History Main / Retirony

* One ''MadTV'' sketch features a cop one day from retirement and his partner encountering a pair of armed robbers. They exchange shots, and ''every'' bullet fired hits the near-retiree. Even the ones fired after the fleeing robbers ricochet back just to hit the retiring cop.

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* Charles Schulz died just hours before the last ''NewspaperComics/{{Peanuts}}'' comic strip was published.

* MichaelJackson WAS going to retire after one last worldwide tour... [[AuthorExistenceFailure But it didn't work out.]]

* Charles Schulz died just hours before the last ''{{Peanuts}}'' comic strip was published.

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*** [[VideoGame/MassEffect3 Moved to Earth,]] you say? In the opening of mass effect three is earth being invaded. Thus, moving his family to earth, and he likely followed them himself after 2, as he did not appear in Shepard's crew for a second round in 3... [[Main/BlackComedy Well, at least he doesnt have to worry about his family any more.]]
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', [[spoiler:Mordin]] muses about retiring, relaxing on a beach, and maybe collecting seashells. When Shepard replies that he'd go crazy from boredom within five minutes, he quips back that maybe he'll run tests on the seashells. Needless to say, [[spoiler:unless you followed a particular chain of events in the two previous games, he's not going to get a chance to run those tests on the seashells - more likely, he either dies curing the krogan genophage, or trying to after Shepard shoots him in the back to stop him]]. [[spoiler: Even if you did convince him to not follow up on the Genophage, he is forced to spend the rest of his days trying to undo the sabatoge he did on the cure]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' episode "The Last Laserdisc Player", one of the four guardians of the eponymous device gets killed two days from retirement.

* In a CutawayGag in ''TheClevelandShow'', a job-hunting Cleveland becomes a cop two days away from retirement. Subverted in that he refuses to draw fire, resulting in his younger partner getting killed instead.

** Also parodied in episode ''Con Heir'', with an aged museum security guard who, after telling one of his loved ones he refuses to retire because he considers his job his life, right before getting beaten up by Stan. Said guard actually lives and reconsiders.
* Spoofed in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider-Man}}'': a Doombot sliced up by White Tiger sputters out "Three days til retirement" before falling apart.
* In the finale of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', [[spoiler:Wally West, aka Kid Flash]] announces plans to retire after the current crisis is over. Given that we're on this page, [[KilledOffForReal you can guess what happens]].

->'''Financial planner:''' It doesn't look like you've been saving anything for the future!\\

* ''In the Beginning'', the first ''Babylon5'' movie, gives us Captain Sterns (Sheridan's CO) who is said to be shortly before retirement. Then the Earth-Minbary war begins, and Sterns is killed in the Black Star attack (the same in which Sheridan finally destroys the supercruicer).

* In a comedic sense of this trope, Item 107 in the 2008 University Of Chicago read: "A cop with three days left until retirement. That same cop, three days later, alive and well."

* The first episode of ''{{Detroit 187}}'' has both a veteran cop about to retire and fulfill his dream of living in Italy as well as a rookie detective whose wife is about to give birth. Neither can shut up about it and it annoys their partners throughout the episode. [[spoiler:The veteran is never in any danger while the rookie is shot in the final scene right before his phone rings with the news that his wife has gone into labour.]]
** Since the show is currently running and He keeps mentioning retirement is only months away...

* The set-up is inverted in ''Literature/Catch22''. [[spoiler: Nately]] has actually completed all the missions he needs to get sent home to the U.S., but volunteers to fly ''more'' because he needs to stay near the Italian girl he has fallen in love with. He is doomed from the moment he agrees to go on even one more mission.

