History Main / ItsBeenDone

Compare ItWillNeverCatchOn, WeHaveThoseToo, and DidntWeUseThisJokeAlready. JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples explains how Shakespeare did it before. Administrivia/YesWeDoHaveThisOne is this happening for creating [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/tlp_activity.php TLP]]. For how the hearts of budding artists may be quickly crushed, see TVTropesWillRuinYourLife. For when this reaction occurs in-universe and/or entirely from the perspective of a single character, see NeverHeardThatOneBefore.

[[caption-width-right:343:A [[LeotardOfPower swimsuit]] and [[Main/ZettaiRyouiki high boots]]? ComicBook/{{Storm}} did it first![[note]]Both characters (ComicBook/{{Storm}} and ComicBook/MsMarvel) were designed by the same artist, Dave Cockrum.[[/note]]]]

--->'''Satan:''' God damn it! What [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal didn't Diddy do]]?!

* From ''Literature/TheBible'' ([[Literature/BookOfEcclesiastes Ecclesiastes 1:9]]): "It has all been done before; there is nothing new under the sun." [[note]] In Germany usually attributed to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akiva_ben_Joseph Ben Akiba.]] [[/note]]

* When the heroes of ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' are stuck in a death trap, they try to come up with their FamousLastWords, Andy tries "Either these curtains go, or I do." Sherman tells him, "I think someone already said that."[[note]]Oscar Wilde said something similar, which is what Sherman is referring to, but contrary to urban legend they weren't his last words.[[/note]]

Compare ItWillNeverCatchOn and WeHaveThoseToo. JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples explains how Shakespeare did it before. Administrivia/YesWeDoHaveThisOne is this happening for creating [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/tlp_activity.php TLP]]. For how the hearts of budding artists may be quickly crushed, see TVTropesWillRuinYourLife. For when this reaction occurs in-universe and/or entirely from the perspective of a single character, see NeverHeardThatOneBefore.

-->''Sifting through all my words\\
For what has been said is just repetition\\
What has been said has been said.''

-->''If with the literate I am\\
Impelled to try an epigram,\\
I never seek to take the credit;\\
We all assume that Oscar said it.''
:: Which may be alluding to the famous anecdote (parodied e. g. in a Monty Python sketch) about Oscar Wilde and the painter Whistler, after the latter had come up with a particularly witty and devastating line.

** Also played straight in a sketch where Satan tries to convince a young musician to sell his soul for a tune... but can't, because he can't think of anything good or original to trade for it. He even forgets, for a moment, that ''Music/SmashMouth'' has already done one of the tunes he tries to fob off on the guy.

* ''Series/WhiteRabbitProject'' has the episode " Invented Before Its Time?", which basically covers this trope, covering technology that many people think is new but in fact decades old.

-->''Woo hoo hoo!\\
It's all been done\\
Woo hoo hoo!\\
It's all been done\\
Woo hoo hoo!\\
It's all been done before''

-->''But if you close your eyes,\\
Does it almost feel like nothing changed at all?\\
And if you close your eyes,\\
Does it almost feel like you've been here before?''

--->''Stormy night, not even a star in sight,\\
On my way to where the sky is dark,\\
Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Yellowstone Park?''

* ''Series/DeadRingers'': After Kayne West announced his intention to enter the 2020 presidential race and run America "like [[ComicBook/BlackPanther Wakanda]]", Trump holds a press conference mainly to tell everyone he's already basing his style of government on a film. And that film is ''Film/{{Airplane}}''

'''Comic Book Guy:''' S'cuse me! But I believe this family already had a horse, forcing Homer to work at the Kwik-E-Mart, with [[HilarityEnsues hilarious consequences.]]\\

** [[http://smbc-comics.com/comic/fixing-social-media "Fixing Social Media"]]: A couple of people discuss {{GIFT}} and how it's InherentInTheSystem because it's so easy to write all sorts of crap on the Internet. So they come up with the idea of creating a platform where people have to spend more effort on writing their messages and moderating the responses. "47 venture capital funding rounds later" they realise they've invented blogging.

--->'''Dr. Evil:''' Let's just do what we always do, hijack some nuclear weapons and hold the world hostage, yeah?

** While trying to come up with an idea for a story, Lisa thinks of a mermaid falling in love with a human... then sees a ''The Little Mermaid'' poster on her wall.

