Things you always knew something was off with

[James Fabiano]

Kind of an opposite of the Internet Revisionist History thread.

Even 12 year old me realized the NES WrestleMania game wasn't that great, for example.

But the patron saint for me for this trope? Last season of Laverne and Shirley. Even then, when I was 6, we all said it should have been called Laverne, Where's Shirley? instead.

Scrappy Doo hate, to an extent. As I didn't like the Mystery Inc-less shorts when I was younger. High school age, mind you, but just pre internet still.

[Sponsored by Groose Wipes]

Tommy Tallarico. I watched early interviews of him way back or that one show he had on G4 and he always gave me a "you seem like a real scumbag". vibe.

Family Matters becoming The Urkel Show.

[Burst]

More of a personal example of getting fishy vibes from someone early on... Catholic school growing up, circa 5th or 6th grade, we had a priest for a few years who had some rather interesting stories and anecdotes he would use while talking with the students (and seemingly only just when talking to the students, I don't remember anything similar showing up in his homilies during mass). He was also a Franciscan Friar and being the immature kids we were, there were always the whispered jokes of "I bet Father So-and-So isn't wearing anything under his robes", as one does. Didn't help that he was an older priest replacing a popular younger priest that we had all liked.

So basically when I found out years later that he had been defrocked as one of those priests (though admittedly it had all been before he started at my parish), it was almost ridiculously unsurprising.

[James Fabiano]

Apr 20, 2024 8:05:24 GMT -5 Sponsored by Groose Wipes said:

Tommy Tallarico. I watched early interviews of him way back or that one show he had on G4 and he always gave me a "you seem like a real scumbag". vibe.

Family Matters becoming The Urkel Show.

I was probably using the internet by this time but didn't really pursue Family Matters fandoms there. But yeah, the Wacky Sci-Fi Adventures of Urkel never sat well with me.

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

Apr 20, 2024 8:13:53 GMT -5 Burst said:

More of a personal example of getting fishy vibes from someone early on... Catholic school growing up, circa 5th or 6th grade, we had a priest for a few years who had some rather interesting stories and anecdotes he would use while talking with the students (and seemingly only just when talking to the students, I don't remember anything similar showing up in his homilies during mass). He was also a Franciscan Friar and being the immature kids we were, there were always the whispered jokes of "I bet Father So-and-So isn't wearing anything under his robes", as one does. Didn't help that he was an older priest replacing a popular younger priest that we had all liked.

So basically when I found out years later that he had been defrocked as one of those priests (though admittedly it had all been before he started at my parish), it was almost ridiculously unsurprising.

When I was 15 I realized one of the gym teachers was WAAAAY too friendly with some of the girls in my class. Sure enough, within a year he was drummed out of the profession because he raped at least two of them that I'm aware about. Still have no idea how he avoided jail time.

[J. Hova]

This thread took a sick turn, so I'll contribute to that.

My parents' old next door neighbor. They moved in a couple of years before I moved out to my house and the couple had two daughters, one of hers from a previous marriage and one together. They hadn't been there but for a few months before they had decided to put in a garden where their property and my parents met. They managed to cut the buried invisible fence wire for my dog, he denied it was them, I pointed out their garden technically was over the property line, and he responded that if my dog got out, he had the right to take him down if he felt threatened. Needless to say, that went over well with me. Keep in mind, my dog was only about the sweetest, most loving dog ever. He just liked to run. When he would get out, I'd go to the neighborhood park if it was nice weather since I knew he'd be there playing with whatever kids there. I digress.

Anyway, I would occasionally observe that he seemed to be more interested in his stepdaughter than his bio kid (both under the age of 10). I'm not saying you shouldn't make an effort to make your non bio kid feel as loved as your bio kid, but this was just strange. I usually wrote it off that the stepdaughter might have been special needs in some form or fashion, she was painfully shy and if I said hello to her if we were both outside, she'd almost run away.
Fast forward a few years, yeah, he's arrested, convicted, and currently serving time for sexually assaulting his stepdaughter for YEARS. Like almost a decade. My only hope is that he is getting what he deserves in the pen.

As I've gotten older, I've learned that my gut feeling about someone or something is usually right. I don't believe in ESP or anything like that, but sometimes it is uncanny.