History Main / JerkassBall

** Bernadetta starts grabbing it in later seasons, becoming increasingly shrill and bossy, particularly towards Howard. Then there's that episode where her CompetitionFreak tendencies surface, like yelling at Leonard so much during a scavenger hunt she set off an asthma attack.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', an offscreen example happens in the A rank event of Mathilda and Clive's support. Clair, Clive's younger sister, berates Mathilda for showing up Clive on the battlefield, saying [[StayInTheKitchen it's "unbecoming" of her]]. Not only does Clair never express these beliefs anywhere else in the game, but she's completely respectful of Mathilda in their supports ("You truly are strong, Mathilda. I hope that I might learn from your courage."), [[https://fireemblemwiki.org/wiki/Mathilda/Supports and you can compare the two here]].

* ComicBook/BlackCanary {{Deconstruction}}. During the ''Cry for Justice'' and ''Rise and Fall'' storylines, Black Canary (Dinah Lance) abandons her husband Green Arrow I (Oliver Queen) and her adopted son Speedy I/Arsenal/Red Arrow I (Roy Harper). When Oliver is in prison for the murder of Prometheus, she returns her wedding ring and declares their marriage over. When Roy goes back to using heroin after the pain in his right arm becomes too unbearable because of the infection and the horrible prosthetic Cyborg made, she officially considers him a lost cause. It is implied that Dinah was traumatized because of the events of the story and was lashing out at them. In ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey'', it is revealed Dinah harbors a huge amount of guilt for her actions and regrets abandoning them when they needed her the most.
* ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueCryForJustice'' hands the ball to several heroes, making them increasingly violent and sadistic in their efforts to track down criminals. The worst of them is Ray Palmer, who [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique tortures information out of Killer Moth]] by shrinking to a microscopic size, entering his brain and enlarging slightly to simulate a stroke--the same method Jean Loring used to kill Sue Dibny.
* ''Superman: Distant Fires'' had [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]] not only become arrogant and power-hungry, but the main villain of the comic, trying to kill Franchise/{{Superman}} for leadership. Keep in mind that Captain Marvel is usually one of the more kindly DC Superheroes. Though then again, this was an independent comic and was never canon.
* In ''ComicBook/GreenLanternRebirth'', after Parallax, the cosmic horror living embodiment of fear, has started wreaking havoc on Earth, the recently returned Hal Jordan gets ready to lead the rest of the Earth Green Lanterns against it... and Batman stops him for no reason other than being unreasonably paranoid and distrustful.

* ''Franchise/XMen'':

** In ''Classic Comicbook/XMen'', Bobby/Iceman isn't pleased at all with all these strangers joining what he considers his family, even when they are being friendly to him. He outright attacks Thunderbird (basically reinforcing Thunderbird's notoriously crappy attitude to the other X-Men).

** While Ami, Makoto, and Minako are generally {{Nice Girl}}s, plenty of moments will have them be jerks to [[LoserProtagonist Usagi]] (alongside Rei) due to RuleOfFunny. One of the worst examples by far is episode 106, where they not only refuse to share the blame with Usagi over what happened[[note]]eating the pie Chibi-Usa made for a classmate[[/note]] but ''laugh'' when Chibi-Usa keeps giving Usagi a hard time at the end.

** Luna the Cat is usually stern but reasonable, but she also has her moments of being downright cruel to Usagi (blaming her for stuff way out of control or even shaming her over her insecurities[[note]]like when Usagi fears becoming overweight[[/note]]) and Artemis (beating him up for no good reason, even when he goes out of his way to support her).

* In ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'', Ranma's dad Genma was always a bit of a careless jerk, but definitely took a level with the introduction of the Nekoken (a super-secret technique that can only be taught by torturing children), turning him from BumblingDad to insane, nightmare dad. It's also a case of NeverLiveItDown, since he rarely does anything else that approaches that level of horrific stupidity.

* Throughout Year 2 of ''Manga/AmazingAgentLuna'', Luna, Francesca, and Oliver all grip it tightly at various points for a variety of reasons, from FantasticRacism towards the [[BuffySpeak science-y]] to feelings of near-total abandonment.
* Downplayed example in ''Manga/{{Major}}''. Goro's friend and rival Toshiya, despite having before supported Goro's decision to leave Kaido Academy to challenge them instead of playing for them, during the tournament is shown to look down on Goro and his new Seisshu High team, fully confident that there's no way he could beat them. When they finally face each other in the tournament, he's forced to rethink his opinion when Goro, against all odds, manages to put Kaido against the ropes, forcing the game to extra innings, and doing so with ''an injured ankle'', making it clear things could have gone differently had Goro been on top of his game.

