Hindsight Cleanup

From Pauley Perrette:

• Hilarious in Hindsight: She showed up as a random criminal in the CSI episode "Lady Heather's Box" just a few months before NCIS started. Even funnier, the character she plays there couldn't be less similar to Abby, being a drug addict who almost gets Lindsay killed and doesn't even care.

This is on a YMMV page for a creator, so is there any way of rewriting it into a trope that could be put on the creator's main page?

It seems cutworthy.

"Listen up, Marina, because this is SUPER important. Whatever you do, don't eat th“ “DON'T EAT WHAT?! Your text box ran out of space!”

Reposting from the previous page:

Bringing up the following examples from Hilarious in Hindsight:

• The poem For Heidi with Blue Hair by Fleur Adcock seems uncomfortable now considering it mentions "twittering", which to today's audiences, has different connotations than it did at the time of publishing...
• Longfellow's The Jewish Cemetery at Newport which discusses the plight of the Jews, ends with the stanza "But ah! what once has been shall be no more! / The groaning earth in travail and in pain / Brings forth its races, but does not restore, / And the dead nations never rise again." He did not foresee the creation of the modern State of Israel.
• In the short and little-known Shel Silverstein poem "Description", one character insist that God is black, another that God is female. It becomes this after "I Met God, She's Black became a popular slogan for T-shirts.

Okay, yeah, that first example makes zero sense. It's...it's just a bird sound.

(Don't) take me home.

The third one also seems like a shoehorn. God being perceived as black, or even as a woman, isn't a new thing, and the parts about God being black or female aren't even the focus of the poem.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

Double post but here's Johnny Test:

• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Using the "Superhero Effect" to win Susan's heart is a plot reminiscent of the "Mary Jane loves Spider-Man" storyline. A storyline kicked out of the canon. Same goes for a comparison to "Lois Lane loves Superman", given the Cosmic Retcon in Flashpoint. 'Seems like Fan Myopia especially since it connects to multiple works, meaning maybe it's not as exclusive as you thought.
  • Johnny and the Mega Roboticles. If being the first cartoons to spoof BIONICLE wasn't enough, it became a lot funnier when an actual BIONICLE bootleg called "Roboticle" was spotted on store shelves. This seems valid.
  • ...And in the same vain of Johnny Test spoofs, the episode Johnny'Mon featured a Pokémon parody called "Tiny'Mon", in which the weak Cuddlebuns is able to evolve into the legendary Screechereen (an Expy of Shadow Lugia from Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness). At the time, no Pokémon was able to evolve into a Legendary, (although the idea is similar to the infamous transformation of the weak Magikarp into the powerful Gyarados)... but come Pokémon Sun and Moon, we're introduced to the weak Cosmog, which is secretly capable of evolving into the powerful legendary Pokémon Solgaleo (in Sun) or Lunala (in Moon). Seems valid enough to me.
  • In the episode "How to Become a John-i Knight" is a direct reference to Star Wars. Since Johnny and Dark Vegan know how to duel lightsticks, Obi-Wan must be proud. I don't get the hindsight here. It's already a parody of Star Wars.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

Keep the middle two, although the only one I get is the "testicle" example.

From what is usually considered the worst superhero flick of the 90s, here's from Batman & Robin:

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Robert Swenson who played Bane in this film died of heart failure, like Freeze's wife. — Sounds like another real-life death issue, nevermind the fact that neither character actually died in the film itself. IIRC Freeze's wife is a Human Popsicle for the entirety of her screentime
  • In this movie, Alfred falls ill and an A.I. is made in his place. If Cyborg were here and Alfred really snuffed it, it’d be exactly like the Murder Machine’s origin story. — Uhh, Fan Myopia?

• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • When Ivy, in her guise as Pamela Isley, is about to kiss (and kill) Commissioner Gordon, she stops and tells him "On second thought, you're way too old for me." At one point in her life, Uma Thurman was married to Gary Oldman, who portrays the younger Gordon during his early career in Christopher Nolan's Batman series. — ???
  • In this film, Arnold Schwarzenegger tries to kill Batman. In Terminator Salvation, he gets a second chance to kill Batman. — Except the Arnie from Terminator 4 isn't the REAL Arnie, but a CGI-recreation, and that Schwarzenegger isn't physically present in the entirety of Terminator 4. I get the reference, but it sounds really shoehorned.
  • Robin's costume in this film looks like Nightwing's, except with the emblem in red and a cape. The New 52 reboot didn't give Nightwing a cape, but changed the bird symbol's color from blue to red. — ???
  • Bane falling in love with the female Big Bad and becoming her mook is very similar to The Dark Knight Rises. — Sounds like a forced shoehorn.
  • Two decades after this movie came another movie in which Batman is a major protagonist, in which starred the other actor who played Conan, this time as an ally instead of the Big Bad. — Another shoe-horn
  • In the films comic book adaptation, Batman and Robin's fight has a panel where Bruce slugs Dick, with the composition being eerily similar to the famous "Batman slaps Robin" meme, which became a very popular meme several years after the movies release. — This trivia is from the comics, and not present in the film itself. Should it even be here?
  • You can apply Bane in The Dark Knight Rises saying "Do you accept this man's resignation" to Joel Schumacher. — Shoe-horn
  • Batman would presumably have to use the Bat Credit Card to make withdrawals from Wayne Enterprises. Assuming Bruce has a separate account for his Bat Credit Card, it would show up one Wayne Enterprises' computers that Batman was making cash withdrawals from Bruce Wayne's joint account. Guess that explains how Coleman Reese put two-and-two together in The Dark Knight. Amazing nobody cottoned on sooner really. — ... wat.

I skimmed through Young Justice, and -to my surprise- the examples are actually kind of ok. They mainly use connections from the series instead of actor related shoehorning, X invented Y, etc. Still, there's some stretches here and there, and the decent examples should be brought here just in case they're not-so-decent:

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I don't think Wally being absent in Infiltrator would count as FAM/Harsher because him being absent has nothing to do with death. He had school when everyone else was at the beach. The circumstances make the connection feel too loose

EDIT 2: Just realized it mentioned that already in the example. Reading is dead and my brain is fried.

Edited by RainbowPumpqueen on Apr 12th 2021 at 3:49:38 AM

Sandbox help wanted.

What about the Longfellow example ?

---

Also bringing up the following example from Years and Years:

• Hilarious in Hindsight: The news of Trump winning the 2020 election amid allegations of voter fraud in Florida (likely taking some basis from Bush v. Gore) can come across as this due to the fact that Trump lost the 2020 election and himself made allegations of voter fraud (though not in states he had won, such as Florida).

I pulled this of YMMV.Goosebumps:

That's not an example, is it?

Ukrainian Red Cross

Seems cutworthy.

"Listen up, Marina, because this is SUPER important. Whatever you do, don't eat th“ “DON'T EAT WHAT?! Your text box ran out of space!”

From YMMV.Diary Of A Wimpy Kid:

• The concept of Rowley’s comic “Zoo-Wee-Mama” somewhat precedes the popular webcomic Webcomic Name, both of which always have a character proclaiming a repeated phrase to serve as a punchline of each strip. Seems more coincidental than anything.
• In The Last Straw, Greg said that in the future, everyone will have a personal robot that tells you whatever you need to know. Virtual assistants and smart speakers, anyone? Maybe? The book came out in 2009 though, so it might be more a case of Technology Marches On.
• In the first movie, Rowley rejects Greg's offer to get ice cream. Fast forward to the next time he ran into ice cream... I gave this a search and the episode is about Capron's character searching for an ice cream truck. I think this could be kept, even though actor hindsight examples aren't looked upon well?
• On top of that, Rowley breaks his arm. Robert Capron would later play another character in a Haunting Hour episode who breaks his arm...and then ANOTHER one who does so. Seems coincidental.
• In Cabin Fever, Rowley asks Greg if he wants to build a snowman. Coincidental.
• In Double Down, Greg is planning on making a movie. What's next, befriending a girl with leukemia against his will? Uh... what?
• In the expanded do-it-yourself book, there's a section called Diary of an Awesome, Friendly Kid which showcases some diary entries from Rowley's perspective. Eight years later, it would become a fully-fledged book. This doesn't seem like the trope for this.
• Geese being unusually aggressive in Double Down becomes much funnier after a certain indie game gave geese a Memetic Psychopath status. Unsure? I'd say keep but I'm not sure if "geese are jerks" was a popular trope known before Untitled Goose Game shot it into the mainstream.
• A comic strip called Wacky Dawg stopped being funny when the creator started using the dog character as a mouthpiece to voice his own personal opinions. Sound familiar? This also seems to be the case with the books themselves in the eyes of several longtime readers. Seems too universal, since that could be applied to anything.
• In the second movie, Rowley lip-syncs Tik Tok. Later, along comes the app of the same name that is known for videos of people lip-syncing songs. Unsure about this one.
• In The Long Haul, Greg suggests that the family rent an RV to carry their stuff in on the trip. This is shot down by Susan due to the gas mileage that RVs get. In The Deep End, the family uses Uncle Gary's RV for their road trip. Keep?
• Rodrick was misspelling "sweetie" as "sweaty" before it became a meme. Unsure.

This was added to YMMV.Veggie Tales.

• Harsher in Hindsight: Eric Metaxes' involvement with the series becomes a lot bitter in 2021 after political differences between him and Phil Vischer, which resulted not only Phil, but also any family members blocked from his Twitter. Phil felt upset about it after being good friends with him since 1999.

Too meta, I think.

SoundCloud

FWIW: I've seen "geese are demon birds from hell" jokes online for a while, and I don't even know what Untitled Goose Game is.

The whole "Geese are Evil" meme has been around long before UGG.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

We even have a TLP that covers the idea.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

YMMV.Maleficent has a bunch of entries, and most of them are iffy:

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Prior to this film, Elle Fanning had starred in the film Ginger and Rosa, wherein her character Ginger grew increasingly fearful of dying due to Mutually Assured Destruction. At one point her character breaks down, saying, "I don't want to die! I want to grow up and do things!" Said words could also accurately describe Aurora's sadness in the third act of the film, only in relation to her death sleep.

This would probably belong on the page of Ginger and Rosa that we don't seem to have.

• One of the interviews on the film's Blu-Ray has Jolie mention an argument her kids had over whether or not Maleficent was evil. If anything, it can be seen as a microcosm of the fandom's Broken Base.

Does fandom stuff count as Harsher in Hindsight?

• Prince Philip is often cited as the first Disney Prince to be proactive and have some significant Character Development. Here, however, he's derailed to make Maleficent's love seen more powerful than his own (albeit justified in-narrative as Philip himself admits he doesn't know Aurora well enough yet where Maleficent has been indirectly raising her for years).

Maybe this can be moved to YMMV.Sleeping Beauty after some trimming but I'm not sure.

• Walt Disney's original treatment of the fairies was for them to be Single Minded Triplets. He was persuaded to make them more unique and distinguished — and the original film has been praised for its diverse female characters. Come this movie and the three fairies are all interchangeable and incompetent.

Maybe this can be moved to YMMV.Sleeping Beauty after some trimming but I'm not sure.

• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In Sleeping Beauty, Flora and Merryweather argued over whether Aurora's dress should be pink or blue. Most official media for that film portrays Aurora wearing pink. Then comes this film, and Aurora's main dress (the one she wears during the final battle) is blue.

Maybe this can be moved to YMMV.Sleeping Beauty but I'm not sure.

• In Sleeping Beauty, Fauna suggests that they attempt to reason with Maleficent, suggesting she can't be all bad. She's of course, hilariously wrong on this point for that depiction, but then comes this film, in which Maleficent is most certainly not pure evil.

Maybe this can be moved to YMMV.Sleeping Beauty after some trimming but I'm not sure.

• In 2013, a Disney fan made a Chicago parody called Spell Block Tango. The video included Maleficent, who was in love with Stefan until they broke up due to "artistic differences". A similar scenario ends up happening in the film.

This would probably belong on the page of that parody if only there was such a page.

