History Main / DidntSeeThatComing

* ''WebVideo/LowTierGod'': He was cast in ELEAGUE's attempt at a reality TV show, ''The Challenger'', to the surprise of pretty much the entire Internet. Not only that, but his role is a central one; he's presented as the show's "villain", given by far the most focus in the debut trailer, and his... divisive persona was immediately discussed by the other contestants. Upon arriving at the show house, LTG [[TakeThat thanked his haters from the bottom of his heart]] for making this opportunity possible instead of his supporters who vouched for him... Unfortunately for him, the other players wasted no time in targeting him for elimination, getting him picked for the elimination battle without any hesitation, being quickly beaten in ''Street Fighter'', and hastily ejected from the competition ''on day one.''

See also DidntThinkThisThrough. If there wasn't a plan to begin with, possibly due to a plotter knowing this will happen the moment they start, it's an IndyPloy. A plotter who is aware that these can appear, builds flexibility into his plan, and improvises when they arise, is playing XanatosSpeedChess (and can ''still'' fall prey to this trope if confronted by a SpannerInTheWorks or simply a ''better'' [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]). If it's something that ''nobody'' could have seen coming, it's either a [[DeusexMachina Deus ex Machina]] if it's good or [[DiabolusexMachina Diabolus ex Machina]] if it's bad.

See also DidntThinkThisThrough. If there wasn't a plan to begin with, possibly due to a plotter knowing this will happen the moment they start, it's an IndyPloy. A plotter who is aware that these can appear, builds flexibility into his plan, and improvises when they arise, is playing XanatosSpeedChess (and can ''still'' fall prey to this trope if confronted by a SpannerInTheWorks or simply a ''better'' [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]]).

Then something, or [[SpannerInTheWorks someone]], happens. Not just something that the planner didn't know about, but something that he didn't know he didn't know. In fact, there was no way he could have known that he didn't know this (of course, that means that an ''incompetent'' chessmaster or SmugSnake is more likely to fall prone to this trope). Thus the brilliant plan goes to pieces, with a deadpan [[TitleDrop "I Didn't See That Coming"]] once the dust settles. Less [[TheStoic stoic]] fellows may go OhCrap or have a VillainousBreakdown.

** In the Season 7 episode Machinima/RedVsBlue (as in, the titular teams duking it out), something to this effect is said as [[spoiler: Sarge's last words, lamenting that he really SHOULD have seen that coming]].

** The Clan Invasion in AD 3050. The Inner Sphere was busy working up to yet another fight among the different Successor States when all of a sudden a ProudWarriorRace, descended from humans who had fled known space centuries ago and wielding much more advanced technology, appears from unexplored space and starts steamrolling everything in their path. It wound up being the first thing in over 400 years that actually got the various eternally warring factions of the Inner Sphere to [[EnemyMine put aside their differences and team up]].

* In ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemonRed'', [[MindHive the Mob]] came up with a cunning plan to make sure that [[TheAce Bird Jesus]] didn't get released or deposited when they went to the PC. If they fainted everyone in the party ''except'' for Bird Jesus, he couldn't be put in the PC because then Red would have no usable Pokémon, right? As it should so happen, this leads to variety five -- in the first generation of Pokémon, you ''can'' deposit the only non-fainted Pokémon in your party... leading to Red managing to black out [[EpicFail inside a Pokémon Center!]]

* This happens to ''LetsPlay/GrayStillPlays'' quite frequently:

* In [[https://youtu.be/YQcL-42GH9A?t=1516 this video]], the group of players on ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'' had come to expect their first foe, Krillin, to be a massive joke as he only has one HP. Lythero, playing Frieza, approaches Krillin, taunting him... only to watch in complete horror as he delivers a OneHitKO and proceeds to do it again against Master Roshi. They had absolutely no idea that this raid treated Krillin as a LethalJokeCharacter.

* [[DidntSeeThatComing/{{Film}} Film - Live-Action]]

