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
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cut the first two for being VA stuff and fan myopia
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
- Speaking of Moldybutt, his name becomes weirdly prophetic in light of the suspicion that J. K. Rowling had a mold infestation in her home that altered her personality into the high-profile transphobe she is today, leading to detractors nicknaming her "Moldevort."
What
It’s an in-joke about how J.K. Rowling lives in an extremely moldy castle, which former fans have joked has affected her health to the point of making her bigoted
. There’s barely a connection anyway.
Edited by CanuckMcDuck1 on Feb 4th 2025 at 8:24:27 AM
Do not mess with creatures which you do not understand.A few months ago I wrote this entry on The Geek Critique but I’m now second guessing myself
- Harsher in Hindsight: In Josh's review of Super Smash Bros. 4 Josh laments how Fire Emblem got two newcomers (albeit one being a Moveset Clone), while the Donkey Kong Country franchise received no new fighters, despite the latter having sold far games than the former. Within a year of the video's release, Roy and Corrin would be added to the game as DLC meaning Fire Emblem would end up having triple the representatives Donkey Kong Country had. While the next game would finally give a third playable DKC character with King K. Rool, FE would end up adding another Moveset Clone and new fighter via DLC, bringing that series' total up to eight playable characters compared to DKC's paltry three. However, this can overlap with Hilarious in Hindsight depending on one's perspective on the two series.
Edited by Mariofan99 on Feb 4th 2025 at 10:15:33 AM
I question some Harsher in Hindsight entries form ProJared
- Several moments in Jared's earlier videos come off as rather wince-worthy following Jared's messy divorce with Heidi in 2019, along with the allegations of infidelity and pedophilia that followed suit (with Heidi herself later being accused of the former by Jared):
- In Jared's first review, of the game Two Worlds, Jared uses a glitch to skip a large portion of the game due to Jared wanting to finish the game as soon as possible. Jared defends his decision by stating "Yes I cheated, and I'm okay with that because this game cheated me first!"
- In his review of Two Worlds II, Jared relates to the main character by noting that neither of their relationships seem to ever last.
- In his review of Virtual Hydlide, Jared states he feels betrayed upon learning Atlus, his favorite game publisher at the time, was the company that published the game in North America. Jared compares this to finding what appears to be the perfect girl, only for her to brag about kicking a puppy. While neither Jared nor Heidi accused each other of animal abuse, many fans would see Jared himself become a Broken Pedestal following Heidi's allegations (be it temporarily or permanently).
- The final rating Jared gives in his video covering the Intect Interact, The Worse Video Game Console Ever, is "A Broken Marriage out of 10".
- Less harsh, more squicky. In his video covering Sailor moon games Jared makes his love of Sailor Mercury in particular clear and caps off the video wearing Sailor Mercury cosplay. Funny at the time. However not long afterward posts were leaked where it was revealed that Jared was sexually messaging with fans. One of the more infamous of these posts had Jared wearingnote the Sailor Mercury outfit. Making it possible that the image was taken shortly before or after he shot that scene, and anyone rewatching that video nowadays will likely get a bit of a shock seeing him in the outfit.
- Several moments in Jared's earlier videos come off as rather wince-worthy following Jared's messy divorce with Heidi in 2019, along with the allegations of infidelity and pedophilia that followed suit (with Heidi herself later being accused of the former by Jared):
The ones I’m mainly questioning are the Hylide and Sailor Moon ones I just showed them all for full context
Edited by Mariofan99 on Feb 6th 2025 at 10:03:10 AM
Cracked.com's Hilarious in Hindsight page is incredibly bloated. I've left out the very, very few that seem valid and singled out ones that are either iffy or not at all valid.
- 6 Terrifying New Creatures Science Just Discovered
, an article about recently discovered scary organisms, at one point has the caption "Huh. Apparently Spider-Man can beat Batman. Thanks, Nature!". A few months later, in DEATH BATTLE!, Spidey goes up against the Caped Crusader and wins. Fan Myopia
- On December 22, 2008, Cracked wrote an article about the 20 Most Ridiculous Batman Comics Ever Released
, a few of which included Bat-Mite and the Rainbow Batman, the latter of which the site claims is "what happens when Batman is written by Liberace." Later, however, all of these are included in Batman: The Brave and the Bold (though Rainbow Batman was not included until the 2010 Animated Adaptation of Emperor Joker). Unsure leaning towards cut. If the tone was more It Will Never Catch On, like if they were saying we'll likely never see them in adaptations again, then sure. But if they were merely listing ridiculous characters, then it shouldn't count, because comic book movies and shows will reuse obscure characters every now and then.
- On May 29, 2009, Daniel O'Brian wrote the blog post "What if Kanye West is Retarded?
", suggesting that, rather than a genius who sometimes does quirky things or someone cynically trying to pass himself off as one, Kanye might just be stupid and lacking in self-awareness or life experience, an opinion that has only grown more popular with time. Also, he opens the post with a shot at 808s and Heartbreak; while a popular opinion at the time, especially with Kanye's fanbase who wanted Good Ass Job, the album has been since Vindicated by History. The 808s and Heartbreak jab seems valid, and people DO seem to believe the article's thesis more and more these days (especially with all the antisemitism and other controversies). But I'm a little concerned that the first part of this (the agreeing with the article thesis) violates our Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement. Especially since the title of the article it's agreeing with calls a real-life, living person (albeit a horrible person) a slur.
