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1Note: Website/TheOnion often uses [[YMMV/HomePage YMMV]] items and AudienceReactions in an InUniverse setting. Those used InUniverse as a Trope can be kept on the main page. To make this so, just put or PotHole "InUniverse" within the example (where appropriate of course). See InUniverse for more.
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3For those not used InUniverse, here's a list of [[YMMV/HomePage YMMV]] Tropes and AudienceReactions relating to Website/TheOnion.
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5!!YMMV Tropes with their own pages
6[[index]]
7* [[HarsherInHindsight/TheOnion Harsher in Hindsight]]
8* [[HilariousInHindsight/TheOnion Hilarious in Hindsight]]
9[[/index]]
10----
11* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8wO4WVYQRw The Factzone's intro]].
12* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
13** It's possible the subject of [[https://www.theonion.com/im-sure-that-out-of-control-water-skier-will-avoid-our-1819584488 this commentary]] is ''willingly'' being GenreBlind to the point of [[GenreSavvy savviness]] so she can be with someone she loves.
14** In "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mCktSlyETw Animator Misses The Birth Of His Child So Mr. Incredible Could Have Consistently Sized Penis Bulge]]", is Jamie Klein the victim of long working hours at Pixar, or is he a {{workaholic}} who got so engrossed in his work that he neglected his wife and newborn son? Would Pixar have let him go to see his wife while she was in labor if he'd asked?
15** In "[[https://local.theonion.com/area-liberal-worried-his-asian-dry-cleaner-doesnt-like-1819566228 Area Liberal Worried His Asian Dry Cleaner Doesn't Like Him]]" does Rei Luo not remember who Steve Bern is, or does she not know English well enough to understand most of what he's saying (or what the interviewer is saying) and thus doesn't have an opinion on him?
16* {{Anvilicious}}:
17** Most of "[[http://www.theonion.com/article/god-angrily-clarifies-dont-kill-rule-222 God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule]]" is dedicated to having the narrator repeatedly insist how evil the September 11th attacks were, which wouldn't be too over-the-top if the narrator weren't {{God}}.
18** Just the title of "[[http://www.theonion.com/article/hijackers-surprised-to-find-selves-in-hell-1445 Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell]]" tells you the 9/11 hijackers were evil, but in case that weren't clear, the article goes into excruciating detail describing the tortures they have merited in Hell, driving the author's point home and home and home with every horrific detail.
19** "[[http://www.theonion.com/article/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-36131 'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens]]" is an article that the Onion posts which bluntly states that mass shootings in America could be prevented without a hint of subtext. What really makes it anvilicious is the fact that ''The Onion'' posts the exact same article whenever there's a mass shooting, meaning the already unsubtle article has been put forward to readers over and over again. The repetition is intentional, demonstrating the author's point that all these separate incidents come from the same root causes.
20*** During a time when they sometimes had to publish the article no less than ''three times a day'' the editorial staff basically admitted that they know the "gag" has been overdone but can't retire it until something is actually done about it.
21*** Twice when they published a new version of the article, they also pushed every previous instance to the front page.
22** "[[https://www.theonion.com/it-is-journalism-s-sacred-duty-to-endanger-the-lives-of-1850126997 It Is Journalism’s Sacred Duty To Endanger The Lives Of As Many Trans People As Possible]]" is a scathing indictment of how many newspapers are reporting on transgender issues in such a way as to incite a moral panic.
23* BizarroEpisode: [[http://www.theonion.com/article/we-get-food-and-then-we-eat-food-until-all-food-go-53191 ‘We Get The Food And Then We Eat The Food Until All The Food Is Gone,’ City Of Chicago Announces Unprompted]].
24* BrokenBase: Ending their Diamond Joe series in favour of more critical articles on Joe Biden in 2020. A welcome change from their apolitical, uncritical and almost fantastical portrayal of him to a more grounded one with genuine criticisms of Biden's character and campaign? Or a step-down from the hilarious wild comedy to unfunny and nonsensical attacks on Biden meant to pander to Bernie supporters?
25* CrossesTheLineTwice:
26** Many, many articles, such as an article where people resort to [[NoPartyLiketheDonnerParty cannibalism]] after being stuck in an elevator for only a few hours.
27** Some of the "What Do You Think?" responses. See "Bernie Porter" in [[https://www.theonion.com/is-oral-sex-sex-1819558976 this one]].
28** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4PC8Luqiws Overcome Stress by Visualizing it as a Greedy, Hook-Nosed Race of Creatures]]" tells you to do exactly that, and also imagine those grabblers disintigrating into ash, like in a fire, and being blown away by a purifying wind.
