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
Welcome, traveller, welcome to Omsk
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Agree with you; the situations aren't that similar.
Angry babby
I think it might actually be Hilarious in Hindsight because it makes that scene retroactively come across as a satire of Rooting for the Empire and makes Probst come across as justified.
On YMMV.Family Guy S 9 E 1 And Then There Were Fewer
- Hilarious in Hindsight: When put in a team with Mort Goldman and Consuela, Mayor West pulls out some marijuana and asks the two if they want to smoke it, much to their utter disgust. Three years after this episode aired, Toronto mayor Rob Ford was thrown into a scandal involving a video of him smoking cocaine, alongside other alcohol-related scandals.
Way too farfetched, right?
The Draftsman of Doom
Seriously though, it's only tangentially related.
Edited by SkyCat32 on Mar 6th 2024 at 2:33:24 PM
Rawr.
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
I am very familiar with the Rob Ford incident. The connections between the Family Guy episode and Rob Ford are tenuous at best.
Not just that, but the drug in the Rob Ford case is crack cocaine, not cannabis as depicted in the episode.
Oh, and it's not exactly hindsight anyway as it is not the first time a mayor of a North American settlement took illicit (or then-illicit) drugs.
Mayor Marion Barry of Washington DC was caught smoking crack cocaine about two decades before the Family Guy episode aired.
Therefore, I would say that it is a safe cut.
I am open to clarifications or corrections to my post though and it is best to wait for a second opinion before cutting.
Edited by Nen_desharu on Mar 6th 2024 at 10:58:45 AM
Kirby is awesome.
Ideologically Blurred Enigma
Following the announcement of Akira Toriyama's passing yesterday, this entry was added to YMMV.Dragon Ball Daima:
Is this mortality misuse? I'm just not entirely certain whether "People complained about announcement of what turned out to be creator's final work due to dying during production" is fair grounds for said complaining to be regarded as Harsher – it's not as if the criticism directly contributed toward Toriyama's passing or anything…
It really, really, really could happen.
the Retromancer
1. Not even a hindsight. 2. The last part is speculation.
Edited by Amonimus on Mar 8th 2024 at 2:56:26 PM
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Welcome, traveller, welcome to Omsk
Seems like misuse for the reasons you said.
Ideologically Blurred Enigma
Removed example, citing thread in edit reason.
It really, really, really could happen.
I was thinking of submitting the following to Ghosts (US), but I'm not sure if it qualifies as Harsher or Hilarious:
- During season one, Sasappis tells Sam he was actually an accountant who died at a costume party while dressed as a Native American before telling her that he was kidding. Two years later, such a situation actually happens when Carol dies in costume at a Halloween party, meaning her ghost is now stuck in her costume.
To me that's more hilarious assuming the show didn't try to play it super seriously. I'd also consider whether Call-Back or a related trope is a better fit.
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Mayim Bialik playing a washed-up-actress-turned-mildly-successful-therapist version of herself, just a few months before debuting as Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory This does seem like "Actor was in a thing before being in a bigger thing". But on the other hand, if the idea was that Mayim Bialik gave up acting to become a therapist, I could see this as being legitimate.
- One of the leads is named Eddie Stark. This would normally be Fan Myopia, but given how big Game of Thrones got, I can see it raising an eyebrow to have a character named Eddie Stark.
What do you guys think?
Edited by SharkToast on Mar 13th 2024 at 3:24:54 AM
Seems pretty good to me. Unless there are some adjustments that are needed then that's all I can say.
Miyam Bialik was never a therapist. She didn't give up acting for her doctorate either, in fact she took a break in 2005 from her studies for more acting, only to go back to school in 2007 for her PHD (in nueroscience). It's just "Actor was in more than one thing."
As for the "character with similar name" thing, while their names are similar, Ned Stark is called Ned and Eddie is called Eddie. Ned's whole name is Eddard, and Eddie's is Edward.
So it's just "hey, same name—kinda." Not to mention, A Game of Thrones (the book) had been around for nearly ten years before Til Death.
They're both easy cuts, unless there's some way these minor coincidences are supposed to be funny.
Kinda off topic but that Retroactive example is also kinda bad since Kate Micucci was already know before her episode of Til Death aired (which didn't air til 2010), at that point she was already known for Garfunkel and Oates, which she is way more known for than "Shelly" (who only was a single episode character in the show listed)
If the role focuses on her being washed up, right before having a big Career Resurrection in real life it counts I'd say. Like the famous Simpsons example of John Travolta being portrayed as a waiter in Itchy&Scratchy Land that aired just before Pulp Fiction came out.
But she wasn't "washed up" she had just transitioned to mostly voice acting, in addition to guest roles.
Not to mention calling her washed up is unnecessarily rude.
Angry babby
If it's Adam Westing where she depicts herself as washed-up, then it's not really rude to describe it as such. I think that example could be valid for irony's sake.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
N/A
Edited by ArthurEld on Mar 13th 2024 at 4:36:30 AM
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
Yeah, I think people misunderstood the example. It's not talking about the real Miyam, but an Adam Westing case.
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Uzume's back baby!
A few weeks ago, I made a post on Ask The Tropers regarding this Genshin Impact example from HarsherInHindsight.Video Games:
- Tighnari’s voice lines (at least the original ones done by Elliot Gindi, Tighnari’s original voice actor) in Genshin Impact(specifically, “What are they gonna do, lock me up?”) sting very badly knowing that Gindi had been abusing minors with his status as a voice actor.
As mentioned on the ATT, the "lock me up" line is a reference to Tighnari doing courses for the Forest Rangers without permission from the Akademiya, which is considered "dissemination of information". While the line itself has been taken in a more morbid but still very serious context and I have been told in the post that even though Nari and Gindi are separate beings some people might not want to be reminded of the VA's crimes when referring to stuff like this (especially if they been through SA themselves), I feel like this example is a bit of a stretch. Plus, the YMMV page for GI have a lot of Harsher examples that are actually legit Harsher examples, even if they're In-Universe only.
"The name's Uzume Tennouboshi! Yeah, it's pretty badass, I know." - Uzume, Megadimension Neptunia VII
Angry babby
I don't think "some people might not want to think about the VA's crimes" is a valid reason to cut an entry. I think it would be valid if the VA is at risk of going to prison and/or people are repeatedly pointing out this connection.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Welcome, traveller, welcome to Omsk
I'd say it doesn't fit for the simple reason that the character's "crime" is nothing like the VA's one (and it seems you agree). There's no connection other than the reference to going to jail.
Edited by DoktorvonEurotrash on Mar 15th 2024 at 7:35:45 AM
It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird
Uzume's back baby!
Your right. Like I said, the example felt like a complete stretch to compare a misdemeanor to a felony.
Edit: Example removed.
Edited by ToonAbby on Mar 15th 2024 at 3:55:49 AM
"The name's Uzume Tennouboshi! Yeah, it's pretty badass, I know." - Uzume, Megadimension Neptunia VII
Is this Harsher in Hindsight entry from YMMV.Total Drama misuse and complaining?