- In the 2008 article "The 5 Most Pathetic Video Game Acting Performances
", "Dana Plato in Night Trap" was #2 on the list because of her "stilted" performance that "consisted of running around in a sports bra" and her glances at the camera, as well as her trap scene at the end of the game in a Perfect Run (never mind that the game was filmed in 1987). Come the 25th Anniversary Edition in 2017, and Cracked may have second thoughts in wondering if the high-quality video and some extra features and deleted scenes are doing her justice in order to honor her memory as a good actress she wanted to be before her untimely death in 1999. I wasn't aware of fan reactions to the unearthed footage-I mean, it's cool and all, but have people really been using it as evidence of her being a good actress? I think the revaluation is less due to her acting chops and more just people regretting mocking her since she died young and tragically.
- In the 2012 article of the "5 Old Children's Cartoons Way Darker Than Horror Movies
", Swing, You Sinners! was #1 on the list for this reason: "Officially, LSD was first produced in 1938. We say "officially" because this cartoon says it's from 1930, and there's no way it was created without massive doses of acid being pumped into everyone involved." Five years after this article, we have Cuphead, which is heavily modeled on Swing, You Sinners! and the other works of Max and Dave Fleischer in The Golden Age of Animation while combining them with the Contra and Parodius franchises (the Credits Gag even said that the game was set in 1930, which was the exact year that Swing, You Sinners! came out in The Great Depression!). DEFINITE cut. This isn't even hindsight, there's no relation between these two things except that one inspired the other. If the article said that it would make for a good video game, or that nobody remembers this cartoon, then sure. But I don't see the connection between the quoted line about LSD and Cuphead, except that Cuphead is trippy? Cut cut CUT.
- Way back in 2008, Cracked.com did a photoplasty
which featured Jake Gyllenhaal as Quicksilver. He would eventually get cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Mysterio. Unsure. Would definately be a keep if the joke was that nobody wants to see him in a superhero movie. But if you look at the photoplasty, the joke isn't just "he's a superhero", it's a joke about Incestuous Casting where he and his real-life sister Maggie are cast as incestous superheroes Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. If they actually played those characters and kept the incest it would count. But (thankfully) they didn't, so I don't think it counts.
- In 2013, Felix Clay wrote 6 Amazing Movie Crossovers Hollywood Should Be Making Now
where, among other ideas, he pitches a Terminator vs.Rambo movie. 7 years later, both characters are playable in Mortal Kombat 11. Unsure, it's a video game instead of a movie, and games have a long history of unlikely crossovers.
- The 2014 article "9 Unintentionally Terrifying Old-Timey Children's Toys
" describes Mr. Potato Head as a "lovable subliminal advocate of plastic surgery". A year later, Melanie Martinez would release a song called "Mrs. Potato Head" that was a metaphor for becoming addicted to plastic surgery. Seems like Fan Myopia, I feel like people have been making that connection long before Melanie.
- 6 Terrifying New Creatures Science Just Discovered
On the Phillip K. Dick YMMV page, this is listed:
- Harsher in Hindsight: Clans of the Alphane Moon has the "Heebs", mentally inferior humans who aren't fit to do anything more than sweep the floors. note
I understand that it's accidental use of a slur, but I don't see how this is in hindsight (I think use of this slur predates the book, because I had to look it up and most of the links that first appeared were for a magazine that reclaims it, so it doesn't seem to be used all that much anymore..) should this just be cut?
Any thoughts on this entry
(the one about Rick and Morty)? I'm leaning on cutting it, but I just wanna make sure.
Alright, I'll do so.
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I'd say cut, too — I kind of thought that it could fit something like Unfortunate Implications better, but given that this seems to be an uncommonly-used/possibly archaic slur (I didn't know of its existence) and I don't know if there would be any valid links to cite, it probably doesn't fit those either.
So Todd in the Shadows is known within his fandom as "Toddstradomus", because he frequently makes very wrong predictions about things. (He's joked about this in his videos too.) This has led to his Hilarious in Hindsight page being very long. Many of these are indeed references to Todd being wrong about who will and won't be big, but there's also a lot of Fan Myopia and things that straight up don't make sense. I feel that because of his reputation, people are quick to shoehorn in anything he says that can be said to be HIH as that, no matter how flimsy. Here are a few entries on that page that I'd like to bring to light:
- Todd's review
of the Britney Spears song "3" from 2009. In the TGWTG fandom, Todd was often part of a popular OT3 series, paired with Pushing Up Roses and Paw. In the same review, he expresses disbelief that women find two men together hot. Suffice to say, the fandom has proved him wrong on that one. Unsure. Todd does mention in his review of "S&M" that he's seen porn of himself. I have never sought out real person fanfic, so I was unaware of the pairing with Paw and don't know how popular it was. And call me a prude, but idk if it's ok to mention the existence of real-person shipping on a page that isn't about that.
- In the same review, after Todd comments on how Spears had tackled lesbianism (in her 2003 MTV Video Music Awards performance), nudity (in the "Womanizer" video), and now group sex (in "3"), he wonders "What's next, pedophilia?". Come the 2011 VMAs, Todd would describe in his vlog that the tribute performance to her
during the show was "horribly pedophilic" given that it consisted of child dancers. Probably valid, but should go under Harsher in Hindsight, not Hilarious.
- In the same review, after Todd comments on how Spears had tackled lesbianism (in her 2003 MTV Video Music Awards performance), nudity (in the "Womanizer" video), and now group sex (in "3"), he wonders "What's next, pedophilia?". Come the 2011 VMAs, Todd would describe in his vlog that the tribute performance to her
- At one point in "Club Can't Handle Me," he sings a few lines from Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody" before realizing he's got the wrong song. Then a bootlegger came up with just the same idea...
