History Main / ChekhovsGag

** The two-part episode "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" between seasons 6 and 7 buries its foreshadowing in gags throughout Part 1. Notably, Burns mentions that taking the recently-discovered oil from Springfield Elementary was as easy as taking candy from a baby and he notices a baby in a park holding a candy through his telescope, [[EvilIsPetty and he actually wanted to just drop everything he was doing and go steal that candy]]. [spoiler:Turns out that his actual attempt at doing this later on in the same episode is what almost cost him his life.]]

-->'''Marty:''' "Better get used to those bars, kid."

Most times, jokes come and go; they get their set up, make you laugh, and then they're done and you move on to the next joke. But sometimes, jokes aren't done with you. Sometimes, you find yourself not only going back to the joke, but having it bring a whole new twist - the first joke wasn't just a gag, but also set up for something else that blindsides you later on. It's ChekhovsGun being used as a joke in its first appearance.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'':

** In another episode, the group visits the GreatBigLibraryOfEverything because Nyarko has to return an overdue book, but they get sidetracked when two criminals ransack the place looking for a particular book. Trying to be smart, Mahiro guesses that Nyarko's overdue book is what they were after, but it turns out that this time ''[[NotSoAboveItAll he's]]'' the one responsible, due to a copy of "[[LightNovel/HeavensMemoPad Malign God's Memo Pad]]" he idly picked up during their visit and accidentally pocketed. Nyarko even complains about how unfair it was for him to assume that she's always responsible for these things.

* In the climax of the Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg movie ''Vampires Suck'', [[Literature/{{Twilight}} Bella]]... er... [[ParodyNames Becca]] rushes to stop Edward from ending it all, fighting through a crowd of Edward and [[FanPreferredCouple Jacob]] fangirls along the way. At the end, after Becca becomes a vampire, one of the Jacob fangirls kills Edward. This results in a KarmicDeath, as Becca feasts on the fangirl's blood.

* ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'':

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6677172/1/Zero-Interface Zero Interface]]'' the empathic familiar bond between [[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Ranma]] and [[LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero Louise]] is shown to work both ways when Ranma's interest in Kirche causes Louise to start lusting after her as well. When Ranma is nearly killed by Wardes, Louise reacts on instinct the next time she sees Wardes and blasts him off the airship they're on.

** For instance, Vinny tries to sleep in his care out in the woods only to be caught in a rainstorm. The car is stuck in mud and when they try to get out one wheel spins while the other doesn't spin at all. It seems like just another ridiculous bad night that serves only to wreck Vinny's suit and force him to wear a ridiculous show suit instead, until [[spoiler: it turns out that the very same issue makes it impossible for a car to leave the sort of skid marks found at the crime scene, allowing Lisa to conclude that the Skylark the boys drove, which had the same issue, could not possibly be the vehicle that left the marks.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The premiere episode "Tourist Trapped" ends with Mabel getting a grappling hook after Grunkle Stan allows the kids to pick any item of their choosing from the Mystery Shack's gift shop, which was originally a gag highlighting Mabel's [[CloudCuckoolander eccentric nature]] and adventurous side. Nineteen episodes later, in the season finale "Gideon Rises", the grappling hook saves Dipper and Mabel from falling to their deaths after a fight with Gideon (and after Mabel had spent the whole episode trying to use the grappling hook).

