TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Hindsight Cleanup

Go To

The Hindsight tropes, Hilarious in Hindsight, Harsher in Hindsight, and Heartwarming in Hindsight, are among the most misused Audience Reaction tropes on this site. Many people don't understand that the tropes require more than just "This happened, so that happened", and end up adding examples which either lack connection or the substance that makes them funny/serious/not-so-funny/heartwarming. Some of them may be suited better for other tropes (ex: Life Imitates Art), while some may not belong on TV Tropes at all (such as ones involving politicians, due to Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment).

Please report any Hindsight example that you feel are questionable, and we'll analyze them to see if they are actually examples or not.

Remember that the Hindsight tropes are Audience Reactions. That means if an example under review discusses significant fan response pointing out the hindsight, the example can't be cut solely for being too tenuous for this thread.

    Common NOT in Hindsight examples 
  • Creator's character/portrayal dies in work and then creator dies in real life, unless their fictional death is closely similar to their real one (such as Billy Bob Joe portraying a character who dies from pancreatic cancer, then Billy Bob dies from pancreatic cancer himself)
  • Mundane word related to something terrible (such as "corona" or "Epstein") unless there's more to the connection (such as someone named "Corona" having the flu)
  • Creator appears in work then becomes more controversial later on.
  • A common event (such as a typical natural disaster) happens in work, then happens in real life (unless they are closely similar, such as the event happening to the same area in both reality and fiction around the same time) For once, not everything related to disease has to do with COVID-19, not everything related to racism and Police Brutality has to do with George Floyd and Black Lives Matter, and not everything related to sexual abuse has to do with #MeToo.
  • A common/generic concept was used in this work and then later reused in that work (too loose for a connection, unless the concept is so unique it's identified with the work)
  • Two actors appear together then do so in another work
  • Hindsight examples involving recent events, due to them often being shoehorns. Specifically:
    • COVID-19 examples, before 75% of the population has returned to normal
    • George Floyd/2020 Black Lives Matter examples, before protests have declined
  • Examples which fall guilty of Older Than They Think, such as "Make X Great Again" slogans. Aside from violating the ROCEJ, this slogan has been in use since the 1940s.
  • Characters using slurs which are treated as annoying at worst in the work, but is now harsher due to how severe the slur is made now. Discrimination has always existed with that slur. (May qualify for Values Dissonance if work is at least 20 years old.)

Note: As of January 2022, "Funny Aneurysm" Moment is no longer separate from Harsher in Hindsight.
  • The former redirects to the latter and all wicks to the former (with the exception of ones on archive pages and the YMMV Redirects index) must either be moved to the latter (if they're valid) or removed (if they're invalid).
  • The subpages for the former are still accessible from this page. After a subpage for "Funny Aneurysm" Moment has been completely cleaned up, turn it into a redirect to the Harsher in Hindsight subpage for the same medium to preserve inbounds.

Edited by Tabs on Jun 21st 2023 at 11:51:25 AM

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#3126: Mar 7th 2021 at 1:10:13 AM

From Harsher in Hindsight on JonTron:

  • Jon joking that Larry King is dying after trying some of Dan Aykroyd’s crystal skull vodka is quite hard to stomach after King’s death in 2021.

This comes off as generic Actor Mortality considering the video predates his passing by quite a lot.

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3127: Mar 7th 2021 at 1:12:53 AM

[up] Agreed. If he died of alcohol poisoning or something it could count. Otherwise, no.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
MatthewLMayfield from wherever he damn well pleases (Captain) Relationship Status: I wanna know what love is
#3128: Mar 7th 2021 at 10:32:20 AM

Lots of Hilarious examples on Family Guy, but I'll start with the first ten I found:

