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
Bumping this Main.Surrealism non-example to get consensus for cutting:
- Hilarious in Hindsight: Just to think that the “Manbabies
” is a new meme, check out the painting The Spirit Of Geometry by René Magritte.
Surrealism is a trope. It should not have YMMV examples. (And it wouldn't work on a hypothetical page for Magritte either.)
On Star Trek Voyager S 2 E 16 "Meld":
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- "The DNA doesn't know how to lie." That's not what O.J's defense team said.
- Tuvok scoffs at how light a punishment just being confined to quarters is, which can ring especially hollow to people who went through the COVID-19 Pandemic and now know EXACTLY how bad it can be to be trapped even in the comfort of your own home.
Probably overreacting, but the first one seems kinda ROCEJ, and I'm just checking here to see if the second one is a valid COVID example.
Edited by TheRandomSurfboard on Jul 28th 2024 at 11:04:09 AM
From YMMV.The Exorcist Believer:
- Hilarious in Hindsight: On William Friedkin's passing, writer and film critic Ed Whitfield wrote on social media stating, "William Friedkin once said to me, 'Ed, the guy who made those new Halloween sequels is about to make one to my movie. The Exorcist. That's right, my signature film is about to be extended by the man who made Pineapple Express. I don't want to be around went that happens. But if there's a spirit world, and I can come back, I plan to possess David Gordon Green and make his life a living hell.'" This becomes this when the film was released to scathing reviews and Friedkin's death two months before the film's release.
Kinda iffy on this. The death might be this in hindsight given Friedkin's grim humor about it, but this also just seems like nothing more than Disowned Adaptation? Your goateed philistine is sashaying towards us. | 🧱
... What the hell does O. J. Simpson have to do with DNA, nevermind Star Treck?
"It's requested that your death ends here, now!" - Sayaka, Death end re;Quest Code Z.I think that contested DNA evidence was a point of his trial.
Agreed, it's probably a shoehorn as it's not like OJ is the only trial with contentious DNA evidence.
Edited by mightymewtron on Jul 28th 2024 at 12:46:07 PM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.![]()
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The D is for "doctorb".
From That '70s Show
- Harsher in Hindsight:
- In the first couple minutes of "Grandma's Dead", Eric's grandma has always been snippy towards Kitty and annoys him while driving her home, to the point where he finally snaps and says "I don't think being nice for a whole day would kill you". Seconds later...That's just Five-Second Foreshadowing and Tempting Fate, and the whole thing is played for Black Comedy
- Furthermore in the episode Laurie states at Marion Ross’ character’s funeral “Life is so weird, you get old and die. Thank God I’m still young and hot” is now quite eerie because of Lisa Robin Kelly’s 2013 death, whereas Marion Ross is still alive and kicking it. Possibly valid, but not sure
- In the first couple minutes of "Grandma's Dead", Eric's grandma has always been snippy towards Kitty and annoys him while driving her home, to the point where he finally snaps and says "I don't think being nice for a whole day would kill you". Seconds later...That's just Five-Second Foreshadowing and Tempting Fate, and the whole thing is played for Black Comedy
Harsher in Hindsight: The film's plot begins with Victor going through divorce, while Matthew is having marital problems. Director Stanley Donen and his wife Yvette Mimieux divorced a year after the film was released.
Does the fact that he’d been through three divorces already (and would eventually have a fifth) affect whether this counts?
Join the Five-Man Band cleanup project!Should I remove it, then? (In addition to the reason I gave above.)
Join the Five-Man Band cleanup project!Suggested addition to the Heartwarming in Hindsight section of YMMV.Escape From Vault Disney:
- For What Would Walt Have Done? Month, Tony changed the theme song to "The Age of Not Believing," which The Sherman Brothers wrote to express their uncertainty with the Disney company's future after Walt's death. When Richard Sherman died during WWWHD? Monthnote , the use of the song began feeling like a tribute to him.
Edited by dsneybuf on Jul 30th 2024 at 7:49:45 AM
- Harsher in Hindsight: Prior to this movie's release, there were several news stories touting Manny Jacinto's casting to be a sign that his career was on an upward trajectory after appearing in The Good Place. Come the final cut, however, Jacinto's appearance is so brief that he's only seen on screen for a handful of seconds.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet's that they use in the film are descended from the F-5 Freedom Fighters that doubled as MiG-28s in the original.
Does the film itself being different from assumed count?
The second one is just trivia and not something that came out after the film affecting it's reception.
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The first is tangential, and the second is just obscure trivia. Both can easily be cut.
From Flubber's YMMV:
- Harsher in Hindsight: A wedding ceremony conducted via teleconferencing, with the bride and/or groom visible only on a video-screen, might not be so beyond the pale anymore now, in the age of coronabug.
Is this another COVID shoehorn, or does it actually have some merit?
Do not mess with creatures which you do not understand.Eh, I'd definitely say keep it if it was something like "wedding ceremony conducted via teleconferencing at the very last minute during the first half of March" or "wedding ceremony conducted via teleconferencing where someone somehow thought 'tropical virus' could be a theme", but I feel like it's missing that something.
Your goateed philistine is sashaying towards us. | 🧱Edit: Moving to the next page.
Edited by Bullman on Jul 30th 2024 at 6:09:58 AM
Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread

Yeah, this is wrong-way hindsight.
2025: the year it all ends?