History FreudianExcuse / WesternAnimation

** Lemongrab is miserable all the time because he's the only "socially awkward, sour lemon person" in existence, and he is desperately lonely and longs for someone to understand his strange ways. ([[spoiler:It was only after Princess Bubblegum made him a clone of himself to be his companion that Lemongrab actually became a happy person and happy about his life.]])

** Lemongrab is miserable all the time because he's the only "socially awkward, sour lemon person" in existence, and he is desperately lonely and longs for someone to understand his strange ways. ([[spoiler:It was only after Princess Bubblegum made him a clone of himself to be his companion that Lemongrab actually became a happy person and happy about his life.)

**** One episode shows that Ozai's father was also terrible, but since Ozai treats his kids even worse and is an all around CompleteMonster, it doesn't really garner much sympathy.

* Clay of ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' had a very complex abusive relationship with his father after he [[spoiler: accidentally killed his mother]], and he's only an alcoholic in a failing marriage because [[spoiler: Bloberta convinced the once-sober Clay to get drunk and tricked him into marriage]]. After watching these events unfold, it's actually quite difficult to blame Clay for much of his [[CompleteMonster behavior]].

* In ''SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'', [[CompleteMonster Saddam Hussein]] tries to use this trope during part of his VillainSong. [[UnreliableNarrator He's possibly lying]], or at the very least, the movie [[DeconstructedTrope does not imply this justifies his actions]]:

** Lemongrab is a batshit crazy jerk because... well, he's ''insane'', and he was a failed science experiment created with a unique "lemon heart" which nobody else (except for himself) understands.

* Interestingly, an advertisement for the ''WinxClub'' showcased the girls coming up with {{Freudian Excuse}}s for why Lord Darkar is the ObviouslyEvil steriotypical villain that he is. The main show, on the other hand, never showed any signs of the excuses they came up with for him.

** A third villain of Terry's who's got a Freudian Excuse is the one-shot villain named Payback. [[spoiler:He's a child wielding PoweredArmor that's designed to make him appear as an adult, whose father (ironically enough, a child psychologist) doesn't spend enough time with him due to work, prompting him to get rid of his dad's client's tormentors in order to free up the man's schedule]].

** In SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[BigBad Amon]]'s [[UnreliableNarrator Alleged]] BackStory is one of these. According to him, he was once a simple FarmBoy in a family of non-benders who were bullied and extorted by local firebending criminals, who killed his parents and permanently burned Amon's face after his father tried to stand up to the firebenders.

* ''DannyPhantom''

* ''DrawnTogether'' lampshades this in the song "Who's Afraid of a Bully" from the episode "Requiem for a Reality Show".

* In an original story board of Disney's ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'' they wanted to have Jafar, the villain, have a Freudian Excuse themed song explaining why he was angry and evil. It was later dropped and was replaced with a reprise of Prince Ali to satisfy the staff's wishes to have the voice actor sing, to the delight of most of the audience. when you think about it, why would Jafar need a Freudian excuse? We already know he's unhappy in his current position (which is sometimes all you need), thinks the sultan is an idiot, is greedy, and has a case of megalomania (thus the last genie wish).

* Most, if not all, of [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries Bat]][[WesternAnimation/TheBatman man]]'s rogues gallery, as well as [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond Terry's]]. The only two of Terry's that spring to mind is the "skeleton Joker Gang" guy who attacked Max because she scored higher then him on an SAT, making his ice-queen mom very disappointed in him. There's also the geeky technopath student whose JerkJock dad didn't care either way about him, even after he stole his construction equipment and later buffed up in prison, although his ''particular'' hang-up was over a girl who naturally didn't care about him either.

* Murdoc Niccals, resident {{Jerkass}} of the animated band ''{{Music/Gorillaz}}'', suffered a thoroughly unpleasant childhood at the hands of his father, his brother, various school bullies, and ([[UnreliableNarrator if you believe him]]) the dinner lady who took his virginity when he was nine.

* In ''ToyStory 3'', [[spoiler:Lotso became evil after his first owner lost and replaced him]].

* Virtually every ''KimPossible'' villain there is. Seriously, it would be easier just to list the ones who ''didn't'' complain about everyone laughing at them (well, there's Shego, but she still has an excuse: her superhero brothers were all idiots.)

