I Warned You

aka: I Told You So

The Prince of Smugness

Sadlygrove: Yugo? Amalia?
Piglet Yugo: *Oink*
Piglet Amalia: *Oink*
Sadlygrove: I would hate to play the "I warned you" card... [deep breath] BUT I WARNED YOU!

— Wakfu, "The Dragon-Pig"

A character is (sometimes, quite specifically) warned of the horrible things that can happen if they do Action A. They blow off the warnings and the evidence to back it up. After the terrible things happen, The Cassandra then informs them they have no-one to blame but themselves. Depending on Alice's personality, the tone of the work and what the consequences are, she might be smug about being right or angry that Bob didn't listen, among other reactions.

Alice: Do not take the Shmuck Bait, you idiot. If you do, terrible things will happen. Do not tempt fate.
Bob: What's the worst that can happen?
[terrible things happen]
Alice: I Warned You.

That statement, whether or not it uses the Stock Phrase "I Warned You" or "I Told You So" is this trope, provided the warning took place. If it did not, due to Poor Communication Kills, Not Now, Kiddo, or the warning not reaching its intended recipient, but the Stock Phrase is dropped anyway, the trope has been inverted, not played straight.

Generally — though not always — Played for Drama if played straight. The victim may ask The Cassandra for help in solving whatever problem they caused, much to the Cassandra's aggravation. The Cassandra may also say Screw This, I'm Outta Here and flat-out refuse to help the victim with their predicament, particularly if they've been pushed to the breaking point by the victim insulting their warnings or just the victim's sheer stupidity. Even the Only Sane Man can only take so much abuse.

If Played for Laughs, expect The Cassandra to be an exaggeratively smug or jerkish in using this trope (a likely consistent trait that lent to no-one listening to them in the first place) and at least one indignant victim to try and silence them (usually by yelling a bitter "Oh, Shut Up!"). Due to often gloat-heavy context of this trope (and the likely two-way arrogance that caused them to be ignored in the first place), the previously dismissive characters at the very least will often be a Sore Loser and only admit The Cassandra was right and apologise very begrudgingly at best (unless they need to beg them to fix the problem caused by this).

Subverted, The Cassandra has every opportunity to say "I warned you!", but doesn't even bat an eye because they know they won't be believed.

This trope is often used after one of the various Threatening Tropes appears only to be ignored, or after a seemingly-mundane threat that is taken lightly turns out to be Not Hyperbole.

Contrast Poor Communication Kills, Not Now, Kiddo, where the information doesn't reach its intended destination. Compare Cassandra Truth and Ignored Expert. Overlaps with Can't You Read the Sign? if the person who originally posted the sign points it out to the characters who got into trouble by ignoring it.

---

Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Bleach: Mayuri was the first to realize that Quincies would eventually attack Soul Society again after Uryu's infiltration, but Yamamoto dismissed him as paranoid and thus did nothing to prepare. Come the Thousand-Year Blood War arc, Yhwach and the Vandenreich attack Soul Society just as Mayuri feared, and when he tries to blame Mayuri for the mess, Mayuri quickly turns it around by reminding Yamamoto that he warned him that such a thing would happen, stating outright that the current situation is entirely Yamamoto's fault for not listening to him in the first place.
  Yamamoto: If your Research and Development Department had reported and managed it more promptly, this situation may have been avoidable.
  Mayuri: That is not true. I foresaw and suggested this situation the moment Uryuu Ishida, the Quincy, infiltrated the Soul Society as a Ryouka. It was you who disregarded that as being absurd. Isn't the principal cause of this situation you, Captain-General?
• Digimon: The Movie: Izzy repeatedly partakes in the weird recipes Tai's mother makes despite Tai's warnings. Before long, it catches up to Izzy and he rushes to the bathroom.
  Tai: I hate to say "I told you so," but... I told you so!
• Dragon Ball Z:
  • Gohan says this to Cell, after the Cell Juniors torturing the other heroes and Cell murdering Android 16 causes Gohan to go Super Saiyan 2. Gohan did warn Cell about his hidden power, and that Cell shouldn't try to awaken it, but those pesky Blood Knight tendencies Cell inherited from the Saiyans just wouldn't let him turn down the challenge.
  • During the Buu Saga, the Old Kai expresses disapproval of using the Dragon Balls to fix all of the damage Buu has done, believing that their overuse would lead to trouble. Come Dragon Ball GT, when the Z-Fighters unleash the Shadow Dragons upon the world by trying to summon Shenron, the Old Kai promptly goes off on a rant about how he tried to warn them of the dangers.
• Kaworu kept advising Shinji in Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo not to go through with pulling the two lances out of "Lilith"'s body as Kaworu suspected foul play by Gendo, but Shinji ignored him and once again caused an Impact for the second time in his life.
• In Fate/Zero, Waver and Rider discover Ryuunosuke and Caster's hideout, only to find no trace of Master or Servant there. Waver insists on investigating to find any clues, but Rider who was able to sense what was amiss and is usually a bombastic fellow, takes a somber attitude and tries to discourage him from doing so. Ignoring Rider, Waver magically lights up the area and finds the bloody and mutilated remains of well over a dozen people, most of them children (and some of them still alive, in the manga or the novel) since Ryuunosuke is also a Serial Killer and a self-proclaimed Mad Artist. As Waver retches in disgust and horror, Rider somberly says that he did warn Waver.
• In HeartCatch Pretty Cure!, Erika attempts to warn Tsubomi that Itsuki isn't whom she thinks Itsuki is. When Tsubomi learns the truth, Erika tells her that she warned her. Many times. Including the fact that she was asleep in class when Itsuki was first around her.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Diamond is Unbreakable: Aya is incredibly apathetic to the Facial Horror her Stand caused for Yukako, simply stating it was she didn't continue to apply the lipstick she was given.
  • Golden Wind: Giorno advises Leaky-Eyed Luca on not to use his shovel to smash a frog created by Gold Experience. As Luca attempts smashing it, all damage dealt to Gold Experience's lifeforms reflects back onto whoever dealt it, resulting in Luca knocking himself out.
• In My Hero Academia, just before the U.A. Sports Festival finals begin, Ojiro warns Midoriya that his first opponent, Shinso, can use his brainwashing quirk if Midoriya responds to anything Shinso says, and uses his tail to stop Midoriya from answering him. When the match begins, Shinso mocks Ojiro for having withdrawn from the tournament due to not feeling as though he deserved to be there (since Shinso manipulated him during the match), causing Midoriya to lose his temper, and angrily respond. Ojiro then says, "Dammit, Midoriya. I warned you!"
• One Piece:
  • Just before an iconic scene, a drunk taking a leak outside MockTown finds the latest wanted posters. He finds Luffy and Zoro's, and the amount they're worth sobers him up fast — these were the same pair the bar's patrons, egged on by the Bellamy Pirates, mocked and abused earlier! The drunk goes to warn Bellamy, but the pirate merely dismisses the issue. Those two from before didn't fight back, and anyway, some pirates print up fake wanted posters to bluff others. However, Luffy shows up for completely unrelated reasons and puts a knuckle-shaped dent in Bellamy's cheekbone. As the sheer weight of what happened sinks into the onlookers, all the drunk can say is, "I told you so."
  • In Franky's backstory, he repeatedly built "Battle Franky" warships in hopes of taking down the Sea Kings around Water 7. Franky's fellow apprentice Iceberg complained about Franky's hobby, saying that he should get rid of them before someone gets hurt. Years later, Cipher Pol steals the latest batch of Battle Frankies to frame Tom's Workers for attacking the judicial ship, within a day of Iceberg's latest warning. In response, Iceberg reminds Franky about all the times he'd warned him to get rid of the Battle Frankies, but unlike many of these examples, he isn't feeling smug and vindicated, but is furious that the worst-case scenario happened because of Franky's negligence.
• Variable Geo: In her first match, Kaori tries to warn her unnamed opponent that she had no chance of winning, according to their statistical fight data which showed Kaori had her thoroughly outclassed in every area. She even offers her the chance to withdraw without having to suffer the penalty, since the match was set at level-1. Her opponent didn't listen. Mere seconds later, she wished she had.

Ballads

• In The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward, the mother when they receive the letter telling what happened to their son.
  When the Ladye of Learne these tydings heard,
  O Lord! shee wept soe biterlye:
  "I told you of this, now good my lord,
  When I sent my child into that wild country."

Comic Books

• In Bone, Lucius warns the regulars at his tavern not to be taken in by Phoney Bone's Mystery Cow scam. They don't listen to him (or rather, they do, but Phoney tricks them all over again), so after the race ends and the con is exposed, the townsfolk want to lynch Phoney, but are held off by Lucius, who later points out that they have no-one else to blame but themselves for being swindled;
  Lucius: But I warned ya! I told ya you were bein' played for a buncha saps, but ya didn't listen to me, did ja? Huh? Did ja? that's right! An' when Gran'ma Ben won that race, I was the only one who bet on her! Me an' Gran'ma coulda split that pot, but noooooo... We felt sorry for ya! All bets were off an' we let ya have yer livestock back! All told, I'd say you girls got off easy!
• Fantastic Four: In their college years, Reed Richards warned Victor von Doom that he made a few miscalculations that would cause his new invention to malfunction. Victor didn't listen and the machine blew up in his face. Literally. Victor's oh-so-reasonable response was to drop out of college, build a suit of Powered Armor, take over a country, and spend the rest of his life trying to ruin the lives of Reed Richards and his loved ones in revenge for causing the failure.
• The Incredible Hulk: Far too many fools to count have heard "Leave Hulk alone" or "Hulk just wants to be left alone" and decided not to listen, continuing to mess with him until he inevitably got angry.
• Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW): When first introduced, Shadow was convinced that Eggman, at the time suffering amnesia and going under the moniker Mr. Tinker, was too much of a liability to keep alive and wanted to take him out right then and there lest he regain his memories. Sonic convinces him otherwise, but ultimately his fears were justified as later Eggman does indeed regain his memories thanks to Dr. Starline and Metal Sonic and continues his evil actions, leading to the Metal Virus outbreak. Shadow does not miss the chance to remind Sonic of his warning the next time they meet.
  • The Chaotix, who found Eggman first, also had misgivings about sparing Eggman, amnesiac or not. Their fears are also proven correct when Eggman returns, and Vector doesn't hesitate to remind Sonic of their warning. Espio is even harsher about it after losing Vector and Charmy to the Metal Virus, angrily condemning Sonic for his poor judgment.
  • After the Zeti gain control of the Zombots thanks to Starline, Eggman, as part of his truce with the heroes, suggests using Starline's Warp Topaz and the Chaos Emeralds to get rid of the Metal Virus for good. Starline objects, fearing exposure to the Chaos Emeralds' power could overtax the Warp Topaz with disastrous results, but is ignored and given the boot. However, Starline later turns out to have been half-right: although Super Sonic and Super Silver destroy the Metal Virus, they overload the Warp Topaz in the process and it explodes before they can dispose of it. While the outcome isn't as bad as Starline feared, Sonic goes M.I.A. in the aftermath.
• Discussed in the Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) series, after Great Battle Kukku dismisses Speedy's warnings to entrust the Babylon Rogues. Inevitably, things go pear shaped and Kukku bellows at Speedy to find out what the Rogues are playing at. Speedy considers saying "I told you so" but decides it's not worth time in the brig.
• Ultimatum: Nick Fury warned the heroes back in Ultimate Power that if they left him on an alternate Earth, terrible things would happen, though they ignored him because terrible things had just happened because of him. And then they happened indeed. He does not miss the chance to remind them of this.
• Venom (2021): While trying to get into Latervia, Eddie is confronted by the airport security (Doombots, natch) who insist on looking at his luggage. The luggage is a symbiote, who bites a Doombot's head off, prompting Eddie to quip that he warned him. The other Doombots point out Eddie didn't warn him.
• During X-Men Red (2022), a dying Magneto warns Ororo to watch out for Charles, knowing that sooner or later Charles will feel compelled to make some horrible decision that will damn Mutantkind because he'll believe he truly has no choice. Come Resurrection of Magneto, Erik finds out from Ororo that this has in fact happened, and goes berserk on her.

