Western Animation / Word Of God

Works with their own pages:

Examples with sources cited:

Who said it, and when or where they said it is included in these examples. If you don't know when or where, even in general, please add your examples to the section below, not here.

Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- Regarding the Ship-to-Ship Combat and Zutara, Bryan and Mike have said multiple times that Aang and Katara were always meant to be the Official Couple as far back as when season one was still coming out. One interview:
BK: I think it's important to note one thing I have heard from the internet is that some fans have the idea we've put shipping into the show because they've asked for it...requested it. This is totally not the case. Mike and I like to do melodrama stuff and we wanted that in there. Not that it's all cheesy, but we wanted that from the get-go. Five years ago when we were developing this.
MDD: Yeah, Aang-Katara, that romance. Some stuff developed along the way, and we're glad some fans are more receptive to that element of the show, but it was in the DNA of the thing from the start.
- Nickelodeon's site states the final fate of Azula: locked up in an asylum and monitored around the clock for her own protection. She just may have a chance of recovery in the future, however. This later gets fully canonized in a comic book sequel.
- Upon the conclusion of its sequel series The Legend of Korra, Mike and Bryan confirmed on their personal tumblrs that Korra and Asami were indeed meant to be a couple.
- It was confirmed in the Book 4 commentary that Zuko has a granddaughter. Fire Lord Izumi was going to play a bigger role in the season, but they couldn't fit her in in an Earth Kingdom-based story. Her daughter was going to come with her to Republic City to deal with the Kuvira situation. They also pitched the idea that she was going to be Mako's love interest, but they decided to focus on his relationship with his friends.
Following his split with Disney, Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman has addressed many obscure questions otherwise unanswered by show material and is considered the authoritative source, to the point most fans do not consider the last season Canon. The comic book moreover continues where the second season left off and completely ignores the third season.
Butch Hartman stated in several interviews and videos that the ghosts in Danny Phantom are really monsters from a different dimension, that being the Ghost Zone. This does explain why they can have offspring and apparently age, and is backed by Danny's mom once describing them as "ectoplasmic manifestations of post-human consciousness" in one episode, implying that they're simply monsters that think they're dead humans. Butch Hartman later released a video explaining few things about the Ghost Zone that weren't seen in the show proper.
In an interview with Film Pictorial, Walt Disney confirmed that Mickey and Minnie Mouse are married in "Real Life", but they keep it ambiguous so that their characters can play various roles: a couple, a courtship, just met, etc. Walt mentioned that the studio had received sacksful of letters from viewers concerned about their relationship, (in 1933!) proving that shipping animated characters is Older Than Television.
The creators of Kim Possible, Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, have said on numerous occasions that Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable will be together forever and were meant to get together from the start of the series. The director Steve Loter has said that the alien villains died, and that Shego and Drakken are definitely dating at the end of "Graduation".
This is common with the Ninjago creators, specifically Tommy Andreasen. For example, he revealed in a YouTube live-chat◊ that time does not move slower in the Never-Realm than it does in Ninjago as the show seemed to imply, but rather, Zane was simply sent to the past when he was banished there.
The creators of The Simpsons often explain the "real meaning" of various episodes on DVD commentary—such as "Homer's Enemy" being about how a "normal" person couldn't survive in Springfield, or (more recently) "The Principal and the Pauper" being a jab at the Suspiciously Similar Substitute idea.
Ben 10:
- Dwayne McDuffie ran a Q&A thread about Alien Force, where he (among other things) clarified such contested points as Gwen's magic and Kevin's powers. Some fans like to ignore it, because he lied once, about Grandpa Max's fate, though it could be said that lying was the only way to preserve any suspense when asked that question.
- Derrick J. Wyatt has answered many fan questions relating to Omniverse on his ask.fm account.
- Duncan Rouleau has also answered many fan questions on Twitter about the 2016 reboot. See here for some examples.
Transformers:
- The franchise has featured numerous instances of this, but in particular, Transformers: Animated featured a cameo by an unnamed red Bumblebee-like robot. When character designer Derrick Wyatt saw that TFWiki.net, in accordance with its policies on nameless characters, was referring to the character as "Little Red Autobot," he wrote in and told them that the character was indeed named Cliffjumper and the page should be moved to that name. Also, he clarified Alpha Trion's role in the Autobot government (He's the civilian leader, as opposed to Ultra Magnus' military leadership).
