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{{quote|Continuity gets harder and harder to maintain the more stuff you write. At some point you just need to chuck it all in and accept the fact that in your universe [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] was a video game programmer ''and'' an Egyptian Pharaoh.
|David Morgan-Mar|[[Irregular Webcomic]] [
A [[Shared Universe]] can become a very confusing place, and the longer they exist, the more confusing they can become. As new creators come on board and take over, continuity eventually gets tangled, convoluted, and increasingly difficult to pick through. Sometimes, it gets to the point that not even the fans who write [[The Other Wiki/Laconic|Wikipedia]] articles understand what is and isn't in [[Canon/Laconic|Canon]].
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It goes something like this: in the beginning, [[The Verse|The Universe]] is created, and it's a blank slate. Everything's new; as such, the creators can do whatever they want to do, create whatever they want to create, throw everything in and have fun doing so. Whatever works, works and whatever doesn't, doesn't. So far, so good.
However, the whole idea of a [[Shared Universe]] is that different creative teams will eventually take over. Sometimes Writer A of Title A will leave and Writer B will take over, while at other times Writer A's character will guest star or make a [[The Cameo|
The new creative team will also want to make their distinct mark on the 'verse and their readership; as such, they'll have their own things that they want to add, [[Armed with Canon|things they disapprove of and want to remove or ignore.]]
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When ''another'' creative team comes along, they'll change things even more; they may even completely override the changes made by the previous team to include things that they want to see or to reassert a previous status quo. Unfortunately, sometimes [[Unbuilt Trope|what they regard as being fundamental to the original continuity was never even there to begin with]]!
The longer that this goes on and as more teams take over, the more chance there is of a '''Continuity Snarl'''. The more [[Retcon
There is also a bigger chance of certain things simply being forgotten and overlooked (and then possibly rediscovered and revived). As the process continues, more things become confused, convoluted and [[Continuity Lock Out|impenetrable]]. Weird inconsistencies and gratuitous [[retcon]]s proliferate. Drastic changes opening up dozens of potentially fascinating story-lines are introduced... and then promptly forgotten about and left hanging (or immediately reverted) by another new team, which goes on to do something completely different.
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* ''[[Dragon Ball]]'', due to the filler episodes that are contradicted later (like Goku's pod being destroyed by Piccolo, only to be used later by Capsule Corp.) and the [[Non-Serial Movie]]s that are still referenced later, but can't possibly fit into the show's timeline. (Gohan meets the dragon he rescues in Movie 3, but how could the Goku stop the Tree of Might from destroying Earth when Goku's either dead, fighting Nappa and Vegeta, in a hospital recovering, or en route to Namek? And if this is Garlic Jr. from Movie 1 who's pouring the Black Water Mist, then why did no-one recognise Gohan near the beginning of ''Z''?) This leads to some glaring problems, like a character who was dead being seen in a bar drinking.
* Despite mostly having only one writer, the classic ''[[Astro Boy (manga)|Astro Boy]]'' series turned into a first class continuity snarl towards the end. See, what happened was that in the final episode of the original anime, Astro died performing a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to deliver a device into the center of the sun to stop it from dying. Shortly after the anime ended, [[Osamu Tezuka]] began a new Astro Boy story as a newspaper strip in the Sankei Newspaper, which featured Astro's melted carcass being recovered by time-traveling aliens and brought back to life before winding up trapped in the distant past (the readers' present). Because Astro had never died in the manga, however, when the collected edition came out Tezuka redid the first chapter that involved Astro, alive and well getting thrown back in time when the alien timeship crashes on Earth instead. Tezuka then produced three more different, contradictory stories of Astro's future in various publications: a pilot for a second Astro Boy series that never got off the ground which also takes place after the end of the anime where Astro is found by a completely different race of time traveling aliens, upgraded into a new body with time travel capabilities and sent back to Earth to find the era he came from; A one-shot nostalgia piece in a men's magazine, yet another followup to the anime where Astro is resurrected by [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] and taken to a planet millions of light years from Earth from which he may never return, so Ochanomizu and the rest of the Ministry Of Science staff create a replacement, who turns out to be a lazy sex maniac because he was designed to be more "Human"; and finally, "The End Of Astroboy", which doesn't mention his death and simply has him in a display case in a robot museum due to being supplanted by more advanced robots and then freed by some human rebels to help them fight against said robots who have taken over the world.
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* The ''[[Kinnikuman]]'' manga has a rather bad example: when Geronimo attacks [[Big Bad|Akuma Shogun]], we see a group of choujin watching Geronimo's [[Curb Stomp Battle|beat-down]], with ''Geronimo being in the group.'' In other words, Geronimo's watching himself get beaten.
