My first thought at the title was something along the lines of an invoked Chekhov's Gun (someone taking something along specifically so that it can be of use later). But, this doesn't really merit separation from the other Chekhov tropes listed above.
edited 23rd Oct '10 11:57:57 AM by Twilightdusk
I see the Awesomeness.
I thought it would be about how old school adventure games had random crap strewn about for you to find and use later as an inventory puzzle.
Fight smart, not fair.
I agree with Deboss. Is there a trope for that?
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Cure Candy
Does this trope acutally require it to be useful? I would think that the trope name would come from a character saying just that, If it does or not doesn't matter.
Thats the only difference I can see between this and Chekhovs Whatever.
edited 23rd Oct '10 1:45:40 PM by Raso
Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!
It's Chekhov's Gun with knowledge!. And yes, the trope requires the knowledge to really be useful. The way the title is worded, you'd think it's about the point in time when someone learns something, while in fact it's about the point in time when the information does come in handy.
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In short: the title is problematic, and I'm not sure we even need a page for this.
First of all, the title is really confusing. Someday This Will Come in Handy is specifically about seemingly useless knowledge that turns out to be important later, but you couldn't guess from the name.
Second, the trope reads like a mix of Chekhov's Skill, Chekhov's Hobby and Chekhov's Lecture. There may be a separate trope in there, but if so, the description needs to be clearer. Otherwise, I'd say the article should just be cut and the examples moved to the relevant tropes.
In any case, the examples are going to need some work, such as removing examples that don't fit the trope description and examples listed on other trope pages.