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{{trope}}{{Mechanics of Writing}}
{{quote|"''Part of the attraction of [[The Lord of the Rings
|'''[[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'''}}
{{quote|"''Imagination is cheap if we don't have to bother with the details.''"
|'''Daniel Dennett'''}}
One way of building background is to have the characters refer to things without explaining exactly what those things are. The slight confusion caused is balanced by the sense given of a larger world, outside the plot. If a story is extended to a long enough series (especially when there's a [[Running the Asylum|high turnover of writers]]), most of these cryptic references are explained and/or used as [[Canon Fodder]], but often one or two will never appear ''in story''. What such references really mean is a favorite subject for fan-clubs. The rise of the web has reduced the incidence of such things (creators get asked), though not totally eliminated them.
The effects of world-building are diminished, the more references are made. [[Continuity Nod
Compare to the closely-related [[Noodle Incident]], [[Canon Fodder]], [[Narrative Filigree]] and [[What Happened to
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* Considering ''[[Blame]]'' is a series that prides itself in its sheer vagueness, it isn't a big surprise that this trope shows up at least ''once a chapter''. Technology and factions are seen, mentioned and interacted with often, but in most cases, never fully explained. This adds to the already frighteningly vast feel of the '[[Verse]], and leaves plenty of room for [[Wild Mass Guessing]].
* ''[[Eureka Seven]]'' features the characters spouting a lot of [[Engrish]] phrases that won't mean anything until a good twenty episodes later. It gets pretty confusing when half of the spoken terms have no meaning to the viewer.
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* A very subtle one in ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''. When Mami explains why Witches are bad, she mentioned them luring people to suicide and causing fights to break out in certain places. The second type of bad influence is never seen in the anime.
** It's also hinted that she knew {{spoiler|Kyoko, and Kyoko's past}} - but this is actually confirmed in [[All There in the Manual|a Drama CD]].
** Several are found in [[All There in the Manual|in the manual(s)]]. The official website describes three witches who never appeared in the anime, because only their familiars did. We don't even know what they look like. Then we have the revelation that {{spoiler|Walpurgisnacht is [[Only Known
* ''[[So Ra No
* ''[[Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou]]'' is the [[Slice of Life]] story of a [[Ridiculously Human Robot]] named Alpha running a small cafe [[Cozy Catastrophe|during the twilight of humanity]]. Numerous mysteries are touched upon but ''absolutely none'' are explained fully, either because they have nothing to do with the story as previously outlined, or the characters are just as much in the dark as the readers.
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== [[
* [[Deconstruction Fic]] ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4602078/1/Challenge_of_the_Super_Friends_The_End Challenge of the Super Friends: The End]'' has the Legion of Doom enter another universe. Cryptic references are given constantly to this world's past and how it got to be that way, but nothing is outright stated, leaving the reader's imagination to connect the dots. The characters are just as baffled as the reader.
* ''[[
** The Idris' attic is filled with artifacts that don't quite belong there, notably a stack of books in several different languages.
** The Deep Gap. What created it?
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** The Tayhil invasion. What exactly happened during that?
** The Wizards' University, where Grunnel once taught and where Brox is currently doing research.
* ''[[
== Film ==
* Upon its original release, ''[[Star Wars]]'' was a prime example of this, full of name-drops that had nothing to do with the plot but which combined to make the fictional world feel boundless and lived-in. References to the Imperial Senate, the Old Republic, 'big Corellian ships' and the spice mines of Kessel are a few examples. Scenes that were cut in the original release, such as Han's confrontation with Jabba the Hutt, also made things like Greedo's confronting Han over something he did to wrong Jabba seem bigger. Of course, literally every single throwaway line has been since filled in to ridiculous levels of detail by either the [[
{{quote|
'''Han:''' You know, that's almost exactly the same thing you said back on Boordii. That botched dolfrima run - remember? You said, 'It'll be fine; don't worry about it.'
'''Lando:''' Yes, but this time I mean it. }}
* ''[[Blade Runner]]'': "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the [[Tannhauser Gate|Tannhäuser Gate]]. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. ... Time to die."
* The ''[[
** Technically, they based it on their own [[Fanon]]; in the universe of the show-within-a-movie, it was never revealed, though some fan speculation was along the same lines.
* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'''s Jack Sparrow made several ''non sequitur'' references to his past exploits (e.g., "And then they made me their chief.", "Clearly you've never been to Singapore.") that enriched his character. The sequels tried to tie the movies together by creating plot points out of them.
** Of course, when we actually do get to Singapore we never find out exactly what Jack did to offend Sao Feng, so this trope appears again.
* ''[[The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension]]'' is littered with allusions to characters we never meet and adventures we never hear anything else about, [[The Artifact|artifacts left over]] from the writers' original plans for a multi-media franchise, [[What Could Have Been|which, of course, never panned out]]. A lot of the ones in the film [[All There in the Manual|are explained in the novelization of same]], but it's been out of print for years and raises even more of its own, so...
* A [[Mooks]] in ''[[Ronin (
* Will and Ned from ''[[Unforgiven]]'' often talked about their old gang.
== Literature ==
* In the ''[[The Three Investigators
* [[
** One thing Tolkien knew from his studies as a linguist and English teacher is that some of the old myths recreate the
** Then there are some things which never got elaborated on, even posthumously, like in ''[[The Hobbit (
** [[Eldritch Abomination|"Far, far below the deepest delvings of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things."]]
* The ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' stories do this. When asked why Pooh (whose real name is Edward Bear) is called "Winnie"
* [[
* [[Lampshaded]] continually in the ''[[Thursday Next]]'' series in the form of Textual Sieves. Roughly every other time they're mentioned, someone asks what they do, and are told that no one knows, since they're so sparsely described. Thursday asks [[Great Expectations|Miss Havisham]], and in turn Thursday5 asks Thursday how textual sieves work and the given explanation is "[[Hand Wave|it's never properly explained]]."
** There's plenty of other examples, such as the "Boojumorial" of Jurisfiction agents lost in action ("Boojumed", or deleted), the views across the wilderness to other Great Libraries for other languages, the [[City of Adventure]] that is the Well of Lost Plots, previous disasters in the BookWorld (apparently, ''[[Titus Andronicus (
* In the Mad Tea-Party scene from ''[[Alice in Wonderland
* Stephen Brust's ''[[Dragaera]]'' books use this in massive amounts. Paarfi's novels are supposed to be historical fiction novels within the universe, so they assume that the reader is a Dragaeran who doesn't need additional explanations. Vlad sometimes seems to make the same assumption, but other times he explains common aspects of the world for the reader's benefit. Vlad will also make vague references to his various other misadventures outside of the scope of the current story without going into detail. Sometimes he says he doesn't want to digress, and other times he's simply cryptic. Some of these do get explained in future novels. Brust intentionally includes them as possible story hooks for future novels without planning on where they'll go.
* The ''[[Harry Potter]]'' books sometimes play this straight and sometimes use it to disguise [[Chekhov's Gun]]s.
* In the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' stories, Watson is famous for this, often referring to other cases, such as the one involving "the giant rat of Sumatra, for which the world is not yet prepared". Some of these became stories in their own right (though usually not from Doyle's pen), but most remain unexplained.
* Used masterfully well in Ulysses Silva's novel ''Solstice''. There is exactly one incident where things are properly explained by the main character (even then, it's mostly clarification on things you've picked up). Everything else is left for the reader to figure out. And quite often, everything you thought you'd figured out turns out to be completely ''wrong'', leading to many an [[Epileptic Trees|Epileptic Tree]] until the very end.
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* ''[[Neverwhere]]'' is full of this. Particularly the [[Big Bad]]'s motivation for {{spoiler|sinking Atlantis. All we get is him shouting "THEY DESERVED IT!"}}
** [[Neil Gaiman]]'s work has tons of this, but ''[[Neverwhere]]'' and ''[[Stardust]]'' are particularly big examples.
* In [[
** Actually plot-significant, and gives the book its title. In the ending, {{spoiler|Bastian is told he can't leave until every storyline he started up is finished. But given the rate uncompleted plots have been created (several story hooks get created for every one he finishes) he'd never be done. Atreyu saves him by taking on the task on his behalf}}. The movies leave this out, resulting in an [[Artifact Title]].
* ''[[The
** What's ''really'' interesting is that the many of the stars and systems he mentions are real, like Sirius. This amuses people with arbitrary knowledge of stars.
* Used in ''[[The Old Kingdom]]'' books by Garth Nix, and not overused, either. He's mentioned in interviews that he's not really into world-building - he just makes everything up as he goes along.
