Alternate Continuity: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:377px-
{{quote|'''Queen Serenity''': Remember Fiore?
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'''Queen Serenity''': The movies. The whole thing with the Kissenian Blossom, and Fiore, and your future child? It's all just a whole other continuity. |''[[Sailor Moon Abridged]]''}}
Continuity is a confusing thing. Sometimes when adapting a work, writers will scrap previous continuity and write a new continuity either disregarding the old one, or painting continuity in [[Broad Strokes]]. The result is an
[[Anime]] in particular has several diverse distribution paths in Japan, depending on its
When such a move is made, it's common for the story to simply be retold in the new medium, often with radical changes in both plot and characterization, creating an
Oftentimes, an
Be warned, though: sometimes an
One of the meta-causes of [[Alternate Universe]].
When a show's writers make the
Note that this [[Trope]] is specifically about changes in continuity moving from medium to medium, or after a [[Continuity Reboot]]. See also [[The Movie]], [[Ultimate Universe]] (a [[Sub-Trope]] of this), [[Canon Immigrant]] and [[Series Franchise]]. When [[Fanfic]] attempts to weld two or more of these into a single story, it's called a [[Patchwork Fic]].
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* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': It started as a manga. Then it was adapted into an anime. Then it got another manga at the same time the first manga and the anime were being published and aired respectively. Then both manga versions and the anime version got sequels, each one developping its own continuity and in some cases adding more backstory to the characters. Then more manga and anime were made, each one telling the story its way until the last iterations [[Mazinkaiser]] and [[Shin Mazinger Shougeki! Z-hen]].
* ''[[RahXephon]]'' also made the leap to a movie from TV, attempting to cram its extensive and complex storyline into less than 2 hours while at the same time providing new [[Backstory]]. In the process, one character was completely eliminated, and several others rewritten dramatically (including putting one to sleep for most of the [[Film]]).
* A television series of ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'' (which had been made into a 5-episode [[OVA]] in the early-middle 1990s) premiered in Japan in January 2005. The first episode alone makes it clear that it is an
* ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' is perhaps the king of
** For bonus fun one of the Pretty Sammy series has a minor character who is a cousin on Nanami and Jinnai from [[El-Hazard: The Magnificent World|El-Hazard]] linking both [[Meta]]-series together. Mr. Fujisawa from the same series also happens to be the teacher of Tenchi's class in ''[[Tenchi in Tokyo]]''.
* The ''[[Slayers]]'' franchise is right up there with ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' in its own right. It originated as a 15-book [[Light Novel]] series, which has ''over 30'' prequel novels (''Slayers Special/Smash/Delicious''). From there...
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** 4. Five video games, all their own stories and [[Word of God|officially non-canon.]]
* ''[[Futakoi]]'' and the second TV series, ''[[Futakoi Alternative]]'' are a quite obvious example. The first being a fairly normal harem-type [[Anime]], while the second was much more madcap comedy.
* ''[[Mai-HiME]]'' branches off into a few distinct
* ''Rockman EXE'', also known as ''[[Mega Man Battle Network]]'' (games dub) or ''[[Mega Man NT Warrior]]'' (anime dub) is essentially an alternate version of the regular ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' universe, with the major change being that the Robot Masters and other major characters are sentient programs instead of robots. Meanwhile, the [[Video Game|games]], [[Anime]], and [[Manga]] of EXE are all separate continuities.
** Also, every [[Video Game|game]] since 3 has been [[One Game for the Price of Two]]. Lan seems to remember any experiences he has in either version, even when they're inconsistent; it's as if he personally experienced not one version or the other, but some quantum superposition of the two. (For instance, he remembers both Shuko and Raika after BN4.) The most jarring example is Colonel: MegaMan remembers him well in both versions of BN6, but he only met him briefly in the Team ProtoMan version of 5.
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** What this means is that Wily and Light are the most significant people in the Mega Man Multiverse. What they choose as their discipline ends up revolutionizing the world and completely changing society. It would be interesting to see what would happen if they were geneticists or rocket scientists....wait. No it wouldn't. You'd either get Warp Drive or Ricardo MontalBan.
* The [[Anime]] adaptation of ''[[Rozen Maiden]]'' differs significantly from the [[Manga]] - to the point that none of the events in the second season even happened in the original.
* ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' is an
* The ''[[Digimon]]'' series had at least six continuities.
** While ''[[Digimon Adventure]]'' and ''[[Digimon Adventure 02|Adventure 02]]'' shared a continuity, one of the minor characters from 02, Ryou Akiyama, is also a prominent character in ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'', which does not share a continuity with the two ''Adventure'' seasons. The continuity disconnect is not addressed in the English dub or even in the [[Anime]], but it is somewhat explained in the [[Video Game|video games]] made for the Wonderswan in Japan (which never made their way stateside).
