History Main / SpaceWhaleAesop

* The ''Series/OneStepBeyond'' episode "Forests of the Night" taught us that [[spoiler:dabbling in the occult will cause you to turn into a leopard]]. The ''Twilight Zone'' episode "Jess Belle" is similar.

* In ''VideoGame/CassetteBeasts,'' Frank's personal quest teaches that creatives [[OldShame shouldn't be embarrassed of their old work; even if it's not up to your current standards, it still laid the grounds for your current skills.]] Because if you don't, when your work [[ArtInitiatesLife comes to life]] and hears you talking smack about her, she'll be driven to do dangerous things to try and impress you before she eventually [[RageAgainstTheAuthor tries to kill you.]]

[[quoteright:236:[[Webcomic/DogHouseDiaries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9c4a9b0fc569befcccd9b9c65cc429ac.png]]]]

* In ''Webcomic/DogHouseDiaries'', [[http://www.thedoghousediaries.com/?p=207 Don't run with scissors.]]

[[quoteright:236:[[Webcomic/TheDogHouseDiaries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9c4a9b0fc569befcccd9b9c65cc429ac.png]]]]

* In ''Webcomic/TheDogHouseDiaries'', [[http://www.thedoghousediaries.com/?p=207 Don't run with scissors.]]

* Passed over rather quickly in ''Film/PacificRim'': Geizler mentions that the {{Kaiju}}'s [[spoiler:creators']] initial attempt to take over the planet failed owing to a lack of compatibility with the atmosphere, but now that humans have sufficiently polluted our planet, it's ripe for a batshit insane monster takeover. Go figure. It also introduces some FridgeLogic: [[spoiler:Why couldn't the {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s, who have been waiting 65 million years for the atmosphere to randomly change just right, perform a feat of geo-engineering that humans managed in about a century by accident]].

--> '''Donnie:''' So I got really deep into crime. I did a drive-by at my own daughter's quinceaera! Yeah, shot up everybody-- dead, killed! Yeah! Yeah! Then I got sucked into a wormhole.

* ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'': Accept what happened in the past and move on, otherwise [[spoiler:your hometown and everyone you know in it will die to a {{Clock Roach|es}} tornado created by the universe meant to kill the person you keep trying to save with time travel]].

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1424748145032525200
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E7TheIdiotsLantern "The Idiot's Lantern"]]: Don't structure your life around what you see on television or your face will be sucked off by Maureen Lipman.

This trope should not be confused with FantasticAesop. The Fantastic Aesop promotes or discourages a course of action which can't even be ''attempted'' in the real world (e.g. "[[Literature/PetSematary Never use black magic to resurrect your dead dog]]") by showing a reasonably plausible set of consequences ("Poor beloved Tropey CameBackWrong"). The Space Whale Aesop promotes or discourages a course of action which ''can'' be attempted in RealLife ("don't perform nuclear tests") by showing ''consequences'' that strain credibility ("radiation from the tests will awaken [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} a giant monster]] that destroys Tokyo") instead of a more realistic but not quite as dramatic example [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmvbjcmyKGo ("it can burn whole buildings if someone is careless").]]

This trope should not be confused with FantasticAesop. The Fantastic Aesop promotes or discourages a course of action which can't even be ''attempted'' in the real world (e.g. "Never use black magic to resurrect your dog") by showing a reasonably plausible set of consequences ("Poor beloved Tropey CameBackWrong"). The Space Whale Aesop promotes or discourages a course of action which ''can'' be attempted in RealLife ("don't perform nuclear tests") by showing ''consequences'' that strain credibility ("radiation from the tests will awaken [[Franchise/{{Godzilla}} a giant monster]] that destroys Tokyo") instead of a more realistic but not quite as dramatic example [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmvbjcmyKGo ("it can burn whole buildings if someone is careless").]]

* In-universe in ''Fanfic/ThanksButNo'' after the akuma Jadeite is defeated and exposed as Lila, she is''further'' exposed by Scarabella about lying of being her best friend and a reserved Miraculous hero. Nadja ends the report telling kids not to lie unless they want Hawkmoth to come after them.

