History Main / OutOfOrder

* OutOfOrder/LiveActionTV

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* Rare newspaper example with ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine''. The creator often keeps certain strips in back burner, either because he thought they were weak or because the content could cause problems, only to run them years later. This often leads to the art style being inconsistent with modern strips, due to ArtEvolution.
* InUniverse; one ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'' strip sees Walt complain about an audio book that Connie gave him, saying it jumped around in time so much that it left him confused. Jeremy figures out that the reason for this is that Walt had his car stereo set on "shuffle" while he was listening to it.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' was similarly afflicted, mostly in the case of volumes that the British publishers felt would not translate as well (such as ''Asterix and the Banquet'', which was left until near the end because it was felt many of the jokes about French provinces would be lost on their readers).
* A lot of translations from Creator/{{Cinebook}} of French-Belgian comics suffer from this:
** The translations of ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'' and ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'' are released interleaving recent books with older ones, themselves in random order with one another.
** The translation of ''ComicBook/YokoTsuno'' started this way before sticking more closely to the original order, which gives the impression that the series was rebooted halfway through.
* Creator/MarvelComics's ''Epic Collection'' line reprints runs of titles from all over the company's fifty-year history, and makes a point of having a disclaimer stating the books are '''not''' released in order, in case you're wondering why ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' jumps from Vol, 1 to Vol. 17. Additionally, it focuses on more obscure runs than the well-known milestones, which is why major stories like ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied'' aren't the first ones out of the gate. The ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' version of the Epic Collections reprint the various comics produced by Creator/DarkHorseComics. One would think this would be a good opportunity for new readers to jump in, but while each volume collects stories that take place at roughly the same point in time, the order of the volumes themselves seems to be chosen at random, not one that would actually make sense for them to be read in. As a result, one of the first volumes to be published deals with the aftermath of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' and the much less prominent ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire''; another one takes place right after the formation of the Galactic Empire and opens with the conclusion of Sagoro Autem's story arc that had begun during the Separatist Crisis. In both cases, the previous parts remain out of print for the time being (see above).
* The five-part Franchise/{{Superman}} story "Last Son", written by Geoff Johns and Richard Donner, was published in ''Action Comics'' issues #844-846, #851 and annual #11. Issue #847 is an "intermission" story by a different writer set between parts 3 and 4, issues #848-849 are a flashback story set one year earlier, and #850 is a special set across various time periods including a "present day" that never acknowledges "Last Son". Then part 5 wasn't published until '''ten months''' after part 4, by which time three other story arcs had already been published in the regular issues of ''Action Comics''.
* The Belgian comic strip ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'' serializes all its albums in one unchronological mess. The first 66 black-and-white albums are no longer available, so they simply started again from number 67 (!!) and randomly republished the older albums in color again, together with the newer titles. This makes reading the albums in this new order very confusing.
* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'' comics were translated into English in somewhat-random order. The translators altered the dialogue occasionally to try to make the "new" order make sense, but of course that just led to further confusion when the comics were re-released in proper order without the dialogue being fixed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* During the pre-cable and kayfabe eras, where the internet was still things of science fiction, many title changes weren't aired on television until several weeks -- sometimes six weeks -- after they happened, but the former champions will continue to defend their titles until the title change airs on television. One frequently cited example is Wrestling/ArnAnderson and Tully Blanchard, the WWF TagTeam Champions, losing to Wrestling/{{Demolition}}, at a television taping in early October 1989, but the title change did not air until November 4 of that year, but the two continued to defend their titles (usually against Demolition but also the Rockers and the Hart Foundation) in the meantime. Wrestling/{{WCW}}'s Disneyland tapings in 1993 caused considerable havoc with the company's continuity that year.
* After losing their distributor due to the RF incident, Wrestling/RingOfHonor DVD releases came out two to three months after a show had already taken place, much longer than previously, and weren't made available in the order they chronologically happened in.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Literature/TheBible:
** An interesting example is the New Testament -- few Christians realize that Paul's epistles, although they describe events after Jesus's death, are actually the oldest Christian writings. 1 Thessalonians was written around AD 51, while by all accounts, the gospels were written after AD 59 at the earliest.
** Concerning the gospels themselves: Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the "synoptic" or same-POV gospels, all appear to have the same source--namely Mark, which is nonetheless positioned second.
** The Old Testament exhibits this kind of thing as well: what most Christians call the Books of History were originally from two different sections of the Jewish Bible, the Nevi'im (which puts Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings alongside the books of the prophets) and the Ketuvim (which has nearly every other Old Testament book), but early Christians reordered the Ketuvim so that all the story-like books were all together and ran (roughly) in chronological order.
* In the Literature/BobMorane series, ''The Yellow Shadow'' was translated to English before ''Treasure of the Golcondas'', despite being an obvious sequel to the latter.
* Target's ''Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations'', which covered most of the classic series, were released without much concern for the original story broadcast order, resulting in Doctor and companion introductions and departures getting seriously scrambled up (not helped by the novelisations' own changes to events - notoriously, Ian and Barbara join the TARDIS on two separate occasions, once in the novelisation of ''An Unearthly Child'' and again in the novelisation of ''The Daleks''). Target's official numbering order wasn't much help; it listed the first 73 novelisations in alphabetical order (that is, all the ones up until the institution of the numbering system), then all subsequent releases in the intended release order, which didn't always work out as planned. When BBC Books relaunched the novelisations to cover the revival series (and finish off the remaining classic series stories), they kept tradition with Target by not worrying much about original broadcast order.
** The "Day of the Doctor" novelization tells its chapters out of order. It begins with Chapter 8 (adapting the prequel minisode that featured the Eighth Doctor), then Chapter 11 (featuring the Eleventh Doctor), then Chapter 1 (featuring the unnumbered War Doctor), Chapter 10 (featuring the Tenth Doctor), and Chapter 12 (where the War, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors first meet), followed by Chapters 2 through 7, and finally Chapter 13 (an epilogue featuring the Thirteenth Doctor). There is no Chapter 9, reflecting the Ninth Doctor's absence from the story.
* ''Literature/ItsKirbyTime'': The first read-along uploaded to [=YouTube=] was for ''Kirby's Tiny World'', the fourth book. ''Take Courage'', the third book, had its read-along released second.

