History Main / ContinuityDrift

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': A few early episodes explicitly state that [[MissingMom Chucky's mother]] is still alive, but they occasionally imply that she and Chaz are divorced. [[note]] In "Real or Robots", Didi mentions waiting for Chucky's mom to pick him up after a sleepover with Tommy. And in "My Friend Barney", Chaz rather nonchalantly mentions that his wife never liked a fish trophy that he used to hang on his wall, and doesn't much sound like a grieving widower.[[/note]] Later on, the Mother's Day episode established that she died of [[SoapOperaDisease an unspecified illness]] when Chucky was an infant.

** It is now generally accepted that Time Lords automatically regenerate when mortally injured, but it wasn't until the Doctor's FIFTH regeneration that this happened. Hartnell was renewed by 'part of the Tardis'. Troughton suffered a 'change of appearance' (often supposed now to be a ''forced'' regeneration triggered by what was effectively an execution). Pertwee only regenerated after being given a nudge by K’anpo (although it's finally termed 'regeneration'). Tom Baker merged with a mystical future version of himself. Only with Davison's regeneration onwards has the process been regular and automatic (and even Davison's Doctor questioned whether his death would trigger regeneration -- "I might regenerate -- I don't know"). In "The War Games" we even see a Time Lord get shot and he just dies, no regeneration (though as noted earlier, regeneration as it's currently known wasn't a thing yet). "Last of the Time Lords" has the Master choose not to regenerate, "Turn Left" is set in an AlternateTimeline where the Doctor dies without regenerating, and Time Lords get shot in "Day of the Doctor" without regenerating (the implication is that Dalek weaponry is anti-regenerative, although there have also been episodes indicating that a severe enough injury can kill a Time Lord outright; plus given that the context is war those Time Lords being seen killed may have already exhausted their 13-life limit).

* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' also seems inconsistent at how many Pokémon a trainer could carry. An early episode features a trainer who carries plenty of Poké Balls at the time; shortly afterwards we're told they're only allowed to carry six. What happens to the seventh has also changed. Ash's Krabby simply disappears soon after he caught it and gets sent to Professor Oak. But when he catches Sewaddle in Unova the Poké Ball simply shrinks down and becomes unusable until Ash sends one of his other Pokémon away.

* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'': Most of the games made before ''VideoGame/TouhouKaeidzukaPhantasmagoriaOfFlowerView'' don't fit well with later canon. [[CanonDiscontinuity The first five have just been ignored.]] The sixth through eighth are definitely canon, but present the setting of Gensoukyou as a large place, filled with mystery and danger, while later worldbuilding would establish it as fairly small, generally understood, and most of the danger being posed only to non-natives.

** The first two games strongly implied (and sometimes stated outright), that bad folks go to {{Hell}} while good people go to {{Heaven}}, with the second game having some bound soul-looking things in Hell that acted as treasure chests. Then, near the end of ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', you go to Heaven to [[spoiler: stop a DemonicInvasion after Diablo himself is resurrected,]] and find that [[spoiler: there are no humans there, other than some "ghosts" that turn out to just be illusions.]] [[AllThereInTheManual Supplementary material]] would eventually reveal that ''neither'' Heaven or Hell are afterlife locations, and that [[OnlyOneAfterlife all mortals goes to a place called Mbwiru Eikura]] when they died. This was eventually [[HandWave hand waved]] by saying that the whole "good people go to Heaven, bad people go to Hell" idea was started by the Zakarum religion, but is probably not true, particularly since the entire religion was eventually [[CorruptChurch corrupted by Mephisto.]]

** The same book has him say he'd much rather stay at Hogwarts than "go back to ''that''." Nothing about where he lived when not at Hogwarts was known at that point, but [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince the sixth book]] reveals that he was originally found by Dumbledore in a muggle orphanage, one to which he returned every summer. Then again, his dislike for the orphanage he grew up in probably didn't change much with age, plus this was during ''World War II'' as established by ''Film/FantasticBeastsTheCrimesOfGrindelwald''. The film provides extra confusion by having Riddle claim he "has no home to go to", though it could be {{handwave}}d as him speaking metaphorically and/or trying to garner sympathy from Dumbledore, the one person who's ever suspected him.

** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' features a brief appearance by Kayla Silver Fox's sister: a blonde-haired woman who's clearly intended to be Emma Frost (she has Emma's ability to turn her body into organic diamond, and [[AllThereInTheScript is listed as "Emma" in the final credits]]). ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' later explicitly introduces Emma Frost as a major character--who's around the same age as the character in ''Origins'' (even though the two films take place 15 years apart), has psychic powers that were never mentioned in ''Origins'', and never gives any indication that she's related to Kayla Silver Fox.

** When ''pon farr'' was first mentioned in the Original Series episode, "Amok Time," it was explicitly referred to being a biological process particular to Vulcan males. This was further supported by Saavik's dialogue with David in ''Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock'', reinforcing that Vulcan males experience ''pon farr'' every seven years upon reaching maturity. And then ''Enterprise'' has [=T'Pol=] undergo ''pon farr''. So either the definition was changed by the writers, or [[DudeLooksLikeALady there's something]] [[{{Hermaphrodite}} T'Pol isn't]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Transgender}} telling us]]...

** Some inconsistencies were actually planned for -- for example the original backstory being revealed as a legend forged by the village priests.
** Early card games described characters and history completely differently than what was seen in the comics and online content. Most of the discrepancies have simply been declared non-canon, or examples of AdvertisingOnlyContinuity.

** The canisters that the Toa arrived to the island in were originally stated to have fallen into the sea when Takua gathered the Toa Stones, and supposedly Kapura was there to witness it. Later, it was explained that the canisters had been floating in the ocean for a 1000 years, and the Stones have only ''beckoned'' them to the island. Kapura, at the time when the cans were originally launched, had been lying comatose in a storage sphere, along with the rest of the islanders.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': The prequel trilogy was written many years after the original trilogy. Some implications in the original trilogy don't seem to mesh very well with what the prequel trilogy reveals -- to say nothing of continuity hiccups with the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse (which was divided into a lower class of {{Canon}}). The possible explanations for these rifts vary in how far-fetched they are.

** ''A New Hope's'' opening crawl declares that the Rebel fleet had recently won a major victory which had spurred others to join them, and presented Leia's ship carrying the plans being intercepted as a separate thing. ''Film/RogueOne'' later established that other than securing the plans the battle was a ''disaster'' for the Rebel fleet, and moreover Vader had pursued Leia's ship directly from there (making her claims that they were on an unrelated diplomatic mission a hilariously blatant lie). The claim that it was the first major Rebel victory is also contradicted by... basically the entire prequel series ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', which featured numerous naval victories and culminated in a successful planetary rebellion.

** Though not outright stated, most characters early on were implied to be robotic. The toys looked like robots, and the above mentioned protodermis was intended to be the "living metal" they were made out of. When the Bohrok appeared, the fact that they were bio-mechanical (robots with organic elements) was commented on as an oddity. Merely one year later, it was explained that ''all'' living characters were partially organic themselves, made of metallic and organic protodermis, and the Bohrok (and later character types like Rahkshi or Vahki) were fully robotic apart from the organic creatures controlling them.

* A major plot point in ''[[Film/PuppetMaster Puppet Master II]]'' is that the main character Carolyn Bramwell is the reincarnation of Andre Toulon's deceased wife Elsa. The follow-up film ''Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge'' (a {{prequel}} set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII) would [[{{Retcon}} retroactively]] reveal that it's actually "Leech Woman" who's a reincarnation of Elsa -- and considering Toulon specifically built Leech Woman as a vessel for his wife's soul after she was murdered by Nazis, he should presumably have known that.

