Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!

Steven: Well, everyone else managed to get off the ship, so where were you?
Lars: I ran and hid, Steven, like any sensible person would... do... if they wanted to get trapped on a ship. Oh.

— Steven Universe, "Stuck Together"

Bob has the situation under control, and is explaining it to his partner, Alice. While he initially thought everything was fine and going to plan, it's only once he stops to think about it and hears himself say it aloud that he realizes how much trouble he and Alice are really in.

Essentially, a case of in-universe Fridge Logic (or Fridge Horror) catching up to the characters, can be Played for Laughs or drama. Can be triggered by the listening party's Let Me Get This Straight... putting a new perspective on Bob's explanation.

The Oh, Crap! can also be simply that there really is No Time to Explain. Some situations go further with this, having the feared event happen directly after it's realized, which is a case of Five-Second Foreshadowing.

The Placebo Eureka Moment is an inverse, in which the act of explaining leads to a solution rather just than a realization that there's a problem. Not to be confused with I Can Explain or Not Helping Your Case.

Compare Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh..., You Answered Your Own Question, Delayed "Oh, Crap!" (when the character doesn't realize how screwed they are until after they're done explaining), Digging Yourself Deeper (when a character's already in trouble and doesn't realise they're giving away more than they should until it's too late, upon which this trope swiftly applies), I Never Said It Was Poison (when the realization is that there's something previously told by another character that doesn't fit the facts or make them fit all of a sudden), and Stopped Dead in Their Tracks (when this trope can result in a stunned stop reaction in another character).

Examples:

open/close all folders

Asian Animation

Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: In episode 3 of Great War in the Bizarre World, when the Queen explains that Darton leaves a mark on all who are under his control, she caps it off saying it's hard to explain. Then an X-circle mark appears on her belly, and Slowy asks if that's the mark he leaves. The Queen says yes, and it takes a Double Take for her to realize what just happened; she's corrupted shortly afterwards.

Board Games

In Chess, one of the methods for dealing with a speculative sacrifice by an opponent is known as the show me method. If you can't see the point of the sacrifice, or even if you do see the point but don't think it will be all that effective, the recommended course of action is to accept it and continue playing natural moves, daring the opponent to show you their idea. Sometimes this works and the sacrifice fails. When it succeeds, however, you end up with this trope.

Comedy

Ron White has a bit where he mocks homophobia and explains that "We're all gay, it's just to what extent are you gay."
[My friend] said, "Man, that's bullshit! I ain't gay at all!"
I said, "Yes you are, and I can prove it."
He said, "Fine. Prove it."
I said, "Well, you like porn, don'tcha?"
He said, "Of course I like porn!"
I said, "Well, do you only watch scenes with two women together?"
He said, "Naw, I'll watch a man and a woman makin' love."
I said, "Then I guess you prefer it if the guy has a tiny, half-flaccid penis, right?"
He said, "Naw man, I like big, hard, throbbin' co-" (extended Jaw Drop) "...I did not know that about myself."
Josh Wolf's son explains to him how "the cloud" works. For Context, said son sent someone a picture of his dick.
"Okay, Dad: You take a picture on your phone, and it goes to the iPad."
I'm like, "What else?"
"Mom takes a picture on her phone, and it goes to the iPad."
I'm like, "What else?"
"I take a picture on my phone, and oh no."
The French comedy trio Les Inconnus has a sketch about an ad agency managing a politician's election campaign. The man's name is Headdick (Dugland, a plausible name, but also an insulting term similar to "jackass") so they decide to appeal to the younger voters by using verlan (French slang that reverses syllable order), which would give... ^note
"Forget it?"
"Yeah."

: They decide to look for a more suitable name in the man's family tree, settling on Beauregard (equivalent to "beautiful eyes"). Then they see a poster of the Comically Cross-Eyed candidate, and consider going back to the original plan.

Comic Books

Played for laughs in the Garth Ennis-written Adventures of the Rifle Brigade. Captured by the Nazis, Lieutenant Cecil asks Captain Darcy just what the mission was in the first place. Darcy is confused as Cecil was the one who called to set it up. It turns out Cecil had called to say "it's on," meaning a stag party for a friend but Darcy misunderstood.
Darcy: I say... so when I phoned back to tell you it was all arranged and the Berlin Express left at seven, you assumed an op had come up and we'd have to skip the party. Which means...
Cecil: Yes, sir. We've gone a commando raid by mistake.

: Fortunately their captor gloatingly mocks their attempts to raid a factory vital to the Third Reich's war efforts, accidentally giving them an objective.