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/{{Darkman}}'' had two direct-to-video sequels, ''Film/DarkmanIITheReturnOfDurant'' and ''Film/DarkmanIIIDieDarkmanDie''. Due to scheduling issues with Creator/LarryDrake, who returned from the first film as the villain Durant, ''The Return of Durant'' has shot second but released first. However, there are still a few details in that movie that make it feel that ''The Return of Durant'' was supposed to release as the third film while ''Die Darkman Die'' was supposed to be the second. The first is when Darkman's machines state this latest test is in the 4000s whereas in ''Die Darkman Die'' his latest test is in the 3000s. Another is when Brinkman tells Westlake he broke the 99 minute barrier to 127 minutes and explains to him how he did it, when in ''Die Darkman Die'' Westlake is still trying to figure out how to break 99 minutes.
* The direct-to-video movie series ''Film/JoshKirbyTimeWarrior'' had its first two story arcs switched before release. It is *painfully* obvious that the "Human Pets" arc was intended to be the first adventure in the series, with plenty of dialogue developing the new allegiance between Josh, Irwin, and Azabeth, the introduction of the "Codes of Kang", Doctor Zoetrope brainwashing Prism, and various other minor bits of continuity that continue straight into "Planet of the Dino-knights". However, at some point the decision was made to have Dino-Knights be the first story arc, with barely anything but a slightly reshot introduction scene for Azabeth used to cover up the difference.

[[folder:Asian Animation]]
* The episode order in the English dub of ''Animation/ZSquad'' differs from the original Korean. For example, "Blind Love" and "The Riddle of the Pandora Zoot" were originally episodes 6 and 7 respectively, but in the dub they're episodes 4 and 5.