* Captain Archer from ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' played around with the JerkAss ball in the episode "A Night In Sickbay", rudely dismissing the idea of the Kreetassans being insulted because Porthos relieved himself on a tree (the fact that he brought his dog on a strange alien planet is a bit looney in itself), whining because they won't give them the plasma Injector that they need without him apologizing first, threatening to whiz on their trees himself, and berating everybody around him. The story writes in that this is because of his sexual tension with T'Pol.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}} Journeys'', during Ash's revisit to Alola, Kiawe starts being very judgmental on Goh because he feels like Goh isn't all that interested in helping Ash out despite being a traveling companion. It takes a quick test battle for Kiawe to drop the ball.

* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDW'': "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWIssue55To56 Wings over Yakyakistan]]" (issues 55-56) turns into a Jerkass Ball free-for-all when the plot gets going:
** Yakyakistan is attacked out of nowhere by a flock of dragons, led by what is revealed to be the new Dragon Lord Ember. She is initially reluctant to take time out from making war to explain herself, but then claims that [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E11NotAskingForTrouble Pinkie Pie being given the title of "honorary yak"]] violated some sacred bond between yaks and dragons. She references an ancient treaty and claims that the sacred bond is "one that never would be replicated", but does not point out anything in their treaty where the yaks specifically agreed not to grant the title of "honorary yak" to any other creature. It is only after much prodding from Spike that Ember makes any attempt at a peaceful resolution. All that despite the fact that Spike had [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E5GauntletOfFire given Ember the position of Dragon Lord]] after she gave him every reason to trust that she was the new leader the dragons needed to ''avoid'' senseless war.
** As the ponies take shelter from the dragon attack, some of them make [[FantasticRacism blatantly insensitive remarks]] about dragons... right in front of Spike.
** Also in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWHolidays2014 The 2014 Equestria Girls Holiday Special]], the Rainbooms take it up to eleven when they falsely accuse Sunset Shimmer of being Anon-A-Miss.

** Also in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicIDWHolidays2014 The 2014 Equestria Girls Holiday Special]], the Rainbooms take it up to eleven when they falsely accuse Sunset Shimmer og being Anon-A-Miss.

** Clover try to set up Alex with one of Dash friends Dale even those she know Alex is dating Danny, because Danny not into sports like Alex. And when Dale try to attack Alex for not leaving Danny for him, Clover did not care. To be fair accounting to WordOfGod, Dash stoping Dale attacking Alex for pragmatic reasons was the reason she did nothing.

* [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Ruby Rose]] is normally an [[AllLovingHero all loving,]] HumbleHero, but she becomes surprisingly selfish on her birthday. Since UsefulNotes/{{Halloween}} happens to land on her birthday, that selfishness is passed to the holiday. Demonstrated in "Ruby's Halloween Do-Over" where she forces teams RWBY and JNPR to go trick-or-treating with her after their Halloween was ruined by [[spoiler:Trigon]], when she hoarded an entire batch of cookies for herself that were meant for everyone.

This is when [[TookALevelInJerkass Taking a Level in Jerkass]] is plot-requested. Sometimes, an otherwise nice person becomes a {{Jerkass}} unexpectedly, most likely [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality to advance the plot]] or sometimes simply [[RuleOfFunny for humor value]].

* ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'' has the Muppets themselves (except for Kermit, Animal and Walter) get hit with this. They let their own egos get the better of them to the detriment of their stage show and spend much of the film treating Kermit rather inconsiderately, from shoving him aside in favor of Dominic to not noticing that his identity has been stolen by Constantine despite how blatantly obvious it is. Even Fozzie, Gonzo, and Scooter - usually three of the nicest Muppets around - aren't immune to this. It isn't until Constantine, under his Kermit guise, falsely tells them that Walter and Fozzie quit the Muppets (when in truth, they, along with Animal, escaped to find the real Kermit after discovering his ruse) and then publicly proposes to Miss Piggy, do they start to get better as they express concern over what will happen to to the world tour and to them. He tells them they now have all the freedom they want and that [[QuittingToGetMarried he's done with the Muppets]], leaving them devastated and depressed, and they drop it completely when Constantine is exposed.

In-story, the sudden change in behavior can have a variety of reasons. Sometimes they're mundane everyday reasons such as merely having a bad day and can include longer-term ones such as intense levels of stress over an extensively period of time. Others could because of certain scenarios; maybe that one activity just has them lose their patience. Sometimes the JerkassBall is a more literal thing, such as alcohol and the character in question being a mean drunk. Of course, supernatural, paranormal or abnormal items being the literal JerkassBall is common too; the portrayal of Superman under the effects of Red Kryptonite is an example.

** Yakyakistan is attacked out of nowhere by a flock of dragons, led by what is revealed to be the new Dragon Lord Ember. She is initially reluctant to take time out from making war to explain herself, but then claims that [[[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E11NotAskingForTrouble Pinkie Pie being given the title of "honorary yak"]] violated some sacred bond between yaks and dragons. She references an ancient treaty and claims that the sacred bond is "one that never would be replicated", but does not point out anything in their treaty where the yaks specifically agreed not to grant the title of "honorary yak" to any other creature. It is only after much prodding from Spike that Ember makes any attempt at a peaceful resolution. All that despite the fact that Spike had [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E5GauntletOfFire given Ember the position of Dragon Lord]] after she gave him every reason to trust that she was the new leader the dragons needed to ''avoid'' senseless war.