* In ''Manga/UQHolder'', a moment after Touta Konoe [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife decides]] to create [[YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood an organization]] of [[{{Immortality}} immortals]], he learns that his grandfather [[Manga/MahouSenseiNegima Negi Springfield]] already made one.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc26EKhZNyM one]] of ''WebAnimation/DorklyOriginals'', Tim from ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}'' calls his game very original while Mario points out that his game and Tim's game are very much alike. And even when Tim mentions other gameplay mechanics that Mario doesn't have, Mario was quick to mention that it's been done before in [[VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime other]] [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie series.]]

* In one of ''WebAnimation/DorklyOriginals'', Tim from ''VideoGame/{{Braid}}'' calls his game very original while Mario points out that his game and Tim's game are very much alike. And even when Tim mentions other gameplay mechanics that Mario doesn't have, Mario was quick to mention that it's been done before in [[VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime other]] [[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie series.]]

** Greg Dean, the author, issued an apology after learning that his previous joke had already been done by ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''.
** Another strip has the lead ask his MadScientist friend to make him a web-shooter after seeing ''Franchise/SpiderMan'', only for said friend to demur because ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' had already done it.

A lengthy joke in which a character describes some new idea, invention, story or script, but is informed that somebody already got there before him and that all the tropes he thinks are new are in fact OlderThanTheyThink. The punchline is usually a ridiculously mundane or roundabout name for the proposed "new" work, and for added humor value, the story that the character has unknowingly plagiarized is usually something mind-bogglingly well known.

A lengthy joke in which a character describes some new idea, invention, story or script, but is informed that somebody already got there before him and that all the tropes he thinks are new are OlderThanTheyThink. The punchline is usually a ridiculously mundane or roundabout name for the proposed "new" work, and for added humor value, the story that the character has unknowingly plagiarized is usually something mind-bogglingly well known.

** Done again in the second film, where Dr. Evil [[TimeTravel travels back in time]], formulating plans based on the same media he was ignorant of while still frozen. These include ideas like his "Death Star" laser on the moon, and even using footage from ''Film/IndependenceDay'' to threaten the President. Essentially, after being told It's Been Done, he decided to go back and time and do it first.

--->'''Satan:''' God damn it! What didn't Diddy do?!

Compare ItWillNeverCatchOn and WeHaveThoseToo. JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples explains how Shakespeare did it before. Administrivia/YesWeDoHaveThisOne is this happening for creating [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/tlp_activity.php TLP]]. For how the hearts of budding artists may be quickly crushed, see TVTropesWillRuinYourLife.

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Future Trunks thinks he's achieved a new skill by increasing his muscle mass (the Ultra Super Saiyan form), and hides the form from Vegeta because he didn't want to hurt his pride. Cell informs him that ''anybody'' can increase their muscle mass, even Vegeta, but nobody does because while [[AwesomeButImpractical it makes you stronger, it drains speed and stamina]], and Trunks was a fool for not noticing this flaw. Ironically, during the Cell Games, a desperate Cell tries to beef up muscles in hope to counteract Super Saiyan 2 Gohan's overwhelming power. Of course, his speed is drastically reduced, with Trunks commenting that Cell made the exact same mistake he did.

[[caption-width-right:343:A [[LeotardOfPower leotard]] and [[Main/ZettaiRyouiki high boots]]? ComicBook/{{Storm}} did it first![[note]]Both characters (ComicBook/{{Storm}} and ComicBook/MsMarvel) were designed by the same artist, Dave Cockrum.[[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:343:A [[UnderwearOfPower swimsuit]] and [[Main/ZettaiRyouiki high boots]]? ComicBook/{{Storm}} did it first![[note]]Both characters (ComicBook/{{Storm}} and ComicBook/MsMarvel) were designed by the same artist, Dave Cockrum.[[/note]]]]

* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Future Trunks thinks he's achieved a new skill by increasing his muscle mass (the Ultra Super Saiyan form), and hides the form from Vegeta because he didn't want to hurt his pride. Cell informs him that ''anybody'' can increase their muscle mass, even Vegeta, but nobody does because while [[AwesomeButImpractical it makes you stronger, it drains speed and stamina]], and Trunks was a fool for not noticing this flaw.