29** [[https://www.theonion.com/trump-s-missing-jan-6-phone-logs-1848726920/slides/17 Trump's Missing Jan.6 Phone Logs]] includes him attempting to contact Ashli Babbitt.
30** The placeholder sentence for the books is "Passerby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood." Not funny on its own, but when mixed with the NonSequitur captions that were apparently in the article (such as "I don't know which boatload of sailors I love!" or "Can we discuss this after I pee?") and the similar apparent titles to them are hilarious.
31* GeniusBonus: If you're a history buff, ''Literature/OurDumbCentury'' is full of this.
32* JerkassWoobie:
33** Russ Kunkel in "[[http://www.theonion.com/article/loved-ones-recall-local-mans-cowardly-battle-with--772 Loved Ones Recall Man's Cowardly Battle With Cancer]]". Diagnosed with terminal cancer, he's completely unable to FaceDeathWithDignity, which shows how pathetic he is, but also makes his story even sadder.
34** Brooke Alvarez from the IFC series. She's basically an AlphaBitch who treats everyone around her like dirt and generally seems to think everyone else is a massive idiot...then it's revealed in season 2 she was a Russian girl who was forced to become a child cosmonaut by the Soviets (with all sorts of torturous treatments) and had to battle a vicious chimpanzee while in orbit. Her own mother noticed the changes after she came down to Earth -- a hardness around her and constant night terrors involving her fighting chimpanzees. By the end of the episode (and after repeated denials it affected her, with Jane Carmichael, Tucker Hope and O'Brady Shaw repeatedly bringing it up; in Carmichael's case it's a case of TheDogBitesBack, having grown tired of Brooke's attitude towards her), she ends up having a mental breakdown and being taken away for treatment.
35* MagnificentBastard:
36** "[[https://youtu.be/I2OObOM3R_U?si=gnbIsF8Hb-eWUL9Q Child Bankrupts Make-A-Wish Foundation]]": [[SpoiledBrat Chad Carter]] is an 8-year-old with leukemia who, after [[LoopholeAbuse finding a loophole]] on the Make-A-Wish Foundation charter, decided [[WishingForMoreWishes to wish for unlimited wishes]]. Now gaining whatever he wants, Chad's wishes are costing the foundation 5 times its annual budget, with him being uncaring that it could lead to it filing for bankruptcy. When interviewed, president of the foundation Dean Feinglass answered that when Chad found out they had a legal team, he just wished them away, and that he wished to have the best oncology care possible from them to continue wishing as long as possible.
37** "[[https://youtu.be/Q9X_sXWoKJE?si=17hbOeQKKjY_Rjcb The Onion Reviews 'Interstellar']]": The terrible truth of Creator/ChristopherNolan is his stealing of Peter K. Rosenthal's film ideas. When Peter presented him with ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'' for feedback, Nolan stole the film, returning the case with a copy of ''Film/ThePrestige'' and passed ''Interstellar'' off as his own movie while getting the entire cast and crew to go along with it. Having previously stolen ''Film/{{Inception}}'', Nolan still manages to have Peter consider him a friend despite constantly stealing his films.
38* MemeticMutation:
39** [[http://www.theonion.com/article/beautiful-cinnamon-roll-too-good-for-this-world-to-35038 Beautiful Cinnamon Roll Too Good For This World, Too Pure]] has become a term of endearment on Website/{{Tumblr}} and other sites. "Cinnamon roll" or "precious cinnamon roll" has also become shorthand for TheWoobie, or for anyone so precious and cute that the speaker would fight to the death to protect them from {{Woobie}} status.
40** Another one from Tumblr is to take screencaps from a variety of shows and use Onion headlines as matching captions.
41** "[[http://www.theonion.com/article/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-36131 'No Way To Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens]]" gets reposted with the same bread text whenever there's a mass shooting in the US, which has caused people to start linking to it by themselves.
42** A variation on "The Onion just straight up reporting the news again" is often used in response to their Trump-era articles due to the site growing a stronger and more honest progressive voice than some mainstream media outlets during this period.
43** People getting outraged over Onion articles on social media [[PoesLaw not realizing that they're satire]]. So much so there is an [[https://www.reddit.com/r/AteTheOnion/ entire subreddit]] for this.
44** A crop from [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/946/549/87d.jpg one of Kelly's political comics]] about drug legalization featuring a man labeled "SICKOS" looking through a window shouting "Yes... ha ha ha... '''''YES!'''''" has become a rapidly popular reaction image.
