But for Me It Was Tuesday: Difference between revisions

'''M. Bison:''' I'm sorry. I don't remember any of it.

'''Chun-Li:''' You don't remember?!

 

This trope is what happens when the critical event that started the hero on his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|journey]] was an atrocity by the Big Bad that he has long since forgotten (possibly due to it being just one of many) and most likely never given a second thought.

Often a villain trope, but sometimes this happens from the other perspective when a minor villain tries to get their revenge against a hero, who spends so much time stopping people like them they left no impression.

 

 

* ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'' Part 1: Zeppeli notes that while he doesn't know Dio personally, the Stone Mask that gave Dio his vampire powers is responsible for the death of his father. Zeppeli asks Dio how many lives he's sucked away to heal his wounds from his previous fight with Jonathan. Dio coolly asks Zeppeli in return if he remembers every piece of bread he's ever eaten. Cue [[It's Personal]].

* A (sort of) heroic example in [[Sociopathic Hero|Mugen]] in ''[[Samurai Champloo]]''. On at least two occasions, when a psycho is shown harming Mugen's [[True Companions]] and pulling a [[No Doubt the Years Have Changed Me]], Mugen responds that he has no idea who that person is, and has no recollection of the nasty thing he did to them. It's possible that Mugen actually does remember and acting this way was strategic, as it works effectively to distract the psychos from their [[Evil Gloating]] and upset them enough to make mistakes.

* ''[[High School Debut]]'' has a heroic, non-violent example: Haruna used to be on her middle-school softball team, and had a reputation as an unbeatable pitcher. A batter from an opposing team who lost a game to her deliberately seeks her out later for a rematch, and is appalled to learn that, not only does Haruna not remember her, but Haruna doesn't even ''play'' softball anymore.

* The heroic example happens in [[Ranma ½]] during [[The Rival|Ryoga's]] introduction, and is [[Played for Laughs]]. Ryoga attacks Ranma, who briefly can't remember him. The reason for the feud is then {{spoiler|seemingly}} revealed: Ranma had been cutting in front of Ryoga in the tuckshop line, and had then left an appointed battle with Ryoga when Ryoga was four days late due to his [[No Sense of Direction|incredible ability to get lost]]. {{spoiler|This turns out to be a partial red herring when Ryoga reveals he had followed Ranma to Jusenkyo seeking revenge, and received a particularly [[Baleful Polymorph|unpleasant curse]] due to the actions of Ranma and his father, this being his new main grudge against Ranma.}}

 

* Flintheart Glomgold has held a grudge against Scrooge McDuck ever since the [[Humiliation Conga]] Scrooge put him through in revenge for [[Et Tu, Brute?|double-crossing and robbing him]] in [[Don Rosa]]'s story ''[[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck|The Terror of the Transvaal]]''. Scrooge didn't even bother to learn the guy's name and to this day probably still doesn't know.

* [[The Joker]] saw Barbara Gordon (who he shot and paralyzed for life) briefly when she interrogated him and didn't recognize her. He even asked her if he had put her in that wheelchair. Later, he met her AGAIN and didn't recognize her, though he was impressed by her complete lack of fear in facing him. Babs wondered to herself if he's killed so many people it had just blurred together. Hours later, on his car ride back from town, it finally came back to him, and he immediately turned around to torment her further.

** Invoked again with [[The Joker]] in ''[[The Dark Knight Returns]]''. He remembers few of his victims, if any, but doesn't care so long as Batman remembers them all.

{{quote|"No, I ''don't'' keep count. But you do. And I '''love''' you for it."}}

* [[Spider-Man]] once faced a guy called "The Master of Vengeance" seeking revenge because Spider-Man put him in jail for dealing drugs. Peter, who does that sort of thing all the time, didn't remember him at all.

* A more famous example is Eddie Brock, a.k.a. Venom. Peter knows him all too well ''now'', but when Venom first unmasked, he recognized Brock only as a disgraced reporter whose picture had been in the papers. He'd never met the man and had no idea he blamed Spider-Man for his ruined career.

* A classic and iconic Punisher example : Though he had good reason to know him later on and perhaps recall his origin, the first time Frank encounters Jigsaw (in the company of Spidey and Nightcrawler), Jigsaw describes his reasons and origins, and Frank, at that time a lot more social towards other justice-types, says to the others its a pity he doesn't remember this guy at all.

 

* In ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7138443/1/North_Wind North Wind]'', Loki ends up delivering one of these. Given that Thor had just accused the God of Mischief of lying, he kind of walked into it.