[[folder:Web Video]]
* In the second ''[[WesternAnimation/VeggieTales FruityStories]]'' YouTubePoop [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFCUHxwlrTE collab]], [=HundleysOnABirdDiet=] makes a "ho ho ho" joke, then shows text saying that a certain other pooper already made that joke. However, due to the collab playing the entries in alphabetical order of the poopers, the poop that is referenced in this text doesn't show up until later.
* The ''WebAnimation/{{Cocomelon}}'' compilations on Netflix sometimes do this. For instance, the song where Jellybean the hamster goes missing plays before the song where Jellybean is introduced, and videos depicting JJ's old bed still showed up even after the song introducing the new bed was played.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/SquareRootOfMinusGarfield'':
** "Andrew Garfield 2: Tom Hardy Edition" was published two months before "Andrew Garfield".
** The description for "Garfield's History of Cats" contains a reference to a similar comic by the same author, which had not yet been published at the time.
* Creator/AndrewHussie made at least three ''Webcomic/SweetBroAndHellaJeff'' comics as part of a discussion on the ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' forums; when they went up on the newly-established ''SBAHJ'' site months later, they were in a different order from the order in which they were made. The [[FirstInstallmentWins famous]] [[MindYourStep stairs]] comic, the first in the site's order, was the third made; the actual first made was the IBangedYourMom comic, the second in the site's order.
* ''Webcomic/{{Sunstone}}'' was constantly this in the strip's older days; the strips were posted in the order they were completed, not in the order of chronology or even in the order they were thought up. WordOfGod lampshaded this but [[TrollingCreator rarely gave help.]] These days this is mostly averted as the comic is updating chronologically and in ''chapters.'' Previously standalone strips have been absorbed by the progressing narrative. Though future strips and pin-ups are still released, these are kept in galleries separate from the chapters now making the comic much easier to navigate.

[[folder:Advertising]]
* In the famous ''Dolmio'' puppet adverts, which promote a line of Italian sauces, when we are first introduced to the Dolmio family, Sophia ([[AmbiguouslyRelated who is either Mama's eldest daughter or her daughter-in-law]]) has a bizarre, multicolored hairstyle akin to a poodle's without explanation. The hair was explained soon after in a series of follow-up shorts that had the theme of the family members having a bad day they immediately forgot about then Mama served dinner: she went to a new hairdresser and it didn't go well. In later shorts, Sophia had straight brown hair like the rest of the family, meaning this wasn't her natural hair.

[[folder:Music]]
* Music/FuneralForAFriend's concept album Tales Don't Tell Themselves tells a story over each track, but the track order was chosen for flow rather than telling the story in order. The opening track Into Oblivion (Reunion) is clearly the last part of the story, as most of the album is about the perilous time at sea - this one is about how he has now escaped the dangers and is coming home. The narrator says he 'stared into oblivion and found my own reflection there', which indicates he's past the oblivion that other tracks such as 'Out Of Reach' detail.
* The first two serially-released [=LP=]s of the triple vinyl edition of Blue Amazon's ''The Javelin'' album had their tracklists swapped: Part 1 has tracks 3 and 4, while Part 2 has tracks 1 and 2.
* Music/NickDrake's Bryter Layter features "Hazey Jane II" as track 2, but "Hazey Jane I" doesn't appear till track 5. Whilst I is a stark acoustic song much closer to his later Pink Moon work (albeit with a string section similar to Five Leaves Left), II is a bouncy song with horns that was designed as a single, the likely reason for its prominence in the tracklisting.

** ''VideoGame/ImmaterialAndMissingPower'' (Touhou 7.5) is released after ''VideoGame/ImperishableNight'' (Touhou 8).
** ''VideoGame/AntinomyOfCommonFlowers'' (Touhou 15.5) is released after ''VideoGame/HiddenStarInFourSeasons'' (Touhou 16).
** ''VideoGame/SunkenFossilWorld'' (Touhou 17.5) is released after ''VideoGame/UnconnectedMarketeers'' (Touhou 18).

* Kids' WB! reruns of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' were also aired out of order for a while, which may have been one contributing factor to its decline in popularity, since fans lost interest and newcomers were confused.