Even more amusing, singer-songwriter Tyler Ward included this song as part of his cover version's outro. Unsure, seems like Fan Myopia
- He once (reviewing "Like A G6") used the term "Oriental" to describe East Asians, unaware it could be taken as a slur. He eventually reviewed "Born This Way" which got Lady Gaga in trouble for exactly the same thing. I don't see the hindsight here, he used a word he didn't know was offensive, then someone else used the same word and got in trouble, and they're connected because...he talked about the other person's song?
- In his review of "Tonight...", he says he thinks that song was inspired by Pitbull. Guess who the original remix of the song replaces Ludacris with? Leaning towards cut. Didn't Enrique work with Pitbull before that song? It would make sense why Todd would be reminded of him, and why he'd come back for the remix. It's not like he said a completely unexpected artist like, idk, Billy Ray Cyrus or whoever.'
- When reviewing "Empire State Of Mind" for the list of his favorite songs of 2010, he pointed out the tendency for the people he's met from New York (the one time he's been there) to claim to be superior over the slightest things, and eventually finds he identifies with the idea. Guess which state's residents he's been spending a lot of time with lately? And where he eventually moved? Probably valid since he moved there eventually, but I want to remove the part about him dating Lindsey Ellis, since they haven't been a couple for over a decade (in fact she's married to someone else now)., plus dating a N Yer feels like a more flimsy connection than moving to NY.
- In his "Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 1976," he mentions a few soft rock singers that he likes, including Bryan Adams, but stops just short of Michael Bolton, saying that he would still pick him over Peter Cetera. Then, first Bolton makes something Todd likes (a guest spot on "Jack Sparrow", which even had Bolton listed as a better guest for "Give Me Everything" than Ne Yo), and then, Adams does something Todd despised, ordering the removal of his profile on Allmusic. During his list of the Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1991, where bashing Bolton was a Running Gag, he precedes his #1 pick by defending Michael Bolton, and imploring the viewers to "fight the real enemy": Adams, whose song "Everything I Do (I Do For You)" tops the list. Leaning towards cut. Bolton was a popular punching bag for all comedians until Jack Sparrow suddenly made him a Memetic Badass. And Adams had his catalog removed from Allmusic years before Todd even made that first video. And the joke in the first video has Todd saying Bolton and Adams are better than Cetera.
- Back in his review of "Grenade", Todd used a joke where he accidentally shows a picture of Brüno (2009) instead of Bruno Mars in the opening bit. Royce Da 5'9" made a similar reference at the end of his verse in 'Lighters' (which had Mars on the chorus), reviewed by Todd nearly a year later. Unsure. Was that a common joke at the time? The movie was still new-ish when both the review and Lighters came out.
- In his review of Timbaland and Justin Timberlake's "Carryout," Todd says that if James Cameron spent millions on CGI for a film with nothing but a guy getting hit in the nuts, it still would have been better than Avatar. Todd would later make a video about the Top Ten Groin Shots in Movies. Unsure. Could it have been serious foreshadowing instead?
- In the same review, he attempts erotically eating fast food, and once he starts rubbing a cheeseburger over his chest, a text appears reading "I sincerely hope my family never sees this." Cut to that year's Thanksgiving, and his (at the time) six year old cousin couldn't stop laughing at him for doing so
. Unsure. This just seems like him making a reference to the review with his family.
- In the same review, he attempts erotically eating fast food, and once he starts rubbing a cheeseburger over his chest, a text appears reading "I sincerely hope my family never sees this." Cut to that year's Thanksgiving, and his (at the time) six year old cousin couldn't stop laughing at him for doing so
- When reviewing Bruno Mars's "The Lazy Song", he derided it as a typical "white guy on acoustic guitar" song, despite how Bruno is not white and possibly not a guy. In a later review, he pointed out that his Distaff Counterpart to the genre is "white chick on piano". Is it any wonder that when Bruno later released a piano ballad note , he firmly established himself as a man in the title? '''Ok, maybe
- During his "Firework"/"Born This Way" review, he begins thinking of a parody of the former and tells "Weird Al" Yankovic to watch out. Al ended up parodying the latter instead. Would keep if Al parodied Firework, or if Todd parodied Born This Way. But since neither of those happened I'm thinking we should cut this.
- In his review of "Cooler Than Me" by Mike Posner:
- He lists a number of things cooler than Mike Posner. One being the Bill Engvall Show. Now it's safe to say that someone from that show is indeed cooler than Posner. Made even more hilarious by the fact that Engvall's show has become a footnote remembered almost solely for launching Lawrence's career. ...wouldn't the show being forgotten just further prove his point about uncool things still being cooler than Posner?
- Near the end of the video, Todd says, "Watch, I'm gonna be wrong; he's gonna have, like, dozens more hits." Mike Posner only had one more major hit in 2011, and he didn't chart again in 2013/14. However, he had another hit in 2016 with "I Took a Pill In Ibiza"...which Todd reviewed, specifically bringing up how wrong he'd been when he said Posner would never have another hit (it was even bigger than "Cooler Than Me" was). And indirectly, Posner helped write two #2 songs, Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" and Maroon 5's "Sugar". First part DEFINATELY counts, this is one of the biggest "Toddstradomous" moments people joke about. What I question is whether the last line is necessary-most people wouldn't know that was Posner, since they were sung by different artists, and Todd brings up in his "Ibiza" review that Posner wanted to be a bigger star than just a songwriter for other stars.