Batman '66: Professor Overbeck while explaining why he doesn't think his brain regulator "could have been used to make a whole group of people... hysterical".
Professor Overbeck: One would have to connect it to a broadcast antenna like the kind I use for transmitting long dis... GOTT IN HIMMEL! Mein antenna is gone!
In Batman/Superman: World's Finest, a being from the sixth dimension wants to prove itself by defeating Earth's most powerful hero. To identify this hero, it sends fifth-dimensional imps to empower Earth's villains. With Superman and Batman elsewhere, and most of the other heroes defeated, Mr Mxyzptlk (who's sufficiently horrified by this to be working with the good guys) comes up with the idea of accessing all Jimmy Olsen's classic transformations. Afterwards, Mxy congratulates Jimmy on defeating the villains almost single-handedly, then trails off as he realises what that implies regarding the overall threat.
The Black Knight: Lusène effortlessly breaks into the Money Bin during his first caper. Besides a bag of diamond dust worth a whoppin' 100 dollars and a suit of armor, Scrooge is unsure what exactly Lusène stole that night, since nothing in his vault nor his trophy room appears to be missing and Lusène would not have left without taking something very valuable. He doesn't consider the safe containing the Omnisolve, since Scrooge doesn't believe it has any value to the Black Knight (in fact, as the name suggests, it is literally the most dangerous substance on Earth) until Louie points out that a combination safe would be irresistible to a master thief like Lusène. When Scrooge realizes this, he rushes to open it. All he finds is Lusène's Calling Card, confirming the Ducks' worries.
The Immortal Thor: Facing down a resurrected and incredibly angry Nyx, Hercules wonders what she's been doing, having been back from the dead since the time of King in Black, and even a dramatically weakened Nyx was enough to effortlessly kill all the Olympians and defeat the strongest version of the Hulk around. It's then he remembers the other thing about Nyx; her love for her children.
The Outsiders: In a 2004 storyline of Outsiders (2003), the team learns that Bruce Wayne is financing them. Arsenal then reveals that Batman has been his secret source of info since the team started. Nightwing confronts Batman about the funding, the pair soon coming to an understanding. Nightwing thanks Batman for the info...and Batman says he has no idea what he's talking about as he hasn't spoken to Arsenal in a year. Nightwing contacts Arsenal, who's on a rooftop with a cloaked and masked figure in shadow. Arsenal tells Nightwing about Batman being difficult, only for Nightwing to tell him he's literally standing next to Batman in the Batcave. Before Arsenal can react, he's taken down by "Batman," who peels off the mask to reveal he's been Deathstroke all along. Arsenal demands to know why Deathstroke would be giving the Outsiders information that took down a bunch of villains, only to stop as it hits him Deathstroke was just using the Outsiders to eliminate some competition.
Marvel Team-Up: One issue has Spider-Man attack the Human Torch because he thinks the Fantastic Four have just tried to attack him. Johnny points out this isn't possible, since the rest of the FF are elsewhere doing their own things, and more to the point have no reason to attack Spidey (something he really should know). So the only explanation is that someone else with all their powers could have done that... at which point Johnny stops explaining and hurries back to the Baxter Building, where the Super-Skrull has escaped from the Can he'd been stuck in.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW): In issue #101, King Danu, leader of the Knights of Order, declares to Twilight Sparkle that he intends to destroy anyone who has had contact with the Elements of Harmony. When Twilight regroups with her friends later, they try to figure out who that might include besides themselves. Mage Meadowbrook and Spike's comments cause the ponies to realize the next targets are the students, who had extensive contact with the Tree of Harmony at Twilight's school.
New Avengers (2015): Monica Rappaccini and Andrew Forson, former leaders of AIM, crash the funeral of Roberto Da Costa, using a specialized time-bubble. Forson notes that the only way to shield oneself from the time-bubble's effects would be in some sort of specially pre-prepared equipment which his scanners couldn't pick up, like if, say, they were hidden behind adamantium shielding... such as the adamantium in Da Costa's coffin. Surprise! It's a trap.
Planetary: In the penultimate issue, before departing from a parley he invited them to in the desert, Snow claims that he's about to kill Dowling and Suskind. The two villains note that for all of his bravado, Snow has only ever known one thing that they didn't know themselves. Then they remember what that one thing is, namely the location of an alien spaceship hidden beneath Earth's surface. Snow has just tricked them into standing on top of that ship and has it blast off, killing them.
Sonic the Hedgehog:
- In issue 247 of Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics), after yet another building in New Mobotropolis collapses due to something interfering with the nanites, Cream, after finding the Tails Doll, chews it out over its tendency to disappear... and in mid-sentence, recalls that its previous disappearances have corresponded with the other instances of buildings unexpectedly going unstable, and deduces that the doll itself is responsible. Her expression when this dawns on her says it all.
  Cream: Bad dolly! I'm trying to take care of you and find your owner, and you keep disappearing! ...Like at the Forget-Me-Knots concert. And this is just like what happened at the civic center...
- A perfect example can be found in issue 8 of Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW), where after breaking through one of Dr. Eggman's bases and taking out some straggler robots, Sonic and Silver get some less than favorable info from one of the computers.
  Silver: It's almost like Neo Metal Sonic isn't hiding what he's doing any — OH, CRAP!
The Superman Adventures: Issue #12 has Lois write a journal of progress being made in curing Superman of a lethal Kryptonian virus, becoming shocked when she's writing while on a plane and realizes what she's describing.
Lois' Journal: I gaze out my window at the receding farmlands, the setting sun and the gleaming silver missile headed towards us. It's such a beautiful country from above that—
Lois: MISSILE?!
Teen Titans: When District Attorney Adrian Chase is going after a tough mob, he brushes off Robin's concerns before returning home, where his wife tells him about the toy clown his uncle Arthur sent their son for his birthday.
Chase: Uncle Arthur? My God, Doris—-I don't have an Uncle—- (cue massive explosion)
The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye: While making their way through what they believe to be the future Lost Light, Skids and company come across Minimus Ambus' body and the Magnus Armor. Skids notes that the former had his hand cut off to prevent him from using his emergency teleport while the latter has been destroyed by a fusion cannon, aka Megatron's weapon of choice. Megatron's attempts to defend himself end up steering him right into this trope.
Megatron: Whoever killed Magnus knew about the teleport in his hand. I didn't even know there was a "Minimus Ambus" until... until... Until you just told me.
X-Men: In Uncanny X-Men (2018) #20, the X-Men are thrown when they hear their attempt to vaccinate against a mutant "cure" has led to dozens of human children getting sick and more are occurring. Captain America confronts them with the X-Men, saying they can handle this, having been dealing with Cap for several weeks on other matters, such as handing over mutant prisoners to turn over to the government and ensuring the X-Men are able to operate without oversight. Only for his reaction to make them realize the person they've been meeting hasn't been Cap...
Moonstar: Your help and trust over the last few weeks has proven invaluable, and we ask you to trust us once more—
Captain America: What are you talking about, Danielle?
Moonstar: Taking the prisoners...? Your meetings with Scott...?
Captain America: I haven't spoken with Summers since that rally at Empire State. And if I'd known then what you all were capable of, I would never have let him walk away.
Moonstar: You came to Harry's Hideaway...
Captain America: I don't know any Harry, but you should all know the Avengers are going to take—-
Cyclops: Magik, grab Nemesis and get us home now!
In Ultimate X-Men (2001), Nick Fury comes to the Institute with Magician, a young mutant with immense powers that accidentally killed his own parents. Fury thinks Xavier can help the kid control himself rather than send him to prison. Magician is soon accepted with the team, proving himself in fights. Fury comes by wanting to recruit Magician for a mission and says the kid's parents have already signed off on it. A confused Xavier says Fury had told him the parents were dead, with Fury denying ever visiting or knowing who Magician was before seeing him on TV. This is the clue to discovering Magician is a Reality Warper who unconsciously created this whole illusion to become a hero.

Comic Strips

Inverted in The Boondocks, Riley, having repainted several street signs to carry the names of rappers he likes, is approached by Cindy, who's also interested in doing so. Riley, however, is lying low due to the police looking for the culprit, and starts to warn Cindy that if she follows suit, she'll get caught—at which point he gets the idea to have her take the fall for his misdeeds.
As Calvin and Hobbes indicates, Bill Watterson loves this trope:
- One storyline had C&H pushing the family car out of the garage so they could use the structure as a clubhouse, only to discover that the driveway is on an incline, which sends the vehicle careening into a ditch across the street. After they run away, Calvin's mother notices the situation, and begins to wonder aloud:
  Calvin's Mom: And how on Earth did they go in straight backward? To do that, the car would have had to come...right...out...of...OUR DRIVEWAY!
- In another arc, the family goes to the zoo, and Calvin gets lost when he starts following a woman who looks like his mom. As Calvin's parents try to figure out where he's gone, Dad hits upon an idea—"Maybe Calvin's at the tiger pit, since he likes tigers so much." After walking a bit, he laughs to himself: "Ha ha, maybe Calvin's in the tiger pit, since he likes tigers so much." He then realizes that that's a perfectly plausible scenario and breaks into a run.
- In an arc featured in the collection "Weirdos From Another Planet", Calvin & Hobbes go to Mars to get away from Earth's pollution. They run into and away from a martian, who they quickly realize is also afraid of them;
Calvin: Why do you think the Martian hid from us?
Hobbes: Maybe Martians don't like Earthlings.
Calvin: Don't like us?! What's not to like?? There's nothing wrong with humans! (calling out) Hey, you Martian! Come on out! We're not bad! We just came here because people polluted our own planet so much that... uh... what I mean is... um... (talking to Hobbes again) So what are you saying? That our reputation preceded us?
Hobbes: Would you welcome in a dog that wasn't house-trained?
- In one of the Transmrogrifier arcs, Calvin believes that he's been permanently transformed into an owl. He's delighted when Hobbes points out that this means he'll get to miss school the next day. Upon waking up, Mom points out that he's not an owl, and Calvin shouts with joy that he can...now go to school.
- In one Sunday comic, a leaf pile comes to life and tries to eat Calvin. Calvin fights back with a rake, and resolves to spread the leaves across the yard so the pile can't eat anyone else. The last panel is of Calvin's mom and dad talking.
  Mom: I thought you said you were going to rake the yard today.
  Dad: I did rake the yard. I spent all afternoo— WHERE'S CALVIN?!
- At the beginning of one story arc, Calvin notices his mom has showered rather early in the day, and from that alone he quickly puts together a rather disturbing conclusion...
  Calvin: You're taking a shower now? That means you're going out tonight, right? And you haven't told me to get cleaned up, so that means I'm staying home, right? And if I'm staying home, that means you've gotten me a babysitter, right? And that means you've probably hired Rosalyn, right?!?
  Calvin's Mom: Brilliant, Holmes.
  Calvin: AAAHHHHHH!
In one series of FoxTrot strips, Jason swears to Peter he'll get his revenge for his destroyed model rocket within the next twelve hours. After a long series of doing everything in his power to avoid his brother's vengeance and winding up grounded for two weeks, Peter's bragging to Jason after the twelve hours are up falls squarely into this trope:
Peter: I jumped out a second-story window. I ate leaves and twigs for dinner. I laid for hours in a pile of dog stuff. I was grounded for two weeks by mom, but you never—....got me.
Jason: Let's do this again sometime.
In one Garfield strip, Jon demands to know what Garfield did with Mrs. Feeny's dog, along with a bunch of stamps, a box, and some twine...before pausing in shock as his mind begins to connect the dots.
Garfield: Take your time...It'll come to you.
In MAD, there are a few.
- In the parody of The Godfather, when "Vino Minestrone" is warned that he's endangering himself by refusing to go into the drug trade.
  Vino Minestrone: Could I be harmed by that cute Italian fish peddler? By those sweet Italian kids, playing Hop-Scotch? By those nice Italian button men in their big black car... barreling down on me at 80 miles an hour? OH-OH!!
- Subverted in "Ecch-Men"
  Judo-Lee: If they register me with the Federal Mutant Agency, I'll be taken away! That means I'll never see Mom and Dad again! Hey, cool!
- In the parody of The Shining, Jack, talking with his predecessor as caretaker, has an example of this.
  Egbert Grisly: They TOLD me that I would rot in Hell!
  Wack Torrents: Well, I'm glad you learned your less— Wait a minute!! You mean THIS place is HELL?!?
In one The Wizard of Id strip, the Wiz declares that he's achieved military supremacy by creating the most explosive substance in existence. Upon realizing what he just said, he immediately screamed, "CALL IN THE BOMB SQUAD!"