* ''Film/{{Darkman}}'' had two direct-to-video sequels, ''Film/DarkmanIITheReturnOfDurant'' and ''Film/DarkmanIIIDieDarkmanDie''. Due to scheduling issues with Creator/LarryDrake, who returned from the first film as the villain Durant, ''The Return of Durant'' has shot second but released first. However, there are still a few details in that movie that make it feel that ''The Return of Durant'' was supposed to release as the third film while ''Die Darkman Die'' was supposed to be the second. The first is when Darkman's machines state this latest test is in the 4000s where in ''Die Darkman Die'' his latest test is in the 3000s. Another is when Brinkman tells Westlake he broke the 99 minute barrier to 127 minutes and explains to him how he did it, when in ''Die Darkman Die'' Westlake is still trying to figure out how to break 99 minutes.

* There was some controversy when the US DVD release of ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' undid the AnachronicOrder of the broadcast. The company responded by putting the episodes in broadcast order in one disc and chronological order on the other in future releases.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': The order of the movies and [=OVAs=] is not very clear. They all take place before the TV series begins, but in what order? Slayers Excellent takes place first, but since it was written as a prequel, it doesn't give the characters any formal introduction, and it's not recommended to be watched first. The Slayers Premium movie is the only "movie" to take place in the middle of the TV series, but even then... it's not very clear exactly WHERE in the series it takes place...

* ''Film/{{Darkman}}'' had two direct-to-video sequels, ''Film/DarkmanIITheReturnOfDurant'' and ''Film/DarkmanIIIDieDarkmanDie''. Due to scheduling issues with Creator/LarryDrake, who returned from the first film as the villain Durant, ''The Return of Durant'' has shot second but released first. However, there are still a few details in that movie that makes it feel that ''The Return of Durant'' was supposed to release as the third film while ''Die Darkman Die'' was supposed to be the second. The first is when Darkman's machines state this latest test is in the 4000s where in ''Die Darkman Die'' his latest test is in the 3000s. Another is when Brinkman tells Westlake he broke the 99 minute barrier to 127 minutes and explains to him how he did it, when in ''Die Darkman Die'' Westlake is still trying to figure out how to break 99 minutes.

* ''Film/{{Darkman}}'' had two direct-to-video sequels, ''Film/DarkmanIITheReturnOfDurant'' and ''Film/DarkmanIIIDieDarkmanDie''. Due scheduling issues with actors, ''The Return of Durant'' has shot second but released first. However, there are still a few details in that movie that makes it feel that ''The Return of Durant'' was supposed to release as the third film while ''Die Darkman Die'' was supposed to be the second. The first is when Darkman's machines state this latest test is in the 4000s where in ''Die Darkman Die'' his latest test is in the 3000s. Another is when Brinkman tells Westlake he broke the 99 minute barrier to 127 minutes and explains to him how he did it, when in ''Die Darkman Die'' Westlake is still trying to figure out how to break 99 minutes.

* ''Film/{{Darkman}}'' had two direct-to-video sequels, ''Film/DarkmanIITheReturnOfDurant'' and ''Film/DarkmanIIIDieDarkmanDie''. Due scheduling issues with actors, ''The Return of Durant'' has shot second but released first. However, there are still a few details in that movie that makes it feel that 'The Return of Durant'' was supposed to release as the third film while ''Die Darkman Die'' was supposed to be the second. The first is when Darkman's machines state this latest test is in the 4000s where in ''Die Darkman Die'' his latest test is in the 3000s. Another is when Brinkman tells Westlake he broke the 99 minute barrier to 127 minutes and explains to him how he did it, when in ''Die Darkman Die'' Westlake is still trying to figure out how to break 99 minutes.

* The episode order in the English dub of ''Animation/{{Z-Squad}}'' differs from the original Korean. For example, "Blind Love" and "The Riddle of the Pandora Zoot" were originally episodes 6 and 7 respectively, but in the dub they're episodes 4 and 5.

