History JerkWithAHeartOfGold / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': Stan Smith is a self righteous, bigoted, borderline {{Comedic Sociopath|y}}, however his callous antics are almost always with [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]], and ultimately [[PapaWolf he does care dearly about his family]]. In fact, it works better than with ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and especially sister series ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' because you're expected to find him a jerk straight from the get-go, and unlike the others, he's not a constant KarmaHoudini and does actually seem to learn a lesson at the end of the episode. [[AesopAmnesia It rarely sticks, though.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Sasha Waybright [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zags]] between this and BitchInSheepsClothing. She's charming in her own way and is capable of caring very deeply about others, but has a mean streak a mile wide. Before arriving in Amphibia, she was an AlphaBitch who nonetheless [[LovableAlphaBitch had a genuine soft spot for her friends]]... but also wasn't above bullying them and pushing them around. But even so, [[ObliviouslyEvil she genuinely doesn't seem to have realized how unacceptable her behavior was]], and insists she only wants to protect her friends. During the events of the show, her negative qualities get increasingly worse and worse, but she never fully loses her humanity, developing a genuine VillainousFriendship with Captain Grime and still caring very much for Anne and Marcy. Whether she's being a garden variety delinquent and ToxicFriendInfluence or leading an army, Sasha is a ''very'' flawed and self-centered person, but there is clearly a heart somewhere in there. A heart of rusted bronze, but a heart nonetheless.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': Numbuh Four likes fighting, is insensitive, and has a history of bullying, but it's clear he's loyal to his [[TrueCompanions team]], especially [[EveryoneCanSeeIt Numbuh Three]]. He's agreed to sing a mushy song he despised, faced his fear of water, and ran into the heat of battle all for his friends. It's even stated he took [[spoiler: Numbuh One joining the Galactic KND]] in the finale the hardest.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'': Despite her endless snarking and being incredibly rude to most characters on the show, Daria clearly never tried to ever hurt someone even if she made jokes about a gruesome death for them, quite frequent with Quinn who she ended up bailing out and teaming up with on a few occasions. This was even apparent on ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead''. Despite being mocked by the titular duo she tolerated them far more than any other character besides Van Driessen, and it was sometimes implied that, while he never ceased in his mocking, she was the only person for whom Butthead had any level of respect.

** The Brain. It's implied that he does have a small soft spot for Pinky deep down.
** The Warners, who combine genuine affection for those they care about with a ''ruthless'' dedication to making the lives of assholes around the world a living hell.

** Despite being [[LittleMissSnarker snarky]], [[BrattyHalfPint bratty]], and [[InsufferableGenius insufferable]], Anais Watterson a pretty decent person most of the time.

---> "Women of power like us, we're not allowed to have feelings."

---> '''Peter:''' I... didn't know you cared.
---> '''Sally:''' I ''so'' don't! But I don't want to see you blown to bits either! I'm not a monster! And if you tell anyone I hugged you you'll wish you were behind that van!!!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball''

** Anais Watterson despite being [[LittleMissSnarker snarky]], [[BrattyHalfPint bratty]], and [[InsufferableGenius insufferable]], she's a pretty decent person most of the time.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'': Cyril Sneer. He started as a ruthless and greedy CorruptCorporateExecutive but as the show progresses he turns out more like an AntiVillain showing a soft side with things like a deep caring for his son, secretly convincing to Bently not to run away from his parents (as he did when he was young), donating money to save the local school and trying to save the pond.

** Bender has his moments. Many episodes have shown that he genuinely thinks of Fry and Leela as his best friends. Then there was his parenting with Baby Ben in "The Bots and Bees" (which he was amazingly good at), [[spoiler:where he went as far as to have Ben's memories of their time together erased so that Ben could have the necessary installments to fulfill his dreams of going to bending school and following his father's footsteps.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': Stan Smith is a self righteous, bigoted, borderline {{Comedic Sociopath|y}}, however his callous antics are almost always with [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]], and ultimately [[PapaWolf he does care dearly about his family]]. In fact, it works better than with ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and especially sister series ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' because you're expected to find him a jerk straight from the get-go, and unlike the others, he's not a constant KarmaHoudini and does actually seem to learn a lesson at the end of the episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'': Uncle Ruckus is shown comforting Jasmine at the of the episode "A Huey Freeman Christmas", after she had been told multiple times that SantaClaus didn't exist.

** [[PrinceOfPranksters Muscle Man]] is like this at times, but he's ALWAYS got a heart of gold towards women, especially his girlfriend Starla.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'':

* ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'': Superboy is pretty abrasive and starts out a SmugSuper with CloningBlues. He also ends up being one of the more heroic and compassionate characters in the series, to the point that he could be considered TheHeart of the team.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Captain Planet|and the Planeteers}}'': Wheeler. BrooklynRage, usually the first to start a fight or complain with him and Linka either [[SlapSlapKiss flirting or trying to restart]] [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp The Cold War]], and if there's a member of the party who needs reminding of the week's GreenAesop, it's him. But he is a Planeteer, and is quick to defend his friends or anyone he sees in need of help. Appropriately enough, he's got the [[KillItWithFire Fire ring]].

-->'''Iago''': I'm just hiding my true compassion behind a facade of selfishness. Really.

