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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Odd example from ''[[
* Tenten from ''[[Naruto]]'' is an archetypical example. Her brief appearances in canon [[Only Sane Man|provide]] [[Hidden Weapons|enough]] [[Deadpan Snarker|character]] [[Flechette Storm|elements]] for fanfic writers to build upon, and yet she never even got a formal introduction. [[Jobber|Being beaten by Temari]] -- ''off-panel'' in the manga -- is her most memorable scene. ''Naruto'' author Kishimoto [[Word of God|admitted]] that she was created simply to be fill the spot of [[The Smurfette Principle|token female]] [[Geodesic Cast|on Team Guy]].
** Kishimoto, oddly enough, said he likes [[Chinese Girl|her design]] most out of the female ninja.
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*** It's believed to be Fasha (which was not confirmed in any way). She gets this treatment too.
*** Since we're at Fasha, all of Bardock's teammates.
* Happens very often in ''[[
** Denmark as a [[Boisterous Bruiser]] and Norway as [[Tsundere]] for him because of their long history together; the former turned out to be pretty spot-on with canon, while the latter is still up in the air (though Norway ''did'' strangle Denmark with his tie in one strip).
** Belgium as a sassy, fearless [[Shorttank]] who [[Trademark Favorite Food|enjoys waffles and chocolate]] and [[Bottle Fairy|can drink anyone under the table]]; this turned out to be fairly accurate to canon (although she's more cheerful than sassy) with the [[Bottle Fairy]] part being the only one left unconfirmed.
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*** And with the canon Romania appearing to have red eyes and [[Cute Little Fangs]], it's becoming common to depict him as either a [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampire]] or an ordinary human who pretends to be a vampire for the lulz. It also helps that Romania is the country Transylvania is located in.
** New Zealand is almost always depicted as either having a [[Vitriolic Best Buds]] or [[True Companions]] type relationship with Australia.
** India, like Romania, was almost always depicted as female in fanworks only to be established as male later on in canon. No one seems to really care, though, probably because of his '''awesome''' Bollywood entrance in ''[[
** For a long time, Bulgaria's only canon scene was him hitting Italy with his stick and the most common fanon depiction of him was as a [[Jerkass]] with a [[Hair-Trigger Temper]]. This seems to have been [[Jossed]], however, with him being shown in ''[[
* Matt from ''[[
** Also Linda, who was mentioned in the manga a grand total of twice, seen only once, and has only one line. Considering that, she is a ''massive'' [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]; if you type in "linda death note" on deviantART you get 526 results, and she has 34 fanfictions on fanfiction.net.
* Though they go unnamed in the manga, ''[[Ranma One Half|Ranma 1/2]]'' has Ranma's buddies Hiroshi and Daisuke, and for the girls there's Akane's friends Yuka and Sayuri. They mainly exist to be [[Those Two Guys]]. [[Rumiko Takahashi]] seems to love this trope, especially in ''Ranma''. Herb's got Mint and Lime. Kima has Masara and Koruma, and is herself not much developed beyond her role as Saffron's bodyguard. The Anime also gave us Kaori Daikoku, who appeared just once in the anime and yet comes up rather frequently in fanfiction.
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* The unnamed girl from ''Dissociation'' was often used as this in ''[[Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' fanfiction until the release of ''Surprise''.
* An odd variation happens in the ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' series, specifically the first one. During the movie, and around the end of the show, Ed gets sent to "our" world where everyone he knows has an [[Identical Stranger]]. Fans have a ball with the ''unseen'' ones such as Winry's, who is usually portrayed as the opposite of tomboyish counterpart and is either a [[Dark Fic]] [[Replacement Goldfish]] or someone Ed learns to love, and Roy who is almost always portrayed as the [[Jerkass]].
* ''[[Code Geass: Lelouch of Britannia
** Also in ''[[Code Geass]]'' (though not in the above fic) Kallen's brother Naoto Kozuki sometimes get this treatment, largely because all we know about him is that he was the leader of Ohgi's group and died sometime before the series started.
* In [[Yu-Gi-Oh!]] fandom, there was a brief period of time during which people knew about the Toei series, but had no fansub available. Cue Miho, who was a one-shot character in the manga and had a prominent role in the anime, becoming an [[OC Stand In]], though her personality did often overlap with [[Shy Blue-Haired Girl|the one she had in the manga.]]
* Example from [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]: Nakim, one of Yoko's pupils, stars in his own story in the fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5765216/1/The_World_Tree The World Tree]''.
* This is heavily subverted with the series [[Zatch Bell]], where unless you're Zatch, Tia, Zeon, Sherry, Brago, or another of the main characters, you'll never get any actual writing or stories based around you. Case in point, any of the many villian-a-week enemies of other mamodos Zatch faces. This extends to major recurring enemies as well.