* PlayedForLaughs in ''TheTick'', when [[SuperheroPackingHeat Big Shot]]'s reaction to running out of bullets after spending the episode (over)acting like a NinetiesAntiHero is to mournfully ask "...Why didn't you love me, mom?" and break down sobbing on [[OnlySaneMan Arthur]]'s shoulder.

* In ''TheBoondocks,'' the reason why [[JerkAssWoobie Uncle Ruckus]] is such a BoomerangBigot is from all the beatings he received from [[AbusiveParents his father]] and his mother idolizing Caucasian people [[HilariousAbusiveChildhood leads him]] to become the man we know today. His father may include one as well, dealing with the racism, and his own shrew of mother.

* Interestingly, an advertisement for the ''WinxClub'' showcased the girls coming up with FreudianExcuses for why Lord Darkar is the ObviouslyEvil steriotypical villain that he is. The main show, on the other hand, never showed any signs of the excuses they came up with for him.

* The Ice King from ''AdventureTime'' has one revealed for all of his obsessive princess-kidnapping in the episode ''Holly Jolly Secrets''. [[spoiler: He obsessively kidnaps princesses in order to replace the "princess" he lost, his fiancée Betty, when he used to live in the pre-apocalypse world as Simon Petrikov.]]

* Mr. Burns from ''TheSimpsons'' has one: Despite being an evil, cruel and heartless businessman who has done a lot of evil things, we find out that in his childhood he was a [[CheerfulChild light-hearted and pleasant child]], who was nicknamed "Happy" because of his pleasant nature and had very loving parents, but his own grandfather, twisted and heartless millionaire, lured him away from his loving parents and forcibly adopted Burns. His grandfather is coldhearted businissmen who cared only about greed and power and is directly responsible for transforming Burns from carefree and pleasant boy to miserable and evil old man.

* In ''DannyPhantom'', pretty much all of Vlad's evil tendencies were blamed on the pivotal portal experiment in college. But in spite of disfiguring his face, the positives started to pile up after a while. Vlad's [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney insanely rich]], and has super powers. What more could you want? The answer: love. Vlad lost the woman he loved to the one who accidentally caused the accident to start with, and Vlad's been bitter and lonely ever since.
** Also Freakshow uses this troop to give an excuse to all the bad things he does. Everyone in his life, including himself, likes ghosts more than him. Being upstaged by ghosts his whole life messed him up but then again he might very well just be insane. I personally think it's a bit of both.
* The eponymous Dr. Thaddeus S. 'Rusty' Venture of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' has his horrific upbringing by his father to blame for his {{Jerkass}} tendencies, something that the 3rd season goes out of its way several times to point out. Several times, it's hinted that Rusty was forced to murder several people in his childhood by his father. That would screw up anyone.

** Every single [[MoralEventHorizon horrifying thing]] Dr. Rusty Venture has ever done can be traced back to his just as horrifying childhood; more specifically, his complicated relationship with his father, which has left him with some very odd (not to mention neglectful and abusive) notions about how to play father to his own teenage sons. This trope was played with in "The Doctor is Sin," in which Rusty is forced to relive "the moment that his father went from protector to tormentor/rival," and drawn upon even more heavily in "Assisted Suicide," with Dr. Orpheus entering and traversing Rusty's subconscious mind.

* In ''TransformersAnimated'', why Bumblebee would rather work on his own than to learn the value of teamwork could be attributed to what happened in "Autoboot Camp." His first team was consisted of [[JerkJock jerks]] who went as far as unscrewing his legs then locking him inside a locker. It didn't help that his {{Drill Sergeant|Nasty}} was [[{{Jerkass}} Sentinel Prime]], who took every opportunity to humiliate him. The only ones who didn't treat him like crap were Bulkhead (who he had written off as a hic from the energon farms) and Longarm. Bumblebee eventually warms up to Bulkhead, and even takes the heat for him - which boots him out of Sentinel's good graces and gets him demoted to Space Bridge Repair duty (resulting in his Stingers being downgraded to be useless in combat).
* In an original story board of Disney's ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}'' they wanted to have Jafar, the villain, have a Freudian Excuse themed song explaining why he was angry and evil. It was later dropped and was replaced with a reprise of Prince Ali to satisfy the staff's wishes to have the voice actor sing, to the delight of most of the audience. Of course, when you think about it, why would Jafar need a Freudian excuse? We already know he's unhappy in his current position (which is sometimes all you need), thinks the sultan is an idiot, is greedy, and has a case of megalomania (thus the last genie wish).

