History HarsherInHindsight / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/InsideJob'': In "How Reagan Got Her Groove Back", Reagan describes [[ArchnemesisDad Rand]]'s plans as the new head of Cognito, Inc. as "the most globally-damaging midlife crisis since Elon Musk". Right as Season 2 dropped, Musk completed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter and made sweeping changes that tanked its public image in a matter of ''weeks''.

* ''WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons'': ''WesternAnimation/BlitzWolf'', a WartimeCartoon, features the Three Little Pigs blowing up Tokyo after an [[OverlyLongGag overly long gun barrel gag]].[[note]]The edited version on Creator/CartoonNetwork makes it look like the pigs were aiming their gun at the Hitler Wolf's trench.[[/note]] This was ''three years'' before two Japanese cities (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) really would be blown to pieces -- [[ILoveNuclearPower with atomic weapons]]. Tokyo itself was also bombed by incendiary weapons.

** The first season of the show was criticized for making jokes about Russia that seemed straight out of the Cold War, with one joke showing a Russian CaptainErsatz knockoffs of the Warner Siblings joking about Ukraine being Russian territory and Russia "starting World War III". Less than two years after those episodes first aired, those jokes began to seem eerily prophetic when the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine started.

* The Season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'' eventually confirmed that Rick's backstory from the Season 3 opener, "The Rickshank Rickdemption", wasn't so fabricated after all. [[spoiler: The Diane of the replacement universe has also died by the start of the series, and he really did lose ''his'' Diane and Beth at a young age.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode "Bonky Fever", where Mikey's obsession with Bonky is played like a drug addiction, became this after Mikey's voice actor Jason Davis was arrested on drug charges. He's now dead as of February 16, 2020.

** ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': Jinx's [[https://youtu.be/0nlJuwO0GDs introductory music video]] -- upon release, it just showcased her CuteAndPsycho personality, but Arcane reveals ''why'' -- [[spoiler: namely, her accidentally killing her closest friends, her adoptive father, and prompting her own sister to [[IHaveNoSon disown her]], driving her into the arms of an EvilMentor]]. Even the scenes where she's bouncing from one position to another in a SmashCut is shown to be [[spoiler: her mind's desperate way of trying to deal with the trauma]].

* In Season 2 Episode 11 Brain uses the phrase "a war of wills" to which Pinky responds imagining a fight between "Will Ferrell... and ''Creator/WillSmith.''" The Academy Awards ceremony the following year would see Will Smith get in a fight with another celebrity (although more of a war of ''a Chris and a Will'' in that case).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arcane}}'': Jinx's [[https://youtu.be/0nlJuwO0GDs introductory music video]] -- upon release, it just showcased her CuteAndPsycho personality, but Arcane reveals ''why'' -- [[spoiler: namely, her accidentally killing her closest friends, her adoptive father, and prompting her own sister to [[IHaveNoSon disown her]], driving her into the arms of an EvilMentor]]. Even the scenes where she's bouncing from one position to another in a SmashCut is shown to be [[spoiler: her mind's desperate way of trying to deal with the trauma]].

** "Along Came a Spider..." has a gag in which Franchise/SpiderMan tries to speak in a BadassBaritone, but fails so badly at sounding tough, ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} agent Clay Quartermain asks, "What's wrong with your voice?" Before this episode aired, ExecutiveMeddling had the writers' first choice for Spider-Man's actor, Creator/JoshKeaton, dubbed over by Creator/DrakeBell, as synergy with ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan''.[[note]]Never mind how many other characters sound and/or look completely different between the two shows...[[/note]] After the airing, cue peeved Josh Keaton fans decrying Drake Bell's performance as inferior, and questioning the need to change an already-animated Spidey's voice. Eventually, even the head writer of ''EMH'' called it "[[CreatorBacklash pretty unnecessary]]" of Marvel to replace Keaton with Bell.

* ''WesternAnimation/TwelveForever'' being all about being a kid forever seems a bit icky now that Julia Vickerman's history of making pedophilic comments has come to light.

** In another episode "That's What She Said"[[note]]With guest star Creator/BenStiller[[/note]], Hank's co-worker makes inappropriate jokes and remarks in the workplace, much to Hank's chagrin. The episode, which aired in 2004, might be a little cringy to watch now in light of the [=#MeToo=] and [=#TimesUp=] movement which both deal with sexual harassment and toxic workplaces.

* [[PropheticName The name of an animated series became this.]] The name of the Creator/CartoonNetwork series ''WesternAnimation/WhateverHappenedToRobotJones'' didn't really have as much meaning outside of telling us the main protagonist's name, initially. Unfortunately, the series was a ShortRunner, and seemed to have been cancelled just as swiftly as it was greenlit. Fans are now asking the titular question in a very literal and serious sense, to the point where doing so is a MemeticMutation. The name may have actually been intended to be foreshadowing that the show was supposed to have a DownerEnding ending where the titular character became evil if it hadn't ended early.

* [[PropheticName The name of an animated series became this.]] The name of the Creator/CartoonNetwork series ''WesternAnimation/WhateverHappenedToRobotJones'' didn't really have as much meaning outside of telling us the main protagonist's name, initially. Unfortunately, the series was a ShortRunner, and seemed to have been cancelled just as swiftly as it was greenlit. Fans are now asking the titular question in a very literal and serious sense, to the point where doing so is a MemeticMutation.

--> '''Dot''': "What's Christie Brinkley got that I ain't got?"\\

-->''"We want to find some peace and quiet, so we're moving to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Lebanon_War Bei]][[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Beirut_explosions rut]]"''

-->''"Welcome to Air Pacific, the Jolly Airline. Our deluxe 757 is equipped with a number of safety features to use in case of an emergency, such as our fuel tanks explode, and we crash like a fiery ball into the sea."''

-->'''Edd:''' Should we feel guilty about Jonny's predicament?\\

-->'''Eddy:''' "No more beatin' up little Eddy, eh, big brother?"

* The already creepy scene of Blossom, Bubbles and Allegro twerking in ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls2016'' episode "Painbow" (mind you that Blossom and Bubbles are '''''minors''''') becomes even harder to watch when Julia Vickerman's, who wrote the episode, aforementioned history of making pedophilic comments came to light three years after the premiere.

* ''HatsherInHindsight/RobotChicken''

!!Series with their own pages:

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''
** The episode "Trade Ya": Twilight Sparkle decides not to sell her books, saying that just because they don't need to be read again doesn't mean they don't possess value; they're a part of her history and what made her who she was, and were quite precious. Four episodes later in "Twilight's Kingdom", they along with the rest of the Golden Oak Library were destroyed by Tirek.
** The Season 1 episode "Owl's Well than Ends Well" involved Spike having an insane fit of jealousy over Twilight seemingly replacing him with an owl, cumulating in him running away because he felt she didn't love him anymore. The Season 3 premiere "The Crystal Empire" puts his actions in a new light, as we find out that Twilight no longer needing him is Spike's worst fear.
** Season 1's "Griffon the Brush-Off" ended with Gilda ditching Rainbow Dash as her friend. Four seasons later, [[SequelEpisode the events of the episode is re-explored]], and we learn that griffons literally have no concept of friendship, putting everything involving Gilda in a much different light. Rainbow Dash is the only friend she's ever had, and she has little idea how to reconcile that with Rainbow having other friends. [[spoiler: They become friends again in the end of the episode.]]
** In Season 1's "Look Before You Sleep", Twilight says that she's never had a sleepover before and calls out Applejack and Rarity when their bickering almost ruins her first slumber party. The Season 5 episode "Amending Fences" puts the whole episode in a different perspective when we see that Twilight had friends in Canterlot and her context implies that she never had a sleepover with any of them. It becomes even worse when we see that Twilight leaving Canterlot left an emotional scar on her old friend Moondancer.
** In My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Comic Book [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWIssue74 Issue 74]], when Zephyr Breeze appears, he and Fluttershy's relationship seems to be much better than it was previously, with the two having affectionate nicknames for each other and playfully joking around. She even calmly helps pull him out of a panic attack. Come Season 9 episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E4SparklesSeven Sparkle's Seven]]" when Fluttershy mentions him to Spike, she says that he (Zephyr) could learn a lot from Spike about being a good little brother.
** Season 1's "Call of the Cutie" sees Scootaloo tell Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon they're "stuck being stuck up". [[spoiler:"Crusaders of the Lost Mark" reveals Diamond Tiara's mother is practically abusing her to act like a proper 'rich pony', which basically translates into being a stuck up snob to anyone beneath her, meaning Scootaloo was more right than one would think.]]
** The Season 1 episode "Over a Barrel" has Fluttershy's memetic statement of her desire to be a tree. [[spoiler: In Season 7's "A Health of Information", she is one of the victims of the "Swamp Fever" disease which ends with turning into a tree.]]
** Happened with the Season 2 episode "Hurricane Fluttershy". Fluttershy pretends to be sick to get out of training, painting spots all over her body and calling her ailment "pony pox". [[spoiler: In Season 7's "A Health of Information", the same colored spots turn out to be one of the symptoms of the aforementioned "Swamp Fever" disease]].
** The Scootachicken jokes which originated in Season 1's "Stare Master" became considerably less funny when it turned out that in Season 4's "Flight to the Finish", Scootaloo has trouble flying in canon and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon tease her for it.
** A ''lot'' of the various Spike gags became somewhat sadder in hindsight after "Equestria Games" revealed he has serious self-esteem issues.
** The episode "Amending Fences" does this to ''the very first episode''. The EstablishingCharacterMoment of Twilight brushing aside a party invite to focus on her studies with Nightmare Moon's imminent arrival? [[spoiler:Turns out the party that she was invited to was for an old friend of hers named Moondancer, and by snubbing it and moving to Ponyville without even saying goodbye it effectively ruined the entire pony's life. Moondancer's scene where she breaks down and delivers a [[TearJerker tear-filled]] [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech reason you suck speech]] is easily the most heartrending thing the show has ever produced.]]
** Season 5's ''Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?'' had Big Macintosh turning himself into an Alicorn princess during the DreamSequence. It was seen as nothing more than a funny gag at the time... then later that season, ''Brotherhooves Social'' reveals that Big Mac developed an inferiority complex as a result of Applejack becoming a hero of Equestria and being adored by his baby sister Apple Bloom, while he was ignored. This puts his dream in [[IJustWantToBeSpecial a very different light.]]

** The episode "Reptar 2010" has {{Imagine Spot}}s where Reptar versions of the kids tear up New York City, the last one having Phil and Lil tear up two buildings that resemble the World Trade Center.
** The episode "Let Them Eat Cake" is set during a wedding, during which Stu sees that Chas is crying and tells him, "Get ahold of yourself, Charles. It's just a wedding." Fast-forward to "Mother's Day" and we learn that Chas is a widower. What previously seemed like a good-natured joke about how sensitive Chas is has become downright tragic; there's a chance he was in fact weeping as he thought of his deceased wife.

** In the Season 1 episode "Call of the Cutie", Scootaloo tells Diamond Tiara she's 'stuck being stuck up' as a ShutUpHannibal. We find out ''much'' later that [[spoiler:she's ''literally'' stuck, as her mother was browbeating and emotionally abusing her to be a stuck up RichBitch like her.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/GodzillaTheSeries'' Randy Hernandez's line "Who's been playing dominoes with the World Trade Center?" in the episode "Future Shock" straddles between this and HarsherInHindsight, due to having time traveled to a BadFuture.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToasterToTheRescue'' features a computer, voiced by comedian Kevin Meaney, whose memory is lost when the protagonist has to do an important assignment on it. Kevin Meaney would later die when he collapsed at his computer on October 21, 2016.