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I’ve thought about making a thread about this for some time, and have now finally decided to do so. Theorizing is such a big part of this forum. We can’t help ourselves trying to figure out what will happen next and how. It’s as if we want to feel like we can read the writers’ minds. It’s the natural part of any fandom. The major drawback, though, is that often times we feel like we’ve come up with better story idea than what the show has presented us. This is especially true when we have a mystery that remains unexplored over the course of several Seasons. Henry’s adoption story is an infamous example. When we so firmly have hopes for our headcanons happening, it’s not surprising to feel disappointed that the show didn’t go in that direction. It’s not always down to shoddy writing, either, because I’m sure we would have been ok with some of this if we didn’t have all of these alternate theories in our head prior to seeing these events unfold. On the bright side, I’m sure plenty of these alternate headcanons would make for excellent fanfiction. Of course there are also proud moments where our headcanons actually DO pull through, like Bae being Henry’s father. Anyway, feel free to share your own thoughts on this subject and bring up your own experiences.
[adrotate group="5"]I think the reason this show doesn’t drive me nuts is because I don’t devote much time to specific headcanons. I love seeing what people come up with and seeing if they come true but I try not to get too attached because goodness knows A&E are like little boys with shiny toys! Anything and everything is subject to change in a moment’s notice. So I sit back, watch, enjoy -and sometimes throw stuff at the tv- but I try not to get too overly invested for the sake of my own sanity. It’s tough sometimes though!
This is also my experience. I have often gotten very exited because I was convinced of something that was going to happen on the show, but then it didnt. And I felt very disapointed.
As you point out there is a bright side to this because we can always write fanfiction. I found that that was exactly what helped me. I wrote some fanfiction stories on what I thought might happen on the show, but then when it didnt, I didnt care so much, because I had already seen the story play out the way I had imagined it and now I just saw it play out a different way on the show.
Also I feel like discussing our own theories on this forum is so much fun. Its fun when we guess correctly what is going to happen on the show, but also very much so when our guesses dont come true on the show..we just come up with all kinds of different stories be they crack crazy, humoristic and what not.
At the begining when I realized Once was not exactly what I thought it would be I was angry and disapointed with the writing “Are they crazy!!! What are they doing!! Why dont they use this great material they have!!” But now I feel more that the writers are doing their best with the story the way THEY WANT to tell it, there are probably other factors too like Money and Network stuff, but thats a nother story.
For me, I noticed that if I go in watching an episode without any expectation, I enjoy it more.
As for episodes where my headcannon clashed with the episode, that would have been Good Form. Suddenly Hook has a brother that we have never heard about, and young Lt. Jones was purer than the new fallen snow. It didn’t jive with who he is now. It was too great of a jump to make. I felt like Hook’s background was created not to explain how Hook became the man he was, but because: 1) The Powers That Be (TPTB) wanted to have Hook to have the inverse relationship that David has with his twin and 2) TPTB wanted to give Rumple that big Pan reveal, so they needed Rumple to be the only who was abandoned by his father, instead of watching his father die as the originally planned.
I tend to more disappointed at the end of a mid season arc, because when I look back I think there are missed opportunities to really explore the relationships and characters. Take the Neverland arc — I was expecting to see substabtive Captain Fire flashbacks and present day. I wanted to see Tink, Hook and Pan all really interact with each other. I think they could have delved more into the Emma and her parents relationship. Sometimes I think the show is hurt by having centrics where the present and the past have to be about the same character (especially when the flashbacks seemed so hamfisted in a lot Season 2 and 3A), so it chops the flow of other storylines and character growth of other characters not being featured. I think they need to less rigid about the first being everyone, second Regina, third Snowing, etc. Don’t let the centrics glide how the plot/character growth flows.
Keeper of Hook and Emma's smoldering first kiss, a certain Pirate's sauciness, the Evil Queen's snarkiness, Grumpy's gruffness and a drop of true love to make it all go down smooth.
I love theorizing, sometimes I get disappointed. Like with August.
I really didn’t want him to be Pinocchio, so I was disappointed when that turned out to be the case and majorly disappointed with the way they wrapped his story too. Even for a character who wasn’t my favorite, I still hated how they wrapped his storyline. I love my head canons too and love it when they turn out to be true, but usually, I’m okay with what’s given to me.
I never would have considered that Regina could actually leave Storybrooke and get Henry, but knowing she was the only one with memories throughout the entire 28 years of the curse, it made sense that she would have some built-in immunity so she could leave the town without anything bad happening to her.
