History Main / ContinuityLockout

Continuity Lock-Out occurs when it becomes impossible for someone to get into a series or franchise in the middle, because the story to that point has become so [[ContinuitySnarl thick and convoluted]] that a newcomer will have very little chance of understanding the significance of anything.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' takes it as a given that viewers are already familiar with the games, and therefore it doesn't expend much on explanations and worldbuilding. The expectation is that if you're watching a movie based on a massively popular, 40-year-old multimedia franchise, then you're already a fan and it's on you to know what's going on. TropesAreTools, though, since the setting more or less runs on both RuleOfCool and RuleOfFun, so it's not as though attempts at verisimilitude would make things any ''less'' confusing for a total newcomer.

** An additional problem was that much of ''Bionicle'''s story was told in a multitude of media, comics, films, books and online content ranging from games to animations to web serials (written or read as audio files). Franchise/{{LEGO}} almost never marketed the books (which told the majority of the story) and only kept other story sources archived for a limited time, meaning much of the media was either not available for new readers to catch up on or they plainly had no idea that it existed to begin with. This was remedied by fanmade archives and wikis, and as of the late 2010s and early 2020s, all the story has been digitalized and made easy to find... a decade after the franchise had already ended.

** An additional problem was that much of Bionicle's story was told in online media, from games to animation to web serials (written or read as audio files), and so much of the media just did not exist anymore or was no longer up for new readers to catch up on.

* Write glossaries, appendices, or guidebooks for the viewing public to check on their own. This means that they don't even have to ''watch'' the previous episodes to know what's going on. It still has substantial {{Spoiler}} risk, but it can be useful. Most content creators don't really have the energy to do this, though, especially given that enthusiastic fans will do it for them for free and compile it all together on the Internet in [[TheWikiRule wiki format]]. It doesn't reflect very well on the creators, because it's effectively putting the onus on the fans to organize all the continuity. If those fans are sufficiently dedicated, they might end up putting together textual {{Recap Episode}}s for you.

** ''VideoGame/HoloFunk'', an overhaul mod for ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'', can have its presented story be enjoyed by average ''FNF'' mod enthusiasts without knowing about its source material, but they'll only know about the characters surface-level, with other nods and jokes flying over viewers head. Even further for the [[VideoGame/HoloFunkPreSixPointZero now-defunct 5.0 story]]: certain details such as Daddy Dearests motives for hounding Aloe and the mysterious figure who works for him [[AllThereInTheManual are generally exclusively told by the former dev and other related media]]. And there's Mano Aloe herself: a former talent of ''hololive'' who's early stress-induced retirement spurred the creation of ''[=HoloFunk=]'', with the intent to serve as a tribute for her. Though, to the average viewer (or even ''hololive'' fan who joined long after the debut [[Characters/HololiveJapanGenerationFive Generation Five]]), Aloe is first introduced to them in the mod.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' takes it as a given that viewers are already familiar with the games, and therefore it doesn't expend much on explanations and worldbuilding. The expectation is that if you're watching a movie based on a massively popular, 40-year-old multimedia franchise, then you're already a fan and it's on you to know what's going on. TropesAreTools, though, since the setting more or less runs on both RuleOfCool and RuleOfFun, so attempts at verisimilitude wouldn't make things any ''less'' bizarre to a total newcomer.

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioBrosTheMovie'' takes it as a given that viewers are already familiar with the games, and therefore it doesn't expend much on explanations and worldbuilding. The expectation is that if you're watching a movie based on a massively popular, 40-year-old multimedia franchise, then you're already a fan and it's on you to know what's going on. TropesAreTools, though, since the setting more or less runs on both RuleOfCool and RuleOfFun, so attempts at verisimilitude wouldn't make things any ''less'' bizarre to a total newcomer.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'' does a decent job at being accessible to new audiences but is also filled with many MythologyGags and references that will only be enjoyed to its full extent by hardcore fans of the ''[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]]'' franchise, or at least fans that have played some of the games.

