diff --git a/src/mixins/itext_behavior.mixin.js b/src/mixins/itext_behavior.mixin.js
index 897e532b..fad2bfa7 100644
--- a/src/mixins/itext_behavior.mixin.js
+++ b/src/mixins/itext_behavior.mixin.js
@@ -762,7 +762,9 @@
      * @param {Array} copiedStyle array of style objecs
      */
     insertCharStyleObject: function(lineIndex, charIndex, quantity, copiedStyle) {
-
+      if (!this.styles) {
+        this.styles = {};
+      }
       var currentLineStyles       = this.styles[lineIndex],
           currentLineStylesCloned = clone(currentLineStyles);
 
@@ -780,15 +782,15 @@
         }
       }
       this._forceClearCache = true;
-      if (!currentLineStyles) {
-        return;
-      }
       if (copiedStyle) {
         while (quantity--) {
           this.styles[lineIndex][charIndex + quantity] = clone(copiedStyle[quantity]);
         }
         return;
       }
+      if (!currentLineStyles) {
+        return;
+      }
       var newStyle = currentLineStyles[charIndex ? charIndex - 1 : 1];
       while (newStyle && quantity--) {
         this.styles[lineIndex][charIndex + quantity] = clone(newStyle);
diff --git a/src/shapes/active_selection.class.js b/src/shapes/active_selection.class.js
index f17497c0..c3666c25 100644
--- a/src/shapes/active_selection.class.js
+++ b/src/shapes/active_selection.class.js
@@ -31,8 +31,7 @@
      * @return {Object} thisArg
      */
     initialize: function(objects, options) {
-      options = options || { };
-
+      options = options || {};
       this._objects = objects || [];
       for (var i = this._objects.length; i--; ) {
         this._objects[i].group = this;
diff --git a/src/shapes/group.class.js b/src/shapes/group.class.js
index 86924574..46a2b9ae 100644
--- a/src/shapes/group.class.js
+++ b/src/shapes/group.class.js
@@ -66,8 +66,7 @@
      * @return {Object} thisArg
      */
     initialize: function(objects, options, isAlreadyGrouped) {
-      options = options || { };
-
+      options = options || {};
       this._objects = [];
       // if objects enclosed in a group have been grouped already,
       // we cannot change properties of objects.
diff --git a/src/shapes/itext.class.js b/src/shapes/itext.class.js
index dc2808db..c2001052 100644
--- a/src/shapes/itext.class.js
+++ b/src/shapes/itext.class.js
@@ -179,7 +179,6 @@
      * @return {fabric.IText} thisArg
      */
     initialize: function(text, options) {
-      this.styles = options ? (options.styles || { }) : { };
       this.callSuper('initialize', text, options);
       this.initBehavior();
     },
diff --git a/src/shapes/object.class.js b/src/shapes/object.class.js
index 86efe8b5..88bd0a4f 100644
--- a/src/shapes/object.class.js
+++ b/src/shapes/object.class.js
@@ -572,7 +572,6 @@
      * @param {Object} [options] Options object
      */
     initialize: function(options) {
-      options = options || { };
       if (options) {
         this.setOptions(options);
       }
diff --git a/src/shapes/text.class.js b/src/shapes/text.class.js
index 431607a5..4a216f65 100644
--- a/src/shapes/text.class.js
+++ b/src/shapes/text.class.js
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@
      * @return {fabric.Text} thisArg
      */
     initialize: function(text, options) {
-      options = options || { };
+      this.styles = options ? (options.styles || { }) : { };
       this.text = text;
       this.__skipDimension = true;
       this.callSuper('initialize', options);
diff --git a/test/unit/text.js b/test/unit/text.js
index d4d7b8d0..91ab7dda 100644
--- a/test/unit/text.js
+++ b/test/unit/text.js
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@
     'skewY':                      0,
     'transformMatrix':            null,
     'charSpacing':                0,
-    'styles':                     null
+    'styles':                     {}
   };
 
   var TEXT_SVG = '\t<g transform="translate(10.5 26.72)">\n\t\t<text xml:space="preserve" font-family="Times New Roman" font-size="40" font-style="normal" font-weight="normal" style="stroke: none; stroke-width: 1; stroke-dasharray: none; stroke-linecap: butt; stroke-linejoin: miter; stroke-miterlimit: 10; fill: rgb(0,0,0); fill-rule: nonzero; opacity: 1; white-space: pre;" >\n\t\t\t<tspan x="-10" y="12.57" >x</tspan>\n\t\t</text>\n\t</g>\n';