* In the second ''[[WesternAnimation/VeggieTales FruityStories]]'' WebAnimation/YouTubePoop [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFCUHxwlrTE collab]], [=HundleysOnABirdDiet=] makes a "ho ho ho" joke, then shows text saying that a certain other pooper already made that joke. However, due to the collab playing the entries in alphabetical order of the poopers, the poop that is referenced in this text doesn't show up until later.

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

%% Please keep the list of examples in alphabetical order. The current page setup where only the folder order is shuffled has been determined to allow the page to be self-demonstrating while still making examples easy to find.

%% Do not fuck with the order of presentation in the article.
%% It does not work. It is just confusing.
%% Changing the folder order is fine, but don't go further than that.

* The Belgian comic strip ''ComicBook/SuskeEnWiske'' serializes all its albums in one unchronological mess. The first 66 black-and-white albums are no longer available, so they simply started again from number 67 (!!) and randomly republished the older albums in color again, together with the newer titles. This makes reading the albums in this new order very confusing.
* ''ComicBook/{{Tintin}}'' comics were translated into English in somewhat-random order. The translators altered the dialogue occasionally to try to make the "new" order make sense, but of course that just led to further confusion when the comics were re-released in proper order without the dialogue being fixed.

* Creator/MarvelComics's ''Epic Collection'' line reprints runs of titles from all over the company's fifty-year history, and makes a point of having a disclaimer stating the books are '''not''' released in order, in case you're wondering why ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' jumps from Vol, 1 to Vol. 17. Additionally, it focuses on more obscure runs than the well-known milestones, which is why major stories like ''ComicBook/TheNightGwenStacyDied'' aren't the first ones out of the gate.
** The ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' version of the Epic Collections reprint the various comics produced by Creator/DarkHorseComics. One would think this would be a good opportunity for new readers to jump in, but while each volume collects stories that take place at roughly the same point in time, the order of the volumes themselves seems to be chosen at random, not one that would actually make sense for them to be read in. As a result, one of the first volumes to be published deals with the aftermath of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' and the much less prominent ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire''; another one takes place right after the formation of the Galactic Empire and opens with the conclusion of Sagoro Autem's story arc that had begun during the Separatist Crisis. In both cases, the previous parts remain out of print for the time being (see above).
* Production sometimes falls behind deadlines so comics companies have "filler" issues prepared, generic stories that have nothing to do with any ongoing storyline. Sometimes characterized as an "untold tale" of the character. It can be jarring though to have a filler issue drop in the middle of a long story arc.

* During the pre-cable and kayfabe eras, where the internet was still things of science fiction, many title changes weren't aired on television until several weeks -- sometimes six weeks -- after they happened, but the former champions will continue to defend their titles until the title change airs on television. One frequently cited example is Wrestling/ArnAnderson and Tully Blanchard, the WWF TagTeam Champions, losing to Wrestling/{{Demolition}}, at a television taping in early October 1989, but the title change did not air until November 4 of that year, but the two continued to defend their titles (usually against Demolition but also the Rockers and the Hart Foundation) in the meantime. Wrestling/{{WCW}}'s Disneyland tapings in 1993 caused considerable havoc with the company's continuity that year.

* A particularly bad example occurred with ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'', where episodes from three very similar series were broadcast in the same timeslot in seemingly random order.

** Although it does help that the first four episodes, ie a DVD's worth, are ''the first four episodes''.
* Here's a pretty crazy one: When ''Manga/TokyoMewMew'' was dubbed into English as ''Mew Mew Power'', not only was [[http://mmpu.smuncensored.com/ep12.html episode 12]] aired as the premiere, [[http://mmpu.smuncensored.com/ep13.html episode 13]] was shorn of the references to 12.
* When ''Ninja Robots'' (aka the dubbed version of ''Anime/NinjaSenshiTobikage'') aired in Australia in a block of about half a dozen episodes were televised out of order. This was particularly obvious because it skipped the introduction of a major character. This alternative ordering of the episodes was repeated on the DVD.

