Sandbox / Canon Fodder Wick Check

Canon Fodder is a YMMV oft used in a way redundant with Fanfic Fuel (Fanfic Bait is a redirect to CF). The possible distinctions have issues.

• They're personably meant to be answered later in canon: This makes it overly speculative if it will be addressed later or not. Also wondering what will happen in later installments seems like People Sit on Chairs or redundant with Epileptic Trees, WMG, and others.
• It's intentional by the work to leave speculation. This is not YMMV and redundant with Sequel Hook, Riddle for the Ages, ex.

Wick check: 50/50

10% Correct (5/50)

1. YMMV.The Zombie Knight: Since this is an ongoing serial, there are still many unsolved plot threads around. For example:
2. YMMV.A Series Of Unfortunate Events: While the series was going on, it was assumed that all the loose ends and questions would eventually be resolved or answered, leading to huge amounts of speculation. Most of it was never referred to again. Shows problem that if they will be addressed is speculation.
3. YMMV.Dog Soldiers: The sequence where Megan cuts her hand on a pane of glass has been hotly debated on forums as to what it really means. Word of God is that it was meant to foreshadow a plot point for a planned sequel. Might not count if the series ended with it unanswered.
4. WMG.Red Vs Blue The Project Freelancer Saga: Maybe, maybe not. There's a lot of Canon Fodder left unexplored — their motivations, what Male!CT was doing at the dig site, what they (and the Director) wanted with the monitor, whether they really were an insurrection or just a splinter group, etc. From that angle, they've been seeded through the story the way Project Freelancer's backstory was seeded through the Blood Gulch Chronicles — tangential to the current story, but with a lot of room for future exploration.
   • Confirmed.
5. YMMV.The Little Pony Legend: Depending on whether Maggie continues to expand her story or not, the fact that Korra's daughter is somehow also an avatar to be opens the door wide open for what might happen in the next cycle.

38% Redundant (19/50)