* Simon R Green often uses this trope in the ''[[Nightside]]'' series.
* In the ''[[Codex Alera]]'' stories, there are several mentions of a group called "The Children of the Sun" who were, it seems, totally wiped out by the Alerans relatively recently (historically speaking) and, as a last action, did ''something'', ''somewhere'', for ''some reason'' and now there's the Feverthorn Jungle in the middle of the continent, that no one can enter for reasons which are unexplained. Though we get a rough idea of where it is (middle southeast of the continent according to the map in ''First Lord's Fury'') what makes the jungle impenetrable (even to the ''[[Horde of Alien Locusts|Vord]]'') is unexplained. The Alerans idly speculate that if they could figure out what the hell the Children did, they might be able to turn it against the Vord.
** Also [[All There in the Manual]], as Butcher explained it on the website. They're another sentient race (of plant-people, with Woodcrafting-like powers), who are now all dead, wiped out by the Roman legions shortly after they arrived on Alera (and hence [[Badass Normal|before they had developed significant furycrafting]]). Of all the sentient races that have appeared on Alera, only the toughest survive the competition.
* Part of the charm of the early books of ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'' is that the main character is a member of a race with ten thousand years of history, but our glimpses of this history is as through a glass darkly because the main character already knows her history and doesn't feel the need to monologue about it. The later books have filled in many of the references, but far from all of them.
* The story of Princess Nell in Neal Stephenson's ''[[The Diamond Age]]'' starts out like this, and Nell and the Primer spend the next decade or so expanding the references.
* [[George
* Alien characters in ''[[
* Following the tradition of the films, the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' make references of their own, some of them mentioned or expanded on by others, some of them never mentioned again. It gets downright fractal at times. Try hitting [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Special:Random Random Page] on [[The Wiki Rule|Wookieepedia]] and see [[Wiki Walk|how far you can get]] before finding an article with one line of description and one or two appearances.
* Often used in ''[[Discworld]]'', with throwaway references to things like the politics of the Guild of Engravers (although that one eventually became ''[[
* In the beginning of ''[[The Dark Tower]]'', the third-person narrator often makes references to historical events and figures, such as the fall of Gilead and John Farson, as well as important characters in [[Badass Longcoat|the gunslinger's]] [[Mysterious Past|past]]. Many of these are clarified later in the series, further expanding the previously sparse world.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''[[Valdemar]]'' novels have a handy store of ancient history at which to hint. Some characters (Vanyel, Lavan Firestorm) have had their own books, but she claims "Windrider" and "Sun and Shadow" likely will not, since they work better as distant legends.
* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' contain a fair amount of them, such as the reasons for some wizards not showing up to a White Council meeting in Chicago including "He got real married", "Living under a polar ice cap", and "Pyramid Sitting".
* Sandy Mitchell's ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' books have loads, some of which get stories (a reference to hunting Tyranids on a hulk, now released as ''The Emperor's Finest''), others are not (yet) fleshed out (his encounter with a Dark Eldar wytch, and time spent on a Tau world, for instance).
* In the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' Nintendo Adventure Book ''Pipe Down!'', Princess Toadstool mentions that in the past (around the time of her ancestors) there were things far worse and more powerful than the Koopa Kingdom, but no elaboration is offered as to what she means by that.
* The ''Mechwarrior Dark Age'' novels (based on the ''[[
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** The non-appearance of the Furlings has become something of a [[Running Gag]].
* In addition to the character [[Backstory|backstories]] seen in flashbacks, ''[[Lost]]'' has included a number of throwaway references that have captured fan imaginations, including Sawyer's "Tampa job" and Sayid's Basra incident.
* In ''[[
** Characters other than the Doctor are known to do this, too. For example, Captain Jack Harkness of ''[[
* We know about Torchwood 1 (from the ''[[
* Unintentionally done in the TV series adaptation of ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', where things [[All There in the Manual|that are explained in the books]] are referenced, but are never explained in the series. It is possible they would have been, [[Too Good to Last|had the show not been canceled after a season]].
* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'': There was much speculation as to the origins of the goat in Ted's apartment, which is mentioned in season three but abruptly dismissed with "oh wait, that was on my thirty-FIRST birthday". Fans had a whole season to wonder, but the actual explanation was, perhaps inevitably, a bit of a letdown.
