History RememberTheNewGuy / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'': In the episode "To Steal an Ant-Man," Hank Pym and the Comicbook/HeroesForHire eventually track down the thief who swiped the Comicbook/AntMan suit, and it turns out to be Scott Lang, a janitor who works at Hank's lab. Hank immediately recognizes Scott and seems to have known him for a while, even though he had never appeared before this point. Oddly enough, this was actually averted in the original comics, where Scott debuted as an employee of Tony Stark in an issue of ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' before he actually became the new Ant-Man in a later issue of ''Marvel Premier''.

** Also parodied in the episode "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS5E1MortDinnerRickAndre Mort Dinner Rick Andre]]", where Rick's arch-nemesis Mr. Nimbus is introduced. Neither the viewers nor Rick's family had ever heard about him until then.

* In the final season of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', we see events from ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', but this time from different perspectives, with Ahsoka appearing and often ''just'' missing particular momements from the movie.

** Also parodied in the episode "Recap/RickAndMortyS5E1MortDinnerRickAndre", where Rick's arch-nemesis Mr. Nimbus is introduced. Neither the viewers nor Rick's family had ever heard about him until then.

** Also parodied in the episode "RickAndMortyS5E1MortDinnerRickAndre", where Rick's arch-nemesis Mr. Nimbus is introduced. Neither the viewers nor Rick's family had ever heard about him until then.

*** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E25ACanterlotWeddingPart1 A Canterlot Wedding, Part 1]]" introduces both Twilight's brother Shining Armor and her former foalsitter Princess Cadance. Twilight claims they were her only real friends before she moved to Ponyville (despite her earlier statements that she didn't have ''any'' friends before then), which makes it odd that we ''never'' hear about them for the first two seasons of the show, the latter especially due to her role as Princess. The rest of the mane cast are extremely confused as well; ''they've'' never heard either one mentioned before either. What makes the retcon more obvious is the implication that Twilight had a fairly idyllic childhood full of love and attention... yet somehow struggled to make friends.

** In the early seasons, Kenny's family consisted of his parents and an older brother; then, in season 9's "[[Recap/SouthParkS9E4BestFriendsForever Best Friends Forever]]", there's suddenly a little girl hanging around them. It's not until five years later, in "[[Recap/SouthParkS15E14ThePoorKid The Poor Kid]]", that she is confirmed to be his younger sister Karen, whom he's [[BigBrotherInstinct very protective of]]. For what it's worth, earlier press releases/scripts mentioned Kenny having a sister, but it's odd that so many episodes with the [=McCormick=] family never showed her before the ninth season.

** Bot immediately recognizes The Trouble Makers in the season four premiere "The Boy with the Dragon Skateboard", despite said premiere being the debut of the latter.

** The ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Hand of Fate" presents Dr. Fate has having been active and worked with Superman prior to the episode despite being his debut.

* Warner Bros. kind of likes to pretend these days that Lola Bunny, originally introduced in 1996's ''Film/SpaceJam'', was always a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' character. Her [[SpinoffBabies baby incarnation]] even made it into ''WesternAnimation/BabyLooneyTunes''. She also appears in ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'', though that actually subtly acknowledges how recent she is - she's shown as a new arrival who Bugs meets for the first time ever in an early episode, compared to almost everyone else from the classic crew whom Bugs and Daffy have at least been vaguely aware of from earlier in their lives.

* WesternAnimation/MegaMan would sometimes namedrop whatever new Robot Master that Dr. Wily brought along for that week's adventure, implying he'd fought them before in some world domination attempt the viewers didn't get to see.

* The Phantom Blot only appeared in two Mickey [=MouseWorks=] shorts: "Mickey Foils the Phantom Blot" and "Mickey and the Color Caper", the latter being one of the [=MouseWorks=] shorts that debuted in ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse''. In spite of those shorts being his only two appearances, the Phantom Blot is implied to have menaced Mickey and his friends for quite some time. In "Mickey Foils the Phantom Blot", the Blot tells Mickey that he and his friends have met him again for the last time. "Mickey and the Color Caper", which appeared on ''House of Mouse'' before "Mickey Foils the Phantom Blot", had Mickey rather quickly figure out that the Phantom Blot was to blame for the disappearing colors. To be fair, The Phantom Blot is a character who existed in [[ComicBook/MickeyMouseComicUniverse the Mickey Mouse comic books.]]

* On ''WesternAnimation/WonderPets'', the OriginsEpisode "How it All Began!" would have us believe that Ollie the bunny was the very first animal that the Wonder Pets helped when they first got together, completely ignoring the fact that Ollie only appeared for the first time later in the show's run.