  • The multiple Take Thats against Disney are this in sight of Disney buying out the rights to 20th Century Fox's movies and shows, including Family Guy itself. Maybe worth keeping?
  • Stewie pleading to FOX to at least let them stay on long enough to be syndicated in "The Road to Rhode Island", which, thanks to its 2005 revival and being rerun on TBS and Cartoon Network's [adult swim] block, it has exceeded its goal. Could be more meaningful if it mentioned being syndicated on local stations instead of bringing up TBS and AS
  • In "If I'm Dying, I'm Lying", Peter tries to get a cancelled TV show, Gumble2Gumble back on the air. Family Guy itself would later be cancelled twice just to be brought back. Maybe?
  • In "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein," Peter expresses how badly he needs help from a Jewish person. Later in season 8, in the episode "Family Goy," it's revealed that Lois is Jewish on her mom's side, and had to hide it so Carter can get into a country club that's notorious for banning anyone who's Jewish. Another maybe?
  • The season seven episode "We Love You Lauren Conrad" has Stewie refer to Bruce Jenner as a beautiful woman. In April 2013, Jenner came out as transgender, and two months later, got gender reassignment surgery and is now known as Caitlyn Jenner. Stewie knew her true gender identity six years before anyone else did and even funnier when Brian tries to correct him saying "Bruce Jenner is a man." This gets lampshaded ten years and ten seasons later in the season seventeen episode "Hefty Shades of Gray". Valid
  • One of the cutaways makes fun of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, with the narrator (voiced by the late, great trailer announcer Don LaFontaine) unsure just what ethnicity he was (in real life, Dwayne Johnson is black and Canadian on his father's side and Pacific Islandernote  on his mom's side). After that episode aired, he went on to voice a white guy in Planet 51 and he sounded pretty white to the point where you likely wouldn't have guessed it was him. Actor garbage
  • Miley Cyrus is revealed to be a robot in "Hannah Banana"; her 2010 album Can't Be Tamed actually features a song called "Robot". The lyrics just make it even more funny. I guess that's valid
  • Interestingly enough, more recently (as of 2015), one frequently featured guest voice actress on the series (and friend of MacFarlane's) is Miley's ex-Hannah Montana co-star Emily Osment. More actor garbage
  • In the episode "Family Guy Viewer Mail #1", Peter tells Diane and Tom Tucker to "Make like a Siamese twin and split, and then one of you die." Diane was Killed Off for Real in the ninth season premiere. Ha ha ha ha, she died? Hilarious! Wouldn't that be a better fit under FAM?
  • In "Don't Make Me Over," The Griffins become musical guests on an episode of Saturday Night Live hosted by Jimmy Fallon. The episode first aired around the time that FG was returning from cancellation (around 2005-ish). Fallon wouldn't host an actual episode of SNL until six years later (in 2011), and unlike how the episode depicted him, Fallon never once ruined a sketch by cracking up (he almost did during the "Beethoven's Band" sketch, but he caught himself, and he even admits that his cracking up ruined a lot of good sketches he was in in the actual episode's monologue), but he did make out with a girl who looked younger than he did (it was Rachel Dratch, who is middle-aged in real life but can pass for a teenager eerily well because of how short and girlish she looks. Also, unlike the FG depiction, it was part of the sketch, as Fallon and Dratch were reprising their roles as the Boston Teens). Also, for all the jokes Seth MacFarlane has made about SNL cast members and the show itself (not just on Family Guy, but The Cleveland Show had a fictional SNL episode hosted by Tyne Daly and on the American Dad! episode "Ricky Spanish," Steve said that facing your fears is like watching an episode of Saturday Night Live: the cold opening may suck and the monologue may be terrible, but once Kenan Thompson does his "What Up With That?" sketch, it's actually worth it), it's funny (and a bit hypocritical) that he even would agree to host the first episode of the 38th season — and do a fairly good job of it. I don't even know what this is going on about

Anddrix Since: Oct, 2014
#3129: Mar 8th 2021 at 5:45:14 AM

Bringing up the following examples from Hilarious in Hindsight:

  • This article about an early beta of Vista.
  • At the advent of computers it was declared by Thomas J. Watson that there would never be a market for more than five computers in the entire world.
  • Conversely, Danny Hillis talks about the first computer conference he went to, where he proclaimed that the market for microprocessors would be in the millions. One wag asked, "What, will there be a computer in every doorknob?" Flash forward to Danny Hillis returning to the same hotel, where the room keys had been replaced by keycards. There was a computer in every doorknob.
  • This video of one of Steve Jobs's keynote speeches. Him explaining the "Megahertz Myth" is so much funnier when Apple switched to Intel in 2005. On the subject of the myth, he practically predicted the future when the Pentium 4 decided to completely milk the "clock speeds are everything" concept for all it was worth, until the massive performance and overheating problems killed the worth the Pentium name once had.
    • The Take Thats at Intel in Apple's old "Snail" and "Toasted Bunnies" ads as well.
  • This iPod parody. Two years later...
  • This 1972 photo of a "Super Airbus."
  • This video on all the exciting possibilities offered by The Internet in... 1996. Just try to watch the guy earnestly enthusing about "multimedia files" and "special interest groups" without thinking of The Internet Is for Porn.
  • Apple and Samsung are bitter rivals. However, Sam Sung was once an Apple employee.
  • This April Fools' Day article from 2013 by Infoworld mocks the early failures of Windows 8, by saying that Windows 9 is "too good" and Microsoft is skipping straight to Windows 10. Just a little over a year later, the exact same thing happened in real life. (Well, minus the "too good" part, but still.)
  • Guilty Gear Xrd -sign- was famous for a visual style that many felt was impossible for the Unreal Engine. That was before Unreal Engine 4, famous for it's versatility in both visual aesthetics possibilities and platform useability (showcased by Epic Games releasing a mobile app in the form of a Flappy Bird clone), was released to the public.
  • This student PSA from 1995 accurately predicts all the possibilities that the internet will offer by the time the students are in college.
  • The USAF revealed in January 2010 through Jane's that they are modding Sidewinders for air-to-ground usage. Funny how all those arcadey flight-action titles like Ace Combat, Afterburner etc. had us using ersatz Sidewinders for multirole purposes well before this, eh?

