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.
- 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
Sent a grammar notifier.
Edited by Theatre_Maven_3695 on Aug 10th 2021 at 12:50:49 PM
Angry babby
Looking through that person's edits, their grammar is pretty bad. I see other shoehorns of things like Expy too.
Edited by mightymewtron on Aug 10th 2021 at 1:00:55 PM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Peter Pan, it's time to show to us how you identify shoehorns...
YMMV.The Adventures Of Peter Pan:
- Princess Luna, anyone? Seems to be a run-of-the-mill Fan Myopia entry, and it's a borderline ZCE too.
- This adaptation is the first to start the John/Tiger Lily pairing before the 2003 film. I'm pretty sure this was also the case in the Disney movie, so it's technically older.
- Interestingly enough, Chikao Ohtsuka would go on to portray another version of Captain Hook, most notably in Kingdom Hearts. Maybe? It does seem like a funny coincidence, but it still looks like an actor-related bad entry.
The first two can be sent to Neverland forever; third one's a borderline keep though. (Just maybe)
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I did just that: the third entry is up for now, but the other two are off to Neverland.
I've removed this example from the YMMV.RWBYV 6 E 13 Our Way page.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: One skit in RWBY Chibi had RWBY (and Jaune) be confronted by a giant Grimm, trying to get Ruby to activate her Silver Eyes to kill it, only for Penny, a robot, to show up and win in a Curb-Stomp Battle. This volume has RWBY, JNPR, Oscar, Maria and Qrow go up against the Leviathan, with Ruby trying to activate her Silver Eyes, only for Cordovin (in her mech) to show up and one shot it. That Chibi skit came out four months before this episode, by the way. Even better, when Blake pointedly tells Ruby to use her Silver Eyes, Ruby says she can't because it isn't the season finale.
The comedy skit came out first, and the serious event occurred later. As a result, the skit was already funny to begin with.
I've also sent the page itself to the Cut List because it only had three entries on it, and I had to remove two for misuse (this one, and an Evil Is Sexy entry that isn't episode-specific, as the character concerned has been regarded as one for years, in almost every episode she appears). The third entry is already on the main YMMV page.
Edited by Wyldchyld on Aug 12th 2021 at 10:14:06 AM
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
I hate to bump, but I don't think I got any consensus on whether I can cut these.
The first point is not necessarily shoehorned, but it's still complaining. The third and fourth are shoehorns and should be cut. The Sonic Boom "infinite jump glitch" is the only one that should stay (and even then, the "another flop" line should be cut for irrelevant complaining).
Edited by Shadow8411 on Aug 12th 2021 at 9:57:45 AM
This is on Gremlins 2: The New Batch under Harsher in Hindsight:
Let’s just say the film now comes off as insanely naive about the kind of person Donald Trump actually is while spoofing him as the lovable Willy Wonka-esque Clamp. Depending on the reader, the throwaway line on the background P.A. system "Wouldn't Clamp make a great President?" from a certain deleted scene is either this or Hilarious in Hindsight. (Admittedly, the original plan was to make Clamp as ruthless as was implied, but John Glover was tired of that specific role, and decided to mix it up instead.)
Yet another ROCEJ Trump shoehorn that could be either Hilarious or Harsher depending on one's political views. I suggest cutting it.
Edited by Shadow8411 on Aug 12th 2021 at 11:49:23 AM
Terrible entry. Impeach it.
I'd like to apologize for all this.- Hilarious in Hindsight: Let's see...a heroic ape leading a band of other beasts (including an Anti-Hero Velociraptor) against a wicked Tyrannosaurus? Fast-forward about two years after this game came out and well...
- Made even more hilarious since Sauron's purple colors makes him resemble Beast Mode Megatron.
- Let's also remember that the whole plot is kickstarted by an insane goddess being sealed in the moon.
Only the first example is valid, the other two are shoehorns (besides containing wrong/unnecessary indentation and Word Cruft).
I'd like to apologize for all this.
Found on YMMV.Superman Batman Public Enemies
- "Funny Aneurysm" Moment: It is shockingly scary how the beginning of this movie managed to predict a lot of real life events near the end of the 2010s and beginning of the 2020s despite just being a work of fiction. For sake of cautious editing, we won't list examples, but for anyone who's lived through those years, they know exactly what.
Yes, we do know exactly what.
The troper is trying to disguise his attempt to shoehorn a comparison between Lex Luthor being President of the United States and Donald Trump. He's also using FAM to exploit a loophole, since the comment telling him not to do this only directly mentions Hilarious in Hindsight and Harsher in Hindsight.
Recommend sending the troper a notifier, and then editing the comment to add FAM.
- "Funny Aneurysm" Moment: In the group's Resident Evil 2 playthrough, Matt makes a Hitler joke by shouting "SIEG HEIL!" when he had Johnny raise Leon's arm up to make him look like he was doing the Nazi salute. Becomes a lot less funny by the late 2010s when Nazism re-emerged in society. Matthew also admits that in hindsight he wishes he never made that joke in the first place; calling it something stupid he wishes he never uttered and ruined the let’s let's play as a result.
Didn't neo Nazis exist before 2016? Kind of feels like an excuse to complain about Nazis existing. It's not like the world was an utopia between 1950 and 2015.
Edited by PlasmaPower on Aug 12th 2021 at 11:12:38 AM
Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
Neo-Nazis were absolutely still a thing in the 90s and 00s.
It's either real or it's a dream
I do at least think that Neo-Nazis are more visible now then they were back then, it was common for comedy shows at the time to make Hitler and Nazi jokes (Family Guy, anyone?) just like that user, with a very "well this is irrelevant, and no one will get mad at us for making fun of Nazis" mindset. But after 2016, things have changed. With all that said, given that the user in question openly regrets said joke, it'd probably go under Creator Backlash instead.
Let's start with the entries in The Itchy & Scratchy Show:
- In "The Tears of a Clone", Scratchy is Killed Off for Real and Itchy realizes that life is meaningless without his Arch-Enemy around, so he creates a cloning machine and creates more clones of Scratchy so he can kill them. However, he quickly gets tired because the machine spits out the clones too fast, so Itchy creates a killing machine and makes an endless slaughterfest. Over fifteen years later, we get the Treehouse of Horror XXVI segment "Wanted: Dead, then Alive", whose plots became strikingly similar to "The Tears of a Clone", with Sideshow Bob as Itchy and Bart Simpson as Scratchy; the Reanimator in place of the cloning and killing machines; and a slightly different ending, which goes well with Bart and his family finally triumphing over Bob after all the ordeals the boy has gone through.
- The joke about Poochie's name was that nobody could be bothered coming up with an edgy dog-themed name. Then Lil' Bow Wow came along.
- Surely a real-life animated studio would never resort to rapping dogs to pander to kids, right?
- The constant jabs at Disney, up to and including references to the Mr. Alt Disney figure Roger Meyers Sr. being a Nazi, in light of the company's acquisition of The Simpsons and prominent placement of the series on Disney+.
I've cut it for being another Disney shoehorn.
Neo-Nazi have been a Thing since the 80s and most likely earlier, given the "Illinois Nazis" scene of The Blues Brothers
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
I think Neo-Nazis have been a thing since the fall of Nazi Germany. The Munich massacre was assisted by German Neo-Nazis in 1972 at least.
This is on Fireman Sam
- Harsher in Hindsight: In Penny's first appearance, Steele has problems addressing her properly due to being a woman. This is Played for Laughs and settled pretty quickly as "Firefighter Morris", which sticks throughout the series. In later years however, the term "Fireman" would be deemed sexist, with some Moral Guardians insisting the show be renamed Firefighter Sam as well.
If you ask me, supporting gender-neutral words is not that harsh, and insinuating that it is kinda feels like complaining to me.
Angry babby
Didn't we cut that example before?
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]")
Yeah, on top of the bad grammar it comes off as just drawing a line between two Disney-owned works just because they prominently feature crocodiles. I'd say cut it.
Be kind.