted that that explanation did make more sense than his answer.
* ''[[Star Trek (Filmfilm)|Star Trek]]'' canonizes Uhura's first name of Nyota, which was actually invented by fan William Rotsler and endorsed by Nichelle Nichols, and had been generally adopted for years. Though, technically it's only ''known'' to be her name in the alternate timeline of the movie, not the original one...
** The same movie canonized the names George and Winona for James T. Kirk's parents, coined in a novel by Vonda McIntyre.
** ''[[Star Trek VI: theThe Undiscovered Country (Film)|Star Trek VI the Undiscovered Country]]'' finally made official Sulu's personal name of Hikaru, which was the most popular one used since Vonda McIntyre gave it to him in another novel a decade earlier.
** Kirk being from Iowa was fanon before ''[[Star Trek IV: theThe Voyage Home (Film)|Star Trek IV the Voyage Home]]''. Someone told Nicholas Meyer, who was one of the film's writers, that Kirk was from Iowa. Consequently, it ended up in the film and became canon.
* [[Ascended Extra|Boba]] [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Fett]] from ''[[Star Wars]]'' has maybe 20 minutes total screen time in the original trilogy, gets knocked into a pit by a blind guy, but has been written about so much in the [[Expanded Universe]] to the point where [[George Lucas]] [[Word of God|himself]] has promoted him clawing his way out of the Sarlacc to canon with little more than "sure, why not?"
** [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Boba_Fett His page on the Wookiepedia.]
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** He's even in the ''credits'' as "Figwit". And he had his own card in the [[Lot R]] TCG, under Figwit.
* The ''Phantasm'' "phandom" has long used term "Sentinel Spheres" to refer to the silver spheres. They are occasionally referred to as such by Don Coscarelli during the DVD commentaries as well, suggesting that he's adopted this term for them.
* When an aficionado asked the creator of the Na'vi language from ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]'' if the word for 'star' (tanhì; pl. sanhì) also was used for the Na'vi bioluminescent freckles, he said sure, why not.
* The very last scene of ''[[The Grifters]]'' is a distant shot of [[Anjelica Huston]]'s character driving away down a dark street. Just before the [[Fade to Black]], a man dressed similarly to [[John Cusack]]'s character runs across the street. When someone asked the producer, [[Martin Scorsese]], if it ''was'' Cusack's character, he reportedly replied, "Sure, Why Not?" In actuality, it was just some random civilian who wasn't supposed to be in the shot.
* Subverted in ''[[The Birds (Film)|The Birds]]'' in classic Hitch style. Suzanne Pleshette, who played Annie, suggested for her character's death that her ear should be found half torn off and bloody. Hitchcock sent her to the makeup department to let them make her ear look like that, but when filming the actual scene placed her body with her other side facing the camera so that the viewer never sees the torn off ear.
 
 
== Literature ==
* In [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Xanth (Literature)|Xanth]]'' series, Prince Dolph (who is still a child) manages to find himself engaged to two different women, both of whom have to marry him [[Because Destiny Says So]]; one, Nada Naga, because of a prophecy, and the other, Electra, because she's under a curse that will kill her if Dolph doesn't go through with the marriage. Obviously, he can't [[Tenchi Solution|marry them both]] (though Dolph doesn't understand why not), and to make matters worse, although Dolph prefers Nada, she would much rather be [[Just Friends]], while Electra really does love him (even if it's magically compelled). Piers Anthony's originally planned resolution, to occur in a later book in the series, was to have him marry Electra, divorce her one day later, and then marry Nada, who will get around the whole "not in love" thing by voluntarily drinking a [[Love Potion]]. However, a ''reader'' spotted a [[Prophecy Twist|loophole in the prophecy]] -- to "marry" someone can also mean to ''perform their wedding ceremony''. After reading this fan's letter, Piers Anthony quickly rewrote the ending, and Dolph and Electra lived [[Happily Ever After]].
** Anthony has openly allowed the Xanth fandom to [[Running the Asylum|run the asylum]] through write-in submissions for years, so there are many other examples of readers' suggestions becoming [[Canon]].
** It would be remiss to mention [[Xanth (Literature)|Xanth]] Fanon and not mention the puns, which are a form of [[Ascended Fanon]] all of their own. Early in the Xanth series, a few puns worked their way into the stories. A few young readers sent in pun suggestions, which Piers Anthony included in the next novel in the series and mentioned the readers by name in the author notes. Now Xanth is known for being full of these puns, which have directly and completely shaped the world, taking it from a rather static fantasy world to something decidedly more, and Piers Anthony is now known for his ungodly huge (chapter-sized) author notes thanking every single reader for every single pun he uses.
*** To the point where he has spent the last several books asking his readers to ease off. He's repeatedly said the books would be much easier to write if the readers stopped trying to help him.
* In later ''[[Harry Potter (Literaturenovel)|Harry Potter]]'' books, after [[The Film of the Book]] made "I shouldn't 'ave said that!" into Hagrid's [[Catch Phrase]], it then became one in the books as well.
** This has also been used for more minor errors, like when it was brought to her attention that Marcus Flint seemed to have repeated a year. [http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=16 Her response]: "Either I made a mistake or he failed his exams and repeated a year. I think I prefer Marcus making the mistake."
** Near the end of ''[[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows|Deathly Hallows]]'', a singing Peeves uses the name "Voldy" to refer to Voldemort. The fandom invented this dismissive name: Rowling said on her official site that she "thought it was very amusing when [she] found a chat room full of people calling him 'Voldy'."
** Lupin's facial scars, which are never described in the books, have supposedly been appearing in fanart before his appearance in the third Harry Potter movie.
** Big time Harry Potter fan John Noe is a huge fan of the Auror Dawlish, who despite [[Informed Ability|getting O's in all his O.W.L.s]] [[The Worf Effect|can be bewitched and hexed by everyone including Neville's grandmother]]. Dawlish doesn't have a first name, and when Noe interviewed J.K. Rowling, she decided to give him the first name John, being named after John Noe.