Literature

In light novel Academy's Undercover Professor, the title character is patrolling a city where there's been rumors of werewolf sightings for a couple of days. He encounters one, only for him to turn out to be a friend of his that can become a humanoid animal based on what bites him. As they speak of other matters, the main character asks why he waited two days to meet him, only for the friend to reply that he arrived in the city just that morning. Cue both of them going Oh, Crap!—as the actual werewolf shows up.
A variation occurs in Animorphs #16: The Warning:
Tobias: Wait. You're saying I'm in a toilet bowl. And someone sat down. But then... oh, man.
A rather charming one in The Belgariad when Jeebers, an elderly personal tutor of her little Imperial Highness Ce'Nedra, explains to the heroes that the emperor has the utmost trust in him. Which is exactly why "the princess knocked on his door deep at night, revealing to him that he got tasked to help her to disguise herself, then sneak her out of the palace without anyone else noticing, and to then escort her (alone) across half the country" ...in a time when people are murdering each other in the streets due to all sorts of politics. Which is when he notices in sheer horror that the emperor had nothing to do with it and that this was all rebellious little Ce'Nedra's idea. Poor guy.
The Canaris Fragments by Walter Winward takes place during the Nuremberg trials of 1945. The main characters have discovered that a group of SS men plans to liberate the prisoners and have had the courthouse surrounded by security, but then they start discussing why a group of SS men would go through so much trouble and realize that Kaltenbrenner, the only high-ranking SS member among the defendants, is not at the courthouse, but at a hospital at the other end of the city.
The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump: David's coworker Michael casts a spell to test if a sorcerer's flayed human skin substitute is being used for ritualistic purposes and it seems to exonerate the man. However, David quickly asks if the spell would have been ineffective if the "substitute" was real flayed human skin. Michael thoughtfully agrees that this would have nullified his test before horrifiedly realizing just where real flayed human skin would have come from and what it might be used for.
The Caves of Steel: When Lije and Daneel visit a premier roboticist, Lije asks him about Ridiculously Human Robots, how they would be different from humans, and how easy it is to spot them. The man starts to confidently say how unlikely it is, then pauses as he realizes that Daneel meets the signs he just described. The man is embarrassed that it took him so long to notice.
Discworld:
- Jingo:
  - Vimes does one of these, when he works out how 71-Hour Ahmed got his name. The traditional Klatchian period of hospitality and protection is three days - 72 hours. What must you have had to do to be associated with a time just short of that period?
  - When Vimes explains to Ahmed that he knows that the attempted assassination of the Klatch Prince wasn't arranged by the Klatchians themselves, but that it was a very bad frame-job, complete with an Orgy of Evidence and a lampshaded Foreign Money Is Proof of Guilt... and realizes mid-explanation it looked like such a bad frame job because the Klatchians deliberately made it look like they were being badly framed.
- In Feet of Clay, there are two major plot threads that the Watch are investigating. The first is a set of murders connected to the city's golem population (golems here being mostly magical beasts of burden). The second is repeated arsenic poisoning of Lord Vetinari. Vimes, Angua and Cheery discuss these at a late stage of the novel, and it becomes apparent that it's surprising they actually managed to track arsenic in any meaningful way. It gets used all over the city for all kinds of things—rat poisons, paints...
  Vimes: I'm surprised people aren't dropping dead of it all the time.
  Cheery: Oh, most people use golems, sir—
- The same book also has an I, Claudius style inversion: when the nobles and Guild leaders learn that the rumours about the heir to the throne being a watchman have somehow moved from Captain Carrot to Corporal Nobbs, they protest "But he's an absolute tit", and then start thinking about what an absolute tit as king might mean for the other powers in the city, namely them. They conclude that he'd probably make a great king, with the right advisors.
- In Interesting Times, Rincewind learns that the revolution was spurred by the contents of a book titled What I Did On My Holidays, and finds a spot to read it himself. He finds it just describes things he finds rather mundane, like sausages made from "genuine pig product", and is completely unimpressed, but realizes that the book was written by his old traveling companion from The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, Twoflower the tourist, and he went above and beyond painting Rincewind as a great hero and magus. Once again putting Rincewind in the hot seat, just like old times.
  Ha! Mister What-I-Did-On-My-Holidays should try coming to Ankh-Morpork next time, and see how much he liked one of old... Dibbler's sausages... full of genuine... pig product...
Hollow Kingdom (2019): After he witnesses his neighbor eating her dog, S.T. comes to the conclusion that she has the same sickness his owner Big Jim does. The crow then remembers that he left Big Jim's dog Dennis alone with him and promptly rushes home.
The 1980s Hardy Boys book "Blood Relations" has Frank and Joe convinced by Greg and Mike Rawley that their stepfather, Walter, is planning on killing his wife, Linda. Frank and Joe look into it when Linda is kidnapped, eventually bringing Walter to a house...where it turns out Linda, Greg and Mike are setting Walter up to kill him in "self-defense" for his fortune and using the Hardys to sell the plot. Frank reveals he'd already figured this out thanks to the Orgy of Evidence making this case so easy and shows up with a detective ally. But it turns out this "detective" is Linda's real husband and Greg and Mike's dad. The family gloats on getting away with it all...until it hits Greg that Frank had just said he figured this whole thing out before he came to the house. So if he knew this was a scam and "Dad wasn't a detective, why would he have trusted him to help?" They have five seconds to think about it before a couple of the Hardys' friends burst in to take Greg and Mike down just before the real cops arrive to arrest them all.
In the Honor Harrington novel At All Costs, there's an internal version when Admiral Chin wonders about the strange maneuvers of the Manticoran force that just hypered in behind her. Over the course of several paragraphs of narration, it dawns on her exactly which formation she is looking at... and what they're armed with.
But if Third Fleet was what they'd just finished destroying, then these people had to be Eighth Fleet, which meant Honor Harrington. And Harrington didn't do things that didn't make sense. So what—?
Her eyes opened wide in horror.
"General signal all units!" she shouted, spinning towards her com section. "Hyper out immediately! Repeat, hyper out—"
But it had taken Genevieve Chin two minutes too long to realize what was happening.
In "The Kindly Invasion" by Chrisopher Anvil, the officers of an alien invasion fleet wonder how a decent percentage of humans avoided being poisoned by some "gifts" they bestowed on humanity, then realize that if those people never took the "gifts" in the first place then they have just wiped out all of humanity except the people who are the smartest, most anti-alien, and toughest of humanity, who have access to all of the surplus food and weapons of the people the aliens killed and therefore have enough of a supply line to hold out.
In Mission: Levity: "But how can there be gravity? The planet is too far away and there's nothing else there but that... ship..."
Jeeves and Wooster: Bertie's friend Gussie talks about how he's been writing down insults about his prospective father-in-law and Roderick Spode in a notebook which he misplaced.
Gussie: Have you ever heard Sir Watkyn Bassett dealing with a bowl of soup? It's not unlike the Scottish express going through a tunnel. Have you ever seen Spode eat asparagus?
Bertie: No.
Gussie: Revolting. It alters one's whole conception of Man as Nature's last word.
Bertie: Those were two of the things you wrote in the book?
Gussie: I gave them about half a page. They were just trivial, surface faults. The bulk of my researches went much deeper.
Bertie: I see. You spread yourself?
Gussie: Very much so.
Bertie: And it was all bright, snappy stuff?
Gussie: Every word of it.
Bertie: That's great. I mean to say, no chance of old Bassett being bored when he reads it.
Gussie: Reads it?
Bertie: Well, he's just as likely to find the book as anyone, isn't he?
Gussie: I never thought of that!
Bertie: Start now.
Night Huntress: Main character Leila has been bound to someone so that if either dies, the other dies, so a shadowy group abducts that person and threatens to kill Leila unless Vlad kills Mencheres. When Mencheres realizes that Vlad didn't tell him about this in case he ended up with no choice but to go through with it, he's naturally upset.
Mencheres: You would have widowed Kira. You would have brought war between our two lines, forcing Bones into a fight against your people that would have resulted in many deaths. Our allies would have been forced to choose sides, too, bringing more death, until you could have shattered the peace we've had since Apollyon failed to incite a war between vampires and ghouls—
[cuts off as he, Vlad, Leila, and Veritas realize this was the point of the whole thing]
Ravelling Wrath:
Rinn: That couldn't be right, could it? She wasn't afraid, it was just a reaction, like when I'd first summoned a Blood Blade. She knew I wouldn't actually hurt her, right? I was just blowing off steam! And besides, she had looked way more scared when the Blood Blade thing happened! And then she'd gotten back under control right away, because she knew it was just me and I wouldn't hurt her! Obviously! So obviously, THIS time, maybe I did some stuff I shouldn't have, and she got scared, but then I started backing off, and then she was… still acting scared… because… that meant…
I had made her afraid of me.
In Wizard's First Rule, first book of the Sword of Truth series, Zedd invokes this on a mob that's coming to burn him for being a witch. Zedd asks them why, exactly, they want to burn him, and they say it's because of his horrible magic powers. Zedd asks them to elaborate and be more specific. As they list all the different ways that they think Zedd can throw magical wrath around, the crowd slowly realizes that attacking someone who can shoot fire out of his fingertips might not be the brightest idea after all.
Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms: One Good Knight: Andie has this reaction when she realizes she's just explained why her mother would want to rig the Human Sacrifice lottery to get rid of Andie.
Teen Power Inc.:
- In The Case of Crazy Claude, the kids initially think Claude and his lawyer/twin brother are one person with multiple personalities who keeps changing clothes. When they admit this misconception, Claude is insulted that they thought he would try such a ridiculous disguise and says he would have to be crazy to think it would work, before trailing off awkwardly when he realizes they did think he was crazy.
- In Fear in Fashion, the kids' latest boss, Dee Dee, takes on a Cool Big Sis role with them, encouraging their dreams (like Richelle's modeling aspirations) and praising their talents. She is just buttering them up to be Unwitting Pawns in a con game. Richelle is hit especially hard when she observes the others (save Sunny, who was always a bit suspicious) lamenting how they were fooled and muses about how they were silly to be fooled and at least Dee Dee wasn't all bad due to recognizing Richelle's potential to be a model, only to halt mid-thought as she realizes Dee Dee was manipulating her the same as the others.
In The Temp, the director of a firm producing a floating oil rig asks the Temp what she thinks of the drawing of the design. She says she does not understand why the rig does not turn upside down, as the top is heavier than the bottom. The director genially tells her that she is reading it all wrong, then pauses in horror as he realises that the Temp is right.
In Timeline, one character is trying to convince the others that it is possible to travel to the past via a wormhole. Another character points out that it is impossible for a physical body to safely go through one. The first character retorts that the same can be said about a fax machine. The second character launches into trying to explain that the fax machine first has to convert the scanned data into a "stream of electrons", before realizing that the first character is talking about the same for the wormhole with a big, "Oh shit!"
Warhammer 40,000: A comedic version in the Ciaphas Cain novel The Traitor's Hand. Cain is discussing Mauve Shirt "Jinxie" Penlan with the command staff when her reputation comes up, and...
Cain: "But she's not nearly as accident prone as she's supposed to be. I'll grant you she fell down an ambull tunnel once, and there was that incident with the frag grenade and the latrine trench, but things tend to work out for her. The orks on Kastafore were as surprised as she was when the floor in the factory collapsed, and we'd have walked right into that hrud ambush on Skweki if she hadn't triggered the mine by chucking an empty food tin away..."
My brain finally caught up to what I was saying and I trailed off rather lamely. "Well, you know how soldiers exaggerate these things."
- In the Horus Heresy novel Unremembered Empire, when Curze is on the loose in the Temple of Hera, the entire forces at nearby Residence sets out to hunt him down. One of the members of the strike force, Gantula, wonders aloud whether Curze is a predator, using a wolf as his example. Then this happens:
  Gantula: [...] So, while the herdsmen are occupied, guarding the herd, the wolf turns to where they are not - the larder, the granary, the stables, the bird cages... (beat) (Gantula stops and turns back, running to the Residence)