Comic Strips

• An early FoxTrot storyline had Paige being asked out by a senior student who is known to be a sleazebag, which she accepted even though Peter repeatedly warned her, which Paige dismissed. Of course, he tried to make moves on her, despite saying no, and he only relented after she threatened to mace him (which Paige only brought because Peter made her). After telling Peter what happened, his only response is that he's going to spend weeks taunting her and saying "I told you so," which only made Paige's night worse.
• One rather long series of Peanuts comic strips starts with Charlie Brown volunteering for the school spelling bee. Violet (who's sitting behind him) whispers, "Don't do it, you'll just make a fool of yourself!" Charlie Brown doesn't listen, and sadly, he messes up royally in the first round (his love of baseball causes him to accidentally spell his word, "maze", M-A-Y-S). Violet tells him, "I told you you'd make a fool of yourself." (And the day only gets worse for poor Charlie Brown from there...)
• Calvin and Hobbes:
  • In one strip, Calvin imagines himself as a volcano spewing lava into the air. The last panel reveals that Calvin is frantically gulping down water after having drunk a bottle of chili sauce, while being scolded by his parents.
    Dad: I told you that chili sauce was hot!
    Mom: Yecchh, he spewed it all across the table!
  • In one Sunday strip, Calvin and Hobbes are about to sled down a snowy hill, but Hobbes secretly jumps off at the last second. Hobbes watches Calvin's disastrous journey with his expression changing between horror and amazement, until eventually an angry stick-and-snow covered Calvin crawls back into frame.
    Hobbes: See? I told you.
    Calvin: Help me gather up the sled, you sissy.

Fan Works

Crossovers

• Ben 10: Unlimited: A rare version where the one commiting the action is also the one giving the warning. Hamilton becomes extremely interested in the Ultimatrix, and becomes desperate to see and experiment on it. Waller already knows that Ben Tennyson won't willingly leave the Justice League, and believes that the Ultimatrix is too complex and alien for them to understand. Still, to humor Hamilton, she tries to recruit Ben...and he not only tells her no, but tells her all of the reasons why CADMUS is a bigger threat than the Justice League is. She expected him to say no, and isn't fazed. Still, she gives a subtle version to Hamilton when she tells him that Ben won't be joining (leaving the scientist near tears ^note  Don't feel bad for him; the experiments he planned on the Ultimatrix might have killed Ben and what's more, he was planning on human experimentation to give the powers of Ben's alien forms to normal humans.
• The Dragon and the Butterfly: Astrid's first plan to get Hiccup to come back to Berk is to either kidnap him and take him by force or kidnap Mirabel and use her as bait and use her to lure him to Berk. Fishlegs is horrified and (after telling her how horrible such a plan is) warns her that it wouldn't work, because both Hiccup and Mirabel have a Night Fury and an enormous family of magical people ready to defend them at a moment's notice. He's proven right when, after Dolores overheard this plan, she, Isabella, and Alma come and capture Astrid and Fishlegs.
• If Wishes Were Ponies: After leaving Harry with the Dursleys, Dumbledore relied on a protection spell that would prevent anyone from trying to remove Harry from the Dursleys' custody plus several monitors that told him about Harry's physical and mental state. Minerva told him numerous times that it would be much better if he actually went and checked on Harry himself instead of watching the monitors, but Dumbledore kept insisting that the monitors couldn't be wrong. He learns later that he accidentally shot himself in the foot, as the Durselys were abusing Harry, but the protection spell canceled out the monitors (as Dumbledore would have removed Harry from their custody if he'd known about the abuse) and caused them to always say that Harry was fine. Once Minerva learns about this, she's furious with Albus and spends the next several weeks hexing him behind his back for not checking on Harry.
• Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail: Mr. Bradbury, Chloe's English teacher, saw how troubled she was and reached out to her father, advising Professor Cerise to get her professional counseling. The Professor ignored this and decided to just place Chloe in his Institute to be supervised without considering that Chloe might want to do something for a bit of catharsis. Much later, after things have seriously gone downhill for the whole family and Vermillion City in general, Mr. Bradbury sends him the number for the same counselor he'd recommended before — though this time, he's recommending them for Parker. The Professor screams in Angrish at the reminder.
  • Eventually, Professor Cerise asks him to stop doing this; he's far from the only one criticizing how he handled his daughter, and the repeated snide remarks are making it seem as though he's more interested in rubbing salt in the wound than anything else.
• In Chapter 5 of The Night Unfurls, remastered version, Kyril sends a chilling one to Olga after she tries to burn him to a crisp rather than heed his warning of surrender. Unsurprisingly, he no-sells it, and a Curb-Stomp Battle ensues.
• In Origins, a Mass Effect/Star Wars/Borderlands/Halo Massive Multiplayer Crossover, Admiral Grayson tells off the rest of the Citadel Council for blindly trusting Sarah and possibly the Dark Side of the Force in what seems to be an attempt to make up for their Not-So-Omniscient Council of Bickering and Head-in-the-Sand Management tendencies. He warned them offscreen about how dangerous this set of powers (and those who wield it) have been in his own galaxy, but they didn't listen to someone who probably knows more about this than they do. That a graphic scene of Mind Rape/Cold-Blooded Torture/Drunk on the Dark Side just occurred only serves to buttress his arguments.
• In Origin Story, Tony Stark says this almost word-for-word to Henry Peter Gyrich after Alex Harris utterly annihilates the Thunderbolts when the attack Gyrich orders on Harris and her girlfriend Louise results in Louise's hospitalization.
  • Likewise, when the Thing is cornered by SHIELD agents, he nonchalantly hands over a folder proving he's got diplomatic immunity as a French ambassador. While one of the agents freaks out, his superior orders him to proceed with the arrest. A few paragraphs later, Tony receives a phone call from an infuriated French official, and the US is slapped with major economic repercussions, with Stark Industries being the first targeted.
• The Palaververse: Second Sun starts with Luna formally saying "I told you so":
  Luna: I wish it to be noted, so that I may put myself past any allocation of blame when the whole matter inevitably devolves into flames and shrieking and the fracturing of all we know and love, that this is a mistake[.]"
• During Stan and Raven's rematch in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Thousand Year Door, Raven's newest card The Thief in the Shadows uses his effect to steal the top card of Stan's deck and add it to Raven's hand every time it deals damage. Raven takes Vivian's card this way, and dispite Stan's warning to not summon Vivian, Raven summons Vivian. During her next turn, Vivian refuses to attack Stan, and instead attacks Raven directly.

Bleach

• In Bleach: Fan Works, Jolene Meyers, after receiving a negative review from Oshikko, responds as follows.
  Jolene: If my fanfic is so bad, why don't you write your own version, huh?
  Oshikko: Sure I will. Keep in mind, you suggested I do so.
• In Hogyoku ex Machina, when Ishida warns Mayuri (not very hard, mind you) that it wouldn't be a good idea to have Ichigo attempt to place his reiatsu into a rare and valuable crystal because he's clumsy, Mayuri blows him off. Then Ichigo (having a massive amount of reiatsu and no control over it, hence "clumsy") makes the crystal explode.
  Mayuri: DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COST?
  Ishida: I told you so.

Calvin and Hobbes

• From Calvin & Hobbes: The Series:
  MTM: (referring to Sherman's project) Oh, don't do that. The box is too compacted. With the amount of energy you're pumping into it, it's going to burst at any second.
  Sherman: I think I know what I'm doing. And besides, I don't take advice from media players!
  MTM: It's going to explode on you.
  Sherman: Shut up!
  MTM: Very well.
  (beat)
  *BLAM!*
  MTM: I suppose this would be a bad "I told you so" moment.

Harry Potter

• Professor McGonagall says this verbatim to Dumbledore in Chapter 2 of Brutal Harry when she hits her Rage Breaking Point and calls him out on ignoring her warnings about the Dursleys being the worst kinds of Muggles she'd ever seen, as their abusive treatment of Harry has turned the kid into a borderline sociopathic, ruthlessly independent and magically powerful survivalist (reminiscent of Voldemort, in fact), with an especially deep distrust of most authority figures.
• In Chapter 2 of Fate's Gambit, when Arabella Figg notices Child Protective Services calling in a forensics team with spades to search the Dursleys' garden under the assumption that the Dursleys buried Harry Potter there, Mrs. Figg faints and wakes up in the hospital muttering "Albus, you stupid old bastard. I warned you, I warned you, I warned you..."
• Whispers in the Night:
  • In Chapter 36, for the first Tri-Wizard Tournament task, Harry Potter faces a nesting dragon without a medkit. He regrets not bringing a medkit when he gets injured. After the task is over, Poppy the Hogwarts healer (and his mentor) assesses his performance, adding, "You also noted the usefulness and necessity of a medkit, which all I have to say about is I told you so!"
  • In Chapter 38, Bill Weasley and Amelia Bones warn Harry Potter that he's probably going to get hexed if he wakes up a room full of sleeping witches on Christmas morning. Harry wakes them up anyway, and is shot down by a few volleys of Christmas-themed prank spells.
    Bill: You should have seen that coming.
    Harry: Oh, thank you great prophet! I'll make sure to keep that in mind next time.

Heroes of the Storm

• The Weaponized Extraction Teams within the Strategic Prevention, Extraction, and Ablation Regiment shown in Heroes of the Desk absolutely expected the world to go nuts upon being shown the supernatural, having repeatedly insisted the Masquerade is the best way to handle Functional Supernatural Phenomena. When the Heroes characters show up in a very public place, protests kick off and SPEAR drops a plasma barrage to destroy some evidence (which really makes the whole thing more visible.)

Invader Zim

• At one point in The New Adventures of Invader Zim, Norlock warns the Tallest that they shouldn't underestimate Zim's capabilities. He reminds them of this later on when they tell Zim the truth of his mission and toss him aside, causing him to rebel against them.

The Loud House

• Hope You Survive The Experience: Luna is the Only Sane Man of her sisters, realizing that their Zany Schemes are only serving to further alienate their new siblings Lincoln and Lori and cause more Blended Family Drama. She tries warning her sisters against meddling with Lincoln's meet-up with Stella. After things go south and the other girls are playing the Blame Game, all insisting that it's not THEIR fault that things went pear-shaped, Luna simply declares that she warned them this would happen.

Love Hina

• An Alternate Keitaro Urashima: After winning their duel, Keitaro warns Motoko that if she ever attacks him again, he'll press charges. Motoko ignores this and proceeds to go after him in public, getting herself arrested by the police who witness her drawing her katana on him. Keitaro keeps his word, reminding Motoko of their previous conversation and stating that she should have listened.
• Entering The Love Hina World: When Faye threatens to report Naru's abusive and violent behavior to Tokyo U, getting her blacklisted from ever attending her dream college, Naru dismisses the threat; after all, there's no way she's got any evidence of how she's been treating her targets, right? Just a few days later, Naru learns that she's been banned from Tokyo U, much to her shock.
• For His Own Sake: Naru's mother Saori tried to convince her daughter that she needed to learn how to control her Hair-Trigger Temper. Not only did Naru refuse to listen, she made a point of blaming her and Mei for her problems when they attempted to help her out, hitting her stepsister with a Breaking Speech accusing her of being upset when things didn't revolve completely around HER. After finally destroying her relationship with Granny Hina, who cuts her off after she helps kidnap Keitaro and nearly gets him murdered, Naru starts trying to cross the bridges she torched, only to find that nobody's willing to take her in and put up with her abuse any further. Saori notes that she'd warned her about this very possibility.

Miraculous Ladybug

• Crimson and Noire: While calling out Gabriel, Nooroo reminds him that he was repeatedly warned by Duusu, the Guardians, and the previous Butterfly wielder that the Butterfly Miraculous had been damaged. Despite this, Emilie used it until its power put her into a coma. After it was fixed, Nooroo then warns him against using it, but Gabriel again ignored him, letting Nathalie use it to become Monarch. As a result, Nooroo makes clear that Gabriel is just as responsible for the fallout as Natalie is, specifically in regards to Nathalie getting Ezra deliberating akumatize and sending him after Adrien when suspecting the latter is Crimson Beetle.
• Fashion Upgrade: After Lila gets squirted by the ink trap, Alicia notes that she warned her against trying to enter the costume room.
• I See What You Do Behind Closed Doors: When Lila is finally exposed, Mylene frantically apologizes to Marinette. Unfortunately, she makes the mistake of claiming she "couldn't have known" she was being lied to, prompting Marinette to calmly remind her that she was repeatedly warned about just that. The class's subsequent attempt to convince Marinette that it was actually her fault that they refused to listen to her Cassandra Truth doesn't do them any favors.
  Marinette: I don't understand how you think there's no way you could've known. After all, I think I mentioned multiple times? How she was lying?
• The Karma of Lies:
  • Plagg spends much of the story repeatedly warning Adrien that the world doesn't work the way he thinks it does, and that he needs to make amends while he still has the chance. Adrien repeatedly blows him off, insisting he hasn't done anything wrong. Eventually, Plagg gives up; when Adrien notices, Plagg states that his karma is already set in stone at this point.
  • On a related note, Ladybug constantly entreated Chat Noir to take their duty to Paris more seriously and stop goofing around, as well as asking him to stop harassing her about hooking up, as she wasn't interested. This finally culminates in her giving him a "The Reason You Suck" Speech during a live interview post-Final Battle. When Adrien complains that he didn't realize how she felt and that she should have made her feelings clearer beforehand, Plagg points out that she did tell him, constantly and consistently. It's not her fault that he never listened.
  • Marinette tried to warn her classmates about Lila, only to get brushed off. Once the truth comes out and they find themselves dealing with the fallout, Marinette makes clear that it's not her responsibility to save them from the consequences.
• In Lady Luck, Chloé and Plagg both suggest delaying on taking down the Bubbler despite Tikki's protest, since the Bubbler seems only interested in throwing a great party and it gives Adrien the chance to have a normal birthday. They later learn from Marinette that the Bubbler has been bubbling adults and sending them to the stratosphere, which forces the heroes to action. Chloé tells Tikki not to give them an "I told you speech," which Tikki says it fine because it's clear they got the idea... which feels much worse than the speech.
  Adrien: Oh that's so much worse. How does she do that?
  Plagg: Years of perfecting it.
• Leave for Mendeleiev: Ladybug warns Lila against falsely claiming connections with big names like the heroine herself. Lila completely blows her off, only to learn firsthand just how bad it can get when Hawk Moth has one of his akuma take her hostage. The situation is further complicated by another one of her lies, as Chat Noir parrots her claim of having a Miraculous of her own right in front of the villain, forcing her to come clean. After rescuing her, Ladybug calmly reminds her that she warned her while Lila sulks.
• Rate This (Trust is Hard to Come By): Upon seeing that Lila Broke the Rating Scale and has a blood red -51 over her head, revealing how much Ladybug despises her, Alya breaks down sobbing and insists she had no way of knowing. Marinette and Chloé are disgusted to see Nino comforting her with the same claim, with several of her former friends nodding along, coldly reminding them that she warned them all, getting rebuffed and bullied for her efforts.
• Truth is Subjective: After Ladybug calls out Alya during a livestreamed interview for forcing her into close proximity with her stalker Lila, Alya is outraged to learn that Marinette apparently knew all along. Marinette bluntly reminds her that she tried to warn her and the rest of the class that Lila couldn't be trusted, only to not be believed and punished for her efforts.

