Canon expansion: and now what do I do with my site
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2018 1:13 pm
Okay so let's say you have a wonderful shrine about something which has a finite canon. As in, there is a finite amount of canon material to write about, and there's no sign of a sequel or reboot in the foreseeable future. For all you know at the time of writing, the subject has a closed canon that doesn't seem like it will be ever expanded, so you can essentially write a site that takes into account the entire canon, and when you're done writing about everything that you wanted to write, you're really done. If you touch up the site later, it's because you have realized something that you'd like to talk about, because you want to edit the writing, because you want to revamp the site visually... stuff like that. Not because there's anything new in the fandom to discuss.
Now, you have all of that. Then, years later, there is a major canon expansion of this thing that you thought was complete. A reboot, a remake, or something of the sort. If I didn't care for this new part of the canon, I could just keep my site unupdated and say that it's about the older release and here you won't find any information about the newer thing... that's ok, but what if I would like to discuss the new stuff in this previously-complete fansite?
I could completely revamp and rewrite, but... should I really?
What if the new installment's connection to the previous incarnation is a bit complicated?
For the sake of clarity, let me talk directly about the subject that is relevant to me, but this could apply to a variety of things.
I had my sites about characters from Quake 3. Q3 came out in 2001, so by when I wrote my site in 2011 I think, the canon was very much closed and done. Now, there's the new Quake Champions which is a remake-reboot in which the same characters I talked about make a return. There is a whole lot of new lore about them. Some of the questions and the essays and the headcanoning that I had in my old sites are now made redundant by this new lore, as there is now canon information that straightens out some things that I was thinking about. But, are these really the same characters? I mean, they have the same names and sameish designs, but you know, are they really part of the same thing? After all, the people who made this new game are not the same people who made the first game, and the canons themselves seem to have somewhat diverged conceptually. I can't even be mad that's the case - it's been 17 years after all, things change. You could say these are two different incarnations of the characters and keep the old and new parts of my fansite somewhat separate and talk about each version separately, but then again, are they two different incarnations, or is this a canon expansion that clarifies things about the first game? It's really neither and both...
So, I really don't know what to do with my sites now. I'd want to write about the new stuff, but I also don't want to kill off my old content, as I think it still has merit in the discussion of the first game. But both of them together hardly make for a unified project...
Have you experienced this conundrum in your shrining endeavors? How have you tackled it / how would you think to tackle this? Beyond direct advice to my own case, I'd like to hear anything you have about this topic.
Now, you have all of that. Then, years later, there is a major canon expansion of this thing that you thought was complete. A reboot, a remake, or something of the sort. If I didn't care for this new part of the canon, I could just keep my site unupdated and say that it's about the older release and here you won't find any information about the newer thing... that's ok, but what if I would like to discuss the new stuff in this previously-complete fansite?
I could completely revamp and rewrite, but... should I really?
What if the new installment's connection to the previous incarnation is a bit complicated?
For the sake of clarity, let me talk directly about the subject that is relevant to me, but this could apply to a variety of things.
I had my sites about characters from Quake 3. Q3 came out in 2001, so by when I wrote my site in 2011 I think, the canon was very much closed and done. Now, there's the new Quake Champions which is a remake-reboot in which the same characters I talked about make a return. There is a whole lot of new lore about them. Some of the questions and the essays and the headcanoning that I had in my old sites are now made redundant by this new lore, as there is now canon information that straightens out some things that I was thinking about. But, are these really the same characters? I mean, they have the same names and sameish designs, but you know, are they really part of the same thing? After all, the people who made this new game are not the same people who made the first game, and the canons themselves seem to have somewhat diverged conceptually. I can't even be mad that's the case - it's been 17 years after all, things change. You could say these are two different incarnations of the characters and keep the old and new parts of my fansite somewhat separate and talk about each version separately, but then again, are they two different incarnations, or is this a canon expansion that clarifies things about the first game? It's really neither and both...
So, I really don't know what to do with my sites now. I'd want to write about the new stuff, but I also don't want to kill off my old content, as I think it still has merit in the discussion of the first game. But both of them together hardly make for a unified project...
Have you experienced this conundrum in your shrining endeavors? How have you tackled it / how would you think to tackle this? Beyond direct advice to my own case, I'd like to hear anything you have about this topic.