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1%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=lvky1uscibzv5zankrq67roh
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3[[quoteright:300:[[Webcomic/{{xkcd}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fanon-discontinuity_xkcd4_9883.png]]]]
4[[caption-width-right:300:That's ''Film/TheMatrix'' they're talking about, [[Film/TheMatrixReloaded in case]] you [[Film/TheMatrixRevolutions were wondering]].[[note]]Now there's a ''[[Film/TheMatrixResurrections fourth]]'' one.[[/note]]]]
5->'''Rainbow Dash:''' After lunch, we should probably start working our way back through the other books.\
6'''Quibble Pants:''' Whoa, whoa, whoa. There are no other books.\
7'''Rainbow Dash:''' Of course there are. ''Daring Do and the Trek of the Terrifying Towers'', ''Daring Do and the Many Faces of—''\
8'''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.\
9'''Rainbow Dash:''' Why?\
10'''Quibble Pants:''' 'Cause they're horrible!
11-->-- ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E14StrangerThanFanFiction Stranger than Fanfiction]]"
12
13Fanon ("Fan Canon") Discontinuity is the act of fans mentally writing out certain events in a show's continuity that don't sit well, be it a particular scene, a single episode, a given story arc, an entire season or even an entire ''series''. If a plot or [[AudienceAlienatingEnding 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 [[AudienceAlienatingEra suck at that point]] or [[JumpingTheShark decline too far in quality]]. Events also get "discontinued" for particularly screwing up the characters or setting, and a show that starts to decline in quality will eventually screw things up anyway.
14
15In effect, Fanon Discontinuity is the opposite of {{fanon}} (and not unrelated, either: a great amount of Fanon Discontinuity has resulted from violations of fanon). While extremely negative audience reactions may lead to an offending storyline being [[CanonDiscontinuity officially removed from canonicity]] in response, Fanon Discontinuity specifically refers to when ''fans'' disregard a storyline ''regardless'' of the creators' opinion on it.
16
17In moviedom, {{Sequelitis}} is the most common cause of Fanon Discontinuity. Fans of a popular movie series commonly disavow all sequels beyond a certain point, typically the first or second movie. For example, the unofficial slogan of the ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' fandom is, "There Should Have Been Only One".[[note]]It's a play on the franchise's famous quote of "ThereCanBeOnlyOne," in case you're wondering.[[/note]] It is often supported and justified by the fact that [[GodDoesNotOwnThisWorld the creators of the original had nothing to do with the sequels]], so it is essentially not their work.
18
19Fanon discontinuity can easily occur if the hated storylines are the last ever made and it's easy to pretend that the real ending was in the good ones. If more episodes/installments are made and these are loved and canon-worthy, hated storylines can still become Fanon discontinuity if the hated ones can easily be written out without any loss to the good stories. Discontinuity becomes less likely and more difficult to achieve when the loved storylines keep making references to the previously hated storylines and solidifying them as canonical, even when they do admit that they really sucked.
20
21Sometimes discontinuity comes from not liking a very specific element while still enjoying everything else. When this happens, you've applied BroadStrokes to {{Canon}}. Not to be confused with NegativeContinuity.
22
23Even works liked by fans can be subject to fanon discontinuity if fans prefer to think of it as a standalone work as opposed to part of the continuity, often due to pulling a HappyEndingOverride and/or [[ContinuitySnarl clashing with continuity]]. Conversely disliked works can avoid fanon discontinuity if fans think it adds something to canon WorthIt or it isn't worth the hassle of pretending didn't happen.
24
25When fans engage in fanon discontinuity by claiming certain events secretly take place in the main character's head, see DelusionConclusion.
26
27If 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 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 the disliked elements later become more wieldy accepted as canon, be it getting a payoff or fix or other factors causing it to be seen better in retrospect, it's VindicatedByHistory.
28
29Compare FanWank for when fans come up with rationales to make the disliked stuff better fits their likes, and FanworkOnlyFans for those who never bothered with official works only caring for fan content. Contrast FanDisillusionment for when it causes them to stop being fans of the work altogether as opposed to just pretending the disliked stuff didn't happen. See also TheyChangedItNowItSucks and LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain.