• Just like the original film, Aurora turning sixteen is a huge plot point. This film came out May 2014, a month after Elle Fanning herself turned sixteen.

Does this count?

• This isn't the first time one of the Fanning sisters encountered a dangerous fairy who serves as a mother-like figure. To be fair to Maleficent, though, she turns out to be a much better parental figure than the Other Mother. Even better, Coraline was a British girl in the book, but was made to be American in the film version, just like Dakota, whereas Aurora is played by equally American Elle using an English accent.

This one seems legit.

• During a press interview for the film, Elle made a joke about how Disney should adapt Dumbo into a live-action film. Disney is indeed doing that.

Maybe this can be moved to YMMV.Dumbo if such jokes count.

• Ella Purnell briefly plays the teenage Maleficent - a fairy whose wings are unwillingly stolen from her. Her next big role is the film adaptation of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - where she plays a girl who can float lighter than air and has to weigh herself down with heavy boots.

This one seems legit.

From Conan

• "Funny Aneurysm" Moment: In a December 2017 episode with James Franco and Ari Graynor promoting The Disaster Artist, the former mentioned how inspired he was to make the film upon reading the book version, to which Conan jokes "You actually read a book? You're kicked out of Hollywood!" Less than two months later, Franco appears to be on his way to this due to exposure of his past sexual misconduct.Speculative and recent troping
  • The Running Gag of Wilford Brimley grumpily answering "Dammit, I'm still alive!" in Celebrity Survey is now this, due to the actor's death in 2020.Actor mortality
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Jon Cryer appeared on the show and cracked about how he had to watch "TMZ to see if I'll be going to work that day"., referring to the frequent troubles of his Two and a Half Men co-star Charlie Sheen. Guess who was hospitalized merely a day later, stopping production on the show and kicking off a downward spiral that finally led to him being fired?"Guess who...?" entry. Might be valid, but would need to be rewritten
  • For years, Conan joked about Caitlyn (then Bruce) Jenner with two recurring themes: his plastic surgeries and him looking particularly feminine. Come 2015, and it turns out only one of those is supposed to be a joke.???
  • The sketches with Watson implying that he had an affair with Andy's wife can be looked at in a different light, since Andy and Sarah Thyre actually got divorced in 2019.Did she leave him for a robot? Because that was the joke. Maybe if it was immediately after the episode aired or even a few months, but that's an eight year gap

The Caitlyn Jenner one is a Running Gag about her getting plastic surgery and looking feminine before she came out as a trans woman, which I'd say could count.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

I get transphobic vibes from it.

"Listen up, Marina, because this is SUPER important. Whatever you do, don't eat th“ “DON'T EAT WHAT?! Your text box ran out of space!”

Could be moved to "Funny Aneurysm" Moment if it reads as more retroactively transphobic. (I listed a similar joke about Jenner under FAM on MAD.)

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

I went ahead and chopped down the Wimpy Kid examples. I kept a few that I felt were fine to keep.

YMMV.South Park S 7 E 1 Cancelled was created with this entry:

• Hilarious in Hindsight: The plot of this episode (Earth being used as the basis for an alien reality show) also happens to be the plot of The Simpsons Hit & Run, which released a few months later. So in this case, South Park Did It!

The idea of Simpsons doing something after South Park might be funny because of the "Simpsons did it" meme, but I don't know if South Park itself is the first one to really do the "Earth is an alien reality show" plot.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

Jennifer's Body

• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Needy has an Evil Dead t-shirt and has a poster of the first film hanging in her room. Cut to 2011 and Diablo Cody was hired to doctor the script for the remake.^note The two actual scriptwriters did not have English as their first language.
  • Amanda Seyfried would be on the other end of a Love Triangle in Les Misérables (2012).
  • Amanda would also play a Depraved Bisexual in Chloe.
  • Diablo Cody's next film, Ricki and the Flash, would deal with a struggling rock band too. Although there, the situation is considerably tamer.
  • Megan Charpentier, who plays young Needy in flashback scenes, would play a mean girl herself in It (2017).

Nothing but actor garbage. May I cut?