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See [[Call Back]] for references to things that actually appear in the plot, [[Production Throwback]] for development on prior works, and [[Mythology Gag]] for references to things that happen in alternate adaptations. When the backstory behind these gags are explained, that's an example of [[What Could Have Been]], given by [[Word of God]].
{{examples
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* The dub of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' has the voice [[Travis Willingham]] used for Mustang's "[[Chewing the Scenery|I love dogs!]]" line, which is based on the voice he used when trying out as ''[[Large Ham|Major Armstrong]]''; he even refers to the voice as "Armstang".
* Recently in ''[[Naruto]]'' a character is introduced named Sabu, who possesses a giant axe and has a giant raccoon dog named Ponta for a pet. Both of these things are references to a character named Kintaro, who also possessed a giant axe and a giant raccoon dog named ''Pochi'', who was replaced by Zabuza and Haku as the main villain of the Land of Waves arc.
== Card Games ==▼
* ''[[Magic the Gathering]]'' has loads of these. Amongst the notable ones are Telim'Tor, whose name is an anagram of his playtest/development name, Mr Toilet; and Sol Grail, whose name is an anagram of Gorillas, which were the playtest/development race for every creature in Alliances.▼
** [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83161 Maro] was submitted to the development file for Mirage with its creator's username (MaRo for Mark Rosewater) for the database instead of a placeholder name. No-one noticed the mistake until the Creative department had already commissioned the art, so it stayed.▼
** Look closely at the artwork for [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=84672 Flame Wave]. Sure it seems [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|self-explanatory (a massive tidal wave of fire)]], but among the people getting swept up in the fire is...a guy on a surfboard.▼
== Comic Books ==
* Not exactly a joke, but ''[[
* In the final storyline of [[DC Comics]] ''[[Hourman]]'' title (the one about the "diamond generation intelligent machine colony from the 853rd century, DNA-programmed with Miraclo gene biosoftware") he was confronted with a further-future version of himself, who was much better at both being a hero and being a person than him ( {{spoiler|it turned out to be Amazo}}). The design for the future Hourman was identical to an early design seen in the ''Hourman'' sketchbook given away with ''Wizard'' when the title began.
* [[Marvel Comics]] has had several references to a character named 'Coal Tiger', which was one of several names that Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were bandying back and forth as a possible name for the character who in mainstream continuity in the [[Marvel Universe]] became [[Black Panther]]. These include:
** The [[Black Panther]]'s son in the [[Marvel Comics 2]] alternate future.
** An alternate universe version of T'Challa himself, who appeared in ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'' vol 1 #355 as a member of the Gatherers, a group of former Avengers from different universes. This version had a costume based on a Jack Kirby design for a new costume for the [[Black Panther]] that only ever appeared in a pin-up.
** A Coal Tiger is mentioned in ''[[Captain America (comics)]]'' vol 1 #389 as an opponent of the Zambian villainess Impala.
** In ''[[Black Panther]]'' vol 3 #60, the Coal Tigers are mentioned as being a rank in the Panther Cult.
* The working name for the Dinobot Swoop was Divebomb. The [[Transformers]] Marvel UK comics told that was his name back in Cybertron. Some time later, when Hasbro coincidentally made a Decepticon named Divebomb as part of the Predacons, the comics explained that Swoop lost his name to him after a defeat.
* The title of DC's ''Reign
* The commentary for ''[[Atlantis:
▲== Film -- Animated ==
* In ''[[The
▲* The commentary for ''[[Atlantis the Lost Empire]]'' tells a story about how there used to be a mystic named Zoltan (who used to speak in the [[Third Person Person|third person]], for some reason) along for the ride. At one point everybody sounds off after falling down a hole. For the longest time he was still there shouting "Zoltan is okay!" even after his character had been written out of the script.
* Near the end of ''[[Beauty and
▲* In ''[[The Emperors New Groove (Disney)|The Emperors New Groove]]'', there is at least one reference to a small, mystical guide to the Emperor, despite the fact that he was written out of the plot: he appears as a candle-holder during the poisoning scene. (Watching DVD commentary is fun.)
* Near the very beginning of ''[[The Rescuers (Disney film)|The Rescuers]]'', [[Big Bad|Madame Medusa]] can actually be seen driving a large red sports car to New York City Airport, not unlike the one driven by [[
▲* Near the end of ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|Beauty and The Beast]]'', while the enchanted furniture are fighting off the villagers, a music box can be seen among said furniture. That music box was originally going to be Belle's sidekick.
