L’Sandburg discourse, my beloved. Finally, something I think I can provide a fresh take on.
Now, I’ve spoken about L’Sandberg here before, where I said that the conflict is most like “non-canonical” – and it proves to me once more that the universe hates me, because Io and Behold: canonicity debate amongst the creators and fans.
I think what this problem boils down to is: What does “canon” mean in this context?
While I cannot speak for anyone else, what I mean, when I say “Is this canon?” is “Will this end up mattering?”
Samsung Smart Fridge was declared canon by Wilbur and – though I love her dearly – she will never matter or have any impact on the storyline, Philza’s character or Wilbur’s character. Her designation as canonical is meaningless.
And the debate, I think, that’s happening around L’Sandberg is much the same for fans or content creators. It’s not whether or not this will be arbitrarily given the label “canon”. The question is whether or not we should consider the actions these characters take as congruent and meaningful for their arcs overall – if this will intersect with Dream’s storyline, the Egg’s storyline or the Syndicate’s storyline in a substantial way.
Now, whether or not something ends up mattering can only really be said in retrospect. L’Sandberg could be Season 3’s Dreamon Hunter: a cute, little side-thing that will never be brought up again in any meaningful capacity and thus will not ever matter – regardless of whether or not we slap the label “canon” on it.
The only concern I see is when half the people involved treat it jokingly and the other half treat it seriously. Because then we get into early Season 2-terrority of lacking coordination and confusion for the fans. I’m specifically thinking of El Rapid’s independence “war” and how dubiously that was treated until Quackity tied it all together with his Las Nevadas-series.
I would just want the creators to know what they want this to be – especially with the establishment of a government and the maybe involvement of the Syndicate – rather than stumbling into greater implications and then wondering why people were dissatisfied with the storyline.