Didn't See That Coming: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''Mentsch tracht, Gott lacht.'' ("Man plans, [[God]] laughs.")|'''A Yiddish proverb'''}}

:1.# '''Known Knowns:''' There are the known dangers, these you deal with directly: My opponent has access to [[Frickin' Laser Beams|laser blasters]]—I need [[Deflector Shields]] before I attack.

:2.# '''Known Unknowns:''' These are the things strategists know they don't know, but they can prepare for the different possible outcomes: The enemy has his forces deployed elsewhere when you are [[Storming the Castle]], so you need a plan for what to do if these forces do not return in time (to take full advantage), and you need a plan for what to do if the enemy forces return early.

:#* Someone who is especially good at this kind is probably [[Crazy Prepared]].

:3.# '''Unknown Unknowns:''' Then there are the unknown unknowns, or even unknowable unknowns. These cannot be prepared for, planned for, or in any way anticipated. They are the bane of all well laid plans. This can often be a [[Genre Shift]], for example, and the character was in the dark because of [[The Masquerade]]. The mage being surprised by the space alien, for instance, or [[The Mafia]] [[Death Note|not expecting]] [[Psychic Powers]]. [[Deus Ex Machina|Acts of God]] and [[Outside Context Villain]]s tend to fit in here, unless characters are aware that they are a [[Cosmic Plaything]], and even then it's hard to know what you don't know, except that you don't know anything.

:4.# '''Unknown Knowns:''' It happens. Sometimes the plotter knows a given [[The Fool|person]], event, or variable is present... but doesn't see how it could ''[[Pride|possibly]]'' impact their foolproof plans and proceeds to [[Not Now, Kiddo|dismiss it]] or [[Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal|mistreat those "irrelevant" to his plot]], and otherwise ignore [[Sword of Damocles|the sword overhead]] [[Laser-Guided Karma|while whittling at the rope holding it there]].

:#* In [[Mystery Fiction]], these people are the suspects and facts that are quickly [[Beneath Suspicion|discarded in favor of the high profile suspects]]. However, add up all the background chatter and the motivations for why [[The Butler Did It|it was the butler]] becomes incredibly obvious.

:#* [[The Dog Bites Back]]

:#* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]

:5.# '''False Assumptions:''' Even the most diabolical scheme can be doomed before it even starts if it's built on [[Poor Communication Kills|faulty information.]] That [[Futurama|ridiculously circuitous]] plan to steal the [[MacGuffin]] from the safe deposit box by sneaking into the bank disguised as security guards? The only thing [[The Hero]]'s grandfather hid there was some [[All That Glitters|old family memorabilia]]; the [[MacGuffin]] is hidden somewhere else entirely (if it even exists).

* This tends to happen to heroes of [[Peggy Sue]] fanfics when the changes they make to the timeline come back to bite them in the ass. An excellent example of this occurs in ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]] and the Nightmares of Futures Past]]''; Harry rants to Dumbledore about his living conditions with the Dursleys at one point, and Dumbledore responds {{spoiler|by using memory charms on the Dursleys in an effort to improve the situation. When an unknown third party later removes the charms and Vernon ''remembers being charmed'', Harry's already-rocky relationship with the Dursleys turns downright venomous, culminating in a savage beating during the first year/second year summer break that leaves Harry in critical condition.}}

* {{spoiler|Tzeentch's failure to see the C'tan plans coming}} was what forced {{spoiler|the canon!40k gods}} to work together in ''[[Thousand Shinji]]''. Continues into ''[[The Open Door]]'', where newChaos forces occasionally find themselves facing things even the supposedly-omniscient {{spoiler|and inheritor of Tzeentcch's mantle}} Tzintchi fails to see coming and thus pay for it.

* ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|Pokemon Platinum]]'''s: Cyrus captures the [[Olympus Mons|Legendary Pokemon of Time and Space]], and prepares to use them to destroy the universe to end human suffering. Unbeknownst to him, they were [[Rule of Three|two-thirds of a trio]], and the [[Eldritch Abomination|Legendary Pokemon of Matter/Antimatter]], long ago banned from reality and stricken from mythology out of fear, isn't too pleased with him for this...

** In ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'', {{spoiler|[[The Man Behind the Man|Ghetsis]]}} was not expecting the protagonist to be able to summon the other Legendary Dragon of Unova, nor that the player's relationship to their Pokemon really was [[The Power of Friendship|friendship]], rather than using Pokemon as tools, ''nor'' that this second revelation would cause N to doubt his own cause and [[Worthy Opponent|challenge the player character]] over the validity of their beliefs. As a result, the player ultimately [[Defeat Means Friendship|befriends N]], and {{spoiler|Ghetsis's plan to conquer Unova through [[Fantasy Gun Control]] falls to pieces. And [[Villainous Breakdown|so does he]].}}

* ''[[Red Dead Redemption|Red Dead Redemption 2]]'' pulls a nasty one on the player with the side quest, "He's British, Of Course". The protagonist meets Margaret - a male circus performer who dresses like a woman - who needs your help because three of his circus animals - a zebra, tiger, and lion - are loose. {{spoiler| The zebra and tiger are pretty easy to subdue, seeing as they're only a donkey and cougar with dyed fur; it seems Margaret is a charlatan side show owner who uses puckery to attract customers. Thus, when he emphases that he wants the lion alive, you're likely to assume it's another fake, especially since he claims it's from "Tanganyiki" [[As Long As It Sounds Foreign| (there is no such place)]]. This time, however, not only is this a ''real'' African lion, it's ''angry''. And sadly, there's no way to safely capture the poor beast alive, the only way to survive this encounter is to shoot it.}}

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'': [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0386.html "You know, the first two, I probably should've seen coming. The leprechaun costume? Not so much."]

