For example, say that Bob tells Alice their phone bill is very high. At first she ignores it, but then she remembers her bank account balance and freaks out.
Compare Delayed Reaction and Late to the Realization. Also similar to Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap! for when the reaction comes from their own words. Something of a verbal counterpart to the Double Take, and may often be combined with it.
Examples:
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Animation
- In the Motu Patlu episode "Snow Man", Dr. Jhatka traps the snowman terrorizing Furfuri Nagar in his lab and increases the temperature to try to melt him. The snowman escapes, sneaks up behind Motu, and asks if he's dead yet. Motu responds by explaining that he'll surely be done for now... and then he turns around and realizes who asked him that question.
Anime & Manga
- In Parasyte, when Shinichi is being hunted by Gotou, he suggests to Migi that they try running all around Japan with the hope that Gotou will eventually give up. Migi doesn't respond, so Shinichi concludes that he's asleep.note Shinichi suddenly stops walking, remembering that he forgot to go to school. He chuckles nonchalantly, and continues walking. Then it suddenly hits him how vulnerable he would be if Gotou decided to attack him while Migi's asleep.
Shinichi: [thinking] Wait, he's asleep? Migi?!
- School Zone Girls: Initially, Tsubaki is overjoyed when an announcement comes over her school's PA system that somebody found the wallet she dropped. Then she remembers she keeps voyeur photos of her own sister inside it and sweats profusely.
Comic Books
- Disney Mouse and Duck Comics: We get a twofer in the 1962 Ludwig Von Drake story "Willing to Learn" where Von Drake, feeling depressed that he has no new things to learn, decides to challenge himself by teaching things to Goofy. After teaching Goofy chemistry Von Drake turns him loose in the lab to make a new compound and...
Von Drake: Well, pupil Goofy, what did you mix up?
Goofy: Oh, some of this an' this an' this! I dunno what I've got, though!
Von Drake: Ahum! Glycerol... nitric acid... sulfuric acid! Very good! You have made C3H5(NO3)3!
Goofy: I have?
[beat Panel when Von Drake realizes what that is]
Von Drake: How did you happen to choose those particular ingredients?
Goofy: Oh, just lucky I guess!
Von Drake: Do you know what you've just made? Nitroglycerin!
Goofy: Nitroglycerin? That's swell! ... Nitroglycerin?!!! - Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #6 has Jimmy infiltrating a crook's hideout with a piece of lead foil so Superman can apprehend the gang without fearing all the Kryptonite they've gathered. Afterwards, Clark praises his bravery in taking on such a dangerous task, and Jimmy gulps as he suddenly realizes how horribly wrong that could have gone.
Fan Works
- Harry Potter and the Magic of the Beasts: Harry rushes an explanation to James and Sirius, which Sirius sums up as Ron Weasley is under mind control and has dragged Emily and Hermione to Peter and Narius Alucard. When they realize the full extent, they immediately shout and rush off to help Harry.
- My Hero Academia: Unchained Predator: When heading off with Wolfram's team and Melissa, Curator contacts Volcano and tells him they're leaving I-Island.
Volcano: So soon? What... (realizes why immediately) Oh shit, they're all dead, aren't they?
Curator: Quite messily, to be exact. - In This Bites!:
- Akainu brushes off Garp's remarks that he vaguely remembers the name Baron Omatsuri, until the latter yells at him that if he vaguely remembers it, that means it was someone he knew in his prime, back when he was hunting Gol D. Roger in the New World. Akainu promptly starts helping search the old records.
- While on the Rocketman, Mr. 13 and Miss Friday try to attack Cross again but realize too late that roughly the entire crew is present.
Films — Animation
- In Alice in Wonderland, Dodo gets a good idea to get a giant Alice out of the White Rabbit's house.
Dodo: That's it, we'll burn the house down!
White Rabbit: Yes, burn the house— WHAT!? - In The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, the Five-Man Band of appliances does a SIMULTANEOUS one when they are told of the destruction of the Planet Earth.
Martian Appliance: We'll see to it that you get a ringside seat for the destruction of the Planet Earth!
Toaster: Thanks!
[Beat]
All: THE DESTRUCTION OF THE PLANET EARTH??!! - From A Goofy Movie
Goofy: A-hyuck, a waterfall. WATERFALL!?
- In Young Tom Edison, a Morse code message is sent to the train via steam whistle.
Tannie Edison: Mr. Nelson, they're trying to tell us the bridge is out.
