Band Formation

The most commonly-held conceptualization of Shark Puppy involves the Losers all separately writing and playing music as a coping mechanism and form of self-expression by their late teens, eventually confessing or being revealed to the others as doing so, and forming a band upon the realization that they all share this in common. The success of the group is often extrapolated into their adult life as well, shifting the concept from a teen!Losers garage band AU to one that depicts the Losers as fabulously successful, with a host of RIAA-certified albums and completed sold-out world tours.

Other headcanons involve some incomplete combination of Losers knowing each other and/or forming a band together, the success of which eventually causes them to connect with any remaining Losers, and culminates in their mutual decision to become a compete group.

Not all iterations of the universe involve all Losers as musically-involved band members - sometimes individual members will be managers, techs, or groupies closely involved with the band, with the remaining members as performers. Despite this, however, it is common for all Losers to equally contribute to the songwriting process, with some songs written by individual members or in small groups, and some written in a large collaborative joint effort. The singers and musicians performing a track are often not limited to the songwriter(s), despite the deeply personal nature of many tracks.

The relationship status of Shark Puppy members is also highly variable - common fandom ships are often recognized, but whether members are explicitly dating or existing in a perception of unrequited love is dependent on headcanon. Getting-together timelines are also unique, and for this reason there might be release date discrepancies noted between track notes, i.e., referring to confirmed significant others that may or may not be established in other subsequent releases by different creators.

Shark Puppy is most commonly written in non-clown universes - whether that means Pennywise simply doesn't exist, or if that means the Losers defeated him permanently during their first confrontation in 1989 is variable. However, Shark Puppy universes only rarely include the middle-aged Losers fighting It again in 2016, and hardly ever include separation and/or memory loss in the interim as a plot device. For this reason, the canon compliance of Shark Puppy varies from headcanon to headcanon, though a non-compliance with canonical character death(s) has been universal thus far.