Basic Trope: A character does something embarrassing and the other characters never let them forget it.
- Straight:
- Andrea accidentally killed Billy 2 years ago, and the other characters are always shaming her for it, referring to her as "Billy Killer" all the time.
- Izzy bungled a mission very badly, and the other characters never trust her with anything now.
- Exaggerated:
- Andrea killed everyone on the team except Carla, and Carla never talks to Andrea except to remind her that she killed everyone.
- Izzy bungled the mission that could have made the difference between defeating the villain forever and plunging into the new apocalypse, and now she is a Persona Non Grata.
- Downplayed:
- Andrea accidentally killed Billy, and none of the other characters mention it except Darius, who only mentions it from time to time.
- Izzy bungled the mission, but the other characters only bring it up sparingly and good-naturedly.
- Justified:
- Andrea made the other characters promise never to let her forget that she killed Billy.
- Izzy's boss, Isaiah, made it clear before the mission that anyone who messed it up would be demoted and never let forget it. The other characters are afraid of Isaiah, so they do as he says.
- Inverted:
- Andrea is always reminding the other characters that she killed Billy.
- The other characters actually want Izzy to forget that she bungled the mission.
- Subverted
- Andrea reveals that she didn't actually kill Billy, but the other characters all blame her for it anyway because they dislike her.
- Double Subverted
- but then, we learn that Andrea is a liar and she did kill him, and the other characters are telling the truth.
- Zigzagged
- but THEN, we learn that the other characters are all brainwashed into thinking they're telling the truth about Andrea, and Andrea's the only one who ISN'T brainwashed.
- Averted
- Andrea doesn't do anything the other characters won't let her forget.
- The other characters all forget about the mission Izzy bungled. Or, they still remember about how the mission went, but tends to omit the part that Izzy bungled it.
- Enforced
- To prevent the audience from forgetting that Andrea killed Billy, the producer has the characters constantly reminding her.
- Lampshaded
- "I've done it this time, haven't I? I killed Billy and now the others won't let me forget it."
- Discussed
- "Gosh, Andrea, you're turning out just like those characters in movies who do something bad and then never live it down."
- "You know, if every single word that comes out of your mouth in an insult aimed to remind me of what I did, it's going to get old really fast. I mean it. You think right now that you can keep it going for twenty, thirty years, but at some point you will get annoyed by the waste of breath."
- Played for Laughs: After Izzy screws up, a Running Gag develops in which literally every single line Andrea says whenever she is within hearing range of Izzy is an insult regarding her screw up. The Distant Finale even implies that Andrea kept this up for decades (and potential sequels), to the point that Izzy telling her to "shut it!" is as much for the audience's sake as it is for her's.
- Played for Drama
- Andrea develops extreme guilt because no one will let her forget that she killed Billy. She turns to alcohol to cope, and eventually dies of an overdose.
- Izzy's self-esteem is drastically lowered by her bungling, Isaiah gives her all the worst tasks and generally steps on her, and everyone calls her a failure, leading her to commit suicide.
- Played for Laughs
- Andrea kills Billy by accidentally stabbing him with a butter knife countless times, earning her the nickname "Serial Butter Killer".
Go on back to Once Done, Never Forgotten, we won't let you forget it anytime soon.