Mr. Nelson: They are. Well-well, the bridge is out. [beat] THE BRIDGE IS OUT!? - How to Catch a Cold: After the man uses sports as an analogy for the immune system, the man initially gets sidetracked and says, "Hooray!", but then he realises that the man is implying he might catch a serious disease.
Man: Hooray!... uh... pneumonia?!
- The Iron Giant: Mansley, refusing to accept the Giant isn't a threat to humanity even as the rest of the military does, furiously snatches the radio out of Lt Gen. Rogard's hands and orders the Nautilus to launch a nuke at the Giant. He immediately has to be reminded by a furious Rogard that the nuke is targeted to the Giant's current position, and at the moment, the Giant is standing right in the middle of a town of innocent civilians, less than thirty feet away from him:
Rogard: That missile is targeted to the Giant's current position! WHERE'S THE GIANT, MANSLEY?!
[Mansley looks back to see the Giant right behind him, and cringes and sucks in air through his teeth as he realizes just what he did]
Mansley: ...W-we could duck and cover! There's a fallout shelter right there. If we can—
Rogard: There's no way to survive this, you idiot!
Mansley: [realizes they're completely screwed] You mean... we're all going t—
Rogard: To die, Mansley. For our country.
Mansley: Screw our country! I WANNA LIVE! (shoves a soldier out of a jeep and starts to drive away...but the Giant blocks the jeep with his hand, preventing Mansley's escape. Soldiers point their rifles at Mansley)
Rogard: Hold him, men. Make sure he stays here, like a good soldier. - During Mowgli's first encounter with Kaa in The Jungle Book, Bagheera is too tired to realize at first that Kaa is hypnotizing the boy so that he can be eaten more easily. When Kaa declares that Mowgli won’t be around in the morning, Bagheera fully awakens and stops Kaa from eating the boy.
- In The Lion King, Mufasa is giving Simba advice on pouncing. Mufasa had already asked Zazu to turn around. When Zazu gets suspicious, he asks:
Zazu: What's going on?
Mufasa: A pouncing lesson.
Zazu: Oh, very good. Pouncing. [he realizes he's the target] POUNCING?!
Films — Live-Action
- In The Absent-Minded Professor, Alonzo Hawk sees Professor Brainard flying his Model T and asks his son Biff what it is.
Biff: Oh, it's just Neddy the Nut out flying his old Model T.
Hawk: Say that again.
Biff: I said it's Neddy the Nut flying his— [finally gets it] - In Birds of Prey; with Roman holding Cass at knife-point to hold Harley back, both Harley and Roman need a second or two to realize what Cass meant when she admitted to Harley that the habitual pickpocket had stolen a ring from her. A ring which Cass shows hooked onto her finger — the ring holding the pin of a hand grenade Cass had stolen from Harley previously and had slipped into Roman's pocket.
- In Death Note, Ryuk wonders why Light was ignoring him. When Light in the convenience store explained to Ryuk that the former has a feeling that he's been watched via CCTV which means no Apples for Ryuk, it took a few seconds for the Shinigami to realize what Light meant and reacted in sorrow.
Ryuk: Nooooooooo!!!
- In Muppet Treasure Island, Billy Bones dies of a fright-induced heart attack after getting the black spot from his old shipmates. He rallies long enough to tell Jim about the map, and to warn him about running with scissors, before falling back for good. Jim, Gonzo, and Rizzo stare in shock—until Rizzo says "We're standing in a room with a dead guy!" The trio look at each other, start screaming, and run.
- In The Producers, as they are preparing to blow up the Broadway theater and sink their play Springtime for Hitler; Franz, the play's writer and former Nazi soldier is informing Max and Leo that he isn't sure whether he brought the slow fuse or the quick fuse for the dynamite. He decides to test this by lighting the fuse while it is attached to the dynamite. He then tells Max and Leo with complete confidence that it is the quick fuse.
Franz: ZE QUICK FUSE?! Building explodes
Live-Action TV
- The Adventures of Superman: In "The Human Bomb", Jimmy confronts the eponymous villain to save Lois, believing that the dynamite he's using to hold her hostage is fake because the company isn't listed in the phone book. Only afterwards does Clark point out that the stick he lit as a demonstration did explode. While Jimmy knew confronting the man put him in danger for other reasons, the realization that the peril was worse than he thought causes him to collapse into a chair.
- A Running Gag on Hannah Montana is that somebody tells someone (usually Miley) some bad news, only to have them brush it off. They then get the hint and shout "(what the guy just said)—say what!?"
