History TeamRocketWins / WesternAnimation

** Dick flat-out won in a couple of the ''Fender Bender 500'' (a quasi-revival of ''Races'') segment of the series ''Series/WakeRattleAndRoll.''

** Dastardly actually won two races outright in the comic books: "The Scavenger Scramble" (Gold Key #7) and "Trek To Tazmania" (Archie Comics #1). There were catches to the victories, however. Creator/HannaBarbera Fun-In (Gold Key #5) had a one-pager of Dastardly pushing the Mean Machine across the finish line after Muttley bails on him, and he uses the trophy, filled with hot water, to soak his feet.

* [[EvilSorceror Daolon Wong]] from ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' would be an IneffectualSympatheticVillain if he weren't such a {{Jerkass}}. The only time he ever scores a victory over the heroes, comes in the episode ''When Pigs Fly.'' Where he manages to claim not one, but two [[MacGuffin talisman powers]]. Even then, this victory is short lived, as he's immediately put in an AntiMagic cage and forced to retreat.

* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoons, Tom not only doesn't get utterly humiliated at the end by Jerry, but actually defeats him.

** He continues this tendency in ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTales'', where at least half a dozen episodes end on him getting the last laugh on Jerry.

** The episode preceding that is an even more powerful example."War Dawn", featuring the creation of the Combaticons by Starscream, showcased the Decepticon exile successfully defeat a handful of top Autobots, taking their energy chips for his new militia, as well as those of Decepticon warriors Dirge and Ramjet. The episode reaches its zenith with the Combaticons merging into the super warrior Bruticus, who cleanly defeats Constructicon gestalt Devastator before capturing Decepticon leader Megatron himself. With Megatron trapped in Bruticus' death grip, Starscream actually forces his former commander to surrender, and this all-but-actual defeat is only thwarted by the timely arrival of yet another Decepticon gestalt, Menasor, who drops the Combaticon combiner with one sucker punch.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts'', WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck normally loses when confronted with WesternAnimation/ChipAndDale. In the short "Working for Peanuts", Donald actually manages to repeatedly thwart them, with the aide of Dolores the Elephant. Averted, though, in that they ''still'' end up getting what they wanted, by successfully faking a place for themselves in the zoo as rare albino chipmunks. The ''Series/WaltDisneyPresents'' edit of the short plays it straight though: in the framing sequence after the short, Donald tricks the two chipmunks into getting pelted endlessly with peanuts from Dolores.
* A few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'' end with [[TheCaligula Lucius]] having the upper hand, including "The Product Tester" and "Catalog of Misery".
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectactularSpiderman'': Marko spends a large fraction of his screen time trying to pull off a “big score” and being foiled by Spiderman. In his final appearance, he does successfully escape with a valuable object, [[MeaninglessVillainVictory only to have the Master Planner and The Big Man take most of the profits, leaving him with just a few thousand dollars]].
* The latter half of the duo ''WesternAnimation/TheAntAndTheAardvark'' stands out as one of the biggest losers of the RoadRunnerVsCoyote genre with him suffering extreme punishments and never managing to get his meal (Charlie the ant that is). There are a few times that play with this, with the short ending with the Aardvark chasing Charlie and him running for his life but [[NoEnding there is no resolution clear enough to truly count as a victory]]. The one and single time that he clearly won was in the "Scratch a Tiger" cartoon where he manages to get the titular Tiger on his good side and he is last seen chasing the helpless and terrified ants with his help.
* A recurring trope with any show written by Creator/GregWeisman. Being the guy who created that {{Xanatos|Gambit}}, it's quite common for the heroes to succeed only for the viewer to realize that the villain's plans never hinged on the outcome of the heroes' intervention. A good example from ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}''. Xanatos orchestrated the jail break of the Pack (except Fox, who decided to stay) with some covert tactics and a robotic duplicate that allowed him to claim no involvement and then gives them upgrades to boost their ability to fight the Gargoyles. Of course, the Gargoyles foil the escape and manage to get the improved Pack Neutralized, but the threat to the Gargoyles was incidental. Xanatos couldn't care less if they had won or lost, as the goal of this scheme was to create a mass jail break that Fox would refuse to partake in, thus securing her an early release from an impressed parole board.