** Good luck trying to figure out the proper order of ''Manga/PokemonAdventures'' by its magazine releases alone. Seeing how being published in two or three different magazines at once is the only reason it's allowed to go beyond a single volume's worth of material unlike other ''Pokémon'' manga, expect to be very confused until the volumes ''do'' come out.
* ''Anime/MegaManNTWarrior'' was also aired out of order, moving the "filler" episodes to later, continuity be damned. At first it was thought to be [=KidsWB=]'s fault, but other countries who got the show from [=ShoPro=] also had it out of order; so, all fingers point to [=ShoPro=] for this. [[note]]nevertheless, [=KidsWB=] aired the already-out-of-order episodes out of order. It just wouldn't be [=KidsWB=] otherwise![[/note]]
* [=KidsWB=] trifecta! While Nelvana did dub all 70 episodes of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' ([=CardCaptors=]), [=KidsWB=] only aired about half of them (the more action-packed and/or Shaoran-centered ones), and very much out of order.
* Speaking of Creator/{{Nelvana}}, their dub of ''VideoGame/{{Medabots}}'' at first skipped some {{Filler}} episodes to get the first two "arcs" of the series to fit in a 26-episode season (in the Japanese version, the arcs took 39 episodes). After deciding to dub the rest, such episodes were inserted as the first episodes of "Season 2". Lots of [[ContinuitySnarl continuity headaches]].
* The English dub of the ''Franchise/DragonBall'' franchise was subject to this to a certain extent, particularly with the home releases. Uncut [=DVDs=] of the series began in 2000 with episodes 68-74 of DBZ, with the end of the series (around 291) being released in 2003, while episodes in the early 200s were still being released in 2005. DBZ alone wasn't available in its entirety until 2007, while the first 13 episodes of the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' series weren't released to DVD uncut in the US until 2009.
** Naturally, when Creator/{{Toonami}} expanded to Kids' WB! and started showing ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', the episodes shown were seemingly chosen completely at random from the entire series shown on Cartoon Network up to that point, despite every episode having a PreviouslyOn segment and a ToBeContinued segment. Rarely would the show even be on the same story arc on consecutive days. Since no one who started DBZ from Kids' WB! could understand what's going on, viewership plummeted, and Kids' WB! pulled DBZ out of its schedule shortly afterward.
** In the original Saban dub of DBZ, several episodes from the Saiyan Saga were cut and had certain scenes spliced into earlier or later episodes. During the Namek Saga, the non-canon movie "The Tree of Might" was also made into a three-part episode, despite the obvious continuity problems.
** Pioneer released Ocean's uncut dub of the first 3 DBZ movies out of order. The third movie, "The Tree of Might", was released on March 17 1998, followed on May 26 1998 by the second movie "The World's Strongest".
** AB Groupe's infamous "Big Green" dub for the ''Dragon Ball Z'' movies and specials was released in a very jumbled order. It went: Movie 3 > Movie 2 > Movie 4 > Movie 5 > Movie 6 > Movie 7 > Movie 8 > Movie 9 > Special 1 > Special 2 > Movie 1
* The 80s ''Anime/AstroBoy'' series' episode order has been completely ignored for all English broadcast and home video releases, with some of the very last episodes airing among the first, and some of the very first episodes airing among the last. Fortunately, the very first and last episodes remained the same.
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': The order of the movies and [=OVAs=] is not very clear. They all take place before the TV series begins, but in what order? Slayers Excellent takes place first, but since it was written as a prequel, it doesn't give the characters any formal introduction, and it's not recommended to be watched first. The Slayers Premium movie is the only "movie" to take place in the middle of the TV series, but even then... it's not very clear exactly WHERE in the series it takes place...

%%* It doesn't matter which way the Creator/FUNimation Gag Dub of ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' went.
* ''Manga/FairyTail'': Episode 19, "Changeling" has Levy show up and Lucy is already familiar with her, but they meet for the first time two episodes later. Not really that important since Changeling is a [[Main/{{Filler}} Filler Episode]].