** Certain details introduced early in the series are drifted into something else by the time the manga ends. Rukia originally states that Shinigami kill Hollows from behind to avoid seeing their human faces, but when Shinigami finally enter the story, most Shinigami never kill Hollows that way. Shinigami were designed before the military structure was decided upon, so Ukitake's first appearance doesn't include a captain's haori. When Byakuya and Renji first appear, there's still no captain's haori, Renji implies he's some kind of retainer to the Kuchiki household, and he refers to Byakuya by a different term of respect than "captain"; additionally, Rukia seems to only recognize him as a powerful fighter among the Shinigami rather than a close childhood friend, and he in turn does not treat her even remotely in the same manner until several chapters after his introduction. When Soul Society is first shown in the manga, to follow Rukia's imprisonment, the military structure has been created. Also, Uryuu originally thought he was the Last Quincy and wearing an old-fashioned uniform until his father chastised him for misusing the "Last Quincy" title, but the final arc strongly implies that Uryuu has known about the Vandenreich from a young age because Souken told him about them, and makes it clear that the Vandenreich uniform is the original - not new - uniform. Kubo came up with the final arc in the latter half of the Soul Society arc.

** When the Daleks first appeared they threatened a small tribe of people and, themselves, constituted just one group in an isolated city, and all died at the end. In their next appearance (supposedly set earlier in history), they had successfully conquered Earth itself. In their third appearance they had TimeTravel. In their fourth appearance, they had TimeTravel and threatened Earth's entire galaxy (and probably other galaxies besides.) More significantly, the ''origin'' of the Daleks changed; they were originally the mutated survivors of a war, and were later shown to have been deliberately created by Davros.[[labelnote:*]] This is somewhat justified - Davros' creation of the Daleks was explained as originally designing a travel machine for the eventual mutated form of the Kaleds as a result of the war. He then just decided to mess around with the mutants to make them think as the Daleks now do.[[/labelnote]] ''Destiny of the Daleks'' straight-out describes them as ''robots'' rather than cyborgs. ([[CanonDiscontinuity Later episodes would promptly ignore this development]].) The kicker? Almost all these stories were written by Creator/TerryNation, who created the Daleks.
** The Time Lords, the Doctor's people, established as beings who never ever ever interfered with other planets, had the Doctor doing errands for them within two years of real time. This later got {{Retcon}}ned away as Time Lord covert ops missions. As well, after the Time Lords were introduced (previously the Doctor only belonged to a nameless and mysterious {{Human Alien|s}} species) he often ran into people and civilizations who knew of them.