* The very first episode of Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002'' ended with the evil forces of Skeletor actually defeating He-Man and his allies in clean battle. Granted, the fight was precipitated by the Masters going to Snake Mountain only to warn Skeletor of the impending danger of an even greater evil (King Hsss, ruler of the mythical Snakemen) about to escape the bowels of Snake Mountain, but when the battle was fully engaged and the Masters were resigned to defending themselves, the Evil Warriors definitely had their number. Stinkor took out Mekaneck, Tri-Klops defeated Man-At-Arms, Whiplash (with help from Mer-Man) beat Stratos, and Skeletor and Evil-Lyn together managed to deliver He-Man himself one of the extremely rare losses by knockout he would ever suffer in the series. Skeletor tops it off by taunting the routed Masters with "See how they run: the Masters of FAILURE!!!" Of course, the immediate and foretold Rise of the Snakemen would make this a decidedly PyrrhicVictory...
* Done ''very'' frequently on ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom''. Usually, its episodes end with BigBad Dr. Eggman (or anyone else that's got similar instincts) getting pipped to the post by FiveManBand Team Sonic. However, the heroes have encountered ATasteOfDefeat plenty times throughout the show, mostly in the form of a HumiliationConga.
** In the season one episode "Fortress of Squalitude", Dr. Eggman asks Amy for help in giving his lair a makeover ahead of a representative from "Modern Lair Magazine" coming to inspect it. After it's denounced, however, Eggman, who was uncertain as to whether or not Amy's work was going to win him over, is ready to accuse her of derailing his lair's aesthetic, but is quickly surprised to find the photographer's assistant adores the work done in the lair, and so he immediately takes credit for the remodel. Amy objects saying it was her design that won him over and the two argue until the photographer interrupts by saying with a little more "danger" the lair could truly be cover-material and sets out to return with his photographer. Amy, however, won't participate in any further design work if Eggman's just going to hijack the credit and storms off. Eggman doesn't let her leave so easily and traps her in a laser cage, demanding more alterations from her, leaving her friends no choice but to rescue her as they take note of her long absence.
** "Chez Amy" sees Amy, tired of Dave the Intern frequently getting her order wrong at Meh Burger, turning her house into a restaurant. When Eggman gets upset with Dave's lackluster service, he decides to destroy Chez Amy. Amy reminds him that the restaurant partially belongs to him, but he tells her that as a villain, his options are limited. He still decides to do it anyway, and though Sonic and his friends manage to deal with him, the restaurant is nonetheless destroyed [[KarmaHoudini (something Eggman gets away with)]], leaving Amy back to dealing with Meh Burger.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TuffPuppy'', D.O.O.M.'s designated ChewToy Larry gets fed up with Snapttrap's abuse and his advice being ignored, so he starts his own group G.L.O.O.M., short for Genius Larry's Order of Mayhem, operating under the alias of Murray, with Ollie and Francisco joining forces with him. Larry turns out to be a more effective villain than Snaptrap, plotting to shut down Petropolis' power and engulf Petropolis in fog, only to be foiled by Snaptrap who teams up with Dudley and Kitty to bring Larry, Ollie, and Francisco back into D.O.O.M.
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' actually ends with Dick Dastardly placing in first. But unlike the Really Rottens' example, he doesn't get to keep his victory, because the announcer then shows a slow-motion replay of the race's finish that shows that the Mean Machine stretched its front forward to give the illusion that he came in first. It is then shown that the Mean Machine's nose was in its extended state and it ends with Dastardly cursing his disqualification. (Chalk it up to LazyArtist).
** Dastardly actually won two races outright in the comic books: "The Scavenger Scramble" (Gold Key #7) and "Trek To Tazmania" (Archie Comics #1). There were catches to the victories, however. Creator/HannaBarbera Fun-In (Gold Key #5) had a one-pager of Dastardly pushing the Mean Machine across the finish line after Muttley bails on him, and he uses the trophy, filled with hot water, to soak his feet.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' in which Omi freezes himself so he can go to the future and meet his future self (which ends up being a case of DidntThinkThisThrough, since taking TheSlowPath means he ''has'' no future self) he ends up in a BadFuture where Jack Spicer has taken over the world. The crazy part is that he apparently defeated and captured the other three villains, despite them being far more evil and powerful.
** On a lighter note, he also won in two episodes, one where the robot he sent lost the showdown, but he stole all the monk's Sheng Gong Wu (in the "shake the heroes out of their comfort zone" model), and another where Omi actually loses due to misusing a shen gong wu, and the episode has a DownerEnding. Despite being an IneffectualSympatheticVillain, hes had several {{Near Villain Victor|y}}ies as well.

