History Main / TheUnReveal

* Website/ThatGuyWithTheGlasses music reviewer WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows has TheGimmick of [[TheFaceless never revealing his face]] by doing his reviews in silhouette and wearing a mask for appearances elsewhere. When WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick's Makeover Fairy tries to improve his image, she lifts up his mask, [[TakeOurWordForIt screams in terror]], and replaces it. All shot from behind Todd, of course.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

!!'''Because of the nature of this trope, spoilers ahoy, both marked and unmarked.'''

* Creator/SamAndMickey's "16 and Pregnant" assigns Barbie with organizing Yasmin's gender reveal party, even though Barbie doesn't think such parties sound worthwhile. Yasmin decides to pop a balloon to reveal the gender, and orders Barbie to fill it with blue confetti if she'll have a son, or pink confetti if she'll have a daughter. [[spoiler:Instead, white personalized message confetti spells out, "Who gives a f*ck?"]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'':

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'', we are never given a concrete explanation for ''why'' Mirabel wasn't given a gift.

** In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'', [[spoiler:[[MasterOfDisguise the phantom]] is shot by a sniper right as they takes off their final mask and collapses into the shadows of the courtroom, leaving their true face obscured.]]

** In ''[[VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies Dual Destinies]]'', [[spoiler:[[MasterOfDisguise the phantom]] is shot by a sniper right as he takes off his final mask and collapses into the shadows of the courtroom, leaving his true face obscured.]]

* ''VideoGame/PsiOpsTheMindgateConspiracy'' had the cliffhanger [=Unreveal=]:

** Similarly, in an episode of the 1990 ''WesternAnimation/TheFlash'' (at least in the Eastern time zone), two characters were in a GunStruggle, the gun went off between them, [[BulletHolesAndRevelations both characters froze for a beat]] -- and then Dan Rather cut in with a special report about then-President Bush being hospitalized for an ultimately inconsequential heart problem. The report lasted nearly half an hour and pre-empted almost the whole remaining episode.

** Creator/DaveBarry once did a column about the presidential election in which this was supposed to be the joke. (He didn't want to stay up to find out the outcome and asked the editor to fill in the blanks with the appropriate name). Unfortunately, this was the 2000 presidential election, and [[SelfDemonstratingArticle you know the rest]].
** In ''Pogo'', the result of the election of 1952 is announced by a character who can't quite make out the name, but is fairly sure that it contains the letters E, E, N, O, S -- the intersection of "Stevenson" and "Eisenhower".
** On the morning of the 1996 US presidential election, ''The New York Times'' crossword puzzle contained this clue: "Lead story in tomorrow's newspaper (!)". The remarkable feature of the puzzle is that the clue could be answered either "CLINTON ELECTED" or "BOB DOLE ELECTED" (minus the spaces), because all of the clues and answers that crossed it would work either way (e.g. "Black Halloween animal" could be either BAT or CAT for the first letter). The complete crossword is available [[http://www.xwordinfo.com/Crossword?date=11/5/1996 here]].

[[quoteright:330:[[Anime/SailorMoon https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tuxedo_unmasked.png]]]]

[[quoteright:330:[[Anime/SailorMoon https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TuxedoUnmasked_9238.jpg]]]]

See also UnrevealAngle, MissingTheGoodStuff, RiddleForTheAges. Regularly used to add fuel to a DrivingQuestion. Contrast EmergingFromTheShadows. JustForFun/NotToBeConfusedWith EverybodyKnewAlready, which is when a character ''thinks'' they're making a reveal, but the other characters already knew. Also don’t confuse with TheUntwist, unless you expected The [=Unreveal=] to be subverted.

* The bulk of ''WesternAnimation/MeetTheRobinsons'' has Lewis searching for his biological mother. [[spoiler:He never finds out what happened to her beyond his abandonment. Of course, this doesn’t really matter because he gets adopted in the end.]]

* In ''[[Fanfic/PatternsOfThePast Patterns of the Past]]'', Olesya's life after retiring from Odd Squad and promoting Oprah in her place is never mentioned in dialogue. It's just in passing as part of the conversation that the two girls hold as they catch up on their lives.

