History ContinuitySnarl / WesternAnimation

* Creator/JephLoeb has stated in several interviews that ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' and ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' share the same universe as ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''. As you can tell by the first episodes of both ''Ultimate'' and ''Assemble'', this would only work in heavy BroadStrokes. The most noticeable contradiction being the apparent age difference between ComicBook/IronFist and ComicBook/LukeCage as seen in ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' and ''The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!'' and Comicbook/TheFalcon being a rookie in ''Assemble'' whereas he was already active in ''EMH''.

** Season 5, "Black Panther's Quest" is a continuity nightmare. It's still officially listed as taking place after season 4, "Secret Wars," but several characters are missing without explanation. The crossover with Spider-Man features the Spidey of ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'' and '''not''' ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]'' (a change that also carried on into ''WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'')! The changed character designs are also the same as in Spider-Man 2017. When T'Challa meets with Attuma in Atlantis, he's a completely different character from the tyrant in Red Skull's Cabal in the early seasons. It's like the show just hopped universes between seasons.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'' prequel TV series has a couple. In [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 the movie]] Sebastian barely knows Ariel and is assigned to watch over her after she misses the concert. In the TV series he's part of her TrueCompanions and they act as if they've known each other for years. Additionally Sebastian doesn't discover Ariel's grotto until the "Part of Your World" number - after he's only just been told to keep an eye on her. The TV series has him appearing in the grotto numerous times. Otherwise subverted with other details. Eric appears on the show a couple of times but Ariel never sees him, preserving the continuity of their first meeting in the movie. Likewise Ursula appears but is not defeated and does not interact too much with Ariel. ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning'' showed Flounder and Ariel meeting for the first time and portrayed Flounder as extroverted and daring. The TV series showed them meeting as children and Flounder is portrayed as timid (but brave when necessary) and cautious in every other media.

** Following [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing the original movie]], first there was the spin-off book titled ''Literature/TheLionKingSixNewAdventures'', naming Simba's son "Kopa" and telling a story about how Scar got his scar.

* Creator/JephLoeb has stated in several interviews that ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' share the same universe as ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''. As you can tell by the first episodes of both ''Ultimate'' and ''Assemble'', this would only work in heavy BroadStrokes. The most noticeable contradiction being the apparent age difference between ComicBook/IronFist and ComicBook/LukeCage as seen in ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' and ''The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!'' and Comicbook/TheFalcon being a rookie in ''Assemble'' whereas he was already active in ''EMH''.

** Much like the Klaw example, Baron Mordo shows up in Season 4, where he is a black man like his [[Film/DoctorStrange2016 movie counterpart]], though retaining his powers, and alignment with Hydra from ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}''. This is despite the fact that Mordo previously shown up in ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' as a white guy.

** Season 5, "Black Panther's Quest" is a continuity nightmare. It's still officially listed as taking place after season 4, "Secret Wars," but several characters are missing without explanation. The crossover with Spider-Man features the Spidey of ''WesternAnimation/MarvelsSpiderMan'' and '''not''' ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'' (a change that also carried on into ''WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'')! The changed character designs are also the same as in Spider-Man 2017. When T'Challa meets with Attuma in Atlantis, he's a completely different character from the tyrant in Red Skull's Cabal in the early seasons. It's like the show just hopped universes between seasons.

* Creator/JephLoeb has stated in several interviews that ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' and ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' share the same universe as ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''. As you can tell by the first episodes of both ''Ultimate'' and ''Assemble'', this would only work in heavy BroadStrokes. The most noticeable contradiction being the apparent age difference between ComicBook/IronFist and ComicBook/LukeCage as seen in ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' and ''The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!'' and Comicbook/TheFalcon being a rookie in ''Assemble'' whereas he was already active in ''EMH''.

** Klaw's appearance in "Thunderbolts Revealed" is ''radically'' different than how was previously-established in ''Ultimate Spider-Man'', which takes place in the same universe: He is human again [[spoiler:(albeit briefly)]], despite the fact that he was a living embodiment of sound prior to this episode; he now resembles his Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse counterpart, as opposed to having his red full-body containment suit, including a different sound generation located on the opposite arm; and, no longer voiced by Creator/MattLanter, "Klaue" now sports a ambiguously foreign accent that is completely distinct from Lanter's gruff bad guy voice.

* The ''WesternAnimation/CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs'' TV spin-off is branded as a prequel to the two movies with Flint Lockwood in high school. If it is truly a prequel, however, then there are some inconsistencies with the movie's canon. Most noticeably, Sam Sparks is attending the Swallow Falls high school ''with'' Flint despite it never being established in the either of the two movies that Sam had ever been to Swallow Falls before being sent there in the beginning of the first movie, much less known Flint. Additionally, Manny (Sam's camera man) is also a Swallow Falls resident (which doesn't add up for the same reason as Sam), and Mayor Shelbourne has an actual son (instead of a metaphorical son) [[CanonForeigner who never appeared in either of the movies]] that are set after this series.