** How about the pineapple incident?
** The title itself refers to How Ted Met the Mother of His Children. Her identity ''still'' hasn't been revealed.
* The constantly expanding ''[[
** A common theme in ''[[Star Trek:
** The other most common thing are events that occurred in the fictional gaps of time between the various eras (Approximately 100 years elapsed between [[Star Trek: Enterprise
* ''[[
** We've also seen the team coming back from jobs - one in Mexico where [[Cloudcuckoolander|Parker]] picked up a ''lot'' of pinatas, and one in the Caribbean that went wrong in several different ways - without hearing much about what those jobs actually ''were''.
* The early seasons of ''[[
** He was never seen, of course, because he was on the Night Shift. When anything we saw happened on the show, he'd either be asleep, or he'd be at work when the characters we cared about were in their quarters.
** Also, much like ''[[
* ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' occasionally references the Ancient Kings and the High Priestesses, who were apparently embroiled in some sort of war for supremacy before Uther came to power.
* [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] did this sometimes. For example in "The Prom", Wesley mentioned the "Machash Wars".
== Music ==
* The song "Red Barchetta," from the [[Rush]] album ''Moving Pictures'', takes place in an unspecified [[
{{quote|
He says it used to be a farm before the Motor Law
And on Sundays I elude the Eyes and hop a turbine freight
To far outside the Wire, where my white-haired uncle waits. }}
** The [http://www.mgexperience.net/article/nice-drive.html original short story] that inspired the lyrics is a bit more descriptive of the setting, but still has examples.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[
* ''[[Magic:
* The current incarnation of the Necrons in ''[[Warhammer 40
** There are also the two "missing" Space Marine Primarchs and their Legions. Every mention of the twenty Primarchs lists numbers II and XI as "All records deleted", and EU works have consistently refused to give any detail about who they were or what happened to them.
*** The ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' series of novels and audiobooks have touched on the subject obliquely, ranging from intimations of an accident at the gestation stage, to something so shameful and terrible that the Imperium refuses to acknowledge them, even when [[Eldritch Abomination|daemon]]-[[Religion of Evil|worshiping]], [[Kick the Dog|civilian]] [[Omnicidal Maniac|massacring]], [[Face Heel Turn|backstabbing]] [[Ax Crazy|psychopathic]] [[Complete Monster|unrepentant]] [[Chaotic Evil|bastards]] are still listed in the records (admittedly, usually with the note "Explode planet on rumour of presence", but still). The exact details have never been revealed and are unlikely to be either, this is lampshaded by characters telling each other not to even ''think'' about discussing the details.
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== Video Games ==
* This happens once a game in the ''[[Summon Night|Summon Night: Swordcraft Story]]'' games: random [[NPC
* ''[[Street Fighter]] II'' contained the mysterious line "You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance," prompting much debate on just who "Sheng Long" was and even a rumor that he was an unlockable character. It was eventually explained that the name actually just referred to one of Ryu's attacks, not another person. But still...
** Then there's Bison/Vega crowing about how "The Ancient One" couldn't face him. And Fei Long dedicating his art to "the master and his son" (actually a reference to Bruce Lee, Fei Long's [[Expy]] source). And those three college students who inspired Sakura to take up fighting. [[Overly Long Gag|And]] pretty much anything at all involving Gill. That's not even touching on the whole sordid tale of how Charlie Nash's death happened, or for that matter, ''where'' it happened, which [[Continuity Snarl|has so many possible explanations by now]], it qualifies as a [[Multiple Choice Past]].
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** Otacon mentioned that one of the contributors to Philanthropy are also part of {{spoiler|The Patriots}} but we are never told how that works and we're stuck with making assumptions.
*** Nastasha supposedly donated the money she made from her book about the events of the [[Metal Gear Solid|first game]] to help start Philanthropy.
** Then there's the fate of the Metal Gears at the end of [[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]. Nobody has said they've been eradicated.
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' enjoys this quite a bit. In fact, each game features a secret trailer hinting at the plot of the next game...''before anyone actually thinks up what the plot will actually be''. To this end they've been infamously vague.
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' lives on this trope - Throwaway references became major plot elements in later games - such as Lemon's last name, and referring to a 'Beowulf' who piloted a 'Gespenst Mk. III' (Alt Eisen) - obscure references to the previous game, where the protagonist's theme called was 'Steel Beowulf' and his unit was revealed to have been a modified Gespenst Mk. I considered for mass production. And many, many more.