Music

Eminem's "Stan":
I seen this one shit on the news a couple weeks ago that made me sick.
Some dude was drunk and drove his car over a bridge,
and had his girlfriend in the trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid,
and in the car they found a tape, but they didn't say who it was to.
Come to think about, his name was... it was you.
Damn...
- Also applies to the previous verse when Stan realizes a fatal miscalculation in his suicidal plan:
Well, gotta go, I’m almost at the bridge now-
Oh shit, I forgot! How am I supposed to send this shit out?
In Jon Lajoie's "WTF Collective", MC Uses Time Machines Irresponsibly does this:
Then I traveled in time to the night I was conceived
I met up with my parents and we hung out all night
Come to think of it, they didn't have any alone time... NOOO—
In the last verse of Mitch Benn's "Ed Sheeran is Everywhere", he complains that he was doing the guitar-and-looper thing first, and then starts to worry that maybe that's where Sheeran got the idea.
The Shel Silverstein song "Stacy Brown Got Two" ends with the viewpoint character stating that he doesn't know where Stacy Brown's second one is because he hasn't seen it and only knows Stacy Brown got two because his wife told him, afterwards the viewpoint character ponders how his wife knows and slowly begins to realize that his wife has probably cheated on him with Stacy Brown.

Podcasts

In the Rifftrax short "Reading: Who Needs It", a high school basketball coach and a teacher are discussing the fact that one of his players can't read:
Coach: If he can't read, how'd he get through school?
Kevin: That would mean we absolutely su... Oh.

Puppet Shows

Team America: World Police: Kim Jong-Il's translator, while interpreting for Kim during an arms deal, takes a moment to think about what he's translating. Unfortunately for him, this revelation is the second-last thing to go through his head.
Kim Jong-Il: [vaguely Korean-sounding gibberish]
Translator: He asks what part of the deal you did not understand. He says that perhaps his translator did not make it clear to you. He says he should... f-fire his...translator?
*BANG*
The Muppet Show:
- In the Edgar Bergen episode, the Muppet News Reporter comes in with a Muppet News Flash saying an embarrassing situation occurred when the Muppet News Reporter went on camera while forgetting to put on his pants...causing him to stop and look down behind his desk.
  Newsreporter: (Embarrassed) Oh, good grief. (Runs off)
- In the Nancy Walker episode, Sam the Eagle gives an editorial about nudity, claiming that everyone is going around naked under their clothes. He then goes on to add that dogs and cats are also naked under their fur, and that birds too, under their feathers... And at this point, Sam stops, covers himself and runs off the stage.
- Before the opening credits of the episode featuring Harry Belafonte, said guest star has a word with Scooter:
  Scooter: Say, is everything alright?
  Harry: Oh, yeah, everything's OK. Except I haven't done the show yet and somebody started to put me down.
  Scooter: No! What do you mean?
  Harry: Just now I heard somebody outside my door say, 'Don't go inside that dressing room. Crazy Harry's in there.'
  Scooter: They didn't mean you. You see, Crazy Harry's a m- CRAZY HARRY?!
  KABOOM!
In "The Best Thanksgiving Ever" from Bear in the Big Blue House, following the pageant, Bear and the others smell something burning.
Bear: Yeah, it is a burning smell.
Ojo: Probably just the food.
Treelo: Oh, yeah.
Everyone: (big gasp) The food!
In Dinosaurs' episode "The Greatest Story Ever Sold", when Earl and the other tree-pushers express their existential woes of not knowing why they exist, their boss Richfield tries to set them straight;
Richfield: Why you exist? I’ll tell you why you exist! So you can push down trees! So cities can be built for dinosaurs to live in, so they can push down more trees so more cities can be built so…dinosaurs can…push…down… (Beat) You’re right! I don’t know why we exist! Oh no! AAAAHHHH!