RallyBot2 (Elder Troper) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
#3130: Mar 8th 2021 at 8:26:46 AM

[up]Wow, those are weak. There's not a single valid example in there. Feel free to take a sledgehammer to the entire section.

Anddrix Since: Oct, 2014
#3131: Mar 8th 2021 at 9:41:46 AM

Bringing up the following examples from FunnyAneurysmMoment.Other Media:

  • Disney Theme Parks
    • A popular joke on the Jungle Cruise has the skippers advising parents "Watch your children, or the crocodiles will". In June 2016, a two-year-old boy was dragged into a lagoon and drowned by an alligator near Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, and the cruise skippers were told to never use the joke again.
    • Universe of Energy at Epcot was once sponsored by Exxon, and while it discussed clean energy at length, it also ended with a long celebration of Exxon and their oil tankers. This...didn't go over well after a certain incident in Alaska, and the show was changed...
  • South Carolina's Hard Rock Park opened in 2008 with a section called "Rock and Roll Heaven." Then it closed after one year of business (plus one more as a different brand), and the lot still lay rotting a decade later.

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3132: Mar 8th 2021 at 9:46:06 AM

[up]

Edited by mightymewtron on Mar 8th 2021 at 12:46:38 PM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
callmeamuffin Just getting into Utena... (he/they) from the kitchen (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Thinkin' about you, muffin
Just getting into Utena... (he/they)
#3133: Mar 8th 2021 at 12:08:49 PM

[up][up][up][up][up] Actor Garbage should be cut. Definitely the last, last one.

Working on Sandbox.The Amazing Race TV Tropes Edition.
fragglelover Since: Jun, 2012
#3134: Mar 8th 2021 at 12:30:42 PM

This is on Epic Mickey under Harsher in Hindsight:

Anddrix Since: Oct, 2014
#3135: Mar 8th 2021 at 12:40:28 PM

Bringing up the following examples from Hilarious in Hindsight:

  • In Mekton: Operation Rimfire, one of the characters had a girlfriend called Maria who was brainwashed and given an alternate identity. Especially given that it's a mecha game, the similarities to a plotline in a certain anime series are amusing.
  • There is a certain Call of Cthulhu scenario called "Final Flight", in which the characters are on a plane with a disguised serpent person. To make it obvious: There is a motherfucking serpent man on the motherfucking plane.
  • Dungeons & Dragons
    • The Spelljammer box had Lorebook of the Void advising to remember it's a big Universe and vary creatures as you go on, even if it's just a change in appearance - for example... "Change in color (blue elves)". Which was just a throwaway line until Avatar.
    • In the 4th edition Player's Handbook, a section on why you'd want both melee and ranged weapons says: "When the flying monster makes its getaway, you don't want to be hurling insults at it." The Player's Handbook 2 released the Bard...which can kill enemies by insulting them.
    • The Races of the Dragon sourcebook introduced a template for making anthropomorphic dragons called Dragonborn.No, they do not get a shout attack.
  • An old Dragon Magazine article discussed ways to avert the Aerith and Bob trope in a campaign, advising DMs about how to establish consistent cultural motifs for character and place names. The article's title? "What Do You Mean, 'Jack the Samurai'?"
  • From the Pokémon Trading Card Game we have Double Rainbow Energy.
  • In the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, there is a pseudo-God Card named "Thor, Lord of the Aesir", who is listed as a Beast-Warrior-Type. Furries will get a kick out of this, due to an infamous parody picture that had floated around years back of Anubis, lamenting his change from God of the Dead to furry sex symbol, with Odin (Thor's father) comforting him by telling him Thor "wasn't spared, either", a reference to near-life sized horse dildo created during the time. To clinch the hilarity, Thor is a Synchro monster, which requires a Tuner monster called "Guldifaxe of the Nordic Beasts" to bring out. Guldifaxe, in case you're wondering, is a horse.
    • Speaking of Yu-Gi-Oh and furry internet memes, one popular meme is that Krystal can't have her sandwich. In the card game, there's a Fusion monster called Sanwitch who, at present, is very hard to get out - its Fusion Materials and most of the alternative ways of bringing it out are either banned or limited to one per deck. So Krystal can't have her Sandwich.
    • 2ch users created a hoax so convincing, it tricked Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! fan sites. The hoax basically stated that Lightsworn were dolls who were slaves of an evil force, which describes the new Shadolls perfectly.
    • Nekroz of Trishula can be seen as a personification of Trishula. Unfortunately for the Pixiv fanartists, Nekroz of Trishula is a guy. Tenpester even mocked it by having the Trishula gijinka's clothes be stolen by Archamage of the Nekroz.
    • Remember the time when players did the Tour Guide From The Underworld + Sangan combo? That's what Burning Abyss players do now.
  • Our page for the player archetype of Munchkin has the quote "Munchkin: one who, when informed the campaign is about politics and intrigue in 17th-century Italy, asks to play as a ninja." Years later, Assassin's Creed II was released... On the Munchkin page the quote was soon potholed to the game's page, up until wiki policy changed to forbid that.
  • The Munchkin Ctulhu standalone game features the Fez of Fazooli, represented by a guy wearing a fez, a jacket and a bowtie (bottom left in this image). Several years later, guess who wore an almost identical outfit?
  • A writing guide written in 1994 would have various decrees that would be heavily violated by future works. Stuff like "No writing about the history of the Jedi", "No writing about the rise of the Empire", "No extra-galactic invasions". Of course, this document was a guideline for freelancers, so if anyone was going to do anything setting-breaking, they'd probably want to do it in-house rather than hand it off to some random person writing an RPG module.

