Noodle Incident/Playing With

Basic Trope: A character makes a reference to an event that happened before or outside of the plot.

• Straight: "I'm not sure we should go through with this plan. Remember what happened last time?"
• Exaggerated: The incident in question was extremely complex and lasted for several years, causing it to be referenced quite often.
  • Alternatively: "Remember the fifty-eight other times we tried that?"
• Justified: A curse has been placed upon Bob that renders him incapable of telling the full story.
  • Bob and/or Alice do not wish to delve into the details of the incident in question - referencing it is enough for his point to be made.
  • There isn't enough time to tell the whole story due to imminent danger or something else coming up.
  • The story is so risque, embarrassing, or ridiculous that it can only be told in pieces.
• Parodied: "Remember that thing with the banana peels and the magic wand and the greased pigs? Man, that was awesome."
• Inverted: Something happened a long time ago that everyone seems to know about but Bob; Bob gets frustrated because nobody will tell him the full story.
• Subverted: Bob asks Alice about a certain time they shared together. In reality, there was no time spent together - Bob is testing to see if Alice is an impostor.
• Double Subverted: It actually was the real Alice, she had mistaken Bob's contrived event for a real one that they actually spent together.
• Zig Zagged: No, wait, it was the impostor Alice after all. She just said all that to get herself off the hook.
• Averted: Bob is lying; the event never actually happened.
  • The incident is told in full detail; nothing spared.
• Deconstructed: Bob really cannot remember most of the event, so we're stuck with what he does know.
• Enforced: A scene is too violent/dirty/controversial/boring to be shown in full detail, so the writers are told to only make reference to it.
• Lampshaded: "Why don't you ever elaborate on these stories, anyway?"
• Invoked: A prophet tells Bob to come back in ten years. (The story takes place ten years later, with fleeting references to why Bob is venturing to see the prophet.)
• Exploited: A villian does something terrible to Bob, knowing that Bob will remember it forever and tell all his friends how evil he really is.
• Defied: "No, Bob. Just no. We're all a team here, so if you have some experience with this you'd better tell us all of it."
• Discussed: "Look, Bob and I have been through a lot together. We often reference things that happened before you showed up - we understand if that makes you feel a bit left out."
• Conversed: "Are we ever going to find out what Bob is talking about? The suspense is killing me!"
• Played For Laughs: see Parodied.
• Played For Drama: Bob did something unspeakably terrible before the start of the story. It comes back to bite him, one way or another.

---

You remember that page, don't you? Good times...