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Cerebus Retcon: Difference between revisions
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One tactic of [[Cerebus Syndrome]] is to [[Retcon|retroactively]] [[Deconstruction|deconstruct]] previous [[Rule of Funny|wackiness]] and then play it straight. As a result, a [[Comedy Tropes|comedy standard]] (such as [[Non-Fatal Explosions]]) passes over into drama as something serious, perhaps being reframed as a superpower of one of the characters. A character may make a heartfelt speech about how a previous wacky-seeming escapade was ''actually'' quite emotionally or physically scarring ("''I'' didn't just slip on that banana peel... that day, my ''heart'' slipped on that [[Banana Peel]]... and it never really got back up.")
Compare [[Reimagining the Artifact]], [[Doing in
'''Unmarked plot spoilers''' are abundant in this page, as the mere title of this trope is already suggestive. Tread carefully.
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== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Shinobu in ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' is an example. She starts out with the comedy ability to hit really hard when she gets angry. After a while, it becomes a real ability. The series never stops being a comedy, though oddly enough in movie 3 (''Remember My Love'') the aliens leave, and without the genre shift brought by the presence of aliens, Shinobu also loses the power.
* The destruction of F City in ''[[Excel Saga (
** Another example: In episode 1, Il Palazzo shoots and kills Excel ''twice'' (the show's living [[Reset Button]] resurrects her each time). It's played for laughs. Him shooting her in episode 23, however, is played morbidly straight.
*** It was serious this time because of the way she ''reacted'', which was because he didn't just shoot her, he shot her and ''fired her''.
*** Plus the [[Reset Button]] had problems of her own at the moment.
* At some point in ''[[Love Hina]]'', [[Ken Akamatsu]] must have realized that Keitaro was surviving in too many instances where he simply should not have. With the choice between toning down the girls' [[Comedic Sociopathy]] and simply hoping the fans chanted the [[MST3K Mantra]], he made Keitaro's durability a part of the story, with at one point Kitsune ordering that it was alright to use lethal force while hurting him, as he was immortal.
** At a point where the manga became serious near the end, when Keitaro is dangling from a great height, he lets the audience know it's serious by even referencing his own ability to walk away from excessively violent slapstick injuries by saying that "at this height, I'll die, even if I'm immortal!" I guess [[Fate/stay
* The 6th ''[[
** Post-timeskip Sanji gets a major nosebleed every time he looks at a woman with Chopper making a mention that Sanji is using up his blood transfusions. When he arrives at Fishman Island where the mermaids were, he got a serious nosebleed and Chopper isn't able to help him because there were no blood transfusions left. Fortunately, they were able to find the right donor and he gets better.
*** [[Crosses the Line Twice|Cue the Okama who gave him the transfusion of blood, and one horrified Sanji.]]
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* The Mad Hatter was always slightly creepier than most, but in the first Secret Six miniseries it became canon that he was a serial rapist, a drug addict, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|only ate food with hats on it]], and was afflicted with macrocephaly. For a villain whose hat (harhar) is casual mind control and was drawn after a Tenniel illustration, this worked surprisingly well.
* In the final ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'' book, Scott leans from Kim that the very quirky flashback of book 2 wasn't very quirky at all. Basically he beat up the shy Chinese boyfriend of Kim, Simon Lee, to get with her, and to top it off, he told his best friend Lisa Miller that he was leaving and neglected to tell Kim so Lisa had to, even though Kim ended up shunning her for a month after that. Kim does admit that she was partially at fault for leaving Lee that easily though. It also turns out that all his quirky memory losses were {{spoiler|part of Gideon's plot to mess up Scott}}.
* ''[[Angel and
* The [[Alan Moore]] run of ''[[Miracleman]]'' explained that the [[Silver Age]] adventures of the character (then named "Marvelman") were hallucinations generated by the [[Lotus Eater Machine]] the government kept him in when he wasn't needed.
== [[Fan Fiction]] ==
* There is an entire genre of fanfic called angstfic, which makes the characters wallow in angst - especially if the original fic that the fanfic is based on is a wacky comedy or lighthearted. The usual victims are ''[[Pokémon (
* This happens sometimes in ''[[The Mighty Boosh]]'' fanfics
* There's also a surprising number of [[Kim Possible]] fanfics with depictions of mental trauma and constant injuries that Kim and/or Ron acquire on a daily basis from their fights with supervillains. There are also several fanfics dealing with the incident in the [[Big Damn Movie]] where Kim [[Moral Dissonance|kicked Shego off the roof of Bueno Nacho into a charged electrical tower with the intent to kill,]] coming up with pretty dark, nasty answers for both Shego's physical condition as a result and Kim's thoughts and feelings during and after the fight.