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
▲== Comic Books ==
* [[Post-Crisis]], [[Hawkman]] is the poster child for this trope. Originally, the ''Hawkworld'' mini-series was supposed to retell the origins of the [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] Hawkman, but after it became a success, DC commissioned a ''Hawkworld'' regular series, taking place where the mini-series left off, resulting in a total reboot of Hawkman's continuity (a la the post-Crisis reboot of [[Wonder Woman]]), despite the fact that the Silver Age Hawkman was already established in post-Crisis continuity, and prior to the relaunch, briefly joined the [[Justice League of America|Justice League International]]. This was followed up with several attempts at fixes, each of which simply made the problem worse. Hawkman's continuity was described, according to DC editor Mike Carlin, as "radioactive". In the wake of [[Zero Hour]], the various incarnations collapsed into the "Hawkgod", who was essentially an [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the Hawk-Continuity Snarl. After this, DC editorial declared the character [[Exiled From Continuity|off-limits]] to the writers from 1996-2001.
** The cover to ''Hawkman'' (Vol. 3) #27, published in December 1995, shown above, pretty much describes Hawkman's continuity at the time.
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* As the Batman franchise was one of the few properties not completely rebooted during DC's ''[[New 52]]'' initiative, numerous continuity problems have arisen over the bits of Bat-history that were altered. A particular source of contention is how [[Batgirl (2000 comic book)|Cassandra Cain]] and [[Batgirl 2009|Stephanie Brown]] could fit into the new, condensed five year timeline given some of the statements made in the new Batgirl title. Though it has been confirmed that Cain will appear in ''[[Grant Morrisons Batman|Batman Inc.]]'' at some point, how her history could be reconciled has not yet been mentioned.
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* Averted (so far as of July 2020) with [[The Teraverse]] (and its super-series ''[[A Brane of Extraordinary Women]]''). Despite having a dozen or more writers continually adding in new sources and elements to this [[Mega Crossover]], there is sufficient coordination to maintain a consistent history, sometimes down to the day, and implement changes and expansions across multiple story lines.
== [[Film]] ==
* In the process of creating prequels for the ''[[X-Men (film)|X-Men]]'' film series, different creative teams have introduced a number of discrepancies in the franchise - in fact, the only reason they're meant to be in the same continuity is the presence of [[Wolverine]] in all five films and the character of William Stryker. Almost all of the films have continuity snarls with other installments:
** Emma Frost is introduced as a woman in her late 20's/early 30's in ''[[X-Men: First Class|First Class]]'' (which takes place in 1962), but is seen as a teenager in ''[[X Men Origins: Wolverine|Origins]]'' (which chronologically happens 17 years later, during the Three Mile Island incident in 1979).
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* Minor by comparison to most of the other examples, but Tim Burton's ''[[Batman (film)|Batman]]'' featured a black Harvey Dent, whereas when he was used as a character in the Joel Schumacher-directed sequels, he was depicted as white. Or at least, [[Two-Faced|half of him is white]].
== [[Literature]] ==▼
* Who is [[King Arthur]]'s greatest knight: Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival, Sir Galahad, or King Pellinore? Did you even know that in many of the earliest tales, it is Sir Gawain, without question? (And before that, it was ''Mordred as a good guy''.)▼
** And what about Sir Griflet? Originally one of Arthur's most loyal knights, he was pretty much supplanted by Sir Bedivere.▼
** And Lancelot, the one knight that everyone knows, isn't even part of the "original cast". He was originally the star of his own set of adventures and [[Intercontinuity Crossover|only got mixed in with the other knights along the way]]. Along the way he went from a mentally-unstable [[The Berserker|berserker]] built like a barrel on short legs to [[Prince Charming]].▼
*** According to [[Peter David]], Lancelot was "the first Mary Sue." This certainly explains his (or rather his reincarnation's) treatment in his novel ''[[Knight Life]]''.▼
** And Morgan Le Fey went from being a benevolent sorceress who had saved Arthur's life on multiple occasions to a vindictive [[Yandere]] bent on breaking up Arthur/Guinevere to the mother of the [[Big Bad]] to the [[Big Bad]] herself. And even after Mordred was [[retcon]]ned into being her son, he originally wasn't by Arthur. And then the whole [[Brother-Sister Incest]] thing got added in.▼
*** And along came [[Nasuverse|Kinoko Nasu]]. Isn't this a [[Fate/Zero|twist of]] [[Fate/stay night|Fate]]? Excuse the [[Incredibly Lame Pun]] there.