History Main / SerendipityWritesThePlot

** The animators made their first feature film [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory1 about toys]] because the limits of CGI [[TheNineties at the time]] made it [[UnintentionalUncannyValley hard to realistically depict organic shapes and natural surfaces]]. As the technology improved, they worked their way up to [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife bugs]], then [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc furry/scaly monsters]], then [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo fish]], then finally [[WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1 human beings]]. Later films were less restricted by technology, with the main exception of ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'' -- Merida's incredibly curly hair required Pixar's entire rendering software to be rewritten.

** {{Superdickery}} largely became a tradition in DC books in [[TheFifties the 1950s]] because [[UsefulNotes/TheInterregnum the superhero genre was starting to fall out of popularity at the time]], and writers were willing to do ''anything'' to get readers to pick up books that they might otherwise ignore. An easy way to grab readers' attention was to show the hero doing something wildly unsympathetic and [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness out-of-character]] on the cover, forcing them to buy the book so that they could figure out what the hell was going on. Sometimes the bizarre covers [[ItMakesSenseInContext made sense in context]], other times [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext not]]. And sometimes [[CoversAlwaysLie they barely had anything to do with the story]].

->''"If you're wondering how and why VideoGame/MetalGear's developers, Creator/{{Konami}}, decided to make a stealth game, the answer is that they didn't. VideoGame/MetalGear1 was originally intended to be an action title that would have been largely indistinguishable from all the other action games out there. But the computer they were developing the game for, the UsefulNotes/{{MSX}}2, wasn't able to handle more than a few enemies and bullets on screen at a time without crashing. Making an action game on the [=MSX2=] would be like trying to win a street race in your grandma's PT Cruiser."''

* [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey's]] character history is infamously [[KudzuPlot complicated]]--in large part--because Creator/MarvelComics ''really'' wanted to celebrate the ComicBook/XMen's 25th anniversary by [[PuttingTheBandBackTogether reuniting the five original X-Men]] in 1988. But by that point, Jean had been famously [[KilledOffForReal killed off]] in ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'' in 1980, and [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] had moved on with his life and married a woman named [[Characters/MarvelComicsMadelynePryor Madelyne Pryor]] (who [[IdenticalStranger looked exactly like Jean]] by a complete coincidence) in 1983. To justify getting Cyclops and Jean back together, the writers "[[{{Retcon}} revealed]]" that Jean never actually died, and Creator/ChrisClaremont was forced to "[[{{Retcon}} reveal]]" that Madelyne Pryor was actually a clone--and subsequently had her [[FaceHeelTurn turn evil]]. Additionally, they had to bring Jean back, but her deeds as Dark Phoenix were considered too much of a MoralEventHorizon to just let her become a hero again--so instead, there came the massive revelation that Jean and the Phoenix were not the same entity, which would massively affect both characters going forward.

** Caboose gained a [[AwesomeAnachronisticApparel Mark V helmet]] because his blue armor looked too similar to Church's cobalt armor in ''VideoGame/Halo3'' and he kept it ever since because it fit with [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} his personality]].

* In the 1980s, ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' endured some of the worst of the infamous SatanicPanic, with the game being widely decried as a Satanic recruiting scheme due to its heavy use of fiends as antagonists. For this reason, 2nd Edition ended up having to scrub a lot of references to those concepts--and in the process, ended up having to create a lot of lore surrounding them. For instance, the various outer planes were renamed to no longer refer to [[CrossoverCosmology the afterlives of real religions]] (Hell became Baator, for instance), the Abyss went from having 666 layers to being infinite, and the fiends were renamed to fantasy-sounding gibberish (demons became tanar'ri, devils became baatezu, daemons became yugoloths). Moreover, because they couldn't use the original demon and devil lords, that meant they had to go for a pretty lengthy period of not being referenced in official material, and when they did start to come back, the ones that shared their names with real occult concepts took their time with returning. This had major effects on the history of these characters: Geryon and Moloch were demoted out of the the Nine, and Orcus was outright killed off. This then gave Orcus the opportunity to return in a big way in ''The Great Modron March'' and ''Dead Gods'', which cemented him as one of the big cheeses of ''D&D'''s villain roster. Though 3rd Edition would end up bringing back most of the lore that the Satanic Panic had scrubbed out (demons and devils were now simply called demons and devils again, with "baatezu and tanar'ri" being more like formal terms for the most common types), nearly all of the lore that 2nd Edition had established stayed intact.