{{quote|'''Thor:''' ''[accusatorily]'' You are a vile liar!

'''Hinata:''' Really? So what was it for the both of us?

'''Naruto:''' For us...It was Tuesday. }}

 

** Then it became an [[Ascended Meme]] with ''[[Street Fighter X Tekken]]''.

* In the ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' movie with [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]], when Conan tells Thulsa Doom about how he slaughtered Conan's village and had him sold into slavery, Thulsa Doom does not remember at all.

'''Joker:''' Wait...''[chuckles]''...what are you talking about?

'''Batman:''' [[Create Your Own Villain|I made you.]] But [[Dark and Troubled Past|you made me first]].

* ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]'': When the title character accuses the Dread Pirate Roberts of killing her love, Westley, he replies "It's possible. I kill a lot of people." {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|He actually knows who she's talking about]] because he ''is'' Westley.}}

** And similarly, when Inigo finally confronts the six-fingered man he's been hunting his whole life:

* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' has a comedic example, with various women slapping Jack across the cheek, to which he blithely replies either "...I'm not sure I deserved that" or "...I probably deserved that one."

** The one time he actually remembers why a woman slapped him was because he "[[Insistent Terminology|borrowed]]" her ship. He remembers ships but not women.

* ''[[Once Upon a Time in the West]]'': Ruthless killer Frank is being pursued by a mysterious drifter known only as "Harmonica," but Frank has no idea why, nor can he remember who Harmonica is. Harmonica never reveals his own name; whenever asked, he instead gives names of some of the many people Frank has killed over the years.

{{quote|'''Frank:''' What do you want? Who are you?

** Absolutely false. Colonel Landa demonstrates he knows exactly who Shoshanna is by forcibly ordering milk for her, tasting it, and commenting that it is nowhere near as good as the delicious fresh milk he drank at the dairy farm she was hiding at, where he killed her family. (Why he didn't have her hunted in the woods then, or have her seized by Gestapo when he meets her in the restaurant, is another question entirely.)

*** Maybe because he wasn't ordered to. He claims he doesn't really hate Jews. He is a detective whose job just happens to be hunting them.

 

== Literature ==

* The [[Dune]] Encyclopedia names House Washington (AKA the US) as the first user of atomics in a "provincial war."

* ''[[Redwall]]'''s ''Lord Brocktree'': Bucko Bigbones confronts Karangool, the fox who killed his family and left him for dead, and Karangool has no idea who he is. Bucko corners him and explains before taking his revenge. And then he ''[[Oh Crap|does]]'' remember.

{{quote|"Well, let me tell ye a story, aboot a puir young hare who was left fer dead by a wicked ole fox who beat 'im wi' a swordblade..."}}

'''Carpathia:''' You cooked a harmless woman with a big mouth. }}

* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: Played with rather oddly in the book ''Sweet Revenge''. Reporter Ted Robinson, who is not quite a hero at that point, asks Rosemary Hershey a question about two people. Rosemary says in a genuinely puzzled tone "Who?" Her soon-to-be ex-husband, Bobby Harcourt, pokes his head into the room and states that those are the two people she killed, along with their young daughter. She killed three people and she is the only one who apparently did not even bother to remember them. However, she ends up remembering the name of the young daughter - Diana. She actually blocked that out and presumably other details of her killing them. Once she remembers, however, she is unable to stop thinking about it!

* There's an odd non-villainous version in ''The Thurb Revolution'', second of Alexei Panshin's [[Remittance Man|Anthony Villiers]] series. Retired dancer Caspar Smetana believes Villiers might have an old grudge against him, due to an embarrassing [[Noodle Incident]]. Tony at first doesn't recognize Smetana at all, and when he '''does''', he still has no idea why the older man thinks he'd hold a grudge; his memories of watching "Pickles" Smetana do the clog step are entirely pleasant.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

'''Spike:''' I've killed a lot of people's mothers.

'''Robin Wood:''' Yeah. You'd remember mine. She was a Slayer. }}

{{quote|'''Buffy:''' Wow. I mean, that's... seventeen.}}

{{quote|'''Riley:''' Buffy. When I saw you stop the world from, you know, ending, I just assumed that was a big week for you. Turns out I suddenly find myself needing to know the plural of "apocalypse."}}

* An odd ''[[Angel]]'' example: the demon Sahjahn spends a good chunk of the third season working against Angel, but when the two finally meet Angel has no idea why Sahjahn hates him, driving the latter to disappear in fury. Of course, Angel was a bit justified in this: Sahjahn's beef was a ''future'' event that Sahjahn knew about from a prophecy. {{spoiler|A prophecy that he had even ''rewritten himself'' centuries before, so that it was basically impossible for Angel to know about it.}} Granted, existing outside of time might mess with his perceptions a bit, but really Sahjahn's expectations just seem a little high.