▼
** Modern writers who try to keep things relatively sane while using many, many sources for Arthurian myth use this sequence: Gawain was one of Arthur's best friends, probably one of the first Knights of the Round Table, and by far the most [[Badass]] knight in Arthur's court - but he had a ''severe'' problem with losing his temper, and would end up losing to lesser knights in duels because he would get angry and clumsy, so Arthur never chose him to be his Second in Command; Lancelot was the Champion Arthur had been looking for to sit at his left hand, because he was more level-headed than Gawain and nearly as skilled - problem is, the guy was a little too interested in Guinevere, and we all know where that led; Galahad, the son of Lancelot, became Arthur's second and final Champion, who was basically as skilled as Gawain, and as level-headed and cunning as his father, making him the greatest knight to ever live - ''his'' only downside was that he was more loyal to his faith than to his king, and once the Grail showed up he and several other knights packed up and left to find it, though he did return later. Percival is considered the most noble of knights, and lived the code of chivalry to a "t," so only both he and Galahad received the Grail, but wasn't as strong as any of the other three knights, so he was never a "Champion." Mordred was never a "Champion," either; rather, he was a genius both in leadership and in battle, making him Arthur's favorite to succeed him, and so earned the seat at Arthur's right hand at the round table - but Arthur caught wind of Mordred's evil ambitions, and through any number of events (based on the author at the time), a schism formed between them (probably from Arthur's exiling of Mordred), and Arthur chose Sir Constantine to be his successor right before/during/after the Battle of Camlann. Yes, it takes this much space just to clarify 5 peoples' places in modern Arthurian myth. Continuity Snarl indeed...▼
** In the very earliest stratum [[One-Man Army|Cai]] (Kay) was ''easily'' the foremost of Arthur's warband.▼
▲== Literature ==
* Because he was constantly revising his unpublished works, [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] managed to create a Continuity Snarl ''all by himself'' (which is probably why they were unpublished). His son Christopher edited many of them together into ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', trying his best to come up with a version that didn't contradict itself.
* The [[Land of Oz]] suffered from continuity problems from [[L. Frank Baum]]'s hands. This included whether they used money; whether they could die; and where Ozma came from.
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:Furthermore, Lovecraft aimed to create the feel of ancient myths by adding in deliberate inconsistencies, depending on what source the characters of a particular story gain their information. There's at least three different species as candidates for the title of the Great Old Ones, for example, as well as the more famous interpretation which Derleth embraced that the name refers to unique creatures of immense power.
* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] is so large almost no fans have read even most of it. The lack of clarity on what is and isn't canon doesn't help either.
* [[Discworld]] suffers somewhat from this, but it is [[Justified Trope|explained in-universe]] as the results of Time shattering and having to be stitched back together by the [[
* In his later years, Kir Bulychyov admitted that he never reread any books in his ''[[Alice, Girl from the Future|Adventures of Alyssa]]'' cycle, which would explain the many, many continuity problems that emerged over time. Krys, a recurring villain, had about three different (contradictory) origins and six different explanations of how his powers worked, his companion, Vesel'chak U, gained and lost powers, the chronology has been anything but consistent and don't even get started on when half of the novels were supposed to take place relative to each other. The fact that Kir Bulychyov died a few years ago doesn't help at all.
* Chris Roberson aims for this by intention—as a kid, he loved reading comic books and seeing all the ways they interconnected. Pretty much everything he writes that isn't a tie-in to ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' is in a single setting, but he explicitly uses the "many worlds" model of quantum mechanics, and [[For Want of a Nail|slight deviations lead to massive differences over a relatively short period of time]]. Attempting to fit his works into a single continuity would be arguably meaningless, and it's uncertain whether even he knows what he's doing half the time.
* An entire cottage industry has sprung up around trying to wrestle the Sherlock Holmes stories into
** They [[Fan Nickname|call themselves]] the [[wikipedia:Baker Street Irregulars|Baker Street Irregulars]] after the street urchins Holmes often calls upon for help. Basically, their version of [[Star Trek|Trekkies]].
* The ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' mini-novels made by Michael Teitelbaum and Ron Zalme; the novels clearly take place in the [[Sonic Sat AM|SatAM]] universe, yet the Robotnik used in it is the one from ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]''. How ''that'' fits into continuity is anyone's guess.
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* In [[Feline Wizards|The Book Of Night With Moon]] Tom and Carl are stated as Advisories, which would put it before the second book in the other series. Then Nita shows up... and says that Dairine has passed Ordeal, which is the plot of the ''third'' book!