* In one [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] fanfic titled "Behind the Smile," it is suggested that Hayate suffered sexual abuse in the foster care system before living alone, and her [[Skinship Grope]] tendencies were a way of warding off unwanted male attention.
* In [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7081044/1/Crumbling_Masks this] ''[[
* In the ''[[My Life
* ''[[Hunting the Unicorn (Fanfic)|Hunting the Unicorn]]'' is a ''[[Glee]]'' fanfic that uses this to [[Deconstruction|rip apart]] [[Relationship Sue|Blaine's]] portrayal. He's compassionate, selfless, and loyal--which means he [["Well Done, Son" Guy|defends his estranged father]] from any kind of insult, ignores personal issues until he is literally ''dragged into therapy'' by [[True Companions|the Warblers]], and is so [[Wide
** And [[The First Cut Is the Deepest|he wasn't always that lucky.]]
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== Film -- Animated ==
* Probably the quickest one in history is towards the end of the original ''[[The Land Before Time|Land Before Time]]'' movie- which is also something of an in-universe example. Cera screams for help when what appears to be some sort of tar monster approaches and picks her up, only for Ducky to reveal -after Cera's fit of panic, of course- that it is herself and their friends covered in tar. Cera irritably pries herself free, squeals as she falls to the ground, and defensively claims that she knew it was them the whole time. The others laugh rather mockingly at Cera, (who, up to this point, has been boastful and overly-proud) which continues as she slips in tar and bumps into things in a comic way, as she marches out of the cave. [[Tear Jerker|Cut to her alone outside of the cave, where her facade finally breaks and she begins to cry.]]
* A rather disturbing one can be found in the ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'' movie, where it explains why Eddy is such a jerk. {{spoiler|He's not, he's just been acting all this time because he didn't want anyone to know that he's just a scared kid like everyone else and that his brother, heralded as a heroic protector, is actually an abusive [[Jerkass]].}}
* In ''[[Lilo and Stitch (Disney film)|Liloand Stitch]]'', when Lilo's home gets destroyed by a bunch of aliens, it's played for laughs. When [[Promotion to Parent|Nani]] and social worker Cobra Bubbles come back (just after Nani was able to convince him NOT to separate her from Lilo)...it leads to the social worker deciding to take the little girl away, much to Nani and Lilo's despair.
** Along the same lines, it's hard to not laugh when a young [[Hercules (Disney film)|Hercules]] accidentally sets off a [[Disaster Dominoes]] that destroys an entire agora. But when the understandably upset townspeople proceed to yell at and insult [[Break the Cutie|the poor guy...]]
** And near the beginning of ''[[
** And the scene in ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'' where Quasimodo is crowned the King of Fools by Clopin because of his hideous appearance, only to be tied to a torture wheel and immediately humiliated. Cue Esmeralda.
== Film -- Live Action ==
* In ''[[Superman (
* In the first ''[[Star Wars]]'' film ''[[A New Hope]]'', Luke Skywalker's Aunt Beru notes to his Uncle Owen "Luke's just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him.", to which Owen says "That's what I'm afraid of.". In ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', we learn that [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Luke's father is]], [[It Was His Sled|in fact, Darth Vader]], one of the most evil men in the galaxy. And [[It Gets Worse]] in the Prequel Trilogy, as we see in ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'', shortly after Anakin originally met Owen, he went on a rampage, slaughtering dozens of Sand People after his mother's death by their hands.
== [[Literature]] ==
* At one point in ''[[The
** Though to be fair, knowing that reincarnation exists does somewhat qualify as "[knowing] a lot more about the nature of the Universe than we do now."
** Knowing that reincarnation exists ''and it's screwing with this guy for no reason'' tells us [[Sick Sad World|even more]]...
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** A more notable example would be the way a Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher never stays on for more than a year, to the point where people joke about the position being cursed. Turns out, it is: {{spoiler|Voldemort himself wanted the position many years ago, but Dumbledore refused to give it to him. (Obviously, this was before he became known as wizard-Hitler.) Ever since, no one has been able to hold the job for more than a year without something happening to them.}}
** Neville Longbottom is bumbling and forgetful, and most of the other characters (especially Snape) tease him for his incompetence while his grandmother relentlessly pushes him. We later learn that Neville's parents were Aurors that were tortured into total insanity, a significant part of his bumbling lack of self-esteem is fear of not living up to their example, and his grandmother's nature was to toughen him up to protect him from the same fate.