(And Jefferson too, but he was locked up in his house).
A and E are free to tell their story as they see fit. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a great story. Is ONCE great? I don’t know the answer to this anymore. I used to be a die hard apologist for this show. When people complained about plot holes or certain characters doing certain things, I would instantly come to the defense of the show and A and E with “their show!! their show!! they’ll get to it!!”
However as time moves forward, I am starting to feel that A and E don’t actually have an endgame in mind (Adam has said that they know the ending of the show, but honestly, that could mean anything). They take it arc by arc and once one arc is passed, it’s never revisited. I have a host of theories and questions from Neverland of S3A. They’ll never be answered. I have a list of plot devices (and more with each episode) and they’ll probably never be explored. If we ever see the Black Fairy or the Vault of Eternal Goo ever again, I’ll eat Jefferson’s hat (another plot device that’ll never be explored). It’s frustrating when you invest this much time and effort into a show and are starting to feel like your not being given back something that was worth investing in.
Some people are reading my response right now and going “then stop watching.” But that’s easier said than done. I am still heavily invested in the characters and their journeys back to the best version of themselves. I’m still a Rumbelle shipper and a Dearie. I’m still hopeful (if jaded) about the outcomes of some stories. I’m still a big part of our community and probably always will be, even if the magic of the show isn’t what it once was.
But my rose tinted glasses are off. The show is flawed with plot holes, OOC character moments, repetitive villains, mental family drama, and heroes who went from being actual HEROES to being reduced to boring simpletons (pregnancy does not make you stupid…). The things we come up with are honestly better than the things we get some time (Darling Brothers adoption headcanon was perfect). Nature of fandom–you put a bunch of creative passionate people together and look at the magic we create. And even though we’ve had our share of crazy theories (hello, Undead Milah Mermaid) we’ve also nailed some stuff–Bae being Neal/Henry’s father; Whale being Frankenstein, Mermaids traveling to other worlds; some people called Peter being Rumple’s father before we got the spoiler images of 311. Even though the topic is giving me a headache at present, the conversation I’m having with @Grimmsistr and @Surayya about time travel is actually enlightening and fascinating. And will probably never happen. But ah….it was fun, wasn’t it?
Sitting back and relaxing and watching is great and all but none of us here are actually doing that. The mere fact that you are here on a fansite is proof enough of that. We’re invested. It’s not a bad thing but when all is said and done and the show goes off the air after either S4 or 13 episodes of S5, I do wonder what my reaction will be. “Oh it was so good and I loved it all and it magical!!” or “Well. That’s that. ”
I’ve had plenty of headcanons not come to pass–NealFirePan, TeamBrothers–and it doesn’t bother me too much. Honestly, it doesn’t. What bothers me is the story we get instead; I’m not sure if it’s the best story they could tell, not anymore.
*shrug* I keep rambling. In sum: I’m here for the long haul. But that doesn’t mean I”m not going to be critical or keep putting ideas out there. I’m not a casual ONCE viewer. Being critical isn’t the same as being a hater.
"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"I suppose it depends on what type of thinker you are. For example, I take the story as it’s presented, listen to what the characters tell me, and take it literally. So, when they said Henry was adopted by Regina, that was it for me, and I never questioned it further. A more imaginary thinker could spend hours spinning a story around that adoption story. A more suspicious thinker might think, but he said this in episode 1x, and she said that in episode 2x, so I suspect that bla, bla, bla.
Also, how long a story remains untold plays a part in it as well. Had they shown us the adoption in season 1, we may have been happy with the story, (minus the Darling brothers), but waiting so long leaves viewers to imagine their own story.
In addition, what you hope to learn from a story, moving foreword, plays a part also. If you were hoping to solve a mystery, or discover new conspiracies and motivations, then you may have been disappointed by the adoption story. As a literal thinker, one who just listens to character interactions and what they tell me, I was beyond happy with the adoption story. It told me exactly how real Regina’s mothering instincts were. She doubted her instincts, as most mothers do. She doubted herself when Henry stops crying the instant Mary Margaret picked him up. That really happens to real mothers, the question am I good enough. And new mothers of consistently crying infants really do have that fleeting thought in a moment of frustration, really? Are you sure you gave me the right baby? Cuz this isn’t what I signed up for.
But this double edged sword is also why I love these forums. We all come from different places in life and see and imagine the stories differently. I learn from listening to you. I see things differently by listening to you. I step out of my comfortable cozy zone by reading your crack theories. I’m always happy with the way an episode ends, but then I come here, read your criticisms, and am forced to take a step back and reanalyze what I’ve just watched.