** In the earliest seasons, the Doctor is stated to be from another planet but repeatedly refers to himself and his granddaughter as human beings. His first regeneration is said to be made possible by the power of the TARDIS; and even though the Second Doctor appears to have some strange attributes like being 450 years old, he still claims to be human -- or at most, ambiguously "more than human" because of his extensive time traveling experience. It's only in the Third Doctor era that he's explicitly established as an alien with clearly nonhuman physiology (two hearts, etc).
** When the mythic Time Lord Rassilon is first mentioned in ''The Deadly Assassin'', the Doctor has apparently never heard of him. As the backstory of Rassilon evolved over the years, this became less and less believable, until it currently appears that Rassilon is not only as famous as, say, Jesus, but that the Doctor knew him ''personally''.
** It is now generally accepted that Timelords automatically regenerate when mortally injured, but it wasn't until the FIFTH regeneration that this happened. Hartnell was renewed by 'part of the Tardis'. Troughton suffered a 'change of appearance' (often supposed now to be a ''forced'' regeneration triggered by what was effectively an execution). Pertwee only regenerated after being given a nudge by K’anpo (although it's finally termed 'regeneration'). Tom Baker merged with a mystical future version of himself. Only with Davison's regeneration onwards has the process been regular and automatic (and even Davison's Doctor questioned whether his death would trigger regeneration -- "I might regenerate -- I don't know"). In "The War Games" we even see a Time Lord get shot and he just dies, no regeneration. "Last of the Time Lords" has the Master choose not to regenerate, and Time Lords get shot in "Day of the Doctor" without regenerating (the implication is that Dalek weaponry is anti-regenerative, although there have also been episodes indicating that a severe enough injury can kill a Time Lord outright; plus given that the context is war those Time Lords being seen killed may have already exhausted their 13-life limit).
** Time Lord sexuality has swung back and forth over the years. The First Doctor was a wholesome but sexual being -- he had a romantic subplot with a woman in a first season episode and a granddaughter, with no implication she came from any route other than the standard way one creates granddaughters (and she had her own [[GirlOfTheWeek Boys of the Week]] and was shown to like kissing people). The Second Doctor flirted with Astrid in "Enemy of the World" for no reason other than pleasure. The Third Doctor flirted with Liz a ''lot'' and had Jo and Sarah as {{Implied Love Interest}}s, while the Master often used his sexuality as a weapon (like in "The Mind of Evil" and "The Time Monster") with a bit of HoYay with the Doctor tossed into the mix. The Fourth Doctor was less sexual than his predecessor due to his alien nature ("you're a beautiful woman, probably") but still had {{U|nresolvedSexualTension}}ST and even ShipTease with Sarah, Leela and both Romanas (especially the second). None of this was treated as any big deal -- it was simply there as part of the character, and never in focus due to its unimportance (plus network restrictions given that the BBC considered ''Doctor Who'' a children's programme). But by the 80s, production team members who felt the Doctor should be above such human concerns began to take charge. It's also not a coincidence that these concerns also surfaced after hiring Creator/PeterDavison, an actor much closer in age with his co-stars (the previous four Doctors' actors were 15-30 years older than their companions), giving rise to fears that [[MoralGuardians Mary Whitehouse]] would add "sexual innuendo" to the charges on her rap sheet against the show. Phrases like "no hanky-panky in the TARDIS" were coined and the producer enforced a policy of the Doctor not even being allowed to touch or look at his companions in case people got the wrong idea. By this point the Doctor was considered UsefulNotes/{{Asexual}} by the show, the fandom and the mainstream media, and people were beginning to suspect that Time Lords as a species were just above that sort of thing -- and so when the TV Movie had the Eighth Doctor giving TheBigDamnKiss to a human woman purely for the pleasure of it, fans tore out their hair and cried. The book ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNewAdventuresLungbarrow Lungbarrow]]'' came out after the movie and semi-canonised the idea of 'looms', a system of asexual reproduction for Time Lords that generates full adults, while another novel cast doubt on the Doctor actually having a biological granddaughter. The new series pinged right back to the idea of Time Lords being sexual, showing children, talking about the Doctor's parents and wives, and makes the Doctor's sexuality and sexualisation a major theme of his character.
** Whether "Time Lord" is the name of the race from Galifrey or a subset of them has drifted in and out over time. The classic series originally implied that they were all Time Lords, and then later episodes introduced Galifreyans who were pure HumanAliens (including primitive cultures living on the same planet). The revived series reverted to using it as the name of the race - with the Eleventh Doctor episode "A Good Man Goes to War" even establishing the existence of a specific form of Time Lord DNA - until the Twelth Doctor's run started making the distinction again, and even then the term is used to refer to both the few individuals with the rank and also the culture in general.
** Susan is a character who especially stands out as someone from a completely different show. She makes a lot of sense as the granddaughter of a mysterious old man time traveller who is likely a human (albeit from another planet), and less sense as the granddaughter of an asexual two-hearted Time Lord DefectorFromDecadence from an ancient world that influences the workings of the universe. There is no real in-story reason to explain why the Doctor never went back to see her, either -- at least not until her implied death in the GreatOffscreenWar, anyway.

** It is now generally accepted that Timelords automatically regenerate when mortally injured, but it wasn't until the FIFTH regeneration that this happened. Hartnell was renewed by 'part of the Tardis'. Troughton suffered a 'change of appearance' (often supposed now to be a ''forced'' regeneration triggered by what was effectively an execution). Pertwee only regenerated after being given a nudge by K’anpo (although it's finally termed 'regeneration'). Tom Baker merged with a mystical future version of himself. Only with Davison's regeneration onwards has the process been regular and automatic (and even Davison's Doctor questioned whether his death would trigger regeneration -- "I might regenerate -- I don't know".) In "The War Games" we even see a Time Lord get shot and he just dies, no regeneration. "Last of the Time Lords" has the Master choose not to regenerate, and Time Lords get shot in "Day of the Doctor" without regenerating (the implication is that Dalek weaponry is anti-regenerative, although there have also been episodes indicating that a severe enough injury can kill a Time Lord outright; plus given that the context is war those Time Lords being seen killed may have already exhausted their 13-life limit).

