Canon and Head Canon
So I just came across this notion of headcanon, which as far as i can gather is just your own personal version of how things went down/should have gone down in your fandom.
I came across the term in regards to the Dustverse/Dangerverse- a fandom within bandom. Art, in all its forms, based on themes, characters and concepts of the world My Chemical Romance created with their latest record Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.
I, for one, LOVE this world, especially the fic that comes out of it. And whats amazing about it, is that it is so fluid. The band members are quick to say everything was kinda made up on the spot. They actually shot the record teaser "Art is the Weapon" before they shot the video for "NaNa" and not the other way around, like most people assumed. And just whats in the teaser. No story, just random little shots pieced together. They had to go and make sense of what they shot in the teaser for the video.
So its like everything is canon until some contrary canon is defined, if that makes sense.
I used to have this as my head canon before I started paying attention to what they band members started saying about the world
- Party Poison- Leader, fearless, a little crazy ,bisexual,flamboyant,silent but deadly, impatient
- Fun Ghoul-kill now/talk later,trigger happy,the muscle, likes to challenge authority aka PP,unimpressed,handy man,doesn't really take things seriously
- Kobra Kid-tech savvy,stoic
- Jet Star-healer, practical one
- Girl-there's something special about her that needs protecting;its the job of every killjoy in the zones(idk shes the olny kid left in the zones, only reproductively capable female left in the human race, her dna holds a cure for a disease etc) killjoys aren't her gang she just like to run with them the most, jaded, self sufficient,
- Killoys in general-group of assembled by Dr.D based on specific talents, not the good guys either,ruthless,destructive sometimes for no reason,feared and loved, carefree except for girl(who is maybe jets daughter)
- BLI/ND-corporation that controls every human emotion and desire with drugs. No tolerance of self expression.
- Dracs- severely drugged up people who maybe have been brainwashed but can be redeemed; droids
- Korse-machine with multiple copies
After I listened to the band/read up on the world some of these ideas started to change. Particularly how i viewed the 'characters'. They, in fact, were not supposed to be characters because this was NOT A CONCEPT RECORD. The video was supposed to convey that this was the actual band members living in this post apocalyptic world of 2019. The names were the names of their guns and just flashed across the screen to be an added visual. That kinda changes everything for my head canon in regards to the guys. Party Poison isn't this clever maniacal gang leader but now is the sassy art nerd Gerard...who now knows how to shoot a gun. Not the same.
Then what about their back stories, I feel like you would have to explain what happened to their families if your writing a fic about them being themselves in 2019 in this crazy world. Too complicated imo.
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Then you have to contend with other things in the verse that don't fit your head canon. For example Dracs-on Gerard's sketch he describes them as flashy, arrogant,sleezy,and love to party. Can't match u a drugged up empty human/droid.
Does sticking to canon make your work better? Is there even canon in a world that is so haplessly thrown together?