TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Overshadowed By Controversy Cleanup

Go To

Overshadowed by Controversy has several examples, particularly under the Fan Works, Webcomics, and Web Original folders, that don't fit the trope as described. The controversy is supposed to overshadow the work, so if it doesn't do that it shouldn't count as a valid example.

The media folders, such as Anime or Western Animation, could also use a look, as some entries deal with shows, while others deal with actors, fans, or creators. Additionally, some of the entries are not controversial anymore or are not known enough to overshadow the show completely, and others seem closer to Never Live It Down.

Some examples even point out that the controversy was debunked or died down eventually, which doesn't fit the trope, as well as examples saying things like "time will tell if [x] can recover." I originally tried the Real-Life cleanup section, and then a TRS thread, but I hope this is the right section to help us clean up this trope's examples. ^^

MOD NOTE: For something to be overshadowed by controversy; it has to have a significant, arguably overwhelming impact on that work/creator/thing that’s provable by pointing to actual evidence beyond social media likes or a news report. The controversy has to be bigger than the thing for it to overshadow the thing.

For a work, did it bomb directly due to the controversy? Was it pulled from shelves or streaming services? Nothing like this? Then it most likely doesn’t count.

For a creator, did they lose their job/get banned or lose all of their sponsorships or are unable to get any work directly due to the controversy? Did they at least retire directly because of the controversy? Nothing like this? Then it most likely doesn’t count.

Valid examples would be people like Gina Carano or Louie CK. As they were both fired and black listed for their controversies. Or Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are now more known for those controversies than their actual careers. Clearly being overshadowed by it.

If only chronically online people like us are going to be aware of something, it definitely doesn’t count. The controversy has to be so big that even people who are rarely online or know very little about something, would still have heard of the controversy.

Edited by kory on Oct 4th 2025 at 10:21:54 AM

PhantomDusclops92 Nitpicky Nitwit from Italy Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
Nitpicky Nitwit
#3801: Jun 11th 2023 at 8:59:06 AM

Don't remember if it has already been discussed, but YMMV.Diary Of A Wimpy Kid has this:

  • It's not very easy to talk about Dog Days without mentioning Robert Capron getting fat-shamed during a screening of the movie which culminated him developing an eating disorder that went un-noticed until Capron got caught throwing away a ham-and-cheese sandwich his dad made.

The point is also repeated under Harsher in Hindsight, to the point that this fact kinda sounds like someone's Single-Issue Wonk. The fact is that I haven't found anyone speak about this outside that YMMV page.

fragglelover Since: Jun, 2012
#3803: Jun 11th 2023 at 1:07:11 PM

[up] Pretty sure that I brought this up earlier, only for it to be forgotten as other examples were brought up.

I'll say the same thing I said then, while what happened to him is very unfortunate, the fact that this is the first time I'm hearing about this points against this being Overshadowed by Controversy.

PhantomDusclops92 Nitpicky Nitwit from Italy Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Faithful to 2D
Nitpicky Nitwit
#3804: Jun 11th 2023 at 2:18:38 PM

OK, so we can cut it from Overshadowed but leave it under Harsher I guess?

harryhenry It's either real or it's a dream Since: Jan, 2012
It's either real or it's a dream
#3805: Jun 11th 2023 at 10:19:49 PM

The Wimpy Kid examples were added by JojiMC, a troper fond of examples that fell into Fan Myopia, recently banned for evading a suspension on a previous account. Per ban evader reverts, I think both should be cut?

Siegfried1337 Calabash. from The Eastern Luminant Since: Sep, 2018 Relationship Status: Will you go out with me to the End?
SkylaNoivern Since: Sep, 2016
#3807: Jun 12th 2023 at 3:17:25 PM

The Pokémon the Series entry on the main page is somewhat bloated, so I decided to take a look at it.

    Entries 
  • The episode "Computer Warrior Porygon"note  is known far more for gaining the questionable record of "Most Photosensitive Epileptic Seizures Caused by a Television Show" from Guinness World Records for causing 700 seizures in Japan upon its initial airing, and the resulting worldwide ban of the episode, than the actual content itself. This extends to the Pokémon Porygon itself. Despite not being the actual cause of the flashing,note  it's swept under the rug for no other reason than it being the Pokémon featured in the episode. Even its evolutions have been hit with it, as they've made no major appearances in the series.note  After this incident, OLM, the animation studio behind Pokémon, dropped all strobe lights caused by Pikachu's attacks in future episodes of the anime and re-edited the first 37 episodes to eliminate said effects. This even extended to anime as a whole—ever since this snafu, any fast-paced scenes that could conceivably cause seizures have to be darkened for the broadcast version.

Keep. Everyone knows of it as "the episode that caused seizures".

  • Pokémon: The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon is known less for any of its own merits and more for being associated with the controversy that followed after Pokémon USA, now known as The Pokémon Company International, fired the English voice actors that had been working on the anime since day one in favor of newer, cheaper ones.note 

Judging by the fact Bulbapedia has a massive section dedicated to this, keep. Though the massive note might not be necessary?

  • Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl's Sinnoh League arc suffered from this due to the character of Tobias, infamous for possessing Legendary Pokémon in Darkrai and Latios, which is otherwise usually unheard of in the anime, and curb-stomping every opponent of his with just his Darkrai. When Ash ended up facing him in the semifinals, this lead to Ash losing majorly to just two of Tobias' Pokémon, made the arc notorious for giving Ash an invincible opponent to make sure he lost, and made Tobias (unlike Alain below) a character that's hated by the fandom as a whole.

Unsure.

  • Pokémon the Series: Black & White was initially met with much fan excitement in large part due to building up to Team Plasma, whose popularity in Pokémon Black and White was a driving force behind the franchise's Popularity Polynomial at the time. However, the 2011 Fukushima earthquake and nuclear disaster caused it to be canned right before they were intended to appear, after which its other praised parts petered out and weaknesses became more prominent. Meanwhile, the sequels Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 being released instead of a third version as expected meant Team Plasma's appearance was based entirely on their sequel appearance, lacking what made them well-received in the first game and instead coming off as generic villains. This underwhelming payoff for a series-long wait and decline was followed up and ended on a filler arc due to its brisk pacing causing them to run out of material until the next games, irreparably tarnishing things. In short Black & White is best remembered for starting strong only for the 2011 Fukushima disaster to derail and cause it to rot, regardless of its strengths or missteps long after what can be fairly attributed to the 2011 disaster.

I'd personally cut this. BrokenBase.Pokemon The Series lists the anime's portrayal of Team Plasma as divisive.

  • Pokémon: Genesect and the Legend Awakened is mostly remembered for the fan backlash surrounding the inclusion of a second, female Mewtwo and the implied (but eventually debunked) Retcon of Mewtwo's backstory that it created, to the point where it has its own folder on the film's YMMV page.note  This backlash extended to Mega Mewtwo Y, which debuted in the film as the second Mewtwo's Super Mode and was subsequently "tainted." Only when it was used in the Final Smash of the Super Smash Bros. Mewtwo (who is mostly based on the original Mewtwo in Pokémon: The First Movie) was its association with the movie weakened.

Keep.

  • Pokémon the Series: XY became this over Ash losing the Kalos League. Ash losing the regions league is nothing new nor is fan backlash, but the unprecedented appeal to older fans of XY, Ash's unprecedented skill and maturity as a trainer, his highly built and hyped up Ash-Greninja, the episode's title, promotional materials and other factorsExplanation  all pointed to him finally winning. Ash's losing the Finals to Alain thus caused unprecedented backlash across both sides of the Pacific as invalidating everything praised about XY by having the seeming payoff of his win never happen and turned the previously well-liked Alain into a fandom pariah. Despite the immediately following Team Flare arc and rest of XY being seen as the best in The Series they're still mostly remembered by fans in terms of the debate if the Kalos League negated all their good or not. Ash won the next series League in what's seen as damage control and creator apology, but rather than forgive XY, fans changed the issue to debating if his winning Kalos would have been better due to its stronger setup (especially because the Alolan league as a whole was a hot button topic both in the anime and in the games).

Keep. Ash losing the league gets brought up a lot.

Edited by SkylaNoivern on Jun 12th 2023 at 11:17:57 AM

Someoneman Since: Nov, 2011
#3808: Jun 12th 2023 at 9:05:32 PM

[up]

The Diamond and Pearl example sounds like it's just bad writing, which isn't enough to count as controversy on its own. Tobias is already listed on the franchise's Scrappy page, which should be enough for the fandom's complaining needs, and the OBC example sounds like it's just describing the same thing as the Scrappy example.

Edited by Someoneman on Jun 12th 2023 at 9:07:35 AM

BocchiTheRock Since: Feb, 2023
#3809: Jun 13th 2023 at 12:50:11 AM

[up][up] I'd cut the second Mewtwo and debatably the Kalos League for the same reasons as Tobias, as those are people upset over the plot of the series itself, which is not really a controversy since it is directly part of the work. Something getting negative reception isn't a controvery, it just is something negatively recieved.

VampireBuddha Calendar enthusiast from Ireland (Wise, aged troper) Relationship Status: Complex: I'm real, they are imaginary
Calendar enthusiast
#3810: Jun 13th 2023 at 1:16:14 AM

I agree with Someoneman and Bocchi. And I also agree that the giant note in the Mirage example should be cut.

Ukrainian Red Cross
nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#3811: Jun 13th 2023 at 12:54:37 PM

Though the massive note might not be necessary?

I'd definitely cut that part - it feels like a product of the section of the wiki that's weirdly obsessed with voice actors.

fragglelover Since: Jun, 2012
#3812: Jun 13th 2023 at 5:28:45 PM

So, I found these examples on Overshadowed by Controversy, and I honestly think that they maybe more "controversial premise" than this:

Someoneman Since: Nov, 2011
#3813: Jun 13th 2023 at 5:55:36 PM

For Pokémon, the Kalos League example definitely fits the "overshadowed" aspect, since the complaining was intense enough to be noticed even by people outside the fandom, but since the controversy is people not liking how it ended, it sounds like it could fit better under Audience-Alienating Ending. The Tobias example might fit there too.

Can the ending of an individual season of a show count as Audience-Alienating Ending, or is it only for the ending to the work as a whole?


That Melanie's Marvelous Measles example bothered me too. It sounds like it's just "It's impossible to talk about this anti-vax propaganda without mentioning that it contains anti-vax views."

If a work was deliberately created to promote controversial views from the start, then its merits are the controversy, so it doesn't really count as overshadowed by controversy.

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3814: Jun 14th 2023 at 9:42:30 PM

I also think the second Mewtwo example counts because it's not the main focus of the movie IIRC, but enough people threw a stink about there being another Mewtwo that the YMMV page for the movie made a soft split specifically for examples about the Mewtwo. So it's not the main premise that alienates people but it is one aspect that is the controversial it's all anybody remembers about the movie.

An OBC example can count if it's a controversial aspect of the plot, it just can't be the plot itself that's controversial. In this case, nobody remembers the Genesect movie for Genesect cuz of all the Mewtwo backlash.

Edited by mightymewtron on Jun 14th 2023 at 12:43:53 PM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#3815: Jun 14th 2023 at 9:59:02 PM

Yeah, honestly, I've seen this movie mentioned a few different times on TV Tropes and I literally can't tell you a thing about it except that people hated there being a second Mewtwo. It's not like some of the cases where the controversial thing is the premise itself.

SkylaNoivern Since: Sep, 2016
#3816: Jun 15th 2023 at 6:43:24 AM

I'll clean up the entries. I can vouch that Genesect's Mewtwo and Ash losing the Kalos League are both immensely controversial.

Someoneman Since: Nov, 2011
#3817: Jun 15th 2023 at 2:58:59 PM

I'm still a bit split on the Kalos League example, but I'm leaning towards moving it to Audience-Alienating Ending, since many Overshadowed by Controversy examples where the controversy was just people complaining about the ending were similarly moved. For example, Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear, Jimi-Kare, and Mass Effect 3 (the latter of which was way more controversial than the Kalos League example).


On a separate note, the Anime folder contains this example, which sounds like it's just complaining:

  • Usually, the only times Stitch! comes up among Western Lilo & Stitch fans is to complain about it being a Stealth Sequel and how it ruins the original series' theme about "ʻohana" and family. Even fans of the anime hated the episode where Lilo appears, as originally the anime was marketed as an Alternate Universe.

