Canon

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The term canon refers to all aspects of a fictional universe, like the Breeniverse, that are considered official. The canon of lonelygirl15 consists of events, places, people and things that are officially part of the lonelygirl15 storyline.

The Lonelygirl15 Canon

In traditional media the line between canon material and unofficial material is usually clear. With novels, for example, only those penned by the original author would be considered canon. With television shows, typically only the show itself is considered canon. But with an internet production like lonelygirl15, the issue is more complicated.

Initially, only Bree and Daniel and their YouTube accounts were known to be canon. Other parts of the Breeniverse were known to be canon once confirmed via YouTube. For example, Bree mentions her MySpace page on her YouTube page, so it is considered canon. Daniel, however, has never mentioned the Danielbeast MySpace page, and it is not canon.

The Creators of lonelygirl15 have often toyed with whether or not characters are canon. When the characters of Gemma, Jonas, Jules, and Taylor were first introduced, they posted videos just like unofficial spin-offs. But when Bree ackowledged them as characters they became "canon" and all their videos prior to acknowledgement are considered canon as well.

List of canon characters

The characters seen on screen are all considered canon characters. Sometimes the characters interact with fans, like in Bree The Cookie Monster when Bree cooked the recipes of some fans or in Your Decision where GoodGollyItsHolly told Bree and Daniel what to do. These fans are not considered canon because outside of their mention in the lonelygirl15 videos they do not have an ability to influence the storyline.

OpAphid characters

According to the Creators, OpAphid was a 100% fan-created Alternate Reality Game which they liked so much that it was declared official. With this announcement OpAphid, Tachyon and Brother became canon characters as well.

Initially, the Creators said it was not necessary to watch OpAphid videos to follow the lonelygirl15 story. Some fans considered OpAphid characters pseudo-canon. But, after the video Miss Me? the Creators reversed their initial statement and announced it was necessary to watch OpAphid and that the characters and its storyline are canon. It is not necessary to play the OpAphid puzzles.

Spin-offs

A number of spin-offs, including Cassieiswatching, Paulmark18, Immant, Itscassie and Nikki Bower, have been created around lonelygirl15. Many of these series purport to exist in the Breeniverse. They react to Bree and Daniel as if they are real. They are not, however, considered canon.

Cassieiswatching and Itscassie are both based off of the canon character Cassie. The events in their videos, however, are not an official part of the lonelygirl15 storyline. Similarly, PaulMark18 is based off the canon characters Paul and Andrea.

In the case of Cassieiswatching, the Creators explicitly denied responsibility for the videos and said that they are not canon. Nikki Bower was revealed to be played by Alli Danziger, a personal friend of the Creators, but Nikki Bower has stated that while her character is not canon, she does have access to inside information. With other fan fiction series, the Creators have generally not commented either way.