What is Original Character Do Not Steal?

It's a phrase originally used by DeviantART artists to warn against theft, now more often used ironically to caption obviously derivative or badly drawn art.

Where did Original Character Do Not Steal come from?

It came out of DeviantART's fan-art culture, where the phrase started as a genuine anti-theft warning before flipping into a sarcastic caption for bad or copied art.

What does Original Character Do Not Steal mean?

Literally: don't copy my character. Ironically, it flags art that's either sloppily drawn or blatantly ripped off from an existing property like Sonic the Hedgehog.

How do you use Original Character Do Not Steal?

Post an obviously derivative or poorly rendered OC, often a Sonic-adjacent hedgehog, and caption it 'original character do not steal' to signal the self-aware joke.

Is Original Character Do Not Steal still popular?

It's a classic Sonic-fandom joke that still surfaces whenever people mock amateur OC art, though its peak was in the early 2010s.

Original Character Do Not Steal

2008catchphraseclassic

Published September 19, 2026

Original Character Do Not Steal is a phrase DeviantART artists slap on their creations to warn against theft, but by 2008 it was already being used ironically to caption obvious rip-offs and terrible fan art. What started as a sincere copyright plea became a long-running joke about the Sonic the Hedgehog fandom and amateur original characters, or OCs.

deviantart memes catchphrase memes sonic memes fan art memes character design memes

Overview

The joke pairs the earnest 'do not steal' warning with art that nobody would ever want to steal in the first place, whether it's a lazy Sonic recolor, a poorly drawn anime character, or a blatant knock-off of an existing pop culture figure. The Sonic fandom became the running target because of the community's reputation for derivative fan characters, edgy hedgehog OCs, and palette-swapped clones like the fake blue hedgehog 'Blonic'1. By March 2014, DeviantART had tallied more than 29,000 submissions tagged with the phrase3.

Users also fire off the phrase as commentary, calling out other artists whose 'original characters' look suspiciously like copyrighted properties2. The tone is almost always sarcastic now, with the sincerity of the original usage mostly forgotten.

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Origin & Background

Platform

DeviantART

Date

2008

The earliest documented ironic use came on March 18th, 2008, when DeviantART user Kurobon posted a Sonic parody titled 'LOL PENIS THE HEDGEHOG' captioned with 'original character do not steal'3. The phrase itself was already common among DeviantART artists worried about actual art theft, but Kurobon's post captured the sarcastic pairing that spread later: earnest warning plus terrible or derivative art. The originator of the ironic usage is unknown.

How It Spread

The catchphrase broke past DeviantART on December 3rd, 2011, when YouTuber Ukinojoe uploaded 'Blonic,' a short video introducing a blue hedgehog character with the deadpan description 'do not steal.' The clip pulled in more than 1.3 million views by early 20141. In May 2012, Urban Dictionary user Mjfan13298 submitted an entry defining 'original character' inside this ironic context, cementing how the phrase was being read online2.

By September 2013, mainstream comedy sites grabbed the joke: College Humor published 'If Characters Acted Like Their Nerdy Fans,' a strip that featured Sonic holding a picture of a human 'original human character' and repeating the same warning3. From there the phrase spread to Tumblr, Reddit, and Twitter as shorthand for mocking amateur OC culture, and it's still deployed whenever someone posts obviously copied fan art.

Timeline

2008-03-18

DeviantART user Kurobon posts 'LOL PENIS THE HEDGEHOG,' the earliest documented ironic use of the caption.

2011-12-03

YouTuber Ukinojoe uploads 'Blonic,' a Sonic parody described as 'do not steal,' which grows to over 1.3 million views.

2012-05-17

Urban Dictionary user Mjfan13298 submits an entry framing 'original character' in the ironic sense.

2013-09-13

College Humor publishes 'If Characters Acted Like Their Nerdy Fans,' referencing the meme in a Sonic panel.

2014-03

DeviantART crosses 29,000 submissions tagged 'original character do not steal.'

How to Use This Meme

Post an obviously derivative or badly rendered character, especially a hedgehog OC that looks a little too much like Sonic, and caption it 'original character do not steal' to signal the self-aware joke. Common conventions include exaggerating the copy (a red-and-black Sonic recolor, a Naruto lookalike) or leaning into how sloppy the art is.