* Creator/JephLoeb has stated in several interviews that ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' and ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' share the same universe as ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes''. As you can tell by the first episodes of both ''Ultimate'' and ''Assemble'', this would only work in heavy BroadStrokes. The most noticeable contradiction being the apparent age difference between [[ComicBook/ImmortalIronFist Iron Fist]] and ComicBook/{{Luke Cage|HeroForHire}} as seen in ''Ultimate Spider-Man'' and ''The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!'' and Comicbook/TheFalcon being a rookie in ''Assemble'' whereas he was already active in ''EMH''.

** How exactly Bruce got his powers and became the Hulk is contradicted on two separate occasions. The incident was first shown in "Planet Doom" as a small gamma bomb that went off in a lab near Bruce, ultimately giving him his powers. In "Dehulked", his origin is closer to the ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'' film's take on it, with Bruce ''willingly'' getting the gamma blasted into him by a laser under the supervision of General Ross. On top of all that, if what A-Bomb said in ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'' is supposed to believed, ''Rick himself'' was supposed to be there to be saved by Bruce before he got hit by the gamma radiation, although Rick Jones wasn't in "Dehulked".

** Related to ''EMH'', Chris Yost, Craig Kyle, and Josh Fine have said it, ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen'', and the "Wolverine" short of ''WesternAnimation/HulkVs'' are all set in the same universe--despite the number of things that contradict each other, like Bruce Banner not remembering Wolverine in ''[=WatXM=]'', despite Wolverine's behavior to Banner being the direct cause of both of Banner's main Hulk-outs in the "Wolverine" short.

** The following direct-to-video films would initially respect ''Zombie Island'''s version of events, with the gang still as adults, but that would later change. The fifth film,''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheLegendOfTheVampire'' reverted the gang to their original outfits, doing away with the more modern fashion introduced in ''Zombie Island.'' This would begin a trend of generally treating the gang as teenagers again and carrying on from the old cartoons, effectively pretending that the time skip and the events of the first four video films never happened. The Comic Book Time is even more pronounced now, as it seems that the gang have been teenagers for well over 40 years.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is a show that mostly runs on NegativeContinuity, so it seldom has any true examples of this trope, but things get muddy when the status of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'' as the show's canonical ending according to WordOfGod is brought into the picture. As the series has gone on for many seasons afterward and maintaining what little continuity the show has has become harder, there has been the occasional appearance of something that comes into conflict with the movie's status as the GrandFinale, such as the appearance of various objects from said movie (such as the Goofy Goober guitar and the bag of winds) appearing in the Krusty Krab's lost-and-found in Season 10's "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS10E9TheGetawayLostAndFound Lost and Found]]", [=SpongeBob's=] seaweed mustache appearing in frame in the "Thank Gosh It's Monday" number to promote ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'', and Mindy attending [=SpongeBob's=] surprise birthday party in Season 12's MilestoneCelebration "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS12E13SpongeBobsBigBirthdayBlowout SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout]]" when Mindy likely didn't even know who [=SpongeBob=] was until the events of the first movie.

* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' chronology makes absolutely no sense simply going by the show, with multiple episodes set during a specific time of year appearing across three seasons... at which point it was revealed that a year had passed. Show staff have admitted that firm canon has never really been that important to them, though effort is made to keep everything relatively coherent such that one can HandWave it as AnachronicOrder.
** Pound and Pumpkin Cake are born in Season 2 and seem to remain infants until the show's DistantFinale shows them as adults, with Pinkie celebrating the one-year anniversary of their first sneeze as an offhand joke in Season 7, and yet the Cutie Mark Crusaders aging from implied children to implied preteens is a plot point earlier that same season, so more than a year should have passed.
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E26ShadowPlayPart2 Shadow Play]]", it's stated this is the first time the Cutie Map has summoned all the Mane Six for a friendship problem since [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E1TheCutieMapPart1 Starlight's village]]. But the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsMagicalMovieNight Mirror Magic]]" had all the Mane Six "called away to solve a friendship problem" when Starlight was referred to as "You're Twilight's student" implying it's before she graduated prior to this episode. This could be Starlight's studenthood being past tense or someone other than the Map sending them off, but it lacks the context to verify and no-one but the Map had sent them to solve friendship problems. This isn't the only time the show seemingly contradicted the ExpandedUniverse, but unlike the books or [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW comics]] which are secondary canon [[CanonDiscontinuity that are overridden when they conflict with the show]], ''Equestria Girls'' was confirmed this episode by ContinuityNod and WordOfGod to be of equal canon status.

