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Hindsight Cleanup

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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.

    Common NOT in Hindsight examples 
  • 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

CanuckMcDuck1 PEPSIMAN from Japan Since: Sep, 2023 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form
PEPSIMAN
#8426: Apr 28th 2025 at 7:53:24 AM

[up]I agree that all those entries are wrong way hindsight. The Rabbidluigi example would fit better on his page, but since he doesn't have one, it can be removed with the rest.

Do not mess with creatures which you do not understand.
moxeden actually okay-ish from a place of comfort Since: Sep, 2023 Relationship Status: love is a deadly lazer
actually okay-ish
#8427: Apr 29th 2025 at 7:40:15 AM

On YMMV.Go Godman:

Feels like a TADC shoehorn. Cutlist page?

Good morning, and good night, I hardly ever sleep. With what I have, what else do you think I'd ever need?
bwburke94 I am mad scientist! It's so cool! from 1.048596% (Y2: Electric Boogaloo) Relationship Status: She does the things you do, but she is an IBM
I am mad scientist! It's so cool!
#8428: Apr 29th 2025 at 11:18:47 AM

It's the only entry on the page, so the page is safe to cutlist.

2025: the year it all ends?
taotruths Live Jet Reaction (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I sleep in a big bed with my wife.
Live Jet Reaction
#8429: Apr 29th 2025 at 1:40:28 PM

What's the rules for prequels foreshadowing developments that will happen later in the series as a sad Call-Forward? Do they stay as hindsight or is it still wrong way hindsight? For example, on the YMMV.Yakuza 0 page (prequel to the series and coming after the release of Yakuza 5)


  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • To Yakuza 1Yakuza 0 is a prequel that takes place shortly before the events of Yakuza 1, so the following three points are all Call Forwards
      • Kiryu and Nishiki's relationship becomes this and a Tear Jerker for longtime players who have played the first game, and really get to see how close the two were prior to that fateful night in 1995.
      • In the finale, Nishiki stops Kiryu from killing Shibusawa, saying words that cut much deeper knowing the events of the first game:
        Nishiki: You can't, Kiryu! You can't cross that line... You cross it once, and you can never go back! What does killing this guy get you? A whole lot of nothing! Don't go getting ahead of me... Hold out. Someday... if the time ever comes where you have to cross that line... then I'll cross it with you!
      • In the “Shining Example” substory, you get to meet a young Shinji Tanaka and Kiryu tells him he wants Shinji to outlive him. Fans will know Shinji never does.
    • "The Doll Girl" friendship substory, where Majima has to put up with a little girl who insists on calling him her "daddy". In the end, after he rescues her and her mom from some thugs, he comes to like the thought of being called "daddy". Which is more heartwarming than anything, unless you've played Yakuza 5 and learned that Majima actually would have been one had his wife (at the time) not terminated her pregnancy without telling him. This story was one that widened the Base-Breaking Character status for her. — Call-Forward as Yakuza 0's release came after 5
    • The karaoke song, "Rouge of Love" can be this for Majima as well. It becomes a karaoke song for his blood brother Saejima in 5 and in the previous game his sister Yasuko dies after going through so much hell to try and see him again.Call-Forward as Yakuza 0's release came after 5
    • A double whammy with the substory "Man with a Stranger's Face", where a man named Akatani leaves behind his family without their knowledge so they could be safe from the yakuza. Those who have finished both this game and Yakuza 6 know that both Majima and Kiryu would end up doing the same thing to protect Makoto and Morning Glory Orphanage's residents, respectivelyThis one is actually correct since Yakuza 0's release came before 6
    • There's a bit of this with "Maharaja Showdown" in which Kan Ogita from Yakuza 5 makes a cameo appearance as Kiryu's final dance battle opponent in his series of Maharaja substories. Upon defeat, if you choose to still show him respect after his defeat rather than choose to engage in Unsportsmanlike Gloating, the substory will end with him telling Kiryu that he plans on becoming a dance instructor and if he ever has a daughter, he'd be happy to teach her how to dance. Anyone who's played 5 will know how badly his life turns after spending some time as the dance instructor to Haruka, Kiryu's adoptive daughter.Call-Forward as Yakuza 0's release came after 5

  • Hilarious in Hindsight: At one point Kiryu comments that he won’t be the type to cheer for idols. Come Yakuza 5, and he is enthusiastically cheering at idol songs sung by Haruka. — Call-Forward as Yakuza 0's release came after 5

Do we have an audience reaction for "sad foreshadowing if you know"?

Edited by taotruths on May 1st 2025 at 8:01:35 AM

NaraNumas The Pun Dragon Since: Jun, 2011
The Pun Dragon
#8430: Apr 29th 2025 at 3:43:16 PM

@The Mario and Rabbids example - if they haven't already, cut the first two if not just because it's overlap with the reviewers thread of adding content creator reactions to a main page. The 3rd one is definitely wrong-way hindsight though.

Basically the entire block can go, agreed.

Edited by NaraNumas on Apr 29th 2025 at 5:43:26 AM

taotruths Live Jet Reaction (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I sleep in a big bed with my wife.
Live Jet Reaction
#8431: Apr 29th 2025 at 5:45:35 PM

Yeah the block has been removed from the YMMV Mario + Rabbids page already

Although now you bring up the reviewres thread, I did add the rabbidluigi hindsight one to the HilariousInHindsight.Web Videos sub-page here.

Should that be removed then?

Edited by taotruths on Apr 29th 2025 at 5:45:47 AM

AwkbutTVT Nyan-Binary (The picture, not me) from Gaia, in no current need of help Since: Sep, 2023
Nyan-Binary (The picture, not me)
#8432: Apr 30th 2025 at 6:37:31 AM

Saw this on YMMV.Max0r

Uh, so is every instance of an oblivion reference HilariousIH then? There's not really much of a link between this and a remaster coming out.

Ey, migi vuru?
GearFriedTheKnight BLOCKING - A weapon for the 21st century. from The nearest road that can be raced (Experienced Trainee) Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
BLOCKING - A weapon for the 21st century.
#8433: Apr 30th 2025 at 6:43:09 AM

Yeah no this is just Fan Myopia shoehorning. Had Bethesda said "we were inspired to release the remake because of Max0r's video", then it would've somehow fit.

Edited by GearFriedTheKnight on Apr 30th 2025 at 3:43:45 PM

''There's no magic in tuning; yet, it's something that tends to escape from any logic."
DoktorvonEurotrash Lex et Veritas from Not a place of honour (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#8434: May 1st 2025 at 5:23:15 AM

[up]x5: If it's a moment from a prequel that was released later than the work it refers to, it cannot be hindsight.

Some blatant Fan Myopia from The Simpsons S11 E3: "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?":

Fairly sure Ratatouille didn't invent harsh restaurant critics. Any objection to removing it?

EDIT: Have done so.

Edited by DoktorvonEurotrash on May 1st 2025 at 5:49:42 AM

Theatre_Maven_3695 from Ontario, Canada (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
dcutter2 Since: Sep, 2013
#8437: May 6th 2025 at 1:03:20 AM

Remove. ROCEJ or just because it's a general example.

Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#8438: May 6th 2025 at 4:53:31 PM

Actor mortality misuse?

Feeling we could use some QNA list for this.

e: may be a moot point if it's a ban-evader

Edited by Amonimus on May 6th 2025 at 3:27:31 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
ToonAbby Have a Death-End Thanksgiving, y'all! from Gamindustri Since: Jan, 2022 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Have a Death-End Thanksgiving, y'all!
#8439: May 6th 2025 at 6:08:06 PM

[up] This doesn't count since Sterling, the character Singletary played, isn't dead.

"It's requested that your death ends here, now!" - Sayaka, Death end re;Quest Code Z.
Willowleaf24 Hog in a frog from Somewhere buried in snow Since: Nov, 2020 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Hog in a frog
#8440: May 6th 2025 at 6:11:05 PM

[up][up] Yeah, that can easily be cut.


From Harsher in Hindsight on YMMV.Misery:
  • In 1991, Beverley Allitt, an English nurse, committed four murders in a children's ward. The fact that she looks a bit like Annie makes it even scarier.
  • In 2021, in Chester, England. A nurse named Lucy Letby went on trial for murdering seven babies - and accused of attempted murder of ten more. If guilty, the Dragon Lady has a new rival.
  • Annie breaking Paul's legs gets even more horrifying given then—13-year-old Thad Phillip's 1995 ordeal at the hands of Joe Clark: he was kidnapped and held prisoner for 43 hours while Clark, while acting nicely in the beginning, broke the bones in his legs when he tried to escape. Phillips finally escaped by breaking the door of the room he was locked in, throwing himself down the stairs and dragging himself to a phone, by which point he was within two hours of death from internal bleeding. He survived, but needed numerous surgeries and walks with a limp to this day. note 

These all just seem like crimes that apparently bear some vague similarities to things that happened in the book/movie (which I've never read/watched myself) - "nurse kills infants" and "person holds another captive, then breaks their legs when they try to escape". Or am I being too harsh?

Edit: added another arrow, to point to the proper post.

Edited by Willowleaf24 on May 6th 2025 at 8:12:28 AM

MagnoliaBloom91 Byronic Hero enjoyer | Lawful Neutral from The First Galactic Empire (Apprentice) Relationship Status: That's rough, buddy
#8441: May 6th 2025 at 9:41:52 PM

[up] Maybe it's just me, but I find those comparisons to real-life murder cases incredibly tasteless, especially the ones that are fairly recent/still ongoing. So IMO they can go.

Prequel apologist | I like fixing up YMMV and Trivia pages.
taotruths Live Jet Reaction (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I sleep in a big bed with my wife.
Live Jet Reaction
#8442: May 6th 2025 at 10:22:28 PM

On YMMV.DCX Sonic The Hedgehog:


I know this is wrong-way hindsight, but is it valid hindsight for the YMMV.Sonic The Hedgehog Film Series page?

DoktorvonEurotrash Lex et Veritas from Not a place of honour (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#8443: May 7th 2025 at 5:20:37 AM

[up][up][up]Please cut those: they're just "crime happened that's a bit like what happened in the book" (and, sadly, caregivers killing their patients is not unknown, in the past or today). Also, I agree that the amount of detail in the last entry is tasteless.

[up]The Keanu Reeves thing seems like actor garbage to me. As for the second entry, given that both Sonic and the Flash are best known for their speed, it's unsurprising that one work references the other.

taotruths Live Jet Reaction (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: I sleep in a big bed with my wife.
Live Jet Reaction
#8444: May 7th 2025 at 7:20:45 AM

[up]Okay, both have been removed from the page then.

Edited by taotruths on May 7th 2025 at 7:20:55 AM

Mariofan99 Since: Jun, 2021 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#8445: May 8th 2025 at 5:33:49 AM

This entry from The Completionist feels like a shoehorn:

  • A villain named Demon Jirard appeared in the original 99th and 100th episode, possessed Jirard to destroy his reputation and give terrible games positive reviews. Watching the Demon Jirard scenes can be very hard to watch today due to the aforementioned charity fraud allegations.

bwburke94 I am mad scientist! It's so cool! from 1.048596% (Y2: Electric Boogaloo) Relationship Status: She does the things you do, but she is an IBM
I am mad scientist! It's so cool!
#8446: May 8th 2025 at 5:46:54 AM

[up] Feels safe to cut, because it's an obvious "creator later did Bad Things" edit which has no connection to the incident.

2025: the year it all ends?
Super_Weegee Since: Feb, 2019
#8447: May 11th 2025 at 6:11:22 PM

From The Last of Us Part II's YMMV page.

  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • The majority of the game being set in a post-apocalyptic Seattle that was the hub of a civil war became this when during and following the game's release, portions of Seattle in real life were cordoned off as part of the country-wide Black Lives Matter protests.
    • The conflict between the WLF's and the Serphaites being an allegory for the Israel-Paelstine conflict was already harshly critcized on release but it's a parallel that has only become more and more uncomfortable as the years have gone on and the public eye has become more aware of it. Not helped at all by the Seraphites being a very unflattering stand in for the Paelstines and Neil Druckmann's pro Israel stance, which has caused some critics to accuse the game of being heavily biased in favor of one side seemingly mudding the message of the game.

I'm not sure about the first one, but I'm mainly checking to see if the second one is disqualified since the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is still on-going. People were trying to add it to Does This Remind You of Anything?, which I had to cut twice beforehand since it's not a YMMV trope.

Edited by Super_Weegee on May 11th 2025 at 9:13:30 AM

BlueBlazes from United States Since: Dec, 2019
#8448: May 11th 2025 at 7:11:16 PM

Comparing the BLM protests to a civil war seems a bit…off?

BlueBlazes
NaraNumas The Pun Dragon Since: Jun, 2011
The Pun Dragon
#8449: May 11th 2025 at 8:52:04 PM

Yeah I... don't really like the tone of those posts imo. I'd nuke them for being ROCEJ violations on volatile real life topics as well as not really fitting to start with.

Edited by NaraNumas on May 11th 2025 at 10:52:37 AM

GearFriedTheKnight BLOCKING - A weapon for the 21st century. from The nearest road that can be raced (Experienced Trainee) Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
BLOCKING - A weapon for the 21st century.
#8450: May 12th 2025 at 3:32:18 AM

From YMMV.Shrek 2:

Beyond the needless reference to a Let's Player, this feels kind of iffy, not sure if it fits the trope or if it's stretching the definition of "hindsight"
EDIT: [up][up][up]Nuke them, good grief. They don't even try to stretch the trope, that is just straight-up political shoehorning.

Edited by GearFriedTheKnight on May 12th 2025 at 12:33:34 PM

''There's no magic in tuning; yet, it's something that tends to escape from any logic."

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