Canon/OC Confusion

So I have been told that unless the character has a line in the manga they are not canon. They can be blatantly right there, in the background, being groovy and are not canon. They can have an official profile written up but no lines...so they aren't canon.

This does not make one lick of sense to me what so ever to be completely honest. I understand Scotland not being canon because he hasn't even shown up. People just speculate what he looks/acts like so I can understand that 100%. However there are characters like New Zealand who have appeared but have not spoken and are canon. They are completely canon because of the number of appearances and mentions of them.

Australia I found out hasn't spoken at all in the manga but he is considered canon so why can't these other characters that have only appeared?

Hrmm, that line doesn't make sense and whoever told you that is silly. There are characters like New Zealand and Australia like you said that have nothing official on them other than appearance (to some extent, even NZ has the gender issue and neither have a real color scheme or anything of the sort) that are completely canon. OCs are people that never ever do anything. Himaruya just has to post a sketch and then they are canon! Of course, this leaves plot holes for things like roleplaying and all that jazz but that isn't what the series is for so he shouldn't have to cater to those needs.

I have never heard anyone else say that they need a line to be canon but that is just...well, doesn't make the best sense!

Veneziano wrote:

Hrmm, that line doesn't make sense and whoever told you that is silly. There are characters like New Zealand and Australia like you said that have nothing official on them other than appearance (to some extent, even NZ has the gender issue and neither have a real color scheme or anything of the sort) that are completely canon. OCs are people that never ever do anything. Himaruya just has to post a sketch and then they are canon! Of course, this leaves plot holes for things like roleplaying and all that jazz but that isn't what the series is for so he shouldn't have to cater to those needs.

I have never heard anyone else say that they need a line to be canon but that is just...well, doesn't make the best sense!

Of course it doesn't make sense because it really doesn't! Characters like Seborga should be canon too because of their official art and profile!

What I believe is that as long as Himaruya made it, characters like Wy, New Zealand, Australia, Cameroon, it's canon. As long as they have a character design that is certain that the one who made it was Himaruya, then it is considered canon. Scotland's design was done by someone in Pixiv and later on spread as Scotland's character design because apparently, people liked it, but the thing is, it was not Himaruya who released that character design, therefore, it's fanon/OC.

Sometimes, it's really confusing seeing as their are many people who make their own Hetalia characters in Himaruya's style of drawing so people tend to be confused and take it as the real thing, but all it needs is a tad bit of research and to look who's copyright it belongs to. ^^"

Alright. So.

The only reason I have this kind of rule is because, even with characters that appear in the manga/have official works, you hardly know anything about them. That's the one and only reason I have characters that Himaruya has made fill out the applications. There's not much to go on, on some of the characters, and it's to prevent confusion.


For example, say if France had appeared in the manga and anime, but there wasn't much known about him as a character? I'd have to fill out the application. You need something for others to base their opinions on your characters by, and the application gives everyone a basic understanding about the character. How they see other characters, how they think, what they're like...

It's really just to help. It's not about who's canon and who's not, it's about who should fill out an application and who really doesn't have to.

If it bothers you that much, I can make applications mandatory for every character. But I don't think it should have to come to that, because I don't think it's a big deal.

Anyway, hope that's cleared up some confusion. If you have questions, you can PM me, email me at jessitono@yahoo.com , find me on LJ at distantfridays, or ask Canada, and she can get ahold of me.

Hahaha. I feel special now.

Wooah who said Seborga wasn't canon? As much as I despise the kid, he has a canon profile, drawings, and comic strip. People are odd..

My only problem with all this is the fact that the only thing we know about Australia is what Wy thinks of him, but I don't remember ever seeing an Australia app. And yet I don't hear anyone say anything about that...

And yeah, sure, he was picked up before the rule the first time but the rule was in place the second.

I shouldn't whine, I have Viet without an app, but I'll do one to make it fair.

Good point, America. I'll go make an Aussie app, as well.