[[folder:Film]]

** JerkassBall/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic

* ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted'' has the Muppets themselves (except for Kermit, Animal and Walter) get hit with this. They let their own egos get the better of them to the detriment of their stage show and spend much of the film treating Kermit rather inconsiderately, from shoving him aside in favor of Dominic to not noticing that his identity has been stolen by Constantine despite how blatantly obvious it is. Even Fozzie, Gonzo, and Scooter - usually three of the nicest Muppets around - aren't immune to this. It isn't until Constantine under his Kermit guise publicly proposes to Miss Piggy do they start to get better (they express concern over what will happen to to the world tour and them after Kermit (alias Constantine) and Piggy are married. He tells them they now have all the freedom they want and that [[QuittingToGetMarried he's done with the Muppets]], leaving them devastated and depressed) and they drop it completely when Constantine is exposed.

[[folder:Western Animation]]

[[/folder]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Hero", Nicole and Anais become [[AbusiveParents flat-out abusive]], denying Gumball and Darwin necessities such as food and use of the shower, along with trying to brain them with cement cupcakes, [[DisproportionateRetribution just because they were complaining about their father at school]].
** "The Words" sees Darwin, very reminiscently of Fluttershy from My Little Pony, take a lesson in assertiveness too far when he ends up hurting everyone else's feelings when he begins airing out his pet peeves he has with them. It takes Gumball giving him a literal verbal smackdown to get him [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone to see the error of his ways]].
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
** An egregious example of this happens in the episode "So Funny I Forgot To Laugh". Arthur, an established NiceGuy and a frequent bullying target, [[OutOfCharacterMoment temporarily gets derailed]] [[CompressedVice into a bully]] just because the writers needed someone to harass one of his classmates over a sweater and deliver an anti-bullying Aesop.
** Jane and David Read are normally two of the [[GoodParents nicest parents]] in any kids cartoon, but in the infamous episode "[[Recap/ArthurS4E1DWsLibraryCardArthursBigHit Arthur's Big Hit]]", when [[TheBully Binky]] punches Arthur, they tell him that [[NoSympathy he now knows how D.W. felt when he punched her]] instead of telling Binky's parents about it.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Aang is normally a CheerfulChild and AllLovingHero, but there are two notable instances in the series that take an unfortunate toll on him -- in "The Desert", after Appa gets kidnapped, he goes into a severe state of emotional stress and spends a good chunk of the episode being rather grumpy and confrontational, only calming down after Katara brings him out of the Avatar state with a CooldownHug. Later on, in the first quarter of "Sozin's Comet", after being told by basically everyone that killing Ozai is the only option for him, he stubbornly refuses to do such a thing (in his defense, though, he ''is'' a monk, so it's not surprising that he would hold that view) and forces his friends to come up with another solution before running off in frustration.
** Similarly, Katara is prone to doing this from time to time as well despite being the calm and sensible TeamMom of the group. Here are a few examples for proof:
*** She has a brief moment in "The Waterbending Scroll", when after Aang subconsciously bests her at waterbending, she yells at him out of jealousy. After Sokka gives her a "What was that for?" look and she sees Aang beginning to cry, she has a JerkassRealization and apologises.
*** [[spoiler:When Zuko joins the group after finally making a HeelFaceTurn, she is the last person to trust him and is rather spiteful towards him on a few occasions, such as when she teases him about how his firebending skills have dropped in quality in "The Firebending Masters" and making a mean-spirited remark towards him about what happened to her mother in "The Southern Raiders". In the latter episode, she also bluntly tells Sokka that he didn't love her mother as much as she did after deciding to locate her murderer. After she and Zuko confront the murderer, she finally reverts back to her normal personality and fully accepts him into the group.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'': Ethan Bennett's Clayface is generally treated as a sympathetic AntiVillain throughout the series due to the tragic circumstances behind his transformation and his prior friendship with Bruce. The season two HalloweenEpisode "Grundy's Night" however sees Clayface go full-on villain with him taking advantage of the titular legend to rob mansions while taking the form of Solomon Grundy.
* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'':
