Derivative

A Derivative is a character based on existing ones.

About
The term "Derivative" is difficult to explain and conceptualise. The overseas often call such characters "fan mades" or "fan made characters", but refer to them as a different character entirely. In the Japanese fandom, the character is considered a variation of the original, therefore a "Derivative" is not treated the same way as in the overseas fandoms and there the different treatment and this has resulted in some common mistakes made in classifing characters.

This also means offical derivatives like "Racing Miku" or "Snow Miku" can also be considered a variation of Hatsune Miku and at the same time not Hatsune Miku herself. This way, derivative versions of a character can exist exist side by side in any promotional media base medium with the original character as two different entities to each other.

Crypton Future Media is most known out of the studios for adopting offical derivatives into their merchandise. Derivatives are therefore welcome and often developed as a persons intrepretation of the Vocaloid they are working with. Many are used by Producers as a form of self-promotion and are taken into account for the number of such designs and appearances in Vocaloid media. If the song is used offically by Crypton Future Media, the Producer's derivative design is also used in the song alongside it, as the design is tied together with the song and there is no sense of familairty between the two. Crypton Future Media consider them a form of Producer creativity and have adopted the most famous ones into their offical character promotions.

However, the sheer number of derivatives that have been produced, particularly in the early 2007-2009 operiod, have resulted in common generic Vocaloid designs.