* Diglett and Dugtrio are specifically programmed within the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games to have animations that avoid or get around situations where they would have to appear fully above ground, thus revealing what they look like underneath the ground. Things like going either underground instead of jumping or simply refusing to jump within the [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokéathlon]], running between bushes within the [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Poké Transfer]] capture minigame instead of jumping between them like the other Pokémon, be the only Pokémon to fade into the battlefield instead of dropping onto the ground within the Generation V games, etc. Even within the 3D games (including the sixth generation), this trope applies -- if they somehow managed to either perform moves that involves them souring into the air or get hit by moves that lift them up into the air, only the visible part of their body goes into the air. That, and also the rubble by their neck (or whatever part of their body that's supposed to be), as if said rubble's part of their body. They can learn several claw based moves, hinting that they at least have front limbs, but these are never shown, even when they use the moves. The Mystery Dungeon games have a Diglett claim he's so happy it "feels like his feet are walking on air", leading to other charcters to mentally express shock or confusion about it even HAVING feet. The fans has made numerous depictions of what they might possibly look like, including a infamous drawing of Dugtrio being three muscular men hugging underground.

** In the video for "Experimental Film" by Music/TheyMightBeGiants, there's a scene with a picture of a guy captioned "Our Gracious Host". In one of the commentary tracks available on the Homestar Runner DVD, Strong Sad asks The Cheat who he's supposed to be. The only part of The Cheat's response Strong Sad [[RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear bothers to repeat for the audience]] reveals that the guy's name is Stephan. Strong Sad's response to The Cheat's explanation for why he's in the video is "Okay, whatever keeps you off the streets."

* Part way though Volume 3 of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', [[RobotGirl Penny]] mentions her desire to transfer to Beacon Academy so she can stay with [[FirstFriend Ruby]]. Exactly what her plan for doing so was isn't revealed at the time, and in light of later events, probably never will be.

* In ''Fanfic/PinkPersonalHellAndAlteringFate'', there is so much foreshadowing that the revelation that Dominic is really Nickel Steel isn't exactly much of a shock. If anything, the "twist" isn't so much ''who'' Nickel Steel really was, but ''how'' Dominic became Nickel Steel.

* Diglett and Dugtrio are specifically programmed within the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games to have animations that avoid or get around situations where they would have to appear fully above ground, thus revealing what they look like underneath the ground. Things like going either underground instead of jumping or simply refusing to jump within the [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokéathlon]], running between bushes within the [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Poké Transfer]] capture minigame instead of jumping between them like the other Pokémon, be the only Pokémon to fade into the battlefield instead of dropping onto the ground within the Generation V games, etc. Even within the 3D games (including the sixth generation), this trope applies -- if they somehow managed to either perform moves that involves them souring into the air or get hit by moves that lift them up into the air, only the visible part of their body goes into the air. That, and also the rubble by their neck (or whatever part of their body that's supposed to be), as if said rubble's part of their body. They can learn several claw based moves, hinting that they at least have front limbs, but these are never shown, even when they use the moves. The Mystery Dungeon games have a Diglett claim he's so happy it "feels like his feet are walking on air", leading to other charcters to mentally express shock or confusion about it even HAVNG Feet. The fans has made numerous depictions of what they might possibly look like, including a infamous drawing of Dugtrio being three muscular men hugging underground. The

* Diglett and Dugtrio are specifically programmed within the ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games to have animations that avoid or get around situations where they would have to appear fully above ground, thus revealing what they look like underneath the ground. Things like going either underground instead of jumping or simply refusing to jump within the [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokéathlon]], running between bushes within the [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Poké Transfer]] capture minigame instead of jumping between them like the other Pokémon, be the only Pokémon to fade into the battlefield instead of dropping onto the ground within the Generation V games, etc. Even within the 3D games (including the sixth generation), this trope applies -- if they somehow managed to either perform moves that involves them souring into the air or get hit by moves that lift them up into the air, only the visible part of their body goes into the air. That, and also the rubble by their neck (or whatever part of their body that's supposed to be), as if said rubble's part of their body. They can learn several claw based moves, hinting that they at least have front limbs, but these are never shown, even when they use the moves. The fans has made numerous depictions of what they might possibly look like, including a infamous drawing of Dugtrio being three muscular men hugging underground.

[[caption-width-right:330:A second DominoMask ''and'' FaceFramedInShadow? Well played, [[CoatHatMask Tuxedo Mask]].]]

* When King Trode finally gets turned from a troll back to a human at the end of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII''. [[spoiler: he looks pretty much exactly the same. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtqZzkR9rus&t=4m42s Naturally, Yangus finds this hilarious.]]]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/Encanto'', we are never given a concrete explanation for ''why'' Mirabel wasn't given a gift.