- Todd brings up how lame Posner's name is, in comparison to someone like Taio Cruz. While Posner has lasted longer, Cruz hasn't had a Top 40 hit anywhere since 2012.note I think he was just complimenting Taio's name, though, it wasn't meant to be commentary on his success.
- In his Top 10 of 2012, he declared Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's kid was going to be seriously screwed and it looks like he's on his way to being right considering reports that they named their daughter North West. This edit was apparently made the very year she was born....feels mean bullying a baby. And celebrities have given their kids weirder names (Frank Zappa's kids, anyone?). Nowadays there IS legit concern among fans that Kanye is making his kids hateful and trying to use them against Kim, but that is 1) going pretty deep int their personal lives, which I don't think is ok on this site, and 2) FAR from "hilarious".
- For yet another credits example (and possible Foreshadowing), Todd ended the "Want U Back" review with a heavily censored version of Eamon's "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)". Just a few months later, it's on his "Worst Hit Songs of 2004" list. Intentional foreshadowing shouldn't count as Hindsight.
- When he reviews fun.'s "We Are Young", he commented that they were trying to emulate Queen. It's been announced
that Nate Ruess will be performing with Queen at the iHeartRadio festival. Too bad Freddie Mercury cannot perform with them to drive in the Freddie/Nate comparison... First, "will be" needs to be removed, that was years ago. Second, if they were hired by Queen themselves, then it's clear Todd's comment was far from unique.
- In his "Back in Time" review, he says that there are soundtrack hits that no longer make you think of the movie anymore...
- A year later that changed when Anna Kendrick's "Cups" became a huge hit that firmly makes people think of Pitch Perfect. Made even more hilarious with the success of "Let It Go" and "Happy". However, on Twitter he said he didn't consider "Let It Go" to be a true pop hit and he didn't associate "Happy" with Despicable Me 2 at all (indeed, as the song became a hit months after the movie, and thus their successes were completely independent of each other). So Todd doesn't agree with the latter two then. Do they still count? Also, this is anecdotal, but when Cups first came out I hadn't watched the movie yet and didn't know until later that it was from something. I'd argue that Let It Go is the most "soundtrack song" of the three, but again, Todd himself doesn't see it that way....
- In early 2015, two songs from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack have become #3 hits: Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do" and The Weeknd's "Earned It." The latter is a lot easier to associate with the movie it came from than the former is though. Still, their successes are firmly tied to the movie. Are they though? Again, I personally forgot the Golding song is from 50 Shades (plus Kidz Bop covered it ffs, the song itself is really not evocative of its film!). They both reinforce Todd's complaint about Back in Time (that they're connected to movies but stand on their own rather than evoking the movies), instead of proving him wrong.
- Additionally, Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again", another soundtrack song, has hit #1. And unlike "Happy" it's impossible to discredit its parent film as having fueled its success as it soared to the top of the charts almost immediately after the movie came out and Paul Walker's death playing a role. In fact, on both Radio Songs and the Pop Songs airplay chart, "Love Me Like You Do," "Earned It," and "See You Again" were back-to-back-to-back number one hits. Therefore, it's safe to say the soundtrack song is back in full force. This one is a LOT stronger than Cups and the two 50 Shades hits, but iirc in Todd's review of See You Again, he complained that it reminds him of a car commercial-something horribly ironic given it's written in tribute to an actor who died in a crash.
- "Can't Stop the Feeling" by Justin Timberlake, anyone? Hell, Todd even would later mock Timberlake as doing music for children's movies. '''This one is more valid, I think more people know it's tied to Trolls than know the other songs mentioned are tied to their movies. Again though this is anecdotal.
- And then in 2022, the Encanto soundtrack would dominate the charts, with "We Don't Talk About Bruno" even going to #1! FINALLY, one that ACTUALLY can be kept! Yes, this one is about the film, requires at least some knowledge of the film to understand, and was a chart hit-AND Todd had an Encanto song (Surface Pressure) in his worst list that year.
- In his Worst of 2012 video when discussing "The Motto", he says "If You Only Live Once is your motto, try to sound more enthused about it". Not long after did The Lonely Island and Adam Levine release their version of the song, the Hamtastic "YOLO" Possible fan myopia
- In his review of "Titanium", Todd says that David Guetta was leading us all into our "bland, boring, robot future. I approve!" A year later, he's lamenting how pop music in 2013 was just boring EDM. He meant it sarcastically, it's not surprising at all he still hates EDM a year later.
- In the "Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance", Nostalgia Chick tells Obscurus Lupa to back off from Todd by quoting "Super Bass" ("You'll get slapped if you' lookin', ho!"). A year later, in the "Want U Back" review, when Todd goes on a "date" with Lupa and asks her about Nicki Minaj, Lupa says she thinks she knows who she is. Feels really, really flimsy to me.
- The description for the "Party Rock Anthem" review says that LMFAO want to "Party all the time". Half a year later, Todd covered "Party All the Time" on One Hit Wonderland. Wow, a pop reviewer going on to review a song that's been on his radar? How crazy.