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has the Harem Jutsu. Introduced in the second chapter, a gender-bent version is used against the Big Bad, Kaguya Ootsotsuki ''680 chapters later.'' The real kicker is, it works. Albeit, it distracts Kaguya by causing her to be DistractedByTheSexy rather than causing her to ''totally'' perv out, but it still lets them get their first actual hit in against her.
* In Episode 24 of ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'', as Endou is preparing for an overnight training camp, a brief comic relief scene occurs where his mom hands him a pair of boxers with his name written in marker ("En" on the left butt cheek and "dou" on the right in ''really'' big handwriting, no less) to make sure he doesn't get his laundry mixed up with any of his teammates. Seven episodes later, Touko barges in on the boys changing, and gets an eyeful of Endou in his underwear - and he's actually wearing that very same pair of boxers.
* ''Anime/SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie''. During the last fight scene, Robotnik fires two missiles at Tails' plane. One of the missiles is shaped like a rabbit, and very fast; the other is shaped like a turtle, and ridiculously slow. Robotnik laments that the latter is "another design failure". After the fight is completely over, there's a brief shot of the turtle continuing, slowly and steadily, across the field of battle. Then, as Robotnik gloats to the heroes that he still has the data to build another, stronger Metal Sonic, the turtle missile ''very slowly'' flies up to Robotnik, grabs the data disc from his hand, and explodes.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Luffy spends a lot of the earlier episodes asserting that their next crew member needs to be a musician, over things like a doctor or a cook. Sure enough, 300+ episodes later, the 9th Straw Hat pirate is Brook, an undead musician.
** When the World Government produces Sanji's wanted poster, instead of his photograph (the photographer accidentally left his lens cap on), there is a rather badly-drawn sketch of what officials ''think'' he looks like. This causes Duval to bear a grudge against Sanji, as his real face looks just like the sketch on the wanted poster, causing people to beat Duval up and arrest him for nothing he ever did, mistaking him for Sanji. Much later, the oddities with Sanji's wanted poster continue when it's simultaneously updated to include a proper photograph of him and an instruction that he's to be taken alive only (instead of the more typical Dead or Alive). It then turns out that the only reason Sanji's extremely dangerous family weren't hunting him down was because of the poorly drawn poster making it too hard to locate him.
** A LivingToy in Dressrosa working as a waiter is absurdly evasive about the so-called fairies on the island, to the annoyance of people who talk to him. This is actually because these fairies, the Tontattas, are in an alliance with the toys on the island in a plot to overthrow the current king, hence the waiter toy remaining hush-hush to those not part of the alliance.
** Gladius is shown in one of his earliest scenes to get so angry at one of his comrades that he blows his top, causing his hat to explode as a sight gag. It turns out, many chapters later when he actually gets serious in battle, that he has the ability to inflate any non-living thing that comes in physical contact with him until it pops, including the landscape around him, making that first scene a hint to his PersonOfMassDestruction nature.
* ''Manga/DailyLivesOfHighSchoolBoys'': In an early skit ''High School Boys and Scary Stories (2)'', Hidenori mentioned Karasawa was "experienced in scary tales," and Tadakuni made up a story on how he saw what was under Karasawa's [[NeverBareheaded cap]], remarking that it was hilarious. It's nowhere near funny at all, as his backstory unfolded: he was covered with scars--including an ugly scar on his forehead that he wears a cap to cover. These scars were courtesy of Habara, the girl who lives next to him and, eight years ago, was an EnfantTerrible-level [[TheBully bully]].
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
** When Lieutenant Hughes constantly discusses his wife and daughter, Colonel Mustang jokes that in war movies, the guy who's obsessed with his family always gets killed first. At first just an innocent joke, then it actually happens and [[HarsherInHindsight isn't so funny anymore.]]
** Mustang's very first scene in the manga has him complaining about the terrorist attack on the train possibly forcing him to work late [[SkewedPriorities because he has a date that night]], implying his lazy work ethic and [[TheCasanova womanizing tendencies]]. [[spoiler:His [[OvertRendezvous "dates"]] take on a very different tone and significance later on.]]
* ''LightNovel/NyarukoCrawlingWithLove'':
** Happens all the time, as the most inconsequential remarks and jokes often turn out to be the lynchpin of the plot (to the growing frustration of the OnlySaneMan male lead, Mahiro). In particular, a second season episode has Nyarko catch an Earthly cold and [[ConversationalTroping discuss]] the concept of powerful aliens having {{Weaksauce Weakness}}es. At the end of the episode, the evil invading aliens are defeated when Nyarko's ringtone, an alien pop song, [[YourHeadAsplode makes their heads explode]] -- a direct ShoutOut to ''Film/MarsAttacks'', which Nyarko explicitly referenced during that earlier dialog.
** In another episode, the group visits the GreatBigLibraryOfEverything because Nyarko has to return an overdue book, but they get sidetracked when two criminals ransack the place looking for a particular book. Trying to be smart, Mahiro guesses that Nyarko's overdue book is what they were after, but it turns out that this time ''[[NotSoAboveItAll he's]]'' the one responsible, due to a copy of "[[LightNovel/HeavensMemoPad Malign God's Memo Pad]]" he idly picked up during their visit and accidentally pocketed. Nyarko even complains about how unfair it was for him to assume that she's always responsible for these things.
** Also subverted and discussed earlier; one episode introduces a vacuum cleaner, voiced by Creator/NorioWakamoto, apparently just to allow another ShoutOut to ''Series/KamenRiderDouble''. At the end of another episode (which also featured it), both Mahiro and Nyarko remark that they ''thought'' the vacuum would turn out to be one of these, only to be proven wrong.

