I agree in part (that nobody has a clear idea what to do with it, so the wider franchise has no coherency as a whole)

but not entirely (this doesn’t make it a weird property, I feel this way about virtually everything that’s ever been made into a franchise, and pretty much the only way to enjoy any franchise as a passive fan is to treat every installment as its own thing)

(that said, the way to enjoy any franchise as an active fan creating fanworks is to pick and choose pieces from all parts of the franchise in whatever way the little Charlie Day at the little conspiracy wall in your head finds most compelling, and possibly come out of it having created something that almost makes different parts of the franchise make sense together.)