History Main / RememberTheNewGuy

* In ''Literature/GreatExpectations'', it isn't until Chapter 15 that we learn that Joe Gargery has had another apprentice all along; apparently Pip just never thought to mention Orlick before. (In reality, this was because the novel was originaly published serially, meaning Creator/CharlesDickens couldn't go back to add the new character to earlier chapters.)

* Lampshaded and parodied in ''Film/LastActionHero''.
** The ShowWithinAShow film franchise, Jack Slater, shows Arnold's character rushing to save his daughter from a previous marriage. The main character, a "real" young boy who has been sucked into the movie, points out that Slater has never mentioned his daughter before and is annoyed that the filmmakers were introducing a new character into the franchise in this manner.
** Lampshaded again, in a different way, when we meet Creator/FMurrayAbraham, who in the Slater verse is introduced as one of Slater's old cop buddies. Danny correctly pegs him as a traitorous bad guy because he's played by F. Murray Abraham, though presumably also because he's never heard of his character either.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': To some extent, this is par for the course in [[Franchise/TrekVerse the Star Trek universe]], especially with the original series. We didn't know who Spock's parents were until they'd literally come onboard, we didn't know he had a half brother until ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'', and Sulu was never mentioned to have a daughter until we see her serving as the helmswoman on the Enterprise-B in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations''.

* In ''Literature/GreatExpectations'', it isn't until chapter 15 that we learn that Joe Gargery has had another apprentice all along; apparently Pip just never thought to mention Orlick before. (In reality, this was because the novel was originaly published serially, meaning Creator/CharlesDickens couldn't go back to add the new character to earlier chapters.)

** Professor Silvanus Kettleburn is this trope by technicality. Care of Magical Creatures, his subject, is mentioned in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber of Secrets]]'', but its teacher is not specified until ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'', at which point he has already retired.

* Music/VanillaIce's first hit "Ice Ice Baby" has the line "Ice is back with my brand new invention". Somewhat justified in that the song was originally the B-side to "Play That Funky Music" (so he was "back" from the A-side).

* ''Radio/AdventuresInOdyssey'' introduced the eccentric mailman Wooton Bassett this way in "Welcoming Wooton," and to a certain extent, the entire Washington family (most notably Ed) in "The Toy Man." The latter was a little jarring, given that Ed Washington went from not being a character to the conveniently dilemma-solving manager of the new Whit's End in a single episode.

** ''Film/Scream2022'': Wes Hicks, the son of the aforementioned Judy Hicks, is introduced as a major character in the film. He wasn’t so much as hinted at in the previous film despite his mother’s status as a supporting character. However, since Judy’s life is not really touched upon in the fourth film (perhaps due to LawOfConservationOfDetail), this might be more justified.

* ''Film/TheRoom'' has a really lazy example. With about 20 minutes left in the movie, a new character, Steven (whose name is mentioned only in the credits) suddenly appears and becomes deeply involved in the plot. Presumably, we're not supposed to notice that he suddenly appeared from nowhere without an introduction. WordOfGod is that Steven is supposed to be a replacement for the psychologist character Peter (whose actor left the production), but the audience is given no hint of this; indeed, Steven looks nothing like Peter, he doesn't even dress like him.

* Ash Ketchum's younger sister Chibi and twin brother Dash in the ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' fic ''Fanfic/GuardiansOfPokemon''. Lampshaded as far back as the first chapter.
* In ''Fanfic/MyImmortal'', most of the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' characters appear to have met Ebony sometime prior to the story. [[WordOfGod Word Of]] [[OhMyGods Satan]] even tries to explain why Draco is OutOfCharacter by saying that he already knew Ebony. Oddly, averted with Harry himself, creating one of many continuity problems (apparently, Harry was in Ebony's "goff" band before they first met).

** Speaking of ''Jaco the Galactic Patrolman'', the ''Dragon Ball Minus'' chapter also introduces Gine, Goku and Raditz’s mother and Bardock’s wife who like Tights hadn’t been shown or hinted at all in the manga or anime. It’s common for characters to have a MissingMom so many assumed she wouldn’t show up in the story (besides some WildMassGuessing that Fasha, Bardock’s teammate was the mom as she’s the one who reminds Bardock that he has a son). Gine’s presence like Dr. Flappe creates a AdaptationInducedPlotHole as she doesn’t appear in the ''Anime/DragonBallZBardockTheFatherOfGoku'' special despite being a former member of Bardock’s squad and obviously being an important character — all due to being created decades after the fact. ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' however makes the ''Dragon Ball Minus'' {{Retcanon}} firmly putting Gine within Goku’s origins. Now it’s more peculiar when Gine ''[[ShooOutTheNewGuy isn’t]]'' featured in Bardock’s story e.g ''VideoGame/DragonBallZKakarot'''s “Bardock Alone Against Fate” DLC, even if said DLC is based on the TV special where Gine wasn’t created yet.

* Not exactly a character, but the ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' movie ''Anime/ACertainMagicalIndexMiracleOfEndymion'' does this with the SpaceElevator Endymion. Lampshaded when Index sees the structure for the first time and asks what it is and where it came from. Touma pokes fun at her, comments that her PhotographicMemory must not be as perfect as she thought, and claims the structure has always been there. He has a flashback montage that shows the structure [[RetCon edited into]] the background of several important past scenes. Index gets really confused, as she is sure she's seeing it for the first time.

** Speaking of ''Jaco the Galactic Patrolman'', the ''Dragon Ball Minus'' chapter also introduces Gine, Goku and Raditz’s mother and Bardock’s wife who like Tights hadn’t been shown or hinted at all in the manga or anime. It’s common for characters to have a MissingMom so many assumed she wouldn’t show up in the story (besides some WildMassGuessing that Fasha, Bardock’s teammate was the mom as she’s the one who reminds Bardock that he has son). Gine’s presence like Dr. Flappe creates a AdaptationInducedPlotHole as she doesn’t appear in the ''Anime/DragonBallZBardockTheFatherOfGoku'' special despite being a former member of Bardock’s squad and obviously being an important character — all due to being created decades after the fact. ''Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly'' however makes the ''Dragon Ball Minus'' {{Retcanon}} firmly putting Gine within Goku’s origins. Now it’s more peculiar when Gine ''[[ShooOutTheNewGuy isn’t]]'' featured in Bardock’s story e.g ''VideoGame/DragonBallZKakarot'''s “Bardock Alone Against Fate” DLC, even if said DLC is based on the TV special where Gine wasn’t created yet.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'':

** Speaking of, the villain of the video game ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'' is a GodCreatedCanonForeigner named Android 21, who is stated to be ''another'' former Red Ribbon Army scientist.

* Sabo from ''Manga/OnePiece''. We are made aware of the shared history of sworn brothers Luffy and Ace throughout the show. Even seeing some quick flashes of them sharing a ritual to become brothers. But when they finally show the full flashbacks of the two meeting and developing their relationship, we are suddenly introduced to a new character, their third sworn brother, Sabo. Even the previously mentioned flashback of their ritual suddenly had Sabo involved in it too. There was the '''very''' subtle hint in Ace's misspelled tattoo (ASCE, with the S crossed over), that was downright impossible to know what meant, and what we saw of the brother-making-ritual contained three cups - only with Sabo, the drinker of the third, never being shown.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Uryuu Ishida is first introduced in Chapter 34 as Ichigo's classmate and the highest-scoring student in the entire grade, yet Orihime has to explain to Ichigo who he is while Tatsuki lampshades the RunningGag of Ichigo's careless forgetfulness. However, careful reading of earlier chapters reveals [[ChekhovsGunman Ishida in the background of several panels]], including Chapter 1's cover, and his father is mentioned in a throw-away line in Chapter 7, so Kubo [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools deliberately invoked]] this trope.
** Tsukishima's fullbring, Book of the End, weaponized this. It allows him to [[BackstoryInvader insert himself into the memories of his victims]] to make it look that he's been here since the very beginning: he's now a friend of Ichigo's family as long as anyone can remember, to the point that ichigo's sisters are frankly confused as to why Ichigo doesn't recognize Tsukishima. Worse yet, he replaced Ichigo in the memories of his friends so now he's the one who rescued Rukia during the Ryoka Invasion arc.