** An interesting shipping example in ''Harry Potter''. About the time ''[[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows|Deathly Hallows]]'' (the book) came out, [[Word of God]] confirmed that {{spoiler|Neville Longbottom marries Hufflepuff and future landlady of the Leaky Calderon Hannah Abbott, while Luna goes on to marry Rolf Scamander, grandson of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them author Newt Scamander.}} But in the [[Harry Potter (Filmfilm)|Film Of the Book]], {{spoiler|Neville runs off to confess his love to Luna in the middle of the battle, and in their last shot, they're [[Maybe Ever After|sitting next to each other smiling]].}}
** It's unknown whether it's this trope or [[I Knew It!]], but ''[[The Draco Trilogy (Fanfic)|The Draco Trilogy]]'' popularized "Malfoy Manor" as the name of Draco Malfoy's family home. Seven years later, the name was used in ''Deathly Hallows''.
* The case of how Terry Pratchett came up with Hersheba in ''[[Discworld (Literature)|Discworld]]''. "Say Djelibeybi OUT LOUD. I must have had twenty letters (and one or two emails) from people who didn't twig until the third time round... Oh god...do they have them in the US? Should it have been called Emmenemms, or Hersheba... Hmm, Hersheba... Could USE that, yes, little country near Ephebe..."
* The Trakata lightsaber combat, ''[[Star Wars]]'' fanon made canon by ''Roleplaying Game: Saga Edition Core Rulebook''.
* Philip Pullman was once asked why certain minor characters in ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' have daemons who are the same gender as they are (most people have daemons of opposite gender and the narrative says so). When his questioner asked if it meant that those characters were gay, he basically said "sure, why not" -- he had never actually been able to come up with a reason for it.
* Peter Goldworthy's ''Maestro'' features a piano teacher/virtuoso living in Darwin, Australia; having fled the Nazis from his native Vienna. As Maestro is a high-school study favorite in Australia, it spawned a classroom theory that this was intentional on the part of the author: Having fled from Der Wien in Austria to Darwin in Australia was a metaphor showing that the maestro had never really come to terms emotionally with his forced migration. On part of a speaking tour, one high school student finally got to put this theory to the author, and ask if it was true. Peter Goldworthy's memorable response: "It is now."
* Armistead Maupin had already named his ''[[Tales of the City]]'' secretly transsexual character Anna Madrigal when a fan pointed out that this name was an anagram for “a man and a girl”. He later had Anna claim that she had chosen her post-op new name specifically to give this "clue".
* Someone suggested on the facebook of [[Erin Hunter|the author]] of ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'' that there should be a [[Doorstopper|Super]] [[Expanded Universe|Edition]] about Yellowfang. A few months later, she announced that the next Super Edition would be called Yellowfang's Secret.
** Also, ''[[Dawn of the Clans]]'', the [[Fan Nickname]] for [[Prequel|the fifth arc]] is now the official [[Working Title]].
 
 
== Live Action TV ==
* In ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'', the Klingons' gaining forehead ridges between the original series and the movies and later series has long been a subject of fan speculation. In the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV)|Deep Space 9]]'' [[Time Travel]] episode "Trials and Tribble-Ations", two popular fan theories are brought up by two non-Klingon characters, but are told by Worf that Klingons don't discuss the situation with outsiders. Eventually, the prequel series ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise (TV)|Enterprise]]'', which had ridged Klingons, had to tackle not just the "how'd Klingons get ridges?" question, but "how'd Klingons lose their ridges and then get them back?" A multi-part episode shows it happening in a way that actually incorporates both theories.
** They shot themselves in the foot by having Kor, Kang, and Koloth from the original series show up in ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' as modern Klingons.
*** The [[Fanon]] theory, which hasn't been endorsed by the powers that be yet, is that they underwent cosmetic surgery in between TOS and DS9.
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** The real reason, which is not hidden, was the low budget of the original series, which was not intended to be so big.
* The popular ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fan theory about a series of unaired adventures known as "season 6B" (essentially, that the Second Doctor continued adventuring in some capacity after he was captured but before regenerating at the end of season 6) that is used to plug up continuity holes has been used in some of the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] media.
** Eve Myles' characters Gwyneth and [[Torchwood (TV)|Gwen Cooper]] were originally meant not to have any relationship to one another, but fans continued to speculate about it. {{spoiler|The Series 4 finale briefly "explains" the resemblance as [[Techno Babble|"spatial-genetic multiplicity"]].}}
** Part of the [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] in "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S32 E7 A Good Man Goes to War|A Good Man Goes to War]]" sees current executive producer [[Steven Moffat]] saying "Sure, why not? to... [https://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.drwho/browse_thread/thread/7cd734f99a62ae98/c845f05e9b213df9?pli=1 his past 90s fan self].
** Fans had long speculated about the possibility of Time Lords regenerating into the opposite sex. In "The Doctor's Wife", a comment by the Doctor regarding the Corsair's past regenerations brings it solidly into canon.
*** The same episode also confirms several fan theories about the TARDIS and her relationship to the Doctor {{spoiler|not least that the TARDIS actually ''is'' a 'she' (Well, not exactly - it's transferred into a female body, and it apparently has a thing about Rory, but it' doesn't necessarily ''have'' a gender)}}, including the popular idea that her unreliability in taking the Doctor where he wants to go is not just due to unreliability, but also because she is taking him to where he is needed or needs to go.
* After thousands of ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' fan fiction stories, Ianto Jones now makes the best cup of coffee in the world, {{spoiler|to the extent that it's one of the reasons he got a job at Torchwood in the first place}}.
** The name for Torchwood's pet pterodactyl, "Myfanwy", started as an off-screen joke by cast and crew but made it onto the extra-textual website canon if not the show itself.
* The tendency of ''[[Power Rangers]]'' fandom to refer to the Power Coins by their totem animal rather than their color has absolutely no basis in the series itself, and its earliest known use was in the fanfics of [[Big Name Fan|Joe Rovang]]. However, as this caused a great deal of confusion when discussing different sets of coins with the same color, his precedent was followed above the show's. This is particularly apparent when Disney's official site for PR uses "Dragon Coin" for the Green Ranger's Power Coin, as Rov did, rather than "Dragonzord Coin" as the morphing call ''used in every episode featuring the Green Ranger'' would imply.
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** And then there's Santana and Brittany's [[Relationship Upgrade]], which started out as a Fanon theory before proceeding to inside joke for the fandom and then to a full-blown storyline.
** "Heart" gives us two more in {{spoiler|Sugar and Rory}} as well as {{spoiler|Karofsky}} being in love with Kurt
* In ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'', the overwhelming fan response to the semi-accidental Jeff/Annie pairing seems to have influenced writers to {{spoiler|have Jeff/Annie make out in the season 1 finale.}}
* In ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'', the [[Les Yay]] between Alex and Olivia was originally unintentional. Neal Baer, the executive producer, read about the [[Fan Yay]] fanbase that was developing about them, and worked it in, giving them more scenes together and more hints that they might be discreetly together. To the point where even Stephanie March (Alex's actor) has said that it is possible that they are just very quietly in love, it being a ''[[Law and Order]]'' and all.
