History CombatPragmatist / WesternAnimation

** In the Season 2 episode, "Thoughtscape", Lorenzo and some of Surd's {{mook}}s break into the Quest compound and capture Race and Hadji while Jonny, Jesse, and Benton are trapped in Quest World. While tied up, Race says to Lorenzo, "Too bad you don't have the guts to face me man to man", however, Lorenzo [[GenreSavvy knows better]] and doesn't let it bruise his ego, instead just firing back an insult of his own.

** Soundwave also qualifies. Though he isn't as underhanded as Starscream (as far as we know,) he is GenreSavvy and ''very'' pragmatic, always looking for the simplest and most effective solution to a problem. He has no problems with [[spoiler: [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown sending Laserbeak to attack a weakened Airachnid]]]]. When he fights Wheeljack it's his CombatTentacles against Wheeljack's DualWielding swords over a sonic cannon. When Soundwave loses the upper-hand, he grabs the cannon and uses it on Wheeljack. But by far his favourite strategy is simply letting the enemy charge at him, then opening a Ground Bridge to someplace far away in their path.

** Suyin Beifong has no problem whatsoever with killing her enemies ([[YourHeadAsplode in extremely brutal ways, to boot]]), is perfectly willing to employ assassination attempts to end a stalemate, and once even resorted to attempting to convince Korra to go into [[SuperMode the Avatar State]] and [[KillEmAll murder an entire army]] in order to ensure her city remained independent and her citizens were kept safe.

* ''Main/{{Transformers}}'':
** In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersGenerationOne'', most Decepticons were {{Large Ham}}s who liked to taunt and goad the good guys. Not [[EvilGenius Shockwave]], however. Being the logical type he is, he doesn't bother with banter when Spike and Bumblebee transport into his control center, he just opens fire with his DisintegratorRay. (Also, Bumblebee's assumption that they can safely take cover behind his mainframe because he wouldn't want to blast it proves false -- he does so without a second thought.)
** Rattrap from ''{{Franchise/Transformers}}: WesternAnimation/BeastWars''. He's not a coward... he just doesn't like taking risks in battle, and he doesn't want to die.

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* ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures''
** Jade fits this trope, as she is often the one to use the Talismans or other artifacts in battle, and has used her GuileHero status to outwit the Demon Sorcerers and Tarakudo.
** Uncle does it as well. Being a man long past his time, he's still a RetiredBadass, who'd use everything at his disposal in a fight. Like a gold bar lying nearby when the bad guys tried breaking into Fort Knox. Stamping on feet also proves equally effective.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretSaturdays'': Argost often proves to be this, but especially in his final battle with Zak. [[spoiler: Argost convinces Zak to fight one on one to avoid anyone else dying, only to reveal that he actually intends to steal Zak's powers, and add them to his own anti-matter powers rather than fight. Unfortunately for Argost, despite his expertise in cryptid biology, it seems he never did any physics research, [[HoistbyHisOwnPetard not realizing that mixing matter and anti-matter inside his own body would make him explode]].]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** The Season 3 episode, "Sokka's Master" has [[BadassNormal Sokka]] learn sword fighting from a MasterSwordsman who praises his resourcefulness (e.g. taking advantage of his greater agility compared to someone who is older, attacking from higher ground, pulling bamboo shoots so they'll fly back and distract his opponent, throwing sand in his eyes). Unfortunately for Sokka, his teacher is CrazyPrepared.
** [[HeroKiller Princess Azula]] gleefully pulls [[ISurrenderSuckers false surrenders]] on, ambushes, [[TransformationIsAFreeAction interrupts]], and gangs up on her enemies. Because of this, she's the only person who [[spoiler: fought the Avatar in Avatar State and won, hitting Aang with a lightning bolt in the back as he [[TransformationIsAFreeAction completed the power up]].]]

