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Discontinuity

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alt title(s): Discontinuity

Sequel hate crimes; When will the violence stop?

Amongst fans, Discontinuity is the act of mentally writing out certain events in a show's continuity which don't sit well, no matter if it's a single episode, a season-length arc, or even an entire series. If a plot or 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 suck at that point. Events also get "discontinued" for particularly screwing up the characters or setting, and a show that starts to suck will end up screwing things up eventually anyway.

In effect, the opposite of fanon. (And not unrelated, either — much Discontinuity has resulted from violations of fanon.) While extremely negative audience reactions may lead to an offending storyline being officially removed from canon in response, Discontinuity specifically refers to when fans disregard a storyline regardless of the creators' opinion on it.

For questionable elements ignored or written out of canon by the creators themselves, see Canon Discontinuity, or at the very least, a Discontinuity Nod. If, on the other hand, the controversial element is somehow reworked into being tolerable or even popular, it's been Rescued From The Scrappy Heap.

It should be noted that this can be justified in cases of Running The Asylum, as it's clear the people in charge are largely trying to impose their own fanon.

Sometimes discontinuity comes from not liking a very specific element while still enjoying everything else. When this happens, you've applied Broad Strokes to the canon.

This is a very subjective trope, more based on the fandom than the event itself. The visceral response to Discontinuity can baffle other fans who don't take the event as seriously, or even *gasp* like the event. Please only post examples of the fandom disregarding an event; posting Personal Discontinuities ~~could~~ did get messy, and should only be posted in Troper Tales. Also, using this as a pothole is generally rather rude and irritating, so don't, unless you want to use Canon Discontinuity instead. If you would rather forget about it, then don't put it on the examples list then!