History PetTheDog / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/HorridHenry''. Henry is an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist who is frequently an asshole to his little brother Perfect Peter as well as his classmate Moody Margaret and cousin Stuck-Up Steve. (...then again, Margaret and Steve [[KicktheSonofaBitch ''deserve'' it]].) However, he does show BigBrotherInstinct towards Peter a few times, and during the sleepover episode, decides to have fun ''with'' Peter and his friends, instead of at their expense.

* The Monarch in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', tears up moments before he was to be declared man and wife with Dr. Girlfriend. The Phantom Limb interrupts the wedding with copters which prompts the Monarch to scream "OHHHH, DICK MOVE!"
** [[BigBad The Monarch]] pet the dog so hard in season two, that fans were actually upset to be reminded in the following season that he is, in fact, a professional villain, and therefore not very nice.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' has Doctor Robotnik and "Fuzzy-Wuzzy", his old favorite toy and only real friend. Yes, Fuzzy-Wuzzy is a robot [[BearsAreBadNews bear]] that can turn from a creepy teddy-bear into a horrifically real [[MultipleHeadCase two-headed]] [[MultiArmedAndDangerous four-armed]] grizzly, but Robotnik still cares for him deeply. When Sonic disables Fuzzy-Wuzzy by tying him to an electric fence, Robotnik is horrified at the fact his friend is being hurt and falls on his hands and knees before Sonic, pleading with the hedgehog to save Fuzzy-Wuzzy and promising to be good if Sonic will rescue him.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' has Doctor Robotnik and "Fuzzy-Wuzzy", his old favorite toy and only real friend. Yes, Fuzzy-Wuzzy is a robot [[BearsAreBadNews bear]] that can turn from a creepy teddy-bear into a horrifically real [[MultipleHeadCase two-headed]] [[MultiArmedAndDangerous four-armed]] grizzly, but Robotnik still cares for him deeply. When Sonic disables Fuzzy-Wuzzy by tying him to an electric fence, Robotnik is horrified at the fact his friend is being hurt and falls on his hands and knees before Sonic, pleading with the hedgehog to save Fuzzy-Wuzzy and promising to be good if Sonic will.

* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'', Grouchy Smurf claims to hate everything. However, he does have a softer side that he shows now and then; usually these situations involve Baby Smurf, who he acts as a PapaWolf towards.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania}}'', when Dracula learns that the woman he loved had been burned at the stake as a witch, he advises her neighbor, who came to her home to pay her respects, to take her family and flee the country before he kills everyone in it.

** The occasions when [[GrumpyBear Squidward]] is nice to [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick. The first example of this can be found in the episode "Pizza Delivery", when Squidward responds to a customer making Spongebob cry by throwing the pizza in the customer's face. An aggressive way to pet the dog, but it looks like [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther he really does care about Spongebob]].

** In the Season 1 episode "Unlocketing the Past: Part 1" Griselle allowed Gwen to get a pet rat at the Resuce Farm Adopt-A-Thon, despite just failing to steal the locket.

** In the Season 1 episode "Unlocketing the Past: Part 1" Griselle allowed Gwen to get a pet rat at the the Resuce Farm Adopt-A-Thon, despite just failing to steal the locket.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' episode "First Steps", two kids poke fun at a little girl's sand castle. Sandman uses his power to turn the area around them into a huge Disney-esque castle, chasing the boys away. The little girl thanks "Mr. Sandman". He smiles and tells her to go home as its getting cold. The episode is Pet the Dog from beginning to end.

* The Monarch in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', tears up moments before he was to be declared man and wife with Dr. Girlfriend. The Phantom Limb interupts the wedding with copters which prompts the Monarch to scream "OHHHH, DICK MOVE!"

* In ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice'', Black Manta may be a member of The Light and clearly evil, but [[spoiler: he cares deeply for his son, Aqualad, to the point of going PapaWolf on anyone who might hurt him.]]
** {{Zigzagged}} with Sportsmaster. Sure, he'll blackmail and emotionally abuse his daughters, but he swears revenge against Black Manta when Manta's son kills his daughter, Artemis... but only because he did it without his permission. He wants to kill Manta to preserve his reputation, because he'll look like a cheap punk if he lets it go or takes a payoff. ''However'', when he finds out Artemis ''faked'' her death in order to screw over Manta and the Light -- the employers Sporty broke with in order to pursue killing Manta -- he's perfectly fine with allowing the Light to believe he lost the fight against Manta and even covers Artemis' tracks as a favor.