** The [[Digimon]] franchise has five [[
* ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' has five continuities and counting, with a couple of [[Bat Family Crossover]] movies (''Pretty Cure All Stars DX''). Each one follows the same basic [[Plot]], but changes up a few elements (besides using different characters and settings) each time, in particular the number of heroines and how their powers affect each other, [[Futari wa Pretty Cure|going from two]] [[Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash Star|girls with]] [[Wonder Twin Powers]] [[Yes! Pretty Cure 5|to several]] [[Fresh Pretty Cure|relying on]] [[The Power of Friendship]] [[Heartcatch Pretty Cure|and back to]] two whose powers are mostly not connected and several other, currently inactive Cures.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', consists of the original [[Manga]] continuity which includes a Side Story ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! R]]''; the Toei series continuity; the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' ''Duel Monsters'' and ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX|GX]]'' continuity; and an alternate [[Manga]] retelling of ''GX''. There are also two [[Non-Serial Movie|Non Serial Movies]] (one for each [[Anime]]) and the non-[[
** The Tenth Anniversary special places 5Ds [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] of GX, but the [[Plot]] involves the villain trying to make a Split Timeline, so...
* ''[[X 1999]]'' was released first as a movie, then again as a TV series five years later. The movie, for reasons of length and limited information, had an extremely simplified [[
* ''[[Kujibiki Unbalance]]'' has the [[OVA
** The mangaka gave a nod to this difference in the [[Manga]], in which the original ''Kujibiki Unbalance'' is discussed as though it were also a [[Manga]]. The changes made in the ''Kujibiki Unbalance'' TV series is discussed by the characters in the [[Manga]] as though it were the ''first'' adaptation of "Kuji-an" to video, rather than the second, as it is in our world.
* ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' does this with its [[Sequel]] ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]: Tokyo 2040''. Ironically, while the initial hardsuit designs were more or less lifted directly off the end of [[The Original Series]], of the characters, only [[Big Bad]] Brian J. Mason has any resemblance to his [[OAV]] counterpart. This was done for legal reasons: the team making 2040 had the rights to the hardsuit designs, but not the character designs.
* ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'': Subverted/parodied in the first episode of season 2. The episode initially sets itself up as an
* ''[[Gravitation]]'' has some major differences between the [[Manga]] (that came first) and the [[Anime]] adaptation. Because the [[Anime]] series was only 13 episodes long, one character (Maiko) is completely written out. Also, in the [[Anime]], Shuichi is already out of high school and signed to NG when he meets Eiri, but in the [[Manga]] he is still a high school student whose talents are undiscovered.
* The three [[Manga]] adaptations of ''[[Code Geass]]'' are all
** Interestingly enough, at the end of Nightmare of Nunnally, Nunnally says that {{spoiler|while touching Heaven's Door as part of Charles' god-killing ritual}}, she saw several different realities. One of these realities is the [[Anime]] continuity, and a montage of {{spoiler|Euphemia killing the Japanese, Suzaku in his standoff with Lelouch at the end of R1, and Lelouch's death}} are shown, none of which happen in Nightmare of Nunnally.
* ''[[Gundam]]'' tends to spawn a lot of these, given how many versions of the same story they have (TV series, movie trilogy, [[Manga]], novel, [[Video Game]]...) in ''addition'' to the seven different [[Alternate Universe
* The ''[[Death Note]]'' live-action [[
* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'''s [[Gainax Ending|last episode]], Shinji has a vision of his life as a typical high school comedy [[Anime]] (except, you know, it still has [[Humongous Mecha]]) during a [[Mind Rape]]. This concept was so popular as to spawn ''several'' [[Dating Sim]] [[Video Game|games]] and the [[Manga]] ''Angelic Days.''
** Another
** Then there's ''Evangelion ANIMA'', published in Hobby Japan Magazine and specifically made out of Anno's desire to do a "''[[Gundam]]''-style"
** In addition, both the [[Manga]] version of Evangelion and the ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' movie series are standard
* ''[[Ai Yori Aoshi]]'' started as a [[Manga]] (now concluded after 17 volumes) that became the [[Anime]]. The [[Anime]] rearranged the order and details of some events, but maintained much of the same storyline. It ran for two seasons, but ended ''before'' the [[Manga]], leaving unresolved the primary [[Story Arc]] of whether Kaoru and Aoi will ever be able to publicly get together. Very roughly speaking, the [[Anime]] covers much of the events from volumes 1 to 12 of the [[Manga]].
