Editing 1401: New

This strip uses a play on the {{w|homophone|homophonic}} relationship between "canon", as a literary term, and "{{w|cannon}}", a projectile weapon.

In this strip, [[Black Hat]] starts to introduce a "new headcannnon". [[Cueball]], thinking Black Hat means "headcanon", inquires what Black Hat's new idea is. Instead of the expected idea or theory about a fictional universe, Black Hat removes his hat to reveal a tiny literal cannon on his head which blows away Cueball and his computer desk.

While headcanon may often be ignored or dismissed as non-canon or a personal theory, a headcannon would be far harder to ignore, as it is a physical object which has a notable (and in this case violent) impact on the real world.  

In the title text Randall makes the spellings of these two words indistinguishable by using three consecutive "n"s to spell "headcannnon". Therefore the title text is deliberately vague. It could be interpreted that it is easy to convince people that you have a cannon on your head, that it is easy to make people believe in a self invented headcanons, or both. Since you are choosing your own interpretation of this title text, the joke is that you are creating your own headcanon.

A "''{{w|Canon_(fiction)|canon}}''" describes a set of works that are collectively recognized by the comunity as having authenticity. Generally, works created or authorized by the original or creator(s) are considered canonical. Not all original content is considered cannon and not all cannon is original content.  Sometimes creators will rewrite the cannon (re-con) and make things that were previously canonical non canonical. For example the origins of a character can be rewritten, thus invalidating the portions of the works that speak to the old origins. Other times creators will incorporate non original content and therefore incorporate the cannon of these borrowed works.

"''Headcanon''" is created when consumer of these works develop their own ideas about a fictional universe that are not part of the canon. This form of pseudo-"canon" exists only in the mind of the fan watching or reading the material. The fan with headcanon experiences the material with additional backstory that is never spesificly stated in cannon. Some examples of headcanon involve relationships between characters, abilities, backstories, events following the conclusion of the work, etc. which the author or creator has not explained or included. For example a consumer may ''read between the lines'' and assume that there was a previous romantic relationship between two charactors where none ever existed.

:Cueball: AUGH!