Does quantity equal canon?

[FNGRpony 655]

what makes canon?  I mean subjectively what ever you like best,

 

but lets try and be objective (even if as Digi brony suggests that's impossible).

 

If a character is potrayed a certain way most of the time, isn't that enough to make it canon?

Why not?

 

The only character fans (including myself) seem to have problems with her behaviour is pinkie pie.

I loved pinkie apple pie.  

 

But that's been a lone home run in a sea of misses.

 

 

[Malinter 3,064]

the only problem with how character behaviour being canon is that not every writer portrays each ponies character the same way.

[Scootalove 10,684]

Quantity is a number, amount or a certain amount of something. Quantity could be the number of episodes in the show, the writers portray the characters differently in their behavior. Just they write the characters in their own way.

 

It only counts as canon if the show displays said change in personality.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Scootalove

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

You're thinking of 'fanon' - not canon.

 

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Fanon

[Nature's Spell 526]

the only problem with how character behaviour being canon is that not every writer portrays each ponies character the same way.

Exactly right. As I've said before each character has a baseline, but it can vary from that point. That's not a bad thing to be honest. Once something appears in the show, good or bad, it is canon and can't really be ignored if you're being honest.

[Discordian 6,013]

If it's in the show, it's canon.

 

....Except that this does not include implied behaviors. It's not canon that Applejack and Rainbow Dash are lesbo over each other just because they happen to look at each other weird in a single screenshot that someone thought was sexual when it was not.

 

When you try to enforce an unfounded view of a character or their personality that is not supported in the show beyond the delusions of a person then you are contributing to fanon. It is only canon if it was explicitly said or shown in the show. Period. Conjecture, especially very unlikely conjecture, does not make canon until the show makes it so no matter how much "sense" they might make. No ifs, ands or buts.

 

This is also not taking into account "cartoon continuity" when things are put into a show for references' sake but are not meant to actually be considered anything more than a nod to something else.

 

Things like a Slender pony appearing in the show. They do not prove existence just by appearing. A lot of cartoons will create scenarios that are utterly irreversible for that episode just to have an interest plot line. This happens less in shows like MLP which have a definitive continuity but it still happens in minor instances.

 

For example: Derpy in a snowglobe. This is not in any way canon. It's a running gag by the animators to put Derpy in random places to see if people can find her. It is a permanent and impossible situation that falls under "cartoon continuity" guidelines.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Discordian

[Dddrgn 450]

Canon is what is directly displayed in the show, quantity isn't very important though.

[hawkflame 3,308]

Canon is defined by what's on the show.  I don't know how there's any other definition.