* ''Manga/FairyTail'':
** Gildarts gets this treatment in the anime. It was supposed to end before he was introduced, so the five or so mentions of his name before the Edolas arc are cut out.
** The Tenrou Island arc introduces Mest Gryder as Mystogan's apprentice, despite not appearing alongside him or even coming to Edolas. It is then revealed that he is Doranbolt, [[SubvertedTrope a Magic Council spy who manipulated the memories of Fairy Tail to make him think he was a member for years]]. [[spoiler: It is later revealed that Mest Gryder was his real identity, as he erased his and his guildmates' memories to help with infiltrating the magic council.]]

* ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'': It's revealed that Volvagia is a baby dragon that Link brought seven years ago. During the Young Link part of the manga, there's no place where that scene could have taken place.

* In the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' series, we hear briefly about the Volturi, mainly that they and Carlisle are on friendly terms, but that he left because he did not agree with their diet of humans. Edward speaks pretty well of them, when he tells Bella about them. In the next book and all books after, it's revealed that the Volturi are a highly corrupt organization, and the Cullens are all highly suspicious of them. This also leads to a case of Remember Those New Rules, since it's not until then that it's mentioned that there are any sort of laws or governing of vampires.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Uryuu Ishida is first introduced in Chapter 34 as Ichigo's classmate and the highest-scoring student in the entire grade, yet Orihime has to explain to Ichigo who he is while Tatsuki lampshades the RunningGag of Ichigo's careless forgetfulness. However, careful reading of earlier chapters reveals [[ChekhovsGunman Ishida in the background of several panels]], including Chapter 1's cover, and his father is mentioned in a throw-away line in Chapter 7, so Kubo [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools deliberately invoked]] this trope.

* The ''Film/HarryPotter'' movies had a habit of keeping minor characters who were introduced in [[Literature/HarryPotter earlier books]] out and having to shoe-horn them in later on down the road when they became necessary to the plot.

* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Part 6]] introduced us to Enrico Pucci, close friend, confidant, and possibly-gay-lover of ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'' BigBad DIO... ''years'' after DIO's defeat (more than a decade [[LongRunners out of universe]], and ''two'' decades [[Manga/StoneOcean in-universe]]). Of course, neither his existence, any of the flashback scenes he shows us, or the PlotDevice given to him by DIO (or his motivation for doing so, for that matter) were ever hinted at in ''Stardust Crusaders''. Admittedly, the series almost never showed us DIO's point of view until the heroes caught up to him, so Pucci at least had a hole he could fit in, but still...

* The ''Anime/PrettyCureAllStars'' movies inflict this whenever extra Cures show up between the last movie and the current ones. ''New Stage 3'' had this as a minor gag when Grell and Enyen go to confront the ''Anime/DokiDokiPrettyCure'' team and are bewildered at the sight of Aguri and she the same. It's only when Mana walks up that the make the connection.

* Yoki and May in ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemisBrotherhood'' are this to viewers who haven't read the manga or watched the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003 2003 anime version]]. They cut the Youswell episode which serves as a proper introduction to Yoki, and May was also supposed to be introduced later in Youswell. To ''Brotherhood''-only viewers, Yoki and May are just two random people who join Scar because they somehow know of the Elric brothers, and Yoki wants revenge for some reason. Yoki's back story and desire for revenge are explained later in the show in a series of quick flashbacks. These flashbacks occur several episodes after Yoki is introduced however, still leaving people who had never read the manga or seen the 2003 anime thoroughly confused for a while. Hilariously, when Yoki actually meets them, Ed himself doesn't remember him at first, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday despite ruining his life.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', real-life NASCAR driver Richard Petty played the veteran racer Strip Weathers, who retired at the end of the film. ''WesternAnimation/Cars3'' introduces his nephew Cal, played by Petty's real son and fellow racer Kyle, as Lightning [=McQueen=]'s friendly rival. What makes it feel odd is that he too is now on the verge of retirement, implying that he and [=McQueen=] have a long-standing relationship, and also has a very minor role.