** In addition to the Trill make-up being very different between "The Host" and [=DS9=], as mentioned above, the way symbiosis works is changed as well; in TNG, Odan is presented as the same person in a different body, rather than the melding of minds of the Dax hosts. Also, the very fact of symbiosis is a revelation, since until the events of the episode force them to, the Trill don't discuss this with outsiders. This is implied to be the caution of a species new to the Federation, but [=DS9=] reveals they've been part of the UFP for ''centuries'', meaning they not only felt it necessary to keep the secret all that time, but succeeded in doing so until Odan (presumably) became the first joined Trill to die offworld. And Jadzia and other Trill in [=DS9=] don't act as though they've just been freed of a secret, they act as if this is just a fact about them they've no reason to hide. Finally, the episode ends with Odan trying to rekindle her relationship with Dr Crusher, something [=DS9=] would later present as a huge taboo in Trill society.

* ''ComicBook/TheCloneSaga'' was filled with this:
** A few issues after the original clone story was published, there was a story that revealed that the Franchise/SpiderMan clone (later named Ben Reily) was a partner of the Jackal (the initial villain mastermind behind the Clone Saga) who had been turned into an exact clone. This revelation was brought on by the High Evolutionary, a man who was on the level of [[ComicBook/FantasticFour Reed Richards]] or Doctor Doom. When Creator/MarvelComics brought the clone back, they had a quick throwaway line that the High Evolutionary was jealous and lied. This means that the Jackal, a B-list villain and lowly university professor, had somehow managed to one-up a man who had made himself as powerful as Galactus.

* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'' was originally set in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, much like various other licensed comics Marvel had at the time. Some Marvel characters cameoed in early issues and the Savage Land played a major role in the backstory. Soon, however, Marvel and Hasbro decided to split ''Transformers'' off into its own reality to prevent legal and continuity headaches. The setting shifted, semi-quietly, from established superhero universe to 'Earth never had contact with extranormal beings or objects until the Transformers showed up'. This led to an amusing situation where Franchise/SpiderMan was [[http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Peter_Parker_(Earth-91274) turned into a living paradox]]. To elaborate; Spider-Man made a guest appearance in the third issue of ''Transformers'' and naturally makes references to other Marvel characters and events. Once the comic underwent Continuity Drift it caused Spidey to look utterly delusional, as he keeps referring to people that don't exist and events that never happened.

** The Earlier books give the impression the Andalite-Yeerk war has gone on for a very long time, [[ForeverWar likely centuries or more]]. Then the Hork-Bajir Chronicles would reveal that the Andalites didn't even meet the Yeerks until 1966 Earth time, and the Visser book reveals the Yeerk infiltration of Earth didn't start until the early [[TheNineties 90s]].

** While the existence of past Keyblade wielders was always a plot point in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', Keyblades themselves were treated as though they were rare and special. By ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', this is no longer the case, with one character even lampshading that "it seems like everyone has one of those things these days". Similarly, the original game claims that the Keyblade chooses its master, but ''Birth by Sleep'' shows that people become Keyblade wielders because other Keyblade wielders choose them as successors and make them undertake a rite of passage.

** One of Superman's traditional titles is the Last Son of Krypton, meaning he's the SoleSurvivor of his birth planet. This was fine for a while... until ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, Krypto the Superdog, and more started showing up as still alive in the present. Supergirl was thus called the Last [[ExactWords Daughter]] of Krypton, but then this didn't account for Kryptonian criminals like General Zod and Faora who were banished to the Phantom Zone before Krypton blew up. Post-1986, after DC rebooted their universe, they became more strict about it, so that when the likes of Supergirl, Zod and co. were reintroduced, they were either not Kryptonian, or not from the same Krypton. But eventually DC rolled back these changes as well.

