History Main / LateArrivalSpoiler

*** Then again, the manga volumes and DVDs containing [[spoiler:the death of Ryuzaki]] are conveniently able to allude to the event without explicitly describing it, even when [[spoiler:Near and Mello make their debut]] before the end. Then again, most will notice that subsequent volumes tend to assume that the reader knows about [[spoiler:L's death and his successors]].

** At the end of Book 1 it's revealed that [[spoiler:Quirrell]] is evil. That's not mentioned in Book 2, 3 or 4, until Harry mentions it during a DADA class in Book 5.
** At the end of Book 3 it's revealed that Wormtail is actually [[spoiler:Pettigrew, and Pettigrew is actually Scabbers the rat]]. In Book 4, Wormtail is never called [[spoiler:Pettigrew]] and his special ability ([[spoiler:turning himself into a rat]]) is never explicitly mentioned.

** It's played rather straight on some cases, though. For example: Book 5, as well as its movie trailers, are very keen on reminding the fans that [[spoiler:[[BigBad Voldemort]] [[NotQuiteDead got his body back]] at the end of book 4]].

** For fans of the ''{{Earthbound}}'' series, if they wish not to be spoiled by its sequel ''{{Mother 3}}'', they would have to avoid ''Brawl'' as well. ''Brawl'' includes one of the last areas of the game as a stage and the next-to-last boss of the game as boss in the Subspace Emissary mode. At best the fans hope ''Brawl'' spurs Nintendo into doing a localization of the game, like ''Melee'' got Nintendo localizing ''FireEmblem'' titles.

** [[spoiler:Their survival was hinted by Penelo, who pointed out that their airship couldn't have been stolen if the original owners were retaking it. They also recieved a letter presumably from Balthier and Fran, as it included Ashe's wedding ring that Balthier 'looted' from her (which he said he'd return if he found something of greater value)]]

* Personal example: everything tend to conspirate to spoil my fun to watch Wizard of Waverly Place, this very wiki, gossip show, etc. It too much asked to someone who is just at the first half of the second second to not have further episodes jokes and twists spoil to them ?

*** Palpatine wasn't actually ''named'' on film in the original trilogy, being referred to only as "Emperor". So, ''theoretically'', if you never saw any of the action figures, comics, books or other non-movie material, or paid attention to the credits and realized it was the same actor in the prequels as in ''{{Return of the Jedi}}'', you might not know. Until the last film came out, there was some discussion among ''Star Wars'' fans (who obviously would know) that Lucas might pull one out of the hat and reveal Sidious wasn't really Palpatine. [[TheUntwist He was.]]

* The tagline for Little Nicky basically spoils who his mom is...
* You might be upset by what happens to the main character in ''Pride of the Yankees''. He's a baseball player on top of his game, taking his team all the way... and then he comes down with Lou Gehrig's disease. [[spoiler: As the page quote shows, it's a biopic about Lou Gehrig.]]

* Subverted hardcore in {{Se7en}}. [[spoiler: Kevin Spacey is never shown in ads or posters and ''his name isn't even in the opening credits.'' This was a man who was meant to get top billing. Bravo, good sir. Bravo.]]
* The DVD and video covers for the original Planet of the Apes has [[spoiler:the final, iconic shot of the Statue of Liberty]] Despite this, there are still some people who don't know the ending (I personally ruined it for someone whilst watching it as I figured everyone knew) hence the spoiler text.

* It is revealed in ''TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' that [[spoiler:Tetra is actually the titular Princess Zelda]]. PhantomHourglass being the direct sequel, this information is shown in the opening cinematic.

*** Not to mention, Lucas's trophy text mentions a somewhat big spoiler, specifically [[spoiler:about how he would eventually have to fight his brother Claus in the end.]]
** Don't forget the trophies you collect! Aside from localization oversights (''Brawl'' claiming King K. Rool being his own brother in the form of Kaptain K. Rool) and retardedness (''Melee'' describes Dr. Wright as if you play as a mayor's adivser and not the actual mayor, and in ''Brawl'' the trophy for Baby Mario ? who is clearly wearing overalls -- says he doesn't wear overalls), some of them have spoilers for other games in them (In ''Melee'', the trophy description for Custom Robo 2's Annie ends by saying, [[spoiler:"At the climax of the story, Nanase fell prey to temptation and stained her hands with the illegal robot Majei. This act ultimately set the stage for her undeniably tragic end."]]).