Radio

In The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy 1978, Arthur and his friends find themselves on a ship manned by Haggunenons which, in the words of the titular guide, "would do for Charles Darwin what a squadron of Arcturan stunt apples would have done for Isaac Newton", giving the specific example that a Hagguneon who wanted to reach for the coffee might evolve into something with longer arms, but which is probably quite incapable of drinking coffee. (Incidentally, the same guide, which has the words "Don't Panic" written in large, friendly letters; notes that the best method of dealing with them is to "run away terribly fast".) The heroes then realize that one could be with them right now. Ford notes that it could even be the chair with two headrests that Zaphod and Trillian sat in earlier, which leads to this exchange:
Trillian: It's very uncomfortable - I'd prefer something with far longer arms.
Arthur (In a nervous tone of voice): But which is probably quite incapable of drinking coffee.
That Mitchell and Webb Sound: The wedding planner called up before the Little Old Lady Job Justification Hearing, after realizing that essentially her job is in fact redundant.
Wedding planner: (sounding like she's about to cry) Oh... they don't need me.
Little Old Lady: No.
Near the end of The Frantics skit “Last Will and Testament”, the lawyer reads the section talking about what his client left for him. Not a boot to the head like all the other beneficiaries received, but a rabid Tasmanian Devil stuffed in his trousers. The lawyer gets understandably concerned as he’s reading it and begins shrieking in pain as the furry creature begins attacking him.

Roleplay

In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, Daigo creates a monster that he then plans to send after two kids who accidentally come across the scene. His girlfriend, Melissa, tries to explain to him how it's actually better if the kids get away, because then they'd go alert their older brother (which is what the two want, since said brother is one of the superpowered kids they're hunting down). However, during her explanation, she looks over and realises that the monster has broken free of its restraint and is hurtling towards the children.

Theatre

In Jasper in Deadland, after Jasper and Agnes reunite, reach Elysium and have their memories return, Agnes excitedly begins talking about how they can finally leave Deadland and go home to their families... before she realizes that returning to her life means returning to her abusive father, and she anxiously tries to convince Jasper to stay with her in Deadland.
Hamilton:
- In "The Room Where it Happens", after Hamilton seemingly sacrifices New York's status as the US Capital, Burr realizes:
  Burr: Or did you know even then it doesn't matter where you put the U.S. capital?
  Hamilton: Cause we'll have the banks. We're in the same spot.
- Burr has a second, more tragic example in "The World Was Wide Enough" as he pulls the trigger:
  Ensemble & Burr: He aims his pistol at the sky!
  Burr: WAIT!
Fagin's song in Oliver!, "Reviewing the Situation", is this trope in musical form. Having realized that the life of a criminal, with all its "trials and tribulations", might not be the best thing for him, and he muses over possible alternatives: getting married, living in society, getting an honest job. Each time, though, he comes to the realization halfway through that the "solution" he's describing would not be an improvement, leading him to conclude:
Fagin: I think I'd better think it out again.
Deianira has shades of this in The Trachiniae as she talks to the chorus about the "strange sight" that is the bubbling, disintegrating piece of cloth she used to smear a love potion onto a shirt she just gave her husband.
In the Bill C. Davis play Mass Appeal, the young deacon, Mark, has been questioned about his sexuality after defending two seminarians suspected of being gay. He has decided to be honest and admit the fact that he has had same-sex relations as well as opposite-sex relations. Following the interview, he recounts the conversation to his mentor.
Mark: He said, "Thank you for being so honest. Good day." Thank you for being so honest. Good d — (moment of realization) I'm in trouble, aren't I?
Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World features this trope in musical form courtesy of "Stars and the Moon." One of the show's four Singers (none of whom are named) reflects on her life and how, when she was young, she met two men who offered her immaterial treasures like love, truth, strength, summer rains, and the titular stars and the moon. But the singer wanted tangible wealth instead—"And I thought, you know...I'd rather have a yacht." She eventually met a young, rich man who promised her all of the luxuries she'd ever wanted and more—cars, houses, jewels, parties, furs—and happily married him, only to wake up one morning, look around, and realize that she'd given up on true happiness in the name of material possessions: "And I thought—My God...I'll never have the moon..."
"When Words Fail," a song from Shrek: The Musical, plays this trope for laughs. The titular ogre has realized his feelings for Fiona and tries to prepare a declaration of love. First, he imagines offering her a flower as a symbol of his dedication, only to completely lose the metaphor and comment "Oh, MAN, I'm in trouble." Shrek then tries again by comparing the imaginary Fiona to the moon, as it's "big and bright"—and promptly realizes that he just called her "big." This leads to Verbal Backspace as he tries to make up for it ("And by 'big' I don't mean 'chubby!' Obviously you're not fat!") and starts talking about his own weight problems and his genetic predisposition to—and there's the metaphor lost again. It becomes a sweet moment, though, when Shrek realizes that even if he does fail to express what he's feeling, Fiona will still understand the love behind his words.

Web Animation

Camp Camp:
- "Romeo & Juliet 2: Love Resurrected" sees Camp Campbell put on a Fan Sequel to Romeo and Juliet with Neil as Romeo and Nikki as Juliet. However, Tabii decides to take Nikki out of commission so she can take her place as Juliet and kiss Neil, leading to this exchange...
  Tabii: [offscreen] Wow Nikki, you're, like, such a good actor.
  Nikki: Oh thank you ominous, offscreen voice-wait a minute. [gets ambushed by Tabii and her friends]
- Throughout the episode "Into Town", Nikki just gets sicker and sicker until she eventually coughs up blood on Neil's shirt. Max doesn't know what's wrong with her, as they'd just been walking around town all day, and then it hits him: he dragged Nikki, a ravenous Nature Lover, out of nature.
- In the episode "Anti-Social Network", Neil creates chatbots so the other campers will leave him alone. When he realizes that the chatbots are becoming smarter, he worries that a Turned On Their Masters scenario is occurring and gathers the chatbots with Max's help, then remember they forgot one:
  Neil: It's almost as if each device was trying to play to its owner's personality in order to get them to do something.
  Max: Well, I guess it's a good thing we got 'em all. Can you imagine if someone impressionable and naive enough to believe everything they heard from a chatbot had—
  Neil and Max: OH MY GOD, NIKKI!
  [Nikki's maniacal laughter is heard]
Dr. Havoc's Diary: In "Captain Dr. Havoc":
Brock: [the submarine is leaking] Oh, shit, Havoc. I think your boat has a hole.
Dr. Havoc: How is that possible? (Beat) Brock, how did you get on my submarine?
Brock: Oh, I just-I took a welding gun, and I popped a hole in the side, and then I— Ah, shit. Yep. I figured it out. I did it.
In Clear Skies 2, we get this little exchange between two characters in an escape pod wondering why their captain is trying to ram a Titan.
Burke: I think he's going for the hydrazine tanks behind the engine.
Fodder: But that stuff's stable!
Burke: Not when the warp core goes up near i— oh my word!
Fodder: How big a bang's that gonna make?
Burke: How fast does this pod go?
In one episode of Puffin Forest, a group of players are on the second floor of a church about to set off a bunch of bombs they set on the lower floor of the church to kill some enemies when one of the players realizes that something isn't right with the plan but isn't quite sure what it is. Another player starts explaining the plan again before realizing they are still in the building they are about to blow up and shouts "RUN!" They all jump out the windows to escape the building and break their legs just as the bombs go off.