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==▼
* Countless ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fans learnt to shudder when the topic of what exact decade(s) the UNIT stories were set in is raised, before the new series demonstrated how much worse it could get. Precisely when the UNIT stories were set may be unclear, but at least we know which order they took place in. With the new series and [[Spin-Off
▲== Live-Action TV ==
▲* Countless ''[[Doctor Who]]'' fans learnt to shudder when the topic of what exact decade(s) the UNIT stories were set in is raised, before the new series demonstrated how much worse it could get. Precisely when the UNIT stories were set may be unclear, but at least we know which order they took place in. With the new series and [[Spin-Off|spin offs]], we don't even know that. There are sound arguments that ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures|Revenge of the Slitheen]]'' happened after "Smith and Jones", and equally sound arguments it happened first.
** The Eighth Doctor's continuity doesn't even try to make sense simultaneously. The only definitively canon story is [[Doctor Who/Recap/TVM the TV Movie|the telemovie]], for [[Eighth Doctor Adventures|the novels]], [[Big Finish Doctor Who|audios]] and [[Doctor Who Magazine|comics]] made it clear early on that they're not concerned with outright contradicting each other for the sake of telling their own stories.
** There's the Cybersnarl created by the incompetent attempts to tie "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S22/E01 Attack of the Cybermen|Attack of the Cybermen]]" in with "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S4/E02 The Tenth Planet|The Tenth Planet]]", "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S5/E01 The Tomb of the Cybermen|The Tomb of the Cybermen]]" '''and''' "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S6/E03 The Invasion|The Invasion]]".
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**** Another possible theory which is occasionall kicked around in the fandom is that since we know, due to classic-era episodes like [[Doctor Who/Recap/S7/E04 Inferno|Inferno]] plus the events in various new-era Series 2 episodes, that the TARDIS ''can'' slip "sideways in time" into alternate-history universes, it's entirely possible that the TARDIS has been doing so all along without the Doctor realizing it.
** In the immortal words of a leading who-fan: "Continuity? What continuity?"
* As mentioned above, ''[[Star Trek]]'' also suffers from this, despite efforts from the writers to avoid this.
** A particularly embarrassing debate is the question of why Klingons look completely different in [[Star Trek: The Original Series|the original series]] to the rest. It was [[Lampshaded]] in one ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' episode, but deliberately wasn't explained (the ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'' writers [[Word of God|stated]] they realised any explanation, especially a virus-based one (which they had considered but abandoned) would be underwhelming, forced and ridiculous so decided to acknowledge it in a humorous way but not insult the fanbase with a horrible technobabble solution). ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' decided to create an explanation regardless.
** The change in their MO from "The Russians <small>IN SPACE!</small>" to [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]s is hinted at in one recently-affected Klingon mentioning having felt fear for the first time since childhood. Apparently they got more underhanded because their personalities were also altered to be more human.
** In the prequel comic to ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'' (2009), ''Star Trek: Countdown'', it's stated that Nero's crew ritualistically disfigured themselves as a demonstration of mourning for their lost homeworld. You can see in the very first scene with Nero that he has both pointed ears intact, while later in the movie one ear has had the point cut off. The same scene also has much more prominent brow ridges on Nero's face than later in the movie, so it's likely that distorting their ridges was another part of the mourning, along with the tattoos.
** Furthermore, the tattoos sported by Nero's crew are given an explanation: Romulan tradition states that when a family member passes away, they apply dyes to their skins, and mourn. When the patterns fade, they move on with their lives. Nero's crew tattooed the symbols onto their bodies, so that they would never move on from the loss of Romulus.
** And then there's the Eugenics Wars. In the 1967 episode "Space Seed", it's established that the Earth was devastated in [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future|the 1990s]] by an epic war fought against [[Beware the Superman|genetically-engineered supermen]]. Trouble is, ''Star Trek'' was still going strong by the time the actual '90s rolled around. And some episodes made in that time and afterwards seem to suggest that the '90s happened like they did in [[Real Life]]. But the Eugenics Wars are still [[Canon]] and an important part of ''Star Trek''{{'}}s [[Backstory]] as it's the origin of [[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan|Khan]]. This has never really been officially resolved, although author Greg Cox wrote a series of ''Star Trek'' novels covering the Eugenics Wars, depicting them as happening in secret and trying to match it all up with real history.
** Vulcan telepathy is treated differently by ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' compared to the other series. Despite other series having established it was a common accepted part of Vulcan society for thousands of years (TNG's "Gambit" establishes it's been part of Vulcan society for well over 2,000 years), in "Enterprise" it's considered much rarer, much more stigmatised, to the point where the mind-meld is commonly believed to be only possible by a very few. This contrasts to other series' having Vulcans being very aware of their own wide-spread telepathic history to the point where they knew it was being used in psionic battles before Surak's reformations and pieces of psionic resonators were established museum items.
* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'': In the season 1 episode "The Hamburger Prostulate" mentions that Sheldon is allergic to cats, but later episodes mention that he had a cat when he was a kid. "The Plimpton Stimulation" even states that getting a pet was against the "Roommate Agreement" unless it was necessary, like a Seeing Eye Dog.
** Possibly lampshaded in "The Zazzy Substitution" (Season 4, Ep 3) where Sheldon reacts to his breakup with Amy by getting a cat ... then several more. 25 in all.
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** Not only that, but they had a Christmas episode in each of the seasons and a few episodes that would take up several months to a whole year.
** One episode starts with the new year and ends with the next year.
** In a Season 3 episode, Hawkeye talks about the death of Doctor Charles Drew and says it was "last April." Drew
** A few episodes later in Season 3, Hawkeye says he's been in Korea for two years. If he got there when the war broke out in June 1950, which doesn't seem likely since he was drafted, that would make it some time in 1952 at the earliest.
* In ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'', Maddie asks London's help to pass gym when she realizes that, despite her [[Rich Bitch|pampered lifestyle]], the rich girl is in great shape. In the sequel show, Suite Life On Deck, London suddenly needs Zack's help to pass gym.
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* Frasier Crane famously told his friends at ''Cheers'' that his father was a research scientist and had died years before. This was Handwaved in his [[Spin-Off]] series ''Frasier'' as having been something he said because he was angry at his dad that day, but it was in fact not something that was said once; his characterizations of his father and his identifying himself as an orphan took place consistently over quite some time during his years in Boston.
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], [[Myth and Legend]] ==
▲* Who is [[King Arthur]]'s greatest knight: Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival, Sir Galahad, or King Pellinore? Did you even know that in many of the earliest tales, it is Sir Gawain, without question? (And before that, it was ''Mordred as a good guy''.)
▲** And what about Sir Griflet? Originally one of Arthur's most loyal knights, he was pretty much supplanted by Sir Bedivere.
▲** And Lancelot, the one knight that everyone knows, isn't even part of the "original cast". He was originally the star of his own set of adventures and [[Intercontinuity Crossover|only got mixed in with the other knights along the way]]. Along the way he went from a mentally-unstable [[The Berserker|berserker]] built like a barrel on short legs to [[Prince Charming]].
▲*** According to [[Peter David]], Lancelot was "the first Mary Sue." This certainly explains his (or rather his reincarnation's) treatment in his novel ''[[Knight Life]]''.
▲** And Morgan Le Fey went from being a benevolent sorceress who had saved Arthur's life on multiple occasions to a vindictive [[Yandere]] bent on breaking up Arthur/Guinevere to the mother of the [[Big Bad]] to the [[Big Bad]] herself. And even after Mordred was [[retcon]]ned into being her son, he originally wasn't by Arthur. And then the whole [[Brother-Sister Incest]] thing got added in.
▲*** And along came [[Nasuverse|Kinoko Nasu]]. Isn't this a [[Fate/Zero|twist of]] [[Fate/stay night|Fate]]? Excuse the [[Incredibly Lame Pun]] there.
▲** Modern writers who try to keep things relatively sane while using many, many sources for Arthurian myth use this sequence: Gawain was one of Arthur's best friends, probably one of the first Knights of the Round Table, and by far the most [[Badass]] knight in Arthur's court - but he had a ''severe'' problem with losing his temper, and would end up losing to lesser knights in duels because he would get angry and clumsy, so Arthur never chose him to be his Second in Command; Lancelot was the Champion Arthur had been looking for to sit at his left hand, because he was more level-headed than Gawain and nearly as skilled - problem is, the guy was a little too interested in Guinevere, and we all know where that led; Galahad, the son of Lancelot, became Arthur's second and final Champion, who was basically as skilled as Gawain, and as level-headed and cunning as his father, making him the greatest knight to ever live - ''his'' only downside was that he was more loyal to his faith than to his king, and once the Grail showed up he and several other knights packed up and left to find it, though he did return later. Percival is considered the most noble of knights, and lived the code of chivalry to a "t," so only both he and Galahad received the Grail, but wasn't as strong as any of the other three knights, so he was never a "Champion." Mordred was never a "Champion," either; rather, he was a genius both in leadership and in battle, making him Arthur's favorite to succeed him, and so earned the seat at Arthur's right hand at the round table - but Arthur caught wind of Mordred's evil ambitions, and through any number of events (based on the author at the time), a schism formed between them (probably from Arthur's exiling of Mordred), and Arthur chose Sir Constantine to be his successor right before/during/after the Battle of Camlann. Yes, it takes this much space just to clarify 5 peoples' places in modern Arthurian myth. Continuity Snarl indeed...