** Cricket is hit with this hard in the ChristmasEpisode. The only reason he wants to be on the nice list is to get a present from Santa, which contrasts with the way Tilly sees Christmas as: being kind to others. He ends up thinking Santa will never give him presents because he's naughty, and resorts to being just that. He goes so far he almost ruins the holiday for everyone, especially Tilly who is blamed for a tree crash, who calls him out for it. Having mixed feelings, Cricket has a HeelRealization and apologizes.
** Cricket is at his worst again in "Animation Abomination", in which he demands that his version of the season finale of ''Kingdom of Lore'' (the show's lead character turns evil and everything explodes) be done as he wants, not even caring if it makes no sense for the series.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': When Callum is in a coma because of his use of dark magic, Rayla spends two episodes being angry at him for doing so even though he did it to save her life. To be fair, however, she still gives him doting care and throws in a gentle word of encouragement every now and again. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when she begins to understand how serious Callum's fever dream, or dark magic coma, is after Callum begins having trouble breathing.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'': April is prone to doing this from time to time as well despite being the calm and sensible TeamMom of the group. Here are a few examples for proof:
** [[spoiler:When her father got mutated as a bat, April explodes in anger and cuts all ties with the Turtle and acts spiteful towards them, especially Donnie. In "Mutagen Unleashed", she blames them on Mutagen Man's attack on her, and in "Target: April O'Neil", she angrily [[RejectedApology refuses to accept Donnie's apology]] and ends up pushing him away. She does take a second to listen to his advice that some things can't be controlled. When she learns Casey lost his friend on an incident, this served as an eye-openner on [[JerkassRealization her make her realize she is doing]] [[WasTooHardOnHim things wrong]] and decided to call the Turtles for help when she was attacked by Karai. After she was saved, she finally reverts to her normal personality, as she apologizes to them for the way she acted and decides to renounce to her grudge-holding ways.]]
* Combination of this and IdiotBall in ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'', Rufus is usually extremely obedient and friendly to the point of [[TastesLikeDiabetes being saccharine]]. Whenever the plot calls for the Urpneys to steal the Dreamstone however, he seems to gain an arrogant streak, disobeying the Dream Maker's orders and messing with the stone so as to give the villains an opening.
* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'':
** Normally the nice girl, Nazz gets this from time to time, the most jarring example is in the episode "To Sir With Ed", when she humiliates Eddy in his house when she was supposed to be babysitting him. She also ''always'' laughs along with the other kids when the Eds are humiliated, but this probably is more about her being NotSoAboveItAll.
** Ed in "Little Ed Blue" as well. While many see his anger in this episode more as TookALevelInBadass since he managed to tell Sarah off and gave Kevin a well-deserved beating, as well as his constant pummeling on Eddy, he still qualifies here since he nearly snapped Plank in two by the end, [[spoiler:which would've been the case had Jonny not taken out the pebble in Ed's shoe.]]
** Even Edd, the most sympathetic and arguably the nicest character on the whole show, has his rare moments where he can come across as a major douchebag. A great example of this is shown in "Sorry, Wrong Ed" when he becomes completely callous of all the precarious predicaments Eddy gets into in the hands of the curse of the telephone. Even when Eddy gets trampled by hippos and even zapped by lightning ''right in front of Edd'', Edd, again, considers it all a coincidence and even ''smiles'' at the pain Eddy suffers in the end, which has him getting the impression that being right is more important than the well-being of his friend.
** Jimmy is more prone to holding it in later seasons of the show. It's mostly due to flanderization. A famous example is in the episode "If It Smells Like an Ed", when he frames all three Eds because Eddy gave him a wedgie. While Eddy deserved it, Ed and Edd were punished simply because they stood by Eddy's side.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'': The plot of "The Great Fairy Share Scare" seems to require Timmy to be an incredibly selfish {{Jerkass}} in order to make the plot work. This is pretty glaring as he had been seeing some CharacterRerailment after being a jerk in some of the previous seasons. In fact, most of the post-Chloe episodes require him to be an even bigger jerk than normal to contrast her IncorruptiblePurePureness.
* Nearly every ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' character is prone to this based on RuleOfFunny. Lois and Brian, who by default are somewhat straight-faced and fairly empathetic characters, can become selfish, vindictive and outright sociopathic jerks if it helps with the shock value comedy. To a lesser extent Seth [=McFarlane=]'s [[WesternAnimation/AmericanDad other]] [[WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow works]] are prone to this as well.
** This was used so many times with Lois and Brian that eventually they just became full-blown [[JerkAss Jerk Asses]] by default.
* ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' has a couple of instances:
** In "Queasy Rider", the resident ExtremeDoormat NiceGuy PJ is shown laughing at his friend, Max, after Max was humiliated. Later, after Max is being somewhat rude to him, PJ deliberately sets an overflowing hose off on Max. It's not unheard of for PJ to [[BewareTheNiceOnes get revenge]], but it usually requires more provocation, and regardless of circumstances, he otherwise never does anything worse ''[[UndyingLoyalty to Max]]'' than be [[BrutalHonesty brutally honest]].