* The second part of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' has a German soldier named Mark show up, and within two pages of his arrival declare that he and his girlfriend are getting married once he gets leave. Five pages later, he's dead.
** Noticeable in the anime because you can see Speedwagon cringe at the mention of this.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', [[spoiler:Mordin]] muses about retiring, relaxing on a beach, and maybe collecting seashells. When Shepard replies that he'd go crazy from boredom within five minutes, he quips back that maybe he'll run tests on the seashells. Needless to say, [[spoiler:unless you followed a particular chain of events in the two previous games, he's not going to get a chance to run those tests on the seashells - more likely, he either dies curing the krogan genophage, or trying to after Shepard shoots him in the back to stop him]].

* JimCroce, with a newborn baby on the way, and little money coming in due to poor management, meant to get off the road and settle down with his family. As a concert in Sherman, Texas was canceled, he opted to take one last "makeup gig" at the venue before the end of the tour. His plane crashed into a pecan tree, the only one seen for miles in an otherwise clear area, during a dense fog one hour after he played a show in Louisiana, [[AuthorExistenceFailure instantly killing Croce, his backing guitarist and four others]].

* Capt. Edward Smith of the RMS ''Titanic'' had announced his intention to retire after the ship had completed its maiden voyage. (So, a ship widely promoted as "[[TemptingFate unsinkable]]" and a captain on his last voyage. Honestly, they just didn't stand a chance.)

-->Eagle: "I want you to promise me something, Sami. Promise that [[IfWeMakeItThroughThis if we both return from this battle alive...]]"

-->Eagle: "I want you to promise me something, Sami. Promise that if we both return from this battle alive..."

-->Sami: "Oh no you don't! Stop it right there! If two people make a promise like that, [[GenreSavvy one of them is going to end up dead!]] You might as well tell me that you're [[LampshadeHanging two days away from retirement!]] Save the promises for later, OK? We'll talk when we get back in one piece."

** If Paladin dies in the first game, Shotglass laments that he was a month away from retirement. Canonically averted; he takes up a non-combat position in Special Ops in WC2, and survives the war with the Kilrathi.

* Used in one case of ''VideoGame/AceAttorneyInvestigations''. [[spoiler: Detective Badd]] mentions that this is his last day before retirement, even officially announcing his retirement at midnight, right before [[spoiler: he is arrested for being part of the Yatagarasu. So that actually makes this an aversion.]]

* Parodied in [[http://monsterhood.com/2011/08/09/where-is-pinky/ this]] ''{{Monsterhood}}'' strip.

* Jokingly used in a "What If?" episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''. General Pac Man, leading Earth's defenses against an invading horde of video game characters, mentions his retirement plans and immediately gets shot.
** Spoofed in a more recent episode where Fry becomes a cop and is partnered with [[ThoseTwoGuys recurring robot cop URL]]:

* In addition to the [[TropeNamer Trope Naming]] exchange quoted above, ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' parodies this in a [=McBain=] movie, where [=McBain's=] sidekick talks of his retirement and shows a picture of his boat (christened, "Live-4-Ever") seconds before he is gunned down. Wiggum's car, a police dog, a bomb-defusing robot (in TheMovie) and a giant novelty hat containing a hidden camera have all been a few days from retirement (the last one is a technical subversion, though, as the camera still functional enough to implicate Apu for selling expired foods despite being thrown to the floor). Also, the prisoners Marge frees when she runs her car into the prison walls are one day away from total rehabilitation.
** Clancy Wiggum and his wife expects this to happen to him so much that he hasn't taken out life insurance, when a salesman asks him what he'll do if he doesnt get shot Sarah Wiggum bursts into tears and Clancy says thats a horrible thing to say, as he clearly hasn't even considered the possibility he won't be shot before he retires.

** Similarly, in the film ''Film/ExecutiveDecision'', one of the flight attendants can't stop gushing about her recent engagement/wedding, while the rest of the crew congratulates her. Three guesses who dies first when the hijackers take over the plane.

* Subverted in SamuraiSeven by Shichiroji. He has a fiance, and fully intends to marry her when he returns from his OneLastJob. He is one of the three Samurai who survives the series.