jandn2014 SMILE! from somewhere in Connecticut Since: Aug, 2017 Relationship Status: Hiding
SMILE!
#3136: Mar 8th 2021 at 12:42:47 PM

[up][up] That’s just complete nonsense. Kill it.

callmeamuffin Just getting into Utena... (he/they) from the kitchen (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Thinkin' about you, muffin
Just getting into Utena... (he/they)
#3137: Mar 8th 2021 at 1:28:40 PM

Currently, I'm going through the related page over tragedies and pandemics. In fact, I found one on YMMV.The Simpsons S 8 E 15 Homers Phobia that needs context.

Edited by callmeamuffin on Mar 10th 2021 at 6:09:30 AM

Working on Sandbox.The Amazing Race TV Tropes Edition.
Shadow8411 Since: Jul, 2019
#3138: Mar 9th 2021 at 9:13:57 AM

In reference to the Family Guy Hilarious in Hindsight query, the example from "Don't Make Me Over" that was cut from the main YMMV page still exists on the episode's YMMV page (albeit phrased a bit differently and not as long). Should I cut it, since it still refers to the same thing?

Edited by Shadow8411 on Mar 9th 2021 at 9:15:59 AM

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#3139: Mar 9th 2021 at 10:00:28 AM

Wanted to add something to Chuggaaconroy which it turns out has already been done, but the page looks a bit like a mess.