* This pattern was replicated with Hanna-Barbera's later cat and mouse team ''WesternAnimation/PixieDixieAndMrJinks'' on ''WesternAnimation/TheHuckleberryHoundShow''. Perhaps due to his even more ineffectual qualities, Jinks actually came out on top a fair bit more often than Tom.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/KimPossibleMovieSoTheDrama'' (the original GrandFinale), Dr. Drakken finally works out a way to beat Kim Possible and to overrun the world at the same time. It's only thanks to Ron's LoveConfession that she finds back her HeroicResolve.
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' has nearly succeeded in taking over the world/defeating [[HeroAntagonist Dib]] several times, only to be beaten by one DeusExMachina or another. However, there were a few times he had some (generally trivial):
** Although he didn't actually successfully complete his plot, Zim does get one satisfactory ending in which Dib is left trapped inside a cage with a vicious monkey while Zim gets to watch.
** The episode in which it is revealed that Zim is allergic to water ends with Zim unleashing a monstrous water balloon filled with the city's water supply FROM SPACE directly onto the Skool and Dib.
** In "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom", Zim fooled Dib into believing that he was granted special powers by shoe ghosts that allowed him to single-handedly take down Zim and the entire Irken armada. It ends with Zim revealing that he in fact had Dib under a simulation in a successful attempt to prove that Dib had thrown a muffin at him the day before. Then [[RestrainedRevenge he hits Dib with a muffin]] and lets him go.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
** In one episode Candace actually does succeed in busting her brothers, leading to Phineas and Ferb being sent to military school. [[spoiler: However, this turned out to be AllJustADream, which also turns out to be another dream Perry has in which Candace unintentionally blows his cover.]]
** We get a twofer when a time travel episode had her future self come back and bust them, causing a bad future where Dr. Doofenshmirtz rules. [[ResetButton Of course, it gets fixed.]]
*** Present Candace also busts them in the future, when she reveals to her mother everything Phineas and Ferb had done. However, Phineas and Ferb are now adults, and their mother can no longer punish them.
** Candace also succeeds in busting the boys in "She's the Mayor" where it goes so far as Mom actually berates them. Unfortunately for Candace, time rewinds at that point, but admit it, this ''is'' the closest she's ever gotten.

