History Main / AllThereInTheManual

** As well, Archie released the ''Official Sonic The Hedgehog Encyclopedia Guide'' that revealed a whole set of new information about the characters and events, one of which was that the universally reviled ''SonicTheHedgehog2006'' was indeed played out and, like its video game counterpart, was given a CosmicRetcon.

** The producers have announced that the upcoming ''Young Justice: Legacy'' video game will shed some light on what happened during the five year TimeSkip between seasons one and two, as well as introduce a new villain who is set to appear in season three.

[[folder:Film]]

* Right before the release of the 2007 ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' movie, the writers put out a five-issue comic book mini-series that served as a prequel to the movie and basically bridged the gap between it and the previous movies.

* {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d (a bit more literally) in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2'', when Rex discovers the player's guide to a video game he's been trying to beat. He cries indignantly, "They make it so [[GuideDangIt you can't beat the game unless you buy this book]]! It's extortion, is what it is." Later in the film, the tip on how to beat the game (enter the villain's lair through a secret side entrance) is used in the real world when the toys sneak into their own villain's apartment.

* ''The Art of WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' has all kinds of intriguing easter eggs: scrapped character designs and whole characters, like Po's mother and all the Mooks who originally worked for Tai Lung before he was deemed [[RuleOfCool more frightening]] [[{{Determinator}} all by himself as a one-man army]]; the latter included the Wu Sisters (three snow leopard assassins), wolves and crocodiles and goats (who appear in Po's DreamSequence), and a four-armed yak god demon on fire. Also, explanations as to how Oogway came to the Valley of Peace, why [[CarnivoreConfusion all the villagers are pigs and sheep]], lost locations (like an alkali flat, a bandit inn, and two immense statues of a snow leopard and panda kung fu masters [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic on which Po and Tai Lung were to fight]]), and much more.
** The Wu Sisters made it into the ''Kung Fu Panda'' video game, as did the wolves and crocodiles, though they're not so much subservient to Tai Lung as they are trying to win his favour. The game also features Tai Lung's training arena, though this may [[OrWasItADream or may not]] be a DreamSequence.
** The two animated shorts included in the DVD releases greatly expand upon the backstories of the Furious Five and the Kung Fu Council, respectively. The latter also includes the first canonical appearance of the Wu Sisters.
** The official website for KungFuPanda2 gives additional info on the backstories of Lord Shen and the Kung Fu Council that wasn't brought up in the film (though the latter was [[{{Retcon}} Retconned]] by one of the aforementioned animated shorts). There's also ''The Art of KungFuPanda2'', which serves pretty much the same purpose as the first.

* A fair amount of information on ''TitanAE'''s world is only given in the two prequel novels.

* ''Disney/TheLionKing'' spun off a mini-series of storybooks that revealed some of the backstory of the characters, most notably Scar's real name, [[spoiler:Taka]] (unfortunately, no one told this to the guy who wrote ''[[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer Disney Dossiers]]'').

* Many "Art of" Disney books contain information that wasn't mentioned in their films.

* ''DokiDokiPanic'' had the BigBad, Wart, already defeated when he tried to take over Subcon according to the manual. The manual also stated that the family's children fought over reading the book and they accidentally tore off the book's ending page, causing Wart's defeat to never happen and allows him to reach out and snatch the kids (the missing page also explains why World 7 has 2 levels and not 3). However, the game itself only shows the kids reading the book before Wart snatches them.

** Himaruya had a habit of this with his earlier series as well. Many characters in [[SusumeKitakouHousobu Advance! Kitakou Broadcasting Club]] and Barjona Bombers were never really fleshed out or even got to ''appear'' in the series, although illustrations and (lost) profiles served to provide information on them.

[[caption-width-right:250:[-Above: You see how epic and [[TearJerker tragic]] the SaveThePrincess plot is. Below: You probably pressed "Start" before this text even showed up.-] ]]

** ''TRONEvolution'' explains most of this as well, but is much more vague and less sympathetic towards Clu. For now, it appears that the comic is canon.