* Main/{{Transformers}}
** In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersGenerationOne'', most Decepticons were {{Large Ham}}s who liked to taunt and goad the good guys. Not [[EvilGenius Shockwave]], however. Being the logical type he is, he doesn't bother with banter when Spike and Bumblebee transport into his control center, he just opens fire with his DisintegratorRay. (Also, Bumblebee's assumption that they can safely take cover behind his mainframe because he wouldn't want to blast it proves false - he does so without a second thought.)
** Rattrap from ''{{Franchise/Transformers}}: WesternAnimation/BeastWars''. He's not a coward... he just doesn't like taking risks in battle, and he doesn't want to die.
--> '''Rattrap:''' You fight with a rat... ([[AHandfulForAnEye kicks sand into Waspinator's eyes]]) ...you better fight dirty.
** Starscream from ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' also qualifies, lacking Megatron's insistence on defeating his enemies personally and single-handedly or [[EgomaniacHunter Airachnid's]] need to let her prey run around or suffer before she goes for the kill. [[spoiler: When he is handcuffed and at Arcee's mercy when she learns he was the one who killed Cliffjumper, Starscream immediately resorts to AintTooProudToBeg and seems too terrified to even free himself. When Arcee, in contempt for his cowardice, goes to free him herself (and then kill him), Starscream immediately impales her in the side, frees himself, and proceeds to beat the crap out of her until she gets her HeroicSecondWind.]]
** Soundwave also qualifies. Though he isn't as underhanded as Starscream (as far as we know,) he is GenreSavvy and ''very'' pragmatic, always looking for the simplest and most effective solution to a problem. He has no problems with [[spoiler: [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown sending Laserbeak to attack a weakened Airachnid]]]]. When he fights Wheeljack it's his CombatTentacles against Wheeljack's DualWielding swords over a sonic cannon. When Soundwave loses the upper-hand, he grabs the cannon and uses it on Wheeljack. But by far his favourite strategy is simply letting the enemy charge at him, then opening a Ground Bridge to someplace far away in their path.
* Of the three main characters in ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', Riley is much more resourceful than his brother Huey and granddad Robert. Sure he lacks his brother's [[MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours kung fu]] or his granddad's [[WhipItGood belt proficiency]], but he will use every tool at his disposal to win a fight. Chances are he learned this from Huey, which would essentially make him a more melee type version of his brother.
* An early episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' has Bart trying to do this to Nelson, throwing mud in his face before attacking him. It doesn't work.
** This stems from advice Homer gave him on fighting, He also mentioned that "going for the [[GroinAttack family jewels]] has been a Simpson family trademark for generations."
* Sasha of ''WesternAnimation/TitanMaximum'' has basically one attack in her arsenal: the GroinAttack. It's not so effective against the giant monsters the titular robot fights, but it's very effective against the mostly male members of Titan's Engineering Core. Palmer also goes for the groin a lot, but uses other attacks, too. Finally, even Jodi, normally quite the fair fighter, gets in on the action in the season finale when having trouble beating the superhuman assassin Claire.