* The ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|anime]] and [[Manga]] start off fairly similar, but begin to diverge more and more as they progress. [[Broken Base|Do not ask people which one is better]]. There is also a second [[Anime]] adaptation that follows the manga's continuity much closer than the first.
* The first half of the ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'' [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] are almost identical (barring a couple of [[Schrodingers Cat|Schrodinger's Cats]].) The second halves for each follow the same basic premise, but diverge wildly by the inclusion of a [[Big Bad]] to the TV series, and the elimination of a [[The Reveal|minor character's]] [[A God Am I|true form]].
** However, the [[OAV]], titled simply ''Rayearth'', is an ''entirely'' separate continuity: the characters are all (mostly) there, and a few of the relationships survived, but aside from their names, their [[Elemental Powers]], and the existence of Cephiro and Rune Gods, the [[OAV]] has nothing to do with [[The Original Series]]. Not even the [[Power Trio|protagonists]]' personalities are the same.
* ''[[Ghost in the Shell]]'' has three
* ''[[Hell Girl]]'' is most famous as an [[Anime]], but there's also a [[Manga]] and a short-lived live-action show. The [[Manga]] can more or less coexist with the [[Anime]], but the live-action show definitely can't -- Hajime and Tsugumi have a different [[Backstory]] and a ''very'' [[Gecko Ending|different ending to their storyline]].
* ''[[Record of Lodoss War]]'' has three
* The various versions of the series starting with the ''[[Blood: The Last Vampire]]'' [[OVA]]. There were several [[Manga]] adaptions of the original concept, each with varying storylines, then the [[Blood Plus]] [[Anime]] took some of the basic character templates and ideas and made a series that bears only a slight resemblance to the original. This again also has several [[Manga]] adaptions that take different paths.
* ''[[Black Butler]]'' has two different continuities: the ongoing [[Manga]] and the 24-episode [[Anime]]. The [[Anime]] not only featured a few differences in the [[
* Most [[Visual Novel|visual novels]] adapted into [[Anime]] have the tendency to have many different continuities. Case in point: ''[[Clannad]]'': The TV [[Anime]] follows the [[Video Game|game's]] True End: Nagisa wins and {{spoiler|she and Ushio both do not die}}, and two [[OVA]] productions featuring the two most popular girls winning ([[Ensemble Darkhorse|Tomoyo's]] [[OVA]] and the to-be-released [[OVA]] for [[Die for Our Ship|Kyou]]) exist, as well as the Toei movie {{spoiler|leaves Nagisa dead and instead focuses on Tomoya's post-traumatic-stress-disorder and his relationship with Ushio}}.
** ''[[Fate/stay night]]''(as stated below) is another example, with the [[Anime]] following Fate, and the [[Manga]] following Unlimited Blade Works. Heaven's Feel makes up for it's lack of exposure with the fan theory that {{spoiler|it is the [[
*** Archer's ''very existence'' is this, as his life is said to have followed {{spoiler|the events of the Fate route; however, where his life and the Fate route's [[Canon]] end diverged is unknown}}.
* Yet ''another'' example is the ''[[SHUFFLE!]]'' TV [[Anime]], which ended with the {{spoiler|winning girl being Asa Shigure}}, and the [[Manga]], ''Shuffle!: Days in the Bloom'', which had {{spoiler|Sia as the winning girl}}.
** While [[Sequel]] [[Video Game|games]] have been made following paths of if Nerine or Kaede won out. And the Kaede-centric [[Video Game|game]] further snarls itself up, by showing {{spoiler|Asa with long hair, which implies her ending being [[Canon]] anyway for that branch.}}
* The only connection between the visual novel and anime versions of ''[[Popotan]]'' is its cast, and some of the game characters were dropped for the transition (including the ''protagonist''), while others were added.
* Though not as broken up as some others, ''[[Hellsing]]'' began as a [[Manga]] and was made into a TV series. This ran for thirteen episodes and was a victim of [[Overtook the Manga]], so the [[Plot]] began just as the [[Manga|manga's]] did, but halfway through a new [[Big Bad]] was introduced and half the characters of the original [[Plot]] never got animated. (It ended on with a [[Cliff Hanger]] and left a lot of loose ends.) The [[OVA
* ''[[Project A-ko]]'' has two continuities; the main set of [[OAV
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' - The Queen of the Continuities! With a [[Manga]] series, a 200-episode [[Anime]] series, a live-action series, and twenty-five stage productions, with only 3 occurring in the same continuity! That makes twenty-five separate continuities! And that's not counting the [[Video Game|video games]] or the possible splits within the same continuities. The idea of a ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' "[[Canon]]" has become humorous to some folks.
