History MoodWhiplash / WesternAnimation

** On the flip side, if the intro song was in Japanese, that meant the episode would be wacky (featuring Mad Mod, Larry, etc.)

** After Batman was [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated supposedly killed]] in "[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE51TheManWhoKilledBatman The Man Who Killed Batman]]", the Joker delivers a eulogy with [[AntagonistInMourning apparently genuine regret]] (or, at least, regret that [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou he didn't get to finish off the Dark Knight himself]]). He then turns on a dime from a sad sigh to a jaunty "Well, [[TheFunInFuneral that was fun]]! Who's for Chinese?"

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' was fond of these, although fans eventually picked up that any ThemeTune switches meant [[SpoilerOpening the episode could be much darker]].

*** "Haunted", on the other hand, featured Robin [[spoiler: inhaling a lungful of psychotropic dust from an old mask of Slade's]], causing him to [[spoiler: think Slade was back from the dead and trying to cause an earthquake. Worse, Robin's attempts to fight the Slade delusions hand to hand resulted in him nearly ''beating himself to death'' before he realized the truth [[note]]The delusions only manifested in the dark[[/note]]]]. And on top of it all, [[spoiler: Cyborg discovers that the dust was activated remotely, hinting that Slade might not be dead after all]].

*** In Season 1, sandwiched between the first Red X ([[spoiler: actually Robin]]) episode and the Apprentice Season Finale was [[EvilBrit Mad Mod]] trapping the Titans inside his school.
*** Worth noting this wasn't entirely intentional, the episode Car Trouble, a relatively straight forward action story was supposed to air before the Apprentice season finale, but Cartoon Network switched the order so it went Mask, Mad Mod, Apprentice two parters, Car Trouble; instead of Mask, Mad Mod, Car Trouble, Apprentice part 1 and 2. No doubt this inspired the writers to do the wacky before finale intentionally in the later seasons.
*** In Season 2, sandwiched in between [[spoiler: the episode where Terra betrays the Titans by allowing Slade's minions to attack the tower]] and when Terra [[spoiler: attacks the Titans under Slade's orders]] features Larry, a [[RealityWarper reality-warping]] dwarf version of Robin.

** First, Squidward sees a beautiful sunset and directs [=SpongeBob=] toward it. [=SpongeBob=] is fascinated and is almost on the brink of TearsOfJoy... then the sunset disappears, and he snaps right out of it.
** Second, Squidward sees Gary sleeping and shows [=SpongeBob=]. He is adored, Squidward asks if it makes him feel like crying, and [=SpongeBob=] agrees... only to suddenly stop and declare: "No! There will be no tears in this house tonight!"
** Third, Squidward finds [=SpongeBob=]'s mail and finds a letter from his parents, saying they miss him so much. [=SpongeBob=] is touched... then reads another letter saying his subscription to Jellyfishing Monthy has expired, and asks Squidward to renew it.

** After the horrifying ending of "[=SquidBob TentaclePants=]" in which the characters are melded together, there is no episode that come after and transitions us out for comic relief! That's the B episode in that pair! It ends there and goes straight into the upbeat end credits!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In a similar manner with ''Amphibia'' above, any episode that ends on an ominous note or major twist immediately cuts to the soothing EndingTheme which shows Luz on a happy stroll through the Boiling Isles (replaced with stylized abstract drawings in S2). The only episodes that avert this are "Agony of a Witch" and "Clouds on the Horizon".

* ''WesternAnimation/TwelveOunceMouse'': In the season 3 episode "Here We Come", Peanut Cop accidentally steps on a bomb, complete with Golden Joe mourning his death. After that scene, it cuts to Kiki rapping on a jet ski.
* The Season 3 opener of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' opens with Dr. Girlfriend taking a deep breath and trying to will herself to apologize to The Monarch... only for the calm mood to be broken by a robot shooting through one of his wings, prompting her to instead yell at him to pay attention to the fight they're currently in.