** "Bringin' on the Rain" takes a character who's ''already'' consistently a {{Jerkass}}, Pete, and turns his {{Jerkass}}ery UpToEleven. He likes to mistreat his neighbor, Goofy and his son, PJ, but he generally doesn't do both in the same episode, and when he does, the offense to one is small or subtle; sometimes he won't blatantly torment either one. In this episode he is crueler than usual to ''both'' of them: [[ItMakesSenseInContext deliberately getting Goofy arrested for "two consecutive life terms" just so he could win a gardening contest]] and forcing PJ to do difficult manual labor during a drought while consciously depriving him of fluids. He has no remorse for any of his actions, only relenting about Goofy's treatment once caught, and acknowledging PJ's as if it weren't a problem ''twice''. In the end, his [[LaserGuidedKarma punishment]] is left up to the viewer's imagination.
** In "Inspector Goofy", Goofy, Peg, and PJ all carry one. Goofy for engaging in SelectiveEnforcement after promising not to, Peg by having no sympathy when said selective enforcement results in Pete getting kicked out of the house and taunting him with food, and PJ for using one of his two lines to suggest selling Pistol to the circus. This is more jarring if you think that Goofy and PJ are typically the ''nicest'' characters on the show. In particular, Goofy usually doesn't do anything deliberately mean, and PJ almost never strikes first and seldom strikes back. While Peg can be ruthless in enforcing her rules, she typically doesn't do anything blatantly cruel.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'':
** Arnold, who's normally a nice kid who acts as TheConscience to his peers, has taken the JerkassBall on occasion. The most notable incidents are in "New Teacher" and especially "Egg Story".
*** In "New Teacher", Arnold's teacher Ms. Slovak retires from teaching and is replaced with Mr. Simmons. Although Simmons is a nice man who is very passionate about teaching, the students don't like him very much due to his effeminate personality, so they decide to bully him to the point that he quits. Not only does Arnold not object to it, he joins in on it!
*** In "Egg Story", Arnold and Helga are partnered together to care for an egg as an exercise in parenting. Helga, rather than be a LovingBully to Arnold, decides to try and be nice to him for once. Before she can, Arnold rips her a new asshole, telling Helga that he is done tolerating her abuse (understandable, but Helga hasn't done anything bad to him up to this point) that he doesn't like her (obviously untrue, since Arnold has admitted to liking Helga in the past and knows that [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold she's not a bad person deep down]]) and would rather work with anyone else but her (they've successfully worked together several times before this episode, aside from the "Biosquare" project). While it was probably done as Karmic Retribution to Helga for all the times she was mean to Arnold, Arnold is so much of a dick in this episode that it's difficult to take his side. Helga gets furious and rightfully calls Arnold a "big, dumb jerk." The two spend the rest of the episode arguing as a result.
** Phoebe takes the Jerkass Ball in "Hall Monitor" after Helga teaches her to stop being an ExtremeDoormat so that she can be a better hall monitor (Helga being the former Hall monitor.) Phoebe takes it way too far, and has to be talked down by Helga at the end of the episode.
** Mr. Green in "Harold the Butcher", after getting his BerserkButton pressed by Harold stealing his meat, he is so blinded by his constant grudge against Harold that he acts like a MeanBoss towards Harold when he is punished to work at his shop and then vehemently refused the poor kid's offer to work full-time. However, by the end of the episode, Mr. Green forgives Harold and hired him as his apprentice.
** "A Day in the Life of a Classroom" has Mr. Simmons hold this when he prepares for the titular documentary. He loses so much sensibility that he even wrote scripts for the students to read off of. Naturally, it goes south during filming (plus at one point, Simmons snaps at Harold and makes him cry), and Arnold points out that Mr. Simmons has always been a great teacher.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'': Episode 9, Frida firmly grabs the ball; she tries to make Hilda and David believe a ghost is responsible for the mess in her room, when it’s actually her own doing and till recently a ghost used to clean it up. She lets her friends do pretty much all the work when they help to clean up her room. She gets into two fights with David when he makes fun of her belief that rooms cleaning themselves is normal, and tells her she should accept not being perfect. Finally, when their attempts to get the missing book back fail and David and Hilda try to cheer her up, she lashes out at both of them, eventually driving both her friends away.
* The rather [[BrokenBase infamous]] episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', "Clash", had Superman take firm hold of the Jerkass Ball, becoming uncharacteristically irrational and antagonistic towards new league member Captain Marvel.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' TV series: The episode "Search for the Sky Color Stones" gives one to ''Ducky'' and turns her into a greedy, paranoid, deceiving hoarder who would rather hunt for geodes and keep them all to herself, becoming distrustful of her friends and even forgetting about Spike who is helplessly stuck. Especially jarring considering she never acted like that before or after. She does, however, have a HeelRealization after a [[FriendOrIdolDecision life-or-geode decision]] and apologizes to Spike afterwards.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': Lincoln and his sisters are generally good but flawed kids, but in the first two seasons there are quite a few episodes where they (or at least most of them) are all derailed into unlikable jerks for the sake of the plot. Examples of this are "April Fools Rules", "Sleuth or Consequences", "Making the Grade", "The Green House", "No Suck Luck", and "It's a Loud, Loud, Loud, Loud House". Thankfully, starting with Season 3, this has been happening with less frequency.