My Hero Academia

• Build Yourself Up (Don't Let Them Break You Down): Inko used to be friends with Enji, and had warned him that he was making all kinds of horrible choices. Not only did he refuse to listen, he tried to destroy her future out of sheer petty spite. Years later, she gives him a blistering "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how he should have heeded her advice, leaving Shoto starry-eyed and admiring her for standing up against his Abusive Parent.
• Crimson and Emerald:
  • Aoi warns Saito to watch her back, as somebody tortured two of her accomplices to death before making it look like they'd died in a car accident. Saito ignores him, getting into serious peril as a result.
  • Dabi explicitly warns Muscular not to underestimate Hawks' interns, noting that Muscular is used to kids being easy victims... but the interns managed to successfully stall Stain, and have only gotten stronger and more skilled since then.
• Failure to Explode: When Katsuki doesn't get into U.A., he's caught completely flat-footed, having arrogantly assumed that of course he'd get exactly what he wanted. His mother Mitsuki notes that both she and Masaru warned him that he needed to apply to other places so he'd have a 'Plan B' to fall back upon if his top pick didn't pan out, but he'd blown them off.
• In Origin of a Non-Hero, Izuku Midoriya decides to start a family with Ochaco Uraraka while still pursuing his goal of being the #1 Hero and the Symbol of Peace despite his mentor and predecessor Toshinori "All Might" Yagi warning him that he can't juggle both. More than two decades later, Izuku's relationship with his son Shikinori is extremely strained; not only does Shikinori resent how his parents' careers kept them away and destroyed their marriage, there's a fundamental disconnect between father and son, with Shikinori suspecting that Izuku expects him to become a Pro Hero despite his having no interest in it. When Izuku turns to his old mentor for support, Toshinori reminds him of his previous advice:
  Toshinori: ...I told you this 20 years ago, Young Midoriya, and I'll tell you it again. And it will hurt worse now to hear it, because you didn't follow my advice the first time.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

• Aftermath of the Games: In Intergration, Luna warned Celestia about keeping Twilight Locked Out of the Loop regarding the existence of the secret organizations S.M.I.L.E. and F.R.O.W.N., predicting that she'd inevitably find out and be upset at having this hidden from her. Sure enough, Twilight doesn't take the revelation well, and Celestia notes that she expects Luna to greet her with a smug smile and an "I told you so" once she returns to Canterlot.
• A Diplomatic Visit: When Rarity sees a creature in Twilight's fridge (the result of an experimental potion coming to life somehow) and freaks out, Spike tells Twilight that "I told you leaving those old mixtures in the back was a mistake."
• Faith and Doubt: After Twilight escapes from the hospital, Luna warns the others not to approach her once they find her, as they don't want to risk making matters worse. Two chapters later, Rainbow Dash finds Twilight, then goes out of her way to provoke her into starting a fight, learning very quickly that this was not a good idea.

Naruto

• Escape From The Hokage's Hat has Shizune tell Tsunade, while they're travelling with Naruto and Hinata, that they need a proper base of operations so as to properly teach/train Hinata and rehabilitate Naruto (LongStory short, some idiots in Konoha placed multiple Power Limiter seals on Naruto to limit his growth and brainpower. The rehabilitation is taking place while they travel so no one in Konoha can sabotage Naruto's recovery, she won't be tempted to kill the villagers and prevent Naruto from being exiled from the village.) Tsunade brushes it off, saying a base would make for an easy target for the enemy. Fast forward 20 chapters later and the group has been tracked by 3 squads of Kiri hunter-nin (where Naruto and Hinata almost got caught), multiple bounty hunters, an Iwa death squad and other ninja villages want to capture them. Much to Tsunade's dismay and embarrassment, Shizune says "I told you so" whenever she gets the chance.
• The Kakashi Way: When Hiruzen informs Kakashi that Danzo has been arrested for treason, the Copy-nin is clearly about to make a remark to this effect. However, the Sandaime cuts him off and shuts him up with a threat:
  Hiruzen: You are not allowed to say 'I told you so', on pain of me leaving this hat to you.
• In Return to Konoha, Jiraiya warns Minato that forbidding Naruto from becoming a ninja while making his twin sister his protector (a.k.a his warden) will come back to bite him. While Minato stands by his decision, Jiraiya is eventually proven right when Naruto runs away from Konoha after finding out that he contains the Kyuubi. The only reason Jiraiya doesn't yell out "I told you so!" the next time they meet is because he feels Minato has already been through enough.
• Son of the Sannin has a comical example during the Chunin Exams arc. Tsunade constantly bets on Naruto and wastes no time in cashing in her gambling tickets, despite Shizune telling her she should stop and keep the money she's earned. Predictably, when Naruto loses in the finals to Gaara, Shizune has absolutely No Sympathy for her:
  Shizune: You know, it's not like I wanted to say 'I told you so'... (Beat) But I did tell you so.

Pokémon

• Played for Drama in More than Meets the Eye: after Misty's fiancé is exposed in front of her, she prods Ash into saying the words, but he refuses at first, feeling she's suffered enough. He ultimately relents at her insistence, and she ends up crying her heart out in his chest while he tries to comfort her.

Rosario + Vampire

• Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness:
  • In Act III chapter 7, Dark, distrusting Tsukune to keep the ghoul sealed away even with the Holy Lock, warns him to stay away from Mizore or else Dark will kill him on the spot. In the next chapter, Tsukune approaches them, hoping to talk things over; unfortunately, Dark is done talking and promptly attacks him, explicitly telling Tsukune that he should have heeded his warnings and stayed away:
    Dark: I told you to stay away. But you just don't listen.
  • In Act VI, Ceal has Jenner restrained using Xarai, going on about how he's making a mistake targeting him and his friends and how they're the ones who can stop the real evil monsters out there. The minute Ceal releases him, Jenner panics and tries to shoot him, only for Xarai to restrain him again and toss him out a window into the jaws of a dragon sent by Babylon:
    Ceal: I gave you a chance, human. That's more than it's going to do.

Sword Art Online

• SAO: Mother's Reconciliation: As revealed in chapter 16, Kouichirou had gone off on a rant to this extent toward his parents after finding out about Sugou's crimes.
  Kouichirou: I told you that Sugou wasn't to be trusted! Time and time again I told you that Asuna never liked him! But you didn't listen! Well look at where we are now!

Worm

• Confrontation (ack1308): When her bully Sophia won't leave her alone, Taylor warns her that she won't enjoy it if Taylor makes her stop talking. Sophia dismisses the threat, but gets interrupted by a bug flying down her throat, sending her into a coughing fit.
  Taylor: Told you that you wouldn't like it.
• Nemesis (BeaconHill): Emma made a deal with Cauldron so that she could Trigger and become a "hero". She also selected Taylor to be her Arch-Enemy, forcing her to Trigger with the intent of making her favorite victim become a supervillain that she could beat up for fame and glory. When Taylor proves to be smarter than she expected, becoming a Joke/Humor villain who's beloved by their community, Emma throws a temper tantrum over how Bumblebee is making her look bad. Doctor Mother bluntly reminds Emma that they'd warned her that her plans could backfire.

Films — Animation

• An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island: On their way to the Indian village, McBrusque and his men approach a room that is filled with deadly traps. Having gone through there earlier in the film, Scuttlebutt warns McBrusque not to go further, but is ignored. McBrusque and his men grab Scuttlebutt and charge into the room. They make it through, but not unscathed.
  Scuttlebutt: (comes out the tunnel, smoldering) Told you it was dangerous, but did anyone listen? Nooo. Might as well been talking to a brick wall!
• In Disney's The Aristocats, Toulouse is the only one who suspects that Edgar was the one to took them away from their home, but his siblings and Duchess find it ludicrous and laugh it off. Then when they return home, Edgar stuffs them in a bag and locks them in the oven, Toulouse has this to say:
  Toulouse: I told you it was Edgar!
  Berlioz: Aw, shut up, Toulouse!
• In Beauty and the Beast, Cogsworth savours this trope after Lumière letting in Maurice (against Cogsworth's heavy objections) angers the Beast and gets the former locked up:
  Cogsworth: (snide) Ooh, couldn't keep quiet, could we? Just had to invite him to stay, didn't we? "Zerve him tea in ze master's chair, pet de pooch!"
  Lumière: (sulking) I was trying to be hospitable.
• At the end of Chicken Run, after the chickens have escaped, blowing up the pie machine and making a huge mess of the farm in the process, the only thing Mr. Tweedy has to say to Mrs. Tweedy is a gently-reproachful "I told you they was organised!" Enraged, Mrs. Tweedy gnashes her teeth and growls at him. But Mr. Tweedy, fed up with his wife's abuse, drops what's left of the barn door on top of her.
• Another Disney example is in Robin Hood. This is Sir Hiss's usual rebuttal to Prince John's traps always failing. He also says this after Prince John ignored his warnings about the “fortune tellers” being bandits and was easily robbed by Robin Hood and Little John — and Prince John doesn’t take it well at all!
• Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose: Dread Baron and Mumbly wish to be rescued and come with Yogi and his crew. Yogi's friends are against it, but after the Dread Baron and Mumbly "proven" that they have reformed, Yogi allows them to come aboard their plane. Soon after, the two fiends, not surprisingly, betray the crew and imprisons them.
  Yogi Bear: Whatever you do, don't say "I told you so."
  Snagglepuss, Augie Doggie, Doggie Daddy, Boo Boo, & Huckleberry Hound: We told you so!

Films — Live-Action

• Avengers: Endgame: Immediately after returning to Earth following the events of Infinity War, Tony lashes out at everyone, Steve especially, for ignoring his suggestions on avoiding the inevitable attack by Thanos and claims things could have turned out differently if they went along with it.
  Tony: I said we'd lose and you said "we'll do that together too", and guess what Cap? We lost. And you weren't there.
• Back to the Future, when 1955 Doc Brown finds the "Do not open until 1985" letter:
  Doc: What's the meaning of this?!
  Marty McFly: You'll find out in thirty years!
  Doc: It's about the future, isn't it?! I warned you about this, kid! The consequences could be disastrous!
  Marty: But that's a risk you're gonna have to take! Your life depends on it!
  Doc: NO! [tears up letter] I refuse to accept the responsibility!
• The Book of Eli: In the first fifteen minutes of the movie, when the raider shoves Eli.
  Eli: Touch me with that hand again and you're not getting it back.
• The Cat in the Hat movie narrowly averts but still plays with this trope when the Fish appears just as the Cat himself has finally been sent away by the understandably angry Sally and Conrad for completely destroying their home, the Fish having earlier warned them about trusting the Cat. However just before he can go through with saying anything snide, he quickly backs off and leaves the kids alone.
  Fish: Good riddance! Now this may not be the time for "I told you so" but...
  [pieces of debris from bits of the destroyed house falls down and makes a loud crashing sound as Sally and Conrad stare down at the fish, without any hint of amusement in their expressions]
  Fish: Like I said, not the time.
• The Dark Knight:
  • Lampshaded with:
    Bruce: We all know how much you like to say "I told you so."
    Alfred: On that day, Master Wayne, even I won't want to. Probably.
  • And its Ironic Echo...
    Bruce: Today you get to say "I told you so."
    Alfred: Today I don't want to. [they start to walk out] But I did bloody tell you.
• The Vice President in The Day After Tomorrow gets this served to him by a geologist after ignoring the warnings of global warming by Jack Hall (and likely costing millions of lives by refusing to take any action in time).
• Death Wish 4: The Crackdown at the end of the movie, the fake Nathan White kills Paul Kersey's girlfriend, and all he can say is that he warned him that he would kill her. This proves to be the last thing that he ever says.
  White: I told you... I warned you I'd kill her! I warned you! I'd kill he— [Kersey fires a grenade, obliterating White]
• Fantastic Four (2005): Ben Grimm rubs it in while he helps free Reed Richards from being frozen by liquid nitrogen, courtesy of Victor von Doom.
  Ben Grimm: Victor ain't that bad, huh? He's just a little larger than life, right? Maybe next time you'll listen to me before— [the lights go out and Doom tackles Ben]
• From Get Out: "Man, I told you not to go in that house."
• Ghostbusters: Walter Peck orders a Con Edison worker to shut off power to the Ecto-containment grid despite warnings from Egon Spengler, Peter Venkman, and the Con Ed worker.
  Venkman: If you shut that thing off, we won't be held responsible.
  Peck: On the contrary, you will be held completely responsible. [to Con Ed worker] Shut it off.
  Venkman: Don't shut it off. I'm warning you.
  Con-Ed Man: I never seen anything like this before. I don't know...
  Peck: I'm not interested in your opinion. Just shut it off.
  [later, at the Mayor's office]
  Stantz: Everything was fine with the system, until the power grid was shut off by Dickless here.
• Gremlins (1984): "With Mogwai, comes much responsibility. I cannot sell him at any price." Randall Peltzer acquires a mogwai anyway. Warnings about them are ignored and the gremlins run wild. Ironically, the warnings were heeded. The mistake came from trusting an analog clock that turned out to be stopped because the evil Mogwai (later Gremlin) Stripe had sabotaged it. The "do not get them wet" rule being broken was an accident.
  Grandfather: I warned you. With mogwai comes much responsibility. But you didn't listen.
• The Goonies: After realizing they're dealing with the wanted Fratelli gang. Of course, it's justified, considering Chunk has a long history of Crying Wolf to everyone in town.
  Chunk: See, you guys! You never listen to me! I said there was gonna be trouble, but you didn't listen to me! You guys are crazy! You know, you guys are self-destructive! There's a funny farm that has your names written all over it!
• Played for laughs in Hot Shots! Part Deux during the flashback. A station hand cries out "Board! Board!", a man reading a newspaper ignores him... until a construction worker walks by with a 2×4, smacking the man and knocking him out. The other person's reaction? "Warned you. Warned you twice."
• In I, Robot, as the NS-5s begin their Zeroth Law Rebellion, Spooner bursts in, rescues Calvin from her rebelling NS-5, and glibly tells her, "Y'know, somehow, 'I told you so'... just doesn't quite say it."
• Averted in Into the Woods. Unlike in the stage show, we see nothing bad happen to Rapunzel after she ignores the Witch's warnings about "the world" and chooses her Prince over her "mother".
• In Kick-Ass 2, when The Motherfucker tries to rob a store while holding his guns Gangsta Style, an old man tells him if he doesn't hold his guns properly, the recoil will make the guns fly back into his face. Motherfucker fires, and exactly this happens. The old man tells him off for not listening to him.
• Men in Black: After K shoots Jeebs:
  K: I warned him. You warned him.
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Tim the Enchanter warns King Arthur about the deadly Rabbit of Caerbannog but Arthur doesn't believe him. During the battle three of Arthur's knights are killed by the Rabbit, including one who has his throat ripped out.
  Tim: I warned you! I warned you, but did you listen to me? Oh no, you knew it all, didn't you? Oh, it's just a harmless little bunny, isn't it?
• The Mummy remake:
  • The Americans find Imhotep's tomb and one of them reads the warning etched on it. Their guide (and Dirty Coward) Beni runs off yelling to beware the curse. They don't believe him thinking he's being superstitious. Of course Imhotep gets loose and starts draining the life of those that opened the casket. One of the Americans manages to escape but with his eyes and tongue taken. As the surviving American rests at a hotel, Beni (now working for Imhotep) tricks said American into meeting with a healer who is really Imhotep in disguise. Before the American is drained, Beni tells him that he did warn them not to open the tomb.
  • Earlier, Rick is wary of Evie reading the Book of the Dead's incantations, but Evie dismisses him, stating that "no harm could come from reading a book." Evie ends up awakening Imhotep as a result, and when they escape, Rick explicitly states, "Didn't I tell you not to play around with that thing?"
  • Gets a Call-Back in the sequel, when Rick and Evie are exploring a tomb and find a treasure chest. Sure enough, opening it sets off a trap that nearly kills them.
    Evelyn: It's only a chest. No harm ever came from opening a chest.
    Rick: Right, and no harm ever came from reading a book. Remember how that one went?
• Pitch Black: When Johns is considering releasing Riddick until they get off the planet, Riddick gives Johns an honest warning that he'd be better off killing Riddick there and then rather than run the risk of getting knifed by Riddick in pursuit of a bounty. Riddick reminds Johns of this when he kills him to use Johns as bait for the predators.
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows has Moran say this after he shoots a soldier who is blocking his line of fire as he is trying to shoot Watson. Inverted in that there was no way for the soldier to hear the warning. Moran was simply commenting.
• In Superman: The Movie, the villainous Lex Luthor gets a turn at this after "warning" the Man of Steel not to open the lead-lined box he's just found (which Superman believes is the hiding place for Lex's detonator). The box instead contains green kryptonite.
  Luthor: [smirk] I told ya.
• Taken. After getting his daughter kidnapped, Brian Mills warns the attackers that they really should let her go because if they don't, he will look for them, he will find them, and he will kill them. He only gets "good luck" in response. Two days later he meets a bunch of Albanian guys whom he believes to be involved in the attack and asks one of them to translate a phrase from Albanian to English, which the guy does, the phrase being "good luck". Recognizing the voice, Brian reminds the guy of their earlier chat on the phone, saying "I told you I would find you".
• In Total Recall (1990), the Big Bad Cohaagen constantly lambasts his Dragon, Richter for trying to kill Quaid (in fact an old friend of his in a mind-switch operation gone wrong), reminding him he's not paid to think when he reminds him of the dangers he's enforcing. When Quaid resists his own plan to reformat his mind and risks destroying his power, Richter smugly asks whether he wants to reconsider:
  Cohaagen: [grudging] Kill him.
  Richter: About goddamn time.
• Said twice to Logan by two different characters in X-Men: The Last Stand; first by Professor Xavier after Phoenix escapes, having been awoken by Logan before Xavier could bring Jean Grey back to normal; then by Magento in the climax about him/the X-men meddling in his affairs once too often, right before he prepares to yank the adamantium out of Logan's body.

Literature

• The Cat Who... Series: Early on in book #11 (The Cat Who Lived High), when Qwill is making plans to go back to Down Below for a while, pretty much everyone he knows tells him it's a bad idea and advises him not to go. When the police call them to inform them Qwill is dead (it's actually a thief who stole his car and was misidentified), everyone is deeply distressed, and Chief Andrew Brodie even cries "I warned him!"
• The Chronicles of Narnia:
  • Polly to Digory in The Magician's Nephew after he falls for the Shmuck Bait that wakes up the White Witch.
  • In Prince Caspian, when it turns out that Lucy was right about the route the group should have taken and they'll have to go back the way they came, Peter congratulates her on pointing this out without saying "I told you so."
• In Codex Alera, thanks to being Mindlink Mates, Tavi and Kitai preempt the other saying this because they can feel the smug amusement on multiple occasions.
• Twice, pretty much word for word, in Darkness Visible. The second time is a callback to the first.
  Lewis: You will see me in this office again, Wilson, even if it is only for sufficient time to say "I warned you" before the world ends!
  
  Lewis: "Very well then, Wilson, stay and gibber in your precious office," I told him crossly. "But if we fail, consider this as me saying 'I bloody warned you'!"
• Discworld:
  • In The Last Continent, it's noted that wizards go after Schmuck Bait so often that it makes DO NOT signs rather pointless, at the very least you could say, as you handed the offending wizard's remains to his grieving relatives, "We told him not to."
  • In Going Postal, Mr Pony feels like this as he tells the board of the Grand Trunk that the system is on the verge of collapse, as he's been saying would happen ever since they stopped doing routine maintainace. Unfortunately, they're still not listening.
• In The Dresden Files, one of the conditions Harry sets when offering Molly apprenticeship is that she must obey his orders: she can question them, but she can't disobey. He tells her to stay out of a particularly dangerous situation, but she ignores him and sneaks along. Dresden, being an accomplished wizard, figures out that she did so^note He throws his staff in the back seat and hits her by accident while she's invisible, and gets so mad that she's not following instructions (in addition to being ramped up on anger from the situation already), that he torments her with a tiny but incredibly hot ball of fire that slowly inches towards her, taunting her to stop it with her power. She is completely unable to do so, and he's utters the trope line, pointing out that it's dangerous out in the world and she's not ready for it. He contemplates letting the ball of fire incinerate her for a few dangerous seconds before he's called out on it by Murphy.
• Fengshen Yanyi: During the entirety of the Zhou's war against Shang and the continuous victories against the various Passes, King Zhou blissfully ignores the crisis or, under Daji's advice, ignores the warnings as nothing more than trickery from greedy commanders who want to receive more resources. By the time King Wu's army has breached the final fortress of Mengjin and has crossed the Yellow River, King Zhou finally panics and takes the situation seriously, only for his surviving ministers to remind him that they did warned him about the danger posed by Jiang Ziya and King Wu in the past.
• Larry Niven's Flatlander features Beowulf Shaeffer delivering a humorously over the top "I Told You So" to Gregory Pelton.
• A serious example comes up in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Albus Dumbledore constantly warns Cornelius Fudge of Voldemort's return, and Fudge dismisses it despite overwhelming evidence, instead leading a smear campaign against Dumbledore and Harry. When Voldemort shows up in person at the Ministry, Dumbledore wastes no time in telling Fudge to his face that he wasted the entire year chasing around the wrong man despite his constant warnings.
• Journey to the West: during the Lady Earth Flow arc, Monkey tries to dissuade Tripitaka from helping the "maiden in distress in the wilderness" by telling him that's obviously the latest monster laying an ambush and recalling the time when he used to act like that in the past. When still Tripitaka falls for the trap, Monkey' s too fed up to stop him and just tell him that he was warned.
• In Andy Griffith's Just Crazy, Andy tries to warn his father that he's only locked outside naked because their dog Sooty has gone crazy and taken his towel. His father doesn't believe him, but when Sooty spies his towel...
  Andy: I hate to say I told you so. I mean I really hate to say I told you so. [deep breath] But I—
  Andy's Father: Shut up!
• Left Behind: Rayford Steele, near the end of Glorious Appearing, tells his wife Irene, who has been warning him about Jesus' Second Coming and the Rapture, that she is entitled to "one cosmic I-told-you-so".
• In the children's book The Silly Gooses, Mr. Goose constantly does various goofy things, much to the annoyance of his flock, who warn him that he will never find a wife if he doesn't stop being so silly. Soon everyone gets married except Mr. Goose, who gets an I Told You So from the married couples. Subverted when he actually does find a female goose who is as silly as he is, and they get married.
• A Song of Ice and Fire:
  • Subverted during Joffrey's eventful reign. Both Tyrion and Tywin Lannisters attempt various lessons amounting to "if you continue with this hare-brained idiocy, you will wind up dead, you fool!", but Joff doesn't usually let them finish. By the time the chickens come home to roost, neither Tyrion nor Tywin manage the "told you so" bit, being way too busy dealing with the fall-out to find the time. Nevertheless, the phrase looms, unspoken.
  • Cersei gets in on this act, too. Except it's her uncle, Kevan, who is unable to bask in the rosy glow of being right about the looming disaster her ham-fisted stacking of the Small Council with Yes-Men during her time as the unbridled Queen Regent promised. He's too busy being dead after being murdered because he was trying his best to start fixing it, weeks after giving her a huge, if sarcastically polite, Take That!. Being ultimately proved right in Westeros doesn't seem to do you many favours, nor do you get much chance to get smug.
  • During A Game of Thrones Littlefinger at one point openly tells Eddard Stark that he is extremely wise not to trust him, with the underlying implication that in the Decadent Court of the capital he'll be wise not to trust anyone. When it turns out Littlefinger has decided to throw his lot in with the Lannisters and backstabs Eddard at the worst possible moment, he comments to Ned that "I did warn you not to trust me, you know" as the latter is arrested.
  • Also from A Game of Thrones, Robert says the phrase practically verbatim to Ned after learning that Daenerys, a princess of the ousted Targaryen dynasty(which Robert overthrew) married Dothraki horselord Khal Drogo and is pregnant with his child. Knowing that she will eventually invade the Seven Kingdoms with her Dothraki forces, he orders her assassinated.
  • In the backstory novel Fire & Blood set in the same universe, a detachment of soldiers led by the corrupt Kingsguard knight Ser Amaury Peake are en route to arrest Lady Larra Rogare on false charges when they find their path blocked by her husband, Prince Viserys Targaryen, holding a battleaxe. Viserys bluntly says they're not touching his wife, slams the axe into the drawbridge they're standing on and warns anyone who goes past the axe will die. Peake and his men laugh off the threat and advance...at which point Larra's personal bodyguard, Sandoq the Shadow charges out and, as promised, kills the lot of them (ironically, Peake, the last man standing, gets his head split open with said axe). When the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard challenges Viserys's brother, King Aegon III, over letting one of his Kingsguard die in such a manner, Aegon retorts that Peake and his men were warned what would happen if they walked past the axe and still chose to disobey a royal command, so they brought their deaths on themselves as far as Aegon was concerned.
    Marston Waters: Ser Amaury was sworn to protect you, to give his own life for yours if need be. He was your leal man, as I am. He did not deserve such a death at the hands of such a beast.
    Aegon III: Sandoq is no beast. He cannot speak, but he hears and he obeys. I commanded Ser Amaury to be gone and he refused. My brother warned him what would happen if he stepped beyond the axe. The vows of the Kingsguard include obedience, I thought.
  • Fire and Blood: After an extremely nasty argument between his daughter Rhaenyra's and his second wife Alicent's sides of the family over the legitimacy of Rhaenyra's sons, King Viserys I Targaryen puts his foot down and declares anyone who calls his grandsons by Rhaenyra bastards will lose their tongue for it. Several years later, when Rhaenyra asks her father-in-law, Corlys Velaryon, to make her second son Lucerys his heir, Corlys's nephew Vaemond protests he should be the heir because Lucerys is a bastard who can't inherit. Rhaenyra has Vaemond executed on the spot for his words, and Vaemond's family went to King's Landing to protest Rhaneyra's actions...and made the same mistake of calling the king's grandson a bastard in his presence. Viserys heard their petition in a stony silence and then ordered his guards to take them away and have their tongues cut out, insisting he had made it very clear what would happen to anyone who disobeyed his command on the subject.
    King Viserys I Targaryen: You were warned. I will hear no more of these lies.
• Slapshots: Jared Enoch spends a lot of time lecturing the coach whenever something that Jared asked about and the coach ignored (like practicing penalty shots) becomes important.
• The Sword of Saint Ferdinand: Before one battle, veteran crossbowman Fortún Paja warns Pero Miguel that he better prays to a patron saint of his choice if he attempts to murder one of the Brothers Vargas again. Pero attempts to murder García Vargas during the battle anyway, Fortún puts one arrow through his neck, and mutters the fallen body "I warned you".
• Vanessa "Michael" Munroe: In book two, The Innocent, Munroe is about to be gang-raped by two men, who fail to heed her warnings and get their asses handed to them on a platinum platter as a result.

