15 Times Fans Left Their Mark on the Official Material
![15 Times Fans Left Their Mark on the Official Material](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/6/780996_320x180.jpg)
Fans have many ways of engaging with what they love: going to conventions, posting on dedicated message boards, writing fanfiction, hiding in the bushes outside their favorite authors’ home… Most of the time, it’s a one-way, trickle-down thing; but it happens on occasion that some salmon-like fan manages to swim upstream and lay their eggs in their source material (this metaphor went down a weird road, but we’re sticking to it).
It's a beautiful thing - fans get to feel like they're being heard and that their ideas matter and creators get some pretty nifty ideas, as well as cover all-important fan service. If only other areas of life functioned like this - we're looking at you, politics. But honestly, that stream might just be too polluted, but we can dare to dream.
Here we have collected several examples of beautiful fan-hatchlings in canon. And they managed to avoid being eaten by bears along the way.
The Force Awakens R2 was built by hobbyists.
![R2-D2 IN THE FORCE AWAKENS WAS BUILT BY HOBBYISTS. Lee Towersey and Oliver Steeples, of the R2 Builders Club, got to chat with Kathleen Kennedy during a convention, and jokingly offered to make droids for the upcoming new movie. They were taken up on the offer, and commissioned to build several droids, including R2-D2 himself.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/0/780990.jpg)
Dr. Who used a fan-made opening.
![Doctor Who used a fan-made opening. Back in 2014, Billy Hanshaw made an opening for Doctor Who to showcase his skills, and put it up on YouTube. Eventually the thing reached showrunner Steven Moffat, who got in touch with Hanshaw to tweak his work into the real, official opening.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/5/780995.gif)
Venom came from a fan letter.
![VENOM CAME FROM A FAN LETTER. After Marvel asked readers to submit ideas, Randy Schueller suggested that Spider-Man wear a special black suit that'd enhance his powers. The writers ran with this idea, throwing in the alien symbiote angle, which eventually developed into Venom.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/1/780991.jpg)
A Guardians 2 scene was inspired by fan theories.
![A SCENE IN GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 WAS INSPIRED BY FAN THEORIES Fans have long thought that all Stan Lee cameos in the MCU are the same character-that character being Uatu the Watcher. So in GotG 2, James Gunn has Stan having a chat with the Watchers.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/4/780984.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
Sega hired game modders for Sonic The Hedgehog
![SEGA HIRED GAME MODDERS TO RELAUNCH SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. 2017's Sonic Mania, the highest-rated Sonic game in a long time, was made by people coming from the game modding community. Sonic fan Christian Whitehead had already created a Sonic CD port for the iPod Touch, and Sega hired him and other modders to revitalize the brand.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/7/780987.jpg)
A fan artist got a job on Detective Pikachu.
![A FAN ARTIST WAS HIRED FOR DETECTIVE PIKACHU. RJ Palmer has spent several years drawing creepily realistic Pokemon. This landed him a job in Detective Pikachu, after the movie's production designer found Palmer's work on Google.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/9/2/780992.jpg)
A teen viewer created Me-Mow.
![ME-MOW FROM ADVENTURE TIME WAS CREATED BY A TEEN VIEWER. A 14-year-old fan from Florida sent a drawing of the assassin cat to show creator Pendleton Ward. Ward fell in love with the character right away, and gave the kid a call to use e-Mow in the series.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/8/780988.jpg)
Source: Animation Magazine
Fans contribute to Magic: The Gathering
![FANS HAVE CONTRIBUTED CARDS TO MAGIC: THE GATHERING A few times since 1999, Wizards of the Coast has held contests where players could send in their own creations to be made into official playing cards. Among the winners are creatures like the Forgotten Ancient and the Spiritmonger.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/9/780989.jpg)
Source: Magic: The Gathering Wiki
The Expanse thanked fans, in-show.
![THE EXPANSE RENAMED A SHIP AS A THANK YOU TO FANS. The Screaming Firehawks, as the fans are called, started a campaign to save The Expanse after Syfy cancelled it, which led to Amazon picking up the show. As a tribute to them, the racing ship Razorback was renamed as The Screaming Firehawk in Season 5.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/7/9/780979.jpg)
Source: CBR
A five-year-old child designed an Angry Birds level.
![AN ANGRY BIRDS LEVEL WAS DESIGNED BY A FIVE-YEAR-OLD CHILD. A wiggly wall to bounce birds off, a treasure chest, and a box of TNT. -these are some items in the level design that young Ethan submitted in 2010 to Angry Birds publisher Rovio (with his mom's help). Rovio couldn't say no to such an adorable request, and included Ethan's level in an update.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/6/780986.jpg)
Source: GameZebo
A player handed GTA a fix.
![A PLAYER FIXED GRAND THEFT AUTO'S LOADING TIMES. GTA Online used to take forever to load, until a player who goes by tOst found a way to cut down loading times by up to 70%. Rockstar officially included tOst's fix in March 2021, thanked him, and paid him $10,000 for doing their job for them.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/2/780982.jpg)
Source: Polygon
There's fan art in Doom Eternal.
![A FAN ARTIST HAS HIS WORK EXHIBITED IN DOOM ETERNAL. The walls at id Software are hanging with fan art- and one particular piece (an acrylic painting of the Doom Slayer with his pet bunny, created by artist lan Nielsen) also decorates the Fortress of Doom in the game.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/5/780985.jpg)
Sources: GamersPrey (via YouTube), Hypertext
Three teens from Virginia chipped in on Tiny Toons.
![THREE TEENS FROM VIRGINIA WROTE A TINY TOONS EPISODE. Eighth-graders Renee Carter, Amy Crosby, and Sarah Reef wrote a story titled Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian, and then sent it to the TV station on a whim. The story eventually made it to Steven Spielberg's desk, who liked it SO much that he bought it and produced it.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/1/780981.jpg)
Source: Education Week
A fashion-minded fan designed Supergirl's costume in the 70's.
![A ASHION-MINDED FAN DESIGNED SUPERGIRL'S 1970S COSTUME. All through the '70s, Supergirl had a very '70s look, complete with plunging neckline, bishop sleeves, choker, and hot pants. The outfit was sent in in 1972 by reader John Sposato, and Supergirl wore it for ten years.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/0/780980.jpg)
Source: CBR
Fan Written 'Star Trek' Episodes
![SEVERAL STAR TREK EPISODES WERE WRITTEN BY FANS (WHO THEN BECAME PROS). Star Trek: The Next Generation began an open submission policy, allowing anyone to send in scripts. Several TV writers had their start that way, including Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/9/8/3/780983.jpg)
Sources: Daily Star Trek News, Den of Geek