An Open Letter to Those Who Don't Understand What a Headcanon Is
you absolute WALNUT-BRAINED CREATURES! It has come to my attention that some of you out there in the vast wasteland of the internet DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT A HEADCANON IS??? And I'm sitting here in my LITERAL MATH CLASS (Ms. Peterson is droning on about polynomials or whatever) having to write this because I'M LOSING MY MIND!!!
A headcanon is LITERALLY something that exists IN MY HEAD that I believe about a character that may or may not be supported by the actual canon material. IT'S IN THE NAME. HEAD. CANON. It lives in my brain and I am SHARING IT with you because I THOUGHT we were all on the same wavelength here!!!
Example: I posted that Nightwing secretly LOVES taking care of his family, and some absolute DOORKNOB commented "that's totally fanon coded." (They later said they don't mind the headcanon, so no hate, but if you don't mind, then don't point it out.)
NO 💩 SHERLOCK!!!!!! I KNOW!!!! I KNOW BACK IN HIS ROBIN DAYS HE LIKED TO BEAT UP CRIMINALS SIMILAR TO HOW JASON DOES NOW. At least in the Teen Titans series. (I'm not yet done reading ALL the comics and watching ALL the shows and movies. I'm not 80, I haven't had enough TIME for that yet.)
THE DIFFERENCE THAT APPARENTLY NEEDS EXPLAINING???
CANON: What officially happens in the source material
FANON: What fans collectively agree upon
HEADCANON: What I, PERSONALLY, choose to believe exists in the universe
HOW TO RESPOND TO A HEADCANON:
scroll past if you don't like it
ANYTHING BUT "um actually that's not canon"
BUT GUESS WHAT I DON'T GET TO EXPERIENCE???
ANY OF THOSE APPROPRIATE RESPONSES!! Instead I get "but it isn't like that" or "that's fanon" and I'm just sitting here SCREAMING INTERNALLY because YES, I KNOW IT'S NOT OFFICIAL. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT!!!!!
WHAT TO DO IF YOU SEE A HEADCANON YOU DON'T AGREE WITH:
BLOCK IT. PUT IT ON YOUR BLOCKLIST. GO TOUCH GRASS. STOP FIGHTING WITH STRANGERS ONLINE.
We have never met, and probably will never meet either, so I doubt it will impact your life that much to just... scroll past. It's a waste of time for you to write that comment, and for me to have to reply to it or remove it. It's LITERALLY exhausting because you waste time you could use to read stuff that you actually like, and we creators waste time on reading your comment, replying or removing it, and then thinking about it.
It's literally a waste of existence, my dude.
It's 2025. WHY am I explaining this to people who most likely grew up with it? Because apparently some of you were RAISED BY WOLVES who never taught you basic internet etiquette.
If you're a fellow creator or silent reader who actually UNDERSTANDS what headcanons are - reblog this to your account. Spread the word. Let's educate these poor lost souls.
And to the haters: I am BEGGING you to find a hobby that isn't ruining other people's fun.
With all the rage of a sleep-deprived teenager who should be paying attention in math, gothamsmom