** In post-1986 comics, it's explicitly stated that Superman is the last son of Krypton. This is fine for a while... until ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}, Krypto the Superdog, and more started showing up.

*** Admiral Motti dismisses the Jedi Order as an "ancient religion" and Han Solo sees the Force as superstition, suggesting that they never even saw a Jedi firsthand in their lives. However, 19 years ago they were a major force in the center of the Republic. Of course, you have to remember that Han is from Corellia, which [[AllThereInTheManual the EU expounds]] as a world that tended to remain aloof from what was happening elsewhere in the galaxy; he spent practically all of his formative years on the fringes of galactic society (except in his late teens, when he briefly stayed on Coruscant with his live-in girlfriend); and while he was taught about the Force by the female Wookiee who raised him when he was a child, she only ever called it [[BuffySpeak "the life power"]] in the Wookiee language, and Han never seriously believed her.

** When Vader tells Tarkin that Obi-Wan is aboard the Death Star, Tarkin says "Obi-Wan Kenobi? Surely he must be dead by now." Vader replies "Don't underestimate The Force." This implies that if Kenobi weren't a Jedi, he likely would have died of old age by then. The prequels set Kenobi as no older than his 60s during ''A New Hope'', hardly an improbable age -- although Tarkin could be interpreted as referring to Empire's purge of the Jedi.

** There's also the fact that Leia explicitly says she remembers what her biological mother was like in ''Return'', only for it to be revealed in ''Revenge'' that Padmé died giving birth to the twins. Of course as a Force sensitive it's entirely possible that Force children have a much greater connection, and even memory, of their mother from within the room. Though that doesn't explain the disparity of Leia remembering her and Luke not. Another possibility is that Leia was talking about Breha Organa, her adopted mother. Another possibility is that Leia was lying: she is a princess and a diplomat, she simply said "She was beautiful" which was all Luke wanted to hear and which is not a very specific fact that only someone who actually knew the person would know about.

* Fire Lord Sozin's age and reigning period changes between seasons of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. In the first two seasons he was said to have ruled during the first 70 years or so of the war, but come season 3 it is established that he only ruled for the first 20 years. Also a brief backstory released on the nick.com website implies that he was a young man who only recently became Fire Lord at around the time Avatar Roku died, but it is later established that Roku and Sozin were the same age and that Sozin had already been Fire Lord for a reasonable period by the time of Roku's death.

* In the earliest episodes of ''WesternAnimation/DeltaState,'' the titular location has some established rules that were phased out over time. This included needing to know someone's location in the Delta State to find them, needing to save [[BigBad rifter]] victims within 48 hours (which is mentioned a few times afterward, but is now the time it takes for a rifter to take over someone), and the leads becoming disoriented and hyper-focused if they spend too much time in the Delta State.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', the Autobots and Decepticons were created by the Quintessons, as revealed in [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie the movie]]. Then it turns out the Autobots and Decepticons were created by Primus, who was built by Primacon, and the Quintessons just want to punish or destroy the Autobots and Decepticons. Or the Quintessons and Primacon have nothing to do with their origin, and their origin story is "Primus created the Autobots and Decepticons."
* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' introduced the idea that the Maximals and Predacons were the same as the Autobots and Decepticons from ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1'', only in new bodies that can transform into animal forms instead of vehicles. Later, it was established that these were not the original Autobots and Decepticons.