* [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey's]] character history is infamously [[KudzuPlot complicated]]--in large part--because Creator/MarvelComics ''really'' wanted to celebrate the ComicBook/XMen's 25th anniversary by [[PuttingTheBandBackTogether reuniting the five original X-Men]] in 1988. But by that point, Jean had been famously [[KilledOffForReal killed off]] in ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'' in 1980, and [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] had moved on with his life and married a woman named [[Characters/MarvelComicsMadelynePryor Madelyne Pryor]] (who [[IdenticalStranger looked exactly like Jean]] by a complete coincidence) in 1983. To justify getting Cyclops and Jean back together, the writers "[[{{Retcon}} revealed]]" that Jean never actually died, and Creator/ChrisClaremont was forced to "[[{{Retcon}} reveal]]" that Madelyne Pryor was actually a clone--and subsequently had her [[FaceHeelTurn turn evil]].

* ComicBook/SheHulk and ComicBook/SpiderWoman were both created for legal reasons: Creator/MarvelComics preemptively created [[DistaffCounterpart female counterparts]] of the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner Hulk]] and [[Characters/SpiderManPeterParker Spider-Man]] so that the producers of ''Series/{{The Incredible Hulk|1977}}'' and ''[[Series/TheAmazingSpiderMan1978 The Amazing Spider-Man]]'' (which were both enjoying high ratings on TV at the time) couldn't get out of paying them royalties by inventing their own female counterparts of both characters and making [[SpinOff spin-offs]] about them, as the producers of ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'' had done with ''Series/TheBionicWoman''. Since the characters weren't required to do much other than '''exist''', the writers were allowed to do more-or-less ''anything'' they wanted with both of them, allowing them to become surprise fan-favorites as they developed their own identities and personalities: She-Hulk became a confident and vivacious [[HelloAttorney lawyer]] known for her [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth wall-breaking]] sense of humor, while Spider-Woman became a formerly brainwashed spy known for her cloak-and-dagger escapades.

* In the Fall of 1963, the publishers at Creator/MarvelComics wound up with a gap in their printing schedule after ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' #1 ran into delays, so they asked Creator/StanLee and Creator/JackKirby to come up with a replacement on the fly. Since they didn't have time to create a completely original character from scratch, they did the next best thing and made a {{crossover}} story about five pre-established superheroes from their anthology books battling a pre-established supervillain. In the resulting comic book, the [[ComicBook/IronMan rich playboy with the robotic suit]] from ''ComicBook/TalesOfSuspense'' met the [[ComicBook/AntMan super-scientist with shrinking powers]] (and [[Characters/TheWasp his girlfriend]]) from ''ComicBook/TalesToAstonish'', the [[Characters/TheMightyThorThorOdinson hammer-wielding Viking god]] from ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMystery'', and the [[Characters/IncredibleHulkBruceBanner radioactive monster]] from the recently canceled series ''ComicBook/{{The Incredible Hulk|1962}}'', and they all teamed up to fight the Viking god's [[Characters/MarvelComicsLoki evil brother]]. They needed a snappy title, so they named it after [[Series/TheAvengers1960s a popular spy series]] that was on TV at the time. Against all odds, audiences loved it--and ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' has been one of Marvel's flagship titles ever since.

* WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd's review of the UsefulNotes/Atari5200 is just him struggling to hook the thing up and get it to work, and constantly running into problems like faulty hookups, faulty controllers, lugging the heavy 5200 around the room, and even being scammed by a fake replacement controller he bought online. He never actually plays a game, because these were all real issues that he had trying to film the video for real and ultimately made that the focus of the episode since it already effectively illustrated the issues that made the console so unpopular (namely, its terrible form factor, frail controllers, and being the followup to a much more approachable machine).

** Originally, the comic was supposed to be a hand-drawn comic about teenage superheroes, with the ''Franchise/MegaMan'' {{sprite comic}}s were originally just filler material. However, after trying and failing twice to make the drawn comic into a thing, Anez admitted to himself that the drawn comic was never going to work, and abandoned it. By then, the "filler" sprite comic had become so popular that it became the main comic and a storyline was written to bring the title characters into the plot. Subsequent storylines would frequently change direction in order to fill in plot holes.

