4

A Guy Who Draws Creepy Realistic Pokemon Art Was Hired For Detective Pikachu

Who is the world's greatest detective? Batman? That guy from CSI with the magically musical sunglasses? Well, you might want to hold your opinion until next year, when Detective Pikachu comes out. Yup, some Hollywood exec thought that tossing a deerstalker cap on the cutest Pokemon and sticking him in a neo-noir would make a shit-ton of money ... and they're probably right.

Warner Bros. Pictures"Instead of the iconic character design known the world over, could we make him look like Danny DeVito in a fur suit?"

But Detective Pikachu isn't the first disturbingly realistic incarnation of Pokemon characters. For six years, fan artist RJ Palmer has been creating amazingly detailed reimaginings of made-up animals used to sell video games, clothing, toys, and small pieces of cardboard to children.

RJ PalmerToo bad it didn't look like this in 1999. Dad might not have looked quite so disappointed whenever he saw the cards come out.

Amazingly, Palmer's fan art got him a job working on Detective Pikachu. It turns out the film's production designer found his work on Google, presumably after searching the phrase "Is there someone else who can do my job for me?" Who knows, maybe Hollywood will start turning to fan artists more in the future. Perhaps the author of that anti-abortion Zootopia comic will one day be brought into the Disney fold.

3

Instead Of Suing Them, Sega Recruited Fans To Reboot Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic The Hedgehog is Sega's blue amphetamine-riddled answer to Mario. And there are a whole bunch of Sonic hacks out there. One fan, in an act of deep betrayal, even made Sonic ride Mario's dino buddy Yoshi. And while Nintendo has a history of threatening to sue people for modding their games, Sega showed that they were the cool eccentric uncle of the video game world by giving these hardworking modders jobs.

Sonic fan Christian Whitehead created a new port of Sonic CD for the iPod Touch, and was eventually hired to bring other Sonic games to mobile. Perhaps most amazingly, Whitehead and other modders, such as Simon Thomley, were eventually put to work revitalizing the entire Sonic brand. The gang of fans created Sonic Mania, an old-school platformer for the new generation of consoles.

SegaWait, no game-breaking bugs, weird tonal shifts, or straight-up bestiality? Are we sure this is a Sonic game?

Sonic Mania became the "highest-rated new Sonic title in 15 years," and was way less existentially terrifying than that comic wherein Sonic inadvertently deleted his children from existence.

Related: 6 Pieces Of Fan Art That Are Better Than The Original

2

Doctor Who Keeps Hiring Random Dudes From The Internet

An icon for scarf-clad nerds all over the world, Doctor Who will probably live on forever (though to be fair, any show working under the premise that the lead character can randomly transform into a new actor is probably going to have some longevity). Random people who hang out on the internet are a key demographic for the venerable franchise, and the show also keeps hiring them. One fan, Billy Hanshaw, made a new opening for the show as a visual effects demo, seeing the TARDIS hurling through a clockwork spacetime continuum.

1

Marvel Took A Random Fan Letter And Turned It Into Venom

You probably know Venom as one of Spider-Man's greatest adversaries, or as the star of that recent movie about Tom Hardy getting possessed by an evil Instagram filter. It all began in the 1980s, when Marvel (a meager comic publisher, not the cinematic behemoth it is today) had a contest for "aspiring writers and artists." And fan Randy Schueller suggested that Spider-Man should get a new costume -- namely a black one, so that he could "blend in with the shadows."

Schueller's idea didn't, however, involve any alien symbiotes, but instead had the Fantastic Four and Tony Stark going full Project Runway and designing Peter Parker a new outfit. Marvel was so taken with the black suit idea that they bought it for a cool, uh, $220. They also gave Schueller first stab at writing the script, but after two drafts, his ideas were rejected. A year later, Marvel's Secret Wars was released, and unbeknownst to Schueller, the kernel of his idea made it onto the page. Spider-Man had gone full Johnny Cash.

Marvel Comics"Could you guys give it a rest with the battle? I'm trying to primp."

According to Schueller, he was both "thrilled and saddened" to see his idea realized without his help. Then, when the suit became Venom, he was "disturbed." Though he's probably now more disturbed that his $200 idea paved the way for an almost-billion-dollar movie.

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