* In ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemonRed'', [[MindHive the Mob]] came up with a cunning plan to make sure that [[TheAce Bird Jesus]] didn't get released or deposited when they went to the PC. If they fainted everyone in the party ''except'' for Bird Jesus, he couldn't be put in the PC because then Red would have no usable Pokemon, right? As it should so happen, this leads to variety five -- in the first generation of Pokemon, you ''can'' deposit the only Pokemon in your party... leading to Red managing to black out [[EpicFail inside a Pokemon Centre!]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/PeterPan'', Captain Hook tricks Tinker Bell into revealing Peter Pan's hideout to him, then imprisons her in a lantern. After that, he and the rest of the pirate crew go to capture Wendy and the other children and plant a bomb in Peter's lair with which kill him. The pirates take the children to their ship and try to get them to join their crew -- or walk the plank if they don't comply. The children refuse, confident that Peter will save them. The pirates, however, tell them of the plan to kill Peter with the bomb, which does blow up. Unbeknownst to the pirates, however, Tinker Bell had broken out of her lantern prison and flew off to Peter's lair, where, at the risk of her own life, got the bomb away from him before it exploded. Both survive and go off to save the day. Meanwhile, when the children make clear they won't join Hook's crew, they retaliate by having them walk the plank, starting with Wendy. She steps off the plank and falls toward the water. The pirates listen intently for her to hit the water -- [[WheresTheKaboom only to become confused when they don't hear the expectant splash]]. Unbeknownst to them, Peter had saved Wendy from falling in the water and safely put her in the crow's nest, after which he reveals himself to Hook. While the captured children are ecstatic to see their hero alive, Hook is more than a little incredulous that his whole scheme to have his sworn enemy killed had failed.

** Many people's reaction to Evelyn being revealed as the real Screenslaver.

* ''WesternAnimation/TitanAE'':
** In a subversion of TheGuardsMustBeCrazy, the guard that the heroes are trying to fool instantly figures out that they're trying to pull a fast one over on him. Preed [[SarcasmMode subtly]] leans over and asks if [[TimeForPlanB the group has a plan B]]. Stith beats the crap out of the guard, and leads Preed to the following quote.
--->'''Preed:''' An intelligent guard. Didn't see that one coming.
** The Drej have their entire fleet attacking the Titan station, hellbent on destroying it. Titan is running on auxiliary power, which isn't enough to activate the station. The Drej, being energy beings, are undefeatable...until [[spoiler:the heros realize that Drej energy can be absorbed and converted into station power. The entire fleet is not so much destroyed as it is ''eaten'']].

'''Peter:''' ''(drawing his dagger)'' Say your prayers,

'''Anna:''' The only frozen heart around here is yours! ''[punches him in the face]''

%% Image Pickin' thread did not produce a new image: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1587917153003729000

[[quoteright:320:[[TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TzeentchDidntSeeThatComing.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[-Call it a hunch, but I'd say things didn't go as planned here.-] ]]

** Prior to the current setting, the Imperium had gotten pretty good at fighting Eldar, Orks, and Chaos, such that they had become TheUsualAdversaries. Then around the 41st Millenium three new factions spring up that blindsided the Imperium: the Necrons, whose advanced technology made them almost impossible to kill while slicing through the best the Imperium had to offer like it was nothing, the Tyranids, a hyper-intelligent HordeOfAlienLocusts that could easily outmaneuver Imperial defenses before drowning them in unending waves of bugs, and the T'au Empire, a small confederation of aliens that ignore HollywoodTactics in favor of some of the most powerful guns in the entire setting. While the Imperium is adapting, First Contact with these new aliens resulted in unsatisfying stalemate at best and complete military disaster at worst, and they always seem to bring out new threats to keep the Imperium from ever getting a good solid counter.
* Happens to virtually everyone in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', especially when Adorjan or the Exalted are involved.
** [[TheChessmaster Chejop Kejak]] is the poster child for this trope. He led his fellow [[{{Seers}} Sidereals]] to overthrow the increasingly insane [[AGodAmI Solar]] rulers of Creation based on what he was convinced was a prophecy that ''guaranteed'' the survival of Creation. Unfortunately for him (and more than 90% of Creation's population), he underestimated the threat posed by beings from ''outside'' of Creation, who are by nature ImmuneToFate and thus cannot be predicted.
** In Autochthonia, one of the nations implemented a form of currency to keep the Populat happy during a series of high-profile scandals. Now there are illicitly wealthy members of the Populat bribing their way out of their responsibilities, regulator corruption all over the place, counterfeiting rings springing up, and similar chaos, and nobody has any idea what to do about it.
* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'':
** The Clan Invasion in AD 3050. The Inner Sphere was busy working up to yet another fight among the different Successor States when all of a sudden a ProudWarriorRace, descended from humans who had fled known space centuries ago and wielding much more advanced technology, appears from unexplored space and starts steamrolling everything in their path. It wound up being the first thing in over 400 years that actually got the various eternally warring factions of the Inner Sphere to [[EnemyMine put aside their differences and team up]].
** The Clans themselves did not see that eight years later, the Successor States would use that cooperation to launch a massive counter-invasion with the goal of destroying a Clan. The Smoke Jaguars never stood a chance and were utterly wiped out.
* Pretty much any darklord in the TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}} setting, upon committing some horrible deed that crossed the MoralEventHorizon in pursuit of their own evil goals or passions, Didn't See It Coming that the Mists would abduct them and trap them in an EpiphanicPrison for their troubles. For darklords from other game-worlds, this possible outcome would rate as an Unknown Unknown, as few outlanders know much about Ravenloft; for the few native villains who ''do'', it's still this trope, but an Unknown Known (because they wouldn't have expected it to happen to ''them'').