* In ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' season five finale Mike gets married to a woman, whose identity isn't revealed. The woman was supposed to be {{spoiler|Katherine}}, but because of insisting fans plans were remade and {{spoiler|Susan}} became the bride.
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** Zack's comments about his uniform not fitting properly were taken verbatim from his actor's complaints (which he was astonished JMS knew about). Similarly, actor Bil Mumy was the one who decided that Lennier (whom he played) was {{spoiler|in love with Delenn}}, and sold JMS on the idea of making it canon.
* In a host segment of the ''[[Jungle Goddess]]'' ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' episode, Joel introduces the bots as Jackie Gleason did with his fellow cast members at the end of every episode of The Honeymooners, prompting him to introduce Crow as "Art Crow!" (a reference to Art Carney). A child fan of the show missed the reference and sent Best Brains a drawing of the cast labelling Crow as "Art" under the impression that that was his actual name. The letter was shown on the show and ever since Crow was occasionally called "Art" (usually by Pearl Forrester) as a [[Running Gag]].
* A rather startlingly large example with [[DawsonsDawson's Creek]]: [[Childhood Friend Romance|Dawson and Joey]] were originally supposed to be the [[Official Couple]] who ended up together long-term, with Pacey as merely a funny [[Reckless Sidekick]]. However, Joey and Pacey eventually became the [[Fan-Preferred Couple]] to a strong degree, and as a result, they end up together in the series finale.
* Neil Flynn of ''[[Scrubs]]'' was reportedly asked if J.D.'s inexplicable crippling fear of pennies stemmed from the infamous "penny in the door" that began the perpetual feud with Flynn's Janitor. His response: "I have no idea who you are or where you come from, but sure, why not?"
** The character "The Todd" originally had [[Only One Name|no last name]]. That was until a fan noticed that he was wearing a nametag with the name Quinlan. This was just a random prop, but thanks to this fan he is official Dr. Quinlan.
* On ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'', Caroline and Klaus's budding relationship seems to be a result of an almost [[Crack Pairing]] that was popular in fanfiction.
* The city the North American half of ''[[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]'' takes place in was officially named Seacouver after fans began using the name to refer to the previously unnamed city.
 
 
== Music ==
* The song "Alive" by [[Pearl Jam (Music)|Pearl Jam]], wherein the lyrics are about a widowed woman who grows sexually attracted to her son because he looks just like his deceased father, a textbook example of [[Lyrical Dissonance]]. This hasn't stopped fans from embracing it as an anthem of celebrating life. Eddie Vedder, having written the song partly from his own experience, gradually found that what he saw as the "curse" of the song had been lifted by fans' more uplifting interpretation.
* "Purple Haze" by [[Jimi Hendrix]]; the lyric "excuse me while I kiss the sky" was [[Mondegreen|so commonly heard as]] "excuse me while I kiss this guy," that Hendrix changed it. He was also known to point and kiss in the direction of a guy (usually his tour manager) immediately after singing the line.
** This is the same case with "Bad Moon Rising" by [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]]. The actual lyric is "There's a bad moon on the rise," but it was often misheard as "There's a bathroom on the right." John Fogerty has been known to sing this line in live performances of "Bad Moon Rising."
** Likewise, in [[They Might Be Giants]]' song "Ana Ng" the line "Where the world goes by like the humid air" is often misheard as "Where the world goes by like the human hair." They occasionally sing the mondegreen instead of the original line live.
** Also "Come Together" by [[The Beatles (Musicband)|The Beatles]] the line "Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease" was originaly supposed to be "Hold you in his arms yeah" but it was so commonly misheard that the [[Greatest Hits Album|Blue Album]] had the former on its inner sleeve, and John Lennon liked the former lyric more and so all of the covers of the song has the words "his armchair".
* Music software, but music nonetheless. Crypton's Rin and Len Kagamine [[Vocaloid|Vocaloids]] were originally supposed to be mirror personalities of each other, but fans interpreted them as twins. Crypton responded accordingly.
** Also Haku Yowane and Neru Akita, fan-created Vocaloids that have been acknowledged by Crypton as semi-official, to the point that they're making an appearance in Miku's game, ''Project Diva''.
* A statue of [[Frank Zappa]] in Vilnius, Lithuania, basically has this [http://www.balticsworldwide.com/news/features/zappa.htm as its backstory].
* [[Devo]]'s "Whip It" was originally meant to be a inspirational song addressed to President [[Jimmy Carter]]. Naturally, though, people thought it was an [[Obligatory Bondage Song]] or about [[A Date Withwith Rosie Palms]]. This amused them, and they kind of enforced the first interpretation with the music video.
{{quote| '''Jerry Casale''': "We didn't want to ruin it and tell them the truth, because they just wouldn't get off on the truth."}}
* After the chorus of Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene" was famously misheard as "I'm a little man, and I'm also evil, also into cats," friend of FOB member Pete Wentz and frontman of [[Cobra Starship (Music)|Cobra Starship]] Gabe Saporta made a Youtube video where he showed off a fake tattoo of a cat and said he got it because he was "also into cats."
 
 
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** It's actually semi-common, as the head writer is pretty active in the fanbase. A higher-profile example is that a group called the Piraka used turrets called Nektann, and when another member of their race showed up in a story, a fan suggested "Hey, maybe the turrets were named after him?" The writer was like, "Okay", and wrote the newly-christened Nektann into a web story to make it official. A couple years later, it was promoted to the toyline when Lego made a new Piraka toy that didn't match any of the existing characters, so it was decided that it would be Nektann.
** This phenomenon has elevated to such heights that the fans have formed an official Story Squad that lets people vote for whichever new idea they would like to make canon. If the "Aye"s outweigh the "Nay"s, the proposals are taken to official story writer Greg Farshtey, who then approves them, but only if they are to his liking. As with many things, this [[Broken Base|upsets]] a number of fans, since the majority of voters also have a "Sure, why not?" attitude.
* This appears to be pretty much what happened to the toyline-only ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' character Sonar. Due to a gender-neutral bio, it was eventually labeled female by fans, and then it appeared in the official BotCon comics, and everything else followed suit.