* ''WesternAnimation/ReBoot'':
** {{Defied|Trope}} in season 3: Hack and Slash ''would have'' succeeded in executing Cyris, but Slash refused to go through with it. It turns out Slash never wanted to win in the first place, counting on (now-absent) Bob to prevent him and Hack from doing anything ''too'' bad.
** There is also "Megabyte's Bane" at the end of season three. To quote:
--->'''Megabyte:''' No, you remember boy! How I turned defeat into victory... how I left you with a ''dying'' system...\\
'''Mouse:''' One last double-cross, sugah? ''[turns Megabyte's portal into a port to the web]''
::: He would have won, too, if it weren't for the timely lost-game that forced the system to, well, reboot.
** Played straight in season four, which ends on the mother of all cliffhangers, with Megabyte in control of the Principal Office.
** This happened in a few episodes of season 1, with Megabyte's plans succeeding at first until Bob & co manage to save the day. Hexadecimal came the closest, actually, in the episode 'Medusa Bug'. Bob was the only one immune to the bug because of his Guardian status, but everyone and everything else in Mainframe got turned to stone. Then he pointed out to Hex that she had just brought complete and total ''order'' to the entire system. Needless to say, she was disgusted, and immediately reversed the effects of the bug.
** Not to mention the end of season two, where Bob and Megabyte end up in an EnemyMine situation, trying to save Mainframe from being devoured by the web. Naturally, once the immediate danger to the system was under control, Megabyte double-crossed Bob, shooting him into the web. (Bob survived because of his Guardian code, but no one would know this for sure until late in season three.)
** In the middle of season three, the User manages to defeat Enzo in what's pretty much ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' and win the game. (The only reason he, [=AndrAIa=], and Frisket weren't nullified is because they were able to convert to gamesprite mode.) Matrix got his payback towards the end of the season when the Users wound up in Mainframe thanks to the system's instabilities. It’s doubly cathartic since the User takes the form of the avatar he initially used to beat him, and now that Matrix has taken several levels in badass, the User doesn’t stand a chance.
* In the [[WesternAnimation/MegaManRubySpears Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon]], while his primary goal wasn't achieved, Wily made off with the money from robbing the citizens in "Crime of the Century" and the money from selling a shrunken Washington D.C. in "The Incredible Shrinking Megaman". If you want to get technical, he also got all the money from selling Fun World tickets.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'' episode "Argorrible Attack", the Urpneys actually succeed in giving the majority of the Land of Dreams nightmares ([[PokeThePoodle a small time victory]], but exactly what Zordrak wanted). The heroes try to give Viltheed good dreams in revenge, and it actually proves somewhat ineffective. Though granted after that they decide to just [[CurbstompBattle beat the crap out of all of them]] instead.
** They do this again in "The Dream Beam Invasion", shrinking into the Noop's dreams and sabotaging them for one night. While they are foiled the following attempt, Frizz and Nug still manage to sneak into a dream and succeed. An angry Rufus, Amberley and Albert shrink into the dream seeking retribution, but [[MilesGloriosus change their mind]] when the Urpneys start growing back inside the dream, allowing them to retreat ([[AmusingInjuries albeit just above a lake...]]).
** Also in "The Spidermobile" Blob and his gang effortlessly overpower the entire Wut army and capture the Dreamstone (along with Rufus, Amberley and Pildit) using the aforementioned machine. For once they do not screw things up, it is [[NiceJobFixingItVillain Zordrak and Urpgor instead that lose the stone]], something Frizz and Nug find to be ActuallyPrettyFunny.
** Zordrak also succeeds in sending nightmares in the pilot and "The Nightmare Stone", while Zarag manages to do so in "The Substitute". It is also implied Argorribles actually make their way past the stone's barrier and succeed in giving nightmares on a frequent basis, just in ''very'' few numbers.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' episode "Amnesio", Gantu actually manages to capture an experiment. Since it gives people amnesia he also manages to use it get his own back on his BadBoss Dr. Hamsterviel.
* Four ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' cartoons have Bluto/Brutus winning, but it is all precipitated by Popeye himself:
** In ''Hospitaliky'' (1937) and ''For Better Or Nurse'' (1945), Popeye and Bluto are both jockeying to severely injure themselves so they can get close to nurse Olive at the hospital. Popeye ends up force-feeding his spinach to Bluto, who delivers the necessary punishment to send Popeye to the hospital. ''I Bin Sculped'' (1961) has Popeye and Brutus vying to be Olive's model for a statue depicting a tired, beat-up specimen. Again, Popeye gives Brutus his spinach. He does so again in ''Round the World in 80 Days'' (1960) as a means to win a global race (Brutus socks Popeye on the chin and it sends Popeye circumnavigating the globe to the race's finish).
--->'''Bluto:''' ''[after he and Popeye both miss getting hit by a train]'' Ya runt! Now ''nobody's'' goin' to the hospital!\\
'''Popeye:''' Oh, yeah? Well, ''somebody's'' goin' to the hospital... ''[takes out spinach]'' and it '''''ain't you!!'''''
** Brutus (Bluto's name in the 1960s) actually comes up smelling like a rose at the end of ''After the Ball Went Over'' (1960) without even laying a finger on Popeye, whose nitroglycerine-laced ping-pong ball explodes on him when he intends to have it explode on Brutus.
--->'''Olive:''' Is there anything special you'd like, Popeye?\\
'''Popeye:''' Yeah... [[MediumAwareness a new writer to writes me spinach back in the script!]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/JakeAndTheNeverLandPirates'' hour-long special "Jake Saves Bucky" has Captain Hook challenging the protagonists to a race for ownership of the Buccaneer. He actually wins, only to lose it in the second half because a loophole in their contract that he didn't want to show them allowed them to reclaim it if they completed a certain task by sunrise.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'' episode, "The Day The Music Died" has the Misfits taking over what's left of The Holograms and The Stingers after Riot tricks Jem into taking a cruise with him to Mexico and then becoming stranded on an island. Once Jem is found and returns home, Pizzazz quickly gives control of Starlight Music back to Jerrica/Jem without a fight because all the money she made in her absence went right back into taking care of the Starlight Girls and maintaining Starlight House.
* Peg Leg Pete did win one bout against Mickey in the ''WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts''. "The Barn Dance" ends with him winning Minnie's affections after being unimpressed by Mickey's poor dancing skills. The mouse is in tears.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** Minor antagonist [[StageMagician Trixie]] returns to Ponyville (under the influence of an ArtifactOfDoom) and uses said artifact's power to defeat Twilight Sparkle and successfully banish her from Ponyville. As you can imagine, her victory (and quasi-military occupation of Ponyville) does not last long, but still, she did defeat [[TheArchmage Twilight Sparkle]].
** Another episode pits adventurer Daring Do against Dr. Caballeron, who plans on selling a stolen ring to Ahuizotl. Daring Do disguises herself as an elderly adventurer and tries buying it from him, but Ahuizotl appears before they can make the trade. Dr. Caballeron gives Ahuizotl the ring; Daring Do gets too distracted by her perennial rival to notice that he makes off with her sack of bits, accomplishing his mission and then some.