* In ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story 3]]'', there is a bumper sticker on Andy Davis' drawer labelled "Newt Xing", a possible reference to [[What Could Have Been|the cancelled Pixar film]] ''Newt''.▼
▲* Near the very beginning of ''[[The Rescuers (Disney)|The Rescuers]]'', [[Big Bad|Madame Medusa]] can actually be seen driving a large red sports car to New York City Airport, not unlike the one driven by [[One Hundred and One Dalmatians (Disney)|Cruella DeVil.]] Originally, the villain of ''The Rescuers'' was actually indeed going to be Cruella DeVil! And that car not only looks like Cruella's, but as a matter of fact, that car ''is'' Cruella's.
* At one point in ''[[Cloudy
▲* In ''[[Toy Story|Toy Story 3]]'', there is a bumper sticker on Andy Davis' drawer labelled "Newt Xing", a possible reference to [[What Could Have Been|the cancelled Pixar film]] ''Newt''.
* One of the drawings during the end credits of ''[[
▲* At one point in ''[[Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs]]''' development, Flint was trying to get into the Science League, headed by Vance LaFleur. You can still see a poster for the League in his room and lab.
▲* One of the drawings during the end credits of ''[[Tangled (Disney)|Tangled]]'' shows Rapunzel and Flynn consulting a fortune-telling monkey, in reference to a deleted scene in which Rapunzel and Flynn escape some guards with the help of a gypsy and her pet monkey.
* A lot of names from the early, unused drafts of ''[[Star Wars]]'' continue to pop up in newer works. "Starkiller", Luke's original surname, [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Starkiller shows up a lot,] and Mace Windu's name can be traced back to "Mace Windy" from the first treatment.
** Similarly, the planet "Utapau", which was originally a blue planet with many moons mentioned in the first draft of "The Star Wars", then became the preliminary name for Tatooine, then the preliminary name for Naboo, and finally appeared in Episode III as a green planet with many moons and dotted with sinkholes.
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** The same joke bled in to an episode of ''[[Mad About You]]'', where someone asks [[Actor Allusion|Paul Reiser's]] character if he had ever seen the movie "Illegal Alien".
* In the film adaptation of ''[[The Flintstones]]'', Fred is accidentally referred to as Mr. Flagstone. The original name for the show was The Flagstones.
* This example might actually be an urban legend: The [http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/USS_Enterprise_(XCV_330) Enterprise XCV-330], first seen in the recreation room in ''[[Star Trek:
** Possibly related: the "Jefferies tubes" that Star Trek characters crawl around in to whenever they need to get into the real guts of their ships may be a nod to his last name and role in ship design for the series.
* The ''[[
* In ''[[Back to
* The 2005 version of ''Pride and Prejudice'' has an unusual one. It's not a ''movie development gag'' but a ''book development gag''. Early in the movie, Elizabeth is seen reading a book titled "First Impressions." "First Impressions" was the original title Jane Austen gave "Pride and Prejudice." Also, when the pages of the book are shown, it's revealed that Elizabeth is reading hte last chapter of "Pride and Prejudice" with the characters' names changed.
* ''[[I Am Legend]]'' includes a development gag to another movie - a giant poster in Times Square has a Batman-Superman logo. Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman was hired to write a Batman vs Superman film before it fell through. As an extra added joke, the logo was later used for ''[[Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice]]''.
== Literature ==
* The ''[[
* When Joel Surnow first got the idea for ''[[
▲== Live Action TV ==
* An important character in Eko's {{spoiler|last}} flashback episode on ''[[
▲* When Joel Surnow first got the idea for ''[[Twenty Four (TV)|Twenty Four]]'', all he really knew was that he wanted to take place within a 24-hour timespan. His first idea was to do a show about planning for a wedding, and all of the crazy hijinks that happen in the 24 hours before it. Fittingly, the first part of Day 2 is about a family getting ready for a wedding.
* Very obscure but... the Gallifreyan writing (inside hexagons) seen in the new series of ''[[
▲* An important character in Eko's {{spoiler|last}} flashback episode on ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'' is named Emeka. Emeka was originally Eko's name during casting of the role, and numerous magazines reported it as his name when the actor was cast. It was changed to Eko shortly before filming began.
▲* Very obscure but... the Gallifreyan writing (inside hexagons) seen in the new series of ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' resembles the strange abstract hexagonal design made by Susan, the Doctor's grand-daughter, in an un-aired pilot for ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]''.
** In the new series, the season 4 premier "Partners in Crime" featured a character named Penny Carter. Penny Carter was the name of the original companion for Season 4. However, Catherine Tate, who had previously appeared as Donna Noble in "The Runaway Bride," had such a great time, she asked if she could come back. So, Penny was written out and Donna was written in.