* In Episode 15 of ''Literature/TanteiTeamKZJikenNote'', there was a gag Wakatake's police-siren cell phone ringer, as Aya complained Wakatake's being an AttentionWhore even down to things like that. In the next episode, when TheTeam is in a stalemate with the JapaneseDelinquents, Aya asks Kozuka to call Wakatake's cell phone, which breaks the stalemate by freaking out the delinquents.
* Yuki gets a cute mustached teddy bear very early into ''Manga/SchoolLive''. It doesn't become relevant until over thirty chapters in when Rii begins [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness hallucinating]] it is her younger sister.
* ''Manga/FairyTail'':
** The girls are relaxing in a hot spring when they learn that the guys are already there (it's a unisex pool). Lucy and Wendy freak out, but Natsu and Grey point out that they've [[ClothingDamage seen the]] [[ReluctantFanserviceGirl girls naked]] [[RunningGag so many times]] that the novelty has worn off. Later, an enemy has Natsu pinned down and is using his {{Invisibility}} magic to [[PowerPerversionPotential make Lucy's clothes disappear]] in order to embarrass Natsu. This completely backfires since Natsu isn't the least bit embarrassed, but the enemy mage ''is''.
** Natsu's motion sickness is initially brought up as the ''longest'' RunningGag in the series, but later on we meet other Dragon Slayers who have it, with ones who didn't have it coming down with it to their own shock as they get stronger. It turns out developing motion sickness is actually a sign you're a Dragon Slayer, as it's due to the SuperSenses of dragons not meshing well with a human body, which in and of itself is part of the reveal that overuse of Dragon Slayer Magic [[{{Weredragon}} eventually turns you into one]] without proper precautions.
* You would think Elena's botched magical surgery on Taizou would be just one of the many gags that pepper ''Manga/TheVoynichHotel''. As it turns out, having your heart on the wrong side of your body is exactly the kind of thing that would win you a few more minutes by confusing your would-be killers, [[BigDamnHeroes allowing help to arrive just in the nick of time]].

* In ''Anime/SteinsGate'', the Future Gadgets team built several [[AwesomeButImpractical ridiculously useless]] inventions prior to building the Phone Wave that kicks off the plot. One of them, an overpowered humidifier, is accidentally triggered in a small space and floods the room with steam, for laughs. A few episodes later, it finds much more practical use as a smoke screen generator during a tense standoff.

* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'':
** At the beginning of the series, Irina tries to extract some information out of Nagisa by planting a 30-hit French kiss on him. [[spoiler:Several months later, Nagisa uses the exact same technique on Kayano to distract her from the destructive influence of her tentacles. He only lands 15 hits, but it's more than enough to distract her long enough for Koro-sensei to remove her tentacles.]]
** In the beginning chapters Koro-sensei made a formula with Okuda that gave him slime-like properties. Neither of them knew at the time, but this chemical composition [[spoiler:''neutralized the effects of Koro-sensei's antimatter body'', reducing the odds of exploding to virtual nonexistence. In other words, from the moment he drank that, ''the threat of the earth being destroyed was gone''.]]
** The wasabi and horseradish torture that Karma used on Grip in the Assassination Island arc later returns, with improvements, [[spoiler: on one of the mercenaries guarding the mountain, in order to use his screams as bait to lure more mercenaries into a trap.]]
** Koro-sensei's habit of grooming attackers at super speed? [[spoiler: Extra Chapter 4 reveals it was part of his training in special surgery, which pays off there to heal and remove the tumour of a woman, and in the final arc of the main story for saving Kaede.]]
* ''Manga/FutokuNoGuild'': From the beginning gag after gag plays on how strongly monsters are attracted to Hitamuki, how incredibly clumsy she is, how "sensitive" she is, etc. In the end it turns out [[spoiler: this is all indication of her unique nature, a nature that defies the very definition of "human" and allows her to restore her mana as quickly as she loses it, as well as possibly playing a part in other bizarre abilities she demonstrates.]]
* ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'': In Chapter 20, while trying to answer the Japanese questions on an exam, Yotsuba (the fourth sister) figures that "The fourth option has the highest chance of being right in a question with five choices." [[spoiler:Guess which Nakano is revealed to be the one who marries Fuutarou at the very end?]]
* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'': In one ''Next'' episode, a chef tells Amelia that the reason he wants to cook a lake dragon for the protagonists is because she reminds him of his late granddaughter, who died before he could make her last wish of eating said meal come true. Then she finds out that it was all a gratuitous lie when the rest of the group reveals to her that the chef had told a similar story to each one of them: he had told Lina that she reminded him of his late daughter, Gourry that he reminded him of his late son-in-law, and Zelgadis that he was a dead ringer for his late ''wife'' when she was younger. [[spoiler:And then, in the very last scene of this episode, we see his family picture and everything turns out to be true. ''Even the Zelgadis/wife part''.]]
* ''Manga/TamamoChansAFox'': At the start of chapter 15 we get pair of guys praying to Tamamo. This is a RunningGag as Tamamo as a goddess's divine messenger oblivious to her own GlamourFailure. One of those men prays for rain for his fields. The end of chapter 15 ends the beach trip with a sudden bout of rain, prompting Mikki to remark that guy just ''haaad'' to wish for rain for his fields, didn't he?
* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'': When Marcille and Laios are reminiscing about Laios' sister Falin, when she and Marcille were in the Magic Academy together. Laios says that Falin gushed about Marcille in her letters to him, and Marcille replies that Falin said good things about him to her too. Laios is pleased by this, but we see in a flashback that the "good thing" that she said about her brother was that "he does a fantastic impression of a dog", [[DamnedByFaintPraise which doesn't exactly impress Marcille]]. Later, when the party is attacked by a shapeshifter, Laios is able to flush it out of hiding by doing an impression of a vicious hunting dog. Once Marcille and the others actually see him in action, they're genuinely impressed by how good Laios is at acting like a dog. Even later on, Laios also manages to frighten off a pack of dire wolves in the same way.

* ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'': During the Asian preliminaries for the World Youth, Shingo Aoi attempts to do his Right-Angle Feint on his first play, but he botches it and accidentally leaves the ball behind and the opposing team takes it. Come the World Youth's final, this time he does it ''on purpose'', leaving the ball for Tsubasa to pick it up and break through Brazil's defense to tie the match.

* In ''LightNovel/LogHorizon'', there is a humorous sequence where Akatsuki is trying to run away from Henrietta (or to be more precise, the dress in Henrietta's hands). '''Trying''' being the operative word, as Henrietta has privileges over the building (specifically, who can interact with doors, use skills, or fight). It ends with Akatsuki in a doll outfit. [[TheChessmaster Shiroe]] uses this precise ability to defeat the Hamelin guild, by banning them from entering the guild building (essentially locking them inside their own guild hall). He simultaneously uses the threat of this same ability to blackmail the major guilds into forming a council in order to bring law to the city.

* In ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'', the series' biggest source of comedy is {{Child Soldier|s}} Sousuke Sagara [[FishOutOfWater being placed in a mundane Japanese high school]] and causing chaos and destruction by acting like he's still on the battlefield. In ''Ending Day by Day'' ([[AnimatedAdaptation adapted]] as the early part of ''Invisible Victory''), Amalgam terrorists hold the school hostage by secretly planting bombs throughout the building, and Sousuke asks StudentCouncilPresident Hayashimizu (one of the few people who understands his situation) for help. All Hayashimizu has to do is get on the school's intercom and tell everyone "Well, Sagara's done it again", and they evacuate the building with such speed and efficiency that the terrorists are left gobsmacked.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': In one ''Next'' episode, a chef tells Amelia that the reason he wants to cook a lake dragon for the protagonists is because she reminds him of his late granddaughter, who died before he could make her last wish of eating said meal come true. Then she finds out that it was all a gratuitous lie when the rest of the group reveals to her that the chef had told a similar story to each one of them: he had told Lina that she reminded him of his late daughter, Gourry that he reminded him of his late son-in-law, and Zelgadis that he was a dead ringer for his late ''wife'' when she was younger. [[spoiler:And then, in the very last scene of this episode, we see his family picture and everything turns out to be true. ''Even the Zelgadis/wife part''.]]
* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'': In the Alfheim arc, while interrupting the attack on the Slyph / Cait-Sith meeting, Kirito tells the Salamander General that he represents the (non-existent) Spriggan / Undine alliance. Kirito is a Spriggan, and Asuna's (eventual) main avatar is an Undine... meaning the two of them form a Spriggan/Undine alliance of their own.

