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Hindsight Cleanup

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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

jandn2014 SMILE! from somewhere in Connecticut Since: Aug, 2017 Relationship Status: Hiding
SMILE!
#3601: May 1st 2021 at 12:24:55 PM

We literally have an entire trope for characters who love explosives and blowing stuff up. Nuke that without a second thought.

Edited by jandn2014 on May 1st 2021 at 3:25:02 PM

Crossover-Enthusiast from an abaondoned mall (Lucky 7) Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#3602: May 1st 2021 at 1:50:03 PM

It's been torched.

Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢
Anddrix Since: Oct, 2014
#3603: May 1st 2021 at 7:12:06 PM

Bringing up the following example from The Craft: Legacy:

  • Harsher in Hindsight: The Craft Legacy was released in October 2020 and criticized by some viewers for being too lighthearted and colorful compared to the dark and grungy 90s film. A few months later in February 2021, teen fantasy series Fate: The Winx Saga was released and got criticized for the opposite problem: being excessively grim and violent for a show based on a colorful, idealistic 2000's cartoon.

RustBeard Since: Sep, 2016
#3604: May 1st 2021 at 7:45:21 PM

The two works have no connection beyond being teen films that involve magic. Cut.

Chrononaut70 Since: Dec, 2020
#3605: May 1st 2021 at 9:46:29 PM

About some of the stuff relating to The Professional, admittedly some of them didn't exactly fit the Hilarious in Hindsight trope that much or belonged elsewhere. The Romeo is Bleeding reference does make sense since Jack Grimaldi and Norman Stansfield are corrupt New York cops not to mention that they were released only a year apart. Singin' in the Rain had Carrie Fisher's mother Debbie Reynolds as one of the main leads and the former was Princess Leia Organa, the daughter of Padme Amidala (played by Natalie Portman), so it sorta fits in a way.

Edited by Chrononaut70 on May 1st 2021 at 9:54:18 AM

MrMediaGuy2 Since: Jun, 2015
#3606: May 2nd 2021 at 6:08:50 PM

This was added to YMMV.Happy Tree Friends under Hilarious in Hindsight. (Not even bulleted properly BTW.)

  • Fliqpy taking over Flippy's body whenever the latter hears something related to his pastime in the war foreshadows the main villain in the fifth season of a certain Canadian show.

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3607: May 2nd 2021 at 6:22:26 PM

[up] Total Drama did not invent the idea of a Split Personality. And said villain isn't even related to war at all. Cut that entry, it's borderline offensive.

Edited by mightymewtron on May 2nd 2021 at 9:22:36 AM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
RobertTYL Since: Oct, 2019 Relationship Status: Holding out for a hero
#3608: May 2nd 2021 at 7:55:51 PM

More Dreamworks Hingsight garbage, this time from Monsters vs. Aliens.

  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • In one scene one of the President's advisors says: "In these situations I think to myself, what would Oprah Winfrey do?" Years later, Oprah would be briefly considered by 5e populous to run for the 2020 Democratic party presidential nomination (and didn't end up running). — If it happens over a decade later and Oprah didn't even make it, does that count?
    • The news anchor sarcastically comments that the U.S. is the only place UFO's ever seem to land in. Ironically, 2009 also had a movie where aliens land in South Africa. — Maybe? IDK about this.
    • The alien probe looks a lot like a minion from Despicable Me and Minions — the latter of which features a Minion on the probe’s scale. — It's a one-eyed robot with a round body. Pretty sure that's a standard design ever since sci-fi films from the Black-White era.
    • During her initial growth, Susan claims everyone else in the room is shrinking. Figures she’d think that; her fiancée is Ant-Man 1, after all. — Yes troper, you're an MCU fan. But that still sounds like a stretch.

And more borderline ROCEJ from Megamind

  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • Hal Stewart became violent over Roxanne rejecting his advances. Three years after this movie was made, the Isla Vista killings happened with the killer having an eerily similar motive. — You can pretty much shoe-horn any public shooting spree into ANY movie if you shove hard enough.
    • The inmates who raise Megamind teach him the difference "between right (criminal) and wrong (cop)." 2020 would see public support turn against the police due to a number of high-profile cases of Police Brutality towards black people, specifically the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor — The lack of a fullstop was from the original text, not from me. Also, how is THAT even related?