Live-Action TV

• In The 4400, NTAC Director Dennis Ryland learns a TV reporter has acquired the list of names of the 4400 returnees. Knowing that revealing the list would endanger the lives of the returnees, Dennis twice demands the reporter to return the list and not report the returnees names as there will be consequences. The reporter doesn't heed his warnings and releases the names on the list. In retaliation, Dennis later reveals to the reporter that he obtained evidence that she tried to cover up a hit and run she was involved where the victim died and has sent it to the press, telling the shocked reporter that, had she listened to him, her dark past would have not been revealed and her career forever ruined.
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: In "Absolution", Giyera corners Daisy and Fitz. Fitz warns Giyera, "I have a weapon in place on this plane that's designed to kill you!" Twice Fitz warns Giyera, "You won't see it coming." He then shoots Giyera dead with a gun rendered invisible by a cloaking field.
  Fitz: I did tell you, a few times.
• Angel: Hinted at, but ultimately subverted in the episode "Disharmony"; Cordelia insists on giving Harmony a fair chance despite her being a complete pest to the team; Angel explicitly tells her that, as a vampire, Harmony will inevitably turn on her, but Cordelia blows him off. Angel is proven right when Harmony sells the Angel Investigations team out to the vampire cult she was supposed to help them investigate. Cordelia allows Harmony to leave out of respect for their former friendship, and Angel approaches, apparently intending to give her one of these, but Cordelia explicitly tells him not to say a word.
• Babylon 5: In "Severed Dreams":
  Delenn: [addressing the Grey Council] Three years. For three years I warned you this day was coming, but you would not listen. Pride, you said, presumption. And now the Shadows are on the move. The Centauri and the younger worlds are at war, the Narns have fallen, even the Humans are fighting one another.
• The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon complains that he has said it so many times (of debatable merits) that from then on, he will say "I informed you thusly."
• Breaking Bad: In Season 4, Hank stumbles across circumstantial evidence which suggests Gus is linked to the local drug trade. Although an interview with Gus clears him of suspicion with the DEA, Hank is personally not convinced and mounts a one-man, off the books investigation to find tangible proof of Gus' criminal activities. Everyone else thinks his suspicions are ridiculous and totally unfounded, since Gus is an active financial supporter of the DEA and a pillar of the community, although part of this has to do with Walt secretly sabotaging Hank's investigation whenever possible, because if Hank actually does find evidence incriminating Gus, they'll all be in mortal peril. When Gus is killed in a cartel suicide bombing at the end of the season, Hank is proven totally correct. In the beginning of Season 5, as the DEA is investigating the ruins of Gus' meth lab, Hank's partner Gomez tells Hank to just get it over with and say "I told you so" before he needs dialysis from holding it in so long.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • In "Passion", Xander goes off on a rant about this after Angelus kills Giles' Love Interest Jenny Calendar, having never liked Angel and openly supporting Giles' Roaring Rampage of Revenge:
    Xander: I'm sorry, but let's not forget that I hated Angel long before you guys jumped on the bandwagon. So I think I deserve a little something for not saying "I told you so" long before now. And if Giles wants to go after the, uh, fiend that murdered his girlfriend, I say, "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!"
  • Xander got in another one with regards to his relationship with Angel. After Angel punched out Xander, the latter went back to the gang to report the return of Angelus. Unbeknownst to Xander, Angel was pretending to be Angelus to expose Faith and the Mayor.
    Xander: You know those people who don't like to say 'I told you so?' Not me. I told you so.
  • In "Doomed", when an earthquake strikes, Buffy is paranoid and convinced the world is going to end, especially since the last time an earthquake hit Sunnydale, it led to her Disney Death at the hands of the Master; when she tells Giles, however, he dismisses her concerns, reminding her that earthquakes are a common Southern California occurrence. When Willow later comes across a body with an arcane symbol carved into its chest, Giles does some research and discovers that it is indeed the end of the world again; Buffy does not let him live it down.
    Buffy: I told you. I-I said end of the world and you're like "poo-poo southern California, poo-poo!"
    Giles: I am so sorry. My contrition completely dwarfs the impending apocalypse.
• Coach: Hayden got to say this over and over after his wiser wife Christine finally makes a mistake and gets arrested after a rowdy bachelorette party by not listening to him.
• Community:
  • Jeff has this variation in the season one episode "Physical Education".
    Jeff: I hate to say I told you so, so instead I'll shout it through cupped hands. [shouting through cupped hands] I told you so!
  • In keeping with Britta's rather smug-yet-misguided conviction of the inherent moral superiority of all women (particularly herself), in the Halloween story she tells in "Horror in Seven Spooky Steps" her Author Avatar feels the need to point this out to the avatar she creates for Jeff. While he's in the middle of being stabbed to death by a psycho with a hook for a hand.
• In Season 7 of Dexter, Louis Greene was threatened by Dexter Morgan to stay out of his life, however Louis did not heed the warning, prompting Dexter to take actions that cause Louis to lose his job and girlfriend Jamie. With revenge in mind, Louis continued to pester Dexter by attempting to mess with Dexter's boat. Louis is ultimately murdered by Isaak Sirko by simply being "involved with Dexter".
• Doctor Who:
  • "The Web of Fear" starts with Professor Travers, previously featured on "The Abominable Snowmen", warning Julius Silverstein of the massive danger posed by the Robot Yeti shell owned by the latter now that a control sphere has been reactivated and is on the loose. Silverstein turns him away, which predictably results in the control sphere breaking in and reanimating the Yeti, leading to an apocalyptic takeover of London. The exchange between the two, which includes the trope name verbatim, became a minor meme thanks to the Twitch Classic Doctor Who marathon trailers.
  • "School Reunion":
    Mickey Smith: You see, what's impressive is that it's been nearly an hour since we met her and I still haven't said "I told you so".
    Rose Tyler: I'm not listening to this.
    Mickey Smith: Though I have prepared a little "I was right" dance I can show you later.
  • The Doctor also plays this line for drama all the time. Especially Ten. It goes with his "I'm giving you a chance" mantra, which the Monster of the Week almost invariably ignores.
  • He says it verbatim in "The Runaway Bride" after blowing up and drowning the last of the Racnoss.
    The Doctor: I warned you. You did this.
  • In "The Power of the Doctor", the Master gives the Doctor a somber warning to flee Earth because he has an Evil Plan to wipe his former friend-turned Arch-Enemy from existence. The Master then immediately points out that this will only ensure the Doctor stays to find out what his plan is and stop it.
• In Farscape, everyone is after the wormhole knowledge locked away in Crichton's head. Finally, in the wrap-up mini-series, he unleashes a wormhole weapon, which appears to function like a black hole that doubles in size every few minutes. It's only then that everyone finally realizes that using such weapons is utter madness. All Crichton can do is laugh and use this trope.
• In an episode of Frasier, Roz ends up producing Bulldog's show, and the two start really gelling. Frasier is convinced that Bulldog is only keeping Roz around so he can seduce her, Roz is convinced that Frasier is merely jealous, and eventually breaks off her friendship with Frasier over it. Of course, Bulldog is only keeping Roz around so he can seduce her, he tries it on later that night, and who should come along while Roz is throwing Bulldog out of her apartment than Frasier, who has ironically come around to apologize to Roz only to get plenty of evidence that he was right all along. In a variation on the trope, Frasier decides he's going to let her acknowledge he was right first:
  Frasier: [In a tone somewhere between smugness, triumph and graciousness:] I'm listening, Roz.
• Friends: Rachel decides to wake her day-old baby up from a nap even though Phoebe warns her that it's a bad idea. The baby starts crying and nothing the girls do can get her to go back to sleep.
  Phoebe: I'd say "I told you so" but she's kinda doing that for me.
• The Fugitive (2020):
  • Bryce is warned over and over again by those working under him that the evidence increasingly shows someone else than Ferro committed the bombing. When even he can no longer deny this the looks of "I told you so" from everyone say it all.
  • Ridge and Pritti are also warned by their Only Sane Man repeatedly that this is irresponsible and wrong and is completely ignored. When them being proven wrong results in Ridge being sued into poverty and Pritti losing her job he comments that he hopes, some day, they can actually grow as human beings from this.
• Game of Thrones:
  • King Robert isn't happy when his trusted but overly-honorable friend Ned Stark plays down the threat of a princess from the royal family he deposed marrying an Eastern horselord with an army of 40,000 riders. When a spy sends news that she's with child, the king is not amused.
    Robert: The whore is pregnant!
    Ned Stark: You're speaking of murdering a child.
    Robert: I warned you this would happen. Back in the North, I warned you, but you didn't care to hear. Well, hear it now! I want 'em dead. Mother and child both.
  • In Season 4 finale, Tyrion, aiming a crossbow at his father Tywin, warned him not to call Shae a "whore" again:
    Tywin: She was a whore.
    Tyrion: Say that word again...
    Tywin: And what? You'll kill your own father in the privy? No. You're my son. Now, enough of this nonsense.
    [some more conversation]
    Tywin: We'll go back to my chambers and speak with some dignity.
    Tyrion: I can't go back there. She's in there.
    Tywin: You're afraid of a dead whore?
    [Tyrion shoots]
    Tywin: You shot me!
  • Littlefinger's Wham Line, "I did warn you not to trust me..." in "You Win Or You Die."
  • When he sees the wildling army in "The Watchers on the Wall", Ser Alliser Thorne tells Jon to go ahead and say this, but Jon lets it pass.
• Malcolm in the Middle:
  • Francis' friend, Richie, is sent to the same Military School, and when he meets Commandant Spangler, Spangler treats him like a buddy, allowing him to go about out of uniform while on campus, decorate his room any way he wants, and talk to him in a very casual manner, things that would generally lead to other cadets suffering some sort of cruel and unusual punishment. When Francis confronts Spangler over the Double Standard surrounding Richie's behavior, Spangler confesses that treating Richie better than the other cadets is the only way to fix him, since the others will hate him so much, that Richie will have no choice but to willingly conform, lest he attract the wrath of the other cadets. When Francis warns Richie of what Spangler is doing, Richie says that Francis is just jealous and share this exchange:
    Francis: I warned you.
    Richie: Okay, whatever you say man.
    Francis: I warned you.
    Richie: Yeah, whatever man...
    [camera focuses on Francis as he lies down on his bed to read a book]
    Richie: [Off-screen] Hey guys, cool ski masks! [punches land on Richie's body] Ow! Ahhh!
  • In the Season 6 episode "No Motorcycles", after the brothers can't work out which of their particular pranks has gotten one of the local bullies after them, Reese points out that he said several years early they needed to better co-ordinate the timing of their pranks to avoid such a situation.
    Dewey: [regarding said bully] God, he looks mad! Which one of us do you think he wants?
    Malcolm: Reese, it's obviously you. That must have been his bike you super-glued to the train tracks!
    Reese: We don't know that! You were pretty fast and loose with that dog-crap slingshot the other day! How do you know you didn't hit him?
    Malcolm: [looks at Dewey] What about you? How many people did you convince to buy those "algebra pills"?
    Dewey: You know, our lives would be a lot easier if we didn't all pull this crap at the same time!
    Reese: I suggested a rotating calendar years ago and you guys ignored me. And here we are!
• Monty Python's Flying Circus: The "Cheese Shop" sketch has a rather loquacious customer, Mr Mousebender, entering the shop to the sound of a bouzouki and two Greek dancers. He says the music doesn't bother him, but after spending copious time asking for varieties of cheese the owner (Mr Wensleydale) says he doesn't have, Mr Mousebender finally snaps:
  Mousebender: Have you got any — [to dancers and bouzouki player] SHUT THAT BLOODY BOUZOUKI UP!!!
  Wensleydale: [to dancers] Told you so.
• Odd Squad: In "Agent Oksana's Kitchen Nightmares", Otis tells Olympia that he's not getting involved in Oksana's and Oprah's beef with each other and tells her that she's on her own. It's an indirect warning, but Olympia ignores it and is eventually demoted to the Food and Beverage department after bargaining with Oprah fails. Otis smugly tells her that he warned her not to get involved, but his smugness soon drops when Olympia tells him that he's also involved.
• Revolution: Subverted Trope. In the episode "Home": Miles, after Dixon shoots at Monroe and hits Emma instead, killing her. Miles just turns around and calmly shoots Dixon dead.
• Scrubs: Elliot has an "I Told You So" dance with a song that consists of her repeating the phrase. It's a little different all three times she is shown doing it.
• In Selfie, Eliza warns Henry about cyber-stalking his ex-girlfriends, saying it's no good. Henry assures her he won't. He does, and it causes problems. When he tells her, he knows this is coming and tries to head her off.
  Eliza: I don't wanna say "I told you so."
  Henry: But you told me so. There, that's done.
• Stargate SG-1: In "2010", Jack O'Neill is very much in "I told you so" mode from the beginning; if they had listened to his warnings about the Aschen ten years ago, they wouldn't need to Set Right What Once Went Wrong now by using the Stargate as a time machine.
• In Stargirl the Shade left the Injustice Society because he didn't believe the Evil Plan the rest were doing would work. He's introduced at the end of the first season watching a news report about its failure, addressing his absent former leader.
  The Shade: Oh Jordan, I told you it was folly.
• Supernatural:
  • In a season 5 episode, Sam warns Dean against trusting Crowley, a demon, but Dean decides to work with him anyway. When Crowley disappears at an inopportune moment, leaving the brothers on their own, Sam invokes this trope.
    Sam: I told you!
    Dean: Ohh! Well good for you!
  • In the crossover with Scooby-Doo, when the Winchesters reveal the existence of real ghosts and monsters to the Scooby Gang, Shaggy and Scooby are quick to read the riot act to the others about it.
• Victorious:
  Sikowitz: You see! This is what happens when you mix teenagers and hot cheese! [to Lane] I warned you!
• On The West Wing, in the first season episode "Celestial Navigation", there's an awesome non-verbal example. C.J. has emergency root canal surgery, leaving her unable to do the afternoon press conference, so Josh says he'll do it instead (to C.J.'s horror). Danny, the regular White House beat reporter, warns Josh that he doesn't want to do the press conference, but Josh, in full Smug Snake role, brags that his education and background will allow him to handle anything the press can throw at him. Danny merely says, "Okie-dokie." Cue later, after Josh's Epic Fail of a press conference, he looks forlornly at Danny, who merely smiles at him.
• Will & Grace: Grace's mother actually had an "I Told You So" dance that she used when it was revealed that Grace was dumped by Nathan. Grace ends up getting angry, yells at her, and storms out. When the two make up later, her mother promises not to do it anymore after seeing how much it hurt her... only to do it once Grace leaves.
• Wizards of Waverly Place
  Jerry: I don't have to say "I told you so", do I?
  Justin: No.
  Theresa: Well, I do. I told you so!

