History Main / InfoDrop

* One of the most famous {{info drop}}s in recent years would be the dates on James and Lily Potter's grave in ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. With this information in hand, it's easy to figure out when the books take place (although it also makes the fourth book's claim of Dudley having a PlayStation highly dubious).
** The ''HarryPotter'' dates have been known since at least ''Chamber of Secrets'', which celebrates the 500th deathday of N.H. Nick, who died in 1492. Also Rowling already admitted that the Playstation thing was written without verifying when was it launched or anything, not that it matters on the long run.

* [[http://www.fimfiction.net/user/kalash93 Kalash93]] loves this trope and uses it to great effect for world building and characterization. The second chapter of [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/81159/1/racer-and-the-geek/predawn Racer And The Geek]] contains an inestimably important piece of information given just in a casual conversation.

* [[http://www.fimfiction.net/user/kalash93 Kalash93]] loves this trope and uses it to great effect for world building and characterization. The second chapter of [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/81159/racer-and-the-geek Racer And The Geek]] contains an inestimably important piece of information given just in a casual conversation.

* In the anime adaptation of ''FullMetalPanic'', Chidori mentions that she's an orphan when bitch-slapping a captured enemy. "Oh, you've got no parents? Well, same for me and Sargent Sagura over here." Up until that point, it's not explicitly stated that her parents are dead, and the statement goes a long way toward explaining her character (and current living conditions).

* ''OnePiece'' thrives on this. Often tidbits mentioned in passing are revealed [[ChekhovsGun to have enormous significance]]. Eiichiro Oda's usual ploy is to have something relevant to the ''current'' arc, only to expand upon it at a later time. ContinuityPorn contains one of the most major examples of this.

* One of the most famous {{info drop}}s in recent years would be the dates on James and Lily Potter's grave in ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. With this information in hand, it's easy to figure out when the books take place (although it also makes the fourth book's claim of Dudley having a PlayStation highly dubious).
** The ''HarryPotter'' dates have been known since at least ''Chamber of Secrets'', which celebrates the 500th deathday of N.H. Nick, who died in 1492. Also Rowling already admitted that the Playstation thing was written without verifying when was it launched or anything, not that it matters on the long run.
* A more recent example would be in the movie of ''FantasticMrFox''. There is much fun had with the conversion between fox years and human years (a 6:1 ratio), though a specific year for the movie's events is never given: it can, however, be extrapolated from Ash's age, Mr. Fox's age and the years we see on a trophy (1973, in case you were wondering).
* The protagonist of ''KillBill'' is usually known only as [[NoNameGiven the Bride]], but there are hints and one specific scene that reveal it to be [[spoiler:Beatrix Kiddo]].

* In the ''Literature/CircleOfThree'' series, the coven that the Crones' Circle store owners belong to goes unnamed until the last book.
* The only mention of Mr. Darcy's first name in ''PrideAndPrejudice'' is at the end of one letter.

* ''OnePiece'' thrives on this. Often tidbits mentioned in passing are revealed [[ChekhovsGun to have enormous significance]]. Eiichiro Oda's usual ploy is to have something relevant to the ''current'' arc, only to expand upon it at a later time. ContinuityPorn contains one of the most major examples of this.
* ''TheIronGiant'' makes no mention of [[DisappearedDad what happened to Hogarth's dad]], but during Hogarth's standoff with Kent, a picture of a fighter pilot is seen on his nightstand, and the audience is left to fill in the blanks.
* MahouSenseiNegima has what appears to be a joke from one of the characters (later revealed as the arc's BigBad) when she [[spoiler:claims to be from Mars]]. Yeah, turns out that it wasn't a joke.
* In Webcomic/ElGoonishShive, Sarah's last name was revealed in this manner; the principle used it to refer to her while rebuking her for breaking the dress code. The name? [[spoiler:[[AntiClimax Brown]].]]
* ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket Gundam 0080]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Gundam ZZ]]'' provide {{Info Drop}}s for fans trying to figure out when exactly the Universal Century takes place. The former has a newspaper that reads "Monday, 14 January 0080", while the latter has Axis proclaim itself Neo Zeon on February 29th 0088, which means 0080 is a leap year in which January 14th falls on a Monday. [[MobileSuitGundam The original series]] and ''ZetaGundam'' both suggested that the calendar changeover happened in 2000, but these pieces of information were quietly {{retcon}}ned out in the CompilationMovie versions.

* In ''Manga/ElfenLied'', we only learn about Lucy's real name when Kouta reads the letter she wrote as a child. [[spoiler:It's Kaede.]]
* The protagonist of ''Film/TheMatrix'' is generally called either Neo or Mr. Anderson. His first name, Thomas, is mentioned only once, during his interrogation by Agent Smith near the beginning of the film.

* In the ''CircleOfThree'' series, the coven that the Crones' Circle store owners belong to goes unnamed until the last book.

* One of the most famous {{info drop}}s in recent years would be the dates on James and Lily Potter's grave in ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. With this information in hand, it's easy to figure out when the books take place ([[DidNotDoTheResearch although it also makes the fourth book's claim of Dudley having a PlayStation highly dubious]]).

* In the [[HomestarRunner Strong Bad Email]] [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail162.html the chair]], Strong Bad taunts the audience by randomly pulling out a supposed picture of his parents, which is almost completely obscured by the screen-filling back of his new chair. However, decompiling the Flash reveals nothing on the photo but the message "nice try [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda dodongo!]]"