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [http://www.alara.net/opeople/xbooks/virtuous.html This] [[X
== [[Film]] ==
* The [[Pirates of the Caribbean]] movies gave [[No Name Given|no name]], characterization or any information about the mother of James Norrington other than ''she exists'' (because everyone has one). The [[Mega Crossover]] [[Fanfic|fan]][[Web Comic|comic]] ''[[Roommates 2007
* Unused or non-canon characters from ''[[The Lion King]]'' series are especially apparent in fanon works. The most common are Mheetu (Nala's brother), Kopa/Fluffy (Simba's son), Tesma (a meerkat friend of Simba), Naanda (Sarabi's sister), and Bhati (a bat-earred fox friend of Simba). Given that most of them don't have much of a personality this leads fan-artists to create their own versions.
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** Daphne Greengrass also gets a lot of attention when authors need a sympathetic Slytherin girl, as she's rarely if ever mentioned in the same negative light as Draco or Pansy in the books. Typically she's said to come from a neutral wizarding family or otherwise isn't connected with the rest of her house, possessing the same traits that Slytherins are known for but without invoking [[Ambition Is Evil]].
** Really, just take any throwaway name mentioned in the series and you'll find at least a few dozen fanfics starring that character.
** [[Chris Columbus]] giving his daughter Eleanor [[The Cameo]] by casting her as Susan Bones in the [[Harry Potter (
** Back before Ginny had much of a canonically defined personality, she was a frequent target of this.
** Fanfic writers are also fond of writing about the main characters' kids' school days, when they don't just [[Broken Base|ignore the epilogue entirely.]]
* Aeneas has a very minor role in ''[[
* Rosencrantz and Guildenstern - [[Ascended Extra|very minor characters]] in ''[[Hamlet]]'' - become the protagonists of Tom Stoppard's ''[[Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead]]''.
* In ''[[Peter Pan]]'', Jane appeared in only one scene and was basically a [[Generation Xerox]] of her mother, Wendy. The Disney sequel ''Return to Neverland'' turned her into a highly pragmatic, disillusioned girl who grew up too fast as a result of living through the bombing in London. Margaret, the next descendant in the Wendy line (named, but never shown), gets this treatment in some fanfics.
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** Although the show itself [[Filler|wasn't above doing that, either]].
* Ronnie Gardocki from ''[[The Shield]]'' qualifies as a major example of a live action version, as fans of the character have largely grafted onto him the personality of good guy nerd/geek who fell in with the wrong crowd as far as personality goes. Ironically, David Rees Snell (the actor playing Ronnie) has joked that had the writers fleshed out Ronnie and explored the character's dark side in relations to him being just like Lem, Shane, and Vic as far as being a [[Jerk Jock]], that he probably would have lost all of his fans.
* ''[[
* To a degree, the Eighth Doctor from the FOX ''[[Doctor Who]]'' movie, at least when compared to the rest of ''Doctor Who'' continuity. Since the movie was a failed pilot, this Doctor received nowhere near as much character development as other Doctors, and ended up becoming something of a Tabula Rasa. As a result, he has seen the most fanfics and extra media ([[Doctor Who Magazine
* On ''[[Neighbours]]'', Lisa Jeffries was a very minor character who shared a few scenes with Summer Hoyland; she appeared in about a dozen episodes over the course of two years. She has, however, inspired a substantial volume of fanfic, which has developed her in ways totally unrelated to her canonical characterization.
* A juvenile character named Marissa Flores, who appeared in the ''[[Star Trek:
* In the ''[[30 Rock
* Puck's mother and sister on ''[[Glee]]'', since they don't even have [[No Name Given|names]] in canon, but he presumably lives with them and they therefore play at least a minor part in most fics about his life outside of school and glee.
* Since Sebastian Moran (Moriarty's [[Dragon]] in the original Doyle stories) has no canonical characterization in ''[[Sherlock]]'', he's effectively become one of these for the fandom. He's been depicted as everything from [[Affably Evil]] to a [[Domestic Abuse|Domestic Abuser]] [[Gender Flip|to]] a [[Dark Action Girl]].
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* Commonly done to Dark Link from ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''. In the video games, Dark Link is a mindless, monstrous, obstacle, usually representing the evil in Link. [[Self Fanservice|But fanfiction writers and fanartists tend to give him]] [[The Blank|a face]] and personality.
** Link himself, whose dialogue [[Heroic Mime|is limited to the player picking 'yes' or 'no' when asked a question]] ([[But Thou Must!|and "no" usually gets you a re-statement of said question]]) lends himself to this. The [[Featureless Protagonist|main character of a video game is often a blank slate for the player to write him/herself onto]], after all.
