Dekudog

A Dekudog is a fan character that takes the attributes of a canon character and implements them heavily into the design of the fan character. It may be similar to a kinsona, though dekudog usually comes with more negative connotations than kinsona. While a kinsona is made with kinning in mind, a dekudog does not have to be a kinsona, though a dekudog can still double as a kinsona. "Dekudog" is used negatively and often as an insult.
==History==
Turning canon characters into furries and implementing pieces of canon characters into original characters is an old practice amid fandoms, such as with Pokemon Gijinkas starting circa 2007.Gijinka Guide: An Anthropromorthic Creative Phenomenon, pokuniverse.com. (Accessed 4/12/2022) On Furaffinity, though not called "dekudogs," some furries in 2009 would draw Link from Legend of Zelda as canines.Link's Sorrow, Furaffinity. Oct 9, 2009 (Accessed 5/11/2022) 
"Dekudog" would only crop up in the 2010s, alongside My Hero Academia. Kinsona predates the term dekudog by roughly three years, with the earliest usage of kinsona seen in a piece of Furaffinity art from July 2014 that was tagged with "kinsona."The Cutest Spacemutt [[NOT MY ART]], Furaffinity. July 11, 2014 (Accessed 5/11/2022) Art of dogs that look like Deku, and which are tagged as dekudog, date back to Oct 2017 on DeviantART at the earliest.Can't Sleep Love, DevaintART. Oct 20, 2017 (Accessed 4/10/2022) On Twitter, one of the earliest pieces of art to be tagged as dekudog is from Nov 2017, and it also features a "Bakudog."Happy Birthday to my twin sister, Twitter. Nov 29, 2017 (Accessed 4/10/2022) The word dekudog was acknowledged officially by the official AnimangaUSA Twitter in 2019.Watashi ga kita! The amazing #cosplay community has a new hero! Jun 26, 2019 (Accessed 4/10/2022)
===ToyHouse's Influence on Negative Usage===
Dekudog changing from a lighthearted My Hero Academia design type and meme, to a phrase used as an insult within the original species and ToyHouse community, likely started with discussions within the ToyHouse suggestions forum in 2019, which would lead to an update in ToyHouse's rules.Rules Edit -- Kin Characters/Albums], ToyHouse. Mar 6, 2019 (Accessed 4/11/2022) User Jayden said:
While this thread didn't mention "dekudog" by name, it referred to kinsonas, which is often used interchangeably by artists. After this thread, another more official admin feedback thread would be opened just six days later on Mar 12, 2019, which had many more comments and ended with 31 pages.Fandom/Kins Rules Update Feedback Box, ToyHouse. Mar 12, 2019 (Accessed 4/11/2022) The first mention of Deku on this admin thread comes from page 3, and this would cause more comments to reference dekudogs directly in the pages following.
On March 20, 2019 ToyHouse would then update its rules to disallow designs that were too closely aligned with canon character designs who they believed were "AU" versions of canon characters, but said it would not monitor visual similarities alone.Caching Bug Important + Rules Update Important, ToyHouse. Mar 20, 2019 (Accessed 4/11/2022) This would spur ToyHouse and original species drama blogs on Tumblr to begin receiving anonymous messages focused on the disdain for dekudogs. Though ToyHouse rules do allow fan characters (such as Pokemon characters), and characters with visual similarities to canon characters (as long as they have a different history/personality), many drama blogs still focus largely on canon character visual similarities when deciding whether they dislike a character or not.12324559(.)gene i didnt think i would ever see a gene simmons dekudog, Tumblr. Aug 17, 2021 (Accessed 4/12/2022)p to EATSrobot, ToyHouse. Aug 13, 2021 (Accessed 4/12/2022) An anonymous source stated that, after this new rule was added, a since deleted drama blog (which later was replaced by thdramas) began discussing dekudogs and allowed for the harassment of their owners. They said:
Some negative associations can be seen on Twitter starting in 2020 as well.
==Opinion and Commentary==
Besides designs that are too akin to canon characters being disallowed on ToyHouse, another reason that dekudogs may have such negative connotations within the ToyHouse and original species communities are due to these communities being centered around the selling and trade of designs. Some artists may see the selling of characters based on canon characters to be stealing. Others have made comments about feeling "scammed" into buying designs that they had no idea were dekudogs, thus feeling as if they had bought a stolen design rather than an original one. Frequent users of closed species and ToyHouse drama blogs often send anonymous messages about reporting dekudog characters to get them taken off ToyHouse. 
Though dekudogs are often discussed in a negative light, some artists still see them as fun, harmless ways to show one's love of a character, or to express one's fictionkin character. Those in favor of dekudogs often cite that many artists who use them do not actually claim to own the canon characters they are based on, instead seeing dekudogs like any other form of fan content. Others believe that, while dekudogs may include content that could possible be infringement, that so long as dekudog designs aren't being sold or traded under the guise of being original that they are otherwise harmless.
The opinions on dekudogs may also differ between communities and websites. For example, while dekudog discourse is common on ToyHouse and drama blogs on Tumblr, popular closed species artists such as Griffsnuff from DeviantART make dekudogs and get little backlash, such as with their Feb 2022 dekudog of Sans.#5581 Tribal BB - Bad Time, DeviantART. Feb 22, 2022 (Accessed 4/9/2022) There is little to no meta on DeviantART discussing dekudogs. However, searching for dekudog on Tumblr brings up many results, most of them related to ToyHouse or original species discourse. A few opinions from the dekudog Tumblr tag are below.
==Gallery==
File:Dekudog hopsaddedhusky .png|Dekudog of Deku by hopsaddedhusky
File:Dekudog corvidcalling.png| Dekudog of Kazuha from Genshin Impact by corvidcalling
File:Dekudog innocenceTM.png| Dekudog of Caliborn from Homestuck by innocenceTM, owned by TURNIN
==References==
Category:Furry Fandom Glossary Category:Original Species