Pro Wrestling

• Ethan Carter The Third was the only wrestler to go straight to the source and warn TNA President Dixie Carter about the GFW partnership really being an invasion (no one likes Dixie, but Ethan is her nephew, you see). Dixie, trying to turn a new leaf, dismissed him, believing it would make up for the disgrace they brought the company through her previous nepotism. In the end, Ethan did ultimately ensure Jeff Jarrett and the GFW group were ran out, but not before reminding auntie it was her fault for not listening.

Puppet Shows

• The Muppet Show: In response to Statler calling him an old fool, Waldorf threatens to give him the evil eye, then does just that when Statler feigns scared of it, after which Waldorf says, "I warned him."
  • The "I told you!" version happens in Muppets Most Wanted, where Selma Hayek says this in response to Gonzo's Rhetorical Question Blunder regarding his "Indoor Running of the Bulls" act.
• Sesame Street:
  • Big Bird goes into a bit of this when the adults meet Snuffy for the first time and realize he had been telling the truth all these years about his existence, but in this case, Big Bird isn't exactly gloating as he is just glad to find he was actually right.
  • In one episode, Bob is throwing a grownup party and Big Bird is upset he cannot attend, so he tells this to Snuffy and laments all the supposed fun he's missing. Snuffy warns Big Bird that grownup parties are not as fun as he suspects; when Bob lets him come anyway, Big Bird discovers Snuffy was right and the party just consists of the grownups mingling and eating together, which he finds completely boring. Big Bird goes back to Snuffy who says this word-per-word to him, and he apologizes for not listening to him.

Theatre

• Evil Dead: The Musical: Scott tells Ash not to open the cellar door, thinking that Sheryl and Lydia are still possessed. Ash ignores his warning to let Sheryl out, only to get attacked by her. Scott got up to tell him so before falling dead to the floor.
• In the musical Woman of the Year, two characters sing a song about how great it is to be able to say "I Told You So".
• At the beginning of Madame Butterfly, Sharpless warns Pinkerton unsuccessfully against taking advantage of the naivety of the titular heroine and marrying her the Japanese way meaning he can undo his vow by leaving her. When Pinkerton comes back three years later with a new American wife to learn that Butterfly has been waiting for him all this time, Sharpless bitterly reminds him of his words.

Video Games

• Poets of the Fall's "The Happy Song," Villain Song of Alan Wake's American Nightmare's Serial Killer Mr. Scratch, has this sentiment as a refrain.
  You knew I'm a psycho
  I told you I'm a psycho
  Really, I'm a psycho, heh heh heh heh heh heh
  I told ya, I told ya!
• ANNO: Mutationem: During a conversation, G heavily warns C to drop whatever machinations he plans on doing lest he wants to bring about a catastrophe that cannot be stopped. In the False Ending, C's plan ends up Gone Horribly Right when it unleashes The End of the World as We Know It.
• In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Claudia's Jerkass (former) boyfriend Ducio (who Ezio beat the crap out of for abusing her) makes a return as a ship captain that got his hands on three of Da Vinci's paintings that Ezio needs. Ducio, who has no idea that Ezio has become a master Assassin, begins mouthing off, thinking that his crew will back him up. Ezio drops a rather ominous "I am warning you...", and Ducio, not taking the hint, begins trashing Claudia. Ezio decks Ducio with a punch to the face and proceeds to mop the floor with him and his crew. Much fun is had for the player.
• In Harebrained Schemes' Battletech, following the Castle Nautilus mission that Sumire repeatedly told you not to get involved with Goes Horribly Wrong, Sumire will resignedly comment that while she hates to say she told you so, she did tell you so.
• In the Weird route of Deltarune, a parallel to Undertale's No Mercy route, Spamton NEO, Superboss turned Final Boss, gives you a similar warning in his own way at the end of Chapter 2. Specifically, that if Kris/the Player thinks being a murderous, manipulative maniac in this way will get them the freedom they crave... they'll get it, but they will regret everything in the way so badly they shouldn't be surprised if they end up "[Crying] in a [Broken Home]", wishing they had let Spamton kill them when he still had the chance. As of the end of the same chapter, these consequences remain to be seen.
• Midway through Chapter 5 of Disgaea 5, the group runs into, and eliminates, zombified rabbits, presumed to be from Toto Bunny, and Majorita is known to be on the Netherworld they're currently investigating. Killia advises Usalia to back down, lest she "witness something you don't want to see". His guess as to what that is: Usalia's zombified parents. Mercifully, he doesn't chide her, at all, when the inevitable happens by chapter's end.
• Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade has a minor case in the Ilia route. Bishop Martel orders Niime to use a spell tome to make it rain and flood the rivers to push back the Lycian Army. Niime warns him that the effects of the tome may be unpredictable and could potentially ruin his plans, but he insists. The spell instead freezes the rivers, allowing Roy's army to advance faster, and when Niime points out that she repeatedly warned him that she had no idea what would happen, Martel angrily orders her to be thrown into the dungeon.
• Early in Grand Theft Auto V Stretch gave a very clear warning to Franklin and Lamar that he will send them to die after Lamar tried to kidnap a member of a rival gang who personally knew him... then went to the same guy to negotiate a drug deal.
• Heavy Rain would have this case when Norman is planning of accusing Blake of being the Origami Killer.
  Norman: I think you're the killer, Carter.
  Blake: Watch your fucking mouth, Norman. You're about to make the biggest mistake of your life.
• INDUSTRIA have your AI dropping the "don't say I didn't warn you" variant when you insist in entering the titular location to find your missing love interest.
• The tablet that activates hard mode in La-Mulana:
  Thou are forbidden from again laying eyes on this marker. Those who heed not this warning will suffer the pain of death.
  Mongrel who disobeyed the warning. Taste bitter death. (giant glowing red skulls appear and smash)
• In L.A. Noire, Cole is planning on investigating Elysian Fields which McKelty, the captain of the Arson desk, finds that unacceptable.
  Cole: We're about to visit Elysian Fields Development.
  McKelty: You're about to do what? Leland Monroe, he's a personal friend of the Mayor and the Chief. Are you out of your mind?! I'm warning you, Phelps.
• LEGO Legends of Chima Online: A series of signs placed along a passage in Broken Lake warns players of powerful enemies being nearby. At the end of the passage are a pair of Crocodiles that are three levels higher than the surrounding enemies, along with a sign saying "Told you!"
• Mass Effect: After two games of having their warnings ignored, Commander Shepard gets a few opportunities to say this in Mass Effect 3 when the Reapers finally attack. However, it is up to the player whether to gloat or to simply get down to the business of saving the galaxy without recrimination. A common complaint was that you didn't get enough chances to say it.
• In Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee, if you have Bad Quarma, The Shaman will warn you about this at the end of some levels, and will suggest getting Good Quarma. If you beat level 23 but still have less than 50% Quarma, The Shaman will scold you about this:
  The Shaman: I tried, and I tried, and I tried to tell ya! But would you listen!? Nooo! Well, your Bad Quarma has finally caught up with you, ya cold hearted bastitches! Ehh, whatever.
  (cue bad ending, where Abe and Munch get attacked by the Fuzzles, Abe is executed and his head is displayed as a trophy, and Munch dies via having his lungs removed)
  The Shaman: Okay, ya nutz! Ya see what happened? I warned ya! Now, how about trying again and this time DOING THE RIGHT THING!
  (electing "Yeah, I can be a better guide for those poor schmucks!" takes you back to level 3, with your Quarma set back to the way it was in level 3)
• Pilgrim (RPG Maker): The Storey 5 Door will warn Akemi and Suu against entering Storey 5, saying it is dangerous. After they go in anyway, it will later tell Akemi and Suu, after they have first escaped from the Monster, that it told them Storey 5 was dangerous.
  Door: See, like I said, this place is dangerous.
  Akemi: Come on, stop that. I knowww.
• In Quest for Glory II, you can muck around at night in the plazas where the guards will patrol. For reckless magic using or dagger throwing, you get a stern warning, but if you try this again, you get a Have a Nice Death where the guard states he warned you.
• In Space Quest, you can use the hand icon on the change machine. The first time gives you a warning from the narrator, "Banging on the change machine will only activate its self-defense mechanism!" Trying again electrocutes Roger Wilco, who flops over dead, and prompting the narrator to say, "You were warned NOT to try to break into the change machine... but DID YOU LISTEN?!"
• In the No Mercy ending of Undertale, the Final Boss, Sans the skeleton, says this verbatim after the final blow is struck but before he dies, after cryptically spending the fight warning you against continuing. If you proceed through the ending anyway, you'll find he was entirely right, as the world is destroyed by your player character and the only way to get it back is to sell your SOUL and permanently lose the ability to get the best ending.
• In Uninvited, if the player tries to climb down the hidden passage underneath the altar in the chapel, the game will warn "you really don't wanna go down there, there's a monstrous Giant Spider that'll end you" multiple times. If the player is persistent enough, a death will ensue with the narration starting as "Well, what do you know, it's a giant spider."
• In World of Warcraft, Kil'ruk the Wind-Reaver says this if the player wipes on the Paragons of the Klaxxi boss fight, in reference to his saying that when the Old God Y'Shaarj returns, Kil'ruk, the rest of the Mantid, and anyone else with any sense would join him.
  Kil'ruk: I did warn you, Wakener.