Who wrote Henry’s book? Obviously Adam and Eddie did. But that’s just me, being literal and uncreative.
I’m not saying I sit and dispassionately watch the episodes – as I’ve mentioned, I’ve caught myself throwing things at the screen and talking to the characters like they’re actually going to talk back on more than one occasion. And I’ve let myself get caught up in some of the plot holes. But I’ve learned I’m not going to let that frustration taint my watching or enjoyment of the show.
It’s fun to think of where the show/characters/ships could go, but honestly, I allow myself to be entertained by what is actually being presented to me. And then I go to the amazing metas, fanfictions, and character analyses we as fans come up with to supplement my watching of the show.
As a fan, and more than a casual viewer, I have to remember what I know about the show, and the folks making the show. Example – Stunt casting. It drives me nuts – but A&E seem to have a penchant for this. They get a name that their fans are already familiar with – Emilie, MRJ – get the actor signed on….and then apparently have no FREAKING clue what to do with them. Because I don’t know how far ahead A&E really thought about what they were doing besides getting their ‘name’ signed on. Especially with Emilie – she was booked for what? 2 episodes? Then they were able to sign her because her pilot didn’t get picked up. What does that say? They didn’t have long term plans for Rumbelle. Which stinks. But also explains why the seem to have no idea what to actually do with Rumbelle – because Rumple was apparently supposed to have lost his TL. So as much as I hate what they have – or haven’t as the case may be – done with that pairing, I also can’t get my hopes up because my thought is, A&E are never going to stop to figure that out. They’re plotting the next Big Bad.
I’m also not a fan of ‘endgame’. Ultimately, I don’t care what the endgame is, nor do I care if there is one in the writers’ minds. I love my characters, I love my ships. But I also know part of the reason my favorite ship is strong is because ABC has decided part of that ship is excellent promotion material. When they get bored with my pirate – and they will get bored with my pirate – he’s as unsafe as any other character. And I have to be prepared for that. Maybe it’s a pessimistic way of viewing – maybe it’s realistic. I don’t know. But what I do know is that it allows me to enjoy what I see on screen, while also having fun taking part in the fandom.
It’s definitely a double-edged sword. Quite often (this season especially) we’ve heard a lot about episodes in advance which adds to the detailed headcanons and the hype and then when we see it, it can be underwhelming. Same with the long-running headcanons. When you fall in love with an idea and it shows up as something else entirely that to you isn’t as exciting as what you came up with, it can be hard to take.
We’ve seen this time and time again, especially when filling in a character’s backstory. The show is not remotely linear and sometimes we fill in the gaps for ourselves based on what we think we know about the character. Look at how many different types of reactions every character gets for basically everything they do! When you have it in your head that so and so is shady, or such and such must have always been good, bad, whatever, it can be shocking to see that maybe they weren’t always that way, or perhaps they did something stupid and selfish or weren’t as white as snow all their lives. That’s one of the things I love about the show is all the layers for each character, but because it isn’t linear, we DO fill in the gaps with headcanons and then say “so and so would NEVER do that, it’s soooo OOC” but really, they know the characters better than we do and know their histories and what they’re capable of. We’ve just filled in the gaps in our heads differently about how much they may have gone through or what their response to a certain situation might be (and we’re all guilty of it).
Hence the dangerous tightrope we walk when we let headcanons dictate our feelings about a character. (I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve wanted to throw things because of the assumptions that are made of various character because of things that we have never seen but from the gaps being filled in by headcanons. Waiting on answers for what they would actually do or not do is TOUGH but I’d rather have answers and be wrong than hear how so and so must do this this and this when we haven’t seen anything to actually back that up.)
I definitely find the more I step back and go in with the expectation of enjoying the show but without the details of what I expect to get out of specific plot points, I’m genuinely surprised and my expectations are exceeded. It’s much more difficult to go in thinking you know everything and having this awesome idea and then realizing that they could have gone that way and chose a different path instead.
It’s their story & they can tell it how they wish. Nobody is ever going to love 100% of it no matter what, but headcanons can definitely be a dangerous (though fun) thing to be a part of. Most of us around here have at least one theory we’re sticking to until proven otherwise and sometimes that’s awesome and sometimes we’re just completely disappointed with what they end up doing.