* In the Season 1 episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' that introduces Grodd, the Flash deliberately uses this against him. Flash is wearing a special headband to protect against Grodd's brainwashing helmet. He pushes down and plays on Grodd's helmet briefly and then jumps back and takes off his headband suggesting to Grodd that they just have a fair fight. Grodd replies, "You're a bigger fool than I thought" and attempts to use his brainwashing helmet only for it to malfunction and knock him out. Flash had sabotaged it with his super speed when he jumped on Grodd.
** ComicBook/TheQuestion in ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' is this, on top of being awesome. He does everything from smashing computer monitors over people's heads, to running over Darkseid's minions with HIS FRIKKIN' CAR.
* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'' The Season 2 episode, "Digital Doublecross", has Jonny and Jesse trapped in a Quest World game that Surd has placed a virus in which creates [[EvilTwin evil clones]] of the two of them. At the end of the episode, after defeating the clones, an image of Surd appears to blow them up anyway saying, "You know I never play by the rules" (though this isn't exactly true; Surd fall victim to BondVillainStupidity throughout the series.)
** In the Season 2 episode, "Thoughtscape", Lorenzo and some of Surd's {{mook}}s break into the Quest compound and capture Race and Hadji while Jonny, Jesse, and Benton are trapped in Quest World. While tied up, Race says to Lorenzo, "Too bad you don't have the guts to face me man to man", however, Lorenzo [[GenreSavvy knows better]] and doesn't let it bruise his ego, instead just firing back an insult of his own.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' gives us Wong Fei's most important lesson: "When outmatched...cheat." Batman proved an...adept pupil, to say the least. Surprisingly for a children's show a running theme of the series is that cheating is usually the best way to win.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'': The heroes are not averse to fighting dirty when confronted with [[TRexpy sharpteeth]].
* General Grievous from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' once killed a Jedi he was in the middle of a [[BladeLock lightsaber duel with]] by pulling out a gun and shooting him with [[MultiArmedandDangerous one of his extra arms.]] At the end of the show, however, it gets turned back on him: [[spoiler:the moment he threatens to engage Mace Windu with all his lightsabers, Windu one-ups him in pragmatism by simply using the Force to turn his torso into crunchy paste with one gesture]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' has a lot of this. You very rarely see anyone try to fight fair, and if you do, it results in them losing the fight, quickly. Everything from surprise attacks to GrievousHarmWithABody, '''with your still living friend''', to orbital strikes and threatening the enemy with a massive suicide bombing that would destroy their planet has been seen. Mind you, this is often PlayedForLaughs.
* Twilight Sparkle of all characters in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is one of these as seen in ''Magic Duel''. What's a pony to do when she can't best an opponent fair and square? Cheat, of course! Bonus points in that she uses deception, stage magic, and sleight of hand (hoof?) to beat the now magically superior Trixie (who at that point was a retired StageMagician).
* In ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', nearly every Force-user, heroic or villainous, is this. [[EliteMooks Inquisitors]] use the Force to pin their opponents while they hit them, while the two main Jedi of the series won't hesitate to [[NeverBringAKnifeToAGunFight bring a blaster to a lightsaber fight]].[[note]]One of them even has [[MixAndMatchWeapon a lightsaber that doubles as a blaster]].[[/note]] Kanan even explicitly tells Ezra one episode that real fights are never fair.
** In the season three finale, Kallus attempts to distract Grand Admiral Thrawn in a fight by flinging a helmet at him. Thrawn in turn resorts to some of the most realistically dirty fighting in Star Wars, including GroinAttack and smashing Kallus's face into his knee.

* In season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', Jack has lost his magic sword. As a result, he has resorted to using any weapon he can get his hands on, most notably [[BatmanGrabsAGun guns]]. Most notably, when an armed opponent is down for long enough, he will attempt to take their weapons and use it against them. He took Scaramouch's [[ImprobableWeaponUser weaponized tuning fork]] (a blade that causes objects it strikes to resonate until they shatter) upon defeating him, and he took the sword from one of the Daughters of Aku and [[spoiler:immediately aimed for the throat, killing her, Jack not realizing she was not a robot.]] Jack's style, in general, is also more pragmatic than before, making greater use of the environment and never hesitating to use the opponent's own abilities against them. For instance, when Jack learned about Scaramouch's tuning fork's delayed-shattering effects, he let Scaramouch hit one of Jack's daggers so Jack could throw it at Scaramouch's face right before it shatters. Considering he spent a half-century in a [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack]] [[BadFuture Future]] [[VillainWorld ruled by his sworn archnemesis]] that became [[FromBadToWorse even more hellish over time]], Jack became desperate.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Dewey learns to be this in order to get [[ScaryLibrarian Quackfaster]] to stand down in "The Great Dime Chase!", and later to [[spoiler:hold his own against Webby in "The Spear of Selene!"]].

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Dale Gribble has been known to throw sand in his opponent's eyes, pull fake-outs, and simply [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere run away]] whenever he gets into a physical confrontation. Justified, as he is by far the frailest, physically speaking, of his group of friends.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'': During the "Heart of Archness" arc Archer is challenged to ''Melawan raja'', a fight to the death for the title of Pirate King, by a GiantMook who towers over him. Rather than risk certain loss in a physical fight Archer pulls out his gun and [[KneeCapping kneecaps]] the mook. Turns out [[LoopholeAbuse there's no rule]] saying he ''can't'' shoot his opponent.