** And in 2012, the ''Robot Master Field Guide'' is going to be released, featuring detailed bios on every single RM to date as well as the series' main characters, in an attempt to compile as much supplementary material as possible in ''one'' manual.

*** ...It's not nearly that bad. The games are all ''full'' of new characters, and those who are carried over from prior media don't really stand out. The only cartoon to get books written about it is TheCloneWars, which introduces those characters itself. Most games which aren't rehashes of the films have tie-in novels. Kyle Katarn is the most major game character to get any kind of role in the books without such a novel, and that role is extraordinarily minor - save for the fact that he's never killed, he doesn't stand out among the many other Jedi who are mentioned to be present. It's true that you don't get the whole story if you stay with only the novels - for example ''ShadowsOfTheEmpire'' shows different aspects of the same chain of events in the novel, the comic book, and the videogame - but generally storylines keep to themselves and wrap up without needing tie-ins to complete things, and when aspects are carried from one medium to another they get an explanation.

* Each episode of ''StarWarsTheCloneWars'' is accompanied by a comic, episode guide, and creator commentary on the official site. While these normally just contain trivial info, they were all but necessary to watch the "Dooku captured" episodes. The comics explained Anakin's voluntary capture and showed how Anakin and Obi-wan got drugged, the episode guide explained how Dooku lost his sabers (the monkey-lizard pickpocketed him!) and the commentary video was Filoni explaining that he believed even Dooku can be captured by pirates if he's sufficiently outnumbered.

** This form of piracy protection was very common in videogames in the '90s. ''Civilization'''s "need the manual" question was actually weaker than most of those used because it was, as you say, learnable. Most others used codes relating the pictures somewhere on each page eg "What is the rice-pudding capacity of the steam-tank on page 37 of the manual?"

->''"If you need instructions on how to get through the hotels, check out the enclosed instruction book!"''

* If you want to completely understand the underlying themes, vague plots, and significance of all - well, most of - the peculiar characters and acts in a given CirqueDuSoleil show, you will probably have to buy the souvenir program and/or explore the official website. According to the 20th anniversary book ''20 Years Under the Sun'', the creators prefer that people watch the more abstract shows (such as those of director Franco Dragone) and create their own interpretations of them rather than have the creators' ideas in mind all along.
* In TheDrowsyChaperone, Man-in-Chair never names Trix or Geroge's actors, but the CD case to the 2006 recording gives them names. Because this could have been created for the CD alone, it could also be considered LooseCanon.

** Some of them are explained by voiceover artists over intercoms or through video packages aired while you're waiting in line, but not everyone pays attention to them.
** Or you speed through the line too fast to even see them. For an example at another theme park, the ride for ''Film/{{The Mummy|1999}}'' at Universal Studios is based around the concept that you're participating in a filming of another Mummy movie. If you take the Fast Pass-style line, you'll go through too fast to even figure this out.

** The Blizzard Beach water park has a backstory. One day, Florida was hit with a freak snowstorm and it was decided to create the state's first ski resort. When all the snow melted and the plans were to be cancelled, they saw the Ice Gator skiing on the slopes and they decided to make it a water park.

** There's also ''The Art of KungFuPanda2'', which serves pretty much the same purpose as the first.
** The official website for KungFuPanda2 gives additional info on the backstories of Lord Shen and the Kung Fu Council that wasn't brought up in the film (though the latter was [[{{Retcon}} Retconned]] by one of the aforementioned animated shorts).

** The novelization of the film reveals that Saavik and David became lovers after the events of ''Star Trek II'', making his murder doubly tragic, and makes his sacrifice even more meaningful (he gives his life to save the woman he loves when he realizes the Klingon is about to kill her).

** The novelization of the film reveals that Saavik and David became lovers after the events of ''Star Trek II'', making his murder doubly tragic.

* Some information in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' can only be found in databooks. The different Bijuu were revealed in the databooks weeks before they were in the actual manga, and the names of the other Jinchuuriki and Kage's can only be found in the supplementary materials.