I don't think 2 has to be true, the bonus chapters are not part of the narrative and are actually advertised as bonus stories which do fit in the canon. Some of the prelude comics contain errors (both tie-in and comic translations of the movie) too and we have those as well. Although I don't necessarily feel we should have the full novel on the timeline.
It's the same reason I don't put the novelization for Suicide Squad (2016) in the DCEU timeline or the X-Men novels in the X-Men timeline.
Yes, it's extra content but it's also exclusively attached to a
one, whole product that is meant to be read with the extra contents as part of these contradicting stories.
From the MCU wiki page for the Thor: Ragnarok book for example:
Continuity
The junior novel contains information that does not allign with the way events are presented in the
film. While the book explores
Hulk's arrival to
Sakaar and
Thor's decision to search for the
Infinity Stones after the events of
Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is not depicted in the film,
Doctor Strange does not appear in the novel. Furthermore,
Loki and Thor find
Odin in
New York City, the novel uses the
deleted scene to explain
Hela's return. Odin and Hela have a small conversation before
Thor ends up stranded on Sakaar, with the novel omitting Odin's death. Therefore, the novel is deemed as
non-canon material.
And GotG Vol 2:
Continuity
The events of the junior novelization have substantial differences with the events depicted in the
film, most notably during the
Attack on Berhert. Instead of Nebula incapacitating Yondu to help Taserface's mutiny, she used a communicator to call on Star-Lord, Gamora, and Drax, who with the help of Ego take down the mutineers and take Rocket, Nebula, and Groot with them and restore Yondu's position as Captain. Therefore, this book holds a
non-canon status in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise.
etc...
I'm not gonna ask people going about their viewing order to pick up and buy a book just for a few chapters and ignore the rest. That's not canon at that point.
That's like eating just the peanut butter out of a PB&J sandwich and throwing away the rest.
Iron Man Manual is not an art book, it's an in universe book similar to Wakanda Files, that has in universe memo's that add to the canon.
It's like the BvS Batmobile schematics book, but with tech specs and notes from Tony.
I also didn't put the MCU timeline book in this timeline because it doesn't function as a story.
Wakanda Files might also fall into that category, but I haven't read it yet so I'll put a pin in that discussion for now.
I'll have to look into the other ones (I have them all physically), but outside of Cosmic Quest I don't believe they conflict with canon. And even then, Cosmic Quest is part of the Road to Infinity War series, so in your own words "Can't pick and choose chapters then throw out the rest, that's not how this works."
You say that like I haven't thought about removing the other Road to Infinity War stuff too. Those don't conflict but I will discuss that at a later point as well. I'm a very busy individual.
I appreciate you keeping the timeline tidy, but just removing entire entries from the timeline without discussing it, is not a good look imo
I try to keep it tidy, I appreciate you recognizing that. My ability to discuss clearly conflicting information as worth keeping in the timeline is secondary to how much you trust me as an editor. I didn't quietly remove it, I gave the update and why I did so. That wasn't good enough as I can see.
But also, I see your reasoning, and I do disagree with most of what you had to say TBH. Hopefully you'll see where I'm coming from but I'm not gonna be a control freak about what stays and what doesn't. I try to keep a consistent rule basis for my decisions.