-->'''Roger:''' My name is Braff Zacklin. I was an international race car driver. One day, a baby carriage rolled out onto the track so I swerved into the retaining wall to avoid it. The car burst into flames, but the baby miraculously survived... I was that baby.\\

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E26ShadowPlayPart2 Shadow Play]]", it's stated this is the first time the Cutie Map has summoned all the Mane Six for a friendship problem since [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E1TheCutieMapPart1 Starlight's village]]. But the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' "[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsMagicalMovieNight Mirror Magic]]" had all the Mane Six "called away to solve a friendship problem" when Starlight was referred to as "You're Twilight's student" implying it's before she graduated prior to this episode. This could be Starlight's studenthood being past tense or someone other than the Map sending them off, but it lacks the context to verify and no-one but the Map had sent them to solve friendship problems. This isn't the only time the show seemingly contradicted the ExpandedUniverse, but unlike the books or [[ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW comics]] which are secondary canon [[CanonDiscontinuity that are overridden when they conflict with the show]], ''Equestria Girls'' was confirmed this episode by ContinuityNod and WordOfGod to be of equal canon status.

*** The protagonist is Simba's son Kion who is Kiara's younger brother, but was [[RememberTheNewGuy nowhere to be seen in the sequel]]. He's also a completely different character than Kopa.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is a show that mostly runs on NegativeContinuity, so it seldom has any true examples of this trope, but things get muddy when the status of ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie'' as the show's canonical ending according to WordOfGod is brought into the picture. As the series has gone on for many seasons afterward and maintaining what little continuity the show has has become harder, there has been the occasional appearance of something that comes into conflict with the movie's status as the GrandFinale, such as the appearance of various objects from said movie (such as the Goofy Goober guitar and the bag of winds) appearing in the Krusty Krab's lost-and-found in Season 10's "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS10E9TheGetawayLostAndFound Lost and Found]]" and Mindy attending [=SpongeBob's=] surprise birthday party in Season 12's MilestoneCelebration "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS12E13SpongeBobsBigBirthdayBlowout SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout]]" when Mindy likely didn't even know who [=SpongeBob=] was until the events of the first movie.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'' prequel TV series has a couple. In [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1 the movie]] Sebastian barely knows Ariel and is assigned to watch over her after she misses the concert. In the TV series he's part of her TrueCompanions and they act as if they've known each other for years. Additionally Sebastian doesn't discover Ariel's grotto until the "Part of Your World" number - after he's only just been told to keep an eye on her. The TV series has him appearing in the grotto numerous times. Otherwise subverted with other details. Eric appears on the show a couple of times but Ariel never sees him, preserving the continuity of their first meeting in the movie. Likewise Ursula appears but is not defeated and does not interact too much with Ariel. ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning'' showed Flounder and Ariel meeting for the first time and portrayed Flounder as extroverted and daring. The TV series showed them meeting as children and Flounder is portrayed as timid (but brave when necessary) and cautious in every other media.

* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' chronology makes absolutely no sense simply going by the show, with multiple episodes set during a specific time of year appearing across three seasons... at which point it was revealed that a year had passed. Show staff have admitted that firm canon has never really been that important to them, though effort is made to keep everything relatively coherent such that one can HandWave it as AnachronicOrder. The books, show, comics and supplementary material also all have their own issues with each other if taken as one overall canon.

** The official WordOfGod line is that any supplementary material can be considered canon, unless the show contradicts it, in which case the show's canon wipes it out. But this still runs into trouble with the comics' "Siege of the Crystal Empire" arc, a massive battle with numerous villains over the show's history...at least the few that the poor writer tasked with putting it together was actually able to use given the show's love of reforming its villains. He even resorted to using Iron Will, a character previously presented as a bit rough around the edges but in no way a villain even in another comic issue.

** Similar to the "Boba Fett false into the Sarlaac three times" example from ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' It would seem that the DCAU Harley Quinn attempted a HeelFaceTurn no fewer than three times: The first being on the ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Harley's Holiday", where she goes back to being a villain before the end of the episode. In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanAndHarleyQuinn'' she is trying to redeem herself again, and [[spoiler: at the end seems to become a normal person with her own tv show]] according [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et_A0JHp30A this timeline]] however, the movie most likely takes place in 2003, meaning at some point before the [[spoiler: Tim Drake incident]], she [[ChronicVillainy threw it all away and became a villain again.]] [[spoiler: The Joker dies during the Tim Drake scene, and Harley seemingly falls down a pit to her death. At the end, however, we see her (now an old lady) in 2042, where she is now a decent, law abiding person. Third time's the charm, it would seem.]]