* ''[[Touhou]]'' has this mainly in the form of the dialogueless midbosses<ref>except Te([[Spell My Name
** Daiyousei and Koakuma don't even have any stated non-danmaku powers in a series where virtually everybody has a random superpower, so fans are ''required'' to make up a power for them. They didn't even have ''names'' originally, the ones used here invented entirely by the fandom (translated as "big/greater fairy" and "little devil", respectively).
** Part of the reason for the massive doujin and fanfiction community that has arisen around the games is that, despite the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]], only a small portion of the cast receive anything more than a brief character profile and some dialogue, and even fewer receive any form of backstory, leaving writers with enormous wriggle room. Even the two [[Universe Compendium|Universe Compendiums]] are written by [[Unreliable Narrator|Unreliable Narrators]] working with a lot of second- and third-hand information, and ZUN himself is [[Shrug of God|notoriously unhelpful]] and even outright [[Flip-Flop of God|contradicts himself]]. Most of the widely accepted interpretations (for example Marisa and Alice as friends, the existence of Team 9, Reimu experiencing [[Perpetual Poverty]], Yukari as the God and Ruler of Gensoukyou) are not even hinted at in the games but remain entirely plausible.
* Doctor Cain usually gets this treatment in ''[[
** The same can be said for the characters in ''[[Mega Man (
* The Guardian Spirit from the first ''[[Baten Kaitos]]'' game is supposed to be [[Anyone You Know|you]], and is therefore a sort of [[AFGNCAAP]]. Naturally, there have been several fanfics written about the this character. Unfortunately, too many of these fics end up making the Spirit a female [[Mary Sue]] with a crush on Kalas. The term "Spirit Sue" was created by the fanbase to describe this particular interpretation of the character.
** {{spoiler|Marno}} from the prequel doesn't get this to the same degree, since he has an actual role in the plot. However, he could still work for this trope, since his actual personality is never shown.
* The [[Word of God|commentary]] on ''[[Half-Life]] 2'' states that this is the entire point of [[Heroic Mime]] Gordon Freeman, with the player being the OC in question.
** Resident [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] Adrian Shephard as well. All we have of his personality are a few diary entries in the ''Opposing Force'' manual which don't say much.
* The same is true of Chell, the protagonist of ''[[Portal (
* Decoy Octopus from ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' is one of these, especially since it's part of his job description. He literally can adopt the personality of whoever he's disguised as.
** ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater]]'' has a whole group of these in the form of the Cobra Unit. [[The Cobra Days|Several fan writers/artists]] [[The Joy of Battle
* The [[Precursors|Forerunners]] from ''[[Halo]]'' are practically an entire species (or group of specieses) of OC Stand-Ins. The upcoming trilogy of novels should shed come canon light on them, though. Til then, fanfic portrayals of them remain wildly varied.
** The Rookie in ''Halo 3: ODST'' is this to a lesser degree, having no lines beyond grunts, no visible face (he always has his helmet on), and no identification beyond the initials "JD"; the designers claim this was intentional, to better allow the player to integrate with the character. Spartan-B312 in ''Halo: Reach'' is this even moreso, with male and female voice sets, and armor customization that is persistent throughout both campaign and multiplayer; this was done for the same reasons as the Rookie.
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** Annother popular target for an OC Stand in is Hanna Shepard, the [[Player Charicter]]'s mother if the spacer background is chosen.
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' has accrued several such characters, though since these often turn up [[Adaptation Distillation|in the comics]], said personalities are often used. Nevertheless, Ray the Flying Squirrel, Mighty The Armadillo (though he's almost always put as the lost forth member of Team Chaotix), Bean the Dynamite, and Bark the Polar Bear (often paired together, for being introduced in the same game), often end up being OC stand-ins, as do [[Good Bad Bug|Ashura The Hedgehog]], [[Fan Nickname|Wechnia]], [[Development Hell|Tiara Boobowski]], [[What Could Have Been|Nazo]], and [[Dummied Out|Honey The Cat]], though these five are very rare to see in fanfic, not that the first four show up often, [[Original Character|Original Characters]] are far more common.
* A few shopkeeps from ''[[
* Kaede from ''[[.hack GU Games|.Hack://GU]]'' has absolutely no real importance in the story other than acting like Zelkova's bodyguard, although until she joins your party in the post game you have no idea what her weapon even is. The worst part is she basically vanishes in volume 1 after her appearance, yet you can still do the marriage event with her in Volume 3 despite her having absolutely no development and virtually no game time.
* ''[[Player Mooks]]'' can easily be used as this.
* [[Fire Emblem]] has the [[Player Character|tactician]] from the [[Fire Emblem Elibe|seventh game]]. His default name is Mark, but you can change that and his gender. He never says anything (that we hear) and is only spoken to. There are a small wealth of fanfics about him/her, and almost each one gives him a separate personality and back story.<ref>Most popularly coming from Bern.</ref>
* The originally-intended but [[What Could Have Been|eventually scrapped]] protagonist of ''[[
* The player characters from the ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' series, being [[Silent Protagonist|Silent Protagonists]] who's only real characterization is "friendly and hard working." Real OCs only come into the picture when fic writers want an exotic-looking character (90% of the time, female).
* [[The Faceless|The Pyro]] of ''[[
* In ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'', the students in Hisao's class besides him, Shizune, Misha and Hanako get this treatment, as a piece of official art shows their names, club affiliations and disabilities, but nothing about their personalities or backstories.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* The [[Film Noir|Midnight Crew Intermission]] of ''[[
** Until recently, two of the Felt only appeared [[Posthumous Character|posthumously]], and all that was known about them previously were their names and faces (of course, they still got no characterization at all when they showed up). While their appearances in fanfiction increased once they made an appearance in the story, there still were examples of people using them for as [[OC Stand In|OC Stand Ins]] before anything was known about them.
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* ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'': Until episodes such as "Isabella and the Temple of Sap", the [[Scout Out|Fireside Girls]] had close to no lines and no characterization, other than Gretchen, who even then only spoke once or twice.
** ''Especially'' Gretchen, who in [[Fanon]] is often paired with Ferb, apparently just because she's the first girl his age (other than Isabella) to get a name.
* Ezekiel from ''[[
* Gretchen on ''[[Invader Zim]].'' In canon, she was strongly hinted to have a crush on [[Hero Antagonist|Dib]] in one episode. The pairing is not widely popular (despite being the ''only'' romance in an otherwise [[No Hugging, No Kissing]] series), but even those who don't use her as a main character often elevate her to "[[Mauve Shirt|Most Important Random Skoolkid]]" or mention her and Dib's "romance" in passing.
** Another commonly used character is Invader Tenn; she only shows up in two scenes in one episode, and it was planned for her to return in the never developed series finale. Because of this, she is very often often used whenever a writer wants or needs to use an Irken outside the ones with more screen time (Zim, the Tallest, Tak, Skoodge). Of course, most of the stories she shows up in are based on (or are outright fan versions) of the aforementioned finale.
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* The ''[[Metalocalypse]]'' fandom has Klokateers. In the show, they're several legions of hooded, uniformed, fanatically loyal employees of the Dethklok company who rarely have lines and are referred to by number rather than name. Because of the extremely stringent entrance exam and its 50+% mortality rate, the recruits who survive to become Klokateers are extremely exceptional specimens, physically and intellectually. This makes them ''ripe'' for this trope. There are a few who have risen to prominence, mostly through slash fandom.
* ''[[Daria]]'' fandom is pretty notorious for this, largely due to the fact that the show has scads of random recurring backgrounders who never do anything and yet have extremely distinctive character designs (a result of them all being based on real people who worked at MTV at the time). Because the fandom is relatively close-knit, the characterizations of many backgrounders have actually become pretty standardized. Burnout Girl is almost always involved with drugs, that blond from ''The Invitation'' is named Tori Jericho & was president of the Fashion Club before Sandi, etc.
* This is common in the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** Special mention goes to Princess Luna. When she finally appeared in Season 2, she left this trope behind by contradicting nearly every fan depiction of her.
** It's common with the [[My Little Pony|other series]] too. There are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of toy characters that either didn't pop up in the cartoon adaptations or didn't get much screen-time at all (many didn't even speak). Thus people make up whatever personality they want, especially in later gens where few characters actually have real backstories anymore.
* ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]'' is an unusual case, as it's not so much characters from the show who're stand ins, but the characters ''not'' featured. Due to the series tweaking some personalities to make them teenagers ([[In Name Only|some who all they share with their original versions being their names]] [[Up to Eleven|and some don't even get their real names, just their old codenames]]), a lot of characters from the comics that the show was based on work as these. Want a female British X-Man? Covered, Betsy Braddock/Psylocke will work. Want a male British one? Pete Wisdom. Want a team genius? Cither. Want a character with a dark and edgy past? Its ''X-Men'', anyone would fit that.
** Dani Moonstar and some of the New Recruits serve as this as well. As Dani only appeared in one episode, not much of her personality was fleshed out, and as such can serve as any personality type they want. Roberto only got a bit of characterization: A slightly egotistical 'jock' type, while Rahne got a snarky playful personality, both from just one episode, after that, they get no lines other than background appearances.
* Ursa, Zuko and Azula's [[Missing Mom]], from ''[[
* [[Danny Phantom]] has a few, but none so popular as Star, or Star "Satellite" as the fandom has named her. She has some lines and establishing character moments, but in general, the Show portrays her as the blonde girl who hangs around the [[Alpha Bitch]] Paulina. Naturally, fanfic authors have a ball giving her [[Hidden Depths]].
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