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' has a set of movies that follow the [[
** Also, there is a high school version of the series, with all the same characters in a situation as if the series were originally a normal, high school series and not a mech [[Anime]].
** Then there's the fan-made comic series ''[[Double K]]'', which uses said cast and puts them into a parody of [[Buddy Cop Shows]].
* [[Negima]] currently has five separate continuities: The [[Manga]] (the original the [[OVA
** You bet. Especially because the only differences among the names are [[Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo|exclamation and question marks]].
** Six continuities now, as the movie continuation of the [[OVA
* ''[[Macross Frontier]]'' adds itself to the list when it went from series to movies, giving us a pair of [[Non-Serial Movie|Non Serial Movies]] because it was just too big for one.
* ''[[Hanaukyo Maid Tai]]''. The first and second series cover slightly different ground.
* ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'' has the 2009 TV special that takes place in a future where man has screwed up the world's ecosystems to the point where people had to make an artificial environment for animals.
* A lot of Go Nagai's works have been revisioned for quite awhile. Among the notables include the three [[Getter Robo]] [[OVA
* ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' has quite a few. First, there's the [[Manga]] itself (considered the "core" or "actual" continuity), followed by the [[Anime]] continuity, which covers the [[Manga|manga's]] events and includes additional material (such as [[Filler]], new bit-part characters, slightly different fights and some character-building moments). Each of these has its own continuation of the franchise that can actually be taken as their own continuity, to boot: the [[Anime]] has [[Dragon Ball]] GT (often considered a "splinter timeline" that could occur), while the [[Manga]] has the recent [[Dragon Ball]] Online.
** The 3 [[Alternate Timeline|alternate timelines]] that Future Trunks accidentally creates!
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== Comic Books ==
* Pick any major comic book series; you'll find at least two conflicting storylines and a movie or two for good measure. Both [[DC Comics|DC]] and [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] also use actual [[Alternate Universe
* The [[Spider-Man]] comic books and newspaper comics suffer from
== Film ==
* Depending on how you look at it, there are either two
** The original movie ''[[Highlander]]''.
** ''[[Highlander II the Quickening]]'', which considers the original movie [[Canon]]. Notably, the theatrical version and the "Renegade Version" [[Directors Cut]] are quite different, so could count as two separate continuities in and of themselves.
** ''[[Highlander the Series]]'' comes later. The series is in an
** ''[[Highlander III the Sorcerer]]'', released during the series' run, which considers ''only'' the original [[Film]] [[Canon]]. Not ''Highlander 2'' or the TV series.
** ''[[Highlander the Raven]]'', a short-lived [[Spin-Off]] from the TV series which followed the TV series' continuity.
** Then a fourth movie ''[[Highlander Endgame]]'' which follows the continuity of the TV series (but [[Retcon|Ret Cons]] the last season of the show) rather than that of the previous [[
** Then a fifth movie called ''[[Highlander: The Source|Highlander the Source]]'' which follows on from ''Endgame''.
** Then a short [[Film]] called ''Highlander: Reunion'' which accepts the [[Canon]] of the TV series and ''Endgame'', but not ''The Source''.
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*** Characters will randomly appear with no back story and either killed off or never explained.
*** Retcons will occur in every continuity creating even more continuity's. This can be anything from a love interest we've never seen or heard about before being shoved for a new love interest we've never seen or heard about, who's related, as well as many [[DV Ds]] deleting important scenes only seen in theaters, deleted scenes, or out right reediting the entire movie due to the immense hatred of that sequel.
* ''[[Superman (film)|Superman Returns]]'', while set within the universe of the Christopher Reeve movies, takes place five years after the second movie and uses [[Canon Discontinuity]] to ignore the third and fourth [[
* ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]'' had at least two continuities. The first movie ends with J neuralizing K and taking L as a new partner. At the beginning of the second, we find L quit between movies, and the first third of the movie follows J trying to restore K's memories. In [[The Animated Series]], however, J, K, and L are all agents at the same time. There were a series of tie-in novels with J and L, but these could be slotted into the timespan between movies.
* The most recent incarnation of [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] in ''[[Casino Royale]]'' portrays Bond as a new and inexperienced agent. However, it is set in modern times, and therefore after every previous Bond [[Film]], and includes several characters that were later additions to the series of [[
** The movies are also a separate continuity to the original [[Ian Fleming]] novels.
** ''[[Never Say Never Again]]'' is also in a different continuity to the official EON films.
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** The American ''[[Casino Royale 1954]]'' could never fit into any sort of official James Bond continuity. [[Cultural Translation|Bond himself is an American CIA agent, and Clarence (Felix) Leiter is an English MI-5 agent.]]