{{quote|{{spoiler|Thog: thog is the Champion, thog's friends! And thog will keep fighting to the end! }}}}

**:* Followed about twenty strips later by magical moths that eat all clothing. '''"[[Crazy Prepared|This looks like a job for]] ''[[Crazy Prepared|emergency pants!]]''"''' He ''did'' see it coming, even though he couldn't have.

* The defunct webcomic ''Filthy Lies'' had one character daydream a ''[[SelfHarry InsertPotter]]'' fic[[Self-Insert Fic]] where he was a [[Jerkass Stu]] (using Felix Felicis, for example, to have a threesome with Hermione and Ginny) induring the events of ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and Thethe Half-Blood Prince (novel)|Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]''...who, during the climax, ended up screwing everything up so that all the good guys died. {{spoiler|He even took the big moment away from Snape by accidentally bumping Dumbledore off the top of the tower with poor broom handling before Snape could perform Avada Kedavra.}}

* A chain of these in ''Alanna''. {{spoiler|[[Big Bad|Tristan]] has forcibly bonded OB, the god of lightning and dissection, to himself, and EB, the god of Frost and Destruction, to the protagonist}}. All he needs to do is capture the protagonist, and he pretty much wins. He knows that the protagonist has a lightning sprite that can absorb his electrical attacks to become stronger, but considers it to be a non-factor because sprites are easily banished. He also knows that {{spoiler|EB's creations will obey her, but isn't worried because he has a small army of Amalgams, and also knows that OB's creations can only function under OB's orders}}. However, he was completely unaware of several important facts: firstly, {{spoiler|OB's creations had a small degree of autonomy, and had built a clone of OB to guide them; Tristan didn't know about this because Fake!OB was non-functional, but the protagonist managed to get it operational. In return, Fake!OB sent OB's creations against Tristan for the final battle, and also gave the protagonist's lightning sprite a warding that made it impossible for Tristan to banish. lastly, it gave her a means to communicate with the imprisoned Real!OB}}. Tristan's [[Oh Crap|reaction]] to this is absolutely [[Crowning Moment of Funny|priceless]]. {{spoiler|More importantly. however, Tristan is unaware that there was a complication during EB's bonding}}. At the start of the story, "Spirit Guides" (Actually [[No Fourth Wall|the readers, who give the protagonist suggestions on what to do]]) were bonded to the protagonist, {{spoiler|occupying the place where EB was supposed to go, meaning that EB is actually bound to ''the readers'', instead of the protagonist. Since we can sever our connection with the protagonist at any time, the readers are essentially provided with a big red button labeled "Screw Tristan's plans six ways to Sunday." And Tristan certainly couldn't have predicted the readers using this information to prove to the original OB that Tristan's plan couldn't work, and that this would cause OB to take advantage of Tristan's unstable mental state when he tried to go [[One-Winged Angel]] to leave his body}}.

== Web Originals ==

* Despite all of the completely ludicrous things they managed to pull off in [[DoctorDr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing -Along Blog|Dr. Horrible]], I still don't think anybody was expecting {{spoiler|Bad Horse to be an ''actual'' horse}}.

== Western Animation ==

'''Flash:''' Ta-da. }}

*:* Which is immediately followed by another one: It turns out that ''Brainiac'' is underneath Lex's suit. ''And '''skin'''''. I guess he learned his lesson...

*:* Then, of course, there was the episode "Wild Cards." In the middle of Joker's bomb threat on Vegas being aired as a reality TV show, Batman manages to talk to Harley Quinn alone. He insinuates that Joker seems awfully close to Ace, the new henchgirl. Harley storms off toward her puddin' in a jealous rage, but not before throwing and landing a solid punch on Batman for enlightening her. Cue to a shot of Joker staring blankly at a television screen after the exchange is over.

** [[Complete Monster|Fire Lord Ozai]] faces a couple in the last episode: an Unknown Known {{spoiler|(Aang regaining control of the Avatar State)}} and then andan Unknown Unknown {{spoiler|(Energy Bending)}}.

* This is how Homer winds up going to a Krusty the Clown themed clown college in one episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' (after being bombarded by new billboards telling him all the stuff he has to buy). He gets up in the middle of dinner, declares his intentions, and walks away. Bart just states, "I don't think any of us expected him to say that."

** Well actuallyIn an early episode, Drakken ''did'' manage to spot Rufus in time to foil him (or rather a mind controlled Kim pointed it out). But he winds up underestimating Kim's brothers when he doesn't believe a portable machine they made could stop him.

* This was one of Hunter's [[Catch Phrase]]s in ''[[Road Rovers]]''. "Yet another unexpected twist."

* In ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', Applejack says this in "Swarm of the Century", when the voracious parasprites, instead of eating her apple crop, ate her barn instead.

** After {{spoiler|Chrysalis true form being revealed true form in front of Celestia and her plans explained, it was obvious that Celestia wasn't going to stay still about it. What it wasn't obvious was that the queen of the Changelings had already gathered enough strenght to beat the Princess. Not even Chrysalis expected that!}}

* In one ''[[South Park]]'' episode, when Kenny died, Stan didn't react the usual way. (i.e. shouting [[Catch Phrase|"Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!"]]). Instead, he asked who didn't see that coming.

* Discussed by Edward's friend (voiced by [[Samuel Jackson]]) in [[The Boondocks]]. He talks about how there are known unknowns, things that we know that we don't know, and unknown unknowns, namely things that we don't know that didn't know, in order to justify how the plan that they had to capture a killer was so far going badly.

== Real Life ==