Did you perchance mean recon?
Definitions
Wiktionary
- n. A situation, in a soap opera or similar serial fiction, in which a new storyline explains or changes a previous event or attaches a new significance to it
- v. To employ such a device
Etymologies
- A blend of retroactive and continuity. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“A portmanteau blend of "retroactive continuity", retcon comes from the world of comics and represents the idea of "correcting" past facts to represent a new desired reality.”
“In the pages of a comic book, or in turning the inevitable setbacks in life into learning experiences, retcon is the way we (re -) invent the universe.”
“I also don't really think the word retcon is a dirty word either - Spider-Man, for instance, is enjoyable to me for the first time ever in comic form and has me looking back at the pre-marriage era - and can be a useful tool, assuming they're used properly and fans don't get their panties in a bunch over the most minute details.”
“And even if they do, I'm calling retcon, not a deliberate plan.”
“(A backward change like that is called a retcon, short for "retroactive continuity.")”
Wired: Meet Leland Chee, the Star Wars Franchise Continuity Cop
“One of the most useful words that I've been fixated on for a while is "retcon".”
“A lot of people call the act of taking old continuity and making it invalid, or inserting new continuity into old text, the "retcon," standing for "retroactive continuity.”
seanan_mcguire: Thoughts on Writing #30: Continuity Trapper Keeper.
“The first known use of the term "retcon" was by writer/editor Roy Thomas in the letter column of All-Star Squadron #20 April, 1983.”
“It this can really be considered a "retcon" it has to eb seen as, at least, a different type of retcon that usual.”
Thoughts on Joe Quesada’s One More Day Interviews | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources
“I'd think trying to "retcon" the technology of Foundation with modern stuff would be a a mistake -- besides messing with the atmosphere, there's too much chance of introducing something that would screw up the plot constraints.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘retcon’.
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Hiroe's Words
facetious, bardic, twatwaffle, cattywampus, splendiferous, zomg, merf, fwaa, fnord, tortify, schwiz, blort and 225 more...
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Speech Bubble
Words from Cartoons, Comics, and Kid Stuffs
zim, squee, irken, squeedily spooch, dib, gir, gaz, dinosaucers, mxyzptlk, wuzzle, snuffleupagus, duckman and 124 more...
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hober's Words
anglosphere, wiki, slither, cylon, satchel, faustian, ragamuffin, frak, salient, fervid, tartan, snowclone and 299 more...
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BlueBeetle's Words
prestidigitation, lubricious, agnuopia, phobologophobia, mellifluous, antediluvian, theodolite, vulpine, tmesis, nevertheless, brobdingnagian, pie and 55 more...
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slang
fanfic slang, hacker jargon, Internet memes etc. that amuse me—mainly ones I might wish to incorporate as natural in my own writing
asamoth, beta, borg, bozo filter, canon rape, delurk, drabble, eated, eleven, facepalm, fangirl, fanon and 61 more...
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a fan's dictionary
fanon, canon, trekkie, trekker, browncoat, shipping, het, slash, femslash, smut, gen, mary sue and 45 more...
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Geek Culture
geek, dork, nerd, gafiate, filk, concom, fanboy, fandom, geekosphere, grok, hacker, leet and 26 more...
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Vocabulary Constabulary
kismet, euphemism, sycophant, narcissism, conciliate, polymath, parse, artesanal, germaine, meta-data, meta, protocol and 39 more...
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pickwick's Words
globule, context, glossolalia, squee, gerrymander, verbing, flagellate, leathery, sepulchral, squiggly, schwa, zyzygy and 40 more...
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4 Color World
Comics!
comic, comic book, comic strip, graphic novel, comix, manga, manhua, manhwa, bande dessinée, panel, gutter, writer and 49 more...
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Words I liked from "Totally Weird an...
"Weird and Wonderful Words" by Erin McKean
autophoby, autological, aspectabund, blandiose, carriwitchet, choronymy, codology, elaqueate, eagre, eutrapely, expergefaction, exonym and 81 more...
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Night_Stalker's Words
aliyah, snappy, yerida, chabad, cromulent, yeshiva, yeshivish, flatfoot, retcon, colloquy, apikoros, vorpal and 8 more...
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unlikable
pedagogical, retcon, ephemeral, random, gossamer, hieronymous, taciturn
Tweets
Looking for tweets for retcon.
bilby "Short for 'retroactive continuity', retcon refers to the act of changing or adding to historical 'facts' in a work of serial fiction.
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The most recent Star Wars movie trilogy also served to fill in some of the gaps in the story. Superman Returns (2006) pretended that the awful Superman III and Superman IV never happened - which is no doubt exactly what the producers (and most critics) would have preferred. Fittingly, the term was first used by Superman's publisher, DC Comics.
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It has been used recently to describe more serious history - Like Keith Windschuttle's controversial take on native Tasmanians (which suggested that, despite what everyone thought, they weren't massacred by white settlers after all). It's also called revisionism, but retconning sounds snappier and less academic."
- 'FYI' in GW, Mark Judder, 23 Feb 2008. Feb 26, 2008
reesetee It's also a very difficult word not to misread (at least for me). ;-) Aug 6, 2007
uselessness Retroactive continuity. In serial fiction, copying a previous scene in a later episode, but changing or clarifying details to fit with the evolving storyline. It creates contradictions and holes in the story canon but eases the writing of new plot points. Aug 6, 2007