Canon

2007-07-27T00:13:49Z

71.35.169.218: /* General canon rules */

{{disambig2|the story material which is considered to affect the overall continuity|various big guns|Cannon (disambiguation)}}

'''Canon''' originally referred to (among other things) the recognised books of the Bible. In the 20th Century however the term has also been adopted in the discussion of most long-running media franchises to mean any event, character, or location within the fiction that is considered to have been "real" with respect to that fictional [[continuity]]. Only canonical material should be used as evidence in debates on the nature of the fictional universe and the characters that inhabit them.

In the ''Transformers'' brand, as a result of editorial choice and the [[Continuity|multiversal nature of ''Transformers'']], canon is both extremely complicated and extremely simple, depending on how you look at it. The only reliable metric for determining the canonical status of ''Transformers'' fiction is whether it was officially licensed/approved or not. If so, it is canon... for ''some'' continuity. If not, it is not canon at all.

==Canon in other media franchises==

Before examining canonicity as it pertains to ''Transformers'' it might first be useful to understand how canon is dealt with in other media franchises. It is tempting to dismiss canonicity as a trivial matter, of interest only to the most obsessive fans, and while it is true that many casual fans of a franchise will give very little thought to the canon, some franchise owners have taken it seriously enough to create their own "canon policies". Others ignore the issue totally.

The owners of three of the largest franchises in existence today, ''[[Star Wars]]'', ''Star Trek'' and ''Doctor Who'', have vastly different views on canon. Lucasfilm has developed several levels of canonicity into which a ''Star Wars'' text can fall. The policy decrees that most fiction is canonical unless it is contradicted by a higher level source or is explicitly marked as non-canonical (such as material released under the Infinities banner)<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_canon</ref>.

By contrast, Paramount, owners of ''Star Trek'' have for the most part limited their canon to events within the live-action television series and the motion pictures. All other material is largely considered non-canonical<ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_canon</ref>.

Some franchise owners ignore canon totally. The BBC, owners of ''Doctor Who'', have no canon policy. Indeed so little attention is paid to it that the franchise is riddled with countless irreconciable continuity clashes. It has been the fans who have therefore attempted to create a canon for the series, though this is in constant flux as new material is released and is the subject of perpetual arguments.

==Canon in ''Transformers''==

Right from its conception in 1984 ''Transformers'' differed from many other franchises in that it was made up of more than a single [[continuity]], the two main ones being the [[Generation 1 (cartoon)|Sunbow cartoon series]] and the [[Generation 1 (Marvel Comics)|Marvel comic series]]. Although based on the same basic concept both series offered different interpretations of events and characters. For example, in the cartoon, [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] was shown to be slavishly loyal to [[Megatron (G1)|Megatron]], whereas the comic portrayed him as a usurper constantly plotting to take control of the Decepticons himself. ''Both interpretations are canonical within the confines of their specific continuity.''

In addition to these two main continuities, countless other licensed products offered their own take on the Transformers' fictional universe, resulting in yet more [[micro-continuity|micro-continuities]], such as those presented in the [[Ladybird Books]], [[Big Looker]] Storybooks (also published by Marvel) and [[Kid Stuff]]’s Talk and Read series to name but three.

Over the years as new ''Transformers'' products have been developed, multiple continuities have given way to multiple [[continuity family|continuity ''families'']], each of which may contain dozens of continuities.

[[Hasbro]]'s only real input on what constitutes canon in ''Transformers'' comes from the [[Universe|Transformers Universe]] franchise, which grew out of the [[BotCon]] merchandise and fiction produced by [[3H Productions]], and has continued with [[Fun Publications]]' fan club and ''Timelines'' comics. These stories present the idea that each ''Transformers'' continuity exists in its own separate universe, with [[Primus]] and [[Unicron]] as entities which straddle (or easily travel between) these universes. This approach is essentially a tacit endorsement of the model that the ''Transformers'' [[fandom]] had already started working under:

:'''Everything is canon.'''

In ''Transformers'', "canon" is for all intents and purposes a synonym for "official". If it was released by a ''Transformers'' [[licensor]] with Hasbro approval, then it is canonical. However, simply being canonical doesn't say anything about what continuity or continuities it applies to.

3H and IDW have both released comics which take place "just offscreen" during the ''[[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars]]'' cartoon, but these comics contradict each other. Rather than the newer IDW comics ''invalidating'' the 3H story or [[retcon]]ning it out of existence, the two are simply relegated to separate but closely parallel universes.

While this "multiverse" approach helps to ensure that essentially all ''Transformers'' fiction is given a certain amount of validity, there are occasions when individual texts within the same continuity contradict each other. (The history of the [[Constructicon (G1)|Constructicon]]s in the original cartoon series are probably the most famous example.) When this happens, there is no clear way to proceed. Fans may reach a consensus on how to best interpret the evidence, but this consensus is ''not official'' and therefore not canon. (Until/unless somebody writing official fiction drops it in, transforming it from [[fanon]] to canon.) Each fan's interpretation of such events constitutes a part of their [[personal canon]], a subjective collection of ideas about the official fiction which is typically a work in progress that is constantly being reevaluated.

==General canon rules==

When dealing with ''Transformers'' fiction, these general rules apply:
*All officially-licensed fiction is canonical for ''some'' continuity.
*If conflicting events occur which are ostensibly within the same continuity, there is no single "correct" interpretation, unless an official retcon is later issued. Fans may reach a consensus on it, or not. The two events may be relegated to slightly different continuities, or an in-continuity fix may be applied.
*Canon from one continuity cannot, in general, be used as evidence to support canon in a different continuity. For example the [[tech spec]] bios from toy packaging are used as the basis for character personalities across various continuities, and can therefore hold some cross-continuity weight.
*Fan fiction is not canon.
*Some fans have their own ideas about what constitutes canon and nothing anyone else says will change their mind (see [[personal canon]]).
*Perhaps most important of all...it only has one N in the center, and one at the end. If there are two "N"s, Megs is probably involved. I'm not telling you which one.

==References==
<references/>
[[Category: Fandom]]
[[Category: Continuities]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>

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Canon