* Some of the ideas from the original pilot for ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' that were scrapped made it into the show. The most notable example is the character Ted Sprague, who was based off of an Islamic terrorist featured in the original pilot.
* The two-part episode "The Menagerie" of ''[[Star Trek:
* The ship wrecks featured in the ''[[Star Trek:
* A ''[[Star Trek:
* In the ''[[
* In ''[[
== Professional Wrestling ==
* Sometimes a pro wrestler will do subtle references back to previous gimmicks and characters they've had in the past, including all the way back to before they began with a company. For one example, TNA wrestler Gunner wrestles in tights that have a [http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/253526_10150214885791026_31695961025_7356635_773883_n.jpg broken glass theme.]{{Dead link}} This seems a little out of place, unless you know that he wrestled on the indy circuit for years as Phill ''Shatter.''
* Sadly this could simply be a case of TNA underpaying their talent to the point that they can't afford new gimmick appropriate attire.
▲* ''[[Magic:
▲** [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=83161 Maro] was submitted to the development file for Mirage with its creator's username (MaRo for Mark Rosewater) for the database instead of a placeholder name. No-one noticed the mistake until the Creative department had already commissioned the art, so it stayed.
▲** Look closely at the artwork for [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=84672 Flame Wave]. Sure it seems [[Exactly What It Says
== Theme
* When [[Executive Meddling]] caused the deletion of an ''[[Alice in Wonderland (Disney film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'' sequence in the [[Disney Theme Parks|California Adventure]] nighttime show ''[[World of Color]]'', a brief appearance by the Cheshire Cat and Alice was placed into the finale.
== Video Games ==
* This was the original [[Easter Egg]] in computer games, as is recounted very neatly in that page.
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has a few jokes along this line, including the infamous Egg Hunter badge.
* ''[[
* ''[[Knights of the Old Republic (
* Coach from ''[[
** Hilariously, some mods can dress up Coach in said armor.
* Blizzard games are loaded with these. One of the most memorable is a bit of audio attached to a character in ''[[
{{quote|
** ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' has the [http://www.wowwiki.com/Nova_Shrine Nova Shrine]: A memorial to the [[Development Hell|not-yet-officially-canceled]] Starcraft: Ghost spinoff game.
* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' has a few in every game that involves a Konquest mode (more examples to be added upon redoing the story), and all appearances of characters like Rain who owe their existence to jokes between developers are essentially Development Gags.
** Way back in the early stages of the first ''[[Mortal Kombat (
** And of course, Ermac, after the oft-misunderstood abbreviation that the first game's debug menu used for "'''Er'''ror '''Mac'''ro".
** And of course [[Mo Kap]], the guy in the motion capture suit that some of the fighters were drawn over, and Meat, the bloody musculature under many of the polygons.
* In ''[[
** In the same game, Cody has several winquotes that refer back to his being a [[Canon Immigrant]] from another Capcom series, ''[[Final Fight]]'', including saying how good it is to have more than two moves and saying he'll take on "man, beast, or car", a nod to the first FF's infamous bonus stage.
* In the Rusty Bucket Bay level of ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'', there is a picture of the original pink-furred brunette version of Berri from the aborted ''Twelve Tales: Conker 64'' (who did appear as a damsel in distress in ''Conker's Pocket Tales''). This [[Easter Egg]] only appears in the original N64 version; it's a picture of Conker in the [[Updated Rerelease|XBLA version.]]
** In ''Banjo-Tooie'', Captain Blackeye, a character who was supposed to be the main antagonist in the early development of [[Banjo
** Portraits of Blackeye also appeared in ''Banjo-Kazooie's'' Mad Monster Mansion.
* In the library level of ''[[Metro 2033]]'' one of your squad mates pulls a book off the shelf and exclaims something along the lines of "Ahh, something familiar; ''[[
* When the developers of ''[[The Secret of Monkey Island]]'' created the sprite for the main character, he wasn't yet named so they saved the file with the name "guy.brush", ".brush" being the file extension for the graphics program and "guy" being, well. They eventually decided they liked the name, and so Guybrush Threepwood was born.
** The game also references its game engine, ''Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion'', with the in-game SCUMM Bar (which after the engine technology changed for the fourth game to Lua, was renamed after a hostile takeover by the game's antagonist to the "Lua Bar").