* The direct-to-DVD ''Tinkerbell'' movie is almost a different continuity from the [[Disney Fairies]] series of books, with only a handful of characters and some concepts in common.
* ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' (2009): Explicitly set in an [[Alternate Timeline]] that exists parallel to the TV shows and previous ten [[
* The ''[[Godzilla]]'' series has the Showa, Heisei, and Millenium series, each a seperate continuity with the original 1954 [[Film]] being the only thing shared between them. In addition, each [[Film]] in the Millenium series is itself a seperate continuity (except for ''Against Mechagdzilla'' and ''Tokyo SOS'').
* The Cub raised at the end of ''[[The Lion King]]'' is purported to be male, as opposed to the female Kiara at the start Simba's Pride. The idea that the first cub was male was supported by a series of books released soon after the first movie, which includes Simba's son Kopa. The series wasn't written by [[Disney]] though.
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== Literature ==
* In an extreme case, ''none'' of the adaptations of ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' are compatible. There are nine adaptations: The book, the radio series, the TV series, the movie, the stage show, the comic, the LP album, the computer game, and the towel. In fact [[Douglas Adams]] once said that he deliberately went out of his way to make sure that every iteration conflicted with every other iteration.
* ''[[Dexter]]'' has so many changes in cast (anywhere from who's alive and who's dead at a given point, to who's doing what job, to gender of Dexter's child with Rita) and storyline it's simpler to treat the novels and the television series as
* Like the ''Sarah Connor Chronicles'' example below, the ''[[Terminator|T2]]: Future War'' series (written by S.M. Sterling) disregards the events of the third film and places Sarah, John and a German resistance fighter (who evidently was/becomes the base model for the T-800/850 series) fighting T-model endoskeletons in present day America, and hide out while the Future War begins.
* The ''Manifold'' series by [[Stephen Baxter]] features three different resolutions to the Fermi Paradox, each book a different universe.
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== Live Action TV ==
* When the original ''[[Doctor Who]]'' series was taken off the air, the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]] continued in the form of comics, and slightly later novels, then audio dramas and [[Web Original]] stories, which variously referenced, featured characters from, and often contradicted, the continuities of the other media. (Except, to confuse things further, when they ''didn't''; individual writers would often refer to their own stories regardless of what medium they were in.) Exactly which, if any, of these the new series takes as [[Canon]] is unknown. The [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] novel ''Human Nature'' by Paul Cornell was adapted [[Compressed Adaptation|and simplified]] into a two-part episode with a different Doctor with many of the themes removed, and a vastly reduced body count
* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' continues from ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' the movie, disregarding Devlin and Emmerich's backstory and the five novels based on it. And if the two movie [[Sequel|sequels]] to ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' had been made (not to be confused with the two movie [[Sequel|sequels]] to ''SG-1'', which actually ''were'' made), they would have disregarded both, resulting in yet a third continuity.▼
The final novel in the [[Eighth Doctor Adventures]] series, ''The Gallifrey Chronicles'', suggested that the complex events of the Eighth Doctor's lifespan led to the creation of three possible Ninth Doctors, implied to be the Ninth Doctors from the parody ''The Curse of Fatal Death'' ([[Rowan Atkinson]]), the web animation ''Scream of the Shalka'' ([[Richard E. Grant]]) and the TV Ninth Doctor ([[Christopher Eccleston]]).
* The ''[[Red Dwarf (novel)|Red Dwarf]]'' novels take place in a different continuity to the TV series, in many cases incorporating concepts from the TV series with a different spin (and vice versa). The first two novels (''Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers'' (1989) and ''Better Than Life'' (1990)) were written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor under the collective pen name Grant Naylor -- after their writing partnership split, both wrote a ''Red Dwarf'' novel individually (''Last Human'' (1995) by Naylor, and ''Backwards'' (1996) by Grant) which each acted as third novels in the series, effectively splitting the novel series into two [[Alternate Continuity|Alternate Continuities]].▼
▲* ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' continues from ''[[Stargate (film)|Stargate]]'' the movie, disregarding Devlin and Emmerich's backstory and the five novels based on it. And if the two movie [[
▲* The ''[[Red Dwarf (novel)|Red Dwarf]]'' novels take place in a different continuity to the TV series, in many cases incorporating concepts from the TV series with a different spin (and vice versa). The first two novels (''Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers'' (1989) and ''Better Than Life'' (1990)) were written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor under the collective pen name Grant
* ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' splits the Terminator franchise by taking the first two movies as backstory and [[Canon Discontinuity|almost completely ignoring the third]], apart from cannibalizing certain [[Plot]] elements (Sarah's cancer, a female Terminator, Judgment Day not averted). Then a fourth movie came out ''after'' the series, which has nothing to do with it and takes the third movie as [[Canon]].