* In a number of Creator/HPLovecraft's stories, the lesson we're supposed to learn is "Don't breed with other races, or your town will be corrupted and your kids will be demonic mutant freaks." By "other races" he meant, of course, [[ValuesDissonance people with skin colors different from your own]], but in the actual stories this was expressed more as "monstrous fish people and tentacular {{Eldritch Abomination}}s" and the corruption would often take the form of some kind of [[ReligionOfEvil ancient crazy pagan cult]]... Yeah, he was a bit of a racist. If anything, the real lesson of these stories was [[BestialityIsDepraved not to screw fish]], which is just common sense, really.
** It also makes Lovecraft's stories some of those cases where the outlandishness of the metaphor works to the story's benefit: if it made you miss the intended lesson, you can enjoy the story as nothing more than a perfectly fine horror piece. A story about fish people out to get you will still function as a horror plot even in the modern day. A story about black people out to get you... will not.

** It also makes Lovecraft's stories some of those cases where the outlandishness of the metaphor works to the story's benefit: if it made you miss the intended lesson, you can enjoy the story as nothing more than a perfectly fine horror piece.

* ''{{VideoGame/Bioshock}}'': Completely unregulated Objectivist capitalism is all fun and games until someone discovers that sea slug goo, processed through the stomachs of little girls who've been converted to creepy glowy-eyed bloodsucking freaks, can give people the power to shoot bees from their hands but also turns them into superstrong homicidal mutant addicts, and you'll be forced to sacrifice your ideals, become a tyrannical dictator, and command your [[spoiler:artificially-aged brainwashed offspring to murder you]] just to really underline the drama of your final speech.

* ''{{VideoGame/Bioshock}}'': Completely unregulated Objectivist capitalism is all fun and games until someone discovers that sea slug goo, processed through the stomachs of little girls who've been converted to creepy glowy-eyed bloodsucking freaks, can give people the power to shoot bees from their hands but also turns them into superstrong homicidal mutant addicts, and you'll be forced to sacrifice your ideals, become a tyrannical dictator, and command your artificially-aged brainwashed offspring to murder you just to really underline the drama of your final speech.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ThreeTwoOnePenguins'':
** "Trouble on Planet Wait-Your-Turn": Wanting to go first all the time will only lead to trouble, like your planet slipping out of its orbit and heading towards the sun.
** "The Amazing Carnival of Complaining": If you ever complain, you'll literally turn into a seed of discontent and be used to depopulate a planet.
** "Moon Menace on Planet Tell-a-Lie": It's wrong to lie. Because if you do, the moon will flatten you and your planet.
** "The Green-Eyed Monster": Don't ever feel envious, or else green-eyed monsters will appear and start eating all of your shit.
** "More is More": You need to know when to say "enough", so that a giant space funnel won't threaten to consume your planet.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': In "It Came From The Nightosphere", Finn learns the hard way that you shouldn't meddle in other people's relationships with their parents, however strained they are... because it might turn out their father is literally a [[YourSoulIsMine soul-sucking]] [[DemonLordsAndArchDevils fiend from Hell]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' episode "The Copycats": Plagiarism is bad and will lead to you dying in a fiery crash at the bottom of a canyon.
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': "The Two Hundred" takes place AfterTheEnd [[spoiler:as a result of Roger entering a Large Hadron Collider]]. It culminates in most of Langley Falls (barring the Smith Family) turning into cannibals and going to war against every last persona Roger has ever made [[spoiler:([[EnemyWithout given form]] from the aforementioned Collider incident)]] before their fight is interrupted by a mutant, monstrous Klaus, being rode by Jeff. We then FlashForward years later, seeing a now elderly Stan having just told the events of the episode to a group of his ''grandchildren'', including numerous implied to be adopted children ''and'' Jeff and Hayley's biological daughter[[labelnote:*]]she looks like a young Hayley, shares her voice, and is wearing Jeff's hat[[/labelnote]] as the rest of the family, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and Greg]], are now tending to a lakeside farm, Klaus is in the lake playing with other kids, and Roger is lazing around, all while Stan imparts a lesson on Hayley and Jeff's daughter: '''never let Roger go in a Hadron Collider'''.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Shoplifting is bad (and anyone telling you otherwise is not your friend), because the thing you're stealing will strand you in an alternate dimension full of frog people. [[spoiler:It will then fall into the hands of a tyrannical amphibious MultiversalConqueror.]] The majority of the series focuses mainly on the "toxic friend" aspect rather than the "shoplifting" aspect, but they're both there.
* Played humorously in ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBeavers'' episode "The Loogie Hawk": if you remove a species from its natural habitat, the forest will fall apart. No, really, it will '''literally''' and immediately fall apart.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': The episode "To Eat or Not to Eat" advises kids to be careful of the artificial additives in what you eat... because it might have ingredients that are not only addictive but make you dizzy, lethargic, and "sad" when "the molecules [that are in them] die." For all the media panic over ScaryScienceWords on food ingredient lists, substances that are apparently as addictive as crack cocaine go '''WAY''' beyond any realistic health risk.
* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'':
** If you don't take your child on a traditional camping trip into the forest and just give them a makeshift campout at home instead on the day they get a wild urge, this will anger them to the point of becoming a WildChild.
** If you don't take your enemies seriously and treat them like a joke, mocking them over their constant failures and shrugging them off, they'll [[TheDogBitesBack bite right back at you]] and destroy the most important thing in your family.
* Many episodes of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'', in a desperate attempt to [[{{Anvilicious}} hammer in the importance of the issues]], provide ludicrously overblown and immediate consequences for small-scale ecological harm. The main problem is the constant portrayal of pollution being caused by {{supervillain}}s ForTheEvulz.
* ''WesternAnimation/CartoonAllStarsToTheRescue'': Don't smoke pot or else you'll turn into a BigBrotherBully, trip, get told off by cartoon characters, and, if you keep smoking pot, end up looking like Freddy Kreuger.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Chowder}}'': From "Grubble Gum", make sure to always share, or else the world will be destroyed by a VideoGame/{{Katamari|Damacy}} made of gum.
-->'''Truffles:''' ''This'' is what happens when you don't share!
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom: WesternAnimation/TheUltimateEnemy'' tells us not to cheat on a test, otherwise all of your friends and family will die and the future world will be ''completely destroyed by you.'' The series also has such gems as, "don't fight back against the bullies at school, or else the ghost of a dead kid from the '50s, who was bullied himself, will take over your body and trap your soul in a spirit world version of his high school," "don't let jealousy of a friend consume you, or you'll make a wish to have the thing that they have and become a raging ghost monster," "don't be a scrooge at Christmas, otherwise a ghost writer will shove you in a book and force you to accept Christmas for what it is," "don't refuse an offer to become an apprentice of someone you hate, or they'll plot to make a clone of you to become that apprentice," and "don't test your scientific experiments with your best friend standing right next to them without double checking everything's ready to go, otherwise they'll get hurt, become a half-ghost, and plot to make you look like a sociopath and drive your wife away from you so that she'll marry your friend instead."
* ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' had one episode, "Dos Boot", which aired in June 2002, with the [[AnAesop aesop]] of "Don't open an email unless you know where it's from" but that quickly degenerated into "Don't mess with the internal workings of a PC or you'll end up stuck as [[CreepyCrossdresser cross-dresser photos on the wall]] by a possible {{Yaoi Fan|girl}}" (that was ''one'' interpretation of the episode). Doubles as a SpoofAesop too.
* ''WesternAnimation/DinoSquad'' generally treats global warming as a bad thing, but in one episode tried to tell us part of the reason we should work to prevent it is because otherwise some prehistoric danger that was frozen in ice will be defrosted, mutated by a supervillain, and destroy us all.
* ''WesternAnimation/DocMcStuffins'' often falls into this trope since usually if there's a moral, it's trying to link toy ailments with human ones:
** "Engine Nine, Feelin' Fine": Drink plenty of water, or else your friend will think you're irreparable, and discard you.
** "Lil' Egghead Feels the Heat": Don't spend too much time in the sun, or else you'll start saying random words instead of what you were trying to say.
** "Gooooal!": Admit when you're injured, or else your arm may fall off.
** "Hazel Has a Sleepover": Don't drink too much water before bedtime, or else water will leak out of your nose while you sleep.
* ''WesternAnimation/DoctorSnuggles'': Given this show's... [[Main/WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs unique style]], a literal space whale would be far ''less'' crazy than most of its plots.
** "The Remarkable Fidgety River": Don't pollute the water, or aliens will assume that it is of no importance to us and steal it.
** "The Great Disappearing Mystery": Don't mistreat your pet bird, or a giant alien bird will capture you and keep you as ''his'' pet.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheDrugAvengers'', the reason that the Earth won't be able to join the Galactic Federation in the future is that you smoked a joint at that Music/{{Radiohead}} concert.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' has the moral "don't rely on a GetRichQuickScheme to get ahead in life, or else you may end up accidentally erasing your family and friends from existence while traveling through time in a time machine in an effort to get rich."
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has a lampshaded version of this in which the ancient Irish race had vastly advanced technology. Then somebody invents whiskey, a few people take a sip, and crapsack island ensues.
* ''WesternAnimation/FrostyReturns'': We need to save the environment, because in a world where winter and snow don't exist, Frosty couldn't exist either!
* On one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', [[MagicVersusScience the distinction between magic and science]] is discussed, with a focus on keeping your heritage alive--including the "magical" aspects of it. The Aesop works out as "Believe in your grandmother's teachings, or else a giant magic humanoid raven will destroy your land ForTheEvulz."
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** "Decision 3012" gives us "voting Republican will cause robots to rise up and destroy humanity."
** "I Dated a Robot:" Virtual romance is bad because the programs are really kidnapped celebrity heads forced to be illegally cloned in to robots. The episode has an in-universe one where humans dating robots will lead to the end of civilization, because all civilization is based on the desire to impress the opposite sex on the slim chance of gettin' some.
* One of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''' U.S. Acres cartoons featured Roy leaving the farm to go into showbiz, and joining the [[SickeninglySweet annoyingly edutaining]] Buddy Bears show to teach kids proper manners and hygiene habits. He played the Goofus to the female Buddy Bear's Gallant, and not only were the consequences ridiculous, but one of the Bears literally warned them as cause-and-effect relationships along the lines of "[[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong If you don't [do polite/clean/encouraged-by-parents'-groups behavior]]], a [random large heavy object] will fall on your head."
** In one of the Garfield segments, Jon tried out a new recipe, which proved to be unpopular with the three of them, but Jon hates to waste food, so he put it (in the pot) in the fridge where over time it [[ItCameFromTheFridge gained sentience]] and grew limbs, slowly becoming a monster that took over the fridge, and the whole house. The Aesop being "don't leave your leftovers in the fridge too long or they'll turn into a monster".
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
** "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E5SoosAndTheRealGirl Soos and the Real Girl]]" takes the already questionable moral "[[DatingSim Virtual romance]] is bad, you should 'mature' and find real love" and adds "Because your AI girlfriend might be a [[AIIsACrapshoot sentient, psychotic]] {{yandere}}".
** "[[Recap/GravityFallsS2E16RoadsideAttraction Roadside Attraction]]" combines a reasonable moral ("flirting when you don't really mean it will only hurt people") with a somewhat less reasonable one ("also, it may get your juices sucked out by a spider-person who preys mainly on sleazeball pick-up artists").
* A British series that also aired in Australia and Canada, called ''WesternAnimation/GrizzlyTalesForGruesomeKids'', was MADE of this trope. Watch too much TV? You'll end up as a potato chip at the back of someone's fridge. Get arrogant and fail to do your schoolwork properly? A gremlin will destroy your brain's memory centers. This was fused with a jarring blend of Nightmare Fuel and [[ComedicSociopathy a claymation old man mistreating his pet spider, played for laughs.]]
** The last part is rather hypocritical, given the tale of the boy who tortured a string of pet spiders to death, only to end up with his innards invaded and occupied by the ghosts of the unborn children of one of his victims and [[ItMakesSenseInContext taking up knitting]].
* Some of the "Growing Up with Hello Kitty" segments in ''Franchise/HelloKitty'':
** "Replying Properly": Don't say, "Yeah, what?" instead of "yes" when someone calls your name, or a monster will come who gets bigger when you say, "Yeah, what?".
** "Eating Nicely": Eat your food and don't play with your utensils, or else the utensils will get sad.
** "Cleaning Up My Mess": Put your stuff away or it will complain to you telepathically about wanting to go "home".
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' has "don't skip school or you'll miss surprise carnival day." Bizarrely, there ''was'' an actual aesop (Arnold and Gerald had a horrible time skipping school that made it more trouble than just going to school), but that was what they ended with.
* ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' attempts this:
** Don't try to run away from the past or you will be abducted by a magical infinitely long train full of pocket universes that will constantly try to kill you
** Also don't try to live in the past or you will be unable to escape from the train that is trying to kill you
** Also don't blame yourself for things that are not your fault or else the conductor of the train will turn your traveling companions into giant cockroaches. It was a really weird show.
* On ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', in one of the Halloween episodes, the resident {{Moral Guardian|s}} gets a group of children to go on a tour in her "[[TheMoralSubstitute Hallelujah House]]," showing various scenes of how she views atheists and "the Druids." One of them has a pair of actors talking about wanting to have pre-marital sex. The lady suddenly rotates the scene, now showing morgue cabinets with two pairs of legs marked HIM and HER. [[TruthInTelevision These are real, believe it or not.]]
--> "I guess the old saying is true: '''Sex kills.'''"
* The cartoon short ''WesternAnimation/LadiesFirst'': Don't be vain and don't expect to always be first just because you're female, or else you'll be StewedAlive and eaten by talking tigers.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'':
** The episode "No Such Luck" has the Aesop don't lie to your parents and sisters about being bad luck, or they'll believe you and disallow you to partake in any family events and make you sleep outside-- [[ConflictBall even though they're not usually abusive at all, and one of said sisters is practically a scientist.]]
** "Making the Grade": Don't downplay your intelligence, or your classmates will all get strep throat, your dad will forget the recipe for dinner and make something gross, your sister will lose a competition, your grandfather will be lost for an hour, and everyone will blame your brother because he was the one who suggested you do it.
** An in-universe example in "The Price of Admission": Characters sing a song that claims that "every time you lie, a leprechaun will cry".
* ''WesternAnimation/MarthaSpeaks'': The episode "Helen's All Thumbs": If you play video games, you will become obsessed with them and start hallucinating sprites from the game...but not necessarily.
* ''Literature/MillyMolly'': In "Magic Muffins", the Aesop is "Don't skip breakfast, or else you'll fall AsleepInClass and get writer's block. On the other hand, breakfast is ''guaranteed'' to get rid of writer's block."
* ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies2018'': The moral of "Ralph Gets the Blues" is to realise that ItsOkayToCry and tell your friends if you're sad... or you'll literally turn blue.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is set in a fantasy world and has AnAesop OncePerEpisode, so it is inevitable.
** [[SoOnceAgainTheDayIsSaved Dear Princess Celestia]], no matter how strong and smart you may be, there are some things you just can't do alone. Friends have a special bond that has more meaning than you can find in any book. So cherish your friends, nurture your relationships with them, and always hold them near and dear to your heart, because together you can smite evil with a badass rainbow WaveMotionGun. Because [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin friendship... is magic]].
** Remember kids, it's better to give than receive--[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E10SecretOfMyExcess or else you'll turn into a giant greedy monster and practically destroy your hometown]].
** "Hearth's Warming Eve": You'd better get along with people different from you or evil ice elementals will freeze your land in an ice age.
** "A Canterlot Wedding": You should trust your instincts, because if somebody seems to be acting unlike themselves, they're perhaps being impersonated by a shapeshifting monster.
** "Bats": Be understanding of those whose needs conflict with yours, or else someone is going to turn into a half vampire fruit bat and you're going to have to sacrifice your human-sized apple to turn them back. Also, don't let your friends force you into something you feel uncomfortable about, or else ''you'll'' be the one to turn into a half vampire fruit bat.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Numberjacks}}'':
** Know your math, or people/things will be forced to act erratically forever.
** Downplayed in "Say What You Mean", which has a bit of a moral about being specific, and involves people making wishes and the Problem Blob granting them in a LiteralGenie or JackassGenie way. However, there is no implication that the people deserved this.
** "What, How, Check": Always check back on your work, or you'll cause cornflakes to appear ad infinitum, and some clothes to keep shrinking and growing.
* ''WesternAnimation/OhYeahCartoons'': The "Curse of the Werebaby" short gives us "Act your age, or else you will turn into a literal big baby."
* In ''WesternAnimation/OzzyAndDrix'', the average boy that the characters live inside of [[HollywoodPudgy puts on a few pounds]] in one episode. Apparently, this is enough to have his otherwise healthy body nearly go into cardiac arrest.
* ''WesternAnimation/PegPlusCat'': From "The Giant Problem", don't judge people based on size or jump to conclusions, or else you'll assume they want to eat you.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** The episode "Phineas and Ferb Get Busted" gives us "If you tattle on your brothers, they'll get sent to a military school where they'll have all their spirit crushed." Though perhaps justified as [[AllJustADream Candace dreamed the whole thing]]. [[DreamWithinADream While in a dream by Perry.]]
** The episode "The Chronicles of Meap" has the Aesop "Don't judge a book by its cover... or else you might mistake a cute-looking doll for [[spoiler:an intergalactic cop who can beat up alien poachers]]."
* ''WesternAnimation/PJMasks'' has generally realistic Aesops (as realistic as one can get in a show about grade-school kids fighting nocturnal villains in their superpowered pajamas, anyway) when the kids' negative behaviors tend to get in the way of them functioning as a team and completing their mission. But in one episode the lesson is "Be nice to your pet, or it will betray you to the villain who will take over your HQ."
* The "moral" of the [[Creator/VanBeurenStudios Rainbow Parade cartoon]] "Grandfather's Clock"; don't play around with or smash clocks, because they have hearts and feelings just like you and me!
* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'':
** "Janine, You've Changed": Don't try to change yourself to impress your crush, or else [[DemonicPossession a demon will possess you]].
** "The Boogeyman is Back": Admit when you're scared, or [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight the Boogeyman]] will emerge, wreak havoc on your city, kidnap you, and try to kill three children.
* ''WesternAnimation/ReallyRosie'': If you don't care, your parents will leave you at home and you'll be eaten whole then vomited out by a lion that will end up staying for the weekend.
* Mundane pranks turning into supernatural problems is a pillar of ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'''s plotlines.
-->'''Benson:''' I hope you've learned something from all this!\\
'''Rigby:''' Yeah. Make sure we do our chores so you don't narc on us to a giant eyeball.
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'':
** "Total Rickall" teaches us to appreciate the negative sides of our loved ones as well as the positive sides... because if you have only positive memories of someone, then that means they're shape-shifting alien parasites who have implanted false memories into your head.
** "Rattlestar Ricklactica" teaches that, if someone tells you to stay in the car, you probably should do so... unless you want an alien snake biting you in which case you'll kill it in self-defense, feel bad enough that you'll send an Earth snake to the alien snake's home planet, and end up causing said planet to freak out about possible life outside their world that they're willing to kill you via TimeTravel.
** "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS5E4RickdependenceSpray Rickdependence Spray]]" teaches the moral of how [[HonestyAesop you should always tell the truth]] or else you'll unleash giant sperm monsters onto the world and create a giant incest baby.
* ''WesternAnimation/RoliePolieOlie'': Subverted in "The Lie", which seems to have the moral of not to lie or else the Brussels sprout you pretended to eat will grow really huge. However, the episode [[AllJustADream turned out to all be]] a GuiltInducedNightmare.
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'':
** A sketch featured a mother telling her son [[Literature/IfYouGiveAMouseACookie that you shouldn't give a mouse a cookie]], or he'll turn into a vampire that will infect the country causing a nuclear war. That's why she killed her husband. He was giving a mouse a cookie.
** [[WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers "Protect the environment]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVzLzClY2E8 or I'll]] ''[[SoundEffectBleep f***]][[PrecisionFStrike ing]] kill you!''"
* Referenced in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In one episode Rod and Todd Flanders are watching a religious-themed educational show, but since the star characters are sheep, they don't see how their problems and solutions apply to humans.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark:''
** "Free Willzyx" has a ''literal'' Space Whale Aesop: "If you mess with kids' minds, they will shoot a whale into space."
** "It Hits the Fan": "Don't abuse swear words or an EldritchAbomination will awaken!" (That said, the real aesop is more like "Swearing isn't wrong, but having certain words be taboo makes them more fun.")
** "Fun with Veal": "Eating veal is wrong because it is made from mistreated baby cows, but if you don't eat meat at all, you become a pussy." (yes, quite literally).
** "Funnybot" had perhaps the weirdest one of all. "Don't have comedy awards or a robot will destroy the world".
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Spliced}}'' loved this trope:
** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in "Roots": "I promise I'll never be lazy enough to turn into a tree again!"
** "Cleaning Up": "Have good hygiene or your dirt will take on a life of its own and try to replace you"
** "Stompabout" has two in-universe examples from Wingus about getting angry. Firstly that if he doesn't learn to control his anger, he'll become a cyborg and sink the island with his robot legs. The second that if he is ''too'' determined not to get angry, Fuzzy will become a SuperSoldier and take over the island (the latter became a ChekhovsGun in "Sgt. Snuggums", which itself was an example: "Don't play pranks on your friends or they'll turn into insane {{Super Soldier}}s who see everyone as evil robots that need to be destroyed")
** "Amazon": "Take proper care of your pets or they'll form their own civilization where you're a wanted criminal"
** "Juice": "Don't be too determined to be popular or all your friends will turn into juice-obsessed zombies"
** "Promises, Promises": "Fulfill your promises or your best friend will have his brain stolen by a MadScientist in order to power a toaster"
** "Taste of Friendship": "Don't be jealous of your friends or your mind will be taken over by an evil squid"
** "Sugar Low": "Don't eat too much sugar or time will stop"
** "The Mutants Who Cried Monster": "Admit to your mistakes or a giant robot will destroy your hometown"
** "Livin' La Vida Lava": "Don't use too much power or you'll trigger an ice age in which yetis become the dominant species"
** "Mo' Mayo, Mo' Problems": "Don't eat too much junk food or the junk food will eat ''you''"
** "Walkie-Talkie-Spinesuckie": "Think for yourself or a mad scientist will make you suck out all your friends' spines to feed a baby robot and then throw them in the volcano"
** "Whirrel Call": "Don't be cruel to animals or you'll swap brains with them"
** "Stomach on Strike": "Live a healthy lifestyle or your organs will become sentient and jump out of your body"
** "Bite, Shuffle and Moan": "Stay in bed when you're sick or you'll cause a ZombieApocalypse"
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': "Jellyfish Jam" taught us not to bring wild animals home because if you do, those animals will apparently invite their buddies over to party.
-->"Wild animals throw very wild parties."
* In the ''WesternAnimation/StargateInfinity'' episode "The Illustrated Stacey", the team goads Stacey into getting an alien tattoo by insisting that she's too boring to do such a spontaneous thing. (It should be noted here that Stacey has multiple piercings, blue lipstick, and a pink mohawk.) The Aesop is something like "don't do things just to prove yourself" or "think before you act"; but the reason for this moral is that the tattoo ink is made up of microbes that start multiplying, threatening to cover Stacey's body and kill her within the day. Fortunately, ''most'' real life tattoos do not contain deadly diseases. (And the ones that do take much longer to kill.)
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'':
** The moral of "Mathmagic" seems to be "Even if you're not good at something, don't be afraid to try... otherwise you might [[GroundhogDayLoop get caught in a time loop]] or cause a RealityBreakingParadox."
** The moral of "Stump Day" could be "Respect others' holiday traditions, and don't ruin things over petty arguments... otherwise you might get attacked by a giant vindictive tree stump and threatened with bloody murder."
** The moral of "Mewberty" seems to be "Sometime, you have to let nature run its course...even if it's temporarily turned your friend into a humanoid butterfly that's abducting all the boys in school and trapping them in web prisons."
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'':
** "Steven and the Stevens": You shouldn't tell yourself to be something you're not, because then your time clones will make a band without you because you told them they aren't handsome. Then you'll get angry and try to erase them with your time thingy and then you end up fighting across all of time and space, until the original you realizes that the original original you is scared of all of it and breaks the time thingy, killing off everybody but the original original you who's holding a pile of sand that used to be the original you wondering what the fuck just happened.
*** The literal [[AnAesop Aesop]] for this according to WordOfGod is actually "Time travel is cool, and wouldn't it be funny if we killed our main character on screen like 60 times?"
** In "Winter Forecast", Steven wants Connie to stay a little longer and show her a video. With a snowstorm about to arrive, Garnet kisses Steven on the forehead, showing him the possible consequences of unnecessary delay: 1. Greg spends a little extra time finding decent clothes to wear. After the van meets an icy patch in the road, it skids off into a snowbank. Greg walks Connie home to her parents, but she catches a cold and is grounded by her mother. 2. Greg, Steven and Connie decide to stay warm in the van. When Connie's dad arrives, his car skids off the road and collides with Greg's van. 3. Steven and Connie run back to the house, and her mother objects to Connie spending the night at Steven's house, sending Connie's dad to pick her up. Meanwhile, the gems are trying to send a Shooting Star to the Warp Galaxy, only for Steven and Connie to interrupt the process, destroying everything. After the future visions conclude, Steven decides that Greg has to set out for Connie's house immediately. Fortunately, the weather isn't as bad when they start out, and Connie is perfectly healthy when they arrive at her house. When Connie's parents see that the snowstorm is getting worse, they invite Greg and Steven to stay overnight until the storm passes.
** "Space Race": Sometimes, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm you just gotta know when to bail]]... out of a collapsing space rocket made of spare parts from your great-uncle's barn.
** "A Very Special Episode": Don't overbook your schedule, or the CreepyChild you were babysitting will hypnotize a bunch of people into falling off a cliff. That being said, the entire episode was a non-canon spoof of the AVerySpecialEpisode format, so this example was likely [[SpoofAesop intentional]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' has the episode "Vowel Play", in which a crime ring is using skywriting to send coded messages, and [[IdiotHero Baloo]] keeps misspelling words and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero making things worse]]. They eventually find a code book one of the bad guys dropped, and, working with the police, use misspelled words on purpose to interfere with the crooks' plot, but almost screw that up as well. The whole point of the episode is to teach kids that spelling is important, but how likely is it kids will actually encounter a crime ring that does something like this?
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' had a few, usually attached to {{Bizarro Episode}}s.
** For example, [[Recap/TeenTitansS3E4Crash "Crash"]] had a DigitalPiracyIsEvil Aesop delivered by way of Beast Boy downloading a new video game and trying to play it on Cyborg's system recharger, which in turn infects Cyborg, giving him [[MeatOVision food-based hallucinations]] and then nearly destroys the city. (Admittedly there is a risk of getting a virus from downloading software from a shady site, but presumably just having a computer blue-screen isn't as entertaining.)
** [[Recap/TeenTitansS4E5EmployeeOfTheMonth "Employee of the Month"]] is either an anti-meat Aesop or an anti-[[spoiler:''Tofu'']] Aesop, depending on how one interprets the text. Namely, [[spoiler:Beast Boy takes a job at a disgusting restaurant that specializes in gelled meat--except the "meat" is sentient Space Tofu seeking to steal cows for fuel and destroy the earth because "It is our way."]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'', being a StatusQuoIsGod "wacky" show where anything can happen because it'll all be reset next episode anyway, has "don't try to make your friend who was pretending to be a ghost think he actually ''is'' a ghost to teach him a lesson, or he'll decide that since he's dead he can't get hurt any more and run off to jump in a volcano for fun, and while you're trying to stop him random lasers from outer space will kill half your party (the others will also die, but from more reasonable causes)".
** In "Smile Bones" we get the lesson to chew your food, or else your bellies will become sentient and eat everything in sight.
** "Pyramid Scheme": Never use the pyramid scheme, or else mummies will capture you for slavery.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollz}}'' once had Ruby encounter a Space Whale BrokenAesop: It's always good to act nice and set a good example to your friends... [[spoiler:unless a magical spell has turned them evil anyway.]]
* Numerous ''WesternAnimation/VictorAndValentino'' episodes teach morals about cheating and honesty. Apparently, if you cheat at something and[=/=]or lie to others, you'll have supernatural entities out for your blood.
* ''WesternAnimation/WeBareBears'': One of the segments in "Charlie's Halloween Thing 2" teaches that [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil you shouldn't pirate movies off the Internet]], because your computer might get messed up by viruses... that summon an obnoxious, reality-warping "Internet troll".
* ''WesternAnimation/WowWowWubbzy'': "Wubbzy Tells a Whopper" has the moral "[[HonestyAesop Don't lie]] or you'll have to face up against the monster you thought you made up."
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Shoplifting is bad (and anyone telling you otherwise is not your friend), because the thing you're stealing will strand you in an alternate dimension full of frog people. [[spoiler:It will then fall into the hands of a tyrannical amphibious MultiverseConqueror.]] The majority of the series focuses mainly on the "toxic friend" aspect rather than the "shoplifting" aspect, but they're both there.

The trouble is realistic consequences, while they may be serious, aren't the sort that can easily be made to fit the RuleOfPerception. Maybe it takes decades to show up, if they show up at all. Maybe any subtly will be lost that it's hard to show ''why'' the action should be taken. Worse, maybe there isn't yet agreement on what the real consequences are. How can we be ''sure'' what will happen 3 to 300 years after certain choices are made?

* Standard in horror movies with a DeathBySex message, since showing real negative consequences of sex is often non-dramatic (even deadly [=STDs=] take years or decades to kill) or, worse, X-rated. These aesops range from [[DeathBySex "have sex and Freddy or Jason will kill you"]] to "the SealedEvilInACan can only be opened by two people having sex on top of it (even if they don't know what it is) to "if you have sex, then you will shock and horrify your six-year-old sister whom you didn't know was watching, causing her to becoming depressed and making her vulnerable to PuppeteerParasite".

* ''WesternAnimation/SuperAgentJonLeBon'' completely ''inverts'' this in episode 4, by teaching to readers that bees need to be preserved and avoid going extinct. During a story about stopping a [[spoiler:[[ScoobyDooHoax false]]]] prophecy for an apocalypse and the cult trying to enact it. [[spoiler:Even Big Beaver, the one responsible for said prophecy, states that his plan/hoax has [[NotMeThisTime nothing to do with the bees dying out]].]]

* ''Super Agent Jon Le Bon'' completely ''inverts'' this in episode 4, by teaching to readers that bees need to be preserved and avoid going extinct. During a story about stopping a [[spoiler:[[ScoobyDooHoax false]]]] prophecy for an apocalypse and the cult trying to enact it. [[spoiler:Even Big Beaver, the one responsible for said prophecy, states that his plan/hoax has [[NotMeThisTime nothing to do with the bees dying out]].]]