* Another ''[[Transformers]]'' example is the fact that Decepticons who turn into planes are referred to as Seekers. This term was possibly invented by the fandom and got adopted as the official term, but there are still questions over whether an old catalog advertisement citing them as "Decepticon Seekers" influenced the use of the term years later.
* In ''[[He-Man and Thethe Masters of Thethe Universe (Animation)|Masters of the Universe]]'' the race of the pre-accident Skeletor blue elf Keldor is known as "Gar" and has been officially refrenced as such in the Classics toyline bios. This is because in the 2002 MYP Cartoon series there is an island called Anwat Gar. This is a clever play on the name of the asian city of Angor Wat. The only resident of Anwat Gar is Sy Klone, a character based on the vintage toy that happens to have a blue face. So it is reasoned by the fans that Sy Klone must be a blue elf, (by virtue of his skin colour) like Keldor. And wouldnt "Gar" be an obvious name for the race, since it could be reasoned that Anwat Gar sounds kinda like it could be a foreign term for "City of Gar" or something like that? After years of common usage by fans on fansites, ect, Mattel decided "sure, why not?"
 
 
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** Another theory: the name "Developer's System" only came about because of a misinterpretation of what was said in an interview about how easy the DS was to develop for, but the internet took the quote and ran with it until suddenly it became the name many people thought DS originally stood for.
** This happened AGAIN with the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo released a statement saying it would not be called the 3DS when it launched, but it got so much publicity as the 3DS that they released it under that name anyway.
* Although ''[[Betrayal Atat Krondor]]'', an RPG based on ''[[The Riftwar Cycle]]'', was produced and made with Feist's blessings and under his watchful eye, the in-game texts and the story itself were in fact ''not'' written by him, as the common misconception is. Neal Hallford takes the credit for coming up with the story, which was later canonised by Feist in a [[Novelization]].
* ZUN, creator of ''[[Touhou (Video Game)|Touhou]]'', is notorious for this, being both highly aware of the gargantuan fandom that has arisen around the games as well as equally willing to add things he likes. Probably the most famous examples both involve characters from ''The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil'', Hong Meiling and two unnamed mid-bosses:
** For the former, for a long time fans could never decide what Hong's name was, as it could be read as either Japanese or Mandarin, so they [[Fan Nickname|decided to call her China]]. At the same time that ZUN confirmed her name was actually Hong Meiling, he also said he calls her China as well, and the name remains popular.
** For the latter, the mid-bosses of Stage 2 and Stage 4 were never identified despite their unique sprites, with no dialogue, character profiles or even names, and after they became [[Ensemble Darkhorse|disproportionately popular]] they were given the [[Fan Nickname|Fan Nicknames]] Daiyousei (big/great fairy) and Koakuma (little devil) respectively. ZUN then used those names himself when referring to them, though he said that they were the names of ''types'' of youkai and not those individuals specifically. This one is mostly ignored however, as the personalities he described them as possessing (impetuous, selfish and mischievous like most low-level youkai) was completely antithetical to the ones fans had devised.
* Fans of ''[[Chrono Trigger (Video Game)|Chrono Trigger]]'' still aren't sure whether the DS version's reveal that {{spoiler|[[Not-So-Harmless Villain|Dalton]] was the one responsible for the Porre rebellion that [[Shrug of God|may or may not have]] killed Crono and Marle prior to ''[[Chrono Cross (Video Game)|Chrono Cross]]''}} is this, "[[I Knew It!]]," or a [[Promoted Fanboy]]'s [[Running the Asylum|canonization of his preferred theory]].
** {{spoiler|Actually saying whether Crono or Marle are actually dead would make Cross a lot less of a [[Mind Screw]].}}
* When ''Real Bout [[Fatal Fury]] Special'' first appeared, fans dubbed the [[True Final Boss]] version of Geese Howard that was found in the game as "Nightmare Geese", due to the fact that you not only fight him in a nightmarish version of his stage, but he literally IS a nightmare due to his overpowered moves and [[SNK Boss|naturally aggressive AI]] to go with it. When ''[[The King of Fighters (Video Game)|The King of Fighters]] [[Alternate Continuity|Maximum Impact 2]]'' was released, SNK adapted the moniker of Nightmare Geese to the form of Geese that appeared in that game, and the meaning of the term was changed to mean any form of Geese that is canonically dead.
* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' games would develop new kinds of fatalities based on false rumors of their existence in earlier chapters.
** This also led to the creation of the character Ermac, despite messages in the second game which Midway used to deny his existence.
*** Meat, Blaze and Skarlet have a similar story.
** The revelation of Noob Saibot being {{spoiler|1=the specter form of the original Sub-Zero from MK1}} was actually the result of a Midway employee [http://highervoltage.net/mb/showpost.php?p=400646&postcount=12 taking suggestions from a fan].
* ''[[Dragon Quest (Video Game)|Dragon Quest]]'s'' Yūji Horii [[Word of God|explained]] that the "Zenithia" trilogy (Games 4-6) was never intended: "Each Dragon Quest title represents a fresh start and a new story, so I don't see too much of a connection between the games in the series. I guess it could be said that the imagination of players has brought the titles together in a certain fashion." Judging by some of the commentary and bookshelves in the DS [[Video Game Remake]], they've gone "Why not?"
** There is also the case of the [[Dragon Quest I (Video Game)|first game's]] villain, the Dragonlord. He goes down pretty quickly in the Japanese version; but then his [[Dragon Their Feet|pet Superdragon attacks you.]] The western translation had him turning into this [[One-Winged Angel|final form.]] Later depictions in ''[[Dragon Quest Monsters (Video Game)|Dragon Quest Monsters]]'' and ''[[Dragon Quest IX (Video Game)|Dragon Quest IX]]'' have this be the Dragonlord's true form.
** In an inverse "developers doing it to themselves" crossed with PAL Bonus and some psuedo-[[Recursive Import]], the English localizations of the games tend to have this effect on the later Japanese rereleases. Much like the Dragonlord example, games that come West get a graphics/sprite overhaul that is usually ported back to Japanese rereleases, with a very specific case of this being ''[[Dragon Quest III (Video Game)|Dragon Quest III]]'' giving Ortega a proper sprite and a proper opening sequence.
* ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'' fans have suspected every major class update of being the Spy update since Goldrush, on the assumption that Valve would "disguise" it as another class's update (since, after all, that's exactly what the Spy does). [http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day04_english.htm That's exactly what they ended up doing].