* In the [[HomestarRunner Strong Bad Email]] [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail162.html the chair]], Strong Bad taunts the audience by randomly pulling out a supposed picture of his parents, which is almost completely obscured by the screen-filling back of his new chair. However, decompiling the Flash reveals nothing on the photo but the message "nice try [[TheLegendOfZelda dodongo!]]"

* This was standard practice in the early run of the WebComic ''GunnerkriggCourt''. At the end of each chapter was a bonus page, giving details of the school and surrounding areas.

* In ElGoonishShive, Sarah's last name was revealed in this manner; the principle used it to refer to her while rebuking her for breaking the dress code. The name? [[spoiler:[[AntiClimax Brown]].]]

* ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket Gundam 0080]]'' and ''GundamZZ'' provide {{Info Drop}}s for fans trying to figure out when exactly the Universal Century takes place. The former has a newspaper that reads "Monday, 14 January 0080", while the latter has Axis proclaim itself Neo Zeon on February 29th 0088, which means 0080 is a leap year in which January 14th falls on a Monday. [[MobileSuitGundam The original series]] and ''ZetaGundam'' both suggested that the calendar changeover happened in 2000, but these pieces of information were quietly {{retcon}}ned out in the CompilationMovie versions.

* One of the most famous {{Info Drop}}s in recent years would be the dates on James and Lily Potter's grave in ''HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''. With this information in hand, it's easy to figure out when the books take place ([[DidNotDoTheResearch although it also makes the fourth book's claim of Dudley having a Playstation highly dubious]]).
** The ''HarryPotter'' dates have been known since at least ''Chamber of Secrets'', which celebrates the 500th anniversary of N.H. Nick, who died in 1492. Also Rowling already admitted that the Playstation thing was written without verifying when was it launched or anything, not that it matters on the long run.

* The protagonist of ''KillBill'' is usually known only as [[NoNameGiven the Bride]], but there are hints and one specific scene that reveal it to be [[spoiler: Beatrix Kiddo]].

* MahouSenseiNegima has what appears to be a joke from one of the characters (later revealed as the arc's BigBad) when she [[spoiler: claims to be from Mars]]. Yeah, turns out that it wasn't a joke.
* In ElGoonishShive, Sarah's last name was revealed in this manner; the principle used it to refer to her while rebuking her for breaking the dress code. The name? [[spoiler: [[AntiClimax Brown.]] ]]
* ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket Gundam 0080]]'' and ''GundamZZ'' provide {{Info Drop}}s for fans trying to figure out when exactly the Universal Century takes place. The former has a newspaper that reads "Monday, 14 January 0080", while the latter has Axis proclaim itself Neo Zeon on February 29th 0088, which means 0080 is a leap year in which January 14th falls on a Monday. [[MobileSuitGundam The original series]] and ''ZetaGundam'' both suggested that the calendar changeover happened in 2000, but these pieces of information were quietly {{RetCon}}ned out in the CompilationMovie versions.

* While the film version of ''{{Watchmen}}'' pretty much makes Ozymandias as AmbiguouslyGay as possible, the real proof comes from a desktop icon labeled "Boys" on his computer.

* ''{{Gundam 0080}}'' and ''GundamZZ'' provide {{Info Drop}}s for fans trying to figure out when exactly the Universal Century takes place. The former has a newspaper that reads "Monday, 14 January 0080", while the latter has Axis proclaim itself Neo Zeon on February 29th 0088, which means 0080 is a leap year in which January 14th falls on a Monday. [[MobileSuitGundam The original series]] and ''ZetaGundam'' both suggested that the calendar changeover happened in 2000, but these pieces of information were quietly {{RetCon}}ned out in the CompilationMovie versions.

* ''OnePiece'' thrives on this. Often tidbits mentioned in passing are revealed [[ChekovsGun to have enormous significance]]. Eiichiro Oda's usual ploy is to have something relevant to the ''current'' arc, only to expand upon it at a later time. ContinuityPorn contains one of the most major examples of this.

* In the [[HomestarRunner Strong Bad Email]] [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail162.html the chair]], Strong Bad taunts the audience by pulling out a supposed picture of his parents, apropos of nothing, which is almost completely obscured by the screen-filling back of his new chair. However, decompiling the Flash reveals nothing on the photo but the message "nice try [[TheLegendOfZelda dodongo!]]"

* ''OnePiece'' thrives on this. Often tidbits mentioned in passing are revealed [[{{Ptitlexn9xzsjd5fif}} to have enormous significance]]. Eiichiro Oda's usual ploy is to have something relevant to the ''current'' arc, only to expand upon it at a later time. ContinuityPorn contains one of the most major examples of this.

* The ''HomestarRunner'' example in the page quote appears to be this, but it's [[TheUnreveal obscured from the viewer's vision]].

* ''{{Gundam 0080}}'' and ''GundamZZ'' provide {{Info Drop}}s for fans trying to figure out when exactly the Universal Century takes place. The former has a newspaper that reads "Monday, 14 January 0080", while the latter has Axis proclaim itself Neo Zeon on February 29th 0088, which means 0080 is a leap year in which January 14th falls on a Monday.

Sometimes the most interesting revelations aren't delivered with [[LukeIAmYourFather a dramatic speech]], [[OhCrap a round of shocked expressions]] and [[CliffHanger a title card reading "to be continued"]]. Sometimes they're just handed out casually, tossed in the audience's face without fanfare [[ViewersAreMorons or even a helpful sign saying "this is important"]]. In many cases, it's not until FridgeLogic kicks in that the audience has a chance to say [[WaitWhatWhoa "wait, what? Whoa."]]

Contrast [[WhatsASecretFour What's A Secret Four]], where a NoodleIncident is used to add the illusion of depth to the story's background without actually adding any extra detail.