** Incidentally, Jafar's excuse mainly focused on being mocked and unpopular when he was young, and having to live and work underneath the bumbling Sultan in adulthood. The latter of these was clearly shown in the actual film. Sympathey is heavily undercut because Jafar now treats Aladdin as lowly as he himself was treated in childhood. If you're curious, the song and storyboards for it can be seen [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU6AfCWuZKI here.]]

* In ''SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'', [[CompleteMonster Saddam Hussein]] tries to use this trope during part of his VillainSong. Note that [[UnreliableNarrator he's possibly lying]], or at the very least, the movie [[DeconstructedTrope does not imply this justifies his actions]]:

** The series finale gives Azula her FreudianExcuse: due to Ozai's [[TykeBomb raising of her]], her mother was distant from her throughout her childhood, leading Azula to believe that she did't love her and only loved Zuko who, according to her father's teachings, is doing everything wrong and ''shouldn't'' be loved. She even {{lampshade|Hanging}}s it in the BeachEpisode, when ''all'' the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad teen villains']] Freudian excuses come out.

** Other components to his backstory: he had to wear hand-me-up girls' clothing, his mother loved his brother more than him, his father replaced him with a dog named [[IHaveNoSon "Only Son"]], his only friend (a painted balloon) flew away, his artistic masterpiece was destroyed, his girlfriend left him for a whale, and he was raised by ocelots. Yes, ''all of that''.

** Also Freakshow uses this troop to give an excuse to all the bad things he does. Everyone in his life, including himself, likes ghosts more than him. Being upstaged by ghosts his whole life messed him up but then again he might very well just be insane. I personally think it's a bit of both.

** Satan gives his own excuse [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X13Kb_DktHg in song]], making it clear that he's just a [[TheDevilIsALoser sort of pathetic]] PunchClockVillain who wants to get out of Hell.

* The underlying reason behind Tai Lung's fury in the original ''KungFuPanda''. However, after he is told that he had no reason to feel this way, it doesn't matter to him and the years of feeling slighted by Shifu have turned him completely cold.
** By contrast in ''KungFuPanda2'', Lord Shen's feeling of being rejected by his parents in his youth is completely blown out of proportion in his mind considering they did that only after being horrified at him committing genocide against the Giant Pandas.

**** In ''TheLegendOfKorra'', [[BigBad Amon]]'s [[UnreliableNarrator Alleged]] BackStory is one of these. According to him, he was once a simple FarmBoy in a family of non-benders who were bullied and extorted by local firebending criminals, who killed his parents and permanently burned Amon's face after his father tried to stand up to the firebenders.

--> '''Professor Monkey-For-A-Head''' : (Sees a fruit cart) Fruit carts?! I hate fruit carts!!! (The monkey fused to his head mumbles something to him) Why?! I'll tell you why! It's because a fruit cart, a STINKING FRUIT CART, killed my pa!!!
* ''RegularShow'' ''finally'' explains why Benson has one of the worst HairTriggerTemper[=s=] in the history of WesternAnimation: one night at the dinner table when he was a boy, his father encouraged him to yell "Pass the salt!".
* Mr. Burns from TheSimpsons has one: despite being evil, cruel and heartless businessmen who has done a lot of evil things, we find out that in his childhood he was a CheerFullChild and light-hearted and pleasant child, who was nicknamed "Happy" because of his pleasant nature and had very loving parents, but his own grandfather, twisted and heartless millionaire,lured him away from his loving parents and forcibly adopted Burns. His grandfather is coldhearted businissmen who cared only about greed and power and is directly responsible for transforming Burns from carefree and pleasant boy to miserable and evil old man.

**** In ''LegendOfKorra'', [[BigBad Amon]]'s [[UnreliableNarrator Alleged]] BackStory is one of these. According to him, he was once a simple FarmBoy in a family of non-benders who were bullied and extorted by local firebending criminals, who killed his parents and permanently burned Amon's face after his father tried to stand up to the firebenders.