* In the Joe Oriolo ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'' TV cartoons, the villains, Professor and Rock Bottom, [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin are always trumped by Felix]], be it through his intervention, their sheer incompetence or just pure bad luck. But whereas Professor, Felix's main nemesis, [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption never once scored a victory over Felix]], Rock Bottom actually did manage to score a victory over Felix in "Penelope the Elephant"--[[MeaninglessVillainVictory but even that victory doesn't pay off for him in the long run]]. The episodes plot is centered on the eponymous elephant who has gotten lost from her Rajah, who offers a 50,000,000 bakshee reward for her return. Felix finds Penelope and intends her safe return, but Rock Bottom gets word about the reward, kidnaps her and ties up Felix, and makes it to the Rajah's palace to claim the money reward before Felix can stop him. He is promptly given it by the Rajah--but it turns out that thanks to foreign exchange rates, 50,000,000 bakshees [[RidiculousExchangeRates is only worth 10 cents in American money]]. Rock Bottom is so flabbergasted at this outcome, that he angrily throws the meager award aside and goes into shock, while Felix gets the last laugh.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TuffPuppy'', D.O.O.M.'s designated ChewToy Larry gets fed up with Snapttrap's abuse and his advice being ignored, so he starts his own group G.L.O.O.M., short for Genius Larry's Order of Mayhem, operating under the alias of Murray, with Ollie and Francisco joining forces with him. Larry turns out to be a more effective villain than Snaptrap, plotting to shut down Petropolis' power and engulf Petropolis in fog, only to be foiled by Snaptrap who teams up with Dudley and Kitty to bring Larry, Ollie, and Francisco back into D.O.O.M.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'' has instances where the villans win:
** The episode "Meet the Beat Alls" had Mojo Jojo, Princess, Fuzzy and Him team up into an ultra successful band, the "Beat Alls", which the Girls were powerless to beat conventionally. Enter [[YokoOhNo Moko Jono]]. True, Him is hardly a HarmlessVillain, but Fuzzy, Princess and Mojo ([[DependingOnTheWriter at times]]) are pretty low on the threat scale.
** In "Mr. Mojo's Rising", Mojo acquired the Girls' abilities and defeated them, only to launch into a [[ContemplateOurNavels navel-gazing session]] so severe that he didn't notice the Girls recover and turn him back to normal.
** The episode "You Snooze You Lose" even had '''''[[GoldfishPoopGang The Amoeba Boys]]''''' on the verge of victory, albeit ''completely by accident'', obliviously setting the Girls into a trap they stole from Mojo Jojo (until Mojo himself stopped the trap).
** In "Him Diddle Riddle", Him challenged the girls to solve a series of riddles on time to find Professor Utonium or the professor would have to "pay". They found the Professor a few seconds too late and Professor Utonium had to pay... [[spoiler: the diner bill. It was just a diner bill but, the villain won and the narrator didn't have anything to say when he'd usually say the day had been saved.]] It turns out to be a [[PyrrhicVictory tainted victory]] however [[spoiler: when Professor Utonium vows to never come to his diner again because the food was not worth the price, leaving Him to beg him not to leave, promising to make his pancakes cheaper]].
** The episode "Moral Decay" has one concerning almost ''every single villain'' in the series. After Buttercup gets greedy when she realizes she can get money from the Tooth Fairy, she starts collecting villains' teeth from fights. She soon resorts to randomly beating them unprovoked. The other girls find out and organize a surprise attack on her, where the RoguesGallery literally kick her teeth in.
** The SeriesFauxnale, "See Me, Feel Me, Gnomey" began with the city besieged by the girls' RoguesGallery, and the girls getting their butts kicked to set up the main plot.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In one episode, the "superheroes" lost control of their powers and were badly injured, and Mermaid Man was too weak to fight. However, Barnacle Boy (who just had a FaceHeelTurn and called himself "Barnacle Man") decides to simply go back to being good, just because he can now have an adult-sized Krabby Patty. The other villains are later seen in jail, participating in the EverybodyLaughsEnding.
** TheMovie has Plankton actually succeed in stealing the Krabby Patty formula (though, natch, [[TheUnreveal he doesn't read it to us]]).
** In "Wishing You Well" he also gets his wish of growing to several hundred feet to "crush his enemies". His appearance ends with him happily knocking down random buildings in Bikini Bottom.
** While he's more of an antagonist than an outright villain, Squidward typically never comes out on top in episodes where he is being annoyed by [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, sometimes even when he didn't even do anything to warrant getting his day ruined by them. That being said, there are a few of these types of episodes where Squidward comes up smelling like a rose:
*** Season 1 episode "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS1E9NaturePantsOppositeDay Opposite Day]]" ends with Squidward chasing [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick up the street on a bulldozer when their antics over Opposite Day end up driving away the real estate woman Squidward was trying to sell his house with.
*** Season 4 has the episode "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS4E9KrustyTowersMrsPuffYoureFired Krusty Towers]]", where after putting up with Mr. Krabs's abuse, Squidward turns the tables on him by quitting his job and coming back as a customer. [[ATasteOfHisOwnMedicine Squidward then uses the Hotel's policy to torture and abuse Mr. Krabs.]]
*** Season 7 had "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS7E19BuriedInTimeEnchantedTikiDreams Enchanted Tiki Dreams]]", where the entire episode is dedicated to giving Squidward a proper vacation with no karmic strings attached.
*** In the Season 12 episode "[[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS12E12JollyLodgersBiddySitting Jolly Lodgers]]", Squidward goes to stay at a hotel while his house is being cleaned by pest control, only for [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick to follow him there and basically make Squidward's stay there a living hell, which isn't helped by a convention full of eccentric jellyfishers also getting in on tormenting Squidward. Eventually, Squidward finally decides that he's had enough and calls the Bikini Bottom pest control about [[MetaphoricallyTrue a pest infestation]] at the hotel. Pest control arrives and gases the hotel, driving [=SpongeBob=], Patrick, and the jellyfishing convention out, and the episode ends with a gas mask-wearing Squidward doing a victory dance in his hotel room.