* [[
* In Sharon Creech's ''The Wandeer'' thirteen years old girl Sophie telle a couple of stories about her grandfather Bompie. Most stories end with Bompie ending in the water, where "he was frightened, was nearly pulled under, had to struggle hard and long to get out, after which his father gave him a whipping and his mother gave hip a pie", which at that moment was more funny than actually scary. But in the end of the book, we learn that {{spoiler|this ending is imageined by Sophie. When she was four, her family was cought by a storm during sailing, their boat sunk, her parents died and she had to swim hours to reach the shore, all alone. For her, this wasn't funny, it was her [[Primal Fear]]}}
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* Though not a comedy ''[[Bones]]'' managed this. Booth's increasing tendency to receive advice from famous people during dreams turns out to be caused by {{spoiler|brain cancer that's slowly killing him}}.
* Billy on ''[[Ally McBeal]]'' got a hugely out-of-character haircut, became comically misogynistic, and started seeing amazing, wacky things everywhere. {{spoiler|Like Booth in the ''Bones'' example above, Billy had a brain tumor. Unlike Booth, he was [[Killed Off for Real]].}}
* When we're first introduced to Dr. Bashir on ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
** Fortunately, it was well-established that Bashir {{spoiler|always used his full, gene-enhanced intelligence on any medical/important problem}}.
** In a more minor example, in a early episode, Bashir mentions out that he confused a pre-ganglionic fiber with a post-ganglionic nerve during his medical finals. When fans pointed out that this is a mistake that no competent medical student would make, the explanation was retconned that he got the question wrong on purpose to avoid being valedictorian. This is later retconned further to explain that he wanted to avoid showing his full abilities to disguise his genetically engineered background.
** Which needed a retcon because brilliant people never, ever make any bizarre elementary mistakes or confusions.
* In ''[[Star Trek:
** It also became relevant when he married Jadzia Dax, and she was constantly in Dr. Bashir's office for broken ribs.
*** So was Worf.
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*** And the Klingon woman. Which is quite impressive, since Quark is a very short and slender person.
* ''[[Power Rangers]]'' did this a few times. ''[[Power Rangers Ninja Storm|Ninja Storm]]'' retconned silly [[Genre Savvy]] villain Lothor and his standalone plots to have been a long-term plan to overload the Abyss of Evil with [[Uriah Gambit|dead monsters]]. ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' got gags out of Doctor K not going outside and her mention of growing up in Alphabet Soup, only to then reveal the utter ''horror'' of what Alphabet Soup ''did'' to her.
* It isn't exactly comedy, but the subplot in the first episode of ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' about Angela Petrelli getting arrested for shoplifting socks and her sons bailing her out is certainly pretty lighthearted. That is, until Volume 4 rolls around. In the episode 1961, we learn that Angela had a sister who she left when she was a child, regretting it ever since. We also learn that whenever she finds herself missing her sister particularly bad, she, you guessed it, steals socks. Suddenly, that lighthearted moment in the series premier seems a lot more disturbing.
* ''[[Kamen Rider Decade]]'''s female lead, Natsumi, is mostly [[Tsundere]] [[Comic Relief]] owing to her [[Finger-Poke of Doom|the Laughing Pressure Point]], used on [[Jerk
* Sometimes, a [[Cerebus Retcon]] happens naturally as the result of [[Character Development]] over a series. For example, Wesley was a one-note bumbling upper-class twit when he first appeared on ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', completely played for laughs. Once he became one of the regular cast of ''Angel'' his character was fleshed out enough to reveal that his early awkwardness was largely the result of a painful childhood with an abusive father; throughout the series any mention of his father causes Wesley to momentarily revert back to his old bumbling. His father's visit in "Lineage" is an especially dark example.