** The constant alteration of the timeline makes EVERYTHING work.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* When the ''Star Fleet Battles'' game was established in 1979, it was based on the entirety of ''[[Star Trek]]'' [[Canon]] that existed at the time, which is to say [[Star Trek: The Original Series|the original series]], [[Star Trek: The Animated Series|the animated series]], and an assortment of [[Fan Fiction]]. As the [[Canon]] expanded and matured over the decades, the result was that SFB, which only had a license for said pre-1979 [[Canon]], came to be an
* The RPG of ''[[The Dresden Files (game)|The Dresden Files]]'' is '''mostly''' set in the same continuity of the books, but the conceit of the books (that Billy is writing it at Harry's behest to educate muggles about the supernatural) requires that Billy learn things that Dresden wouldn't tell ''anyone'' in the continuity of the books.
== Toys ==
* ''[[Transformers]]'' has had this since day 1; while [[Marvel]]'s original [[The Transformers (animation)|cartoon]] and [[The Transformers (Comic Book)|comic]] from 1984 share the same characters, setting, and premise, they tell completely different and irreconcilable stories, and new continuities keep sprouting to the extent that fans group them into [http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Continuity_family higher-order sets] to make sense of it all. Hasbro at one point [[
** Possibly re-canonised - Unicron, Primus and the big Thirteen are back in as we know and love them (With some minor changes to specifics).
* ''[[Monster High]]'' has several continuities: the doll's diaries, the cartoon series, and the novel series by Lisi Harrison. The diaries and the webisodes seem to follow the same plot line, and there is some debate over whether the TV specials are part of the same continuity as the webisodes. The novels, meanwhile, follow a completely different story.
* Every ''[[My Little Pony]]'' generation, and the cartoons, take place in an
== Video Games ==
* Most of the [[Final Fantasy]] games are set in different worlds from each other and most of the stories have nothing to do with each other.
* The ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series has one main continuity, but much ''[[Silent Hill]]'' media exists outside of it in mutually-exclusive sub-continuities. The movie exists in its own, ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'' exists in its own (both are divergent re-interpretations of the first game). The Play Novel and the older comics exist in their own continuities as well. Thankfully, the main continuity is given clear precedence over the splinters, hence, no [[Continuity Snarl]].
* ''[[Ultima Online]]'' is set in an
* The ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series has a few
''[[Metal Gear Acid]]'' is an Alternate Continuity based on ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]''. All it really has in common is a quasi-real-world setting, and the [[Main Character]], whose personality and [[Backstory]] are both softened slightly. By the second ''Acid'' they'd abandoned all premise of a real-world setting and thrown in lots of cyborgs, [[People Jars]] and all sorts of mayhem. This time {{spoiler|Solid Snake wasn't even the same character from [[Metal Gear Acid|the previous game]] - he looked the part and had the same name but turned out to be a biological machine made in Solid Snake's likeness}}.
* In a partially successful effort to salvage [read:[[Continuity Reboot|reboot]]] the [[Franchise Zombie|zombified]] ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]'' franchise, ''[[The Legend of Spyro Trilogy]]'' completely discards all continuity from the previous [[Video Game|games]] except the two [[Main Character|main characters]], Spyro and Sparx, who still go through major changes in appearance and personality. The developers have gone as far as calling the first [[Video Game|game]] ''A New Beginning'' to highlight this.
** They're clearly throwing in a lot of [[Shout-Out|shout outs]], with Sparx in ''A New Beginning'' eating butterflies, and the appearance of Hunter - originally a character in ''Spyro 2''.
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** It can be argued that the post-[[PS 1]] classic era games take place in an AU from the originals, due to several continuity and characterization differences.
* The [[Nasuverse]] in general.
** The ''[[Tsukihime]]'' [[Video Game|game]] has five character routes that cannot all be possible in the same universe. The [[Anime]] adaptation makes deviations of its own. The ''[[Melty Blood]]'' [[Fighting Game]] is based on a planned-but-unreleased route from the [[Visual Novel]]. Stories in the original novel's [[Sequel]], ''Kagetsu Tohya'', also follow different continuities from each other, following [[Video Game|game]] routes or just making up scenarios. After ''Kagetsu Tohya'' was made, the game's creator admitted the "[[Canon]]" route never made it into the original [[Visual Novel|game]]
[[Word of God]] has also stated that ''all'' the routes are technically [[Canon]] anyway, due to them being potential outcomes of the main scenario.
** ''[[Fate/stay night]]''- The [[Video Game|game]] has three radically different routes. The [[Anime]] mostly follows the main route, but mixes in elements and events from the other two. The [[Manga]] mostly follows the ''second'' route. And there's a [[Sequel]], ''[[Fate/hollow ataraxia]]'', which doesn't clearly indicate ''which'' route it follows. (The [[Mind Screw|nature of the story]] makes this possible, and it stays closest to the {{spoiler|Heaven's Feel}} route). However, no route has actually been outright declared as a "main" route, because all routes are technically canon as stated above.
** And then there's ''[[Kara no Kyoukai:|Kara no Kyoukai]]'', as well, which has several deviations between the novels and the anime, most notably Touko's appearance and the plot of the sixth novel/movie.
* The ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' franchise has multiple active continuities still getting releases, with even ''more'' continuities currently lying fallow. A full breakdown of all these continuities (and how they may or may not fit together) is available on the [[Shin Megami Tensei|SMT page]]
* ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' series originally began as an alternate universe of the original ''[[Fatal Fury]]''/''[[Art of Fighting]]'' [[Canon]] as an excuse to mix and match characters from both series without aging or de-aging anyone, but eventually evolved into its own continuity as the series' overarching storyline began to focus more on the series' original characters. The ''Maximum Impact'' and ''KOF EX'' games are both set in their own [[Alternate Continuity|alternate continuities]] from the main series.▼
The "original" SMT continuity is ''not'' the one that gets the lion's share of the focus these days; that honor goes to the Devil Summoner/Persona sub-series, which initially spun out of ''[[Shin Megami Tensei: if...]]''. It's the first branch of SMT to be truly successful overseas (''Persona 3'' and ''Persona 4'' both breaking six-figures sold overall), turning SMT into a legitimate [[Cash Cow Franchise]] for Atlus.
▲* ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' series originally began as an alternate universe of the original ''[[Fatal Fury]]''/''[[Art of Fighting]]'' [[Canon]] as an excuse to mix and match characters from both series without aging or de-aging anyone, but eventually evolved into its own continuity as the series' overarching storyline began to focus more on the series' original characters. The ''Maximum Impact'' and ''KOF EX'' games are both set in their own
* ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' went through a [[Continuity Reboot]] when Crystal Dynamics took over.
** And since then, it's spawned two
** If one takes into account all of the [[Video Game|game]] continuities, the [[The Movie|movie]]-verse and the comic-verse, there are at least six different ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' [[
* ''Virtua Quest'' is a [[Spin-Off]] [[Video Game|game]] from ''[[Virtua Fighter]]''. It is a RPG that takes place in the future about a boy who uses "Virtua Soul" to use digital versions of the Virtua Fighters to combat Judgement Six.
* Not only do the ''[[Pokémon]]'' [[Video Game|games]] themselves have various continuities - the three main ones being the main series RPGs on the [[Game Boy]] and [[Nintendo DS|DS]], the ''Mystery Dungeon'' series, and ''[[Pokémon Ranger]]'' - but even within the continuities it is often unclear how the [[Video Game|games]] are connected. Fans still debate over when ''Pokémon Colosseum'' and ''Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness'' take place, and the glaring gap between the first and second ''Pokémon Mystery Dungeon'' [[Video Game|games]] has everyone stumped.
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*** Even Gym Leaders are different if you compare the [[Video Game|games]] with [[Pokémon (anime)|the anime]] with ''[[Pokémon Special]]''. It's shorter to list the similarities than it is to list the differences.
* Giant spoiler warning for [[Ever 17]] to the extent if you know this ahead of time, story is ruined for you. {{spoiler|Subverted. All events of the original four paths actually happen plus some stuff they leave out to avoid ruining the [[Tomato Surprise|climax.]] They're tied together by happening on two different points in the timeline plus an attempted [[Tricked-Out Time|fix]] so that the ending would be less bittersweet/downer, depending on the route.}}
* The [[Spin-Off]] ''[[Klonoa]]'' titles are all set in
* ''[[Ghostbusters the Video Game]]'' considers the two ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' [[
* The ''[[Double Dragon]]'' games have many plot differences between their original arcade incarnations and their corresponding NES counterparts. However, every game in the series since the SNES-exclusive ''Super Double Dragon'' is stand-alone.
