How "canon" is Equestria Girls going to be?

[immblueversion 331]

Oh, I think it's going to be very canon. It's about as canon as the Mirror Pool, which was sealed up by a huge boulder and never mentioned again, and events like Nightmare Night, which are important for when they happen.

[RockinRarity 1,605]

From what my understanding is (and trust me, most of this is conjecture based on the limited information we have on the movie thus far), the movie will not affect the show's continuity.  My guess is that, aside from possible future references in the show of new pony characters (the only one of which we know of thus far being Sunset Shimmer), there will be no other references or mention of Equestria Girls in MLP: FiM, and that would make a lot of sense really.

 

Movie spin-offs of cartoon shows, whether they be made for TV or released in theaters, usually leave their show's continuity completely unaffected, at least as far as direct references are concerned.  In this way, although the events of the movie are technically canon within a show's continuity, by completely neglecting to mention or reference said events, the movie practically doesn't in effect end up affecting the show's continuity at all; a few good examples of this are "The Powerpuff Girls Movie" or the many TV movies released for "The Fairly OddParents", the latter of which were usually just two-parter or three-parter episodes.  One of the rare exceptions to this rule was the "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" movie (really the first three episodes of the show), which actually served as the pilot for the entire show and established important information/introduced main characters that affected the show's entire canon.  However, this latter example as stated is more the exception than the rule.

 

In conclusion, while "Equestria Girls" events may end up being a part of MLP: FiM's continuity, my guess is they will largely, if not completely, go unmentioned in the normal show's episodes in any remaining future seasons, save for possible references of new pony characters like Sunset Shimmer.  This may not even be so much to not tick off the fandom as it is for the producers' sake; they won't have to take into account as canon the events of the movie (which don't look like they'll really affect Equestria that much anyway) when writing episodes for next season.  Again, this is just a reasonable guess, but based on what I know so far, it's the best answer I can give at the moment.  We'll probably learn more between "Equestria Girls" release and the start of Season 4 next winter.

Which is a round-about way of saying that it probably will be canon, but it is not necessary to watch this movie if you want to understand the rest of the show.

 

Meghan never said that EqG wouldn't be canon. She said that it wouldn't affect Season 4, which I believe for the most part. The only part that I'm iffy about is Sunset Shimmer's involvement. She may just be in the movie, but if she is in season 4, I wonder how her character will be played out...

[Rye_B_P 53]

Well, we didn't really get any proof of it becoming canon yet. But, there could be a slight possibility of the spin-off becoming canon. Unless, it has flashbacks from the show and other evidence of canon material.

 

There is still the possibility that a "spin-off" can turn into a show in its own right.  I try to keep in mind that if a show gets popular enough or even if a movie gets popular enough, among the target audience.  Then it may get its own TV show.  Separate of the "main" TV series, but it is still possible.  I have seen it happen, so I will hold my judgment until the movie comes out and I see it. 

 

I bring this up, because although it may not be “Canon”, it may spark another TV series of it’s own. Which can lead to some "cross canon" between the two.  Of course this looks like a long shot to me.

[hawkflame 3,308]

Which is a round-about way of saying that it probably will be canon, but it is not necessary to watch this movie if you want to understand the rest of the show.

 

Meghan never said that EqG wouldn't be canon. She said that it wouldn't affect Season 4, which I believe for the most part. The only part that I'm iffy about is Sunset Shimmer's involvement. She may just be in the movie, but if she is in season 4, I wonder how her character will be played out...

 

That's my guess as to how it's going to go.  To me, whether or not it's canon is not as important as whether or not it'll affect the show, which is what we're really wondering. After all, there are plenty of canon episodes that, if they were removed from the show, wouldn't really affect the overall narrative of the series. 

 

As for Sunset Shimmer, if she is in season 4, it depends on how she's handled in the movie.  If she's handled as "that character they knew before but never was on the show until now" then they could treat her that way in both the movie and the series without conflict.  If twilight meets her for the first time in the movie and then she appears in season 4, then that brings up the issue of canonicity to the forefront...

[MonoBrony 2]

@@MonoBrony,

 

Hey there, we already happened to have a topic dedicated to discussing Equestria Girls' relationship to the main show of MLP FiM, and whether the events of the movie will impact the rest of the series and such, so for convenience I have merged your thread with the older one.

 

As for me, to my understanding (and chagrin) the other Mane Six members are not travelling to this other dimension, so I'm skeptical of this having much of an impact on the show. I that for better or worse, this isn't going to be referenced in the future. 