1. YMMV.Civil War 2024: The political backdrop to the civil war is left almost entirely unexplained, leaving viewers free to speculate how things got to this point and what (if any) ideology the different factions are aligned with. Standalone work with nothing to suggest it will be addressed later. Fits Fanfic Fuel.
2. Video Games: Dragon Age: Origins has a lot of background material that isn't wholly relevant to the games' plot. Moreso in the sequel since the game takes place on a more personal level. Some particularly interesting bits of background are that the Primeval Thaig was apparently part of an ancient dwarven civilization predating the Deep Roads, which had temples and worshiped gods (and that the Primeval Thaig was ruled by a "dwarf so foul the Stone rejected him" and covered in evil red lyrium that drives people insane), that at least one Eluvian leads to "another place - beyond this world, beyond the Fade", that Flemeth is, at least according to Morrigan, something other than merely a mage or an abomination, and that the qunari must have arrived in Thedas (the continent where the games are set) from somewhere because they only showed up three hundred years ago, but no one knows where they came from. Used interchangeably with Sequel Hook.
3. Literature.The Neverending Story: Invoked in-universe. Everything Bastian does in the story-world creates several new plot hooks which tail off with some variation on the phrase, but that's another story for another time. In the end, Bastian is told he can't leave until he 'ends all the stories he began', but Atreyu volunteers to do this on his behalf. Fits Sequel Hook.
4. NoodleIncident.Western Animation: When Monterrey Jack goes to see if Geegaw Hackwrench is in, he expresses mild concern that Geegaw might still be mad about... something that happened in Zanzibar involving cheese bread. The Zanzibar Incident is one of the series' biggest Canon Fodder supplies because of what little insight it gives the audience into Monty's past and that of Gadget's father. Fanfic Fuel as never suggested it would be addressed.
5. Characters.Eighth Doctor Adventures: Five-Finger Discount: He knows how to pick pockets, although it's never revealed why. The rather boring explanation is that the Doctor taught him, but it'd be more interesting if he was a street urchin at some point in his childhood. He also carries a lockpick (possibly stolen) because he got tired of picking locks without one. Fanfic Fuel as never suggested it would be addressed.
6. YMMV.My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic S 4 E 14 Filli Vanilli: The Ponytones' back story - both individually and as an ensemble - is well worth exploring. Fanfic Fuel as nothing suggested it would be addressed later and it wasn't.
7. YMMV.Star Trek S 1 E 14 Balance Of Terror: The Romulan War, and in particular Stiles' ancestor's role in it, as mentioned but not elaborated on. The fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise shows the build-up to the war, and had it been renewed for a fifth the war itself would have been depicted. Would be correct if not so long afterwards it likely wasn't planned to be addressed.
8. YMMV.As The World Turns: Reid's childhood. After his death, his uncle gave a couple of hints about it, though it was clear the two didn't get along very well. Originally sub-bullet to/redundant with Fanfic Fuel.
9. Audience Reactions: Empty spaces for fans (and their works) to fill in the blanks. Redundant with Fanfic Fuel, Riddle for the Ages, ex.
10. YMMV.The Birds: Just what did cause the birds to attack? It's never specified either way, but that hasn't stopped people from guessing. Explanations range from a sudden heatwave angering them, to the lovebirds somehow causing it. The trailer implies that birds have just decided to declare war on mankind as payback for millennia of being hunted and abused. Riddle for the Ages.
11. Left Hanging: Sometimes the result of being Screwed by the Network. This will lead to Canon Fodder and, thus, Fanfic Fuel. Redundant with Fanfic Fuel.
12. YMMV.The Orville S 1 E 07 Majority Rule:
    • Who administers the upvote/downvote system? When did it originate, and how did it become the all-consuming Hat of the Sargosians?
    • One of the fake images that puts LaMarr over the top at the climax, saving his life, is a video clip of him in military fatigues returning from a deployment to greet his dog. The upvote/downvote system is indicated to be global, so who exactly is there to fight? Both Fanfic Fuel.
13. YMMV.Ice Age Dawn Of The Dinosaurs: Buck's backstory is a prominent one, among others. The best explanation is that he's got it all mixed up himself. Fanfic Fuel.
14. YMMV.Maximum Ride: The series frequently wanders off and leaves plot threads hanging — unfortunately, most of the fandom focuses on Fang/Max shipping and won't even touch the missing mad scientists, Max's past in the School, Jeb's true motives... The Chris Carter Effect states it failed to answer then/fans stopped caring, so opposite.
15. ArtisticLicenseMilitary.Live Action Films: In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, a character is identified as "Colonel West" but wears the Starfleet naval insignia of a vice admiral. Fandom has understandably made hay out of this. Fanfic Fuel as an apparent error not something expected to be addressed.
16. YMMV.The Dreamstone: The show is chock full of very unique and surreal concepts and characters, but with few besides the Urpneys getting a great deal of limelight or characterisation. Along with some of the gaping holes in the storyline, this is the source of much curiosity with fans of the series. Fanfic Fuel as nothing suggest it will be addressed.
17. YMMV.Once Upon A Time: The show has the tendency to introduce plots which are eventually forgotten (such as Will and Anastasia being separated and the quest for Lily's father in Season 4; the latter was eventually summed up in a throw away line) and interesting backstories which are only vaguely hinted (such as The Dragon having lost his daughter) that led many fans speculate about them. Fanfic Fuel as those that get resolved are the exception.
18. YMMV.Star Trek The Next Generation S 6 E 4 Relics: Geordi's comment that the Jenolan would probably still be in service is a reminder that while Star Trek series tend to focus on state-of-the-art flagships of their times, the Federation's fleet undoubtedly operates a number of venerable old ships retrofitted and jury-rigged into relevancy far beyond their prime years. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would later explore this less glamorous side of the Federation, following the drama of daily life on a rickety second-hand space station turned vital military and diplomatic outpost, and the idea continues to be prime subject matter for both canon stories and fanwork. Fanfic Fuel as not clearly meant as foreshadowing.
19. SoYouWantTo.Write A Conspiracy Theory: As with any story, don't leave your Conspiracy Thriller without a resolution (as in, "resolution of the conflict between the protagonist and the conspiracy"). Be it exacting some revenge, rescuing his loved ones, restoring his country's honor, or killing him, you must bring his story to a close. On the other hand, do not disclose all of the conspiracy's secrets in the main text. Conspiracy theory is the one genre where narrative threads Left Hanging actually contribute to the story quality and the readers are invited to participate in theorizing themselves (e.g. along the lines of "What If? this long-missing character was actually behind that unexplained event?"). And you get a Sequel Hook for free, too. Fanfic Fuel or Riddle for the Ages, not CF if not meant to be later addressed.