* Yoki and May in ''[[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood]]'' are this to viewers who haven't read the manga or watched the [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime version]]. They cut the Youswell episode which serves as a proper introduction to Yoki, and May was also supposed to be introduced later in Youswell. To ''Brotherhood''-only viewers, Yoki and May are just two random people who join Scar because they somehow know of the Elric brothers, and Yoki wants revenge for some reason. Yoki's back story and desire for revenge are explained later in the show in a series of quick flashbacks. These flashbacks occur several episodes after Yoki is introduced however, still leaving people who had never read the manga or seen the 2003 anime thoroughly confused for a while. Hilariously, when Yoki actually meets them, Ed himself doesn't remember him at first, [[ButForMeItWasTuesday despite ruining his life.]]

*** There's also an example pertaining to a species rather than a character. The movie, alongside ''Series/MsMarvel'' from earlier that same year, officially introduces the concept of mutants into the franchise's lore, with [[Comicbook/SubMariner Namor]] explicitly using the term to describe himself. There had been no mention of mutants in the MCU prior to these instances, even though Namor being hundreds of years old would logically suggest that the possibility of people being born with superpowers has existed for ''at least'' centuries.[[note]]This case at least has some real world justification, as the MCU was previously unable to use mutants due to the ''[[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'''s film rights having belonged to Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox until Creator/{{Disney}} purchased the company in 2019.[[/note]]

*** Likewise in the same movie, the Skrulls were established as [[spoiler: having been hiding in refuge from the Kree]] way before the events of the films. Not only were they never mentioned either, but their war with the Kree is a retcon from the Kree-Xandar war in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''. TheStinger of ''Film/SpiderManFarFromHome'' revealed that [[spoiler: Talos, the leader of the Skrulls, and his wife were impersonating Nick Fury and Maria Hill respectively]], apparently implying that the Skrulls were hiding on Earth during the entire franchise.

** ''Film/BlackAdam'' introduces the Comicbook/JusticeSocietyOfAmerica, a team of superheroes who predate Superman and the Comicbook/{{Justice League|Of America}} and have a preexisting relationship with Comicbook/AmandaWaller. While the JSA's lack of appearances in prior films could be explained as the result of them having disbanded in the past, they were never mentioned or even alluded to before this. In fact, previous movies made it seem like the Justice League were the first publicly known superheroes in the DCEU.

** The ''[[Anime/LupinIIIPart6 Part 6]]'' episode "Two Terrible Ladies" introduces Amelia, Fujiko's old partner in crime whom she had a falling out with after a botched heist several years ago. The other members of Lupin's gang have seemingly never heard of her, and Goemon is surprised to learn Fujiko has ''any'' female friends.

*** There's also an example pertaining to a species rather than a character. The movie, alongside ''Series/MsMarvel'' from earlier that same year, officially introduces the concept of mutants into the franchise's lore, with [[Comicbook/SubMariner Namor]] explicitly using the term to describe himself. There had been no mention of mutants in the MCU prior to these instances, even though Namor being hundreds of years old would logically suggest that the possibility of people being born with superpowers has existed for ''at least'' centuries.[[note]]This case at least has some real world justification, as the MCU was previously unable to use mutants due to the [[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'s film rights having belonged to Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox until Creator/{{Disney}} purchased the company in 2019.[[/note]]

*** There's also an example pertaining to a species rather than a character. The movie, alongside ''Series/MsMarvel'' from earlier in the same year, officially introduces the concept of mutants into the franchise's lore, with [[Comicbook/SubMariner Namor]] explicitly using the term to describe himself. There had been no mention of mutants in the MCU prior to these instances, even though Namor being hundreds of years old would logically suggest that the possibility of people being born with superpowers has existed for ''at least'' centuries.[[note]]This case at least has some real world justification, as the MCU was previously unable to use mutants due to the [[Film/XMenFilmSeries X-Men]]'s film rights having belonged to Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox until Creator/{{Disney}} purchased the company in 2019.[[/note]]

** ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'' adds Aneka, a member of the Dora Milaje, to the supporting cast. Unlike the audience every main character of Wakanda is already familiar with her - she seems to be on friendly terms with Shuri and it is even [[ImpliedLoveInterest implied]] she's in a relationship with the already established character Ayo.