** This being Season 5, Wes has become extremely badass (seriously, he'd have a chance against a top of his game Ripper at this point). {{spoiler|Finally tired of his father, he shoots him in cold blood. Luckily, it was a robot.}}
* ''[[
* In [[Community
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== [[Toys]] ==
* In ''[[Bionicle]]'', the traitor Metus got [[Karmic Transformation|turned into a snake]] and banished to the wastelands. The DVD for the movie ''The Legend Reborn'' included a short, [[Slapstick|comedic]] [[Bonus Material|bonus cartoon]] that [[Homage|Homaged]] the classic ''[[Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner
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== [[TV Tropes (Wiki)]] ==
* Many [[Wild Mass Guessing]] entries for comedic or children's series fall into this, as they take an amusing character or location and go on to speculate that said character is a Time Lord, is slowly starving to death while trying to stay sane while imagining the rest of the series, or is suffering from PTSD.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The Darkness Beyond Time from ''[[
* [[Big Badass Wolf|Wolf Link]] from ''Videogame/[[
** Heck, it also happens in ''A Link to the Past'' - players are introduced to the dark world via Link turning into an adorable bunny. Then it becomes apparent that almost all of the other people stuck there have transformed into monsters or even [[And I Must Scream|trees]]. One of the most tragic examples is the guy whose father asks Link to look for, and after you find him, he gives you his Ocarina and [[Body Horror|turns into a tree]], [[Was Once a Man|permanently]]... until you destroy [[Big Bad|Gan]][[Final Boss|on]], then he gets better.
*** Even better examples, within ''A Link to the Past'', two of the official manga released for the game have Link turn into a wolf or werewolf instead of the pink bunny.
* In [[Mass Effect 3]] {{spoiler|turns out the Asari are so great because a Prothean came to them and helped them out a lot}}. This alone wouldn't qualify but the revelation is treated ingame as if it was some deep dark secret.
* ''[[Metal Gear]]:''
** In the original game, ''[[
{{quote| ''"You're drowning in time! I know what it's like, Brother. Few more years and you'll be another dead clone of the old man!"''}}
*** And it continues in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4
** Knowing the developer, it was probably intentional that the gameplay obstacle before fighting the final bosses of ''Metal Gear'' and ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' was the same - a linear area which damages Snake as he crosses it, and there's no way he can prevent it sapping his health. In ''Metal Gear'', you were told by one of the support characters to [[Heal Thyself|eat Rations]] (which immediately restored your health bar) in order to get across the electric floor. In ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots]]'' - [[Tear Jerker|I'd rather not think about it]].
** Applying [[Broad Strokes]] to ''Metal Gear'' and ''Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'' allowed their eight-bit wackiness to be taken fairly seriously in the ''Solid'' series. Snake didn't seem that affected by the events of Outer Heaven at the time (he also had to do things like avoid giant constantly moving rolling pins and use a bomb blast suit to make himself immune to a strong wind), and ''Metal Gear 2'' attempted to paint him as a very traditional action hero who retired after Outer Heaven because he was a loose cannon and too badass to take orders from authority. ''[[
** One scene in ''Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'' involved Snake knowing a woman for all of five minutes. She [[Fatal Family Photo|tells him about her family's history]], asks him about his (he says "I have no family"), and then she dies. Snake's over-the-top grief at her death was, at the time, a major [[Narm]]. In ''Metal Gear Solid'', which established that Snake had been essentially growing up in near-total isolation and had never had anyone tell him about their life or ask him about his own, his instant attachment to her seems very justifiable and deeply tragic.
** The reason why The Patriot in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3
*** Partially true. {{spoiler|you only get the patriot after you have killed the boss, but when talking about it Snake had not yet killed his mentor, and the method that Snake gets it is lampshaded for being dubious. He isn't even supposed to have it until after he kills The Boss}}.
* Promotional material for ''[[Conkers Bad Fur Day
* The Ratman's [[Companion Cube]]-related scrawlings in the first ''[[Portal (
* Arguably, ''the entirety'' of [[Final Fantasy XIII-2]] is one to the original [[Final Fantasy XIII]].
* In the first ''[[
* Valve has a thing for this:
** In ''[[Half
** In ''Portal'', the [[Big Bad]] [[G La DOS]] has a hysterical black comedy streak a mile wide. In the finale, you disassemble her cores (who are also individually hilarious) and destroy her. In the sequel, not only do you learn that [[G La DOS]] has been reliving that "death" ''millions'' of times since you killed her ([[Unreliable Narrator|though you only have her word on this]]), but also that Aperture Science was killing people for decades before you came along, Chell has been trapped in the facility since she was a pre-teen, [[G La DOS]] was made by uploading Cave Johnson's secretary (in the deleted content it's clear this was against her will), and that the facility has ''thousands'' of other test subjects to be tormented and murdered.