* The first aired episode of the 4Kids dub of ''Anime/MagicalDoremi'' was episode 4 in the original Japanese version, likely because it's the one where Hazuki and Aiko get their witch apprentice powers.
* The "Hi*Light" release of ''Anime/HyperdimensionNeptuniaTheAnimation'' had Episodes 1-5, 11 and 12 in the first volume, while Episodes 6-10 and 13 were in the second volume, with the justification that each volume had its own theme ("bonding" for the first, and "dimensions" for the second).
* The English dub of the second ''Anime/DigimonTamers'' movie, which took place after the series proper, aired two weeks before the dub of the first, which took place during the series.

* In the Literature/BobMorane series, ''The Yellow Shadow'' was translated to English before ''Treasure of the Golcondas'', despite being an obvious sequel to the latter.

* A rare film example; the direct-to-video movie series "Josh Kirby, Time Warrior" had its first two story arcs switched before release. It is *painfully* obvious that the "Human Pets" arc was intended to be the first adventure in the series, with plenty of dialogue developing the new allegiance between Josh, Irwin, and Azabeth, the introduction of the "Codes of Kang", Doctor Zoetrope brainwashing Prism, and various other minor bits of continuity that continue straight into "Planet of the Dino-knights". However, at some point the decision was made to have Dino-Knights be the first story arc, with barely anything but a slightly reshot introduction scene for Azabeth used to cover up the difference.

* Before ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' was a thing that happened, Creator/AndrewHussie made at least three ''Webcomic/SweetBroAndHellaJeff'' comics as part of a discussion on the ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' forums; when they went up on the newly-established ''SBAHJ'' site months later, they were in a different order from the order in which they were made. The [[FirstInstallmentWins famous]] [[MindYourStep stairs]] comic, the first in the site's order, was the third made; the actual first made was the IBangedYourMom comic, the second in the site's order.
* ''Webcomic/{{Sunstone}}'' was constantly this in the strip's older days; the strips were posted in the order they were completed, not in the order of chronology or even in the order they were thought up. WordOfGod lampshaded this but [[TrollingCreator rarely gave help.]] These days this is mostly averted as the comic is updating chronologically and in ''chapters.'' Previously standalone strips have been absorbed by the progressing narrative. Though future strips and pin-ups are still released, these are kept in galleries separate from the chapters now making the comic much easier to navigate.

* The first two serially-released [=LP=]s of the triple vinyl edition of Blue Amazon's ''The Javelin'' album had their tracklists swapped: Part 1 has tracks 3 and 4, while Part 2 has tracks 1 and 2.

* The first two serially-released [=LP=]s of the triple vinyl edition of Blue Amazon's ''The Javelin'' album were numbered out of the intended playing order: Part 1 has tracks 3 and 4, while Part 2 has tracks 1 and 2.

* The first two LPs of the triple vinyl edition of Blue Amazon's ''The Javelin'' album were numbered out of the intended playing order: Part 1 has tracks 3 and 4, while Part 2 has tracks 1 and 2.

->''"One of the many fascinating things about The Prisoner is that no-one knows what order the episodes should be watched in. There is, however, a consensus on two things. Firstly, they should not be watched in the order they were made, and secondly, they should not be watched in the order they were broadcast."''

Often [[ExecutiveMeddling executives do this]] to make an ActionPrologue, using it draw in an audience for better ratings, while ignoring how many people desert the series later. Occasionally this trope is [[JustifiedTrope justified]], or at least understandable, if a recent event or tragedy might make airing the episode so close to it need to be DistancedFromCurrentEvents. As often as not, it's just because they didn't really care - this was especially the case for local stations airing syndicated shows back when they were stored on physical media.

* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'' was similarly afflicted, mostly in the case of volumes which the British publishers felt would not translate as well (such as ''Asterix and the Banquet'', which was left until near the end because it was felt many of the jokes about French provinces would be lost on their readers).

** The translations of ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'' and ''ComicBook/BlakeAndMortimer'' are released interleaving recent books with older ones, themselves in a random order with one another.

