History Main / OutsideContextProblem

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': "[[Recap/ArcherS2E9PlaceboEffect Placebo Effect]]" features a rare example where the protagonist qualifies for this. The IrishMob was previously happily running nearly all crime throughout the city, having seemingly done so for years with no issues. They are completely blindsided when their counterfeit chemo drugs scam ends causing super spy [[BunnyEarsLawyer Sterling Archer]] to go on a "[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge Rampage]]" against them (as he was himself suffering from Cancer at the time and their scam led to the death of a kindly old woman he befriended at a support group), with them having virtually no idea what even is going on and absolutely none of their members or tactics being prepared for either Sterling's [[StrongAndSkilled capabilities]] or [[SociopathicHero sheer ruthlessness]] (one tied up mobster even foolishly attempts to pull a YouHaveNoIdeaWhoYoureDealingWith on him, only for the unimpressed Sterling to shoot him dead mid-sentence). By the end of the day Sterling had destroyed their operation and killed most of their men, but despite this [[TheDon Delaney]] is still [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter convinced he's too "honour-bound"]] to shoot an unarmed man in a wheelchair, which Archer quickly proves him wrong.

** In Volume 9, [[spoiler:both Team RWBY and the the various figures they meet in the Ever After are this to each other. The Ever After is more or less a LandOfFaerie, and thus runs on rules and mechanisms Team RWBY don't understand and often can't brute force their way through, or at least, not without causing significant problems ''at best''. By contrast, whenever they are in a situation where they ''can'' simply throw down and fight, their fighting abilities, the abilities they are granted from their [[OnePersonOnePower semblances]], and the capabilities of their [[AppliedPhlebotinum Dust infused]] weapons are so far beyond and so different from anything that the Ever After has ever seen that Team RWBY is virtually unstoppable and can trounce even creatures that are supposed to be unkillable [[TheJuggernauts juggernauts]] without much trouble. It's no coincidence that the ArcVillain of that particular season relies on manipulation and exploiting [[PsychologicalTormentZone psychological torment]] to get what he wants.]]

* ''Literature/AshASecretHistory'': The BigBad of this AlternateHistory novel set in the 15th century is [[spoiler:the Wild Machines, a collective of [[InstantAIJustAddWater naturally-occurring artificial intelligences]] trying to manipulate a human RealityWarper into destroying humanity.]] This are something the medieval European protagonists have no context for, but which the protagonists of the FramingStory, a modern historian and his publisher, ''do''. One memorable chapter revises the medieval understanding of the [[spoiler:Wild Machines]] with contemporary terminology: [[spoiler:"ferae natura machinae" becomes "silicon-based 'machine' intelligences", "manipulating the energies of the spirit-world" becomes "drew upon solar electromagnetic energy", and "evil miracle" becomes "consciously guided alteration of the basic fabric of probable reality", to name a few.]]

* ''Literature/AshASecretHistory'': The BigBad of this AlternateHistory novel set in the 15th century is [[spoiler:the Wild Machines, a collective of [[InstantAIJustAddWater naturally-occurring artificial intelligences]] trying to manipulate a human RealityWarper into destroying humanity.]] This are something the medieval European protagonists have no context for, but which the FramingStory, a modern historian and his publisher, ''does''. One memorable chapter revises the medieval understanding of the [[spoiler:Wild Machines]] with contemporary terminology: [[spoiler:"ferae natura machinae" becomes "silicon-based 'machine' intelligences", "manipulating the energies of the spirit-world" becomes "drew upon solar electromagnetic energy", and "evil miracle" becomes "consciously guided alteration of the basic fabric of probable reality", to name a few.]]

** The third movie, ''Animation/MoonCastleTheSpaceAdventure'', has the Bitter Gourd King, who intends to turn the moon bitter and causes Wandi to appear on a spaceship and send the goats and wolves into space.

** The Fire Demon, a particularly strange and frightening example in that the more we learn about him, the ''less'' context we have for why he's in the story. He's first introduced as an element of Mira's drawings, a towering, faceless HornedHumanoid heavily implied to be the Scorpion whose emblem is branded on the back of her head. When Mira is recaptured, Spear pursues her to a Viking village and frees her, but there's no sign of the scorpion emblem anywhere. When the village's chieftain goes after Spear for revenge and fails, he is DraggedOffToHell by the demon, who [[DealWithTheDevil offers his assistance]] to the chief's horror and confusion. The series finale adds a further curveball by revealing that [[{{Fauxshadow}} Mira's drawing was really just of the perfectly ordinary Viking who took her]] -- the demon seems to have no personal reason to pursue Spear and Mira, seeing them only as a means to an end in keeping the Chieftain motivated. The demon considers his bargain with the Chieftain fulfilled the moment Spear is wounded, and drags the Chieftain off once again, never directly interacting with the protagonists or even being known to them.

* ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'' features the Fire Demon, a particularly strange and frightening example in that the more we learn about him, the ''less'' context we have for why he's in the story. He's first introduced as an element of Mira's drawings, a towering, faceless HornedHumanoid heavily implied to be the Scorpion whose emblem is branded on the back of her head. When Mira is recaptured, Spear pursues her to a Viking village and frees her, but there's no sign of the scorpion emblem anywhere. When the village's chieftain goes after Spear for revenge and fails, he is DraggedOffToHell by the demon, who [[DealWithTheDevil offers his assistance]] to the chief's horror and confusion. The series finale adds a further curveball by revealing that [[{{Fauxshadow}} Mira's drawing was really just of the perfectly ordinary Viking who took her]] -- the demon seems to have no personal reason to pursue Spear and Mira, seeing them only as a means to an end in keeping the Chieftain motivated. The demon considers his bargain with the Chieftain fulfilled the moment Spear is wounded, and drags the Chieftain off once again, never directly interacting with the protagonists or even being known to them.
** Mira and her pursuers also shake up Spear's world quite a bit, introducing metal technology, bows and arrows, wooden ships, and ''language'' to the setting.

Finding out the answers to the above questions will be the heroes' top priority. With luck, they'll find scattered legends foretelling their arrival and possibly how they were beaten last time. If not, TheProfessor might theorize all new means to defeat them. One popular method is to [[SummonMagic summon]] a hero from the same place or era to battle them, because [[GodzillaThreshold this villain is so bad]] that their only hope is that [[SummonEverymanHero a random Joe]] from the villain's home will at least [[UnspokenPlanGuarantee have an idea]] [[TheMagnificentSevenSamurai how to stop them]]. Of course, said villain will likely [[VillainsBlendInBetter assimilate better]] to the environment than such FishOutOfWater heroes. If the Outsider is an interloper in an existing conflict, he or she may become a ConflictKiller that forces an EnemyMine situation if he turns out to be EvilerThanThou.

* ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'' features the Fire Demon, a particularly strange and frightening example in that the more we learn about him, the ''less'' context we have for why he's in the story. He's first introduced as an element of Mira's drawings, a towering, faceless HornedHumanoid heavily implied to be the Scorpion whose emblem is branded on the back of her head. When Mira is recaptured, Spear pursues her to a Viking village and frees her, but there's no sign of the scorpion emblem anywhere. When the village's chieftain goes after Spear for revenge and fails, he is DraggedOffToHell by the demon, who [[DealWithTheDevil offers his assistance]] to the chief's horror and confusion. So he's unaffiliated with that ''particular'' Viking village, but is probably still seeking vengeance for Mira's escape, right? ''Wrong''. [[{{Fauxshadow}} Mira's drawing was really just of the perfectly ordinary Viking who took her]] -- the shadowy demon we ''thought'' had been foreshadowed since the end of Season 1 in fact came ''completely'' out of nowhere in the final act of Season 2, and seems to have no personal reason to pursue Spear and Mira. The demon considers his bargain with the Chieftain fulfilled the moment Spear is wounded, and drags the Chieftain off once again, never directly interacting with the protagonists or even being known to them.

* ''WesternAnimation/Primal2019'' features the Fire Demon, a particularly strange and frightening example in that the more we learn about him, the ''less'' context we have for why he's in the story. He's first introduced as an element of Mira's drawings, a towering, faceless HornedHumanoid heavily implied to be the Scorpion whose emblem is branded on the back of her head. When Mira is recaptured, Spear pursues her to a Viking village and frees her, but there's no sign of the scorpion emblem anywhere. When the village's chieftain goes after Spear for revenge and fails, he is DraggedOffToHell by the demon, who [[DealWithTheDevil offers his assistance]] to the chief's horror and confusion. So he's unaffiliated with that ''particular'' Viking village, but is probably still seeking vengeance for Mira's escape, right? ''Wrong''. [[Fauxshadow Mira's drawing was really just of the perfectly ordinary Viking who took her]] -- the shadowy demon we ''thought'' had been foreshadowed since the end of Season 1 in fact came ''completely'' out of nowhere in the final act of Season 2, and seems to have no personal reason to pursue Spear and Mira. The demon considers his bargain with the Chieftain fulfilled the moment Spear is wounded, and drags the Chieftain off once again, never directly interacting with the protagonists or even being known to them.