30% Not YMMV (15/50)

1. TabletopGame.The Gates Of Hell: There are supposed to be at least 27 Arch-devils and 81 Duke. Not nearly all are described. YMMV under non-YMMV page.
2. YMMV.Droids: Several ideas for the prequel movies, as well as anthology movies, come from the series. Nothing about audience reaction.
3. YMMV.Star Trek S 3 E 3 The Paradise Syndrome: Likely because of the initially very positive reception of this episode, the Preservers went on to be prominently featured in Star Trek spin-off material. Strangely enough, the decline in the episode's overall reputation hasn't done much to dent the popularity of the Preservers themselves. It helps that we never actually see the Preservers, and the main characters can only guess at their motives, thus helping them avoid falling into the same White Man's Burden trap that a similar race in the Voyager episode "Tattoo" did. Argues opposite as fan interest in work declined.
4. YMMV.Star Trek The Next Generation S 5 E 19 The First Duty:
   • According to The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, the incident that got the Kolvoord Starburst banned at the Academy occurred while Kirk was a cadet. He was even leading his own squadron that witnessed the explosion and got caught in the blast, nearly being killed themselves.
   • In one of the Expanded Universe Novels set after this episode, Wesley, after a very bad day, vents to his room-mate. Wesley wouldn't — and knows he couldn't — say this to anyone but his friend, but the accident in this episode was, in fact, actually caused by Joshua Albert's pilot error, (though if not for the dangerous and illegal maneuver, it wouldn't have mattered) and Joshua would have survived like the rest of Nova Squadron if he had simply stayed calm instead of panicking.
5. YMMV.Jedi Academy Trilogy: Only six of Luke's original twelve apprentices^note Tionne, Kam Solusar, Kirana Ti, Dorsk 81, Streen, and Gantoris are named in the trilogy, done intentionally on Anderson's part for later authors to add their creations. Young Jedi Knights added Brakiss, I, Jedi added Corran Horn, and The New Essential Chronology confirmed Kyle Katarn as the ninth student. Leland Chee declared that the Anx pictured in a picture of the students in The Essential Chronology was Madurrin (first featured in Destiny's Way). There are at least four candidates for the other two slots: Havet Storm (Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast), Keyan Farlander (from a Star Wars Insider #57 article), Nichos Marr (Children of the Jedi), and Harlan (The Jedi Academy Sourcebook).
6. YMMV.Star Trek The Next Generation S 2 E 11 Contagion:
   • The Iconians and their gateways inspired many Star Trek novels, and eventually made a reappearance in the canon series in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "To the Death."
   • They also went from a fascinating (if possibly dangerous) archaeological footnote in the two TV episodes to driving the plot of most of Star Trek Online.
7. VideoGame.Pokemon Fusion Generation: Time Skip: The three year gap between Generations III and IV provides the setting for Fusion Generation. Fanfic Fuel for source material, not-YMMV for fic using it.
8. Recap.Buffy The Vampire Slayer S 5 E 1 Buffy Vs Dracula: Felony Misdemeanor: Dracula owes Spike £11. A non-canon Spike comic explains this as being the cost of an autographed copy of Bram Stoker's Dracula that Spike bought for Drusilla — Drac tossed it in the fireplace.invoked Not-YMMV here, fails to say if fans had this reaction.
9. Recap.Doctor Who S 17 E 2 City Of Death: A throwaway line by Romana about the "Braxiatel Collection" became massive Canon Fodderinvoked in the Doctor Who Expanded Universe, and Braxiatel himself stars in a handful of spinoff series nowadays. According to the Expanded Universe (including Big Finish), he's the Doctor's brother.
10. YMMV.Star Trek S 1 E 13 The Conscience Of The King: According to The Autobiography of James T. Kirk, the relief ship that comes to Tarsus IV was the newly-commissioned Enterprise under Captain Robert April. This helped fuel young Kirk's desire to join Starfleet.
11. Characters.City Of Heroes Enemy Groups: The Outcasts are angry (in part) because of discrimination against mutants. This is never mentioned again. YMMV under non-YMMV page.
12. WesternAnimation.Three Two One Penguins: Produced by Big Idea Productions (the guys who made VeggieTales), 3-2-1 Penguins! chronicles the tale of a young boy named Jason T. Conrad, and his twin sister Michelle Frances Conrad (who is older by five minutes). Both have been shipped off to stay with their very British "grandmum" for the summer, while their parents go...someplace else. YMMV under non-YMMV page. Fanfic Fuel if fans care about that detail.
13. Fanon: A piece of fanon can come about to explain holes in the story that the creators of a work may have either deliberately left open in order to have fodder for later stories, or never gave any thought to because it was considered an unimportant side detail. Not YMMV used here. Might be redundant with Sequel Hook.
14. Cryptic Background Reference: If a story is extended to a long enough series (especially when there's a high turnover of writers), most of these cryptic references will eventually be explained and/or used as Canon Fodder, but often one or two will still never appear in story.
15. Headscratchers.Dead Space 3: Well, the point of the markers is that they're old. Extremely old, as in "around even before mammals were common" type old. Brethren Moons have been eating civilizations for hundreds of millions, if not billions of years, and the aliens on Tau Volantis knew as much about the true origin of the markers as we did. For why there's no explanation, see Canon Fodder; they need to both retain some mystery and enigma to the Necromorphs and markers, and they probably still want to continue the series. Or, perhaps, they didn't want have some psychic hallucination from the Brother Moon manifesting as Nicole give some shoehorned exposition for the faulty logic that they are 'saving' advanced civilizations by preserving them in Necromorph form. Perhaps we'll get a proper origin in the future, but if you're hungry for theories, go to the WMG page. Intentionally leaving hooks.

