History BreakingTheFourthWall / WesternAnimation

* [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] on ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "Quack Pack!" where the ''actual'' fourth wall isn't broken because there is an InUniverse audience that's part of the [[ShowWithinAShow whole setup]]:
->'''Huey:''' In all this time fixing the room, have you noticed it only has three walls?\\

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipisMagic'': Fourth wall breakage is used in gags from time to time, usually at the end of an episode.
** Pinkie Pie breaks the fourth wall from time to time in early episodes. This begins in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsOfHarmony Friendship is Magic, Part 2]]", where she interrupts the IrisOut and babbles to the audience about how excited she is to have Twilight Sparkle living in Ponyville, and playing with the IrisOut became becomes a minor running gag for her after this, such as in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E10SwarmOfTheCentury Swarm of the Century]]" and "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E20TheOneWherePinkiePieKnows The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows]]"; in the former, she even plays a closing SadTrombone. This is largely limited to closing credit gags, however, and mostly occurs in early seasons -- later episodes make much more sporadic use of this..

** Lincoln also suggests that Ronnie Anne do this at the end of "The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos" to survive the chaos of living with a large family like him. Her comment on the effectiveness of doing this also implies that ''everyone'' in the show's universe is vaguely aware of the fourth wall, but [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight generally don't see the worth in acknowledging it]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'', Lincoln Loud breaks the fourth wall in almost every episode, talking with the viewer about how to survive in a house with 10 sisters. This was mostly dropped by Season 2.
** Lincoln also teaches Ronnie Anne how to do this at the end of "The Loudest Mission: Relative Chaos" to survive the chaos of living with a large family like him.

** A variant of this line also turns up in Creator/TexAvery's first Droopy short for MGM, ''WesternAnimation/DumbHounded''.

* ''WesternAnimation/PCPinkterton'': The titular character would often look to the audience and talk directly to them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Loud House}}'', Lincoln Loud breaks the fourth wall in almost every episode, talking with the viewer about how to survive in a house with 10 sisters.

* Even though it's rare, [[WesternAnimation//{{Hilda}} Hilda]] managed to do it at the end of the Season 2 episode, "The Stone Forest", where she's confused by the turn of events after [[spoiler: becoming a troll for the first time]] and turns directly to the camera and asks the audience what's going on. Also, the credits roll after this, where "The End" by Frankie Cosmos answers Hilda's question. This is hilarious for fans that have not only watched the show but also read the comics because, even before Season 2 was released, they knew what was going on. And they are welcome to continue to story by reading "Hilda and The Mountain King" while waiting for the 70-minute movie special.

* Even though it's rare, [[WesternAnimation/Hilda Hilda]] managed to do it at the end of the Season 2 episode, "The Stone Forest", where she's confused by the turn of events after [[spoiler: becoming a troll for the first time]] and turns directly to the camera and asks the audience what's going on. Also, the credits roll after this, where "The End" by Frankie Cosmos answers Hilda's question. This is hilarious for fans that have not only watched the show but also read the comics because, even before Season 2 was released, they knew what was going on. And they are welcome to continue to story by reading "Hilda and The Mountain King" while waiting for the 70-minute movie special.

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' (first cartoon) frequently used this trope.
** In one episode an ancient Japanese sorcerer gets summoned and starts threatening the Turtles in English. One turtle says, "If he's from ancient Japan, why is he speaking English?" Another replies, "Because we can't afford subtitles."
** In another episode one turtle constantly suggests that the strange things happening are a work of Krang and Shredder (the usual villains). The other disagrees each time until saying "In fact they don't appear in this episode at all."
** Even better, one episode has Shredder in AsYouKnow Mode explaining the effects of Krang's mind control device, to which Krang responds "Why are you explaining this to me? I invented it!" Shredder's reply: "I wasn't explaining it to you." (points to camera) "I was explaining it to ''them''!"
** "Will you leave off it already? He's not even in this episode!"
** Donatello trying to bring April up to speed on the episode so far:
--->'''Donatello''': Do we have time for a flashback?\\
'''April''': It's your show.
** A recurring moment whenever a dangerous stunt is or being performed, mostly Raphael will tell kids [[DontTryThisAtHome not to try this at home]].
** A very unusual double example in the episode ''Return of the Shredder''. April finishes a news broadcast by saying "Whoever you are, thanks." then winks at the camera, leading to this hilarious exchange.
--->'''Donatello''': She was winking at me, you know.\\
'''Michelangelo''': You're totally warped dude! She was winking at me!\\
'''Raphael''': Get real you guys! It was meant for yours truly!\\
'''Leonardo''': I hate to argue fellows, but I think she meant it for me.\\
'''April''': *Still talking through the TV* Cool it fellas. If you must know, I was winking at Splinter!\\
'''Splinter''': Age has its privileges. *Winks at camera*
** The turtles sometimes mention episode numbers as references. Takes a turn for the funny when a ''wrong episode number'' is mentioned.

*** And speaking of season 2: "The Biggest Fan", being about an overly obsessed Sonic fanboy, obviously does this in spades, from jokes about Sonic's arms and sports tape to Mark (the fanboy in question) having several fanfictions, quite a few of which [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar are hinted at not being work safe]]. The fourth wall was never the same after that day...