** In the pilot Bender was also shown to be a good and moral robot, who only "went bad" after his programming got scrambled by electricity from a burst lightbulb. Later it's rather clear that he's always been his normal violent and klepto self from the remainder of the show, and that Mom seemingly programs all bending units in that manner - as seen in the episode ''Mother's Day'' when the "see through the eyes of a bending unit" highlight potential theft and exploitation targets.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': The first season was almost entirely under control of Lauren Faust, and as such, the worldbuilding reflected her ideas that she had while playing with her pony toys when she was little. As the show grew in popularity, she lost influence (and left by season 3), so the worldbuilding gradually changed as the show went on. Most notably, the princesses Celestia and Luna, alicorns who raise the sun and the moon every day, were depicted as the god-like rulers and possibly creators of Equestria (which was the name of the world), and the world was depicted as needing constant care of ponies to function outside of certain areas like the Everfree Forest. As early as season 2, Celestia and Luna would fall prey to TheWorfEffect, and it's shown that they're not eternal or unique (regular ponies can become alicorns although they're natural-born alicorns); Equestria is later established to be merely the name of one nation ruled by ponies, and it's not even their home nation as they lived somewhere else before being displaced by windigos; the idea of the environment needing constant pony supervision was mostly dropped with the introduction of many other nations where there are no ponies ((although the sun and the moon have always needed unicorn magic to be raised, even before Celestia and Luna were born).
* Early on in ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'', Virgil/Static would make several references to other superheroes as fictional characters, remarking ''Even [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] had a day job." Later on, however, the show is very firmly established in the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse. According to WordOfGod, "[[MST3KMantra Don't worry about it]]."
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'', [[spoiler: Quilby's]] past whereabouts before being imprisoned changes between episodes 20 and 24 of season 2. When Adamaï and Grougaloragran destroy the preserved alien creatures within the Zinit, [[spoiler: Quilby]] explicitly states that they were his research. However, during a flashback in episode 23, a large army of Mechasms are seen in the sky during [[spoiler: Quilby's imprisonment]] And since it's true that Orgonax was the only mechasm on the World of Twelve during that period, [[spoiler: Quilby]] couldn't have been on the Zinit to research alien creatures if he was imprisoned back on his homeworld.
* Early episodes of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' pretty strongly imply that [[GreaterScopeVillain Shendu]] is the only demon sorcerer of his kind, and they generally portray him as a {{Satan}}-like figure with command of a wide range of magical powers; hence, his [[ArtifactOfPower twelve talismans]] can grant everything from {{invisibility}} to {{super speed}} and {{heat vision}}. Later, as the show's mythology becomes fleshed out, it's well-established that he's one of ''eight'' demon sorcerers with their own {{elemental powers}}, and that he's strictly [[PlayingWithFire the demon of fire]]. To get around this, later episodes rarely refer to the talismans as "The Talismans of Shendu", generally just calling them "the talismans".
* In the devil's first two appearances in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'', he is only referred to as "''him''" because he's so evil the other characters can't bring themselves to say his true name. After that, his name is apparently actually HIM.
* A few early episodes of ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' explicitly state that [[MissingMom Chucky's mother]] is still alive, but they occasionally imply that she and Chaz are divorced. [[note]] In "Real or Robots", Didi mentions waiting for Chucky's mom to pick him up after a sleepover with Tommy. And in "My Friend Barney", Chaz rather nonchalantly mentions that his wife never liked a fish trophy that he used to hang on his wall, and doesn't much sound like a grieving widower.[[/note]] Later on, the Mother's Day episode established that she died of [[SoapOperaDisease an unspecified illness]] when Chucky was an infant.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' has continuity that got looser as it went on, but it did pop up sometimes.
** In his first appearance in the ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'' shorts, it's implied that Cosmo and Wanda are meeting Jorgen for the first time. The series proper establishes that they've known each other long beforehand, and Jorgen's a prominent figure, making this first interaction strange.
** In early episodes, losing your fairies did not equate losing your memory of them. This only started in season 3.
* In ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'', Warren Worthington (Angel) first appears in the Season 1 two-parter "The Cure" and "Come the Apocalypse", where he's portrayed as a wealthy businessman bankrolling the development of a "cure" for mutation, and it's made clear that none of the X-Men have ever met him before; this is a notable departure from the comics, where Angel was one of the five original X-Men. Later, however, the Season 3 episodes "Xavier Remembers" and "Cold Comfort" feature brief flashbacks to the team's younger days (before the events of the show), where it's established that Angel was one of the original X-Men in the show too.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': The first season was almost entirely under control of Lauren Faust, and as such, the worldbuilding reflected her ideas that she had while playing with her pony toys when she was little. As the show grew in popularity, she lost influence (and left by season 3), so the worldbuilding gradually changed as the show went on. Most notably, the princesses Celestia and Luna, alicorns who raise the sun and the moon every day, were depicted as the god-like rulers and possibly creators of Equestria (which was the name of the world), and the world was depicted as needing constant care of ponies to function outside of certain areas like the Everfree Forest. In later seasons, Celestia and Luna would fall prey to TheWorfEffect, and it's shown that they're not eternal or unique (regular ponies can become alicorns although they're natural-born alicorns); Equestria is later established to be merely the name of one nation ruled by ponies, and it's not even their home nation as they lived somewhere else before being displaced by windigos; the idea of the enviroment needing constant pony supervision was mostly dropped with the introduction of many other nations where there are no ponies ((although the sun and the moon have always needed unicorn magic to be raised, even before Celestia and Luna were born).