*** While "Christmas with the Joker" and "I've Got Batman in My Basement" marked the debuts of the Joker and the Penguin respectively in the series, unlike with Catwoman, the Riddler, or the other rogues, where their debuts marked the first time Bruce ran into them, those episodes were treated as just the most recent encounters with their respective villains - indeed, "Christmas with the Joker" starts with the Joker breaking out of Arkham, presuming that Batman had already put him there after a previous crime.

*** While "Christmas with the Joker" and "I've Got Batman in My Basement" marked the debuts of the Joker and the Penguin respectively in the series, unlike with Catwoman, the Riddler, or the other rogues, where their debuts marked the first time Bruce ran into them, those episodes were treated as just the most recent encounters with their respective villains.

* Taken to an extreme in the second of the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyTVSpecials'', where only Megan and Spike were re-used. Slightly justified, as there are ''[[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a lot]]'' of ponies. ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'' also didn't include any ponies from the previous specials.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' occasionally names ponies that have never appeared before:
** Miss Cheerilee's class frequently has new students suddenly show up and be treated as if they've always been there by the others.[[note]]Since there are only nine seats or so in the room, it's possible that they simply rotate schedules.[[/note]] A prominent example would be Featherweight, who was a blank-flank until his introduction, despite a plot point of an earlier episode being that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were the ''only'' blank-flanks left in their class.
** "A Canterlot Wedding" introduces both Twilight's brother Shining Armor and her former foalsitter Princess Cadance. Twilight claims they were her only real friends before she moved to Ponyville (despite her earlier statements that she didn't have ''any'' friends before then), which makes it odd that we ''never'' hear about them for the first two seasons of the show, the latter especially due to her role as Princess. The rest of the mane cast are extremely confused as well; ''they've'' never heard either one mentioned before either. What makes the retcon more obvious is the implication that Twilight had a fairly idyllic childhood full of love and attention...yet somehow struggled to make friends.
** Maud Pie especially stands out in that an earlier event is {{retcon}}ned to include her. When Pinkie's origin story is shown in flashback in season 1's "The Cutie Mark Chronicles", we see her with two sisters, Limestone and Marble. In Season 4's "Pinkie Pride" a picture from the exact same scene appears, showing Maud as a fourth filly with no explanation given as to why we didn't see her in the earlier flashback.
** In ''The Mane Attraction'', we are introduced to Countess Coloratura. According to the characters, she is the "biggest pop star in Equestria", and act with stunned reaction at Applejack when [[PopCulturalOsmosisFailure she asks who she is]]. Considering Countess Coloratura has never been mentioned before in the show despite her supposed "fame", [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall audiences ended up relating more with Applejack]].
** In ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E12FlutterBrutter Flutter Brutter]]'', we meet Fluttershy's brother, Zephyr Breeze. Much Like Shining Armor and Maud Pie, he comes right out of the blue with no foreshadowing. Unlike Shining Armor and Maud Pie, the mane six act like they've heard of and even met Zephyr before, with Dash definitely familiar with him. Though given [[BrilliantButLazy what kind of pony Zephyr is]], it is perhaps understandable that they wouldn't ''want'' to talk about him...
* The ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' special ''Why, Charlie Brown, Why?'' introduces Linus' friend and classmate [[LittlestCancerPatient Janice]]. Though this is the first (and only) time we see her, it's implied they've been friends for a long time.
* The writers of ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' (and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZSFvntwgEQ Larry]]) parody this trope when a new character, [[Film/TheThreeStooges Larry]], is given the "Remember the New Guy" treatment by Pinky and the Brain. It starts with the theme song, in which Larry shoehorns himself in at the end of each line, setting the tone for the rest of the episode. The [[ExecutiveMeddling network]], for whatever reason, demanded that a third character be added to the main lineup, so the writers created Larry, a character who added absolutely nothing to the formula and obnoxiously inserts himself into both the gags and even the show's theme song, for a single episode. At the end of the episode, Brain realizes that they don't actually need Larry for their plans, so Larry decides to [[Music/SimonAndGarfunkel start a new career as a folk singer and form a duo with Paul Simon, changing his name to "Art" in the process]]. Larry is then for the end segment immediately replaced with yet another new character in similar vein named [[Creator/MarxBrothers Zeppo]], who obnoxiously inserts himself into the credits song. The episode was created as a protest to adding a third character, and to try and show a third character would destroy the chemistry. The network eventually did get [[WesternAnimation/PinkyElmyraAndTheBrain Elmyra]] as their third character, [[IWarnedYou which pretty much killed the series entirely]].

'''Homer:''' (very blasé) Yeah, hiya Roy.