** Let's not forget ''Chain of Memories'' (which was released for Nintendo's Game Boy Advance), which assumes that the player has played the original game (which was released for a rival console system, namely the Sony Playstation 2). In other words, this trope comes into play esepcially, if a player didn't have a PS2, but did have a GBA and was interested in the series.
*** And then ''Kingdom Hearts 2'' spoils the events of Chain of Memories, which did have a PS2 rerelease...after KH2 came out. In other words, Square-Enix ''really'' wants you to know this already.

** Also, if you happen to speak Greek, the godamn ''title song'' is a spoiler, as the lyrics, translated, are:

* Starcraft suffers quite severely from this trope, thanks to the fact that the expansion pack "Brood War" centered around the Queen of the Blades, [[spoiler:[[FaceHeelTurn formerly known as Sarah Kerrigan]]]], even going as far to have her get all the attention for the merchandising. In case there was a chance that someone didn't recognize her, Starcraft 2 instead used a flashback of [[spoiler:New Gettysburg]] in their commercials and promo material.

* Even worse than that is that readers who aren't very careful (or aren't sure about book's names) will read the preview chapter at the end of ''Ship of Destiny'', and find out that very spoiler. I spent the entirety of ''Fool's Errand'' thinking "Okay, shouldn't this happen in the beginning? Yeah, it's supposed to happen. I'm 50 pages from the end, it hasn't happened. Okay, just happened. I guess I should feel sad now. Hmm."

* Even worse than that is that readers who aren't very careful (or aren't sure about book's names) will read the preview chapter at the end of Ship of Destiny, and find out that very spoiler. I spent the entirety of Fool's Errand thinking "Okay, shouldn't this happen in the beginning? Yeah, it's supposed to happen. I'm 50 pages from the end, it hasn't happened. Okay, just happened. I guess I should feel sad now. Hmm."

* First words on the back of the second ''Tawny Man'' book by Robin Hobb? [[spoiler:Nighteyes is dead.]] Thanks a lot.

* [[spoiler: Ai's]] true identity is one of the biggest plot twists in [[DetectiveConan Detective Conan]]... too bad she's one of the most popular characters and its impossible to talk about her without spoiling anything, so avoiding this spoiler can be near impossible.

Sometimes hard to avoid in shows that feature major changes in setting and cast line-up that hinge on major plot twists in previous seasons. The Season 1 BigBad is [[HeelFaceTurn a major player on the good guys' side]] in Season 4 -- how exactly are you going to ''hide'' that in promos just for the sake of not spoiling the people who haven't watched Season 3 yet? Also a frequently problem in {{Long Runner}}s and multi-volumes where the story unfolds over a long period of time.

->'''Phoebe''': Please, I almost fell for that with, uh, ''Pride of the Yankees''. I thought I was gonna see a film about yankee pride, and then, boom! The guy gets Lou Gehrig's disease.
->'''Richard''': Uh, the guy was Lou Gehrig. Didn't you kinda see it coming?
-->--''{{Friends}}'', "The One Where Old Yeller Dies"

Feeling annoyed that a major event has just been spoiled for you? Irritated? Enraged? Tough luck, YouShouldKnowThisAlready.

Note that a plot summary of previous installments at the beginning of a later one is still not a spoiler. If the spoiler in question is common knowledge to people in general, then ItWasHisSled. Compare TrailersAlwaysSpoil and SpoilerOpening, when the plot is spoiled before the fans even get their hands on the product. Arguably a subset of AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame.

To be fair, in these cases, it's hard for writers to keep things unspoiled for newcomers if they want to engage in any meaningful Plot or CharacterDevelopment, and you can't realistically expect people not to talk about these plot / character developments in detail out of respect for those who want to approach them unspoiled. And, of course, if you watch / read a later instalment of such a series before an earlier one, you're kind of bringing this on yourself to begin with, so you don't have ''that'' much room to complain.

A plot summary of previous installments at the beginning of a later one is still not a spoiler though.

If the spoiler in question is common knowledge to people in general, then ItWasHisSled. Compare TrailersAlwaysSpoil and SpoilerOpening, when the plot is spoiled before the fans even get their hands on the product. Arguably a subset of AllThereIsToKnowAboutTheCryingGame.