mere_vanilla

(NOTE: The following post contains late arrival spoilers for the Neon Genesis Evangelion media franchise!)

What do you do when canon sources don't necessarily align with each other? For example: in Neon Genesis Evangelion, it's a fair assumption that the characters all die, or ascend to a higher plane of existence, or just generally... stop growing/aging by the end of the 90s animated series. It's the end of the world, and while anyone has the ability to return to physical form, it's not a guaranteed occurrence. However, this doesn't necessarily happen the same way in the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga; yes, the world ends, but the characters make different choices that lead to the rebirth of the world, and they continue to age and grow up. Similarly, in the (new to the USA) light novel series Evangelion: Anima, certain plot points change to allow the characters to age and, hypothetically, grow up (I mean, this is Evangelion we're talking about—growing up and maturity don't always go hand-in-hand). Where do the Rebuild movies fit into this, with their “curse of Eva” concept, e.g., the kids may mentally mature, but are physically incapable of aging? How old are these characters, really?

Switching gears a bit: What about when there are supplementary stories that are, in theory, available to readers, but are in practice behind a(n additional) paywall (e.g., small Patreon comics for a niche webcomic, or short stories elaborating on the pasts of secondary characters in a mainstream paperback book series)? To be clear, I'm not talking about “Word of God” content, like JK Rowling's descent into a canon stranglehold via interviews and unsolicited twitter statuses; nor am I talking about Mortis Ghost's post-OFF informal fan interviews where he answers questions about how he views the characters (which thus gets treated as informal, tongue-in-cheek “canon”).

What canon do you “accept” as the main canon? What counts as canon when there are so many different parts to find? What happens when a fan who can only access part of canon is interacting with a fan who can access “all” of canon? Does the more affluent fan tell off the less affluent fan for “getting canon wrong”, or redirect them to something they can't obtain in the first place? In this day and age of financial desperation, would the affluent fan telling the less affluent fan about details in the Patreon stories count toward a copyright violation? Would that even be enforceable? Should the less affluent fan just... not participate in fandom if they don't have “all” the facts? When writing fanfiction or making fanart, do the more affluent fans have it “better” because they have more access? Does it fall into a category of “Don't like, don't read”? What do you think?