* The beginning of the ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episode "Cor-Ai" goes like this. A man tries to put Teal'c (the [[Heel Face Turn|recently reformed]] [[The Dragon|Dragon]] of [[A God Am I|Apophis]]) on trial for killing his father. It takes Teal'c a while to even remember visiting the planet. In this case, though, ''both'' are portrayed sympathetically, and Teal'c is remorseful even when he doesn't recall what exactly he did.

{{quote|Do you know, I can't even remember if she's alive or dead!}}

* In ''[[Blade]]: The Series'', [[Magnificent Bastard|Marcus Van Sciver]] has spent decades plotting revenge against the pureblood Damek, who brutally murdered his wife in front of him and then had Van Sciver sent to a bunch of feral [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampires]], who ended up turning him. Eventually, Marcus confronts Damek and starts a fight. Right before Van Sciver kills him, Damek laughs and tells him that he can't even remember Marcus's wife or him. Justified in that he is centuries old and, presumably, has been killing people all this time.

* Played for laughs in the final episode of the second series of ''[[Blackadder]]'', which includes a rare example of the [[Big Bad]] being on the recieving end of this trope. Prince Ludwig seems surprised that Blackadder, Melchett and Queenie do not remember him, and then proceeds to remind them of a time each of them had met him - examples which vary from obscure to downright ridiculous(/depraved. [[You Do NOT Want to Know|Looking at you, Melchett]]).

* [[The Daily Show|Do you know what they call a show-girl fucking a penguin in Las Vegas?]] [http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-19-2011/indecision-2012---fear-and-pandering-in-las-vegas Tuesday.]

* What does London Tipton of ''[[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody]]'' call a cruise around the Mediterranean?

** In another episode, Raymond and family are attending the wedding of a girl Raymond knew in college. It turns out that Raymond went on a date with her once, and at the end of the night he didn't walk her to her front door, as he was more concerned about keeping an eye on his father's car. Raymond still feels incredibly bad about this, even though everyone else thinks he is just being neurotic. Finally, Raymond gathers his courage and apologises to the girl. Sure enough, she doesn't remember the incident at all.

* This trope frames the ''[[Southland]]'' episode "Wednesday", in which the narrator announces at the beginning: "Cops wake up every morning different from the rest of us. Our worst nightmare is just their Wednesday."

 

==Music==

 

== Religion and Mythology ==

''(He goes on writing.)'' }}

* ''Schmucks'': Lenny Bruce eventually figures out that he {{spoiler|slept with}} waitress Mary Lenahan and assumes she's been cold-shouldering him for that reason. Turns out that she was {{spoiler|a prostitute}} and didn't even remember the incident.

 

== Video Games ==

* An [[Anti-Hero|anti-]]heroic example from ''[[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle]]'': the first boss, Skelter Helter, is attempting to take revenge on Travis for killing his brother at the start of the first game. Travis, however, doesn't remember who he is (and the player likely won't either, considering said brother only actually appeared in the game for about two seconds). Also pulled off ''on the player'', as the [[Big Bad]]'s motivation is also trying to avenge relatives killed by Travis - {{spoiler|the nameless, generic Pizza Butt executives Travis killed to make money for the ranked fights in the first game were his father and brothers.}}

* [[Fridge Brilliance|Perhaps unintentionally]], ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' implies that this is [[Memetic Badass|Altair's]] attitude toward killing [[Elite Mooks|Templars]]. The [[Call a Hit Point a Smeerp|synch bar]] increases as Desmond grows closer to Altair by doing things that Altair remembers doing. However, it does not increase if he kills a Templar, nor even if he kills all sixty of them. In other words, Altair may have killed every single Templar in the Holy Land, and ''he doesn't even remember it''. Just another day at the office.

 

== Web Animation ==

* In ''[[Super Mario Bros Z]]'', Mario {{spoiler|stomped Captain Basilisx's best friend into a lava pit}}, but Mario doesn't remember it. Although [[Fridge Brilliance]] sets in when you realize that {{spoiler|''there are no lava pits'' in the room that Basilisx mentions.}} Mario may not remember it because ''it may have never happened'' in the first place.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[RPG World]]'' Reka keeps fretting over the time when Galgarion killed her father, however when she finally confronts Galgarion over the matter, he has no idea what she's talking about.

