Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Things That Were Anticipated To Be 'The Next Big Thing' That Actually Tanked

A hand holds a camera/flying drone
Photo by Tyler Casey

"Reddit user Reeceqld asked: 'What was supposed to be 'The Next Big Thing,' but totally flopped and tanked?'"

Make us preferred on Google

We've all succumbed to the hype surrounding something, be it a phone, show, or even a new-fangled drink.

Product rollout is so over the top these days.

The "next big thing" is usually promised to change EVERYTHING.


Then the release happens, and... the hype fizzles.

It happens to the best of everything.

From video games to weight loss products, nothing is a guaranteed hit.


Redditor Reeceqld wanted to discuss some of life's biggest flops, so they asked:

"What was supposed to be 'The Next Big Thing,' but totally flopped and tanked?"

Farewell

iphone GIF by Product HuntGiphy

"Microsoft held a literal funeral procession for the iPhone when they introduced the Windows Phone."

KaityKat117

"As someone who's worked as a software engineer since the mid-1980s, an industry where rapid change is the norm, one thing has remained the same: Apple is doomed. Any minute now."

UlrichZauber

Movie Fail

"Universal Picture's 'Dark Universe.'"

"The Mummy with Tom Cruise was supposed to start a whole line of movies, but when that one died it took the rest with it."

doowgad1

"The real tragedy is that a Dark Universe is not a bad idea. Various Universal monsters exist in the same universe? Sign me up! However, it played more like an action film than horror, because Tom Cruise cannot be in anything other than an action movie. We might have gotten Javier Bardem Frankenstein’s Monster, that is a perfect casting right there."

ChiefsHat

Negative

"Google+ was supposed to topple Facebook."

Regnes

"This was one of the worst product launches of all time. They had like one week where everyone was super excited about it and wanted to try it and they limited it to invite-only. Very few people could get in. By the time they opened it up to everyone, nobody cared anymore."

PMMeUrHopesNDreams

Never taken off...

"3D TV. I remember those being sold somewhere when we had to buy a couch, and accidentally renting the 3D version of a movie, but it never took off."

Stupid-ForYou

"This isn't anything new. The major issue seems to be that it gives a certain amount of people a headache or they find it otherwise uncomfortable. Add to that the need for the glasses even in the current iteration and you can start to see where there's an accessibility issue too."

NativeMasshole

Get Turkey

"About 25 years ago, they thought ostrich meat would be as popular as chicken."

momobeth

Chicken Nuggets Loop GIFGiphy

Not sure anyone wanted that kind of chicken nuggets!

Scooped Away

ice cream GIFGiphy

"Are Dippin' Dots still the ice cream of the future?"

The4StringSamurai

"Well, they're definitely not the ice cream of the present."

teh_maxh

Hot Wheels

"Segway."

No_Firefighter9295

"They completely underestimated how much we design cities for cars (especially in America) and how unwilling anyone is to change this."

"Look at the 15-minute cities concept. All these people are claiming isn't about population control. Can't even get pedestrians, bicycles, and cars to play nice with each other, let alone something like a Segway. Which is a shame, because if we designed cities for bikes, and segways, we might end up with something quite interesting and useful."

cobarbob

Redundant

"Quibi. It’s like they forgot that we already all had YouTube…"

Dubz1781

"I got the 3-month trial, and it was really weak. I like the idea of 10-minute shows with a new episode a day, I often watch movies I've seen before that way. But it's impossible to deny nobody was asking for it. And the dramas didn't feel like serials, it felt like awkwardly short full episodes, complete with characters standing around reminding the audience of what happened last time, which I'd just watched."

"The reality shows felt like 2 minutes stretched painfully to 10. So yeah, weird concept, the shows didn't really meet the concept anyway, and oh yeah all of the ideas were really half-baked. Here's a horror show set in different states, with legends we just kind of made up. Idris Elba competes with a NASCAR driver to do stunts basically invented for NASCAR drivers. Anna Kendrick made friends with her ex-boyfriend's sentient sex doll."