Thanks for merging it, I didn't see that there was another thread discussing the same thing. I'll be glad if they don't reference it in the MLP: FIM episodes. I don't think it would work out, but as the RockinRarity say, they usually don't reference films.

[Commander_PonyShep 349]

I mean, when you look at it, it starts out at the Crystal Empire, before Twilight the pony entered the mirror to become Twilight the human.  So why should I consider it non-canon?

[Planty 1,052]

I personally don't think you can

 

It's very well integrated into the show even if it is meant o be a spinoff!

 

I've not seen the film yet though so there may be a few things that don't follow correctly!

[Spring Storm 276]

It might actually be canon. It's probably up to personal taste. I'll probably consider everything canon when I get the chance to see it.

[Metemponychosis 1,238]

Season four will say if it is canon. If it is never mentioned again, there is no reason to care about it.

I don't really care if it is or not, my problem with it is different.

[~StatesTheOblivious~ 1,794]

Actually, of all tweets I can remember from McCarthy, I think she always said something like "Season 4 will not be Equestria Girls", "Season 4 will be ponies" and so on...

 

I can't remember she said something about the movie being absolutely non-nanon...

[Nohbdy 4,108]

At this point, we don't know for sure if it will be canon, or some alternate universe. If the events of the movie are brought up again in the future, then we can consider it canon (portal between the human and pony worlds is canon? Woohoo!). Alternatively (and quite likely, if the show doesn't mention EqG), the staff will comment on the canonicity of the movie. While they may leave it ambiguous for possible future developments, it's also possible that they may give a solid answer to the question. 

[Rainboom Dash 1,055]

At this point, we don't know for sure if it will be canon, or some alternate universe. If the events of the movie are brought up again in the future, then we can consider it canon (portal between the human and pony worlds is canon? Woohoo!). Alternatively (and quite likely, if the show doesn't mention EqG), the staff will comment on the canonicity of the movie. While they may leave it ambiguous for possible future developments, it's also possible that they may give a solid answer to the question. 

What he said. I also heard rumblings somewhere that something could be done in-story to allow FiM and EQ to run consecutively if a series is made out of EQ.

[Commander_PonyShep 349]

Here's another thing.  When I asked about not only EqG, but also the comics and novels and their canonicity, someone once said that EqG was non-canon, but the comic books are, and that I should "flip a coin" with regard to the novels.

Edited June 16, 2013 by Commander_PonyShep

[duidamasterXD 9,626]

@@Commander_PonyShep,

 

I have merged your topic with one made earlier, as they were both related to discussing the canonicity of the Equestria Girls movie and whether it is or isn't going to impact future episodes of MLP FiM.

[Dreadmallon 353]

   I'd personally prefer it to be canon. I mean, it didn't really affect the show negatively much at all. The villain is defeated, and the whole romance subplot ends on a minor note, with it most likely not to be continued as Flash Sentry was confirmed not to be in Season 4 (unfortunately, I actually liked his and Twilight's interactions and hoped for some more hints in the future of the show). Those are the only things that have an actual effect on the main storyline, and they were pretty much stopped right there.

[~Squishy Skies~ 756]

I think it'll be canon, but not terribly canon.

 

The events that took place in Equestria girls technically happened, but I think they'll continue with the series without mentioning said events ever again, like it didn't happen. Y'know how some cartoons don't have a concrete story arch, and just have an individual, nonsensical and original story with each episode without making references to earlier episodes? (Spongebob, for example) Sorta like that.

[MrGamerPony 42]

If they make a series off Equestria Girls I will watch It i seen the movie and it was so sweet i would see it again. But this is what i think now i just have to shows two watch instead of One.

[RockinRarity 1,605]

I'd personally prefer it to be canon. I mean, it didn't really affect the show negatively much at all. The villain is defeated, and the whole romance subplot ends on a minor note, with it most likely not to be continued as Flash Sentry was confirmed not to be in Season 4 (unfortunately, I actually liked his and Twilight's interactions and hoped for some more hints in the future of the show). Those are the only things that have an actual effect on the main storyline, and they were pretty much stopped right there.

This is what I was going to say, lol.

 

But, to me, I think that it is canon, but at the same time, it does not have an actual effect on the show. So if you watch the movie, you can watch season 4 knowing that the ponies experienced the events in the movie, but at the same time, if you do not watch the movie, you will not be confused about anything in season 4.