** The entire script of the first game could be considered a development gag; Ron Gilbert's original concept called for a more serious tone, but what with the way production works, [[Tim Schafer]] and Dave Grossman found themselves with empty dialog slots in a game that needed testing, so they added their own silly placeholders. Gilbert thought these were so hilarious that he decided to completely overhaul the tone of the game and make it a comedy instead.
* The main character of the ''[[Wing Commander (
* Jade's name in ''[[Beyond Good
* During the ending of ''[[
* Likewise, the original playable character for ''[[Scribblenauts]]'' is available for viewing, if only you ask for it.
* Lewton in ''[[Discworld Noir]]'' mentions that he was going to be an assassin, but it didn't work out. The early idea for the game was the further adventures of Teppic from ''[[
* The ''[[
** The first game also has glowing letters reading "COPE" in the Spring Yard Zone, which is the acronym for one of the graphics processing routines used by the developers.
** Before settling on a name for the blue hedgehog, the developers referred to him as "Mr. Needlemouse". The name was brought back for the publicity of ''[[
** One of the proposed designs for a [[Sega]] mascot was apparently supposed to be a caricature of [[Theodore Roosevelt]]. [http://www.giantbomb.com/sonic-the-hedgehog/61-2465/concept-art/52-100228/s1concept_eggman/51-827770/ Look] [
* In the beta version of ''[[Quake (
* ''[[Ghostbusters the Video Game
* [[No Death Run|Acing]] ''[[
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Half-Life]] 2'', you can see a rather [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090108210248/half-life/en/images/b/bb/Cremator_head_jar_BME.jpg strange object in a jar] at Black Mesa East, which Eli states that they "still don't know what it does". It's actually the head of a [http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Cremator Cremator], a janitor-like enemy that was cut.
* In the Beta version of ''[[
* During the ''[[Guild Wars]]'' War in Kryta arc, Confessor Isaiah, the leader of the White Mantle (named after Isaiah Cartrwight, the former leader of the skill balance team) has a skill called "Isaiah's Balance," which causes the next skill used by its target(s) to cost 25 energy and recharge in 90 seconds, reflecting an infamous skill nerf.
* [[Telltale]]'s ''[[
* The ''[[
* [[Crisis Core|Angeal's]] design is based on an old concept idea for Cloud.
* While designing ''[[Resident Evil 2]]'', Capcom created a big white block as a simple polygon to test the game's hit detection. By the time had come for the game to go gold, the block was further defined into the protagonist of the minigame "The Tofu Survivor". ''Resident Evil 3'', built in the same engine, also has Tofu [[Dummied Out]], while ''The Darkside Chronicles'' contains another minigame where the player runs around blasting hulks of tofu as a [[Shout
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Dragon Age: Origins]]'', talking to Shale reveals she used to be 10
* There are a couple in [[Pokémon]]. An old artwork for Poliwhirl/Poliwrath shows it wearing a crown; in Generation II, the crown-like King's Rock gives Poliwhirl access to the alternate evolution Politoed. In addition, Gastrodon's Platinum Pokédex entry mentioning it previously having a rocky, sturdy shell comes from it's beta sprite.
* [[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|Sheik's]] redesign in ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'' is based on a design made during the development of''[[
* In ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]'', two mooks will discuss a rumor that Harley Quinn used to be a man. Rocksteady motion-captured Quinn with a male actor, and even posted a fake reveal of this to tease fans.
* Some of the many voiceovers introduced by the Perpetual Training Initiative DLC in ''[[
* In ''[[Mount & Blade]]'' the early versions had the neutral town of Zendar, which held tutorials, which was eventually cut. Three NPCs from this location, Xerina, Kradus, and Dranton can be encountered as high level tournament opponents.
* An in-game email and random dialog from [[Eloquent in My Native Tongue|English-challenged]] Gunther Hermann in ''[[Deus Ex]]'' references a "skul-gun" [sic] the obsolete cyborg deeply desires. While memorable enough to become an running gag in each attempt at a sequel, the "skull gun" was mentioned as a feature in very early design documents (and is a reference to ''[[The Diamond Age]]'').
== Web Animation ==
* Pom Pom's dog, Trivia Time, and Homeschool Winner were both characters that were created for ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' but never quite materialized; this didn't keep subtle references to Homeschool Winner from cropping up in a few toons, and Trivia Time is officially Pom Pom's pet cookie jar.
== Web Comics ==
* The first ''[[The Order of the Stick
▲* The first ''[[Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'' published book, ''Dungeon Crawlin' Fools'', has an author's commentary in which it is noted that the party's leader, Roy Greenhilt, was originally supposed to be a [[Squishy Wizard]] and occupy [[The Smart Guy]] role. The author decided that it wouldn't work out to have him be both that and the [[Only Sane Man]], so Roy became a fighter and the [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|sesquipedalian]] Vaarsuvius was introduced. This makes the strips in which we learn that Roy's father is bitterly disappointed in him for not becoming a wizard doubly funny.