▲** In the very earliest stratum [[One-Man Army|Cai]] (Kay) was ''easily'' the foremost of Arthur's warband.
* If you look at the pantheon of any ancient civilization close enough you're bound to find these. Because of:
** A. Different versions of the same myth by different writers
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* Was Amaterasu conceived by Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto while the latter was still alive? Or was Amaterasu the by-product of Izanagi washing himself of the filth from Yomi? The Kojiki and Nihon Shoki both say different things. And say nothing of the myth where she sends her grandson to rule over the world...
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==▼
* The [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]]'s "[[Kane (wrestling)|Kane]]" character, whose official life story has him having been a hopelessly-insane burn victim in an asylum at the same time he was supposed to have been hanging out in college and going to parties with his sweetheart Katie. Further complicated by the storyline of his "[[The Undertaker|brother]]", who had a whole angle where he [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|Broke the Fourth Wall]] and "went out of character". The whole thing got so complicated that they had to have somebody write a book (titled ''Journey Into Darkness'' if one should want to look it up) in an attempt to explain it.▼
▲== Professional Wrestling ==
▲* The [[WWE]]'s "[[Kane (wrestling)|Kane]]" character, whose official life story has him having been a hopelessly-insane burn victim in an asylum at the same time he was supposed to have been hanging out in college and going to parties with his sweetheart Katie. Further complicated by the storyline of his "[[The Undertaker|brother]]", who had a whole angle where he [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|Broke the Fourth Wall]] and "went out of character". The whole thing got so complicated that they had to have somebody write a book (titled ''Journey Into Darkness'' if one should want to look it up) in an attempt to explain it.
** [[The Undertaker]] himself tends to be mildly rebooted when he gets a gimmick change. Different personas don't often directly reference older ones, but this is a double-edged sword; most glaring is when the American Badass started out with the Undertaker doing a worked shoot to sell the idea that he wasn't supernatural ''in'' character as well as out, so he could come back as a leather-clad biker, only for Kane to ''kill him'' so he could be ''resurrected as undead.''
** Occasionally a reference is made to their childhood home burning down, but which brother is responsible depends on who's Heel and who's Face at the time. If they're both Face, it was <s>an accident</s> [[Paul Bearer]]'s fault.
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** The kicker? The Black Scorpion was created to give Sting an opponent ''other than Ric Flair.''
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==▼
▲== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]''. The setting is ''deliberately'' designed to take into account the possibility of Continuity Snarl by making the tech [[Schizo-Tech|naturally variable]] and everything told is either [[Unreliable Narrator|from skewed viewpoints, propaganda, or possibly inaccurate documents, reports, or histories.]] Its creators' pronouncement is "Everything written about 40k is ''canon,'' but it isn't necessarily ''true.''
** Fortunately, trying to keep up with the plot isn't really the point.
** Even then, the adaptations manage to break it when someone toesn't bother to check the basic premises. Such as... [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Emperor_Class_Battleship Emperor-class battleships] don't launch Space Marine drop pods, and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlRfPQP4uhA that was probably close to two full chapters they just flung out there]. It ''does'' carry 8 squadrons of small craft. The number of actual vehicles depends on the craft size, and if we are to believe ''Battlefleet Koronus'', this translates to 160 Fury Interceptors or 320 Lightnings - since the drop pods are even smaller, it's feasible that it ''could'' carry, say, 640. The problem? This would clearly go far beyond simple support action, while the Astartes forces are completely separated (including their own spaceships) and are neither designed nor allowed to be integrated with other forces (such as Navy) like this.
== [[Video Games]] ==▼
▲== Video Games ==
* A very jarring example is ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]] Infinity: Blood Tides of Lh'owon''. In the end of the second game, the Pfhor, an alien slaver race, rather than facing defeat, decide to destroy Lh'owon instead of letting the humans have time to evacuate. Their method is using a weapon that even the most powerful known force in the galaxy is afraid of. It basically causes the sun to go nova early. As Durandal points out in the last terminal, there's an old S'pht (Native race that the Pfhor enslaved) myth that the sun has a god in it capable of destroying the universe, but that doesn't matter much, as the Pfhor army and navy occupying the planet are destroyed. Cue ''Marathon Infinity'', where almost none of the events summed up in the final screen of ''Marathon 2'', such as the ultimate destruction of the Pfhor, disappearance of Durandal, and evacuation of Lh'owon happened. In fact, the only thing that is even referenced is the final terminal. The god turns out to be an [[Eldritch Abomination]], and the player has to find a way to stop him from being released.
