History Main / HalfwayPlotSwitch

* ''Literature/TheBible'' can perhaps be called the ultimate example: the Old Testament is mostly a series of vignettes about various different people (Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, etc.) who all just so happen to interact with {{God}}, whereas the New Testament has a clearly defined central figure in UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} and covers the events that occurred both during and after his life.

** The first chunk of ''Literature/TheTwits'' is vignettes about how horrible the twits are. The second chunk is about the family of monkeys trying to escape.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}''. In ''New Moon'', most of the book is devoted to Bella recovering from Edward leaving her, finding out about the werewolves, and the werewolves hunting for Victoria. Suddenly, the climax of the novel goes to being about Edward planning to commit suicide via the Volturi, and Bella and Alice having to save him. In ''Eclipse'', most of the story is devoted to the Bella/Edward/Jacob love triangle, and only gives focus on the matter of the vampire army and Victoria near the end of the book. In ''Breaking Dawn'', the first two sections of the book (as well as a bit of the start of the third) are focused on Bella and Edward marrying and her having and raising her half-human daughter. Most of the third section is about the Volturi arriving to use Renesmee as an excuse to kill the Cullens, with flavors of a vampire conspiracy and the set up for an epic battle [[spoiler:that never happens.]]

May overlap with GenreShift, or SurpriseCreepy. Often the switch itself is a WhamEpisode.

* ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub'' seems to begin as a SliceOfLife DatingSim where the protagonist reluctantly joins the literature club. The game starts with a ContentWarning for disturbing images for a good reason, because the plot changes into [[spoiler:a [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou metafictional]] PsychologicalHorror game after Sayori is DrivenToSuicide. [[SurpriseCreepy After this]], the game [[OminousVisualGlitch becomes a glitchy mess]], [[DarkAndTroubledPast the characters' backstories are revealed to be really dark]], and the characters themselves begin turning into {{Yandere}}s]].

* ''ComicBook/SupergirlsGreatestChallenge'': After the three first pages, the plot changes from ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} trying to protect her secret identity from Midvale's Superman fans and other interlopers to answer the summons of the ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes and travel to the far-future to fight a cosmic horror and bust a scheme to destroy the Legion.

* This is a favored tactic of ''Manga/CromartieHighSchool'', often combined with RandomEventsPlot or WhatHappenedToTheMouse Rarely will anything actually be resolved. One episode, for example, ended with:
-->'''Narrator:''' [[TheUnreveal Will anyone learn Hokuto's Lackey's name?]] (second plot) [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse What will happen with the Boss Championship?]] (first plot) Many questions will be answered in the next episode of Cromartie High School... [[LampshadeHanging and many will not]]. We hope you'll join us then.

* A ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' story had Calvin and Hobbes creating their G.R.O.S.S club and then accidentally pushing Calvin's mother's car out of the garage, leading to the duo running away from home.

* Very much so in "{{Literature/Brainjack}}", where the beginning is about a [[TheCracker Cracker]] who ends up being hired by a government White-Hat hacker group after hacking the White House and a major telecommunications provider for a neuro-headset. The plot then brutally murders its previous self and becomes about a group of the hackers trying to subvert the neuro-headsets' HiveMind from destroying them. Can also be considered a MalignantPlotTumor.

A typical plot structure is TwoLinesNoWaiting, where two mostly unrelated plots occur simultaneously. A Halfway Plot Switch, on the other hand, features two mostly unrelated plots that occur one after the other, linked by a rather [[OneThingLedToAnother tenuous chain of events]]. As such, the start of the episode will often have close to nothing to do with the ending. This is frequently caused by a ConflictKiller. Not to be confused with a MalignantPlotTumor, where the supposed B-plot (or even C-plot) gradually eclipses the A-plot.

* Osamu Tezuka's ''Anime/MarineExpress'' is at first about investigating a murder and uncovering a corruption plot connected to the titular train, then once that's resolved halfway through the characters are whisked away to the mythical Mu Empire and the story becomes about opposing its tyrannical ruler.

* The manga and anime of ''Manga/SoulEater'' starts with the main characters capturing 99 souls and 1 witch's soul so any of them can become the new weapon of Lord Death, who is basically the Grim Reaper. ... too bad! Witches eventually become actual antagonists, and that goal is set aside completely to defeat them. [[spoiler:The manga eventually circles back to its original goal, while the anime has an original ending that forgets it.]]

* ''WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers:'' While the first minute of "Goodbye, [=SMG4=]" is about [[spoiler:[=SMG4's=] demise,]] the rest of the video is about [[spoiler:Mario getting depressed over from the loss of his friends and [=SMG4=], and him later getting the parody contract from Phoenix Wright and trying to show it to the judge to save his friends while escaping from Lawyer Kong and Nintendo. [=SMG4=], and along with his and Mario's friends, did return at the end, only because they were summoned for a trial.]]

* ''WebAnimation/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers:'' While the first minute of "Goodbye, [=SMG4=]" is about [[spoiler:[=SMG4's=] demise, the rest of the video is about Mario getting depressed over from the loss of his friends and [=SMG4=], and him later getting the parody contract from Phoenix Wright and trying to show it to the judge to save his friends while escaping from Lawyer Kong and Nintendo. [=SMG4=], and along with his and Mario's friends, did return at the end, only because they were summoned for a trial.]]

*** Probably a bigger one occurred in 1999, with a big story of Roger going on a business trip out of state, then returning home to find Jason in stitches following a Hot Wheels accident. After two days focusing on Jason and his stitches, the plot switches to Roger quitting work to spend more time with his family. He then gets scammed out of $199.99 in an infomercial. He then tries trading stocks on the Internet and winds up losing $11,000 in the second hour (after earning $3,000 in the first hour). After everyone at Roger's work goes crazy without Roger there to mess things up, he gets his job back. However, Roger sold the family computer after losing the money in the stocks, so the plot finally goes to Andy buying the iFruit.

* ''Literature/CharlieAndTheGreatGlassElevator''. The first half has the elevator and its occupants accidentally ending up in orbit and ultimately rescuing most of the crew of a space hotel from carnivorous aliens. Once the elevator returns to the chocolate factory, the second half has the three still-bedridden Bucket grandparents overdosing on reverse-aging pills that Willy Wonka invented, necessitating a journey far beneath the factory to rescue one of them. The events of the first half aren't brought up again until the last chapter.

* ''Room'' is about a woman who was kidnapped as a teenager and gave birth to a son while in captivity. The child, Jack, thinks that their prison (or 'Room', as he calls it) is all that exists in the world, while his mother tries to enforce these beliefs for him, although dire circumstances eventually force her to tell the truth. [[spoiler: Then they escape, and the rest of the story is about the two of them trying to adapt to the real world after everything they've gone through.]]

* The first chunk of ''Literature/TheTwits'' is vignettes about how horrible the twits are. The second chunk is about the family of monkeys trying to escape.

* Music/{{Scorpions}} "Coming Home" starts out as a soft acoustic ballad then about halfway through suddenly changes into full-on heavy metal.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf: Joys of Seasons'' episode 99 starts out being focused on Wolffy PlayingSick to avoid her wife's wrath after his attempt to catch a goat falls flat. Once Wolnie discovers Wolffy is faking his ailment and leaves with Wilie, the plot switches to being about Wolffy having to hide Pink Fox from Wolnie when she pays a visit to Wolf Castle.
[[/folder]]

** "Jeffy's Wifi Problem!" just so happens to be the most notorious example. Halfway through the video, Jeffy tries to call Brooklyn T. Guy in an attempt to get the [=WiFi=] password, [[WhatAnIdiot only for Brooklyn to quickly forget about the password afterwards]] and ''con both Mario and Jeffy $800 out of a Foosball table.'' Worst of all, [[KarmaHoudini he gets away with it]].

[[folder:Animation]]