I was recently introduced to the MLP comics series by a friend of mine, and am enjoying them immensely so far. Everything in the arcs so far (Up to issue 12— I'm getting them in volumes) I can see as being canon. The only issue I see is that in the SA/PC arc in issues 11 and 12, there are some events that are slightly contradictory to what we saw in the show.
Does anyone have a definitive answer to the canon/non-canon debate?

PS: I feel like there might have been a thread about this before, but I wasn't reading the comics at that point, so I likely ignored it.

2730206 Yes, according to the ponies in charge the comics are indeed canon.

2730206

I very much doubt you'll get a definitive answer, and anyway, who would give it?

The prevailing opinion of the community (at least the parts in which I swim) is that, whilst they share a common universe, they aren't canon.

2730206

They're canon, end of story. HOWEVER, they're also relatively obscure. Enough so that they're no better than secondary canon in practice. The writer of the comics DOES correspond with the writers of the show, so there is some compromise between them and what most people consume from the show, so using the comics as a basis for utilizing canon sources is pretty much a-okay, and shouldn't step on the toes of most headcanons out there (besides woobie Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon as an alter ego (which are incredibly common, so never mind this advice)).

2730206
I think the general stance is that they are canon unless overridden by the show. That's already happened once, with the Daring Do authorship (The comics had it being Twilight Velvet, if I recall. Though that was just a little background easter egg).

2730206 To some degree, yes.
But I haven't read them all, so I can't really tell if the ones after the first arc contradicts the show.

The Return of Queen Chrysalis story arc was quite fascinating to say the least. Yes, there was an implied death (The Cutie Mark Crusaders have been foal-napped by the changelings and held as leverage for Chrysalis to lure the Mane 6 (and Spike) to their eventual showdown. Chrysalis gets annoyed by the CMC's taunts, as they can see the scrying orb she uses to show where the Mane 6 are coming from, then she grabs one of the cat creatures and destroys it to shut the foals up).

I also liked the Slice-of life stories (Big MacIntosh's day in town, where he meets background ponies, Zecora, and others), and the bake off with Pinkie Pie and Applejack, where they help a mare win a contest against a rival.

2730255

woobie Chrysalis

but maybe half of our kind took that with a huge ass grain of salt anyway, so yeah

2730268

Took what, her comic arc?

2730286 her being a woobie that we should all feel sorry for because she was just trying to feed her subjects.

Screw that. She enjoyed every moment of that.

2730206 I think it actually comes down to a personal preference. Though there is one comic that implies Twilight's mother is the author of the Daring Do books which contradicts the main show.

Personally I discard the notion they're cannon because I don't like the way they portray the changelings. They very much hold the villain ball in the comics to me, shallow and evil for the sake of being evil.

2730292

Ah, I see. THAT I agree on. If she were really trying to feed her subjects (read: the show never said they needed love to survive) her goal wouldn't have been to steal Twlight's magical power (read: not her love) for herself, and her subjects would not have been loyal to her if she was ignoring a vital resource just to make herself stronger. Heck, even her minions were dirtbags from the way they acted. They didn't seem to be hurtin' to me.

2730206 Everything, even the tiny bios made on toys that are made with little to no thoughts by some random person no one of importance writes down on them, are canon by the definition that it is legally a licensed product indorsed by Hasbro who approves everything for the purpose of selling a product.

Yes, the comics are canon. Though many EQD pre-readers say only the show matters, and others are of mixed opinions, it's still official canon. The only time it's not considered canon is when it conflicts with some other person's headcanon, and good luck when it's someone in a position of 'power' over stuff you write.

The job of the comic writers is to give us a deeper insight into the ponyverse that the show can't really take on or hasn't yet. Long as they don't step on any toes. These days they are forced—um, working more intimately with the writers like Meghan and such to see scripts for episodes before they air to get an inkling as to what direction the show is going and try to stay within those bounds.

ALL comic scripts have to be approved by Hasbro before they pass on to any artists.

