Difference between revisions of "1401: New"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
A canon describes a set of works that are collectively recognized as having authenticity. Although a work's definitive canon is determined by its creators, with authors borrowing elements from works that are not their own, there are many alternate canons, or universes, that can exist for a set of fictional characters or settings. The term is derived from canon which means the rule by which things are judged or authenticated. Fans often develop canons around things that they think the author should have done, such as romantic pairings or answers to questions officially left unexplained. If a reader of a work of fiction develops their own theories that are inconsistent with the original work or attempts to explain details that the story doesn't address, this is referred to as head canon. For a reader with head canon, the rules that determine the authenticity of the work only exist in said readers head, and do not necessarily reflect the authors intent or consensus.
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A ''canon'' describes a set of works that are collectively recognized as having authenticity. Although a work's definitive canon is determined by its creators, with authors borrowing elements from works that are not their own, there are many alternate canons, or universes, that can exist for a set of fictional characters or settings. The term is derived from canon which means the rule by which things are judged or authenticated. Fans often develop canons around things that they think the author should have done, such as romantic pairings or answers to questions officially left unexplained. If a reader of a work of fiction develops their own theories that are inconsistent with the original work or attempts to explain details that the story doesn't address, this is referred to as head canon. For a reader with head canon, the rules that determine the authenticity of the work only exist in said readers head, and do not necessarily reflect the authors intent or consensus.
  
 
For instance, in the ''Star Trek'' universe, a character named Quark owns a bar on the space station Deep Space Nine. This is canon; that is, Quark's bar is shown in official ''Star Trek'' media. If, however, a fan speculated that Quark was not driven out of business by the station's food replicators by importing replicator patterns of exotic foods unlikely to be found in standard Starfleet replicators, that would be head canon but not canon (since the theory was developed without input or sanction from Star Trek's creators).
 
For instance, in the ''Star Trek'' universe, a character named Quark owns a bar on the space station Deep Space Nine. This is canon; that is, Quark's bar is shown in official ''Star Trek'' media. If, however, a fan speculated that Quark was not driven out of business by the station's food replicators by importing replicator patterns of exotic foods unlikely to be found in standard Starfleet replicators, that would be head canon but not canon (since the theory was developed without input or sanction from Star Trek's creators).

Revision as of 17:30, 30 July 2014

New
The nice thing about headcannnons is that it's really easy to get other people to believe in them.
Title text: The nice thing about headcannnons is that it's really easy to get other people to believe in them.

Explanation

A canon describes a set of works that are collectively recognized as having authenticity. Although a work's definitive canon is determined by its creators, with authors borrowing elements from works that are not their own, there are many alternate canons, or universes, that can exist for a set of fictional characters or settings. The term is derived from canon which means the rule by which things are judged or authenticated. Fans often develop canons around things that they think the author should have done, such as romantic pairings or answers to questions officially left unexplained. If a reader of a work of fiction develops their own theories that are inconsistent with the original work or attempts to explain details that the story doesn't address, this is referred to as head canon. For a reader with head canon, the rules that determine the authenticity of the work only exist in said readers head, and do not necessarily reflect the authors intent or consensus.

For instance, in the Star Trek universe, a character named Quark owns a bar on the space station Deep Space Nine. This is canon; that is, Quark's bar is shown in official Star Trek media. If, however, a fan speculated that Quark was not driven out of business by the station's food replicators by importing replicator patterns of exotic foods unlikely to be found in standard Starfleet replicators, that would be head canon but not canon (since the theory was developed without input or sanction from Star Trek's creators).

A cannon is an explosive-based projectile weapon.

In this case the head cannon is literally a cannon on Black Hat's head which he uses to interrupt Cueball on the computer. While the more esoteric headcanons are easy to ignore, it is decidedly more difficult to not notice or believe the existence of a cannon strapped to one's head.

This comic also shows Cueball being once again distracted from his work in a manner similar to 1388: Subduction License.

Title Text

The title text is a pun on the homophones "canon" and "cannon". Randall addresses both homophones in the title text by putting three consecutive "n"s in "headcannnon".

Transcript

[Black Hat walks in.]
Black Hat: New headcannon:
[Cueball is sitting at his desk, using his computer.]
Cueball: Yeah?
[Black Hat lifts his hat, revealing his "headcannon": a tiny cannon on the top of his head. The headcannon fires and blows up Cueball's desk, the explosion throwing Cueball backwards.]
Headcannon: BOOM
Cueball: AUGH!