* The titular character from ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'', despite being a {{Misanthrope}} with some serious issues, actually gets quite a few. Usually concerning his cat Mr. Mumbles or some other kind of animal: all it took to get him to free the animals from the shelter before blowing it up ([[DisproportionateRetribution it was disturbing his sleep]]) was a quick flash of the PuppyDogEyes, and he pitied lobsters of all things enough to risk blowing his plan so he could set them free and save them from a boiling pot of water.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E5DogSprayAfternoon Dog Spray Afternoon]]", when Helen thought Bitsy put Shampagne in the will (which wasn't the case), she seriously contemplated offing the competition. But after seeing how much Cole cares for the dog, she couldn't go through with it, even saving both Cole and Shampagne when the two run into traffic.

* Mitchell from ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' is usually a JerkAss snarker, but sometimes he helps the main characters and is nice to them. He also loves his dog, Cody.

* At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'' special, the hard-as-nails [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage Mirage Turtles]] acknowledge their parallel universe counterparts (both the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 '87]] and [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 '03]] Turtles) as BashBrothers, and have developed some sort of respect for them. The Mirage Turtles even admit to liking the [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS initialized belt-buckles]] of the old-toon Turtles. As it turns out, all three Turtle Teams are NotSoDifferent.

* If the show has a ChristmasEpisode, it will often feature the villain in Pet the Dog mode (e.g. [[WesternAnimation/KimPossible Dr. Drakken]], [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 Skeletor]], and [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Ultra-Humanite]]).
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderMan'' episode "First Steps", two kids poke fun at a little girl's sand castle. Sandman uses his power to turn the area around them into a huge Disney-esque castle, chasing the boys away. The little girl thanks "Mr. Sandman". He smiles and tells her to go home as its getting cold. The episode is Pet the Dog from beginning to end.
* Bender on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' petted the dog a few times, but the show spoofed this on at least one occasion:
-->'''Bender:''' But inside, you've got the heart of a robot.\\
'''Fry:''' Aww... thanks, Bender.\\
'''Bender:''' Just like inside me, I've got the heart of a human! ''(takes a human heart from his chest compartment)'' ...What?
** Bender's biggest Pet the Dog moment was most likely in "Jurassic Bark", [[spoiler:where he spends the whole episode acting like a insensitive, possessive, abusive, jealous jackass because Fry, his best friend, is spending so much time trying to figure out how to clone his old dog Seymour, his best friend before Bender. Eventually, Bender gets so fed up he takes Seymour's fossil and throws it into a lava vent. However, when this causes Fry to collapse in grief, he realizes (and ''[[PlatonicDeclarationOfLove admits]]'') that Fry loved his dog much the same way Bender loves Fry. He then dives into the boiling lava to retrieve Seymour despite Fry's protests, melting his eyes in the process.]]
*** Virtually any time Bender realizes he seriously hurt [[MoralityPet Fry]]'s feelings leads to him showing unusual kindness.
** "Godfellas" is an episode-long Pet The Dog moment for Bender, as he spends the whole episode honestly trying to be a benevolent ruler to the Shrimpkin. [[MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds However, he accidentally makes them all kill themselves instead.]]
** In "Crimes of the Hot," Bender reveals he's fond of turtles (which remind him of his hard-shelled self) to the pitch of HeroicSacrifice. In "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz," he thinks he's a penguin for a while and becomes a devoted parent to penguin chicks, continuing to regurgitate food for them even after he's reset to his normal mode.
--->'''Bender:''' I don't know why, but when I look down at their little faces, it makes me wanna puke! In a ''good'' way!
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvYm68dOQ4k Subverted for Nixon]] in "A Head in the Polls".
---> '''Nixon:''' Now look here you drugged-up communist, I paid for this body and I'd no sooner return it than I would my little cocker-spaniel dog Checkers.\\
'''Checkers:''' Arf!\\
'''Nixon:''' SHUT UP DAMN IT!
