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The Debate of "Canon" in D&D 5E
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<blockquote data-quote="teitan" data-source="post: 8442597" data-attributes="member: 3457"><p>I wanted to add on from my previous post: canon has always been hotly contested in every media with companies saying one thing, the creators saying another and fans wanting one thing and none of them agreeing with each other. To use a recent example, Netflix released Masters of the Universe: Revelations and people lost their minds about "canon" and "continuity". Nevermind that MOTU has never once had a singular, locked in continuity. WHen Filmation was producing the animated series they had a story bible but often their stories contradicted previous episodes and characters would, what we would call nowadays, act out of character. On top of that Mattel had their mini-comics packed in with the toys that were different from the animated series and then there was the DC mini-series which preceded the animated series and was followed by a short lived Marvel Star Imprint all ages comic book.</p><p></p><p>Then MOTU went away for a short period of time and re-emerged as New Adventures of He-man and it ignored some of the later issues of the mini-comic like the last issue hinting that SKeletor was He-man's uncle. It was not a good time period! </p><p></p><p>Then you had the 200x tightly written Mike Young Productions reboot for He-man that had comic books that were written around it's storylines and lasted two seasons on cartoon network. Funny, back when this was on, people lost their minds about canon then as well. But I digress, this series established solidly that Skeletor was He-man's uncle and all sorts of other things that would now be "canon" for the next handful of years but wait... in this one He-man daddy was a mere captain in the Army named King by the elders of Eternia. The series did give us a name for the blue skinned people and a geography for Eternia and a solid backstory or skeletor. </p><p></p><p>Then it died and we got... another story with the MOTU CLassics line that had it's own mini comics and continuity and it's own Snidely Whiplash type brand manager saying "this is it, this is the super story that gives you a unified He-man continuity, it's official". It's not. It's convoluted, contradictory, contrived. Randor and Skeletor are both princes with Skeletor the elder true heir to the throne who has it stolen from him etc etc. It was meant to be a continuation of the 200x story but it contradicts that as well.</p><p></p><p>SO here comes Revelation and canon folks, with their misremembered or half remembered pieces of cartoons and storybooks, conflating of MOTUC materials with other materials and... head canons, making YouTube videos about Kevin SMith and Netflix changing MOTU continuity and canon. Like gnashing teeth and fighting over it.</p><p></p><p>Essentially... canon is your thing. It's your head game to play with. Different creators will tell you oh that's continuity, that's canon and others will tell you the opposite. When Grant Morrison was writing Batman he was saying "everything counts" and when new 52 launched editorial was saying "this is a new beginning, not everything happened" while Morrison was still writing from the "everything counts" philosophy. Geoff Johns was still writing GL from the same angle. DC was saying it wasn't true and even partway through the new 52 changing things so that published issues were different from TPB collections. Characters got new names, word balloons changed, references removed to fit editorial vision. </p><p></p><p>Stick to your head canon, it's all that matters. If it is what you love, then that is your story. Especially in Roleplaying games where that is the whole idea. Your story. Not Ed's. Not Salvatore's. Not Gygax's. Not Perkins'. Not Mearls'. Not any of them. It's your story. Like life, live your story instead of having someone else tell you what it is.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="teitan, post: 8442597, member: 3457"] I wanted to add on from my previous post: canon has always been hotly contested in every media with companies saying one thing, the creators saying another and fans wanting one thing and none of them agreeing with each other. To use a recent example, Netflix released Masters of the Universe: Revelations and people lost their minds about "canon" and "continuity". Nevermind that MOTU has never once had a singular, locked in continuity. WHen Filmation was producing the animated series they had a story bible but often their stories contradicted previous episodes and characters would, what we would call nowadays, act out of character. On top of that Mattel had their mini-comics packed in with the toys that were different from the animated series and then there was the DC mini-series which preceded the animated series and was followed by a short lived Marvel Star Imprint all ages comic book. Then MOTU went away for a short period of time and re-emerged as New Adventures of He-man and it ignored some of the later issues of the mini-comic like the last issue hinting that SKeletor was He-man's uncle. It was not a good time period! Then you had the 200x tightly written Mike Young Productions reboot for He-man that had comic books that were written around it's storylines and lasted two seasons on cartoon network. Funny, back when this was on, people lost their minds about canon then as well. But I digress, this series established solidly that Skeletor was He-man's uncle and all sorts of other things that would now be "canon" for the next handful of years but wait... in this one He-man daddy was a mere captain in the Army named King by the elders of Eternia. The series did give us a name for the blue skinned people and a geography for Eternia and a solid backstory or skeletor. Then it died and we got... another story with the MOTU CLassics line that had it's own mini comics and continuity and it's own Snidely Whiplash type brand manager saying "this is it, this is the super story that gives you a unified He-man continuity, it's official". It's not. It's convoluted, contradictory, contrived. Randor and Skeletor are both princes with Skeletor the elder true heir to the throne who has it stolen from him etc etc. It was meant to be a continuation of the 200x story but it contradicts that as well. SO here comes Revelation and canon folks, with their misremembered or half remembered pieces of cartoons and storybooks, conflating of MOTUC materials with other materials and... head canons, making YouTube videos about Kevin SMith and Netflix changing MOTU continuity and canon. Like gnashing teeth and fighting over it. Essentially... canon is your thing. It's your head game to play with. Different creators will tell you oh that's continuity, that's canon and others will tell you the opposite. When Grant Morrison was writing Batman he was saying "everything counts" and when new 52 launched editorial was saying "this is a new beginning, not everything happened" while Morrison was still writing from the "everything counts" philosophy. Geoff Johns was still writing GL from the same angle. DC was saying it wasn't true and even partway through the new 52 changing things so that published issues were different from TPB collections. Characters got new names, word balloons changed, references removed to fit editorial vision. Stick to your head canon, it's all that matters. If it is what you love, then that is your story. Especially in Roleplaying games where that is the whole idea. Your story. Not Ed's. Not Salvatore's. Not Gygax's. Not Perkins'. Not Mearls'. Not any of them. It's your story. Like life, live your story instead of having someone else tell you what it is. [/QUOTE]
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