And a quickie from Rise of the Guardians

And this line from Turbo

  • Sonic the Hedgehog inspired this film. Enough said. — Yes, enough said, he said...
  • A villain in Wreck-It Ralph is named Turbo... who is a racer and has similar ambitions to Turbo. They're both portrayed as protagonists in from where they're from. Turbo is the hero in his Turbo Time game, while he's the main villain of the movie. As an added bonus, Sonic the Hedgehog, who inspired this film, appeared in Wreck-It Ralph.
    • Speaking of Sonic, it was eventually announced in 2017 that the movie adaptation of the franchise will be produced by Tim Miller, the director of Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool (2016).
    • And it gets better: Ben Schwartz, aka Skidmark, will be voicing Sonic.Honestly all these sounds like wet snail feces, and I'm leaning on cutting all of them.

Edited by RobertTYL on May 2nd 2021 at 10:57:02 PM

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3609: May 2nd 2021 at 8:02:36 PM

I'd be more willing to keep the Oprah one (she didn't end up running, true, but it was a fairly common meme/rumor for some time) but cut the District 9 one. Everything else I agree to cut.

Edited by mightymewtron on May 2nd 2021 at 11:02:55 AM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
rjd1922 Best robot boy | he/him | Image Pickin' regular, from the United States Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Love is for the living, Sal
Best robot boy | he/him | Image Pickin' regular,
#3610: May 3rd 2021 at 7:45:55 AM

This is on YMMV.Breakin 2 Electric Boogaloo:

  • Harsher in Hindsight: The film's subtitle, due to its popularity as a snowclone, became the inspiration for the name of the Boogaloo movement, a far-right extremist organization with links to white supremacy and violent crime that aims to start a second American civil war (i.e. "Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo").

Keet cleanup
underCoverSailsman Peeks from Under Rocks from State of Flux Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Peeks from Under Rocks
#3611: May 3rd 2021 at 8:08:15 AM

[up][up][up]Rise Of The Guardians: Might be an Actor Allusion?

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3612: May 3rd 2021 at 9:27:38 AM

[up][up] I don't know if that alt-right garbage is more common than the snowclone joke, at least not to the point where watching the film only brings to mind the alt-right garbage.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Delibirda from Splatsville Since: Sep, 2020 Relationship Status: I wanna be your dog
#3613: May 3rd 2021 at 9:28:38 AM

It is not Harsher in Hindsight. The laconic is: A certain event that is worsened when future events are taken into consideration.

Edited by Delibirda on May 3rd 2021 at 6:29:34 PM

"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!”
NoUsername she's only programmed to be very nice Since: May, 2012
she's only programmed to be very nice
#3614: May 3rd 2021 at 7:59:39 PM

this for Harsher in Hindsight on YMMV.Dilbert is so bad it wraps around to being funny

  • In October 2009 a set of strips were made about Dilbert's company preparing a plan in case of a pandemic. Nearly eleven years later covid-19 occurred.

i think if we had a page of "shoehorned covid examples" that'd be prime page quote material. anyway the real reason i'm asking here is because the other Harsher in Hindsight entry is about trump and i'm not too sure what to do about it. is it a ROCEJ violation? it does seem to be written from a neutral POV so i'm not sure.

  • Scott Adams once made a strip in which he listed Donald Trump as one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet, only barely outclassed by Dilbert. In 2017, Trump became an incredibly controversial president, with Scott Adams's support. To Trump's supporters, this strip predicts what they see as unjustified backlash to Trump, while to his detractors, this strip predicts the worst president yet and shows Scott Adams's fall from grace.

Edited by NoUsername on May 3rd 2021 at 11:03:54 AM

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3615: May 3rd 2021 at 8:14:25 PM

I mean...it gives an argument for being harsh to all political parties, so that's good foresight, at least. I think it could be rewritten even more neutrally though, if it even needs to count at all.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
RobertTYL Since: Oct, 2019 Relationship Status: Holding out for a hero
#3616: May 3rd 2021 at 11:08:37 PM

Back to more animated stuff, this time on Pixar...

Am I the only one who thinks someone is using various YMMV pages of different Pixar films to bash John Lasseter? I mean, we know what's with the 2017 expose, but some fans of the studios are taking it way out of proportions.

Case in point...

Coco

  • Harsher in Hindsight
    • The Reveal (the beloved Ernesto de la Cruz is actually a fraud and murderer) is a lot harder to swallow after Pixar founder/CEO and hero to many aspiring animators John Lasseter took a leave of absence, and ultimately resigned at the end of the next year, following reports of his history of sexual misconduct and mistreatment of female and minority employees. Even worse, it occurred 1 day before the movie was released! And not just Lasseter. The movie came out within a period of accusations of sexual assault and harassment by much respected and famous actors and other film/television industry big shots that destroyed fans' passion for them and their work, much like how Ernesto's actions being revealed to the public almost instantly turned his fans against him. Additionally, reportedly John Lasseter stole the idea and credit for Cars from one Jorgen Klubien, an animator who was friends with Lasseter at CalArts and later Pixar, and booted Klubien to script-writing before removing him from the film altogether. The parallels to Héctor, Héctor's friendship with Ernesto de la Cruz, and how Cruz ultimately threw Héctor, his best friend, under the bus in order to steal Héctor's idea and went on to fame and glory are eerie.

Toy Story 3

  • Harsher in Hindsight: (this page also contains an entry that is Actor Mortality regarding Sarge, which I'm leaning on cut)
    • One of Lotso's defining character traits is that he's a "hugger" whose hugs are quite forceful and clearly non consensual. John Lasseter himself identified as a "hugger," and among his sexual harassment accusation from female employees was that he was much too forthcoming (to the point of aggression) with hugs.

Monsters, Inc.

  • Waternoose being outed as a villain who's willing to kidnap and harm children becomes much harder to swallow when you realize that 16 years after the film was released, Pixar head John Lasseter was found to have sexually harassed several other Pixar employees and took a leave of absence that ascended to a full-blown departure, much how Waternoose being exposed for his actions resulted in his arrest.

A Bug's Life

  • Harsher in Hindsight: Kevin Spacey would find out just how true Hopper's "getting buried by grain" analogy was, as his career survived a few singular accusations of sexual abuse over the years, but was finally destroyed when a whole bunch came at once in 2017 (it's especially harsh given how his character actually acts like an abusive boyfriend toward Atta, and constantly gets in her personal space).
    • A similar wave of misconduct allegations around the same year would also bring down the film's own director and future ex-Disney chief creative officer, John Lasseter.

... aaaaaand finally, it's coming back full-circle: The Pixar Story

Do we need to shoehorn Lasseter into every YMMV page? Permission to remove everything above?

mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3617: May 3rd 2021 at 11:21:44 PM

[up]

  • Coco isn't Hindsight because the entry admits this happened before the film was released. The Jorgen Klubien entry does sound actually similar to the plot of the film, so I might be willing to keep that, though I've actually never heard of this controversy.
  • Toy Story 3... maybe keep. I think that "unwanted hugs thing" is a specific enough trait besides just connecting it to general sexual harassment.
  • Monsters Inc.: I'd cut this one, cuz Waternoose's behavior isn't really akin to sexual harassment, and Lasseter did not kidnap or harm children.
  • A Bug's Life: Keep Spacey's entry, especially since I think I've heard that referenced offsite, but the Lasseter entry doesn't have as much context to back up the connection.
  • The Pixar Story:
    • Keep, because hand-drawn animation did unfortunately fail at Disney, and the part about Kitbull can stay for extra irony.
    • Not quite sure about this second bullet. It does sound painfully ironic, but I'm concerned about ROCEJ.

Edited by mightymewtron on May 3rd 2021 at 2:22:24 PM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Delibirda from Splatsville Since: Sep, 2020 Relationship Status: I wanna be your dog
#3618: May 3rd 2021 at 11:23:53 PM

Question: Does any of the Hindsight page descriptions say that it needs to be in-universe?

"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!”
mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3619: May 3rd 2021 at 11:25:36 PM

[up]None of them are NRLEP, if that's what you mean.

HarsherInHindsight.Real Life is locked for cleaning, but we haven't actually, like, cleaned it yet.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
MrMediaGuy2 Since: Jun, 2015
#3620: May 4th 2021 at 11:57:55 AM

Here are some examples from YMMV.The Far Side. (I added the orca one myself BTW.)

  • "Funny Aneurysm" Moment:
    • "Suddenly, on a national talk show in front of millions of viewers, Dick Clark ages 200 years in 30 seconds." That's pretty much what happened to Dick Clark after his stroke.
    • One cartoon has an orca and a bottlenose dolphin at a SeaWorld-esque show, with the orca telling the other dolphin "The herring's nothing... I'm going for the whole shmeer!", implying that the orca is going to eat his trainer as well as the fish he's being offered. Since the strip was published, there have been an increasing number of captive show orcas attacking and even killing their trainers due to stress, making this strip harder to read in recent times.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • This comic was published years ago. This was a 2011 summer blockbuster, leading to many jokes that the movie is an adaptation of the Far Side comic.
    • One strip features two young squids who are referred to in the caption as "the squid kids".
    • There's a strip where hopeful parents dream of future job advertisements for a person highly talented at video games as they watch their game-obsessed kid. Decades later, eSports, Let's Play, YouTube and Twitch streamers, and various other gaming-related ventures have become financially viable, and many people have indeed turned their aptitude for video games into a career.
    • One early strip features a character who looks almost exactly like Professor Hubert Farnsworth.
    • In a strip about a cockroach having a nightmare about a talking shoe, said cockroach's name is Carl.
    • One strip has Herman Melville rejecting several ideas for the first line of Moby-Dick, one of them being "Call me Al".
    • Larson's strangely inaccurate attempt at drawing xenomorphs, with a pointed head and brow ridge, looks almost exactly like the Deacon in Prometheus.
    • The strip invented a word for "fear of being watched by ducks", anatidaephobia. Come 2020, and humans have good reason to fear the anatidae.

fragglelover Since: Jun, 2012
#3621: May 5th 2021 at 12:15:35 PM

This is on The Simpsons S 15 E 4 The Regina Monologues:

  • "Funny Aneurysm" Moment: JK Rowling's cameo isn't likely to be a welcome sight after 2020, when she made transphobic remarks that have, at least so far, derailed her career. Not helping matters is how it's Lisa - the most progressive member of the Simpsons family - that engages with her; one could imagine how differently this exchange would have played out had the episode been produced today.

Delibirda from Splatsville Since: Sep, 2020 Relationship Status: I wanna be your dog
#3622: May 5th 2021 at 12:20:29 PM

If that is misuse, it is not the worst.

"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!”
mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#3623: May 5th 2021 at 12:29:39 PM

It's just "controversial figure appears" with no connection to transphobia in the work. It's no better than "Trump appears" examples.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
RobertTYL Since: Oct, 2019 Relationship Status: Holding out for a hero
#3624: May 5th 2021 at 5:43:43 PM

This sounds like an environmentalist having an aneurysm, which I'm learning on cutting:

The Muppet Movie (The one from the 1970s, NOT the early 2010s remake)

  • Harsher in Hindsight: Kermit imagines thousands of other frogs going around with tiny crutches. Real-life wild frog populations have suffered a decimating rash of leg deformities in the years since the film was made, some from pollution and others from natural parasites or predators.

And then this Actor Garbage from Eraser:

  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Back in 1990 or so, A&E had a short-lived series called Naked Hollywood, which focused on different aspects of Hollywood. The premiere episode featured a comparison of Actors and Movie Stars, and the distinction between the two. The two people who the episode primarily focused on were Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Caan. — For the record, Arnie and Caan never shared screentime in Eraser, since Caan dies after two minutes. CUT?

Edited by RobertTYL on May 5th 2021 at 8:47:41 PM

ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?

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