14% Confused with Cannon Fodder (7/50)

1. WordOfGod.All For Luz: If the canon Hexside Squad and Harpy Eda were to fight Luz/Toshiko of All For Luz at the end of the 2nd Saga in a DEATH BATTLE! style brawl, the group could only win on a single condition, if Eda in her Harpy Form could (which is possible considering just how strong Eda in her Harpy Form was) and if Luz (Canon) had permanent access to her Titan Witch abilities, which makes her pretty even with current Toshiko in terms of raw power output, not get outlasted by Toshiko and perform a fatal blow on her. The rest of the Hexside Squad would be Canon Fodder and would get one-shot, save for Gus because of his illusions and the general confusion they could cause, with Harpy Eda lasting the longest.
2. Undead Child: Angel of the Bat III: Da Pacem Domine features anchimayen, which are zombie children out of Chilean mythology. They are under the orders of the villain Sandoval, have gangly, stretched proportions to appear more adult, wear wooden Chilean masks, and erupt into flames when slain. Sandoval hints that he doesn't like utilizing them, but that they make acceptable Cannon Fodder.
3. TakeThatScrappy.Fan Works: Yugioh EQG (Yu-Gi-Oh! & My Little Pony: Equestria Girls): Timber Spruce quickly becomes disliked by Flash Sentry for flirting with Twilight Sparkle, and challenges him to a duel. During the duel Timber shows to be a jerk who only respects monsters who are strong, using his weak monsters as Canon Fodder. Even Twilight, who saw him as a nice guy just a little bit ago is shocked by how heartlessly he treats his monsters. Flash beats him by using Shine Crest Magna Wolf, a card Timber mocked earlier, raising its ATK to 4600 and beating Timber's ace with it.
4. Anime.Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: When Desil disobeys orders during the battle at Nortrom and engages the Gundam, Zeheart deliberately withholds reinforcements, which leads to Desil's defeat and death. His subordinates then accuse him of invoking this trope in order to conveniently get rid of him, but he points out that they probably would have ended up as Canon Fodder if he'd allowed them to assist.
5. Literature.Stinger: Men of Sherwood: Aside from a few prominent members, the delinquents who make up the Renegades and Rattlers are largely interchangeable besides a few prominent members and seem like they'll be Canon Fodder Asshole Victims. However, the Enemy Mine scenario that follows an enemy attack sees them working together against the eponymous antagonist and almost all of them live.
6. Fridge.Justice League 2017: The fact that it worked out for the best is Moral Luck, and his motivations for doing so, and his brushing aside Diana's complaints about how leaders have to ask people to die for them and command Canon Fodder suggests a lot of dark stuff about Batman's character, and his past with Robin and his general Knight Templar ethos.
7. Recap.Westworld S 01 E 10 The Bicameral Mind: Militaries Are Useless: Quality Assurance security guards act as Canon Fodder for Armistice and Hector.

8% ZCE/unclear/other (4/50)

1. YMMV.Noob: The story left Fantöm believing he has a debt towards every single member of the Noob guild. It has only been repayed to Omega Zell and possibly Arthéon so far. The fourth novel explicitly says that Gaea's is still pending and that she has no intention of letting it go to waste. Nothing about audience reaction.
2. Fan-Disliked Explanation: Compare Canon Fodder and The Unreveal. ZCE on what it means.
3. YMMV.Septimus Heap: Numerous details, places, and people across the series. Commented out as ZCE.
4. YMMV.BZ Power: Either Greg knows his subject material like the back of his hand, or his close connections with the fandom has helped him keep Canon Fodder to a bare minimum in BIONICLE Canon. Not sure how it's being used here.