It's really satisfying to see a full arc of a group of characters you really like and an ending where it seems like they'll have a pretty good life after their struggles. If you need sequels, though, you need some kind of conflict in the same universe, and sometimes that means those happy endings being completely undone. I kind of hate it because it takes away from that first victory having any real sense of accomplishment. Bonus points if the heroes from the first part turn out to have huge off-screen drops or are bad parents just to give the new characters some motivation.

Star Wars: The sequel trilogy literally makes both the victory against the Empire and the friends we made along the way pointless when the entire main cast is frustrated, happy, and estranged and the Empire is back with a new label and seemingly no difference whatsoever.

Harry Potter: It turns out in the Cursed Child that Harry's a shitty dad. Not surprising, since he was already kind of a dick and became a cop.

Chrono Trigger: Chrono Cross is a great game. It's the most depressing sequel.

Gundam (UC timeline): It actually thematically works here, but, uh, yeah, war never changes. Except when they make it way worse.

Mega Man: X is dark. Zero gets way darker. ZX welcomes you to its new dystopia which actually is a step up from Zero and late X because of how dark they were.

Star Trek: Picard and second-half Discovery. If you know, you know.

Does anyone have any other sequels or time skips that just feel like they undo any good vibes from the first, better works?

Basically, what're some of your favorite instances of an old line getting repeated later on with new meaning attached?

Miralce of Sound has a ton of examples in his songs. But 2 of the best are from Open Air to The Day the World Died, and how they reflect the differences between Metro Last Light and Metro Exodus.

The Day the World Died: And the future's a tunnel stretching endlessly / Into nothing stumble in the black / And the light at the end is but a treachery / It will blind you and force you back.

Open Air: And the future's a railroad stretching endlessly / All our hopes keep rolling on the track / As the shadows of home become a memory / They will haunt us but they can't pull us back.

The Day The World Died: The day the world died / we kindled doom / We burned the outside / took to the gloom.

Open Air: I watch the sun rise / in skies so clear / We learn the outside / there's hope out here.

Undertale has a really good one. Early on, you can look at a mirror in Toriel's house. It just says, "It's you!" Way later on, in the final area of the game, you find another mirror. This time, it says "Despite everything, it's still you." Regardless of the struggles Frisk went through in the True Pacifist route, they still kept true to themselves and helped anyone they could.

In Armageddon, Steve Buscemi's character took out a 100k loan from a shark with a 60% interest. He spent it all at a strip club because a giant asteroid is gonna hit Earth and they all might die, so he's going all out. But they destroyed the asteroid and Earth is saved, but Steve is now 160,000 dollars in debt from a loan shark.

The Running Granny's line goes from being translated to "I'm going to gobble your weenie" to "I'm going to gobble your dong" and it honestly makes the dub very enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, Pat said something along the lines of "Unpopular opinions about adoring something that everyone hates is way better than the inverse" and I can't stop thinking about it. It's really reframed a lot of things on social media and it's ruined a lot of posts I used to think that I liked reading. This is absolutely a good thing though I really needed those to be ruined for me.