** To the Sniper, the backstab target. He then hijacks it back, ''[http://www.teamfortress.com/sniper_vs_spy/day07_english.htm by throwing a jar of piss on the Spy.]''
** The Soldier/Demoman update [http://www.teamfortress.com/war/administrator/ included a brief comic] that revealed several things about the Announcer. First, judging by the page URLs, she's really called the Administrator; second, as fans have long suspected, she serves as announcer for ''both'' teams; third, she controls access to the players' unlockable weapons; and fourth, she looks almost exactly like the best-known fan art of her (Valve actually got the original artist's permission to use the character).
** Pretty much Valve's official policy for Team Fortress 2. Several of the unlockable items come from fan ideas (Bonk! and the Equalizer to name two) and there have been several nods to fan works ([http://fav.me/d1pbaup this fan-art of the Announcer] is now almost canon, simply replace the jacket with a purple one. Also the Sniper's campervan features a bumper sticker mentioning the [http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/9610/1203136793294oq7.gif Swordvan]). There is now even [http://www.teamfortress.com/contribute a page on the TF website to contribute your own unlockable items].
** The day before the Sniper/Spy update was released, a user on the Steam Forums posted on how they hoped that the Pyro could light the Sniper's arrows. Valve rushed to add this to the update.
* The long used Pokémon fan term "Eeveelution" (for the many different evolved forms of Eevee) appears in the second ''[[Pokémon Ranger (Video Game)|Pokémon Ranger]]'' title. While a previous use existed in the TCG (as a deck name), it was the first "in universe" use.
** Nintendo has [http://www.pokemonvgc.com/en/shiny-eevee.php started using the term "Shiny"] to refer to Pokémon with alternate color schemes.
* [http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=2&cId=3145765&p= The story behind the abbreviation for Blue Mage] in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' is as follows:
{{quote| '''1up.com''': First, what is the abbreviation of the Blue Mages -- will it be "BLU?"<br />
'''Hiromichi Tanaka''': Thanks, the check's in the mail. We're going to borrow your abbreviation. We didn't have one yet. [laughs] }}
* Kamek, the Magikoopa master from ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', has been retroactively established as being in some of the games that featured a Magikoopa since his first appearance in ''Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island''. ''Yoshi's Safari'' featured an unnamed Magikoopa as a boss, now he's Kamek's first official appearance. Some appearances by a singular Magikoopa have also been considered Kamek appearances: the Magikoopa who teaches Bowser how to use his abilities and cares for the injured Koopa King in ''Bowser's Inside Story''; the Magikoopa who blasted Mario away from Peach's Castle in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy (Video Game)|Super Mario Galaxy]]'' ([http://www.mariowiki.com/images/9/9b/KamekTradingCard.PNG confirmed by an official trading card]); the Magikoopa who was going to be in ''[[Mario Kart 64 (Video Game)|Mario Kart 64]]'' but was replaced by [[Donkey Kong]]; and a Magikoopa who informed Kammy Koopa of Peach's abduction in ''[[Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door (Video Game)|Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door]]''. The Magikoopa the party fights in Bowser's Keep in ''[[Super Mario RPG (Video Game)|Super Mario RPG]]'' was intended to be Kamek, which is made more clear by his Japanese Psychopath message, which reads "The baby from that time!?" {{spoiler|He's called Kamezard in the Japanese version of the game.}}
** More of a case of [[Did Not Do the Research]] on Nintendo of America's part. In Japan, "Kamek" is a single character ([[Negative Continuity|or species in some games]]) with minions called Kokameks (Toadies in English). This distinction has for the most part been preserved in non-English translations.
*** Alternatively, this could be considered as an attempt by the localisers to add some internal logic to the series, given the confused nature of Kamek/Magikoopa appearances between Mario games.
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** On a more related note, the fan use of the name [[Sonic Unleashed|Werehog]] was so commonplace in both the English and Japanese fandom, that SEGA actually made it its official name (similarly, WereSonic was used to describe the character in the Wii/PS2 version on several occasions).
* Bob the Snail from ''[[Maple Story]]''. For unknown reasons a single level 1 snail, the weakest enemy in the game, would randomly spawn in Drake's Meal Table, a high-level map, right along side level 50+ drakes and other powerful monsters. Fans named the snail Bob and came up with various lore including that he is older than Grendel the Really Old, and that he is actually a hero who protects the world from the drakes. Many of these theories have been stated to be completely true and Bob is now an official boss enemy. Unfortunately, hero or not you still have to kill him for a number of quests.
* In the ''[[Street Fighter]]'' series, Guile's military buddy and mentor was originally known by two names: "Nash" in the Japanese versions and "Charlie" in the overseas releases. [[Fanon|Certain fans]] however, liked to render his full name as Charlie Nash (most likely influenced by the live-action ''[[Street Fighter (Filmfilm)|Street Fighter]]'' film, where Charlie and Blanka were combined into one character named "Charlie Blanka"), a full name which was even adapted into UDON's comic adaptation. In ''[[Street Fighter IV (Video Game)|Street Fighter IV]]'', the designers apparently decided to just go with this as Guile can be seen looking at a dog tag that reads "Charlie Nash" (which was likely done to avoid drawing two different versions of the same scene).
** This one originates in the UDON comic. El Fuerte is introduced picking a fight with T. Hawk, only for the two of them to recognize each other as [[Forgotten Childhood Friend|childhood pals.]] In ''Super Street Fighter IV'', El Fuerte's got a special intro vid against T. Hawk where he mentions that they're friends but haven't seen each other in a while.
* Despite [[Bio WareBioWare]]'s initial fears, Tali'Zorah and Garrus' popularity from the game ''[[Mass Effect]]'' exploded and fans demanded they became romance options. [[Bio WareBioWare]] said "sure, why not?" Garrus even invokes the trope during his [[Relationship Upgrade]] with Shepard, musing over her interest in him before figuring "Why the hell not?".
* In the manual for ''[[Wing Commander (Videovideo Gamegame)|Wing Commander]] Arena'', many of the fighter designations are lifted from those given to craft that previously had no alphanumerical designation, in fan mods.
* Wild rumors spread, for no apparent reason, of a Secret Cow Level in ''[[Diablo]]''. There wasn't one. Blizzard, taking it all in good fun, made "thereisnocowlevel" a cheat code in ''[[Starcraft]]''... and then put a Secret Cow Level in ''Diablo II''.