* ''FanFic/OldManHenderson'' used the heelies he installed in his combat boots to escape THE Tanker Truck Incident. The author swears up and down that there was never any intention for the heelies to be useful, and that Henderson [[TheLoonie was just the type of person]] who would install heelies in his combat boots for the lolz.

* In ''Film/TheMuppets'', Fozzie suggests that since Miss Piggy's office in France is too far to drive to, they instead travel by map. Later, when Mary and Gary provide backstage help during ''The Muppet Telethon'', the Muppets ask where they came from, so Mary replies, "We traveled by map. We thought it'd be quicker."

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WebComic/{{Homestuck}}'':

** In order to get the then-broke/starving Endorsi to sign Hatz's friendship list, Bam provides an [[{{FoodAsBribe}} eel bowl]] placed on a platform connected to a pulley, that's dangled [[{{MotivationOnAStick}} just out of her reach]]; if she signs the paper, she gets to have it. This set up holds despite the fact that there aren't any places in the room to hang a pulley and rope from. [[spoiler: But that's fine, since the pulley is made of pure suspendium and will float in even ambient shinsoo, as Quant later finds out after jumping off a ledge with Khun no longer in tow.]]
** After Yuri and Evan semi-illegally board the Hell Train, get a rough idea of what's going on, and then make a bet the conductor regarding the outcome of the match between Bam and Hoaqin, they sit back and watch the plot onfold on a screen with a [[{{PassThePopcorn}} bag of popcorn, cup of soda, and pair of retro 3D Glasses.]] This is despite the fact that the screen does not display red-blue layered 3D. [[spoiler:But that's fine, since the glasses are actually recorders connected to Repellista's Opera Lighthouse, allowing them to report what's going on, and also preventing the FUG Ranker from just using his rights as the conductor to kick them out of the train.]]

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In "Gingerbread", Willow is boasting of her witchcraft, then admits she can only float pencils. Later she and Buffy are about to be [[BurnTheWitch burnt at the stake]] so Willow tries to frighten the mob by threatening them with her BlackMagic, causing Buffy to mutter, "What are you gonna do, float a pencil at them?" Later on in the season Willow does exactly that, staking a vampire that has her cornered in a supply room with a magically-levitated pencil.

** In the season 14 episode "Scuse Me While I Miss The Sky", Homer and his barfly friends see it's light out at 2am, and Carl says "You know what this reminds me of? My Icelandic boyhood." Given that Carl's black, this is a throwaway joke about an unlikely heritage -- but ten seasons later "The Saga of Carl" reveals that he really ''did'' grow up in Iceland (with an adoptive family) and claims his friends would know that [[[{{Callback}} if they ever listened to him.]]

* ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'': [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon1 The first game's]] single-player campaign features a RunningGag of Agent 1 accidentally speaking into her radio upside-down, resulting in [[AchievementsInIgnorance the text in her dialogue box appearing upside down]]. During ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'', [[spoiler:the player's MissionControl receives a transmission in the same way, [[NoOneElseIsThatDumb confirming that Agent 1 sent the message]].]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon|1}}'''s single-player campaign features a RunningGag of Agent 1 accidentally speaking into her radio upside-down, resulting in [[AchievementsInIgnorance the text in her dialogue box appearing upside down]]. During ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'', [[spoiler:the player's MissionControl receives a transmission in the same way, [[NoOneElseIsThatDumb confirming that Agent 1 sent the message]].]]

** Remember the formula Koro-sensei made with Okuda that gave him slime-like properties, way back in the beginning chapters? Neither of them knew at the time, but this chemical composition [[spoiler:''neutralized the effects of Koro-sensei's antimatter body'', reducing the odds of exploding to virtual nonexistence. In other words, from the moment he drank that, ''the threat of the earth being destroyed was gone''.]]

** In ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney: Resolve'', it turns out that [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Soseki Natsume]] became a major celebrity after publishing ''Literature/IAmACat'' between the first and second game, to the point a photographer appears out of nowhere whenever he does something slightly over the top (which is quite often, given how the guy is a NervousWreck who tends to scream and strike poses whenever he's even remotely excited). But then, the gags about his new fame take a big turn when a realization is made: the case's only actors are Rei, whose innocence you're trying to prove, the victim, who obviously didn't backstab herself, Inspector Hosonaga, who while overzealous is an honorable man, Soseki himself, who couldn't even hurt a fly... ''and the aforementioned random photographer'', who turns out to be the actual murderer.

