[OUTDATED] The Sliding Scale of Walfas Purity

Note from 2023: This guide is horrendously out of date and ignores a lot of context. Don’t let it hold back your creativity.

Deeper Explanation: fav.me/d5gn94v
To ease your concerns: fav.me/d5gvzyh

NOTICE: This chart mainly applies to narrative story. Examples are provided below!

This is a trend I've noticed, and while I'm currently drawing a more detailed graph, it seems the more/less custom stuff a Walfas series has, the better. By series, I mean a narrative story (though, a gag series with a reoccurring cast could fall under it). In the middle of the spectrum, it's basically "Touhou in name only." At the edges, you have straight Touhou and wonderful animations/comics like the "Yandere 101 - How To Deal With a Yandere" series by Kentucky Fried Chen () or a great chunk of Kigurou Enkou's stuff (). Again, this mostly applies to story/cast-driven projects. If it's strictly gag stuff like many of GreenJake's () animations or my own Touhou sketches, it probably doesn't count because it's not story/cast-driven.

Clarification (using the ruler as a literal measuring stick):

The Zones:
1-3: Safe Zone - Touhou: Sticks to Touhou canon, rarely deviates.
4-5: Experimental Zone - Touhou: Takes place directly in the Touhou universe, but deviates from canon. These comics aren't inherently bad: just harder to pull off.
6-7: DANGER ZONE - Bad comics, Mary Sue/Marty Stu fics, and so on. Apparently takes place in the Touhou universe, but overpopulated by terrible original characters. The canon cast are reduced to extras who are at the whims of the OCs. In the event there *is* a good comic in this territory, it will still be hard to follow for its overabundance of characters.
8-9: Experimental Zone - Touhou-esque: May or may not take place in the Touhou universe, but has a solid-enough cast to thrive on its own. Again, these aren't inherently bad: these depend entirely on the writer's experience.
10-12: Safe Zone - Original Series: Has its own canon and rarely deviates from it.

More Details:
SAFE ZONE - TOUHOU:
-1: Absolutely pure Touhou. Uses nothing but canon sources, rarely cites fandom, this is Touhou in Walfas form. Very few examples to cite.
-2: Occasionally ventures off from Touhou canon, but still mostly Touhou. Uses more fanon elements, takes a couple of risks, but nothing too bad. "Touhou Nekokayou" by Kimiko Muffin is a good example.
-3: Starts taking more risks: bends canon laws, but it's still Touhou. Introduces new characters, but still lets the canon cast shine and the characters feel like they fit in the setting. A great bulk of MiniWitch3's work belongs here.

EXPERIMENTAL ZONE - TOUHOU
-4: Entering "Artistic License" territory. Canon elements are thrown out for fanon or personal reasons, but it's still Touhou. More OCs are introduced and they are on par with the rest of the cast for screentime. ChibiChen's "Mind The Gap" is an example of how this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as well as my own "Diamond In The Rough."
-5: The point between "Artistic License" and "Did Not Do The Research". It's feeling less like Touhou and more like the author's personal playground. The Touhou characters are still there, but they are wildly different from canon or at least demoted to a side character for a dominating OC. Ryo Abstrak's "Lost In Gensokyo" falls around here, but also the intriguing fics of UsuallyDead.

DANGER ZONE - ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER.
-6: Now we're in "Did Not Do The Research" territory. It takes place in Gensokyo, but that's all we know. Really, this is just an excuse for the author and his/her friends to faff about in the Gensokyo settings. Touhou characters only show up so the Author Avatars can play jokes on them or defeat them. Too many examples to cite, but the most famous among the Station Wagon is "Spellcards and Keyblades" by Willie G.R.. Any time somebody makes a *good* comic in this territory will have its quality diluted by its excessive cast.
-7: Similar to 6, only the Touhou characters are showing up less and less and the OCs are showing up more and more. If something gets rejected from one of the Walfas clubs with the reaction, "Who are these people?," it's usually this. Once again, if somebody does make a good comic in this territory, there are often too many characters to make it truly enjoyable.