** This trope becomes strangely meta when [[
== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* Early parts of ''[[
* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
* ''[[Maji
* A lot are done in ''[[Hatoful Boyfriend]]'''s BBL route. Highlights include - Oko San isn't just an idiot, he's an older breed of birds that is less Uplifted than the others; Anghel [[Doing in
== [[Web Animation]] ==
* The intentionally and inherently farcical premise of ''[[
** All of ''[[
*** No, it seems as illogical and silly as ever. I mean, command has buttons for Caboose teamkilling (Ctrl F U). It's just they now have Agent Washington as [[Only Sane Man|a poor sap who has to deal with how crazy the Blood Gulch gang is]].
** Chapter 16 of ''Reconstruction'' managed about ''five'' of these at once: You know how {{spoiler|Church can become a ghost that can possess people and his robot body, wasn't affected by possession by Omega, [[Informed Ability|always agreed with Delta]], was able to [[Time Travel]], and is continually reassigned to back-water jobs where nothing is likely to happen? Those are all because ''[[Tomato in
*** {{spoiler|Heck, he's THE AI every other AI in the show is based on. Due to horrible torture. This one's a biggy, folks}}
*** Not to mention that {{spoiler|''his personality is what spawned the series' [[Big Bad]].''}}
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[
** Also, [[Cloudcuckoolander|Hannelore]]'s rather unusual quirkiness and OCD in her early appearances are [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2134 explained] in [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2147 much later comics] as being an incredible ''improvement'' over {{spoiler|her near paralytic insanity during her early childhood.}}
* The Goo from ''[[
** Furthermore, a gag character, the Demonic Duck, originally appeared as a one-shot gag when people would need a distraction and then point out his appearance, the joke being that the duck actually being there was far more ridiculous than someone using such a specific distraction. The duck [[Ninja Prop|turns out to be]] an ''actual character with dramatic effects on the plot'' later. Not to mention specific rules laid out for the creation and use of comedy relief hammers...
** There are a lot of subtle examples of this in EGS as it moved from a wacky tone to a more serious one. A simple example is Sarah wearing a beret as part of a visual gag early on, and then a later strip showing a serious explanation on how she got that beret.
* In ''[[
** Similarly, in the early "vampire" story arc, one of Valerie's vampire compatriots asks her why she has a crush on Torg, upon which she has a flashback to her pre-vampirism husband, a double of Torg, accidentally impaling himself on his own lance. Cue the Stormbreaker Saga, when Torg is stranded in the Dark Ages and his attempts to save Valerie from becoming a vampire are played for drama. {{spoiler|In the end, after Torg goes back to the present, Valerie's husband dies in the accident, and it is revealed that this tragedy made her decide to join the vampire circle.}}
*** Also retconned the accident from being the clumsy mistake expected of Torg to the result of recovery from a debilitating curse, in a character who was otherwise a competent warlord.
* For ''all'' of the main characters of ''[[College Roomies
** Dave isn't exempt either. Early on, it's mentioned in a throwaway gag that he's deathly allergic to bee stings. Years later, in the ''Adversary'' storyline (which is pretty much solely responsible for tossing the comic into [[Darker and Edgier]] territory), as he and Margaret are running away from the Devil, they find that their path leads through a field of sunflowers... and bees.
* In ''[[
** Something similar happens with Petey, initially a high-level warship AI with issues about ghosts. Eventually, he becomes a {{spoiler|nigh-omnipotent nascent AI god}} by {{spoiler|fusing with virtually every other AI in the galaxy}} in a bid to {{spoiler|prevent the galaxy's annihilation}}, and then sets out to {{spoiler|subvert and dominate every other galactic power}} to build a power base big enough to fund and supply a {{spoiler|genocidal assault on the Andromeda galaxy}} and it's Paan'uri inhabitants.
*** Paan'uri inhabitants who are intangible, interact with normal matter solely through gravity, and tend to torment other species. [[Fridge Brilliance|Y'know... kinda ghostlike.]]
* ''[[
** [[Word of God]] suggests that the apparent [[Cerebus Syndrome]] was intentional almost from the word go - this is supported by some bonus material in the PDF release of book one - the early farcical jokey stuff was originally written much earlier (with Kobolds), and apparently rewritten as an introduction to the story as it is today. However, it is noticeable that the comic has gotten significantly less jokey since its inception...
** It bears noting that she has saved the fox's pelt, even through being captured and held as a labor-slave by another tribe of goblins.
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** Lampshadeed in the above quote when Trent, whose apartment Nick and Fooker had broken into to clear Trudy's name, sues Fred for libel.
* ''The Life of Riley''. What begins as a cheap throwaway joke about an artist who powers up a la DBZ when he works on computers, ends with same character resurrected as the second coming of the Messiah about to go toe-to-toe with arch-fiend Lillith over an artifact that can ''kill God''.
