Harsher in Hindsight cleanup

Harsher in Hindsight is one of the most misused Audience Reaction trope, because most tropers do not understand that the trope requires more than just "This happened, then that happened", and people like to discuss the negative stuff negatively, making this trope problematic as opposed to Hilarious in Hindsight.

Please report any questionable Harsher in Hindsight examples here, so we can decide if they're actually examples or not.

Because of how Harsher in Hindsight and "Funny Aneurysm" Moment are closely related, we may have the Aneurysm cleanup thread and this thread to be merged.

IMO, Hilarious in Hindsight is actually just as frequently (ab)used as "this thing happened, then this other thing happened", often failing not only to establish a connection but even why it's supposed to be funny. I'm inclined to think all 3 "hindsight" tropes should have one cleanup thread.

Yeah, this should be a thread for all three.

Edited by WarJay77 on Feb 10th 2020 at 8:32:33 AM

& Thirded, the problems are similar enough that all three pages can comfortably share a thread.

Add Heartwarming in Hindsight to the pile.

All four tropes need to go to TRS to tighten down the definition so as to remove all the built-up fancruft.

Oh, God. There's a fourth one now?

It's been around since 2011, people just don't realize it's a thing.

I originally brought these up in the Is this an example thread?, but was told to bring them here as this apparently going to be a general "in Hindsight" clean-up thread.

Given how often Hilarious in Hindsight is misused; are any of the following examples from Birds of Prey (2020) being used correctly?:

• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In the New 52 reboot, DC (specifically Dan DiDio) outright tried to remove Cassandra Cain from continuity completely and ban her from ever being used because she was "toxic" (i.e. she was stealing the spotlight from his personal favorite Barbara Gordon) while Babs was controversially returned to being Batgirl after over two decades, most of it as Handicapped Badass Oracle. It was since undone and Cass was returned, albeit not as Batgirl. Now, Cass is making her big screen movie in the DCEU while Barbara is nowhere to be seen. It does subvert what just about everyone thought would happen. It's funnier when you realize that Barbara isn't present in the series based on her comic, and it's like Cass is basically getting her meta-revenge by replacing her. Barbara is not in the movie because, according to producer Sue Kroll, WB has other plans for the character.
  • Gail Simone, considered the definitive writer of the team, wanted to use Cass for the Birds of Prey but couldn't due to executive veto. After all these years, Cass is finally making her big screen debut in the Birds of Prey movie and is a member of the team (after a fashion).
  • Related to the Birds of Prey TV series, Harley was barely in it, as a villain fought in the finale of the show. Here she's the Villain Protagonist.
  • A meme speculating on the type of drug each cinematic Joker might have consumed◊ took on an extra level of irony when the second trailer showed Harley inhaling cocaine.

I guess the first step would be getting rid of most of the "[x] was in this, but years later [x] died" entries.

I mean, we all die eventually so will every work ever end up on this trope? I mean sure if their character died by a waterbuffalo stampede and then the actor also died of a waterbuffalo stampede then I'd say there's a case for it, but we shouldn't just allow any "it's sad now that they're gone" entry.

Most of those seem misuse; the hilarity is coming from something before the movie, not after it.

General hindsight cleanup thread created here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15816392660A25032600

Please go there instead. Will request locking of this thread.