- Two volumes of a book called The Allspark Almanac have been published. It is comprised of almost entirely Word of God, including things like the name of the planet Sentinel, Optimus, and Elita visit in "Along came a Spider" (Archa-7); the name of Ultra Magnus' hammer (The Stormbringer); what Meltdown's creatures were before they were mutated (his lawyer and stock broker); and the name of his company (Biotech Unbound).
If you want some Word of God relating to The Venture Bros., swing by the official site and watch some of the authors' appearances at conventions. (Beware, the third season finale is relentlessly spoiled.) They are just as likely to provide background information as they are Shrug of God and Ascended Fanon, and are very entertaining while doing it. The DVD commentary also has tons of info that didn't make it into the show Jackson Publick's LiveJournal and Doc Hammer's old MySpace page are good too.
This (now archived) discussion with co-creator Edward Kay contains several insights on Jimmy Two-Shoes, including information about the infamous pilot (confirming Miseryville was indeed meant to be Hell), revelations and explanations about the series' setting and characters (who knew Samy was a Starscream?), and ideas for the future (like Lucius I getting defrosted) ultimately never came to be.
In both the Franklin books and animated series, the character Badger walks using crutches. Though it has never been stated on either of those, Word of God on the official Internet site for the series revealed that she has cerebral palsy.
Subverted in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. The script writers have clarified on social media that a lot of character minutae - versus broad story beats mutually agreed upon or marketing information largely outside their control - can depend heavily on a particular writer's personal interpretation of a character. Topics have included the intended ages of certain characters or (more humorously) exactly how furry Catra actually is.
Teen Titans provided very little backstory for most of the main characters and none at all for the characters created specifically for the show who never appeared in the original comics. However, Word Of God from Amy Wolfram has given us an origin story for the Amazing Mumbo: he was an ordinary Stage Magician who got his hands on a real magic wand, which gave him Functional Magic at the expense of his sanity. This is stated in the special features on the third season DVD.
Dwayne McDuffie, creator of Static Shock, has stated here that Richie, Static's sidekick and best friend, is in fact gay, as is his comic book counterpart. When asked if Static knew, he replied "Not yet."
Lauren Faust often provides supplementary details for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic in her DeviantArt page seen here. Said details include, but are not limited to, Scootaloo's inability to fly is the result of a disability, Scootaloo's parents never show up onscreen because they have demanding jobs, Applejack's parents are dead, and Celestia and Luna were born as alicorns. As Lauren has left the show, she makes sure to note that the information she provides should not be considered canon, although current Word of God says that her visions are indeed canon.
Dan Norton, the art director of ThunderCats (2011) set up a Crew of Omens blog to answer fan questions and also uses deviantArt to post concept art and model sheets, frequently posting fan art on the blog, including both Yaoi and fetish art.
Pendleton Ward's formspring almost seems to contain more background information about Adventure Time than the show itself does. If you include Word of Saint Paul from creative director Adam Muto, character designer Natasha Allegri, and others, there's no contest. Ages, species, lands, history, clarification, there's a lot on there. (This may be in part because of Adventure Time's notoriously Rule of Cool driven nature.) Notably, Ward confirmed that Ooo is set After the End years before this was explicitly confirmed in the show itself.
When an episode of Sonic Boom had Sonic confronted by Mark the Tapir, an obsessive fanboy of the blue hedgehog, many fans realized the character's designs and quirks were almost point for point the same as Christine Weston Chandler, the infamous creator of Sonichu, thinking the writers were making fun of her and her odd obsessiveness with the franchise. The writers have gone on record stating that it was complete coincidence that Mark resembled Chris-chan, and that the character was lampooning obsessive fans in general.
South Park:
- Due to the ambiguous ending of the episode Tweek X Craig, fans were left debating whether or not the two really got together for real or were just faking like they were earlier that episode. The Season 19 Bluray commentary, Matt and Trey have addressed Craig and Tweek as a gay couple, which is moreso present in Put it Down.
- On Tumblr, when responding to a photo post involving Kyle saying "But the point is, there’s nothing about it that means Tweek and Craig are actually gay at all.", the Official South Park blog responded, "Are you SURE?", implying that they actually do feel for each other. The blog also posted a gif from "Tweek x Craig" and tagged it with "creek is canon".