- This happens to Rimmer in the Red Dwarf episode "Backwards". While conducting the recognition test portion of Kryten's Starbug pilot exam, he has the following exchange with Kryten and Holly:
Rimmer: (points to book] What's that one?
Holly: [looking through windscreen] A time hole!
Rimmer: Don't help him!
Kryten: [also now looking through windscreen] It's a time hole!
Rimmer: No it isn't, it's nothing like a time hole!
[the camera angle changes to show a swirling orange mass into which Starbug is now heading]
Holly: It's a time hole.
Kryten: It is! It's a time hole!
Rimmer: [impatiently] A time hole is a phenomenon rarely seen in space, which legend would have us believe transports us into another part of space and time. [points to book] Whereas that is quite obviously a blue giant about to go supernova! [points through windscreen] THAT is a time hole. [points to book again] Right, what's this?
[Rimmer's eyes widen and he slowly turns back to look at the time hole] - Father Ted:
- The episode "Think Fast, Father Ted", Ted notices a slight dent in a car that the priests were going to give away as a raffle prize. He attempts to fix it by gently tapping it, but his perfectionist tendencies lead him to getting carried away and he spends the next several hours hammering away at it until only a pile of scrap is left. He calmly acknowledges that it is an unfit raffle prize and then goes inside to think about what they are going to do about it. He follows Dougal's advice to sleep on it; but half-way through the night, this happens...
Ted: ... [wakes up] AH, JESUS, WE'RE DEAD! OH, GOD ALMIGHTY! WE'VE JUST DESTROYED A CAR THAT'S WORTH SEVEN GRAND! DOUGAL, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! WE'RE DEAD! THE BISHOP WILL KILL US! WE'RE DEAD! WE'RE DEAD! WE'RE DEAD! WE'RE DEAD!
- From the episode "The Plague", Bishop Brennan wakes up at the end of the episode to see Ted and Dougal seemingly bringing a large number of rabbits (of which he is utterly terrified) into his bedroom, then turns to see father Jack lying naked next to him. Ted assures him that it's 'just a bad dream' and that it will be over soon. The bishop (seemingly relieved) thanks the pair of them and returns to sleep; only to wake up screaming a few seconds later.
- The episode "Think Fast, Father Ted", Ted notices a slight dent in a car that the priests were going to give away as a raffle prize. He attempts to fix it by gently tapping it, but his perfectionist tendencies lead him to getting carried away and he spends the next several hours hammering away at it until only a pile of scrap is left. He calmly acknowledges that it is an unfit raffle prize and then goes inside to think about what they are going to do about it. He follows Dougal's advice to sleep on it; but half-way through the night, this happens...
- Reba:
- Early in "The Blond Leading the Blind", Van initially doesn't find it suspicious about Reba treating him with a plate of homemade cookies... until he gives a recount of him lending his car to Reba and seeing Reba's guilty expression.
Van: We're nice to each other. She made me cookies; I lent her my car. *sees Reba's guilty facial expression* My car! *runs to his car*note
- After viewing the video footage of Van's outrageous behavior and realizing that he's turning into his own father regarding coaching sports late in "Bullets Over Brock", Van sees nothing wrong until further conversation with Cheyenne clues him in on how bad the circumstance is or will be, especially with regard to their own son.
Van: It's weird. That's my father.
Cheyenne: Nope, nope. I-I had the camera. It was you.
Van: No, I know it was me, but the way I was acting, that was my father. That's the way my dad coached me my whole life.
Cheyenne: Oh, Van, that's so sad.
Van: That's not sad. That's why I'm so good at sports.
Cheyenne: Yeah, and it was probably why... you know —
Van: Probably why what?
Cheyenne: Well, why you hate your dad.
Van: I don't hate my dad. I just, you know, don't talk to him. Or call him. Or think about him. Oh my gosh, I hate my dad, and I'm turning into him. Cheyenne, I don't want my well-enbrowed son to hate me!
- Early in "The Blond Leading the Blind", Van initially doesn't find it suspicious about Reba treating him with a plate of homemade cookies... until he gives a recount of him lending his car to Reba and seeing Reba's guilty expression.
Puppet Shows
- The Muppet Show: A dull stretch for the "Pigs in Space" bridge team is interrupted by a flashing light on the console.
Dr Strangepork: Oh, that light. That means the ship has been invaded by alien beings.
All: [sigh]...WHAT? - Sesame Street: When Bert and a nervous Ernie visit an Egyptian pyramid.
Ernie: You didn't tap me did you, statue?
Statue: Sure I did! [snickers]
Ernie: Sure he did...[Double Take] BERRRRT!