* This happens on ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' on a regular basis due to the [[AnAesop Aesop]]-centric formula of the show:
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E3TheTicketMaster "The Ticket Master"]], when Twilight receives a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala, [[EveryoneChasingYou everypony starts to chase her for it]] [[TrueCompanions including her friends-]] yes, even [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Fluttershy]].
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E9BridleGossip "Bridle Gossip"]] when [[TokenMinority Zecora, a zebra]] comes to town and is the victim of FantasticRacism by everypony (including the Mane 6 minus [[OnlySaneMan Twilight and Apple Bloom]], and even ''then'' [[IdiotBall Twilight briefly joins in when their suspicions are seemingly confirmed]]). Apple Bloom later follows Zecora home to see if the racism is justified and the Mane 6 try to get her back. HilarityEnsues.
** Discord, the BigBad of the Season 2 Premiere has the power to ''{{Invoke|dTrope}}'' this trope on others.
*** In the same premiere, Twilight seemed to be holding it because she lost patience with her corrupted friends; when [[OnlySaneMan Spike]] had practical concerns such as Rainbow Dash, who was corrupted at the time, being missing, Twilight doesn't care at all about it and makes him take her place in the Elements of Harmony ritual. [[EpicFail This fails for obvious reasons]].
** In [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E19PuttingYourHoofDown "Putting Your Hoof Down"]] Angel treats Fluttershy like crap, forcing her to go to the market so he can eat his favorite foods. Once there [[AdamSmithHatesYourGuts everypony hates her guts]] and tries to take advantage of her. For example a cherry costs her 10 bits but when another pony buys another cherry it costs only 2 bits. Tomatoes are now 2 bits rather than the one they were yesterday. Fluttershy gets assertiveness training from a visiting motivational speech-giving Minotaur named Iron Will, but eventually goes mad with her newfound assertiveness and starts bullying anyone who so much as vaguely inconveniences her. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone She snaps out of it]] when she manages to make her friends cry as a result.
** [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E3LessonZero "Lesson Zero"]], where the usually reasonable and fair-natured Twilight Sparkle has an outright SanitySlippage from being tardy in writing a friendship letter, and resorts to causing a problem in order to have material. The other [[FanNickname Mane 6]] bouncing with the ball laugh at her problem and tell her she is overreacting.
** It's also held by Spike in the episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess "Secret of My Excess"]], where he ends up being overcome by a dragon's hoarding instinct and starts abusing the fact that it's his birthday to try and get free stuff from people until it eventually gets out of control and [[MakeMyMonsterGrow causes him to become a huge, savage dragon]].
** Applejack in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E9HonestApple "Honest Apple"]], where she's tasked with critiquing the practicality of some fashion designs and ends up offending everyone who made them by not tactfully filtering her opinions.
** Most of Equestria gets hold this ball in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS7E14FameAndMisfortune "Fame and Misfortune"]]. As soon as the Friendship Journal is published for the public to read, kids become over-obsessive about Rainbow Dash while brushing off Twilight Sparkle entirely, and older ponies laugh at everything Pinkie Pie says even though it's not funny, try to insert themselves into Applejack's family life, harass Fluttershy for [[AesopAmnesia learning the same lessons over and over again]], and boycott Rarity's business because [[DisproportionateRetribution they didn't like her lessons]]. It reaches its head when mobs of ponies surround Twilight's castle and act like they're fictional characters ''in-universe'', with one saying Twilight's "character" would be more interesting if she'd stayed in Canterlot. They also [[KarmaHoudini they don't learn their lesson and continue to engage in petty squabbles with each other up until the very end of the episode]], with the only exceptions being the newly-introduced Toola Roola and Coconut Cream.
** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS6E16TwentyEightPranksLater 28 Pranks Later]]" opens with Rainbow Dash pranking Fluttershy by pretending to be a monster, leaving her absolutely terrified. This despite the fact that back in "Griffon the Brush-Off", Rainbow specifically refused to prank Fluttershy knowing she's too sensitive to handle it (not to mention whatever prank they were planning back then was probably far more mild than what she pulled in this episode). Some of the other pranks Rainbow Dash plays (such as sneaking a brick into a pony's sandwich, which could easily have caused him real harm) are also much more mean-spirited than what she had previously been shown to be capable of.
** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E9NonCompeteClause Non-Compete Clause]]" gives Applejack and Rainbow Dash joint custody of the Jerkass Ball. Not only are they as obsessed with competing with each other as they were back in "Fall Weather Friends", they can't be bothered to set it aside even when the safety of their students is at stake.
** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E20TheWashouts The Washouts]]" hits Rainbow Dash with the Jerkass Ball when she objects to Scootaloo taking an interest in the titular stunt team. While she expresses legitimate safety concerns with Scootaloo actually joining the Washouts, she practically admits that she is motivated at least as much by wanting Scootaloo to look up to her and her alone. Rainbow goes so far as to strongly imply that she had been expecting Scootaloo to follow her into the Wonderbolts, despite [[Main/DreamCrushingHandicap being unable to fly]].[[note]]Rainbow Dash comes off as an even bigger jerkass when you consider that back in "Flight to the Finish", she herself helped Scootaloo learn that even if she can't fly, she's still special in other ways. As such, there's no excuse for her to be unaware of Scootaloo's wing situation.[[/note]] Scotaloo also plays with the ball herself when she openly disparages the Wonderbolts to Rainbow Dash's face (knowing full well that becoming one was Rainbow's lifelong dream).
** "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS9E15TwoFourSixGreaaat 2, 4, 6, Greaaat]]" has Rainbow Dash passionately embrace the Jerkass Ball when she shamelessly walks away from her duties as cheer squad coach, and openly disparages cheerleading in front of the squad (some of whom probably have Rainbow as a teacher, no less). Even when Yona and Ocellus run away crying, she fails to see anything wrong with her behavior until Smolder calls her out.
* Shaggy and Scooby got this in one episode of the ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMysteries''. Velma, who now works for NASA, invites Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby, and Scrappy, to a dinner at the White House, in honor of an achievement Velma's made. A TV Crew approaches Velma for an interview. Shaggy and Scooby jump up, push Velma aside, and then begin making faces and saying "Hi mom!". On live TV. Shaggy and Scooby, arguably two of the nicest people in gang, suddenly become obnoxious bastards while their friend, ''the one who invited them to this prestigious place'', was in the middle of being honored. For a gag. Velma's ''very'' hurt look throughout the scene does no favors. Fortunately they're back to normal quickly.
* The early ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' special ''He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown!'' let nearly the entire cast hold it. Highlights include Snoopy actually physically attacking Charlie Brown and Linus, Peppermint Patty treating Snoopy as a slave, and even Charlie Brown himself at one point nearly strangling Snoopy with a leash!
* Bubbles from ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' is typically a NiceGirl, with the exception of the episode "Bubblevicious", when [[AllCrimesAreEqual she starts beating up citizens for minor offenses]]. The episode centers on Bubbles becoming frustrated with how her sisters and the professor babying her. She sets to prove them wrong by taking the training simulator UpToEleven and after some initial trouble, she proceeds to crush the monsters of the simulation and she becomes much more aggressive. She calms down and reverts to her old self when her sisters stop babying her and admit she's hardcore.
* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': Grabbed firmly by Sunspot in "Ain't No Mars Mountain High Enough". He wants to hike alone and refuses to team up with Celery. He is later humbled when the gang saves him from flying off. He's usually a NiceGuy.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'':
** In the episode "Lost Ball" where Gus accidentally kicks their one good ball over the fence, Mikey is only one of his direct friends who gives him a hard time about it, even though he's supposed to be one of the nicer kids.
** Then there was the episode where Gus temporarily became King and the power went to his head. Changing the name Kickball to Gusball, changing the school's anthem into a personal vanity song, and imprisoning everyone for the slightest offense, especially when not agreeing to mining for cookies. And if anyone dare try to explain that cookies don't grow in the ground it only makes him more psychotic.
** King Bob has also handled the JerkassBall several times. Arguably, the most egregious example occurs in "Fort Tender," where he doesn't lift a finger to help TJ and his friends regain their eponymous fort from Lawson and his GangOfBullies on the grounds of a "Finders Keepers" rule. And when Gus protests that it's unfair, King Bob admits it but refuses to repeal it anyway. Judging him from that episode alone, you'd think, "It's a wonder King Bob hasn't been overthrown by littler kids."
** Gretchen also held it in "Pharaoh Bob" when King Bob becomes obsessed with being remembered and decides to build a pyramid out of mud, making Gretchen his advisor. When Gretchen's friends complain about how they're being forced every recess to build a pyramid and are getting in trouble with their parents for coming home filthy, Gretchen ignores their problems and yells at them to continue it. She only snaps out of it when Bob goes overboard and starts using the hose on his subjects when they rebel and quits on the spot.
* ''WesternAnimation/RomanCity'': When the Druids attack Verbonia while he's on a diplomatic trip, Gaius Valerius, feeling betrayed, [[DisproportionateRetribution subjugates all the Celts in Gaul]]--even the very diplomacy-minded Acco Bouviax is sent to labor in the quarries. It takes the combined efforts of Marcus Fabricius, who appeals to [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Caesar Augustus]] himself, and Acco's daughter Aiden, who catches wind of an assassination plot against the Emperor during a Druid meeting and saves him from a Druid assassin, to convince Valerius that his general temper tantrum against the Celts was wrong.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'', Chas Finster handles it big time in "Chuckie is Rich" when he wins ten million dollars in a sweepstakes contest and goes through AcquiredSituationalNarcissism. Thankfully, his son Chuckie [[ChildrenAreInnocent averts this trope]], instead finding rich life a miserable existence. Of course, Chas gets over the snobbishness when he [[EasyComeEasyGo loses nearly all of his money in a bad investment]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E18TheBoysOfBummer The Boys of Bummer]]", everyone in Springfield other than the Simpsons holds the ball when they torment Bart just for missing a game-winning catch in a baseball game, even going so far as to goad him into committing suicide.