*** In the Season 6 premiere, [[spoiler: Princess Cadence and Shining Armor's [[GooGooGodlike new alicorn baby]] in a crying fit, [[MakeMeWannaShout screams so loud]] that it ''shatters'' the [[AccidentallyBrokeTheMacguffin Crystal Heart]]. With the Crystal Heart broken, the protection of the Crystal Empire falls away, putting it in complete danger of being enveloped and turned into a frozen wasteland by the Arctic storm outside, dooming everyone inside unless they fix it.]] No cheerful theme song this time, but we still get an equally unfitting jaunty slapstick tune.

[[folder:A-M]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:N-Z]]

--->'''Peridot:''' ''(in the background)'' [[{{Squick}} EW, that's DISGUSTING]]!

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': After the horrifying ending of "[=SquidBob TentaclePants=]" in which the characters are melded together, there is no episode that come after and transitions us out for comic relief! That's the B episode in that pair! It ends there and goes straight into the upbeat end credits!

** Or "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E4LuckOfTheFryish Luck of the Fryish]]" where Fry is weeping at the revelation of [[spoiler:how much his brother loved and missed him]]... while in the background Bender collects enough skulls for a Mousketeer reunion.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': each time the show ends in an ominous tone, the show [[SmashCut immediately cuts to a relaxing end credits scene complete with relaxing music titled "Anne's Theme"]]. Examples include...

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Animaniacs}}''. It could go from a show in which cute cartoon characters run around eating sweets or singing nonsense songs to a show in which cute cartoon characters look for a home or get taken into care in the same episode.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': In "Chick Magnet", Shake buys a "chick magnet" which ends up pulling the Aqua Teens' feminine side to the surface and making them act like women. Frylock wants to get rid of the magnet, but due to becoming more feminine, he can't bring himself to tell Shake to get rid of it because he thinks Shake's feelings will be hurt. When he finally does, he apologizes to Shake and Shake apologizes to him for not getting rid of it earlier. While they're still talking, Meatwad drags the magnet outside and since they're back to normal now, Shake and Frylock start yelling expletives and violent threats at each other.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** The episode where Aang learns to earthbend ends with the Avatar's group triumphant and proud that yet another element has been learned. [[spoiler: Cut to Zuko suffering a mental breakdown.]]
** An episode that reveals the largest city in the entire Earth Kingdom is ruled by a GovernmentConspiracy that has no intention of helping them win the war is followed with an episode about [[DayInTheLife the various everyday activities of the characters]] in ''that same city''.

** The whole Ba Sing Se arc has a lot of MoodWhiplash. Take the episode "Lake Laogai" -- [[spoiler:[[WellIntentionedExtremist Jet]]]] has just been left for dead in the shadowy headquarters of the Dai Li in what many fans consider one of the darkest and saddest moments of the season, if not the whole series. What follows immediately after? The triumphant return of [[spoiler:Appa]], complete with uplifting music and a dramatic rescue; and a joyous, tearful reunion between Aang and his beloved companion. And [[spoiler:Jet]] is never even mentioned again until the third season. [[spoiler: "The Earth King" seemed to be ending on a victorious note for everyone--which was, over the course of perhaps two minutes, mercilessly torn apart]].
** Season 3 has the ninth episode, "Nightmares and Daydreams". It's a BreatherEpisode after one with a slight DownerEnding and before an event the show had been leading up to for a full 20 episodes. The episode also contains ''internal'' MoodWhiplash: Aang has some weird dreams, then a ''[[NightmareDreams freakish and creepy and absolutely blood-chillingly terrifying]]'' one, then a bunch of ''[[MushroomSamba crazy]]'' hallucinations.

* The WhatDoTheyFearEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' "Nothing To Fear" starts with Magica's spell making everyone hallucinate pretty silly fears that are all played for laughs (a limousine and a banana turning into monsters, the boys' video game's villain coming to life, Scrooge being chased by bill collectors). Then, out of nowhere, it gives the boys (who, keep in mind, have already lost their parents and just had an uncle leave them to serve in the Navy) a vision of Uncle Scrooge telling them he never wanted them and can't stand having them around, and Scrooge hallucinates the boys telling him they never liked anything about him except his money. All four of them are in tears before they finally realize what's going on. No wonder it remains one of the most unforgettable episodes of the series!

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' is notorious for sudden mood whiplashes, and for doing it numerous times within an episode, not just the show's infamous tear-jerker endings.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Motorcity}}'': Due to the wacked out order that the episodes were being aired, we get the hilarious "Threat Level Texas" and then next week we got "Vega" which has a whole lot of "Oh Crap!" moments to put it extremely lightly.

** In the Season 3 finale ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E13MagicalMysteryCure Magical Mystery Cure]]'', All of the Mane Six are cured of their scrambled Cutie Mark problems, there is a triumphant song and dance parade back to the library, everyone is standing proudly around the triumphant Twilight Sparkle... and then the various Elements of Harmony ignite and ''fire magical lasers at her, apparently disintegrating our heroine.'' There's even a scorched spot where she was standing! Cut to commercial...

* Each time an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' ends on a onimous or downer note, look no further when "Korra's Theme" plays over the credits. This is also a perfect way to calm fans down, especially if a few fainted to the floor.

* In the first episode of the final season of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', it's quickly established that Jack has suffered from SanitySlippage due to years of constant battling with Aku's minions and being around death and large scale destruction. Part of this includes enduring traumatic hallucinations, especially those of people begging for his help. During his battle with [[MusicalAssassin Scaramouche]] Jack suddenly has one of these visions, which consists of a group of ragged children begging Jack for help. As Jack pleads with them to understand why Jack couldn't save them, we then see the scene from Scaramouche's perspective... [[InnerThoughtsOutsiderPuzzlement who sees that Jack has stopped in the middle of their fight to talk to himself]]. Scaramouche immediately decides that Jack has gone nuts.

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'': Switches from dark to comical, to melodramatic, every so often. The Devouring for example, has a climax where Scooby and Shaggy get incredibly obese and beat the monster at a sumo contest. She's rolled away, with one of the recurring characters, Dr. Spartan, repairing his relationship with his wife soon after. Immediately after that it cuts to the villains with Pericles having put mutated cobra venom into Mr. E's spine to poison and torture him if he gets out of line.

** The immediate follow-up, "Boys' Night Out", has the characters dealing with the immediate fallout of that... before shifting into goofy musical A-plot where Seahawk tries to fake himself, Bow and Swift Wind being kidnapped only to screw up and get them kidnapped for real, intercut with a B-plot of Mermista moping in a bathtub, which itself is intercut with scenes of Adora and Glimmer's continually crumbling friendship. The biggest moment of which (Glimmer [[spoiler:blaming Adora for her mother's death]]) is quickly followed by Mermista loudly screaming [[ItMakesSenseInContext "The boys are in trouble, A SEAGULL TOLD ME!"]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

** A scene in the first act of "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E14BrotherFromTheSamePlanet Brother from the Same Planet]]" has Homer dozing off while taking a bath and dreaming about being very late to pick up Bart from soccer practice (which, in fact, he is). The dream shows him driving in a wild panic up to the field, only to find a skeleton in soccer clothes with Bart's famous "hair-spikes" at the top of its skull; apparently Homer kept Bart waiting so long that Bart starved to death. Homer gathers up the corpse, [[BigNo screams]], and sobs - which prompts him to wake up, leap out of the bathtub, and frantically run out to his car dripping wet and completely naked [[HoYay (causing Ned Flanders to remark: "Homie, I see your doodle!")]]. Then, in the next scene, the "serious-to-silly" shift reverses itself with a very upset Bart getting in the car as Homer tries to hand him a hot-fudge sundae (which he bought to apologize), only for Homer to [[CoveredInGunge spill the sundae right on top of Bart's head]]. Homer then does his best to make up with his son as Bart just sits there glowering straight ahead, the ice cream and hot fudge dripping down his face and neck, getting angrier and angrier. The scene ends with Homer urging: "How about a hug?" Bart finally glares over at his father...and imagines him as ''[[NightmareFace an emaciated, eyeless zombie]]''. Pretty jarring, but certainly keeping up the BlackComedy overtones of the series's earlier seasons.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': In a similar manner with ''Amphibia'' above, any episode that ends on an ominous note or major twist immediately cuts to the soothing EndingTheme which shows Luz on a happy stroll through the Boiling Isles (replaced with stylized abstract drawings in S2). The only episode that averts this is "Agony of a Witch".