Mostly agreed.

Hmm. I have a reason to re-watch everything now.

4246489
Sorry, but things you don't like are still canon. Other people might like them.

Yes, MLP doesn't have a perfectly constructed canon, but those screencaps? Canon. I can use them and write a story that is just as much canon as any other. Those contradictions shown on the show? All canon.

Fanfic writers don't have to stick to canon perfectly, neither do the show writers apparently, but you can't just pick and choose scenes and say "that's not canon." Because when you're talking to someone about "canon," they need to know what to expect. If you say in a fic that Rarity doesn't own a tent, you are wrong, and if someone points out that it is canon that she does, they are correct.

4247649
And it's perfectly fine if you have a headcanon or fanon you use in writing. But I don't know what it is, because I'm not psychic and don't know what you've decided to include or not, and neither does anyone else. Everyone else will be thinking of canon in terms of what they've seen, and people will make comments to you about that, and they have every right to because they also are not psychic and have no way of knowing what you include or exclude.

Which is why we use "canon" to mean "things that everyone can know."

4247649
By all means. You are allowed to be wrong.

I personally really enjoyed this lecture. I've watched the show over and over and over again, and learned painfully that if you try to take any one thing in the show too seriously that you're head might explode. Some things just don't make any freaking sense when taken as a whole. So what I like to do is take aspects of the show that I like the most and write a story around those, although that means that some aspects might have to be forgotten for said story.

4246489 Thanks for writing such an awesome little article. XD

4246489
4247594

I believe this lecture, written differently, could have expressed a more constructive message.

Let's just get this out of the way once and for all: the entire show, including all the movies, is canon. All the comics are canon unless they directly contradict the show (that's a direct contradiction, not "Twi would never do that!"), in which case the show wins. The books are probably canon but I'm not sure about that. Word of Faust isn't canon, it's what might have been canon. That's how it is, no "and"s or "if"s...however, there is a "but".

The fact that these things are canon means very little and you, meaning all FIM fan writers, shouldn't care about it.

This show isn't following a single consistent vision. There is no single writer, which is the case for all TV shows, but with FIM there is also neither a unifying plotline nor a solid continuity (if there was we wouldn't have episodes where characters forget lessons they previously learned) beyond some episodes referring to each other, some post-S3 eps taking place in the Crystal Empire, the library replaced by a new playset castle, etc. This is no different from The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons or other sitcom/slice-of-life shows with compartmentalized episodes. Because of this format, that which is canon will inevitably and always be vulnerable to conflicts in characterization, worldbuilding, etc.; the comedic focus only increases this vulnerability.

Suppose, though, for the sake of discussion, that FIM followed a consistent vision from a single writer. That writer--like all writers, including the team of writers who actually write FIM--would be imperfect. They could only do the best they could with their work, but maybe their best simply isn't that good with regards to a certain character or plotline (coughsunsetcough), perhaps you could do better with a different interpretation. It wouldn't be canon, but if you wrote it well it could be better than canon.

Both of these factors, the inherent narrative flaws in the format and the inherent flaws in all writers, manifest one unassailable truth about canon: like any story, it's not and can never be perfect.

Canon just means that the canon writers are paid by the owners to write FIM material that is deemed part of FIM's primary universe, while the fanfic writers aren't. One is "official", if you want to use that word, and the other isn't, but neither one is inherently more valid or valuable than the other. Just because most everything if not everything FIM is canon, doesn't mean that canon is a perfect, holy record to be placed on a pedestal. There are fanfics out there that, at least in my eyes, are superior to the show's best episodes, and I'd much rather read plenty of lesser works than watch some of the show's terrible episodes.

What does this mean for us fan writers? Simple. Stop caring about canon. Canon is canon, there's no changing that but like bookplayer said, you don't need to follow it perfectly. To be frank, if you attempt to follow it perfectly then you're just shackling yourself and limiting your potential for no good reason.

If you don't like something in canon or something in canon doesn't work for your story, throw it away and forget about it. Disregard entire episodes, take Twi's wings away, do whatever you want. Your work is more important.

If there's a piece of a character that you don't think works for them, don't write it. Broad strokes characterization? Subjective interpretation? No different in canon than in fanon. Do you really think the writing staff review all the previous episodes to make sure the characters' behaviour perfectly meshes with what they did before? Of course they don't, they have better things to do. Most of the episodes are completely compartmentalized, it doesn't matter. Find the place within the character's spectrum of possibility where you're comfortable with who they are, and write that.

And if somebody out there refuses to read your Flutterdash work because they think RD is a monster because they can't dissociate her from the events of Trade Ya! because canon? Then they're just a fool with nothing worthwhile to say about your work anyway, so don't worry about them.

4255169
I agree with most of what you said. I had a discussion on one of Titanium Dragon's fics, and we agreed that what "canon" means for fanfic writers is "facts everyone can be expected to know." Comics and books occupy a weird place in canon, in that you couldn't refer to a comic storyline and expect most fanfic readers to understand it without explanation. You could refer to Trade Ya' and expect readers to understand it without explanation. So the comics might be canon for the universe, but they aren't a useful definition of canon for writers (same with the books. The movies are a little more murky-- clearly in a fic set in the EqG universe you should expect readers to be familiar with it, but you might want to explain things if you introduce it into a pony fic, because some people do avoid it.)

Now, the reason writers need this definition of canon is to know how they need to explain things when they change it. It's easier to explain a positive change, adding something, within a story (if Rainbow Dash and Applejack have been dating since Fall Weather Friends, they or the narration can note that.) It's harder to explain a negative change (removing an episode or point that readers would assume happened) but you still have to get that information across to the readers, or they have every right to be confused. If Twilight doesn't have wings in your fic, it will make them ask questions: is this set before Magical Mystery Cure? Did Magical Mystery Cure not happen? Did the events of season four still mostly happen, or not?

In terms of more subtle negative changes, you might have to note it in the description, or politely answer questions in comment. But my major point is that saying that those things are "not canon" is not a valid answer. You can say that they're "not canon to this fic," or "not part of my interpretation of the character," but saying they're not canon is using the word incorrectly, and making people feel like you're telling them they're wrong about what they consider canon. And people don't like being told they're wrong, especially when they're not.

4246489 I suppose it also depends on what kind of show it is. MLP FIM is mostly a self contained animated sitcom like show, where the main focus is comedy. Its always nice to see the MLP staff try something different or make something that breaks the norm every now and then, but its main strength is its characters, not its stories. So in that sense continuity is not as big as an issue as it is in an ongoing saga like the Marvel cinematic universe or Transformers Prime/Robots in disguise, or series with a planned ending like Avatar the Last Airbender. Continuity is important, but if its not absolutely vital than a few things can afford to be tweaked or let slip.