** The Equalists use whips, grenades, bolas, tripwires, and [[PowerNullifier chi-blocking]]. Because the ElementalPowers benders use give them a significant range advantage, they also rely a lot on sneak attacks and group ambushes. A specific example of this would be when Korra challenges Amon to a fight, she expects him to come alone as she did. Instead, he waits for her to start to leave when it appears that he's not coming and than has a few dozen of his [[EliteMooks chi-blockers]] ambush her from the darkness with bola whips and subdue her in seconds. [[DontCreateAMartyr The only reason Amon doesn't de-power Korra then and there is because he KNOWS that doing do at such an early stage of his grand plan would turn the Avatar into a martyr.]]

** The Equalists use whips, grenades, bolas, tripwires, and [[PowerNullifier chi-blocking]]. Because the ElementalPowers benders use give them a significant range advantage, they also rely a lot on sneak attacks and group ambushes. A specific example of this would be when Korra challenges Amon to a fight, she expects him to come alone as she did. Instead, he waits for her to start to leave when it appears that he's not coming and than has a few dozen of his [[EliteMooks chi-blockers]] ambush her from the darkness with bola whips and subdue her in seconds. [[DontCreateAMartyr The only reason he doesn't just beat her right there is that he doesn't want to turn her into a martyr.]]

** ComicBook/TheQuestion in ''[[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Justice League Unlimited]]'' is this, on top of being CrazyAwesome. He does everything from smashing computer monitors over people's heads, to running over Darkseid's minions with HIS FRIKKIN' CAR.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'': The heroes are not averse to fighting dirty when confronted with [[TyrannosaurusRex sharpteeth]].

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Dale Gribble has been known to throw sand in his opponent's eyes, pull fake-outs, and simply [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere run away]] whenever he gets into a physical confrontation. Justified, as he is by far the frailest, physically speaking, of his group of friends.

* In season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', Jack has lost his magic sword. As a result, he has resorted to using any weapon he can get his hands on, most notably [[BatmanGrabsAGun guns]]. Most notably, when an armed opponent is down for long enough, he will attempt to take their weapons and use it against them. He took Scaramouch's [[ImprobableWeaponUser weaponized tuning fork]] (a blade that causes objects it strikes to resonate until they shatter) upon defeating him, and he took the sword from one of the Daughters of Aku and [[spoiler:immediately aimed for the throat, killing her, Jack not realizing she was not a robot.]] Jack's style, in general, is also more pragmatic than before, making greater use of the environment and never hesitating to use the opponent's own abilities against them. For instance, when Jack learned about Scaramouch's tuning fork's delayed-shattering effects, he let Scaramouch hit one of Jack's daggers so Jack could throw it at Scaramouch's face right before it shatters. Considering he spent a half-century in a [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack]] [[BadFuture Future]] [[ruled by his sworn VillainWorld archnemesis]] that became [[FromBadToWorse even more hellish over time]], Jack became desperate.

* In season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', Jack has lost his magic sword. As a result, he has resorted to using any weapon he can get his hands on, most notably [[BatmanGrabsAGun guns]]. Most notably, when an armed opponent is down for long enough, he will attempt to take their weapons and use it against them. He took Scaramouch's [[ImprobableWeaponUser weaponized tuning fork]] (a blade that causes objects it strikes to resonate until they shatter) upon defeating him, and he took the sword from one of the Daughters of Aku and [[spoiler:immediately aimed for the throat, killing her, Jack not realizing she was not a robot.]] Jack's style, in general, is also more pragmatic than before, making greater use of the environment and never hesitating to use the opponent's own abilities against them. For instance, when Jack learned about Scaramouch's tuning fork's delayed-shattering effects, he let Scaramouch hit one of Jack's daggers so Jack could throw it at Scaramouch's face right before it shatters.

** Jade fits this trope, as she is often the one to use the Talismans or other artifacts in battle, and has used her GuileHero staus and GenreSavvy to outwit the Demon Sorcerers and Tarakudo.