** Pound and Pumpkin Cake are one of the show's biggest examples. They are born in Season 2 and seem to remain infants until the show's DistantFinale shows them as adults, with Pinkie celebrating the one-year anniversary of their first sneeze as an offhand joke in Season 7, and yet the Cutie Mark Crusaders ageing from implied children to implied preteens is a plot point earlier that same season, so more than a year should have passed. The Series 8 short "Teacher of the Month" involves Fluttershy being voted Teacher of the Month at the School of Friendship for the 16th time in a row, confirming over a year passed since the school is founded, yet Pound and Pumpkin still don't look any older.

* ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'' is rather hard to gel with [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} the movie that it's based on]]. It's about Hercules attending school while trying to be a hero... so, like, set during the film's TrainingMontage, but before his "first" heroic deed against the Hydra. (Given how dismissive people are of him in the film, they've apparently forgotten his TV-show feats.) Also, in the movie it's a plot point that [[EverybodyHatesHades Hades]] thinks that Hercules is dead, but here they interact OncePerEpisode, which also makes it odd that he has to introduce himself to Hercules during the film's Titan invasion. It's best to just to throw up your hands and call it BroadStrokes.

* ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'' is rather hard to gel with [[Disney/{{Hercules}} the movie that it's based on]]. It's about Hercules attending school while trying to be a hero... so, like, set during the film's TrainingMontage, but before his "first" heroic deed against the Hydra. (Given how dismissive people are of him in the film, they've apparently forgotten his TV-show feats.) Also, in the movie it's a plot point that [[EverybodyHatesHades Hades]] thinks that Hercules is dead, but here they interact OncePerEpisode, which also makes it odd that he has to introduce himself to Hercules during the film's Titan invasion. It's best to just to throw up your hands and call it BroadStrokes.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'' prequel TV series has a couple. In [[Disney/TheLittleMermaid the movie]] Sebastian barely knows Ariel and is assigned to watch over her after she misses the concert. In the TV series he's part of her TrueCompanions and they act as if they've known each other for years. Additionally Sebastian doesn't discover Ariel's grotto until the "Part of Your World" number - after he's only just been told to keep an eye on her. The TV series has him appearing in the grotto numerous times. Otherwise subverted with other details. Eric appears on the show a couple of times but Ariel never sees him, preserving the continuity of their first meeting in the movie. Likewise Ursula appears but is not defeated and does not interact too much with Ariel. ''Disney/TheLittleMermaidIII'' showed Flounder and Ariel meeting for the first time and portrayed Flounder as extroverted and daring. The TV series showed them meeting as children and Flounder is portrayed as timid (but brave when necessary) and cautious in every other media.

** Following [[Disney/TheLionKing the original movie]], first there was the spin-off book titled ''Literature/TheLionKingSixNewAdventures'', naming Simba's son "Kopa" and telling a story about how Scar got his scar.

** ''Disney/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf'' retold the events of the original movie from a PerspectiveFlip, showing how Timon and Pumbaa met and how their raised Simba - but it often ignored continuity in favor of RuleOfFunny. The montage of Timon and Pumbaa appearing in every scene of the original movie just straight-up flies in the face of any continuity.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' is rather hard to gel with [[Disney/{{Hercules}} the movie that it's based on]]. It's about Hercules attending school while trying to be a hero... so, like, set during the film's TrainingMontage, but before his "first" heroic deed against the Hydra. (Given how dismissive people are of him in the film, they've apparently forgotten his TV-show feats.) Also, in the movie it's a plot point that [[EverybodyHatesHades Hades]] thinks that Hercules is dead, but here they interact OncePerEpisode, which also makes it odd that he has to introduce himself to Hercules during the film's Titan invasion. It's best to just to throw up your hands and call it BroadStrokes.

** ''Disney/TheLionKing2SimbasPride'', a straight-up sequel that ignored Kopa's existence and replaced him with a female cub named Kiara - whose presentation ceremony, as shown in the beginning of the film, looks completely different from the ceremony seen at the end of the original film. Furthermore it introduced a pride of lions, led by a lioness named Zira, who were supportive of Scar, [[RememberTheNewGuy despite their existence not even mentioned in the original movie]], where Scar seems to have a ZeroPercentApprovalRating.

''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheCurseOfThe13thGhost'' brings the events of the original ''13 Ghosts'' cartoon back into the canon, and ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooReturnToZombieIsland'' revisits the first ''Zombie Island'' film's setting but thoroughly retcons the events as happening while the gang were still teenagers (and they're ''still'' teenagers in the sequel's present day scenes, 21 years later). This makes it unclear whether their first encounter with the supernatural was in ''13 Ghosts'' or ''Zombie Island,'' and basically requires that the gang really never ages, as ''Zombie Island'''s events still explicitly happened in a pre-9/11 time period.