** It should be noted that the continuity snarl of Infinity was deliberate. {{spoiler|The player is actually jumping between a series of alternate timelines, attempting to find one in which he can successfully contain said Eldritch Abomination.}}
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* The Blaze/Silver/Nega issue in the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series. In ''[[Sonic Rush Series]]'', Blaze is from an alternate dimension. In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 video game)|Sonic '06]]'' she is from the future (and seems out of character). Additionally, due to that fact she was from the future, she could be REAL version of Blaze, who isn't born until later. The other one DID come from an alternate universe...
** Later on, in the DS version of ''[[Sonic Colors|Colors]]'' (which may or may not be canon), Blaze appears alongside Silver during the third mission on Sweet Mountain with hints that these two have worked together in the past, making this most likely the '''06'' Blaze (who was Silver's best friend).
** And ''then'' there is ''[[Sonic Generations|Generations]]''. Blaze is first seen at Sonic's birthday party interacting with Cream and her in-game character profile notes that she's from another dimension, indicating that this is the same Blaze from ''Rush''. As a [[Continuity Nod]] ([[Reset Button|of sorts]]) to ''{{'}}06'', Blaze is found in Crisis City. Here's where things get wonky. After Sonic completes the Crisis City Act 2 mission "Blaze: Piercing the Flames", Blaze will remark, "I never thought I'd find myself in Crisis City again," bringing up the question of ''how'' exactly Blaze knew of a place that '''a)''' another version of herself visited and '''b)''' existed in a timeline that was ''erased from history''.
*** It was
** Additionally, both Silver and Eggman Nega (characters with prominent ties to Blaze, but connected to her by different games) are drawn into this snarl as well, as the two appear in the ''Rivals'' series--''sans'' Blaze. Here, Silver is still from the future, but Nega (established in ''Rush'' as Eggman's parallel self from the same dimension Blaze is from) is now a ''descendant'' of Eggman, embittered by how Eggman's failures have tarnished the family name in the future and is now an ''enemy'' of Eggman instead of working with him. Later on, Nega reappears in ''Rush Adventure'' and ''Rivals 2'' with the conflicting backstories of his appearances between ''Rush'' and ''Rivals''. It's implied that (due to '''06'' slamming down on the [[Reset Button]] until it ''cracked'') Silver now hails from the ''Rivals'' future and Blaze is from ''Rush'' (with no official word on Nega with his lack of appearances since), but Silver is still the Rival Battle for the Modern era of ''Generations'' (which takes place in Crisis City, no less) and {{spoiler|the ending of ''Generations'' has him and Blaze briefly chatting it up before everyone says their goodbyes to Classic Sonic and Tails.}}
* The [[Nintendo DS]] [[Updated Rerelease]] of ''[[Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'' featured an extra, fifth case which takes place in between ''Ace Attorney'' and ''Justice For All'' {{spoiler|as evidenced by Maya still being away at Kurain Villiage training}} wherein Phoenix and Edgeworth work together to assist Ema and Lana Skye in their legal case. However, when Edgeworth reappears in Justice For All's fourth and final case, Phoenix claims not to have seen him since {{spoiler|the fourth case of Ace Attorney where Miles was accused of murder}} and Edgeworth supports this by claiming to have left the country right after said events; neither of them seeming to remember their work together on the Skye trial. This could simply be explained away as a case of [[Canon Discontinuity]] by stating that the fifth case of Ace Attorney never really happened in the series proper, due to it being an addition for the remake. But, Ema is integrated with the official continuity in [[Fan Nickname|the Apollo Justice arc]] by having her appear and explain Wright's involvement with her sister's case, thus making Phoenix's and Edgeworth's reactions to each other in Justice for All seem odd in retrospect.
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* ''[[Ōkami|Okami]]'' may only be a 2-game series, but it has one thing it can't agree with itself on. ''[[Ōkamiden|Okamiden]]'' introduces a Akuro, who is the [[Big Bad]] of the game. Now, dialogue when he's introduced heavily implies that he is the successor of the previous game's [[Big Bad]], Yami. But later, the Knowing Jewel claims that he merely used Yami as a vessel. Keep in mind that Akuro didn't exist in the first game, and that both of these versions of what Akuro is come from the ''same game!'' Jeez!
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Drowtales]]''' rolling [[Retcon]] (repeatedly sequentially updating older chapters with new art and story) causes chaos for many fans' understanding of the comic's backstory, and there are ongoing debates on the forums as to what formerly canon information is current canon and what isn't.