Visual Novels

• Sunrider 4: The Captain's Return: During the battle of the World Fountain, Admiral Kuushana notices that Kayto Shields is trying to break through PACT's lines to reach the Fountain itself and realizes that something isn't right. She orders the fleet to move away from the Fountain, but Veniczar Fontana countermands the order, not willing to let this chance to finally bring down Shields and the Prototypes slip away. Then Kayto fires a graviton torpedo into the Fountain, triggering a chain reaction which transforms it into a new star and annihilates half of Fontana's navy. When Kuushana and Fontana reconvene in the aftermath, she archly reminds him that she told him to move the fleet away.

Web Animation

• Camp Camp has an episode where Quartermaster warns the kids to not wander into an abandoned mansion. When they do and find a weird orgy that scares Max to the point, he Screams Like a Little Girl, Quartermaster makes sure to yell "I WARNED YOU, CHILD!".
• Etra chan saw it!:
  • Both Yuri and Karin try to warn Akane to stop having an affair, but she ignores them until it was too late when the wife found out. She blames them for not warning her sooner, before Yuri quickly shuts her up.
    Yuri: Akane... we did stop you... didn't we? But it was you who didn't listen, right, Akane? Did you say $30,000? Not only did you waste your precious time in life and sell your body so cheap, but you even have to pay for that married man. How does it feel to buy such a low life with that much money?
  • In this story, Akamatsu tries to invest in real estate, despite warnings from both his family and real estate workers, Karin and Hiiragi, about the risk of failure. Unsurprisingly, Akamatsu's investment fails miserably, and he is forced a lifetime worth of debt, as both Karin and Hiiragi predicted, and his family abandoned him before they become collateral damage when he inevitably fails.
• Knights of the Old Republic Cinematic Universe: When the Jedi twins Jade and Cara combine their powers to create a powerful Force Wave, they warn Bobec to take a hold of something. Too slow on the uptake, he gets knocked on his back and asks for a little warning next time. The twins reply in unison that they did warn him, and another Jedi confirms it's true.
• Puffin Forest parodies this: Ben gave his players a defective sword of warning which gave incredibly vague warnings that "something" bad might happen, and then called out the trope name as soon as anything remotely bad occurred.
• RWBY:
  • In Volume 4, Qrow has a tense meeting with his twin sister Raven, where they discuss what happened in Volume 3 and try to figure out what intel the other is keeping from them. Raven accuses Qrow and Ozpin of ignoring her warnings about the danger they were in and the feasibility of Ozpin's plans, but Qrow refuses to play along.
  • In Volume 5, Cinder wants Raven to open the Vault to the Relic of Knowledge, but Raven demands she kill Qrow first. Cinder agrees, primarily because it will give her a shot at vengeance against Ruby Rose (Qrow's niece), but Watts warns that this agreement may cost them the Relic. Sure enough, the debacle ends with poorly for Cinder, which Watts throws in her face during Volume 8.
  • In Volume 8, an inversion occurs. In Volume 6, Ozpin warns the heroes that he keeps his secrets because he's so used to the betrayal and fallout that occurs when allies learn the Awful Truth about the Big Bad. They don't believe him, but instantly turn on him when they learn the truth. They later struggle with the exact same issue Ozpin had during the Atlas Arc, over whether to tell Ironwood and he eventually turns on them they same way they turned on Ozpin. When the heroes and Ozpin reconcile in Volume 8, Ozpin doesn't tell them he warned them, he simply apologises for not trusting them; it's the heroes who say that they now understand what he was trying to tell them about how risky trust can be.
• Zatanna Trial Of The Crystal Wand: Damon says "Ha! Told ya so!" to his sister Zatanna for using magic at school which would get her in trouble.

Web Comics

• Batman: Wayne Family Adventures: When her brothers are too sore to properly lift their forks at dinner after getting a bit too competitive while working out earlier in the day Cass' responise is a simple, "I told you."
• Defied in a strip of Dumbing of Age.
• Played with in this comic of El Goonish Shive where Chaos says the phrase (twice) word for word but then quickly acknowledges that no one can see or hear her anyway.
• In Everyone Is Home, Cloud warns everyone to not trust Sephiroth just because he did a Heel–Face Turn. No one believes him and this lets Sephiroth poison practically the entire Smash roster with ease. Once Cloud is revived (being the last one, even), he is pissed off at what happened and begins shouting "I warned you!" at everyone for not taking his warnings seriously.
• In Impure Blood, after the fight. All the more annoying in that his warning had consisted of Vagueness Is Coming.
• In Kevin & Kell, Dorothy (Kevin's mom) dated Rudy's coach when they were in school. He proposed to her, but she turned him down, marrying Kevin's dad instead. As their marriage ended in a bitter divorce, he likes to say "I told you so" whenever the two contact each-other.
• The Order of the Stick:
  • "Nuthin' but Net": Elan, Durkon and Daigo are caught in a trap left by island orcs. Durkon and Daigo get out and try to leave, despite Elan begging them to return under the net... Cue the orcs immediately catching Durkon and Daigo and beating them up.
    Elan: Fight, fight, fight, fight the urge to say, "I told you so!"
  • Subverted in "Goliath Falls": During Book 5, Durkon was killed and turned into a vampire. However, only Belkar suspects that "Durkon Thundershield" is just pretending to be their lovable dwarf cleric as part of a scheme, but everyone else thinks the halfling is just stirring up trouble like he did with Miko in Azure City. However, when Roy realizes the truth himself, he doesn't give Belkar the satisfaction of an "I told you so"; he freely admits that Belkar was right, he was wrong, but they need to move because "Durkon" is planning to end the world.
    Belkar: (angry) What the hell is the point of facts if I don't get to gloat about knowing them first?!?
• Our Little Adventure has a lovely example from Julie to Angelika.
  Julie: If you had ranks in Knowledge: Arcana, you would've known that would happen.
• The Love Live! Superstar!! fancomic political stupidity has Wien wanting to win a subunit poll on her own rather than be in KALEIDOSCORE with Keke and Ren, despite Keke pointing out that doing so would just split the votes. In the second panel, not only are Keke and Ren along with Wien are in the bottom two spots, but their number of votes shows they could have gotten first place if Wien remained with her subunit. The normally proud Wien has a sheepish expression as the other two glare at her.
• Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff: "I warned you about stairs bro!!!! I told you dog!"
• Subverted in The Trenches, where the EAAA representative says "We refrained from telling you so, thereby relinquishing all rights to have now 'told you so'..."

Web Original

• On This Very Wiki, the You Have Been Warned page (which is more of a Cassandra Truth), or pot-holing text to Shmuck Bait.
• Unwanted Houseguest: Doctor Wolfula is very quick to point out that he predicted the Shadow Demon would return, more powerful.