    Chuggaaconroy 
  • Chugga once hated his real name Emile and as a child he wanted to be called Steve. When Mimi reveals her true form, he remembers why he hated Emile and his nickname. ZCE. Not sure what this has to do with anything or why it's hilarious.
  • In episode 3 of his Super Mario Sunshine LP, he said that he had no plans to do Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario 64. He would later technically stick to this, playing Super Luigi Galaxy and Super Mario 64 DS instead. Maybe, though this sounds more like a deliberate gag.
  • Also, in 2009, Chugga comments in a video of his SMS game "...I'm surpised PETA hasn't gotten on this game, yet." Another Mario game would become a target of PETA later, to the point that they made a mock game to show the animal cruelty the game is "promoting". I assume SMS means Sunshine? Possible keep, although it was for a different Mario game.
  • In his The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask LP, a Running Gag was that he'd kill the bosses by 'chopping off their toes'. Then Skyward Sword came out, and it was revealed that the first step to beating The Imprisoned boss was to literally chop off its toes. Keep.
  • In one of his Super Luigi Galaxy videos, he gets a coin and a star together and jokingly says he got a Coin Star and won Mario Party. Fast forward to 2011, and we have The Runaway Guys. What's the connection?
  • "This is the moment that starts it all." He says this while the camera focuses on a planted red leaf Pikmin. Uh, OK? Why is this important? ZCE.
  • His first use of the now-famous name is when he says "We'll just call him Steve and we're not going to like him." Let's just say the "not liking him" part would turn out to be an understatement. I can see why this would be seen as hilarious but without the pothole it's very ZCE.
  • In his Special Features video for Mother 3, Chugga announced that Earth Bound would never be re-released outside of Japan. 4 years later, Nintendo announced they would do just that. Chugga's response on his Twitter: Keep. Creator-acknowledged example.
    "How I wish I recorded my little girl scream from the reveal of EarthBound Wii U coming to the US."
  • In Super Mario 64 DS, Chugga talks about how maybe at E3 2013 there would be a multiplayer 3D Mario Game. He was right. Keep.
  • In Kirby's Epic Yarn:
  • Chugga talking about how changing someone's name while their knocked out as a joke becomes really funny after the same thing happens to him in Dokapon Kingdom Episode 3. Keep.
  • Chugga (jokingly) suggests that the disparity in Luigi's characterization between Paper Mario 64 and Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga is because of character development that happened because of Luigi's Mansion, and not 24 hours later, Paper Jam is announced and shows that the two series take place in separate universes. Keep.
  • In an Animal Crossing New Leaf video, Chugga shows the new feature of placing furniture on the walls, and jokingly believes that the next Animal Crossing game will introduce hanging furniture from the ceilings. In Happy Home Designer, ceiling furniture is indeed available. Keep.
  • In Okamiden, Chugga mentions that he was scared of frogs growing up and tended to run screaming from them. Seems like his interactions with Croque were doomed from the start. Again, without the pothole it's very ZCR.
  • From Animal Crossing: New Leaf onward, most of Chugga's chosen games to LP have gotten news related to them announced or even released during/shortly after his playthrough: Unrelated but I feel this would make more sense at the top of the page instead of smack-dab in the middle. Anyway, all of these examples are good and the last one was what I planned on adding myself.
  • Then the trend gets reversed at times, and occasionally it seems that Nintendo games are predicting Chugga's playthroughs: Keep.
  • In one episode of his ''Super Luigi Galaxy" LP, Chugga makes a joke about Star Bunnies, then lampshading that he doesn't know much about rabbits, having never owned one. Come 2016, and Emile now has a pet rabbit named Pippy. Cute but seems more like Heartwarming than Hilarious.
  • During a bonus episode of his Splatoon LP, Chugga joked that, because Team Marie won the Callie vs. Marie Splatfest, Marie is factually the superior Squid Sister. According to Marina, Splatfest results are law, meaning that he's not too far off. Not sure, as I feel this is a common joke regardless.
  • When dealing with Tolstar, Chugga criticizes him on not taking the Bros. money before scamming them. His + Bowser's Minions incarnation seems to have taken his advice. Keep. I'd say it's fairly specific.
  • In Episode 5 of his Pikmin 2 LP, he said that, while it wouldn't fit a Mario game the whole way through, he wished that they'd put a level in a Mario game in which everything looks realistic, like in Pikmin 2. Cut to Super Mario Odyssey, where the Metro Kingdom is exactly that. Don't know. Seems pretty nonspecific..
  • In Pokemon FireRed he points out that Misty is wearing a swimsuit and sneakers and deduces that she swims with her shoes on just like everyone in the Mario & Sonic Olympic games. In the 2020 version, the human characters swim realistically, in other words, barefoot (although Peach and Daisy did this in an earlier game). Also counts as fan disservice for characters like Wario and Eggman. Not seeing the connection here. A character in one game swims weird, while everyone else in another game swims normally. Okay? Delete.
  • At the end of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon, he suspects that Luigi's Mansion 3 will happen due to E. Gadd accidentally pushing the Boo release button on his remote. Turns out King Boo's escape in 3 wasn't due to E. Gadd's incompetence. Delete. This is just a fan theory being incorrect.
  • During Pokemon Crystal's Kanto Post-Game, he addresses some comments saying their jealous of him because he makes money off his videos. Chugga points out that he doesn't "get diddly squat for it". This is no longer the case as he does indeed make money with his L Ps. How is this hilarious?
  • The final bonus video of Chugga's redone Earth Bound let's play was dedicated to showcasing the Tent Glitch, a Game-Breaking Bug that could produce all sorts of bizarre results; many commenters compared the video to one of Vinesauce Vinny's corruption streams as a result of the sheer similarity between the two in content and tone. Over a year and a half later, Vinny would start uploading pre-recorded videos of him playing Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, a departure from his standard livestreaming content, that commenters would compare to a let's play. While it's more similar to a modern blind LP than Chugga's walkthrough style, one can't help but giggle at the parallels, especially given that Xenoblade is Chugga's favorite game of all time and Vinny had previously streamed a full playthough of EarthBound two years before Chugga's redo of the LP. Copied from another page, and besides it's overly circuitous Fan Myopia.
  • In part 28 of his Pokémon Platinum LP, he mentions how he thinks Pelipper would be a more useful Pokémon if it only got a better ability. Later that same year, Pokémon Sun and Moon ended up giving Pelipper Drizzle, which vastly improved its competitive viability and quickly shot it up to Overused in the Smogon metagame. Keep.