** Xykon needs more detail to be able to figure out which old guy he killed in cold blood was Eugene Greenhilt's mentor:

{{quote|'''Monster in the Darkness:''' You killed more than one guy named Fyron in Cliffport?

'''Julia:''' So no chance of you narrowing it down for me, then? }}

** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0788.html Thog has it, too.] By this point it seems to have become a [[Berserk Button]] for Roy.

** "[[Designated Hero|Heroic]]" [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/04/25/episode-1121-loose-lips-sink-light-warriors/ example]:

{{quote|'''Black Mage:''' Oh, we've ruined millions of lives. They're just being babies about it.}}

'''Vexxarr''': What makes you say that?

'''Minionbot''': It's a Thursday? }}

 

== Web Original ==

* Played for laughs in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2k7aoIGqTI&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL The Cosmic Adventures of Doctor Fabulous]. Zorg claims that he's battled Doctor Fabulous over the fate of the universe a dozen times. The Doctor retorts that he fights a thousand scumbags like Zorg every week.

 

== Western Animation ==

{{quote|'''Blight:''' ''(irritated)'' Do you have the slighest idea how little that narrows it down?

'''Batman:''' [[Genre Savvy|Sorry, that's all you get.]] }}

{{quote|'''Fingers:''' Where is my mother?!

'''Van Dyle:''' I p-probably sold her.

'''Van Dyle:''' ''(clearly terrified)'' To me it was just another gorilla! }}

* ''[[Gargoyles]]'':

** This was echoed later on with Malcolm Canmore, son of Duncan. Macbeth killed Duncan in battle and banished Canmore to England. Later, Canmore becomes the new Hunter and invades Scotland, eventually unmasking dramatically in front of Macbeth.

{{quote|'''Macbeth:''' Should I have recognized you, sirrah?}}

* In ''[[Superman: The Animated Series]]'', Superman finally ends up fighting [[Darkseid]] and gives him an [[And This Is For]] punch for Dan Turpin, the man he killed during the Apokolips invasion. Darkseid has no idea who he is talking about and merely exclaims "[[Complete Monster|Had I known one human's death would pain you so, I would have killed more.]]"

* Possible example in the 1990s ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'' series before Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch [[Luke, I Am Your Father|find out the real truth]]:

''([[Beat]])''

'''Azula:''' You're going to have to be a little more specific. }}

{{quote|'''Sokka:''' Oh, good. You guys have met.

'''Suki:''' Actually, we met a long time ago.

'''Suki:''' Yeah. You kind of burned down my village.

'''Zuko:''' Oh. Sorry about that. ''([[Beat]])'' Nice to see you again? }}

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':

** One episode has Homer meeting universal [[Butt Monkey]] Frank Grimes and driving him to suicide. In a later episode, Frank Grimes Jr. shows up to get revenge and Homer can just barely recall the incident, ending cheerily with "How is old Grimey?" Needless to say, Grimey Jr. is quite upset.

{{quote|'''Smithers''': That's Homer Simpson, sir. All of the recent events in your life have revolved around him in some way.

'''Mr. Burns''': Simpson, eh? }}

{{quote|'''Homer''': ''(strangling Mr. Burns)'' HOMER SIMPSON! HOMER SIMPSON! MY NAME IS HOMER SIMPSON!

''(Smithers enters)''

'''Mr. Burns''': Smithers, who is this idiot strangling me?

'''Homer''': SHUT UP!! HOMER SIMPSON!! }}

* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'', Mysterio is disappointed that Spider-man doesn't remember him.

{{quote|'''Mysterio:''' Don't pretend you've forgotten. I was the Chameleon's right-hand man!

* In ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', Deadman, possessing Wonder Woman, beats the crap out of Devil Ray, telling him that he killed his mentor and friend.

{{quote|'''Devil Ray:''' You'll have to be more specific, lady. I've killed a lotta people.}}

* ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'', {{spoiler|Argost when confronted by Drew and Doyle when they discover he was the Yeti that attacked their camp in the Himalayas and murdered their parents.}} His response?

{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Argost'''}}: *smirks* Did I? Oh, there were so many in those days. One can hardly remember each individual scream.}}

{{quote|'''Chemistro:''' How can you not know who I am!? You punched me in the face!

'''Hawkeye:''' Sorry, that doesn't narrow it down much. }}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]