* ''[[The
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Whateley Universe]]'': Does the magic department offer introductory classes for people with no previous magical ability? In one story, a magically inclined member of the school board (who, presumably, would know) explicitly says no. And yet, Ayla will be studying magic for the first time in the spring.
** A partial answer now exists: You need to be able to gather the energies of Magic in some way to take the courses in Magic (and it's explicitly noted that there are (inefficient) ways a normal human can do so).
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** Amusingly, Spoony's explanation for him is "There is no continuity, there is only Insano."
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* For all that's said about the inconsistencies between the Unicron Trilogy of the ''[[Transformers]]'' franchise (''[[Transformers Armada|Armada]], Energon,'' and ''Cybertron''), the main, original, ''Transformers'' [http://tfwiki.net/w2/images2/1/1d/Continuities.png time-line] is even worse. There starts out with two distinct main branches, the original comic and animated series, but then along comes ''[[Beast Wars]]'' and ''Beast Machines'' that uses elements from both series simultaneously. Add that to the splintering off done by the ''Dreamwave'' ongoing series, and you just have to wonder how all of these things could possibly co-exist together.
** The aforementioned series? In Japan, ''Cybertron'' is ''Galaxy Force'', and it appears it's unrelated to its Japanese predecessors, ''Micron Legend'' and ''Superlink.'' The US version tries to tie the two together, but there are still some problems, so a comic was produced that chalked all of this up to a big warp in time and space... even though some minor retcons and a few lines of explanation saying where the older characters might have gone to would have sufficed. Yeah, it wouldn't have been perfect, but come on, was it really necessary... especially since they've already let the original timeline rage out of control?
** Worse, the show itself mentions none of this, and we're left with plot holes big enough for Unicron to fly through. The biggest example is this: when Optimus and Leobreaker first combine, everyone is in total and absolute shock at the impossible - robots combining - happening. ''Guess what the main gimmick of both ''Armada'' and ''Energon'' was?'' (Hint: In Japan, Energon was called Super ''Link.'')
*** Oh, it gets worse: Takara has now decided that ''Galaxy Force'' ''is'' in continuity with ''Micron Legend'' and ''Superlink'', just as ''Cybertron'' is in continuity with ''Armada'' and ''Energon''. (It should be noted, however, that many characters in Galaxy Force do not share names with anyone in Micron Legend and Super Link, whereas Cybertron, in a manner similar to Robots in Disguise, named many characters after familiar ones. This makes the Japanese Continuity Snarl and the American one ''different'' - sharing [[The Verse]] doesn't make single characters out of the Micron Legend and Super Link characters and whoever in Galaxy Force they most resemble.
**** What makes it worse is that it suffers from Xorneto syndrome (see X-Men example) in that the right hand seems to not know what the left hand is doing. ''All'' of the Unicron Trilogy's continuity problems could be solved with the "black hole's effect on the multiverse makes Cybertron the [[Post-Crisis]] version of [[The Verse]]" statement... but that didn't stop ''everyone'' with the ability to create official material from explaining their own pet peeve a different way, explaining some things that didn't need explaining, and making the bigger problems all the more glaring.
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* ''[[Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation]]'' does this to previous works in the [[Care Bears]] franchise, from having the Care Bear Cousins grow up with the rest of the Care Bears, instead of separately in ''[[The Care Bears Movie]]''.
== [[Real Life]] ==▼
▲== Real Life ==
* Trying to keep track of everything that happened after the death of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander of Macedon (aka the Great)]] is almost impossible for anyone, even those with higher degrees in Classical History. The scale of the political maneuvering between his putative successors is too large to summarize. Suffice to say that one Classical Historian has described the carnage and politics between Macedon, Persia, the Ptolomaic Empire, and all the others, as a 'Macedonian Soap Opera'.
* Similarly, the Mexican Revolution. Once the United States got involved, it gets even more confusing because the [[William Howard Taft|Taft]] and [[Woodrow Wilson|Wilson]] administrations supported opposite sides of the conflict. And this is leaving out historilogical debates over the whole mess.
* [[wikipedia:
** As a result of a [[Gambit Pileup]] that's been going on for centuries.
* Any time a city has [[Name's the Same|two teams with the same name]] at different times, it can lead to this. A good example in the [[National Hockey League]]: from 1971 to 1996 there was a team called Winnipeg Jets, who has since moved to Arizona as the Phoenix Coyotes. In 2012, the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Canada, where they were rechristened... Winnipeg Jets!
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[[Category:Bad Writing Index]]
[[Category:Consistency]]
[[Category:Continuity
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