* On a similar subject, one episode of ''WesternAnimation/WackyRaces'' actually ends with Dick Dastardly placing in first. But unlike the Really Rottens' example, he doesn't get to keep his victory, because the announcer then shows a slow-motion replay of the race's finish that shows that the Mean Machine stretched its front forward to give the illusion that he came in first. It is then shown that the Mean Machine's nose was in its extended state and it ends with Dastardly cursing his disqualification. (Chalk it up to LazyArtist).
** Dastardly actually won two races outright in the comic books: "The Scavenger Scramble" (Gold Key #7) and "Trek To Tazmania" (Archie Comics #1). There were catches to the victories, however. Creator/HannaBarbera Fun-In (Gold Key #5) had a one-pager of Dastardly pushing the Mean Machine across the finish line after Muttley bails on him, and he uses the trophy, filled with hot water, to soak his feet.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' in which Omi freezes himself so he can go to the future and meet his future self (which ends up being a case of DidntThinkThisThrough, since taking TheSlowPath means he ''has'' no future self) he ends up in a BadFuture where Jack Spicer has taken over the world. The crazy part is that he apparently defeated and captured the other three villains, despite them being far more evil and powerful.
** On a lighter note, he also won in two episodes, one where the robot he sent lost the showdown, but he stole all the monk's Sheng Gong Wu (in the "shake the heroes out of their comfort zone" model), and another where Omi actually loses due to misusing a shen gong wu, and the episode has a DownerEnding. Despite being an IneffectualSympatheticVillain, hes had several {{Near Villain Victor|y}}ies as well.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'':
** When the normally incompetent [[GoldfishPoopGang Scratch and Grounder]] are converted into [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot ninja robots]], they almost manage to kill Sonic and Tails; if it wasn't for Sonic and Tails escaping via sheer luck, and still at the very least they suffer no humiliating indignity this time.
** In the Chaos Emerald four parter, Robotnik manages to outsmart or overpower Sonic on four consecutive occasions to claim all four Chaos Emeralds and transform into the "Supreme High Robotnik, MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE!" He handily defeats Sonic in their first bout, after which the heroes rely on a TemporalParadox to defeat him.