* ''Franchise/KagerouProject'': The franchise's beginnings as a series of character-driven ([[HyperlinkStory and seemingly unrelated]]) songs - with only minimal information released by the project's creator - has led to a lot of new fans feeling alienated due to the complexity of the whole plot (made worse by the fact that the songs don't have an official order), and the large number of characters contained therein. Even the series' other adaptations provide issues, as the manga is still incomplete and the [[Anime/MekakucityActors anime]] (while complete and comprehensive) leaves significant gaps and relies on viewers knowing at least a little about the project and its characters before viewing. The late-game revelation that [[spoiler:all 3 branches of media are actually time loops,]] and that the [[LightNovel/KagerouDays light novels]] utilize this plot point from 2014 on, end up retroactively making the rest of the franchise required reading to understand how the books end.

* VideoGames (insofar as they [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory have a continuity you're interested in]]) can be started at any time but can require a significant time investment. And it's not as easy to dip into the back-catalog to play an older game in the series, which is often on a different platform which you'll have to procure separately. (Are you really going to find a secondhand UsefulNotes/{{NES}} just to catch up on the story?) The LetsPlay can explain the plot of an old game, but at the expense of the immersive element of actually playing it yourself. An occasional CompilationRerelease may be the best way to do it -- a way to play the older games on the newer system.

* ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'', making the sheer dedication of the {{Hatedom}} all the more puzzling.

* DiscussedTrope in ''Blog/TheComicsCurmudgeon'', where Josh criticises a ''ComicStrip/{{BC}}'' strip for being [[http://joshreads.com/?p=6329 totally incomprehensible to new readers]], before realising that he came into ''BC'' late enough that the RunningGag in question was never actually explained to him either, but he picked it up somehow. He then follows it up with "a couple of comics and commentaries thereupon that probably won’t make any sense if you aren’t a regular reader of this blog!" (One about Kaz's "sex dojo" in ''ComicStrip/GilThorp'' and one about "Finger-Quotin' Margo" in ''ComicStrip/ApartmentThreeG''.)

** For those searching solely for a freeware ''VideoGame/VampireSurvivors'' clone with no ''hololive'' knowledge, ''VideoGame/HoloCure''[='=]s various weapons can seem [[ImprobableWeaponUser incredibly random and bizarre]]; the Cutting Board especially, what with its relation to [[ACupAngst flat-chested characters]] -- including a size and damage bonus for the related characters. There's also the Collab feature, where two weapons can be combined to create a more powerful weapon, some being based on actual collaborations between the [=VTubers=. How many people outside of hololive would know "Lava plus Axe equals Comet" or why that makes sense for a combination?

* Various {{Fan Game}}s for WebAnimation/{{Hololive}} tend to feature lots of [[RunningGag/{{Hololive}} in-jokes]] and [[Memes/{{Hololive}} memes]] related to the various talents. While that works fine enough in the context of being {{Fan Game}}s; intended to be played by the fans or even the talents themselves, certain fan-games based on/built off other separate gaming media results in confusion from outsiders over what they present:
** For those searching solely for a freeware ''VideoGame/VampireSurvivors'' clone with no ''hololive'' knowledge, ''VideoGame/HoloCure''[='=]s various weapons can seem [[ImprobableWeaponUser incredibly random and bizzare]]; the Cutting Board especially, what with its relation to [[ACupAngst flat-chested characters]] and that having an increase in size damage if used by said characters. There's also the Collab feature -- combining two weapons to create a more powerful weapon -- being based on actual collaborations between the [=VTubers=]; how many people outside of hololive would know "Lava plus Axe equals Comet" or why that makes sense for a combination?
** ''VideoGame/HoloFunk'', an overhaul mod for ''VideoGame/FridayNightFunkin'', can have its presented story be enjoyed by average ''FNF'' mod enthusiasts without knowing about its source material, but they'll only know about the characters surface-level, with other nods and jokes flying over viewers head. Even further for the [[{{Retcon}} now-defunct]] 5.0 story: certain details such as Daddy Dearests motives for hounding Aloe and the mysterious figure who works for him [[AllThereInTheManual are generally exclusively told by the former dev and other related media]]. And there's Mano Aloe herself: a former talent of ''hololive'' who's early stress-induced retirement spurred the creation of ''[=HoloFunk=]'' and to serve as a tribute for her; to the average viewer (or even a ''hololive'' fan who joined long after [[Characters/HololiveJapanGenerationFive Generation Five]] debuted) though, Aloe is first introduced in the mod.