EXPERIMENTAL ZONE - TOUHOU-ESQUE:
-8: Exiting "Did Not Do The Research" and entering "Author comic" territory. Here, it may or may not take place in Gensokyo, but it's less about Touhou and more about the life and exploits of the artists. Walfas comics about the author living in Gensokyo belong here. This is also where the good "takes place in Gensokyo, but not about the Touhou characters" series can be found: Touhou characters will make cameos, but not stick around long enough to make us want them to stay, and events feel like it's focusing on "the other parts of Gensokyo." This is where crossovers like PMiller1's comics can be found.
-9: Like 8, only now the characters are more established. Relies less on Touhou characters and each avatar has its own personality and characteristics so they stand out. This is where most Club comics go.

SAFE ZONE - ORIGINAL SERIES
-10: Approaching original series territory. No longer takes place in the Touhou universe, but may make Touhou references. Characters can be more than author avatars, but original ones, like my own Maxamillion Jazzhands and the "Pretty Pretty Pony." This is where the better Club comics go.
-11: A mostly original series, often based on a source series. Although I'm sure more exist, I myself have done Walfas versions of "K-On!," "Love Hina," and, "Fate/Stay Night."
-12: A completely original series: has its own concrete setting, canon, everything. KentuckyFriedChen's "Yandere 101: How To Deal With A Yandere" is a great example (whose characters occupy the other end of the spectrum in the picture).

Walfas Examples:
1 = IShingoYabuki's "Flower Best Served Cold": fav.me/d5fwavw
2 = IShingoYabuki's "Best Staring Contest In the History of EVER": fav.me/d5gitke
3 = MiniWitch3's "Newspaper Bout": www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-ndTn…
4 = My own "Diamond In The Rough: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O1CQ8…
5 = MikiBandy's "Miki's Bizarre Adventure": fav.me/d41yvua
6 = Aeronator's "Aero's Story": fav.me/d35ux7h (despite its quality, it's hit character critical mass, making it harder to follow)
7 = PuyoPuyoNut722's "Team 0's Excellent Adventure": fav.me/d5fdbub (and even more characters are added later)
8 = PMiller1's Way of the Planeswalker: fav.me/d57l4ky
9 = My own "Why nobody has huggled Spaztique": fav.me/d5fze0p
10 = My own "Table Flipping Duel": fav.me/d59psp3
11 = My own "Five Dangerous Months At The Hinata Inn": www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zHVJw…
12 = KentuckyFriedChen's "Yandere 101: How To Deal With A Yandere": www.youtube.com/watch?v=x88hkm…

Trends to take note of:
-These are all based on the maximum capacity of the typical Walfaser. If a really good Walfaser shot for a 6 or 7, which are the curse of death, it would be still be bad, but if a terrible Walfaser shot for a 1 or 12, it would be equally bad.
-4 and 5 are hard to pull off: especially 5.
-Only 6 and 7 are the ones you should worry about. This is where the most contempt comes because it doesn't follow Touhou and the characters don't feel solid.
-Once you clear 7 and reach 8, quality starts increasing exponentially.
-It is also hard to pull off 8 as a "take place in Gensokyo, but has its own cast/canon."

The Average Quality Per Number:
-1: Excellent. Most people who have the ability to tell Touhou stories using entirely canon sources pull it off and do it well.
-2: Extremely good.
-3: Really good.
-4: Good, but it's getting more and more difficult to please the fanbase.
-5: Wildly contrasting. The skill here relies entirely on the author.
-6: Poor. It's "Touhou in name only," with cardboard cutouts as the cast.
-7: Poor. It's a bunch of idiots acting like idiots in the Touhou setting, if it can even be called that.
-8: Good, but difficult to pull off.
-9: Good.
-10: Really good.
-11: Extremely good.
-12: Excellent. Most people who are daring enough to go for an original series usually pull it off.