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E18SeparateVocations Separate Vocations]]", Lisa suffers the dual whammy of having a vocation aptitude test result of 'housewife' and being told she'll never be a great saxophonist because her fingers are too stubby. She turns into a Bad Girl, smoking in class, backtalking her teacher, and finally coming up with a plot to steal all the Teacher's Edition textbooks to sow chaos. Inversely, the same episode has Bart becoming a good kid after getting the result of 'police officer' on the same vocational aptitude test. Which he has to forsake to bring his sister back and induce the Status Quo.
** One of the most infamous examples is "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E11OnAClearDayICantSeeMySister On a Clear Day, I Can't See My Sister]]". Bart plays a few pranks on Lisa during a field trip, which results in her getting a restraining order against him, then proceeding to abuse him with it (which is actually illegal). It gets to the point that she coldly forces Bart to live outside to be RaisedByWolves, then refuses to let him back in even when Marge asks her to get rid of the order. [[KarmaHoudini She gets away with all of it, too]].
* Stan and Kyle of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' are usually {{Only Sane M|an}}en to the craziness of the world around them, and act as more moralistic foils to Cartman. At times however, often when Cartman is not in a starring role, they can act rather selfish or immoral, having nothing against using similar bullying or conniving tactics as Cartman to get what they want. This is more toned down in later seasons, though still pops up every now and then.
* To be brief, the characters of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' seemed to pass around the Jerkass Ball like a hot potato in the post-movie episodes. That is, until Stephen Hillenburg came back to the show and undid everything, including the CharacterDerailment.
** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS5E18WhatEverHappenedToSpongeBob Whatever Happened To SpongeBob?]]", [=SpongeBob=]'s friends all become jerks to him, yelling at him and calling him "idiot boy" whenever the sponge comes in an accidentally messes something up for them (of course, since one of them is [[CrankyNeighbor Squidward we're talking about here]], that's not much of a surprise). They at least realize their mistake when they find the letter he wrote after he runs away as a result of their abuse.
** In "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS7E131KeepBikiniBottomBeautifulAPalForGary A Pal For Gary]]", [=SpongeBob=] holds both ''this'' and an IdiotBall. When he brings home Puffy Fluffy, he scolds Gary for being mean to the new pet, despite that pet being a monster that hates other pets, which [=SpongeBob=] completely ignores when he decides to bring it home. He's even an UngratefulBastard to Gary, scolding him despite saving his neck from the monster.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'', much akin to ''Friendship Is Magic'', utilizes this often for [[AnAesop Aesop]] value. This is especially prominent in later episodes, where even formally wise and kind engines like Edward can suddenly gain bouts of AcquiredSituationalNarcissism or FantasticRacism.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'' episode "The Tick Vs Arthur", Arthur is tired of being weak and being everyone's punching bag, so he steals villain Baron Violent's belt which gives him his super strength. At first he uses it for good, but after a while, he begins to abuse it, demanding respect and free things from everyone. When the Tick tries to interfere, Arthur beats him up. Eventually, after some convincing from his girlfriend, Carmalita, Arthur realizes what a jerk he's become and destroys the belt.
* Some of ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' shorts employ this. It's often Tom who's being the bad one, but Jerry sometimes gets it, in order to justify [[TeamRocketWins Tom winning]], even if often [[KarmaHoudini Jerry gets away with it]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': The show has a tendency to have characters normally known for being {{Nice Guy}}s or Girls and give them a sudden or unexpected OutOfCharacterMoment of jerkassery - and unlike with the show's IdiotBall moments, it's rarely to justify an elimination.
** DJ is sometimes shown picking on Harold along with Geoff and Duncan, despite the fact that he's ordinarily a contender for the nicest character on the show. Geoff to a lesser extent, as most of the time outside of this arc ([[TookALevelInJerkass in season one at least]]), he's shown to be nice, if not quite as nice as DJ.
** Bridgette is another common victim of this. Despite normally being one of the nicest characters on the show and having a compassionate and pacifistic personality, she has occasionally done some rather mean or violent things, such as ridiculing Tyler for his phobia of chickens, acting like a ClingyJealousGirl towards Geoff, and even hitting him for saying unflattering things about her.