45* RetroactiveRecognition: A pre-[[Series/SaturdayNightLive SNL]] Creator/AlexMoffat has a small part in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5m4hISfh0o "Hostages Freed After Tense 7-Minute Standup Set"]].
46** Creator/StevenOgg, just a year or so before ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', voiced an in-universe promo on the IFC series (specifically for ''Gut Check with O'Brady Shaw'').
47* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
48** The "Ask A" columns generally feature the columnists ignoring the letters and writing about their own lives, areas of expertise or other things- for example, "[[https://www.theonion.com/ask-the-dauphin-1819583935 Ask The Dauphin]]" involves the Dauphin acting like a RoyalBrat. Said columns might have been even funnier if the columnist had actually tried to respond to the letters in their own way, such as said Dauphin answering the second letter by suggesting that is only natural that inferior people like commoners could become criminals.
49** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgzBI1dTaFA&t=4s Man Doesn't Know How Parents Ever Going To Pay Off Massive Student Loan Debt]]" could potentially have been a commentary on how the man's parents are still stuck dealing with their own student loans, but the loan in question belongs to the man himself, instead making it a parody that makes fun of the man for being spoiled and lazy.
50* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Starting in the late 2010s, many news-overloaded Americans ''don't find the Onion funny anymore'', due to many articles being in turns eerily prophetic, painfully relatable, or overtly anvil-dropping.
51* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:
52** "[[http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-man-consults-internet-whenever-possible,1515/ Area Man Consults Internet Whenever Possible"]], written in 2000, is supposed to be a satire of people who are obsessed with the Internet. Area Man uses the Internet to do things like check on movie showtimes, look up word definitions, and find food recipes. Within a short few years, people everywhere would use the internet for stuff like that all the time.
53** Inevitable in articles on political figures when they're out of office, such as UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush, UsefulNotes/BarackObama or UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump.
54** The column "[[https://www.theonion.com/when-youre-feeling-low-just-remember-ill-be-dead-in-ab-1819584806 When You're Feeling Low, Just Remember I'll Be Dead in About 15 or 20 Years]]", "written" by UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, reads quite a bit differently after Trump ascended to the presidency, just under four years after it was published, and made it much more difficult for him to disappear into history.[[note]]The "unmistakable physical and mental deterioration by 2020" part, on the other hand, is quite prescient, as his presidency was dogged among other things by questions of his health and possible senility, especially after he caught COVID-19 in the last few months of his term.[[/note]]
55* TheWoobie:
56** Ryan and Rebecca Lewis from [[https://www.theonion.com/daddy-put-in-bye-bye-box-1819569708 "Daddy Put In Bye-Bye Box"]]: When they're 5 and 3, their father dies from what is implied to be stomach cancer-and the kids ''have no idea'' or even that he was sick at all. They think he's sleeping like Snow White and will run back home to read their bedtime story. Even worse, their dad isn't the only death in the family: their cat Muffin, their grandmother Sarah and their uncle Brian are all dead. For such young ages, they've seen a ''lot'' of death. The article ends with their mother about to tell them the truth.
57** Jean Teasdale. While she is oblivious, naive, refuses to take responsibility for her actions, and not very smart, there's no doubt her life ''sucks'': She grew up in a DysfunctionalFamily that broke apart when her father cheated, she was bullied and sexually assaulted at school, she barely graduated, her husband Rick is a {{Jerkass}} who [[ShotgunWedding only married her because her parents caught them having sex]] and treats her badly, she desperately wants kids but Rick hates kids (and it's implied that she only sees the fun parts of parenthood), she's never left her crappy suburban hometown, she can't keep a job, and the column is pretty much the one thing she has. What's more, she is aware of how bad her life is but is actively trying to repress her emotions about leaving and starting over. Ouch.
58** Joan from [[https://www.theonion.com/new-mommy-a-lot-prettier-1819565481 "New Mommy A Lot Prettier"]]. Not only does her husband cheat on her with a younger woman, kick her out of their house and not help her financially, he and his new partner are also turning her children against her with treats, toys and lack of discipline. When we see her, she's obviously stressed and depressed, frequently breaking down in tears as her kids complain about her making them do chores.
59** Bitek Okoye from "[[https://www.theonion.com/nigeria-may-be-a-developing-nation-but-it-is-rich-in-c-1819594269 Get Me Out Of This Godforsaken Hellhole]]." His parents and brothers were killed in a gasoline explosion, while soldiers [[DestinationDefenestration threw his grandmother out a window]]. He lives in a slum without electricity or basic necessities, threatened by criminals, police and soldiers. He's destitute, frightened and desperate to live anywhere besides Nigeria.

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