* Pointedly averted in ''[[
* Done in ''[[The Order of the Stick
** A straighter example from OOTS was done with the mother of the Black Dragon from the Starmetal cave, who was mentioned lightheartedly several times during the encounter in which {{spoiler|Vaarsuvius disintegrated her son in a scene that was still more or less played for laughs. About three hundred strips later, she appears out of the blue seeking vengeance on Vaarsuvius. This leads to one of the darkest arcs the strip has done thus far and the start of an horrific [[Cycle of Revenge]].}}
* ''[[Yosh!]]'' started out as a manga-style comedy, and the protagonist was frequently subjected to the [[Megaton Punch]], thrown out of windows, things like that. Then, once the comic went dramatic, it was revealed that he's a 'Resistant' -- a kind of rare, magical entity who has [[Nigh Invulnerability]] -- thus making him central to the plot of an [[Ancient Conspiracy]] of mages. Upon learning that, the character comments that it's not really a major surprise, considering what he's survived in the past.
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* ''[[Looking for Group]]'' started with the heroic Cale'anon meeting up with Richard, a lighthearted [[Omnicidal Maniac]], who decides to travel with the empty-headed do-gooder because it'll be fun. Except {{spoiler|now it turns out he's on a mission to protect Cale, under orders from Cale's former master - who, right after sending him into the world, ''[[Moral Event Horizon|killed his wife in cold blood]]'' so he'd have nothing to come home to.}}
* Eddie from [[Emergency Exit]] is a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] with a tendency to pull things out of nowhere. Why? Turns out it's because {{spoiler|he FORCED A PORTAL THROUGH HIS SKULL in order to keep the villains from getting it. That's where he keeps all his random objects, and it apparently seriously messed with his mind.}}
* A mild example in ''[[
* ''[[
** Gamzee's reaction to Dave linking him to a video of [[
** According to [[Word of God]], Gamzee's religion, which started out as being a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] [[Juggalo]], does not worship [[
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* Linkara parodies this trope in his ''15 Things That Are Wrong With [[Identity Crisis]]'' review, saying that he got his Miller Time watch by beating up a thug in a horrifying fashion, and then buried his corpse in Nevada...then reveals that he was just giving a ''bad'' example of a Cerebus Retcon.
** The backstory for his Magic Gun could be an example of the trope, if not for that fact that he had always planned on giving the gun a dark backstory.
* Not quite so harsh, but [[
* Back in season 1 of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series
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* The "Kenny Dies" episode of ''[[South Park]]'', where he is [[Killed Off for Real]]...''not'' in the usual over-the-top fashion, but slowly, due to a debilitating illness, with the episode's main plot revolving around his friends trying to get embryonic stem cell research legalized in the hope that a treatment can be developed before Kenny dies. The writers eventually brought him back anyway, after which he started dying very rarely.
** Many of the scenes in the episode are genuinely heartfelt, although it comes to a pretty amusing thud when it's revealed that Cartman was hoarding stem cells not in an attempt to save his dying friend, but so they could clone him his own pizza parlor.
** It's being played absurdly straight in the "Coon and Friends" saga. Kenny, {{spoiler|who is revealed to be the real Mysterion}}, has stated that his [[Blessed
*** And then there are hints throughout the episode that his ability is somehow connected to none other than [[Eldritch Abomination|Cthulhu]]...
** In the ep "City Sushi", its revealed Mr.Kim is {{spoiler|an insane caucasian psychiatrist with multiple personalities that everyone just lets him be Mr.Kim by the end}}.
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* Parodied in "Behind the Laughter," the outside-of-canon [[Animated Actors]] episode of ''[[The Simpsons]],'' in which we're told that Homer became addicted to painkillers after falling down Springfield Gorge (in a well-known early episode), and that that enabled him to do "the bone-cracking physical comedy that made him a star."
** There is also, in the same episode, Homer feeding Lisa and Bart growth stunters via executive order in order to keep them looking the same age for the show to explain them never aging
* In the finale of ''[[
* A minor version of this happened with Pinkie Pie in the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** More generally, she's always been seen as the "wacky" character, to the point where some fans joking said that she might be a little mentally ill.
* [[Adventure Time
* The [[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]] [[Grand Finale]] [[The Movie|Movie]], reverses Eddy's claims about how cool his brother is by revealing what he ''[[Complete Monster|really]]'' is, as well as revealing [[Jerkass Facade|why Eddy was such a jerk]] [[Freudian Excuse|all this time]].
{{reflist}}
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