30
31Please note that this trope is highly subjective, more based on the fandom rather than the event itself. The visceral response to fanon discontinuity can baffle other fans who don't see the event as seriously, or even like the event. Just because an event or work has an example on here doesn't mean it's bad or that you're wrong for liking it. And just because a work is heavily disliked by the fanbase, it doesn't mean it should be listed here, because '''fans can dislike a work but still accept it as canon'''. This is a neutral catalog of a phenomenon in fandom, not a list of things we think are bad. That also means that you should only post examples where a significant portion of the fandom disregards an event, not just your own personal bugbears. Also, using this as a {{Pothole}} is generally rather rude, so please don't do it unless you want to use CanonDiscontinuity instead.
32
33----
34!!Example Subpages:
35[[index]]
36* FanonDiscontinuity/AnimeAndManga
37* FanonDiscontinuity/ComicBooks
38** ''FanonDiscontinuity/TheDCU''
39** ''FanonDiscontinuity/MarvelUniverse''
40* FanonDiscontinuity/ComicStrips
41* [[FanonDiscontinuity/AnimatedFilms Films — Animation]]
42* [[FanonDiscontinuity/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
43** ''FanonDiscontinuity/{{Halloween}}''
44** ''FanonDiscontinuity/StarWars''
45* FanonDiscontinuity/{{Literature}}
46* FanonDiscontinuity/LiveActionTV
47** ''FanonDiscontinuity/DoctorWho''
48** ''FanonDiscontinuity/{{Supernatural}}''
49* FanonDiscontinuity/{{Music}}
50* FanonDiscontinuity/ProfessionalWrestling
51* FanonDiscontinuity/TabletopGames
52* FanonDiscontinuity/{{Theatre}}
53* FanonDiscontinuity/VideoGames
54** ''FanonDiscontinuity/TheLegendOfZelda''
55** ''FanonDiscontinuity/SonicTheHedgehog''
56* FanonDiscontinuity/{{Webcomics}}
57* FanonDiscontinuity/WebOriginal
58* FanonDiscontinuity/WesternAnimation
59** ''FanonDiscontinuity/AvatarTheLastAirbender''
60** ''FanonDiscontinuity/Ben10''
61** ''FanonDiscontinuity/DCAnimatedUniverse''
62** ''FanonDiscontinuity/FamilyGuy''
63** ''FanonDiscontinuity/MiraculousLadybug''
64** ''FanonDiscontinuity/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
65** ''FanonDiscontinuity/TheSimpsons''
66** ''FanonDiscontinuity/TotalDrama''
67[[/index]]
68
69!!In-universe examples:
70[[foldercontrol]]
71
72[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
73* ''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 it doesn't become part of their "canon" and 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.]]
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:Comic Strips]]
77* The trope is referenced in a ''ComicStrip/{{Nemi}}'' comic strip where the titular character's friend is trying to tell her about someone who appeared in the film ''Film/HighlanderIITheQuickening''. Nemi then says that ''Film/{{Highlander}}'' doesn't have any sequels. Her friend realises she's "repressing everything you don't like", which he then comments is why she has not seen ''[[Film/AlienResurrection Aliens 4]]'', to which she answers, "''Aliens 4''?" Her friend also says, "I know you've seen both sequels," implying that he practices Fanon Discontinuity himself or is genuinely unaware of the exact number of sequels in the ''Franchise/{{Highlander}}'' franchise.
78* Discussed in [[https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/04/17 this]] ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' strip in relation to the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequel trilogy and ''Film/TheGodfather III''.
79[[/folder]]
80
81[[folder:Literature]]
82* In Creator/StephenColbert's book ''Literature/IAmAmericaAndSoCanYou'', he mentions that he couldn't enjoy ''Theatre/TheLionKing'' Broadway musical because he couldn't turn it off before Mufasa's death.
83[[/folder]]
84
85[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
86* In ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', we learn that Willow always stops watching ''Film/MoulinRouge'' a few minutes before it ends so she can pretend it has a happy ending. Which means she must not watch [[ForegoneConclusion the first five minutes either]], unless she wants to be confused.
87* The ''Series/{{Castle|2009}}'' episode [[Recap/CastleS5E6TheFinalFrontier "The Final Frontier"]] has the VocalMinority in the ''Nebula 9'' fanbase calling the continuation webisodes made by some of the original cast members a desecration of the property. They even sent death threats, which Beckett's homicide squad briefly investigated before pronouncing them {{Red Herring}}s.