Web Animation
- HFIL:
- In Episode 2, Frieza has one of these moments when Cell engages in Passive-Aggressive Kombat.
Frieza: I'm sorry, is that an insinuation?!
Cell: Oh, no no no. I'm not trying to cut you to pieces in front of anyone or anything.note
Frieza: Hmph! A wise decisi— [realization] - It happens again in Episode 3 after the dodgeball match.
Frieza: Whoever killed me couldn't possibly be more embarrassing than Goku's tween offspring.
Cell: Well, there's always Vegeta's teen offspring.
Frieza: Yes, I suppose that would be— [realization] ...no...!
Cell: Who do you think that time-traveler was...?
- In Episode 2, Frieza has one of these moments when Cell engages in Passive-Aggressive Kombat.
- Minilife TV: In "Baby Crotchrash Returns", when Chris and Ian arrive at the lab in Minilife Studios, they find their old foe Baby Crotchrash has been freed from the ice they imprisoned him in.
Chris: Hey, Snowball, random people*, Clair, Baby Crotchrash.
Chris and Ian: Baby Crotchrash?! - Spooky Month:
- In "Deadly Smiles," while Skid and Pump are watching a horror movie in the theater, Pump notices that the Happy Fella is missing, to which Skid explains that he went to pee. It takes them a few seconds to remember that dolls can't pee.
- In "Tender Treats", after going on a rant that Skid and Pump bring him nothing but trouble, Kevin looks out the window and notices Bob Velseb silently staring at him. He then points to Bob as an example of their "trouble", only for his eyes to go wide as he realizes Bob is right outside the store.
Webcomics
- Happens
in Avialae when Gannet seems to be calming down from his Freak Out with Bailey's confirmation that he's not having a Black Swan-like hallucination.
Gannet: Okay, so I'm not crazy. I just have wings growing out of my back.
[beat]
[horrified screaming from Gannet] - In El Goonish Shive, Susan discusses her not-quite-smooth rejection of Matt and says he scared her. He's then revealed to be behind her and says that wasn't his intention. Susan immediately realizes he heard most of what she said and promptly apologizes for her actions.
Web Videos
- A moment from Dragon Ball Z Abridged has this.
- Near the end of the Namek Saga, there's Vegeta's Dying Speech to Goku.
Vegeta: You are our race's last hope... You are the last remaining Saiyan... Oh god, you're the last remaining Saiyan.
- In the third season, Dr. Gero is about to get help from his creations, the androids, to fight the heroes.
- Near the end of the Namek Saga, there's Vegeta's Dying Speech to Goku.
- Minecraft SOS: It takes Eloise several moments on stream (and in her 2nd episode) to realize Owen held a heist on her house to obtain a Fate Coin, and immediately runs home to futilely try to stop him.note
Eloise: NO! NO! Oh my god, I know what he's done, I know what he's done, I know what he's done– […] HE'S– HE'S BROKEN MY POT! AND HE'S PUT MY POT BACK TOGETHER!
- At the end of The Nostalgia Critic's review of A Simple Wish, he wraps up his knocking of the film and Mara Wilson's performance. She appears on screen while he's talking to take him to task about it:
Critic: But I'm sorry, I'm just not a fan of her movies! I mean, it's like everything Mara Wilson touched back then just turned to crap! I mean look at her, with her couch, her modern day haircut, her 25-ish year old body, her vengeful eyes that seem to be looking directly at me right now– AAAGH!
Mara: Hello, Critic. - Episode 14 of Sword Art Online Abridged, when Sugou starts describing how interesting he finds the Nerve Gear technology and how it deals with stats. What really sells it is how TERRIFIED Asuna sounds as she realizes the implication.
Sugou: Well, I just find it fascinating is all. Increase your strength stat, and even a child could wield the mightiest weapons. Increase dexterity, and you could move with the grace of a world class gymnast! (Beat) Increase charisma...
Asuna: Yeah, Yeah, it would let you... [beat] Oh. Oh no.
Western Animation
- In the South Park episode "Pre-School", Cartman has this reaction.
Cartman: Hey gaybots, what's going on?
Kyle: Trent Boyett is being released from juvenile hall.
Cartman: Really? That's cool, when did... [eyes widen] What did you say? - In the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends episode "Phone Home", Bloo brings home a man in a cell phone suit, thinking it's an imaginary friend, and gloats to Wilt, Frankie and Mr. Herriman about his find. When Frankie tells him what his "friend" really is, Bloo continues to gloat before realizing mid-sentence what she said.