* Due to difficulties with getting the microphone to work, the costume designers of ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' redesigned the mask from the full-face mask described in the book to a mask that covered up only half the actor's face. The resulting FashionableAsymmetry has become the iconic design for the character, and leaked into just about every piece of media involving the Phantom. (This is also why the play's advertisement materials depict a very different-looking mask design.)

* The webcomic ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'' is made of this trope.
** Originally the comic was supposed to be a hand-drawn comic about teenage superheroes. The ''Franchise/MegaMan'' {{sprite comic}}s were originally just filler material. However, the author, Dave Anez, was a self-admitted lousy artist and the hand-drawn comic wouldn't pan out. After trying and failing multiple times he gave up. By then the "filler" sprite comic had become so popular that it became the main comic and a storyline was written to bring the title characters into the plot. Subsequent storylines would frequently change direction in order to fill in plot holes.
** Bob and George were introduced to the sprite strip due to an accident; after a scene where the Author chases Mega Man, every other cast member gathers in the same room. Since the Author copypasted the sprites from a set of previous strips, [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/001109c he put in the Author twice]]. So he introduced a pair of impostors running around, and the rest is history.
** Another prominent example is the existence of the Helmeted Author. Originally it was meant to be the normal Author character who was now wearing a helmet because it was impossible to render a helmetless sprite in certain positions. However, Dave later accidentally put both the normal and Helmeted Author sprites in one holiday comic. As a result, the Helmeted Author went on to become not only a separate character but a major recurring villain.

* Since the famous [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 1987 animated adaptation]] of ''Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' was aimed at a considerably younger audience than [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage the original underground comic books]], many elements of the story had to be reworked to be more age-appropriate. One of the biggest examples was Splinter's backstory: in the comics, he was originally Hamato Yoshi's pet rat who witnessed Yoshi's murder at the hands of Oroku Saki, and he became a master of ''ninjutsu'' by mimicking Yoshi's movements as he watched him from his cage; but since the cartoon [[NeverSayDie couldn't depict death]], the showrunners rewrote Splinter's origin so that he actually ''was'' Hamato Yoshi. Instead of killing Yoshi, Oroku Saki gets him exiled from Japan by framing him for a plot to murder his ''sensei'', forcing him to live in the sewers of New York, where he eventually gets mutated by mutagenic ooze along with the Turtles. [[note]]The effects of the mutagenic ooze also had to be rewritten to accommodate this change: instead of causing animals to mutate into intelligent humanoids, it causes humans and animals to take on the form of whichever lifeform they were last in close proximity with; Yoshi took on the form of the rats in the sewers, while the Turtles took on the form of their teenage owner.[[/note]] This had the unintentional side-effect of making Splinter's enmity with the Shredder ''much'' more [[ItsPersonal personal]], since the two of them were [[WeUsedToBeFriends former friends]] with a years-long blood feud. While reverted for the '03 cartoon, this idea was well-received enough that it was later reused in numerous other versions--including [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesIDW the IDW comic book]] (where Splinter and the Turtles are the reincarnations of Yoshi and his four sons) and [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012 the 2012 series]] (where the Turtles outright take the "Hamato" family name).

* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'' issue #9, Whisper very pointedly glares at Shadow in a focused beat panel. It was intended to simply be her reacting to Shadow's loner attitude, but fan speculation abounded as to why the normally stoic Whisper would react in such a way. This led to the plot point being further developed, and the ''Tangle & Whisper'' miniseries would eventually reveal ||that her entire squad was killed by Shadow Androids, robotic duplicates of the real Shadow.||

* ''Theatre/{{Parade}}'': In the original production, "Rumblin' and a Rollin" had not been written, and thus, as Creator/JasonRobertBrown describes it, the show didn't have much of a "black voice" - however, ensemble member Angela Lockett gave such strong reactions to the scenes she was in with only her face that the producers wanted to know what her character was thinking about everything. Thus, an additional song was written to open act II so that new characters [[TheDanza Angela]] and Riley can give their thoughts on the proceedings. To continue this influence, later productions then added Minnie, the Franks' black housekeeper, to the story.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles1'' is actually a notable ''[[AvertedTrope aversion]]'', since Creator/BradBird had originally written it as a live-action work. As such, Pixar had to figure out solutions to a bunch of new problems that would be trivial in live-action, including an entirely human cast, simulating Violet's long hair, a ton of StuffBlowingUp, and simulating cloth physics. For a specific example, in the scene where Bob realizes his old suit is torn, he figures it out by [[ShowDontTell running his hand through the suit and finding a hole in it.]] The simulation team balked at this -- it's very difficult to render a hand moving through a hole in fabric -- and even jokingly asked Brad Bird if Bob could just ''[[InformedAttribute say]]'' that his suit is torn. There is one example that falls under this trope: Edna's "no capes" rule has [[CapeSnag a reasonable in-universe explanation]], but out-of-universe it saved the animators a lot of expensive cloth simulation.