 

I regard Equestria Girls to be akin to a regular non-arc episode of MLP, for example, Fall Weather Friends. There is character interaction and development, but you can watch the rest of the series without having seen this particular episode.

[Commander_PonyShep 349]

You know what I'm going to dislike about this?  The fact that EqG will be canon, but not Twilight Sparkle and The Crystal Heart Spell.  I'd actually rather CHS, because Twilight's friends are still helping her rather than cheap knock-offs of them, and she remains a pony rather than a human, especially a few months after the Twilicorn controversy happened.

 

And, what's even more frustrating is the fact that everyone thought Twilight's friends were useless and didn't do anything in CHS.  I for one disagree with this notion.  In this book, Cadence told Twilight to turn to her friends for help in leading Equestria, which she did.  She was given good advice from them, but rejected them, and even went far as to listen to Gilda about doing what she wants for her kingdom, rather than listening to her friends.  By the end of the book, Twilight learned to depend on her friends as always, as she takes up Pinkie Pie's advice to host Cake Day in Ponyville.

 

Seriously, I don't know how to handle opposing viewpoints, especially with CHS.  All I want to do is change as many minds as humanly/ponily possible, or at least stick to my own opinions.  However, every time I deal with contrasting opinions, it's as if other people are telling me to give up my own viewpoint and agree with someone else's, even if I actually don't.

 

And, I hate the way no one ever responds to any of my posts.  It's like I'm invisible, or no one cares about me.  I have opinions that I want responses from, but when I do get responses, they're contrasting viewpoints I don't like!

[RockinRarity 1,605]

And, I hate the way no one ever responds to any of my posts. It's like I'm invisible, or no one cares about me. I have opinions that I want responses from, but when I do get responses, they're contrasting viewpoints I don't like!

I was going to respond to your initial first paragraph, but this last bit makes me not want to. So I will say this instead.

 

1. There are people who will disagree with you. If you think that people who disagree with you are still wrong, then feel free to believe that. They are, after all, opinions, and not religious truth.

 

2. I have heard that people do consider CHS to be canon. But I have not read it. And this really isn't the thread to be debating about it, because there are many others who have not read it either.

 

3. People will have different opinions. If you can't handle that, then the Internet is not the place for you.

[Metemponychosis 1,238]

@@Commander_PonyShep,

 

I have a problem with CHS being canon. It feels to me that it was too easy for Cadance to "earn her alicornhood" in this book. Maybe this is because we don't get to see it happening and all we get is Cadance telling Twilight the story.

 

But I agree with what you said about her friends.

[Fhaolan 4,468]

Canon, non-canon, it's all bit of a boondoggle really. As a fictional world, what is 'canon' will vary from writer to writer, and even then they will change their minds occasionally. It's not like they're actually documenting things that are really happening.

 

Go too far down the rabbit hole of 'canon', and you'll find you'll need to mark individual episodes on their canon-inity, and coming up with a rating system on 'how canon is it?'

 

And I'm not actually kidding there. I've seen that happen to Star Trek, with individual episodes getting ratings, all in an effort to include *something* from the animated series, while excluding most of it.

[immblueversion 331]

Oh, Equestria Girls is very much canon. It just has about as much bearing on the rest of the show as, say, "Over a Barrel" or "Hearts and Hooves Day": introducing concepts and never bringing them up in any other episode again.

[Cynderflayme 0]

Huh.

 

I honestly believe it is neither canon nor non-canon. Multiple episodes, as others mentioned, happened, and were never mentioned again. Multiple events (Summer Sun Day, was it?) happened.... And never are mentioned again.

 

That's not to say I don't think that they won't happen again, but I think they will ONLY be used again if they happen again.

 

How can something be not canon or non-canon?

 

Well, Torchwood ain't Doctor Who. Doesn't mean there isn't references, but I consider Torchwood to NOT BE RELATED to Doctor Who (or at least enough for it to be canon/non canon.)

 

I feel the same way about EqG.

[Fhaolan 4,468]

 

Well, Torchwood ain't Doctor Who. Doesn't mean there isn't references, but I consider Torchwood to NOT BE RELATED to Doctor Who (or at least enough for it to be canon/non canon.)

 

I feel the same way about EqG.

 

Doctor Who is the *poster child* for canon/non-canon conflict. In the classic series there were at least three different conflicting Atlantis destructions, and I dare you to assemble a consistent history of the Daleks without declaring at least one set of broadcast episodes as 'non-cannon' in order to make it work.