Webcomics

Darths & Droids:
- This happens to Annie when she finally tells Jim that she'd lost her job and in that same frame of time realizes it wasn't his fault entirely.
- Much later on, during the attack on the second Peace Moon, the Rebels come to an important realization: The Peace Moon is fueled by the Lost Orb, a source of unlimited power. And since it's fueled by a source of unlimited power, they'd never have a reason not to have their shield up at all times.
  Admiral Ackbar: My god! It's not a trap! We're just prats!
In 8-Bit Theater, the Light Warriors are sailing on a ship they got from Bikke when a discussion on sea monsters attacking them ensues. Red Mage points out that such encounters are so common, most seafarers keep their ships ready... only to realize that maybe Bikke neglected to keep his ship ship-shape as he did with his own crew.
Black Mage: Well, I'm sure we have nothing to worry about. Bikke seemed the responsible sort. I mean, he only fed his faithful, loyal, beloved pirate crew Cheetos for three months because it was cheaper than real food. And since that led directly to their deaths, he was then able to keep all the money Garland paid for his full crew to kill us. Money that would've undoubtedly gone toward the upkeep of this boat had he not insisted upon giving it to us. Why does this sound like something Thief would do?
El Goonish Shive:
- At Grace's Gender Bender-themed birthday party, the gang prepares to sing karaoke as the other gender, with Grace being confident in Tedd's singing because she heard singing from the shower before. Susan comments that how well Tedd sings in the shower shouldn't matter since everyone's singing voices will be different when genderbent, before realizing that Grace meant she's heard Tedd sing in the shower while genderbent.
- And another, slightly more dramatic one with Elliot realizing his feelings for his then-girlfriend Sarah aren't the same romantic ones she has for him:
  Elliot: I care deeply about her and I want her always to be a part of my life! I don't want to hurt her! She's like a sister to me! (realizes what he just said)
- Later, Grace is sure that if Justin has a magic mark, he must know about it.
  Grace: How could he miss a small flame-shaped mark colored slightly different from the rest of his skin on a spot high up on his back where he'd need a mirror and probably have to make a deliberate effort to dammit!
- In "Parable", Jay attempts to remember what her plan was when she created the shared dream, and suddenly realizes that not only would she never use her dream spell like that, but her spell can't actually do that.
It's more of an Explain Explain Oh My moment, but... Freefall has one somewhat like this. Florence is having a conversation with her friend Niomi about Uplifted Animals like Florence that segues into a discussion on terraforming.
Niomi: As for Pfouts, that's a mirror world. Life there uses right-handed amino acids, Earth life uses left-handed. Our toughest viruses wouldn't survive there. To colonize Pfouts you'd have to redesign humans from the atomic level... Sheesh! It'd be faster and cheaper to engineer one of the local critters up to human... [beat] Isaac Asimov on a bicycle!
Florence: Most things make sense when you look at them right. It's just sometimes you have to look really, really cock-eyed.
In Gene Catlow, Gene Catlow and CatsWhisker are discussing the First Animen, who are hostile to them. CW wonders how beings so ancient who have been in psychic contact with so many minds remained sane— and Gene realizes that they didn't.
Girl Genius:
- After a non-Wulfenbach Dreen suddenly appears to Gil and tells him he will go to Paris, he realizes what Dreen really are.
  Dreen: Now— you will experience an important revelation.
  Gil: Wait, I'll what?
  Bang: Blood and ash, I hate it when they pull that omniscient act.
  Gil: They're not omniscient. My father says they're simply tangential to time as we know it, and...
  [Beat]
  Gil: "And... they had hats..."
- In a discussion about who would be crazy enough to hijack one of Queen Albia's sea serpents, when Wooster recounts a past adventure from his undercover activities as an agent of Albia's spy service, he comes to a horrifying realization about the hijacker's actual identity.
- In the Franz Scortchmaw side-story, when Vip, the librarian who insists she's not a thief, reveals she has a sophisticated alchemy calibration tool, Lumi, the student Spark geeks out, because one of her professors has one exactly like it but won't let the students touch it because it's "one-of-a-kind".
  Lumi: Ha! If she knew we had one... uh... I knew it! You are a thief!
In A Modest Destiny the Big Bad, after being pestered by the Hive that he needs to make a blood sacrifice now or the ritual will fail, he stabs one of them to death. When the ritual is still failing, the other members explain that as an undead he was barely a quarter alive.
The Black Knight: So what you are saying is that I need to kill three more just like him, right?
Hive #2: Correct.
Hive #3: ...Um...
Hive #4: ...Nuts.
The Order of the Stick:
- In "It Takes a Thief", the Order needs to figure out where Xykon is hiding during the siege on Azure City, when Belkar starts to complain.
  Belkar: Hey, is there any chance we can hurry this up? "It's Pat" is already fireballing hobgoblins down there, and me, I'm just standing around here freezing my considerable assets off in this wind.
  Roy: Keep it down, Belkar, this is more important than complaining about the...wind.
  Sound F/X: wooosh!
  (Beat panel)
  Sound F/X: wooosh!
  Hinjo: Sangwaan! Cast your spell now!
  Sangwaan: Yes, Lord Hinjo.
  Haley: And look UP!
  Sound F/X: WOOOSH!
  Sangwaan: True Seeing! (Looks up) Oh...oh my.
  (Xykon is shown riding a zombie dragon.)
- In "They've Had Time to Train, Too", Haley and the Azurite Resistance are running a stealth raid on a granary in Hobgoblin-occupied Azure City. Haley's already dispatched most of the hobgoblin guards and all they need to do to take the granary undetected is to finish off the wizard leading them, when the wizard fires off...
  Haley: "Dancing Lights"? That's like a 0th-level spell! Geez, what kind of low-level, lame-ass spellcaster are you? You've got one chance before I perforate you, and you choose... Dancing... Lights...
  [wizard points upward; Haley looks up at the bright red signal alerting hobgoblin forces all over the city of their position]
- In "The Comics Must Flow", Belkar is chugging spice in the middle of the desert. Seeing his eyes change color, Haley insists he read the warning label to avoid getting sick.
  Belkar: No, it doesn't say anything about eye color change. Just a disclaimer that the distributor is not liable for any gruesome violent deaths resulting from consuming this product in an open desert. So, see? It's perfectly safe for— ...Ah, crap.
  [cue giant Sand Worm bursting from sand]
- In "Collect Call", when Roy and Belkar get arrested for not having proper entry papers, Durkon contacts them with Sending. After three sending discussions, Roy tells Durkon to find the others, saying that he hopes Durkon has enough sending spells. Durkon Sends again, telling Roy not to worry as he had prepared four sending spells... before he realizes that he just used them all up.
  Belkar: [to Roy] I don't know what just happened, but I feel a sudden urge to help you come up with 25 synonyms for "buffoon".
- In "Rising Suspicion", when the Order is walking around a bunch of fresh corpses that have been killed by vampires, Belkar comments that he hopes they don't turn into more vampires, but Roy tells him that it won't be a problem as a person doesn't become a vampire until three days after they died and he had broken the staff that had the spell to speed up the process. It's then that Haley realizes that Vampire Durkon's time spent researching the protection from daylight spell wouldn't make sense if he was going to be invading a subterranean city and that he had actually been learning the spell to speed up a vampire's rise.
  Haley: I'm just saying, if I knew my Evil Doom Plan might hinge on me invading a subterranean country, I might not worry too much... about the sun.
Paranatural:
- Chapter 5 sees a game of dodgeball—sorry, "hitball"—go awry when Jeff gets (sort of) possessed by a spirit named Hijack. Eventually the only people still on the field are Max, Johnny, Hijack!Jeff, and an unnamed student who taped several balls to her body to shield herself. Max then promptly...gets the unnamed student out. Hijack thinks about why he did that at first, but then it dawns on him.
Hijack!Jeff: Why'd he hit her? That's just...every last ball ON MY SIDE!
- Max's internal narration describes Scrapdragon, and it eventually becomes apparent that it is not just describing Scrapdragon from memory, but describing the sight in front of Max at that very moment. This is followed by an illustration of a wide-eyed Max staring at Scrapdragon, suddenly realizing that he is in Scrapdragon's spirit realm.
What had Max been thinking, treating that leviathan like an unruly pet?! I mean, just look at it! It was huge! It spanned half the horizon! Which was bright red now, a sunset over fields of metal scrap, just barely visible through the... ruins of...
[Illustration of Max staring at Scrapdragon towering over him, the surroundings having suddenly taken on a junkyard look]
"Oh for freak's sake—"
Pixie and Brutus: In one strip, Pixie tells Brutus that he found a movie on television about a character she thinks is named "Freddy Cougar". Half-asleep, Brutus reflexively corrects it to "Freddy Krueger". In the next panel, Brutus snaps wide awake as it sinks in that Pixie's innocence is about to be ruined by the horror film and he immediately headbutts the television.
In this Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic, a woman claims she has invented a time machine and went back twenty minutes, where she saw a a huge flash of energy and then an empty void. She concludes that reality came into existence twenty minutes ago. Someone takes a look at the footage and tells her that she's wrong. The machine was set to look forwards in time instead of backwards.
Schlock Mercenary:
- Kevyn learns that there is a right time and a wrong time to invoke this on someone here. The time to explain by feeding someone clues and letting them work out the enemy's plan themselves is not when you are in the enemy's territory and they know you're there.
- During the Under New Management arc, Kevyn and Tagon discuss their current mission; being blackmailed by Xinchub into hunting down Kevyn's sister Breya. If they don't, Xinchub will have the Toughs arrested for a number of crimes. When Kevyn remains unhappy, Tagon asks who Xinchub will send after Breya once the Toughs are imprisoned. Kevyn responds, "I don't know... Some unimaginative, trigger-happy rear admiral, I guess." (Beat) "Oh, crap. I can't believe I just now figured that out."
In Skin Horse, when various non-humans are getting disturbing dreams of their creators, the Adorable Murder Turtles tell Renard that they're worried "spooky tony" will get them:
Renard: That was a dream. Tony's gone, leaving nothing behind. Nothing but a manifesto about a "Mothership" that will summon its children via brain-rays...
Turtle #12: thanks, renard! i feel lots better!
Renard: Great. Now you reassure me.
Something*Positive: Having put in a bid on a nice-looking house, Peejee brags to Davan that, with its severely reduced asking price and history of other prospective buyers backing out at the last minute, she's certain to get it for cheap... before realizing that those were actually some pretty serious red flags that she'd completely glossed over. Post-moving in, it turns out that while the house itself is fine, the neighborhood it's in is full of creeps, bigots, fundies and generally unpleasant neighbors.
xkcd: "How did the pole vaulters get up to our balcony?"
Questionable Content:
- In "Delayed Entendre Recognition", Faye is justifying her claim that she's descended from Civil War pirates by saying her grandmother said their ancestors were "boarded by Yankee seamen all the time". As she says it, she realises that that's not what she meant.
- Two strips later, she tells Marten about telling Angus about her father's suicide. When Marten is surprised that she just told him, she replies "Well, yeah. I mean, I couldn't be all cryptic about it, that would be a really shitty ... thing ... to do ... to ... someone ..."
- In BRTOM, when Beepatrice questions whether Roko's attempts to find leverage against someone she's got a meeting with are appropriate for an AI rights volunteer:
  Roko: Oh, what, like being an agent of the state conditioned me to treat any potential conflict as a cops versus robbers situation instead of two adults trying to come to an agreement, and I'm deflecting my anxiety over this meeting by regressing to that mindset?
  [Beat]
  Roko: Well, shit. I thought I was being sarcastic.
  Beeps: You get the Big Realizer of the Month award! I'll fetch your commemorative plaque.
- In "Self-Revelation", on Dora's first date with Jim, she tells him why she broke up with Marten, and how the relationship seemed to bring out her anxieties, concluding "I probably shouldn't be dating anybody right now. [Beat] Shit."
Terror Island: In this strip, several characters are attempting to banish a demon. They gather everything they need except toothpaste when the demon traps them in a force field, leading to this.
Liln: Okay, this isn't too bad. We just need to call Sid and Stephen, and have them get the toothpaste... at the grocery store.^note
First Folio: We're doomed!
In Leftover Soup, Cheryl and Carol are discussing the ethics of being a parent while also being in a polyamorous relationship, when...
Cheryl: You don't think finding out about Mommy and Daddy's other lovers is gonna mess a kid up?
Carol: Well, how do you feel about Miguel?
Cheryl: Uncle Meegs? That's different. He's just Mom and Dad's friend, nothing weird or polyamorous about that. He just moved in with us for a while to help out with child care after Carl was born. (beat) ...our little brother Carl, who has black hair and brown eyes and evidently my entire life is an elaborate web of deception.
Carol: (nervously) Omission! An elaborate web of omission!
#8 of Hobbits And Hole Dwellers has a rather twitchy Ted excuse himself for five minutes. When he comes back, he asks Bailey to tell him about her character. Bailey responds by asking which character of hers he means.
Ted: What do you mean, which one? You only had that wizard five minutes ago- wait.
Played for laughs in this Penny Arcade strip:
Tycho: You must be cranked up for this Sea of Thieves RPG, right?
Gabe: Must I?
Tycho: I mean, you've spent months essentially porting the Sea of Thieves experience to D&D! You meticulously crafted rules for sailing, ship combat, modelling the wind, custom minigames to simulate fishing, diving... treasure hunting... Oh.
In It's Walky!, when Walky and Joyce are running a Trojan Gauntlet, Joyce comes up with the brilliant idea of buying some other random things, so the clerk will think they're using the condoms in a science project or something.
Joyce: I've got these plastic cowboy handcuffs, a bag of feathers, a, uh— jar of vasoli— AAAAAGGH!
Dumbing of Age: In an effort to make Sarah more open to change, Joyce starts listing off some of the positive Character Development they and their friends have undergone since the start of the comic. Then she gets to Dorothy and realizes that she's actually trending in a negative direction.
Joyce:...And Dorothy seems less sure of her herself and makes mac and cheese for me instead of studying and turned down a big bookwriting opportunity today and— Uh oh.