** Mom is a '''[[CorruptCorporateExecutive ruthless]]''' businesswoman and a [[EvilMatriarch cruel mother]]. Oddly enough, she is one of the few people who is kind to, let alone respectful to, ''Dr. Zoidberg'' and is willing to give him an expensive yeti head to help the Professor in exchange for a coupon. [[spoiler: On the other hand, she didn't agree until Zoidberg told her it was everything he had.]]
*** This later turns out to be a BatmanGambit revenge on her part as the coupon would have allowed him to take part in a fun afternoon out with the Planet Express crew and he's crushed not to have it. He still gets this as Farnsworth offers to pay for him.
* The titular character from ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'', despite being a {{Misanthrope}} with some serious issues, actually gets quite a few. Usually concerning his cat Mr. Mumbles or some other kind of animal: all it took to get him to free the animals from the shelter before blowing it up ([[DisproportionateRetribution it was disturbing his sleep]]) was a quick flash of the PuppyDogEyes, and he pitied lobsters of all things enough to risk blowing his plan so he could set them free and save them from a boiling pot of water.
* Subverted by ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}''. The grouchy and sarcastic main character frequently shows signs of tenderness when he has his late wife on his mind -- but [[AllMenArePerverts he's usually thinking back on their sex life]].
* The lead and namesake ''WesternAnimation/KevinSpencer'' is a sociopath who has very little care for his family, much less the wellbeing of others. At best he's a force of chaos, but is often the VillainProtagonist. On top of that, both of his parents fare little better in terms of humanity. That said, there have been moments where they've shown some humanity:
** Kevin bonds with [[ScrewPolitenessImASenior the Widow Coulson]] after working for her. Originally only interested in stealing her medication, he ends up appreciating her insanity and rudeness. He takes initiative and starts tending to her house without being asked. Their friendship ends when the woman becomes more and more unhinged without her meds, so he stops seeing her and doesn't steal any more of her drugs.
** His mother, Anastasia is a terrible wife, mother and human being. However, there are brief moments where she realizes how bad her son's life is, and wants to try and raise him in a more healthy manner. She usually gives up when helping him when it requires any modicum of effort or sacrifice, but she's the only one of the trio who even attempts to be normal.
** Played with for Percy, Kevin's dad. He gives Anastasia a sandwich he found on the subway. It's a gross and disgusting sandwich and Anastasia hates it, but this is one of the few times in the series where Percy goes out of his way to be nice to someone, without expecting anything in return.
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'', Grouchy Smurf claims to hate everything. However, he does have a softer side that he shows now and then; usually these situations involve Baby Smurf, who he acts as a PapaWolf towards.
* In ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'', CardCarryingVillain Stickybeard rescues the heroes from a monster asparagus at one point. This seems like a case of both EvenEvilHasStandards and maybe WorthyAdversary (towards Numbuh Five) at first, and it probably is, but unlike most cases, he's genuinely polite about it:
-->'''Stickybeard:''' Say, lassie, would ya mind keepin' this business of savin' ye secret from the other villains? They wouldn't invite me to next year's barbecue if they found out...
** Also, in "Operation: B.U.T.T.", Numbuh One quits the team for no apparent reason, and Numbuh Four is so upset, he yells at Numbuh Three, inadvertently making her cry. In the next scene, however, he's trying to cheer her up with her stuffed animals - meaning this is ''really'' big, because he's usually finds her stuffed toys sickeningly sweet. He doesn't do a very good job cheering her up, but fortunately, ''everyone'' cheers up when they find out just ''why'' Numbuh One quit. (The Delightful Children had taken a photograph of his bare butt and were blackmailing him; they really couldn't help but laugh.)
** In episode "Operation: M.A.U.R.I.C.E.", during Maurice's decommissioning, Number 86 a known boy hater who is dedicated to her job of hunting down all KND operatives who have turned thirteen and decommissioning them, is polite and nice at Maurice's decommissioning, even crying when he is decommissioned.
* Rampage from ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' is generally depicted as nothing short of a monster, a sadist, and a walking nightmare...except in the episode "Transmutate", in which he finds a kindred spirit in the episode's freakish, disfigured, and pitiful title character. He even goes so far as to be moved to sorrow by its death.
* The trope can apply to pure villains as well. In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'', Galatea, the murderously psycho clone of Supergirl, shares a moment of genuine warmth with her "father", Professor Emil Hamilton, just before she cheerfully goes on a mission of mass murder. However it is because of this you can clearly see a MyGodWhatHaveIDone look on Hamilton's face.
* In the film ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueCrisisOnTwoEarths'', Superman's EvilCounterpart Ultraman seems genuinely upset at Superman and Lex Luthor beating up his Made Man ComicBook/JimmyOlsen.