Edited by AlleyOop on Mar 9th 2021 at 1:01:05 PM

bwburke94 I am mad scientist! It's so cool! from 1.048596% (Y2: Electric Boogaloo) Relationship Status: She does the things you do, but she is an IBM
I am mad scientist! It's so cool!
#3140: Mar 9th 2021 at 11:15:31 AM

You technically didn't give an opinion on the Xenoblade Chronicles/Smash Bros. example. I assume it's a Keep?

2025: the year it all ends?
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#3141: Mar 9th 2021 at 12:06:39 PM

Yep, that's the one I specifically wanted to add but got beaten to the punch.

I assume everything else is good?

Anddrix Since: Oct, 2014
#3142: Mar 9th 2021 at 12:56:51 PM

Bringing up the following examples from FunnyAneurysmMoment.Other Media:

  • The crew of the Apollo 1 took this mock portrait, jokingly praying to the untested craft. It becomes a lot less funny when they all burned to death inside it during a routine test.
  • On November 24, 1958, at a Friars' Club roast in Los Angeles for Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, after comedian Harry "Parkyakarkus" Einstein note  suffered a heart attack and slumped into Milton Berle's lap, emcee Art Linkletter asked Tony Martin to sing a song in order to lighten the mood. He selected "There's No Tomorrow" (sung to the melody of "O Sole Mio"), and sadly, Harry Einstein died soon afterward, with Tony Martin serving as a pallbearer at his funeral.
  • From "The Good War" — the massive set of WWII-based interviews by historian Studs Terkel (the brackets are part of the title, by the way): The interviewee, Maurice E. Wilson, talks about an apparently white man called Robert Brooks in his unit whom Wilson often called Nig on account of his features and hair. After Brooks died, it emerged that he was black and had lied about his race (he was pale enough to pass for white) to get into a white outfit.
  • James Rodale - a writer and publisher who advocated for organic foods and healthy living in such publications as Prevention magazine - died of a heart attack at 72 while appearing as a guest on The Dick Cavett Show. Just minutes earlier, Rodale had predicted he would "live to be 100".
  • In 1984, artist Patrick Nagel participated in a celebrity "aerobathon" to raise funds for the American Heart Association. Immediately after, he suffered a heart attack and died in his car.
  • Providence radio DJ Doctor Metal of the hard rock station WHJY threatened not to go see Metallica play during the summer (even though he supported them on the air since they were still in the underground) if their new album wasn't good. He then qualified the statement by saying he doesn't know what'll happen and he could be dead by then. Shortly after that, Doctor Metal died in the Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island in February 2003. Oh and that next album, St. Anger? It was almost universally hated by Metallica fans upon its release.
  • After a would-be terrorist tried igniting a bomb in his shoe in 2001, some comedian quipped, "...so now the government is looking in people's shoes. Thank god he wasn't trying to light a bomb in his crotch." In 2009 someone did try to light a bomb in his crotch, using a packet of the plastic explosive sewn to his underwear.
  • When Amy Winehouse was a guest on Never Mind the Buzzcocks some of the jokes told by Simon Amstell included: "you want us all to sit here while you drink yourself to death?" "This is not a pop quiz anymore, this is an intervention. [...] We used to be close, what happened?" Amy's response? "She's dead, let it go, Simon"
  • On Patton Oswalt's blog in 2007, in a gag list of his top five albums from the year he includes "Remembrance: The Amy Winehouse Box", giving Island Records credit for "embracing reality and preparing for the inevitable."
  • Helen Keller, who lived during the first half of the 20th century, owned a dog named Kamikaze. That was a pretty beautiful name for a dog back then, as it's Japanese for "Divine Wind"... except, thanks to World War II, most people who hear "kamikaze" think of suicide bombers.
  • One of the most famous letters written by Klemens von Metternich (1773-1859) says this: "My life has coincided with a wretched epoch. I came into the world too soon or too late (...). I ought to have been born in 1900 and to have had the twentieth century before me." Of course, Metternich couldn't know that people born at the beginning of the 20th century had to witness far worse than the Revolutions that made him so bitter.
  • One passenger on a Malaysia Airlines flight joked about his plane disappearing on Twitter before it was shot down over Ukraine.
  • Kate Upton said in a 2014 interview regarding her not doing nude shoots: "...with social media and the Internet and not so great blogs and the attention like that, I don't think that my pictures would be received in the way that I'd want them to be received. That's why I've stayed away from them." Not long afterward, on Labor Day a hacker got hold of and released private pictures of herself, Jennifer Lawrence and other ladies... suffice to say she was right.
  • There once was a time when TV presenter Jimmy Savile acting goofy and silly was considered to be all in good fun. Even when he grabbed women and children or made Did I Just Say That Out Loud? comments which shocked, surprised and embarrassed people, everyone assumed them nothing else but innocent jokes. After his death, when he turned out to have been a gigantic sex offender of minors, all these antics have become Harsher in Hindsight. It has gotten to the point that all his memorials, statues, archive footage, pictures, fundraising organizations,... have been now been effectively removed, destroyed or disbanded, making him an Un-person at this point.
  • After the Columbia space shuttle broke up during re-entry, one of the items recovered in the debris field was the videotape that was being recorded in the cabin as they were re-entering (this was standard procedure on shuttle flights). The final critical minutes were missing (presumably because the outer layers of the tape on the take-up reel were damaged), but fifteen minutes into the recording, as the glow of the plasma caused by atmospheric re-entry becomes visible through the cabin windows and lights up the interior, Pilot Willie McCool says, "This is amazing, it's really getting fairly bright out there", and Commander Rick Husband jokes, "Yeah, you definitely don't want to be outside now"... A few minutes later they were.
  • In an interview with GQ in 2007, Hayden Panettiere stated "You can’t schedule rehab for me... I think I'm going to be one of those boring girls." In 2015, she did go into rehab for postpartum depression.
  • In February 1959, Waylon Jennings lost a coin-flip to Buddy Holly and was forced to take a bus to Minnesota whereas Buddy took a plane. Before leaving, Holly joked "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up.", to which Jennings joked, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes." Tragically, the plane did crash, killing Holly and everybody else aboard. Jennings was haunted by those words for the rest of his life.
  • Chadwick Boseman had lost a considerable amount of weight in 2020 and was gaunt-thin in photos from that year, leading to jokes on social media that the Black Panther had become the "Crack Panther." Then he died of colon cancer, having hid his illness from the press for four years, meaning those photos were taken when he was in the final stages of the disease. This also means he had cancer during his most famous roles.