* The plot of Creator/JRRTolkien's [[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Middle Earth cycle]] was pretty heavily influenced by Tolkien's struggles to get his early work published. Early in his career, when he was still primarily known for his academic work with linguistics and mythology, Tolkien published a series of [[{{Mythopoeia}} original mythic works]] as a personal scholarly exercise, hoping to flesh out a [[TheVerse fictional world]] where the many [[ConLang fictional languages]] that he developed could actually have been spoken. Many of those stories would up collected in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', ''Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth'', ''Literature/BerenAndLuthien'', ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'', ''Literature/TheFallOfNumenor'' and other books--but since neither work was ever published during his lifetime, he decided to repurpose some of their characters (most notably the sorcerer Gandalf and the Elf king Elrond) when he wrote the much more [[LighterAndSofter light-hearted and whimsical]] fantasy story ''Literature/TheHobbit'', which he actually ''was'' able to get published. Later, when ''The Hobbit'' turned out to be successful enough that his publisher expressed interest in a {{sequel}}, he took the opportunity to write a follow-up that incorporated even '''more''' characters and concepts from his unpublished mythic stories, resulting in a story that was (by his own admission) much more of a sequel to ''The Silmarillion'' than it was to ''The Hobbit''. To tie the two works together, he retroactively "[[{{Retcon}} revealed]]" that Gollum's magical ring from ''The Hobbit'' was actually a soul-corrupting ArtifactOfDoom crafted by [[GreaterScopeVillain Melkor]]'s lieutenant [[DragonAscendant Sauron]], which served as a justification for the story's abrupt [[GenreShift tonal shift]] from a light-hearted {{fairytale}} to a weighty epic about the battle between Good and Evil. Against all odds, the basic premise of [[DavidVersusGoliath the humble Hobbits saving the world from the forces of Darkness]] turned out to be one of the most iconic and endearing aspects of the resulting story, and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has been a beloved classic of fantasy literature ever since.

* The plot of Creator/JRRTolkien's [[Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium Middle Earth cycle]] was pretty heavily influenced by Tolkien's struggles to get his early work published. Early in his career, when he was still primarily known for his academic work with linguistics and mythology, Tolkien published a series of [[{{Mythopoeia}} original mythic works]] as a personal scholarly exercise, hoping to flesh out a [[TheVerse fictional world]] where the many [[ConLang fictional languages]] that he developed could actually have been spoken. Many of those stories would up collected in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and ''Literature/UnfinishedTalesOfNumenorAndMiddleEarth''--but since neither work was ever published during his lifetime, he decided to repurpose some of their characters (most notably the sorcerer Gandalf and the Elf king Elrond) when he wrote the much more [[LighterAndSofter light-hearted and whimsical]] fantasy story ''Literature/TheHobbit'', which he actually ''was'' able to get published. Later, when ''The Hobbit'' turned out to be successful enough that his publisher expressed interest in a {{sequel}}, he took the opportunity to write a follow-up that incorporated even '''more''' characters and concepts from his unpublished mythic stories, resulting in a story that was (by his own admission) much more of a sequel to ''The Silmarillion'' than it was to ''The Hobbit''. To tie the two works together, he retroactively "[[{{Retcon}} revealed]]" that Gollum's magical ring from ''The Hobbit'' was actually a soul-corrupting ArtifactOfDoom crafted by [[GreaterScopeVillain Melkor]]'s lieutenant [[DragonAscendant Sauron]], which served as a justification for the story's abrupt [[GenreShift tonal shift]] from a light-hearted {{fairytale}} to a weighty epic about the battle between Good and Evil. Against all odds, the basic premise of [[DavidVersusGoliath the humble Hobbits saving the world from the forces of Darkness]] turned out to be one of the most iconic and endearing aspects of the resulting story, and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has been a beloved classic of fantasy literature ever since.