History Main / SpoiledByTheFormat

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** In-universe in an episode of the anime where, after several incredibly dumb attempts to steal Pokémon, the Team Rocket trio actually tries something that might work. James wonders why they didn't start out with this plan, and Jessie replies that they needed to fill an episode.

** By that proxy, the acts of The Strongest Mega Evolution are often criticized for their pacing problems on their special format.

* In ''Manga/AsteroidInLove'', Episode 8 of the anime(adapted from Chapter 27 of the manga), which takes place on New Year's Day, has Mira learn that Ao will have to move out as a result of her father getting a transfer, something that will happen during Spring Break in March. One would think that [[MovingAngst this sort of thing]] would happen at the end of the series, whether as a climactic problem or the cause of a BittersweetEnding, but there are four episodes to go in the anime. Mira and Ao manage to get Ao to stay with Mira's family near the start of the next episode.

* One of the first episodes of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' featured the gang stuck in a ship that was stuck halfway in a Stargate. They attempted to rachet up the tension by reminding the viewers that the gate would automatically close after 38 minutes, severing the ship in half and killing them all. However, given that they were only a couple episodes into the first season, and there were no {{Red Shirt}}s on the ship, it was pretty obvious they were all going to make it out alive.

* ''Fanfic/PrincessCelestiaHuntsTheUndead'': Anyone glancing down the chapter list can guess the twist between chapters 11 and 12, in turn named ''Chrysalis actually wants peace" and "[[spoiler:I lied.]]"

* ''Dramatis personae'' (list of characters) at the beginning of the play often serves as such. To give just one example, in ''The Creditors'' by Creator/AugustStrindberg the fact that Gustaf is none other than Tekla's ex-husband is revealed right in the ''dramatis personae'', while I universe reveal only takes place towards the end of the play.

* Chuck from ''Website/SFDebris'' in the recap of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Duet" notes that the villain has been caught and the ending monologue has been said "huh? Much quicker than usual." (Which also appears to be a reference to ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart?", as described in the WesternAnimation folder below).

** Lampshaded with "Who Needs The Kwik-E-Mart?"

* ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}} has first contact procedures that initially hide information about a species when the player finds them. But if you find an alien empire's homeworld before completing first contact procedure, you can see in the population tab not only what they look like, but also what ethics they follow, which is often enough to deduce their personality.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': New Testament Volume 10 is a BossRush in novel form, and the titles of each chapter make it fairly obvious what enemy will be fought in them (as well as the total number of battles). Needless to say, the format also spoils that Touma and Othinus will get through each encounter, though not necessarily by winning a straight fight. It's subverted in the final chapter, which is titled "V.S. “???” — Round_12(Secret)" to hide the fact that Othinus is the final opponent.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Besides Bella's [[TooDumbToLive not-suicide cliff diving]] in ''New Moon'' (as evidenced below), there's also her birthing of Renesmee in ''Breaking Dawn''. All of the tension as to whether or not she'll live falls rather flat when one considers that it happens at the end of part two, there's a buttload of pages left for part three, and that section is told from her point of view.

*** The opposite is true with the first episode, which always ends with an elimination, and the next-to-last episode, which will end with an elimination unless the finale is a double episode with the 4th place team getting eliminated halfway through.

* Website/TVTropes: It's considered an IdiotBall by some to go reading a tropes page for a work ''before'' seeing/reading/etc the work, and expecting not to be spoiled. On another level, [[Administrivia/SelfFulfillingSpoiler even the spoiler tags can still spoil]], because for example:

** If the gender is constantly hidden by spoilers, especially if the male-to-female ratio isn't equal (or worse yet, there's only one character of a particular gender), it can be pretty easy to guess who the spoiler tags are trying to hide. Not to mention it's also very easy to tell the difference between he and she. Relatedly, if a character is referred to as one gender in the story, but an entry about them spoilers their gender, that spoils the reveal of [[SamusIsAGirl one]] or [[GenderBender two]] tropes.
** If a character has a very long or very short name compared to the rest of the cast, spoilering the name can end up being pointless. If the entry is about ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and you use spoiler tags to hide the fact that Q appears in an episode, a reader who knows the series will easily guess who you're talking about.
** Before the 1.8 redesign, any WikiWord or {{Pothole}} hidden by spoiler markup could still be moused over, which would reveal the URL of the page being linked to. This could spoil it for any reader who accidentally left the cursor over the spoiler tag such as in cases where it was AllJustADream.

* Lampshaded in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA3WogFaeFQ one video by]] WebVideo/StuartAshen, on the subject of the fastest game-overs in video game history:
-->"''(On ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry1InTheLandOfTheLoungeLizards'')'' 1.6 seconds! We've managed to beat the current champion ''Series/GrangeHill''. Can we do better? Of course we can, there's still a fair bit of video time remaining!"
** Made more funny in that his first video on the quickest game overs ended with about the same amount of the time as when ''Leisure Suit Larry 1'' beat ''Grange Hill''[='=]s record, so time is padded out with footage of the drug dealer HaveANiceDeath scene without any reference to the time remaining in the video.
-->"[[WhatTheHellPlayer Oh, Gonch. Gonch!]] You're never going to get an acting job in ''Series/{{Eastenders}}'' now."

* A few trailers and promos of ''WesternAnimation/TrollsWorldTour'' basically hinted at Barb's HeelFaceTurn, especially when some commercials showed her on good terms with Poppy and the others.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'', several times. If the kids return to the real world (especially with Alan), especially if they solve the clue early, and there's more than a minute or two left, expect things to go to hell very quickly.

* In general, completed {{Lets Play}}s that have a {{Permadeath}} gimmick (such as [[FinalDeathMode Hardcore]] runs of ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' or [[SelfImposedChallenge Nuzlocke]] runs of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'') can fall victim to this. If you're familiar with the game and see that the final episode is at a point far from the game's end, it's a fair bet that [[KillEmAll things don't go well for the player]].