Which, quite honestly, makes me wonder how in Luna's name FRIENDS FOREVER#1 ever got a pass. r_r
Do they not have quality checkers for the "Slice of Life" series?

But, much like the "Official books no one but the most insanely dedicated lovers of pony fiction readers" are, you take what you want and what you need for whatever parts of the "canon-verse" that is littered across all of Hasbro-dumb.

But for the most part people just stick to the show canon unless you state your story specifically basing some or all of another non-show canon.

In short, write what you want. Most people tend to search for their favorite ponies to read about on this site anyways or surf through feature and popular anyways. EQD is only good if you really really really want something up there to help promote your work but they only take what is text-book storytelling, random meta-fics that makes one of them laugh, or has something nerdy about College and computers. Just don't try to reason with them when they try to make up excuses why your story that casually talks about computers or TV gets rejected despite TV long since being canon in the MLP-verse (and that now totally includes the SHOW as well so all gloves are off!)

But yeah, that's a quick rundown on canon views and my opinion on some of them.

2730208 If you're too lazy or upset that this stuff comes up often, don't bother being a dick about it like I'm being a dick about you being a dick for pointing out a technicality in the term he's asking about when such a thing is widely viewed differently among people in the fandom.

.....

See, it's called killing time or that thing called "being sociable"

2730210 I've heard they are canon, UNLESS they directly conflict with the show

I think the coordination between the writing teams isn't as good as it could be (to be fair, the more people with their hands in a shared verse, the more exponentially difficult that becomes), which means conflicting parts that, because they're tied so closely to their arcs, makes the arcs themselves have iffy canonocity. Personally, I prefer to just treat them like AU fanfiction and simply accept whatever their version of the events is as true until I'm done reading. It's much less of a headache than trying to invent contrived reconciliations with which to shoehorn it into show canon.

2730259

Techinically, it was never said out loud like you said, it was just something that the artist put there for funsies and we just guessed that it meant she was the author and we ran with it. Kind of like how everyone in the Pokemon fandom thinks that Misty's last name is Waterflower,

2730429
Yes indeedy. S'why I called it an easter egg.

2730360 Hey hey hey. The only one allowed to be a dick about endlessly regurgitated topics around here is ME.
2730206 Yes, the comics are canon.
2730259 I think the common fanon "workaround" for the Daring Do discrepancy is that Twilight Velvet is Yearling's editor.

2730492
Totally better than my personal 'Twilight Velvet/Yearling are the same changeling' theory!

2730549 They're ALL Windy Wander?!

2730206

I figure half-canon. The word I've heard is that they are canon, but--for example--in the Cadance/Shining comic, we see that Cheerilee is about the same age and Twilight doesn't have her cutie mark yet. In one of the episodes, Cheerilee is shown as a foal without a cutie mark at the same time as the Mane 6 get theirs. (not that the show isn't without its contradictions, too)

I've been using the comics as canon when it fits, but I have no problem ignoring them, either.

2730206

I consider them a type of Expanded Universe, similar to what Star Wars has with its books, comics etc.

Basically, the comics can be treated as a kind of secondary canon that is valid as long as it isn't contradicted by the show - which, as Luminary points out, does happen.

2730622

In cutie mark chronicles, I always figured that Cheerilee was just about to hit high school. It was her last year of middle school. Then again, with the amount of clones that exist in Equestria, I figured that could also be another pony with Cheerilee's coat color. It wouldn't the first time that having to finish things fast caused a problem (Coughs, season 1 Luna)

2730855
Well, the way I see it is that either it is foal-Cheerilee, in which case the IDW comic is wrong, or it isn't. Since she doesn't have a cutie mark, it could be somepony else.

2730367 That's actually how I interpret everything that isn't the show. It's canon if it doesn't violate the show, which recons all other sources.

2731290 Right.

However, i'm still iffy about the whole Chrysalis arc and Nightmare Rarity. I think those two actually do violate canon to some extent

2731319 I think it depends on your placement of events for Chrysalis, but I agree with you on Nightmare Rarity. As awesome as she was, I can't seem to place her anywhere along a timeline.