** This is probably the most meta moment that show has to offer, courtesy of the episode "Commander Mom"

** Also happens in the episode "Drive Thru". When one of Pearl's friends shouts through the cheap, tin-cans-on-a-string "microphone" with a megaphone [causing huge ear pain for Squidward], he turns to the camera and says "I'm not faking it, you know. That really hurt."
** Squidward is the master of [=SpongeBob=] fourth wall breakage, usually by referencing the running time of the average episode: "I give him eleven minutes" in 'Nature Pants', and in another episode "Why must every eleven minutes of my life be filled with misery?..."

* ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'' and ''WesternAnimation/BluesClues'' use this to try and teach skills to the children, becoming very quickly annoying to any viewer over the age of 5. See also: FakeInteractivity.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' breaks once when he looks at the camera and advertises the wine he's drinking, "Glengoolie". Carol/Cheryl's break, which is more subtle, is when she hears ominous "tension music" and tells herself "Just ignore it, it's not diegetic.", and later screams "God damn it! Shut up, John Williams!" when it plays again.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' breaks once when he looks at the camera and advertises the wine he's drinking, "Glengoolie". Carol/Cheryl's break, which is more subtle, is when she hears tension music and tells herself "Just ignore it, it's not diegetic."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' breaks once when he looks at the camera and advertises the wine he's drinking, "Glengoolie". Carol/Cheryl's break, which is more subtle, is when she hears tension music and tells herself "Just ignore it, it's non-diagetic."

** Pinkie Pie breaks the fourth wall from time to time in early episodes. This begins in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E2ElementsOfHarmony Friendship is Magic, Part 2]]", where she interrupts the IrisOut and babbles to the audience about how excited she is to have Twilight Sparkle living in Ponyville, and playing with the IrisOut became becomes a minor running gag for her after this, such as in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E10SwarmOfTheCentury Swarm of the Century]]" and "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E20TheOneWherePinkiePieKnows The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows]]"; in the former, she even plays a closing SadTrombone. This is largely limited to closing credit gags, however, and rarely occurs in the episodes proper.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipisMagic'':
** Quite a few characters do this, but the pony Pinkie Pie is easily the reigning champion; for her, there's pretty much NoFourthWall at all. In only the second episode, she interrupts the IrisOut and babbles to the audience about how excited she is to have Twilight Sparkle living in Ponyville. Playing with the IrisOut sort of became Pinkie's shtick after this, such as in the episodes "Swarm of the Century" and "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows"; in the former, she even plays a closing SadTrombone.
*** At the end of the episode "Over a Barrel", Pinkie does a similar thing while Twilight Sparkle is reading aloud her letter to Princess Celestia. When Twilight quotes Pinkie's song from earlier in the episode by saying "you've got to share. You've got to care", Pinkie, annoyed, pops out of the closing iris and says "Hey! That's what I said!"
*** In the episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E5MagicDuel "Magic Duel"]], Pinkie Pie breaks through the iris-out again, angry about her lack of a mouth. Twilight joins in on the action, creating a portal into the black screen and using her magic to give Pinkie her mouth back. Pinkie happily opens her mouth to say something right before the end credits start playing. Earlier in the same episode, Trixie removes Pinkie's mouth by ''dragging the Flash file with the mouth into the computer's trash bin!''
*** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E7MakeNewFriendsButKeepDiscord "Make New Friends But Keep Discord"]], Pinkie makes an excited AsideComment about how Discord wants "all the cakes" at Sugar Cube Corner. She doesn't just ''look'' at the camera; she '''grabs it and starts shaking it up and down'''.
*** Then in the very next episode, [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E8TheLostTreasureOfGriffonstone "The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone"]], Gilda [[spoiler:agrees to help Pinkie save Rainbow Dash]], and insists that it doesn't make them friends. Pinkie waits for Gilda to walk off before turning to the camera and gleefully exclaiming, "Except it doooooes!"
** Applejack gets in on it once or twice as well (it must be an earth pony thing). During [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E7WonderboltsAcademy "Wonderbolts Academy"]] when Pinkie Pie is going off on one long protracted tangent about how Rainbow Dash has forgotten them, Applejack spends the entire time looking ''right at the audience'' as if to say [[AsideGlance "Can you believe this?"]]
** Discord is a fan of this. During [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E11KeepCalmAndFlutterOn "Keep Calm and Flutter On"]], he [[ItMakesSenseInContext brainwashes some beavers]], then grins right at the screen and whispers "Whoopsie!" In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E2PrincessTwilightSparklePart2 "Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2"]], while eating some popcorn, he looks at the camera and says he'll need more popcorn. In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E25ToWhereAndBackAgainPart1 "To Where And Back Again"]], he utters "Well isn't this quite the combination of secondary characters?"
** Sweetie Belle gets one in during FandomNod-loaded episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E9SliceOfLife "Slice of Life"]]. She, along with a large group of other secondary characters, are watching the main six "stars" of the show gathered together and discussing something. Sweetie suggests, "Maybe it's a friendship problem and it'll be wrapped up in half-an-hour or so."

* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' has done this several times, most notably in the episode "Fight Fighters", where when Dipper and [[spoiler:Rumble [=McSkirmish=] are fighting, Soos waves his arm in front of Rumble's life meter, attempting to change it]].

** [[spoiler: Then there is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin literal crashing of the fourth wall]] as Wendy and Dipper drives through the weirdness bubbles they assumed the real life likeness of their respective voice actors.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/WorldOfWinx'' Bloom adresses the audience in a couple of episodes.

* The end of the animated ''WesternAnimation/PunkyBrewster'' episode "The Bermuda Tangle" has Punky winking to us.

* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' indulged in this a number of times. One episode had Garfield waking up in the wrong cartoon, a ''Anime/MazingerZ''-esque action cartoon.