Examples that need identification of the source:

If you know when or where this was said, please add that information and move the example to the section above.

Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- Mike and Bryan have divulged that Aang does, in fact, have a tattoo there.
- The two of them also confirmed that Jet really is dead. In commentary, they laughed that he's now in "Hot Guy Heaven". The in-series lack-of-clarity on the issue is later Lampshaded in season 3.
- They've also confirmed that no, the Air Nomads as a people aren't gonna make a comeback. (which tends to fall on deaf ears.) Although the continuation in Korra does at least confirm that the discipline of airbending does survive. Plans changed years later in Book Three of Korra, in which numerous non-benders are given the power of Airbending and Tenzin is able to bring the Air Nomads back from the brink of extinction.
- A minor one from Korra: After the Relationship Writing Fumble in season 1 that made Mako look like a cheating jerk, fans pounced on him advising Bolin to "pull off the leech" in his own bad relationship. Mike and Bryan stepped in and clarified that it was just a play on the expression "rip off the band-aid," and he wasn't calling Asami a leech.
The creators of Hey Arnold! have reportedly stated that Helga's mother is an alcoholic, although they knew that saying so directly would never fly on Nickelodeon. Incidentally, they said in the same interview that Arnold's last name is Shortman. In another interview, they confirmed that Arnold eventually ends up with Helga.
Dan Povenmire and "Swampy" Marsh, the creators of Phineas and Ferb have responded to questions about a few issues, including the first names of the Fireside Girls. Povenmire also commented that both Phineas and Isabella and Ferb and Vanessa would get together one day, even if it doesn't happen on the show.
According to Pocoyo's official Instagram account, Pocoyo has an afro under his hat.
In an interview, Steve Blum has stated that Transformers: Prime Starscream once swallowed a bird. It remains unclear whether or not he was joking.
The Executive Producer of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated confirmed Cassidy Williams and Ed Machine's deaths. It was common speculation that he may not have been telling the truth, and that they were just hiding. In the series finale, Cassidy (and presumably Ed Machine) are both alive in the alternate timeline created by the destruction of the Nibiru Entity. This means that they actually did end up dying in the original timeline, as they never returned in it.
People love the Donnie and April relationship and have so many fan-works available. However, unbeknowst to some of them, the creators only made Donnie crush on April for comic relief. April's real love interest is introduced in season 2 and he's someone whom she's been paired up with since the original comics.
A fan once asked Britt Allcroft why Mumfie the elephant doesn't wear underwear. The reason? It doesn't have any relevance or meaning to the plot. It was also stated that even if he was and it was relevant, the animators forgot to draw it on.
The Fairly OddParents!:
- For Channel Chasers' Distant Finale involving Timmy's children Tommy and Tammy, Butch Hartman stated that the identity of their mother was supposed to be ambiguous and that they're supposed to have traits of all potential mothers.
- Butch Hartman also stated that A.J.'s last name is not Ibraham and that he has no confirmed last name.
Jorge Gutiérrez really likes to give tidbits of his characters/answer fan questions regarding The Book of Life. There's enough of this trope in the movie for it to have its own separate page.
Producers Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, and Greg Johnson have said that Wolverine and the X-Men (2009), the "Wolverine" short of Hulk Vs., and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes all take place in the same universe, despite the countless continuity snarls that seem to say otherwise. However, they've never said the same thing of the "Thor" short in Hulk Vs.
Final Space's creators are very open in answering fan questions about the show.
- Olan Rogers states in a special insider clip for episode 2 that anything that happens to the characters on the show is permanent and cannot be reversed — for example, when Gary lost his left arm to the Lord Commander in Episode 2, he lost it forever.
- When asked in a final thoughts livestream on how old all of the characters are, Olan responded with the following. Gary is 30, Quinn is 32, KVN is 5, and Avocato is 512. However, Olan’s statement about Gary being 30 is contradicted in “The Sixth Key”, when Gary reveals that he is 32 years old.
- Little Cato’s age was disputed amongst the staff. Rosa Tran, the shows supervising producer claimed that Little Cato was 13 years old but Olan says in another livestream that Little Cato was 15. “The Notorious Mrs Goodspeed” however has Little Cato reveal that he was 14 years old.
- Olan claimed Mooncake to be 5001. This is impossible, since flashbacks show Mooncake was created when Gary's father John Goodspeed closed a breach to Final Space, which can't have been more than 20 to 30 years prior to the events of Season 1 considering Gary, who is 32, was a child when this happened (and old enough to remember it). Fortunately, Olan later confirmed on Reddit that he was joking about Mooncake’s age.

Word Of God / Western Animation

Works with their own pages:

Examples with sources cited:

Examples that need identification of the source:

Previous

Index

Next

Word Of God / Western Animation

Edit Locked

Works with their own pages:

Examples with sources cited:

Examples that need identification of the source:

Previous

Index

Next