Bloo: I'd say you're jealous because I brought home the best abandoned friend ever! I'd say you're jealous because I brought home—
Frankie: A man in a cellphone suit.
Bloo: That's right, a man in a— say what? - Looney Tunes:
- In the short "Draftee Daffy", when Daffy gets a call saying that the man from the draft board is coming to see him.
Daffy: Oh the little man from the draft board is coming to see me! Oh the d-d-d-d-d-d-THE MAN FROM THE DRAFT BOARD!?
- In the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Haredevil Hare", Marvin the Martian, in his grand debut, tells Bugs that he's going to blow up the Earth. Bugs at first seems uninterested, but as he walks away...
Bugs: One man's meat is another man's poison, I always say. I mean, it's his business if he wants to blow up the Ear... Wait, what?... WHOA!
- Hare-Way to the Stars has a similar gag, with two of these in a row when Bugs asks Marvin the Martian for help getting back to Earth.
Bugs: Pardon me, doc, but could you rent me a U-Drive flyin' saucer? I gotta get back to the Earth.
Marvin: The Earth? Oh, the Earth will be gone in just a few seconds.
Bugs: Oh well, don't bother then. [starts walking away] No point in wastin' money on a flyin' saucer when the Earth's not gonna... [suddenly stops] KOING! Er, pardon me again, doc, but just what did you mean by that crack about the Earth bein' gone?
Marvin: Oh, I'm going to blow it up. It obstructs my view of Venus.
Bugs: It does? That's a shame... [does a Double Take, and hastily steals the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator and runs away] - In "Rocket-bye Baby", Joseph and Martha do this before they open a letter explaining their baby is really a Martian.
Martha: Who was it, dear?
Joseph: Oh, nothing, just kind of a rocket with a message from Mars.
Martha: Oh, is that all? I'm always afraid it'll be a telegram from Mother.
Both: MARS?? - Roman Legion-Hare: When Sam (as a Roman general trying to capture Bugs to feed to the Colosseum's lions) passes by a lion's cell, he smacks it on the head for roaring at him. Unfortunately for Sam, it is then that Bugs raises the cell's bars.
Sam: [smacking the lion for roaring again] HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO [realizes the lion is free] shut... up...
- In the short "Draftee Daffy", when Daffy gets a call saying that the man from the draft board is coming to see him.
- In T.U.F.F. Puppy episode "Freaky Spy-Day", Kitty, in Dudley's body, wakes up unaware of what just happened. She gets a badly written note from Dudley in which he spells "brains" as "brians". Because of how badly written the note is, she goes into the women's restroom where the women inside scream and leave. Kitty looks at herself in the mirror and realizes what Dudley's note meant.
Kitty: Brians?
[cut to Kitty entering a women's restroom and once again, the women scream and leave; she looks at herself at the mirror and screams]Kitty: That lame— brian meant brains! DUDLEY!! - Ed, Edd n Eddy In "Every Which Way, but Ed", Ed accidentally flashes himself, Eddy and Double D back to the time one of Eddy's scams ruined Jimmy's teeth. Ed remembers what happens next.
Ed: Oh yeah! Oh no... I just remembered the pain Sarah will now inflict on us!
- Rubbadubbers: In "Farmer Sploshy", while driving her tractor, Sploshy doesn't realize that she was destroying Amelia the chicken's eggs until after she stops driving.
Sploshy: Driving a tractor is so much fun! (laughs, but then gasps) Oh no! What a mess!
- In the Simsala Grimm episode "The Six Swans", Yoyo and Doc Croc are flying on the swans when they were about to going to go into a waterfall.
- Journey Through the Jungle of Words: When Groucho and Olivia first meet King Tut, Olivia freaks out, but Groucho is unfazed.... at first.
Groucho: Big deal, so there's a ghost.... A GHOST?!
- In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm", Sandy, against an increasingly worried Spongebob's wishes, goes off to fight the titular Alaskan Bull Worm without backup in revenge for eating her tail (among other various chunks of Bikini Bottom). When she finally thinks she's found the Worm, she attacks it and ties it in a knot, ignoring Spongebob's protests until the deed is done...at which point Spongebob informs her that wasn't the Worm, but it's tongue...and the "cave" Sandy found it in is the Worm itself. For Sandy's part, the realization of what Spongebob pointed out hits her early on, but it takes her saying it out loud before it finally settles in for her what's going on.
Sandy: Ohhhhhhhhhh. This is his tongue...and the whole cave...is the..worm. [Beat] RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!
Wait a minute, they said 'you're doomed!' It's all over! Every troper for themselves!