* Where do we even start with [[Sonic the Hedgehog]]? We have the [[Video Game|games]], we have [[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog|four]] [[Sonic Sat AM|separate]] [[Sonic Underground|cartoon]] [[Sonic X|series]] and we have a comic based on ''[[Sonic Sat AM|SatAM]]'' but later diverged into its own continuity. Then in the UK we also have the novels, a series of [[Choose Your Own Adventure]] books by the same writers but forming their own continuity (to add to the confusion, one of these is an [[Adaptation Expansion]] of the second [[Sega Genesis|Mega Drive]] [[Video Game|game]]), and a ''completely different'' [[Sonic the Comic|comic]] as well as a collection of stand-alone comic strips which ''aren't part of that continuity.'' And then there's the [[Manga]].
** Then there's the Sonic [[OVA]], as well as the debate as to whether or not everything post ''Sonic Adventure'' is its own [[Canon]] seperate from the earlier [[Video Game|games]], as well as the regional differences before pre-Sonic Adventure (such as Dr Eggman being called Dr Ivo Robotnik).
*** [[Sonic Generations]] confirmed that the early games and post-Adventure are the same canon.
** As for the [[Video Game|games]], those may even take place in two separate [[
* [[SNK]]/Playmore has released a bunch of [[No Export for You|Japan only]] cellphone games- many of them [[Dating Sim
* There are at least four different continuities in the ''[[Rayman]]'' games. The first game takes place in a surreal, cartoony world where everyone has [[Raymanian Limbs]]. Then there is the ''[[Rayman 2 (Video Game)]]'' universe that serves as the setting for all subsequent games (''Rayman M'', ''Rayman 3'' '''and''' including ''[[Raving Rabbids]]''; this is important later in this paragraph), a slightly more realistic fantasy realm. There are no ties to the universe or storyline from the first game and Rayman is now the only limbless character.<ref>A [[Cameo]] by the General from ''[[Tonic Trouble]]'' suggests that ''Tonic Trouble'' takes place in this universe too. ''Tonic Trouble'' takes place on a surreal version of Earth where everyone has [[Raymanian Limbs]], which flatly contradicts the slightly more realistic version of Earth we see in the ''Rabbids'' games, so let's keep things from getting too complicated and keep that out of the discussion, shall we?</ref> Then there is the [[Animated Adaptation|TV series]] which has yet another different cast and universe. The presence of [[Space Pirates|Admiral]] [[Captain Color Beard|Razorbeard]], the antagonist of ''Rayman2'', suggests that it might have tied into the main universe [[Too Good to Last|had it been allowed to run for more than four episodes]]. And then there is the fact that ''Rabbids'' was spun off into its own universe with ''[[Rabbids Go Home]]'', set on a contemporary Earth.<br />And the now upcoming game is... ''[[Rayman Origins]]'', a [[Prequel]] which appears to... wait for it... [[Canon Welding|weld the first two universes together]]. Does anyone else feel a [[Continuity Snarl]] coming up?
* ''[[Alone in The Dark]]: The New Nightmare'' is in a different continuity than the original series, but the 2008 [[Video Game|game]] is a direct [[Sequel]], with Carnby having been kept in stasis by Lucifer since 1938.
* ''[[Nie R]]'' is an
* ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' was a pretty awesome Wild West sandbox [[Video Game|game]] in its own right, but the creators apparently had a lot more cooked up for John Marston, because then ''[[Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare]]'' came out six months later. Same Wild West setting, but Marston now has to fight zombies in an
* '''[[F-Zero]]'' has its main continuity with ''F-Zero'', ''F-Zero X'' and ''F-Zero GX''. Its
* One of the more common explanations for why so little of PC-98 games have shown up since ''[[Touhou]]'' moved to Windows is that they're in a separate continuity. Though the PC-98 games [[Negative Continuity|barely had continuity]]...
* ''[[Tron 2.0]]'' was considered the sequel to ''[[Tron]]'', until it was rendered non-canon by ''[[Tron: Legacy]]''.
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== Web Original ==
* ''[[Red Panda Adventures]]''
* According to [[Word of God]], each ''[[Bunny Kill]]'' installment takes place in a continuity separate from the others.
* The rebooted [[Darwin's Soldiers]] RP on Furtopia (''not'' the first incarnation) takes place in a different continuity than the trilogy and the original first RP. In turn, the trilogy is a different continuity than Furtopia RPs.
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* ''[[Thundercats]]'' has ''[[Thundercats 2011]]''
* ''[[All Dogs Go to Heaven]]'' has a TV series that is completely different from both movies. It takes place in the time of the second movie, but Killer, a character from the first movie, is in it.
* ''[[The Emperor's New School]]'', the spin-off to ''[[The Emperor's New Groove]]'', [[Retcon
* The [[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]] episode states that all the movies, video games, alternate futures, and [[What If]]? episodes are all alternate timelines.
** Except Ben 10: Alien Swarm which even got two entire episodes that had the original characters from the movie and mentioned the events straight from the movie.
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