Maninhartsford

Get a Honda

"The Tata Nano. The company set out to build the lowest price new car in the world, and it succeeded. Unfortunately, newly middle-class Indian families didn’t want the stigma of owning the world’s cheapest new car, so sales never came anywhere close to expectations."

JournalofFailure

"Not a complete failure. It failed because the new chairman of the Tata group didn't see its potential and cash revenue. This led to a boardroom coup with an earlier chairman which led to disclosure that the car was not doing that great. This led to people not wanting nano car and subsequently, it stopped manufacturing in a few years."

jeetendraprasad

Big Fail

New York Yankees Reaction GIF by MLBGiphy

"Lytro. It was a light-field camera that allowed you to change a picture's point of focus after taking the image. It had a cool design and neat features capturing an Apple-like aesthetic of form and function. Huge failure but I was obsessed with them for a while."

SchnifTheseFingers

I can't remember half of these things.

So that should tell you everything.

Do you have any to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Screenshots from @georgiamaythornley's TikTok video
@georgiamaythornley/TikTok

TikToker Lays Out 5 'Tiny Habits' She Stopped Doing After Realizing She Keeps Spending All Her Money

Most people are going to struggle to save money and maintain a budget at least once in their lives, and the most important thing they can do is be honest about their role in their own finances.

TikToker @georgiamaythornley, for example, finally admitted to herself that she was always spending all of her money before she could set any aside for savings, so she started tracking her spending habits.

Keep ReadingShow less
Marco Rubio and Kimberly Guilfoyle
Mark Schiefelbein / POOL / AFP via Getty Images

Marco Rubio Awkwardly Dodges Question About Kimberly Guilfoyle's Blatant Corruption—As She's Standing Just Feet Away

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was criticized after he shut down a question about former Fox News host and current U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle following a Wall Street Journal report alleging that she engaged in illegal conduct.

The WSJ reported that Guilfoyle asked Eric Deters, a Trump donor and former congressional candidate, to cover $100,000 in credit card debt before her Senate confirmation hearings. The report said she contacted him through Signal, pressing him to arrange the payment that day and explaining how to send the funds directly to American Express.

Keep ReadingShow less
U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he leaves the stage after speaking during a campaign rally at the Freeman Coliseum.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

Artist Brutally Rips Trump With Naked 'Orange Plague' Sculpture In European Parliament

President Donald Trump has finally received the golden treatment in Europe, although the 8.5-foot-tall naked statue now towering inside the European Parliament probably isn't the tribute he had in mind.

Unveiled in Strasbourg, France, the 23-karat-gold-coated sculpture depicts Trump perched on the shoulders of a smaller, visibly burdened man, clutching an oversized golf club in one hand and the scales of justice in the other.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @bsquaredtravels_'s Instagram reel
@bsquaredtravels_/Instagram

Swedish Man Goes Viral With Hack For Optimizing Taco Fillings—And It's Honestly Genius

There's a lot of discourse when it comes to tacos: what qualifes as a taco, what kind of shell to use, which fillings are acceptable... But one thing we can all agree on? You can never have too many tacos.

Instagrammer @bsquaredtravels_ shared a video of their Swedish brother-in-law totally hacking the system when it comes to tacos, and the internet has gone crazy for it.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @maddie_bado's TikTok video
@maddie_bado/TikTok

Woman Sparks Debate After Sharing The Signs That You Have A 'Loser Boyfriend' In Viral Videos

Every person who chooses to date will have a list of wished-for traits, attractive traits, and of course, dealbreakers that would likely end the relationship either immediately or, at least, eventually.

TikToker @maddie_bado shared a series on TikTok called "Signs of a Loser Boyfriend," which she believes more women should be aware of so that they can make the most informed decision about what they are gaining from their relationship and whether their partner is able to give them what they want, and vice versa.

Keep ReadingShow less