I Saw Your Video About Norman And It Was Very Interesting, You Made Many Good Points And I Agree, But

I saw your video about Norman and it was very interesting, you made many good points and I agree, but I did have a question that I'm wondering if I could get your thoughts on:

What makes canonicity important? I'm not sure if this is just a me thing, but I never considered the canon as a problem because I could just change whatever problem or thing I feel could be different/is missing myself in an au. Not a discredit to your point in the video, I'd just like to understand better if that's alright.

Short answer: It really just depends on the person how much canon matters. To me it does, but I encourage others to make AU's and ignore it altogether if they want lol.

Long answer: I feel like it's generally important to know what details there are in a story before retelling it. That way you have a base line "vanilla" version that also gives the general audience a chance to connect with each other. AU's can still be built off of that by dedicated fans, and the ones that are invested in the "canon" story can still have their fun as well. Of course, some creators are more strict than others. In the case of Bendy and the Ink Machine, Mike and Meatly seem to have an idea of what is canon versus what isn't, and they bring it up in conversations on Twitter/with fans, so I feel it's at least fair to judge how they run their story when their model is "We have a canon plot we are sticking to! (Please believe us!)"

The one time I think the ENTIRE Bendy fandom resisted canon was when Wally was confirmed to be old as hell. Literally nobody believed it lol. Now that the books "aren't canon" I guess the universal Young Wally lives another day.

Hell, even I still run with the idea that Shawn and Wally are together, and I could make a strong case for why they should/could be together, but it's not canon or based on any evidence.

Everything new I learn about Hello Puppets is a treasure.

Literally the girl cootie police

Hey! Have you ever heard of fundamental paper education?

Nope! Will definitely check it out though, looks interesting 📝📓

Wait new idea: Howdy's nose squeaks like a dog toy. Barnaby decides he likes this and makes a clever quip. Then Barnaby remembers he's a dog and starts chasing Howdy around the store. Howdy hits him with a broom and Barnaby falls in the family guy pose on the floor. Most stable couple in the neighborhood

idea: Howdy leans in to kiss Barnaby but Barnaby's nose honks like Freddy Fazbear. are we all agreed or do I need to write an essay

I legit found this on accident but here's my take;

I do agree with Meatly in the sense that, yes, if you are introducing a bunch of new characters you have to develop them, and you can't do that while giving attention to your already existing cast.

The problem is...the new guys aren't developed. At all. How are you meant to develop a character over the course of one audio log in some cases? Bendy and the Ink Machine had the advantage of being released chapter by chapter, hence why we had time to speculate and draw gay fanart of the characters between releases. The fandom was able to form a connection to these characters in this way, and most had recurring audio logs, with the exception to this rule mainly being Lacie.

Compare this with the laundry list of characters in BATDR with singular audio logs; Lance, Angus, Archie, Hank, Bill, Grace, Kay, Dale, Jane, and Phil. (Correct me if I'm wrong, there are a lot.)

Single note characters include; Eugene, Hudson, and Telly. (Again, correct me if I'm wrong.)

I don't think I'm hurting many feelings by saying that nobody knows who the new human cast is, and that they are the most unnecessary part of BATDR story-wise. This is the exact inverse of BATIM, where we got invested because of the human cast amidst the cartoons.

Sure, Wally's presence was still in BATDR, and Grace even mentioned Norman by name. But the majority of veteran Bendy fans were hoping to see more of the old cast that we were already in love with. The new human characters rolled off incoming Bendy fans like hot sand, which kind of proves that they aren't needed unless they're fleshed out properly in future installments.