2731329 Yeah.

Me, I count the Comics as essentially AU.

Concerning the Chrysalis Arc, I highly doubt it's actually canon. Other stuff, maybe, but that's not one of them

2731343 I was pleased to see the micro series give Luna a pet since everyone else seems to have one.

2731351 I don't actually read the comics, i'm just aware of some details

It was a possum, right?

2731354 An opossum, but yes. It even gave a brief cut away nod to Fluttershy. While she wasn't directly involved, it was a nice touch. Anyways, the comics are a nice read and regarding the current arc, I really hope "A K Yearling" doesn't decide to swing by Ponyville. The her from her books is outside of her books...

2730206 I believe they are

2730348
You make very good points about using canon vs non-canon when writing our own stories, but that's not why I asked the question. Most of my stories have been with OC's or try to avoid including canons as much as possible anyway.

I would be totally fine with the Chrysalis and NMR arcs not being canon (despite how awesome they were), and honestly, I can't see any reason for the Big Mac arc to NOT be canon (screw the LunaMac haters— I thought that was hilarious). The one I'm hung up on is the Shining/Cadance arc.
I want that to be canon SO F***ING badly. I LOVED that arc. The only contradiction I see from the show is that if Twilight was in on getting Shining and Cadance together (from comic), why would she have been so surprised to find out they were getting married (from show)? I feel like Twi would have heard they eventually became each other's special somepony while she was still in Canterlot, and then have just been upset that Shining didn't tell her he proposed. Instead of "Why didn't you tell me you were getting married?" it would have been "Why didn't you tell me you proposed to Cadance?" Or something like that.

2730206

I feel that it's ultimately up to the individual.

2731403 The whole Mac/[insert mare] thing was hilarious. I mean there was more than Mac/Luna, think of Tealove (fan name) and Fleetfoot with their random infatuations with him. Fleetfoot even gets awarded a medal for her "actions" against the fireworks in Luna's micro series comic. I used spoilers since I have no idea if you read the micro series comics.

2731437 AAAAAHH! I do read them, but I haven't gotten that far!
JK, s'all good. I've only been reading the comics as the volumes come out, regular series AND micro series. As I've been reading them, I now understand a lot of the references one of the authors I work with (Anonymoose) uses in his stories. I now find them a LOT funnier.
I didn't use the spoilers tag on my last comment because I figured if anyone has read that far in this thread, there would have been enough spoilers already.

PS: The FleetFoot bit had my sides aching.

2730206
You have dem' comic links?

2731567

Here you go.

2731669
Hath mine body of beauty struck you so?

2731704

Let's just say I'd feel bad for staring at your chest if I had much of a choice.

2731729

2731761

Nothing like a good Nic Cage picture to help raise the horror factor in any thread.

2731770
That's what Nicolas Cage does best.

2731515 I shall be incorporating that arc into a series within my fiction as a running gag/subplot in a few chapters' time.

2730429 Exactly. I personally think the comics are secondary canon unless proven otherwise. With the first four arcs taking place between Season 2 and the end of Season 3, the pirate arc taking place between Seasons 3 and 4, and for the time being the book worm one (which a reviewer has found to be very lacking) seems to take place after "Power Ponies" but also implies that "Daring Don't hasn't happened, which probably just means "Power Ponies" comes before "Daring Don't". Would make sense considering how the castle was ignored for two episodes, and then just suddenly brought up again.

2732744

I havent read it yet, but how does it imply that Daring dont hasn't happened?

And of course its lacking, its after a pirate arc and before an arc dealing with Starswirl and an alternate dimension. It like putting Batman returns in between Dark Knight and Avengers, its just not going to live up to the other two.

2732972 Applejack doesn't know who Ahuizotol is, but if "Daring Don't" happened she should know all about him.

2733364

"Daring Don't" fun fact: Applejack couldn't take Twilight's and Rainbow Dash's nerd-off, so she started taking nips from her flank flask full of distilled cider. It got to the point where she'd take a swig anytime either would talk, so that day is kinda blur to her.