* The Monarch in ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', tears up moments before he was to be declared man and wife with Dr. Girlfriend. The Phantom Limb interupts the wedding with copters which prompts the Monarch to scream "OHHHH, DICK MOVE!"
** [[BigBad The Monarch]] pet the dog so hard in season two, that fans were actually upset to be reminded in the following season that he is, in fact, a professional villain, and therefore not very nice.
** Dr. Venture Sr. is often depicted as an emotionally abusive and negligent father. However, in the episode ''Spanakopita'', after tracking down the Greek islanders who stole from his boat and inadvertently kidnapped Rusty, he sent his son away and he and his friends promptly beat the crap out of the people who robbed him and planned to ransom his son.
* Stewie Griffin, in the early seasons of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', was a diabolical and downright sociopathic baby who, after petting the dog a few times, had his character changed completely by the fourth and fifth season. But who are we kidding? It's [[RuleOfFunny all]] [[NegativeContinuity just]] [[BlackComedy for]] [[GagSeries laughs.]]
** Another ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode offers a subversion when greedy tobacco company executives discuss making a line of toys to get kids interested in smoking cigarettes, complete with an EvilLaugh. Until the head pulls up a puppy and starts to pet him and talk to him in baby voice. He then hands the dog to another executive, pulls out a [[ShootTheDog rifle]] and says [[KickTheDog "Pull..."]]
** In a more sentimental version, Mayor Adam West is a total lunatic [[spoiler: but his romance with Meg is genuine, and when Meg tells him that Brian plans to expose it, Mayor West decides to break up the relationship to protect her. Brian who saw this, is deeply moved and tears up the photo.]]
** Even Peter's stepfather, Francis, had somewhat of a Pet the Dog moment with him when they reconciled after Peter questioned Francis' view of him.
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' has a few moments between Zim and Gir.
-->'''Gir:''' ''(tearing up after Zim yells at him)''\\
'''Zim:''' ''(expression softens)'' Guh... I can see you understand your mistake, Gir, and me being angry will get us nowhere closer to home.
** In "Tak, The Hideous New Girl," Zim reveals that he told Gir that he could have the moon after Earth is conquered.
-->''Zim:'' It's over, Tak! The Earth is mine to devastate! ''(hurriedly)'' And I already promised the moon to Gir.
** In the Halloween Episode, while being trapped in Dib's mental nightmare world, Zim verbally expresses genuine worry about Gir being able to survive against all the zombies (which are actually just kids hyped up on candy.)
** In a FreezeFrameBonus, you can see that in Zim's house he has a framed picture of him and Gir with a giant pink heart as the background.
** Zim offering Gir a giant lollipop to help him stop crying in "Battle of the Planets."
** A minor one, unrelated to Gir: In "The Frycook What Came From All That Space," Zim is desperately trying to hail a cab to escape Foodcourtia before The Great Foodening, where the gravitational pull from the sheer population on the planet makes it impossible to escape for twenty years. He tries to use the cables in his PAK to grab one, but it veers the vessel off-course, causing it to crash into another cab. Zim promptly yells, "Sorry!"
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'', Uncle Ruckus, a black man coincidentally racist against other black men and a white supremacist, is shown petting the dog many times (excluding all of the times has talked to Granddad), namely in the episodes "The Trial Of R. Kelly" (the park scene), "Granddad's Fight" (Ruckus is willingly Granddad's co-sensei, and comments after the fight with Stinkmeaner: "I told you a nigga that black couldn't fight."), "Return Of The King" (where Ruckus comes to dinner with Granddad even after throwing random objects at Martin Luther King), "The Itis" (where Ruckus comments: "If there's one thing a colored man is good at, it's cooking up a pig."), "Stinkmeaner Strikes Back" (Ruckus helps Huey, Riley, and Granddad exorcise Tom), "Home Alone" (Ruckus agrees to babysit Riley and Huey), and "The Story of Catcher Freeman". (Ruckus comments: "Catcher Freeman was the greatest nigga that ever lived!")
** And none of those cover the most notable and most genuine act of dog petting Ruckus ever did, in the Christmas episode; after filling in as a mall Santa and leaving Jasmine completely disillusioned when it comes to Santa's existence, Ruckus later approached her and explained that of ''course'' he wasn't really Santa, but he was, in fact, a ''Secret Service'' agent assigned to fill in for Santa, as Santa needed to be protected from the threats against him (namely Riley Freeman and his paintball gun). Ruckus then assured Jasmine that the real Santa would be back next year, much to her delight. It's a surprisingly genuine and heartfelt moment which, since it's ''The Boondocks,'' is immediately subverted by Huey's narration where he impassively observes that Christmas miracles "only come from the lies adults tell children."

* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' there are a few moments where Sentinel Prime acts less of a {{Jerkass}}, notably in "Return of the Headmaster" where he shakes Optimus' hand after helping him [[GrandTheftMe regain his stolen body,]] and "Predacons Rising" where he took some responsibility for what happened to Elita-1 (It was his idea to go to the planet where that event happened in the first place). But his biggest Pet the Dog moment to date was at the end of "Decepticon Air" where he offered Optimus a spot in the Elite Guard, showing that the two Primes have buried the hatchet.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** In an episode where cats are banned from the town (because kids are getting high off their urine) Cartman has to hide his cat in the attic. Then he ends up hiding one cat he finds in his backyard. Though each time he says no more, he finds himself harboring every cat in the town, in a blatant holocaust reference. When it's all over and Kyle asks Cartman if he sees in similarities between this and some other part of history, Cartman is clueless.
** Cartman has shown genuine love for his mother and gets very upset when Stan's grandfather disrespects her.
** In "Chef Aid", Johnnie Cochran initially defends the crooked record company executive with a ChewbaccaDefense. But he's not a bad man, just doing it for the money. And when he sees Chef being aided by so many friends and family, he is moved enough to defend Chef for free.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Mr. Burns has one when he decides to take care of The Simpsons' puppies. Admittedly, he was first planning to make them into a coat, but he did decide to spare them later on.
** Any time that Bart and/or Homer get together.
** In the flashback episode "I Married Marge", Homer leaves Marge (without saying where he's going) to get a real job so he can care for her and their unborn baby Bart. Seeing how despondent Marge is without Homer, Selma tells her where he is, despite the fact that she '''really''' doesn't like Homer.
* Cotton from ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' hates most things and most people for [[IrrationalHatred little to no reason.]] But most scenes featuring him and Bobby have him showing his own brand of love.
---> '''Cotton:''' Hell, Hank, if you think this is a contest about who's the better daddy, you win! You made Bobby. [[MomentKiller All I ever made was you.]]
** His greatest Pet the Dog moment occurs when he took the blame for Bobby for the church fire after Bobby got stomach problems from eating the entire batch of lutefisk. Even though Cotton chastised him and called him "Stinky", he nonetheless took the blame.
** Heck, he even gets a few moments with of all people, ''Peggy'', his SitcomArchNemesis. In the episode where she learns to walk again. Cotton ''immediately'' begins rallying Peggy in his own twisted way. It seems a bit like an OutOfCharacterMoment for him, but then Hank points out that Cotton also had a traumatizing injury like Peggy and, like him, had to learn to walk again, when the doctors said that he never would.
---> '''Cotton:''' "You walk up this hill, woman, and I'll let you [[ItMakesSenseInContext dance on my grave!"]]
** Kahn also has occasionally worked together with Hank despite almost always chastising him for being "a redneck hillbilly".

* At the end of the ''WesternAnimation/TurtlesForever'' special, the hard-as-nails [[ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage Mirage Turtles]] acknowledge their parallel universe counterparts (both the [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 '87]] and [[WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 '03]] Turtles) as BashBrothers, and have developed some sort of respect for them. The Mirage Turtles even admit to liking the [[BroughtToYouByTheLetterS initialized belt-buckles]] of the old-toon Turtles. As it turns out, all three Turtle Teams are NotSoDifferent.

* Almost every character in ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' is an unsympathetic/borderline [[ComedicSociopathy sociopathic]] JerkAss, but they've each gotten at least one moment each.
** Archer insists on stopping and getting a stuffed animal for Babu the ocelot, to make up for the spartan conditions of Cheryl's care.
** Archer seems to have a soft spot for big cats in general. He is extremely upset when a South American drug dealer shoots the tiger he kept in an illegal private zoo.
** Malory cares for Archer when he is shot six times in the chest. [[spoiler: It was Malory who shot him]], but Malory being [[JerkAss Malory]], it still counts. Malory also bribed Mexican officials to save Woodhouse after he [[spoiler: shot a woman in Mexico in a heroine-fuled [[WilliamTelling bar bet]]]].
** Lana has a bizarre one when she agrees to have pity sex with Pam.
** All of them get extremely defensive of Pam when a douchebag movie director calls her "Baby Huey"[[note]]A cartoon character known for being fat, ugly, and stupid[[/note]], almost immediately starting a brawl over the slight and working together more efficiently than they ever had before that point.
** Archer agreeing to be Pam's date to her sister Edie's wedding, and him calling Edie out for [[CainAndAbel just how pointlessly mean she is to Pam]].
** Malory flips her shit when Abajeen goes missing at the office, and very forcefully threatens Krieger when she finds out he was using AJ as a size reference for his new teddy bear android (AJ was fine). Despite her insistence that Abajeen needs to lose weight (she's a ''baby'') Malory does seem to have a soft spot for her, or at least recognizes that Lana can and will kill her if anything bad happens to AJ.
* The Boss from "WesternAnimation/TheLifeAndTimesOfTim" does this with his Dog Keith

* Sandi is probably the closest ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' has to an antagonist, aside from Ms. Li. There are a few episodes where Sandi appears to hold genuine disdain for Quinn (and in one case, even ''just sits back and smiles'' after sabotaging Quinn's play.) However, at the same time, you can view her CharacterDevelopment as she starts to mature. It's probably most prevalent in the episode where she gains weight, and even though she manipulates Quinn into taking a sabbatical from the Fashion Club, is moved to tears when Quinn instead respects her wishes and uses the time to help Sandi get back into shape and out of her depression. Another episode, where a stalker is giving Quinn free goods in the hotel, Sandi is the only one who smells a rat. It's easy to interpret this as her trying to deny Quinn from having a cute boyfriend, but it's also just as easy to interpret this as genuine concern for Quinn.
** Even earlier than that, in the paintball episode, Sandi chews the Fashion Club out for not wearing the safety goggles.
* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'': Scrooge [=McDuck=] is a hardbeaked skinflint, but he does have a soft spot for his family and staff, which gets shown much more regularly here than in the comics.
* The Gross sisters in ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'' are really flat out bullies who [[KarmaHoudini get away with extorting lunch money and sabotaging their fellow students]]. However, in the episode where Penny throws a party at the same time Lacieniga throws one, the Gross Sisters are one of the few people to arrive...and they actually act legitimately nice to Penny, her family, and the other few party goers.
** [[NeverMessWithGranny Suga]] [[CoolOldLady Mama]] is also one of the few people they genuinely respect.
* ''WesternAnimation/HorridHenry''. Henry is an UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist who is frequently an asshole to his little brother Perfect Peter as well as his classmate Moody Margaret and cousin Stuck-Up Steve. (...then again, Margaret and Steve [[KicktheSonofaBitch ''deserve'' it]].) However, he does show BigBrotherInstinct towards Peter a few times, and during the sleepover episode, decides to have fun ''with'' Peter and his friends, instead of at their expense.
* Pete on ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' does this on a few occasions:
** As bad of a parent as he is to his son PJ, in the episode "Puppy Love," he did many ''nice'' things for him without an ulterior motive such as giving him dating advice, renting a limousine and offering to be the chauffeur, taking some (of Peg's) earrings for him to give to his date, and preventing Max from stealing his date... too bad all of those things made PJ's life ''harder'', but in contrast to how their relationship usually plays out, it was completely by accident.
** A straighter example happened in "Tee for Two" when Pete gave up the trophy he finally won after resenting the mini-golf course for years because he never won it to a random little boy at the end. Peg has to give him a big kiss for this one.
* In the ChristmasEpisode "I Heard the Barks on Christmas Eve" of ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010'', reluctant dog catcher Lenard [=McLeish=], who allegedly didn't like dogs, finds an equally hard luck dog named Ralph to take in to his home and heart.

* Several characters in ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' do this later on, particularly Coach Stopframe in the finale. Reverend Putty also has moments like this throughout the show.
* Ratty from ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'', of all people, actually shows shades of this in the first act of the episode "[[Recap/MrBogusS2E2BabysittingBogus Babysitting Bogus]]", as while acting as MC for the wrestling match between Bogus and the baby, he acts concerned when he sees Bogus getting creamed by the baby, and he elatedly congratulates Bogus for hypnotizing the baby into taking a nap.
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' has Doctor Robotnik and "Fuzzy-Wuzzy", his old favorite toy and only real friend. Yes, Fuzzy-Wuzzy is a robot [[BearsAreBadNews bear]] that can turn from a creepy teddy-bear into a horrifically real [[MultipleHeadCase two-headed]] [[MultiArmedAndDangerous four-armed]] grizzly, but Robotnik still cares for him deeply. When Sonic disables Fuzzy-Wuzzy by tying him to an electric fence, Robotnik is horrified at the fact his friend is being hurt and falls on his hands and knees before Sonic, pleading with the hedgehog to save Fuzzy-Wuzzy and promising to be good if Sonic will.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats}}'': Mumm-Ra is an evil BigBad who'd like nothing more than to eliminate the Thundercats and rule Third Earth unhindered... but he loves his pet Ma-Mutt, to the point where he actually ''apologizes'' to him in the episode "Ma-Mutt's Confusion".
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'':
** The occasions when [[GrumpyBear Squidward]] is nice to [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick. The first example of this can be found in the episode "Pizza Delivery", when Squidward responds to a customer making Spongebob cry by throwing the pizza in the customer's face. An aggressive way to pet the dog, but it looks like [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther he really does care about Spongebob]].
** Plankton gets one in the episode "Plankton's Pet". He's genuinely nice to his new pet amoeba Spot -- when Spot eats the Krabby Patty he helped steal, Plankton's only response is to calmly tie him up for a few minutes as punishment -- and when Spot runs away, he willingly works with Spongebob to find his pet and doesn't even TRY to steal another Patty.
* ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'':
** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'': "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyAndFriendsE20PonyPuppy Pony Puppy]]" has an almost literal example. Cupcakes is very vocal about her dislike of Dinah the CanisMajor, and grouses abundantly about the trouble she causes, but feeds her treats when nobody is looking and cries when Dinah has to be released to be with her kind.
** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
*** While Silver Spoon is typically every bit as much of a bitch as [[AlphaBitch Diamond]] [[RichBitch Tiara]], she gets ''one'' such moment: She's the first to applaud Granny Smith's story in ''Family Appreciation Day''.
*** Following the trend Diamond Tiara ''finally'' gets one herself in ''Crusaders Of The Lost Mark'', after even Silver Spoon has had enough of her crap and ditched her, her borderline abusive mother has been revealed, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders manage to talk her down and [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre make her realize she can be better than that.]]
** ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'': Sunset Shimmer literally pets the dog -- Spike, a baby dragon turned into a dog in the human world -- in both the titular first movie (where she's the BigBad) and ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'' (where she's one of the good guys). In ''Equestria Girls'', she specifically says that she never intended to hurt Spike, and in general [[EvenEvilHasStandards she has her limits]] [[spoiler:at least until a magical artifact [[OneWingedAngel doesn't do what she thought it was going to do]]]]; in ''Rainbow Rocks'' she's one of the good guys, but on the fringes of Twilight Sparkle's TrueCompanions for a lot of the movie, and so spends a lot of time holding Spike.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' Grouchy con man Stan Pines would do ''anything'' for his 12-year-old niece and nephew, and Mabel in particular has him wrapped around her little finger. Before they showed up, there was his handyman, Soos, [[spoiler:hired when he was only a child himself. Stan plays a ParentalSubstitute role in Soos's life and even [[NoodleIncident got himself banned from airplanes in a misguided attempt to help him]].]]
* While Eustace from ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' is almost completely free of redeeming qualities and only sides with Courage or helps out purely for selfish reasons, he's shown to not ''completely'' be without a good side when he meets a young kid (actually a younger version of himself as part of a SecretTestOfCharacter) and gives the kid his hat because he takes pity on him:
--> '''Eustace:''' No hat...? A kid without a hat; that's just not right.
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' specifically references the "save the cat" Hollywood screenwriting term when the hack production company rescuing [=BoJack=]'s troubled Secretariat biopic demonstrate their [[SerkisFolk CGI BoJack]]'s screen presence by having him climb into a tree to save a stuck kitten.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' has this in the form of [[spoiler:Blue and Yellow Diamond]]. Prior to the "Zoo" arc in Season 4, the Homeworld Diamonds seemly like purely malicious entities. It isn't until the former [[spoiler:kidnaps Greg]] that we learn that their feelings and actions towards Earth are mainly driven by them [[spoiler:mourning the death of Pink Diamond]].
** [[spoiler:Kidnapping Greg]] was itself a weird form of this, since she, [[DramaticIrony believing that]] the Earth was still set to be destroyed imminently, decided to spare him for [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe comforting her]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Castlevania}}'', when Dracula learns that the woman he loved had been burned at the stake as a witch, he advises her neighbor, who came to her home to pay her respects, to take her family and flee the country before he kills everyone in it.
* Mitchell from ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'' is usually a JerkAss snarker, but sometimes he helps the main characters and is nice to them. He also loves his dog, Cody.
** Jet's cousin Zerk was an obnoxious jerk to him and his friends in "Whole Lotta Shakin'". In his next appearance, "Back to Bortron 7", he is nicer to them, although he still somewhat seemed to belittle Earth.
* In ''WesternAnimation/The13GhostsOfScoobyDoo'' episode "Coast-to-Ghost", the vampire ghost Rankor is grateful for Scrappy and Flim-Flam offering that he return to the Chest of Demons to avoid [[WeakenedByTheLight being destroyed by sunlight]]. Not only does he [[KnowWhenToFoldEm go back into the Chest of Demons willingly]], but he also refers to Scrappy and Flim-Flam as "real pals" for choosing to spare him.
* ''WesternAnimation/PollyPocket'' Griselle Grande to her granddaughter Gwen.
** In the Season 1 episode "Gwen the Great", when Gwen was in the same dance troupe as Polly, Lila and Shani, Gwen tried to steal the locket for herself, chasing the shrunken trio across the stage, ultimately ending with her getting praise from the audience and Griselle, who all thought she was doing an abstract dance. Considering how obsessed Griselle is with getting the locket and how annoyed she can be with Gwen, it nice to see her be proud of Gwen.
** In the Season 1 episode "Unlocketing the Past: Part 1" Griselle allowed Gwen to get a pet rat at the the Resuce Farm Adopt-A-Thon, despite just failing to steal the locket.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'': In the episode "Wedding Bell Blues", when Suga Mama marries her boyfriend Clarence, it appears that Lacienega Boulavardez is genuinely happy for Penny and her family. When Suga Mama and Clarence announce their engagement, she happy cheers for them, agrees to be a bridesmaid in the wedding, and when Suga Mama ask her to, invites Papo Boulavardez to the wedding, she agrees (also keeping Suga Mama in the dark that Papo is dating other woman).
* The ''WesternAnimation/PopeyeAndSon'' episode "Junior Gets a Job" shows Bluto at his kindest - he willingly hires Junior when the latter needs money, doesn't hold him responsible for the trouble Tank caused, and when he learns that Junior needed money to buy the same pendant Bluto ordered for his wife, he pretends to have changed his mind about it so that Junior can buy it. In fact, the worst thing he does is get angry at Junior for splashing him with water, and even then that's only because he doesn't know Tank was responsible.
* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E5DogSprayAfternoon Dog Spray Afternoon]]", when Helen thought Bitsy put Shampagne in the will (which wasn't the case), she seriously contemplated offing the competition. But after seeing how much Cole cares for the dog, she couldn't go through with it, even saving both Cole and Shampagne when the two run into traffic.

** Also, in "Operation: B.U.T.T.", Numbuh One quits the team for no apparent reason, and Numbuh Four is so upset, he yells at Numbuh Three, inadvertently making her cry. In the next scene, however, he's trying to cheer her up with her stuffed animals - meaning this is ''really'' big, because he's usually finds her stuffed toys sickeningly sweet. (He doesn't do a very good job cheering her up, but fortunately, ''everyone'' cheers up when they find out just ''why'' Numbuh One quit. (The Delightful Children had taken a photograph of his bare butt and were blackmailing him; they really couldn't help but laugh.)

* Mumm-Ra from ''WesternAnimation/{{Thundercats}}'' is an evil BigBad who'd like nothing more than to eliminate the Thundercats and rule Third Earth unhindered...but he loves his pet Ma-Mutt, to the point where he actually ''apologizes'' to him in the episode "Ma-Mutt's Confusion".

** Plankton gets one in the episode "Plankton's Pet". He's genuinely nice to his new pet amoeba Spot - when Spot eats the Krabby Patty he helped steal, Plankton's only response is to calmly tie him up for a few minutes as punishment - and when Spot runs away, he willingly works with Spongebob to find his pet and doesn't even TRY to steal another Patty.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** While Silver Spoon is typically every bit as much of a bitch as [[AlphaBitch Diamond]] [[RichBitch Tiara]], she gets ''one'' such moment: She's the first to applaud Granny Smith's story in ''Family Appreciation Day''.
** Following the trend Diamond Tiara ''finally'' gets one herself in ''Crusaders Of The Lost Mark'', after even Silver Spoon has had enough of her crap and ditched her, her borderline abusive mother has been revealed, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders manage to talk her down and [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre make her realize she can be better than that.]]
* Sunset Shimmer literally pets the dog -- Spike, a baby dragon turned into a dog in the human world -- in both ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' (where she's the BigBad) and ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'' (where she's one of the good guys). In ''Equestria Girls'', she specifically says that she never intended to hurt Spike, and in general [[EvenEvilHasStandards she has her limits]] [[spoiler:at least until a magical artifact [[OneWingedAngel doesn't do what she thought it was going to do]]]]; in ''Rainbow Rocks'' she's one of the good guys, but on the fringes of Twilight Sparkle's TrueCompanions for a lot of the movie, and so spends a lot of time holding Spike.

* {{Deconstructed}} on ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. Prince Zuko is given several moments that establish him as [[EnigmaticMinion less of a villain]] than most of the Fire Nation: [[SwordOverHead sparing his arch rival]] Commander Zhao -- and later [[SaveTheVillain trying to save his life]], choosing to save his uncle over chasing the Avatar, deciding against mugging a refugee couple (Upon noticing the wife is pregnant) when he's starving as TheDrifter, freeing Appa from Lake Laogai, etc. [[spoiler:All this, however, does not lead directly to a HeelFaceTurn, but only [[WhamEpisode doubles the shock]] when it ''doesn't'' happen. Though it certainly doesn't make any surprise when it eventually [[HeelFaceTurn does come through]].]]