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#3143: Mar 10th 2021 at 7:35:43 AM

I've been directed here from Ask the Tropers:

So, say there's a work made in 2019. Standard cop fare, but it hinges on it being taken as a good thing that two cops on separate instances got away with killings they committed, one of which emphasized how he was triggerhappy because he's scared and it's a shoot or be shot world out there.

Then 2020 happens and police brutality kinda becomes a hot button issue.

Then in 2021, the work is released. So the events of 2020 are hindsight to the development of the work, but not hindsight to its release. Would it qualify?

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#3144: Mar 10th 2021 at 7:38:24 AM

[up]I'd say not hindsight at all. Just because it wasn't taken seriously as a problem yet, doesn't mean it wasn't already a huge problem for years before production even started.

My musician page
PrincessPandaTrope #BoomSilverTheVampire4Lyfe from Up and Down and All Around Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: In love with love
#BoomSilverTheVampire4Lyfe
#3145: Mar 10th 2021 at 7:57:21 AM

I was going to write an example for HilariousInHindsight.Fan Works:

Would this count, or nay, since Claire Voyance happens to be a common Punny Name? (Yes, even the topic creator has to ask since they don't know everything.)

[down] It was not in the article in the time of this post's writing. I just wanted to be sure it would count.

Edited by PrincessPandaTrope on Mar 10th 2021 at 10:14:27 AM

Content Warning: My posts may involve my actions dealing with R-rated or Not Safe for Work content. Same for my edit history.
Tomodachi Now a lurker. See you at the forums. Since: Aug, 2012 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
Now a lurker. See you at the forums.
#3146: Mar 10th 2021 at 7:59:03 AM

Keep the example, it is fine. I do feel the character is too minor to count, but eh, it would be a disservice to ignore the coincidence.

To win, you need to adapt, and to adapt, you need to be able to laugh away all the restraints. Everything holding you back.
WoodKnapp94 Since: May, 2020
#3147: Mar 10th 2021 at 9:04:17 AM

This is on Gimme a Break!:

  • Gilligan Cut: When Addie tells her African-American friend that Black women have finally evolved past the "Aunt Jemima" image, Nell walks in (having done the household chores) exhausted... and wearing a do rag. (Which has since become a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment due to Quaker Oats excising the Aunt Jemima brand over concerns of racial stereotyping.)

The same exact example is also listed on the YMMV page and FunnyAneurysmMoment.Live Action TV and I'm 90% sure that it's a shoehorn. Thoughts?