* In ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' several names are considered fanon, and most have been not used officially. However, two typical fanon names for the male protagonist are Jack and Pete; Jack became the official name of the protagonist for Save the Homeland and Hero of Leaf Valley games. In a spin-off example, the series ''Puzzle De Harvest Moon'' refers to the previously unnamed male protagonist(s) from the original through [[GBC 2]] series as Pete (the names weren't official until GBC 3 and on up).
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** Hideo Kojima has [[Twitter|tweeted]], repeatedly, on the topic of [[Ho Yay|Solid Snake/Gray Fox]], referring to Snake as "''Frank no ai''/Frank's love" ([[Bury Your Gays|translated as "lovely" for the English twitter feed]]) and also calling Frank a 'pervy masochist' who wants to get beaten up by him out of love. This was certainly [[Subtext]] in the original game, but seeing it confirmed so readily was unprecedented.
** When ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 3'' came out, fans suggested that the area it's set in, Tselinoyarsk, might have become the Zanzibar Land fortress of ''[[Metal Gear]] 2'' due to its [[Ruritania|similar proximity]], and reasonably similar geography. This was eventually confirmed in the ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'' novelisation.
* The in-universe explanation for how the "Girl Power" system works in [[Ar Tonelico 2 (Video Game)]] was a fan-theory that gained approval from series' creator Akira Tsuchiya.
* in the sound novel ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (Visual Novel)|Umineko no Naku Koro Nini]]'' Episode 5, {{spoiler|Battler learns the truth of Beatrice's games and becomes the Endless Sorcerer. Fans started depicting him wearing a cape similar to Kinzo's to signify his ascension from mere human player to Game Master, and when Episode 6 rolled around, the creator made the fan design official.}}
* In ''[[Cave Story (Video Game)|Cave Story]]'', it's stated once that the player character's hat has something written on it, but what this writing says is never revealed. When concept art of the [[What Could Have Been|beta version]] was released, fans noted that the protagonist's hat said "Curly Brace"--which was the character's name at that point in development. While, in the finished game the protagonist's name is something different--and Curly Brace is instead the name of an important [[Guest Star Party Member]]--fans insisted that his hat still said "Curly Brace" in the finished game. Daisuke Amaya eventually gave his blessing to that particular theory.
* Roleplayers in ''[[Eve Online]]'', having noticed that Caldari names looked like a cross between Finnish and Japanese, created a [[Con Lang|Caldari language]] inspired by these two languages (and the few words already mentioned in official sources). The Arek'Jaalan event, whose main character -- played by an actor from CCP's staff -- is a Caldari scientist who defected to a Minmatar corporation, is named after said character's ship -- which means "to make dissidents" in the Lonetrek dialect, also invented by players.
* Fans of ''[[Halo]]'' compiled info on the series in a ''Halo'' [http://www.halopedian.com/Main_Page wiki] online. While wikis are good, they're not perfect. When the official ''Halo Encyclopedia'' was released, it was clear that it had copied material directly from the wiki because it duplicated some of its errors and flawed ways of presenting information. As the ''Encyclopedia'' is supposed to be canon, the errors are errors no longer.
** Not always. Several bits of fanon that had snuck into the pages, such a faction called "the United Rebel Front", or clear errors like the fleet at Reach being 750 ships instead of 314 and there being a First and Second Battle of Earth, were discarded later on the wiki despite being in the ''Encyclopedia'' because they were recognized as mistakes.
* Several gameplay-expanding functions in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', such as the weapon modifications (which allow you to fit certain weapons with scopes, sights and expanded magazines), were directly adapted from fanmade game modules for ''[[Fallout 3]]''. Interestingly, while the NV modificationss only worked for a few of the weapons, the original designer went on to make ''another'' module for NV that provided a full three improvements for ''every weapon in the game''. Including the [[DL Cs]] and some more popular modules.
** Fallout3's Keychain likely drew inspiration from Oblivion's Keychain mod. Before Oblivion's misc. items were all in one place and players would have to scroll through hundreds of keys to get to other misc. items whereas the keychain grouped the keys into one place
*** Skyrim abandoned the keychain in name but there is a section just for keys.
* ''[[Minecraft]]'' had beta 1.8 leaked to the public early by mistake. Instead of trying to rectify the problem, Mojang decided to have pre-release versions of the next update revealed to the public from now on in the form of "snapshots". The results were twofold: players can get a sneak peek at new features and bug fixes while Mojang gets feedback from the players about the snapshot so they can fix whatever bugs there are before making the snapshot official.
* [[Valve Software (Creator)|Valve Software]] just unleashed a massive bit of ascended fanon with a new [[Portal 2 (Video Game)|Portal 2]] DLC. According to the DLC's story, in the Portal canon there are an infinite number of [[Alternate Universe]] versions of Aperture Science, each one being different in some way. This means ALL [[Fanfic|fanfics]], fanon, and other fan creations are now canon within the greater Half-Life/Portal continuity via this multiverse.
 
 
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Penny Arcade]]'s'' Gabe and Tycho are commonly confused for actual [[Author Avatar|avatars]] of its two designers, fueling a common joke that artists will never draw characters who actually look like them. Both real life creators mention this was never their intention; very early strips even give the characters different names, and in podcasts they talk about them as distinct people. Eventually they got tired of correcting people and decided to roll with it, incorporating more of their personalities into the characters, though at this point any real similarities are [[The Artifact]].
** Mike got the same [[PacmanPac-Man]] tattoo Gabe had, because the fans always asked to see it.
** He also recently [http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2012/04/02 caricatured both of them] for the sake of an iPad 3 resolution joke.
* Many fans claim that ''[[Order of the Stick]]'s'' author originally intended Vaarsuvius to have a specific gender, but [[Jerkass|deliberately made it]] [[Ambiguous Gender|ambiguous]] after a few fans started bickering about V's gender early on. The author confirmed this in the first compilation book.
** However, that same author hates fan speculation, because if the fans guess what he was intending it makes him want to change it. As a result, he reads very little of the posts on his own message board, so as to avoid seeing such speculations.
* [[Mega Man (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mega Man]]'s [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] behavior in ''[[Bob and George]]'' was originally just [[Rule of Funny|an unexplained joke]]. Then some continuity-minded fans noticed that [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=000802&commentary=on an earlier strip] gave a surprisingly plausible reason for this behavior, and Dave Anez ran with it.