** The ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' version of the Epic Collections reprint the various comics produced by Creator/DarkHorseComics. One would think this would be a good opportunity for new readers to jump in, but while each volume collects stories that take place at roughly the same point in time, the order of the volumes themselves seems to be chosen at random, not one that would actually made sense for them to be read in. As a result, one of the first volumes to be published deals with the aftermath of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' and the much less prominent ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire''; another one takes place right after the formation of the Galactic Empire and opens with the conclusion of Sagoro Autem's story arc that had begun during the Separatist Crisis. In both cases, the previous parts remain out of print for the time being (see above).
* Production sometimes falls behind deadlines so comics companies have "filler" issues prepared, generic stories that have nothing to do with any ongoing story line. Sometimes characterized as an "untold tale" of the character. It can be jarring though to have a filler issue drop in the middle of a long story arc.

* [=KidsWB=] trifecta! While Nelvana did dub all 70 episodes of ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'' ([=CardCaptors=]), [=KidsWB=] only aired about half of them (the more action packed and/or Shaoran-centered ones), and very much out of order.
* Speaking of Creator/{{Nelvana}}, their dub of ''VideoGame/{{Medabots}}'' at first skipped some {{Filler}} episodes to get the first two "arcs" of the series to fit in a 26-episodes season (in the Japanese version, the arcs took 39 episodes). After deciding to dub the rest, such episodes were inserted as the first episodes of "Season 2". Lots of [[ContinuitySnarl continuity headaches]].

* Target's ''Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations'', which covered most of the classic series, were released without much concern for the original story broadcast order, resulting in Doctor and companion introductions and departures getting seriously scrambled up (not helped by the novelisations' own changes to events - notoriously, Ian and Barbara join the TARDIS on two separate occasions, once in the novelisation of ''An Unearthly Child'' and again in the novelisation of ''The Daleks''). Target's official numbering order wasn't much help; it listed the first 73 novelisations in alphabetical order (that is, all the ones up until the institution of the numbering system), then all subsequent releases in intended release order, which didn't always work out as planned. When BBC Books relaunched the novelisations to cover the revival series (and finish off the remaining classic series stories), they kept tradition with Target by not worrying much about original broadcast order.

* A rare film example; the direct to video movie series "Josh Kirby, Time Warrior" had its first two story arcs switched before release. It is *painfully* obvious that the "Human Pets" arc was intended to be the first adventure in the series, with plenty of dialogue developing the new allegiance between Josh, Irwin, and Azabeth, the introduction of the "Codes of Kang", Doctor Zoetrope brainwashing Prism, and various other minor bits of continuity that continue straight into "Planet of the Dino-knights". However, at some point the decision was made to have Dino-Knights be the first story arc, with barely anything but a slightly reshot introduction scene for Azabeth used to cover up the difference.

* ''Webcomic/{{Sunstone}}'' was constantly this in the strip's older days; the strips were posted in the order they were completed, not in the order of chronology or even in the order they were thought up. WordOfGod lampshaded this but [[TrollingCreator rarely gave help.]] These days this is mostly averted as the comic is updating chronologically and in ''chapters.'' Previously standalone strips have been absorbed by the progressing narrative. Though future strips and pin ups are still released, these are kept in galleries separate from the chapters now making the comic much easier to navigate.

* In the famous ''Dolmio'' puppet adverts, which promote a line of Italian sauces, when we are first introduced to the Dolmio family, Sophia ([[AmbiguouslyRelated who is either Mama's eldest daughter or her daughter-in-law]]) has a bizarre, multicolored hairstyle akin to a poodle's without explanation. The hair was explained soon after in a series of follow up shorts that had the theme of the family members having a bad day they immediately forgot about then Mama served dinner: she went to a new hair dresser and it didn't go well. In later shorts, Sophia had straight brown hair like the rest of the family, meaning this wasn't her natural hair.

* The first two LP's of the triple vinyl edition of Blue Amazon's ''The Javelin'' album were numbered out of the intended playing order: Part 1 has tracks 3 and 4, while Part 2 has tracks 1 and 2.

** The description for "Garfield's History of Cats" contains a reference to a similar comic by the same author, which had not yet been published at he time.

[[folder:Film]]