I daresay Weirdo wouldn't be so fanatical about canon sheets if someone back in the day hadn't screwed him with a surprise in this vein.
Nope. Not any such examples that I can remember.
The fact of the matter is that there really isn't a comparison with wysiwyg games, because those also require record sheets. It might not have the same name, it not even be a sheet of paper, but the fact remains that just about every miniatures game (there might be an exception, but I can't think of any) has two components to represent a unit. There's the thing that moves around the table and shows the unit's place on the battlefield, and often looks really pretty. Some games place requirements on the Pretty Thing in order to facilitate line of sight, or identify a unit's loadout, or to pay the bills of Pretty Thing Producers. Others have no requirements beyond the Pretty Thing's ability to clearly indicate location, direction, and identity.
Regardless, every unit must also have a second component, the Record. Wether it be a sheet of paper, a card, lines of text scattered across multiple locations or even symbols or a dial directly attached to the Pretty Thing, there must be a Record that tells you where a unit can move, how it affects opponents, how it defends itself, everything it can do and everything that has been done to it. Without the Record, the unit is nothing.
Regardless of any requirements for the Pretty Thing, the Record has to be unambiguous, absolute, and unimpeachable. Gamers are a naturally competitive lot, and the less socially-adjusted of our species is often drawn to us. There will always be those among us that will bring a game to a grinding halt so they can take advantage of any inaccuracy or ambiguity (real or perceived) to their benefit. That's why we all work from the same rulebook, and why we all need to work from the same Record.
Full disclosure: I have absolutely no issues with people that play using hand-filled sheets, or ones printed from other sources like MML or SSW. But there must exist an official sheet, something players can check those sheets against in order to forestall any arguments or confusion.