"Among Western Lilo & Stitch fans" implies that this is really just a straight example of Americans Hate Tingle, where the show is also listed with the exact same complaints.

omega2900 Jemerald of Brainrot from The Midwest, where everything is MID! (Ten years in the joint) Relationship Status: In my bunk
Jemerald of Brainrot
#3818: Jun 15th 2023 at 3:29:38 PM

I'd cut the Stitch example.

Edited by omega2900 on Jun 15th 2023 at 9:11:03 AM

Get taxed. Idiot.
badtothebaritone (Life not ruined yet) Relationship Status: Snooping as usual
#3819: Jun 15th 2023 at 3:47:04 PM

[up][up] Go ahead and move the Kalos League to AAE. The season vs. installment debate is moot because the Kalos saga is its own installment; the Western release just doesn't make it obvious.

Someoneman Since: Nov, 2011
#3820: Jun 15th 2023 at 5:07:39 PM

When I went to move the Pokémon League loss examples to Audience-Alienating Ending, I found a comment saying that the Kalos League doesn't count with a link to the Ending Aversion TRS thread, where one of the posts says that since Ash losing wasn't the last episode of the season, it doesn't count as an ending.

I'm not sure if the comment is correct. Even if Ash lost while there were many episodes left to the series, it still irreversibly made the ending fans were hoping for impossible.

I can't really speak with certainty, since I haven't seriously watched the Pokémon anime since Johto, but I'm guessing the issue isn't specifically Ash losing to Alain; it's him losing the League yet again when fans had assumed he'd finally win. "Lost the League" is still Ash's status by the end of the series, so it's still part of the ending.

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (10,238/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (10,238/50,000)
#3821: Jun 15th 2023 at 5:12:54 PM

It's both. It's Ash losing a battle that was built up over the course of the season as something he'd win, as well as him having the type advantage and the special bond with Greninja, and Alain barely caring about the league. It made viewers mad because Ash was at his strongest ever and had been expected to finally win

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
HMSaph Since: Apr, 2012
#3822: Jun 16th 2023 at 1:10:20 PM

Regarding Melanie's Marvelous Measles: I'm the one who inserted that entry, but it should probably be moved to Audience-Alienating Premise.
Alfie's Home is similarly controversial, but the image of Uncle Pete molesting his nephew is even more notorious than the premise, so that one should probably stay.

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3823: Jun 16th 2023 at 5:38:16 PM

On The Nostalgia Critic:

  • The Critic video on The Wall is probably best known for the massive backlash it got immediately after its release. Be this for the shoddy production values, Doug not doing proper research into the topics from the album and movie and having bad, surface-level criticisms as a result, the video being more of a bad parody than an actual review of the film that shows the cracks of the Critic's review style that have been there for years, and having a sequence in the film that feels not so much as a dig at social media than a dig at the #ChangeTheChannel movement. So many people made videos talking about these aspects of the video, mocking it and Doug for the general incompetance of it all.

This is pretty clear-cut "work is overshadowed by the entirety of it being bad" misuse, right? The only valid aspect (being overshadowed by Change the Channel) applies to the whole show and is covered in an above entry.

EDIT: Actually while I'm here, the Bart's Nightmare entry has a similar issue, and I'm also unsure about this entry:

  • His fourth commercial special is mainly remembered for the Canadian Rape PSA (he criticized it for being tone deaf, but a lot of people mistook it as not liking the message) and the Double Standard sexual harassment Running Gag, in which he openly stated that men don't suffer from harassment because they can't tell who's interested in them or not.

Cuz that joke was controversial but I think only a minority got really upset about it — most people just didn't think the witch gag was that funny, and its main impact was the Greg Sestaro cameo. And the "screw you Canada" Running Gag this episode started is still a popular fandom joke.

Edited by mightymewtron on Jun 16th 2023 at 8:44:02 AM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
MisterApes-a-lot Since: Mar, 2018
#3824: Jun 16th 2023 at 7:13:00 PM

The Wall review is definitely not an example, though I'm unsure about the commercial special entry. If it's true that only a small minority had that reaction, it's probably safe to cut.

RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
She / Her
#3825: Jun 16th 2023 at 7:31:17 PM

[up][up]I agree that the entry on The Wall is misuse for the reason you stated. As for the Bart's Nightmare entry, maybe it could count but I don't know for sure.


Total posts: 6,229
Top