- When listing "Meet Me Halfway" as one of his Top Eleven Best Hit Songs of 2009, he says "Yes! That's right! Two Black Eyed Peas songs on the list! And you know what you can do about it? NOTHING!" Well, aside from inform him that "Meet Me Halfway" didn't meet the list's criteria until 2010, which he later admitted. However, starting with the "Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2012", Todd had expanded the eligibility criteria for his Best and Worst lists to include any single that peaks within the Top 20 during the year in question. Also, he commented in his Worst Hit Songs of 2013 list when discussing will.i.am's "#thatPOWER" that he no longer likes the BEP songs he said he liked, which likely included this and "I Gotta Feeling", which was #8 on the 2009 Best list, and speaking of... This is mostly just talking about Todd's self-imposed rules and how they've changed over time rather than anything truly HIH.
- He says Fergie sounds like she's doing a Cartman impression on "Boom Boom Pow." In a South Park episode two years later, Butters does a brief karaoke version of Fergie's verse on said song. But it's Butters who sings the song, not Cartman.
- On Twitter, Todd compared Pharrell's "Happy" to Cee-Lo's "Fuck You". One can only imagine how he felt when Gwyneth Paltrow also covered "Happy" on Glee, and even more so when Pharrell replaced Cee-Lo on The Voice. Todd's comment isn't linked so I can't see what he said, but with the little context we're given, it seems that there's BARELY a connection. Oh, celebrities sometimes take each other's jobs? That's interesting....not.
- Regarding Ed Sheeran:
- In his "Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2013," Todd states that he misses Sheeran after hearing Passenger's "Let Her Go." A year later, Sheeran's "Sing" and "Don't" were #8 and #7 on his "Best of 2014" list...and then "Thinking Out Loud" would go on to become a much bigger hit than "Let Her Go"—and one of Todd's most hated songs by him to boot. Additionally, while Sheeran ended up becoming a massive superstar worldwide, Passenger never charted on the Hot 100 ever again after "Let Her Go"... and to cap it all off, Passenger would release an anniversary edition
of the song in 2023 featuring Sheeran. I think the last sentence, about Sheeran working on that song's remix, is valid. Not Todd's opinion on Sheeran flip-flopping (as he tends to do with other artists too). Not to mention that the Let Her Go sequence in that video was very short and not really worth all these sentences.
- In his "Top Ten Worst Hit Songs of 2013," Todd states that he misses Sheeran after hearing Passenger's "Let Her Go." A year later, Sheeran's "Sing" and "Don't" were #8 and #7 on his "Best of 2014" list...and then "Thinking Out Loud" would go on to become a much bigger hit than "Let Her Go"—and one of Todd's most hated songs by him to boot. Additionally, while Sheeran ended up becoming a massive superstar worldwide, Passenger never charted on the Hot 100 ever again after "Let Her Go"... and to cap it all off, Passenger would release an anniversary edition
- He says "Baby Got Back" is quotable, highlighting the "My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hon" line. Two years later, Nicki Minaj would base a song around that line, which Todd eventually reviewed. Yes, that line is ironic...and that's exactly why Nikki used it. Cut!
- In the "Anaconda" review, Todd refers to Sir Mix-a-lot as the "Tim Gunn of butts." In season four of BoJack Horseman, Sir Mix-a-lot has a guest spot as a judge on what is basically a Project Runway formatted show judging girls with huge butts. I love Bojack and Todd but this seems like Fan Myopia
- In his "Fancy" review, he compares Iggy Azalea's good flow to being able to chop vegetables really well. Her next video for "Black Widow" has Iggy actually chopping vegetables. He also says that Iggy Azalea will be have a long career with her and is more than the female Vanilla Ice. Nowadays, Iggy's relevancy is nearly obsolete, as she stopped having hits after 2014, her second and third albums flopped, she announced her retirement from music in 2024, and has since been called a lot by her detractors as "The female Vanilla Ice". Again second part DEFINATELY counts, it's another big Toddstradomous moment. But the first part is what I'm stuck on-why is it amazing that she chops vegetables in the next video? And does she do it well like he said?
- In his One Hit Wonderland on "Tubthumping," he talks about how fun it was to research Chumbawamba's history and make the video, saying at the end "I'll be depressed when I'm covering something stupid like 'Pac-Man Fever' in the next video." His next OHW wasn't on "Pac-Man Fever," but "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer," in which he talks about how much he loathes the song and at the end declares the entire episode to be a mistake. I don't think the line was meant to literally mean he was going to talk about Pac Man Fever, just dumb novelties (like Grandma Got Run Over), which are a big part of his show. Thus, an apt and uninteresting prediction that the man himself probably expected.
- In his "Shake it Off" review, he calls Taylor Swift more thin-skinned than "...Eminem and Kim Jong-un combined." Mentioning those two in the same breath is funny because Eminem would actually have a very self-deprecating cameo in The Interview. Fan Myopia?
- He has great distaste for Lady Gaga's stuttering lyric "I live for the applause-plause..." in "Applause", calling it the most inane made-up word Gaga has used. Later on, he expresses identical distaste for Adam Levine using "...like animals-mals" in "Animals". Definite cut, there's nothing interesting about him disliking a trope and then later disliking....the same trope.
- In his "Scream & Shout" review he brings up Britney Spears' previous collaboration with will.i.am, "Big Fat Bass," an obvious song about butts whose lyrics include "I can be the treble, baby; you can be the bass." And then "All About That Bass" was released a little more than a year later, becoming a much bigger hit than "Scream & Shout" was and eventually getting reviewed by Todd. Feels flimsy
- On Twitter, he asked viewers which song he thought was better, Bryan Adams' Everything I Do (I Do It For You) or Aerosmith's I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. Not a month later, the former ends up on the top spot of his Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1991, something that many people wouldn't have anticipated. Again, I think this is foreshadowing. Also, I see his social media come up a lot on this page-is that allowed? It feels like we're troping real life
- In his "Thinking Out Loud" review, Todd says that the song in question is in the Billboard Hot 100's top ten as he's recording the video...only for it to drop out of that region shortly afterwards. Yes, that's how the charts work. It was true when he recorded the video.
- The Top Ten Songs About Mediocre Romance video starts with the Nostalgia Chick again trying to win over Todd, this time by bringing out Kali. Todd's refusal is immediate. Years later, Lindsay hasn't appeared in Todd's videos since To Boldly Flee ended their storyline, but Kali remains a recurring guest. Not only is it pretty flimsy, but it feels like we're troping his personal life. Also, lots of mentions of Nostalgia Chick on all of Todd's pages-Lindsay Ellis has since stated she hates that persona and regrets her time with TGWTG, so it feels weird to see mentions of the Chick keep popping up...
- In his Cinemadonna review of Who's That Girl, he complains about the Running Gag of the two cops who are clearly a couple, with the payoff of "It turns out these two gay cops...are gay! That's how jokes work, right?" Then Gravity Falls showed how to actually do that same joke and make it work. fan myopia, also (as someone who ADORES Gravity Falls) humor is subjective, there are probably people who don't think the joke works even in GF
- In his Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 1976 video, Todd claims that he refuses to believe that anyone could ever make a sex song as unsexy as "Afternoon Delight". 4 years later, "Marvin Gaye" by Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor comes out - and it's Todd's least favorite song of 2015. Did he say it's worse than Afternoon Delight, though? I feel like he still hates that song more.
- Todd putting Justin Bieber's "Sorry" as an honorable mention for 2015's worst list for the reason of "Bieber's such a shit" becomes funnier when the Jerkass nature of the song ends up affecting his enjoyment of it. How is it hilarious that he put a song he doesn't like on his worst list?
- In his review of Glitter, Todd described the Timothy Walker character as being played by "a strikingly miscast" Terrence Howard. Nowadays, his role in Glitter feels like a dry run for Howard's highly acclaimed depiction of the very similar character Lucious Lyons in Empire. (In all fairness, Empire gives Howard a lot more to work with and is significantly better written, allowing him to come off much more convincingly as a villainous type.) Was Empire his first acclaimed role though? People can be in one crappy thing and then be good in everything else, Todd not liking Glitter doesn't instantly mean Howard was never in anything well-received.
- Before the actual Pop Song review of "7 Years" by Lukas Graham, Todd first rants about current trend of songs sounding monotonous and shows a clip of Zayn's "Pillowtalk" as an example. Care to guess which song Todd unloaded on with both barrels in the next Pop Song review? YET AGAIN, this seems like foreshadowing on purpose!
- Closer to Heartwarming in Hindsight: His saying he'd love to team up with TGWTG members, but was still a junior member; one of Doug's final (pre-revival) Nostalgia Critic episodes was a crossover with Todd on The Wiz. Ditto for a question about making an appearance in the anniversary special (the FAQ came out before both Suburban Knights and To Boldly Flee, both of which prominently featured Todd).
- ...which then turns right around and becomes Harsher in Hindsight following the #ChangeTheChannel movement, which led to Todd leaving the site.Lots of people guest-starred in Doug's (supposed to be) last videos, not just Todd. Also, as stated, they stop being so hilarious and heartwarming come the Change The Channel fiasco.
- His being asked if there are any WGWAG songs he actually likes. He gives a few names, but he neglects to mention "Hey There Delilah", a particularly embarrassing favorite of his that gets brought up as an example of a good WGWAG song in the "Thinking Out Loud" review. I don't think simply forgetting something should count.
- Saying he'd rather listen to The Darkness for the kind of music Tenacious D want to make. He'd prove it when they were covered on One Hit Wonderland (though he also makes a lot of references to the D, interestingly enough). It's not surprising that he wants to talk about a band he likes, and reuses the same comparisons he's made in the past.
- Todd says in 2015 that he's run out of visceral hatred for Chris Brown, and that he's downgrading to dislike. In 2016, Brown was arrested for threatening a girl with a gun, which might bring Todd's loathing back up again. Not only is it written in the present tense (2016 was 9 years ago!), but Todd has made videos about Brown since then and never stopped being angry. Also I feel dirty seeing a real-life threat under a trope with Hilarious in the name.
- In his One-Hit Wonderland episode on SR-71's "Right Now," he discusses the band's follow-up single "Politically Correct." He literally wants to set the song aflame for the line "You couldn't make a Mel Brooks movie today/I saw Blazing Saddles yesterday," mentioning in a caption that the reason Mel Brooks could is because he was actually funny and was using stereotypes ironically. About a day later, Lindsay Ellis puts out a retrospective of Mel Brooks and how to do (and not do) humor on touchy subjects, quoting SR-71's song at the beginning. Todd and Lindsay admitted it was a coincidence, but the reference to the song may have been added last minute as a reference to Todd's review. And then, four months after the review was posted, Mel Brooks himself said he couldn't have made Blazing Saddles today, reawakening the debate again. Unsure because he and Ellis are close friends and ex-lovers, but it feels kinda flimsy otherwise. Plus lots of people have claimed that.
- In the "Moves Like Jagger" review, Todd mockingly attempts to coin "schmogerty" as a slang term to "make John Fogerty popular again" through something that like Mick Jagger rhymes with his name. Years later, he does a Trainwreckords episode on Creedence Clearwater Revival's Mardi Gras, remarking how in a way Fogerty's music was popular, but the man himself wasn't due to being camera-shy and overall unremarkable. Should be cut. Mentioning a celebrity in one video, then making a whole video about that celebrity isn't really remarkable, unless maybe said celebrity was really obscure.
- During his #3 pick, "Why?" by Jadakiss featuring Anthony Hamilton, Todd mentions how it was ridiculous that Jadakiss was complaining about Arnold Schwarzenegger, a celebrity, being elected Governor of California. Guess what America did in 2016, and again in 2024? That was a complaint/comparison I've heard other people make in the past. Plus celebrities becoming politicians has been a thing for a while (even BEFORE Arnold, there was Sonny Bono).
- In the Worst of 2015 list, Todd said that if Rachel Platten's "Fight Song" is your fight song, you're going to lose. The song was frequently used during Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign. Yes, she lost. This joke, however is a lot less funny to people who actually supported her, especially given who she lost to. And Todd himself was horrified to see Trump win, even though he wasn't thrilled at the idea of Clinton being president. Another Toddstradamous moment that's iconic to the fandom, but I feel it should go under "Harsher" given Todd's feelings about the election results.
- In The Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2013, Todd has this to say about "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk: "What a fascinating approach this 'Daft Punk' guy has come up with—dance music you can actually dance to. Has anyone told Calvin Harris about this bold new development?" Clearly someone must have done so, because in 2017, Calvin Harris began releasing electro-disco songs reminiscent of Daft Punk's 2013 work, landing two worldwide hits with "Slide" (which made Todd's best list of 2017) and "Feels". I like those songs but they honestly don't make me think of Daft Punk very much. Plus iirc Todd liked Slide less because of Harris and more because of Frank Ocean (I might be wrong)
- Kinda example: Todd mentions in his Worst of 2010 video that the Stanky Leg is not a dance craze. The Stanky Leg was prominently featured in Silento's "Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae)," a legit dance craze that Todd despised. Should be deleted solely because it describes itself as a "kinda example".
- In his "Talk Dirty" review, one of his criticisms was the backing vocal singing "neck" at the end of a line, saying, "You don't have to emphasize random words*." Later that year, the pop charts would welcome Migos, whose main gimmick is to end every one of their lines with a random word note . In fact, when Todd reviewed their song, "Bad and Boujee", one of the parts of the song he liked was that every line ended with them emphasizing a random word. Another example of Todd disliking a trope, then still disliking it in the future. Cut!
- In his "Sorry" review, Todd theorizes that the apology is so phony, it must have taken Justin real restraint to not name the song "Sorry Not Sorry". In 2017, a song with that very name by Demi Lovato made the top ten. Fan myopia
- During the OHW episode on "What is Love," Todd shows another song of Haddaway's, "I Love the '90s." The clip he shows features a sample of "Scatman" by Scatman John, leading Todd to say he should take notes for future episodes. Sure enough, a user request a few episodes later prompts him to do an episode on Scatman John. Eh, I wouldn't be surprised if Todd was always planning to cover that song and just did so sooner because of the request.
- In his "Worst Hit Songs of 1987" video, Todd called Chicago the "Nickelback of the 80s". Fast forward 8 years, Todd states in the Maroon 5's "Girls Like You" review that he regretted ever making that statement, because to him, Chicago were "clearly the Maroon 5 of the 80s". Cut, this is just him reusing/expanding on a joke.
- His review of Maroon 5's "Girls Like You" gives a hattrick: The first two are valid, but I think the second one might veer too close both to our Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement and our rule about complaining. Third bullet point (the Usher one) doesn't strike me as strong enough, he mentions several alternatives so it's not surprising at least one was picked.
- After Maroon 5 were announced to headline the Super Bowl halftime show, Todd said on both Twitter and in the review that Maroon 5 were just a Trojan horse for a Cardi B halftime show, where she'd do a mini-set and blow Maroon 5 out of the water, which isn't an unreasonable prediction, since Cardi was the guest rapper on "Girls Like You". But then, as part of a protest against the NFL for their blackballing of Colin Kaepernick, Cardi refused to perform at the Super Bowl.note
- Todd's immense dislike for the band reached its high point around the time of the review, to the point that him saying "Fuck you, Maroon 5, you suck!" became a Running Gag in this review and in the Top 10 Worst Hit Songs of 2018 video (when he listed "Wait" as a honorable mention, and placed "Girls Like You" at #1), and basically wondering how they are still popular. In the weeks leading to the Super Bowl, Maroon 5's decision to play at halftime was highly criticized due to many bands and musicians having previously turned down performing because of the aforementioned protest for the NFL's treatment of Kaepernick, and the performance itself and Adam Levine's antics during it were at best widely derided and mocked and at worst renewed the slew of criticism towards the band.
- When mentioning Maroon 5's announcement to play the Super Bowl and how it's scheduled to be happening in Atlanta, Todd plays several clips from numerous talk shows suggesting better alternatives from Atlanta to headline, including a clip from The Wendy Williams Show where Wendy Williams suggests Usher as a possible better headliner. Five years after the review was released, Usher would be announced as the headliner for the Super Bowl LVIII halftime show.
- The start of the Old Town Road review has him parody Anthony Fantano's "The Internet's busiest music nerd" catchphrase. OTR's "Area 51
" music video has Fantano cameo in it. This seems like Fan Myopia
- Todd makes a comment about how You Need To Calm Down is going to stick around in part due to the controversy it generated. In the following week after its #2 debut, it crashed out of the top 10 altogether. Not sure. It fell from the charts, but is it still big with Swifties?
- In his Worst of 2012 list, he calls Hunter Hayes a "Country Justin Bieber". In 2020, Bieber himself had country duo Florida Georgia Line appear on one of the remixes to his song "Yummy", complete with Bieber himself putting on a country accent. He did a single country song, idk if that counts.
- In the One-Hit Wonderland episode for "Timothy" by the Buoys, Todd reveals that songwriter Rupert Holmes (aka the "Pina Colada Song" guy) deliberately created the song with shock value in mind, under the age-old belief of No Such Thing as Bad Publicity. In 2023, Rupert Holmes released a bestselling murder-mystery novel with its own shocking title: "Murder Your Employer." Not super surprising that a guy who wrote a song about cannibals would make dark works. Also that title is less shocking to me than the content of Timothy.
- Todd's suggestion in the review of "Unholy" that Sam Smith should have portrayed a priest (who gets aroused to listening to someone confess to having an affair) became ironic when Smith and Kim Petras went to the opposite direction and held a satanic-themed performance of the song at the 2023 Grammys. Made even more hilarious when the Church of Satan later said that the performance was "alright" and "nothing particularly special." Maybe Todd's idea would've been better? Unsure if it counts. I think both would be pissed off the moral guardians equally. Also I don't get how the Church of Satan is relevant.
- In his review of "Blank Space" Todd ends up angry that the song is not actually from the real Taylor Swift's POV and is just (according to Swift herself) a fictious exaggeration of what the press was making Taylor out to be - with Todd saying that Taylor "writes her fictional characters better than she writes herself" and should "start writing novels". Not only did Swift end up releasing Folklore and Evermore, two albums based around fictional characters, but in 2023 it was announced that Swift would be directing her own movie - so while Todd was wrong in predicting the form, he was right in suggesting that Swift should/would take up narrative storytelling. "Woman who wrote fictional characters continues to write fictional characters" isn't surprising. Plus the example itself says that she's doing it in a different medium than he suggested.
- In his best of 2015 video, Todd comments that he's going to miss Pitbull when he's gone, if he ever leaves. In his worst of 2023 video, he verbatim says "I miss Pitbull." Seems like simple reuse of a joke
- During the OHW episode on "You Get What You Give", Todd commented on Gregg Alexander's writing discography after the group disbanded, noting that his personal favorite thing he did afterward was Sophie Ellis-Bextor's "Murder on the Dancefloor", saying "look it up, love it forever", while also commenting on Danielle Brisebois' own writing discography as well, including Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten". In early 2024, both songs would receive chart resurgences following their prominent roles in both Saltburn and Anyone but You, respectively. Possibly fan myopia
- On a similar note, Todd mentioned on Twitter
a story about how he tried to get a wedding DJ to play "Murder on the Dancefloor" two years prior to its chart resurgence, but the DJ declined because "no one knew what that was". Again, why are we relying on his social media so much?
- On a similar note, Todd mentioned on Twitter
- In his review of Jewel's 0304, he discusses how phony and commercial her aesthetic shift was, then shows a clip of Jewel talking about how she's apparently putting on a pastiche and that the "Intuition" video was parody, which Todd doesn't quite buy, and the general perception was that Jewel was actually selling out. In 2024, a very similar moment would arise with Katy Perry posting a behind-the-scenes clip talking about how her sexualized "Woman's World" video is satirizing the male gaze. Like Todd with Jewel, most viewers of the Perry video and clip were skeptical of this satire defense, viewing the clip as a flimsy way to get away from accusations that Perry was actually indulging uncritically in the male gaze in an ostensibly feminist song. This feels less about Todd and more about how similar the songs/videos are
- In April 2024, Todd asked on Twitter
and Bluesky
what Drake has been doing behind the scenes that everyone hates him so much (which he later touched on during his two Pop Song Reviews on the feud between him and Kendrick Lamar), he replied to two replies on the latter mentioning Drake's pedophilia allegations stating "I don't think the guys beefing
with him care about that
". Less than two weeks later, Lamar would release "meet the grahams" and "Not Like Us", both of which accuse Drake of being a sex-trafficking pedophile, signing other sexual predators to his OVO label, and running a sex-trafficking ring in his Toronto mansion. Again, why are we relying on things that aren't in his videos, but rather his social media?
...that took me 2 hours. My fingers hurt. Imma take a break, anyone want to go over my analysis?
Edited by PalacePosy on Feb 9th 2025 at 8:58:04 AM
This is on The LEGO Movie under Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Lord/President Business being a parody of Donald Trump (though he was mainly compared to Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for the 2012 presidential election), would become this in 2016 when Trump was elected President. Making this even funnier is that Steven Mnuchin, one of the film's many executive producers, would become a member of Trump's Cabinet for nearly his entire term as Secretary of the Treasury.
Edited by fragglelover on Feb 11th 2025 at 5:36:51 AM
- Hilarious in Hindsight: One episode is called “Where There’s A Wheel There’s A Way”.
Not only is MechaNick much older, it barely has context. Motion to cut the page since it's the only example?
Still waiting for someone to break him free...![]()
Is President Business explicitly based on Trump, or is he just a generic Corrupt Corporate Executive? It might hold water if the former but I don't know if Trump examples can be sorted given the ROCEJ issues with calling him wither Hilarious or Harsher.
Re: Moldybutt
: That might be valid if we cut out the weird speculation on JK Rowling's personality and just stick to the mold infestation connection, though this isn't the first time I've heard a play on Voldemort and mold.