Western Animation

• 101 Dalmatian Street: In "A Summer To Remember", Dante tries to warn Dylan about the seemingly harmless cow, Bessie, but Dylan ignores him. Then at the very end of the episode, Dylan finally sees Bessie's true colors when she gives him a Death Glare.
  Dylan: Wait, did you see that?!
  Dante: I hate to say "I told you so", but... I'm gonna anyway. Told you so.
• Oblina of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters advises Ickis he'd better do the scare due in class tomorrow instead of goofing off. He ignores her.
  Oblina: I hate to say I told you so, but... no, actually, I don't hate it at all — I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!
• Spoofed in Adventure Time episode "All Your Fault" with the two Lemongrabs:
  Lemongrab: We warned you!
  Lemongrab 2: We warned you about us!
• In an episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, Jimmy finally lampshades the trope.
  Jimmy: People! This isn't a time for blame! If it were, I'd be saying things like, "I tried to tell you!" and "Why didn't you jerks listen to me!?"!
• In American Dad!, Stan once framed his wife for murder just so he wouldn't have to hear her say "I told you so." This episode is even titled "Four Little Words". He realized, though, that he could circumvent this by admitting his guilt before Francine has a chance to say it. It doesn't make her any less enraged, though.
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force: In "Gee Whiz", Carl is shot with an arrow by Ted Nugent, who warns him not to make any movements unless he wants the arrow the blow up. Carl is quickly wanting to have the arrow signed as an autograph and ends up getting killed.
• Ben 10:
  • One episode starts with Gwen warning Ben against playing around with the Omnitrix when he doesn't understand it. After accidentally breaking off a part and trying to fix it with gum, it starts changing him into counterproductive alien hybrids. In a Running Gag, Gwen refuses to make the expected "I told you so" speech, which drives Ben crazy waiting for it. And then she yells it in his ear once the debacle is over.
  • Ben 10: Alien Force episode "Vengeance of Vilgax: Part 2":
    Azmuth: Ben Tennyson, I warned you of the consequences of tampering with the Omnitrix.
    Ben Tennyson: I was just trying to...
    Azmuth: Defy my instructions. Well, you have succeeded! The escaped genotypes...
    Ben Tennyson: What?
    Azmuth: Your transformations. They will perish if they aren't restored to the Omnitrix in 24 hours. And if they do, their powers will be lost to you forever!
  • In Ben 10: Omniverse episode "Ben Again", Eon wants Professor Paradox's chrono-navigator so he can rule all of creation. Paradox warns him that only he can use the navigator, as in anyone else's hands it could damage causality. When Eon does get it and things go wrong...
    Eon: You tricked me!
    Paradox: On the contrary, I warned you!
• In the Chowder episode "^*Field-Tournament-Style-Up-and-Down-On-The-Ground-Manja-Flanja-Blanja-Banja-Ishka-Bibble-Babble-Flabble-Doma-Roma-Floma-Boma-Jingle-Jangle-Every-Angle-Bricka-Bracka-Flacka-Stacka-Two-Ton-Rerun-Free-for-All-Big Ball", Truffles is exhausted at spending many days at a sports game where the teams haven't scored one point. Mung Daal tells her that the sport has no winners. Specifically, neither team is supposed to score a point, but Truffles, in her rage, creates a chain of events that leads to the team she's leading actually scoring a point. This provokes a giant turtle monster to rise from the ground underneath the stadium announcing "Game Over" and literally throw the whole sports stadium in the trash at which, Mung reprimands her for destroying the sport. Truffles replies that she thought Mung was being figurative.
• Codename: Kids Next Door:
  • In the first of many confrontations, Numbuh Five has a candy stolen by her former candy-hunting partner now rival, Heinrich. And tracks him to a temple where he wishes to use said candy in a ritual to become the king of sweets (it's an odd series). Before he does, he disregards the hieroglyphs, in which Numbuh Five enters and warns him that if he is greedy the candy will taste like asparagus. Heinrich doesn't believe her and proceeds with the ritual. Once it's done, of course, the aforementioned curse takes effect and he blames her. She retorts she did warn him, which only enrages him further. (Ironically, in a much later episode, it's revealed that the incident in Guatemala that started their rivalry was also caused by him being selfish. That seems to be Heinrich's defining trait.)
  • In "Operation: F.L.A.V.O.R.", when the Delightful Children find the sacred Fourth Flavor, Numbuh Five frantically tells them not to put jimmies on it before tasting it (knowing that putting toppings on ice cream like this would be sacrilege). They ignore this warning, and bring the wrath of the ice cream gods down upon them. (One of many examples of Stupid Evil that has caused their plans to fail, although just like all the other times, they fail to learn from it.)
    Delightful Children: (after the fact) Keep your stupid ice cream rules, we're getting out of here!
  • Numbuh Five again in "Operation C.A.K.E.D.T.H.R.E.E", where her plan to steal the Delightful Children's cake is for Sector V build a giant robot so they could fight it against the giant robot the DCFDTL will likely have waiting for their arrival. In the climax, she's right.
    Numbuh Five: You see? What'd I tell ya? Giant robot!
• DC Super Hero Girls 2019: Comes up with Jessica Cruz and her teammates a lot. At one point, Supergirl and Batgirl mend a feud they've been having and decide the moral of the story is not "never let ego ruin a friendship", but simply "Jess does not get to say 'I was right'."
• The Fairly OddParents!:
  • In "The 'Good Old Days'", there is a talking sun that warns people not to look at him, lest they go blind. At the end of the episode, when Timmy defeats Vicky (turned into a boy due to the rules of not beating girls up in old cartoons), she flees in terror and then suddenly screams, "THE SUN! I'M BLIIIIIIIIND!" The sun replies "I warned ya", then laughs.
  • In "Just the Two of Us!", Timmy wishes that he and Trixie are the only two humans on Earth so he could have her all to himself. Wanda warns him how her need for attention would cause problems, but he doesn't listen. His enjoyment fades the longer Trixie craves for attention. Timmy is forced to admit his wish backfired, only for Wanda to do a long celebratory "I told you so". When Cosmo snatches her away out of jealousy, Timmy is forced to avoid a violently obsessed Trixie until he summons his fairies again to finally reverse his wish.
• Invoked and parodied on Family Guy with a black woman in hindsight.
• In the Hey Arnold! episode "Roller Coaster", Eugene wishes to ride the roller coaster, but none of the other kids wants to ride with him due to his reputation as a jinx. They insist Arnold don't ride with him, but Arnold decides to go on the ride and prove Eugene's no jinx. Unfortunately for him, while on the roller coaster, it breaks down and the two are stuck.
  Sid: (using a megaphone) Hey, Arnold! Didn't I tell you Eugene was the living jinx?
  Stinky: Yeah, and you said you were going to prove that he weren't! Told ya!
  Harold: Can you see my house from there?
• Looney Tunes Cartoons: In "Bounty Bunny", Yosemite Sam is a bounty hunter trying to arrest Bugs, who points out the bunny on the "Wanted!" Poster has three whiskers on each side of his face instead of two but Sam doesn't take it seriously and keeps trying to arrest Bugs. Once they arrive at a police station, the bunny on the poster is shown to already be in a cell and Bugs pointed out he warned Sam.
• In an Ozzy & Drix episode, the villain Strepfinger corners Ozzy inside the lungs with a pistol-like weapon; Ozzy warns him not to fire it, saying that if he misses, he'll blow a hole in the wall and they'll both be blown out. The villain smiles evilly and says, "Well then, I'd better not miss..." Unfortunately for him, he does.
• King Julien from The Penguins of Madagascar hates being told "I told you so!" when he does something wrong. But when he causes chaos to erupt in the zoo in one episode, Skipper has this to say to him:
  Skipper: I... told... you... that this idea was brilliant!
• Phineas and Ferb:
  • In "Hip Hip Parade", Candace joins Linda for a girls' day out but is forced to promise to not think about Phineas and Ferb, or she'll suffer the "Pharaoh's curse". She struggles all day but eventually gives in and tries to bring Linda to the tricked out parade only to miss it as usual. Then a guy in a Pharaoh costume shows up and "curses" Candace, leading Linda to tell her daughter she tried to warn her.
  • In "Run, Candace, Run", Doofenshmirtz is once about to lose his home for not paying the mortgage. When Agent P suggests him to ask his ex-wife for money, he refuses, in order to avoid the trope. She warned him not to spend money on the gargoyle statues. In the end, however, he gives in to Agent P's request, but not before sternly warning him not to gloat.
• Stinky Wizzleteats of Ren & Stimpy's "Happy Happy, Joy Joy" song told you he'd shoot, but you didn't believe him. WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE HIM?
• In the Rugrats (1991) episode "The Odd Couple" when Tommy is staying at Chuckie's house for a long weekend. Phil and Lil warned that when they start living together, they'll fight all the time. The argument happens when Tommy can't do things his way when Chuckie does things different at his house. They both get fed up that they both have to do things differently like Chuckie is a neat-freak with his toys and Tommy leaves it as a mess.
  Phil and Lil: We told you so.
• Sealab 2021:
  • A Running Gag in the episode "In the Closet", in which Murphy sucker-punches everyone who enters the utility closet they're locked in, declaring "I warned him," when the closest he comes to a warning is "stop it," and then only half the time.
  • In the same episode, however, the trope is played straight when Marco warns Sparks that the door is broken.
    Sparks: [closing door] It's not broken, you just...
    [the door fails to open]
    Sparks: You just press the... you ju... The door's broken. Wha-wha-wha-what the hell?
    Marco: Idiota! Cabeza de piedras!
• Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!:
  • Velma says she tried to tell Daphne and Fred there was a headless spectre (the one pursuing Shaggy and Scooby) lurking about in "Haunted House Hang-Up". She must have told them off-camera because we sure didn't hear it.
  • In the crossover with Supernatural, when the Winchesters reveal the existence of real ghosts and monsters to the Scooby Gang, Shaggy and Scooby are quick to read the riot act to the others about it, shouting they Knew It All Along.
• The Simpsons:
  • "Lisa the Vegetarian", after Lisa has twice questioned the use of meat and her teacher/Lunchlady pressed the "Independent thought alarm."
    Skinner: Oh oh. Two independent thought alarms in one day. The students are overstimulated. Willie! Remove all the colored chalk from the classrooms.
    Willie: I warned ye! Didn't I warn ye?! That colored chalk was forged by Lucifer himself!
  • From "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore":
    Bart: So, Mr. Burns, you're saying my dad has gone insane, and thinks he's a god, and broken off all contact with the outside world?
    Smithers: I told you Simpson was a poor choice, sir.
    Mr. Burns: You know, Smithers, "I told you so" has a brother. His name is, "Shut the hell up!"
  • In "Trash of the Titans", Springfield's incumbent sanitation commissioner Ray Patterson loses his reelection to Homer. True to Patterson's warnings, Homer proves extremely incompetent, first spending a year's budget in one month, which he recoups by having other cities cramming their trash beneath Springfield, to the point that it erupts all around, leaving Springfield in shambles. Homer is removed and Mayor Quimby calls back Patterson, who has this to say:
    Patterson: Oh, gosh... You know, I'm not much on speeches, but it's so gratifying to... leave you wallowing in the mess you've made. You're screwed, thank you, bye.
  • In "Simpson Tide", after Homer sails a nuclear submarine into Russian waters, the Springfield News' report on the matter speculating Homer is a communist sympathiser uses as its stock photo of Homer a picture of him dressed and dancing like a Russian Cossack, holding a bottle of vodka in front of St. Basil's Cathedral. Lisa's deadpan response is "I told him that photo would come back to haunt him."
• Brainy Smurf manages to get in a few of these in some episodes of The Smurfs when he chides his fellow Smurfs about certain actions they failed to take that end up in disaster for the village.
• In the South Park episode "Time to Get Cereal", the boys discover that the fabled creature called ManBearPig (an allegory for Global Warming) is real and very dangerous, slaughtering numerous people in its path. As a result, they're forced to turn to Al Gore for help, and Gore clearly relishes making the boys apologize to him for mocking him and not taking his warnings seriously.
  Al Gore: Oh, now you believe me.
• During Todd McFarlane's Spawn, Spawn warns mob boss Fat Tony to stay out of his alleys or he would come after him again and kill him. However, Jason Wynn forces Fat Tony to call in some outside help in the form of a hired half cyborg killer named Overkill. After Spawn, turns him into scrap metal, he goes after Fat Tony, learns who sent Overkill, then kills him.
  Spawn: I warned you, you fat son of a bitch!
• In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Plankton's Army", Plankton and his brethren manage to incapacitate Mr. Krabs, break into his safe, and steal the Krabby Patty recipe. Krabs warns Plankton that "some things in this world weren't meant for mortal eyes", but Plankton ignores him and reads the recipe anyway. When the secret ingredient turns out to be ground plankton, Plankton and his ilk flee the restaurant in terror, but not before Mr. Krabs delivers a blunt "I warned ya". Considering the recipe was a fake, however, Krabs' warnings may well have been Reverse Psychology to goad Plankton on.
• In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Asajj Ventress and two of the Nightsisters attempt to assassinate Count Dooku. Ventress warns the Nightsisters not to underestimate Dooku, but they assume they have it in the bag because Dooku is old and in their culture, men are inferior to women. Dooku defeats and throws the three out of his home. The Nightsisters express surprise at how strong he was, and Ventress points out that she warned them.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012): In the first episode, when the other three Turtles discover that Mikey was actually right about the Kraang being alien brains in robotic suits, Mikey spends the rest of the episode griping about how they didn't listen to him in the first place.
  Mikey: See?! It's a brain-thing! I told you, I told you... but did any of you believe me? NO! Because you all think I'm just some kind of bonehead!
• Psycho, the minion Seer of Dr. Killemoff in Toxic Crusaders usually says this after his Cassandra Truth gets blown off by Killemoff as ridiculous and the good guys win. His trading card even describes him as "a part-time seer and a full-time 'I-told-you-so'er"!
• In Wakfu season 2 episode 5, Sadlygrove tries to warn Yugo, Amalia, and Evangelyne of the dangers of the Dragon-Pig's lair, as he's the only one with experience in Dungeon Crawling. They pay him no heed, used to ignoring the Idiot Hero... until the three are struck with a Forced Transformation. Sadlygrove then gives them a well-deserved admonishment.
  Sadlygrove: I would hate to play the "I warned you" card... [deep breath] BUT I WARNED YOU!
• In every episode of Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch Scrambles (the youngest member of the Chopper Bunch) constantly tries to warn Chopper that his plans to bully Wheelie won't work, but Chopper never listens.
  "I told ya, I told ya!" "I know!" "I told ya, I told ya!"...
• Young Justice (2010). The Reach female scientist does this as a Running Gag when their plan to take over the Earth starts failing (because they ignored her wanting to do further research on how the Blue Beetle's scarab didn't work properly). At the end the Justice League are throwing the Reach off the planet and she does it again, only to fall into a cowed silence as the Black Beetle and Reach ambassador Death Glare at her.

Real Life

• In 1900, the Republican Party nominated Theodore Roosevelt, the progressive Governor of New York, as its Vice Presidential nominee. The conservative, business-oriented power brokers who ruled the party hated Roosevelt and found him both incredibly annoying and deeply embarrassing—which is why they wanted him for Veep. They figured since the VP’s role is so largely ceremonial and powerless, they could get him out of their hair and get one of their guys in the actually meaningful job in Albany. The one major figure who voiced opposition to this plan was RNC Chair Mark Hanna, who feared it left only one life between a "madman" and the presidency, but he was overruled. The following year, Hanna was proven right when President McKinley was assassinated. In his own words, "Now look! That goddamn cowboy is President of the United States!"
• The Daily WTF: "One of the few things in life more satisfying than saying 'I Told You So' is being told not to say it."
• A tragic case of I Just Shot Marvin in the Face involved an 8-year-old boy at a gun show in which visitors could fire a micro-Uzi. The employee overseeing this warned the boy's father twice about how maybe the kid should be given a less powerful - and non-automatic - weapon to fire. The father insisted, and the recoil from the shots diverted the barrel towards the poor boy's head, where the fatal shot was delivered.
• On January 13, 2021, Rep. John Richmond (D-CA) spoke about how foolish many Republicans were acting in not wanting to impeach Donald Trump in the name of “unity”. He then pointed out how, when the Democrats impeached Trump the first time, warned that if they let him go for “learning his lesson”, he’d do something worse. “Simply put: I told you so. Richmond out.”
• In this grab bag of wedding horror stories from Reddit, one story is about the submitter's mother who used to make wedding cakes. At one wedding, the mother of the bride wanted to use a Precious Moments car figurine as the cake topper. The submitter's mom told her it was too heavy for that, as it was made of ceramic and weighed a solid 5 pounds. An hour later, she got a call from the reception hall that the cake had collapsed "all by itself" because the mother of the bride had put the car on it after she left. After the same thing happened months later at a different wedding with a motorcycle-themed Precious Moments figurine, the submitter's mom banned all Precious Moments figurines from her cakes.

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