88* On ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Phoebe learns that her mother did this with numerous movies because she didn't want her children being exposed to sad things. Right before she [[HypocriticalHumor killed herself]].
89* In [[https://twitter.com/OKBJGM/status/1410639060301795332 this]] Website/{{Twitter}} thread, ''Series/TheMiddleman'' creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach discusses and endorses this trope.
90-->earlier, i tweeted that - in the fictions we enjoy - canon only has to be canon if we want it to. we are free to dislike and ignore any part of the story for any reason: it ain't the freakin' rule of law, it's corporate-sponsored {{heroic fantasy}}.... if they can make fiction by the pound, i can choose how much i need to buy.
91* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'':
92** At the end of ''Film/TheGirlInLoversLane'', the bots are profoundly depressed by the movie's DownerEnding, specifically the sudden, brutal murder of lovable waitress Carrie. Joel offers the bots a refreshing epiphany that more or less ''defines'' Fanon Discontinuity: you don't have to ''accept'' what the movie hands you. The cast promptly begin imagining less depressing endings for the film. This was mentioned in the official episode guide as being based on the universal negative reactions of the writing team upon first viewing the film, and the skit seemed almost psychologically necessary.
93** In the episode ''Film/SoulTaker'', Crow and Servo refuse to accept the HappilyEverAfter and claim what ''really'' happened was a DownerEnding where the protagonists' relationship failed and the hero ended up in jail, making bootleg vodka in the toilet. Mike asks if they aren't being a little doom-and-gloom, and they [[SarcasmMode sarcastically]] suggest an ending where everything is [[SickeninglySweet puppies and sunshine and rainbows]]. Mike asks if it ''has'' to be unrealistically depressing or unrealistically happy with no middle ground, and they say yep, it's either toilet vodka or unicorn giggles.
94* In ''Series/QueerAsFolkUK'', Vince and Stuart are discussing Vince's boyfriend, Cameron, and his apparent lack of interest in Vince's life. Stuart suggests that (since Vince is a huge ''Series/DoctorWho'' fanboy) that within six months '[Cameron]'ll be able to name all the "Doctor Who"s in order. Creator/WilliamHartnell, Creator/PatrickTroughton, Creator/JonPertwee, Creator/TomBaker, Creator/PeterDavison, Creator/ColinBaker, Creator/SylvesterMcCoy.'
95-->'''Vince''': What about Creator/PaulMcGann?
96-->'''Stuart and Vince together''': Paul [=McGann=] doesn't count! [[note]][=McGann=] would later be VindicatedByHistory thanks to his role in ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'', and is now considered a legitimate Doctor by the vast majority of the fanbase, besides being canonized in New Who.[[/note]]
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Sports]]
100* Given UsefulNotes/TheStanleyCup had many periods where fans discuss "that doesn't count" (prior to the UsefulNotes/NationalHockeyLeague, when the NHL was only 6 teams, etc.), hockey writer Sean [=McIndoe=] [[http://grantland.com/the-triangle/passing-judgment-on-your-stanley-cup-title/ decided to see which titles earned to receive such discontinuity]]. [[spoiler:All of them! Though one is given a BaitAndSwitch "yes" [[TrollingCreator to press on Buffalo's]] BerserkButton.]]
101[[/folder]]
102
103[[folder:Web Animation]]
104* In the ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' review of ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'':
105--> '''Yahtzee:''' Don't take this the wrong way though. ''[=BioShock=] Infinite'' is a retread, but it's the good kind of retread that uses a formula that works to explore new ideas, and it's a worthy sequel to the original.
106--> '''Interlocutor figure:''' [[VideoGame/BioShock2 Don't you mean second sequel, Yahtzee?]]
107--> '''Yahtzee:''' [[GetOut ...GET OUT]].
108[[/folder]]
109
110[[folder:Webcomics]]
111* In ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics'', T-Rex tries to apply discontinuity to [[http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=291 his own life]].
112* 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 ''Franchise/StarWars'' fan George's [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-04-26 rant about midichlorians]].
113* According to [[http://smbc-comics.com/comic/stars-war this]] ''[[Webcomic/SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal SMBC]]'' comic, God does not aknowledge ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies beyond the original trilogy either.