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3148: Mar 10th 2021 at 9:21:15 AM

Personally, I think the statement "black women have finally evolved past the Aunt Jemima image" could be something like Hilarious in Hindsight due to the change in the brand's name and the reasoning behind it.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#3149: Mar 10th 2021 at 10:17:05 AM

Would the fact that the 1999 Godzilla Micro Battle sets include a Pentagon you can demolish as well as a Twin Towers count as Harsher in Hindsight or would it be considered a given since Monumental Damage is in play here and plenty other recognizable landmarks can be destroyed?

Edited by Larkmarn on Mar 10th 2021 at 1:17:33 PM

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Anddrix Since: Oct, 2014
#3150: Mar 10th 2021 at 12:03:07 PM

Bringing up the following examples from Hilarious in Hindsight:

  • Paleontology:
    • In 1989 palaeontologists chose the name Revueltosaurus for a new species of dinosaur discovered in Revuelto Creek, New Mexico. Years later, it was determined that the partial skeleton used to describe this species was actually a mix of bones from different animals and that the most of them probably belonged to a basal crocodilian, not a dinosaur. It just happens that "revuelto" is Spanish for "messed up".
    • Apatosaurus' name means "deceptive lizard", which turned out to be very fitting, as its fossils have deceived their very discoverer as well as the general public. Paleontologist O. C. Marsh famously named the second Apatosaurus specimen he discovered Brontosaurus, and outfitted it with a fossil skull that in reality belonged to a different dinosaur. It continued to deceive people for near a century, and the two names (or rather three, the third being the little-known Elosaurus) and skulls in fact still do confuse many people who grew up knowing it as Brontosaurus.
    • Allosaurus, whose name can be translated as "other lizard", was the top-dog predatory dinosaur in media before being dethroned by — who else? — Tyrannosaurus Rex, leading it to be seen as basically "that other lizard".
    • this blog points out that the first depiction of the Spinosaurus is actually one of its most accurate
    • In the beginning of the 20th century, when paleontologists were firm in their belief that dinosaurs and birds could not possibly be related, they tried to explain bird evolution by coming up with a purely hypothetical, four-winged gliding reptile-bird transition, named "Tetrapteryx" or "Proavis". In 2000, Microraptor is discovered, which was a real four-winged gliding reptile. But unlike what those early scientists expected, it was a dinosaur, which reaffirmed the modern belief that birds descended from dinosaurs.
    • Likewise, cheap plastic figures of Pteranodon (the famous crested pterosaur) often erroneously gave the animal teeth, much to the annoyance of paleontologists. In 2003, a newly discovered crested pterosaur is published, and this one really did have teeth — this trope is even lampshaded in its name: Ludodactylus, meaning roughly "toy finger".
    • Jurassic Park's Chaos Effect toyline featured a mutant hybrid between Velociraptor and Archaeopteryx called "Velociraptoryx", and was essentially a raptor with bird feathers (and the wing finger of a pterosaur, somehow). Raptors with feathers, what a crazy idea! Except that today we know that all raptor dinosaurs were covered head-to-tail in a feathery plumage, and Archaeopteryx has also been reclassified as a raptor in recent years.
  • The asteroid Antiope was discovered in 1866, and named after one of two characters in Classical Mythology with that name (there's some dispute about which one). Fast forward to 2000, when it was discovered that Antiope is in fact a double asteroid (two pretty equally sized bodies orbiting a point between them), and it takes on another dimension.
  • "Wisdom teeth" were originally named because they appeared later in life e.g. when someone is "wiser." Modern science suggests that we have wisdom teeth because over the course of our evolution, our growing brains caused our jaws to shrink. We have wisdom teeth because of our species' growing "wisdom."
  • In a quote condemning Nicholas Copernicus, Martin Luther described heliocentrism as being akin to "somebody moving in a carriage or ship [claiming] that he was sitting still and at rest while the earth and the trees walked and moved". Not only is heliocentrism the dominant astronomical theory today, but a few centuries after the quote was made, Einstein published the Special Theory of Relativity that explained motion as being relative to the observer, meaning, yes, someone in a vehicle can indeed describe themselves as being still while the worlds around them move with justification.
  • Similarly, the 16th century comedy Morosophus by Dutch playwright Wilhelm Gnapheus stars a Know-Nothing Know-It-All Astrologer who is rumoured to have a large book sitting around in his house collecting dust. It was intended on an attack on Gnapheus' contemporary Nicholas Copernicus,note  who indeed had a large book in his house sitting around in his house. Shortly before Copernicus' death, that book was published under the title On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, the first great work on Heliocentrism. Today, Copernicus is remembered as a genius and one of the fathers of modern astronomy because of that work.


Total posts: 8,910
Top