** Asami Sato. She drives dirty on the race track, forcing the other car to spin out so she can be sure to win. Later, she plays along with [[spoiler: her father until he hands her a weapon, at which point she shocks him right in the chest]]. If there's a fight scene with Asami in it, she'll matter-of-factly use whatever she has on hand to attack the enemy -- including her [[CarFu own car]].

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Dale Gribble has been known to throw sand in his opponent's eyes, pull fake-outs, and simply [[ScrewThisImOuttaHera]] run away whenever he gets into a physical confrontation. Justified, as he is by far the frailest, physically speaking, of his group of friends.

* Pretty much everybody in ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender''; nobody hesitates in the slightest to take advantage of the environment or exploit enemy weaknesses. Krolia deserves special mention for her handling of Trugg; [[spoiler:When faced with the possibility of fighting her, Krolia ''doesn’t''. Instead, she tricks Trugg into walking right into a {{Robeast}} enclosure, letting it rip her apart.]]

* In one of their encounters in the ''GIJoe'' CG movies, Snake Eyes defeated Storm Shadow by pulling the pins off the grenades he was wearing across his chest.

* In ''Disney/TheLionKing'', while [[ISurrenderSuckers supposedly obeying Simba's command to leave the Pride Lands]], Scar abruptly flings hot ashes into Simba's eyes and then tries to tackle him off the edge of the top of Pride Rock.

** the Season 3 episode, "Sokka's Master" has [[BadassNormal Sokka]] learn sword fighting from a MasterSwordsman. He's be praised by the teacher for his resourcefulness (e.g. taking advantage of his greater agility compared to someone who is older, attacking from higher ground, pulling bamboo shoots so they'll fly back and distract his opponent, throwing sand in his eyes). Unfortunately for him, his teacher is CrazyPrepared.

* The three rules of the Trollhunter in ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'' are all about this. Always be afraid, because fear heightens your awareness while arrogance gets you killed. Always finish the fight by killing your foe so they can't seek revenge or cause further damage. Always [[GroinAttack kick them in the gronk-nuks]] (basically troll-speak for genitals) cause its an easy target.

** Soundwave also qualifies. Though he isn't as underhanded as Starscream (as far as we know,) he is GenreSavvy and ''very'' pragmatic, always looking for the simplest and most effective solution to a problem. He has no problems with [[spoiler: [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown sending Laserbeak to attack a weakened Airachnid]]]]. When he fights Wheeljack it's his CombatTentacles against Wheeljack's DualWielding swords over a sonic canon. When Soundwave loses the upper-hand, he grabs the cannon and uses it on Wheeljack. But by far his favourite strategy is simply letting the enemy charge at him, then opening a Ground Bridge to someplace far away in their path.

* General Grievous from ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' once killed a Jedi he was in the middle of a [[BladeLock lightsaber duel with]] by pulling out a gun and shooting him with [[MultiArmedandDangerous one of his extra arms.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Dewey learns to be this in order to get [[ScaryLibrarian Quackfaster]] to stand down in "The Great Dime Chase!", and later to [[spoiler:hold his own against Webby in "The Spear of Selene!"]].

* In season 5 of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', Jack has lost his magic sword. As a result, he has resorted to using any weapon he can get his hands on, most notably [[BatmanGrabsAGun guns]]. Most notably, when an armed opponent is down for long enough, he will attempt to take their weapons and use it against them. He took Scaramouch's [[ImprobableWeaponUser weaponized tuning fork]] (a blade that causes objects it strikes to resonate until they shatter) upon defeating him, and he took the sword from one of the Daughters of Aku and [[spoiler:immediately aimed for the throat, killing her, Jack not realizing she was not a robot.]] Jack's style, in general, is also more pragmatic than before, making greater use of the environment and never hesitating to use the opponent's own abilities against them. For instance, when Jack learned about Scaramouch's tuning fork's delayed-shattering effects, he let Scaramouch hit one of Jack's daggers so Jack could throw it at Scaramouch's face right before it shatters.