** A less important detail, mentioned [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/index.php?date=011211&commentary=on here], was that Bob's scarf was burned and tattered, due to his suit being a scorched Proto Man costume.
** Dave Anez's entire MO was "Do what's funny on the spot, come up with an explanation later," so a large portion of the comic runs on this trope.
* [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0076.html This page] of ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' shows the process in action. So ''that's'' where the [[Doing in Thethe Wizard|midi-chlorians]] came from.
** This actually happens constantly over the run of the series, with the DM playing along with Sally's suggestions for various things in the game world (including the entire Gungan race, their home, and the two-headed podrace announcer, among other things).
*** Basically, if something just plain weird happened in the movies, it's probably Sally's idea in D&D.
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* Among the many submitted [[Fanfic|fanfics]] posted on the website of ''[[The Class Menagerie]]'' by the comic's creator, there was one where character Mike Hopkins (a kangaroo) is revealed to be gay, pairs up with a wolf boyfriend and comes out. This became canon in the penultimate story arc before the comic finished: Mike, previously undeclared, admits that he is gay, and the arc ends with him running into a hunky wolf in circumstances identical to those in the [[Fanfic]].
* Averted in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''. After one close call, the author refuses to read any fan speculation. All spec is banished to another forum section that he never looks at.
* ''[[Girl Genius (Webcomic)|Girl Genius]]'' author Phil Foglio gave the response "sure, why not?" to a question about whether [http://twitter.com/Othar Othar's Twitter] was canonical.
** The use of a [[Show Within a Show]] allow for this to be combined with [[Sure, Let's Go Withwith That]] in this [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20030903 strip] that even uses the exact words.
* Given its unique [[Interactive Fiction|fan-driven command system,]] the [[MS Paint Adventures]] series ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'' technically runs off of this trope. However, a more specific example is when "Mutie", a [[Fan Nickname]] given to the mutant kitten Rose found, became the ''actual'' nickname that Rose later gave it (short for "[[It Makes Sense in Context|Vodka Mutini]]".)
** Other examples include most of Grandpa Harley's [[Kitsch Collection|collections]], the [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|Peregrine Mendicant's]] [[Samus Is a Girl|gender]], [[Time Master|Lord English]] being an [[Ultima]] [[Shout-Out]] and Dave's being a redhead (the characters are drawn with black-and-white heads, even though their backgrounds and outfits are in color).
*** He changed his mind on that last one, having said that logically Dave and Rose should have the same hair color. Since most fans don't agree with Rose being a redhead, they eventually mostly decided on either blonde or just blank white hair. Sometimes Dave gets strawberry blonde hair as a compromise.
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*** He has since introduced a fan troll - [[Stealth Pun|a troll that]] [[Ascended Fanboy|is a fan of the characters and setting]]. He has also introduced two more trolls that are implied to be from another set of twelve.
** [http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?31279-Spades-Slick-Chat-XXXVII-Tesseract-confirmed-for-best-poster&p=4016193&viewfull=1#post4016193 On this post in the forum], Hussie suggested that the Troll Empress could have survived the Vast Glub. The very next post in response? "In before she's recruited by Lord English as well." About a year later, that's exactly what happened. It's even funnier when a later post on that page discusses this trope.
* ''[[Freefall (Webcomic)|Freefall]]'' has [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1500/fc01441.htm Nickel's new legs].
* In [http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-02-02 one of the Q&A strips] of ''[[El Goonish Shive (Webcomic)|El Goonish Shive]]'', the author acknowledges [http://elgoonishshive.wikia.com/wiki/El_Goonish_Shive_Timeline a fan-made timeline] for the series and declares in the commentary that he considers it canon.
* In one battle scene of ''[[Goblins]]'', there was one goblin (who was somewhat fatter than the others) the fans named "Joe Chubbs", and started writing legends of him. While the author usually doesn't let himself be influenced by the fans, he decided to draw that goblin in other scenes, one of them featuring him as the only character for a few panels.
** A similar thing happens in ''[[Looking for Group]]'', where a small girl zombie featured in a few strips gained a fandom and name of "Kalima", after the Kali god. When questioned on this at a convention, the artist Lar said (paraphrased) "Well, I guess if that many people say it, it must be true."
* [[Walkyverse|David Willis]] has taken to saying this on his [http://www.formspring.me/shortpacked Formspring page] in response to frivolous questions such as "In DOA, will Ruth be breaking anybody in half?", "Does Dina read [[Dinosaur Comics (Webcomic)|Dinosaur Comics]]?", and "[[Lampshade Hanging|Could you stop answering so many questions "Sure, why not?"]]"
* Similar to the [[Transformers]] example below, the city in ''.Memoria'' was introduced by having one of the guards assume that Nyroti's [[Easy Amnesia]] was because he was ''really wasted'' the night before and telling him "welcome to the Afterparty" as we get a view of the city for the first time. Naturally, the fans unanimously decided that "Afterparty" was the name of the city. [[Captain Obvious|It stuck]].
* In the 4th [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming|level]] of [[Rusty and Co (Webcomic)|Rusty and Co.]], a fan dubbed the recently-introduced female elf band the [[Dixie Chicks|"Pixie Chicks"]]. The author, Mike, liked it so much he decided to "roll with it" and make it their official name. Check the comments section [http://rustyandco.com/comic/level-4-7/ here].
* ''[[Cucumber Quest (Webcomic)|Cucumber Quest]]'' has [http://gigidigi.tumblr.com/post/8795618268/questions-if-you-have-a-question-please-check Almond being ambidextrous].
 
 
== Web Original ==
* Because ''[[Ruby Quest (Roleplay)|Ruby Quest]]'' was an interactive story on an [[Image Board]], anybody could post anything in the thread. The author, Weaver, tooks several bizzare suggestions seriously, including putting a severed hand up a pneumatic tube - "there it goes..." and blending several other body parts into a GODAWFUL SMOOTHIE. {{spoiler|(This last may be what pushed Red over the edge.)}} Besides the inevitable trolls, there were quite a few pieces of original fanart. The author included several visual items, including a {{spoiler|sort of trident spear tied to a longer handle broken off something else, carried by Ace, as well as the visual design of the mutated doctor Filbert}}.