* Early episodes of ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' pretty strongly imply that [[GreaterScopeVillain Shendu]] is the only demon sorcerer of his kind, and they generally portray him as a {{Satan}}-like figure with command of a wide range of magical powers; hence, his [[ArtifactOfPower twelve talismans]] can grant everything from {{invisibility}} to {{super speed}} and {{heat vision}}. Later, as the show's mythology becomes fleshed out, it's well-established that he's one of ''eight'' demon sorcerers with their own {{elemental powers}}, and that he's strictly [[PlayingWithFire the demon of fire]]. To get around this, later episodes seldomly refer to the talismans as "The Talismans of Shendu", generally just calling them "the talismans".

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': Barbatos is stated to be the weakest of the [[PhysicalGod Archons]] in the Prologue, which is unlikely to have been a lie as [[spoiler: he had the artifact that gave him divinity taken away by La Signora at the end of the chapter. Note that La Signora is a mortal, albeit a very powerful one. [[TheWorfEffect Barbatos didn't even put up a fight.]]]] However, Chapter 3, which was released about two years later, introduced Lesser Lord Kusanali. Kusanali is technically an Archon, but is noted to lack the power of one. In fact, [[spoiler: she was imprisoned by her followers for not living up to their expectations.]] This suggests that the idea that Barbatos is the weakest of the Archons is no longer true, as Barbatos is merely OvershadowedByAwesome.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': Barbatos is stated to be the weakest of the [[PhysicalGod Archons]] in the Prologue, which is unlikely to have been a lie as [[spoiler: he had the artifact that gave him divinity taken away by La Signora at the end of the chapter. Note that La Signora is a mortal, albeit a very powerful one. [[TheWorfEffect Barbatos didn't even put up a fight.]]]] However, Chapter 3, which was released about two years later, introduced Lesser Lord Kusanali. Kusanali is technically an Archon, but is noted to lack the power of one. In fact, [[spoiler: she was imprisoned by her followers for not living up to their expectations.]] This suggests that the idea that Barbatos is the weakest of the Archons is no longer true, as Barbatos does possess the power of one.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': Barbatos is stated to be the weakest of the [[PhysicalGod Archons]] in the Prologue, which is unlikely to have been a lie as [[spoiler: he had the artifact that gave him divinity taken away by La Signora at the end of the chapter. Note that La Signora is a mortal, albeit a very powerful one. [[TheWorfEffect Barbatos didn't even put up a fight.]]]] However, Chapter 3, which was released about two years later, introduced Lesser Lord Kusanali. Kusanali is technically an Archon, but noted to lack the power of one. In fact, [[spoiler: she was imprisoned by her followers for not living up to their expectations.]] This suggests that the idea that Barbatos is the weakest of the Archons is no longer true, as Barbatos is said to have {{Terraform}}ed the area they rule over much like other Archons. In other words, Barbatos ''does'' possess the power of Archon, so if Kusanali doesn't, she must be weaker. This is never elaborated on.