* [[EvilSorceror Daolon Wong]] from ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' would be an IneffectualSympatheticVillain if he weren't such a {{Jerkass}}. The only time he ever scores a victory over the heroes, comes in the episode ''When Pigs Fly.'' Where he manages to claim not one, but two [[MacGuffin talisman powers]]. Even then, this victory is short lived, as he's immediately put in an AntiMagic cage and forced to retreat.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', a group of Franchise/{{Superman}} villains teamed up, planning to use their combined talents to finally kill the big blue alien once and for all. Naturally, the Justice League wipe the floor with them before Superman even gets there, but they still manage to pull it off! The one who made the killing blow? ..... Toyman. [[spoiler: Yeah, it was Toyman in a HumongousMecha and Superman was really only sent thousands of years into the future and returned home at the end of the episode, but still. Toyman.]]
** Then again, the DCAU version of Toyman was regularly portrayed as an example of [[BewareTheSillyOnes Beware the Silly Ones.]] In the final arc of Justice League Unlimited he curbstomps Killer Frost (that particularl episode was also an example of this trope, as nearly the entire length of the episode featured numerous bad guys getting the edge on other bad guys, including ones that got their asses kicked in earlier appearances), and later knocks out ''seven'' Parademons at the same time. He's shown alive and well at the end of the storyline, having outlived over a dozen more conventionally powerful villains that died earlier in the arc.

** While he's not a villain, Squidward typically never comes out on top in episodes where he is being annoyed by [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, sometimes even when he didn't even do anything to warrant getting his day ruined by them. That being said, there are a few of these types of episodes where Squidward comes up smelling like a rose:

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': [[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE21MadLove "Mad Love"]] has Harley Quinn manage to use one of the Joker's plots to capture Batman and have him dead to rights. This being [[MadLove Harley Quinn,]] Batman manages to play on her insecurities and call Joker. [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou That goes down as well as you'd expect.]]

** One short (the made-for-TV short "Soup or Sonic") has [[WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner Wile E. Coyote catching the Roadrunner]]. Of course, the coyote has shrunk down to a comically puny size so the Roadrunner is '''much''' bigger than him. Wile E. [[LampshadeHanging lampshades this by]] [[NoFourthWall pointing out to the audience that he has absolutely no clue what to do next.]]

* As one of the few ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoons where Tom not only doesn't get utterly humiliated at the end by Jerry, but ends with Tom successfully trapping both Jerry and the Duck in a very sinister predicament, ''WesternAnimation/SouthboundDuckling'' stands out even among the other Tom-related victories.
** In fact, Tom wins in a total of 13 different cartoons including ''Million Dollar Cat, The Vanishing Duck'' and ''Duel Personality.''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectactularSpiderman'': Marko spends a large fraction of his screen time trying to pull off a “big score” and being foiled by Spiderman. In his final appearance, he does successfully escape with a valuable object, [[PyrrhicVillainy only to have the Master Planner and The Big Man take most of the profits, leaving him with just a few thousand dollars]].

* In the [[WesternAnimation/MegaMan Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon]], while his primary goal wasn't achieved, Wily made off with the money from robbing the citizens in "Crime of the Century" and the money from selling a shrunken Washington D.C. in "The Incredible Shrinking Megaman". If you want to get technical, he also got all the money from selling Fun World tickets.

'''Popeye:''' Oh, yeah? Well, ''somebody's'' is goin' to the hospital... ''[takes out spinach]'' and it '''''ain't you!!'''''

'''Popeye:''' Oh, yeah? Well, ''one'' of us is goin' to the hospital... ''[takes out spinach]'' and it '''''ain't you!!'''''

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' has instances where the villans win: