History Main / CaptainObviousReveal

* A [[WalkingSpoiler character that the twist revolves around]] is voiced by somebody famous for such roles. For example, trying to write a [[EvilAllAlong Twist Villain]] that is voiced by an actor known for villainous roles [[NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize is all but guaranteed to be this]].

Compare ItWasHisSled, where the twist was a surprise but has since become so well known to even those who never engaged with the work that it is no longer a twist. Contrast TomatoSurprise, DeusExMachina, and ForegoneConclusion. The in-story version of this is EverybodyKnewAlready. A variation is the ObviousJudas when the most ObviouslyEvil character is revealed to be the villain. Related to CaptainObviousAesop, when a moral that most people in real life believe already ("[[AndThatsTerrible Murder is bad]]!" "BeYourself!") is treated in-story as a profound revelation.

* The author inserted too many reveals. They might have been surprising at first, but they eventually become predictable.

* The ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' franchise has two humorous InUniverse examples:

* ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'': During the Yet-To-Come vision, the fact that Future Scrooge is dead is played like a twist. Considering that Scrooge spends most of the vision wondering why he can't find his future self anywhere, and the fact that the ghost showing him the vision is an obvious {{Expy}} of TheGrimReaper, Scrooge was probably the only one who was surprised when he saw his own name on the tombstone.

* A [[WalkingSpoiler character that the twist revolves around]] is voiced by somebody famous for such roles. For example, trying to write a [[EvilAllAlong Twist Villain]] that is voiced by an actor known for villainous roles is all but guaranteed to be this.

*** The fourth case, a flashback, introduces one of Mia's mentors, Diego Armando. He's fond of drinking coffee, has "That's one of my rules" as a CatchPhrase, and looks like a dead ringer for Godot (whose name is pronounced the same as the last syllables of each of Diego Armando's names). It's fairly obvious that they're the same person; the ThemeSongReveal at the end of the case is more formality than anything.

* The ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' franchise has two humorous examples:

** An in-universe example occurs in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'' when an older panda breaks Po's dumpling-eating record and reveals that he lost his son years ago. Po tells him that he lost his father when he was a baby. (Keep in mind that neither of them thinks there are any other pandas ''alive'' that they haven't met yet.) They wish each other good luck and then [[IdiotBall turn to walk away]]. Everyone else who hears the exchange is completely dumbstruck.

* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'': In the Gofotron story arc, a parody mashup of Anime/{{Voltron}} and Franchise/StarWars, Lord Grater is apparently [[https://archives.sluggy.com/book.php?chapter=24#2001-07-20 genuinely surprised]] that ''Secret Angel Princess-Princess'' is really '''Princess-Princess!'''

* The author inserted too many reveals, to the point of becoming predictable.

* ''LightNovel/UndefeatedBahamutChronicle'': Coral being a girl in disguise is blatantly hinted right from her very first appearance, where she's described as androgynous in appearance and Lux inexplicably finds himself attracted to her. This may have been to distract from the more important reveal: that she's actually the second imperial princess Aeril. However, this also qualifies for the trope, what with Coral mentioning her elder and younger sisters (the imperial princesses being the only set of three sisters known to the reader).

Compare ItWasHisSled, where the twist was a surprise but has since become so well known to even those who never engaged with the work that it is no longer a twist. Contrast TomatoSurprise, DeusExMachina, and ForegoneConclusion. The in-story version of this is EverybodyKnewAlready. A variation is the ObviousJudas when the most ObviouslyEvil character is revealed to be the villain. Related to CaptainObviousAesop, when a moral that most people in real life believe already ("Murder is bad!") is treated in-story as a profound revelation.

* Long before it was official, people were sure [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys Bully Ray]] was going to turn out to be the leader of Wrestling/AcesAndEights, the then-latest stable trying to takeover Wrestling/{{TNA}}. Many of those speculating flat-out admitted they didn't have logical reason behind the assumption besides [[AssPull being used to that kind of thing happening in TNA]]. Furthermore, Bully Ray ended up being well-received in spite of people seeing it coming, and in spite of people [[ArcFatigue generally wanting the Aces And Eights angle to die.]]

* ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'': Kinzo being [[DeadAllAlong dead]] at the start of each game was easily guessed by many readers before the reveal in EP4. The ''Kinzo'' seen in the episodes were only in fantasy scenes and never during the Detective's point of view and Krauss and Natsuhi constantly insist that Kinzo is still alive.

* The ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' series features a few:
** In ''Twilight'', the ‘twist’ that Edward and the Cullens are vampires (to the point where [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil the blurb states it in some editions]] and it’s [[ItWasHisSled the only thing some people even know about the plot]]).
** In ''Eclipse'', it came as a surprise to pretty much no one but the Cullens that Victoria is behind the newborn army, seeing as she spent most of the previous book actively trying to kill Bella and is virtually the only person known to the Cullens with the motivation to create one. Bella herself repeatedly states she thinks Victoria is responsible, but [[CassandraTruth no one else listens]]. The film adaptation doesn’t even bother hiding this fact.
** In ''Breaking Dawn'' the as-yet-unborn Nessie wanting blood is treated as some amazing revelation. She's half-vampire and explicitly sucking Bella dry; what else ''could'' she want?

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': Wizards of the Coast tried to hype up the "mystery" of who could be behind the disasters on Innistrad. [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot Because the last set was about]] [[EldritchAbomination the Eldrazi]], [[ChekhovsGun and they went out of their way to mention one of the Titans was missing,]] no one was surprised when it turned out to be the Eldrazi.

* The most common one is that the author put in so much {{Foreshadowing}} that the reveal becomes clear long before it was intended. (The right amount of foreshadowing, of course, is a delicate balancing act; if you have too little in an attempt to avoid this trope audiences might accuse you of having an AssPull instead.)

** Umbridge orchestrated for the Dementor attack on Harry and Dudley at the beginning of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''. Given that she was already well-established as a SadistTeacher, and had even contemplated using [[AgonyBeam the Cruciatus Curse]] on Harry moments before admitting this, it came as a surprise to absolutely no-one that she was capable of doing such a thing.

* The author inserted {{Foreshadowing}} for the plot twist too early; if the story has a BitchInSheepsClothing who acts a little shady in their very first appearance, chances are that audiences will detect an ObviousJudas before they have the time to be fully invested in their (fake) personality. In contrast, if the BitchInSheepsClothing doesn't act shady until several scenes with them later, audiences are more likely to miss the signs, setting them up to be surprised.

* The author inserted {{Foreshadowing}} for the plot twist too early; if the story has a BitchInSheepsClothing who acts a little shady in their very first appearance, chances are audiences will detect an ObviousJudas before they have the time to be fully invested in their (fake) personality. In contrast, if the BitchInSheepsClothing doesn't act shady until several scenes with them later, audiences are more likely to miss the signs, setting them up to be surprised.

* The secret is shown in an episode that gets broadcast [[OutOfOrder before the one with the reveal]]. And finally, it could be that no matter how well you plan your plot twists, [[IKnewIt there will always be someone who can figure it out]].

A Captain Obvious Reveal occurs when the writer sets up a [[TheReveal Reveal]] for the story...only the audience figured it out already by the time they revealed it. Obviously, this will never apply to 100% of the audience, but when it applies to the majority of an audience, you have this trope on your hands.

This can happen for a variety of reasons. The most common one is that the author put in so much {{Foreshadowing}} that the reveal becomes clear long before it was intended. (The right amount of foreshadowing, of course, is a delicate balancing act; if you have too little in an attempt to avoid this trope audiences might accuse you of having an AssPull instead.) Another reason is that there were no other options for the reveal; if we're told that a character has a missing father, and there's [[OnlyOnePlausibleSuspect only one character we already know who's the right age and position]] to have a missing child, audiences are likely to figure [[LukeIAmYourFather it]] out. Another possibility is that the secret is shown in an episode that gets broadcast [[OutOfOrder before the one with the reveal]]. And finally, it could be that no matter how well you plan your plot twists, [[IKnewIt there will always be someone who can figure it out]].

*** In the final case, the reveal that the person being put on trial later on is Maya Fey channeling Dahlia Hawthorne is pretty subtle at first; you likely wouldn't notice the TwinSwitch part unless you're paying close attention to Iris's character and mannerisms. But once it's clear that the witness is Dahlia and not Iris, the second part becomes fairly obvious; Dahlia is dead and has to be channeled by ''someone'' and there are only three spirit mediums around. Of those three, Misty Fey is the case's victim, and Pearl is with Phoenix (and has confirmed she was unable to channel Dahlia), leaving only Maya- who's been suspiciously missing in action for days at this point. And yet, Phoenix takes Dahlia's EvilGloating about Maya's death at face value, and Dahlia herself doesn't appear to notice that the medium channeling her has long black hair, and not Pearl's brown looped hair.
** In ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', the reveal that the amnesiac singer Lamiroir and the long-missing Thalassa Gramarye are the same person should not be shocking to anyone once Thalassa's picture is first shown. Lamiroir might cover her face nowadays, but she didn't change a damn thing about her hair or her clothing.

** Harry Potter is the last SoulJar. Would've been shocking if a huge deal hadn't been made out of the mysterious connection between him and Voldemort, and it hadn't already been practically spelled out that Voldemort had put "a part of himself" into Harry in the ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets second]]'' of seven books, merely lacking the appropriate term of 'Horcrux'.