-->'''[=BoJack=]''': [[spoiler:I know that I can be selfish and narcissistic and self-destructive but underneath all that, deep down, I'm a good person and I need you to tell me that I'm good... Diane... tell me, please, Diane, tell me that I'm good...]]

-->'''Timon''': Well, Simba, if it's important to you, we're with you to the end.

* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': Rick is a crazed,[[ItsAllAboutMe selfish]], erratic and [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] scientist who constantly drags his long-suffering grandson Morty (and sometimes the whole family) on mad adventures through other dimensions and space, usually with little regard to Morty's safety. However, he does have moments where he shows that he cares deeply about his grandson and [[PapaWolf isn't afraid to go to great measures to defend him]].

--> '''Griselda''': Remember, you’re Alfea girls, and Alfea girls do not lose to witches!

%%** Patty Smith, the {{Gonk}}y HugeSchoolgirl.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/DanVs https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nicejerk.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:They're not always [[FunTShirt this blatant]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda'': Link may be rather arrogant, rude, obnoxious and even perverted at times, but he is shown to genuinely care about Princess Zelda and the kingdom of Hyrule, saving the both of them from the clutches of Ganon and his minions multiple times throughout the show. For example, after deciding to leave North Castle due to Zelda becoming more infatuated with the vain Prince Facade and laughing at Link earlier, Ganon's forces end up raiding North Castle and kidnap Zelda. Link hears her scream and, while hesitant to do so, decides to head back to save her.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda'': Link.

** Soarin and especially Spitfire as of the episodes Wonderbolts Academy and Newbie Dash could qualify too. While they may strive to be the best, and mock their teammates, it's intended to be friendly teasing, and they reveal they're NotSoDifferent from Rainbow Dash giving into peer pressure, while at the same time genuinely caring for their friends and willing to step up to be reasonable authority figures when they are needed. They even reveal they were also hazed as was Fleetfoot and a few other 'Bolts on their first days as Wonderbolts with Spitfire saying "You don't wanna know." when talking about her nickname. Spitfire's even got the excuse of not being good with kids and her drill sergeant nasty persona being the only thing she knows due to being raised by the military. While Soarin has been shown to be nicer and more down to earth like post Season 2 Rainbow Dash at most times, he still qualifies as this in Newbie Dash having given into peer pressure. It is for their similarities that many people ship Soarin with Rainbow Dash or Spitfire.

** While Gumball Watterson can be exasperated with others and often does some dumb or insensitive things, he's a good kid and will go out of his way to try and help... [[UnwantedAssistance Even when explicitly told not to and when they don't want his help]]. You can't say he isn't a good boyfriend, either, as Penny is [[MoralityPet the only person he has never been rude towards, no matter the circumstances]]. And Even when he's bumbling or fouling things up, he never truly means it.

** Jeff Randell is usually a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] InsufferableGenius that tends to be [[ControlFreak controlling]] to his close friends or other, but he's still a good boy at heart and cares about his friends' well-being and is Generally A friendly and well-meaning boy overall

** Kevin is the resident JerkJock who hates the Eds and always insults them. However he's nicer to the other kids and sticks up for them if the Eds Do something . AND With three exceptions , he seems to be pretty generous with the mountain of jawbreakers he has in his garage (and it's ALSO worth noting that he was originally going to share some with the Eds until Eddy tried to pull his drawbridge scam on him). In a couple of episodes, Kevin can be seen getting along with Edd (Double D) and [[spoiler:at the end of The Movie he finally accepts all the Eds as his friends and offers them some of his jawbreakers.]]

** While Gumball Watterson can be exasperated with others and often does some dumb or insensitive things, he's a good kid and will go out of his way to try and help... [[UnwantedAssistance Even when explicitly told not to]]. You can't say he isn't a good boyfriend, either, as Penny is [[MoralityPet the only person he has never been rude towards, no matter the circumstances]]. Even when he's bumbling or fouling things up, he never means it.

** Jeff Randell is usually a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] InsufferableGenius that tends to be [[ControlFreak controlling]] to his close friends or other, but he's still a good boy at heart and cares about his friends' well meaning.

** Kevin is the resident JerkJock who hates the Eds and always insults them. However he's nicer to the other kids and sticks up for them if the Eds do something. With three exceptions, he seems to be pretty generous with the mountain of jawbreakers in his garage (and it's worth noting that he was originally going to share some with the Eds before Eddy tried to pull his drawbridge scam on him). In a couple of episodes, Kevin can be seen getting along with Edd and [[spoiler:at the end of The Movie he finally accepts all the Eds as his friends and offers them some of his jawbreakers.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': Stan Smith is a self righteous, bigoted, borderline ComedicSociopath, however his callous antics are almost always with [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]], and ultimately [[PapaWolf he does care dearly about his family]]. In fact, it works better than with ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and especially sister series ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' because you're expected to find him a jerk straight from the get-go, and unlike the others, he's not a constant KarmaHoudini and does actually seem to learn a lesson at the end of the episode.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasTheTankEngine'':

* ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'': Rabbit is as close as the Hundred Acre Wood gets to an OnlySaneMan, as well as being one of the resident [[ButtMonkey Butt Monkeys]], along with Eeyore. He reacts like any sane, hard-working adult who has to put up with the hijinks of [[TheFool Pooh]] and [[CrazyAwesome Tigger]] would. In ''Find Her, Keep Her'' Rabbit takes in an orphaned baby bluebird named Kessie and raises her himself.