Anything that sparks creativity in some way is a good thing. Theorizing, coming up with headcanons, maybe even writing fanfic or making graphics while waiting around for an episode can be fun. Does it seem pointless when it’s so far off the beaten path from what they show us? Maybe…but it was still fun to think of and often, unless they really wow us with something incredible, it’s those headcanons I see people go back to and rewrite the story their own way and pretend it happened. It’s tough to be relegated to “quit watching” or “go read/write fanfic” when we all want to see our perfect headcanons play out but it’s literally impossible to make that happen for everyone (sad but true).
I still love the show and can’t wait to see it every week, regardless of which headcanon it inevitably shatters. I love that even with all the spoilers that do get out, they still manage to surprise. I wish that less got out though. Then maybe these headcanons wouldn’t be so grounded in what we thought were clues leading in an entirely different direction based on “facts” instead of general wishes of “I hope this happens eventually” like they used to be. We get so much now that it seems almost impossible to be wrong and then they throw a curveball. Personally I think it’s almost more upsetting that way – to have so much reason to think one thing and then have to say you were wrong about it, than just to hope that something like that happens without the details of how it will. Trying to put the puzzle together ahead of time, even based on a lot of details we shouldn’t know already, makes it seem that much more real and plausible. I know especially around here we try to figure out everything that’s going to happen and latch onto these ideas and then when it doesn’t….it can be frustrating/upsetting/shocking and not necessarily in a good way.
For me personally it’s *usually* in a good way and I’m definitely here for the long haul and am invested in these stories, but headcanons walk a fine line whenever people are as invested as we are around here. I totally understand why some are jaded or are more nitpicky about the show than maybe they used to be. But it’s still their story, not ours, and overall, it’s still a lot better than not having it (at least for me). Plus it’s fun collaborating with others who share those ideas, whether they happen or not, and at the end of the day it’s supposed to be entertaining. Yes it’s frustrating to not see what you want play out the way you want it to, but for someone else it is. Likewise, for me, anything that sparks those creative discussions and ideas is fun, regardless of what happens. Theorizing is half the fun of shows like this in the first place and nobody’s always right! There have been TONS of good theories around here and headcanons we pretty much all held onto for a long time and then were surprised about. It doesn’t make those theories any less awesome or fun.
I do have faith that they do know where they ultimately want to end up and it’s a matter of how we get there and when. They don’t have all the day-to-day mapped out, and things unfortunately get cut that we’d have really liked to see (and they’d have liked to show us I’m sure), but it’s still a great story, regardless of what headcanons it quashes along the way.
As someone who is attempting to become a writer I can definitely say that sometimes you have certain key scenes/events/endings that come to mind that you stick to, and then you add in everything else along the journey. Perhaps I just see it from a different angle because of that, but I can definitely see them having an idea that’s pretty much set in stone for ultimately where they want to end up while not having the detailed journey 100% filled in. It’s just the way it works sometimes. (Believe me I’d rather they spent forever mapping it all out wayyyy ahead of time and tie it all up with a nice neat little bow and know who would be available when so they wouldn’t have to scrounge up replacement stuff – a la, actors getting other shows, actors breaking their legs and being out for a few episodes etc etc but that’s just not the way it works in this business.)
The show has never been perfect and never will be, but it’s still an amazing story and I can’t wait to see where they go with it next, regardless of what fun headcanons they squash. For every one that someone hates, somebody else loves it and we have to remember that. Can’t please everyone, no matter how much we try. =/ (If I ever manage to publish, I will go into hiding – this business is BRUTAL and passionate fans are a double-edged sword themselves!)
Keeper of Hook's Trenchcoat.
^All of Kat’s post. I think the beautiful thing is that we all interpret the show differently, so while something might feel off for one person, it totally makes sense for another. For one, why do you think shipper debates exist? Shippers like to take facts and character traits to back up with their ship must be endgame, but their competitor ship group can very much so do the same with their own. That doesn’t necessarily make one group any more right or wrong for thinking what they think. You’re simply taking a gamble with your ship, and even if it doesn’t sail you can still continue to support it for what it was. Swan Queen, for one, is one of the biggest ship groups out there, despite their ship not being established as romantically canon as for the time being.
Fact of the matter is, none of us get to hear the conversations that go on in the writers room. What they’ve plotted out might make complete sense to them because it’s their show, but we as fans with our own interpretations and opinions may feel differently. Is Once perfect? No. Is Once flawed? Sure. I feel a lot of it comes down to how objectively each individual looks at the show, along with how seriously we take the show.
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