114* [[https://xkcd.com/566/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' comic has a guy having the crap beaten out of him by his friends for suggesting that there are sequels to ''Film/TheMatrix''.
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder:Web Original]]
118* 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.
119* 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. ([[AccidentallyCorrectWriting As it turns out]], he's not too far off here -- Marvel's Multiverse officially recognizes ''Logan'' as an alternate future and ''X-Men: Days of Future Past'' as the final chronological installment in the timeline.)
120* Dan of ''WebVideo/GameGrumps'' has expressed he feels this way about the ''VideoGame/SpaceQuest'' games, and that he doesn't consider ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestVIRogerWilcoInTheSpinalFrontier'' to have happened. Being a die-hard fan of the series who played them as a child, he felt ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestVTheNextMutation'' was the perfect ending for the series: Roger Wilco has finally become a captain, has his own ship The Eureka, has a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits quirky crew]] in Droole, Flo, Cliffy, and W-D40, a loyal animal companion, has met the woman he loved, has saved the galaxy again, and it ends with him being a respected captain who flies off on his next adventure. Thus, he hates the idea that ''Space Quest VI'' pulls a HappyEndingOverride, takes ''everything'' from him to demote him back to janitor, and ends on a [[CutShort cliffhanger that was never resolved thanks to there never being another Space Quest]].
121* WebVideo/MothersBasement, regarding ''Manga/ThePromisedNeverland'''s second anime season. In the ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean'' preview, he claims it never got a second season, while in "Spring 2021 Anime: Ones to Watch" he says it was cancelled after episode 3.
122* ''WebVideo/OutsideXbox:''
123** In the episode "7 Games Too Ambitious For Their Own Good", Jane says that she liked all three ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'' games. And that there were only three games.
124** Andy in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn0cK4MKAGc "7 Amazing Sequels That Rescued The Series from Total Disaster"]] insists that the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series stopped at ''VideoGame/Fallout4''.
125* ''WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}'':
126** In the ''VideoGame/DarkSeedII'' longplay, Mike Dawson losing at ring toss became a RunningGag, to the point that they even posted a video of just the losing animation. When Mike finally gets the item to cheat at the ring toss carnival game, he steps up to play... and then loses again because slowbeef spliced over the footage of him winning. They then tell the viewer that Retsupurae-canonicity is that Mike Dawson never won the ring toss game and never will.
127** In the ''Space Adventure Cobra'' longplay, slowbeef and Diabetus play up minor character Rock Knight as a badass. When Cobra later returns and finds him apparently dead in a burning building, slowbeef immediately yells "NOT CANON" [sic] and insists that it's secretly [[BackupTwin his brother]]. Or that he's such a badass that he's sleeping through the fire and will put it out when he wakes up.
128** When riffing ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'', slowbeef declares the entire work to be "Sakamoto fan fiction"
129* James of ''WebVideo/SchaffrillasProductions'' insists that ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird'' is non-canon to the rest of the Shrek franchise.
130[[/folder]]
131
132[[folder:Western Animation]]
133* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': In "Topsy" Louise's substitute science teacher is an avid UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison fan, and vehemently denies that Edison ever performed any unsavory experiments involving AC electricity and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_%28elephant%29 a circus elephant.]]
134* In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E14StrangerThanFanFiction 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.]] This is a reference to ''Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' often being ignored by fans (Daring Do is based off ''Franchise/IndianaJones'').
135* ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats2021'': In "Baby Talk", Stu and Randy consider the fifth ''Final Eclipse'' movie the worst one in the series. It is also the only movie in the series that Randy does not let his nephews Buster and Edwin watch.
136* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
137** 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.
138** 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."]]
139** 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.
140* The ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' episode "[[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S3E24DinosaurSeenInSewers Dinosaur Seen in the Sewers!]]" has the Turtles watching the series finale for the cartoon "Crognard the Barbarian", only to find that [[SuddenDownerEnding he just gets eaten by a dragon and that's it]]. They're extremely disappointed at the anti-climactic ending, and Michelangelo watches it again, but rewinds to just before he gets eaten and pauses it there.
141-->'''Mikey:''' Aw yeah, fixed it! See? Now he wins!
142[[/folder]]

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