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Discussion

Why are there three n's in headcannnon in the title text? Keavon (talk)

Or as n increases the effort to convince others that the existence/correctness of headca(n)+on decreases? 108.162.216.26 20:31, 30 July 2014 (UTC)arcturius
I think it's as simple as 1 n in canon (what the pun is based on), 2 n's in cannon (in the comic), and just to keep the pattern going, 3 n's in cannnon (in the title text).--173.245.54.175 05:35, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

That reminds me on Neil Stephensons - The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer... Very nerdy! 108.162.254.21 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Another very common usage of headcanon is when you REMOVE something from your headcanon - that is, pretend that it never happened, despite it being canon. Often it's case of not-really-good sequels. Or later edits: see Han shot first. -- Hkmaly (talk) 10:35, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

I thought that headcanon was everything fans imagined, not just what contradicts canon. --141.101.105.204 16:32, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Anyone note that the computer is completely undamaged (from the cannonfire at least, no telling about when it strikes the floor), despite the desk being demolished? Zowayix (talk) 13:14, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Worth mentioning the alternate term "fanon", at all? (Currently third but unlinking item Wikipedia link, or the more dangerous (in the Comic 214 sense) TVTropes link... ) 141.101.99.7 13:22, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

I'd say no, fanon is headcanon that is accepted in huge parts of the fandom. --141.101.105.204 16:32, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

New headcanon: Black Hat Guy always has a headcannon under his hat, and in this comic he is simply showing Cueball that he got a new one. 108.162.216.73 14:12, 30 July 2014 (UTC)Matthew

Not true. In other comics where he hasn't had his hat, he did not have a cannon on his head. 108.162.237.161 15:40, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Canon (in Greek: Kanon, Arabic: Qanon, Hebrew: Kaneh) means reed, or straight. Thus trustworthy. [1] Seebert (talk) 14:38, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Black Hat is shown to have short dark hair. That's new xkcd canon. As far as I know, he'd always been shown wearing a hat completely covering his hair until now. --Dangerkeith3000 (talk) 15:33, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Not new. http://xkcd.com/377/ 108.162.237.161 15:40, 30 July 2014 (UTC)
I always assumed black hat and white hat(perhaps all the cast) were aspects of Cueball,s psyc, a jungian zoo. 173.245.54.167 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Ra-Ra-Rasputin 108.162.237.170 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

"The title text is a pun on the homophones *canon* and *cannon*" ... uh, the whole entire COMIC is a pun on the homophones *canon* and *cannon*. 173.245.56.149 18:16, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

Kudos to the author(s) of the example using Quark. One of the best-written explanations on this wiki. jameslucas (" " / +) 22:42, 30 July 2014 (UTC)

"Fans might wonder why, on a station that has "replicators" (devices that can create any food or drink out of energy on demand), anyone would patronize a bar" - perhaps because they might want to, you know, socialise with other people? Call me old-fashioned... --141.101.99.37 14:23, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

Anyone know if this weeks what if is different depending on region? I only ask because it mentions my small town and I am skeptical based on past comics. 1037: Umwelt173.245.56.208 06:25, 1 August 2014 (UTC)

Well, it doesn't mention anyplace close to me :-)

141.101.98.214 09:04, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

No one has explained why the comic is titled "New". Because Black hat says "NEW HEADCANNON:" rather than "I HAVE A NEW HEADCANNON:", I think he is speaking not English, but some programming language. Black Hat created the headcannon by saying "new Headcannon:", which is a command to instantiate an object of type Headcannon. This is similar to previous strips http://xkcd.com/353/ and http://xkcd.com/413/, which attributed supernatural creative powers to Python's "import" statement. But "new Headcannon:" isn't Python. I don't know language it is. 108.162.237.178 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Best I can come up with is a Quick BASIC label, but if that were the case instantiating it would have required a precedant gosub, not new. Sailorleo (talk) 21:12, 22 October 2015 (UTC)
It's English; he's just speaking in an informal context, and so is using the sort of colloquialisms that don't work in more formal registers and which look weird when written. "New headcannon" (or, indeed, "New headcanon") is just shorthand for "I have acquired/developed/accepted/stolen a new headcann?on". Hppavilion1 (talk) 23:45, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

Could the "headcannnon" refer to an idea that "blows your mind"? The trajectory of the "literal" cannon ball ends where Cueball's head was, so it went from head to head, not head to desk... --B. P. (talk) 22:34, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

It seems more likely Black Hat is just being an asshole and shooting him in the face. -Pennpenn 108.162.249.205 02:51, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

I kind of want a headcannon. Scool computer (talk) 06:54, 25 January 2022 (UTC)