** Another commentary reveals that Roy's misadventure with the Belt of Gender Changing was originally going to be him intentionally donning it to secretly engage in "girl talk" with Miko and learn more about her, only to discover later that he couldn't remove the belt. In the comic he only puts it on as an emergency disguise to help save Elan's life. When Haley finds out, she mocks him and one of her jokes is that this was him trying to impress Miko.
== Web Original ==
* [[New Media]] web shows like ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!:
== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[
** Katara and Sokka's mother's name is revealed to be Kya, which was Katara's name in the pilot. Taking it one step further, after the creators found out they couldn't use the name Kya but before they named her Katara, they called her Kanna: currently the name of their grandmother.
** The poster for "[[Who Would Want to Watch Us?|The Ember Island Players]]" is based on the cover for the Book 1 DVD, and the play itself had another joke about Toph's original design as she is portrayed as a large man. And how the poster (and the Book 1 DVD cover!) put Zuko's scar on the wrong side of his face.
** The first season finale has the Water Tribe using an ancient and [[Spikes of Villainy|super-pointy]] Fire Navy uniform for infiltration purposes that is based on the Fire Nation designs from the pilot.
** Also from the original pilot, Zuko was going to have a pet messenger hawk who would be something of an [[Evil Counterpart]] to Momo. Then Sokka got one in season three.
** In [[Sequel Series]] ''[[
* [[Walt Disney]] had an obscure character named [
* An episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' features Bart and Lisa being beaten to the punch at solving the problem of the week by a brother and sister named Lester and Eliza, who are modeled after Bart and Lisa's far cruder designs in the ''Tracy Ullman Show'' shorts.
* ''[[Frisky Dingo]]'': the title itself is one of these, referring to an insult Killface would have taunted the Xtacles with as they were originally called Whiskey Tango Six in early incarnations.
* One episode of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' has the titular character riding a motorcycle, a vehicle Hartman wanted him to ride during early developments of the show (back when Danny was a normal teen hunting ghosts).
* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]'', Rodimus Prime's briefly appearing team of Autobots consist of ''Animated'' versions of Transformers characters that the members of the main cast were originally supposed to be based off of (Hot Shot who became Bumblebee, Red Alert who was replaced by Ratchet, and Rodimus himself who was renamed Sentinel Prime at the request of Hasbro).
* Quite a few examples from the ''[[Total Drama Island
** Several of the interns are based on the concept designs for DJ, Cody, Katie, Sadie and Tyler.
** In Season 4, one member of the second generation cast, B, is also based on DJ's concept design.
** LeShawna's original design was recycled and used for her cousin, Leshaniqua, who showed up in "One Flu Over The Cuckoos".
* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'': In Operations "Pool" and "Caramel", we see Numbuh 5 wearing glasses (in the "Pool" case, an alternate universe version thereof), in contrast to her regular apperance. This is a reference to her wearing glasses in the pilot (at one point, the CN website for the show even mentioned that she wears glasses).
* In ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'', there are several pictures around the Heinous Manor of [[Satan|Lucius]] in his concept art's outfit as opposed to his ordinary one. In another episode, Jimmy wears a bowtie, which was part of [[Bow Ties Are Cool|his concept suit]].
* In a flashback on ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** One of the photos of Fluttershy pinned to the wall of Photo Finish's studio in "Green Isn't Your Color" is essentially Lauren Faust's concept art of earlier-generation pony Posey, except with wings and an altered cutie mark.
** In "Family Appreciation Day" we get a flashback featuring a young Granny Smith, who looks just like an alternate version of Applejack that [[Lauren Faust]] drew for the series' pitch bible.
** In "The Last Roundup", one of the pictures the other characters use while trying to find Applejack is based off a different concept sketch of her.
* One episode of ''[[Futurama]]'' shows Leela's maternal grandmother, a mutant with a normal arm and a tentacle - which the developers originally planned to give to Leela's ''mother''.
* ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' had one episode where the Professor's dreams he hadn't [[Freak Lab Accident|accidentally added Chemical X]] when creating the girls, resulting in the "Run of the Mill Girls", who had no superpowers nor the Girls' [[The Noseless|unusual]] [[Powerpuff Girl Hands|features.]] The designs used were heavily based on
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Creator Speak]]
[[Category:In Joke]]
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