* ''[[Gaia Online]]'' introduced a pair of [[Rich Bitch]] twins named the Von Helson Sisters to serve as rivals for the resident Megalomaniac during a storyline in 2005. Fans speculated that since the name "Von Helson" sounded a lot like "Van Helsing", coupled with the fact that the twins had an apparently dead father named ''Vladmir'', about half the website jumped to the conclusion that they were actually Vampires. In 2007, Gaia rolled with this and used it both as an opportunity to fill in numerous [[Plot Hole|plot holes]], and a chance to play off the [[Estrogen Brigade|predominately female]] fanbase's ''[[Twilight (Literaturenovel)|Twilight]]'' obsession (The massive Vampire Stake Fest that followed more than made up for that though).
* ''[[Homestar Runner (Web Animation)|Homestar Runner]]'': [[The Wiki Rule|Homestar Runner Wiki]] insisted on referring to the "Everybody to the Limit" robot as the "Visor Robot" in spite of the character having been referred to as the "Fhqwhgads Robot" by the site itself. The fanon name was later mistaken as canon ''by the creators of'' Homestar Runner ''themselves'', and as such arguably ascended to canon status.
* In [[Atop the Fourth Wall (Web Video)|Atop the Fourth Wall]], Dr. Insano's parallel universe alternate (played by Linkara) was originally just going to be another version of Dr. Insano. However, the fans latched onto the name "Dr. Linksano" and Linkara just went with it.
** Ditto for them assuming Cable's gun was a literal [[Chekhov's Gun]].
* A popular joke among the handlers on ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' during V4 was that characters who went inactive were fed to the [[Everything's Worse Withwith Bears|inactivity bear]]. Then Megan Nelson went two weeks without a post, the admins dropped her into a cave, [[Take Our Word for It|a scream was heard]], and the rest is history. The bear's name is [[Fluffy the Terrible|Kenny]], by the way.
* For the [[Chaos Timeline (Literature)|Chaos Timeline]]: Some fan suggested that the head of the Socialist part of Germany should have the title "Oberster Politischer Kommissar", which became canon.
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* The Predacons' ship in ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' was unnamed, but Terrorsaur once told Cheetor "Welcome to [[The Dark Side]]" when he ended up on the ship. Though he was just being theatric, fan use of the name led to the name being used for the [[Bot Con]] 2006 (convention run by the officially Hasbro-licensed fan club) exclusive toys and the accompanying comic book (as Darks''y''de), and thus the official name.
** Similarly, Marty Isenberg like the [[Fan Nickname]] for [[Transformers Animated|Lugnut's]] exploding-rocket-fist-thing ("Punch of Kill Everything") so much he had the name used in the fourth issue of the comics.
*** Supposedly, he tried to use it in the show, but [[Never Say "Die"]] reared its ugly head, and no other word really worked there (with the possible exception of [[Xtreme Kool Letterz|"Krush"]]) to make it abbreviate to POKE.
*** The POKE appears again, with its proper name and everything, in ''[[Transformers: War for Cybertron]]''; a special move damage upgrade for the Soldier class is called "POKE Alpha", and one of the Leader class's killstreak rewards is the "POKE 2.0", a temporary one-hit-kill melee attack that, when equipped, will prompt the announcer to say, "Punch of Kill Everything equipped!".
* Many fans of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' theorised that the first name of Kim's brain surgeon mother, Dr. Possible, was "Anne", because it was Kim's middle name, and her father Dr. James Timothy Possible, extrapolated from his sons Jim and Tim. The first finale ''So The Drama'' named Kim father thus, and the second named Anne in the series' two-part finale. Of course, to make this work, one must mention that the creators would occasionally visit fan forums.
** This is further supported by the finale having a overt reference to fanfic.
* The parody "Jingle bells, Batman smells" has been circulating since the 1970s. In 1992, the ''[[Batman: The Animated Series (Animation)|Batman the Animated Series]]'' episode [[Christmas Episode|"Christmas With The Joker"]] had (who else?) [[The Joker]] [[Ascended Meme|singing the parody]].
** In ''[[Justice League]]'', when the founding members (except Batman) agreed to be arrested because of an accident involving a giant laser, one of the officers asks where Batman is. The Flash says "Running late. The Batmobile, it lost a wheel. The Joker got away. That's what I heard."
** Also in ''[[Justice League]]'', the entire flirting between Batman and Wonder Woman came because of a scene in Gorilla Grodd's introduction episode, in which Batman, believing Wonder Woman was crushed by rubble, started digging with his hands. After escaping by herself, she saw Batman's hands covered in dirt and gave him a gratitude kiss in the cheek. Batman blushed at this, and fans got crazy, believing there was something between them. While it was not the case at the time, the writers liked the idea and put it into the show.
* ''[[The Spectacular Spider -Man]]'''s [[Greg Weisman]] does it [http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=11582 here].
* The DJ pony in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' is on screen for a total of five seconds, but became popular with the fanbase due to her striking design and cool job. A meme circulated of making [[YouTube]] videos with her head-bobbing loop over various house, techno and electronic music tracks, calling her "DJ-P0N3" (in reference to [[Deadmau 5 (Music)|Deadmau 5Deadmau5]]). The Hub's extended trailer, [[Filk Song|a rewrite of]] [[Katy Perry|Katy Perry's]] "California Girls" called "[[Image Song|Equestria Girls]]" (and sung by Pinkie Pie's canonical singing voice actress!), addressed the pony as DJ-P0N3, pronouncing it 'pon three' to prove the reference. The song also used the [[Fandom Nickname]] 'brony' to refer to male fans of the show.
** In one episode, Fluttershy mentions how she'd like to be a tree, which became a meme (Fluttershy is a tree). In the Season 2 episode ''Hurricane Fluttershy'' she disguises herself... as a tree.
** A gray cross-eyed pony seen in backgrounds and crowd cameos for a few seconds in several episodes was rapidly nicknamed "Derpy Hooves" (said nickname made canon by Hasbro) by fans and was confirmed to be a full character for the second season - now with lines!
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*** Something similar happened to minor antagonist Trixie. One of the blind bag glitter ponies bearing Trixie's mark was called Lulamoon. Fans took it as either a last name or a stage name. The 5th wave of went with the former.
** Fan art often portrayed Wonderbolt stallion Soarin to have the exact same cutie mark as he does with his flight suit on. This eventually became canon in the season 2 finale where he can briefly be seen without it.
* The makers of ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]'' took a viewer's [[Fan Art]] character, Me-Mow the tiny cat assassin, and introduced her to the Land of Ooo in her own self-titled episode.
 
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