* In one ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}} Next'' episode, a chef tells Amelia that the reason he wants to cook a lake dragon for the protagonists is because she reminds him of his late granddaughter, who died before he could make her last wish of eating said meal come true. Then she finds out that it was all a gratuitous lie when the rest of the group reveals to her that the chef had told a similar story to each one of them: he had told Lina that she reminded him of his late daughter, Gourry that he reminded him of his late son-in-law, and Zelgadis that he was a dead ringer for his late ''wife'' when she was younger. [[spoiler:And then, in the very last scene of this episode, we see his family picture and everything turns out to be true. ''Even the Zelgadis/wife part''.]]
* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' has one of the VisualPun variety. In the Alfheim arc, while interrupting the attack on the Slyph / Cait-Sith meeting, Kirito tells the Salamander General that he represents the (non-existent) Spriggan / Undine alliance. Kirito is a Spriggan, and Asuna's (eventual) main avatar is an Undine... meaning the two of them form a Spriggan/Undine alliance of their own.

* Early in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', Negi Springfield's spells seem to affect Asuna in unintentional ways, leading to assumptions that he is an IneptMage and his spells are backfiring. Later, you learn that Asuna has an incredibly rare ability called [[AntiMagic Magic Cancel]] and Negi was never inept to begin with.

* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Since the start of the series, Adu Du throwing a mug at Probe whenever he messed up was a RunningGag, but in Season 3, Probe being brought back to life as an emotionless amnesiac robot would necessitate Adu Du to throw his mug at him to restore his memories.

* Creator/GeorgeCarlin did this on occasion. In a '70s set, he had a run-through of TV shows, including a ''Series/TruthOrConsequences''-like game show where they were going to reunite a woman with her sister, "but you blew the question, so we sent your sister back to Maine!" Later, a ''Series/QueenForADay''-like game show had the sister on, complaining about a show out west promising to reunite her with her sister, "but that never worked out".

* An issue of ''ComicBook/{{Prez|2015}}'' has a running gag about a gratuitously-elaborate vending machine that can produce any cut of meat from any animal in its DNA database -- you too can have a mammoth steak in seconds! At the end of the issue, the ambassador suffers heart failure, and with no compatible donor hearts available things are looking grim until Beth has the idea of plugging the ambassador's medical records into the meat machine and ordering a raw heart with the ambassador's DNA.
* Phoney's campaign balloon in ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}''. It is mentioned in conversation that when Phoney ran for mayor back home, he had a giant balloon of himself made, with a banner reading "PHONCIBLE P. BONE WILL GET YOUR VOTE!" The balloon drifted away, and no one knew what happened to it. Much later, we find out. [[spoiler:[[TheDragon The Hooded One's]] forces keep targeting Phoney for some reason. Eventually, it's revealed that this is because of an "omen" she received about him. That omen? The runaway balloon, which is [[SignsOfDisrepair missing part of its banner so that it appears to say]]: "PHONCIBLE P. BONE WILL GET YOU".]]

* Surprisingly PlayedForDrama in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfiction, ''Fanfic/ItsADangerousBusinessGoingOutYourDoor''. At the beginning of the journey, Pinkie makes some off-hoof jokes at the kind of monsters that Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash might run into. When they finally reach the end of their quest, one of those monsters Pinkie mentioned, the World Serpent, is their final challenge. After a description that makes said creature about as big as an island nation, Pinkie is given lip service in one of the biggest OhCrap jokes ever.

* In Chapters 1-5 of ''[[Fanfic/IAgainstIMeAgainstYou I Against I, Me Against You]]'', Church tries to pass Twilight off as his seeing eye dog to get past an armed checkpoint. When questioned how a seeing eye dog is supposed to help the supposedly blind Church aim, they then try to demonstrate by having Twilight "bark" when Church gets closer to his target. When they face Wyoming in 1-7, they use the same tactic to help Church overcome his [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy poor aiming skills]].

* ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' has Monika make some fourth-wall breaking jokes early on (like complaining that a Japanese pun is LostInTranslation) and [[AudienceWhatAudience nobody else knowing what she's talking about]]), which seem to just be cute asides. Come Act 3, and one of the big reveals is that Monika [[FourthWallObserver being the only one who knows she's a game character]] has driven her insane and desperate to communicate with the player, the only real person she knows.