* ''[[Mischief Makers]]'' treats all the characters as already established, and new characters are often brought in with the assumption that they've had encounters with main character Marina in the past.
* ''[[
* ''[[Sid
* In ''[[Tsukihime]]'', during the final encounter with Nrvnqsr, he and Arcueid have an entire conversation on things that you don't learn until much later in the game, or in supplemental materials. This is intensified by the use of code-like terms, such as referring to Roa as the "Serpent of Akasha".
* ''[[
** Potentially, the increase in backstory has only increased this trope. Why does the Announcer control both sides, pitting against each other for no apparent reason? What are her connections to Saxton Hale and the Redmond and Blutach families? Why is friendship such an alien concept to her? What will the Engie do with all that secret deposits of Australium? [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|How did the Soldier get a magician as a roommate?]] (Mind you, all this only appears in the addition material. If you're content to run around reducing other players to [[Ludicrous Gibs|bloody chunks]] it won't bother you. After all, reducing each other to bloody chunks is the point of the game.)
* ''[[Half Life]]'' and its sequels are almost entirely built out of this trope. What were the various departments at Black Mesa researching? What do those vast Combine machines actually do? How did those corpses end up where they are? Who was the Rat Man? Who was Lazlo? The ''vast'' majority of the story is told by implication only.
* ''[[
* Perhaps the most prominent example from ''Zelda'' has to be the Seven Sages. In ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
* ''[[Fable
* The heck with ''[[Street Fighter]]'' minutiae; the ''entire driving force'' behind ''[[King of Fighters]]'', Orochi, qualifies. The only things we know for certain are 1. it involves a horribly evil destructive power, 2. the clan is absolutely fanatical and will stop at nothing to raise their god, 3. the Kusanagi, Yagami, and Kagura clans were the ancestral foes of Orochi, 4. but the Yagami betrayed the alliance, causing their flames to turn purple. Everything else is a confused mishmash... some artifacts we never actually see, "maidens" who may or may not have been slaughtered, Kyo getting preferential treatment causing Iori to go all emo or something, a bunch of sealing and unsealing attempts, "battle energy", earth worship and "returning all to nothing", Rugal of all people chosen as a guinea pig, self destruction, betrayals, counter-betrayals, etc., etc. Worst of all are the numerous plot points and outright sequel hooks that are flat-out dropped, such as a heavily-implied rift between Rose and Adelheid at the end of XI.
* ''[[Touhou]]'' is filled with this trope. It ranges from important things like the [[Great Offscreen War|Great Suwa War]], Yukari's (first) invasion of the moon, and [[Gotterdammerung|the sealing of Gensoukyou within the Hakurei Barrier]], to miniscule details like [[Parental Issues|Marisa's relationship with her father]], the dispersal of the oni, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and Rumia's ribbon]]. Add some [[Hufflepuff House
** Also a somewhat literal example. In the background of one of the stages in the 4th game, there is an orb... thing. The 6th game rebooted what little continuity existed, with only a handful of characters crossing over, and no mention of anything that came before. Flash forward to the final boss of the 10th game, ''Subterranean Animism'' - She has the ''exact same orb in her artwork''! Just the artist recycling an artistic element, or...??
* ''[[Silent Hill]]'' is another prime [[Canon Fodder]] series, as this trope tends to be the '''only''' source of available information. With one exception (Walter Sullivan, the main enemy in ''Silent Hill 4'', was originally mentioned in a newspaper article in ''Silent Hill 2'') none of them are explored or elaborated upon, and in the case of some this is probably for the best.
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* ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' does it occasionally, most notably with the sorceresses. For example, "Great Hyne" is mentioned as their progenitor and source of their powers, but you never learn who exactly that was, save for some legends told by NPC you're likely to miss.
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' has a lot of background material that is only hinted at in the games.
* ''[[
** ''Dark Dawn'' takes this a whole step further with the major characters themselves discussing some stuff in relatively major cutscenes that isn't at all involved in the plot of the game, like the three races of the [[Precursors]], the modern geography and political unrest around Morgal and Bilibin, and Kraden's messenger pigeons. Fans were annoyed that this cut into plot and character development, which were less consistent than in the previous two games.
* ''[[Dragon Age]]'' has a lot of background material that isn't wholly relevant to the games' plot. Moreso in the [[Dragon Age II|sequel]] since the game takes place on a more personal level.
* [[
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** Occasionally they'll also drop and/or hide names we're familiar with in places we can spot them, showing how those individuals are different in this version of history (the most prominent one is actually reasonably well known, but he's addressed by his surname where we the reader are typically familiar with his given name alone). {{spoiler|It's Rembrandt ''van Rijn''.}}
* The most recent story arc in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' has involved a lot of clarification of throwaway details like this from earlier in the series. We've finally seen Butane the planet of dragons; we've gotten a minimally technobabblish explanation of what borfomite actually does; we've seen some court intrigue in the Nemesite Empire; Fructose Riboflavin is finally looking competent enough to explain how he got his terrifying reputation; etc.
* ''[[Looking for Group]]'' had a throwaway [https://web.archive.org/web/20171013103524/http://www.lfg.co/page/39/ mention] of Centa (one-eyed [[Bit Character]]) mourning for a week after he killed some butterfly. Which "was all the colors of the rainbow". There was a [https://web.archive.org/web/20180215050320/http://www.lfg.co/npc/tale/23-1/ side story] about this incident that may qualify the summary for "understatement of a year" competition.
== Web Original ==
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** Some of these are [[All There in the Manual]]. A B-List is world-threatening, but your average supergroup can still maybe win. Maybe. If they're lucky. An A-list, you have to call in EVERYONE. An A-list is the kinda guy you have for a [[Crisis Crossover]].
* Also present in ''[[The Descendants]]'', with characters mentioning minor villains they've defeated, superheroes in other cities, and seemingly pivotal moments in history that haven't even been explained in flashback. Whether or not they're just building up a [[Chekhov's Armoury]], though, remains to be seen.
* ''[[
* [[Discussed]] (perhaps inevitably, given the name) in ''[[
== Western Animation ==
* Megatron in ''[[
* The three-part pilot episode of ''[[Justice League]]'' shows the Big Seven superheroes working together as a team for the first time. This was [[
** Similarly, a lot of the superheroes and supervillains in ''[[Justice League]]'' just show up with their origins unexplained (and often never explained) as well; [[The Flash]], Red Tornado, Vixen, Gypsy, Star Sapphire, Copperhead, Black Manta, and Doctor Polaris are just a few examples.
** Another big [[DC Animated Universe]] example - The Near Apocalypse of 2009, mentioned in ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' and ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'''s Epilogue. Nothing is known about it except it was the last battle between the first Batman and Ra's al Ghul where Talia finally betrayed him for good. No other details are known about it, and so it has become a popular subject whenever fans demand more closure to the DCAU, although [[Word of God]] says they never really planned to cover the event in any of the animated shows, and at this point it does not seem like they ever will.
* ''[[Futurama]]'' often makes fleeting references to events that happened in the thousand years between 1999 and 2999, such as [[Conan O
* ''[[
** It goes further than that. It's gradually made clear that the world of ''[[
** For instance, one of the more [[The Dreaded|daunting]] villains and terror incarnate, The Lich, has his home base in an abandoned derelict metropolitan subway station that survived the decay of millenia. Why the preference for a cityscape instead of the more typical and practical evil overlord lairs?
** Buildings and leftover architecture litter the landscape, but are quickly panned over as scenery all the time. A [[Freeze
** There are also more typical references, such as Billy the Hero's past exploits (He apparently managed to defeat the Lich, mentioned above, with [[Good Old Fisticuffs]]. Meaning, he somehow manage to punch him hard enough and for long enough against a tree that he became sealed in amber. That's the impression of events, anyway.) There was also a [[Great Offscreen War|Rainicorn-Dog war]] and a group of [[Fish People]] who have colonized what may be, but is never confirmed as, a human fallout shelter. Etc, etc.
* In one of ''[[
{{quote|
'''[[It Makes Sense in Context|Jesus]]''': What if we go through Sector 16?
'''Stan''': Sector 16? The perfect man just proposed the perfect way to die.
'''Jesus''': Fine! Then what about Sector 35?
'''Stan''': Sector 35? (scoffs) Sector 35 makes Sector 16 look like Sector 48! }}
* ''[[Star Wars:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Mechanics of Writing]]
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
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