** [[spoiler:Isaac Beckford]] spent years carefully developing and implementing his grand plan to [[spoiler:become God]], only for the whole thing to fall apart because a certain charismatic gentleman thief saw fit to steal a key component of the plan - Cardia, the visual novel's player character - and give her a chance to experience human kindness, friendship, and love.
** The only thing that causes [[spoiler:Aleister]]'s meticulously-planned long-term campaign to utterly mentally destroy [[spoiler:Van Helsing]] is Cardia, who [[spoiler:gives Van and Delacroix II a chance to reconcile]] and - by falling in love with [[spoiler:Van Helsing]] and refusing to let him push her away - provides him with something WorthLivingFor.

* Part of the BigBad's plans in ''VisualNovel/DiesIrae'' is to actually [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope. Both have to deal with foreknowledge, and as such they feel like they [[PrescienceIsPredictable know everything that will happen with nothing exciting or surprising them anymore]] and are enamored by the unknown. [[spoiler:In the end, they both get what they want, albeit in a different way from what they initially intended which only made them happier]].

* At the end of the fourth ''WebAnimation/CharlieTheUnicorn'' short, the pink and blue unicorns -- who have spent the last four installments slowly going from obliviously cruel and chaotic to unmistakably malevolent -- show genuine surprise when [[spoiler:Charlie, by wishing on the magic starfish from the previous episode, escapes their deathtrap on the moon]].
* At the end of Volume Three of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', Cinder has successfully pulled off her master plan, having stolen the Fall Maiden's powers and killed the people most capable of stopping her. [[spoiler:Then [[TheHero Ruby]]'s eyes go supernova in grief, much to her and the audience's surprise. The normally calm Cinder responds with a BigWhat before being blasted.]]

* In ''Literature/TheSalvationWar'', this is the downfall of several figures in the story, not least of which include the antagonists [[spoiler:Satan and Yahweh]], while in contrast much of human military tech shown in the story is concerned with trying to prevent this. In particular, [[FourStarBadass General]] [[spoiler:of the Armies]] [[TheStrategist David Petraeus]] is shown on several occasions accounting for known unknowns.
* Despite all of the completely ludicrous things they managed to pull off in [[WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog Dr. Horrible]], nobody was expecting Bad Horse to be an ''actual'' horse.

* In ''LetsPlay/TwitchPlaysPokemonRed'', [[MindHive the Mob]] came up with a cunning plan to make sure that [[TheAce Bird Jesus]] didn't get released or deposited when they went to the PC. If they fainted everyone in the party ''except'' for Bird Jesus, he couldn't be put in the PC because then Red would have no usable Pokemon, right? As it should so happen, this leads to variety five - in the first generation of Pokemon, you ''can'' deposit the only Pokemon in your party... leading to Red managing to black out [[EpicFail inside a Pokemon Centre!]]
* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]]'s reaction in his ''WebVideo/HistoryOfPowerRangers'' video detailing ''Series/PowerRangersLostGalaxy'' to [[spoiler:[[WhamEpisode Kendrix Morgan's death]]]] involves cutting to him in StunnedSilence.

** In the season 3 finale "ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} vs. [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Pinkie Pie]]", Wiz and Boomstick are absolutely flabbergasted when [[spoiler:the two call off their fight, become best friends, hop through other videos and land in the real world where Deadpool admonishes Wiz and Boomstick's actors for making him fight on his birthday before Pinkie brings him back to Equestria to celebrate said birthday. The two are forced to admit that the real losers this time is ''them'']].
** In the season 7 episode Machinima/RedVsBlue (as in, the titular teams duking it out), something to this effect is said as [[spoiler: Sarge's last words, lamenting that he really SHOULD have seen that coming]].

* This happens quite a bit to the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marine chapter in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. [[CrazyPrepared They plan any action they take for years, carefully plot out every single possibility...]] Then their rivals, the Space Wolves, just run in and beat the shit out of them when they least expect it. You'd think they'd learn by now. (The current page image is a parody of this scenario; Tzeentch, God of XanatosSpeedChess, is repeatedly beaten back by the fan-made [[TestosteronePoisoning Angry Marines]].)

* Several examples in ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}: