History Main / FlashbackToCatchphrase

* ''TheClevelandShow'' episode "Mama Drama" showed a flashback of Donna and [[{{Crossdresser}} Auntie Mama]] showing that Donna was amused when the latter accidentally farted, saying she can be as "outrageous" as she/he wants, which led to Auntie Mama's constant farting and the phrase "I'm outrageous!".

* Several times in ''GundamWing'', [[TheStoic Heero Yuy]] states "The best way to live your life is by acting on your emotions." The prequel manga ''Episode Zero'' shows that he picked up the phrase from his mentor-slash-father figure Odin Lowe [[spoiler:and it's one of the last things he says to 8-year-old Heero before dying]].

* In 2006's ''Film/CasinoRoyale'', you learn that "Bond, James Bond" was at first "Mathis, Rene Mathis", pronounced by his French ally on their first meeting.

-->-- ''MartianSuccessorNadesico''

* During ''MartianSuccessorNadesico'''s origin episode for [[LittleMissSnarker Ruri]], [[spoiler:among the other things she experienced in the facility where she was raised,]] we learn that she was inexplicably drawn to the word "baka" the moment she saw it, as shown in the page quote. By this point the viewer knows well that she latched onto it for the rest of her life.

* Known as it is for flashbacks, a season 3 episode of ''{{Lost}}'' features one of [[spoiler:Desmond]]s flashbacks to [[spoiler: his time in a monastery, revealing where he got his [[VerbalTic curious habit]] of calling people "Brother". He picked it up from the monks.]]

* Early on in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Kakashi says "Ninjas who break the rules are scum. But ninjas who abandon their friends are ''worse'' than scum." Later, there's a flash back in which, on a mission, Kakashi had been attempting to follow the rules strictly to the letter at the expense of a captured teammate, and his other teammate pretty much says this.\\
\\
On paper, this looks like an asspull, as the flashback takes place in the Shippuden series, which takes place after a 3-year time skip, which is also ''after'' the 200+ episodes of the original series... In the manga, though, the flashback happened much earlier - they just didn't animate it until Shippuden, for some reason.

* In the ''FraggleRock'' episode "Mokey, Then and Now", Mokey travels back in time to when Fraggles were bald, had leaders and never laughed. She coins the phrase "Dance your cares away", which is instantly adopted as the motto for a new era in Fraggle history.

Sometimes they come up with it themselves and automatically remember it due it occurring at a pivotal moment in their lives. Other times it's depicted in more of a throwaway-moment where they just like the way it sounds.

* Early on in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Kakashi says "Ninjas who break the rules are scum. But ninjas who abandon their friends are ''worse'' than scum." Later, there's a flash back in which, on a mission, Kakashi had been attempting to follow the rules strictly to the letter at the expense of a captured teammate, and his other teammate pretty much says this.
** On paper, though this looks like an asspull, as the flashback takes place in the Shippuden series, which takes place after a 3-year time skip, which is also ''after'' the 200+ episodes of the original series...
*** In the manga though, the flashback happened much earlier - they just didn't animate it until Shippuden, for some reason.

* The ''DoctorWho'' episode "Let's Kill Hitler" features River Song's first meeting with the Doctor ([[HaveWeMetYet not to be confused with the Doctor's first meeting with River]], which is "Silence in the Library"). Pretty much the first thing he says to her [[spoiler: once she's regenerated]] is a warning about "spoilers", which she doesn't understand. He also spends some time spouting numbered "rules" and commenting "I hope you're writing this down!", before finishing, of course, with "[[RuleNumberOne Rule One]]. The Doctor lies."

* Possibly inverted on ''ArrestedDevelopment''. In the episode "Amigos", Michael pays Gene Parmesan for his services only for Gene to return a minute later and say "I counted it. Come on." Gob is in the background when he says that and adopts "Come on" as a catch phrase.

-->--''MartianSuccessorNadesico''

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]


* ''PrisonBreak:'' A number of character traits for the characters are revealed through a 1st season episode that had a lot of flashbacks in it.
* {{Frasier}} Crane's catchphrase was "I'm listening"--revealed to be in a flashback episode to inadvertently come from Frasier's father Martin, who had been trying to listen to a football game while his son was talking.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* [[PhoenixWrightAceAttorney "A defense attorney can't cry until it's all over..."]] The origins of this repeated line are shown in the fourth case of Trials and Tribulations.
* [[KingdomHearts Axel]] is known far and wide for his catchphrase -- "Got it memorized?" -- almost always used after introducing himself. In the recent prequel, though, we see just where it came from. As a child, he decided that he'd be metaphorically immortal if everyone remembers him always.

Can occur in an OriginsEpisode or StartOfDarkness. ompare IronicEcho, MeaningfulEcho.

Compare IronicEcho, MeaningfulEcho.

* Though it isn't a flashback, ''Series/{{Stargate SG-1}}'' had a scene where Jacob Carter used his daughter's catchphrase "Holy Hannah", showing us where she picked it up.

-->On this site, a powerful engine will be built. An engine that will allow us to travel a thousand times faster than we can today. Think of it, thousands of worlds at our fingertips. And with it, we will explore strange new worlds. Seek out new life and new civilizations. And it'll allow us to go... boldly... where no man has gone before."

* ''PrisonBreak:'' A number of character traits for the characters are revealed through a 1st season episode that had a lot of flashbacks in it.

* "Memory is the key." in Machinima/RedVsBlue. So much that [[TheDitz ''Caboose'']] lampshades this ("Aren't we done with this already?")

* ''PrisonBreak:'' A number of character traits for the characters are revealed through a 1st season episode that had a lot of flashbacks in it.

* In the WholeEpisodeFlashback of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' where we finally get to see them meet, ("Go!")[[spoiler:Cyborg fires his sonic blaster for the first time.]]

* ''PrisonBreak:'' A number of character traits for the characters are revealed through a 1st season episode that had a lot of flashbacks in it.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'''s BigBad, Xykon, adopted his name as a teenager after meeting a thinly-veiled parody of Professor Charles Xavier from the X-Men?specifically because he thinks names that start with "X" sound cooler.

* ''PrisonBreak:'' A number of character traits for the characters are revealed through a 1st season episode that had a lot of flashbacks in it.

** Note that the player sees when Richter says this in the first place. And then when we see the flashback...[[MostAnnoyingSound again and again and...]]

* ''PrisonBreak:'' A number of character traits for the characters are revealed through a 1st season episode that had a lot of flashbacks in it.

* "Two Cathedrals", the second-season finale of TheWestWing used this trope as the basis of the episode. President Jed Bartlet is prompted by [[spoiler: the death of his secretary, Mrs. Landingham]] to flash back to when he met her as a young boy. His mannerisms in the past (putting his hands in his pockets and smiling when he's made up his mind to do something other people will not like) are referenced to foreshadow his exact actions at the press conference he calls to announce he will, in fact, be running for re-election with a relapsing/remitting course of multiple sclerosis.

* PrisonBreak A number of character traits for the characters are revealed through a 1st season episode that had a lot of flashbacks in it.

* In ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', J.D.'s moussed-up hair was apparently due to a suggestion by his college buddy, Spencer.

* StarWars-The creation of [=C3PO's=] name comes from the sequels.

* A number of [[DresdenFiles Harry Dresden's]] spell phrases and sayings are this. Being Jim Butcher's works, these almost always overlap with StealthPun. Fliccum Bicus? Harry tried to cheat at a fire-starting spell. [[spoiler: [[=DuMorne=]] told Harry that he wouldn't always be able to "flick his bic"]].