** The ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "The Hand of Fate" presents Dr. Fate has having been active and well-known enough for Superman to know where to turn to for help.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond''
** Max Gibson appears in the second season as one of Terry's closer friends, despite not appearing or being mentioned at all in the first season.
** Mad Stan's onscreen debut in "Rats" was not the first time Terry had encountered him.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
** Of the original seven members, Shayera Hol (formerly Hawkgirl) was a blatant example of this. She'd never shown up anywhere onscreen in the Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse continuity prior to her first appearance in the three-part premiere episode "Secret Origins," but the other main characters evidently already knew who she was. "Starcrossed" mentions that she's been on Earth for 5 years now. Highly doubtful that the first two seasons went on for 5 years in-universe.
** John Stewart, the Green Lantern, also counts, though his example isn't as obvious because the Green Lantern Corps and their individual members had already been shown in the earlier ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "In Brightest Day" (where new recruit Kyle Rayner was the focus character). Season 2 at least explains this, revealing that after Kyle was recruited, he was sent to Oa for training and the Guardians recalled John, an experienced Lantern who'd been off in deep space at the time, to take over as the sector's official Green Lantern.

* Parodied and subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' episode "Total Rickall." It begins with an apparent uncle of the Smith family treated like he's always been a part of the cast, but it turns out he's the first of many shapeshifting alien parasites who have implanted false memories of being lifelong close friends. [[spoiler:In a [[BlackComedy darkly comic]] DoubleSubversion, exactly ''one'' of those new characters (Mr. Poopybutthole) fails to change back after a life-threatening injury, showing he was RealAfterAll.]]

* The Phantom Blot only appeared in two Mickey [=MouseWorks=] shorts: "Mickey Foils the Phantom Blot" and "Mickey and the Color Caper", the latter being one of the [=MouseWorks=] shorts that debuted in ''WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse''. In spite of those shorts being his only two appearances, the Phantom Blot is implied to have menaced Mickey and his friends for quite some time. In "Mickey Foils the Phantom Blot", the Blot tells Mickey that he and his friends have met him again for the last time. "Mickey and the Color Caper", which appeared on ''House of Mouse'' before "Mickey Foils the Phantom Blot", had Mickey rather quickly figure out that the Phantom Blot was to blame for the disappearing colors.

** "A Canterlot Wedding" introduces both Twilight's brother Shining Armor and her former foalsitter Princess Cadance. Twilight claims they were her only real friends before she moved to Ponyville (despite her earlier statements that she didn't have ''any'' friends before then), which makes it odd that we ''never'' hear about them for the first two seasons of the show, the latter especially due to her role as Princess. The rest of the mane cast are extremely confused as well; ''they've'' never heard either one mentioned before either.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'': In the episode "City At War" we meet Karai's best friend Shinigami, who is also a fighter and has been Karai's close friend since childhood. There was no sign of Karai having any friends before this.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' has this with Depth Charge in season 3. He's an old enemy of Rampage and a guy who tried to convince the Maximal Elders to execute Rampage, which Optimus Primal argued against. He's never mentioned before his first episode. The massacre Rampage is supposed to have performed that made Depth Charge so revenge obsessed is not mentioned by Optimus in previous episodes when he mentions Rampage's origin. He's simply called "treacherous and insane". Apparently the fact he murdered ''a colony and a star base'' (and ''ate'' some of them) was not worth mentioning. Neither that a lone survivor from the aforementioned colony tracked him down and captured him. In its defense though, since as far as they knew Depth Charge was a trillion miles away and centuries in the future, there really wasn't a lot of reason to mention him. Optimus definitely didn't seem inclined to do much mentioning of the details of Rampage, and most of the other Maximals didn't know anything about it. Also, since Optimus wasn't on Colony Omicron or Starbase Rugby the story of that may not mean as much to them. The fact that Rampage is violent and insane covers all his men needed to know.
* ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'':

* [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] n the series finale of ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', where a character is "voted" off the show. After much suspense the character revealed to get the boot was Munchkin Mouse, a character never seen in any episode of the show. All the characters are shocked to see Munchkin Mouse go and a montage of "Munchkin Mouse's Greatest Moments" is played featuring the same image of Munchkin Mouse spliced in to memorable scenes from the show.

* Max Gibson appears in the second season of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' as one of Terry's closer friends, despite not appearing or being mentioned at all in the first season.

* ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'': Dulcy the Dragon just suddenly appears in the second season premiere as if she was one of the Freedom Fighters the whole time. Semi-justified in that there appeared to be a TimeSkip between seasons 1 and 2, so it's likely that she joined up during that time frame.