Web Original

The Tabletop episode on Chez Geek has this happen to Storm when he plays the card Guy on the Couch. Wil asks him to explain the card, which leads to this^note:
Storm: Guy on the Couch gives you Slack +1. You can play him at any time without rolling, but starting on the next player's turn, he'll go away if... oh, I'm an idiot.

Web Videos

Alison does this in the season finale of Brains as she realizes the identity of the murderer: Professor Sherman.
In the But Really Really Fast recap of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind, Trish has one of these when Notorious B.I.G. initially gets thrown off the plane.
Trish: The current situation is terribly unfortunate but thankfully, the enemy that follows the fastest thing in its vicinity was thrown off the... plane. Waiiit-
[Notorious B.I.G. smashes through the window]
Notorious B.I.G.: UGUGOBOBUBA!
Trish: AH!
In cs188's Youtube Poop, "Tom's Diner but it's an absolute trainwreck", Suzanne Veganne, after struggling to finally get some coffee at the diner on the corner, decides to read the newspaper. Lucky thing she did...
"I open up the paper, there's a story of a woman who had died while she was drinking the coffee at the diner on the corner—" [Beat] "I threw the coffee out the window!"
The Nostalgia Critic:
- This happens at the end of his review of A Simple Wish, where he rants about Mara Wilson's bad movies only to realize, as he describes what she looks like now, that she's currently watching him. She then proceeds to respond to his dissing of her movies from when she was a little girl by showing clips from some of the Critic's home movies from his own childhood.
  Critic: But I'm sorry, I'm just not a fan of her movies! I mean, it's like everything Mara Wilson touched back then just turned to crap. I mean, look at her. [pulls up video of a modern-day Mara, looking visibly displeased] With her couch, her modern-day haircut, her twenty-five-ish-year-old body, her vengeful eyes that seem to be looking directly at me right now— eeesh!
  Mara: Hello, Critic.
- Another one happens in his review of The Nutcracker in 3D when Gielgud mentions that the Rat King and his men (who are depicted as behaving like Nazis) burn toys.
  NC: Wait. Like inanimate toys, or living toys, like the ones we've been seeing?
  [Cut back to the first scene with the Nutcracker]
  Nutcracker: All dolls are alive.
  NC: Okay, I guess that's supposed to mean they're all alive... [freezes in place, realizing what this means] You're not.
  [We're again shown the scene of the Rat King speaking to the Nutcracker, Tinker and Sticks]
  Rat King: You ever wonder what happens to a doll's soul when it burns?
  NC: [shakes head] You're seriously not. [The people of the kingdom, paired as parent and child, are brought to the Rat King's palace/smoke factory to the big pile of inanimate toys before them. The rat soldiers take the toys away from the children to toss them on the pile] Oh, yeah. You thought this was just gonna be simple bad guy Nazi imagery like in Indiana Jones or old Looney Tunes cartoons? But no. People being rounded up, children crying, and the sky filled with smoke from factories burning piles of what they just made clear are living individuals. All of this is actually happening.
Party Crashers: In "I got bullied in Mario Party 2...", Vernias asks Brent how the Bowser Bomb works before playing the Item Minigame. As the Nice Guy for not withholding information, Brent tells him that if he obtains the item, it would summon Bowser to steal all the coins of any player he runs into. While he's explaining this however, he realizes too late that both him and Nick were directly in Bowser's line of fire, represented by an image of SpongeBob explaining casually to another of him scared, shifting mid-sentence, with the silence afterward being followed up by a picture of Vernias' face◊ slowly forming onscreen.
The Rap Critic's list of the top nine worst lyrics of 2016 has him wrapping up by putting the entirety of B.o.B.'s "Flatline" at #1. His discussion of the song's failings culminates in a massive "The Reason You Suck" Speech at conspiracy theorists, accusing them of poisoning the discourse such that actual problems with government and corporate corruption and malfeasance can't be discussed rationally without being lumped in with raving lunatics. He then realizes that the proliferation of phony conspiracy theories to misdirect truth-seekers would be just what the people in power would want. This causes him to (sarcastically) go into raving Conspiracy Theorist mode himself.
Rap Critic: In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd think that... oh my God. These conspiracy nuts are a plant by evil corporations! They're there to make any actual criticism of the effects of their tyranny look crazy! Oh my God, it's the perfect plan! To keep your mind occupied by fantasy that tells you that you're powerless, and misdirect people out there who want to be socially aware with gobbledygook about the Earth being flat! Because, y'know, that's what's ruining society! Listen to me, people! All you flat-earthers and 9/11 truthers out there, stop focusing your energy on this bulls**t! Remove the wool from over your eyes and realize that you should be using your energy to protest actual corrupt stuff like, like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, or pushing for better police training! Stop talking about the weather machines or pizza parties or whatever bulls**t you're actually thinking about! That's just what the Illumi-Nazis or the Build-a-Bear Corporation want you to think! Open your eyes, sheeple!!! I'm the Rap Critic, and... be aware, my friends. [takes off cap to reveal a Tinfoil Hat] Be very aware.
During their video on SCP – Containment Breach, IGP and IcyCaress were camping outside the door to a small, three-door connector, waiting for "Peanuts" (the infamous SCP-173) on the other side to leave, reassuring each other that 173 cannot open doors. A few moments later, IGP goes through the door and the following exchange occurs:
Icy: Are you sure you're alright?
IGP: Yeah, I don't have the blink meter, that means he's gone. He's gone!
Icy: Great! That means... wait, that means he can open doors.
IGP: He's... Oh god, he can.
StacheBros: In "The Day Super Mario Died", Boo believes that Mario is dead after hearing such news from Luigi, but she tries to show him the bright side of being dead by helping him pull pranks on the Mushroom Kingdom. After their pranking, though, Mario is still bummed about believing he's dead:
Boo: Aw, c'mon, we went through this! Being dead's great! So what if a condor bit your head off?
Mario: Yeah, I know, it's bad- [record needle scratch] What? Condor?
Boo: Yeah, and that forest shark ate the rest of you!
Mario: What? No, I got pushed off a cliff by Luigi.
Boo: What, that stupid hill? You couldn't have... oh, no.
Mario: What?
Boo: Luigi made it all up. Which means... you're alive! And that means...
Mario: All those pranks were...
Both: Oh, no!
This happens twice to Todd in the Shadows during his review of One Direction's "Best Song Ever", as his criticisms fall flat and he starts to realize that he actually likes the song.
Unraveled:
- Brian spends more than ten minutes discussing the vital traits that his new music genre will require to thrive in the wastelands of the Fallout series, he suddenly realises that he's spent all that time reinventing Ska.
- At the end of his video on Bowser's military organisation, Brian fills in some of the odds-and-ends characters:
  "[These characters] didn't really fit in the military structure, they don't act like military. The Koopa Troopas from Super Mario 64, they don't even antagonise you, they go about their business unless you go out of your way to attack them. So, again, they don't even feel like military. They act more like civilians, to be honest."
  (long pause)
  "Oh my God, they're civilians."
- Throughout his video on when Mario can retire, all of Brian's projections have come to the conclusion that Mario can't retire until he's almost 90. At the end of the video, Brian tries one last time, using his own financial information, only to get the same result. Brian protests this conclusion, pointing out that if Mario can never retire, then he can never retire, at which point what he just said hits him, and the video ends with Brian out drinking.
At the end of the Big Picture episode "Familiar Things", about how Stranger Things uses nostalgia for The '80s as one of its main hooks, Bob notes how many of the Amblin Entertainment works that the show is hearkening back to were themselves nostalgic for The '40s and The '50s, when their own creators grew up, and how that nostalgia has come full circle. He then starts thinking of how it might come full circle again once the young fans of Stranger Things themselves become adults.
"I can't help but wonder, knowing that Stranger Things does indeed have a young fanbase that doesn't actually have firsthand memories of its various references, what it'll look like when the series inspires its own nostalgia in a generation's time. Nostalgia for the 2010s' nostalgia of the '80s, which was nostalgia for the '40s and '50s? Well, at least my job's not going anywhere... oh dear God."
Decker Shado ended up doing this when commenting on the title of the version of Gamera vs. Gyaos he's reviewing with That Long-Haired Creepy Guy. As when commenting on it, he criticizes the latter titular monster's name being spelled as "Gaes" and is immediately horrified. Creepy, an LGBT man, quickly gives out a Death Glare.
At the end of Atop the Fourth Wall's review of Sensational Spider-Man #0, Linkara mentions that some viewers believed that he was almost done with The Clone Saga before mentioning he's been skipping around stories before he lifted up the massive seven volume omnibus collection covering it and tells them that that doesn't even include the original saga, the Ultimate Clone Saga, the mini-series revision and others. This means he'd never run out of the Clone Saga. A split second later, his face drops and he shouts "DAMMIT!"
During Tear Of Grace's playthough of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, after Brett's newest Captain defeats an enemy one in combat, several other enemy Captains flee the scene. Brett reads off the name of one of said Captains and stops mid-sentence when he realizes that his Implacable Man Nemesis Pigug the Shadow has come Back from the Dead yet again.
Brett: Pigug the Shadow escape- [Beat as Brett remembers who that is] Pigug... Shadow... Escaped...
A subdued version is used in Scott The Woz when the group's attempt at warning people of the blue border in "Borderline Forever" fails miserably and they realize it may have had the exact opposite effect they were hoping for:
Terry: At least we did spread the word on multiple issues, now people know about the blue border and think we're f*cks.
Jeb: I mean, we only started to see the border after you [Scott] brought it up to us.
Beat
The group: ...Huh.
Reporter: This just just in, reports that the state of Ohio experiencing a blue border obstructing their vision are increasing rapidly.
Oxventure: Played for Laughs, since the players were well aware of Prudence's big Internal Reveal in advance:
Prudence: Do you remember the town that had the werebear problem?
The group: Yes.
Prudence: Do you remember I got bitten by the man who had the werebear problem?
Dob: Yes, but I don't see wh-
Critical Role: As Nott deals the final blow to the incubus that had been hassling the party, Sam proudly proclaims she blows it up with an explosive crossbow bolt. His expression then turns to horror when he realizes that Caduceus, who was unconscious and had already failed two death saves, was in the blast radius as well.

Real Life

Rubber Duck Debugging is a case of trying to forcefully invoke this trope in real life with a Companion Cube.
Socratic dialogues consist of constantly asking further explanation from another person who proposes a certain theory, until said person reaches a point where their argument falls apart, thus highlighting the hidden weaknesses in their theory. Socrates himself concluded that no one really knows anything, since the technique always tripped them up eventually. Indeed, even the most comprehensively thought-out argument or idea will eventually reach a point that the speaker simply cannot explain it any further.
This happened to a Washington, D.C.-area meteorologist in 2022. As Doug Kammerer read the weather report for NBC 4 Washington's newscast and announced a tornado warning in Bethesda, Maryland, he realized that his house was right in the middle of the area where the storm was projected to go through, and called his family live on-air to warn them.

Oh, that Self-Destruct Mechanism? Don't worry, it only activates if you read the text at the bottom of the... ah, hell.

Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!

Examples:

Video Example(s):

There's Another Train Ahead!

Previous

Index

Next

There's Another Train Ahead!