History Main / FanonDiscontinuity

* ''Anime/ReCreators'' uses this trope as a handicap for AuthorPowers. The two big factors in what determines a Creation's abilities is what the author writes about them and how the audience reacts. If the majority of the audience doesn't like a new ability that the author writes, then the Creation who wields it in the real world immediately loses it. [[spoiler:This works against the heroes' side in the ''Elimination Chamber Festival'': the in-universe audience was RootingForTheEmpire, and thus saw all the heroes' new abilities to combat the BigBad as {{Ass Pull}}s.]]

One of the meta-causes of AlternateUniverse.

* When tackling ''WebVideo/CinemaSins'' video on ''Film/Halloween1978'', WebVideo/Th3Birdman reveals a disdain of the retcon in ''Film/Halloween2018'' that Laurie is not Michael's sister, saying "[[BleepDammit F*ck]], ''2018''!" and that he'll always think of Laurie as Cynthia Myers.

* Discontinuity/WebComics

** Marge Simpson has shown such an attitude towards her children, eating a story book about Joan D'Arc to avoid telling Lisa that the French warrior was burned at the stake, commenting it was easier to swallow than the WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}} video. A later episode reveals Marge and Homer walked out of ''Film/{{Carrie|1976}}'' after she was crowned prom queen so she could pretend the story ended happily.
** In another episode, Homer has been reading to Lisa at night from what is obviously Literature/HarryPotter with the SerialNumbersFiledOff. He's hesitant to read her the ending because it's sad (a reference to [[spoiler:Dumbledore's death in book six]]), so instead he [[FixFic invents a happier ending]] to tell her. [[spoiler:Later Lisa pulls out a second copy of the book and reads the true ending for herself, then decides that "Dad's ending was better."]]
** Another episode shows that the entire town of Springfield has a parent-wide conspiracy regarding WesternAnimation/FindingNemo. All the parents start the film at the second scene, so the kids don't see the opening where Coral and all the other babies besides Nemo are eaten.

* In the episode "Stranger Than Fan Fiction" from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', Rainbow Dash gets in an argument with another Daring Do fan named Quibble Pants who doesn't want to acknowledge the existence of the later Daring Do books because he thinks they focus too much on unrealistic action clichés. [[RealityIsUnrealistic Despite them actually happening to the real Daring Do.]]

* Lee, the narrator of ''WebVideo/CinemaWins'', said at the end of the video for ''Film/{{Logan}}'' that despite liking the movie, he prefers to think of the movie as taking place in an AlternateUniverse to the Film/XMenFilmSeries rather than actually be a part of its universe.

* James of ''Creator/SchaffrillasProductions'' insists that ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' is non-canon to the rest of the Shrek franchise.

Fanon ("Fan Canon") Discontinuity is the act of fans mentally writing out certain events in a show's continuity which don't sit well, be it a single episode, [[DorkAge a season-spanning arc]], an entire season wholesale, or even an entire ''series''. If a plot or [[SnicketWarningLabel ending]] rubs one the wrong way severely enough, fandom can just decide that the offending events never happened. On the series level, events may fall under Discontinuity because the show is perceived to [[DorkAge suck at that point]] or [[JumpTheShark decline too far in quality]]. Events also get "discontinued" for particularly screwing up the characters or setting, and a show that starts to suck will end up screwing things up eventually anyway.

Fanon ("Fan Canon") Discontinuity is the act of fans mentally writing out certain events in a show's continuity which don't sit well, be it a single episode, [[DorkAge a season-length arc]], an entire season or even an entire ''series''. If a plot or [[SnicketWarningLabel ending]] rubs one the wrong way severely enough, fandom can just decide that the offending events never happened. On the series level, events may fall under Discontinuity because the show is perceived to [[DorkAge suck at that point]] or [[JumpTheShark decline too far in quality]]. Events also get "discontinued" for particularly screwing up the characters or setting, and a show that starts to suck will end up screwing things up eventually anyway.

Fanon ("Fan Canon") Discontinuity is the act of fans mentally writing out certain events in a show's continuity which don't sit well, no matter if it's a single episode, [[DorkAge a season-length arc]], an entire season or even an entire ''series''. If a plot or [[SnicketWarningLabel ending]] rubs one the wrong way severely enough, fandom can just decide that the offending events never happened. On the series level, events may fall under Discontinuity because the show is perceived to [[DorkAge suck at that point]] or [[JumpTheShark decline too far in quality]]. Events also get "discontinued" for particularly screwing up the characters or setting, and a show that starts to suck will end up screwing things up eventually anyway.

* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' when Brian and Stewie go to UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} they discover that the pamphlet lists nothing happening between 1939 and 1945 and the tour guide furiously denies it[[note]]which is incredibly [[{{Irony}} ironic]]; denying that the Holocaust actually happened along with other German WWII atrocities in Germany is in fact a '''''very serious crime''''' that will land you in prison. They really do take what happened back then very seriously, and for a good reason[[/note]].

* James of ''WebVideo/SchaffrillasProductions'' insists that ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' is non-canon to the rest of the Shrek franchise.

* James of ''WebVideo/SchaffrillasProductions insists that ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird is non-canon to the rest of the Shrek franchise.

* James of ''WebVideo/ SchaffrillasProductions insists that ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird is non-canon to the rest of the Shrek franchise.

!!Examples:

* Discontinuity/ProfessionalWrestling

->'''Rainbow Dash:''' After lunch, we should probably start working our way back through the other books.
->'''Quibble Pants:''' Whoa, whoa, whoa. There are no other books.
->'''Rainbow Dash:''' Of course there are. Daring Do and the Trek of the Terrifying Towers, Daring Do and the Many Faces of—
->'''Quibble Pants:''' Uh, p-please, please don't. Just don't even mention the titles. I-I'm not saying those books don't exist. I'm saying that I refuse to acknowledge them.
->'''Rainbow Dash:''' Why?
->'''Quibble Pants:''' 'Cause they're horrible!

* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' when Brian and Stewie go to UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} they discover that the pamphlet lists nothing happening between 1939 and 1945 and the tour guide furiously denies it[[note]]which is incredibly [[{{Irony}} ironic]]; denying that the Holocaust actually happened along with other German WWII atrocities in Germany is in fact a '''''very serious crime''''' that will land you in prison. They really do take what happened back then very seriously[[/note]].

* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' when Brian and Stewie go to UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} they discover that the pamphlet lists nothing happening between 1939 and 1945 and the tour guide furiously denies it[[note]]which is incredibly [[{{Irony}} ironic]]; denying that the Holocaust actually happened along with other German WWII atrocities is in fact a '''''very serious crime''''' that will land you in prison. They really do take what happened back then very seriously[[/note]].

* On ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' when Brian and Stewie go to UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} they discover that the pamphlet lists nothing happening between 1939 and 1945 and the tour guide furiously denies it.

** Marge Simpson has shown such an attitude towards her children, eating a story book about Joan D'Arc to avoid telling Lisa that the French warrior was burned at the stake, commenting it was easier to swallow than the Disney/{{Bambi}} video. A later episode reveals Marge and Homer walked out of ''Film/{{Carrie|1976}}'' after she was crowned prom queen so she could pretend the story ended happily.

* In Creator/StephenColbert's book ''I Am America and So Can You'', he mentions that he couldn't enjoy ''Disney/TheLionKing'' Broadway musical because he couldn't turn it off before Mufasa's death.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', this can be seen in diehard ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan Susan [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2003-06-20 shelving the movies out of sequence]] and equally rabid ''StarWars'' fan George's [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-04-26 rant about midichlorians]].

-->-- [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E14StrangerThanFanFiction "Stranger than Fanfiction,"]] from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic.''

** In another episode, Homer has been reading to Lisa at night from what is obviously Literature/HarryPotter with the SerialNumbersFiledOff. He's hesitant to read her the ending because it's sad (a reference to [[spoiler:Dumbledore's death in book six]]), so instead he invents a happier ending to tell her. [[spoiler:Later Lisa pulls out a second copy of the book and reads the true ending for herself, then decides that "Dad's ending was better."]]

If the questionable elements are written out of canonicity by the [[WordOfGod creators themselves]], then said elements entered in CanonDiscontinuity territory, or, in less severe cases, are given a DiscontinuityNod. It gets ironic when a semi-inversion of this happens when the work is officially removed from continuity, but fans still like it (Or hate even more the "real" story meant to replace the old one) and still treat it as canonical. If the creator just bashes it, then it's CreatorBacklash. If, on the other hand, the controversial element is somehow reworked into being tolerable or even popular, it's been RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap. See also TheyChangedItNowItSucks and LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain.

If the questionable elements are written out of canonicity by the [[WordOfGod creators themselves]], then said elements entered in CanonDiscontinuity territory, or, in less severe cases, are given a DiscontinuityNod. It gets ironic when a semi-inversion of this happens when the work is officially removed from continuity, but fans still like it, or hate even more the "real" story meant to replace the old one, and still treat it as canonical. If the creator just bashes it, then it's CreatorBacklash. If, on the other hand, the controversial element is somehow reworked into being tolerable or even popular, it's been RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap. See also TheyChangedItNowItSucks and LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain.