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
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I found that on the page, so I don't know what exactly the original poster was aiming for. It looks like they're trying to say the "hilarious" part is that The Boys' original run was cancelled for the same reasons Cheat Slayer would be years later, given people made jokes about latter being inspired by the former, but the entry only talks about The Boys.
One-Track Mind (he/him)
From Administrivia.Locked Pages:
- HarsherInHindsight.Real Life: A bloated page filled with shoehorning. The page is temporarily locked pending further action by the Hindsight Cleanup thread.
Did we ever do anything about that? The last edit made was 5 months ago, but the page still looks bloated. I'm not sure, is what I'm trying to say.
This is Idol Tap. (My Troper Wall)
Welcome, traveller, welcome to Omsk
I think the The Boys/Cheat Slayer entry is weak. While I'm not familiar with Cheat Slayer outside of its page, it isn't a superhero story and doesn't seem to have any particularly strong plot similarities outside of the generic "Darker and Edgier deconstruction of a genre". The "got cancelled early in their runs" is the only really specific point of comparison, and even then, it's quite different in how long they ran.
It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
Regarding UHF and grown adults watching children's media, it would also be good to mention Entertainment Below Their Age.
Edited by Nen_desharu on Nov 8th 2023 at 12:58:21 PM
Kirby is awesome.
the Retromancer
This isn't the first time The Boys got compared to and I don't think it's even related here considering Cheat Slayer isn't even in the same genre.
Tobias/TJ (He/Him)
Yeah, I thought of mentioning that too. The page quote on Entertainment Below Their Age is from C. S. Lewis, so that basically tells me that Periphery Demographic has been a thing for quite a while.
Rookie Trope Repairer
Do any of these Harsher in Hindsight entries in YMMV.Caddicarus feel shoehorny to anyone else, or is it just me?
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- He ends his review of the Crash Bandicoot cartoon by slaughtering it, the gag being that he shoots directly at his screen, therefore destroying his computer and remarking he now needs a new PC. In early 2021, building a new computer brought him a lot of problems that would culminate with him spending roughly $10,000 on faulty tech and cancelling an episode after accidentally deleting all gameplay footage of it.
- Caddy's praise about P.T. becomes uncomfortable when Konami removed the game from the PS Store, which in turn later on led up to the cancellation of Silent Hills, but would eventually be rebirthed into Death Stranding.
- The more positive-leaning review on Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled became less fun to watch now that Microtransactions have been added to the game. When Caddy found out about this, he was genuinely angry. As an extension, the "Cash Banooca" Running Gag ended up being used as a joke that Activision took the "Cash" part seriously.
- In early 2013, his Destruction Derby 2 review included a joke about the game's violent cover art by commenting how everyone in the car crash on the front cover is dead, bringing up pictures of different characters or people when saying "friends, fathers, etc." The picture he used for "fathers" was James Avery (Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), who died later that same year.
- In his Tekken 7 review, Caddy mentioned that Tekken Bowl was rumored to be coming soon as DLC and hoped that the latter wasn't true. The mode did come out but his worries about it being paid turned out to be true.
I have concrete ideas as to why the Nitro-Fueled and Destruction Derby examples feel off, but I'm not sure about the rest. Concerning Nitro-Fueled, my understanding is that the microtransaction situation didn't affect the game's overall reception in the long run, even if the video no longer reflects Caddy's opinion. As for Destruction Derby, that's just good old-fashioned actor mortality.
"As long as I have my comrades with me, I can do anything!" (She/Her) (Current Focus: Cleaning Hell Is That Noise misuse)
I'd say they are, in order...
- Not really connected (in the episode, he comedically destroyed his computer, in the second he had trouble with a computer he built)
- A rare cousin of Actor Mortality, "Project Mortality", which is getting misty-eyed at the mere mention of a canceled project
- HIH being used to complain about a work
- Actor Mortality strikes again
- More complaining about paid DLC
I wouldn't mourn any of them getting cut.
From HarsherInHindsight.Advertising: Apple's '1984' advert, depicting IBM as a 1984-esque Big Brother figure, while these days, Apple are HUGE champions of Digital Restrictions Management and locking down devices so users can't use devices they own to their full capability. In addition, Apple banned The Best Page in the Universe from being viewable from Apple Stores and on Apple offices' networks, which Maddox speculates was due to his anti-iPhone page.
Maddox is a highly controversial figure and I imagine his blocking had much more to it than just being anti-i Phone, and even if he wasn't, blocking one webpage doesn't make you totalitarian.
hey i remember this debacle
using maddox himself isnt the greatest source but i recall someone (either him or a fan) went into an Apple store and verified he was specifically banned instead of caught in some basic vulgarity webfilter
hail, holy queen of the sea, you're whirling-in-rags, you're vast and you're sad
Angry babby
I think the example works (mocking modern Apple is an extremely common joke to make about the 1984 ad, and this entry is tamer than what most people say) but maybe bringing up a specific user isn't necessary unless it was particularly more controversial than others, though I suppose it does work as an example of their controversial behavior.
Edited by mightymewtron on Nov 9th 2023 at 9:56:34 AM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Christmassy yes
Might be presumptive but the creator of Undertale: Bits and Pieces was outed for possession of CSEM so do keep an eye on the YMMV page.
All haaaail the jolly fat man.
he/him
From Red Sonja: Scavenger Hunt:
- Hilarious in Hindsight: Analee asks Sonja if her vow to only bed the person who bests her in combat applies to women as well as men. In 2013, Gail Simone not only got rid of Sonja's vow but also retconned her into being bisexual.
I'm not sure this qualifies as light hearted and hilarious. Analee is the resurrected Big Bad, all of Sonja's allies are now dead due to the scheme to resurrect her, and the two are in a duel to the death.
Analee's just killed an unwanted male admirer and this line has definite We Can Rule Together overtones. Sonja avoids answering the question, and has just angrily commented that one of the women who died (who was also shown questioning some details about Sonja's vow) was the closest person to her heart in a long time.
So... 18 years later, a different adaptation of the character directly confirms Sonja as bi and ditches the problematic vow. Still not seeing how that gets comedy from this serious scene?
Owl House / Infinity Train / Inside Job Fan
In Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, a plot point is an in-universe movie being canceled mid-production. Would this be Harsher in Hindsight, given that Coyote Vs Acme was (briefly) shelved a week before the release and both productions have Will Forte as a major character?
The Owl House and Coyote Vs Acme are my Roman Empire.
Not really an example since there's no real connection between the two works.
And works getting shelved midproduction isn't so unique that one example immediately relates to another.
Angry babby
The actor connection might be onto something, though.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
This Harsher in Hindsight entry on Power Rangers Samurai feels like a stretch
- Ji being hard on the Rangers has become this is this in light of Rene Naufahu being convicted of indecent assault and sentenced to house arrest.
Cut. That's just "Actor appears in a work, then does something bad later".
Angry babby
On That's So Raven:
- The Dating Shame has an fame-seeking game show host who tried to tear the girls apart just to make the show more interesting; this would later become a key feature of another reality TV host.
I'm a big Total Drama fan but this feels like Fan Myopia. It's more that Chris and this character are parodies of the same thing.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
I need to discuss this entry in YMMV.South Park S 4 E 7 Chef Goes Nanners:
- Harsher in Hindsight: Jimbo explains the racist "history" of South Park's flag while at the same time venting about the over-saturation of political correctness when it came to sports mascots such as the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Redskins (both of which have stereotypical connotations towards Native Americans). Even before the episode aired, there have been calls to have both teamsnote renamed and the mascots retooled. The Redskins officially dropped their name in the 2020 season and, after being the Washington Football Team for two seasons, became the Washington Commanders. After the 2021 MLB season ended, Cleveland dropped its former name to become the Cleveland Guardians.
The entry directly states that people were upset with these mascots before the episode aired, it's not a hindsight example.
I agree. It's just two separate instances of Sadistic Game Show Hosts.
OK, I removed the entry and linked here.
Rookie Trope Repairer
The Caddicarus Harsher entries have all been cut for misuse, citing this thread in the edit reason.
Edited by Riolugirl on Nov 26th 2023 at 1:55:17 PM
"As long as I have my comrades with me, I can do anything!" (She/Her) (Current Focus: Cleaning Hell Is That Noise misuse)
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
Good.
The Native American mascot controversy began in the 1960s, before either creator of South Park was even born:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_mascot_controversy
Thus, it is the correct decision to cut the entry and it is a very easy cut.
Edited by Nen_desharu on Nov 26th 2023 at 7:27:45 AM
Kirby is awesome.